More than meets the eye 20/9/2007
Author's notes
No, I will not change my story type to angst. By the way, I will be kinda glorifying the F 22 Raptor a little. I'm not an expert on military hardware either but it is a very advanced aircraft. Not too sure about its dogfighting abilities but its most impressive feature is its stealth technology, making it hard to hit. To those of my reviewers who are actual military soldiers, please have mercy on this lay person's knowledge.
Sorry guys, but there's almost no Ranma elements in this chapter. So for those who don't know about Transformers, I apologise but try to use the 2007 movie as your basic template for imagination then convert it to a Chinese environment. Just so you know, China's mainland military is modernising now and doesn't just rely on mass numbers.
Regarding Bumblebee's speech, #$#()& / translation means he is broadcasting his thoughts to Autobots or Decepticons.
Chapter 20: Faith, Hope and LoveThe Chinese military general in command of the whole Sichuan military base could not believe his ears. "What did you say?"
The Chinese cadet manning the communications console gulped. "General, there is an American fighter that is requesting landing clearance. The pilot claims to be piloting the new F 22 Raptor jet fighter and wishes to defect to our country!" despite his predicament, the cadet found it hard pressed to conceal his excitement. No American soldier ever defected to China before, let alone bring their latest weapon of war with them! The F 22 was light years ahead of China's air force and would finally balance China's huge but outdated air force against the numerically inferior but superior American fighters. The stealth technology alone was worth killing for, and the F 22 was a fighter capable of both stealth and dog fighting.
General Khor Soh Liang was a sceptical person. He wasn't a PRC general for nothing and was actually an experienced soldier as opposed to a party appointed bureaucrat. "How do we know if it is the F 22 Raptor? Can we tell from afar?"
The cadet whose name escaped him looked at General Khor as though he was stupid. "General Sir, the F 22 Raptor cannot be detected by any radar in the world."
Mentally, General Khor made a note to assign the cadet to toilet duty later. "Send two fighters to intercept and confirm visual. Ask the American pilot to transmit his coordinates to our pilots and confirm visual with us."
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Ten minutes later, two J-11 Chinese aircraft were launched from the base. Guided by the instructions of the F 22 pilot, they eventually sighted the sleek jet fighter that was currently the pinnacle of American Air Force technology. One of the pilots whistled at the sleek and graceful design which made the two J-11s look like ducks next to a swan, with their ugly weapons and missiles on external hardpoints.
"Tiger one to base. Confirm visual. American aircraft sighted. It is an F 22 Raptor. Orders?" the lead J-11 pilot said in his radio.
General Khor was confused. It was a completely illogical scenario yet the evidence was before their eyes: America's best fighter had just offered itself to Chairman Mao. He would be damned if he didn't take the plane now.
"Escort the American fighter to base. Is he still refusing to divulge his name?"
The cadet shook his head. "He only calls himself …. Starscream."
The name somehow placed a cold shiver down the general's spine. "Clear a runway. Prepare a hostile welcoming reception. Don't take chances. I want an Infantry Fighting Vehicles on the reception. I don't like this defection one bit," he said as he lit a cigarette and started puffing on it.
As the two Chinese jets escorted the F 22 Raptor, unknown to them and the Chinese base, another jet fighter whose stealth design was just as good followed them.
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As the runway was cleared, a number of troops and vehicles were deployed to receive the F 22 Raptor. Nine jeeps with machine guns as well as three IFV WZ551 made ready to make contact with the defector. Somehow word had gotten out of the defection and the entire Chinese base with abuzz with the news of the defection of an American pilot with an F 22 Raptor.
General Khor made another mental note to demote the communications cadet and send him to the snow cold Manchuria. He sat at the command centre, observing the preparations made as well as the base's visual cameras that had finally sighted the advanced fighter.
The F 22 proceeded to descend from the sky. It approached the airway and then dove for it. It was then the general noted something was wrong.
"He is descending too fast and his speed is too fast as well. What is he doing?" General Soh wondered out aloud."
"American fighter, slow down, you are coming down too fast," the communications cadet frantically tried to communicate with the F 22 but got no reply. "General, there is no response. Perhaps he wants to show off F 22 Raptor landing?"
"If he does, he will pay for giving that performance and for disobeying orders. Get the reception committee ready. I want that pilot in my office as soon as he gets out of the cockpit," the general fumed.
"Yes sir…... In Guan Yu's name, look at that fighter!" the cadet gasped all of a sudden.
General Soh looked at the monitor of the fighter that was about to land on the runway while still at an incredible speed towards the reception committee. Something happened to the fighter then, one moment the fighter was there and the next, it looked like it had changed into… something. It was at that moment all of the monitor screens went blank and a massive explosion was heard or rather felt at the command centre.
"What in Chairman Mao's name is going on here!" General Soh shouted at all the non-functioning military equipment all of a sudden.
"I don't know sir! All communications are jammed, we can't contact anybody in our base!" the cadet replied.
The general felt the cold hand of fear as more explosions were heard and quickly went outside. The airfield was just at the edge of his vision and he could see explosions as the welcoming committee was attacked by… something. Just then an IFV came to the building. He quickly went to the IFV.
"Quickly, assemble an armoured division and…. and…… the general's mouth went dry as the IFV transformed before his very eyes into a towering metal monster. The monster grinned before lifting a foot and squashing the general under it before the general could even move. He then transformed his right hand into a gun, stuck it into the command building then proceeded to shoot a stream of liquid fire into it, killing everyone inside the command centre in a burning inferno.
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Within half an hour of the F 22 Raptor's landing, more than 75 of the military personnel had been slaughtered. The base had been lost, most of the infantry barracks had been attacked by at the same time when an IFV and a Type 99 battle tank transformed and proceeded to butcher the Chinese soldiers before they could even put their pants on. Within seconds of the attack, rocket artillery pounded into the base's vital structures, communications, armoury, mess hall, research and development centre and even the civilian administrative offices for the various contractors that worked in the base maintaining the day to day running.
The Decepticon attack was surgical: they focused their attacks on the military personnel and not on the hardware. There were pitifully few soldiers that managed to get to their vehicles to counter attack. Those that made it to their tanks and armoured vehicles found themselves outmatched by the Decepticon's superior armour and weaponry. There was also the fact that the Decepticons had air support in the form of Blitzwing's Sukhoi fighter as well as Blast Off, who sported Cybertronian laser weaponry that razed most of the key structures with pin point accuracy. As the command structure was the first thing the Decepticons took out, it left the Chinese soldiers with no visible chain of command, and so there was little to no coordination among them and the soldiers rapidly fell into disarray and found themselves easy picking for the Decepticons.
The Chinese still had a chance for victory if they had made it to their fighter jets and engaged the Decepticons from the air as most of the Decepticons were land based whereas the F 22 Raptor and Sukhoi PAK FA only numbered two. As the attack began, there were many pilots around the vicinity of their aircrafts and were not killed due to Starscream avoiding to destroy the aircraft. They tried to launch from the five runways of their base. Just as the first five prepared to launch, a nightmarish alien aircraft soared towards them. The alien aircraft sported a strange looking cannon on its underside as well as a strange green glowing object in between the two claw like protrusions from its front.
The alien craft shot a broad beam of light with the underside cannon that washed over more than fifty of the aircraft preparing to launch. Before the Chinese pilots could comprehend what just happened, all fifty aircraft suddenly transformed into towering robots, killing all of the pilots inside as the internal structure of the craft changed and crushed their inhabitants in a nightmare of folding metal. All of them looked nearly identical to Starscream save for three delta shaped fighters, China's indigenous Chengdu J-10, whose robot designs resulted in a cone shaped head instead.
Megatron transformed and landed in front of the newly created robots, laughing happily at his handiwork. He listened to the sounds of the slaughter and was glad. He then gestured at two of the aircraft which formerly had been J 11 fighters or rather Chinese produced variants of the Sukhoi 27 as well as the three cone shaped head fighters. He then aimed the Key To Vector Sigma Cannon at them. At the middle of his chest, green laces of energy snaked out as though it was bursting out of its chest and then snaked its way to the Key cannon. He then shot a burst of what looked like an electrical spark at each of them. As each spark entered them, the Decepticon symbol appeared in their chests and their once lifeless eyes glowed blood red in colour.
"We live to serve you Lord Megatron," the five said as they knelt on one knee before Megatron.
Megatron smiled and walked past each of them starting from the three cone heads. "Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet, Skywarp, Thundercracker. Reprogram the drones behind you now, then join Starscream and Blitzwing in their pogrom of this base. The age of humanity has passed. The time of the Decepticons is NOW!"
The five newly created Decepticons nodded and then each proceeded to look into all the lifeless robots eyes, transmitting their programming instruction to them. Megatron then ecstatically walked towards the armoured division areas.
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In the midst of the chaos, a large group of Chinese soldiers retreating from the base in a more or less orderly fashioned. It was mostly made up of the civilian contractors as well as a large number of conscripted soldiers. At least one small group was made up of Chinese Special Forces and it was these ten men that led the retreat. They had at least one outdated T-72 tank with them as well as two jeeps with RPGs attached at the back. Unfortunate, even the retreating soldiers were attacked by the Decepticons, who wanted no witnesses.
Behind the convoy, battle erupted as the Chinese soldiers opened fire on a Nissan GTR police car that raced towards them. Unfortunately, they all used small arms fire which did nothing to hurt the Decepticon. The Nissan sadistically ploughed into the soldiers and then Barricade transformed, in all of his hideous glory. Both of his hands had turned into spiked wheels, which whirled at an astonishing speed, and with this he proceeded to slaughter the humans with impunity.
The retreat became a disarrayed rout as the Chinese men and women scattered about, trying to avoid the menacing Barricade. But as they dispersed, they were hunted down by Ravage, Scorponok, Ratbat and Laserbeak. They used their animal aspects to strike terror into the hearts of the retreating soldiers and Ravage's mouth was red with blood as he bit of massive chunks of flesh of the legs of his victims. His immobilised victims were then finished off by the remaining three, either pulled into the ground by Scorponok, had their hearts pierced and blood sucked out by Ratbat, or killed with the laser fire from Laserbeak's hawklike eyes.
At last, out of perhaps three hundred who initially tried to escape the base, a paltry thirty remained, including ten special forces soldiers. Against all odds, the Special soldiers held their group together and used the tank to defend against the advances of Scorponok and Ravage. They were the only ones still armed with High Explosive Anti-Tank weaponry as well as Surface to Air missiles and managed to fend off Laserbeak and Ratbat with these. In the end, their time ran out as Barricade and the other smaller Decepticons ran out of soldiers to hunt and turned their attention towards the last group of soldiers.
Grimly, the soldiers looked at each other. Their leader, Lieutenant Chen Li spoke, "No use running. If we die, we die defending our country. We won't let these monsters kill us so easily," he said.
"YESSIR," the remaining Chinese soldiers shouted and then trained all that remained of their weapons at Barricade that was maniacally laughing as he charged at them. Then to their horror, from only two meters on their right, Scorponok burst out of the ground, flying towards them.
Chu chu chu cha chi…. Dimly, the Chinese soldiers heard this sound from behind them even as some of them turned their weapons on Scorponok knowing they would never shoot in time
Just as Scorponok's claw was about to grab and rip a terrified Chinese soldier, something huge dropped from the sky and landed its two feet on Scorponok, literally squashing the little Decepticon. Before Scorponok could burrow into the ground, Prowl picked up the Decepticon by its tail with his left hand into the air. As it dangled helplessly, three claws sprouted from Prowl's right hand and impaled into the body of Scorponok. He then dropped the suddenly lifeless Decepticon to the ground.
The Chinese soldier looked in awe at the eighteen feet robot that had just saved their lives. The robot looked like an exact copy of the attacking Decepticon except for its head design, which despite being grim and serious, was miles more nobler than Barricade's terror inspiring face. Even Barricade stopped his advance and shouted angrily, "YOU! EXCELLENT, I CAN NOW PAY YOU BACK FOR THAT LITTLE STUNT YOU PULLED AT THE AMAZON CITY!"
Prowl smiled grimly and from his other hand, three claws sprouted. "Autobots protect. Stop the Decepticons at all cost. But leave Barricade to me," he said grimly. He then looked at the astonished Chinese soldiers and spoke to them in Mandarin, "We are your friends. We will help you," he gestured behind him. The Chinese soldiers saw two sports cars, a pickup truck and an ambulance transform into towering robots then ran towards the Chinese base. Prowl and Barricade then charged at each other.
"GGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" both Prowl and Barricade shouted as they clashed in a clandestine meeting of Autobot versus Decepticon. Adamantium claws met spinning spiked wheels and both started a vicious brawl that was thankfully located outside the base.
"Hah, you think you can defeat us here and now? I thought you were the smart one among the Auto-punks. You wouldn't be worth being my clone if you didn't have enough sense. Now I see you really do not have enough sense," Barricade said as he attempted to bring his spiked wheels to Prowl's damaged chest again.
Prowl was silent as he batted away Barricade's spiked wheel and kicked Barricade in the waist away from him. His shoulder cannons appeared and streams of Plasma bolts were shot at Barricade. The Decepticon used his spiked wheel to deflect the plasma bolts then responded with laser eye shots at Prowl who deftly dived to the ground. He cart wheeled forward to Barricade and then slashed Barricade's body. The claws produced a terrible scratch but otherwise did not penetrate the armour of the newly repaired Barricade. He grinned evilly and kicked Prowl's leg away then body checked Prowl's body as he was getting up.
"You do know that even if you kill me now, my Lord Megatron is now the God of all Decepticons. Even if you destroy all of us, the god of gods, lord of lords will restore his favoured servants. Your resistance is utterly futile. Are you really so stupid to fight all of us, outnumbered and in that sort of condition?" Barricade taunted.
Both of Prowl's hands found Barricade's throat and squeezed with all his might. The Decepticon choked and furiously put his spiked wheels into Prowl's side. Prowl gritted his teeth and he lifted Barricade's head until it was level with his then viciously head butted him. The force was so great that Barricade's neck was slightly torn by the force while Prowl now sported a terrible gash in his forehead. If one looked closely, one could see the positronic brain circuitry in the Autobot's head. Barricade howled in pain and smashed both spiked wheels into Prowl's chest. As the spiked wheels ate away Prowl's armour, the Autobot's shoulder cannons aimed directly into Barricade's own chest.
"We do what is right, for everyone's sake not just our own. You should talk to Kasumi more instead of constantly thinking of inflicting pain for pleasure. Goodbye, brother," Prowl said just as the final layer of his armour was ripped away by Barricade, leaving his Spark completely open to the spiked wheels. In response, his cannons shot a straight beam into Barricade's chest.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" only Barricade screamed as the twin plasma bolts penetrated clean through his armour and destroyed his spark. At the same time, the two spiked wheels dug their way into Prow's Spark.
Prowl's last thought was, 'Kasumi, I wish you had cooked more Inari that day.'
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Inside the base, the Autobots fought their way through a large number of now converted transforming machinery, ranging from machines as small as calculators that were nevertheless armed with small calibre guns, to massive Type 99 Main battle tanks that slightly resembled Brawl but with none of the intelligence and guile of the Decepticon warrior. Strangely, they had not met any of the larger Decepticons. Apart from the drones, only Soundwave's mini-con team of Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, and Ratbat, attacked them, which employed hit and run tactics at the larger Autobots. Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet seemed to be defending Bumblebee, who did not fight at all but dodged here and there despite his right arm having transformed into a solar powered cannon.
Eventually they found their way barred by five Decepticons; Brawl, Onslaught, Swindle, Blast Off and Vortex. They stood with their arms crossed and strangely enough, did not point any weapon at them. They merely stared at the four Autobots with sinister grins on their faces.
Jazz snarled as he kicked Ravage away and swung his sword at Ratbat. "Bumblebee go. We will protect you. Till all are one!"
The yellow Autobot nodded grimly and then rushed off in another direction to circumvent the Decepticons.
Blast Off stepped forward. "One last chance. Surrender and join the Decepticons, or die. Make you choice wisely Autobots. It could be your last."
Ironhide groaned. "Why do you Decepti-chops always assume everything is going your way? It ain't over until WE SAY ITS OVER! NOW ARE WE GOING TO FIGHT OR WHAT?"
Blast Off shook his head. "As you wish. COMBATICONS MERGE!"
The Autobots were utterly dumbfounded as the five Decepticons underwent transformations that combined them into a Decepticon far larger than any other Cybertronian in their history. Brawl and Swindle both became legs, one with tank tracks for its foot and the other foot with wheels. Blast Off's white body became the chest and torso. Onslaught transformed into a huge arm that served as the left arm of the combined Decepticons while Vortex became the right arm, his main helicopter blades merged and folded into a huge katana. A new head was formed at the top. It had no mouth but possessed a mouthplate like Prime's. Despite the lack of mouth and expression, its eyes flashed maliciously.
"BRUTICUS SMASH!"
Jazz dropped his sword. "Sometimes, I wish I was the bad guy instead," he said quietly.
"QUIT YAPPING AND START FIRING!" Ironhide yelled as he let loose with his Lascannon and missile launchers. Both did not even scratch the armour of Bruticus wherever they hit.
"BRUTICUS ARMOUR BETTER, HARDER, COMBINED!" the monstrous Decepticon shouted then beat his chest with his arms like a gorilla and stomped towards them. Jazz had to transform and drive between his legs in order to avoid his movements, which was surprisingly agile for its size. Ironhide was not so lucky and Bruticus managed to kick him aside, making Ironhide smash into destroyed building rubble.
Bruticus then brought down the katana on Ratchet, who blocked with his buzzsaw but so great was the force of the blow that it literally brought Ratchet to his knees. Ratchet cried as the left arm that was Onslaught transformed into a multi turret gun with multiple missile launchers, all of which fired on him. Ratchet felt as though every part of his armour was melting until Ironhide came and pushed Ratchet out of Bruticus' continuous fire.
"YEEEE HAAAAAAAAW!" Jazz shouted and made a huge jump from behind Bruticus and landed at the back of his head. Locking his legs around Bruticus' neck he started chopping at the head with his head. But to his horror, even the head seemed invulnerable and withstood Jazz's laser edged sword.
"AUTO-INSECT," Bruticus snarled then he used a huge hand to pluck Jazz from his head. The fist that used to be Onslaught was large enough to wrap around Jazz's waist and squeeze, making the Mazda Autobot groan in pain. Ironhide and Ratchet then saw Bruticus throw Jazz to the ground and then stomp him with a massive left foot.
"JAZZ!" both shouted as they ran towards Bruticus. With all of their might, they leapt into the air and smashed their bodies against Bruticus torso with enough force to make the giant back off, lifting his foot off Jazz. The last thing Jazz thought as he saw Bruticus grab both Ironhide and Ratchet with both hands and smash them together was, 'I so wanted Kasumi to serve me sushi wearing only her apron.'
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Megatron did not bother with the sporadic firing of the Chinese soldiers. He merely focused his attention on converting their military vehicles into lifeless drones, as he did not want an entire army of sentient Decepticons yet. The Decepticon jet fighters, whom he dubbed Seekers would do an adequate job of leading the air drones along with Starscream, whom the Decepticon leader was very disappointed of late. The rest of the Decepticons would serve as commanders for the ground force drones.
He eventually came to a yard filled with construction vehicles. This prompted him down another line of thought. 'I do need builders for my new Empire.' Gleefully, a new group of Decepticons formed into his mind. He had already used the Key to upgrade five of his Decepticons into combining into a huge gestalt as his ultimate weapons platform and warrior. Why not make another one that could much more easily infiltrate a city?
As before, the Matrix within his chest released Sparks that travelled to the Key to Vector Sigma cannon like ammunition, which he then shot at six construction vehicles: a bulldozer, a cement mixer, a crane, a front load shovel, an excavator and dump truck. Like the five Decepticon seekers from before, the six construction vehicles transformed into live Decepticons and saluted their leader.
"Assemble at Soundwave's location at our temporary base. I will give you instructions shortly," Megatron said.
"By your command!" the front load shovel said and all six Constructicons as Megatron dubbed them moved out. Megatron smiled and proceeded to look for more vehicles to convert.
"!$(#()$ !(&#(!)(&)) / Hold it right there Megatron. Raise up your arms over your head and turn around. SLOWLY!" Bumblebee transmitted his message into Megatron. The Decepticon leader looked amused as he looked over his shoulder to find Bumblebee directly behind him, his solar cannon aimed at his chest. Despite the difference in size, Megatron's sensors told him that the amount of energy charged in Bumblebee's cannon was astronomical. He had forgotten that Bumblebee was always one of the Autobot's better warriors was unique due to the fact that he not only absorbed solar power far more efficiently, the power he stored was actually amplified in his body. He powered down the Key cannon and complied with Bumblebee's command, holding both hands in the air.
"Well well, here comes the knight in shining armour. In bright yellow I might add," Megatron said in an amused voice.
")!$)!$)!#$&)#!&$(&) / Where is Kasumi? Release her and the Matrix or this shot goes straight through your chest. I've been storing energy for one year now Megatron, ever since I confirmed the Key's presence on this planet. You will not survive," Bumblebee's arm was steady but he was worried when he didn't see Kasumi attached to Megatron.
"Amusing. Isn't this what humans consider forbidden love? A blasphemous coupling between flesh and metal? Urrggghhh, and I thought Ravage had an obscene imagination," Megatron pretended to gag.
Bumblebee growled. "!#)!))$)$$/ That's none of your concern!"
"Ah but it is, considering I am the Lord of our race. Every thing that concerns a Cybertronian concerns me. Isn't that what a leader is supposed to do?" Megatron laughed even as he raised his hands.
")!$!#))#!$ / One last chance. Where is Kasumi? Where is the Matrix!"
Megatron continued to laugh and tapped his chest. "Why here of course. After all, she'll be in my heart. Oh yes, She'll be in my heart. She'll be in my heart, always…." the Decepticon sang mockingly at Bumblebee whose spark went cold upon hearing his words. Megatron's chest than opened like Prime's, and in the middle of its chest, was the Matrix.
Chained spread eagled to the centre of the Matrix, was Kasumi.
To Bumblebee's horror, she looked like she had numerous needles, each connected by a wire into Megatron's inner workings, pierced into her arms, legs and body. She was clothed in animal skin but even then her body was pierced through the pelt. Blood trickled from nearly every needle point and her entire body was covered with blood lines. There was some sort of visor covering her eyes. For all intents and purposes, she appeared to be wired into Megatron.
"Bumblebee, get out of here! Ni-Ge-Te, NI-GE-TE!" Kasumi cried when she saw Bumblebee through Megatron's eyes. Her voice was hoarse from trying to cry out to Bumblebee from within Megatron when the yellow Autobot first appeared.
Bumblebee's arm shook as he kept his cannon levelled at Megatron's chest. At the Matrix. At Kasumi.
Megatron then lowered his arms and walked slowly to Bumblebee, who backed away as a result. "So what will you do now? Logic dictates that for the sake of the greater good, you will shoot me. Right here," Megatron's poked a sharp claw at Kasumi's face, scarring her cheek. Kasumi nearly bit her tongue in half to avoid crying out and spat out blood.
"Bumblebee please. Do not worry about me. I've lived long enough to meet you all, I have no more regrets. Please, for your sake and my sake, destroy Megatron! End this cycle of hatred and war! Do not give in to this…… two faced transvestite!" she cried.
Inwardly, both Megatron and Bumblebee marvelled at Kasumi's words. Megatron in spite of himself felt a growing respect for the girl but Bumblebee's Spark was still torn between friendship and duty.
'By Primus, why do I still call her only a friend? It's obvious that its more than that,' he cursed himself.
Megatron was close to him now, Bumblebee's cannon was barely metres away from Kasumi and the Matrix. "Well, I'm waiting Bumblebee. While I love this sort of drama, it does get boring the longer it drags. See, the silence is too much already. Why don't you make some noise Kasumi?" he said. His left hand sprouted a spike from the middle of its palm and then he stabbed it at his right hand. Blood gushed out of Kasumi's right palm as a hole was torn into it, this time catching Kasumi unawares and making her scream.
Bumblebee saw red. A terrible rage came upon the yellow Autobot and an enraged whale song was heard as he charged at Megatron.
The Decepticon leader laughed then viciously pulled a left hook at Bumblebee, slamming the yellow Autobot to Megatron's right about a hundred metres. "Ah love. Reminds me so much of the time I courted Elita One. What she saw in Prime I will never know. If love is blind, I guess I should be thankful I was never in love," he said in a patronising tone.
Bumblebee groaned as he lay on his chest than found himself picked up by Megatron. Megatron then proceeded to pummel Bumblebee into a pulp.
This time, Kasumi screamed hysterically as Bumblebee was tortured right before her eyes. Moreover the force of Megatron's punches and kicks were amplified by the nerve connectors to be far more sensitive and painful then Megatron really felt. Bruises and cuts appeared in her arms and legs as Megatron repeatedly lifted and slammed Bumblebee into the ground, stepped on Bumblebee's head and grinded it to the ground almost until it was crushed, lifted Bumblebee by the head with one hand and with the other, repeatedly punched Bumblebee's body, tossing Bumblebee into the air and watching him plummet to the ground…..
…. All the while Bumblebee frantically tried to reach out to her, even when Megatron grabbed hold of one arm and literally twisted it out of its elbow joint.
"Darn it, if there's one thing I regret about destroying your voice box, I can't hear you scream in pain and agony," Megatron snarled. He then lifted Bumblebee over his head. He then flew about a hundred feet into the air and then threw Bumblebee to the ground.
"PLEASE MEGATRON! STOP IT! I'LL BE GOOD! I WILL SUBMIT TO YOU. LORD MEGATRON, PLEASE HAVE MERCY!" Kasumi screamed hysterically, nearly insane with grief though not with pain.
"Too late my pet. Far too late," Megatron said as he too flew to the ground feet first, intending to land his feet on Bumblebee's chest.
"No. Oh God where are you? Please, why have you forsaken me? Why why why!!!!" Kasumi sobbed.
I have never left your side child.
Kasumi froze. Her world seemed to slow down and strangely grew dim, as though someone had turned down the contrast and brightness of her world like a television. She looked around but only saw herself, Megatron, and Bumblebee. Her body was still suffered from the hundreds of nerve connectors that made Kasumi feel as Megatron felt, amplified ten times over and inflicted on Kasumi whatever wounds that Megatron suffered. The cold manacles still cut into her wrists and ankles, rubbing her skin raw and exposing her flesh. The pain of her flesh was still there yet it was as though someone had paused the entire world's time, leaving only Tendo Kasumi moving in realtime.
A comforting light bathed over Kasumi, a strange mixture of white and green. It was then that Kasumi realised that the light was coming from behind her.
From the Matrix.
As the light engulfed her, she felt her bonds break and she turned around fully to face the now blinding light. Yet it did not pain her to gaze upon it and she became lost in the light as the rest of the world vanished.
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Kasumi eventually found herself standing on the ground. Yet in her eyes, she could see nothing but white light. Then the memory of her dream flared and she was afraid and shut her eyes from seeing the light, fearing a repeat of her nightmare "No, no, please, don't make me go through this again. Please God, I am afraid. I don't want to lose my friends…. my family…"
"Kasumi-chan?" Kasumi froze again at another familiar voice she thought she would never hear again and to her wondrous joy, a familiar hand reached and touched her shoulder.
"Do not be afraid my child. You cried out to me once and I listened. I have not forsaken you," the voice she had first heard said gently. The fear left her and she turned to gaze at her mother.
Tendo Kimiko was certainly the spitting image of Kasumi Or rather Kasumi was the spitting image of Tendo Kimiko. As she nervously stood up, one could see that both of them were the same height, with the same build or as Jazz would say, the same size and proportions. Moreover she appeared as young as Kasumi. The only thing that differentiated the two was Kasumi's long hair along with her animal skin clothing whilst Tendo Kimiko wore her hair short like Akane's and was dressed in the a modest dress and the familiar apron that Kasumi had inherited. Around her neck, Kasumi's mother wore a small little cross.
It was only one night since the horrors she had been subject to. But to Kasumi, it felt like a lifetime since she cried tears of joy and mirth.
"Mother!" she cried as she embraced her mother. The other woman burst into tears as well as mother and daughter was reunited after seven years. Words were not needed. For now, the world was perfect to Kasumi.
Eventually, Kimiko gently broke the embrace and looked upon the face of her daughter. "Dear Kasumi, I am so proud of you."
Kasumi's heart fell. "Mother, I have done nothing to honour you. Because of me, the world is in danger, my best friend is dead and …. And….. oh God, Bumblebee is about to be killed!" she cried as she held her mother's hands tightly.
Kimiko smiled. "Really? That's not what your friend says."
The brown haired girl's eyes widened. "My friend… what do you mean?"
"Hello Kasumi. My my, it seems no matter how you are dressed, you are always beautiful."
Kasumi's head whipped around and she saw Optimus Prime in front of her, human size, standing a little over six feet, and smiling widely. "At last I can do this properly. Konichiwa, Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Kimiko," Prime said as he bowed to the two women.
"Optimus?" she stuttered as the Autobot leader reared his head up again, hugging her mother even more harder. "But… how….you died…"
"So am I dear. Yet here we are," Kimiko said softly.
Slowly Kasumi drew away from her mother and Optimus. "What is this? Some kind of illusion generated by the Matrix? Or something Megatron whipped up in his spare time?" she said fearfully.
"You are partially correct. The Matrix is partially responsible. But the rest is your doing," Optimus said.
"What.. I don't understand…."
"You asked for God. And he answered," Kimiko said matter-of-factly.
Now Kasumi was confused. She looked at Prime. "But… what…. Prime I'm so confused. If God is real, why are you here?"
"On this world, He is called Jesus Christ. On my world, He is called Primus. Both the sinless one who shed his blood for all of our sins."
"But, why if He is also your God, did he let your race almost come to an end?" Kasumi asked.
"For a long time I have wondered Kasumi. And I never really understood either until I met you Kasumi."
"Me?" she asked, her confusion increasing.
"Yes Kasumi. Our race fell out of grace a long time ago. I realised when I met you it was because we had forgotten about love. We never forgot His command to serve others but we forgot to do it out of love. I defended the weak but I did so out of honour, out of pride. You are the first being I know to have given us love and friendship. Now we fight because of the love you gave us and through it, we wish to give it back to you and your world."
"But Prime… it's too late… Prowl is dead. Jazz is dead. Ironhide is dead. Ratchet is dead. And Bumblebee's about to be crushed!"
"What do you want Kasumi?" Kimiko asked quietly.
"What does it matter? I can't do anything…. Not even cook a simple meal for my friends," Kasumi cried.
"What do you want, Kasumi?" Optimus repeated sternly.
The elders Tendo sister stuttered as she heard the commanding tone of Optimus Prime. Somehow it jerked her out of her despair and she began to think of what she want. The first thought that came to mind was…
"Bumblebee….," she whispered.
Optimus walked to her and stood directly in front of her. He gently lifted her chin so that her brown eyes gazed into his blue ones. "Kasumi, if not for your love, Bumblebee wouldn't be here today. You have no idea how close he was to suicide that day." Then his eyes flashed and Kasumi then saw a fleeting vision.
…… a home…… a gentle voice singing …… two Autobots laughing …….. walking hand in hand……. running through the city ……. kissing in starlight …….. an Autobot crying to the sky….. a broken body lying at his feet ……… battle …….. Megatron ripping the Autobot's throat apart ……..
The vision passed and her eyes were wet with tears again. "Bumble…. Bee….had a love before?" she whispered.
"He fought by my side for revenge for centuries. In the end, he became tired of being angry, tired and weary of the emptiness he felt in his life. To make up for the emptiness, he dedicated himself fully to the Autobot cause, even going so far as to fight Megatron, which as you see now, is the reason his voice box was nearly destroyed, in order to protect the Key and the Matrix."
"Then there was the long solitude as he travelled the stars looking for the Key. A thousand years past before he came to your world. Fifty years without any result. Even when Ratchet came, he never spoke to him. He didn't want to live like this anymore, forever alone, with no hope of friendship let alone the love that he had lost ages ago. And then you came along and gave him an oil change."
Optimus took Kasumi's hands in his. "You reminded him that there's still good in this world. You reminded him, no, all of us, of the joy of giving. Of helping. Of caring. I could go on and sound like a Care Bears cartoon but bottomline, we learn to love again as HE loved us."
"I ask you again Kasumi… what do you want?"
"But…. I'm not a Christian… when did I ask for God? I thought you had to go through's sinner pledge or something…."
"You already have Kasumi. You do not remember for it was long ago and your father and I had a terrible fight about it. He beat the memory of it out of you," Kimiko said quietly.
Kasumi was shocked. "Otou-san… beat me?"
"Yes Kasumi dear. I stayed with him because I was already pregnant with Nabiki and because I thought my love would change him sooner or later. Unfortunately, it never came for the Lord called me to His side early."
"In any case, you've already asked for God. You've given thanks to Him for all the good things to date. Kasumi, this is the last time I will ask you. What do you want?"
Kasumi looked at Optimus and her mother. Then she recalled the faces of everyone she knew. Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, her father, Uncle Genma, the Kuno siblings, the Chinese Amazons, Hinako sensei, Ukyo, Ryoga…..
…. Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, Hound ……
….. Bumblebee ……..
She closed her eyes and prayed. "Lord, I want to save my world. To save my love……."
The white light changed to a soothing green and engulfed all three figures. Quickly Prime grabbed Kasumi's hand. "We're going to ride this wave together as well," Optimus said.
"Mother! Wait, I don't want to leave you!" Kasumi cried as Tendo Kimiko's figure faded. But the Tendo mother shook her head.
"Trust in God Kasumi, and all will be well. You'll be in my heart forever Kasumi. I love you. Give my love to Nabiki, Akane and Ranma. For your info, I approve of him…."
Kasumi cried as Kimiko waved and then suddenly became a speck as Kasumi and Optimus flew away from her at a startling speed.
"HOLD ON KASUMI!" Optimus Prime cried as they flew towards a window in the midst of the green light. Kasumi looked at it and saw the figure of Bumblebee on the ground, about to be crushed by Megatron's feet. They entered the window….
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
The chains and manacles that bound Kasumi to the matrix had dissolved into nothingness. She felt her wrists but found no wounds, the nerve connectors were gone and she was whole in body again. The world was now in slow motion and she realised that Megatron was still descending to the ground on top of Bumblebee. Quickly, she turned around and saw that the core of the Matrix was still glowing brightly. Tentively, she touched the green glowing core then all of a sudden, the Matrix itself seemed to transform, breaking the mechanical bonds of Megatron's chest that gripped it as it transformed itself into a smaller size. Megatron's face became one of amazement as the Matrix detached itself and flew to Kasumi's gentle small hands.
The moment, she gripped it, Kasumi gasped as the world fast forwarded again and the weight of the Matrix pulled her down to the ground faster than Megatron did. Bumblebee cried and in spite of the huge amount of damage he suffered, got to his feet, caught Kasumi with his good arm and leapt out of the way just as Megatron fell to the ground. The two looked at each other, words failed to express how they felt for a moment. Then Bumblebee started to run as Megatron made an unholy roar into the air.
"GIVE BACK THE MATRIX, BITCH! THAT'S MY MATRIX! DECEPTICONS ATTACK!" he roared as he started to run after them.
Kasumi marvelled at Bumblebee as he transformed into an extremely battered Toyota Cellica, with the hood, right door and part of its engine missing. She landed on the seat and the Cellica put on a tremendous burst of speed. "Quick Bumblebee, go to the middle of the base! That's where Jazz and most of the others are!" The Cellica obeyed her instruction without question and gradually lost the stampeding Megatron. Rest did not come however as many Decepticon jets now detected him and tried to strafe him with their laser weaponry.
Bumblebee raced like never before, making road moves that would have put drivers like Michael Shumacher to shame as he avoided the strafing runs and even missiles when they locked on to him. Eventually they came to the spot where Jazz lay lifeless, a huge hole still smoking courtesy of Ravage's bomb and Kasumi quickly exited Bumblebee before he transformed.
This had the effect of making them stationery so more than fifty jets in the sky managed to lock on to them and fired missiles at that one spot.
Kasumi slid her fingers into the Matrix's two handles. "Please Lord, light humanity's darkest hour," she prayed and then pulled the Matrix apart gently.
A blinding green flash exploded from the Matrix and engulfed the entire base, blinding the Decepticons and hundreds of their drones. At the same time, a straight beam bearing the Autobot signal shot out into space.
Megatron flew and landed on the spot where Kasumi and Bumblebee had stood and found…
…… nothing. They were not there. Nor was Jazz. Not far away, Bruticus looked at his hands and to his astonishment, the Autobots that he had been playing with had disappeared.
"Where Autobots go?" he said stupidly.
Megatron's roar of confusion filled the air as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened.
To be continued……………..
Oh gosh, that was the hardest chapter I ever had to write. Wow, it really pays to do my quiet time before writing my fan fiction. Sorry if you feel I went off tangent suddenly inserting Christianity into my story. (Seriously, I'm quite amazed I managed to find a way to insert it in the end, something I haven't done in the past 19 chapters I think apart from some vague references of Kasumi praying to God.)
I thought this chapter would be incredibly angst but I just couldn't stop writing. So I may as well say that the time of shadow is passing. Night is getting older, and dawn approaches.
These words inspired me as I wrote Kasumi's encounter, from John 14:13-14:
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it
God bless you all and goodnight.