Down below

When Rumble opened his eyes he found himself laying on the sandy floor in a half dark, moist cave. He couldn't make out much because of the dim light. Something moved in the shadows, dragging its feet along… or whatever it was...

"Frenzy?!" Rumble called out.

The shapes came closer, making mumbling sounds, until he could finally make out the mechs that seemed to live down here. They looked like frankenmechs! They had lots of missing parts and the parts they did have seemed to mismatch with the rest. It didn't take Rumble long to figure out what they wanted. He took a fighting stance. "Oh no, you're not taking any parts from me!"

He had to take them on with his fists, cause he still was unable to transform his arms. As quick as the frankenmechs could, they shuffled back into the shades. "And don't come back or I will really kick your cans!" He yelled after them and turned around. Right away he stepped back again for he saw the more obvious reason for the frankenmechs to retreat.
Two bright yellow eyes stared down at him accompanied by a low roaring sound.
"And of course they weren't running because of me…" he mumbled somewhat annoyed.

He kept his eyes locked on the yellow eyes of the Beast. "Didn't mean to bother you there…" he said with an apologizing grin. "So I'll be going now."
He took a few steps backwards but with every step he took, the Beast took one too… his way.
"This just isn't my day! FRENZY!" But Frenzy didn't reply nor did any other Decepticon for that matter.
"I sure hope I can run faster than you!" He turned around and started running as fast as he could possibly run on the uneven sandy cave floor.
The Beast let out a long drawn out sigh and let him go. She dropped down on the floor in her dark corner of the cave.
When Rumble noticed she didn't chase him he came back and peeked around the corner. She lay down on the ground. Even her head rested on the ground.
"What the…" he wasn't gonna run when he wasn't chased. He walked into her sight. "So you don't want to take me apart than?"
She snorted.
"Don't mind if I stay here than. Those frankencreeps won't touch me when you're around."

Hours went by without the Beast moving a muscle. Rumble looked into her yellow eyes. They looked tired and sad.
Out of the blue she threw her head to the side with a loud roar. She got onto her feet and rammed into the wall of the cave again and again. Like something was bothering her.
A shimmer caught Rumbles eye and he noticed a device on the back of her neck. That must be causing her pain somehow. When she took off he ran after her. She led him straight to the Pit. The device probably summoned her to come for another fight, Rumble guessed.

Would it be Galvatron? Coming to get him out of there? Or Frenzy perhaps?
Rumble didn't follow her into the pit but peeked around the corner of the cave that ended in the Pit.
There was no sign of his powerful leader or his brother Frenzy. There weren't any Decepticons anywhere. The Sharkticons probably won ... Great!
In the Pit was another fool who thought he could win a battle with the Beast. This one was huge though, maybe he stood a change?
But he was no match for her. The crowd went wild when she tore off his arm and then a leg.

"Why did I ever want to try that?!" Rumble mumbled.
There was no other challenger so she was allowed to retreat to the caves again.
Above the crowds on some kind of balcony Rumble suddenly noticed a five faced Quintesson! He had a device in one of his tentacles. Probably the remote control to the device in the neck of the Beast.

She slowly walked back towards the cave where Rumble was watching. He pressed himself against the wall but she saw him anyway. She just walked passed with that tired look in her eyes. Not just tired as in 'low on energy' more like 'tired of life'.
Suddenly realizing she was just another inmate here just like him, Rumble decided to follow her. Perhaps he could reason with her to make a pact with her. Maybe they could try to break out of here.

She dropped down in the corner of her dark cave and coiled her tail around her body. Carefully Rumble came closer. She just gazed at him.
"Look, you probably don't understand a word I say… but I'm not here to fight you… anymore." He started feeling like an idiot Autobot who always try to be friends with any life form.
She lifted her head and raised a scaly brow. He saw an intelligent glance in her eyes. "Can you understand me?"
To his astonishment she nodded.
"You can?! Really?"

She nodded again.
He came a bit closer. "How can you understand me? What are you anyway?"
She moved her head towards him until her nose was within his reach and nodded slightly, urging him to touch her.
"You're not gonna bit my arm of now, are you?"
She shook her head and gave him a nudged that almost pushed him off his feet.
"Alright, alright already," he gave in and placed his hand on her muzzle.

All of a sudden he found himself in a light dreamy forest. His hand wasn't touching a large muzzle anymore but a hand. He looked up to see this gorgeous young lady with long fiery-red waving hair.
"Set me free…" her soft voice whispered at him with begging green eyes.
Somewhat freaked – he hadn't expected anything like this – he pulled his hand back. As soon as he did that the dreamy forest disappeared and he looked at the Beast again.

"Was that you?!" he wanted to know. "You're a girl?"
She nodded and nudged his arm to urge him to put his hand back on her muzzle.
There she was again in this dreamy misty forest.
"Are you for real..?" he reached out to her to make sure she wasn't some figment of his imagination. Her hand touched his and for a moment he couldn't just see her, he could feel her soul…

They both pulled back their hand… way to sentimental for a decepticon! And Azori'jins don't share souls with mechanical life forms!
"What is this place anyway?" He recomposed himself back to his tough self.
"This is the place where our souls meet," she told him.
"What are you? How did you become that beast in the first place?" As he looked at her now, she looked humanoid. Above her eyes a spotted pattern decorated her slightly tanned skin. Her ears were longer than human ears (kinda like the Na'vi in Avatar ears).

"I belong to the Azori'jin race."
He shrugged. "Never heard about Azori'jins."
"I'm not from around here. Are you one of those transforming mechanical life forms?"
"Yes, I am a Decepticon", he stated proudly.
"An Azori'jin is an organic transformer", she explained.

He gave her an understanding nod. "I see…" He thought for a moment. "You look pretty powerful. Why don't you escape from this hell hole?"
"I can't. There's some device placed on my spine. That five faced demon uses it to control me," she growled when thinking about that. "I can't transform and I can't use any of my capabilities! And he uses it to summon me to the pit – or just for fun - causing excruciating pain into every nerve in my body. "
"That explains why you're such a grumpy beast", Rumble said with a grin. "And if you could use transform and use your abilities?"
"I'd tear this whole place down and fry every circuit in that demon's mind!" the determined look in her eyes told Rumble she meant that.
"Well, than, let's get it off!"
She slightly tilted her head and looked at him with her big green eyes. "You'll need to be careful with it… you could paralyze me or kill me…"
"Would you rather keep it where it is now?"

The dreamy forest vanished. They were back in the gloomy cave. The beast turned her neck towards Rumble, showing him the device.
"If I remove it, will you get me out of here as well?"
She nodded.
"Well, let's get to it!"

He easily removed the metal cover and gazed into the device. Baffled he looked at some technology he'd never seen before in his life….
"Great!"

Think he can remove that nasty thing and bring havo

c to this hell hole?
Being a demolition expert he'll surely find a way!

Find out in the next chapter!