Transformers: The New Alliance
AN: Well here is the second chapter, and as I said before I am open to having people add in their own personal characters. (ie. If you wanted to be a transformer what kind of vehicle would you want to be, of which side would you like your character to lean (Autobot, Decepticon, or Neutral), what general size would you want to be, note nothing much bigger than Megatron(as he is only just a touch larger than Optimus) and I can't have too many of those). Or if you want to have yourself as a human character join in I am going to be bringing back Jack, Raf, and Miko into the story, plus I will have members of every country's military take part (or at least I'll try to) and if you want your character to be a part of any military you can send that as well, you can send your character's bio through the reviews or you can PM me the bio. ENJOY THE STORY.
Chapter 2: The Legend of Lt. Akalu
It had been two weeks since their visit to the Russian Bunker and gained their new ally, since then every injured transformer have either fully recovered or at least regained consciousness. Akula was accepted as the Combat Operations Commander, Optimus was in charge of morale, and personnel deployment, Megatron was in charge of supplies and engineering. Soundwave and Arcee have woken up but haven't fully recovered yet thanks to the extent of their injuries, but considering their performance in simulation battles they now began to perform together they were fight ready, except there was one problem…Akula
"YOU SUCK YOU PATHETIC EXCUSES OF WARRIORS!" Akula cried obviously frustrated as his Russian accent was coming out even stronger than before.
The simulation battles took place in a small field outside of the Autobot base, every bot participating in these simulation battles had schematics downloaded for stasis guns so that when they shoot each other they will only stun their opponents rather than kill them. However to fully stun an opponent, you needed to get a lethal shot, so it wouldn't do much if you hit an opponent in the arm or leg. While they would lose function of the arm or leg during the match you needed to hit them in the head or the spark in order to be 'killed'.
Megatron and Optimus watched from the top of the Plateau that used to hide the Autobot base, at the sorry display unfolding below them, Akula wasn't a bad leader, but he wasn't a great one either. His tactics always seemed to be lacking as Akula constantly lost ground in each battle, morale of his troops were always low, commands weren't always followed due to the lack of respect to Akula's leadership. Smokescreen, and Bulkhead weren't helping either, they seemed to be testing Akula at every turn, as if they were looking for something, by disobeying orders, and challenging him to punish them.
"I'm beginning to think that this was a bad idea" Optimus sighed as he watched Akula get surrounded as his troops disobeyed orders, fell due to enemy fire, resulting in Akula losing yet again.
"I know, he's lost every simulation battle" Megatron sighed, but continued to watch quizzically as the two sides reset their positions for another simulation, which Akula would undoubtedly lose again.
The number of transformers now totalling a number of 75, the majority of them were Decepticons, while a few Autobot foot soldiers managed to make it to earth after receiving a distress call for help. Even with the offer to Akula in having the majority of fighting capable members, which he refused, still can't even manage to at least take out half of his opponents.
"Even Starscream beat him a number of times" Optimus sighed not baring to watch any further as the next simulation battle started.
Megatron just kept watching, while he did agree that it was sad that Akula was losing the simulations so much losing to Starscream was also a bit of a problem. Starscream was a great tactician but a terrible fighter, and his cowardliness and insecurity had Starscream make several mistakes in past simulations but Akula would still lose almost soundly. Of course despite the amount of losses against Starscream, every time Starscream would try to shove it in Akula's face, Akula would then turn to his seemingly favourite past time beating the slag out of Starscream.
"Think we should start looking for a new Combat Operations Commader?" Optimus asked obviously giving up on Akula despite two weeks of hoping that Akula would drastically improve.
"No" Megatron replied as he watched even more intently as the second simulation was now underway.
"What are you hoping to see Megatron?" Optimus asked. "He's lost every single simulation battle these past two weeks, he's losing the respect of his soldiers. We can't have him as the commander, and we need to come up with another one soon, cause we have no idea when the next assault from the Huntron Clan will appear".
"Akula…Doesn't play by anyone's rules Optimus" Megatron said.
"I know that, but it's causing us to lose" Optimus complained. "Primus, I'd even be happy to have you as the Combat Commander"
"Really now Optimus you're not going to concede to me that easily just because of a lack of success from the neutral party" Megatron teased. Megatron was no stranger to having his subordinates disappoint him, and Megatron hated disappointment, however something was bothering him, something about Akula was bothering him.
Akula never used the same tactics twice in the same battle, order or pattern. He never retreated an inch himself despite other opponents having retreated before when a prolonged battle ensued and they became in danger of being 'captured'. Akula always had his units on the move, and in different combat patterns, and another thing he noticed quite recently about the ending result of all of Akula's losses…He rarely if ever lost a soldier. Plus it was weird to see Soundwave trust Akula so much by always volunteering to join Akula's side when no one else will, which slowly had Arcee doing the same seemingly to see why Soundwave would always choose him.
"Then what do you suggest we do Megatron? We can't have him lead our troops into battle they'll surely be defeated" Optimus exclaimed.
"Give him a bit more time, there's something I want to try and figure out" Megatron said earning a defeated sigh from Optimus.
The Second simulation just ended with yet another loss for Akula, however Akula looked rather pleased with himself, as they continued on with the third, fourth, and fifth simulation, all of which Akula lost again.
All the Cybertronians retired to their bunkers for the night, The Autobots, Akula, Soundwave, Megatron, Starscream, Knock Out and Shockwave would have their barracks in the Darkmount, and the rest would live on the Nemisis.
Bulkhead growled in frustration as he had been on Akula's team 3 of the 5 Simulation battles, and the consistent losses were becoming irritating. "I'm sick of this scrap, why can't we get a new commander, frag it I would even accept Starscream as a commander above him" Bulkhead complained.
"HUSH!" Rachet cried as he rushed over to Bulkhead to shut him up, "Don't say, don't even think it" Rachet growled hoping Starscream didn't hear as to unnecessarily inflate Starscreams ego, while he agreed that Starscream had a better track record than Akula, Rachet disliked Starscream so much that he would accept anyone above Starscream, even Akula.
Arcee just turned to Soundwave as they walked towards the Med Bay, they both still needed to report to the Med Bay as they needed a full check up to ensure that the damage they sustained over two weeks ago was repairing properly.
"So, why do you keep joining Akula's side?" Arcee asked.
Soundwave didn't answer but he seemed to shrug a little obviously not really keen on returning an honest answer. Arcee tried every night they returned to the Med Bay to try and get Soundwave to say something, as if it was suddenly a weird goal of life for her. That and after waking up spending lots of quiet time in the Med Bay with only the silent Decepticon to keep her company, she thought she would go crazy unless she managed to get him talking. While he still won't talk, after a week he will respond to her with physical responses, a pre-recorded audio or a video on his faceplate.
"I don't know why he's still a commander, he's lost every simulation he's been a part of, but I've realized that every time I'm on his side, I get hit a lot less than on the other side" Arcee said softly not really expecting a response.
"Akula, doesn't play by rules" Soundwave answered.
Arcee stared in shock, it was the first time she ever heard Soundwave actually say anything, in fact she was so used to him not talking, that she questioned if he even had a voice. But quickly casting aside her shock to Soundwave's voice she began to ponder what he meant. "What do you mean by rules?" Arcee asked.
"Are you two ready for your check up?" Rachet asked with Knock Out standing next to him.
"Of course" Arcee sighed, she had grown rather tired of these checkups but Rachet said they were necessary so she had to go, what's worse she didn't even get to see if Soundwave would respond to her question, and if he did what he would have said.
HOURS LATER
The checkup was uneventful as usual, being couped up again in the Med Bay with just Soundwave was another nightmare in Arcee's life, she doesn't know if she just got used to the idea of her only company being a Decepticon, one that doesn't talk no less, or if she's just slowly going insane.
Soundwave seemed to have long since gone into recharge for the night but Arcee couldn't sleep, she was just restless tonight, she had no explanation for it other than what Soundwave said had begun to bother her. "What did he mean by rules?" Arcee asked herself quietly so as to not wake Soundwave, unsure of what to make of it. Ever since she woke up a week ago, she had been either watching or participating in these simulation battles, however she was frequently on the losing side simply because she kept choosing Akula's side, why?, cause she couldn't figure out why Soundwave was so eager to join Akula's side.
Arcee tossed and turned on the berth she was on to try and get comfortable in order to recharge, however not seeing Jack in weeks, and with no proper company at night since she had to spend nights in the Med Bay with Soundwave it was a wonder she hadn't gone postal yet.
"I don't understand what it is your trying to accomplish Megatron" Arcee turned hearing Optimus growl at Megatron. "We could be attacked tomorrow and you're still vouching for Akula's leadership?"
"I have my reasons Optimus" Megatron replied calmly, obviously irritating Optimus Prime even further.
Arcee crawled out of the berth in order to get closer so she could hear better. Ducking and hiding behind some empty stretchers and medical equipment Arcee was probably no further than 30 feet from the two mechs.
"There's something you're not telling me Megatron, what is it?" Optimus said demanding an explanation from the silver tyrant.
"I can't give any significant explanations Optimus, however I know that you're going to be even more distrustful if I don't at least give you an answer. And given our current circumstance, we can't have that" Megatron replied with a sneer.
"Well go on" Optimus said.
"What if I was to tell you I may know who Akula was back on Cybertron" Megatron started.
"And how does that concern his current position in leadership?" Optimus asked.
"As I said before Optimus, Akula doesn't play by our rules, what he's attempting to accomplish in the simulations is very different than what we're expecting of him" Megatron replied.
"Megatron too?" Arcee breathed remembering that was the exact same thing Soundwave had said. This was starting to get interesting, she was beginning to think that Soundwave was just messing with her, but now that Megatron is saying the same thing it gave her more reason to believe that there was something about Akula she hadn't realized yet.
"How can I be sure you're not messing with me Megatron?" Optimus said distrust oozing from his words.
Arcee was wondering the same thing, but this was Megatron, he wasn't one to waste time 'messing' with the Autobots unless it gave him a huge advantage. However they were no longer at war with each other with this current truce, and the Decepticons alone couldn't stand against another wave of the Huntron Clan. So what was so unique about Akula that Megatron was willing to put that mech in charge again and again.
"You haven't noticed anything strange about Akula's performance?" Megatron asked.
"Other than that he keeps losing every simulation battle, not really" Optimus answered.
"What if I was to tell you that Akula in another way was actually winning those simulation battles" Megatron said.
Arcee was a little shocked to hear this, she couldn't make any sense of what Megatron had just said, 'winning in another way', Arcee guessed that Megatron meant that Akula was actually messing with them and losing intentionally in order to be kicked off from the leadership position. She remembers that he never really wanted nor took well to the position, heck the only thing she like most other bots liked about Akula was his daily dose of beating the slag out of Starscream for an apology, for something he did over two weeks ago.
"What do you mean by that?" Optimus asked.
"Haven't you noticed that Akula, on average, loses ten times less of his men in the simulations than everyone he's faced.
"What?" Optimus said raising and eyebrow, that was a rather strange thing to be using as a base of trust in Akula's leadership, and Arcee for one was quick to agree.
"Akula loses ten times less in every battle he's fought" Megatron restated. "I've noticed other things too, he never uses the same tactic twice in a row or in the same pattern, he never retreats, he always, always, has his men moving and fighting"
Optimus only remained quiet as he quickly remembered every battle he watched. He quickly came to the realization that he had been so focused on the outcome of the battles he hadn't realized that Akula was actually employing unique strategies. But there was still one thing that plagued Optimus's mind.
"So he may lose less men, and employs very unique strategies, how does this make you still support his leadership?" Optimus asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.
"Soundwave approached me three days ago" Megatron began.
"So he wasn't just keeping it to himself" Arcee said a little more loudly than she wanted.
"What was that?" Megatron growled.
Arcee quickly covered her mouth realizing that they heard her mumble. She quietly retreated further back into the Med Bay as Optimus and Megatron made their way closer to where Arcee was. Arcee felt trapped she wasn't able to move fast enough to move any were further away from the two big mechs and getting caught.
Arcee suddenly felt two long tentacle like objects wrap around her mouth, upper body, and torso and quickly yet somehow quietly pulled her away out of her hiding spot just as both mechs looked the other way. Arcee felt herself sliding across the floor and deeper into the Med Bay, as she felt herself slowing down she felt the tentacles pick her up and set her down gently on her berth.
"How?" Arcee breathed as she looked to her right she saw Soundwave still lying there, the two tentacles retreating into his chest, and one finger over the spot on his visor where his mouth would be, telling her to stay quiet.
Arcee looked back towards the front of the Med Bay to see the exact same spot she had been only moments ago now being inspected by Megatron. A wave of relief washed over Arcee as she realized that she was safe, now that she was where she was supposed to be instead of sneaking around, and strangely enough it was thanks to Soundwave.
"I guess it's nothing" Optimus said noticing that the next area to inspect had two bots recharging in it, or so he thought.
"What are you two doing up so late?" a voice in a heavy Russian accent said softly behind the two mechs.
Both Optimus and Megatron turned around and saw Akula standing there his face showing that he didn't have a care in the world, he had no extra work to accomplish, and was ready to resume regular activities tomorrow if they still wanted him to.
"We were just discussing what we should do to help prepare for the next Huntron Clan attack" Optimus said quickly.
Megatron said nothing to prevent Akula thinking that something suspicious was up that the two of them were somehow talking about two different things. Akula just looked at the two, Optimus had never been the most graceful liar, but either it was enough, or Akula didn't care enough to dig further.
"Very well, I'm going out for a quick patrol, you two need to recharge" Akula said as he slowly walked down the hall towards the entrance to the hidden base.
Both Optimus and Megatron just looked at each other and left down the hall towards the main hub of the base. Arcee only watched as Akula disappeared down the dimly lit tunnel leading to the outside world.
Arcee sat up to get a better look only to see Soundwave already chasing after the lone Russian bot.
"Wait, hold up" Arcee whispered as she struggled to keep up with Soundwave without making too much noise.
Arcee followed Soundwave down the long hall until they finally reached the outside, peering through the darkness only for Soundwave to barely see the slow walking figure of Akula in the distance. Soundwave led Arcee down a path several meters away from Akula in hopes that he wouldn't see them. Arcee just watched Akula as he seemed to sway his head back and forth scanning the area around him. Akula eventually came to an outcropping of large rocks, while it provided excellent area to hide for Soundwave and Arcee, they had just as difficult a time watching him without giving their position away.
Arcee crawled closer until she managed to find a small partition between the rows of rocks that gave her a fair view of everything that Akula was doing. Akula however just seemed to stand there doing nothing. Acree watched silently as Akula started to flex his arms, and began to cycle through his weapons. First a couple of hand cannons, clawed fingers, and then two wrist blades, Akula then took up a fighting position then began to shadow box with his wrist blades. Soundwave finally found a good positon as well and watched as Akula began to slowly move faster, and more viciously, followed with even more complicated and stylish moves.
Arcee and Soundwave began to notice that Akula was almost turning this into something like an eloquent dance of sorts. Every move he made was with purpose, neither his arms nor legs never swayed from their given commands. Music seemed to begin to play in both Arcee's and Soundwave's heads as Akula continued his performance with his blades, then his fists, then with his plasma cannons, and back again. It was as if a lone warrior was standing against impossible odds, every movement meant to take down a single enemy with a single blow.
Arcee leaned forward to see better only to have her hand slip, and slap the rock below it. Soundwave acted almost immediately grabbing Arcee and leaping back as far away from the position Arcee was in as possible.
Akula immediately flipped around bringing out his plasma cannon and fired in the direction of the sound that Arcee accidentally made and fired a single shot. The blast devastated the rock Arcee was behind and damaged some of the rock behind it. The sound of the blast managed to disguise Arcee and Soundwave's landing so as to not give away their position.
"I know you're there" Akula cried to the darkness. "Both of you, come out"
Arcee gasped, now realizing that Akula knew that both of them were there they weren't sure what to do next.
"Or do I need to flush you both out?" Akula said in a dangerous tone as he readied his plasma cannon again in the exact direction that Arcee and Soundwave were hiding.
Soundwave stood up slowly revealing himself to Akula, Arcee watched for a moment afraid that Akula was going to shoot the moment Soundwave revealed himself, but no shot came.
"And now the second one" Akula sighed.
Arcee quickly stood up dusting herself off, and showed herself to Akula, Akula immediately withdrew his plasma cannon and just stared at the two.
"You know if you just wanted to watch me practice you only needed to ask" Akula sighed in a light tone.
"We, huh, we just saw you leaving and wondered where you were going?" Arcee said trying desperately to come up with an excuse to explain why they were following him. While it wasn't a total lie about their curiosity, their motivation was quite different.
"Nice try" Akula said. "But your hiding something and I want to know what it is"
Arcee gulped, she wasn't sure how to break it to Akula that they were both curious and suspicious of him so they followed him to find out his secrets.
"I may know who you are" Soundwave said earning an interested look from Akula, Arcee however stared at Soundwave considering how blunt and unafraid he was about saying it.
"And, who might I be if not Akula, a commander of the Russian Army?" Akula asked, challenging Soundwave to prove himself right or wrong.
"After seeing your moves, there is only one person you can be" Soundwave said. "Lt. Akalu"
"How do you know that name?" Akula asked. Akula's face immediately turned into a frown upon hearing that name.
'BINGO!' Arcee thought seeing Akula's reaction, that obviously struck a chord, however whether or not that meant that Akula was this Akalu that Soundwave spoke of or not was yet to be seen, however Arcee quickly noticed how close the spelling and pronunciation of Akula and Akalu were.
"Akalu, the deadliest commando in the Cybertronian army before the war, and a lethal strategist" Soundwave said, never being a bot of many words seemed to summarize Akula's legacy in the fewest words possible.
"For a communications officer, and an information gatherer, I'm not surprised you know about that, but how did you know that was me?" Akula asked.
'SO HE IS AKALU!' Arcee mentally screamed.
"Your moves, and fighting style" Soundwave said. "And your simulation strategies"
'Simulation strategies?' Arcee thought going quickly from excited, to confused.
"And what did you notice about my strategies?" Akula asked.
"10 kills to 1 loss average. Constantly gives ground to allow more unit movement. Consistently loses the simulation battles to simulate a shifting of the battlefield, not interested in changing the scoreboard" Soundwave said.
Arcee was dumbfounded, while she did notice that while playing on Akula's side resulted in her moving, A LOT she might add, she also noticed she was getting more simulated kills, but what she didn't notice was that Akula was doing all for the sake of playing his own little game by his own rules. 'So that's what Soundwave meant when he said Akula doesn't play by our rules' Arcee thought.
"I didn't think I was being that obvious" Akula said.
"I have superior analysis skills plus you weren't trying to hide it" Soundwave said.
'What a way to gloat' Arcee thought.
Akula paused for a moment as he attempted to process what Soundwave was saying, but a smile appearing on his face meant that he at least generally understood what Soundwave meant.
"Fair point" Akula sighed.
"But if you're such a great commander before the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, why didn't you join either side?" Arcee asked.
"Not every mech, or femme joined in that war, some did decide to flee in order to not choose a side" Akula answered.
"What!? But how could you not choose a side, the Decepticons, th-they're…" Arcee tried to argue however Akula interrupted.
"I wasn't going to be the arbiter of destruction in a children's squabble" Akula said quickly dropping the Russian accent. As he dropped the Russian accent Arcee began to recall the voice of the bot they once knew as Akalu. Her memories took her back eons where she once heard Akalu speaking, on how to fight for what one believed in and to never alienate others simply because of their views or struggles.
"I-I, I remember you" Arcee said as the memories flooded back to her. "y-you spoke to my school one time, you were speaking on your job and why you did it"
"Ah, so now you remember me" Akula sighed. "What is it you want to say now?"
"H-how is it that you could abandon your own kind?" Arcee said. "You spoke so strongly of defending the peace, and the lives of all Cybertronians yet, when the war broke out you were nowhere to be seen"
"My job was no longer valid when Cybertron literally split in two and began to fight itself" Akula answered turning away.
"BUT I HAD SUCH RESPECT FOR YOU!" Arcee cried. "YOU BETRAYED EVERYONE BY ABANDONING YOUR HOME!"
"Not everyone" Akula sighed, Arcee barely heard what he said but it didn't matter to her anyway she was so riled up she didn't care anymore.
"You could have at least tried to stop it" Arcee cried her voice dying down a little as she quickly began to feel herself overcome with emotion. "Why didn't you stop it?"
"I wouldn't stop it because I alone, or even with hundreds of like-minded bots couldn't stop an entire world from tearing itself apart" Akula said turning his head back to the two Cybertronians. "My job and purpose quickly disappeared when everybody proved that they only wanted war, and thus Lt. Akalu died with the world of Cybertron"
Arcee didn't know how to reply to that, even if she didn't understand what was going through Akula's mind at that time she still couldn't see how that excused him from abandoning both his home world and his identity even if he didn't want to fight what he thought was a pointless war.
"None of this matters anymore" Akula sighed.
"What do you mean?" Arcee asked,
"We're fighting the Huntron Clan and we're resuming training tomorrow, you both should go back to recharge" Akula sighed readopting his Russian accent.
"But" Arcee began however Akula interrupted her again.
"I said go back to recharge, there is nothing more to discuss about this, as I said Akalu died eons ago, the only one left is Akula" Akula said sternly his optics conveying a sense of seriousness to the two bots who eventually yielded and turned to leave.
Arcee and Soundwave looked back to see Akula just standing there his back facing them, seemingly in deep thought as he looked up to the stars above. Arcee and Soundwave resumed their trek back to the base, and once they were out of ear shot Akula began to whisper to himself.
"I thought I had left that entire world behind me, and Akalu I was sure was forgotten, disappearing into the pages of history" Akula sighed talking to himself. "Primus, must you torment me with my past life so much?" Akula asked outloud.
Back at Base
"So that's how it is" Megatron sighed after watching the whole event that transpired between Arcee, Soundwave, and Akula.
"So he's Akalu" Optimus sighed.
"What do you know of Akalu?" Arcee asked.
"He was the most powerful commando in the Cybertronian military, he was also in charge of strategy and the Counsel's safety" Optimus said.
"So he just decided not to join?" Arcee asked.
"He lead a group of bots that didn't want to participate in the war, how many wasn't clear, he always was able to stay a few steps ahead of us, not even Shockwave, nor Arachnid were able to track them down, when I was looking for them" Megatron answered.
"He led others to stay out of the war?" Arcee asked out loud. "Why would he do that?"
"I understand your concern in that it seems like Akalu abandoned his responsibility to Cybertron by not choosing a side, but understand it was his job to keep the peace in Cybertron and having a war break out means that he failed his job, and unwilling to choose a side in a war he failed to prevent he decided that he should leave." Optimus said.
Arcee was convinced enough for now, but that didn't mean she still liked the idea of accepting Akula's decision. Though Soundwave, Megatron, and Optimus didn't seem to be too concerned about Akula's past life choices.
"But now that we know why Akula keeps losing each simulation battle, I have a suggestion for tomorrow's training" Optimus said turning to Megatron.
"And what did you have in mind Optimus?" Megatron asked.
The Next Day
"GET DOWN!" A Decepticon soldier cried as a stasis blast hit the ground near him sending up a small plume of dust.
Arcee ducked and weaved between rocks returning some stasis shots of her own while failing to hit anything she was forcing the opposing team to stay in their current position.
"Arcee, take your team east" Akula ordered over Arcee's ear piece. While Arcee wasn't over the previous night, she remembered that Akula was her commander and she needed to at least respect his command if nothing else.
"Head East!" Arcee cried to her team as she began to run eastward, her team close behind.
"Soundwave, Horseshoe formation NOW!" Akula called in Soundwave's earpiece.
"Horseshoe formation NOW!" Soundwave repeated the message to his team hiding in the rocks further south of Arcee's team. Soundwave's team quickly got into the indicated formation and waited for further instructions.
"Shockwave, I need long range fire north of Soundwave's positon" Akula ordered.
"Roger" Shockwave replied as he began to fire his large cannon ahead of Soundwave's positon.
Bulkhead took cover as large stasis blast came from the south, while he couldn't see how far south, he only knew that meant that the opposing team was much further south than he remembered.
"They're retreating, let's go!" Bulkhead cried as he lead his team south to chase after what he thought was one of the retreating teams.
"BULKHEAD NO!" Ultra Magnus cried as he quickly realized what Bulkhead was heading into.
"Soundwave Now!" Akula cried telling Soundwave to spring the trap now.
Bulkhead immediately found himself surrounded on three sides by Soundwave's team, "That's not good" Bulkhead said as he realized the predicament he was in.
Soundwave's team began to fire on Bulkhead's team, downing several of Bulkhead's team almost immediately.
"BULKHEAD I SAID FALLBACK!" Ultra Magnus cried again trying to get Bulkhead to fall back.
"Not good" Blukhead said as every last member of his team was taken down except him. Bulkhead turned and ran, but was closely pursued by Soundwave's group.
"KEEP RUNNING!" Ultra Magnus cried as he and his team layed down covering fire for Bulkhead.
Bulkhead was only several meters from the sheltered rocks when one of Soundwave's blasts hit Bulkhead square in the back of the head, and he was frozen in stasis.
"NO!" Ultra Magnus cried as he retreated his head behind a rock, "That idiot" Ultra Magnus sighed.
From far off Starscream was watching the entire outcome, only he was beginning to feel the slow creeping effect of defeat close in, he had taken out so few of the opposing teams and was no were near taking Akula so as to win the match. So far he had lost a few men here and there, but now he just lost Bulkhead and his entire team, at least Ultra Magnus was in the way so Akula didn't just charge forward.
"This is going to be trouble" Starscream sighed. Soundwave was facing off against Ultra Magnus and were trading shots back and forth now. "Let's see, Knockout and Rachet are both medics and not the greatest of fighters though Knockout is a better fighter than Rachet, so they won't be very active, plus Knockout is guarding my position here so he can't move but Rachet's can. Soundwave is still preoccupied with Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead is down for the count, and Arcee's team has disappeared. Shockwave is acting as long range support for Akula's team so he's not going anywhere anytime soon. Bumble Bee is guarding my western flank, and Wheeljack is guarding my eastern flank. That leaves three of Akula's teams available while it only leaves me two to work with, but we're holding a defensive position, I can't be careless about what I do next."
Akula however already knew what he was doing, in fact he knew since the very beginning, Starscream was falling into his trap quite nicely. "Rachet, go with comrade Arcee and attack their western flank"
"Got it" Rachet replied to Akula's command.
"Will do" Arcee replied.
"Comrade Smokescreen, I need you to put pressure on Ultra Magnus and Starscreams eastern flank, can you do?" Akula asked knowing that this was a big task, but after getting to know Smokescreen's character he knew that if anyone was up for it, it would be Smokescreen.
"Got it" Smokescreen replied obviously not really sure what he thought of following Akula's command, however Optimus said to listen to him at least this once so Smokescreened listened.
"Soon it will be my turn to join the fray" Akula said, joining was risky cause if he was hit then it was game over for his team, but however Akula liked playing risky games, heck one of his favourite games aside from beating the ever living slag out of Starscream was Russian Roulette, something about the concept of 'all or nothing' just got his energon flowing. But even if he didn't like gambling, he knew that with roughly the same forces even if he did just take out Bulkhead, Rachet and Arcee were only close to comparing to Bulkhead so taking him out only gave him a slight advantage, he would need to come out himself to add extra pressure on Starscream and make him truly desperate.
Arcee and Rachet found Bumble Bee and began to open fire on Bumble Bee's positon, Bumble Bee responded by firing back, and hiding behind several rocks with the rest of his team.
Wheeljack found himself coming under fire from part of Smokescreen's group and then Smokescreen himself. Returning fire and slowly trying to make his way towards Smokescreen in order to take the young soldier out. Wheeljack had only just gotten used to working with the entire team, but knowing that he alone would never be able to do anything against the Huntron Clan he needed to adjust quickly.
Akula saw Smokescreen and Wheeljack getting ever closer with each other, but with only half his team and him to face Wheeljack and his team Smokescreen wouldn't last long. But thankfully Soundwave was almost done with Ultra Magnus's team.
"Comrade Soundwave, I'll take out Ultra Magnus, take what's left of your team and Smokescreen's team and surround Wheeljack" Akula ordered.
"Going" Smokescreen replied as he quickly relayed the message to his team, and his team began to move towards Smokescreen and Wheeljack.
"Where do you think you're going!" Ultra Magnus cried as he saw Soundwave and his team start heading east towards Wheeljack's location.
"Oh no you don't" Ultra Magnus said as he tried to chase after them only for a stasis shot to fly past him and nail one of his team members.
"Why chase after the peons when you can fight me comrade?" Akula called taunting the large Mech.
'He's taking a huge risk by coming out himself' Ultra Magnus thought. 'But if I take him out now, I'll win the match'
Akula quickly retreated behind some rocks as he then radioed Shockwave. "Comrade Shockwave engage Starscream"
"Roger" Shockwave replied as he fired a number of shots in Starscreams direction.
Starscream was watching every one of his units come under pressure then he saw the pink stasis shots from Shockwave's cannon headed right for him. "WHAT!?" Starscream cried as he ducked and dived to avoid being hit by the stasis shots.
While it wasn't against the rules to aim for the opposing teams commander at any point in the game, there were so many obstacles down low, and the huge potential for return fire from being higher up it wouldn't have done anything, except having Soundwave take out Bulkhead's team, and whittle down Ultra Magnus's team who are now solely focused on Akula meant that Shockwave could fire with little to no repercussions.
"GAH! Starscream to Knockout, go out there and take out Shockwave!" Starscream cried.
"Very well commander" Knockout replied as he advanced to reinforce Ultra Magnus's group and hopefully stop Shockwave from firing on their commander.
Akula could tell his plan was working cause Shockwave notified him that Kockout's group was on their way there. "Then come and reinforce my position comrade, I will need it" Akula said as he ducked from another stasis shot from one of Ultra Magnus's remaining two team mates. Shockwave quickly left his sniping position and rushed to help Akula as quickly as possible.
"Comrade Arcee, detach from you're group and hunt down Starscream, he's wide open now" Akula called over his earpiece to the two wheeled femme.
"With pleasure" Arcee replied as she broke off from both her and Rachet's group and proceeded to try and hunt down Starscream.
"Comrade Soundwave it's almost done, how far are you from completely defeating Wheeljack's team?" Akula asked.
"…Almost done" Soundwave replied by relaying part of Akula's message back to him.
"Excellent comrade, I need you to break off and help Arcee take out Starscream" Akula ordered.
"I can take him on myself" Arcee argued over the radio.
"That may be comrade Arcee, but let's not take any chances Starscream is a coward, but he's no fool, Soundwave reinforce her" Akula ordered again.
Wheeljack noticed that Soundwave broke off alone and began to head towards Starscream's position. "I never thought I'd be worried for that slagging seeker" Wheeljack said as he attempted to chase after Soundwave only for a shot from Smokescreen to stop Wheeljack from leaving his position.
Starscream slowly edged himself out of his hiding place, Shockwave had stopped firing, but Starscream couldn't be too careful. After all first simulation battle in the day and he was strategically being pushed around, he lost Bulkhead's team within a matter of minutes and got fired on less than ten minutes later, and Akula was still controlling the tide of the battle. Every move Akula made was forcing Starscream's hand, or forcing him to be unable to move at all.
"This is getting out of hand, I need to retreat myself or I may be subject to direct attack soon" Starscream sighed.
"TO LATE FOR THAT!" A familiar female voice cried as Starscream looked to his side to see Arcee charging after him.
Starscream gasped as he transformed his hand into a stasis blaster and fired at Arcee who ducked for cover. Starscream began to retreat further back as no one was allowed to transform, he ducked into a small outcropping of rocks cause he knew that on foot he would never outrun the femme.
Arcee jumped out of her hiding place and fired at Starscream, however with little cover between her and Starscream, and not being allowed to transform left her with little options other than to shoot it out with Starscream.
Starscream knew he had the upper hand, he had much better cover than Arcee did at least for the moment, but if he could get a good shot in he could take her out and make a run for it.
Arcee ducked deeper behind the rock she was hiding by because Starscream seemed intent on destroying the rock with stasis blasts. Arcee crouched and dived barely making it to new cover before her old cover was destroyed.
Starscream resumed his attacks, with Arcee returning a couple of shots of her own. Arcee whipped out of cover to fire a couple at Starscream, but Starscream hit her arm before she could fire paralyzing it.
"Gotcha" Starscream said as he readied another shot.
Clank!
Starscream felt something tap the back of his head. Starscream turned slowly only to find himself staring down the barrel of Soundwave's stasis cannon.
"Uh" Starscream sighed knowing that there was no getting out of this unless he surrendered. Starscream looked back to see Arcee approaching him with her second stasis gun out and trained on him. Starscream dropped his head in defeat, "I surrender" he sighed.
A few minutes later
After everyone got word that Starscream had surrendered Akula rushed over to find Starscream still surrounded by Soundwave and Arcee, although Arcee still had her stasis gun trained on him.
"Comrade Arcee, what are you doing? The simulation is over" Akula asked.
"I'm considering still shooting him" Arcee said through gritted teeth, while she had no intent on killing him, but she still had a bone to pick with him for killing Cliffjumper.
"Ah but comrade Arcee, torturing him is my job" Akula sighed.
"What!? I lost the match and you're still going to beat the slag out of me?" Starscream cried in horror.
"I'm seriously considering it, you still never apologized for calling me a dog since we first met" Akula said in a dangerous tone.
"Ok, ok I'm sorry, just don't please crush me!" Starscream cried desperate as to not get another sound beating.
"No, it's been too long and you also bragged about beating me so many times in the past" Akula said with a mischievous look on his face.
"B-b-but I surrendered, you are obviously my better, and I said I was sorry" Starscream argued.
"Not good enough, you need to beg" Akula answered his mischievous grin growing wider.
"Y-you're kidding right?" Starscream asked sounding rather hopeful.
"DID I STUTTER OR SOMETHING, BARK LIKE A DOG YOU HIGH-HEELED PANSY!" Akula yelled earning a squeal of terror from Starscream.
Meanwhile on the top of the Autobot base Megatron looked over to Optimus who both were listening to the entire conversation over the radio and said. "Yup I like him"
"Me too" Optimus replied with a smile growing on his face. Akula had just soundly defeated Starscream within 12 minutes and is also getting him to recant all his declarations of success.
Meanwhile out on a distant planet between Earth and Cybertron
"This is a message from Optimus Prime, the war is on hold, Autobots and Decepticons need to come to Earth, there is a new threat to us and we need everyone we can get" A recorded voice message played in a small parked ship with two bots onboard.
"Chromia did you hear that?" A small femme bot asked the one she called Chromia.
"I did, does that mean Arcee survived Elita?" Chromia asked.
"It's possible, but what does he mean that the war is on hold?" Elita asked.
"No idea but it's definitely Optimus's voice, we should go there and ask him" Chromia answered.
"I guess but it'll be a while before we get there" Elita replied, "Do you think we'll be attacked along the way?"
"I hope not" Chromia answered as she and her sister Elita took their spots in the cockpit and began to bring the ship alive and into orbit. "We have a number of bots in stasis that need medical attention" Chromia said glancing back at a couple of pods were two bots remained in stasis due to injury.
"Let's go" Elita said as she shifted a lever and the ship shot forward and into space towards earth.
Meanwhile on a distant planet past Earth
The heads of the Huntron Clan was gathering together to discuss what to do next for the up coming hunt. Twelve of them gathered in a dark stone room and began to discuss who to send.
"So who should we send?" A tall femme asked.
"I was thinking of sending Dorgon, he's been itching to hunt something recently" A broad shouldered mech replied.
"No we need to send someone inexperienced, we're giving too many opportunities to the experienced leaving little to the inexperienced" A second mech argued.
"Then we should send Varax, he's young and inexperienced" A third mech said earning a bunch of chatterings from the remaining bots.
"We should send more than one" A second femme bot added. "With other Cybertronians on that planet it will be extra dangerous for them"
"Very well we shall send Varax with a small team of chosen hunters and they shall be enough to handle the Cybertronians" the third mech agreed.
"Are we all in agreement?" A mech sitting at the head of the group asked outloud. With no voices of disapproval the leader smiled in excitement. "Very well then, everyone chose a young inexperienced hunter and we'll send them with their cyber dogs to hunt".
End Chapter
OK finally done, I had a little trouble getting this started as it didn't quite flow like I had wanted it to, but it was difficult to get all that I wanted to get in to fit properly. Anyway, I'm still taking any possible bios from anyone who has a transformer character that they would like to have added. Just send me their vehicle form or animal form if you want a predacon, the general color schematic of their body and vehicle, their size but remember I don't want anyone bigger than Megatron at this point right now, and send me their ideological affiliations whether they be Autobot, Decepticon, or Neutral. Note again that I may have more neutral bots joining in the future who are more familiar with Akula than either the Autobots or Decepticons but I haven't worked out the details yet.
Other than that PLEASE REVIEW I LOVE REVIEWS! But no flaming please.