DISCLAIMER: Transformers is owned by Hasbro and Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Nickelodeon
Transformers: Avatar Chronicles
Chapter 12: The Runaway
The Gaang made their next stop in the Fire Fountain Village. In an isolated area, Aang stood between Katara and Toph, both in combat stances, and Aang was wearing a blindfold.
"Okay, I'm ready for some training!" Aang proclaimed as he assumed a fighting stance and stomps on the ground, sensing what is around him through earthbending much like how Toph 'sees.' Toph goes first by bending several columns of earth his way, but Aang dodges them with ease. Katara then attacked with a water whip and Aang evaded this as well, recoiling it back onto her and hurling a boulder towards Toph, who caught it with one hand.
"Good job Twinkle Toes!" Toph complimented. "Visualize, then attack!" She then propelled the boulder to Aang, who burrowed underground to avoid it...only for the boulder to hit Katara instead.
"Maybe you should take your own advice Toph," Katara angrily suggested.
"What's the matter?" Toph asked obnoxiously. "Can't handle some dirt Madame Fussy Britches?" Katara's response: drenching Toph with a wave of water.
"Oh, sorry, did I splash you mud slug?" Furious, the two of them launch themselves at each other on ramps of ice and rock, colliding and falling to the ground.
"Are we taking a break?" Aang asked, still blindfolded. Meanwhile, Sokka, smirking, rushed towards Aang, yelling.
"YAAAAAAH SNEAK ATTACK!" he yelled, only for Aang to bend a column of earth behind him, making Sokka collide with it. He then removed his blindfold.
"Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell out loud," Aang said. Meanwhile, Katara and Toph were...for lack of a better term...mud wrestling.
"Hungry for a mud pie?" Toph remarked before kicking mud at Katara's face.
"Ugh! I'll give you a mud pie!" Katara answered before mudbending Toph to the ground, only for her to spring back up and earthbend Katara into the air. They were about to go again when Breakaway stepped in.
"Guys, we're suppose to be training Aang!" Breakaway reminded. Katara then got up, salvaging what little dignity she had and walked to Aang.
"Pupil, I believe we've had enough training for today," she said before walking away.
"While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!" Toph drisively suggested.
"Yeah!" Sokka and Aang both said.
"I'm in!" Breakaway added.
*QUE TRANSFORMERS PRIME OPENING THEME*
The four of them then walked into Fire Fountain Village while messenger hawks constantly flew about.
"Look at all those messenger hawks," Sokka said. "You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I wouldn't have to talk to anyone... I could just send them messages!"
"I gotta say, I like the idea of not talking to you," Toph joked, to which Breakaway couldn't help but snicker slightly, which earned him a scowl from Sokka.
"Sorry," Breakaway said.
"So guys, what are we gonna get with our last silver piece?" Aang asked.
"We can get more money, right there," Toph answered before pointing to a street below, where a Combaticon named 'Swindle' fleeced a crowd of Fire Nation citizens with a shell game.
"Swindle?" Breakaway asked. "What's he doing here?"
"This is where you seeing people are at a disadvantage," Toph said. "Everyone guesses wrong because this Swindle guy moves the rock at the last minute, but I can feel it with my earthbending."
"Why am I not surprised?" Breakaway asked. "Swindle'll do anything just to con everyone he sees. He could even con Megatron if he wanted to."
The group decided to give it a try and descended to the street below where the firebenders gathered around the table where Swindle was. Swindle was busy counting the silver pieces that one of the citizens had lost when he spots Toph, acting innocent, and notices she was blind.
"Jackpot," Swindle whispered to himself. "Why hello there little girl, would you like to play a friendly game?"
"How can I possibly play?" Toph asked, again acting innocent. "I'm blind."
"You don't have to see to be lucky kid," Swindle responded. Toph then sat down, feeling the table and the shells as if she actually was blind, before placing her last silver piece on the table.
'Oh, this is gonna be too easy,' Swindle thought as he smirked at Toph's actions before lifting the shells, showing the small rock was in the middle. He then placed the shells back on the table and started to move them, using his techniques to move the rock to another shell, but Toph simply smirked, knowing where the rock really was, and pointed to the shell in her left. Swindle then lifted the shell to reveal that the rock was indeed there, slightly surprised.
"Flamey-o Toph!" Aang exclaimed as Swindle handded Toph a bag of money.
"Hm...fancy guessing little girl," Swindle said. "You have quite a bit of luck on your side. Wanna see just how lucky you can get?"
"How?" Toph asked before Swindle noticed the energon glowing on Sokka's sword.
"That's a fine sword your friend has there," Swindle said. "How about you toss it in, and I'll put up twenty silver pieces against it. Deal?" Sokka was about to say something before Toph immediately grabbed it and handed it over, much to his dismay.
"I'll do it for fourty silver pieces," Toph answered while Sokka's mouth just hung open.
"Alright, fourty silver pieces it is," Swindle responded before shuffling the shells again, this time much faster, and this time, he moved the rock to a secret compartment in his wrist, attempting to remove it from the game, but unknown to even the master Decepti-Con, Toph earthbended it back inside one of the shells in time. She then pointed to the one in the middle.
"Tsk tsk tsk, sorry little girl, but-" Swindle began as he lifted up the shell, but the rock was still there. Swindle just looked at the shell and started stammering, his optics widened and his jaw hanging.
"I won!" Toph exclaimed as she grabbed the money and Sokka quickly grabbed his sword before the four of them went off.
Back at the Gaang's campsite, the four of them returned with provisions in their arms. Breakaway was laughing all the way there.
"Oh man, you should've seen the look on Swindle's face when he lifted up that shell Toph!" he said. Katara was meanwhile stirring some water in a couldron when Breakaway's laughing startled her slightly and she turned to see the others' new possessions.
"Where did you guys get the money to buy all this stuff?" she asked.
"Toph got us money," Aang answered. "She scammed a Decepticon in town who moves shells around all sneaky-like."
"I guess you could say he got Decepti-Conned!" Sokka remarked, but only Warpath laughed at his joke.
"She used earthbending to win the game," Breakaway explained.
"Ah, so she cheated," Katara responded, not enthused at Toph's actions.
"Hey, I only cheated because he was cheating," Toph argued. "I cheated a cheater. What's wrong with that?"
"Besides, Swindle had it comi-" Breakaway began, only to be interupted by Ironhide.
"SWINDLE!?" he exclaimed. "You mean to tell me a Combaticon's on this planet!?"
"What's a Combaticon?" Katara asked.
"They're a team of five dangerous Decepticon commandos," Ironhide answered.
"Oh come on Hide, it's just Swindle," Breakaway argued. "I'd understand if it were Brawl or Onslaught, but Swindle can't cause much damage."
"I gotta agree with Breakaway," Warpath said. "The only real danger would be if his four Combaticon buddies were with him."
"Still, this isn't something we should make a habit of doing," Katara said.
"Why?" Toph asked. "Because it's fun, and you hate fun?"
"I don't hate fun!" Katara indignantly responded before desperately taking Momo and draping him on top of her head. "See? Fun!" Momo just slided off her head with an annoyed squawk before Aang stood up.
"Katara, I'll personally make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams," he said before lifting up his headband to reveal his arrow and bowed to her.
Apparently Avatar promises aren't worth much though as the second the four of them went back to town, the scamming resumed as Toph used her earthbending to rig a dice game, win a strongman competition and extort a merchant after tricking him into thinking he ran her over with his carriage.
Back at the campsite, Katara and Ironhide had discovered what the four of them had been doing.
"Look, guys, I don't know if we should keep doing this, something might happen if we keep this up," Ironhide said.
"I don't know what's getting to you Hide, but could you please lighten up?" Toph asked before turning to Katara. "You too sourpuss."
"Oh, I'm sorry, maybe we should be more like you?" Katara responded. "Like some wild child?"
"Yeah, maybe!" Toph responded. "Maybe then, you'd see how great we have it. I mean, look at us! We're traveling around the world, making easy money, having fun, with no parents to tell us what to do."
"Are you doing this because of your parents Toph?" Ironhide asked.
"Probably Ironhide," Katara said. "They were controlling over her, so she ran away, and now she doesn't act like they don't exist. She acts like she hates them, but I don't think she does. I think she just feels guilty."
"I DO hate them!" Toph immediately responded.
"Toph, do you miss your parents?" Ironhide asked, trying to help her friend.
"Look, I ran away to help Aang, okay!?" Toph responded.
"You know what, it doesn't matter," Katara bluntly said. "These scams put us all at risk, and we don't need that."
"She's probably right, we already have Dreadwing after us," Ironhide responded.
"I'll stop when I want to stop, and not when you tell me!" Toph yelled before walking away and earthbending a stone tent, sealing herself away from the others.
"Well, I'm off to spend some money," Sokka said, breaking the tension as he stood up.
"I'll come with you Sokka," Warpath said.
"See you guys later," Sokka said as he and Warpath walked to town.
When they went to town, Sokka and Warpath went up to fulfill Sokka's dream and bought a messenger hawk.
"I still don't see why we need a messenger hawk Sokka," Warpath said. "We could always just send Breakaway if we want to send a message."
"Yeah, but this is a much safer way if we don't want to get caught by the Fire Nation or the Cons," Sokka said.
"Hmmm..." Warpath said as he placed a hand on his chin. "You do have a point."
"Anyway, Hawky, welcome to Team Avatar," Sokka said to his new pet. "My name's Sokka, and I'm your new owner, and as such, I should warn you that there's already a lemur in our group, so I don't want to see any fighting." He then poked the hawk and...started baby talking at it. "Good wittle messenger Hawky, who's got pwetty feathers?"
"Uh, Sokka, what the fra-" Warpath said, confused, before something came up at the crack of his optic and he used the treads on his feet to roll back to a wanted poster of Toph. "Uh-oh, Sokka!" Sokka then walked back to where Warpath was and his eyes widened when he saw the poster. He immediately grabbed it as Hawky squawked.
"You're right Hawky, this is bad," Sokka said.
The two of them walked back to the campsite, with Hawky perched on Sokka's shoulder, and walked up to Toph as she sits down, counting money, while Aang and Katara were busy practicing waterbending.
"Toph, when Warpath and I were in town, he found something that you're not gonna like," Sokka said as he unfurled the wanted poster, obviously forgetting something.
"Well, it SOUNDS like a sheet of paper, but I guess you two dunderheads are referring to what's ON the poster," Toph responded, reminding the two of them that she's blind.
"It's a wanted poster, of you," Warpath explained. "They've nicknamed you 'The Runaway.'"
"A wanted poster!" Toph responded, surprisingly with enthusiasm. "That's SO great! 'The Runaway.' I LOVE my new nickname! Is there a picture of me? Does it look good?" Sokka then checks the picture of Toph and holds it beside Toph to check.
"Well, yeah, actually, it does look like you," Sokka said as Warpath also checked the picture.
"Yeah, it actually does," Warpath added.
"But Toph, you're missing the point," Sokka said. "Maybe Katara and Ironhide were right. These scams are drawing too much attention to us."
"Don't be such a worrywart like those two," Toph responded. "Think of it this way, now you have plenty of money to help with the invasion plan!"
"Well, that is true," Sokka responded.
"Yeah, Sokka and I actually had this idea of making armor for Appa," Warpath added, to which Appa awoken from his nap and grumbled slightly before Toph handed Sokka some gold pieces.
"Here's a little extra so you can get a nice map of the Fire Nation," Toph said before she started thinking and handed Sokka an entire bag. "You know what, make it an atlas."
"I do like expensive atlases," Sokka said.
"Of course you do," Toph responded before snatching the poster. "And that's why this wanted poster is going to stay our little secret." She then hid it in her vest before Aang and Katara walked up.
"Sokka, tell me you didn't buy a bird," Katara said.
"Not just a bird, a messenger bird!" Sokka explained. "Now we can send messages all over the world, even to Gran-Gran."
"Wow, how does it work?" Aang asked.
"Hm, uh, I never actually thought about that," Sokka admitted before pointing a random direction. "Hawky: Gran-Gran, South Pole." Unfortunately, Hawky just shook his head in confusion.
"I think he gets it," Sokka said before Momo appears over Aang's shoulder, screaching, and dashes to Hawky to attack him. They wheeled furiously about Sokka's head as he tried to calm them down.
"Hawky, make nice! Bad Hawky!" he shouted as Warpath just laughed at Sokka's misfortune.
Later that day, Sokka and Toph were returning to the campsite with their arms loaded with money when they saw Ironhide and Katara waiting for them.
"Well, look who decided to join us," Katara said. "Where have you two been?" Off scamming again?"
"Yes, we were," Toph bluntly answered.
"Let me guess, you didn't think what you were doing was dangerous?" Ironhide asked.
"No, I don't," Toph answered.
"Really?" Katara asked.
"Yes, really," Toph responded.
"Well then, what the frag is this!?" Ironhide asked as he held the poster before Toph, once again forgetting something about Toph.
"I DON'T KNOW!" she yelled. " I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, WHAT'S WITH YOU PEOPLE!? I'M BLIND!"
"It's a wanted poster of you," Ironhide explained
"Where did you get that?" Toph demanded.
"It doesn't matter where I got it," Katara responded. "The fact is-"
"You went through my stuff!" Toph exclaimed. "You had no right."
"Your stuff was messy, and I was just straightening up and I happened to stumble across it," Katara explained, but she completely forgot that Toph could sense a lie.
"That's a lie!" she yelled. "You're lying Katara!"
"Look, Toph, Katara and I are only doing this to pro-" Ironhide said before Toph immediately knocked the poster from his hands in anger and walked away. "Toph, wait!"
"Or what?" Toph asked. "You'll tell mom over there to send me to my room?"
"I wish he could," Katara bluntly responded before Ironhide had a chance to talk.
"Well you can't, because you're not my mom, he's not my dad, and you're not THEIR mom!" Toph yelled before pointing to the others. "You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not. You're just a regular kid like Aang, Sokka and I, so stop acting like you can tell me what to do. I can do whatever I want!"
"I don't act that way," Katara responded in a chagrined manner. "Sokka, do I act motherly?"
"Hey, I'm staying out of this one," Sokka responded.
"Warpath?" Katara asked.
"I don't even know what it means to be motherly," Warpath admited while shrugging his arms.
"Then what do you think Aang? Do I act like a mom?" Katara asked Aang, who dug nervously at his eye.
"Well, I..." he said before Katara interupted.
"Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!" she ordered.
"Yes ma'am," Aang responded in a chastened manner.
"I can't be around either of you right now!" Toph yelled.
"Well, I can't be around you!" Katara yelled back before the two of them walked away from each other and Ironhide just rubbed his optics while sighing while Hawky just squawked.
"I know Hawky," Sokka said. "Why can't everyone just get along?"
Later that day, Katara and Toph were still staying away from each other as Aang, Sokka and Warpath observed them when Sokka suddenly got an idea.
"Hey guys, you want to test out my messenger hawk with me?" he asked. "I've got an idea."
"Sure," both Aang and Warpath responded.
"I'm gonna send a note to Katara and say it's from Toph, who wants to apologize," Sokka explained. "Then everyone will be friends again."
"I gotta say, Sokka, you continue to impress me with your ideas," Aang commented.
"Eh, it's a gift," Sokka responded before taking a pen and paper and starts writing a message, before sliding the note into Hawky's dispatch tube when Warpath suddenly remembered something.
"Uh, guys?" he asked, but then Katara got up and shouted to the three of them.
"I know this is from you Sokka, TOPH CAN'T WRITE!" she shouted. "Ugh, you're all driving me crazy!" With that, she walked away.
"I can't believe we forgot Toph can't write," Aang said.
"Yup, we're idiots," Warpath added.
"I guess plan B is, we send a note to Toph pretending it's from Katara," Aang suggested.
"Uh, we're gonna run into a reocuring problem with that Aang, but I have an idea," Warpath said, remembering Toph's blindness this time. "Sorry Hawky, we're gonna have to do this without you. Follow me Sokka." Then he and Sokka got up and walked to Toph.
"Toph, we need to talk," he said.
The three of them all walked to an overhanging cliff, unaware that Katara was bathing in the pond below and that Ironhide was walking behind them, wanting to join in the conversation.
"So let me guess, you two brought me here to tell me Katara and Ironhide aren't as annoying as I made them out to be?" Toph asked.
"Nah, Katara's pretty much a pain," Sokka said, to which Katara scowled at.
"Yeah, and so is ol Rusty," Warpath added, to which Ironhide scowled at. "But I've never seen him so protective of someone before, let alone a human. He was being over protective because he cared about you Toph. You're his friend. Maybe even his best friend." Toph just let those words hit her before lowering her head in slight shame. Ironhide too hanged his head and decided he would talk to her later and walked off.
"So, what's Katara's excuse?" Toph asked Sokka.
"When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life," Sokka explained. "Our family was a mess, but Katara, she had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom."
"I guess I never thought about that," Toph addmitted.
"I'm gonna tell you something crazy," Sokka warned. "I never told anyone this before, but honestly, I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like, my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there, and now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture." Katara meanwhile was overcome with emotion.
"The truth is, both Ironhide and Katara sometimes are kinda overprotective, but that's not always a bad thing," Toph said. "They're compassionate and kind, and they actually care about me. More than my own parents." Katara just lowered her head in sadness.
"Don't EVER tell them I said any of this!" she said to Sokka before punching his arm.
"Hey, my lips are sealed," Sokka said.
"That goes double for you Warpath!" Toph said to Warpath before punching his arm, but then felt a jolt of pain in her arm. "OW! Forgot I can't bend Cybertronian metal!"
As the sun setted, Ironhide and Katara walked up to Toph.
"Listen, Toph, Katara and I want to-" Ironhide said before being interupted by Toph.
"Hide, stop," she said. "You don't need to apologize. I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control, and I'm done with them."
"Actually, we weren't gonna apologize," Katara responded slyly. "We were gonna say...we thought of a scam to pull off!" That earned the shock of every other member of the group.
"What?" Toph asked, also slightly shocked. "YOU TWO wanna pull a scam?"
"Not just any scam, the ultimate scam!" Ironhide said before all the other members of the group collapse, stupified.
"What do you say Toph?" Katara asked. "One last scame. You in?"
"You know I'm In!" Toph exclaimed. "Now, what's this idea of yours?"
"It's simple," Ironhide replied. "This wanted poster says you're worth a lot of money. Ten times more than you've made in all your scams. So Katara's gonna turn you in and collect the reward. Then you metalbend yourself out of jail, and we're on our way."
Back at the town, Toph ran out from the side of the street, away from two firebenders and two Vehicons, towards the statues of Megatron and Ozai that dominated the center of the town, only for a net to engulf her and for the firebenders and the Vehicons to aproach her.
"How could you do this to me!?" Toph yelled at Katara who stood over Toph with an angry glare. "You betrayed me!"
"You brought this on yourself," Katara responded. "I have no choice." She then folded her arms and turned around as Toph was dragged away and the mayor of the town walked up to Katara. She smirked, waiting for the reward to be collected when the mayor suddenly said something.
"Arrest her too!" he yelled. A shocked Katara tried to run before a Vehicon stunned her and dragged her away.
While that was going on, Toph was in prison and dragged to a cell, but is dragged past the metal cell and thrown in a wooden one instead, much to her dismay as she finds that she can't 'see.'
"Hey, what kind of cell is this!?" she asked in an alarmed state.
"A wooden one," the female guard responded with a wicked smirk as Katara was being dragged inside by a Vehicon.
"We got the other one," he said.
"Throw her next to the earthbender," the guard said before the Vehicon did just that and locked the cell door.
"What's going on!?" Katara yelled, which immediately got Toph's attention.
"Katara!?" she asked in a state of shock. "What are you doing here!?" Then they suddenly heard a slow clapping noise.
"I gotta hand it to you, that was quite a scam you two had in mind, wouldn't you say, little girl?" someone asked in the shadows. Toph's eyes widened as she instantly recognized that voice.
"Swindle!" she yelled before the Combaticon emerged from the darkness.
"Wait, this is the Con you scammed!?" Katara asked her friend.
"Correct Katara," Swindle responded.
"How did you know!?" Toph demanded.
"It's actually quite simple," Swindle responded. "You see, I knew there was something wrong when you bested me in my own game, so I followed you when I least expected it and started piecing together the puzzle. That's when I found you with the Avatar. Now, I knew that going in would be suicide, so I tried formulating a plan, none of which seemed good enough, but then I heard that you were planning a scam, so I decided to have Katara ratted out when I had the chance and have the two of you captured."
"But why?" Katara asked.
"Bait," Swindle responded, which caused the two girls' eyes to widen. "Bait for the Avatar and the rest of his friends to come here and be gutted by Airachnid."
"Who's Airachnid?" Toph asked.
"Well, let's just say that you should stop worrying about Dreadwing and start worrying about her," Swindle responded with a wicked smirk. "Know this, no one can out con Swindle and get away with it." With that he chuckled sinisterly and walked out of the prison.
Meanwhile, Aang, Sokka and the Bots were starting to get worried.
"The scam shouldn't take this long," Ironhide said.
"I was just wondering the same thing Ironhide," Sokka added. "We'd better check it out." Before leaving he turned to Hawky and Momo.
"You two behave," he demanded. "Appa's in charge." Once they left, the two creatures start a fight, but a loud roar from Appa quickly stopped them.
Back at the prison, Katara and Toph just sat down quietly in their wodden cell.
"I can't believe I was so stupid," Katara said. "See, this is exactly why I'm against these scams. I knew this would happen."
"But...this was your idea," Toph replied, slightly confused.
"I know," Katara admitted. "I wanted to show you that I'm not so motherly. I wanted to show you that I can have fun too."
"Katara, you ARE fun," Toph responded. "If nothing else, you're at least fun to argue with."
"I know your relationship with your parents is complicated, and I shouldn't have said what I said." Katara said.
"It's okay," Toph replied. "I was really mad when you said that because; well, because maybe it's true. I try not to think about it, but when I left, I probably really hurt them." She then starts sobbing and Katara went up to comfort her with a hug.
While that was going on, the rest of the Gaang walked around the deserted streets of the town, searching for Katara and Toph.
"Where do you think they might me?" Sokka asked.
"Where do ya think ANYONE is?" Ironhide added, but unknown to them, Airachnid was up on a rooftop, observing her targets, and chuckled slightly before leaping to the group. Warpath was the first to notice.
"Look out!" he yelled before the group all ran from Airachnid and she merely landed on the ground. Then a swarm of Vehicons came in and opened fire while some jet Vehicons flew in from above.
"I got the jets, the rest of you protect Aang and Sokka!" Breakaway ordered before he transformed and flew up to the jet Vehicons, opening fire and destroying two of them.
Meanwhile, the others were on the ground, dodging laser blasts when Warpath turned into his tank mode and opened fire at the Vehicons.
"BLAM! BOOM! ZOWIE!" he yelled enthusiastically as he trashed Vehicons left and right when Airachnid picked up a dead Vehicon's gun and fired, aiming for Aang, but he leaped to the rooftops and it hit Warpath instead, who turned his turret to Airachnid.
"Shoot me in the back will you? Well, BAM!" he yelled before firing at Airachnid, who also leaped to the roofs in persuit of Aang.
Back at the prison, Katara and Toph heard the ensuing battle outside.
"What are we gonna do!?" Katara panically asked.
"I don't know!" Toph responded. "I wish we had some earth or water. We need bendables!"
"What about the energon Sokka gave you?" Katara asked.
"I left it back at camp," Toph answered. "I was worried they would take it." Katara just sighed in response and wipped sweat from her forehead, but then she just got an idea. She then stood up and started running in place, undoubtably puzzling Toph.
"Um, Katara...are you okay?" she asked.
"Just fine," Katara answered, not stopping.
"Well, what are you doing?" Toph asked.
"I'm makig my own water," Katara answered. Toph then understood what she ment when Katara used the sweat from her forehead to cut the cell bars.
"Katara, you're a genius!" Toph complimented. "A sweaty, stinky genius!"
Back outside, Aang was leaping across rooftops, trying to outrun Airachnid, when she suddenly shot a web blast from her wrist and it hit Aang, causing him to fly to the statue of Megatron with a web wrapped around him. Aang tried to get out of this trap but it was no use. Airachnid then leaped to the ground and slowly walked to Aang, her extra arms deployed.
"Your skull will make a fine addition to my collection Avatar," she said as she raised one of her arms to finish him off, but then a bolt of ice encased her head, and Katara and Toph went up to Aang and freed him, when Airachnid finally shattered the ice around her head and glared at the group, raising her arms to Toph. Ironhide, who saw the sight, ran up to the group.
"Toph, look out!" he said as he immediately jumped in front of Toph, allowing Airachnid's arm to jab him in the spark, much to Toph's shock.
"IRONHIDE!" she yelled as the rest of the group, having finished off the Vehicons, started firing at Airachnid, who turned into a Cybertronian helicopter and flew away. The rest of the group then ran up to Ironhide, who was on the ground, leaking energon like crazy.
"Ironhide, say something!" Toph demanded as tears started flowing from her eyes.
"Come up rusty, don't die on us!" Warpath said, which earned him a glare from Ironhide.
"Shut...up...Warpath..." Ironhide weakly said before his optics closed and he went limp.
"I-is he...dead?" Toph asked, slightly choked up, before Breakaway went up to Ironhide.
"No, just in stasis," Breakaway said. "But if we don't get something to fix him up with, he will be...we have to leave and try and find something to fix him with." With that, the three other Bots picked up Ironhide and walked away from the town as the rest followed them, with Toph consumed with guilt.
*QUE AVATAR ENDING THEME*