Now that the Ropes were finished, Tomato had one more megacycle to complete the next challenge, the Dark Energon challenge. Megatron and Tomato were standing by the pit of dark energon, watching the spiked rotating platform spin around. It was more dark energon than Tomato had ever seen in one place.
"You only get one chance on this challenge, Tomato," Megatron reminded him. "You will climb over the platform to get to the other side of the pit, or you will fall off and go offline in the process."
"Oh, dear Primus," said Tomato quietly.
"Go," Megatron told him.
Tomato jumped slowly onto the platform, and he swung his arms wildly for balance as the thing spun him around and around. When he stepped forward to get a better grip, he set his foot down on one of the sharp spikes. Instinctively, he jerked his foot away, and almost toppled off the platform.
"Keep your concentration!" called Megatron.
"Don't worry, I—oh no!" cried Tomato, as the platform shifted again. He leaned over and grabbed the edge, getting puncture wounds on his servos from the spikes. "Ouch!"
The dark energon didn't smell very good, and Tomato was struggling to make his way across the long platform. It swung wildly to the left; Tomato almost flipped over onto his head, but he got up and starting crawling across, looking straight across and not down at the energon. It was about forty-five cycles before Tomato finally jumped off the platform and onto the ground in front of the fighting drone.
"You've succeeded, Tomato." Megatron walked over to his cadet.
"If it would please you for me to ask, my Lord, what is the purpose of the fighting drone?" asked Tomato. (Megatron noticed he was taking to talking like the other Decepticons—with respect and discipline. However, he wasn't so sure Tomato was actually aware of it.)
"The purpose of the fighting drone is for you to demonstrate your martial arts skills," explained Megatron. "You won't always have your sword with you in battle, necessarily. Be like me—if I punch an Autobot, he's out like a light. You must be the same."
"You're at least twice the size of most Autobots, so it's easier for you to do that," Tomato said, sounding confused.
"Well…true," Megatron agreed. "That's part of it, but to defeat an enemy using your body and no weapons, you need to have skill, intelligence and strength, too. After all, my lieutenant Lugnut is even huger than I am, and he isn't the leader, now is he? Not even second in command."
"I thought Starscream was your second," said Tomato. "That's what I heard."
"He was," Megatron corrected him. "Then I found out that he's not entirely loyal. But I trust Shockwave completely. And besides, he's a spy and an intelligence officer on both sides. So I decided he should be my second-in-command."
"Lugnut wants to be second-in-command, I bet," Tomato told Megatron. "He worships you so much that it's a little scary."
"Yes, it's very irritating," Megatron replied. "Anyway, though, let's see what you can do with the fighting drone."
Tomato stepped onto the platform where there was the fighting drone. (As he did so, he looked grateful that this platform wasn't rotating or covered in spikes.) Finally, he approached the fighting drone, walking slowly but confidently. The fighting drone was about his size and build, but not self-aware. Its purpose was to guard the way to the next obstacle (the metal teeth).
"Take this, drone!" yelled Tomato, kicking his drone in the face. The drone punched him, putting a dent in his face. Tomato had never taken a punch right in the face before, so he stood there for a bit, holding his face.
"Come on, it's just a drone!" Megatron told Tomato.
"It dented my face!" Tomato said back.
"I've been dented in the face before!" Megatron replied. "And I fought back! So you must do the same. Come on, you've made it this far."
"Okay, okay," Tomato muttered, and took his servos off his faceplates. They were dented, but he seemed to be ignoring it, because he punched his fighting drone back in the face and kicked it again.
"Get mean! Get angry!" Megatron was hollering. "And get out there and kill that fighting drone!"
Megatron was trying to be encouraging…in his own sort of way. Tomato and the drone battled, with Tomato using the best moves Megatron had taught him. Tomato, looking fierce, punched the drone right in its CPU, then at its spark chamber. It fizzled and went down.
"Yes!" said Tomato.
"All right then," said Megatron, as Tomato was stepping off the platform where the defeated fighting drone lay. "We can do the Metal Teeth Jump challenge and the Hoop of Fire challenge next solar cycle. For now, we need to work on another scrimmage."
Megatron and Tomato assumed their familiar positions as Decepticon and Autobot, prepared to fight another battle to the death.
…
That next solar cycle, Megatron and Tomato headed out bright and early to where the metal teeth were waiting to be defeated. They were chomping away and Tomato looked like he regretted coming outside this solar cycle in the first place.
"Now, now, Tomato," Megatron said, gripping Tomato's shoulder as Tomato stood in front of him. "Don't be afraid of this."
"I-I'm not afraid," Tomato said back, even though he clearly was.
Megatron walked over to the metal teeth and gestured for Tomato to follow him. Tomato did so, and Megatron pointed to a long pole that was lying by the metal teeth. "You see this?"
Tomato nodded. "I see it, my liege."
"You have to use this pole to jump over the teeth and land in front of the Hoop of Fire," Megatron explained. "It's similar to a pole vault, only much more dangerous."
Tomato picked up the pole and stood with it as he looked up at the chomping metal teeth. They looked sharp and Tomato knew if he landed in their "mouth", then he would be breakfast for this challenge. It was the second-to-last challenge on the obstacle course, though, and Megatron was hoping Tomato had enough strength and determination to beat it. Those were the most important things to have on any challenge—strength to complete it, and the determination to never give up, even if it took all solar cycle.
BAM! BAM! BAM! The noise of the chomping was so loud. Tomato stood back for room, ran closer to his target (the other side of the metal teeth), and sprang up. Unfortunately, the jump didn't exactly work out right, and Tomato found his face slamming right into the metal base of the teeth. He moaned with pain and landed on the ground, dropping the pole. Megatron picked him up and led him over to the sidelines.
"Just sit there while I show you," Megatron said. "Now pay attention."
Megatron set up the pole vault and jumped effortlessly across the metal teeth. When he landed on the other side of the teeth, right in front of the Hoop of Fire, he walked over to Tomato again. Tomato was clapping.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"Lots of practice." Megatron shrugged. "If you practice a little too, you'll be able to use the pole to jump over the metal teeth without them hurting you. Now why don't you try again?"
"Umm…o-okay," Tomato said, standing up and taking the pole from Megatron's servo. Trying to imitate what he had just seen, this time he jumped better, but it still didn't work out quite right, because instead of landing on the other side of the teeth, he landed on the edge of one of the jaws, clinging onto the spiky teeth with only one servo.
TO BE CONTINUED…