Dear Readers: Hi, it's me again. I'm sorry Chapter Nine took a little bit longer, but I had a really big term paper due for my summer school over the weekend. (I didn't fail a class or anything, if you're wondering. It's just for extra credit.) Chapter Nine (Tomato's Courage) is up now, though, as you can see, so read, review, and, most importantly, enjoy!
"Oh, scrap," Megatron muttered as he watched Tomato hanging from his precarious perch.
"Help!" cried Tomato. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on! I'm going to fall into the teeth!"
"No you're not, soldier!" Megatron told him. "Didn't Starscream teach you how to fly in your robot mode?"
"Yes, he did, but I'm not good enough at it!" Tomato sounded even more scared now. "Besides, I'm scared of heights!"
Scared of heights! Megatron slapped himself in the forehead again and said back, "Tomato, the last challenge of this obstacle course is to test your flying skills when you fly through the Hoop of Fire! Besides, surely you know that all Decepticons must take to the air."
"No, I don't know that, I don't know that!" Tomato screamed, as his grip on the gigantic set of chomping metal teeth continued to weaken.
"All right, all right," Megatron said, just as Tomato could hold on no longer—Tomato was going to fall in right that moment, but Megatron flew in and snatched him away at the last second.
Tomato was screaming until he and Megatron landed firmly on the ground. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting. Megatron thought Tomato had been about to experience a full-blown panic attack.
"Oh, I kiss the sweet ground," Tomato whispered. He didn't stand up.
"Tomorrow I'll have Starscream, the Decepticon Aerial Commander, help you get over your fear of heights and learn to fly, Tomato," Megatron told his cadet firmly.
"Will it involve flying through that terrifying Hoop of Fire?" Tomato asked his leader, sounding petrified at the thought.
"If you get past the metal teeth, then yes," Megatron replied. "And until you fly through the Hoop of Fire, you can't become a true Decepticon."
"I really want to become a true Decepticon," Tomato said, wistfully staring at the huge Decepticon insignia on Megatron's chest.
"And you can," Megatron told him. "You just have to face your fears instead of running and dodging them. As long as you work hard enough, and become tough enough, I don't see any reason as to why your transition from cadet to true Decepticon can't go smoothly."
"You really think so?" Tomato asked, looking down at the ground.
"Of course," Megatron said, and they both went inside, for they wanted to be ready for the big training session tomorrow.
…
The next morning, bright and early, Tomato and Megatron walked to the obstacle course, with Starscream following close behind. Tomato was obviously deathly afraid—Megatron could tell, especially because he now knew that Tomato was scared of heights.
Of course, Megatron knew that Tomato could very well be afraid of heights because he had been born an Autobot—the two sides didn't just have different views and values, they had completely different programming. And part of that programming (with a few exceptions, of course) was that Autobots don't fly.
All Decepticons, on the other hand, must take to the air. Megatron was convinced that even though Tomato had Autobot programming in him, he could still learn to fly, with proper instruction. After all, who better to teach him than both the Decepticon leader and the Aerial Commander?
The three of them approached the teeth. BAM, BAM, BAM! To Tomato, it seemed, the teeth were more vicious this solar cycle than they had ever been before. Even though Megatron and Starscream were both closely watching him, Tomato didn't take one step closer to the teeth.
"C'mon, it's easy!" said Starscream happily. He flew right over the metal teeth, then flew right back to where Tomato and Megatron were standing.
Tomato might have been about to do it, with a little prodding, but just then, all three of them heard an angry voice.
"Decepticons! Surrender on the spot, and there will be no trouble!"
It was Optimus Prime and his team. Megatron fueled up his cannon and Starscream prepared to fire his null rays. Tomato didn't take out his sword—this was his first battle, so he probably didn't have any idea what to do.
"Surrender is not an option!" Megatron yelled as he ran towards Optimus, aiming the gun towards his Autobot target. Optimus whipped out his axe, while all his other Autobots readied all their weapons, too. Megatron was glad he'd thought to order Tomato a sword in advance, although he still didn't seem to be using it.
In fact, Tomato didn't seem to be helping out Megatron and Starscream at the moment—he was just staring there, optics wide, frozen where he was standing. Megatron took out one of his swords and started to deflect the slashes of Optimus's axe, but he also couldn't stop staring at Tomato. Tomato, who was supposed to be a fearsome warrior, was just standing there in the middle of a battle, being completely useless—and an easy target, too.
Megatron remembered Tomato, slicing the Ropes apart in the first challenge of his Obstacle Course. Why couldn't he remember that now? Why wasn't he being brave in battle? Why did Megatron have to do everything?
"Tomato!" yelled Megatron. "Give us some backup, will you?"
"I-I don't know what to do!" Tomato cried. "This is a real battle, not practice!"
"This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" Megatron told him. "Use your sword! You can't just stand there and let your enemy kill you! What did I teach you about sword fighting? About running fast and being brave and defeating enemies and using your fists? You can't just forget about all that!"
"Right." Tomato slowly took his sword out and ran one hand down the edge of the blade. "I can't."
As Megatron continued battling Optimus, he looked behind at Tomato. His cadet was now holding the sword, but he wasn't attacking anyone. He was looking around the place, maybe trying to find somebody to attack. After all, the Autobots here were all bigger than he was, even the little yellow one who shot electricity.
Starscream fired at the second-in-command, Ratchet. They got engaged in a battle too, and Tomato looked over at Megatron as shots from both sides fired in front of his face.
"Do something!" Megatron told Tomato. "I command you!"
Tomato stood up and gave Megatron his four-fingered salute, donning that look of strong determination he'd acquired during his training not so long ago. Before Megatron knew it, Tomato was rushing towards one of the bigger Autobots, one with a huge chin, a sword, and a shield.
"Come get some!" Tomato yelled as he ran closer. The big-chinned Autobot looked down and noticed the little red figure running near to him. Tomato was bigger now than when Megatron had first started training him, it was true, but he wasn't all grown up just yet.
"Sentinel!" Optimus called to his teammate. "Decepticon sighting!"
"Quiet, Optimus!" Sentinel Prime said back. "I was sent by the Elite Guard to watch over you, remember? So that means that I make the orders here, not you."
"We're a team, Sentinel!" Optimus told him. "During battle, we all make the decisions!"
"Oh, yeah?" Sentinel challenged. "I thought the leader makes the decisions! What are you, weak? Why should we listen to you?"
"That's the difference between you and me, Sentinel!" Optimus said back. "I'm a team player. That's why this Autobot insignia sticker is still on my chestplate, whether I'm a dropout or not. In fact, like it or not, Ultra Magnus probably wishes he had me by his side instead of you."
"Why, you—!" Sentinel growled.
Megatron was staring. What was going on now? Weren't they supposed to be in the heat of battle? Optimus and Sentinel were fighting, so Optimus wasn't even battling Megatron any more. He was focusing on battling one of his teammates instead.
"You don't know scrap, Optimus!" Sentinel continued, pointing his sword at his fellow Autobot. "It doesn't matter if you're a team player! You're still a dropout, and that's what matters! I'm never going to—OW!"
Tomato might have been small, but he seemed to be using that to his advantage. Since Tomato was smaller, he had greater agility and could run faster than someone who was all big and clunky. Tomato slashed continuously at Sentinel's shin with his sword, not inflicting any major damage but definitely enough damage to cause pain—and draw raw energon.
"OW!" Sentinel hollered. "OW! OW! OW!"
"Try and catch me, foolish Autobot!" said Tomato, slashing at Sentinel's leg again.
Sentinel looked down at Tomato, who was looking up at him with a dastardly little smirk on his face. "Why, you slimy little red Decepticon, I'll get you!"
"You'll have to catch me first!" Tomato told him, darting away.
"Get back here!" Sentinel said, chasing after Tomato. Tomato was running straight towards the sides of the chomping metal teeth—pure, sharp, rock-hard, Cybertronian metal. Why was Tomato running toward those things?
Tomato slashed Sentinel's leg again, then ran faster and faster to the sharp edge of the chomping teeth. They were both going very fast. Then, just as soon as they were going to hit the teeth, Tomato quickly dodged out of the way, while Sentinel, not expecting this, kept on running. He was going at such a speed that, since he'd gained a ton of velocity, he slammed pretty hard into the metal side of the teeth—and right in the CPU, too.
"W-What…I…" Sentinel was lying by the side of the teeth, rubbing his head. Megatron, from where he was standing, could practically see the little stars spiraling around the Autobot trooper's head.
"I guess a little red Decepticon-in-training really can defeat a big, dumb, huge-chinned Autobot," Tomato said proudly.
"You'll never win!" Sentinel cried, even though it was obvious that he was in extreme pain from his head injury. "Decepticons are all savages!"
"I heard how you talked to your teammate, how badly you treated him," Tomato told Sentinel. "I think you Autobots could stand to learn something about us Decepticons."
"What's that?"
"That we're not any more savage than you are," Tomato told him, and kneed his enemy right in the nuts and bolts. "We just don't put up with scrap from fools like you."