Team Prime with their human charges within them drove through the barren wasteland to the coordinates Ultra Magnus provided.
According to him, there they would find a lost youngling and a lone sparkling.
They continued their drive and the humans looked around at their new surroundings.
"It's so different from the city." Jack commented.
"Yeah, but it'll be restored eventually. You can be sure of that." Arcee vowed to him.
"How much farther to the coordinates?" Wheeljack asked.
"Not long. In fact, we should be there...now!" Chromia proclaimed.
The femme stopped and transformed. When their human friends were out of from within them, the rest of Team Prime transformed as well.
"Okay, so we're looking for a youngling and sparkling." Smokescreen said.
"Yes. So we'd better get to it." Elita replied.
The team split up and walked around the area looking for both young sparks.
"If anyone finds them, comm. the rest of us immediately." Elita ordered.
"What would a youngling and sparkling be doing out here all alone?" Raf wondered.
"Well, apparently the youngling wandered away from his group. The sparkling on the other hand isn't all that surprising." Bumblebee answered.
"What do you mean?" Raf asked.
"Well, the sparks that came flying out the Well spread out all around the planet. There are over a hundred sparklings and younglings in Iacon, but from the amount of sparks that we saw flowing out of the Well, there are clearly many more than that all around Cybertron just waiting to be found." Bumblebee explained.
"Really?" Raf said. "So you guys just go around the planet looking for sparklings and younglings?"
Bumblebee shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. There are dozens of search ships patrolling the skies in search both returning refugees and new sparks."
Raf nodded in understanding and the two continued their search.
"So what would a sparkling look like?" Miko asked Bulkhead.
"Huh? Well, you know. Small...Cybertronians." Bulkhead replied.
"Hmm, okay. I just thought that there might be some defining trait that they would have." Miko spoke.
Elita walked around some more before she heard a young voice from behind her.
"Help! Help!" The young mech was exclaiming. He was red with orange and yellow flames across his body and he was running aimlessly around the barren land.
"Hey wait sweet spark!" Elita said. [Hey everyone, I found the youngling.]
"Oh!" The young mech spoke. "Can you help me? I'm lost."
"Of course sweet spark. What's your designation?" Elita asked.
"Hot Rod ma'am. I'm from Prowl's group." He explained.
Elita knelt down to his level.
"Now what are you doing all the way out here Hot Rod?" Elita asked softly.
Hot Rod shifted his pedes.
"Well, um, well...will I get in trouble miss?" Hot Rod stammered.
Elita looked down Hot Rod sternly.
"I don't know unless you tell me." Elita replied. "Why are you out here?"
"Well, I was playing with my big brother, Hot Shot, and uh, he dared me to go out of the city and bring back a raw Energon crystal from the outside." He answered.
Elita sighed disappointedly.
"Am I in trouble miss?" Hot Rod asked.
Elita shook her helm.
"No dear you're not. However, your brother most definitely will." Elita told him.
Hot Rod nodded towards the ground.
"Hot Rod, you used your group comm. to call to help correct?" Elita spoke.
Hot Rod nodded.
"When you called, you also said that you found a sparkling."
Hot Rod nodded again.
"Can you take me to it?"
Hot Rod gave her a smile, nodded once more, and turning around.
"Come miss! This way!" Hot Rod said as he went running in the opposite direction.
Elita followed him closely as he went running. They came across a cave and Hot Rod went inside.
"Here it is miss." Hot Rod proclaimed.
Elita walked next to him to see what was indeed a youngling. It was small, the armour was thin and its large eyes were closed shut. It seemed to have been holding itself and crying out.
Elita bent down and put her servo over it.
"Elita!" Arcee called from the entrance of the cave.
The rest of Team Prime had arrived.
"Have you found the sparkling as well?" Chromia asked.
"Indeed, however, I am afraid that we may have come too late. It would appear that the sparkling is offline." Elita replied sadly. "Hot Rod, was the sparkling like this when you first found it?"
"Erm, well sort of yeah. It was lying there, but its optics were open. It wasn't moving though." Hot Rod answered.
"Elita, look at it." Bumblebee pointed out. "It has a tail."
The others around the site looked down at the dead sparkling and saw that it indeed had a tail. It also had tiny claws and jagged denta. Upon even closer inspection, there was a golden emblem on it's shoulders.
"It's a Predacon sparkling." Bulkhead concluded.
"Indeed it is." A booming voice spoke from behind them.
Team Prime spun around in shock as they heard Predaking land and speak. Hot Rod quickly dodged and hid behind Elita's leg.
"Predaking!" Wheeljack exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for the sparkling, same as you it would seem." Predaking replied as he bent down and entered the cave.
He pushed past the Autobots and looked down at the dead sparkling. He picked up the corpse and turned to leave the cave.
"Hey! Predaking!" Bumblebee called. "How did you know that there would be a Predacon sparkling here?"
"Because ever since the sparks have been flying from the Well, Shockwave has been given a multitude of new sparks to experiment with. He has been attempting to make new Predacons. Younger ones in fact. However, according to him it would seem that a Predacon's body cannot house a new Cybertronian spark." Predaking as he held the sparkling sadly.
"Shockwave? Where is he?" Elita asked.
"His laboratory is beneath this cave. He's been experimenting with the Predacon sparklings there. This one remained alive longer than the others. He even had the strength to make his way out of the lab he was created in. We all thought that Shockwave had finally done it but unfortunately, the sparkling doesn't seem to be able to survive on its own." Predaking answered.
"Can you take us to him?" Elita requested.
"There is no need."
From a passage that opened up from beneath the cave Shockwave came walking calmly up the steps.
"I see that the sparkling perished." Shockwave spoke.
"Indeed it did. Right above your lab. Right above your head." Chromia hissed.
"Yes. While this is quite the unfortunate outcome, however, I am afraid that I was quite distracted by the discovery I made down within my laboratory." Shockwave replied. "Skylynx and Darksteel are already down there working on excavating it."
Predaking growled. "How did you get them to do what you ask? They do not answer to you anymore."
"Well, they aren't very bright. Thus, it was very easy to convince them that what I found may hold the secret to making Predacon sparklings." Shockwave answered.
"Is it?" Predaking asked.
"No, but it does emanate a strong energy signal similar to that of the Matrix of Leadership, or at the very least that of a Prime." Shockwave explained.
"Bring us to it." Elita ordered.
Shockwave nodded. "Very well."
The Autobots followed Shockwave down the passage to his laboratory. The children and Hot Rod were about to follow when Bulkhead held his servo out at them.
"No. It might be dangerous. Kids, keep an eye on Hot Rod here. Make sure he stays here. Boys, make sure Miko stays here." Bulkhead ordered.
"Will do." The kids replied.
Bulkhead nodded and proceeded down the steps.
The lab was similar to the one that they blew up back on Earth.
The yellow light emanating from the large tubes from which Shockwave would grow new Predacons.
At the far back of it all, Darksteel and Skylynx were clawing away at a wall. They had uncovered what looked like a large, dark metal box with ancient symbols carved within it.
"Skylynx! Darksteel! What are you doing?" Predaking demanded.
The two younger Predacons spun around in surprise when they heard the voice of their king.
"Your majesty!" Darksteel exclaimed.
"We were helping Shockwave excavate this...thing. He says that it could help him create more Predacon sparklings." Skylynx explained.
"Fools! He tricked you!" Predaking said.
"What?" The two exclaimed. "You did?"
Shockwave walked past them to inspect their work.
"Of course I did. I doubt I would have gotten half this far without you two." Shockwave replied.
The Predacons growled.
"How dare you!" Skylynx shouted.
"Nonetheless. Whatever is here is something incredibly ancient and powerful." Shockwave interrupted.
"Oh really? How do you figure?" Smokescreen asked.
"The inscriptions written here. Writing like these haven't been seen since the Age of Primes." Shockwave answered. "I cannot read it all but I can make out the last few words: All must beware the Trickster."
"All must beware the Trickster? What does that mean?" Bumblebee wondered.
The others shrugged while Shockwave was moving his servos over the surface.
"Hey, be careful with that. We don't know what it can do." Wheeljack said.
"Hmm...the box seems to have been breached." He spoke. "There are several cracks here."
Shockwave ran his digits along the cracks and lines on the box. Within a few seconds, the cracks lit up with a bright white light. Shockwave stepped back in surprise right before the part of the box facing them blew open.
The Cybertronians took cover far from the explosion. When some of the smoke died down, they reemerged from their shielding.
"What was that?" Bulkhead asked.
The group walked up to the rubble and looked inside of the empty box.
"It looks like whatever was in there got out." Arcee commented.
"Yeah no kidding." An unfamiliar voice spoke from behind the group.
The group spun around to see a young mech stretching behind them.
He was black and navy blue with bright blue optics. He was slightly taller than Bulkhead.
"Who the frag are you?" Wheeljack demanded.
The mech continued his stretching as he spoke.
"Well, I go by so many names. Some of them better than others. But, I usually go by...pause for effect...the Trickster." He proclaimed.
"Who?" Arcee asked.
The Trickster's arms dropped to his side.
"What? You don't know who I am? I mean, how long has it been? 30 or 40 million years? Come on." He said disappointedly. "You know, what is the point of having great power at your fingertips if no one even knows who you are, or what you can do. Honestly."
"Again who are you?" Smokescreen asked.
"Ah, don't worry about that for now. After all you freed me! Now I get to reward you!" The Trickster proclaimed.
"Reward us?" Predaking asked.
"Indeed. Now, what shall I give you lot?" The Trickster wondered to himself.
"We want to know who you are." Chromia demanded.
"Oh! I know! The one thing everyone is sure to want! Youth!" Trickster exclaimed. His blue optics momentarily turned stark white as he gave the group a smirk.
"And I know just how to make this fun."
No one barely had any time to say anything as the Trickster held out his servo and encased the group in a bright white light.
Relax Secret! Next chapter! Now who is this Trickster?
Let me know what you think! Comment and review!