Chapter 21-Chariot of the Gods
The Kokkari Mountains of northeast Usea was the second largest mountain range in Xing, second only to the Himalayas. Despite the difference in size, its scale was nothing to sniff at. Many people would often try conquering the Kokkari Mountains before tackling the Himalayas, trying to climb to the snowy peaks atop the mountains. As such, many climbers and travelers died from harsh weather conditions and the thin air that made it hard to breathe. That didn't count the ungodly winter conditions, unstable rocky terrain and the occasional avalanche. Basically, if you couldn't climb the Kokkari, then forget about the Himalayas.
That didn't stop Optimus from dragging Jazz along for a little climb up the mountains.
The two Autobots were spending their free time climbing the steep mountainside with nothing but their bare hands. As the harsh, cold wings and low oxygen count didn't affect them, the only thing they had to worry about was losing their grip and tumbling down the side all the way to the bottom. And it was a long way down.
"When Ironhide told me that you took him hiking in the Grav-Haraan glacial plains, I didn't believe him." Jazz grunted as he slowly climbed the rocky slope. "Yet here we are, climbing up the side of one of the tallest mountains in the world. What the hell is wrong with you, boss bot?"
"This helps me clear my head, Jazz." Optimus said. He was standing on a ledge just a few feet higher than Jazz's position. He had no trouble getting up there. "I thought Yoketron trained his warriors just as vigorously as this."
"He made us move boulders up a hill using only our feet and taught us how to balance on our fingers. Not make us climb mountains." Jazz yelled up at him. "He wanted to make us stronger, not kill us. You're just a sadist who thinks mountain climbing is a great way to clear your sinuses."
"We all have our hobbies, Jazz. Mine just involves immersing myself in the beauty of nature." Optimus replied.
Optimus looked at the vast expanse of mountains around him. Standing atop of the mountain like this, surrounded only by unaltered natural formations really helped clear his mind of distractions. The fresh cool air cleared his senses and the isolation this all provided helped him gather his thoughts. Ironhide may still hold a grudge for that particular trip to Cybertron's glacial plains, but Prime knew he was just a bit grump about it. Though he wouldn't say it to his bodyguard's face, Ironhide was getting up there in years and mountain hiking would do his old servos some good.
As Jazz finally reached the ledge, Prime helped his friend onto the cliff and they looked out into the distance together. Talking about the past reminded them of Cybertron, which brought back some memories, some good, some bad. It brought back memories of a Cybertron that wasn't ravaged by war, a world that still supported them despite the corruption that seeped into society.
"Reminds me of the Manganese Mountains." Jazz said after a short period of silence. "If you watch the mountains at just the right angle, the sunrise would make it look like they were glowing. You've never seen them in person, have you?"
"No, never got the chance." Optimus answered. "Even in my off time, I never thought to check them out. It never seemed to appeal to me."
"Ha, you never know what you've lost until you lose it." Jazz remarked. "Maybe I should ask Elita-1 to lend you some holo-vids on it. She still has her collection from her time working at the Hall of Records."
"She does?"
"Yeah, surprises me too." Jazz smiled. "Though…I guess some of us don't want to leave behind parts of our home."
"That's true." Optimus muttered, thinking back to the silver feather he had sitting in a special drawer in his quarters on the Ark.
With all the fighting and planning, it was easy for them to forget their lives before the war. Autobots or Decepticons, some had worse lives than others before the Uprising, but others had fond memories of times when all they had to worry about was getting to work on time or completing a project before a deadline. When the war started and their planet began to die, some kept mementos of their previous lives to remind themselves of what they were…who they were, amidst all the fighting and killing. Optimus wondered if Megatron had his own mementos of his old life.
'Of course he does,' Optimus thought sadly. 'It's the reason he hates me so much.'
"Optimus," Wheeljack's voice said through the comm. "This is Wheeljack, do you copy?"
"We hear you, Wheeljack. What's the problem?" Asked Optimus.
"Teletran-1 just picked up a strange energy reading in the middle of the Ravana Rainforest in Sunehra. I can't identify it, but it seems like something worth checking out."
"Understood, we'll investigate it." Optimus signed off and turned to Jazz. "Looks like our hike is canceled."
"Aw, what a shame." Jazz faked sadness and stretched his sore limbs. "Too bad, it was just getting good too. Where are we going?"
"To a place you've had your eye on for a while now." Optimus said.
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The humidity of the Ravana Rainforest made Songbird's armor glisten as she scouted the forest from above. Her audio and visual sensors were amped up to maximum, allowing her to hear all sorts of sounds in the jungle, namely animal life, but none of what she was looking for. Even with infrared vision, she couldn't see much in this dense area of vegetation. Seeing that she wasn't making much progress from the air, Songbird circled around and flew back to her mistress.
She dived into the canopy, her wings folding through the vines and branches in her path for clearance. Once she made it out, she flew in low and landed on an outstretched black armored arm.
"Did you find anything, Songbird?" Nightshade asked.
"No, mistress," Songbird answered. "The rainforest is too thick to properly explore from the air, but from what I can gather, the energy signal is a long ways off from our position."
"Perfect." Nightshade sighed.
"I could have told you that. With all this vegetation around, trying to scan the forest would've been a time wasting idea."
Nightshade glared back at Megatron, who was leaning against a tree looking like he didn't have a care in the world. They went to the Ravana Rainforest in southern Sunehra in search of what caused the energy reading that Soundwave stumbled upon by chance. Since Soundwave couldn't properly get a fix on its location, they had to go there in person and travel by foot for the origin point.
"The energy signature is permeating throughout the region." Soundwave explained. "It is hard to pinpoint its location, as the energy is coming from the land itself. The best course of action would be to explore the area and look for anything out of the ordinary.
And so here they were, smack dab in one of the largest rainforests in the world, covered in condensation and plagued by the small insects crawling between their armor panels all over. Thirty minutes passed since they arrived and they had nothing to go on so far.
"Well what do you suggest, Megatron?" Nightshade asked snidely. "Surely you must have a plan that'll help us find our target before the Autobots start sniffing around."
They both got a call on their comms from Soundwave. "Megatron, Nightshade, Autobot signatures detect near your position."
"Where are they going, Soundwave?" Megatron asked.
"Northwest of your position, towards the waterfall. That area had not been explored by humans beyond that point." Soundwave said.
"See what I meant? Now we have to rush to beat them." Nightshade huffed.
"Furthermore, I have identified one of the Autobots as Optimus Prime."
Seeing Megatron smile at that, Nightshade asked, "What are you smiling about?"
"Nightshade, in the mega-cycles I've spent fighting Optimus, I've learned that if you are searching for a relic of great importance, then Prime will not be too far away, and he'll be out guiding star to our prize." Megatron said. "Because nine times out of ten, he knows where he's going."
Megatron stood up and walked past his subordinate, smacking aside the trees in his way. "Come, Nightshade, let us see what else this world has to offer."
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"I have to say, boss bot," Jazz said as he untangled some vines that stuck to his arms. "As much as I like being on this planet, this place might be my least favorite place on Terra."
"How so?" Optimus asked.
"Aside from the little creepy crawlies trying to sneak into my armor, this heat and getting smacked in the face by tree branches is starting to kill my battlefield buzz."Jazz said. "Seriously, I can feel my joints rusting."
"You'll have to bear with it, Jazz. I have a feeling the fauna and climate will be the least of our worries soon enough." Optimus said.
Despite the light-hearted banter with his friend, Optimus was not in high spirits. Ever since he entered the Ravana forest, he felt small but noticeable emanations coming from the Matrix. He had no idea what it meant, since the Matrix wasn't showing him any visions or anything else that might hint at its intentions, but he hoped it wasn't a sign of trouble in the near future. At best, he deduced that it might have something to do with the energy signature.
It wasn't so much as the Matrix trying to tell him something as it was some object resonating with the Matrix. Resonating enough to cause a reaction from the usually dormant Matrix. Optimus wasn't sure what they were going to find, but he hoped it wasn't anything dangerous; after fighting Talon and the Colchis Bull in the Agean Islands, he had his fill of local terrors. Optimus shook his head at that; who was he kidding? Knowing their luck, they were probably going to run into something just as bad as Talon.
"So," Jazz began. "How long do you think it will be before we run into any Cons?"
The sound of an explosion in the distance followed by the crackling of falling trees fill the air. Jazz put his hands on his waist and cursed his timing.
"That answers my question." He muttered and looked at Prime. "What's our game plan?"
"We keep going. We know where the Decepticons are, and we have a lead, something I want to maintain for the time being." Optimus said and continued onward.
Jazz looked back just in time to see more trees fall in the distance and followed his leader. They knew the Cons were bound to run into them sooner or later. The thing was making sure their meeting was on their terms. The jungle made it very easy to get ambushed and Jazz started wishing he could use his wheels for this mission.
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Optimus and Jazz spent a good part of the hour trudging through the thick jungle, deeper than any human had managed in recent history. They didn't exactly know where they were and they had no idea if there were small pockets of local tribes inhabiting this area. Many explorers were forced to turn back because of either lack of supplies, infectious wounds that couldn't be healed properly, poisonous insects and dangerous animals and the sheer length of the journey itself. And they had maps and guides, the two Autobots only had their scanners to go on…and the Matrix, but honestly, it wasn't helping all that much.
Optimus pushed aside a few trees and came upon the edge of a large river, one that was violent enough to drag a mech his size under the surface and the current strong enough to sweep him over the waterfall only a few feet away from them. He could only imagine the long drop over the edge. Jazz walked up next to him and whistled at the rushing currents.
"This is a doozy." Jazz remarked. "Got any ideas on getting across this thing?"
"Only two, and one of them involves jumping over the river." Optimus said.
"And the second plan?"
"Jumping over in vehicle mode."
"Yeah, that's no better." Jazz frowned and calculated the distance between them and the other side in his head. "Maybe I could shoot my grappling hook over to the nearest tree on the other side and pull myself over. Then I can grapple you across as well."
"Would it hold my weight?" Optimus asked.
"If it can hold Bulkhead's big trunk, then I'm confident it can hold you, boss bot." Jazz replied and then added, "At least for a little while."
After a few seconds hesitation (too long in Jazz's case) Optimus nodded his consent and Jazz fired his grappling hook across the river and managed to snag the closest tree to the edge. Making sure the line was secure, Jazz pulled himself over the river and landed perfectly on the other side, only slightly wet. He turned to fire his line at Prime, but paused when he saw something behind Optimus.
"Optimus, you've got incoming!" He yelled.
Optimus spun around and fired his ion cannon at the dark shape that was flying right at him-Nightshade. Nightshade hissed as she dodged the ion blast shot at her and deployed her missile payload from her wings. Optimus ran back into the trees to avoid the explosions peppering the riverbed and returned fire to drive her off.
Nightshade narrowed her eyes and circled around for another strike, but a photon blast hit her right wing and almost knocked her into the river. She transformed and hovered in the air, glaring down at Jazz.
"Sorry!" He called up to her with a grin. "He wasn't sorry.
Optimus was about to shoot her down when his danger senses made him roll aside just as a plasma beam came at him from behind. The blast tore through the trees and flew all the way to the other side of the river, vaporizing the trees next to Jazz. Optimus got up and saw Megatron running out of the forest charging at him.
"Prime!" Megatron roared.
"I'm right here. You don't have to shout." Optimus said.
Megatron's arm blade slid out and he slashed at Optimus, who backpedaled and brought out his axe. But Megatron didn't give him a chance to fight back and slammed his whole body into him, sending both mechs tumbling over the edge and into the rushing waters of the river.
"Optimus!" Jazz exclaimed.
The two leaders fought even as they were taken away by the strong currents towards the menacing waterfall just a few feet away from them. Optimus tried to grab hold of a rock to anchor himself, but Megatron kept trying to wrap his hands around his neck every time he took his attention off the Decepticon leader for a second.
"We're going to fall if we don't stop fighting, Megatron!" Optimus yelled at Megatron.
"Unlike you, Prime, I was smart enough to bring my own personal flyer along on this mission." Megatron grinned.
Jazz ran along the riverside, firing his rifle at Megatron's back, but the photon blasts did little against Megatron's armor. Jazz sent Optimus a comm message detailing his plan to pull him back onto land and Optimus nodded as he continued grappling with Megatron.
"You may like making every battle one last stand, Megatron," Optimus pulled out his ion cannon and pointed it at Megatron's face. "But I'm of a different mind."
He fired the cannon and Megatron's vision was blinded by white hot pain as a burst of energy engulfed his head. Startled and in pain, Megatron lost his grip on Optimus and Jazz fired his grappling hook at Optimus, who caught the line. Jazz dug his feet into the ground to keep himself from being pulled into the river, but all he managed to do was dig trenches into the ground. He had to pull Prime to shore and there was little time to do so as the waterfall was rapidly approaching.
Jazz angled himself towards a tree and planted his feet against the tree to stop himself. As the trunk creaked and cracked from the pressure being put on it, Jazz reeled the line back in and brought Optimus back to land. Megatron, though half blind, was still able to see Prime being pulled to safety and wasn't having it at all.
"No, Prime," Megatron growled, aiming his fusion cannon. "If I go, you're coming with me!"
He fired his fusion cannon, not at Prime, but at the tree Jazz was standing on. It blew the tree to splinters and Jazz lost his leverage. Optimus lost his only line to safety and was once again in the powerful embrace of the river, with Jazz falling into the water behind him.
Nightshade circled the river in the sky and saw Megatron approaching the edge of the waterfall. She flew down and under the misty spray of the waterfall just as Megatron went over the edge. He reached his arm out and she grabbed hold of him with her sharp talons, his heavy weight making her falter a bit before she fired up her miniature jet engines and regained her aerial balance.
"You took your time." Megatron said. Nightshade glared down at him.
"You're welcome." She said. "And for the record, I just got a strong lead on the energy source. It looks like the trail leads through the cave behind the waterfall."
"So fate smiles down on us, even now." Megatron smiled. "Go, Nightshade, let us see what secrets lie inside."
"What about the Autobots?"
"Neither Prime or his lackey can fly. Still, if nature doesn't smash their bodies to pieces, we can return and finish the job."
Up above, Optimus and Jazz were still nearing the waterfall. Optimus was just barely able to keep his head above water, and Jazz was unable to properly right himself. The cold water, while not as debilitating to them as it is to humans, was still enough to rattle his circuits. He tried to fire his grappling hook again, but Optimus stopped him.
"Wait!" Prime shouted over the loud currents.
"Wait for what? We're about to fall off a waterfall, boss bot!" Jazz said.
"That's the idea!" Optimus replied.
Jazz wondered if the cold water really was having an effect on Prime's processor as he was pulled under the surface and then began to fall over the edge. Time seemed to slow down as they began to fall over the cliff along with the water, gravity taking hold of their large bodies as they descended into the large cavern under them.
It was a long drop, so long that the falling water spread out in a fine mist and was blown away by strong winds before it even got half way to the bottom. The Autobots were not made of water, and thus they faced a very real danger of hitting the bottom with enough force to shatter them into a thousand pieces. But luckily, Optimus had a plan.
"Jazz, fire your line over there!" Optimus pointed to the spot where the water turned to mist.
Jazz did as commanded, firing the line a good distance from them through the water and hook it on the rock wall behind it. The watery mist wasn't strong enough to dislodge the hook from where it was embedded and he was safe. Grabbing Prime's hand, Jazz reeled them in, shooting past the wet mist and towards the rocky cliff face. He grabbed the rocks with his hands while Optimus dug his axe into the stone to hook his large body to the wall.
"So, what now?" Jazz asked. "I'm pretty sure that climbing back up is out of the question."
"Is it? Look," Optimus pointed at the large cave entrance that was behind the waterfall. "We're on the right track. All we need to do is follow Megatron's example and let out enemies lead the way for us."
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The cave led deeper into the side of the mountain than Megatron and Nightshade originally believed. The cavern was large enough to accommodate their sizes and the water reached up to their calves. The deeper they went, the darker it got, but Megatron was sure they were going in the right direction. Granted, the organic critters flying around their heads was getting annoying.
'If another bay flies by my head one more time.' Nightshade growled mentally. As if to taunt her, more bats fluttered around her head and she smacked her forehead against a stalactite.
Before she started lighting up the cave in anger, Megatron grabbed her shoulder and pointed at the beam of sunlight just in front of them. "Stay the course, Nightshade. It won't do to lose your temper now."
They walked to the cave opening and exited into the hot, humid air of another forest. This area was different, however, as just a few feet ahead there was an old city. The city was empty and showed signs of long term abandonment with worn stone buildings with tipped rooftops and large streets and plazas. Statues of ancient pagan deities stood tall and strong despite some having lost large chunks of stone that made up their construction.
The water they were walking in went through a canal that likely ran throughout the entire city, and judging from the boats sitting at the bottom of said canals, they were used as a mode of transportation for the people who lived here. The only sounds in the settlement were the large metallic footsteps of the two Cons as they traveled deeper into the city.
"I don't recall there being a city this deep in Sunehra." Nightshade said softly. Something about this place made her hesitant to speak louder than a whisper. "I wonder what this place is."
"We didn't come here to ponder the humans' leftovers, Nightshade. We have a job to do." Megatron said, sniffing at an armless statue. "Can you pinpoint the energy reading now?"
Nightshade checked her scanner and waved it around. She smirked when she saw the indicator hit the red zone when she pointed the device at the temple near the central plaza. "Looks like we check out the heart of the city."
Megatron nodded and collapsed into his tank mode, rolling through the streets like the massive war machine he was, carelessly of the noise he was creating in the quiet city. Nightshade detached Songbird from her arm and placed her on top of a house.
"Watch the cave. I want to know if the Autobots were able to make it out of their predicament."
"Understood, mistress. I will keep watch." The Minicon nodded.
"Don't call-never mind." Nightshade sighed and changed into beast mode to follow after Megatron.
Songbird watched her mistress fly away deeper into the city and then turned her head 360 degrees towards the canal entrance. No one was getting into the city without her knowing.
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As he drove through the ancient city, Megatron noticed that there were a lot of statues depicting a large winged reptilian creature with great reverence. He cared not if the beast was a god or not, but he knew that it was a dragon, a rare but powerful beast that humanity both feared and worshipped. He never saw a real dragon in person, but from what he learned from Soundwave, they were quite the sight to behold. Megatron wondered what it would be like to have a dragon of his own.
Nightshade was the first to reach the temple. It was the largest building in the city, built out of a nearby mountain side in a ziggurat construction. She eyed the dragon statues sitting at the base of the long staircase leading into the mountain with hesitation.
"I have a bad feeling about this." She muttered.
"Nightshade, are you there, yet?" Megatron asked.
"Yes, I'm flying over the pyramid." She replied. "I can detect the energy reading inside the mountain. This is the place."
"Go inside and see what's causing the energy reading." Megatron ordered as he rolled up to the base of the temple. "I will stand guard here."
Nightshade flew around the temple, trying to find an opening to enter through. Seeing no entrance, she decided to make her own and fired two missiles from her wings. The tiny projectiles hit the peak of the temple with a loud explosion that echoed throughout the city. When the smoke cleared, she saw that the interior of the temple looked mostly, if not completely, hollow.
'That's interesting.' Nightshade thought.
Just as she was rearing to dive through the temple roof, a loud roar pierced the air that could be heard for miles. Nightshade squawked in surprise and Megatron transformed to look around.
"What was that?" He asked.
Nightshade saw the cave near the top of the temple connected by a single bridge shake a bit as something large was passing through the tunnel. She landed on the bridge and transformed to robot mode, converting her arm into a blaster. Peering into the cave, all she saw were a pair of slitted golden eyes before a stream of fire was shot out of the tunnel.
"Scrap!" Nightshade jumped off the bridge to avoid getting severely burned by the wave of fire that bathed the shattered top of the temple.
She dived toward the ground and landed next to Megatron as a large reptile came stomping out of the cave, spouting fire from its mouth. It had to be almost as large as an airship, with leathery wings on its forelegs and powerful hind legs with a large body and a long neck ending with a narrow head that spat fire from its fang ridden mouth. Its scales were a beautiful shade of green that glinted in the sunlight and its wings were extremely wide.
This dragon was the naga, a species of dragon native to Sunehra. And Megatron and Nightshade just blew a hole in its nest.
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Songbird heard the dragon's roar from her spot on the other side of the city. It made her entire body shake in fear and surprise and she nearly fell off the statue she was perched on. Startled, she looked back to where her mistress and Megatron went and saw the giant beast flapping its wings and shooting fire into the sky.
"What is that?" She gasped. Where did that thing come from? Never mind, she needed to call Nightshade and see what was going on. "Mistress, are you there? What's happening? Where did that beast-"
She was cut off when a laser bolt hit her statue, destroying it and sending her falling to the ground. Songbird instinctively shifted into her weapon mode and spun around, firing her plasma beam, but she missed and another bolt hit her in the side. She slammed against a wall and fell to the ground, reverting to robot mode as she fell unconscious from the impact.
"That was easy." Jazz said as he and Optimus exited the cave. "Now, where is…" He trailed off as he saw the dragon in the distance. "Damn it. Can't we get a mission that doesn't involve fragging giants and monsters on this world?"
"I'm afraid that's a tall order for the forces that be, Jazz." Optimus said. He narrowed his eyes when he saw a fireball heading straight at them. "Incoming!"
They jumped apart as the fireball hit the ground where they stood, leveling a building and left a deep crater in the ground. Optimus ran to the edge of the crater and looked inside to see what was fired at them.
It was Megatron. The Decepticon leader was sitting at the bottom of the crater with smoke rising off his body like he just fell out of orbit. His armor was heavily scorched and blackened from being doused in intense flames and were warped in some places from the heat. Megatron himself looked like he took a head on punch from Omega Supreme, with deep cuts and visible teeth marks in his right arm, deep enough for energon to leak from ruptured power lines. He tried to move, but fell back and coughed up smoke.
"Prime, of course." Megatron rasped. "First I get thrown a mile across a backwater city and my worst enemy stands above me gloating. What else could happen today? Starscream throws me off the Nemesis?"
"No one is gloating, Megatron." Optimus said.
"Please," He grinned. "You know you want to."
The green scaled dragon that had thrown Megatron almost the entire length of the city was now chasing Nightshade like a shark chasing after fish. She weaved through the air in a series of complicated maneuvers to get it off her tail, but the dragon was faster in the air than on land. Nightshade spun in the air and fired a few missiles at the dragon to at least scare it away, so imagine her surprise when she saw the dragon twist its body in the air and smack away the missiles with its tail, its scales unharmed by the intense flames they produced. Nightshade noticed too late that it uncoiled its tail like a whip and she was hit by the brunt of its appendage, sending her flying through the air.
Optimus and Jazz watched with wide eyes as Nightshade flew into the temple hard enough to smash through the stone and go right through it.
"She's gonna feel that in the morning." Jazz winced.
The dragon swerved its head towards the two Autobots, its emerald green eyes flashing with rage at seeing more intruders in its territory. Optimus and Jazz wasted no time in running in the opposite direction just as the dragon lowered its head and fired a large, intense plume of flames at them. The attack bathed the entire street in flames and nearly blew up a building in their path. Optimus jumped out of the way of a falling boulder and fired his ion cannon at the beast.
He didn't fire at anything vital, not wanting to kill the beast in its own land, but the dragon dodged his blast just when he pulled the trigger. Dragon's were the smartest animals in the world, and it's what allowed them to survive the expansion of humanity's reach in the world. This dragon already figured out that the strange objects these shiny humans were carrying were dangerous and resolved to avoid any of the glowing things they shot at it.
The dragon charged at the Autobots and rammed its head into Optimus, smacking him away with its hard skull. Optimus tried to grab its horns but it snapped its head back and batted him aside with its forearm. The dragon reared back to clamp its jaws around Prime, but a purple beam shot past its snout and blew apart the statue behind it. Glaring down at the attacker, its gaze focused on Megatron, his fusion cannon raised and smoking from the barrel.
"Try fighting someone who's stronger, beast!" Megatron roared and extended his blade. "I am Megatron! I've fought creatures larger than you!"
'You have to admire his tenacity, at least.' Optimus thought as he slowly flanked the dragon. He quickly ran to its back and climbed onto the length of its spine, holding on to the ridges of its back spikes as it began to move.
"Come at me, beast! Where's that ferocity you love throwing around so carelessly?!" Megatron taunted, slamming his fists together.
The dragon roared again and snapped its head down, jaws wide open to snap Megatron in half. Megatron, ever the warrior, gave a roar of his own and leapt at the dragon. Both mech and beast charged at each other, ready to kill the other in mortal combat.
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Nightshade groaned as she pushed the last of the rocks off her. She got to her knees but hissed when she flexed her wings a bit. They weren't severely damaged, but her right wing was slightly bent out of shape and she could tell that she wouldn't be doing any fancy flying in the near future.
"That was fun. One more thing to add to my list of things I hate about this planet." Nightshade muttered and looked up. She could see where she crashed through the wall after the dragon smacked her into the side of the temple. She was amazed that she wasn't in pieces now after hitting the stone at those speeds.
Then she realized that she actually was inside the temple. Just as she thought, the interior was completely hollow and large enough to accommodate the size of an average cybertronian. Not to mention the energy signature was very strong at the moment. Granted, the temple wasn't completely featureless; there was a deep pool of water leading from excess water from the canals outside and a statue of a giant elephant at the center of the pool. Nightshade looked at her scanner and saw the signal coming from the pool.
Narrowing her eyes, she walked forward and entered the pool, almost tripping when her foot lost traction and she was immediately in waist deep water. Swimming forward, she reached the elephant statue and dived under the surface, scanning the pool for anything out of the ordinary.
To her pleasant surprise, she did find something. It was a bow, one that was as tall as a full grown man and deep silver, looking more ceremonial than functional. Nightshade swam up to the bow and picked it up, and to her shock, it suddenly grew in size to match her grip.
'What the hell?!' Nightshade gaped at the bow in her hands, which was now large enough to wield with both hands. She swam back to the surface and quickly got back onto the platform, looking at her newest weapon. Obviously, the energy surge was coming from this thing, but it didn't look like anything special.
That is, until she pulled the string, then a small arrow of light manifested in the bow string, and it vanished when she quickly let the string go, startled. It was like an energon bow, but more fluid and less flashy. Nightshade pulled the string farther back, and the arrow appeared again, stronger and brighter this time.
"How is this possible?" Nightshade wondered aloud. This bow was thousands of years old and had no signs of advanced energy projection technology that would allow such a function to be possible, and the bow itself looked pristine and spotless. How did the humans have such a weapon in their possession?
"Nightshade!"
Megatron's voice bellowed from her comm and she quickly answered back. "Megatron?"
"Nightshade, answer me, damn you!" He grunted on the other line. She could hear him but the reception in the temple made him unable to hear her. "If you're still alive, get your ass here now! I need assistance!"
This command was followed by a loud roar followed by Megatron's pained grunts. Then the connection was cut. Nightshade looked at the bow in her hands and took a deep breath. It didn't matter what this weapon was. She had a mission to complete and that meant helping Megatron with their flying lizard problem. With one last look at the ominous elephant statue, she left the chamber with her new bow in hand.
"All right," Nightshade said to the bow. "Let's see what you're made of."
And so Nightshade leapt into the air with her new weapon in hand. The weapon of the hero Arjuna-Gandiva.
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Megatron rolled to the left to avoid getting crushed by the giant tail of the dragon. He swung his blade into the tail, only for the appendage to slam into him and send him crashing into a building. Jazz grappled onto a statue and fired his photon rifle, but the dragon avoided his blasts and fired its fiery breath at him, forcing him to jump off and onto the ground.
The dragon chased the Autobot through the streets, continuing to layer the area with a large wave of flames that was so hot Jazz felt that his armor would start warping from the proximity alone. The dragon didn't let up its assault until Optimus jumped on its head and punched the back of its skull repeatedly. It thrashed around to dislodge him and Optimus jumped off when it tried crushing him as it slammed its head into the ground. Channeling power into his hyper-coil musculature, Optimus delivered a powerful punch to the dragon's jaw, dazing it long enough for him to land another punch to its snout. Its head smashed into the side of a building and slumped to the ground dazed and in pain. Optimus landed on the ground and ran over to Jazz, who looked a bit darker than when he first came into the city.
"That was intense." Jazz breathed.
"Indeed." Optimus agreed and looked his friend over. "Are you damaged?"
"No, I was almost turned to actual slag if you hadn't jumped in, though. Thanks for the save."
Optimus nodded and turned his attention back to the dragon, who was just regaining its senses. It shook its head a little before glaring at the two Autobots, and they stepped back as it picked itself off the ground and growled in anger. Obviously it didn't appreciate getting punched in the face twice.
"Jazz, retreat!" Optimus yelled.
The dragon took a deep breath and fired an intense stream of flames so hot that even Megatron could feel its heat from his spot. Optimus and Jazz transformed and sped away to avoid getting incinerated, but the fireball exploded behind them, blasting them into the air and sending them crashing to the ground. Reverting to robot mode, they stood their ground and faced the dragon, who charged at them to tear them apart.
Before it could make good on that, however, it froze and turned back to the temple as a loud rumble rang through the air. Standing on top of the temple was Nightshade, who was plucking the string of a huge bow she acquired within the temple's confines. Each pluck of the string sounded like the distant rumble of thunder and could be heard throughout the city. The dragon roared and flew at her, intent on getting some blood today.
Nightshade saw it approaching her and activated the jet boosters in her feet to hover in the air. Unable to completely perform aerial maneuvers, she needed to finish this quick before it got hold of her.
When the dragon got close enough, it shot its fire breath at her and she boosted off the temple as the temple's top level exploded in a fireball. She angled her wings forward and fired a few missile darts that exploded in the dragon's face. It wasn't enough to kill it, as its scales were highly resistant to fire, much less a few tiny missile detonations, but it did distract the beast long enough for her to gain some altitude on it.
The dragon whipped its head upwards and leapt at her, jaws wide open as it tracked her higher into the sky with Nightshade in its sights. Nightshade spun around so that she was facing the dragon and aimed her bow, looking straight down its mouth. She closed her eyes and pulled the string back, and as she felt the heat of its breath on her body, Nightshade let the string go.
The crackle of thunder reverberated throughout the entire ancient city as the sky above it lit up like a supernova.
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Optimus and Jazz sat in the medibay waiting for Ratchet to finish up his finer repairs on their wounds. Their whole bodies ached, but aside from a few dents in the armor, a fractured hand in Optimus' case-courtesy of punching a dragon in one of the hardest parts of its body twice-and multiple burns, they were in better shape than Megatron, who honestly had it worst than them with his broken and burnt form.
"So…that was one hell of a mission." Jazz said conversationally. "Not sure if I want something like that again in my lifetime."
"No arguments from me on that front, Jazz." Optimus said, nursing his stinging hand. "Though, the ramifications of this mission worry me more."
"You mean that fancy weapon Nightshade showed off? Who could forget that after seeing her blow the head off a dragon?"
It was indeed an awe inspiring sight. Nightshade had fired a single shot from that mysterious bow and blew off not only the head of the dragon, but also its upper body. The sound of the strange arrow hitting its target and exploding was like a thunderclap, far greater than anything Blackout could produce with his thunderclap cannon and was surpassed only by natural lightning in intensity. Once the dragon was dead, she and Megatron quickly took a ground out of the city before the Autobots could do anything.
Optimus was glad she didn't seek to continue their fight and made Megatron her top priority. They were all wounded and tired, and even with her powerful new weapon, no one would've made it out in one piece. Still…the feeling he got from that bow. It was disturbingly similar to the barely noticeable feeling he got when standing close to Mjolnir. Could it be that these supposedly mythical weapons had a similar origin?
He had no idea, but the more he learned about this world, the more he wondered if they were the first alien visitors to grace this world. Whatever the case, Optimus was sure that there was certainly more to Terra than meets to eye.