Chapter 11: The Calm before the Storm

POV Anonymous

It was a dark, dreary, and foreboding night. My two friends and I were waiting in an alley for someone. I started to shiver in the cold, damp alley before I heard a hoarse voice.

"Gentlemen" said a mech.

My friends and I turned around to see a tall dark figure standing behind us. I also saw two other mechs standing behind the first one.

The figure then started to speak again, "Have you thought about our little deal yet?"

I nodded my head as I replied, "Yeah, we did."

"And?" said the mysterious figure as he waited for our response.

My friend grinned as he chuckled devilishly and said, "We will do as you want, but only on one condition."

The mech looked at my friend curiously as he asked, "Oh? And what might you gentlemen want?"

"We want double the offer that you guys are willing to pay" I said to him.

One of the mech's companions behind him laughed evilly as he said, "You gentlemen can have all the money you want, but only if you would keep this little arrangement hush, hush and do as you were assigned."

I turned to my friends as we grinned sinisterly at the deal.

Then the mech, who said that we could have any amount of money we want, took out his datapad and pen and said to us, "Now, how much money do you guys want?"

POV Soundwave

I was fast asleep on my bed when I heard my comlink go off. I groaned as I sleepily touched the side of my helmet to answer the call.

"Hello?" I asked sleepily as I rubbed my tired optic.

"Wakey, wakey Soundwave!" said a cheerful femme.

I smiled before I said sleepily, "Good morning Harmony. Why are you up so early?"

"Oh you know how I like to wake up when the sun rises" she replied to me.

I chuckled a little before I said, "You haven't changed a bit, songbird."

She giggled a little before she said, "Neither have you, sleepy head. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you, Screamy, Bee, and Arcee that I got the tickets for the gladiator games for today."

"Oh? Who's battling today, and at what time will the game begin?" I asked my friend.

"Well the battle doesn't start until two o'clock, but I was thinking that the five of us could hang out before that" she said.

"Okay, but who are we going to see fighting today?" I asked curiously.

"Well I wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess I can tell you. We are seeing your dad and my dad fighting together against Pyra and Light" she said to me.

I frowned slightly because of the memory of what happened the last time that we saw our parents battling together in the arena. I had a very bad feeling about this battle.

"Soundwave?" Harmony asked worriedly.

I snapped out of my daze as I replied, "Yeah?"

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" I replied back to her.

"You seem a little bit quite. Quieter than usual" she said.

"Oh, I um… just still feel a little bit sleepy. That's all.

"Okay, if that's what it is then, I'll see you later at noon in the park. Don't forget to bring your score board" she said to me.

I nodded my head as I said, "Yeah, see you later in the park."

"Okay, bye then" she said.

"Bye" I said as I hanged up.

I sighed as I rubbed my forehead. I then turned to my nightstand to grab the picture frame that had Harmony and her family with my family.

I touched the picture gently and said, "I have a very bad feeling about this."

POV Neonna

I was busy cleaning the living room when I heard running footsteps. I turned to see my daughter in a hurry before I stopped her.

"Woah, woah" I said to her. She stopped where she was and turned to me. "And where on Cybertron are you off to, young lady?" I asked her.

"Uh...going to the park with my friends to play rocketball" she said to me.

I nodded before I noticed that she was carrying some tickets. I raised an eyebrow as I asked, "And does rocketball have anything to do with those tickets in your hand?"

I saw her optics looking to the side as she said, "Umm….They are movie tickets for a movie that we are going to see this afternoon."

I looked at her for a long time. I knew that was a lie, but I want to be sure that they aren't tickets for the gladiator games.

She sighed in defeat as she said, "They are gladiator tickets for this afternoon's battle."

"Oh, and does this battle happen to involve your father?" I asked her.

Harmony grimaced a bit before she said, "Yes."

"I see." I said as I folded my arms.

Harmony groaned in agitation as she said, "Mom, it's not going to be like last time when I was just forty five years old. I am a teenager now, I can handle it. Besides, I'm going with my friends to the arena."

I shook my head as I said, "I'm coming with you."

Her optic's widened as she said, "Mom, I said…."

I cut her off by putting up my hand, "I know what you said, but I just don't want anything to happen to you if I'm not there with you, okay."

She sighed as she said, "Okay, but I only have five tickets."

I smiled as I grabbed my bag and took out my own ticket. Harmony's optics widened in surprise as I said, "I knew something like this was going to happen again."

"But...how?" she asked still surprised by me having a ticket for the game this afternoon.

I smiled as I replied, "I saw you sneaking out yesterday, so I followed you all the way to the ticket booth at the arena."

Her mouth dropped in amazement before she straightened herself up and said, "So you're cool with me going to see a gladiator match?"

"With my supervision, then yes, I am fine in letting you go there. Besides, it saves me the trip in giving your father this letter from your grandfather" I said to her.

She smiled as her optics lightened up in happiness as she came over to me and gave me a warm embracing hug. "Thanks Mom" she said to me as I lovingly hugged her back.

We both left the house to go to the park to meet up with her friends.

POV Harmony

Mom and I were walking to the park to meet up with my friends when I heard someone call out my name.

"Hey Harmony! Over here!" said a femme.

I smiled as I recognized the voice. I turned to see my favorite blue two-wheeler. I waved to Arcee and the rest of the gang as we walked towards them.

"What took you so long?" asked Starscream as he was spinning the ball for rocketball on his finger.

"Traffic" Mom and I said together.

Bumblebee smiled as he said, "Why hello Mrs. Neonna, how are you today?"

My mom smiled back at Bee as she replied, "I'm doing great. How about you guys?"

Starscream stopped spinning the ball as he turned to me and asked, "Your mom is coming with us?"

Mom turned to Starscream and said to him, "Yes, I am going to game with you guys this afternoon. Is there a problem, Starscream?"

He shook his head as he replied, "No, I just didn't know that you were coming with us."

She nodded as she went to the bench to sit down. I then turned to my friends and said, "So, who is on what team?"

An hour had gone by as we played rocketball. Starscream and I were the offensive team while Arcee and Bumblebee were the defensive team. Soundwave was obviously the referee because he doesn't really like to play rocketball. My team was in the lead by two points.

It was our turn with the ball. I turned to Starscream and said, "Remember, only distract Bee long enough so that I can bypass him and go for the goal."

"Got it" he said as Soundwave used the recording of a whistle and threw the ball up in the air between us and Bee. Starscream grabbed the ball in the air and tried skating with it while Bumblebee tried to intercept him.

He threw the ball towards me as I skated to try and catch it. I caught the ball as I made a straight line towards the goal, which was being guarded by Arcee. I then threw the ball straight into the goal as Arcee dove to try and catch the ball, but the ball slipped out of her fingers as it hit the goal's netting.

Soundwave did another recording of the whistle to signal that my team got the point. I jumped up in the air that Starscream and I won.

"Woohoo!" I shouted cheerfully as I closed one of my optics while putting up my two fingers to signify our victory.

My mother laughed at my pose as she said, "We better be going shortly. You guys don't want to miss the game this afternoon, right?"

I nodded my head as I said, "Okay Mom. Let us just get our stuff together and go."

She nodded in reply as she watched us gather up our stuff. After we got our stuff together, we left the park to walk all the way towards the arena to see the battle.

Once we got to the arena and found our seats, I asked everyone, "Hey anyone want an energon soda?"

"Yeah, could you get me one, please?" Starscream asked politely.

"Yeah, us too" said Bumblebee.

"Okay, what flavor?" I asked them.

"I would like a frost" Screamy said.

"I would like a tropical punch" said Bee

"And I would like a cool blue" said Arcee.

I nodded my head as I was about to get up out of my seat when my mom said, "I'm coming with you."

"Mom, just relax, okay we'll be quick" I said to her.

"We?" she asked me while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Soundwave and I are going to go get the drinks. Together" I said to her.

She sighed as she said, "Well as long as you have someone accompanying you, then you can go. But I want you back here after you two buy those drinks, okay?"

Soundwave and I nodded our heads before we stood up to go get our drinks. Once we got out of the stadium, we searched for a drink stand. We finally found one in the west wing of the arena.

"Phew, we finally found one" I said out loud. Soundwave then pointed at the long line of people.

I frowned a little as I cursed, "Scrap, I guess we have to wait awhile."

He nodded in reply as we joined the long line of people.

As we waited and waited, I began to get a sick feeling in the pit of my tank that someone was watching us.

"Can I help you?" asked the young lady in the stand.

I snapped out of my thought and replied, "Huh? Oh yeah could we get two medium size frost flavored energon sodas, one medium size cool blue flavored energon soda, and two medium size tropical punch energon sodas."

She nodded her head as she got five medium sized cups and started to fill them up with our sodas.

Once, she was done, I paid her the money before Soundwave and I grabbed our drinks. As we walked back to our seats, I kept on looking back behind us to see if someone was there, but every time I turn around I didn't see anyone following us.

Soundwave looked at me as he said, ~ "What's wrong?" ~

I turned to look at him, sighed loudly, and said, "It's nothing, just thought that someone was behind us."

He wasn't convinced as he said, ~ "You sure because you look like…..Ow!" ~ He touched the side of his neck and pulled out a small metal dart before he collapsed on the ground.

"Soundwave!" I shouted as I dropped the drinks and ran to his side. Then I felt something on my neck. I pulled out the exact same dart that Soundwave pulled out before I suddenly felt woozy.

My vision started to blur before I too collapsed on the ground. Just before I black out, I saw three pairs of feet walking towards us.

"Boss, we got them" said one of them before everything turned to black.

POV Neonna

I nervously tapped my foot on the ground as I took out my watch again. Harmony and Soundwave have been gone for almost fifteen minutes now, and they haven't come back yet.

"They'd been gone for a long time" I whispered to myself.

"I'm sure that they are alright, Mrs. Neonna. They're probably in a really long line" said Bumblebee.

"Maybe they'd stopped to get some energon candy pops or rust bars" said Arcee.

"Well, whatever the case may be they should hurry up with our drinks. I'm parched!" Starscream complained.

Arcee was about to say something, but she was cut off by the referee.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you an epic double battle that would make history!"

Everyone cheered loudly. I started to worry a bit because Harmony would never be late to see a battle like this one.

"Oh, where are you Harmony" I said to myself.

"Today we bring you the amazing duo that are the fiercest, cunning, and slyest out of all gladiators, Megatronus and Shadowwave!" said the referee.

Another wave of cheer sounded as my sparkmate and Shadowwave came out onto the battlefield.

"And their opponents are two of the most elegant, slyest, and fastest duo, Pyra and Light!" he said into his mic.

The crowd cheered even louder before it died down in confusion because neither Prya or Light came onto the battlefield. Everyone began to whisper to each other of why neither of the gladiators are on the battlefield.

POV Megatronus

Shadowwave and I waited five minutes for Pyra and Light, but neither of them showed up. I began to worry a bit of my fellow gladiators.

I turned to my friend and asked, "Do you think that they are sick?"

He shook his head and replied, "I don't think so. Even if they are sick, they should have called in so that our manager can substitute them for another pair of fighters."

I nodded in agreement as we waited for them to come onto the battlefield. Then we heard a pair of metallic footsteps as Shadowwave and I waited for them to come out into the open.

My optics widened in horror at who I saw.

"By the AllSpark" I cursed out loud as I saw my enemy with someone else walking onto the battlefield.

Arron and another gladiator came onto the field. Everyone gasped to see Arron and his friend on the field instead of Pyra and Light.

"Candra" Shadowwave said hatefully when he saw the silver grey mech with pale green optics.

I turned to my friend and asked, "You know him?"

"He was my rival two weeks ago. He lost for the first time that he swore he would get me back some day. I guess today's the day" he said to me.

I turned my attention back to Arron. I narrowed my optics at him hatefully as I said, "What are you doing here?"

He smiled evilly as he said, "I'm here to take Pyra and Light's place."

"What have you done to them?" Shadowwave shouted at them.

Candra snickered at Shadowwave and said, "Oh we did nothing to them. They are just 'tied' up at the moment."

We narrowed our optics at them angrily before I said hatefully, "Arron if you think that I will battle you again, well think again."

Arron laughed evilly as he said, "Oh you will battle us to the death, whether you like it or not."

I didn't understand what he meant by that before I heard someone struggling to break free.

"Get your hands off of me you creep!" said a very familiar voice.

My spark skipped a beat as I saw my daughter being held against her will by a tall mech. Then I saw Soundwave unconscious the arms of his captor who was standing right next to my daughter's captor.

"Harmony?" I said fearfully as I saw her struggling to break free. A chill went down my cords as I stared in horror.

"Soundwave?" I heard my friend speak in horror to see his only son in this sinister, twisted revenge scheme.

I narrowed my optics into slits as I yelled, "You wretch! You really sanked down so low that Primus himself can't save you from your own twisted mind!"

Arron laughed as he said, "Well, will this convince you two to battle us to the death?"

"Let our sparklings go! This is between you two and us" Shadowwave said with a bit of hatred in his tone.

Candra laughed as he said, "On the contrary dear Shadowwave, this so happens to involve your precious little sparklings. So that we can use your own flesh and blood to convince you to battle us in one last battle to the death."

"And if we refuse to battle you to the death?" I asked while looking at Arron with disgust.

Arron smirked sinisterly as he walked over to my daughter. He took out his wrist blades and pinned it against her neck. I saw her tears streaming down her faceplate as she looked at me with fear in her optics.

"I'll let your imagination tell you what would happen to Harmony if you refuse to fight us" he said with a purr of satisfaction.

My energon turned to ice crystals as I saw my little girl in terror at the hands of my enemy. I tightened my fists angrily as I said, "If it's a fight you want, then a fight is what you get."

~To Be Continued~