Alright. It's been a bit longer than I had intended to leave this story, given it's almost over. I guess leaving it like this might be giving the wrong impression and making you think there's several more chapters... but that's literally all there are. Three chapters, including this one, and one is an epilogue. Fortunately, at this point in time, I have all but the second half of the epilogue written. So the last actual chapter will be out pretty soon. Honestly, it will be about whenever it comes back to mind, given it's getting into midterm.
In any case, I've actually had an incredibly productive writing weekend. Not only do I have this story a few paragraphs from being finished, but I made major progress in that big story I keep mentioning every once in a while. I've also worked quite a bit on one of my original stories, and even contemplated doing a comic of it instead of my usual story. Not going to happen. While I admire people like the Huss quite a bit, I don't have the patience to redraw the same characters over and over again enough to tell any sort of story. I prefer typing and drawing on the side.
I don't own Transformers. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
I couldn't see the Decepticon leader yet, but after Optimus informed us of his presence, it was unmistakable. The sound of jet engines overhead, circling but only passively attacking back, had shifted. They were diving downwards now, and there was a split second of whistling in the air before a large portion of the tourist building off to the side of the dam was obliterated.
"Take it farther from here." Optimus instructed, pointing out the other direction. Already we were in motion. "Bumblebee, don't let the boy out of your sight. William, you and your soldiers need to stick with Ironhide and Jazz. Try to split them up."
Bumblebee quickly transformed, and I figured we were going to be taking evasive maneuvers. Mikaela crawled in behind me, and the instant the door was shut we were off.
"Put your seatbelts on!" Bumblebee snapped at us. We didn't have time for him to wait until we had them on now, but that doesn't mean he's any less of a stickler about it.
"Where is he? Shoot, how long until the Ark gets here?" I asked, thinking furiously on how this was going to work out. They're leaving... and I don't like that. No, if I end up being stuck in this continuity forever alone, without the Autobots, I'm going to go crazy. But we don't exactly have time to figure out how to get me and Bee home to our own continuity right now. And taking me back with them, if we do get sent home, the versions of us that are supposed to be here are going to be stuck in that situation.
"They're not going to be able to get here for a little while. We have to wait this out. Maybe we can fight them off for another day, or maybe we can just stall long enough." Bumblebee mused half-heartedly.
I snorted.
"Alright, so this big one flying towards us is the one that was supposed to be frozen in there, right?" Mikaela asked, spotting Megatron before I did. I followed her gaze, ducking to look up through the windshield.
"Right. He's bad news." I confirmed.
"Hold on." Bumblebee warned us a second before turning sharply to the right. The Seekers were landing and one nearly hit us. I tightened my grip on the Allspark, pushing my back into the seat. The Seeker- I think his name is Thundercracker.
Ironhide was quickly catching up to us and distracting Thundercracker and we banked to the left, coming to a stop.
"If we get separated, keep running. Run to any Autobot. Run away from the Decepticons. Just keep running." Bumblebee stated.
"Are you really going through this with me right now?" I scoffed. "Are you serious?"
"Samuel, this is Mikaela's first battle." He reminded me. "And last time we were caught in a battle over the Allspark, I lost my legs."
I flinched. "Right. Point taken. If we get separated from Bee, you don't want to stick with me. Trust me, it's not a good idea, because I'm the one they're after. Or, the Allspark is, and I've got it."
"I'm not going to sit there and get killed." Mikaela rolled her eyes. "And I'm not leaving you alone in this. Watch out!" She gasped, suddenly flipping her head around to stare into the rearview mirror. I turned to look behind us to see Thundercracker back and racing after us.
Bumblebee kicked it into gear and we were speeding off in a wide arc around the main fight. Rather quickly, someone else threw the Seeker off. Unfortunately, however, an earth-bound Decepticon came crashing into us.
Bumblebee flipped, and we came to a pivot a little ways away. The doors flipped open and we both dove out just in time for Bee to transform and brace himself for Bonecrusher's attack.
"Oh- my-" Mikaela stared around us.
"Duck." I dove towards her, as they flew over us. Bonecrusher was clearly intent on literally crushing us while Bumblebee was doing well at throwing their weight around to avoid us. "Come on." I was on my feet again, leading the way into the grass and away from the fighting. Will and the other soldiers were nearby, standing far enough back to shoot at a helicopter hovering over the fight.
"Hey, hey." I panted and pointed towards where Bee was. He nodded and he waved for the others to follow him in helping Bee out. Not that Bee can't handle a one-on-one like that, but we kind of need him right now.
"What are we doing?" She asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. "What are we doing here?"
"Trying to stay alive."
"By just running around? That's a terrible plan." She objected, looking around. No one seemed to have noticed us just standing here yet, thankfully.
"Welcome to my life." I wagged my eyebrows and decided to rephrase my last thought. We ducked and ran to avoid another Decepticon that had managed to slip away. There are more Decepticons than Autobots here, which doesn't look so great for us.
"Get back here." Barricade himself, my old friend, was now after us. "You..."
"What?" Jazz demanded, suddenly showing up and kicking his current Decepticon towards Barricade. "I didn't hear you?" He laughed.
Jeeze I hope you don't die. He looked towards us and pointed towards the throng. "That is the direction you shouldn't be running."
"That's the direction we're not out in the open." I contradicted.
"Whatever. Don't get stepped on." He insisted, returning to his fight.
I looked around quickly, pushing Mikaela away from the next Decepticon that spotted us. Thankfully, this took us back around to Bumblebee, who seemingly managed to push Barricade back and disorient him. He spotted us and quickly grabbed us when we were close enough.
"I swear, we're going to die." Mikaela gasped. "Isn't there anything more we can do?"
"You can help distract. We're going to take this fight on the run." Bumblebee stated, running with us away from the battle. With so many Decepticons caught in battle with the Autobots, they couldn't all follow us. They couldn't all even notice we were going anywhere. The ones that did were detoured by the Autobots anyways, with the resulting battle field getting elongated and stretched out. This made things a bit harder for them.
We were outnumbered and we had a while before help came, and yet we were holding our own. Mikaela and I found ourselves on the ground again, at the edge of a line of thin trees. We were farther from the road and the shine of the water behind the dam was just a line now, and I remembered why I hate running like this.
"Bee!" I shouted, not paying much mind to the fact he was wrestling with Barricade now.
"I'm busy!"
"How much longer until the Arc gets here?"
"I don't know! Shut up!"
I rolled my eyes and Mikaela punched me. We were hiding in a ditch so they couldn't see us from a distance. The fight kept getting closer again, but right now the only Decepticon that could see us is Barricade.
"Shut up." Mikaela insisted. "Don't distract him."
"He's fine. Barricade's a whimp."
Hearing this made Barricade angry, and he tried to fire towards us. Bumblebee jerked his arm around so the shot missed. In doing so, he managed to throw Barricade farther off and get the upper hand.
"See?"
Mikaela punched me again. I sighed and lowered my chin to the surface of the Allspark.
No, I'm freaking out. I'm keeping my cool, I've been through this before, but I'm freaking out. How close to the end of the war are we, once again, because of this thing? Megatron isn't going to stop fighting, and I'm not going to let go of this thing.
I'm not letting it go. "I'm not letting you go." I whispered.
"Sam!" Mikaela didn't pay any attention to this, pulling me down as Bumblebee rolled over the ditch and landed on the other side. Barricade was up again, and the battle was catching up with us. He wasn't the only one that could see us now.
"Sh-"
"Run!" She urged, pulling on my arm to pull me out of the ditch. I rolled onto my feet, chasing after her towards Bumblebee, who was already getting back up.
"Turn right!" A familiar voice shouted behind us. I jerked that direction instinctively and Bumblebee acted to put himself between us and the Decepticons just before the ground exploded. Ironhide came screeching around just after, firing at the 'cons that weren't disoriented by the blast. "Head back towards the Dam. We're leading these scrap in circles."
Without further instruction, we started running back around the battle, avoiding every shot fired and every lunge towards us. Ratchet and Optimus were closer to the heart of the fight where Megatron and Starscream were. I didn't spend much time watching them as we flew past that part, just long enough for Megatron to be certain where the Allspark was and fire towards us. Optimus threw the shot off, however, and I heard an angry growl behind us.
"Prime! Why defend one, lone human when your entire race lays to death?" Megatron demanded, furious. "Fool!"
"Why make others suffer for your mistake?" Optimus countered, only infuriating him further. I didn't pay any attention to what else was said, but I can definitely say the fight wasn't following us like a worm. Instead, Megatron was fighting tooth and nail to throw Optimus off and chase after us.
We were finally in the clear, and I chanced a glance backwards. Barricade, who had been hot on our trail, had been thrown towards Prime by Megatron, used as a distraction to allow Megatron enough time to change direction towards us. Bumblebee changed direction quickly and we followed, trying to stay in the same order we'd maintained this whole time. When Megatron was nearly upon us, Bumblebee changed direction again to intersect him in an attempt to buy us time.
Memory of how Jazz died flashed before my eyes. He died trying to distract Decepticons.
"No." I changed direction.
"Sam, keep going!" Mikaela objected. "What are you doing?"
"Samuel." Optimus caught back up with us. I ducked to avoid him grabbing at me.
"No, Bee!" I objected, despite Bee had managed to avoid letting Megatron grab ahold of him.
Optimus decided to stop trying to grab at me and turned to address this problem. I watched in horror while Megatron threw Bumblebee back, the opposite direction we were. That's when Megatron turned towards us, bringing his cannon around to fire. Optimus was already here, and Bumblebee was getting back up. My heart was pounding, and I felt like cold water had been poured on my head.
"Sam, what's wrong with you? Keep running." Mikaela was pulling at me again.
Bumblebee was rushing around, and I took a deep breath, going in the same direction.
Things are different here. Things have already changed, and this isn't just about stopping things from happening that are supposed to happen. Anything can happen, and that reality just hit me in the face.
"Sam!" Mikaela screamed at me, now bothered by my direction. Instead of heading straight outward, I was meeting up with Bumblebee. "Uhhhg."
"I don't like this, I don't like this, I don't like this." I shook my head, finally colliding my path with Bee's. He went to pick me up and I started kicking him. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"
"Sam, calm down. Calm down." Bumblebee finally grabbed at me. "This is not the time and place."
"You idiot! You almost died! What are you doing?"
He gave me a weird look, but shook his head and picked Mikaela up to start running again. He decidedly ignored me, and kept going.
That's when the ground under him exploded from someone's cannon and he stumbled. Angling the fall in a way we'd still be on our feet, he hit the ground and Mikaela kept going for several paces before looking back. I didn't move.
"Sam, go. I'm fine." Bee insisted, already starting to get up again. Slower this time, and one glance towards his feet told me he'd been hit.
"Keep running boy!" Megatron boomed. Optimus wasn't in sight when I looked back that direction briefly. I turned back to Bee, but still refused to go anywhere. "Keep running, give me a chase!"
Bee started firing that direction and Mikaela was yelling at me, but I still didn't move. He hit Megatron, but directly in his heavily armored chest. Even I could tell you a direct hit to the chest won't do anything for most any armored mech- or femme. It's the most protected part of the protoform, and it's useless to try to do damage there. But Bumblebee was struggling to land any blows at all.
"Do you remember Mission City?" Bumblebee asked me as he fired. Megatron was changing direction, still coming straight for us. Now, I see, Optimus is trying to shake off Starscream and Blackout, and he nearly had ahold of Megatron again.
I nodded. "I'm not leaving you again. This isn't the same." I argued.
"Not what I mean." He denied. "The Ark still isn't due for a bit, there's no way it'll get here in time. You can't keep running now."
"Sam! Come on!" Mikaela was backing up, ready to keep running without me as Megatron came even closer. Optimus broke free long enough to detour Megatron once more, but Starscream was quick to return as Megatron used Prime's own momentum to toss him on outward. Megatron was back towards us in seconds. This time Tundercracker joined Starscream in hindering Optimus. They were using one of the soldiers, baiting Prime.
"Do you remember the original plan back then?" Bee kept going, turning to look at me.
I glared at him and kicked him again. "No!"
"Suck it up, Sam." He insisted. "This isn't the first time you've been in battle, and these things happen."
"I fell into a freaking pile of wires! I fell! On accident! That's all that happened, I didn't sign up for this." I moaned, pretty sure my grip on the Allspark was cutting off my circulation.
"Alternate reality or not, Megatron is not getting the Allspark." Bumblebee insisted, giving up on firing at Megatron and reaching over to grab me. He deposited me on his chest armor, for he was reclining back and clearly not about to actually get up.
I didn't sign up for this. I accidentally fell into a pile of malfunctioning spacebridge parts, and now I'm going to lose the Allspark- again -and Bee? No! I didn't shove it into Optimus's spark the first time, I'm not doing it to Bumblebee this time!
"Sam!" Bee yelled at me. I turned to glare at him. "Don't you dare! This isn't a mirror copy of our world. This change and nothing is guaranteed. You're not going to die here."
Right. This is as fresh and new of a world as the one I know. Just because everything is real similar doesn't mean there's any universal law that it has to turn out the same. There's no guarantee that Bumblebee is going to live through this, and I'm not going to be responsible for that change of events.
"We can't go home if one of us is dead." I glared at him.
When Megatron was upon us, Optimus right behind but still too far away to reach us in time, Bumblebee was going to knock me away. His guardian senses must be going crazy right now, if that's how they work. I don't care, I stepped up and held the Allspark up in deja vu. Just the same as I remember. It got hot, just the same as I remember. Megatron wasn't expecting this move. He didn't have time to react, and this time I had even better aim.
The Allspark dissolved in my hands, disappearing, melting into Megatron's spark and he screeched in pain, falling over. Just like last time.
No. There is a universal law of order, because the Allspark had to be destroyed. When everything went silent as the last of the Allspark pulsated in space, sedating Megatron's personal spark, everything was back on track. Those who were meant to be offline were gone, those who were meant to be online remained, and everything that had to be brought together were joined while the things that had to be torn apart landed in shards on the ground.
Everything was dark. The Allspark's surge of energy as it was destroyed passed through us, and everything around us disappeared in a rather familiar manner. Nevertheless, I still felt Bumblebee below me.
So. Was it worth the wait? Were you expecting something different? Are you thoroughly confused by the ending to this chapter or do you understand what's happened?
This story seems a lot more serious than I had originally intended. Especially this chapter. However, I believe the next one will put it all into perspective and wrap it up in the tone I had hoped for. And once this story is finished, I don't think I'll be posting any new ones in a while. I'll put myself to actually working on the older ones... which I have neglected during the duration of this one.
Please, review. Tell me how I did and what I can improve in future stories. Do I do well enough in providing information, but not giving things away completely?