Promotional artwork: tigressa101/art/Arcee-and-the-Isle-of-the-Allspark-Cover-931607333
"Ha! No way did you break its jaw!" Bolt exclaimed.
Megatron gestured to the items on the table proudly. "It's here is it not?"
As Arcee handed over the gem, Bolt clapped his servos together. "You two are amazing. Well, I assume you are both eager to go to Dark Rock Bay and enjoy the beaches? There are many Earth animals like dolphins and seals but nothing too big on radar. There is a problem with the gem though."
"What's wrong?" Arcee asked.
"Well, it appears the gem is somewhere on a small sandbar or maybe a rock pillar just off the coast. I would teleport you there, but I can't do that. It's a small structure and the ground bridge will be alerted to collision factors as well as problems while trying to level it."
"Then bridge us above it." Megatron suggested.
"And if you miss and hit the water, which we don't know if it has anything dangerous or not, you might just be committing suicide. How about this? I teleport you to the beaches and you give me an insight into what we're dealing with. From there, I can readjust the possible coordinates and send you over," Bolt said.
Arcee and Megatron looked at each other before both shrugged as Arcee then said, "Alright, that's fair enough."
Bolt waved toward Moonhunter who was lazily lounging about. "Moonhunter will assist you."
The Nitrotiger looked up at them tired with his tongue half out which Arcee couldn't help but giggle at.
"Charming," Bolt said deadpanned. "Anyways, I'll get you to the beach safe and you be my surveyors once I repair you because there is no way in hell I'm letting you go out with bloody knuckles."
"Sounds like a plan," Megatron said before he suddenly leaned toward Arcee as Bolt turned to leave to retrieve some parts. "And might as well use that time to take a break. Just lie and say we had trouble seeking the gem if he asks."
Arcee raised a brow but didn't argue with that. She kind of agreed they needed a small rest from gem finding and monster hunting as fun as it was. Bolt was quick to gesture to Megatron to go to the medbay as he prepared for minor replacing of parts to fix the leaking Energon. As he left, Arcee went to Moonhunter and began stroking his belly.
"I hope we can get you back home soon as well as ourselves. I think you would like the Palace, having your own little bed and all the Energon you could need. You deserve better than this, you know?"
She smiled as Moonhunter began to lick her arm with a purr. She stayed sitting by his side, only getting up when she went to grab some Energon to drink. Megatron appeared almost an hour later with realigned knuckles and clean joints. He flexed his digits and gave her a thumbs up.
"Looks good, yeah?"
Bolt came out from behind him. "Yeah, don't go punching any more creatures with tougher metal than you're made with though lest you want to break your entire hand."
"I was doing what I thought was right. It felt right...up to the point where my knuckles busted but still."
"Regardless, be careful! Now, Arcee, are you ready? Knucklehead is already refueled as you can see," Bolt said amused.
Megatron glared at him but said nothing about the nickname as Arcee smirked. "Ready when you are...Knucklehead."
"I will kill both of you in your sleep," the warlord scowled.
"No, you won't because you love us," the Vehicon said humorously.
The ground bridge appeared for them to enter as Moonhunter yawned and stretched from his comfy spot among the crew seating. Bolt leaned against the command console and gave a salute seeing them off.
As Arcee, Megatron, and Moonhunter came through to sandy beaches and distant lowlands on the side encasing part of the shore, they were surprised to see a few walruses and smaller seals lying on the beach with pups. Even more surprising were a few small penguins wandering in the area. Moonhunter growled at them but didn't pursue them.
"I thought they only lived in cold environments?" Arcee pondered. "The TV lied."
Megatron hardly knew what the organic creatures or TV even were to make a statement.
Suddenly, a boisterous noise made both seals and other creatures move out of the way as two large seal-like metal creatures appeared out of the water onto the beach. Their misplaced armor color and structure reminded the bots of the Junkion dragons they had encountered previously.
Arcee shot Bolt a notice and he quickly replied, "Those are sand lions from Junkion. They are assholes. Don't go near them. They reside in Junkion's thinner material wastelands and although Junkion has no water, they do love oil pools and many Junkions have expressed distaste in finding them among their supply. They...don't get along very well with other species and some Junkions say that the sand lions 'argue' with them...but Junkions are a bit looney so...yeah."
The sand lions yelled at passing seals as they waddled their way up to a farther spot on the beach before settling. Their metal hide expanded upon lying flat and their shimmering green optics closed once they deemed their position comfortable.
"So, Arcee, let's just sit down for a second. Come on, rest your legs. I know you want to," Megatron said.
Arcee was about to argue but upon thinking about it, it was useless to make Megatron think she didn't want to when he knew just as much as she did she really needed a break. He was like her shoulder demon, or angel, giving her the choice of what she needed to do verses what she wanted to do. Giving up on even attempting to argue, she plopped down on the sand. Moonhunter joined her and lied on his side soaking up the sun. Collapsing on her back, she stayed put and breathed in the salty breeze and the warmth of the sun as it was slowly drifting toward the horizon. It would be a few more hours until dusk but it was perfect regardless.
Megatron sat with his legs leaning to the side and his elbows on his knees, taking in the hidden beauty of Earth when there weren't any humans or deadly animals going near him. He didn't mind the water calmly rolling onto the shore as much as he did having to tread in swamp water. He then peered at Arcee. Seeing her relaxed and comfortable around him made him surprised, even after a week and a half of their partnership. No Autobot had ever shown this vulnerability to him, and he never expected them to. It kind of gave him a sense of belonging he had never felt previously.
Then his mind trailed to other things about her. She was a leader just as much as he was, daring, sometimes brash, angered easily yet resourceful and prideful, all of which he was. It was such a funny concept that she was so alike to him. Maybe in another life, they would have done well together…no, he was still a monster compared to her, at least that's what he believed. A Decepticon warlord and an Autobot queen were enemies and should remain as such. There was no future in wishing things to be different when they could never be.
It hurt him how he was slowly falling for her, and he couldn't stand the irony of such a revelation. What would she think? What did she think of him? Nothing good, he could imagine.
"Arcee, can I ask you something?"
Arcee had one arm over her optics and the other outstretched on the sand. She merely grunted, "Mm?"
"Do you..." He paused upon realizing what he wanted to ask might not be the best in the current situation. So, he instead changed the subject to something else. "...you were a dancer. What type of dancing did you do? I know in the Gladiatorial Pits we had pre-fight ceremonies with some. Were you a part of that? And, forgive me for asking this, how did you start with that career?"
Arcee pursued her lips, not in annoyance but consideration. "When I was born, second out of my four sisters, my sire and carrier basically were given the ultimatum of how they needed to pay a debt. After they had Chromia and Moonracer, they were poor definitely and the caste system put them in a desperate situation. They had no choice but to give me, Chromia, and Moonracer a job as dancers for a mech and his company, and we were trained to be the aerobic and flexible femmes you, of course, have seen. We did do gladiator shows, yes, but the only I participated in was a fight that was cancelled shortly after our routine."
That made Megatron pause. "Cancelled? I don't really remember a fight that got cancelled...maybe it was during one of my mid points in my gladiator career when I was balancing my workload between that and politics. I had a few less fights during that time that I didn't really pay attention much to what was happening to the other gladiators although it could be when I confronted...no, that was earlier in my career, I think. I don't know. It was probably someone couldn't appear that night."
The queen smirked, "Rough career. Things happen. I'm no stranger to it."
"How did you leave?"
"Right before Optimus became a Prime and there was an uprising in the outskirts of Iacon, someone went to our owner and we overheard that a new Autobot faction, unnamed at the time, needed soldiers. My sisters and I, being the little rebels we were much to our boss' hatred, snuck out one day after a week's worth of coordinating and we escaped into Iacon. We joined the newly created subgroup, the Dynasty Demolishers, which weren't Autobots per say and had an array of positions like assassin, bruiser, and infiltrator classes. I became the assassin, Chromia became the bruiser, and Moonracer was the infiltrator. We eventually met up with our eldest sister, Elita One, who never became a dancer because she had already taken a job as a bodyguard long before we were old enough to make a career choice and before our creators' debts caught up with them. The rest you know."
Megatron gave a small smile, "Dancer and miner, assassin and gladiator, queen and warlord. We've come far for two bots that were forced to seize their opportunities without anyone willing to give us a chance."
Arcee nodded at that. Then she turned her head in the sand towards him and saw his expression as he watched the clouds start turning a different shade of light blue while the sun continued to fall. He was peaceful, truly untainted by stress or anger and she found his peace to be beautiful. He deserved it now that she saw the real Megatron behind the vicious and cruel visage he had made for himself in a few million years during his reign as a champion of Kaon to being the Decepticon leader.
She smiled and looked at the sky. "We are warriors, always have been."
Bumblebee gestured for all to fall back as he saw the Precursor Robot zoom past the atmosphere to parts unknown. Grimlock snarled as he was hit with several blasts from the holding army while Predaking up high retreated to hide among Crystal City's buildings.
Haywire and Windblade regrouped with Bee as did Tyrus and Ultra Magnus. The former shouted, "Without Optimus, what's the plan now?"
Knowing Shockwave, Scythe, and Perceptor were still trying to get in the Palace, Bumblebee didn't call them to retreat. He figured Shockwave could handle himself and keep them safe. The Matriarch appeared with a few new bleeding scratches on her chest, and she scoffed as everyone looked at her.
"What? I can't get bloody every now and then?"
Bee frowned, "Aren't you supposed to be with Shockwave?"
"I didn't want to babysit. I wanted to kill the people that idiot in charge sent out. Shockwave can handle everything. If he couldn't, then I would be with him. I have confidence he will do his job well," she argued.
"Matriarch, you...! Ugh," Bee scowled, pinching the bridge of his noseplate, "alright, fine, whatever! I don't know if you saw the giant robot but we're down Optimus. So, unless you have anything good to contribute to a new plan, I highly suggest you listen, assuming you are capable of it."
"Fuck you, scout."
Ignoring the profanity, Bumblebee then asked, "Okay, our forces can't go far without a main leader. Who's it going to be?"
Windblade looked at him with kindness and said, "I think you should be the leader."
The Matriarch pointed at Bee. "Him?!"
Bumblebee held a similar surprise but in a different context. "Me?!"
"Ever since you became the Autobot leader, you've been a bit overshadowed by Optimus, not intentionally on his part because we all already know what he's capable of so naturally, who were we going to migrate to? But now, it's your time to shine," The Seeker said.
All of them looked to him now, not as a scout...aside from The Matriarch, but as a leader. As he heard Rockrider's army and theirs still going at each other regardless of command, he slowly nodded.
"Then let's get to it. Rockrider's forces are concentrated at the main gate. If we spread out and hit them from the side while a good portion goes directly in, they won't be able to defend against all of us. Grimlock, Matriarch, Ultra Magnus, I want you three taking the left far area with as many Dinobots as you can. Matriarch, don't kill Ultra!"
"I make no such promises." She was hardly fazed by the optics of the leader of the Elite Guard narrowing at her from her side.
"You're going to be the surprise heavy of the army. Windblade and Predaking, you're front and center. Give them something to fight. Tyrus and I will take the right area. Omega Supreme is already in a good spot over there so I can relay a personal strategy to him. The Constructicons and the other Combiners are on their way, and they will be our overall powerhouses. We distract the army long enough to pull through and then divide and conquer."
Everyone nodded in agreement to that as Bumblebee pointed outward like Optimus' gesturing.
"Rise up and roll out!"
All the leaders split into their respective groups. Communicating with their forces via commlink, Windblade and Predaking set forth in their direct assault while Bumblebee's team and Grimlock's got to their points.
"You ready to rock and rumble, Predaking?" Windblade grinned.
The Predacon laughed, "This is the most fun I've had since creation! Of course!"
Predaking transformed with Windblade taking her vehicle form as they shot up to the sky. He gave a bellow, and his peers heard his calling. Predacons and Seekers alike followed them before they dived right into enemy fire.
Several blasts of molten fire from Predaking blew up anything they touched, leaving an array of flames for him to fly among unbothered. Windblade shot at any stray soldiers that had dodged it. Those who followed them did the same, each teaming as a Predacon and Seeker duo to max efforts in destroying the horrid army.
"Keep it up, you two. We're almost at our checkpoint," Bumblebee said.
"Acknowledged. Predaking's making short work of them, might not need Grimlock's firepower or the Combiners."
"We're going all out, no holding back! Rockrider has done enough damage and I don't care if we have to tear apart this entire palace to get to her. She's being dethroned today!"
Windblade didn't say anything, but she agreed with him. If it was necessary, they would destroy the palace entirely to get to that traitor.
They continued their assault on the main line but with the cannons beginning to fire upon them, Windblade and Predaking knew it was time to be fleeting in their attacks to prevent from being blasted out of the air. As they maneuvered around balls of energy flying at them, they got the signal of the second wave incoming.
To the palace's northern sector, Bumblebee set up a brief stopping point with Tyrus as he contacted Omega Supreme. Alpha and Beta were hidden with gunfire from the larger palace defenses pinning them down. Only Omega had a good position to do anything. Haywire ran up to join them while he did so.
"Omega, we're going in for a main assault. Do you have any advancement on the palace defenses?"
The booming voice of Omega Supreme didn't need a commlink to respond to him. "No, the palace has fusion and ion cannons the size of my own weapons. I can't take any further hits, or I will fail to protect my brethren."
"What do you think is possible?" Bee asked.
"I can try to crack the exterior and make the palace crumble in parts but not enough to do what you need."
At this point, Bumblebee could care less. Anything worked. "Do that and we'll improvise. Not the first time I ever had to, believe me."
Omega glared at the crystalline building with fury as one cannon hit close to his helm. "Understood."
As soon as the cannon pinning him fired, he timed it to make a charge during its re-energizing. The ground shook as he activated his burst cannon. As he fired, he punched right at the wall that he could reach. The sonic boom alerted everyone, and cracks flew up the tower the cannons resided in. Crumbling, the northern tower emitted steam as the cannons started to snap off from the lack of proper leveling. The entire tower came down dragging part of the expensive firepower down with it. Some of the cannons were left dangling and sparking while overs' cabling severed from the weight against the lack of support to hold them up.
"Wow," Bee gawked. "No wonder nobody wanted to go against him in the war. Kudos to Megatron for fighting him and winning. Alright, you two ready?"
Haywire smirked, "Absolutely! Tyrus?"
The dark blue mech sighed, "I'm way too old to be doing this scrap."
"Perfect! Now, let's give them hell!"
As several Autobots came when Tyrus waved them to him, Bumblebee led the charge. Watching the soldiers of Rockrider's army unprepared for them, they had little time to counter with any of their weaponry. Citizen units, enraged themselves, joined up on their assault which made Bee proud of Crystal City's populace.
Bumblebee jumped right into a soldier with a side kick, flooring them before punching out another. He was impressed as Tyrus did similar on his own accord before shooting a few soldiers without a break in his stride. Haywire wasn't much of a fighter in comparison but the bot had a mean swipe of his blade.
"Alright, heavy hitters, do your magic!" Bumblebee called over the comm to Grimlock's side.
The Matriarch punched her fists together as Grimlock transformed from his beast mode to robot mode, bringing out his flaming sword. Ultra Magnus had the Forge of Solus Prime, dubbed Stormbringer, ready to go.
Bulkhead joined up with them with a smirk, "Mind if I join you?"
"About time you showed up, Wrecker," the large Vehicon said.
"To go bashing with the other heavies. You think I would miss that?"
"Just keep up. Let's get this party started, boys," The Matriarch laughed.
Grimlock rumbled in agreement as the Dinobots and Decepticons hiding with them awaited their lead. As soon as the Dinobot leader struck the ground with a roar, all of them charged. Unlike Windblade and Bumblebee's groups, they went for the massive breakthrough of the army to plow it down like a combine harvester to crops in the field.
Seeing citizens and angry leaders was one thing. Seeing a stampede of bots that could flatten an opponent in seconds was another, and that's exactly how afraid the soldiers on left lineup were trying to defend against large Dinobots and powerful Decepticons zeroing in as unstoppable tanks. Many soldiers went flying in the air as Grimlock and his legion stomped through them like grass. Those unfortunate not to have the chance to fly with some survivability met with The Matriarch's bloodlust instead. The Decepticons snarled following her in, striking down any who opposed them like the war machines they were.
Bumblebee had to pause to watch the chaos unfold and gave a small laugh. Maybe The Matriarch and him didn't see optic to visor but he liked her brutish nature because it certainly paid off. Grimlock was another whom he had high respect of.
The army was slowly falling apart with the orchestrated attacks from all ends. Then they all heard a building adjacent to the palace crumble.
They walked the beach at their own pace with Moonhunter just following alongside them liking the walk. A few times they got an impatient notice from Bolt not to be distracted and find the gem. They ignored it in favor of conversing with each other.
"So, let me guess this straight, Soundwave used to have a sense of humor and his funniest prank was that?! That doesn't even sound like something he would do!"
Megatron chuckled, kicking up some sand and watching the breeze take it a few feet away. "I know, right? He turns to me and says with utmost seriousness, 'guess he won't be the strongest mech alive, but he'll at least be first place in being the prettiest.' Oh, we rode the joke for years after that even when he recovered less than a day later. He never forgave Soundwave though, that's for sure."
Arcee waved a digit and bit her lip. "That's good! But you think only your crew in the Gladiatorial Pits pulled some pranks? Oh, my sisters and I were devious. The owner of our dance company despised us. He only kept us for two reasons. One, we were the best and two, we were the main three who bots paid to see, making him most of his money. Granted, the profession had a lot of ups and downs, but we did our job and did it well.
"One night, we were getting pissed at this group that just couldn't understand limitations. So, my sisters and I had a few dance moves we made up as codes and one of them was a swing and lift of the leg with the head tilted, that meant the bot that sister was dealing with was a perverted one or there were a few. So, we being daredevils and daring the owner to fire us, Moonracer and I come up to Chromia's aid one night and this group is getting a little too rambunctious, so we do a three-bot dance called the Elegant Eclipse. It requires a lot of movement...and sometimes we can 'accidentally' kick up any drinks or food nearby. We got to dancing, timed our movements, kicked up a few tables beverages and did a spin kick as soon as they were in the air...shooting those drinks right into the hecklers' faces."
Megatron clasped a servo over his mouth trying not to laugh.
"Oh, those bots shut up for the remainder of the night and the boss was not happy. Unfortunately for us, he knew he couldn't let us go if he wanted his business to stay afloat. But we did this almost on a daily basis," she mused.
The warlord shook his head, rubbing his optic with a sigh, "Oh, you and Soundwave in his heyday would have been doing some prank wars had you two met."
Arcee did a cartwheel and said, "There's a lot of Decepticons I would have befriended had we all met under different circumstances, you too. Maybe I should have been a Decepticon. You should have sweettalked the Autobots like me, offer us a good deal and we would have switched."
"I'll keep that in mind if I ever see means to start another war. Not likely."
A glow in the distance off the shore suddenly caught Arcee's optic and she stopped. Megatron moved forward a few more feet before pausing and looking back only to track her direction of sight. The gem lay on top of a sea stack four hundred meters off the beach, but it lay at the edge of a deep drop off from what they could tell from the water color.
"Still wish I could fly. Not getting any easier I suppose," scoffed Megatron. Then he addressed the impatient Vehicon. "We found the gem, Bolt. It's not in the water but it is on a rock formation out in the water, and we can climb it. But to keep time, might we request a ground bridge back?"
"Finally decided to respond, eh? Nope."
Both Arcee and Megatron looked at each other, then they contemplated the sudden hostile mood of their associate as Megatron asked, "Wha-? What do you mean 'no?!'"
"Well, for ignoring me you can figure out your own way up there like, as you mentioned, climbing the rock. Apparently, this mission isn't important to you enough to listen to me, so I'll keep providing you information but no free passage. The price for returning is the gem."
"Bolt, you're being unreasonable!" He snarled at the Vehicon.
Bolt laughed, "Unreasonable?! How does this sound then? 'Oh, we're just going to talk and ignore Bolt who called us three times with no response because we don't really feel like doing the job we all agreed to do to benefit getting home and saving Arcee's throne.' Now, I'm the unreasonable one?!"
Arcee frowned and said, "Bolt, that's not how it was! We're just tired! You pushing us isn't going to make us do this any faster. What, we aren't allowed a break?"
"Not when you can all die at any given second!"
The warlord narrowed his optics. "Are you...upset because we're here relaxing and you aren't?"
Any humor or emotion Bolt had in his words faded into a stale mutter. "Just do your damn job and I'll do mine so we can go home."
When the hang up occurred from Bolt's end, the two bots were left unsure of how to take the sudden rejection, and the Nitrotiger tilted his head curiously as they equally shared frustration among Bolt's attitude. There was always a means of a better way to deal with such a situation.
"I feel bad now," Megatron said. "I guess we just do as he said. I kind of owe him regardless for putting up with my crying after we got into that fight, and you were captured by that Kanjian what's-her-face."
"Yeah, he's been dealing with our upsets and stuff for quite some time, being there even when we were asses. I guess us disregarding what he knows is right for something we should have asked him about beforehand wasn't wise. At the same time though, he knows we needed to rest anyway so why can't he give us the benefit of the doubt?"
Suddenly, a whale-like noise rumbled past the shoreline, and they all looked out to sea curiously. A spray of water from something...blue and silver caught their attention as it moved past the rock structure holding the gem toward a lagoon just farther down the beach. Moonhunter mirrored the creature curiously, running along the beach.
Arcee had some skepticism about approaching it but from what she heard about whales, they were usually kind. "I've never seen a whale up close. You want to see one?"
Megatron muttered, "Not really. Are they dangerous?"
"No...well, most aren't. Some can get a little mean if provoked but they go after far different, tiny prey than the likes of us. I can thank a few geographic videos for that knowledge."
They heard the whale sound off again and Arcee jogged toward it curiously. The lagoon was wide and deep enough to sustain a whale though the whale seemed to drag itself purposefully through the shallower area dividing the lagoon from the ocean...but it wasn't the type of whale she was expecting to see in Earth's waters. To her horror, she recognized one defining trait whales didn't have.
A skull gem among its head just above its nostrils glowed through the water as it surfaced. Four small yellow eyes stared back at her. The Horaquan had a light blue color and silver armor with symbols that looked like nothing she had come across, not even on Dagger Prima. It seemed more curious about her than hostile, but she took no chances given her history with dealing with the violent virus as of recent and neither did Moonhunter who growled at the Metal Head.
"Bolt, we have a Metal Head here!" When no one answered at first, she grew worried. "Bolt? Look, we're sorry for going out on you like that. I understand you're tired...we all are. But we aren't indestructible, sparkless machines and neither are you. We can only take so much, and we just needed to rest, even for an hour not thinking of whether we'll live or die. I'm...sorry."
Bolt finally responded, "I was outside. What did I miss?"
The flabbergasted look on Arcee's face became priceless. "Wha...did-did you not hear that entire apology I made for you?!"
"...No...but I appreciate the apology. It's fine actually. I was out of line. I understand what you wanted, and I should have respected that. I just went outside to think, and I am sorry myself," the Vehicon said. "As for your Metal Head, let's see what you see. That...is huge and looks like an alien humpback whale...why does it look like that?!"
Arcee was quick to ask as Megatron approached her, "What should I do? Kill it?"
"Uh, unless you have some mighty firepower, you aren't going to penetrate the skin let alone the armor of Colossus. I'll name it because I kind of like its appearance; it's growing on me though still keep your distance."
Megatron frowned upon looking at the Metal Head and pointed, "That's not a whale."
"No, Captain Obvious, it is not," Arcee said a little stressed.
It was the second time this day he glared at him, but he ignored it in favor observing this odd normality of a Horaquan. When the Metal Head started flapping its giant fins with a noise, he was on guard, but nothing came of the movement. It definitely wasn't hostile or at least not dangerous to anything on the shore. However, the more it moved, the more Megatron noticed a tone in its call. He wasn't an expert on animal cries foreign or known, but there was something off about it he couldn't place.
The Metal Head looked at him and gave another cry, making a short blow of water. That wasn't the stare of malicious intent, not like the other Metal Heads. Slowly, Megatron pieced together the frantic flapping of fins, the slouched eyes and the eerie cries of the Metal Head. It wasn't there to attack them, to fool them, or to simply chat with them in its own way. It was warning them. Then he saw the underside of its fin.
"Arcee."
"Wait, continue Bolt," Arcee said waving him off.
Megatron crouched down to get a better look. The underside of the Metal Head's fin had bite marks, fresh ones as the dark sludge that many Horaquan bled was seeping out of it. He would have assumed a type of Sharkticon bit it, but no Sharkticon he knew of had a single row of teeth. They usually had double or more hidden within their mouths. Also, the width of the bite mark was narrow but still big. From the mocking comparisons he got from a few of his crew members, sharks on Earth had a wide half circle mark, not a narrow type plus it was far too large for any known shark species.
Then the Horaquan shifted to the side, and he saw something even worse. Its underbelly had giant chunks missing, even larger than the markings on its fins. There was something huge in the water and this predator was after it. The Horaquan went silent to both Megatron and Arcee's surprise as the latter stopped listening to Bolt. It moved its head like it was looking or listening for something.
"Arcee," Megatron pressed, "I really think this thing is being hunted, not hunting us."
The queen froze upon hearing that and slowly looked at him. He met her gaze with uncertainty.
A translucent shadow blending with the water's lower depths moved slowly toward the Metal Head on the outskirts of the lagoon coming near the shallower area, and Megatron tapped on Arcee's arm to alert her to it as their Nitrotiger hissed and backed away. They both watched helplessly as the mass hit the shallows. A giant barbed vertical fin stretching across it and smaller fins following its backside breached the water's surface. With the shallows' lighter blue, they had a better view of the shadow, and it was the size of Omega Supreme...if not bigger. Its tail and some type of natural head crest appeared but it was quick to sink back into the lagoon's deeper drop off before it could be identified. The Horaquan was dead silent.
Suddenly, the whale-like Metal Head was dragged back with a startled cry and forced to submerge completely. Megatron was quick to keep Arcee back as they were forced to watch the poor thing breach with more wounds on its face and back before it would disappear again. With water splashed about, it was hard to tell what was attacking it, but when the Metal Head floated silently up on its torn open belly and tail, both bots stared horrified. The silence of what lurked below was worse.
The carcass was ripped into again and dragged down but as it was, a large horizontally finned fish-like tail came up and sank moving the water in a fury with its owner making a terrifying rumble. The Metal Head's corpse didn't resurface this time as smaller shadows poured into the lagoon all with similar outlines to the giant predatory fish.
Megatron and Arcee stared wide-eyed at the carnage until they heard a taunting laugh. Peering to their left, the surprises kept coming as they saw a humanoid woman...with a fish tail, what humans were to have called a "mermaid" given all the myths. Arcee recalled just that upon remembering what Jack told her about Earth's unseen creatures when they were dealing with the Predacons. An upper half of a woman with patches of sea-colored scales and deep tan skin with a dark gradient on her arms and chest sat at the edge of the beach with an aquamarine fish tail patting the sand. She gave them a curious tilt of her head before laughing. Moonhunter hissed, moving farther away and the mermaid seemed a bit saddened by something being afraid of her, pushing back a strand of blue hair with a delicate frown.
"No way, this is just a dream. There's no way a mermaid exists. No, we're just seeing things or-or the Allspark's messing with our heads," Arcee scoffed.
"Cool theory, Arcee, except I can see it too," Bolt said, "from both your perspectives!"
The mermaid seemed playful, almost alluring to watch as she posed and smiled. She puffed out her chest, which was nude, and made the most seductive expression trying to bait them into getting close.
Megatron was a bit intrigued though it was more so about the oddity of the mermaid's existence than anything else, but Arcee wasn't convinced this was normal or plausible. She squinted and saw the light had an odd bounce off the form almost like it wasn't there. Almost as if it was a-
"Megatron, move now!" She yelled, pushing him back right as something in the lagoon jumped out.
They fled backwards and saw the holoform of the mermaid grow angry just as a creature it was projecting from flopped onto the beach the same size as Megatron. Posing upright with its arms as its metal fish-like lower half pounded the ground in annoyance, it hissed at them. Both Megatron and Arcee gazed as they saw a cybernetic beast akin to the mermaid as said holoform vanished. It was an abomination.
Bolt knew just how bad that was and they were even more worried when he muttered, "Oh no, not them!"
AN: Introducing, my favorite creatures I think I designed before this fic was created: the Leviathans! Predatory mermaids and for those of you wondering what the queen looks like, the promotional art has her on the bottom right corner because she's a whole different breed of monster. Arguably, I gave her more screentime than the other bosses because she is my favorite. As a joke, I usually nickname the Leviathan Queens after water goddesses even though none of the Transformers would know the names themselves obviously.
Featured monsters:
Metal Colossus (Kanjis)
Leviathans (Aquatron)