Promotional artwork: tigressa101/art/Arcee-and-the-Isle-of-the-Allspark-Cover-931607333
Shockwave paced in front of six bronze soldiers, most shivering as they had watched their peers die before them. Now, they were the remaining few.
"The next person who lies to me will be subjected to my next experiment." He bent to lean toward one of the soldiers. "You have no idea what Insecticon CNA does to a host unchecked."
A soldier finally spoke, "K-Kaon."
Shockwave moved quickly over to the speaker, glaring at them with his single optic with interest. "Repeat that."
"Kaon. Rockrider h-has a stronghold in Kaon, but I-I don't know where! I swear that's all I know!"
"Are you positive? Kaon? The Decepticon capitol?"
"Yes, sir."
Shockwave tilted his helm when the soldier glanced toward another for a split second, and he could tell in that instance that another knew a bit more about it than the one that was willing to talk. He grunted in disapproval before backing away from the soldier, much to their surprise.
Suddenly, a three-clawed servo rammed right through the soldier's abdomen before blatantly ripping any organ it could grab along with endoskeleton out their backside. Dropping the soldier like a bag of rubbish, the others gazed fearfully at the oppressor.
Holding the remains of the soldier, The Matriarch laughed, "And there goes another one! Looks like you five are beginning to run out of luck. Who's next? Anybody? Nobody? Well, I'll just have to choose someone myself then...unless someone has a better answer than this poor imbecile."
All five soldiers were petrified, so much so that they didn't even shiver. Their bodies looked frozen like sculptures.
The Matriarch dangled the remains of the soldier in front of them, uncaring that the blood stained more than half her chest along with the many others she slaughtered up to that point. "I have all day. You have, mm, unfortunately until I'm ready to kill someone slowly and painfully. This can vary between the next few minutes or the next hour depending on my mood. True, you might die regardless but I can make your death like you just fell asleep IF you give me what we desire! But whoever gives me the best information out of all of you might live to roam free as a citizen of Cybertron once again."
Shockwave just stood back and watched her work. The humans on Earth had a scenario they called "good cop, bad cop." He figured that he played the bad cop most of the time; it was his chance to be on the other perspective of things, and he was enjoying it.
The Matriarch leaned towards one of the soldiers with a hiss. "One of you knows something you're not sharing, and I'm inclined to making your existence agonizing for the next few days instead of killing you. By the time I'm done, you will be begging for death. So, speak now or forever hold your peace until death do we part..."
She tapped a talon against the nearest soldier's noseplate with sadistic glee, placing a smear of Energon on there and making the soldier wince in disgust and fear. She then said darkly, "...you wish."
A soldier to her left suddenly cried out. "Technoplaza! Rockrider has warehouses in the Technoplaza District in Kaon! That's where she trained us and that's where she would most likely head! The only other place that it may be is her hideaway is in Praxus!...I only heard of it from a conversation between her and Wrathzone...but I don't know where...please."
The Matriarch clapped her servos together once proudly. "There! Was that so difficult?"
She approached the whistleblower and patted, albeit roughly, her shoulder. "I would thank you..."
The soldier grew confused until she noticed several individual Constructicons approaching from behind The Matriarch. Fear struck her as she looked between her captor and the Constructicons, the latter of whom were less frightening as individuals than as a Combiner but still held quite an unnerving feeling to them.
"...but you have outlived your usefulness."
"B-but you said-?!"
"Decepticon, my dear. And unlike Megatron, I take no prisoners. Didn't you do your research when you agreed to fight newfound Cybertron with all of us in it?" She then turned to the Constructicons. "You boys know how to bury bodies and you deserve some fun for your services as Devastator. Kill them, torture them, maim them until they bleed to death, I don't care! Just destroy them!"
Scrapper, the leader of the Constructicons, smirked, "As you command, boss."
As the Constructicons closed in on the remaining soldiers, all their victims' optics were stretched wide, quivering in terror as they were engulfed in their shadows.
The Matriarch walked away as one Decepticon handed her a towel and Shockwave caught up to walk alongside her. She managed to wipe most of the Energon off, but some streaked across her chassis, nothing she couldn't deep clean later.
"Well, it's a head start but I'm not convinced that's where Rockrider would go."
Shockwave asked, "You think different?"
"I think the soldiers were telling the truth. There's a third hideout Rockrider is using, and she told no one except Wrathzone. If the soldiers turned on her, the Technoplaza Disctrict would be a trap. If a single soldier, at least, knew about a hideaway in Praxus and she spoke loud enough with no concern means she might use it occasionally but it's not where she would escape to in an emergency. There's someplace we're missing and none of the soldiers know."
"Understood."
They ignored the screams in the background as they entered the palace. The cries faded to a mere small echo and Shockwave huffed, "I miss that sometimes."
The Matriarch laughed, "You and me both. Let's check in with the others before Haywire scolds us."
The Dinobot herd was getting denser as they followed the gem's signal when suddenly, they spotted something familiar. One of the ships Arcee had sent to the isle lay grown over into a Dinobot youngling playground of sorts...in the middle of what they began to believe was a nesting ground. The metal looked disfigured from vegetation overgrowth despite being only two years unmoved.
Baby Dinobots of all breeds jumped from various broken panels and ridges of the abandoned ship. They were oblivious of the horrifying reality that the crew must have been killed by either the older Dinobots or another predator before the Dinobots inhabited this section of the meadow...and they were using the crime scene as a playpen. Kids would be kids; there was nothing they could do about that.
Moonhunter grunted in alarm as a blue Carnotaurus youngling approached him curiously. They wagged their tail expecting the cat to play, but the Nitrotiger backed away. When the youngling pursued, Moonhunter grew annoyed and flattened his ears back in warning but a little kid or equivalent of couldn't understand entirely what boundaries like personal space couldn't be crossed yet.
Arcee gestured for Moonhunter to be patient. "Easy, boy, easy. It's just a baby."
The Carnotaurus kit maneuvered between the two bots oblivious to Arcee and Megatron as they were more infatuated with the blue cat than two bipedal Cybertronians. They cooed and smiled at the Nitrotiger until Moonhunter became irate. Swiping at the Carnotaurus after he couldn't take it anymore, the young Dinobot leapt back stunned and Arcee was quick to tap Moonhunter's snout in response.
"Moonhunter! It's a baby! I know you don't like it, but it only wants to play! You can't hit a sparkling!"
Moonhunter growled but grew saddened by Arcee yelling at him. Granted, Arcee knew Moonhunter was naturally trying to make the sparkling understand he didn't want to play but, at the same time, swatting a sparkling was not the way to go. Both of them were in the wrong technically.
The Dinobot baby became a little disappointed and Megatron made a shushing gesture to try and keep it from calling out to its carrier. But the Carnotaurus slowly moved backwards with a sudden growl of its own. It didn't sound remotely threatening but it did pose a grave threat to them for if the sparkling grew agitated, it would alert not just its parents.
To both bots' terror, the Dinobot kit gave a loud chirping call for its carrier. The other Dinobot sparklings were aware of the situation immediately and fled. Neither Arcee nor Megatron had any intention of shooting sparklings even if they were leading them to their doom, but they would admit they had thought about it when the most dreaded sound was heard.
A deep baritone rumble resonated among concerned Dinobot chatter and made the bots stare up flabbergasted as a large brown and blue Carnotaurus Dinobot appeared as its youngling went behind it. The mother growled as the little Carnotaurus peeked out from behind the foot of its carrier, chirping.
"Uh...that's not good...Megatron?"
"I don't know what you want me to say in this moment," he responded bluntly still staring at the Dinobot unsure.
Suddenly, the Carnotaurus froze as a louder roar than its own deafened all that heard it. Every Dinobot seemed to grow unnerved and submissive including the Carnotaurus that began to whimper and move quickly out of the way, ushering its sparkling to a safe distance.
Arcee frowned and gestured confused, "Where is everyone going now?! Was that not Cleopatra, Klea Pak-era, whatever the fuck her name is?!"
Bolt immediately spoke, "No, that wasn't her. Cleopatra's bigger than that...and wrong type of Dinobot."
"How big are we talking?" Arcee asked right as she turned to the side and saw exactly which Dinobot he was describing. Her expression fell in awe and horror the same as Megatron. Moonhunter whimpered at the sight.
"That big," Bolt muttered.
A three-clawed pede stomped into view threatening to crack the ground itself. A giant Tyrannosaur-like Dinobot with a barbed neck and horns walked unflinching among her herd like a god almighty. Faded purple and gold armor looked scarred and worn out where the colors were hardly visible against a silver base. Yellow optics as fierce as the sun glared down at them with a large, fanged frown.
Klea Pakora was larger than they assumed, much larger. Arcee narrowed her optics in uncertainty and addressed the obvious. "I...I assumed she was going to be as big as Grimlock. I was wrong."
Then they noticed something troubling. The gem was embedded among her collar like a regal necklace. She must have mistaken it as a token of leadership. Although it didn't appear to be used with sinister intentions like the Quintessons, it was still vital they retrieved it and hopefully they could reason with her to do so.
Klea Pakora gave out a deep rumble that ended with a profound hiss before she suddenly talked. "Who dares to cause trouble among my herd?"
The low but deadly voice of the tyrant Dinobot made Arcee and Megatron unsure of how to approach her without making themselves look like jackasses. It was Megatron who answered first. "Our apologies, Cleopatra, but we didn't mean any disrespect."
Arcee vigorously tapped Megatron's arm in warning as the Dinobot growled. Megatron realized his misnaming error and winced at the dark look he was given.
"My name is NOT Cle-o-pat-ra," she warned. "It is Klea Pakora, given to me by my enemies and those who fear me. You will address me as such!"
"I knew I messed up somewhere in that sentence," Megatron whispered, closing his optics. "Klea, Klea Pakora, all we seek is that gem around your neck. It's an artifact we lost, and you would be helping us if we can reach an agreement or something to exchange it."
The Dinobot leader glanced downward at her necklace before sneering, "And, pray tell, why should I help you when you have already insulted me twice, by name and by your presence?"
Arcee winced as Megatron started to slowly lose his composure upon being talked down to. Megatron never handled proclaimed superior judgement well and Klea Pakora talking to him like he was her subject was certainly poking at his limited patience. She had known Megatron long enough since the beginning of the war to know what the look of internal rage was on him; his crooked smile was as dangerous as he was.
"Because...se...it would benefit both you and us. We need the gem to get to that mountain and you don't need us around all the time. You give us the gem and we leave peacefully and if you don't, we'll just have to take it from you," he growled with an optic twitch. "We have come too far to be any more reasonable than this. For weeks, we have hunted those that stood in our way of collecting those gems, weeks of trying to avoid having to hurt others when they leave us no choice, and I'm not going to let some overzealous leader telling me I'm wasting their time when you are, in fact, wasting mine!"
The Dinobots around Klea Pakora looked between all three while Moonhunter backed away to the side next to the younglings he would rather be among than daring to fight the giant Dinobot leader herself.
Klea Pakora was particularly staring at Megatron and ignoring her herd's frantic glances. Then she gave a howling laugh, "That's the first time I think I ever heard of someone backtalking me like that. You got some tough armor on, Cybertronian, but you have no idea who you are talking to, it seems."
Klea Pakora grew a grin, flaunting her razor-sharp fangs and rumbling to herself as she began to walk closer. Megatron ushered Arcee to get behind him and met her pace walking backwards as she continued to talk.
"You know, you remind me of someone I once knew," she said. "They thought that they could be a smartass with me. One day, they got it in their head to challenge me. They were so confident, admirable...but not to me. It was quite funny watching the blood drip down their lifeless, broken corpse!"
Arcee and Megatron simultaneously gulped as she brought her foot down on an old piece of the ship, crushing it into pieces effortlessly for emphasis. Then she roared at them, optics contracting, and jaws opened as wide as they could go like the predator she was.
"You want this gem, Cybertronian, you're going have to take it! And I will take immense pleasure in destroying you when you try!" The giant Tyrannosaur Dinobot gave another warning bellow as she stepped forward in pursuit of their retreating forms.
"She's challenging you? She's challenging you!" Bolt exclaimed.
Megatron scowled, "I know that!"
Arcee grimaced as they were given a wide berth by the other Dinobots backing away to create a formidable battlefield for Klea Pakora to tear them apart. "I hate to say this, but I think we made a bad decision to do this."
"We can't back down now! We're so close, Arcee!" Megatron stressed his words with a slight whine of frustration and exchanged sorrowful expressions with Arcee who understood the dilemma.
If they left Klea Pakora with the gem, they would have made it through all the horrors of the isle for nothing. It was too late to stop, too late to take back what they had done to the various species that only lived as they were meant to.
She peered into his strained optics before sighing at looking at the approaching Dinobot leader. Angrily, she yelled, "I'm warning you! We can either be civil about this or we cannot! Don't make us have to fight you!"
Klea Pakora growled with a grin. "I'm counting on it."
"Boy, she is just a war machine, isn't she?" Arcee harshly whispered.
Megatron nodded, "She's been undefeated so far, can't imagine that battle lust confidence came from nowhere, and I would know."
Suddenly, Klea Pakora stopped and peered up past them with an unknown expression. They couldn't place if it was uncertainty or shock, but she didn't move from her stance. It wasn't until they heard a grunt and footsteps behind them did they both look back slowly and became instantly aware of the danger they were in at their position. Instinctively, Megatron backed away towards Klea Pakora as he was less afraid of her than the monster they recognized to their utmost fear. Arcee didn't move, however, much to the growing panic of the warlord.
A black pede with red marking and claws stepped forward with a snarl emitting from its owner. Red optics, one regrettably damaged, glared down at her with hatred and hunger. The Cybertronian Predator shivered its barbed spine in anticipation as it approached, tail swaying slow and majestic for one so deadly.
Klea Pakora noticed the Dinobots cowering at the unwanted and strange guest among them, and she addressed Arcee quickly. "Friend of yours?"
"Let's just say, if you want to kill us, you're going to have to wait in line." Arcee never broke eye contact with the peeved Predator as she calmly kept pace keeping away from it.
The Cybertronian Predator then locked optics onto Klea Pakora and something in its simplistic manner snapped. With a brief roar, the Predator seemed to challenge its newfound enemy like the Dinobot was another predator taking its prey.
Klea Pakora grew agitated and roared back replying with a warning. Arcee and Megatron had no choice but to take the sidelines as they heard Bolt suddenly speak.
"Kanjis' most deadly Dinobot leader against the unstoppable Cybertronian Predator. I honestly don't know who will win. Klea Pakora fought millions of attempts to take her throne, but she only did it against her own world's populace. She's never fought a Predator before, and the Cybertronian Predator is indestructible to the likes of us Cybertronians because none of our weaponry or any other life among Cybertron is powerful enough to even damage the damn thing! But I don't know if Kanjian technology and creatures or other planets' would fare better than us against it. This is going to get interesting, and I have no clue who I want to root for."
Klea Pakora and the Cybertronian Predator circled one another as each scoped out a potential weakness in the other. The Predator stood on its hind legs to mimic the Dinobot's stance like a cruel mockery which made her hiss. Although she was slightly smaller than the Predator, Klea Pakora still held her ground.
The Predator gave out a loud bellow, widening its jaws to the max as Klea Pakora did the same. In sync, they both charged. The Dinobot moved her head to the side to snap at its neck to get a good grip. She succeeded but couldn't crush its windpipe like the other opponents she had versed. Thick armor protected its jugular and underbelly designed to take much punishment. The Predator broke out of her grasp and whipped its head around to bite down on her snout. She backed away to rip from the hold before aiming farther from its head.
With a swift bite to its hip, the Predator retaliated and tried to bite off her tail at the same time as using its arms to claw at her side and spine. When the Predator lowered to attack her underbelly, she used that to her advantage and jumped onto its back. Tearing at the side of its spine, she managed to draw Energon as the Predator roared furiously shaking and bucking trying to get her off. She sank her teeth into its shoulder but suddenly, she realized her mistake.
Pupils contracted to slivers, the Predator happened to move her enough for it to reach around and with a quick strike, Klea Pakora had a huge gash across her face. But the Predator was hardly done. Using her pained pause, it clawed at her again, underhooking a piece of her breastplate and dragging her down off it. She fell to the ground and the Predator was quick to encase its jaws around her neck.
Klea Pakora whined as the fangs sank into protoform between the crevices of her armor, but she refused to yield to the beast. Snapping at it, her jaws latched onto its upper snout and dug into the nasal plating between its optics and drew more Energon that cascaded down between her teeth and dented armor.
Shaking her off, the Predator backed away but didn't stay a distance for too long as she tried to get up quickly. Using its claws, it caught her leg and ripped several pieces of armor straight off her hide. Energon burst from ruptured lines beneath it and Klea Pakora was sent limping backwards to protect her damaged limb.
Arcee and Megatron wanted to help but they could tell Klea Pakora's pride would end up hurting them, not to mention the Predator would rip them apart if given the chance. The rest of the Dinobots were unsure of what to do as well. They watched horrified and hopeful that their leader would come out victorious against the foreign enemy.
With blood oozing down the spine of the Predator and Klea Pakora's hip coated in it, the two circled again. The Predator, however, had a nasal grunt as it angrily took in air in light of its damaged nose. The Dinobot leader blew steam out of her own, shaking her head slightly and staring down it.
Then she charged again but this time, the Predator grew wise and instead of meeting her halfway, it swung its tail right as she made her approach and knocked her off balance to hit the ground hard on front with a trail of dirt following her crash. She got up but was hit again with a brutal smack by its claws.
"I've heard of Klea Pakora taking hits but usually she gets the upper hand with several moves. This thing just won't die! No wonder the Primes were only able to put it in stasis and send it off Cybertron! This thing is a nightmare and there were said to be, at one point, over a hundred of them living on Cybertron before!" Bolt said. "When these things were still around, our species almost didn't make it those first few centuries after Unicron's defeat!"
Another mark upon her neck by the claws of the Predator made Klea Pakora growl before lunging and sinking her teeth into its right arm. She used every bit of her might to tear as much metal as she could. Although she didn't tear off its arm as she hoped, its shoulder armor and several crucial wires were ripped out causing the limb to spark and stutter.
The Predator was far from helpless. It immediately retaliated and pushed her with its head before chomping down on her neck. She roared in its grasp as it raised its pede. Placing its foot upon her side, it pushed her off while still maintaining its hold, severing armor and wires in return. Her voice box wires were caught among its teeth, and she gargled a cry when the Predator pulled it out. Like a taunting gesture, the Predator met her surprised optics and crushed the voice box right in its jaws as her neck bled profusely before eating it.
The gem around her neck broke off and clattered on the ground in front of Arcee who immediately grabbed it. She watched stunned at the sight, but she knew the look Klea Pakora had. The Dinobot wasn't going to yield still. She knew there was a chance she was going to die given none of her enemies ever came so close to a victory over her, but she wasn't going to go down until the Predator killed her to stop her.
"This is unbearable to watch," the femme said.
Megatron merely shook his head, "She's a warrior. She intends to go out like one no matter what."
Limping, bleeding, and mutilated, Klea Pakora could tell the Predator was becoming cocky knowing it had the advantage despite it was bleeding almost as much as her. She snarled silently and carefully considered her next move. Before she could deduce her options, the Predator grew tired of waiting and ran at her but kept its back upright to prevent her from causing more damage to its spine and protecting its arm by coming at her from its left.
Klea Pakora knew what it wanted her to try but if she did, it would lead to the end of her life. But maybe that was enough to weaken it so her Dinobots stood a chance against it, assuming they wouldn't flee in terror after her possible death. Taking her chance with little left to lose, she took the bait and came into its left side, but she switched its assumptions by tackling its rear leg and tail as it realized what she wanted to do.
The Predator couldn't stop her fast enough from biting off the tip of its tail and gnawing on its calf before pulling hard and tripping it. Using the limited time she had, Klea Pakora went for the most ballsy move she had in her arsenal. To prevent it from getting up, she placed a pede down on his chest and aimed for its neck. While she grabbed its spine, the Predator immediately snapped at her and got ahold of the side of hers. She refused to let go as they tore at each other's throats.
The Predator let go first and attacked lower, crushing one of her arms in its jaws to cause utmost agony so she would release. Klea Pakora did but she went for the next best move. Forcing her head upon its chest, she tore into its armor in a feeble attempt to at least expose its spark. Some of the armor caved after enough pressure came from her jaws but it opened her to attack, and she accepted this. The Predator used her offense against its front armor to wrap its arms around her back, standing upright completely on its hind legs while lifting her. With one arm busted, the beast groaned but still forced all its strength to finish what it started.
Klea Pakora was no longer touching the ground, still tearing at its armor and trying to kick it with her free clawed feet now. Scratches dripping with Energon littered the underside of the Predator as it rumbled at her. She finally stopped her assault and snapped her head up to aim for the neck but at the same time, the Predator did something unexpected.
It threw her upward enough for her to miss her attack and was eye to eye with her for less than a millisecond when it caught her neck with its clawed servos and began to squeeze. Her body dropped to be even with its own and her feet cut at its legs and underbelly in a last-ditch effort to break its hold. It refused to let go. She kept biting down on any part of it she could reach; its neck, head, and shoulder all bore her wrath, but it still refused to stop.
A tearing sound became all too audible to every creature that was watching. Klea Pakora's optics widened, and she started to feel numbness among some of her body from lack of communication from damaged wires being popped among its deadly grasp. The armor of her neck cracked as she frantically clawed at any part of the Predator's body she could reach will all her limbs.
Suddenly, the Dinobot leader was slammed down into the ground hard. Stunned, she could barely move and when she tried to, the Predator, still in bipedal mode, placed a pede on her neck in the same ironic pose she had it minutes before. Red claws dug into sensitive, exposed wiring and kept her at bay even when she tried to rake the dirt with her own feet, but no traction was found. She then felt the blood splatter of the Cybertronian Predator's nostrils blowing in her face with a growl and froze up.
The Predator leaned down, damaged tail flickering and it bared its teeth. It gave one final bellow, one of dominance and victory that echoed across the grasslands like a demonic call. Then it peered back into her stubborn but understanding optics before it let its foot off her and violently wrapped its jaws across her head.
Grasping her snout with a servo to prevent her from biting back and holding down the rest of her body with the other servo, the Predator began crushing her skull among her panicked, natural rumbles. Since she had no voice box, she couldn't make normal sounds and both Arcee and Megatron could only imagine what they would have sounded like. The Predator narrowed its optics as it kept pulling on her head while pushing down on her body. With a terrifying sound, Klea Pakora's neck broke and was torn from her body. The Dinobots were mortified as their leader's head came crashing down on the grass, staining every flower within its radius blue as her yellow optics faded.
"Oh my god!" Arcee exclaimed while Megatron stared down petrified in his own way.
Moonhunter and the Dinobot younglings were equally disturbed as the Predator snarled regardless of its bleeding form and damaged chest.
"Well then...I guess that answered that question. Cybertronian Predator: 3. Everyone else: 0. I wonder what Primus was thinking when it helped create this thing. I would honestly tell them to their face that they fucked up...or they did their job a bit too well. I'm undecided with the epic fight I just bore witness to."
Suddenly, the Cybertronian Predator collapsed onto all fours and huffed. Blood slid down from its damaged nostrils to the tip of its red gemmed anteater-like snout. It made a tired grunt, its lower jaw shivering as it stared down at the ground like it was out of breath.
Arcee knew that with the gem they could leave but she couldn't help but observe the Predator. It had probably been some time since it was ever challenged by another capable of damaging it. If no Cybertronian could wound it, that was saying something, and it only solidified the fact that it was a force to be reckoned with. Bolt was right. Whatever it evolved from or was created by certainly made it unstoppable.
Klea Pakora meant well but even she couldn't best the beast. Both bots had respect for her despite her threatening to try and kill them prior to the interruption of the Predator. Arcee noticed one piece of Klea Pakora's claws were embedded in the ground, most likely ripped as she was struggling in her final moments. Picking up the claw, Arcee frowned at the reminder that no one was safe, even professional killers.
Just then, the Predator's optics shifted to glare at Arcee and Megatron with its pupils first dilating then contracting in growing rage. It rose despite its excessive bleeding and growled, Energon stained claws tapping against its palm wanting to tear them apart.
"Bolt, we need a ground bridge!"
"Agreed."
Right as a ground bridge appeared behind them with Moonhunter immediately running through it, the Cybertronian Predator stumbled forward before sprinting at them with a roar. Before it could reach them, however, a tail to the face struck it off course and both bots saw the Carnotaurus mother that had previously defended her young by instinct from them roaring back.
Angered, the Predator snapped at the Carnotaurus and caught it by the back, forcing it to fall on its side before covering the smaller Dinobot's face with its jaws and clamping down on both its head and neck, twisting the head until the Dinobot was still.
"No!" Arcee cried out but she was stopped by Megatron.
"Arcee! Get in the portal! There's nothing we can do for them! Listen to me!"
She was reluctant mentally but this time, she went without a fuss. Running through as more Dinobots attempted to fight back, most of whom the Predator disbanded quite quickly trying to get to them, she felt bad when she found herself alongside Megatron and Moonhunter back on the Endeavor. The portal closed as soon as they were all accounted for, and Bolt was there to greet them.
"That was scary! That...that was close, and I get the feeling we just poked our luck with a stick at this point."
"We left them to die-"
Bolt scoffed, "That's nature, Arcee. Look, the Cybertronian Predator has been around for hundreds of millions of years before we were even around, caveman years as the humans would probably put it despite technically, we had none. It was said to kill everything that got in its way. That battle with Klea Pakora and its fight with the rest of the Dinobots is no different from what it always did before. Even if you never went there, I guarantee one day they would have met, and the same outcome would have happened. The Predator would have hunted all those younglings and their parents for food or because it could regardless. It just so happened your presence made them meet earlier than expected. This is no different than the war...and you know that."
As Megatron set down Vulcore's wing while Arcee placed the gem and Klea Pakora's claw on the nearest table, Bolt put his servos behind his head and paced with a sigh.
"Just one more gem, guys. One more nightmarish environment to go. Then we get to the Allspark and end this mess. It felt so long to reach this moment and I'm not even sure if we really will end this soon."
Megatron frowned, "What do you mean?"
"What if we did all this for nothing? What if we don't get off the island and we don't get into the citadel? What if we die here?"
Arcee placed a servo on Bolt's shoulder and said, "I think if we were going to die here, it would have happened already given what we've dealt with. We are nearly there. We can't be thinking of failure now."
Bolt nodded, rubbing his servos together, "Yeah, I know. Now's not the time for doubts and fears. I'm just alerted. Something's just nagging me about the appearance of the Predator. Maybe it's just my paranoia of dealing with it all these years stranded here. It's getting bolder, interacting more with the wildlife and us. That's not a good sign. Its presence is making me think we might be hitting a dead end soon."
Megatron placed both his servos on his hips and smirked, "Well, I'm not one to stay stuck in a corner now, am I? The Dinobots wounded the Predator and maybe that's just the tipping point we need to stand against it when it's time. Klea Pakora's sacrifice will not be in vain."
Bolt sighed, "Well, then I guess we'll get right to it. Tomorrow, you two are going to be venturing into the Primal Jungle and let's pray that we don't meet anything to be afraid of in there."
AN: Honestly this was my favorite chapter because of how fun it was to write. Unfortunately, Klea Pakora was no match for this monster and as we go into the final ten chapters with two sets of stories to bring perspective on some characters, I thank you all who have come this far on this journey with me.
Featured monsters:
Klea Pakora the Dinobot Leader (Kanjis)
Cybertronian Predator (Cybertron)