10- Who keeps it?
It was a great day at a peaceful place in the Kalos region.
"Aaahhh, look at this, buddy. This place hasn't changed anything." Ash admired.
"Pikachu."
Ash and some of his friends were on top of a hill which showed the entire place around.
"You've said it Ash, this place is as beautiful as the first day." Serena joined him.
"You know this?" Ritchie asked observing.
"We visited this swamp when we traveled around the Kalos region during Ash's pokémon journey." Clemont narrated.
"This is actually the home of one of the pokémon that I got from this region." Ash revealed before turning at all the rest of his pokémon (the ones from the Kalos region), which were eating with the others. "Do you want to see him again?"
The pokémon answer was direct and clear, they all expressed excitement.
"Looks like they are eager to see him as well." Iris noticed.
But the pokémon's excitement wasn't the only thing they heard.
"Could you two please lower the volume?" Misty requested to the youngest members of the group.
"We cannot avoid it, Misty. These interactive songs are something revolutionary." Max defended.
"Well, at least try to not yell that loud. I can't hear properly what our friend here as sent us."
"What are you seeing, Misty?" Serena asked.
"You said you needed to see something with my terminal, but you didn't tell us what exactly is." Clemont added.
"It's from our friend Brock. He's sharing with us how his efforts to reach his dream are going." Misty revealed.
"Really?! How is he?" Ash asked in interest taking a look.
"He's fine, Ash. He says he's taking his medicine studies in a steady way and that he's amazed from learning new things every day. He sends us regards and some pictures about some of his practices."
"Tell him we miss him as well and that we hope he manages to reach his dream."
"Pika pika."
"I will ensure he receives it, rest assured." Clemont confirmed.
And they heard the two little kids loud again.
"Well, it's fine he's not actually with us. There's no way he could study properly with these startles." Ritchie admitted seeing them.
"I can't believe there's going to be a concert about this this evening." Bonnie expressed listening the songs.
"Can we go once we're done here, guys?" Max asked.
"Please big brother, say yes."
"We'll…see about that." Clemont answered in an awkward way.
"Depends on how you two behave today." Misty added.
"I'm surprised you don't seem excited to see Goodra again, Bonnie." Serena said.
"You said Goodra? Of course I wanna see him again! Right Dedenne?"
"Dedenne."
"Sounds like fun, since we didn't come here for that at the first place." Iris admitted.
"Speaking of which, where are the others?"
"You notice that now, Max?" Serena asked in disbelief. "We accompanied the Autobots here because they were making a recon around the area."
"It seems to be for another relic's location." Ritchie supposed.
Just in that moment, two of the Autobots reunited with them, returning to robot form.
"So, how it went?" Ash asked.
"Not a clue. Tracking the coordinates is easy, but discovering where the relic may be buried on said place is another." Hot Rod answered.
"If you don't mind, we were talking about go and visit a pokémon friend of ours who lives here." Clemont told.
"As we do it, how if we take a look around in case we see something suspicious?" Serena suggested.
"It isn't a bad idea. Our team has already scattered around this area to cover more ground. That could help us discount places to search for the relic. Go ahead. If anything happens, give us a call." Bumblebee authorized.
And so, the group started to get moving.
"I wonder where we could start looking." Max wondered.
"Look, what a beautiful lake."
"Well seen, Misty. That looks like the ideal place to find him." Ash supported.
Pikachu, Sparky, Dedenne and Fraxure approached the water, but suddenly they saw some waves forming in the center of the lake. And next they sensed something, because they ran as fast as they could from the water, right before this started to splash, like if something big was emerging from it. Once the water cleared, our heroes could see who, or better said what was the responsible one.
"No way." Misty started.
"Is that…?" Ritchie continued.
"Team Rocket's sub?!" Everyone recognized.
Indeed, there was a giant mechanical Magikarp in the lake, with something on its net of the part of the mouth. They heard some laughs coming from inside the vehicle.
"Looks like we had nice fishing." Meowth announced once they appeared on top of the submarine.
"Team Rocket!" Ash called.
"So you are here as well!" Ritchie added.
"Eh?" The three villains said in disbelief, like if they weren't expecting the gang was there. But immediately stood their posts as always.
"Prepare for trouble, since you are already here." Jessie started.
"And make it double, because you wanted us to meet." James continued.
"Oh please, cut it off already!" Iris interrupted.
"Hey, nobody interrupts Team Rocket's motto!" Meowth protested.
"There's always a first time." Bonnie simply said, annoying them.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ritchie demanded.
"You'll be relieved to know that for once we weren't after you." James answered.
"But surely you came to catch the pokémon who lives here." Serena deduced.
"You guys are a lost cause." Ash added.
"Hey, what is that they have get?" Max asked, taking a closer look to what was in the net.
"This? We are not sure as you. We were simply waiting for any pokémon to approach the lake for later surprise when we ran into some kind of treasure chest at the very bottom. So we took a close look, and this is what we found." Jessie retold as the net moved closer to them and showed some kind of metallic scythe.
"Clemont?" Misty started.
"No doubt has cybertronian touches. It could possibly be the relic the Autobots are searching for." Clemont recognized.
"And so, as the motto says 'finders keepers'!" Meowth finished.
"You are not taking that with you!" Ash swore. "Greninja, Noivern, Water Shuriken and Boomburst."
Both pokémon launched their attacks against Team Rocket's submarine, almost making them to lose the relic.
"Now I wish we could have taken the balloon instead." Meowth expressed grabbing the scythe.
Suddenly, the scythe started to change form, until it turned completely into a metal propeller, which started to spin, generating a powerful twister. The force of the wind was so strong that the gang was forced to grab onto some rocks or bushes around. Meowth was having a hard time holding the propeller, until James, Jessie and Wobbuffet came to aid him. That caused the submarine to start levitating in the air. At the end, this was sent flying.
"Uf, that was a very strong wind." Iris said.
"But where did it come from? It is supposed there was not going to be windy here today." Clemont pointed.
"I think it was that thing's doing. The relic." Ritchie noticed.
"Looks like there's more on it than we know." Ash added.
"Huh?"
"What is it, Misty?"
"Have you not noticed we're just six?"
"Oh yeah. Where are Max and Bonnie?" Serena asked as everyone looked around.
"They may have been taking away when Team Rocket summoned that wind." Iris deduced.
"I think it is now time to warn the others." Ash decided before pressing his Pokétch. "Guys, we got a situation."
At the same time, a little far from there, still in the same area, Team Rocket's sub landed hard on the ground. Surely there was no way it could work anymore. Meanwhile, back with the gang…
"Then the relic changed into like a propeller and made a twister which took them flying away. Maybe the relic too." Serena ended retelling.
"Those guys again?" Arcee asked in disbelief, in another area with Seaspray.
"It was true what our pals said about them being that persistent." Seaspray said.
"Any idea what that relic is? Because I am clueless." Smokescreen shared in other part of the swamp with Sideswipe.
"According to the children's description, we may be talking about Amalgamous Prime's signature weapon: the Scythe." Optimus reported from New Iacon seeing some ancient text in a terminal.
"A scythe? Like the one Xiaxus wields?"
"No Sideswipe, that name only defines its original form. However, the scythe was just as capable of shapeshifting as Amalgamous himself."
"Which means it can turn into anything you wish." Clemont sensed.
"Including weapons?" Ritchie asked.
"That would be the reason the Decepticons need to search for it." Ash deduced.
"And now Team Rocket are the ones in possession of it." Serena added.
"But it seems they don't know what it does as well. I will not worry at all." Iris pointed.
"What we should worry about is if Bonnie and Max are with them as we suspect." Misty reminded.
"In that case we better find them, and the relic as well. Let's search it in pairs. If anyone gets a clue of the kids of where Team Rocket is, report it immediately." Bumblebee decided before they continued the search.
Speaking about the two missing ones…
"Max. Hey Max, wake up." Bonnie said touching him, who looked unconscious. "He doesn't seem to be moving. Have any idea, Dedenne?"
The little pokémon thought about it, until an idea came to his little head: he crawled next to Max's cheeks and used Nuzzle, giving him an electric awakening.
"Dedenne, not that much!" Bonnie objected. "Are you okay, Max?"
"One thing is seeing an electric attack on TV, but other is feeling on your own skin. Wow, gotta said is impressive." He simply said, recalling other times.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Nene."
"What now, Dedenne?"
"Woah, that was a blast."
"Hold on. Is that…Meowth?" Max recognized.
The two kids hid behind some woods as they watched quite where Team Rocket crash-landed. They saw them in possession of the scythe.
"We almost ended blasting off again. I guess we were lucky for once." Jessie opined.
"By the way, how did we manage to escape from the twerps?" James wondered.
"I think it's thanks to this weird trinket here." Meowth said holding the relic. "But how did it manage to turn into a propeller?"
"Could it be the most recent invention ever made by mankind?"
"Or perhaps an old gift delivered by a legendary pokémon?" Jessie suggested. "Whatever it is one thing is clear: we really need to take this to the boss."
"It could impulse Team Rocket to the top of the world."
"And imagine how the boss will reward us for that." Meowth added.
"We will be famous. The best team Team Rocket ever had!" The three exclaimed in union.
"Wobbuffet!"
"But hey, first we need to figure out how this works." James recalled.
"Well Meowth, you are the one who managed to made it transform. Do it again!" Jessie demanded.
"What? How do you expect me to figure out how this works?"
"Anything! Just remember what happened when it occurred the first time."
"Well, I don't remember doing anything out of normal. I just know I wished to have a propeller to escape flying. Maybe if I speak some magical words it may responds. Let's see: abracadabra, turn into something I wanna." Meowth recited, but nothing happened.
James took it form him. "Perhaps it reacts to whatever its owner is thinking. So, maybe if I think about what I wanna hold…"
Surprisingly, this time the scythe reacted and changed until turning into some kind of rocket launcher.
"Uh oh." The kids said worried.
"Aha, so this is how it works. It was easier than I thought.
"Good job, James. Now we know how it functions. With this at hand, we could bring the necessary tools to finally got Pikachu. And any other pokémon we desire." Jessie congratulated.
"Surely it works at the object you want it to become." James deduced firing the rocket launcher, which ended to be a net launcher, and caught Meowth.
"Hey, watch where you fire that thing!" He objected mad, making his pals laugh at his misery.
"We gotta recover that thing before they figure out how to master it." Bonnie recalled.
"Fortunately it seems they don't know we're here. Let's use that in our advantage." Max proposed.
Meanwhile, back to the lake where the relic was buried, now there were other trespassers also searching around. The Decepticons were now looking for the relic as well, being Shatter and Dropkick in charge of the search party.
"They found the container open, so it seems someone beat us." Dropkick reported after talking to one of the Vehicon commandos.
"Any track of where it may be now?" A voice through com-link demanded.
"I have a fresh trail, general Starscream. It appears whoever took the relic left in a hurry. However, my sensors detect something of great energy nearby, which means they are still here." Shatter reported checking her terminal.
"Then you better move on and retrieve it back. And I wait to heard a report from the troops you requested as backup about your commanding experience."
"You will have it. Over and out." The female decepticon ended.
Starscream looked at Xiaxus. "I certainly hope those two can still proof their previous value."
"They will, old friend. That's why we authorized them a little more command over the troops. They know that if they disappoint us, they will remain at similar posts as ordinary crew members like Knock Out."
Back at the field, the group was still searching through the swamp. They were waiting for someone to return, until a Taillow met back with Ritchie.
"Rose, did you find anything?" Ritchie asked.
"Taillow." The bird pokémon denied.
"It seems they flew more away than we thought."
"Then we cannot stop now. We need to keep searching." Clemont proclaimed.
Suddenly, Ash felt how something with a sticky feeling was grabbing him from behind. When he saw what it was, he couldn't help but smile.
"Hey Goodra, long time no see you, friend." Ash expressed returning the hug to his former pokémon.
"Pika pika." Pikachu said joining the hug.
"Goodra."
"It's been a long time." Serena saluted.
"You look great." Clemont added.
"Is that your pokémon?" Misty asked.
"That's right. Goodra was the last pokémon I captured in the Kalos region. I set him free when we returned to his home and now he takes care of all the pokémon who lives here." Ash explained. "He is a dragon-type pokémon."
"Really? It isn't look like one for me." Iris opined.
"Trust us. Goodra may look like a harmless pokémon, but Ash battled alongside him in the Kalos league." Clemont reassured.
"How are you doing buddy? Still taking good care of your friends?" Ash asked.
"Goodra." Goodra said, meaning that they follow him.
Just right at the corner they saw all the pokémon Goodra used to live, including the Florges which once was fooled by Team Rocket. Goodra introduced the gang to his pals and surprisingly welcomed them all. But what really surprised the gang was an unexpected visitor: right at the edge of a lake, lying between all the pokémon, Predaking, the rogue Predacon, was resting like if he lived there.
"Is that…Predaking?" Serena asked in disbelief.
"What is he doing here?" Misty added.
"And why the pokémon are not afraid of his presence?" Ritchie added.
"Not sure." Ash said before turning at Goodra. "Did you know he was here all the time?"
"Goodra." Goodra surprisingly nodded.
"Then that means Predaking is not here to cause trouble."
"I knew it, he is just looking for a safe place to rest in peace and quite. They know he's not a bad creature, he is just misunderstood." Iris deduced.
Surprisingly, as they spoke, Predaking put his eyes on them. Next, he stood up and walked toward them, which scared them. But he simply approached his head at them, curious. Like if he remembered them.
"Eh…now what he's doing?" Ritchie asked nervous.
"Maybe he remembers us from the last time. When we helped him." Iris pointed.
Predaking turned his body a little, showing them a familiar sign.
"His wound, its completely healed." Clemont saw.
"Perhaps he traveled here because it's a calm place where he could recover completely and regain his strength." Ash deduced.
"We're…sorry if we bothered you, Predaking. We're just passing through." Serena apologized.
But the Predacon, simply responded with a nodding, meaning he understood them.
"See? I was right about him." Iris defended once again before she approached him and rose her hand at his head, asking him if she could touch him.
Predaking approached his head to her hand, allowing her to care him freely, which he found comfortable, while Fraxure stared at him face-to-face in curiosity.
"Now I know why Goodra allowed him to stay, he also knows he's a good being." Ash realized.
"Guys, any new from Max and Bonnie?"
"Not yet, Seaspray. Just an old friend of Ash which we have met with." Misty answered back through her Pokétch.
"Then I guess you got lucky, because we're not the only ones searching for them anymore." The Wrecker announced crouched down, since he and Sideswipe were observing something from a hill.
"Looks like Ash was right about the Cons. We got a whole squad searching the area. And not ordinary Vehicons, they are commandos." Sideswipe identified.
"Careful guys, those Cons are better than ordinary ones. Not much, but still they can ruin your day." Arcee warned through com-link.
"Can you guys handle them?" Ritchie asked.
"Nothing I hadn't handle before. Let it to us." Seaspray reassured them.
"Still, they could be not the only Cons after the relic. They may be a scout party, or the backup for someone tougher."
"Nice deduction Smokescreen. We'll try to surpass them and figure out who's in charge. Guys, you keep looking for Max and Bonnie. Luckily when you find them, you'll find the relic as well." Bumblebee instructed.
"Ok. We'll hurry." Ash communicated.
"Better not to tell them about Predaking being here. We already have enough to handle." Serena suggested, which the others nodded.
"So, any other idea about how to locate them?" Misty asked.
Ash came up with something. "Goodra, you know this place better than us. Think you can help us find where our friends may be?"
"Goodra." Goodra nodded.
"Thanks a lot. While Goodra help us search through land, Rose, Noivern, Talonflame and Hawlucha can search from the air."
"And that way we'll cover more ground." Ritchie understood.
Back with Seaspray and Sideswipe, the two Autobots decided not to engage the Vehicon commandos directly. Instead, they sneaked behind them to approach silently.
"Tell me pal, how good are you with sneak attacks?" Seaspray asked.
"If you are talking about jumping above them fast and strike hard, you can call me a professional then."
"Good enough. We better handle them one by one. You go after the one of the right, I'll handle the left one."
The Autobots split out. Once they got close enough to their targets, they got ready to dispose of them at the same time. Seaspray stabbed his harpoons on the back on his, while Sideswipe simply used his blades to decapitate his, all simultaneously. Once they saw it wasn't that hard, they proceed to continue doing the same. This time there was four enemies patrolling the area, so they decided to engage two of them this time. Sideswipe tried the same strategy approaching one, but then he stepped on a branch, crushing it and making a little noise. That made the Vehicon to turn at him, so he reacted stabbing his blades on his chest immediately, but now his cover was blown, since the other Cons saw him.
"Excuse me, I split from the trip group. May I ask for the guide?" He joked.
"An Autobot! Blast him!" The leader ordered.
The Decepticons fired at him, but Sideswipe dodged them with a quick jump. He continued dodging the shots until he faced one of them directly: blocking his hits and countering with his. While the other two were distracted, Seaspray jumped above them and kicked them at the same time. Before they could recover, he terminated them with his harpoons. Once done, he simply saw how Sideswipe ended with his opponent, cutting first one arm after another before finishing him with the head.
"Not bad. But you should improve your stealth skills, in case you have to sneak into a Decepticon facility. I'll tell Jackie to give you a few advises."
"Hey, at least I disposed of it. Besides, I'm a good sword fighter as he and Drift. Ask him whenever you want." Sideswipe defended.
"Guys, have you engaged the Cons already?"
"Already did, Bee. These commandos are not as good as they talk about. We got all six by ourselves."
"Six commandos? Normally they don't operate in groups larger than four." Arcee recalled.
"Unless someone wanted to have a large number for in case of an unwelcome party." Seaspray deduced.
"Exactly. Which means someone is in charge of them, and not far enough." Bee realized.
"I can't imagine Knock Out commanding such good soldiers."
"You got a point there, Smokey. There is another more important Con directing them. And as far as we know there could be two guys besides the commanders." Hot Rod continued.
"Shatter and Dropkick." Bumblebee suspected. "They must be searching for the relic. Which means we cannot allow them to reach it first. I know what those two are capable of to achieve their goals."
Meanwhile, Bonnie and Max started to approach Team Rocket crawling between the woods slowly. Fortunately, the three of them were too busy checking, or better said playing, the relic making it to change into different kinds of objects. They still didn't know how to take the relic from their hands, until Bonnie saw in front of her a little group of dandelions, so she whispered something to her pokémon. Immediately, Dedenne started to move his tail, making little currents of air which started to spread the dandelions. One of them managed to land right on Meowth's nose, who was the current one handing the relic. It caused him enough tickles for him to start sneezing, making him to let go of the scythe. Quickly, they came out from their hiding and tried to take it away. Both kids tried to pull the relic with them, but…
"It's heavier than it looks." Max noticed.
"Hey, those are the tiny twerps." James recognized.
"How did you manage to find us?" Jessie demanded.
"They're trying to take the treasure away!" Meowth snapped at them.
"Max, think you can come up with something?" Bonnie asked.
"Hey wait." Max said before he simply touched the relic while he thought of something, and it changed until turning completely into a metallic pencil. "Now we can carry it."
"Oh no, you don't." Jessie declared grabbing it from the other side.
Soon Team Rocket and the children started to struggle to take the relic. But Bonnie, realizing how Max did to change the relic, decided to do the same. Instantly, the relic turned into some kind of gun, and the part which fired was aiming right at Team Rocket, which made them to rise their hands in shock.
"You…wouldn't hurt some harmless guys, would you?" James said, trying to make her to spare their lives.
But Bonnie simply fired the gun, which turned to be a water gun in fact. Team Rocket ended just wet.
"Hahaha, nice trick, Bonnie." Max laughed.
"Hey, its thanks to you we know how it works."
"That's it! You can try to take away our acquisition, but laughing at our faces is too much!" Meowth yelled mad before jumping above them and blocking the other way as he prepared his claws. "You will not leave until giving us back that trinket."
"Bonnie, I got an idea." Max said before whispering it to her.
"Oh, alright. Dedenne, use Thunder Shock!"
Dedenne prepared to launch an electric attack.
"Wobbuffet, stop them!" Jessie commanded.
Wobbuffet prepared to block Dedenne's attack with Mirror Coat and returned it to him. But…
"Now!" Max shouted.
At the same time Meowth jumped at them, both kids and Dedenne jumped out of the way, so Meowth was the one who ended receiving the attack. It let him very fried.
"It was fun, but we gotta go!" Bonnie saluted as they got away.
"Hey, that's not fair!" James complained.
"Come back here!" Jessie added.
They escaped through the woods until reaching the edge of a hill. They observed it was a long downhill.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Bonnie asked.
Max answered by touching the relic again, making it to change into some kind of slider, one they mounted and started to make their descent down the hill. Team Rocket also witnessed that before they could stop them.
"Yujjjuuuu! This is really fun!" Max yelled.
And also the flying pokémon spotted them, so they returned to warn the group. Both kids continued their descend, until they heard some familiar laughs getting closer. They looked at their right and saw Team Rocket approaching them in a similar way, using a slider made from the scrap of their sub.
"Nice try, but you will not get rip of us that easily." Jessie mocked.
"Come on. Do you guys ever give up?" Max asked.
"If there's something Team Rocket is good at is never giving up." James answered back.
"Isn't that supposed to be Ash's motto?" Bonnie recalled.
"Hum, you're right. I guess you twerps ended inspiring us too."
"Enough with that. Give us back our finding!" Meowth demanded.
"You wanna race? Let's race!" Bonnie announced, making appear a steering wheel from the slider which actually they used to get faster.
"Hey, not fair! We don't have a turbo!" Jessie complained.
But still they went after them. But none of them was aware that last phrase reached Dropkick and Shatter, who were actually checking the remains of Team Rocket's submarine. And at hearing that, they moved on in a hurry. The two groups continued sliding down the hill until someone more joined the chase: a couple of purple F1 race cars drove beside them, trying to hit the kids' slide and force them to slow down. But thanks to the steering wheel, Max managed to turn any time they attempted, making them almost to hit Team Rocket as well. In some point of the course, the cars jumped and changed form, revealing to be Vehicon commandos. That left Team Rocket speechless, while Max and Bonnie simply continued their way with the Cons running after them.
"How they can be so fast not being in vehicle form?" Bonnie asked surprised.
"We need to lose them. Dedenne, take care of them!" Max suggested.
"Nene!" The little pokemon nodded.
Dedenne launched Thunder Shock at the Decepticons, who tried to dodge the electric attacks all they could. Bonnie decided to help her little buddy by throwing some rocks. Surprisingly this strategy distracted them enough for Dedenne to hit them, stunning them with electricity and making them trip over. One of them even crashed against a rock, hard. Both kids and Dedenne celebrated it with happy yells and hugs. As for Team Rocket, they were so distracted that they didn't saw where they were going: at the end of the path there was an elevation of the ground which looked like a ramp. And they were heading right to it, which made them nervous.
"I don't like what this is looking like, I hate roller coasters!" Jessie shouted alarmed as they tried to change course.
"We need to turn this thing!" Meowth said.
"I'm trying!" James answered.
But it was no use, and they ended being launched at the sky.
"We're blasting off again!" They said once again before disappearing as always.
As for the kids, they continued sliding.
"Hello, anyone can hear us?!" Bonnie called through her Pokétch.
"Bonnie, are you and Max okay?" Arcee answered.
"Better than fine. We managed to rescue the relic from Team Rocket and now they're out of the game. But it seems the Decepticons are aware of that and are now after our tail."
"Fear nothing Max, we see you." Bee answered zooming his optics from where he and the other three Autobots were. "You just keep the relic safe. We will come at you at once."
"Bee, watch out!" Hot Rod warned pulling him behind a boulder.
A storm of laser shots rain above them. It came from a trio of Vehicon helicopters standing their ground, while Dropkick and Shatter flew next to them.
"Keep them occupied. Make sure they don't get in our way!" Shatter instructed.
"Scrap." Bumblebee cursed.
Finally, they reached the end of the slope.
"Wow, that was awesome." Max expressed as he changed the relic into a pencil again.
"You've said it. We should do that again sometime." Bonnie nodded.
"We're glad you have enjoyed it." Shatter's voice interrupted, making them to look where she and Dropkick transformed and landed, right in front of them.
"Now it is our time to enjoy." Dropkick announced.
"Give us the relic now and we will not harm you."
"And how do we know you will keep your word?" Max asked back.
"Yeah, you guys just enjoy harming others. You are not trustful." Bonnie supported.
"That hurts, you know?" Dropkick said sarcastically.
"But you're right, we don't care what will happen to you. I just offered you the harmless way. But if you want…" Shatter started changing her hand for her blaster weapon.
But before she could complete her threat, both Decepticons covered their audio receptors in pain. The reason? Noivern was using Supersonic to stop them, followed by Hawlucha and Talonflame attacking them with High Jump Kick and Steel Wing.
"Bonnie, Max! Over here, hurry!" Misty called.
The kids ran toward the group while the pokémon kept the Cons occupied. But even that didn't prevent them from seeing that.
"Troops, don't let them escape!" Shatter commanded.
Immediately, all the remaining Decepticon commandos obeyed and went after the gang. Pikachu, Sparky and Dedenne used their electric attacks to keep them on line, while the rest searched for cover.
"What's taking Bee and the others so long?" Clemont wondered.
"They are busy with some Con helicopters." Max answered.
"Goodra!" Goodra called.
"Oh, hey Goodra. Sorry for not being a right moment to be reunited." Bonnie apologized.
"Are you saying you wanna join the fight?" Ash asked.
"Goodra!" Ash's pokémon nodded determined.
"Okay then. Like the old times."
Goodra roared loud to the sky, and suddenly it was covered by clouds and started to rain.
"Eh? It's raining?" Ritchie noticed.
"That's Goodra's move: Rain Dance." Serena recognized.
That was also noticed by Seaspray and Sideswipe, who were approaching where the gang was cornered and spotted the Cons ahead.
"Oh great, just what we needed. With the terrain now wet, it's gonna be hard driving to them." Sideswipe complained.
"Wet terrain? Just my specialty." Seaspray smirked changing form.
Seaspray didn't have any problem to move through the wet environment in his vehicle form, even he seemed to move faster. The Decepticons saw him coming and fired at him, but he simply dodged while he prepared a little surprise: the upper part of his vehicle mode opened and some kind of harpoon launcher came out, aimed at three of the Decepticons and fired some harpoons which acted like missiles and hooked to them. The Cons looked at them confused moments before the harpoons detonated like grenades, revealing to be some explosive harpoons. Also, Seaspray pulled out two turrets at the sides of his alt mode to draw the enemies' fire as he drove around them. Next, he changed back to robot form and advanced at them. Because the terrain was now wet it worked at his advantage, allowing him to move faster than his rivals, which allowed him to perform fast kicks and punches which took them down in no time before finishing them with his melee-combat harpoons.
"Wow, what a show." Sideswipe admired.
"I'm a Wrecker, what did you expect?"
Back with the gang, the commandos were a little distracted with the rain that they didn't saw a small flock of Taillow surrounding them and attacking with Hidden Power, which forced them to cover with their hands. It was Rose using Double Team to distract them, while Goodra came out from the cover and surprised them with Dragon Pulse, taking down one. However, Shatter had enough and managed to grab Noivern by his tail and swung him around, hitting Talonflame and Hawlucha as well. They went to join their troops, but before they could they heard a loud roar coming from the sky. Everyone looked up and in surprise Predaking landed hard in front of the Decepticons.
"Is that…a Predacon?" One asked in disbelief, right before Predaking grabbed him with his jaws and crushed him.
That made the others to concentrate fire on him, but it was useless.
"Is that…Predaking?" Max asked in shock, since he and Bonnie were not present when everyone knew he was there.
"And he's…saving us?" Bonnie added.
"Because he's good inside." Iris smiled.
Predaking started firing fireballs at the commandos, eliminating them one by one. The remaining ones had enough, so they transformed and drove as fast as they could to get away. The problem was that with the ground now wet their alt forms have problems to drive properly, and some ended sliding and hitting with each other or ended stuck in the mud, at Predaking's mercy.
"Who's that Predacon? I haven't seen it on the warship." Dropkick noticed.
"That must be the one it rebelled against Galvatron: the one called Predaking. Let's show him the price of treason." Shatter declared.
Both Decepticons changed to their flying alt forms and headed for the Predacon, who was finishing with their last troops. They positioned themselves above their target and started fire at him. Predaking defended launching fire beams back, but they simply dodged them as they continued attacking. Dropkick took chance and transformed, landing right on his back, where he tried to use his sword to stag it on the Predacon's surface, right where he couldn't reach him. Iris saw this.
"Hey, that's cheating! You guys are worse than Team Rocket! Fraxure, cover Predaking! Use Giga Impact!"
Iris's pokémon approached Dropkick while he was busy and by attacking him by surprise, he managed to take him off Predaking's back. Goodra used Ice Beam to freeze one of Shatter's wings, causing her to lose balance and land hardly. But now she focused her attention at them.
"Give me that relic!" Shatter swore charging her weapons.
"Guys, gather!" Max shouted.
Everyone, including the pokémon, gathered around Max as he held the relic, making it to change into some object which turned on. Shatter fired at full power, and it seemed she hit them. But when she saw clearly, she saw them covered by some kind of energy shield: Max made the relic to turn into some kind of shield generator. Meanwhile, back with Bee's group, they were still immobilized by the Vehicon helicopters' fire, now launching missiles.
"We cannot stay here any longer. We have to move." Hot Rod complained.
"How? They're constantly bombing the whole area. Technically everywhere is a danger zone." Arcee argued.
"We cannot pass through all that fire. Only one can." Bumblebee said looking at Smokescreen. "Time to use your skill to sneak beneath the floor."
"I'll clear a path for you." Smokescreen nodded turning on the phase shifter and disappearing beneath the ground.
Fortunately, the rain managed to complicate things for the helicopter Cons, clouding their vision a little and bothering their flight. Smokescreen phased right beneath them and fired at the propeller of one of them, making him to lose control, fail and crash-land. He fired at the others, earning their attention, allowing the rest of the Autobots to charge and assist him. At the same time, Dropkick was holding Predaking's jaws from crunching him, until he grabbed a big log near him and put it into his mouth, making him to focus on trying to take it out. Back with the gang…
"We are still in one piece." Ash saw seeing the energy shield.
"How?" Iris asked.
"Is thanks to the relic." Bonnie answered.
"How does it work?" Clemont asked.
"Just think about whatever you want it to turn and it will do." Max revealed.
"Why Clemont? Do you have an idea?" Iris asked.
Clemont simply grabbed the relic, did as Max said and it turned into a cybertronian weapon which next he aimed at Shatter, a little annoyed that they managed to survive her attack. She was about to fire again, but Clemont fired an electric shot first, which hit her hard. She tried to fire back, but she noticed her gun changed for her hand so she tried to pull it again, but without success. She started to suspect something and tried to change form, but again in failure.
"What? I can't transform. What have you done to me?!" She demanded.
"I simply thought about a nullifier ray, one capable to shut down your transforming systems for a while." Clemont revealed.
"Wow, well thought, Clemont." Serena congratulated.
Goodra and Fraxure took the chance and hit her with Bide and Giga Impact, making her fall backwards. Dropkick saw this and approached them pulling out his weapons. Ash reacted fast taking the relic from Clemont, changing it to a cybertronian gun, similar to the ones they used in their first adventure with the Autobots, and fired at him in the feet, making him to slip.
"Get up, partner." Dropkick told to his partner.
"I can't. My systems are blocked." Shatter answered.
"What have you done to her? You will pay."
"No, you guys are going to learn a lesson. Despite all you still don't get what you will get if you keep doing this, well that's it." Ritchie declared with Rose standing beside him as he rose his arm, placing a Z-Crystal on his Z-Ring.
"Hey, is that…?" Serena noticed.
"Is he going to…?" Misty added.
"Time for your punishment." Ritchie said as the Z-Crystal on his bracelet started to shine.
Both trainer and pokémon performed the same movements, making a current of energy to flow from Ritchie to Rose.
"Go for them, Rose. Supersonic Skystrike!" Ritchie shouted.
Rose was surrounded by a huge air current, took flight very high and flew back at the two Decepticons with all the air in front of her. That caused a huge explosion of dust which covered them, forcing everyone to cover their eyes. Once it cleared, Rose landed on Ritchie's shoulder, while the two Decepticons were looking now very bad, leaking sparks over their bodies.
"How? How can such small creature make us such damage?" Dropkick asked in disbelief.
"You don't understand the bond which allow us pokémon and trainer to battle together." Ritchie said proud.
"Troops, we require assistance at our location." Shatter requested, but no one responded. "Soldiers?"
"Looks like there's no one in one piece to help you." Clemont deduced.
"You little vermin…"
"Stop Dropkick." Shatter stopped. "You may have beaten us today, but this is not over yet. No one who has ridicule us has remained alive. Requesting an emergency ground bridge."
"You will see. Remember our words." Dropkick swore before they entered a ground bridge and disappeared.
After that, Goodra pulled out the log stuck on Predaking's throat, which he appreciated. He took a look of gratefulness to him and the gang before spreading his wings and taking flight. Meanwhile with the gang…
"Ritchie, that was amazing!" Bonnie expressed.
"I didn't know you already mastered a Z-Move." Ash added.
"Hehe, it was a surprise." Ritchie admitted.
"Seeing how it left those Cons, imagine how we will perform with other kinds of moves." Misty said.
"I don't know what has been more amazing: that Z-Move or how we have used the relic." Iris debated.
In that moment the Autobots finally joined them.
"Sorry we took so long. Gotta handle some Cons on the way." Smokescreen apologized.
"No worries, we also handle them as well." Serena reassured.
"Ash and Clemont handled the relic quite well, and Ritchie finished them off with a cool Z-Move." Max explained.
That leave the Autobots speechless.
"Looks like you guys are full of surprises." Arcee said.
"And…the relic?" Hot Rod asked.
"Right here." Ash said showing it in its actual form.
"Then it seems everything has ended well. Time to get back home." Bumblebee proclaimed.
Ash turned at Goodra. "It's been good seeing you again. And also battling together. We promise to come and see you sometime. And don't forget if you wish to join the team back, you just have to say it."
"Pikachu."
"Goodra."
"See you again, friend." Ash said goodbye.
Very far from there, Team Rocket was trying to contact someone with a small tablet.
"What's going on?" Giovanni demanded appearing on the screen.
"Sorry to interrupt you boss, but we have urgent news." Meowth started.
"We were performing our usual duties, when suddenly…" James continued.
"We were attacked by some rogue cars, but that's not the worse." Jessie added.
"Suddenly those cars transformed into some kind of giant robots. They could be a serious threat." Meowth ended.
"Don't be absurd. It looks to me that you have been exposed too much for explosions. You should take a rest before getting back to duty. And just call me about your progress." Giovanni ended before hanging up, leaving them confused.
"Sir, I know those three are not exactly very streetwise, but I believe this time they are not wrong." Matori said. "There have been rumors circulating about peculiar machines which resemble the description they provided: that secret weapon of that Team Alien. If that ends to be true, they could represent a serious threat if they decide to use it against us."
"I admit that group seems to be a more serious menace than the others, but since there has been a while since we heard about them, I guess there's nothing to be worried about. That surely is just an excuse for a failed project of them."
Meanwhile, at the Autobot base…
"And that's how we managed to stand against the Decepticons." Ash ended explaining before handing the relic to Ratchet.
"You managed to operate a relic with such astonishing properties." Ratchet said admiring the relic.
"I think studying its transformation properties should provide quite an interesting experience, and provide highly tactical." Fixit suggested, but stopped at looking at Optimus. "If…you are okay with that, of course."
"I agree that learning from the relic's nature could help us in the future. Better than risk losing it using it too much against our enemies." Optimus accepted.
"Oh no."
"What is it, Bonnie?" Clemont asked.
"We totally forgot how long we have been on the swamp."
"Oh right. Now it's tool late for assisting the concert." Max added in lament.
"You mean that musical event which you talked so much?" May guessed.
"Yeah, the same one."
"Then fear nothing, little brother, because that has been taken care off."
"Huh?" Max and Bonnie asked confused.
"You see, Blaster has finally found his own hobby here on Earth." Tracey started.
"Tracey helped me to find it out when I was checking a human social network. Something which I think will relieve your sorrow." The Autobot communication officer said as he inserted his cables on a terminal, making some music to sound (Axel F).
"Hey, that music. It's one of my favorites." Max recognized.
"After May told me about your desires to assist that concert, I offered an alternative. So ladies and gentlemen, stand up and enjoy, because DJ Blaster is in da house."
Immediately, as music sounded, Blaster also made appear a disco ball which illuminated the room while the other Autobots decided to leave them with that well-deserved prize.
"Come on Fixit. Let's see what you got." Bonnie encouraged.
Fixit had no idea of what to do, until he noticed his wheels moving on their own at the rhythm of music, and he started dancing. While most of the kids danced on their own free style, May invited Clemont to join her, and since he didn't know to dance well she started teaching him.
"How about you, Ash? Are you in the mood for it?" Serena asked to her boyfriend.
"Yeah, look at our pals. They seem to be enjoying." Ritchie recalled as they saw Pikachu and Sparky dancing together.
"Well, if you're okay with that." Ash answered.
"Great." Serena said grabbing him by the hand.
"I guess I better start working in a place with much less noise." Ratchet said leaving the room with the relic.
"Of course, old friend." Optimus said smiling as he viewed of the humans enjoyed. But as he was about to leave…
"Optimus." Iris called. "There's something I want to share with you."
Optimus crouched at her height. "What is it, Iris?"
"It's Predaking. He was there."
While our heroes were on celebration, the Decepticons were not so happy to see the results.
"Let me see if I got this right: I allow you to get a whole squad of commandos under your authority, but you lost them all at the hands of the Autobots. And besides of that, you also failed to retrieve the relic." Starscream summarized.
"Ha, looks like the DIS has rusted by the pass of eons." Knock Out mocked.
"It wasn't the Bots this time, general. We lost the relic because of a bunch of humans." Dropkick defended.
That made Knock Out laugh. "Being defeated by humans, the same human kids the Autobots supposedly protect? That's more humiliating."
"They used the relic in a smart way that we didn't see coming. Besides, one of them surprised us with a powerful attack not suitable of such small being, ending us like this." Shatter narrated.
Starscream changed his look. "Well, that excusable."
"Excuse me Starscream, really?"
"Surprisingly, Knock Out, I know what they went through because I also witnessed that same experience by myself. It appears the humans are developing new powerful ways to counter our might."
"Not doubt they are trying to be equal as their protectors, for a better cooperation." Xiaxus nodded.
"There's something else, sir. The lost of our troops it wasn't because of the Autobots totally, there was a Predacon as well. One big." Shatter added.
"What? You mean Predaking?" Starscream asked in shock.
"I think the same one."
"He's still alive."
"What is it, old friend?" Xiaxus asked.
"Predaking was the first Predacon we employed to hunt down the Autobots. However, he proved to be smarter as our new beasts, just when we didn't expect it, so we feared the other clones of Project Predacon would be the same. Lord Galvatron decided to put an end to the project."
"But we don't know how he learned about the truth and turned against us. We thought he was finished. But it seems he somehow survived. Probably he hid somewhere on our warship until we returned to Earth, but we managed to shot him down at the orbit." Knock Out ended.
"Do you think he's probably allied with the Autobots?" Xiaxus questioned.
"Not sure, I hope not. But in any case, we should consider any possibility, and ready proper countermeasures."
As they spoke about him, Predaking was now standing above a mountain, taking a look to his surroundings. If the native creatures of this world were capable of showing him compassion and offer help, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad learn to coexist with them. Maybe like the Autobots do?