18- Legends in Danger.
The weather looked cloudy, but the sea remained in calm. Until a buzzing sound broke silence as the water reflected the source of that sound: a group of Insecticons was flying above the sea, heading right for a small group of islands nearby.
"Alright, we're here. Now how do we do it?" Hardshell asked, as he was being carried by other lower Insecticon.
"How about a competition, huh? Let's see who manages to catch his prey first, first, first."
"Good idea, Kickback. Let's spread out, I'm picking the hotter one." Host instructed.
"I will like to prove myself with the hardest."
"Then it guess we let the electric one for you. Drop me at the middle rock, I'll go for the blue one." Hardshell decided.
"This will be a hunt to remember." Host proclaimed.
The Insecticons divided in three groups and departed to each of the three islands in front of them. At the other side, on a bigger island in front of the three, a ground bridge appeared, from which emerged the Autobot leaders. They found themselves near the edge of the cliff, in middle of some kind of ruins.
"Are you sure these are the right coordinates?" Ultra Magnus questioned.
"The place looks deceiving, but it is Shamouti Island. The inhabited part is located right at the other side of the island." Blaster corrected.
"Then I guess this place was left as a monument to the people's past. A memory of their myths." Optimus saw.
"It may be related with the humans' awareness of the legendary pokémon living nearby." Elita deduced.
"Hey, take a look here." Blaster called, looking to some ancient writings on the altar. "It must be an ancient dialect, but I think I can translate it. 'Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice and lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall rise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, lest the earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands, bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea.'"
"Sounds like a prophecy of some kind." Ultra Magnus interpreted.
"Ash mentioned that his first great adventure involved a huge climatic event caused by the collision of some legendary pokémon enraged by a human's ambition, similar to when Unicron awakened. And that he had to intervene to safe the world from total destruction, as it was written in the ancient texts. No doubt why the matrix sensed he is such a special boy." Optimus revealed.
"But...if this prophecy was right and that catastrophe was caused by an external interaction, it may happen again when the Decepticons attempts to capture them?"
"We cannot jump into that conclusion yet Elita, as we don't know all aspects regarding that legend. Nonetheless, we cannot grant the Decepticons to take them away from their home, as we know what horrible things they will bring on them."
"According to the rumors, it is supposed each one of these legendary birds lives in each of those islands. The one of the left is known as the Fire Island, the center one is the Ice Island, and the Lightning Island is the one of the right." Blaster marked.
"The Decepticons will have sent some of their forces to each location simultaneously, to ensure a more efficient capture." Ultra Magnus deduced.
"Then we will do it as well: Ultra Magnus, I will draw you near the Ice Island, right before I depart for the Fire Island. Elita, you and Blaster inspect the Lightning Island. We must find those legendary pokémon, before the Decepticons do." Optimus organized.
Optimus activated his jet-pack, grabbed Ultra Magnus by his shoulders and headed right for the middle island, while Blaster changed to vehicle form and allowed Elita to ride on him. Once they were closer…
"This place looks fine, sir. You can drop me, I will take it from here."
Hearing his request, Optimus dropped Magnus once at Ice Island's shore. He changed to vehicle form and drove into the island, as Optimus changed course to the Fire Island. Meanwhile, in the Lightning Island, the legendary pokémon Zapdos was sleeping peacefully near the altar, destroyed since long time ago, when suddenly something woke it up. It looked at all directions, until it spotted something approaching at it at high speed. The object landed hard, making a cloud of smoke which dissipated at the moment, revealing Kickback as the responsible one. The Insecticon roared loud at the sky, and Zapdos took it as a challenge, so it squawked back while it shined in electricity as response. The legendary pokémon took flight and started launching Thunderbolt at its opponent, but Kickback was very agile and jumped one side to another dodging the attacks.
"What's the matter, birdie? Too scared to fight face to face, face, face?" Kickback provoked.
Seeing this was not going to work, Zapdos decided to change tactic, and flew right at the Insecticon. It tried to strike him at close range with Drill Peck, but the Insecticon managed to grab its beck before it made contact with his chest. Thanks for his grip made by both his hands and the legs of the back, Kickback pushed Zapdos back. The pokémon tried to attack once again, but this time Kickback stepped aside, making it to get stuck on a rock. The Insecticon took chance to lunge against it with all his strength, but that released it and started to circle around.
"My turn."
Kickback extended his legs and fired lots of shots at Zapdos. The legendary pokémon tried its best to dodge them all, but it was hit on the wing by one. That took it down, but stood up immediately and faced the Insecticon again. This time Zapdos attacked with Ancient Power, but Kickback made use of his agility once again to move through the projectiles and get closer to the legendary bird. Once close enough he punched Zapdos hard on the chest, before grabbing it from the tail and threw it against a wall. While lying in the floor and before it could take flight again, Kickback grabbed it by the wings.
"Not so tough now, huh?" Kickback said before starting laughing maniacally as he had it attacked by the whole body with all his appendix.
At the same time at the Fire Island, the island legendary pokémon, Moltres, was eating a few fruits from a tree near its cave. Then it stopped and turned its sight to the surroundings. Suddenly it noticed the ground below it shaking, so it took flight and landed on top of the tree. Host emerged from the floor in his alt form shrieking fiercely, so Moltres answered with a loud squawk before using Flamethrower. But Host reacted digging underground to avoid the flames, and emerged again from another side, tackling it. Moltres managed to take him off with Wing Attack, but the Insecticon landed well. Next, Moltres started to move its wings, generating strong currents of wind, in an attempt to send him flying away: it was using Hurricane. But Host managed to anchor himself in the floor with his tail, resisting the wind while he charged up the cannons of his pincers. He fired two shots which impacted in front of the pokémon, taking it down. The legendary bird tried to get up, but Host, now in robot form, put a foot on its neck, pushing it against the ground. In the Ice Island, Articuno was clearing its feathers with its beak on its everyday life. But it stopped when it heard an unusual sound: something was approaching it fast, and causing a loud noise like if trees were being brought down and rocks pulverized. The noise came from within a nearby cave, until the entrance literally was obliterated. The cause? Hardshell forced his way through the tunnel, emerging in a cloud of dust and lots of little stones being launched. Articuno remained speechless at seeing the Insecticon for the first time, until he fired his cannon near it. That made the legendary pokémon annoyed seeing its home attacked, so it spread its wings and flew above its opponent. Articuno used its most used attack, Ice Beam, to try to freeze Hardshell, but the Insecticon, in spite of his big size, managed to dodge the attack pretty well. Next, he fired the cannon again, this time hitting Articuno in the chest, but the legendary pokémon recovered immediately and countered Powder Snow. But that didn't end as it expected: because Hardshell, after changing form, covered his face with his arms, the move only covered his arms with ice, but he thought about giving it good use. He approached Articuno and started hitting him with his ice-covered fists, acting like cold boxing gloves. That inflicted it very hard hits, ending in a hard blow that Hardshell gave it with an uppercut. Articuno ended lying on the floor, stunned by the last hit.
"Haha, see? Don't always rely on instinct to get victorious." Hardshell announced observing his defeated opponent.
Meanwhile, Blaster and Elita reached Lighting Island.
"According to the scientific reports and the myth, the pokémon we are looking for is the one known as Zapdos." Blaster informed while Elita jumped off him.
"We will have better chances to find it if we look by different ways. Let's split up."
Blaster flew to another direction while Elita transformed and drove to ahead other way. She hasn't drive much when she came across a peculiar discovery: there was a huge debris of what was supposed to be some kind of flying ship.
"I guess this was the belonging of the one who disturbed the pokémon the first time."
Elita returned to robot form, thinking it will be better inspecting the wreckage that way. She first took a look around the structure until she found a hole on it which led inside. She was glad that it was big enough for her, but some pieces scattered nearby indicated a disturbing aspect: that hole wasn't big originally, so someone or something made its way inside, and she doubted that it could be Zapdos' doing. Once inside, a sound caught her off-guard: it was a loud squawk, which was coming from somewhere in the structure. She hide behind a wall and inspected where that sound came, she even heard a maniacally laugh. At the moment she check the corner found the origin: Kickback was standing there, looking at Zapdos, which was trapped inside some improvised cell the Insecticon created by metal bars he piled up around his prey in order for it to not move. Zapdos reacted squawking and trying to use its electric attacks, but the metallic bars canalized the electricity, making its intentions useless.
Kickback laughed. "Do it as much as you want, it will not work. Do you really think I will not think of that, that, that? Not matter how powerful your kind may be, we Insecticons are way more superior. The reason you will never be able to beat us, us, us. Honestly, I don't get why Starscream thinks you will be very useful."
"Hey Kickback, how's it going?" Hardshell contacted by com-link.
"Nice for you to call, Hardshell. I managed to bow down mine, it was quite a fighter but not a challenge for my skills. It seems I won, won won."
"Ha, in your dreams. I got mine, and plus I managed to beat it by using its own weapon against it. That counts double."
"Hey, that's not in the rules!"
"Enough you two." Host interrupted, shouting by com-link like them. "I suppose you both have caught your preys as well as I."
"Indeed boss. But I doubt we could carry these right back to the warship." Hardshell pointed.
"That's why we will call for proper containment units to transport them safely. First of all, we will need a proper place for gathering."
"Well, I managed to find such unexpected place where I managed to put my trophy in a proper bird cage." Kickback announced.
"Perfect, then that will be our rendezvous point before calling for the warship. Move there and bring your captures with you. And be aware of not letting them a single chance for escaping." Host declared as he hold Moltres by its neck.
"I will make sure to get the place settles up for when you arrive. Over and out, out, out." Kickback said before ending the call.
"Scrap." Elita cursed before she tried to contact the others. "Optimus, can you read me?"
"I hear you, Elita. What's your status?"
"The Insecticons already have found the legendary pokémon, they're planning of gathering them at the same point before taking them to the Nemesis. I'm actually there so I can try to sabotage their efforts, but I don't think how long it will work."
"Understood. Have you at least discovered the current location of some of the pokémon?"
"I'm going to try to release one of them. The others are seemed to be in custody of the other Insecticons."
"Which means they may still be on their corresponding island. Thanks for the clue, Elita. And be careful." Optimus asked before he continued searching around the island before contacting someone else. "Blaster, Elita has discovered the meeting place for the Insecticons. They will converge there to secure the captured pokémon."
"I'm actually very near where I dropped her. I will go to assist her right away."
Blaster changed course, but suddenly he heard a familiar shriek coming at him, right before an Insecticon tackled him. Blaster managed to land safely on the island's floor after transforming, but he found himself surrounded by Insecticons, all ready for attack.
"I guess your secret club must be near. Okay, you wanna tell where it is or need I to take you out by force?"
The Insecticons responded by shrieking loudly and charging at him. But Blaster wasn't nervous, he simply waited for his opponents to get closer, and then he reacted dodging their strikes and countering properly with calculated kicks and punches, and using his tentacles to grab one of them by the head before throwing him at another. He did the same with other, but this time he fired a laser shot from the tentacle once it grabbed the bug's head, blowing it. Next, he turned his hands into sonic cannons and fired two streams of sound at opposed sides, keeping the Insecticons at bay. Meanwhile, at Fire Island, Host, now in his alt form, was carrying Moltres with his pincers while he flew right at Lightning Island. But when he was now above the ocean something tackled him: Optimus Prime, who finally spotted them. The impact caused Host to release Moltres, which was too weak to fly by itself and was falling to the ocean. Optimus saw it and boosted to reach it first and grabbed it with his hands.
"I got you. You are in good hands now." He reassured him.
Moltres seemed to smile at him, but the shrieking sound of a Insecticon got their attention. Host was charging at them at full speed with his pincers ready to strike, but Moltres reacted first and launched a Flamethrower at him directly. That stunned the Insecticon enough for Optimus to start flying away from him, before he started chasing them. Optimus wasn't the only one currently in battle, because when Hardshell, carrying Articuno on his back, headed for the island's shore, he heard an engine's sound coming from the top of a cliff next to him, moments before Ultra Magnus appeared in vehicle form, jumped above him, transformed and landed hard. Hardshell managed to step aside before the landing, but the cloud smoke prevented him from seeing the Autobot commander pushing him aside with his big hammer, making him drop the unconscious Articuno.
Hardshell recovered fast from the blow. "That really hurt, but of course what do you expect from using such big weapon? I thought Autobots were more honorable when it comes to fight fair and square, so how if we do it your way? Just with our fists."
"I didn't know an Insecticon would prefer a standard combat style, but since you asked me properly, I will grant it to you."
Ultra Magnus retrieved his hammer and readied his fists for combat. Of course, Hardshell's technique was about hitting with all his strength, so he attempted to hit Magnus with slow predictable moves that he dodged and countered with moves similar to the ones Bumblebee employed. The only disadvantage was that Hardshell lived up to his name, since he resisted every hit the received, so both opponents were matched. Back to Lighting Island, Elita employed a distraction to lure Kickback away from Zapdos, cutting some parts of the outer structure so it would fall by itself. More debris than expected fell, causing a loud noise that caught the Insecticon's attention.
"Hum, I wonder if they are already here." He said going out.
Elita waited for him to leave and ran where the pokémon was locked. Of course, Zapdos reacted in a similar way once it saw her approaching.
"Easy legendary pokémon, I'm not here to hurt you." She spoke genteelly, though Zapdos didn't make it easy when it started moving. "You have to calm down, I'm going to set you free."
Elita started to remove the bars around Zapdos one by one. Sometimes the bars were hooked and she was forced to cut them with his swords, which also alarmed Zapdos, and ended with its head stuck between two bars.
"Come on, easy. Everything is going to be fine, you'll see." Elita said, grabbing its head and stroking it with her hand.
Seeing that she was treating it nice and saying such sweet words, the legendary bird finally calmed down, and allowed the female Autobot to remove the bars completely.
"There. See? That wasn't that hard."
But then footsteps were getting closer form the entrance, apparently Kickback already found nothing and decided to return. Zapdos looked at it with a mad look.
"Hold on, he may be strong but he isn't that smart. There are alternatives for direct combat."
She signed it to follow her into the ship, and it did. Of course, Kickback's reaction when he returned wasn't good.
"What? How did it managed to escape?" He asked in disbelief, before he saw a few claw marks in the floor heading into the wreckage. "But it seems it didn't go out. So, you wanna play hide-and-seek? Okay, let's play."
In a room of the ship which was still intact, Elita and Zapdos were hiding behind some kind of huge sculpture. They saw Kickback enter and start searching the room. Zapdos was about to squawk but Elita shushed it to not, so it nodded. While Kickback was checking the room, Elita and Zapdos moved silently when he was looking at other direction. They even took advantage when he took a look to some parts of the wall to get closer to the exit.
"For what was this place build for? A museum?"
The duo finally reached the exit, but then a little piece of rubble fell next to them, enough to alert Kickback.
"Found you!"
And the Insecticon fired lots of lasers from his back legs at the entrance. Fortunately Elita grabbed Zapdos and jumped out of the way in time, time that they took to get up and head for the exit.
"You can't get away from me, birdie. Even if you manages to exit this place, my fellas are guarding out to make sure you don't fly away. You better getting used to the idea of serving your new masters."
Elita and Zapdos reached the exit, but they stopped at seeing what Kickback said was true: there was a few Insecticons guarding the hole, two commons and a bruiser.
"Scrap." She cursed hiding with Zapdos.
At the same time, Optimus was now flying above Ice Island, with Host after his tail trying to shoot him down firing the cannons of his pincers, as Moltres was defending Optimus with Flamethrower.
"Ultra Magnus, status report."
"Currently in combat, sir, on Ice Island. Preventing a tough Insecticon from taking away the local target." Ultra Magnus reported while he tried to push Hardshell back with his fists.
"I'm actually near your position. Hold him off as long as you can, I'll try to reach you."
"Not today, Prime. You're going down." Host announced as he was about to fire from his pincers again, but this time he didn't shoot laser shots, but missiles.
Moltres managed to intercept one of the missiles, but the other hit Optimus's jet-pack, which made the Autobot leader to fall out of control.
"Are your wings strong enough to take flight?!"
Moltres looked at him with a concerned look right before Optimus released him as he continued falling. The crash landing wasn't so hard, but before the Autobot leader could stand up Host tackled him hard against the ground. That was hard, and the Insecticon took the chance to pin Optimus with his feet after transforming.
"Not the target I came to accomplish, but when I'm going to have another chance to snuff the spark of the leader of the Autobots? Imagine how the generals will reward me when they know I finally silenced the great Optimus Prime." Host declared as he raised one of his insect claws, ready to strike down his opponent.
But before he could proceed, he was being dragged by Moltres. The legendary pokémon managed to grab the Insecticon's tail with its claws and pull from it, and because Host was too busy he was caught by surprise. Now he was being dragged around the floor as Moltres directed him against all kinds of obstacles: boulders, trees, even ramps and mud puddles.
"Puaj, stop already! I'm not your toy!"
Moltres seemed to laugh in his face before it dragged him to the its final destination: a large puddle of mud, in which it threw Host in. The Insecticon seemed fine, until he started to sunk into the mud, it was a quicksand, or mud in this case.
"What in the name of the Allspark...? I think that's how everyone says it. What kind of deadly trap is this?"
Host tried to get out, but because of his weigh he sunk really fast, ending completely submerged into the mud. Once it saw he wasn't going to come out, Moltres returned with Optimus, now standing up.
"Thank you, my friend." Optimus appreciated.
Suddenly, they heard rumbling noises.
"No time for gratefulness yet. Your neighbor could still be in need of assistance." Optimus said before transforming and driving at the where the noises came.
Moltres was quite surprised by the Autobot's transformation, but wasted no time in following him. Bear from them, Ultra Magnus continued rumbling with Hardshell, while Articuno was still unconscious, but seemed to be waking up. When it did, it saw both cybertronians immersed in their fight. Finally Magnus discovered some points where Hardshell was weaker, like the neck and the legs, so he decided to strike there. The strategy worked, and after continuous hits in the legs, the Insecticon fell because of the pain and his weight. However, he noticed Magnus' hammer right in front of him.
"I admit you have given me a fight like not anyone in a long time, so you have my respect on that. But this it it." The Autobot commander announced.
"Ha, you're right there."
And then, Hardshell gave Ultra Magnus a hard blow with the forge that sent him against a boulder.
"It's true what they say about feeling good at using your enemies' weapons against them. And I can't think of a better way to dispose of an obtrusive Autobot as you."
The hit Ultra Magnus received prevented him to recover fast enough and Hardshell was getting ready to strike one more time. However, before he could, Articuno jumped on top of him, dragging his attention.
"Hey, what are you doing?! Get off me!" Hardshell demanded.
Articuno took the chance to use Ice Beam directly on Hardshell's head, making a huge ice block to form around it. This caused the Insecticon to act like if he was blind, moving around trying to touch anything and tripping on everything he found around him. That allowed Ultra Magnus to recover, and saw Articuno looking in front of him.
"I appreciate this. Thank you."
Articuno could see this one wasn't like the other that attacked it, so it acted calm. But that peace didn't last long, because Hardshell ended hitting the ice block with his fists, breaking it and freeing his head.
"Arg, I think I feel one of those called brain freeze. You will pay for such dirty trick, blue bird!"
"I will reconsider your treat if I were you, Insecticon. Now we're two against one." Ultra Magnus warned getting ready with his hammer and Articuno squawking in challenge besides him.
"I have been in worse situations."
They were about to start another round until Hardshell felt a few impacts on his back. He turned and saw Optimus Prime approaching and firing in vehicle mode. Hardshell covered himself with his arms from the laser shots, until Optimus launched three missiles which forced him to jump aside. In middle of the jump Hardshell received a direct hit from a Flamethrower of Moltres in the back, making him land wrongly. Hardshell recovered immediately, grabbing a big rock next to him with intention of taking down Moltres with it, but at the second Articuno attacked him with Steel Wing, hitting him on the flank. He was about to counter when Moltres performed the same way with Wing Attack, making him to lose grip of the rock, which ended falling over his head. Moltres and Articuno continued attacking like that, this time being assisted by Optimus and Magnus. All the hits let Hardshell disoriented until Magnus gave him the final blow with the forge. This time Hardshell didn't get up, too weak, surely too weakened by the fight.
"Nice teamwork, commander." Optimus congratulated.
"Because you taught me well, sir." Ultra Magnus accepted before seeing Moltres landing next to them. "I see you managed to rescue the one of fire."
"Same as you. For my knowledge Elita and Blaster may be assisting the third one on this moment, but they will need support."
"I agree. Besides, I think it will much easier to protect all three pokémon if they are together."
"And surely they will fight better that way. We must hurry, before our opponents regain consciousness."
Optimus activated his jet-pack, still functional, grabbed Ultra Magnus like before and headed for Lightning Island, accompanied by Moltres and Articuno. At the same time at Lightning Island, Blaster was finishing with the last Insecticons, taking them down one by one by using martial arts to dodge their attacks and using his enhanced sonic cannons to finish them. Once it was over, he took a look around, seeing how many Insecticons he handled.
"Not bad for a communications' officer. Let Soundblaster try to make it better."
"Blaster, what's your situation?" Optimus called by com-link.
"I didn't catch up with Elita One, being busy with some Insecticons. I hope she managed to find the third pokémon."
"We'll rendezvous at her last location. We will have higher chances to protect the legendary pokémon if we stand together."
"The meeting point shouldn't be hard to spot."
"There, I think I see it." Ultra Magnus pointed, right at the wreckage ship.
Blaster transformed and flew as fast as he could to the meeting point. Just where Elita and Zapdos were still cornered. She started to think in a way to get out without being seeing, but giving the circumstances that may be impossible. So she thought in an alternative.
"Alright listen, I need you to fly as fast as you can to reach the exit. Once there stun those Insecticons, and I will handle the rest."
Zapdos nodded, understanding what she said. Zapdos flew through the hole and used immediately Thunderbolt against the Insecticons, the two normal ones got affected while the bruiser remained intact, only looking at the flying pokémon. Once out Zapdos squawked, which was Elita's signal to make her move. While the other Insecticons were paralyzed, Elita jumped above the bruiser with her swords ready and sliced right on the neck, cutting off its head. After that, she shot down the others like nothing. She nodded to Zapdos, meaning everything was fine, but she received a kick on the back.
"Not bad. But of course, it's not so difficult to dispose of lower Insecticons and a bruiser if one knows how to face them. On the contrary, I'm a special one, one, one." Kickback said looking at her.
She took the chance when he forced her to face him. "But also a stupid one."
She pulled out the cannon of her back and fired it, sending back to the ceiling and landing hard next.
"Ouch, that hurts!"
Before Kickback would try any retaliation, Zapdos landed over his back legs and zapped him.
"Hey, get off! That's not funny!"
Zapdos released him, right before it flew back into the wreckage.
"Oh no, you'll not get away after that! Come back here!"
Kickback changed to bug form and went after it. Zapdos flew between the rubble as it dodged Kickback's shots, but there was no need to say that the Insecticon wasn't a good shooter: he fired constantly without caring of aiming right. Some shots hits some important places of the infrastructure, which caused some cracks which started to shake the whole thing. Elita was aware of that as she saw the wreckage shaking and some explosions in the inside.
"Commander." Blaster called arriving. "Where's the pokémon?"
"Inside the wreckage, with an Insecticon after it."
"I will take it out."
"No wait, I got an idea. Kickback is not realizing he's turning that place into a trap for himself. If we can draw the other Insecticons inside, we could trap them when the whole place goes down."
"After the pokémon gets out. The structure looks fragile, but we need to weaken their right points for it to completely crumble. I will look for them right now."
"I will tell Optimus our plan once I hear from him."
Blaster started to inspect the outer surface of the wreckage looking for the right spots to attack.
"Sundor, deploy. Check the other side for the most vulnerable spots of the structure."
Back to Ice Island, Host found another way to escape the quicksand: he changed to his alt form and dig his way out. He found Hardshell heading right to him.
"I guess you also let yours get away, right?" Hardshell supposed as Host transformed.
"Blame that Prime, who managed to make an alliance with my prey."
"Same here, and its seems now they are together. They managed to knock me out. Perhaps Kickback was more lucky, but I bet they must be on their way to him right now."
"Then let's get there so we can take at least one."
Host transformed again and headed for Lightning Island after grabbing Hardshell. In that moment, Optimus and Ultra Magnus arrived to the wreckage with the two legendary birds.
"Elita, where's Zapdos?!" Optimus asked.
"It's into the wreckage, with Kickback after its tail. Blaster and I have come with the idea of using that unstable place as a trap for the Insecticons. We just need to lure them there."
At hearing that, Moltres and Articuno flew into the wreckage.
"I think they're up to the same." Ultra Magnus deduced.
"Blaster, how much time do you need?"
"I'm almost done scanning the whole thing, Optimus. Sundor is taking the other half."
"Once it's done send him to guide out the legendary pokémon before we blow the whole place with the Insecticons in."
They heard a familiar shriek, signaling them to hide. Host and Hardshell finally arrived, and saw Kickback inside chasing Zapdos.
"Looks like he's having more trouble than I expected handling that electric bird." Hardshell realized.
"Let's give him a few extra hands." Host ordered before going inside.
Outside…
"Done. Sundor, enter and take out the pokémon." Blaster instructed.
Blaster's Minibot passed through some windows and surprised Kickback, scratching his head. That allowed Moltres and Articuno to strike him down with a combination of Steel Wing and Wing Attack. Next, Zapdos used Ancient Power to buried him. Sundor stood in middle of the three birds, which looked at him curious, and after he squawked something, they followed him. They managed to evade the other Insecticons entering.
"They are heading out." Blaster announced.
"Now!" Optimus commanded.
Elita and Magnus fired their guns at the structure, Blaster launched some EMP missiles at the marked points while Optimus launched a wave of energy with the Star Saber. All those impacts caused the whole wreckage to fall down with the bugs inside. Once the dust cleared, everyone saw the ship completely knocked down. They heard some noises coming from some debris moving, and the three Insecticons emerged from the wreckage. Now they looked pretty injured and weakened.
"Insecticons, you are now surrounded and outmatched. Cease your efforts and we may spare your lives." Optimus offered.
"Otherwise, I doubt our new friends will allow you leave alive." Ultra Magnus added as they saw the legendary birds looking at them in fury.
"Argh! Too much trouble to catch three single birds!" Kickback complained.
"Still, this proves Starscream was right about the legendary pokémon. You may have won now, but be warned Autobots: you can't protect them all, and someday they will be under the will of the Decepticons." Host pronounced before the three Insecticons transformed and took flight.
The Autobots and legendary birds saw them leaving the islands.
"What if what they said is true?" Elita asked.
"Fear nothing. I have a solution for that." Blaster said as he opened a ground bridge, Sundor passed through and returned seconds later with some kind of object. "This sensors are similar to the ones I deployed around our friends' homes. They can detect the presence of undetected cybertronians at several kilometers around. I just need to place them properly at the center of a legendary pokémon's territory before it activates."
"It appears these three can understand what your minion says." Elita noticed, seeing the legendary birds interacting with Sundor.
"Then it may work for us. Sundor, tell them these items will allow us to know if our enemies will try to catch them again, so we can help them just like today." Optimus instructed.
Sundor nodded and translated what Optimus said. Moltres looked at Optimus and nodded, before allowing him to pet its head. While Blaster completed his procedure, each legendary pokémon, after saying goodbye their new friends, departed back to their homes.
"Let's hope the other legendary pokémon will be as tough as these three." Ultra Magnus expected.
"At least they conserve their freedom." Elita added.
"And it seems what Ash achieved in past doesn't need to be repeated. We've managed to protect these legends, but we know the Decepticons will not stop trying to bend this world's most powerful forces."
Once Blaster finished, he opened a portal back to their home. Optimus took a last look to Shamouti Island's altar before enter, where the prophecy will still be present even until the actual conflict ends.