25- Overpowered.
"Oh, my head's dizzy. Vision blurred...not all my eyes open. Must...stimulate...with...something eatable. X, you fool. First step is...learn you must not put weird things into your mouth."
Protoform X was finally waking up, still not fully recovered from his previous encounter with the Autobots.
"Oh thank you multiple eyes, but...where in space am I?" He said looking around and got alarmed as soon as his vision was clear enough to confirm where he was. "Uh oh, it looks like...some kind of place own by my kind. Oh please, tell me I'm alone."
"Hahaha, I'm afraid you're wrong."
X got alarmed when he heard another voice in the same room. A figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing to be Thundertron, accompanied by Sandstorm and Axer. He tried to attack them, by he noticed his arms were hooked by some electric chains.
"Welcome to the Tidal Wave, monster." Thundertron greeted.
"More cybertronians? No matter, just more meals for me. You better release me now and I promise your deaths will be fast and painless. Wait a minute, I know you." X said, recognizing Sandstorm.
"Yeah, in our last encounter you surprised me and my pal. But now look at you, chained inside our ship. You don't look so tough right now, freak." Sandstorm told him approaching his face, making X react by trying to bite him with his jaws.
"You are gonna regret that, flying tank. You can fear me, despite me, hold a grudge on me, try to destroy me even but laughing in my face...that I cannot tolerate it. Once I'm free again I'm going to enjoy making you tremble in fear, before devouring your whole body, very slowly."
"With you here in chains? Ha, I'll like to see it."
"Enough Sandstorm. You know the procedure when it comes to captives: provoke without getting so far. We still need to discuss about your statement, so meanwhile make yourself comfortable. With only us with you here, you are not going anywhere."
X protested the best way he could: by roaring as loud as he could. The roars were heard everywhere on the Star Seekers' ship, making most of them react by fear. Meanwhile at New Iacon, Ritchie was still resting in order for his body to recover completely from the toxin's effects, like Ratchet advised. Fortunately he was able to do it on the sofa of the resting room of the gang, who came to check how he was doing every time. Dawn the most, who now seemed closer to him. But some of them were talking with Team Prime about what happened time ago.
"What do you mean that Protoform X is again on the loose?"
"Not exactly on the loose, May. Better said abducted by Thundertron and his crew." Seaspray corrected.
"The pirates?" Max repeated.
"What would they want to do with him?" Serena asked.
"I beat they surely want some payback for the last time they met." Warpath suspected.
"Or perhaps like us they see him as a potential threat and simply want to neutralize him." Fixit theorized.
"Something a little complicated for them giving their few knowledge of his biology unlike us." Blaster opined.
"I will not be bothered by this." Bonnie said, making everyone look at her. "Come on, they are both enemies. It wouldn't be best to simply let them to destroy each other to save us effort?"
"Surprisingly the girl's argument makes sense, it will saves us lot of work." Wheeljack supported.
"Although Bonnie's point may sound logical, it still remains the possible outcome, being X the victorious one the most obvious." Optimus pointed.
"Which still leaves us the issue of capture him." Ultra Magnus followed.
"Well, thanks to Kyurem now we know how we can weaken him." Iris recalled.
"And now that we have the reading of his venom we can locate him." Tracey added.
"Near the area he has been recently and without much time elapsed, but now he's onboard the Tidal Wave, Thundertron's warship. And if the Star Seekers have learned from the Decepticons it's to be expected that their ship could be using a cloaking shield to hide their location. Making impossible to track him just like with life signals." Ratchet explained.
"So for now all we can do is wait until they make a move. Or X." Predaking said.
"Do you think they want him because they know he's invincible?" Ash wondered.
"You mean as trying to recruit him to battle on their side?" Ritchie asked.
"Oh please, if his creators weren't able to control him what chances the Star Seekers have?" Arcee reminded.
"Yeah, their way is more like aggressive negotiations: first we shoot and then we talk." Sideswipe supported.
"For what we know we must deduce that Protoform X's only loyalty is with his own. I don't think Thundertron or even the Decepticons could convince him to fight for someone besides himself." Elita reasoned.
"Not even by inflicting pain?" Clemont asked.
"We already know how much he can hold against anything used against him, except cold." Smokescreen replied.
"Fortunately they may not realize that yet." Hot Rod added.
"Well one think for sure is that I would not like to be in the Star Seekers' place right now. The feeling of being hunted by that monster, what he's capable of doing with you, even just being at his presence imposes enough to make you feel uncomfortable. Because that's what I felt when faced him." Moon expressed.
While our heroes debated, back to the Tidal Wave, the Star Seekers were also discussing about something regarding the same subject.
"What should we do with that monster?" Starquest started.
"I said we tear every section of his body apart to see what makes him so indestructible. Including his spark." Cannonball suggested. "I will be most happy to do it myself."
"That's sounds useful, but where's the fun? I suggest we hook it and use it for target practice. That's the only thing he would be good for."
"As always Sandstorm you just think about anything related to battle." Brimstone criticized.
"How about a cortical physic patch to see what he's been through? I always wanted to know if all about those stories is true, and what better way that to see through his own eyes." Axer proposed.
"All those are great ideas, but is not very useful for our benefit. If only we could take advantage of all the fury, that tireless impulsive to hunt down other cybertronians just to feed, without any ways of being stopped." Thundertron summarized.
"It would make our life easier." Starquest opined.
"And it will allow us to achieve our long-desired revenge against our relatives more easy."
"Of course, first we would need a way to get him interested. What could we offer him?" Brimstone asked.
"He likes to eat Bots and Cons, right? Then how about letting him eat as much as he likes? Like delivering him the remains of our fallen enemies, and ours too, that would be the only useful way for them."
"That's the smartest thing you have said in a long time, Sandstorm." Cannonball complemented.
"Do you think he also uses energon like us?" Axer suggested.
"Whatever offer it is we must approach him slow and with caution in order to not make him raise suspicion. We are not sure how smart that thing really is." Thundertron advised.
Meanwhile, back to Protoform X's cell, he was being watched by just one single guard. He was struggling and roaring constantly, trying to get himself free.
"Try as much as you want monster, you are not getting off that chair." The guard mocked.
Instead of reply, X seemed to laugh. "You know? This reminds me of the old days at home."
The Star Seeker looked at him, like if he got his attention.
"When my creators discovered the truth of my nature, they tried to contain me. Once they managed to hold me down they opted to try to figure out what motivates me, what I thought."
"Are you trying to scare me? You should be the one who should fear Thundertron. He always gets what he wants, and he doesn't care what to use in order to. He'll manage to break you down."
"Oh really? My creators also intended: they tried to act friendly to me, they feed me, they even tried to educate me. And the ones who apprehend me after my enjoyable carnage tried the other way: interrogate me, torture, they even tried to leave me half dead by injuring my body at extreme levels. But I endured everything, there's no way to break me down. And you know what's the best part? That when is the other way around, when it's me who has the begging for their lives, asking me to forgive them, I return them the favor, by triple!"
That made the soldier nervous, making him to aim his weapon at X's head.
"You can say what you like, but you will never leave this ship."
"Maybe, on this condition. But you know? You just gave me the key for my path to freedom."
Surprisingly, X pushed the soldier closer with the claws of his feet, revealing to be more prehensile than they looked, and grabbed his head with the jaws, starting to chew on him. The soldier screamed in pain, trying to use his weapon, but X grabbed it with his hand, and moved it in order to make it hit the console which controlled the chains. After a while chewing it, X tore the Star Seeker's head apart and devoured it. That allowed him to regenerate all his wounds and recover his full strength, allowing him to break his chains.
"You had your fun, now's my turn." He said grabbing the soldier's body by the leg before pulling from it.
Two Star Seeker air soldiers were walking right at the exit when they heard the door open, but when they turned at it the only thing it came next was the sound of something sharp cutting through metal and a liquid being spilled. Meanwhile, Thundertron and his followers were heading right there.
"When we speak with him, I recommend not to look at his eyes. Seriously, I can't say which of his five eyes is the one which he's looking at you." Brimstone suggested.
"Really? He has five eyes?" Cannonball asked surprised.
"Yeah. And each one of different color."
"I think the one of the center is the main one." Sandstorm opined.
"Let's hope he would be willing to cooperate once we tell him we are willing to negotiate." Thundertron said.
In that moment they reached the cell, but got alarmed from the scene they were seeing: there was lot of energon spilled not only on the floor, but also on the wall. Axer and Starquest reacted checking the room's inside.
"Sir, he has escaped." Starquest reported.
"How did he manage being chained?" Sandstorm asked in disbelief.
"They tried to contain him and they failed, honestly it doesn't surprise me he managed to escape." Brimstone recalled.
"But he was in a very weak state when we captured him. How did he managed…?" Cannonball repeated.
"When he feeds...maybe the reason he's hungry is because unlike us he doesn't receive his energy from energon only, but from the materials of his preys' bodies."
"So when he feeds he regains strength?" Starquest asked.
"We will debate later, right now we have a very dangerous prisoner on the loose in my ship. We need to find him before he recovers completely. Let's follow that energon trail, maybe it will lead us to where he is now." Thundertron decided.
The group prepared their weapons as they went after the trail of energon let by X, expecting that it will lead them to him. They followed it until they reached to an intersection, and the trail divided in two different ways. The group divided and followed each trail. One trail suddenly disappeared while the other just ended with a tore arm.
"What in the...he made a false trail to fool us." Axer noticed.
"Very smart, indeed." Thundertron said.
In other part of the ship a lonely Star Seeker was doing as normal walking through a hall, not aware of who was stalking him. When he was about to turn in the next intersection his shadow showed something way bigger approaching him from behind before grabbing him by surprise and started to devour him, starting on the head. X was the culprit, now with energon dropping from his jaws as he licked some with joy. But before he could eat more he heard the sound of shots coming from the room in front of him. That was the training room, where Star Seekers tested their aim and improved their combat skills. Right now there were two Star Seekers, one with a helicopter alt form and a tank, which were simulating battling against Insecticons.
"And with this one makes twelve. And I'm just getting warm." The tank celebrated after hitting another.
"Don't think you have won yet. I'm following you very close." The other said.
"Whatever you say. So, what's next?"
In that moment they saw Protoform X coming out of the shadows.
"Wow, what do we have here?" The helicopter pirate asked.
"I thought it was an Insecticon simulation." The tank recalled.
"It is. Stop battle."
But X continued advancing at them.
"I said stop battle."
"He's not stopping."
"I'm seeing that." He repeated, now having X right in front of him. "I think we need to restart it."
X attacked with a slash of his claws, cutting the helicopter Star Seeker in half. But he reacted not as X expected, even the other seemed to be laughing.
"This doesn't count as penalty." He protested.
"Well I think it does." The tank said laughing, until X decapitated him, but the head was still acting as nothing. "Ok, enough with it. End of simulation."
Suddenly the room changed, revealing that everything was part of the simulation, including the Star Seekers. The real ones were behind the firing point, operating the simulating room.
"Hey, he's isn't part of the simulation." The tank saw.
"You...have...tricked me?!" X exclaimed in annoyance, right before going for them, breaking through the glass and grabbing the helicopter by the neck.
"Hey, release me. It was just a game."
"I don't think he's willing to listen." The tank said, firing his cannon, hitting X on the back and earning his attention. "Get out of here, warn the captain!"
But the other made the wrong move of jumping on Protoform X's back, trying to grab him by the neck.
"Get off, I cannot aim that way." The tank protested.
"Indeed, wrong move." X smirked.
And X made his move: he managed to catch the one behind him from the legs, put him in front and crushed his spine with a single push of his knee, before dropping the body. Next he went after the tank, dodging his shots surprisingly fast before grabbing his face and hitting it against the wall a few times, until his face was crushed and lifeless. Moments later, the Star Seekers continued registering the ship's passages in search of any clue of Protoform X, but they just found the body of the helicopter, or what was left of it: just a few pieces, some of them chewed.
"By the Allspark. I haven't seen anything like this." Starquest expressed.
"The rumors are true, everything about his behavior. We better proceed very carefully if we don't want to end like them." Brimstone advised.
"Hey guys, any luck at the training room?" Axer called through com-link.
"Nothing yet, just a little mess, his job. What about you?"
"Not a clue here. We thought we may find him in the energon storage vault because he may be looking for something fast to consume."
"It seems he prefers to hunt for fresh metal instead of scavenge for leftovers easy to find. We should warn the crew about him."
"I don't think a hungry abomination from an age previous of the war is something we can't handle."
"Be careful for what you say, Sandstorm, we have already underestimate him enough." Cannonball warned.
"I think we should lure him where we want. Someone acts as bait and when he takes it we jump at him by surprise and get him." Axer suggested.
"In that case don't count on me."
"First we should locate him before coming up to the proper plan."
"I support your choice, Brimstone." Starquest supported, activating his weapons. "Let's find that monster."
In other part of the ship, X entered the room he had in front of him and saw lots of complex machinery working around. He looked at his side, showing he was dragging with him the body of the tank he disposed off in the training room, in case he wanted to eat more. He looked at the cannon of his back and smirked thinking of something. He grabbed the corpse and aimed the cannon at the machines, then he inspected the body, trying to figure out how to fire the cannon. After a while he ended hitting the cannon in frustration, and that caused it to fire a projectile. Once knowing that he repeated the same process a few times, causing the whole ship to shake.
"What was that?" Sandstorm asked.
"Bridge, status?"
"We're registering some explosions in the engines room, captain. It appears they are originating from the inside." One officer reported.
"But the engines are like if they had been assembled yesterday, I checked them a short time ago." Cannonball defended.
Then Thundertron understood. "Is Protoform X. Sound the alarm, mobilize all hands, instruct them to locate and take down that monster!"
"So I guess the original intention of trying to approach him nice is out of the question, right?" Axer asked.
"I prefer to drop him from the very atmosphere and let him smash against the planet's surface instead of having him aboard and let him tear my ship apart."
"I'll go with Cannonball to the engine's room. Maybe I can stabilize them and allow our ship to keep in the air." Brimstone volunteered.
"I'll go with you. You may require heavy escort in case that monster is still there." Sandstorm offered following them.
"Axer, Starquest, let's check the main core. Let's hope he's not planning of seeing if he can survive a whole ship exploding." Thundertron ordered.
As alarms sounded, the first team headed for the engine's room: when they got inside the found the whole place in flames.
"It seems that thing is also good at making messes." Sandstorm pointed, right before they felt another shake. "What now?"
"The engines' damage seems considerable, we're losing altitude." Brimstone interpreted.
"Which means we are going down." Cannonball translated.
"Guys, have you felt that last shake?" Axer called through com-link.
"Indeed we have. But seeing that most of the infrastructure is still intact I think we can fix it. Or at least stabilize it enough to not end crash landing."
"You better be right, Brimstone. If we end on the floor, the cloaking shield may disrupt, and if that happens having that monster roaming around the ship free would be the minor of our problems. Make sure our ship remains in the air not matter what." Thundertron ordered.
Meanwhile, in other part of the ship a whole squad of Star Seeker soldiers headed to another hall when suddenly the saw the security doors being forced to open. It was Protoform X making his way through the ship, so the pirates reacted firing at him. He simply chuckled as much of the shots didn't seem to affect him a little, and next advanced at them. Once near enough he started eliminating them with his claws, pushing aside one before hitting another with so much strength that they were down with just a hit. One made the mistake of charge at him and end with the claws breaking through his torso before being thrown aside. X grabbed one by the weapon and used him as a club to hit others around him, until even that one ended broken. The one at the bottom got scared by their inability to contain him and tried to open the closest door to escape, but the nervousness and hurry made him to forget the right way to open it. At the other side of the door X's claws pierced through it before it opened, showing the last soldier with marks on the body before falling. X decided to check what was on the room which door opened: it was full of rare sculptures, valuable looking objects and many other things, it surely was the room where Thundertron stored all the treasures and important objects he and his crew took or recovered. All that wasn't of any interest for X, just one thing caught his eyes: the purple glowing sword. He touched it with caution, and once he saw it was fine took it with his hand. He could feel a powerful sensation coming from that object, so he decided to test it. At the same time…
"Uff, I think this will hold. Bridge, any changes?" Brimstone called.
"We are stabilizing, and just in time, we were already seeing the floor. We still can't arise, but at least we can stay in the air."
"Thanks Primus. Captain, we did it, we have avoided a disaster."
"Glad to hear that. And it seems that Protoform X is not here in the core neither."
"But if he was not going for the core, where is he?" Starquest asked.
In that moment another shake was felt.
"Oh great, you just have to say it." Axer complained.
"What was that?" Thundertron demanded.
"Something strong has hit us from within the ship." One of the bridge's operators reported.
"Where this time?" Cannonball asked.
"Near one of the navigation hardware points, section 3."
Thundertron gasped at hearing that. "My room of treasures. But there's no weapon in there. Unless…"
Another shake was felt. This time accompanied by an explosion which opened a hole in the ship's surface. From within it X looked outside, holding the sword. He didn't doubt and jumped out of the ship, landing in a not deep pond, scaring some pokémon. The Tidal Wave continued its way leaving a trail of smoke behind while X saw it from the ground. He turned his attention back to the sword and swung it, making it launch a wave of purple energy which cut a lot of trees. Seeing that result, X understood the magnitude of the power that was on his hands, and smirked. At the same time…
"Optimus, I'm detecting some disturbs in the Hoenn Safari Zone." Blaster reported.
"From climate or geological origin?"
"None of them, despite there's a storm right above the area. These energy readings are nothing that I've never registered before, they go off the charts."
"Maybe the Decepticons have discovered another lost relic of the Primes." Ultra Magnus deduced.
"Or Thundertron?" Warpath added. "I mean in case X is not giving them a hard time."
"The scanner is not picking up any Con or pirate signals. But it seems the epicenter of those readings is right where another familiar reading is emanating." Fixit revealed.
"This reading…" Ratchet started. "Is the chemical trail of Protoform X."
"He managed to give away Thundertron's gang and flee their ship?" Wheeljack asked surprised.
"He may still be battling them." Elita sensed.
"And being at the middle of such protected area remains the risk of many innocent pokémon ending hurt or worse." Predaking added, making some of the Autobots to look at him. "The human children have been updating me about their world."
"We must get to the bottom of this matter at soon as possible, specially if Protoform X is involved." Optimus decided.
A ground bridge led Optimus to the Safari Zone, but as soon as he arrived he was forced to get down to dodge one of the energy waves, which dissipated the portal.
"Optimus, what happened? Suddenly the ground bridge closed from the other side." Blaster called.
Optimus zoomed his eyes and saw the cause. "It appears Thundertron managed to recover Galvatron's evil creation. And now Protoform X is in command of it."
"Wait, are you saying...that he's in possession of the Dark Star Saber?" Elita asked in disbelief.
Protoform X continued swinging the saber, unleashing more waves around, causing all nearby pokémon to escape in hurry as more parts of the zone were damaged badly, until he spotted Optimus looking at him from the distance. "Well well, look who's back: Optimus Prime. I was wishing for our next encounter."
"Where did you get that?"
"You mean...my new toy? I found it inside the ship of those fools who dare to catch and lock me in, it gave me back my freedom when I discovered its power. And with this I'm officially the strongest being of this planet, with no one and nothing capable to stand and defeat me."
"You have no idea of that weapon's nature, it was created as an instrument of destruction by an ambitious individual with a twisted mind. Do the right thing X and surrender it while you can. Save everyone lots of pain."
"How honorable, you are truly a Prime. But I'll pass, I don't see any of interest for me in giving you what grants me total invincibility."
X launched the next wave at Optimus, but he managed to dodge it rolling aside. However that didn't stop X, he continued launching waves at him, making him to roll one side to another. But seeing the waves continued harming the pokémon' home, Optimus decided to activate his jet-pack and fly above Protoform X. This choice was to ensure the waves were sent to the sky, where nothing would be affected, except the storm's clouds. X was starting to get tired of Prime's strategy.
"Come down here and fight, Prime. Where's that great might which makes your kind so special?" X provoked.
Optimus responded by pulling out his gatling gun and fired a burst of shots at him. X reacted putting the Dark Star Saber in middle, making it to deflect the shots in multiple directions, some even back at Optimus.
"Wrong choice." Optimus accepted. "Elita, I'm need to even the tables. You know what to send me."
Optimus was so focused on calling for assist that he didn't saw a tree log which hit him right on the head, making him to fall. He ended lying on the ground, and before he could get up X pressed him more with a foot.
"You know, I always wondered how a Prime tastes. I guess I can figure it out once I'm done with you. And since I'm such in a good mood I'll grant you an honorable death." Protoform X announced preparing to finish him with the saber.
Suddenly, another ground bridge appeared above them and Optimus saw falling a familiar object: the Star Saber, which was heading right at them. Right before X could strike, Optimus grabbed his saber and blocked it, surprising his opponent before pushing him back.
"So you have your own. Fine, we will enjoy this." X said preparing the saber.
X launched another wave, which Optimus vanished with a slice of the Star Saber, and launched one of his own at him. X didn't saw it coming and ended being pushed backwards hard, but recovered immediately. Both combatants charged against the other, ending clashing their swords like Optimus and Galvatron did time ago. X, being stronger as he was, pushed Optimus back by exerting all his strength in the push, followed by strong swings that Optimus had some effort to block. X attempted to attack once again, but this time Optimus saw it coming and managed to push it aside before countering.
"Handling melee weapons is not my specialty, but I can get use to it." X said.
"You may have strength and desires of battle, but you lack skill and control." Optimus answered back.
Optimus proved his statement with his performance: X applied all on simple and predictable attacks based on striking with all his force, while Optimus used his speed to react, dodge and redirect X's moves, countering with more skilled moves. One of them managed to make X loose grab of the Dark Star Saber and lift it up in the air.
"Protoform X, begone!"
Optimus ended launching another wave of energy which caught X completely, dragging him with it until losing into the distance.
"Optimus, what happened?" Elita asked.
"X tried to abuse the power of the Dark Star Saber for his own arrogance, but he didn't know how to canalize its power properly. And with the experience of his duel with me I'm sure he will prefer to not live this humiliating experience for him again. We may not need to worry about him for some time, the same as with Thundertron."
X ended landing back into the ocean, far from sight of the closest ship. Back at base…
"Hold on, Protoform X managed to use the dark version of the big sword that Buckethead made from dark energon?" Sideswipe recalled.
"Yeah, I thought Galvatron created it by using the Forge of Solus Prime, which dictates that only a Prime can be able of brandish it." Smokescreen added.
"That was the rule established for the Star Saber when Solus forged it, but it seems it doesn't follow the same with its counterpart." Elita suspected.
"Hum, maybe it has something to do with the detail it's made with Unicron's life force." Bee started.
"And because of that it can be used by anyone?" Seaspray followed.
"That leaves the Prime touche a little useless." Wheeljack opined.
"But why? Why he can use it?" Ash asked next to his friends.
"My guess is that someone with a close link to the dark energon is capable to wielding the power of the Dark Star Saber. I'm not sure how that works with Protoform X, but of course he's a cybertronian like any other ever existed, and is not restricted to many rules." Optimus theorized.
"So for now we know he can use it, but maybe not others." Arcee said.
"That may be true, since Thundertron hasn't used it before when he could." Hot Rod supported.
"We should recover it to ensure it doesn't fall into more dangerous hands." Predaking suggested.
"You can find it by tracking the dark energon with which it's made of?" Dawn asked.
"We can try, but maybe the relic's energy signal may not match with the original one." Clemont warned.
"Then we better try it." Ratchet said.
Talking about it, the Dark Star Saber also was sent flying away by the force of the energy wave that disposed of Protoform X. It remained stuck in the floor, nailed into a rock. Some pokémon got curious about its weird nature, until Axer approached in vehicle form, transformed and landed, scaring them.
He chuckled. "Cap, I got good news: it seems the monster has got bored of the sword and has left it on the wild. Back to our hands."
"Take it back to the ship, the sooner the better."
"Yeah, we could use all the help we can right here. With the extend of the damage we need to work without break if we want this huge bunch of metal to being to navigate through space before anyone can figure out how to find us." Brimstone explained.
"Yeah yeah, I will assist on repair duties. I'll be back, Axer out."
But before he recovered the Dark Star Saber, multiple big shadows appeared behind him. Next, a metal sound was heard, and Axer fell with his lights out to the ground covered by the shadows before they seemed to be looking to the sword.
