Chapter 6 - Challenge

A soft cyan light shined in front of Prowl as he types away, looking through different documents of the two humans that reside with the Autobots. After searching for not long he finds what he's looking for. You may be wondering why Prowl is doing such a thing - looking into a civilian background. After what happened during their time on E-84 it's better to be safe than sorry even if they are just kids.

Prowl places the two documents side by side. Even with a poker face his optics slightly widened and his wings lifted a little - the humans - the oldest sibling used to a gym challenger in the Galar region but quit after a terrible event that happened. As for the younger one, only school documents so far and the fact he got he's trainer license not to long ago.

Prowl looks deeper into this said event — his answers were given to him when he came across a news article that was published six years ago. Prowl stops the motion in his digits and stared at the screen. There was a video on top of the article, with a press of a key, the video clip starts playing. The movement of the camera was shaky, people and pokemon's screams echo the streets as flying debris crash-landed on top of them. The clip then cuts to the top of a building roof where two very young trainers, along with giant red and blue wolves battled a strange alien creature before the video cuts out.

The soft shades of cyan brighten his face once again, taking in the information. It is in his best interest to report this to Optimus. He takes one final look at the documents before transporting the data to his datapad and exiting his office.

"Come on Ratchet, I'm fine!" Jon whined as he watches the medical officer tinkering with his equipment.

Ratchet paused, gave in one last time, inhaling deeply, "Jon, for the last 100th time you're not leaving this base unless I'm fully sure you won't develop post-traumatic stress disorder." Now facing the young boy.

"I get that but-"

"No, you don't get it."

"But Ratchet it's been two days now and the Champion Tournament in three months!"

This conversation has been going on in circles, "And may I remind you that two days isn't enough! You have time youngling."

"No, I don't, winter is around the corner and I still need three badges to enter the Tournament!"

"Surly it can't be that hard, you've already defeated one just a while ago."

Jon groans, "Ratchet... The more you challenge the gyms the harder it gets, plus it takes a lot longer walking on foot to get from city to city-"

"You go by foot?" Ratchet asked rising an optic ridge.

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

"For the adventure and catching pokemon to make a team..." The boy said twiddling his fingers.

Ratchet just started at the boy and his Gardevoir right next to him. The medic vented, "Later this evening-"

Jon's face grew with excitement.

"- That's if you show no symptoms." He corrected.

"Yessir!"

A small smile crosses the medic's face, "Good, now get your aft out of my medbay."

"Okay, bye Ratch!" The boy cheered leaving the medical centre.

Up in the Rec room, at one of the tables sat an audience: Jazz and Bumblebee along with four others. Daisy, her pokemon and some wild pokemon sat in the centre of the tabletop, talking cheerfully about the wonders of her planet.

"No matter how many times I see them, I can't help but feel like am living in a fantasy world." Hound - a green Autobot - said playing with a not-so-wild Magneton. The magnet pokemon pass the ball over to him once again.

"Says the mech playing with a wild pokemon," Sideswipe comments.

"Be nice," Daisy said, "Let him have his fun. In my reality, you guys are more like science fiction like power rangers or those mecha anime."

"Touche."

When the ball slips out of Magneton's reach, it bounced over to Butterfree who then grabs it. The butterfly pokemon toss the ball over back to Magneton.

"Are you gonna name him?" Daisy asked.

Hound looks over at her, "Him?"

"How do you know it's a "He", " Bluestreak queries

"I don't, Magneton's evolution line is genderless but most people either call them by the name that is given or refer to them as he or she depending on if the pokemon is comfortable with it." She explained.

Hound gazed at Magneton now playing with Butterfree before returning his attention to Daisy, "I'm not too sure, how did you come up with naming your pokemon?"

The teen rubs the left side of her arm thinking back to when she first started her journey, "Well... I name them what felt right to them and asked if they like the name or not. Take Eliza for example," The bubble jet pokemon perk up her head hearing her name, "Her full name is actually Elizabeth but I just call her Eliza for short."

The mechs around her made an "o". Daisy spoke up again, "And since Magneton technically lives in the Ark why don't all of you try to give them a name?"

Magneton freeze with the ball in place when all the mechs look towards them. Its eyes dash around to each mech wondering what's up. Daisy giggles at the faces the Autobots were making when trying to figure out a name for the pokemon.

"How about Magnet?" Sideswipe said.

"That sounds too basic, how about Compass?" Bluestreak suggest.

Hound linger on the name and so did the other 'bots, "Yeah I like Compass."

"Me too" They all agreed on the name.

Hound spun his head towards the pokemon, "What do you think?"

Magneton now known as Compass agrees fully by showing small sparks around their body. Everyone smile.

Daisy's smile slowly fades away as she was about to speak but got interrupted when heavy footsteps marched in with Jon in hand. "Me Grimlock thinks this ship been here long time." The new mech spoke also known as Grimlock, a recent Autobot the humans were introduced to.

"What makes ya say that Grim?" Jazz wonders as the Dinobot place the boy and his Gardevoir down on the tabletop.

"Me Grimlock was in Forest with other Dinobots now Me Grimlock is in ship without other Dinobots."

This made the whole table silent, leaving the humans confused, "I thought you guys said you're from a different dimension?" Jon asked.

"We are, it's just... it's weird how we got here. One moment we were in the desert fighting 'cons and the next..." Sideswipe stops making his brother finish his sentence, "We are back in the Ark in a different dimension with some of our teammates missing."

"Wait," Daisy barked, "This isn't all of you? We've just met Grimlock yesterday, is there anyone else we haven't met?"

"Other than not meeting Red Alert, that's basically everyone on this ship," Bumblebee told them.

"Oh Dios mío," Daisy said holding her head while trying not to panic.

Jon cranes his neck to properly look at them, "So there are only twenty-one of you guys against an army of Decepticons," Bitting off the panic slowly creeping in.

"Hey, hey, hey, kiddo it's gonna be alright." Bluestreak tried to reassure them.

"Blue's right, we've dealt with 'Cons on a large scale before, we know how to handle them." Jazz continued.

"That doesn't sound realistic," The siblings spoke at the same time. This time Daisy expressed herself, "What about those other guys? The monotone mechs?"

"Drones" Sunstreaker corrected her.

"Huh?"

"Those are Drones, easy to get rid of. Megatron mass produces them since most of his soldiers died off in the war. Your team can easily take them on - what do you need to worry about are the elites."

Hound chimed in, "That is correct, if you ever come across them never battle them on your own."

The two trainers and their pokemon nod; although, Jon had something to say, "What if you guys aren't there to protect us, we eventually have to battle them right?"

They all know this to be true at some point but hope that it won't happen anytime soon. The outcome is inevitable.

Daisy stands up with her chest puffed up, every mech gazed upon her, "Then that means you guys will have to train us!" She said with determination.

"Absolutely not!" Sunstreaker remarked.

Daisy spun in the mech's direction, "Why not? You have already seen what we're capable of."

Sunstreaker narrows his optics, "Battling drones is one thing, battling Elites are another. It's way too dangerous for you to get involved!"

Daisy huffed a bit, " I fought against danger before, plus this is my planet and we are already involved when we met you!"

"You've never seen this danger before!" Hound added.

Jon also stood up, "Is it as dangerous when being from a different dimension tries to drain the light from your sun and cause the planet to go into eternal darkness?"

"Or," Daisy jumped into the conversation, "When a depressed man summoned the deities of space and time to destroy our universe and to remake one that he sees fit?"

"Or," Jon speaking this time, "When a businessman from the Kalos region tried to commit world genocide?"

The mechs were flabbergasted, and some of them shook their head.

"The latter," Jazz said, "Just without the businessman." Still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing.

Daisy beamed, "Then I challenge you," She turns to Sunstreaker, "If I win you get to train us and if I lose you can forget we had this conversation."

"Deal, but there's no way I'm forgetting this."

The Ark's lights shine brightly as if the sun was in the cave itself but not so bright as to disturb the surrounding ecosystem.

"I can't believe I agree to this," Ratchet said pinching the bridge of his nose. He and the rest of the Autobots stood outside Ark along with Jon and their pokemon. In front of them, Daisy and Sunstreacker stood end to end from one another. The girl lets out the rest of her team.

"I'll only be using three pokemon," She declared.

"Getting a little cocky are we?" Sunstreacker teased.

"No, I just like to give myself a challenge, it's more fun that way," She lightly smirked.

The other Autobots leaned in close to fully watch this interesting sparring. They only heard stories from Bumblebee, Jazz, and Sideswipe about what the humans did; although Sunstreaker just think they were lucky at the time. Only a handful of Autobots would be paying close attention. Prowl glanced over at Optimus and the two nodded.

The screen pan between Sunstreaker and Daisy. The girl's heart thumped in her ears while her three pokemon: Vaporeon, Boltund, and Cinderace prepare themselves. Ironhide stands in the middle of them off to the side. When he shouted "Are you ready" and quickly place his arm down - the battle began.

Sunstreaker allowed Daisy's pokemon to attack first to see what they can do, what caught him off guard was when Daisy called out a different move other than "Thunderbolt".

"Use Thunderwave!" She commanded Boltund.

Sunstreaker's body fell to the ground - the static felt like it was frying him from the inside out. He didn't let this get to him, picking himself up and aggressively stomping the ground causing the trainer and her team to trip. All he had to do to end this sparring was to knock out all three of her pokemon or catch her - proving to her that battling the Decepticon elite force is a no-go.

Sunstreaker tried dashing towards her but the static won't allow him - paralyzing him. 'So this is your plan,' The mech thought to himself.

"Eliza, use Chilling Water!"

A ball of liquid formed around the pokemon's mouth before hitting the yellow mech in the face, causing him to go tumbling backwards. The Autobots watch dumbfounded, some snickering at Sunstreaker's humiliation. Though some think otherwise and notice what the girl was up to.

"THAT'S IT!" The front-liner once again picks himself up and points a makeshift blaster at her, "That hurt like frag but am going to show you what battling an elite warrior is like." He gave her a deadly glare as he brush off the paralysis.

Optimus kept his optics on the girl and her team, taking notes of her next course of action. Unfortunately for him, Daisy had no time to fully react when Sunstreaker shot a blast directly at her or so it seem. An explosion happened as though it collided with something else causing dust to fly everywhere. The Autobots look at the front-liner in horror as to what he has done and realizing so, Sunstreaker lowers his weapon to wait for the smoke to pass.

"Pyro ball!"

A firey ball came out of the smoke and exploded when it came into contact with Sunstreaker causing the smoke around the area to disappear and revealing Daisy and her pokemon. Boltund and Cinderace standing in front of her and Vaporeon.

"How is that possible?" Trailbreaker wondered in shock.

Optimus smiled beneath his mask realizing what fully happened and so did a few others if you look closely. Jon and their pokemon cheered Daisy and her team. "That's my sister! You guys can do it!"

Daisy's heart raced rapidly and so did her team, "What the heck Sunstreaker!? I thought we were just sparring?! Were you trying to kill us?!" She yelled as she gasp for air, the dust making it hard to do so.

The yellow mech rubs the ash and dirt off his face as he stands up again, "No, I was aiming a few meters in front of you. It was a wake-up call to demonstrate what a real battle with the 'cons would look like." He examines the teen and her pokemon - they too were covered in dirt and ash. "You and your team would've survived the blast; although I wonder as to how you managed to create that explosion 'cause there's no way on earth a single blast like could cause that unless it collided with an explosive material."

The girl smirked, just before the blast "hit them" Boltund and Cinderace quickly reacted before her, stopping it in time.

"As I told you before, I face danger before but never alone," Her pokemon barked in agreement.

"Good, then I won't have to go easy on you then," The mech replied unexpectedly excitedly.

As the sparring continued each Autobot were fully engaged with it. They once again took notice of the strategy the girl was using - rather effective but Sunstreaker will power held strong. Most of the Autobots took notes, especially Jetfire - he might ask if he can examine them later.

The sparring came to a close when Sunstreaker finally caught Daisy - her breathing heavily. She and her team were fast on their feet but her lack of stamina betrayed her.

"Bro you almost got your aft handed to you," Sideswipe joked.

The mech didn't say much, "With proper training perhaps they can."

"Does that mean you'll finally train them seeing you almost lost?"

He looks down at the teen in his hand, now coughing from inhaling dust, "Maybe, her team was capable of holding out for a period of time."

The rest of the Autobots wanted to talk to the girl but Ratchet stop them from doing so as she and her pokemon needed to be checked upon after the stunt Sunstreaker had pulled. Prowl and Optimus stood in the background watching the scene unfold.

"She's a strong trainer, not much seems to change from six years ago," Optimus commented.

"Indeed," The tactician replied.

"You're leaving?" Daisy asked her brother as Ratchet's avatar cleaned her wounds. "Ouch," She hissed.

A man that looked to be in his 30s attended to the girl's wounds. His work card hung over his neck, displaying a fake I.D. with the Autobot logo on the side of it. The long sleeves on the white lab coat were pulled all the way to his elbow to not get in the way of healing his patient. His tone body hovered over Daisy as he tried to keep her still.

"If you weren't trying to play smart with Sunstreaker this wouldn't have happened. Now stay still." The medic told her firmly once again using rubbing alcohol.

"I hear ya old man."

Her hoodie, skirt and stockings were off only leaving her with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Unfortunately for Ratchet, he did not have the supplies to probably take care of the girl's pokemon but she did.

"Yeah, Ratchet said this morning that if I showed no symptoms of PTSD then I'm good to go!" The boy said spraying a hyper potion on Boltund.

"Is that true?" She turns her head to Ratchet, "Thought you would keep us a couple of days longer but knowing that the champion league is close, I can see why."

Ratchet snorted, "Hardly, Jon won't stop pestering me about it and how this "League" is so important." Now rapping a bandage around the girl's arm.

"Because it is!"

"Do not start with me youngling or else I change my mind," Making the boy shut his mouth. "Honestly, I don't understand why you both aren't at school."

"Well, good news for you pepaw, I graduated a couple of months ago," Daisy said proudly.

Ratchet looks at her ignoring the nickname, "At seventeen? Isn't that a little early?"

"Nah mate, at sixteen. Us Galarians just start school earlier than other regions, plus my birthday is mid-summer."

Ratchet mused, "What about Jon? You have no excuse to be out of school," He said as his avatar evaporated from the med table and draws his attention to the yellow front liner. Jon also finishes healing Daisy's pokemon and is now giving them a siturs berry.

"I'm off this year since mom agreed with Daisy to watch over me doing the gym challenges."

"And here she was trying to let him go on his own," Sunstreaker commented.

"YOU WHAT?!"

The humans lowered their heads with a mixture of "Oh boy" and "Here we go again."

Daisy explained to Ratchet about Jon's gym challenges and that she was indeed going to let her brother off again and would meet up once more at Opelucid City for his final gym badge. Lucky for them she didn't have to explain the situation about Mewtwo - fewer people knew, the better

"Your mother trusted you to watch over him."

Daisy sighed, "If you're just gonna lecture me please don't. Jazz already did so."

"As he should!"

"Look," Now facing the medic, "I wanted Jon to be independent than be sheltered like I was growing up."

All the medic could do was roll his optics and continued fixing Sunstreaker, "Younglings nowadays."

Daisy brought her attention to her brother, "You remember what I told you?"

He nods, "Call each time I make it to a pokemon centre or if I need help."

"That's right," she smiles, "Elfen, watch over him alright?"

The embrace pokemon bowed.

"You put your trust into an animal? I would've been more at peace if Bumblebee goes with him." Ratchet remark.

The humans and pokemon gave the medic a poker face hiding their annoyance that was building up.

"Take Bumblebee with you for safekeeping and for my sanity," She whispers at the last part.

"Okay," The boy giggled.

"Alright, we're off!" Bumblebee announces standing at the entrance of the Ark.

But just before they could take off Optimus gave some words to speak, "Bumblebee, while you are out escorting Jon on his travels, I want you to do recon."

The small 'bot nodded "Yes sir" and gave a salute before heading off with Jon.

Leaving the Prime and the boy's sister alone.

As The Journey Continues...