Chapter 2: Autobots In Cyberspace
Meanwhile, back in space, Retroblast and his crew continued to cruise across the stars on their way to Cybertron, the home planet of the Autobots. Retroblast was speaking into an audio recorder of some sort.
"Retro Comet Mission Log Entry 12102." he said. "Our mission to Chaar to retrieve the Requiem Blaster from the Decepticons was a success, although we weren't able to accomplish our mission without incident, as they gave us a bit of a chase. Fortunately, however, Cliffjumper was able to use the Requiem Blaster to delay the Decepticons long enough for us to complete our escape. More details to come."
Just as Retroblast ended his recording, Blaster spoke up.
"Hey, R.B., we've got a call from Optimus coming in." he said.
"Put it through." replied Retroblast.
Blaster nodded and pressed a button that projected a hologram of the Autobots' leader, Optimus Prime.
"Retroblast, what's your status?" asked Optimus.
"Mission accomplished, Prime." said Retroblast. "We have the Requiem Blaster."
"Good work, Autobots." said Optimus. "I've just received word from Wheeljack saying that construction of the vault for the Requiem Blaster is complete."
"Looks like our timing couldn't have been better." replied Retroblast with a laugh.
Optimus laughed as well. Just then, an alarm sounded throughout the ship.
"Retroblast, we've got trouble!" said Bumblebee. "The Cons are right on our tail, and they're shooting at us!"
"Hey, Prime, I'm gonna call you back." said Retroblast. "Something's up."
Optimus nodded.
"I understand." he said. "Prime out."
And with that, the call ended. Retroblast then rose from his seat in the captain's chair, and began barking out orders.
"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, man the turrets!" said Retroblast. "Jazz, energize the shield!"
"You got it!" said Sideswipe.
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ran to the ship's gun turrets, which they began firing on the Decepticons. However, just before Jazz could activate the shield, an explosion rocked the ship, triggering an alarm. Hound quickly found the source of the explosion and corresponding alarm.
"The shield generator's been hit!" he said.
Upon hearing that, Retroblast looked at Blaster.
"Blaster, deploy Eject and Rewind!" he ordered. "See what they can do about it!"
"Aye-aye, captain!" replied Blaster.
Blaster then opened his chest compartment, and out from it jumped two of his Mini-Con partners, Eject and Rewind, who immediately made their way to the top of the ship to see about repairing the main shield generator as Hot Rod energized the backup shield. Elsewhere, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker continued to fire the Retro Comet's turrets on the Decepticons.
"Take that! And that!" Sideswipe was saying from the controls of his turret. "And more of that!"
Suddenly, Sideswipe felt a violent shake in his surroundings. So violent was the shake that it knocked him from his gunner's seat, same with Sunstreaker.
"Do you have any idea what that was? Sideswipe asked his brother.
"Beats me." shrugged Sunstreaker. "I just hope Eject and Rewind are able to fix the shield generator."
Outside, Eject and Rewind were busy as bees, trying to get the shield generator back online while trying not to get blasted off into space by the Decepticons.
"We've almost got it, Eject." said Rewind. "We just need to connect these wires and it should be good as new."
Eject found the wires in question and connected them. Immediately, back on the bridge, Hound saw a green light flash on the controls.
"They did it!" he cried. "The shield generator's fixed!"
"I knew they'd do it!" said Blaster as his two Mini-Cons returned.
"However, there is a catch." put in Jazz. "Even with the shield generator fixed, it needs to fully reset itself before we can actually use it."
"Oh, right." said Hound. "Almost forgot about that."
At that moment, Hot Rod spoke up.
"I'm picking up a strange energy reading." he said.
"From where?" asked Blaster.
"There." said Hot Rod.
Hot Rod pointed to a mysterious pink portal that was opening up. Needless to say, they were all baffled at the strange anamoly.
"What is it?" asked Bumblebee.
"I don't know." replied Hound.
Retroblast contacted Sideswipe on his comm.
"Hey, Sideswipe, you and Sunstreaker should come here." he said. "You two need to see this."
"Uh, okay." said Sideswipe. "Sure."
Soon, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were on the bridge, joining their comerades in marvelling at the portal.
"What do you think it could be?" asked Sideswipe.
"We don't know." said Retroblast. "But whatever it is, it might be our ticket out of this mess. Hound, Blaster, steer us towards that portal! Full speed ahead!"
"We're all over it, R.B.!" replied Hound.
And so, Hound and Blaster steered the Retro Comet towards the portal. This failed to escape Starscream's attention.
"They're going through that portal!" he said. "After them!"
"But, Starscream, we don't even know where it came from or where it leads to." said Thundercracker. "It could be dangerous."
"Who cares?" retorted Starscream. "I'm in charge now, and if I say follow them, we follow them!"
"Whatever you say, Starscream." said Blitzwing.
And so, both parties of Cybertronians travelled through the portal, which closed afterwards. On the other side, the Retro Comet and her crew found themselves in a strange environment that consisted of a bluish green void with streaks of what appeared to be binary code weaving through it.
"What in the Allspark kind of place is this?" asked Cliffjumper.
"I dunno, Cliff, but one thing's for sure." said Jazz. "I ain't seen anything like this before."
"I don't think any of us had." agreed Hot Rod. "Is it just me, or does it feel like we've just been transported to a whole new universe? Because I don't remember seeing anything like this on any known Cybertronian star charts."
Just then, a violent explosion rocked the ship.
"What the scrap?!" gasped Sideswipe.
Hound ran a quick diagnostic, and slammed his fist on his console at the results.
"We've lost our starboard engine!" he said.
Retroblast turned to the twins with a "you know what to do"-kind of look on his face. Recognizing it, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ran back to their original posts on the gun turrets. It wasn't long, however, before they began to feel the ship begin to descend.
"Retroblast, the ship's stabilizers are failing!" cried Blaster. "They're at fifty percent and dropping rapidly!"
To rub salt on the wound, a second explosion caused another violent shake that was felt by the Retro Comet's crew.
"Scrap, now we lost our port engine!" said Hot Rod.
"Well, that's just prime!" groaned Retroblast. "And I just had this thing waxed!"
To make matters far more worse than they were already, Sideswipe called Retroblast on his comm.
"The guns are overheated!" he said.
"Get out of there, Sideswipe!" said Retroblast. "There's nothing more you and Sunstreaker can do now! At this point, I'm calling all hands on deck!"
"Roger!" agreed Sideswipe.
With that, the twins abandoned their turrets and joined the others on the bridge. They could see that it was a scene of chaos, as the others were trying to get the ship under control, but to no avail. Bumblebee was at the holotransmitter trying to get a distress call out.
"To anyone who is receiving this message, this is Bumblebee, First Mate of the Retro Comet!" he was saying. "Mayday! Mayday! Does anyone read me? Over!"
Unfortunately, nobody seemed to answer.
"I don't think I'm getting through to anyone!" he said. "I guess the turbulence is interfering with the communications system!"
The next to speak up was Hound.
"Stabilizers are gone, Retroblast!" said Hound. "Looks like the best we can manage at this point is a controlled crash!"
"Then manage it!" said Retroblast.
While everyone else was considering what options they had, Cliffjumper noticed a storage locker that revealed to be housing the Requiem Blaster when opened. He then spied a hatch with a sign next to it that said "Emergency Cargo Ejection Hatch" in Cybertronian text.
"I know what I have to do." he decided.
With that, Cliffjumper opened the hatch, placed the Requiem Blaster in it, closed the hatch, then pressed the "eject" button on the hatch's control panel, then went to rejoin his fellow Autobots.
"I just hope I made the right choice." he said to himself.
Back at the controls, Blaster and Hound were trying to regain control of the Retro Comet, which was plunging into a nosedive.
"We're too steep!" said Hound. "Pull up!"
"I'm trying!" replied Blaster.
"Brace yourselves!" added Retroblast.
As Blaster and Hound continued the fight to bring the Retro Comet to a more gentle angle of descent, Retroblast spoke to his crew.
"You know, guys, I don't know if we'll survive this or not, but in case we don't, I'd just like to say that you're all the best bunch of pals a bot like me could ask for." he said. "And it was both a pleasure and an honor to serve alongside you guys, through all the good times and the bad."
"Right back at you, boss." said Bumblebee.
Eventually, the ship plowed into the ground with tremendous force. So great was the impact that it knocked everyone to the ground and caused them to black out for a brief time. It wasn't long, however, before the dust settled. Starscream then flew over the scene with Thundercracker and Skywarp, and the three Seekers spied the damage from above.
"I must say, Skywarp, those were some superbly places shots you made in their engines." said Starscream.
"Thank you very much." replied Skywarp.
"There's no way they could have survived that crash." added Thundercracker.
"But what about the Requiem Blaster?" asked Skywarp.
"We'll worry about that later." said Starscream. "For now, let's regroup with the others."
With that, Starscream and his companions flew off to find the other Decepticons. Back on the ground, in the wreckage of the Retro Comet, contrary to Thundercracker's assumption, Retroblast and his fellow Autobots had indeed survived the crash of their ship, despite now being in a state of involuntary stasis lock. That soon changed as one by one, they each began to pick themselves up and lending helping hands to those who needed them.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Retroblast.
His comerades all said they were fine, and together, they all gazed at the state of their ship. Quite a lot of damage had been sustained from the crash.
"Boy, what a wreck." said Hot Rod with a whistle.
"Something tells me this is gonna take some time to fix." said Blaster.
"Jazz, stay here and run a full diagnostic." said Retroblast. "Everyone else, with me."
"Will do, R.B." agreed Jazz.
And so, Jazz stayed inside to assess the full extent of the damage, Retroblast led Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Cliffjumper, Blaster, Hound, and the twins outside through the rear boarding hatch, which had been jammed open from the impact. It wasn't too hard for them to figure out that they were in a forest clearing.
"Man, look at this place." said Hot Rod. "Doesn't this kind of look like the forests from Earth?"
"Yeah, it does." agreed Bumblebee.
Sideswipe knelt down and felt the grass with his hand.
"And the grass feels like Earth's grass, too." he pointed out.
Little did the group of Autobots know, however, that they were being watched, specifically by three human children and a strange bird-like creature who were watching them from behind a bush further away. The three children were an Irish-American boy named Matt, who had bright orange hair and dressed in a green polo neck sweater, jeans, red sneakers, and a red backpack on his back, a Jamaican-American girl named Jackie who black hair and dressed in a yellow long-sleeved lightweight sweater with a matching scrunchie in her hair, a light blue denim skirt, a red bangle on her right wrist, and purple-and-white high-top sneakers, a bespectacled Latin-American girl named Inez who had brown hair and dressed in a pink long-sleeved shirt decorated with a big yellow star, teal shorts, and blue high-top boots. The bird-like creature was a male individual named Digit who had a bluish-purple body with a lighter bluihs-purple head and tail tip, along with a white rectangular patch on his front. His attire consisted of a red baseball cap, which he wore backwards on his head, a red bowtie, and yellow-and-red high-top sneakers. Matt was using a pair of binoculars to get a better look.
"What do you think they are, Matt?" asked Digit.
"I'm not sure, Didge, but I think they've been to Earth before." replied Matt.
"But they don't like they're from Earth." added Inez. "I've never seen anything like them on Earth before."
"Me neither." agreed Jackie.
Back at the spot where Retroblast and his squad were, they were still surveying the area when Jazz came over.
"Well, guys, I've got some good news, some bad news, and even worse news." he said.
"Let's hear the good news first." said Bumblebee.
"The good news is that our surplus Energon and K-Juice* supplies somehow managed to stay intact." Jazz explained. "The bad news is that the communications system is fried. If we want to have any chance of being rescued, we should make fixing that a priority."
"Noted." nodded Retroblast. "What about the "even worse news"?"
"It's about the Requiem Blaster." said Jazz. "It's missing."
Well, to say everyone except Cliffjumper was surprised would be an understatement with a capital "U".
"You've gotta be joking." said Sideswipe.
"I wish I was, Sideswipe." Jazz replied with a shrug. "But the storage locker we put it in is empty. Something must have happened to it."
"But what?" asked Sunstreaker.
Retroblast then noticed Cliffjumper appeared to be nervous about something.
"Cliffjumper?" he asked. "You okay?"
Everyone turned their attention to Cliffjumper, who sighed, knowing there was no choice but to spill the beans.
"Okay, I'll admit." he said. "I took the Requiem Blaster from the storage locker and ejected it from the ship through the emergency hatch. I'm sorry, but I didn't know what else to do."
Cliffjumper's confession was met by Sideswipe, his face burning with rage, going right up to Cliffjumper and proceeding to chew him out.
"You idiot!" he snarled. "We had possession of the most powerful weapon in the universe, and you had the nerve to just chuck it out like it was some kind of sparkling's plaything?! What in Alpha Trion's name were you thinking?!"
"Hey, cool it, bro!" said Sunstreaker, getting between his brother and Cliffjumper. "Getting angry about what Cliffjumper did won't do us any favors. Besides, what else was he supposed to do? I mean, for all we know, it could have been destroyed in the crash, and maybe even taken us with it."
"Yeah, Sideswipe, cut him a break." put in Jazz. "Plus, you heard what he said. He didn't know what else to do."
"Jazz and Sunstreaker are right, Sideswipe." said Retroblast. "I mean, I'm not too happy about this either, but at the same time, we should be pleased that we all survived the crash without injury, and there's going to be plenty of time for us to look for the Requiem Blaster. In the meantime, we still need to figure out where we are."
"Maybe we can help." said a voice.
It was Matt, who was coming onto the scene with Inez, Jackie, and Digit. It should go without saying that Retroblast and his friends were surprised to see the newcomers.
"I didn't know there were humans in this world." said Cliffjumper. "I guess this place is more like Earth than we first imagined."
"Actually, this isn't Earth." Inez pointed out, raising one finger. "This is the Northern Frontier of Cyberspace."
"Cyberspace, huh?" replied Sideswipe.
"That's right." said Jackie.
"What Cybersite are you guys from?" asked Digit. "Because you guys look nothing like any borg we've seen before."
"That's because we're not 'borgs'." said Bumblebee. "We're Autobots from Cybertron."
"Huh." said Digit. "I'm not familiar with that Cybersite."
Retroblast laughed.
"Cybertron isn't a Cybersite." he said. "It's a planet."
Matt and his friends were awestruck at that revelation.
"That actually explains a lot." said Jackie.
"But what are a bunch of alien robots from another planet doing here in Cyberspace?" asked Inez. "That's what I want to know."
"Sounds to me like we've got lots to talk about." said Retroblast. "But, first things first. Let's get acquainted with one another."
Retroblast and his crew introduced themselves to the Cybersquad and vice versa.
"It's nice to meet all of you." said Matt.
"Right back at you, man." replied Jazz.
Just then, Digit thought of something.
"You know, we actually have a campsite set up not too far away from here." he said. "If you want, we can talk there."
"Not a bad idea." agreed Retroblast. "Let's go."
"You guys go on ahead." said Sideswipe. "Me and Sunstreaker are gonna grab us a case of K-Juice from the ship."
"Alright." said Retroblast. "We'll send you out coordinates."
"Got it." said Sideswipe. "Come on, bro, let's roll!"
"I'm on you like glue!" agreed Sunstreaker.
With that, the twins ran back to the Retro Comet while Retroblast and the others transformed into their alt-modes and, with Matt and his friends onboard Retroblast, drove off the to campsite.
"You know, Matt, I have a feeling you and your friends might be able to help us big time with getting around Cyberspace." said Retroblast. "I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all." said Matt. "If it's anything the Cybersquad is good at, it's helping those in need."
"That's right!" grinned Digit. "We've helped people with all sorts of problems, so this shouldn't be any different."
"Well, part of this involves something you kids have probably not dealt with before." said Retroblast.
"Really?" asked Jackie. "How so?"
"I'll explain at the campsite." said Retroblast.
"Okay, that's fair." nodded Jackie.
And so, they continued on towards the Cybersquad's campsite, with the Cybersquad excitedly anxious to hear the Autobots' story.
End Of Chapter 2
* K-Juice is a Cybertronian beverage from the IDW comics.
