Chapter 4: A Matt In The Hand
The next morning, the Cybersquad were having breakfast. Digit had made spinach omelettes with sausage links and corned beef hash.
"I wonder how Retroblast and his friends are getting along." said Jackie.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." said Matt. "Why don't we pay them a visit after we finish eating and break camp?"
"Good idea, Matty." agreed Digit.
The girls also agreed, and thus it was decided. After they finished their food, properly disposed of the scraps, and properly extinguished the campfire, they broke camp and trekked over to the Retro Comet, where Retroblast and his buddies were busy as bees. While Retroblast, Hot Rod, Cliffjumper, and the were patching up the ship on the outside, Bumblebee, Jazz, and Blaster, with some assistance from Eject and Rewind, were busy making repairs to the inside of the ship. Hound, meanwhile, was working on his tracker, the same one he had used back in Chapter 1. Inside the ship, Bumblebee was repairing the holotransmitter while Jazz and Blaster were attempting to fix the communications system. It wasn't long before Bumblebee finished his task.
"There, that's the holotransmitter fixed." said Bumblebee.
"And I think that should do it on our end." said Blaster as he closed the access panel for the communications system. "Try it, Bee."
Bumblebee replied with a thumbs-up, then pressed a button on the holotransmitter to send a message.
"Bumblebee to Optimus Prime." he said. "Come in, Optimus."
But all Bumblebee got was holographic static, so he tried again.
"Optimus Prime, come in." Bumblebee repeated. "Do you read me?"
Again, nothing but static. Bumblebee shook his head in annoyance as he turned off the transmitter.
"I guess we still need to make a few more adjustments." he sighed.
"Why not try the emergency beacon?" asked Rewind as he handed Jazz a tool. "That might be working."
"It's worth a try." shrugged Bumblebee.
Bumblebee went over to the flight control console and pressed a button that, much to his relief, did indeed cause a beacon on the exterior of the ship to start blinking without any problems. This was noticed by Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as they were patching up the engines.
"Hey, looks like Bee, Blaster, and Jazz got the beacon working." said Sideswipe.
"Looks like our chances of getting rescued just got higher." his brother added.
Just then, Sideswipe saw the Cybersquad approaching, and he contacted Retroblast.
"Cybersquad at ten o'clock!" he said.
"I see them, Sideswipe." replied Retroblast. "You and Sunstreaker better get down here."
"We're on our way." said Sideswipe.
With that, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker carefully descended from their current position and joined the others in greeting the Cybersquad.
"So, what are you guys up to?" asked Inez.
"Well, as you can see, we've started fixing our ship." said Retroblast.
"And I'm programming my tracker so it can find the Requiem Blaster." added Hound.
Inez took notice of Hound's tracker.
"Hey, Hound, can I see your tracker, please?" she asked.
"Sure." replied Hound.
Hound showed Inez his tracker, and she compared it to her Skwak Pad, an electronic device that took the form of an irregularly shaped phablet*.
"Huh, look at that." said Inez. "Hound's tracker looks a bit like the Skwak Pad, except it has a smaller screen and a keypad."
"So it does." agreed Hound as he looked over his tracker. "And with this baby, we'll find that Requiem Blaster before you can say "We're beating Hacker at his game"!"
Right as Hound said that, the screen on his tracker went black. He tried to turn it back on, but to no avail. It didn't take long for him to realize what was wrong.
"Oh, scrap..." he groaned. "I forgot to put this thing on its charger after the last time I used it!"
"I'd hate to break it to you, Hound, but it looks like it'll be out of action for a while." said Bumblebee. "While me, Jazz, and Blaster were inside the ship, I looked at the charging station for your tracker, and it's toast."
"Well, that stinks." sighed Hound.
"Hey, don't worry, Hound." said Jackie. "Maybe you can get it charged at Motherboard Control Central. That is, if you guys still want to meet her."
"Funny, I was just about to mention that." said Retroblast. "And maybe, with her permission, we can set up a base at Control Central, since it does seen we're going to be here a while."
"You're right about that." said Jazz. "While we can make most of the repairs ourselves, there's still some parts of the repairs we may need Wheeljack's expertise. After all, he's the one who actually built it."
"Let me guess, another Autobot?" asked Matt.
"Yep." said Retroblast. "Back during the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, he served the Autobots mostly as an engineer and inventor, always designing and building all sorts of weapons and other gadgets for us to use. He even helped Hound create his tracker."
"We designed it so that it runs on a rechargable power cell." added Hound.
"Good thinking." said Digit. "So, why not just call him and ask him to come here so he can fix your ship?"
"Well, here's the thing." said Jazz. "Wheeljack is all the way back on Cybertron, and our ship's communication system is still not completely repaired."
"Neither is our long-range holotransmitter." added Bumblebee. "Suffice to say, any chance of reaching out to our friends back on Cybertron is pretty much impossible, except for our emergency beacon, which we're using right now. Fingers crossed that it actually works."
"In the meantime, how about we finally get ourselves acquainted with Motherboard?" asked Retroblast.
Everyone agreed, and Matt, using his own Skwak Pad, contacted Motherboard and requested a portal at their current location. Motherboard obliged, and a portal soon appeared, and as the Cybersquad and the Autobots ventured through it, they failed to notice that they were being watched and followed by Laserbeak. It wasn't long before Retroblast and his friends were standing in front of a huge screen that showcased a smiling periwinkle head and neck with wavy blue hair and eyebrows in a circuitry-inspired texture, a round yellow left eye, a rectangular orange right eye, and dark red lips. This, if you haven't figured it out already, was Motherboard.
"Motherboard, I presume?" greeted Retroblast.
"Correct." said Motherboard. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of meeting?"
"Autobots from a faraway planet called Cybertron." said Retroblast. "I'm Retroblast, captain of the Retro Comet, and these are my crewmates; Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Jazz, Cliffjumper, Blaster, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Hound."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." said Motherboard. "Now, what brings you to Cyberspace?"
"Well, Motherboard, to make a long story short, we were transporting a very powerful weapon called the Requiem Blaster to our home planet when our archenemies, the Decepticons, attacked us out of nowhere." explained Hot Rod. "They ended up shooting us down, and in the chaos, Cliffjumper ejected the Requiem Blaster from our ship. So now, we have to find the Requiem Blaster and retrieve it before the Decepticons do."
"How powerful is it, you may ask?" Sideswipe put in. "Let me put it like this, you wouldn't want that thing pointed at you."
"Yeah, it's literally the most powerful weapon in the universe." added Sunstreaker. "The beam it fires could literally blast you to smithereens."
Needless to say, Motherboard was surprised as surprised can be about this.
"Goodness gracious." she said. "Given those details, I can see why these "Decepticons" you mentioned could want their hands on it."
"And why we must put finding that thing above all else." added Retroblast. "Getting our ship fixed can wait."
"If you want, you Autobots can use Control Central as a base of operations." Motherboard offered.
"Funny you should say that, because we were actually thinking of asking you about it." said Retroblast. "But now it seems we don't have to."
"Well, I'll be." chuckled Motherboard. "Great minds think alike."
"Yeah, they do, don't they?" replied Retroblast, himself giving off a chuckle.
"Of course, we'll still need to bring our stasis pods here and set them up." said Bumblebee. "Good thing they can be easily moved."
"Allow me to be of assistance." said Motherboard.
Motherboard then generated a portal back to the site of the crashed Retro Comet for Retroblast and his buddies, and kept it open long enough for them to retrieve their stasis pods from the ship and bring them back ton Control Central. Afterwards, with some help from Digit, they found a suitable location within Control Central to set them up. Once that was done, they returned to the main control room, and there, with help from the Cybersquad, they finally began making their plan to recover the Requiem Blaster. They were all looking at a map of Cyberspace that was being projected by Inez's Skwak Pad.
"Okay, what do we know?" asked Jackie.
"Well, Jackie, here's what we do know right now." said Retroblast. "We know that we need to find the Requiem Blaster and make sure it never falls into the hands of the Decepticons. However, what we don't know is where it is exactly. It could be anywhere in Cyberspace."
"And that's quite a lot of ground to cover." said Cliffjumper. "With that much, it's gonna take a long time for us to find it."
"Not if we split up." said Jackie. "Maybe things will be a little bit easier if we split this map into four quadrants and have some of us search one quadrant each."
"Good thinking, Jackie." said Retroblast. "Some of you can search in Quadrant 1, some can search in Quadrant 2, and so on and so forth."
"What about you?" asked Hot Rod.
"I'll stay here." said Retroblast. "After all, someone has to be your eye in the sky."
"Sounds fair." nodded Bumblebee.
Retroblast then looked at the Cybersquad.
"Each of you will team up with two Autobots for this operation." he said. "Make your selections."
"Roger, R.B." said Digit.
Digit selected Bumblebee and Hot Rod as his Autobot partners, Inez chose Jazz and Cliffjumper, Jackie picked Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, and Matt selected Blaster and Hound.
"Okay, Autobots, arms in." said Retroblast as he held out his arm.
All the other Autobots in the group placed their arms in.
"'Til all are one!" said Retroblast.
"'Til all are one!" his comerades repeated as they all threw their arms in the air.
"Nice rallying cry." said Matt.
"Thanks." said Hot Rod. "Now, let's go find that Requiem Blaster!"
Everyone else cheered in agreement, and as Retroblast turned his attention to Motherboard's screen, all four search parties left for their respective search areas with four different portals, one for each of them. However, just like before, nobody had noticed Laserbeak was watching them, and he swooped in and flew through the portal Matt, Blaster, and Hound had taken. He managed to make it through just as it closed. Retroblast then pressed a button that caused a 2x2 display to appear on the screen, with Digit, Bumblebee, and Hot Rod in the top left corner, Inez, Jazz, and Cliffjumper in the top right corner, Jackie, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker in the bottom left corner, and Matt, Blaster, and Hound in the bottom right corner.
"This is Retroblast calling from Control Central." said Retroblast. "All search teams report in."
"Digit, Bumblebee, and Hot Rod standing by in Happily Ever After." said Digit.
"Inez, Jazz, and Cliffjumper standing by in Sensible Flats." added Inez.
"Jackie, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker standing by in Penguia." continued Jackie.
"Matt, Blaster, and Hound standing by in Ecotopia." finished Matt.
"Remember, guys, the Requiem Blaster could be anywhere." said Retroblast. "Don't stop searching until you've searched all the cybersites in your respective quadrants. We'll regroup here after you've all completed your searches."
"Roger that, chief." said Bumblebee. "Over and out."
And with that, the short call ended, and the screen switched back to Motherboard.
"I really hope you and your friends will be successful in your mission, Retroblast." said Motherboard.
"Me too, Motherboard." said Retroblast. "Me too."
Meanwhile, back on Ecotopia, Matt was speaking to Hound and Blaster.
"Just like Jackie suggested, we'll split up so it'll be easier to look for the Requiem Blaster on this cybersite." said Matt. "There's three different areas here; a forest, a lake, and a mangrove. I'll search here in the forest."
"I'll take the mangrove." said Blaster.
"I guess this leaves me with the lake." said Hound.
"We'll meet back here by this tree in thirty minutes." said Matt. "I'll mark the spot."
Matt reached into his backpack and pulled out a spool of red ribbon, some blunt-tip scissors, and a rubber mallet. He used the mallet to hammer a large stick firmly into the ground. Then, he cut off a foot of the ribbon and tied it around the top of the stick.
"There." he said. "Now this spot is easier to find. You guys still got the location down, anyway?"
"Got it." said Hound.
"Me too." added Blaster.
"Good." said Matt. "And you know, I had another idea. Maybe when we're looking for the Requiem Blaster, why not give each other codenames? You know, like they do in the movies?"
"Ooh, I like that idea." said Blaster.
"Me too." said Hound.
"Great." said Matt. "I'll go by Robin Hood, because Robin Hood wore green, like I wear green."
"Nice." said Blaster. "As for me...hmm...how about Boombox?"
"Perfect." said Hound. "I think I'd like...Sarge."
"Good choices." said Matt. "Well, now that we have the code-names decided, let's get started on that search."
Blaster and Hound agreed, and so, the trio set off, each in a different direction, with Matt staying in the forest, Blaster heading to the mangrove, and Hound heading to the lake, and it wasn't long before they all began scouring their search areas for the Requiem Blaster. Matt called Hound on his Skwak Pad.
"This is Robin Hood calling Sarge, Robin Hood calling Sarge." he said. "Do you read me? Over."
"This is Sarge reading you loud and clear, Robin Hood." replied Hound. "Over."
"See anything yet?" asked Matt.
"No sign of the Requiem Blaster, that's for sure." said Hound. "Lots of critters around here, though."
"Well, try and stay focused, alright?" Matt suggested.
"Got it." said Hound. "Sarge out."
And with that, the two ended their call. Just then, Matt felt something inside him.
"Dang it." he sighed. "I shouldn't have drank so much juice at breakfast."
Matt then called both Blaster and Hound on his Skwak Pad.
"Robin Hood calling Boombox and Sarge." he said. "I'm gonna take a little pit stop."
"Got it, Robin Hood." said Blaster. "Over and out."
"Over and out." replied Matt.
And so, Matt set off to find a place to do his business. He eventually found a thick cluster of bushes.
"Perfect." Matt said to himself as he rushed over to the bushes.
As Matt was relieving himself, Laserbeak flew over and perched himself on a branch on a nearby tree, shielding his optics with his wing. It wasn't long before Matt finished up.
"Much better." he sighed happily as he zipped up his jeans.
After Matt finished his little pit stop, he resumed his part of the search for the Requiem Blaster, unaware that Laserbeak was discreetly following his every move while transmitting a tracking signal that was being picked up all the way back at Hacker's hangar in the Northern Frontier, where Hacker, Buzz, Delete, Starscream, and all the other Decepticons were watching the whole thing on a screen at the same time they were tracking Laserbeak's signal.
"So, Laserbeak went after the boy, eh?" Starscream thought out loud. "And here I thought he would go after one of the girls."
"Well, in any case, we at least have something to use as leverage against the Autobots." said Hacker.
"Quite right, Hacker." chuckled Starscream.
Starscream then looked over at Soundwave.
"Soundwave, have you got Laserbeak's coordinates?" he asked.
"Yes, Starscream." replied Soundwave.
"Good." said Starscream. "Go and bring that boy to us. Astrotrain will accompany you."
"Why me?" asked Astrotrain.
"Because I ordered you to." replied Starscream. "Now get going!"
With that, Soundwave and Astrotrain departed, transforming into their respective stealth bomber and space shuttle modes in the process. Starscream and Hacker watched Soundwave leave with gleams in their eyes.
"Well, Hacker, I believe it's safe to say we're getting very close to achieving both our goals." said Starscream.
"Indeed we are, Starscream." agreed Hacker with a villainous grin.
Back in Ecotopia, Soundwave and Astrotrain soon arrived and landed in a clearing in the forest, then Soundwave transformed into robot mode.
"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, eject." he said. "Operation; Abduction."
Soundwave opened his chest compartment and out jumped his three other Mini-Con minions; Rumble and Frenzy*, who were humanoid in form, and Ravage, whose form resembled that of a panther. The three immediately set off to find Laserbeak and Matt. Meanwhile, Matt was still searching for the Requiem Blaster, when all of a sudden, he heard a growling sound that caused him to stop dead in his tracks. He quickly grabbed a strong heavy stick to use as a makeshift weapon.
"Who's there?" he called. "Show yourself!"
Matt then noticed a pair of glowing blood-red eyes staring at him menacingly from behind a bush. Matt put on a brave face and jabbed the stick towards the eyes as if to say "I'm not afraid of you!". That turned out to be a big mistake, because at that moment, Ravage leaped out of the bush and pounced right onto Matt, who barely had time to react.
"Get off of me!" he shouted.
Matt then grabbed his stick weapon, which had been knocked out of his hand, and struck Ravage on the head. Ravage recoiled in pain, and Matt threw his stick to the side and took off running. Ravage, unwilling to give up, began to chase Matt, who reached for his Skwak Pad and frantically called Hound. Elsewhere, back at the lake, Hound was still searching along the water for any sign of the Requiem Blaster when he heard Matt calling him.
"Robin Hood to Sarge! Robin Hood to Sarge!" Matt said over the comm. "Please come in! Do you read me?! Over!"
"I hear you, Robin Hood." said Hound as he answered the call. "What's your problem? Over."
"Someone's chasing me!" replied Matt.
"Who?" asked Hound.
"Some weird-looking robot panther thing!" replied Matt.
Hound's optics widened with fright, as if he knew exactly who Matt just described.
"Try to get him to chase you towards the meeting spot." Hound instructed. "Boombox and I will meet you there."
"Good idea, Sarge." said Matt. "Robin Hood out."
After ending his call with Matt, Hound called Blaster and filled him in.
"I'm on my way." said Blaster.
"See you there." replied Hound.
With that, the two bots started to the meeting spot. Meanwhile, Matt was trying desperately to lose Ravage. Fortunately for him, he could see the stick with the red ribbon tied to it in the distance.
"Almost there." he panted. "Just gotta get there and wait for Blaster and Hound."
Suddenly, Matt felt himself starting to become breathless, forcing him to stop. He ducked behind a tree and sat down on the ground with his knees up to his chest and his arms around his legs. He could still hear Ravage prowling around for him.
"Please go away..." Matt pleaded quietly. "Please..."
Eventually, Matt heard Ravage leaving the area, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Glad that's over." he said.
Matt then got up and resumed his course to the meeting spot. However, just as he was about to reach it, he suddenly felt himself be yanked off the ground by his left foot. He watched as everything around him turned upside down.
"Hey!" he cried. "What's going on here?! If this is some kind of prank, it's not funny!"
The next thing Matt felt was him falling down and landing flat on his back.
"Oof!" Matt said. "I'll be feeling this one in the morning."
Matt then noticed Ravage approaching him again. This time, Matt was able to see the Decepticon insignias on his shoulders, which made it clear to Matt how much of a pickle he was in.
"That must be a Decepticon like the ones Retroblast and the other Autobots." Matt thought to himself. "I better try to make another run for it."
With that, Matt picked himself up and was about to take off again, only to have his patch blocked off by Ravage, now with Laserbeak joining him.
"Uh-oh." said Matt. "Maybe I should try the other way."
Matt turned around, but that path was blocked too, this one by Rumble and Frenzy.
"That does it." Matt decided. "If I can't use "flight", I'll pick "fight"!"
With that, Matt took off his backpack and, with all his might, swung it in a full 360-degree spin, striking Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, and Ravage in the process and knocking them all down.
"Wow. That was easy." said Matt. "Now to see if I can meet up with Hound and Blaster."
But before Matt could put his backpack back on, Rumble, who, along with Frenzy, Laserbeak, and Ravage, had managed to pick themselves up, came up behind Matt and karate-chopped him on the back of the neck, knocking him out and causing him to drop his backpack.
"What a wimp." snickered Rumble.
"Never stood even an eighth of a chance." added Frenzy.
Using some strong vines as makeshift ropes, Rumble and Frenzy bound Matt hand and foot and brought him over to Soundwave and Astrotrain, with Laserbeak and Ravage not too far behind them. Meanwhile, Blaster and Hound arrived at the meeting spot, but there was no sign of Matt anywhere.
"That's funny." said Hound. "I thought Matt would be here."
"Something must have happened to him." said Blaster. "We better tell Retroblast."
"On it." said Hound as he reached for his comm.
Back at Control Central, Retroblast had just wrapped up a call with Inez and the twins in Sensible Flats when Motherboard picked up another call coming in.
"Another incoming transmission, Retroblast." she said. "This time, it's from Ecotopia."
"Let's see what Matt, Blaster, and Hound have to say." said Retroblast.
Motherboard nodded in agreement. Retroblast then pressed the button that changed the screen to show Blaster and Hound on Ecotopia. However, Matt wasn't with them, and Retroblast noticed the two bots looked worried.
"Blaster? Hound? What's wrong?" asked Retroblast.
"Yellow Alert, Retroblast." said Hound. "Matt's missing. He failed to show up at the meeting spot we arranged."
"Is that right?" replied Retroblast.
"Uh-huh." nodded Blaster. "Before he went missing, he told Hound he was being chased by something, and we think we know what, or rather who, it might have been."
"I see." said Retroblast. "Well, see if you can find Matt, and call back if you do, or at least find something that could tell us what became of him."
"You got it, boss." said Hound. "Over and out."
After ending their call with Retroblast, Hound and Blaster began looking for Matt.
"Matt?" called Hound. "Matt? Where are you?"
"Yo, Matt!" cried Blaster. "Come out wherever you are!"
Just then, Hound spotted something red on the ground in the distance.
"Hey, Blaster, look over there." he said as he pointed to the spot. "What's that?"
"I don't know." replied Blaster. "Let's take a closer look."
The two bots went over to the spot Hound had identified to get a closer look at what he had found. When they got closer, a shocking sight met their eyes, as they were able to determine what the red object was, and there was something else next to it.
"It's Matt's backpack!" gasped Hound. "And his Skwak Pad, too!"
"But where's Matt?" asked Blaster.
Blaster's answer came almost immediately, because at that moment, they heard, and then saw, Astrotrain and Soundwave flying overhead. Seeing the two Decepticons explained everything for the two horrified Autobots, and Blaster immediately called Retroblast on his comm.
"Hey, Retroblast, you know that Yellow Alert we mentioned earlier?" asked Blaster.
"Yeah? What about it?" replied Retroblast.
"Now it's a Red Alert!" said Blaster. "We think we know what happened to Matt! The Decepticons got him!"
End Of Chapter 4
* 1. A phablet is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of "phone" and "tablet".
* 2. In case you were curious about Rumble and Frenzy, in this story, it will be FIRRIB (meaning, Frenzy Is Red, Rumble Is Blue).
