Transformers MHA, Arc 2: Earthrise

by The Omni-Remnant

After a rather intense adventure and the U.A. Sports Festival approaching fast, Izuku and his friends have two important things to do; improve their Quirks in time for the festival… and hide a bunch of giant alien robots. That proves to be easier said than done, especially when enemies on Earth and from beyond the stars end up coming for them…

35. Bittersweet Celebrations

A/N: How goes it, everybody? It's Friday, so you know what that means! Yep, time for another new chapter, and this one's actually more of a transitional one than anything. With the Sports Festival arc now over, it's time to shift the focus onto what lies ahead, namely regarding the Hero Killer. Even then, though, we've also got lots of Transformer-related stuff that's gonna be happening between here and there, so there's gonna be plenty to go over. All the same, let's get started, shall we? This is…

Chapter 35: Bittersweet Celebrations

…..

"…You guys are ABSOLUTLEY sure you want to do this, right?" Izuku asked as he led his friends up the stairs leading to his apartment. "I-It's not too late to back out, you know." he added nervously.

Kyoka raised a questioning brow. "Izuku, why're you so apprehensive about this? You're acting like us meeting your mom is the biggest deal in the world."

"Yeah, and you JUST literally went through the whole Sports Festival and won the damn thing." Eijiro reminded. "How's introducing us to your mom any harder than that?"

Izuku bit his lower lip. "…If you knew my mom, you'd probably understand." With a heavy sigh, the greenette approached his door, setting a hand on the knob. "Alright, well, here we are." He raised his casted-up arm toward his friends, stopping them from coming any closer. "But just… s-stay there for a second, please? There's no telling what could happen when I open this door."

Mina rolled her eyes and, despite the warning, she approached the door herself. "Oh, come ON, Midori, you're making WAY too big a deal out of this." She set her hand over his, knowing that'd make him jolt away as she snickered at his expense. "Hehe, gotcha! Relax, I've met TONS of my friends' parents before, I'm sure this'll be no different—"

"Ashido, wait! Don't just—" *click* "Oh no…"

But it was too late. The moment Mina pulled the door open, they were met with what had to be a wall of water that came BURSTING out from the apartment, making both of the frizzy-haired teens cry out in shock. "AAAAH!" They barely managed to side-step the flood as he came pouring through the door and out over the ledge, taking everyone else by surprise.

"W-What the heck was THAT?!" Denki exclaimed.

Izuku pursed his lips. "Those… were my mom's tears." Immediately, everyone's jaws dropped. "Yeah, THAT is why I didn't want any of you so close to the door."

Momo processed this information before asking; "Does… does she have a Quirk that makes her overproduce water in her body?"

"No, her Quirk is Levitation. She can push and pull small objects."

"…Then why—"

"Listen, crying a lot is a hereditary thing on my mom's side of the family." Izuku explained. "S-So please excuse me while I go check on her—"

But he didn't even get a single step into the door before he suddenly felt something come charging into him, a pair of arms wrapping around his still very hurt body and squeezing him in a tight embrace despite that. "AAAAAHH! MY BABY IZUKU!"

'Crap!' With his face beginning to turn blue, Izuku glanced down to see his mother, Inko, still crying her eyes out as she squeezed him REAL tight. "H…H-Hi mom…" he choked out. "I-I'm home."

"Oh, yes you ARE!" Despite her crying, though, Inko had a smile upon her lips, no doubt ecstatic to see her son. Her focus shifted between him and the gold medal hanging around his neck, almost as if she was still processing the events from earlier. It was only then that she regained some sense of composure and let her son breath, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Oh, Izuku, my baby, I still can't believe that this is really happening! You WON! You actually WON the Sports Festival!" She sniffled a little before putting on a proud smile. "And in quite the dominant fashion, if I do say so. But oh god, you scared me SO many times while doing it. I thought I was going to collapse from dehydration a few times."

"Hah… I-I can see that." Izuku clutched his chest as he reached for his medal, pulling it off so she could get a better look at it. "But yeah, I was honestly a little surprised myself. But I did it!"

Her eyes shining with pride, Inko placed a hand over her chest, trying to quell her emotions. "Oh, Izuku… I can't begin to express how this makes me feel." She pulled her son in for another, much more gentle hug. "To think, not too long ago, you found out that you had a Quirk all along, and now you're doing such amazing things with it. I'm so proud of you, sweetie."

Izuku cleared his throat, nudging his head off toward the side. "Thanks mom, but uh… we have guests, if you hadn't noticed."

"H-Huh?" Inko let go of her boy and peered past his shoulder, seeing Kyoka, Ochako, Momo, Mina, Eijiro, Denki and Mei all standing behind him, smiling and waving at her happily.

"Uh… hi." Kyoka greeted first.

Mei gave a salute. "Salutations!"

Inko blinked to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but of course, she wasn't. …And it was then that she let out another excited scream. "AAAAAAHH! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, OH MY GOODNESS!" Without wasting a second, she rushed past her son and went straight to his friends, even taking Izuku aback with how speedy she was. "You… you… a-are you ALL Izuku's friends?"

Ochako gave her a polite bow. "Yes, ma'am, we are. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"We've known your boy over there for a couple months now." Denki said with a cheeky grin, placing his hands on his hips. "And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that we were a pretty big help in his trai—NING!"

With an irritated sneer, Kyoka pulled back her jack before grinning to Inko again. "What Kaminari means is, we've all been training together for the Sports Festival, so we've all gotten to be pretty good friends with each other in such a short period of time."

Inko's eyes began to glisten after hearing that, her hands lacing together in joy. "Oh, dear… please don't make me cry again, I can't afford to pass out an eighth time."

That nearly made everyone's eyes bug out of their heads. "WHAT?!"

"MOM!" Izuku shouted in concern.

"Oh, relax, honey." The mother said with a sheepish grin, waving her hand at him. "It's not like this hasn't happened before." Her attention went back toward the group in front of her with excitement, all while her son slumped over. "Ahem, so, my name is Inko Midoriya. Please, if you would, tell me all of your names. I want to get to know all of my Izuku's friends as much as possible." But then, as she scanned her eyes across the group, something clicked in her head. "…Though now that I think about it, I think I might know some of your names already. You ALL made it to the finals, in the festival, if I'm not mistaken?"

Momo lowered her head, placing a hand over her chest. "That's correct, Mrs. Midoriya. My name is Momo Yaoyorozu. It's truly a pleasure."

Ochako's cheeks flushed a bit as she scratched the back of her head. "I'm Ochako Uraraka. So nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Midoriya."

"Eijiro Kirishima." The spikey redhead placed a fist over his chest. "Yer son really proved his manliness out there at the festival, lemme tell ya."

"Hiya, name's Denki Kaminari." the electric blonde said with a wink and a pointed finger. "I'm the coolest member of the group—ah!"

Mina pushed him out of the way to get her introduction in. "Ha! He wishes. I'm Mina Ashido, and don't worry, we've been taking good care of Midori at school."

Izuku peered over his mother's shoulder with a deadpan stare in Mina's direction. "Ahem, Ashido's exaggerating a bit on that one. I can take good care of myself, thanks." That earned him a stuck-out tongue from the horned, pink-skinned girl.

"Haha! Oh, this is so exciting!" Inko clapped her hands with glee. 'Seeing my Izuku have a rapport like that with anyone makes me so happy! Never did I think he'd come out of his shell like this, but I've never been more glad to have been proven wrong.' It was then that she saw a certain purplette was keeping mostly to herself, her expression clearly anxious. "And what about you, dear? What's your name?"

"A-Ah!" Kyoka blushed at being called out, but went to introduce herself nonetheless. "O-Oh, my name's Kyoka Jiro, Mrs. Midoriya." She bowed to her politely. "I, uh… I-I actually met your son a few months back during the entrance exams. It's nice to finally meet you."

Inko couldn't help but blink in surprise, taking note of how police the young lady in front of her was being. …Especially since it didn't seem to suit her style given the rather "punk rocker" style she was going for with her clothing. She was confused about her blush as well… until she noticed that Izuku was also somewhat red in the face out the corner of her eye. …It didn't take long for her to connect the dots. 'Oh… ooh…' With a knowing smile, she leaned over to return the bow. "Kyoka… what a pretty name."

"U-Uh—thank you."

"Please, dear, you don't need to be so formal around me." Inko smiled kindly, meeting the Earphone Jack user's eyes. "I can tell that it isn't your style."

"Oh… sorry." Kyoka tapped her jacks together. "It's just, after knowing Izuku for months it's a bit weird to… are you okay?"

The green-haired woman was trembling after hearing that. 'First-name basis, First-name basis, FIRST-NAME BASIS!' She had to promise herself that she'd talk to Izuku about it later, but for now, she would reign herself in. "Oh, never better, honey. But please, don't feel so nervous around me. Any friend of Izuku's is welcome in my home. Speaking of…" She raised her head up to the young woman with the pink dreads toward the back. "I believe there's one more person all the way back there…"

In an instant, Mei went up front and center, getting up in Inko's face and making her jump slightly. "Eeyup! Hey there! My name's Mei Hatsume, ma'am. And—not to brag or anything—but I was kinda the first outta this whole group to meet your son. Nice to meet ya!"

After collecting herself, Inko snapped her fingers in realization. "Ah, yes, that's right! You were the girl with all the inventions who made your match into a commercial, right?" She brought her hand up to her cheek, giving a short chuckle. "Hmhm, I have to say, I was both very impressed and amused by that."

Internally, Mei was a bit conflicted in hearing that. While she was glad to have made an impression on Inko before meeting her… it also served as a reminder for what she did to Iida. "Uh, yeah… that's right." She rubbed her neck in guilt. "Though in retrospect, it wasn't the nicest thing to do to my opponent…"

"Oh well, yes, I suppose that's true, but you DID let him advance, so I'm sure that made up for it." Inko reassured, which only made everyone else wince. "By the way, I believe I saw that exact same blue-haired boy come here this morning to pick you up, Izuku? Is he one of your friends as well?" The moment she turned to her son, however… she noticed his own awkward expression, along with a sadness behind his eyes. "…Izuku, what's wrong?"

"He… Iida couldn't make it here, mom." Izuku explained, his concern noticeable in his voice. "He received a call notifying him of a family emergency, so he had to leave the festival early."

Inko gasped upon hearing that. "Oh my goodness, i-is everything okay with him?"

"We… aren't sure at the moment." Momo shook her head. "His brother, a pro hero, was attacked by a villain. We've been told that his injuries are severe, but he'll live… though we haven't heard about how Iida's handling all of this…"

"Iida…" Inko muttered to herself before gasping again. "Ah! Wait, as in Tensei Iida? The hero Ingenium who was—"

"Yes." Izuku nodded. "Tenya, our friend, is his brother."

Inko's hand covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh, I just saw a news report on that not too long ago…" She brought a hand to her chest as she looked to the group of teens with utmost sympathy. "Oh, the poor dear… I can only imagine what he must be going through right now." Inko took in a deep breath as she ushered the kids to follow her inside. "Well, no use just standing out here. Everyone, please come in. Oh, and feel free to help yourself to some katsudon. I made a lot to celebrate Izuku's victory, so there's plenty for everyone."

That managed to bring everyone's moods up a little bit. "Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya." Momo bowed in gratitude once again. "We would be honored. But on the topic of celebrations…" She went up and gently nudged Izuku in the side, prompting him to continue on.

"O-Oh, right." Izuku said as everyone took off their shoes to go in. "Mom, Yaoyorozu's parents are actually holding a special party later this evening, a-and I was wondering if I could go with the others."

"Why of course, honey!" Inko obliged, finding no issue with the arrangement. "After all, this is a BIG day, and I'm sure everyone will want to be celebrating in their own way. Just so long as it's not after… I'm going to be generous and say eleven tonight, but only because you're the guest of honor."

That got Izuku and the others beaming in excitement. "W-Wow! Okay! Thank you so much, mom. I promise I'll be home on time." Meanwhile, he was thinking to himself; 'Thank you, GroundBridge…' But then, Izuku also caught whiff of a certain familiar smell. 'And hello mom's katsudon!'

…..

About an hour later, around six-thirty or so, the teens all began setting out again, giving Inko one last farewell before heading to ground level. "Gotta say, Midori, I've got no idea what you were so nervous about." Mina said as she brought her hands behind her head, wearing a proud smile. "I'd say we all left quite the positive impression on your mom back there."

"Yeah, I mean, sure, she's pretty emotional, but what parent isn't, right?" Denki added.

The greenette sighed as he led the way down the steps. "Hah, yeah, I guess you guys make a good point…" He glanced over, seeing Kyoka eye him knowingly. "…Yes?"

"Oh, nothing." Kyoka winked. "It's just that you totally freaked out over nothing. It's kinda funny considering your confidence should be SOARING after dominating the Sports Festival."

"I-It's honestly not that easy, I assure you." Izuku asserted, his mind going back to all of the drama that happened that day, though he pulled up the medal around his neck so he could stare at that as well. "Believe me, I'm excited beyond belief that I won, but… between Iida and Bakugo's situations, I've had a lot of other stuff on my mind."

"I can relate, Muscles." Mei affirmed, only to give him a hearty smack across the back. "But c'mon, we can't just sulk forever! Once we get to the base, I'm sure it'll be smooth sailing from… oh…" The inventor trailed off the second her eyes found someone standing at the curb near the apartment building… accompanied by a familiar police Jeep truck. "S-Strongarm?!"

The holoform policewoman brought her sights up to the group, wearing a sad smile as they approached. "Hey there, guys. It's… good to see you." She directed her attention down to Izuku in particular. "Izuku, congratulations on winning the Sports Festival. Tenya wanted me to make sure I gave you his well regards, too."

"Thank you." Izuku nodded before staring seriously into Strongarm's eyes. "But Iida… h-how is he? And how is his brother?"

Strongarm pursed her lips, taking in a deep intake. "Well… both of them are doing well… thankfully." The woman under the alias "Stella" clenched her fist. "But whoever did this to Tenya's brother… I could tell by the placement of the wounds that they intended on keeping him just barely alive. If the surgery had happened any later… GRAH!" She punched the nearest stop sign, which was severely dented as a result. "Frag it all! I wish I could do more for them!"

Ochako immediately rushed up, taking a hold of Strongarm's hand. "Woah, woah, cool your servos, Strongarm. Please… remain calm and tell us how it went down."

As her engine revved in frustration, Strongarm slowly began to collect herself, opening her hand to take hold of Ochako's. "Th-Thank you, Ochako. This was… this was hard. Let me start at the beginning…"

…..

~Hosu General Hospital, Two Hours Ago~

"We're here." Strongarm said as she pulled up to the curb, her gaze going up to the sign in front of the hospital. She had emerged from the GroundBridge just a few miles outside the city, and from there, it was just a simple matter of putting on her sirens to make sure she had a clear shot to the hospital. Now all that was left was to go inside. She rolled toward the parking lot and the moment she came to a halt, Tenya reached for her door handles… only to find that they were locked. "Hey, hey, don't rush. Remember, this is a hospital." Strongarm reached over, taking Tenya by the shoulder. "I know this is a tense situation, but we must continue to follow the decorum that a hospital asks for. Understood?"

"I-I… I apologize, Strongarm, it's just…"

Strongarm nodded in understanding. "Believe me, I get it. If I were in your position, I'd want to do the same. But we must also keep in mind that there are probably plenty of others in there going through a similar situation. We must be respectful." She unlocked her doors and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Now come on, let's go see your brother."

With that, the two got out of her vehicle mode and went toward the front entrance, walking straight up to the receptionist desk. There, they were met with a young woman in a hospital frock, gazing up at them with a hint of worry in her eye. "Hello, officer, welcome to Hosu General Hospital. How may we help you today?"

"Yes, hello." Strongarm extended her hand toward Tenya. "I'm here escorting this young man to see his brother. He was admitted recently."

Tenya stepped forward and bowed his head. "Please, miss… where is Tensei Iida's room?"

"Oh, yes, of course." With a sense of urgency, the receptionist searched the room up in no time flat. "Iida is in surgery room… 406, fourth floor." She pointed toward the far corner of the waiting area. "The elevator's right over there, and please remember; no running in the hallways."

Giving a full bow this time, Tenya showed his gratitude. "Thank you very much." The duo walked up to the elevator and took it up to the fifth floor, getting off before scanning the halls for the surgery room. Thankfully, it didn't take long for them to find it… since there was a woman sitting near the door. Tenya's eyes widened and he shouted; "Mom!"

The middle-aged woman; a bluenette with short hair wearing glasses and a light blue cardigan, stood up the moment she heard her son. "Oh, Tenya!" Just by her broken voice alone, it was obvious to Strongarm that she had been crying, and for quite a while. As she met her son, however, Tenya's mother quickly noticed "Stella" off to the side. "A-And… wait, who is…"

The Autobot cadet saluted. "Officer Stella Armstrong, ma'am. I'm an acquaintance of your son's. I was stationed as security at the Sports Festival when he received the news, so I gave him a police escort."

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much." The woman gave a half-hearted smile, Strongarm noting how exhausted she seemed, though her tone was genuine. "You made… surprisingly good time. I only called half an hour ago, how did you…"

"Hm, when you've got your lights and sirens going, it makes it faster than any bullet train."

"…I sincerely doubt that, but I won't question it." She went over, reaching out to her youngest son's hand as her eyes brimmed with tears. "What truly matters is that you're here. Thank god."

Attempting to remain as calm as possible was hard for Tenya. He so desperately wanted to throw open that door, but Strongarm could tell he was trying to hold himself back. "M-Mom, how is Tensei doing?"

"He is alive, and in stable condition." The Iida matriarch said in relief. "The first surgery went well, and they expect he will only need a couple more… but Tenya, he… there's no guarantee that he'll ever be the same because of this."

That horrified Tenya to his core. "W-What?! Please, I-I need to—hmph!"

Without any warning, his mother produced a hospital mask from her pocket and slipped it over his face, before doing the same with hers. "Before you go ANYWHERE in that room, young man, you must wear this. No exceptions, understood?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Good…" the mother took a deep breath and went for the door. "Now… be prepared… hm?" Before she could reach the handle, though, Stella got to it first.

"Please, Mrs. Iida, allow me." She nodded to the two. "Are you ready?" They returned the nod and Strongarm knocked on the door. "Please excuse us, we're coming in."

It didn't take long for a reply. "So long as everyone is masked up, you're free to do so." Strongarm took that as her cue to open the sliding door… and what she saw even left her shellshocked.

There, laid out in the bed, was Tensei. The young man was covered in wounds all over, with several IV tubes stuck into him almost on every point of his upper body. Several parts of him were also covered in gauze, particularly a large patch over his midsection as well as wrapped around his scalp. He still wore an oxygen mask, and thankfully, his breathing was steady and regular.

The doctor, who stood by Tensei's bed, nodded to the family and officer. "The anesthesia's worn off, but he's still in and out." He informed, seeing their absolutely stunned expressions. "If the surgery had happened any later, I don't know if he would've made it…"

"Hmph…" A stir from the bed caught everybody's attention. There, they could see Tensei moving only a slight bit, his eyes cracking open. They were dark, and that left Strongarm feeling all the worse for this family's situation. She had seen faded optics like that several times. Tensei's eyes found Iida, though his vision was incredibly blurry. "…Little brother… is that you?"

"By Solus…" Strongarm whispered before hearing Mrs. Iida suddenly break down in tears, slumping and falling against the doorframe. The cadet's eyes widened, no doubt she was overwhelmed by the sight as much as they were. "M-Mrs. Iida!" Strongarm went down, gently grasping the woman's shoulders in an attempt to console her.

"Tensei!" Tenya, however, almost stumbled into the room as he went to his brother's side, leaning over the bed's guardrail. "Y-You're going to be fine!" his voice cracked.

The broken Ingenium was just barely able to speak in a whisper. "…Sorry… I'm supposed to be someone you can look up to and respect. …But look at me." As Tensei spoke to him, Tenya couldn't keep it together anymore. He began trembling and whimpering as tears welled in his eyes, all while his brother began to lose consciousness again. "Tenya… little brother… I'm so sorry… I failed you." Tenya watched as Ingenium's eyes closed, a new wave of anguish washing over him. His knees buckled from underneath, all while wailing in despair.

"TENSEI!"

…..

~Present~

Strongarm hung her head after recounting everything, unable to meet the gazes of the teens in front of her. "…It never hit me until now… but I didn't realize just how fragile you humans can be." She placed a hand over her eyes, trying to keep herself composed. "Here I thought, in a world where broken arms can be healed in a mere instant thanks to a Quirk, that humans rarely if ever end up in the condition that Tenya's brother is in now."

The eight classmates in front of the cadet were all hit with a renewed sense of sadness after hearing that, with Momo giving a single nod. "Yes, it's a harsh reality, but when something like… that happens, healing Quirks can only do so much."

"Yeah." Izuku raised his cast-covered arm the best he could to show it off. "My last Smash left me like this, after all. …Though I'd hardly compare what I did to myself to what Ingenium went through."

"I'm just glad that he lived." Eijiro commented. "If he HAD been killed… god, I can't imagine what Iida would do."

"Did they say if he was going to make a full recovery?" Denki asked. "You said he needed more surgeries, right?"

Strongarm sucked in her lips, letting out a brief huff as she gestured toward her Jeep mode. "Maybe it's best if we continue this discussion back at base. Everyone's already waiting there… though obviously, Tenya's decided to sit this out."

"Completely understandable." Kyoka said softly. "He should take all the time he needs right now." With that, everyone began loading up into Strongarm, with Ochako, Izuku, Kyoka and Momo taking the main cab while Eijiro, Denki, Mina and Mei all climbed onto the tailgate. "Alright, let's roll."

Activating her comm, Strongarm contacted the base; "Autobot HQ, this is Strongarm. I've got the kids, so bridge us there, please."

"Affirmative, cadet." Red Alert answered on the other end. In no time at all, the GroundBridge burst open at the end of the street in front of them, the swirling vortex's green light greeting them. "GroundBridge is open. Make this quick, Strongarm, we don't need any passersby noticing." Putting herself in gear, the young bot drove through the portal immediately, leading it to close just as quickly.

…..

On the other side, the police truck drove her way into the Autobot base, where Red Alert was standing right at the console. Naturally, Mei was the first to greet him. "Hiya, Red!" The moment Strongarm pulled to a stop, she hopped out to meet the medic with a gleeful smile. "So, did ya watch me in the festival, huh? Did ya, did ya?"

Red put on a small grin as he knelt down to meet her. "Hm, I did. And I must say, you certainly made a show of your inventions out there. I was thoroughly impressed."

"D'aw, shucks!" Mei waved him off. "Red, it was nothing, really. …Though I do kinda wish I'd done SOME things a bit differently."

"Let me guess." The Autobot's tone was more somber now. "It's about Tenya, correct?" The single, sad nod was all he needed to confirm that. "I had a feeling that was the case. Well, Mei, as someone who's seen his fair share of grievous injuries, I will say this; you shouldn't feel bad about a circumstantial happening. Using Tenya as your guinea pig wasn't intended to be meanspirited, correct?"

"…No, it wasn't."

He reached down, giving her a pat on the head. "Then I'm certain that he is not upset with you about it. His brother's situation was an unfortunate accident, but you mustn't feel guilty about something that was out of your control."

Mei gave a shrug at that. "Yeah… I guess not."

Red Alert's smile reappeared. "And besides, think about all of the sponsors that saw your ideas in action. I'm certain that a support company will want to recruit you soon."

"…You've got a point, Red." Mei's own smile returned as well, raising her fists in determination. "Alright, no more moping around. I'm gonna start using these nasty feelings as motivation for me to work harder and smarter on my next baby!"

"Hm, that's what I was hoping to hear."

As everyone else disembarked from Strongarm, however, a loud squeal of delight came ringing through the whole room, making the kids jump. "W-What was—AH!" Momo didn't have time to finish her question as a certain City Speaker came rushing over and scooped her up out of nowhere, taking her by surprise with a hug. "Windblade! What in the world has gotten into—"

"Heehee! I am SO proud of you!" Windblade laughed, bringing Momo up to her optic level. "Momo, you exceeded my expectations out there throughout the whole event! I was especially blown away by your showing in the finals."

Momo's cheeks flushed red at the sudden heaping of praise, her lips parting in shock. "Y-You were? Really?"

Gently, Windblade brought her hand up, giving her friend a supportive pat on the back. "Of course, I was! I could tell just by watching that you took our training to heart and remained focused on thinking through both your fights. Yes, you were overwhelmed in your last fight, but that is understandable when confronted with an intimidating opponent." Her smile became more determined as she balled her hand into a fist. "But that's only all the more reason to keep working at it. I have no doubt in my spark that you'll be a great hero one day, for sure."

Bringing her hand up to her chest, Momo felt a surge of emotion come rushing through her, the raven-haired girl beaming back to her partner before standing up and giving her a hug. …Or, at least, giving Windblade's face a hug. "Thank you, Windblade, so much. I… I don't know if I would've had the confidence to do what I did out there if it weren't for your training, really."

The City Speaker's smile widened as she returned the embrace to the best of her ability. "You're welcome, Momo. Just remember; have faith in yourself and you can do or create anything you set your mind to."

"AAAWW!" Mina cooed down below, her hands clasped together joyfully. "That's so cute! Now I've gotta find Bulk so HE can heap the praise on me—AGH!" The pink girl screeched when, without warning, a certain blue, wolf-like Mini-Con pounced onto her from out of nowhere… and began licking her. "AH! AAH—HAHA! S-Sawback, please! D-Don't, that tickles!"

"RUFF-RUFF!" Sawback barked as he jumped off Mina and began going around to everyone else, giving them his own special greeting as well.

Some weren't too receptive… "Ugh, y-yes, good boy." Kyoka muttered, her hair now cowlicked thanks to his slobber.

While others actually managed to stay upright and standing. "HAHA! Gonna take more than that to bring me down, Sawback." Eijiro smirked as he pushed the wolf Mini-Con down and began rubbing his tummy, hardening up his hands just a little to make sure it tickled. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?!"

"Ah-ha! Gues Sawback gave you his proper greeting." The teens craned their heads up to see Springer approaching, with Fangblade walking by his side. "He was really excited seeing you all on TV doing your thing, ya know."

"Heya, Springs!" Mina greeted, only for Sawback to come back and get in her face again. "Ooh! Haha! So, did ya enjoy the show as much as this guy did?"

Springer winked and gave a thumbs up. "You bet, little Wrecker. Lemme tell ya, you kids really gave it your all out there." He glanced down to Izuku in particular, sending a nod his way. "And you, Izuku, ya really showed 'em what a champion looks like. Somethin' tells me that no one'll be underestimatin' you anytime soon."

Izuku got a chuckle out of that. "Haha, yeah, thanks Springer." The greenette glanced down to his arms, a tang of worry rising in his chest. "Now all that's left is to see if any hero agency would be willing to draft a guy whose Quirk breaks his bones. After all, some could see me more as a liability than an asset in that regard."

The Triple Changer waved that notion off, however. "Ah, don't think too hard about it. If anyone passes over you, they'd just be missin' out." He spread his arms out toward the group. "But hey, let's not focus on that for now. After all, this is about celebratin' your victory, so we've got better things to do tonight than worry 'bout that."

"Uh, yeah, speaking of which, where IS everybody?" Denki asked. "I would've thought our bots would be the first to greet us at the gate."

Whrr-tschzz-tschzz-tschzz-chk! Strongarm transformed into robot mode and directed them over to the main hangar… which was oddly cast almost in pitch black darkness. The entryway provided a little light, but other than that, they could hardly see anything. "They're waiting for us as we speak." Strongarm winked. "Come on, I think you'll get a kick out of this."

Warily, the teens all followed the cadet in, with Windblade, Red Alert, Springer and the Mini-Cons bringing up the rear. Despite everything, though, they couldn't see anything even after walking in. "Uh, Strongarm? W-What's going—" CHOOM! All of a sudden, the lights were switched on, taking everybody off guard. "AH! What the—"

"SURPRISE!" A chorus of voices came blaring at the students as their eyes adjusted… and what they saw made their jaws drop. Of course, they were greeted by the sight of the other Autobots… but the large and prominent banner reading; "Congratulations!" hanging over the hangar door was what got their attention first, as well as all of the confectionaries and drinks settled across several tables set up throughout the room. They would've questioned how the Autobots did all of this… if it weren't for the presence of their teachers.

Of course, as expected, All Might was there, front and center with Optimus. But, in addition, there was Aizawa, Nezu, Midnight, Cementoss, Snipe, Ectoplasm, Present Mic, Thirteen, and Power Loader as well. Even Recovery Girl was there, along with Merissa and Agent Burns, too. Essentially every teacher associated with Class 1-A was there, much to the shock of everyone. And what was more astonishing was… most of them were in normal civilian clothes.

Agent Burns raised the cup in his hand toward the kids. "Hey! There they are! 'Bout time!"

"We were wondering how long we'd have to wait around here in the dark." Merissa quipped as well.

The students all blinked to make sure they weren't seeing things, with Mina screeching; "…W-Wait, WHAT?!"

"Haha! Yes! I knew they'd be at a lost for words." Midnight pumped a fist victoriously. She was dressed in a casual black jacket with a white undershirt, with a pair of red stilettos and a pair of jeans that hugged her hourglass form. She was also holding a red solo cup filled with… a certain substance that she snuck in. 'Just so long as the kids—or Nezu—don't see that I have this, I should be fine.' Nemuri winked at them as she approached. "So, I take it you weren't expecting this."

Eijiro shook his head vehemently. "N-No, Miss Midnight. We just expected it to be a party with us and the Autobots. What're you all doing here?"

"After witnessing all of your hard work you put in the Festival's events, we felt it necessary to help put this celebration together." Ectoplasm elaborated, dressed head to stubby foot in an outfit that nearly covered his entire body. "And besides, since we all worked together on that mission a couple days ago, it seems only fitting."

Merissa jerked her thumb up to Optimus. "That and Prime had no clue how to throw a human-sized party, so he was practically begging for our help."

That got a laugh out the teens while Prime cleared his vents in exasperation. "Ahem, yes, well… moving tiny things can be… difficult for beings such as us."

Kyoka smirked and crossed her arms. "Heh, yeah, tiny compared to you guys." She scanned her eyes across all of the various food and drinks, some of which were specially prepared. "But I gotta say, you all really outdid yourselves."

"Hah, thanks." Bulkhead pointed up toward the banner. "Bee and I worked on that last night, actually. Hope ya like it."

Denki noticed that the banner had several paint splotches on it resembling robotic hand and footprints, along with a few rips here and there. All this made him realize that there were probably a few mishaps in the banner-making process. "Uh… yeah, Bulk, it's really cool."

"It certainly has a… homemade feel to it, that's for sure." Izuku noted… before suddenly getting picked up. "W-Woah!" In no time at all, he was on Bumblebee's shoulder, the scout buzzing a victorious tune as he marched back and forth through the room. "Ahaha! Bee, c'mon, are we really doing THIS now?"

"Zkkt—All hail the conquering hero! YA-DA-DADA-DADA~" As Bumblebee piped in marching band music through his radio, the room was filled with laughter in an instant. Even the teachers couldn't help but join in on the merriment… aside from Aizawa, of course, though he wasn't exactly a party person.

This was eventually brought to a stop, however, when Optimus stepped in, raising a hand to his scout. "Haha, I know that you must be very excited about this, Bumblebee." He nodded down to Izuku as well. "Believe me, I am as well. Congratulations, Izuku. You certainly showed the world what you can do this day. Words cannot express my pride."

"I second that." All Might said as he approached his pupil, whom Bumblebee let down so he could meet him. "Young Midoriya, when I took you on to train your Quirk all those months ago, I never would've dreamed that you would make so much progress in such a short amount of time. You've truly said to the world "I am here", and through that, I'm certain that several agencies will be interested in recruiting you." While Izuku's eyes glistened and his lower lip quivered in joy, All Might raised his cup to the other 1-A students as well. "And that goes for all of you, too! No matter where you placed in the Sports Festival, I have no doubt that you will be attracting agencies from all over Japan. Best of luck with the internships, young students!"

"Man, oh man, gotta admit, I'm a bit nervous 'bout that comin' up." Eijiro admitted.

But Sideswipe was quick to reassuring him. "Ah, c'mon, Eiji, ya knocked 'em dead at the Festival, so I'm not sure what you've got to be nervous about." The red Lambo Brother gave a shrug. "I mean, it's just an internship. How hard can it be?"

"Exceedingly, Sideswipe." Nezu spoke up, the rodent-like creature of a principal shuffling his way over. "After all, this is where our student's mettle is truly put to the test. The Sports Festival is but a warm up; the internships are where the REAL challenge begins."

"Principal Nezu is right." Izuku nodded. "With all those eyes on us, no doubt the heroes that'll try to recruit us will have high expectations."

"It's time to buckle down and start taking things seriously." Mei placed her hands on her hips, wearing a determined smile and giving a thumbs up. "And don't you worry, I'll make sure that all of your gear is up to date before you head out for your internships next week."

Sunstreaker's optics widened at that. "Woah, next week? Talk about a quick turn around."

Windblade, however, saw the logic in it right away. "Well, I imagine it has to be. After all, any later and the hype from the Sports Festival would die down and people would be less likely to recruit…" She glanced down to Nezu for confirmation. "Is that right?"

The principal raised a paw. "Precisely! Keeping the students' performances in everybody's minds is a major factor when it comes to the recruitment period." But he waved his paw to dismiss the topic. "However, that can wait for another day. Right now, we have some major news to discuss before the festivities get underway. Optimus? If you would be so kind."

The Prime placed a hand over his chest. "I appreciate your consideration, Principal Nezu, however…" He gestured over to the Autobot police cadet across the room. "I feel it would be best if Strongarm started things off."

"Thank you, Optimus, sir." Strongarm saluted as she took to the center of the room, taking a deep intake to steel herself. "First of all, I… must apologize. We believed it would be prudent to start with the more unfortunate news first, and I believe you all know exactly what that means." The downcast expressions adorning everyone's features were all she needed for an answer. "Right… so as you all have heard, the hero Ingenium, Tenya Iida's older brother, was attacked and left for dead by a villain. The fortunate part is that he DID survive the encounter and is expected to recover… but not fully." She closed her optics solemnly. "After having a discussion with the doctor, I have learned that despite the surgeries, it has been found that Tensei has been paralyzed from the waist down."

A collective gasp rang through the whole room, followed by the teachers all muttering worriedly. The teenagers were left the most stunned by the news, however, with Izuku's eyes widening as the reality hit him. "B-But… then that means…"

"Yes, Tensei's hero career is likely at an end." Strongarm affirmed.

Momo was almost trembling at the news, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth. "Oh my god…" Next to her, she saw that Mei was also trembling a bit… though she saw that her eyes were both filled with sadness and… a bit of anger? Or was it determination? 'How odd… what is she thinking?'

"B-But… that's not fair!" Ochako exclaimed, with small tears brimming her eyes at the thought of her friend's anguish. "He's Tenya's hero! How could this happen?!"

Aizawa was quick to speak up about that. "Let this be a lesson for you kids going forward." His eyes narrowed seriously. "It's like I said at the beginning of the semester; being a hero isn't something that's fair. Often enough, things like this WILL happen. A villain can get the better of a hero and end their career in mere seconds. Examples like Ingenium and Water Hose from a couple years back is evidence of that."

The teens all winced at the reminder. The two-in-one hero, Water Hose, a married couple who had very similar Quirks, had both been brutally beaten to death by an immensely strong villain that they could do nothing against. It had been a senseless tragedy. "This… is insane." Denki whispered to himself.

"It is a harsh reality, to be sure." Optimus spoke up. "Which is why we are giving you all a word of warning if you are in the Hosu area. If you find yourself going there for any reason at all, have your Autobot partner accompany you." His eyeridges furrowed as he reached over to the nearby control panel, bringing up an image on the big screen. It was a news article reporting on Ingenium's attack… and the headline sent a chill through everyone who read it. "Because if the reports on who is responsible for this are accurate… we have a major problem on our hands." The headline read;

Attack on Ingenium: Hero Killer Responsible?

The main image of the article was a split one, with Ingenium's helmet on the right side while a shadowy figure loomed in an alleyway on the right. There wasn't much to make out of the figure aside from the unruly hair, the glowing reds of his eyes, and the tattered mess of scarves and bandages covering him, along with a slew of blade holsters. All Might lowered his head, his grip threatening to crush his drink cup. "The Hero Killer… Stain."

"Are… a-are you serious right now?" Kyoka uttered. "The Hero Killer is in Hosu?"

"That's what the authorities believe, yes." Cementoss lamented. "The poor Iida Family… to have their eldest son targeted by the Hero Killer himself."

Arcee pursed her lips in disgust. "Hero Killer… I have no doubt that this guy is bad news, but what's the story on him?"

Snipe hummed as he tried to recall that. "Hm, story goes he used to be a vigilante who flunked outta hero school, but still wanted to bring justice to criminals." He lowered his head with a small growl. "But, somewhere along the way, it's said that his views on hero society were left twisted, though no one knows exactly why. After that, he's said to have gone 'round seekin' to "purge" all the unworthy heroes who he sees as "unjust"."

"He usually targets heroes who're just in it for the fame or money." Present Mic noted as well… which made Ochako and Denki suddenly freeze up. "H-Hey, no judging here, but I'm just statin' the facts. In any case, he usually leaves his victims… well, dead, but sometimes he'll leave 'em alive to "spread his message"."

"And what message is that?" Bulkhead asked.

"That he will show society what heroes truly are." Ectoplasm grumbled before setting his sights over to the Number One hero. "Unfortunately, no one's been able to get a handle on him. He moves faster than anybody can track him, to the point that he leaves no trace of his presence at his crime scenes."

All Might gave a hefty sigh, his characteristic smile gone. "It's why no one, not even myself, has been able to track him down." He finally crushed his cup in frustration. "And what's worse is that every single time, he calls me out. Saying that… I am the only one worthy of killing him." The Symbol of Peace brought fist down through one of the tables, which thankfully only had plates and cups on it. But all the while… he didn't notice that he was beginning to steam up. "It frustrates me to no end! It's like he's TAUNTING me, I—"

"Uh… All Might?" Mina pointed at him in confusion. "Why is your body smoking?"

If Toshinori still had a stomach, it would've done a flip. He peered down to see that his body was trembling, unable to keep the form up after having to use it on and off all day. "Gkk! N-No…" He glanced over to the teachers, who were all visibly worried about what would happen next. Izuku and Kyoka also were concerned, the duo trying to make up an excuse.

"U-Uh, I-I think he's just… um… so mad that he's boiling up?" Kyoka guessed half-heartedly.

"All Might, please." Optimus inserted himself in, nodding down to the shaking, steaming hero. "I believe it's time to let everyone in on your… condition." Next to the Prime, Bumblebee buzzed in agreement, which only served to make the other Autobots perplexed.

"Hm? Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Prime?" Jazz asked. "Know somethin' we don't?"

Izuku could see All Might's hesitancy written across his features, though, no matter how much he tried to hide it with his fake smile. "…All Might." he stepped forward, meeting his hero's gaze. "I know you want to keep this secret from as few people as possible… but I'm sure you can trust everyone here to keep it." He craned his head back to his friends. "Right, guys?"

Ochako was quick to agree. "Yeah, of course! All Might, please, you look like you're struggling and it's causing you pain. Whatever this is, you can be sure we'll keep it secret. You have our word." Behind her, Momo, Mei, Eijiro, Mina and Denki all nodded to him, giving their word as well.

"I-I… hah, well, I appreciate that, young Uraraka." All Might bowed his head as he let the steam envelope him, changing him back to his normal appearance. "But be warned… this is far from pretty." Once the steam cleared, everyone from Autobot to human was greeted by the sight of Toshinori Yagi, the lithe man now swimming in his yellow pin-stripe tuxedo. In turn, he was met with several astonished faces; eyes wide, mouths open in disbelief. "See? What'd I tell ya?"

Mei had to rub her eyes to make sure there was nothing wrong or her Quirk wasn't playing tricks on her. "W-Wait… All Might? Is that you?!"

"Yep, sure is." Toshinori affirmed. "Drink it in, everybody. This is who I really am… at least, who I've been for the past five years or so."

"B-But how… how in the world did you get like this?" Momo shook her head. "How does the Number One hero become so… skinny?"

Toshi gave a sigh and took off his jacket, allowing him to access his button-up shirt. "It's probably better to show than tell you." Lifting up the white undershirt, All Might revealed the massive, impact-shaped scar on his left side, eliciting another round of gasps from those not in the know. "Yeah, pretty gross, I know."

"Woah…" Bulkhead and Springer were both left reeling from the sight of the incredibly thin man, the former pointing out; "Damn, All Might, that wound looks like some of the stuff we've seen on our Wreckin' missions."

"Yeah, I've seen bots come away with wounds like that." Springer added. "How the pit did you get that?"

Lowering his shirt back down, Toshinori answered. "It was a villain attack from a long time ago." His gaze was focused on the children as he explained. "You kids probably don't remember this, but years ago, I fought a villain called the Toxic Chainsaw. It was a battle that I kept mostly on the downlow, but it eventually leaked on the internet and started spreading as a rumor."

Eijiro's eyebrows rose up. "Woah! Yeah, I remember that rumor. So… you're saying it was true?"

"And that THIS is the result of that fight?" Denki furthered.

The Number One hero nodded. "Yep, all true. And unfortunately, it cost me a lot. Lost my entire stomach and more in that fight." …Of course, this was only half the truth. Toxic Chainsaw didn't really exist, it was only a cover-up name for the REAL villain that he battled all those years ago. 'Of course, I can't tell any of these kids about HIM yet. Hell, I haven't even told young Midoriya about him yet. And it's probably best to stay that way for now.' He bowed to his students apologetically. "Please, forgive me for keeping this a secret from you. If anyone found out that the Symbol of Peace was like this…"

"It's alright, All Might." Momo assured, bowing back to him. "We understand."

"Yeah, I mean, we all know how important keeping up an image for the public is, especially for you." Mina said with a sympathetic smile. "Besides, we're just glad that you managed to survive that whole fight to begin with."

That managed to get a smile out of All Might, the man chuckling breathily. "Hmhm, you're too kind, ladies. …But there's still an unfortunate inevitability to this." He gestured over to Izuku. "As you're no doubt aware by now, Optimus Prime and I have been mentoring young Midoriya in how to use his extremely powerful Quirk. You've also noted that there are several similarities between our Quirks. Well, there's a deeper meaning to that. Soon… my time as the Symbol of Peace will be coming to an end. My body just can't handle much more. I'm able to only be All Might for a couple hours each day. And because of that, I've deemed it necessary to name a successor…" He placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "…And you're looking at him."

Once more, a round of gasps rang through the whole room, which included some of the teachers this time. But this only made Aizawa smirk beneath his bandages. "Hmph, knew it."

"W-Wait, so you're saying that Izuku's going to become the Number One hero one day?" Sideswipe asked.

Toshinori scratched his cheek. "W-Well, not necessarily. The two aren't mutually exclusive, you know." He shook his head before bringing his eyes to Izuku, who met his gaze once again. "But no, my intent is to help young Midoriya master his powerful Quirk, so he may use it to take my place as the Symbol of Peace one day."

Izuku spared a brief look to all of his friends. The only one who wasn't completely flabbergasted was Kyoka, and even then, she was taking this all rather seriously. "That's why I wanted to win the Sports Festival so badly." Izuku explained. "So that I could show the world what I was capable of. I-I know this must be a lot to take in…"

"…Damn, man." Eijiro sat down in the nearest chair, taking it all in. "When ya put it like that, it actually kinda makes some sense."

Mei also seemed a bit shellshocked by the whole thing as well. "Hah… wow, Muscles. Never would've guessed."

Running a hand through her hair, Mina took some time to let that settle in. "A world without All Might… it sounds almost too good to be true."

"Things ARE starting to add up a bit more now." Ochako admitted, but all the same, she wore a supportive smile. "But I think you'll be a perfect choice as a successor, Deku!" She raised her fists to emphasize her point. "After all, your goal in wanting to become a hero is probably the most heartfelt out of all of us. That's something I can respect."

"Hell yeah, man." Denki gave a thumbs up. "You've got my future vote for "Symbol of Peace", I can say that much."

Kyoka rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure it doesn't work like that…" All the same, she gave a wink to her best friend. "Still, I've got your back on this one, Izuku. Count on it."

Arcee gestured toward her Autobot comrades, who all gave their own support as well. "Same with all of us, Izuku. We'll be sure to help in any way we can."

Izuku couldn't help but blush again, scratching his neck sheepishly. 'Man, and here I thought winning the Sports Festival was a bit much. Now these guys are being even MORE supportive of me.' He let out a small laugh, hoping to change the subject. "Hah, th-thanks guys. B-But maybe it's time we move on to the rest of the news, huh? Optimus, I think you mentioned that you guys managed to locate a new relic earlier, yeah?"

"Ah, yes, we did. Red Alert, if you would?" At his leader's behest, the medic wasted no time in entering a new command on the console, bringing up a map of the world. On it, a small blip appeared in the middle of Australia, which Optimus pointed to. "This is where our latest relic is located; directly in the middle of what you humans call the "Australian Outback"."

That news made Eijiro smile eagerly. "Oh, hell yeah, man! I've always wanted to go to Austrialia!" …His remark received several stares, making him tilt his head. "Uh… what?"

Momo extended a hand toward him. "I'm sorry, Kirishima, but… you want to go to the outback?"

"A place that can kill you if you look at the wrong animal funny?" Kyoka added, leaning in on the conversation.

With a confident smirk, Kirishima hardened his hand and chest, bashing his fist against it. "Ha! You think anything on that continent can hurt ME? Please, lemme at a kangaroo and I'll show it who's boss." He saluted up to Optimus, stating his request; "Permission to come along on this mission, sir!"

"Ooh! Ooh! Me too!" Mina raised her fists, ready for action. "I'm pretty sure I can handle any poisonous animal in Australia!"

Midnight couldn't help but deadpan at that. "Pretty sure that acid and poison aren't mutually exclusive, Ashido."

"Yeah, besides, you guys have gone on EVERY mission so far." Denki pointed out, pointing his thumb between him and Momo. "Meanwhile, the likes of us have only gone on ONE since we got permission to head out on these missions."

It was at that point that Bulkhead went over, stomping his foot to get their attention. "Okay, okay, let's not let this devolve into a fight. How about this; we'll decide who gets to go tomorrow when we actually head out, alright?"

The teens all glanced to one another before Mina answered for all of them. "…Yeah, okay, that sounds fair."

"Great!" Izuku said in satisfaction. "And don't worry, you guys won't have to worry about me taking up a slot." His lifted his slung-up arm for emphasis. "I've gotta wear this for a full day tomorrow, so I'm gonna be taking it easy."

"Yeah, same." Kyoka put her hands behind her head. "After today, I think we could all just chill a little bit."

Ochako glanced up to Arcee. "Yeah, and we'll be busy too, right Arcee?"

The pink Autobot snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah, that's right! I promised I'd help you shop around tomorrow." Arcee winked, giving Ochako a two-fingered salute. "Well, don't worry, I'll be sure to hold up my end of the bargain."

"Thanks! That means a lot, actually." Ochako's cheeks became pink as she scratched her head sheepishly. "See, it's actually been a couple weeks since I went shopping and my fridge is almost empty. Having someone to help out with the groceries is gonna be a big help!"

"Very well, it is decided, then." Optimus craned his head down toward the four teens. "Arrive here in the morning should you want to attend the mission. I'll be sending your guardians to pick you up."

Momo, Mina, Eijiro and Denki all saluted. "Yes sir!"

The Prime gave a nod back. "Excellent. Now, onto the second major news that I wished to share with you all. Jazz, Red Alert?"

"Affirmative." Red stated as he typed in a new command on the console, with Jazz doing a side-step up next to him. Once again, the screen in front of them changed, this time to some sort of audio mixer with bars and lines fluctuating with the sound. "Following the rescue mission on Saturday, Jazz and I managed to finally unscramble the message that had been sent to Cybertron all those eons ago. The one that was found and left behind by Padlock and his team."

This news managed to excite the teens even further. "Woah, really?!" Mei squeed in excitement. "AAAH! Red, what the heck?! Why didn't ya tell me sooner?! I would've been all over it!"

"Haha, slow yo' roll there, Mei." Jazz raised a hand. "We wanted to keep this a surprise fo' ya'll. 'Cause lemme tell ya, you're gonna wanna hear this. Hit it, Red!" The medic did as asked and pressed play, activating the message.

What followed was the sound of a deep, baritone and rather husky voice, which also somehow sounded very smooth at the same time. It sounded intimidating, but also rather hopeful as it spoke; "And so, my friends, we send our message to the future. Even as the asteroid hurtles toward this planet, we stand together in the face of catastrophe—with courage, and good cheer! RAAAAAHH!" The bot roared, and at the same time, everyone could hear several other primal roars in the background before the message cut off.

The whole room was silent for a moment, contemplating what exactly all that was. "Woah… who was that?" Cementoss questioned.

Jazz rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Ooh, ho-ho… THAT, my friend… was the voice of none other than… Grimlock!"

Mina's eyes lit up immediately. "I don't know who that is, but he has a badass name. I'm interested!"

"Hmhm, well, Grimlock is a very old friend of mine." Optimus elaborated, though he eyed the screen with a questioning optic. "Granted, we didn't see optic-to-optic on several things, but when it came right down to it, there was no better bot to have on your side."

"Grimlock used to be one of the greatest gladiators on all of Cybertron." Springer added with a smirk. "He'd be able to best any bot who got in his way with hardly any problem at all. The only one he could never beat was Megatron himself, and even then, they'd often end up in ties. In a way, Grim respected Ol' Bucket Head… that is until the war broke out. Then, he made it his mission to stop the Cons and their totalitarian regime from taking over, gathering up some of his best friends from the fight pits to create the Lightning Strike Coalition Force."

Bulkhead let out a laugh as he slapped Springer on the shoulder. "Hahaha! Oh man, do I remember some fantastic stories from when the Wreckers teamed up with 'em. They were UNSTOPPABLE on the battlefield." He counted off the members on his fingers. "Ya had Slug, who was Grim's second in command and arguably the most violent of 'em all, there was Snarl, the team's medic and resident grouch… oh, and how could anyone forget about Sludge? Hehe, that big, lovable dummy. And then ya had Swoop. Ho, man, I think even Perceptor was jealous of the amount of knowledge SHE had going for her."

"And of course, there was Grim himself." Springer reminded. "A gentlebot and great pal off the battlefield… but when you put a battalion of Cons in front of him, hoo… you did NOT wanna get in the way of the carnage that followed."

"The more I'm hearing, the more psyched I am about these guys!" Eijiro pumped a fist. "And you're saying they're on Earth?"

"Yep, they left Cybertron on the Ark… though we weren't entirely sure why." Arcee admitted. "After a mission gone wrong, they had ended up captured by the Decepticon scientist, Shockwave, only to be found later in the Sea of Rust after having wrecked his secret base." She hung her head as she remembered what had happened. "But when they came back, they were… changed, somehow. They appeared somewhat different, and some even spoke different than how they did before. And Grim… he was angrier than I had ever seen him." A glimmer of hope could be seen on Arcee's features as she pointed to the console. "But that voice in the message… THAT sounded like the Grimlock I knew. The one who loved adventure and bashing Con's heads in for fun!"

Strongarm brought her hand to her chin in curiosity. "Makes you wonder exactly what happened to him while he was on this planet… maybe he just needed time to vent?"

"I'm not sure what happened, but we NEED to find out." Windblade clenched a determined fist. "If Grim's somewhere loose on this planet and if we can find him, then we might be one step closer to finding the whole Ark."

Optimus concurred with her thinking. "I agree, Windblade, though the priority IS making sure that Grimlock is alive and well."

Izuku raised his decent hand. "U-Um, excuse me, Optimus, but… where would we even begin searching for Grimlock?"

"That, I am uncertain of, Izuku." The Prime admitted. "There is no way to trace where on this planet the message originated due to the amount of time that has passed since it was sent. So… we will have to use every resource we have in this search." He brought up his own fist as he continued his speech. "But rest assured, we WILL find him. When Agent Fowler returns from his overseas mission, I will be certain that it is the first thing I inform him on… but for now, I believe it's time to get this celebration underway." He raised his hand out toward the room. "So, feel free to eat, drink and revel in the festivities, everyone. For tomorrow, the search for the relic and Grimlock, begins!" He received a cheer from the team as they all began to gather around the tables, ready to get the party started.

…..

Up in space, meanwhile, just above the Earth's moon, a trail of blue light could be seen shooting across the inky black darkness. At first, one could mistake this for a shooting star… until the light began bouncing around from meteor to meteor as if it had a mind of its own. …And that's because it did. Once the light began closing in on the natural orbiting satellite, it slowed down so that it could come to a stop on the moon's surface. Whatever it was landed, kicking up a cloud of dust… and revealing itself to be a Cybertronian.

She was a tall, slender femme who wore her Autobot insignia upon her chest with pride, the white outline around it preventing the symbol from blending into her overall red color scheme. Her breastplate, shoulder pads, forearms, groin area and lower legs were all plated in red, with her legs in particular having a unique design. They were flared out near her ankles, resembling flared pants with black detailing near the bottom. Her feet were painted bright white with black soles, resembling a pair of running shoes. She also had orange metal parts as well, from her biceps, her midsection, her upper legs, all the way to her hands and fingers. And near her sternum was a glowing, blue energy core, which died down a bit when she came to a stop. On her back were a pair of wing-like thrusters, which also deactivated.

And as for her helm, it was sterling silver and relatively round, with some brown detailing around her chin which resembled a strap. It was also adorned with a yellow head crest that was curved and swept back, ending in a point almost as if it was blowing through the wind. Her face was painted the same shade of yellow aside from her lips, which were done in orange instead. Over her blue optics was an orange visor that resembled a pair of aviator goggles, which flipped up so she could take a gander at the planet before her.

"Woah… so this is Earth, eh?" the femme said in a cockney, British accent. "Wow… would ya look at that lil' blue marble? It's so cute! Haha, to think, THIS is where my mates are. They're all down there… waitin' for me." A smirk came to her lips as her goggles came back down, entering a ready position as if she was preparing to sprint. All the while, the energy core in her chest and her thrusters began to light up again. "Well, don't worry, luvs. Flare Up's 'ere. And that means the cavalry's a-comin'!" With that, the Autobot known as Flare Up disappeared into a streak of blue light, racing down toward the planet below.

…..

A/N: And there you have it, folks! Lots of things established in this chapter and lots to anticipate for the future of the story. Between Stain, the latest relic being found, the revelation of Grimlock being on Earth AND of all things, Flare Up's arrival, it's gonna be pretty exciting going forward from here on. Oh, and of course, can't forget the gang meeting Inko. I made sure to make due on THAT as soon as I could, that's for sure. Expect to see more of the gang hanging around Izuku's place from time to time.

But yeah, seems Tenya's been hit pretty hard by all of this happening to his brother. Thankfully, Strongarm was there to keep him composed in the hospital for the most part, and she even got to meet his mother as well. But yeah… Stain. Trust me, we'll be getting to HIM down the line, and it's gonna be intense. Of course, there's still some time before the draft, so in that time, let's get in on some more Transformers stuff!

…One of those being the Search for Grimlock. And, as you can probably tell by the descriptions I gave of him and his team, I'm mixing a few Dinobot incarnations together here. Grimlock in particular takes aspects from his G1, Fall of Cybertron and Cyberverse incarnations in terms of personality, which is all going to be coagulated together to create one cohesive character. And as for a voice… well, up until the recent announcement of Grim coming to EarthSpark, I honestly was struggling to find the perfect voice cast for him… until EarthSpark did it for me…

Two words; Keith David. No one has a better combo of threatening yet incredibly smooth. It's honestly genius casting, so screw it, before he even appears in EarthSpark, Keith David's gonna be the voice for THIS version of Grimlock as well. It's too good!

And we're gonna begin with a relic hunt on everyone's first day off. That should be fun, though you've gotta wonder what the relic itself is gonna be. However… as the Bots are planning that, it seems Flare Up has made great time in her dash across the cosmos to get to Earth. Wonder how she'll fare after slipping in undetected… oh, and for those wondering, yes, she IS voiced by Cara Theobold. Cheers, luv, the cavalry is most certainly here! With all of that said, though…

And now, the Preview! With Prime and the others having gone to Australia to retrieve the relic, that leaves the rest of our heroes to enjoy their day off. We'll be seeing what Izuku, Kyoka, Ochako, and even what SHOTO will be doing on their day off, as well as getting a brief check-in on Tenya. However, while all this is going on… a certain red-headed, ponytailed Class Rep from 1-B comes across something as she's leaving her shift at work… a red and orange motorcycle that enthralls her to her core. But, with a Decepticon patrol gets just a bit too close, it results in Itsuka Kendo getting caught up in a series of events she never would've expected in her life. Next Time; A Way Off Day Off. Thanks for reading, everyone, and I'll catch you all next time! Stay safe out there, and remember;

GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!