Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers: RiD/Robots in Disguise (Car Robots), Armada (Micron Legends), Energon (Superlink), Cybertron (Galaxy Force), Beast Wars II or Victory. Read & Review, please!
Plot – Misha is now the current holder of the Sword of Purpose. But after testing its power, she is reunited with her long-time aunt and uncle. However, Kicker and his family are briefly told that their mother, Miranda has fallen gravely ill. Plus, Galvatron has a secret to unravel regarding Koji's involvement with Fortress Maximus.
Chapter 20: A Turn For The Worse
As Misha glances at the weapon right in-front of her, she recalls the number of events that had bestowed on Kicker. The first was when she became victimized of Dark Energon and attacking him. The second was Dr. Jones revealing her childhood. The third and final was Kicker getting assaulted from T-Ai's dark clone, M-Ai and becoming infected. After going down memory lane, she could feel her heart beating rapidly. She took a deep breath by reaching for the grip of the sword and firmly grasps it. At first, she had difficulty trying to lift it. But then, she manages to pick it up and held it in the air. As she smiled at Koji and Rad, she gazed down at the Autobots and called to them. "See? Nothing to it."
Optimus became relieved that no other booby-traps had been activated in this sacred place after Misha lifted the sword successfully. "Thank the Matrix, she's alright." His expression quickly changed, when he noticed the sword that Misha was holding is glowing vibrant white several times until it shined on everybody.
"Ah! What on Earth?" says Rad.
"Wh-What's happening?" added Koji.
Even Kicker, Dr. Jones and everyone else that were watching this from the Main Computer System couldn't see from what has transpired.
"What's going on? Where's Misha?"
"I don't know but, I can't see!"
Meanwhile, Misha had her eyes closed and screamed. As she re-opened them, a strange voice was calling from within the sword and it was floating.
"Are you worthy?"
"Huh?" she said looking very confused and surprised.
"If you are truly worthy of this sword, you must prove from what's inside your heart. Now, speak."
She took a deep breath and explained. "I want to protect my friends and family. It breaks my heart to see them hurt and worse, gone. I don't want to stand idly by and allow those that would destroy everything I cherish! If that were to happen, I'll never tell Kicker of how much I love him." As she placed her hands on her chest where her heart is and clasped them in a form of a prayer, she continued. "Therefore…I want to fight with him. To be at his side. My only goal is to protect those that I love."
The anonymous voice from the sword became intrigued of her words. "You have proven yourself. Now, take this sword and use it well."
Once Misha had grabbed hold of the sword, the glow had disappeared and so did the unknown voice that spoke to her. As it shined on her again, she re-opened her eyes to see that she's still standing on-top of the shrine with Koji and Rad beside her while carrying the weapon that she pulled from.
Magnus called out to them. "Hey! Are you guys alright up there?"
She answered. "Yes, we are."
"Ha! Not for long!" says a new voice as they all gasped in shock to discover who it was.
Appearing in the upper level was Galvatron, Cryotek and the Decepticons.
"Aw, nuts! We don't have time with you!" says Koji.
"We found it first so, back off!" told Rad.
Galvatron doesn't seem to be intimidated. "Says you! No matter how ahead you and the Autobots are, you're always beneath us. So, hand it over."
"Oh, yeah? Then, come down here and put up your dukes!" told Magnus by pumping his fists and raised it at him.
Suddenly, they were all briefly interrupted when the place was starting to rumble very violently and this had left everybody completely shaken.
"Huh? Wh-What's that?" asked Demolisher.
"My thoughts, exactly. Optimus, any ideas?" said SnowCat.
"Since Misha has removed the sword from its post, this area has become un-stabled. In other words, this shrine is sinking to the ground."
Both factions gasped in bewilderment upon hearing Optimus' statement relating to the strange rumbling.
"Then, let's get out of this joint!" Koji suggested to Rad and Misha as they immediately went down the stairs from the pyramid of this very shrine and catch up with the Autobots.
But M-Ai has other plans. "Those imbeciles! I'll destroy them!" When she was about to use her Neo-Dark Energon powers on the trio, Galvatron prevents her attack.
"Let them be. There's no point of attacking the Autobots in this area."
"We must initiate an evacuation, before we're buried here. Decepticons, retreat!" told Cryotek to the entire Decepticon army by abandoning from the underground shrine and head outside.
So does Optimus and his crew as they also exit from the same way they came in.
As both the Autobots and Decepticons look on from outside of Mount Fuji, the sacred shrine begins to dissolve quickly and before they know it, it strangely vanished without leaving a single trace.
This had left total confusion on the Autobots.
"Whoa! What was that all about?" thought Prowl.
"You got me. It just went down and left" says X-Brawn shrugging his shoulders.
"Optimus, I don't see Galva-trash or Cryo-creep anywhere. Do you think that they're setting us up?" Magnus complied.
Optimus folded his arms and took a moment to think about the important topic. After much debate, he replied. "I hardly doubt the fact that they would ambush us here and now. For some strange reason, not one Decepticon is here."
The Autobots looked all around Mount Fuji and discover that Galvatron, Cryotek and his brigade are nowhere to be found.
"Hey, you're right. I mean, back when I was a Decepticon, we always kept on charging. But seeing the way they are, it's not the same like it was before" says SnowCat.
"Do you believe that they're trying to build up more Neo-Dark Energon?" thought Demolisher.
"If that's what they're really up to, than we may have a major crisis on our hands" told Sideburn.
Magnus turned to Optimus. "Sounds to me that he makes a very good point. What do you think?"
"They're probably trying to build up a new strategy plan, by knowing of what 'The Sword of Purpose' really is. Needless to say, we need to test it. Now, let's head back to base."
Immediately back at Autobot HQ, they begin scanning the mysterious sword that Misha had picked up from the underground shrine beneath Mount Fuji.
After they've scanned it, Dr. Jones reads the results and description of what kind of element the blade is made out of. When he does, he gasped and his eyes were widened. "N-No way! Is this for real?"
"What is it, Dr. Jones? What does it say?" asked Rodimus.
He continued. "Although the material is made out of polypropylene, the blade itself is unlike I've ever seen before. It's completely made of cold chrome Titanium and Colton. Not to mention that it's extremely sharp and quite possibly unbreakable."
Kicker doesn't believe him and pouted. "Oh, as if! Like, it's far better than my Energon Sabre."
"How do you know, if you haven't seen it in action?" told Koji.
"I don't know and I don't care!"
Magnus gloats at him. "For someone who's in a league of his own, you still can't run your own base."
This had infuriated Kicker and walked right up to Magnus. "Hey, listen! Stop poking fun at me and another thing, don't you ever go soft on Misha!"
"Huh?" says Misha raising her eyebrow in question.
"Heh. The only difference between me and you is that I've got more class. Also, you can't even break a sweat without even trying" said Magnus.
Kicker was getting more insulted from him and so, he grabs his Energon Sabre that was nearby and looks to give him a piece of his mind. "I'll give you some class! Right here!"
Just as he was about to make contact on Magnus with his Energon Sabre, Optimus pitched in and grabbed his weapon from Kicker's hands and averted the assault.
"That's enough, Kicker!"
"But, Optimus. He started it!" Kicker pointed at Magnus.
"I said: ENOUGH!" Optimus shouts.
Kicker stood there in awestruck. The same goes for everybody else in this very base.
"Talk about being touchy" whispered Demolisher to SnowCat.
"You said it."
"What has come over with you two?" asked Optimus in query.
"He's the one that's being picky on Misha. He has no right of doing that" explained Kicker.
Optimus replied to him. "He has every right. Show some respect to my brother."
"Wh-What?"
Not only was he surprised, so were Misha, Dr. Jones and Rad.
"Yeah. I had the same expression from way back, when Optimus told me about him" informed Sideburn.
"And I assume that neither of you didn't get along well. Right?" says Kicker to Magnus relating to Optimus.
Magnus grunted. "Don't remind me. I once held a grudge against him, because he was the holder of the Matrix."
"What's the Matrix?" Kicker asked.
Rodimus answered. "The Matrix is the source of leadership that has been passed down from one leader to another. Many of us believed that Optimus was the only one possessing it. But that wasn't the case, when he was aiding the Autobot Brothers."
Rad scratched his head. "I'm still not convinced as to how both Magnus and Optimus could wield the Matrix at the same time."
"It is still a mystery to us. In-spite from all that's happened in the past between me and Magnus, he was able to put aside his differences with me. Regardless, Galvatron nor Cryotek have no intention of taking it away" Optimus said.
"I can't imagine why. Still, our main priority is to prevent them from conquering Earth, Cybertron and possibly the entire universe with Neo-Dark Energon. If they succeed, then Primus help us all" Rodimus informed.
"By the way, what's the update on The Build Team after being contaminated by Galvatron? You know, after they've tried to foil his escape from the Asteroid Prison Colony?" Prowl mentioned.
Dr. Jones replied with a small sigh. "It's not looking too good. The Neo-Dark Energon that myself and Team Bullet Train had removed nearly override their sparks. In other words, they were an inch close of termination."
"Are they still active?" asked Rodimus.
"For the moment, they're in stasis lock. Much like with Fortress Maximus from a long while back."
"That's still good news to us, isn't it?" thought Koji.
"It's hard to say, whether The Build Team will be online again. Though that doesn't surprise both Galvatron and Cryotek one bit" told Optimus.
"Yeah, you're right. They still have The Spy-Changers. It ain't gonna be easy saddling them all up in one sweep. I can guarantee you on that" X-Brawn stated.
"What's so special about The Spy-Changers? I keep hearing about it" says Misha.
Optimus prolonged. "The Spy-Changers are well-known for their stealth and quick procedure techniques. They were much reliable and cohesive then the Autobot Brothers. But now that they're with the Decepticons due to the Neo-Dark Energon, it will be very difficult trying to figure out their next pattern of attack."
"Hey, Rodimus. Didn't you remember of how Nightcruz and Daytonus managed to detect their presence? They said that they've studied their capabilities, back on Planet Cybertron" Kicker explained.
"True, but it won't be enough to break the hold from the Neo-Dark Energon. The Decepticons can be very tricky" said Rodimus.
"That includes being sneaky as well" told Rad.
"Say, Optimus. We haven't yet tested that sword Misha had brought back from Mount Fuji. Think the little gal can give it a try?" Magnus offered.
Once again, Kicker is angered with the way he's fiddling around with her. "Hey, watch it! Keep that up and I'll…"
Dr. Jones breaks up the dispute between them. "Knock it off, Kicker!"
Optimus thought about it and came up with a solution. "I'd say that's prime. But, on one condition…"
He and the Autobots take them to an abandoned construction site on the east side of town, where it is much safer than their home base. There stood a half-finished warehouse and standing at least three stories high, along with a deserted parking lot.
Before they arrived, Ga'Mede, Magnificus, Sally, Alexis, T-Ai, Carlos and Dr. Jones also joined in to witness the weapon testing from Misha.
"Is this the sword that you've picked up from Mount Fuji?" asked Alexis to Misha.
"Yes. When I grasped it, a strange light shined on me and a mysterious voice was communicating with me from the sword itself."
"Was it Primus?" marvelled T-Ai.
Misha shook her head. "No. I couldn't even recognize it from somewhere."
"Enough with the whole mysterious voice thing, let's just see of what your sword is capable of" Ga'Mede insisted.
"Let's just hope that it ain't temporary" says Dr. Jones.
After their much-needed conversation, Misha starts concentrating with her newfound sword.
But unknown to Misha and the Autobots, Ro-Tor was watching this from above the sky and reports it to Galvatron and Cryotek. "This ought to be interesting. Galvatron, Cryotek, are you getting this?" He shows to them from his viewing screen.
"Yes, we are, Ro-Tor. We want to experience this for ourselves."
"Also, be sure to keep a close on her. We need the right tools for the job."
"We'll do."
Elsewhere, Misha is now focusing on how to tap into the hidden power from within the weapon known as 'The Sword of Purpose'. She closes her eyes, hung her head down slightly, tightens the handle and then, a pure white aura had appeared and wrapped onto the blade and Misha.
Kicker kept himself quiet without disturbing her concentration. "Misha…"
She later holds the blade almost in-front and center of her face, re-open her eyes and as she raises it high in the air, a large white and yellow glow had emanated on the sword while she strikes it downward and unleashed two large white and yellow semi-lunar projectiles straight onto the abandoned warehouse.
As it did, it destroyed the building but only left out the remaining parts. For Misha, however, she wasn't through yet. In a bizarre twist, she leaped high into the air with the sword in hand and from there, she throws a white and yellow fireball from her weapon and demolished the building in one fell swoop.
When the dust was settled, everybody stood there in a mixture of shock and disbelief. The abandon building that used to be a warehouse had become nothing but piles of constructed ash.
Whereas Galvatron and Cryotek that have been viewing this from Ro-Tor had ignited a huge interest inside themselves.
"Remarkable! That human was able to wipe out that building in just two attacks. Fascinating."
"Definitely. With that much power in our hands, nothing will stop us."
Ro-Tor interrupts them. "I hate to spoil the news but, there's an oncoming vehicle that's fast approaching to the Autobots. Shall I go in and grab her?"
"No. Let them be for now. We want to see what else is unfolding for them" told Galvatron.
Right around the same time, Kicker notices it and informs the Autobot leader. "Heads up, Optimus. We've got company."
As soon as Optimus heard him, there stood a dark gray vehicle with tinted windows and trendy rims on each tire.
"Wow! Check it out! A Lincoln town-car!" said Carlos.
"Yes, we see that. But what I want to know is, who's inside?" asked Alexis.
Before she or anyone else knew, the driver's door was opened and out came a tall man with short black hair, light brown eyes wearing a grey dress shirt with black tie, pants and dress shoes. Next, the passenger door was also opened and there stood a tall woman with semi-short hair with emerald green eyes, donning a red ruby business suit with white low-heels.
The instant that Misha had recognized their appearances, she gasped and dropped her sword to the ground. With some sparkle in her crystal blue eyes and a small smile on her pretty face, she ran to them.
As the duo sees her running, Misha threw her arms around them both.
She lifted her head up and stares at them with great joy. "I-I can't imagine of how happy I am to see you two again!"
"It's been a very long time, since you were very young" says the man.
"My, look at how you've grown. Why, you almost look just like your mother" says the woman.
"Th-Thank you."
Kicker became curious as to whom Misha was talking to. He walked up to them and asked. "Misha, do you know them from somewhere?"
"Of course. That's my Aunt Sophie and Uncle Damien. I haven't seen them, when I was a teenager."
"You mean that car accident? Right?" he said relating to Misha's deceased parents.
"Y-Yes" says Misha sadly.
Dr. Jones stepped in and confronts them. "I'm surprised that she has other relatives. I'm Dr. Brian Jones." He offered his handshake.
Damien accepted it and spoke. "Nice to meet you. Say, are those..." He points at the huge sentinel beings that triggered his curiosity. So has Sophie.
Rad also joined in and explained. "Yup. They're called the Autobots, namely the Transformers. That's the Autobot Brothers, Sideburn, Prowl and X-Brawn; that's Magnificus, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots."
"We've heard a lot about you" says Damien.
"And you're also from another planet, right?" Sophie asked.
"That's right. We're from Planet Cybertron" told Optimus.
Damien turns his attention to Misha's best friend. "So, you must be..."
"Kicker Jones" he said to him.
"Really? I thought that your actual name was Chad or was it Brian Junior?"
This had resulted Kicker feeling slightly embarrassed. "Hey! Don't call me that!"
"Huh? Kicker, did he call you a different name?" Koji inquired.
Kicker grumbled. "Yeah...Chad is...my real name. Let alone the other one."
There was a dead silence until Rad started to laugh than Koji, Carlos and Ga'Mede laughed together. As for Sally, T-Ai, Alexis and Dr. Jones, they smacked their foreheads in shame, when they heard his son's full name out in-front of everyone.
In-spite of the humiliation, Kicker frequently asks Damien. "Hold on a minute. Chad may have been my full name, but I'd preferred to be called 'Kicker'. Which reminds me, who told you about it?"
Damien looked Sophie for a moment, then made a deep sigh. "I'm afraid that we have some upsetting news for you and your family."
"What is it?" thought Dr. Jones.
Sophie replied. "Your mother, Miranda has fallen very ill and she is at the hospital as we speak."
"Wh-What?" cried Sally.
"H-How did you know about this?" says a surprised Kicker.
"Actually, they knew it before we did" says Sophie.
"They? Who's they?" wondered Misha.
Just then, the two back-passenger doors were opened and out came two familiar faces that only Koji had recognized.
"Bridget? Kelly? What are you two doing with them?"
Bridget retorted. "We were busy publishing our latest model magazine, when we saw her collapse to the ground. Luckily, Kelly had already dialled the emergency line before they noticed it and transferred her to a local hospital."
"As of right now, it looks very bad for her" Kelly notified.
"Where is it located?" says Dr. Jones demanding an answer.
"It's on the north-side of town from here" informed Damien.
"Optimus! You've got to take us there and fast!" Kicker suggested to Optimus.
"Then, let's roll-out!"
The Autobots takes all of them on-board and headed north as they speed faster in order to get to the hospital on-time. After several hours, they've finally reached to their destination. With Kicker, Koji and company inside, the Autobots stayed put and on-guard for any Decepticon activities.
After they've asked the front desk clerk regarding Miranda Jones, they went up to the sixth floor in room thirteen. As they all went inside, Kicker, Sally and Dr. Jones were the first ones to witness their ill-fated mother in bed. The expressions on their faces were filled with agony and worry upon seeing the way of how their mother's condition is.
She has long light blonde hair with an oxygen mask that's covering her nose and mouth. A heart rate monitor was next close to her as it beeps from every heartbeat she makes. Sadly, it was at every few seconds and her eyes were closed.
Not only were they feeling depressed, but so were Carlos, Rad, Alexis and even Misha. They too have known the Jones family, since the Energon wars against Unicron and the black hole incident.
Some small tears had filled up Sally's eyes. "I-I can't believe from what I'm seeing." She nestled her head against Ga'Mede's chest and he embraced her with his warmth.
Kicker shook his head in disbelief. "This is too hard to take."
Koji asked Dr. Jones. "Is that your wife?"
"Yes."
He sighed. "I see. I haven't seen nor heard from my Mom, when my Dad passed away."
"What?" they all said.
"Koji, how long has it been?" thought Bridget.
"This will be a shock. I've only been with her, before Galvatron abducted my father until I graduated, lived in an apartment and went our separate ways" he explained.
As they all looked at each other's faces in bewilderment, a doctor had came in with the results relating to Miranda's health condition.
"I apologize for the long wait but, I have read Miranda's current health status."
"And, what does it say?" questioned Dr. Jones.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but due to an unknown illness, your mother, Miranda only has...a few hours left to live. I'm really sorry" says the doctor.
Everybody in this very room stood there feeling very hurt and also grieving of this disturbing news.
Elsewhere, high from above the sky and outside of the hospital, Ro-Tor had overviewed the whole scene and quickly reports it to Galvatron and Cryotek. "Damn! That's unfortunate for them. Pah! Who am I kidding? I'm a Decepticon! Not a human! Galvatron! Cryotek! Come in! The humans and the Autobots are down at the hospital on the north side of town. What's the plan?"
"Stay on them. Once they're in the open field, deliver a counterattack. But, that won't be necessary" He later laughed.
"What's your issue?"
"I need something to get off my Cybertronian chest. M-Ai! Mega-Octane! Bruticus! Get over here!"
"You called?" says Mega-Octane standing beside M-Ai.
Bruticus licked his mouth with his tongue. "It better be good."
"Alright. Now, here's what we should do."
While Galvatron is discussing with his henchmen on his latest scheme, back outside the hospital, Kicker, Koji and all of their friends and families' expressions are filled with a look of guilt and sadness. They were feeling very withdrawn after the doctor revealed the results relating to Miranda's current condition.
The Autobots became awfully curious as to why their heads were down and stepped inside their vehicle mode without saying a single word.
Rodimus asked Kicker with Sally on-board about their mother. "What's wrong, Kicker? What's her status?"
"I didn't have to say this but, she's..."
Suddenly, an unexpected blast had erupted and it startled the Autobots.
"Hey, who started it?" yelled Magnus.
"Over there! It's..." Carlos points out to whom it came from and allowed Koji to finish his sentence.
"Galvatron and he's not alone. Look!"
Much like Koji had detected, there stood Ruination, Bruticus and M-Ai standing on Galvatron's shoulder.
"Oh, great! What are they up to this time?" Kelly asked, while sitting inside X-Brawn with Bridget.
"It's a negotiation" Bridget said.
"Negotiate? What makes you so certain, young lady?" thought X-Brawn.
"I just read their complexion. See?" Bridget shows to everyone that neither Galvatron or any of his goons are attacking.
"This is very peculiar. Koji! T-Ai! Step outside." After they got out of Optimus' fire truck mode, he changed his form. "Optimus Prime, Transform!"
So does the rest of the Autobots, when all of Koji and Kicker's friends and family members had exited out of their seats.
"Sideburn, Transform!"
"X-Brawn, Transform!"
"Prowl, Transform!"
"Magnificus, Transform!"
"Rodimus, Transform!"
"Ultra Magnus, Transform!"
When their transformations were done, Galvatron spoke. "You can hold off your battle plan till later, Prime. As far as we're here for that sword the young woman is carrying, there is an unpaid debt that we need to collect."
"Debt? Are you referring to Cybertronian money?" told Optimus.
Galvatron shook his head. "No, not even one supply of Energon cubes. Come to think of it, do you recall when Koji had brought out Fortress Maximus from Planet Cybertron?"
"I may and why do you ask?"
He laughed. "Allow me to refresh your memory bank. Back when I first abducted and then infect him with Dark Energon, I implanted a cyber-chip inside his brain. Therefore, when the time was right, I activated the device and not only did I locked inside his mind, but I was also smart enough to break into Cerebros' bio-recognition command block. In short, whenever he hears the supersonic vibration waves, it allowed him to drag Fortress Maximus from Planet Cybertron and into Earth. It was sheer brilliance."
"You forced Koji to bring him all the way out here?" shouted Rodimus in rage.
"Quite right. Now that all of the chips are in-play, the one thing that remains in our agenda...is you, Koji." Galvatron summits to him.
As Koji has caught every detail relating to Fortress Maximus, he sank down to his knees and his face was filled with utter shock. "All this time, I've managed to control him. Only to find out...that I've been used...by a Decepticon."
"For a puny human like yourself, you fell for the oldest trick in the book" Ruination exclaimed.
Galvatron turned to M-Ai that was standing on his gigantic shoulder. "M-Ai, remove the component from inside Koji's head."
"No problem, Galvatron."
T-Ai's jaw had dropped, when she heard that her evil doppelganger had stolen her catchphrase. "Hey, that's my line!"
Instead of replying back to her decoy, M-Ai leapt into the air, performed a somersault until she landed on her feet and right in-front of Koji.
He didn't move. His eyes were widened, his mouth was opened dry and his body was quivering with fear.
But that didn't bother M-Ai at all as she made a devilish grin and punched him in the gut, where she later puts a headlock on him.
"Koji!" Kicker takes out his Energon Sabre and hopes to assist Koji, before M-Ai alerted him.
"Stay exactly, where you are or I'll infect him with Neo-Dark Energon. It's your choice." Her hand was glowing purple, red and black, while forcing Kicker to make a drastic decision.
Kicker grunted with his teeth and his fist was pumping with anger. After a short deliberation, he lets out a sigh of disappointment and drops his weapon down. "Okay, fine. Just do it."
"Kicker!" cried Misha. She had never seen Kicker surrender his weapon before.
M-Ai smiled, while continuing to hold her headlock submission on Koji. "You've made the right call. Trust me, Koji. This will definitely hurt." As Koji tries to break free, M-Ai's hand had glowed brightly purple, red and black as it goes right inside his brain by forming a hole.
Everyone looked away from the grisly scene as Koji screamed in sheer pain until M-Ai had plucked something out. It appeared to be some sort of an insect-like enhanced cyber-chip and presents it to Galvatron.
"I have it. What do you want me to do with Koji?"
"Let him go. We got what we came for."
M-Ai released her headlock and shoved him. After that, she rejoined with Galvatron on his massive shoulders.
T-Ai consoles Koji. "Are you alright?"
"I-I think so, but that really hurt."
Optimus couldn't believe his optic sensors. "You mean that you've planned this all along considering Fortress Maximus?"
"With impeccable timing that is. We'd love to stay and grind all of you into space dust, but we have other important matters to take care of" Galvatron informed the Autobots.
Right around the time he uttered those words, Kicker immediately grabbed hold of his Energon Sabre and points it to him. "Not so fast, Galvatron! Kicker, Transform!" But nothing happened. He remained the same and his body had suddenly become weak as he falls down on one knee. "Damn it! Wh-What's wrong with me?"
"Kicker!" says Sally. "What's going on?"
"Somehow, he has run out of power and he overloaded his strength. Therefore, he can't use his armor transformation" Ga'Mede answered.
"No way!" thought Misha.
"If he can't do that, then maybe I will. Rad, Transform!" shouted Rad. However, much like Kicker, he too can't bulk up his special armor and was about to fall until Alexis caught him.
"Rad!"
When he quickly recovers, he can feel his head spinning and was able to reply back. "I-I don't understand. Why am I so weak, all of a sudden?"
Magnus detects this from a similar event long ago. "Oh, I know what's happening here."
"You've seen this from before, Magnus?" Dr. Jones asked Magnus.
"Yeah. This pretty much sums it up like what I did with the Autobot Brothers. They're also feeling the effects of their powers being drained. Ironically, they've been overdoing it."
"Damn! That means they're exhausted!" Rodimus indicated.
Galvatron relished at his statement and laughed. "How convenient. Our day just got even better. But like I said, Autobots, we came here to retrieve the item that I entrenched into Koji's mind and so, we'll be on our way." Before long, he pulls out a miniature gray ball and slams it to the ground. It released a bright radiant flash that blinded everyone.
When the light was cleared, the Decepticons had already departed.
The Autobots grunted at their enemy's retreat. Now, everything was becoming more baffled. At first, it was the Neo-Dark Energon and then Fortress Maximus. Later, came the unholy alliance between Galvatron and Cryotek including the creation of T-Ai's dark clone, M-Ai, Mimic Artificial Intelligence. And now, the situation from within the Decepticon faction is starting to become a serious issue.
"Aw, man! They got away! Optimus, do you ever get the feeling they're hiding something that we're not fully aware of?" Sideburn asked.
"I hate to admit it, but I believe that they're willing to not only conquer Earth, Cybertron and the entire universe, but also utilize Fortress Maximus.
Rodimus clenched his fist with frustration. "Those wretched Decepticons! If we don't prevent this, we'll be dead before we can even pull the trigger."
That's when Kicker gasped after he read his wristwatch. "That reminds me." He ran back inside the hospital and checks to see, if his mother is still alive.
Misha tried to follow him, but Dr. Jones stops her by placing his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
As soon as he reached to her room, he walked to her bedside and clutched her hands with his. It was becoming white and cold. He tries calling out to her and praying that she can speak to him. "Mom! Mom! Say something! Anything!"
It took approximately a few minutes for her to open her deep blue eyes and stared at him, while she spoke weakly. "K-Kicker."
"Hang in there, Mom."
With a small smile, she replied. "There's...no need...for that. Just, move on...without me." She later started to cough and Kicker began to worry.
"Mom, please! Try and rest."
"I'm...sorry, Kicker. But, before I go..." Kicker released her hand and as he watched by, she removes her ring from her middle finger and gives it to Kicker. "Here, take it."
He was utterly speechless, when he gazed at the pure diamond ring that his dad had given her. "I-I can't accept this. Why did you..."
"It's for you...and Misha. I've...never been...so...proud of you...Kicker. But...remember...this, don't...let...me...down." On her last dying breath, her eyes were shut. Her head was titled back, her hand became limp and the heart rate monitor showed a loud sound of silence. In which, her heart had stopped.
Kicker froze in horror, when he witnessed his mother's unfortunate demise. "M-Mom..." Tears of pain appeared in his brown eyes and trickled down on his cheeks upon staring at her deceased parent. "Mom?"
And with that, he lets out a loud scream of anguish and pain that had echoed outside.
End of Chapter 20