We're back with this story and now continuing Pyra's descent into slowly encroaching despair! What fun!

Anyway, chapter's gonna be a bit more gruesome given Tsiehshi's whole radiation deal, so small warning before we begin, though I don't think it's as bad as either the DJD's actions from Camien Odyssey's third chapter or what Barricade did in his More Than Meets the Spy debut.

Special thanks and shout out to SwapAUAnon, Matrix Dragon, and Quantum01 for Beta Reading this chapter.

Chapter 2: Ghost Town

Pyra and the Camiens drove across the deserts of Tsiehshi for what felt like an eternity. She wasn't sure how long they'd been driving, only that the twin suns had gone from the apex of the sky to near setting. Said binary stars scorched down on everything as they passed across hills and plains, zooming by countless Energon crystals big and small. Yet as they drove, Pyra felt something off about the Energon. It wasn't the fundamental wrongness from before, though a tinge of that was still present. It was almost like she could hear a hum from those crystals, almost like…

It's like they're singing to us, Pyra heard their song: A soft, mellifluous whisper. Perhaps her audio receptors were damaged from the crash, but it felt like they were getting louder the longer it went on. And with its volume came a… a clarity of sorts, reminding her so much of the hymns sung in praise of the Thirteen and Primus Himself. It was… it soothed her, and she couldn't help but hum along to it. Taken back to days of old, she remembered her times in the Temple of Solus, giving praise and thanks to the Prime of the Forge.

For the briefest nano-klik, she felt at peace, not wanting to leave and-

"Pyra, you there?" Firestar asked, snapping her out of it, "You started humming and just stopped all of a sudden."

Huh? Pyra swerved slightly before correcting her position, "Y-Yeah! I'm fine. Just fine! I was just… remembering something."

"Anything you wanna talk about?" Velocity drove up next to her. Pyra almost considered doing so for a brief moment but held her mouth shut instead. The Camiens were burdened enough as it was with this environment, and she refused to add her own to theirs. Coupled with the fact that the music ceased, she figured it was just her audio receptors playing tricks. At least for the moment, it was nothing to worry about.

So she answered, "No. Just keep focused on the ship's trail."

"… if you say so," Velocity didn't sound convinced, but she didn't press any further, thankfully.

"So… is anyone else hearing that?" Firestar asked, gathering the attention of everyone close enough to hear as they continued their trek.

"Hear what?" Skystriker flew beside her.

"It… I don't know. For a bit, it almost sounded like I heard an old song I'd dance to."

"Hymn for the Disappeared?" Velocity asked, "I remember that one. Used to walk in on you practicing to that song whenever the Festival of Lost Light drew close."

"Never felt like I could get it right."

"Everyone at the festival seemed to love it. And if you ask me, your dancing was beautiful," Velocity complimented, which seemed to lift Firestar's spirits a bit. But at the same time, her words brought Pyra's own down, as they reminded her of the celebration held once every Vorn, honoring the Sparks of departed Camiens. The memory was bitter like acid now, and desperately hoping to choke it down, she listened to the aquamarine femme continue, "But if I'm being honest, I'm not hearing anything. Anyone else?"

Skystriker chimed in, "I thought I heard something too. Sounded like an old rock tune I loved. Still do, being honest." He chuckled, "Inspired me to try my servo at making my own music. Even got an Aghartan electro-bass and practiced my fingers off. I was hoping to get a gig, but it never really happened."

Soon enough, all the other close enough Camiens started talking, rattling off things they were hearing throughout the drive, which continued even as the twin suns set completely. Many heard various forms of music (songs in their daily lives, festival carols for other celebrations, etc), but most others just heard voices that felt familiar to them, all of which were claimed to have come to them in low, whispering tones. In a way, knowing this put Pyra's processor at ease, knowing that what she'd heard before wasn't just dwindling sanity on her end. But at the same time, if everyone was hearing something…

We gotta get off this planet fast! Pyra kicked her engine into overdrive and sped up, ignoring a question from Firestar in the process. Something was wrong, not just with the planet and its Energon, but the very air here felt off. Pyra knew they couldn't linger here any longer, and hoped to find that ship (really, just any ship) soon.

Thankfully, as the flight trail ended, they eventually passed by one final, crystal covered hill. Upon doing so, they saw from afar a massive town surrounding what looked like an even larger Colosseum. If anything, the town looked like it could be fit inside the damned thing.

"H-Holy frag!" Skystriker unwittingly echoed Pyra's thoughts, murmurs rumbling among the rest of the Camiens at the sight as they traveled downhill to the town itself.

"Is that a Colosseum? I-I never thought I'd get to see one!" Velocity sounded equal parts excited and frightened, and Pyra couldn't blame her. While Caminus had nothing like this, she recalled from the history she'd read that Megatronus Prime was always noted to be the most willing to wage battle among the Thirteen. Quite fitting for one known as the Prime of Power, and as such, his colony world having a massive, imposing arena wasn't unexpected, even if it caught her off-guard.

But as they drew closer to the edge of town, they transformed and took note of it, Pyra's optics going wide, Solus' Forge, what happened to this place?

As she and the others walked onto the now metallic, but still sand covered grounds, to say that the place had seen better days would be an understatement. Every building, big and small, looked rundown, rustic (some buildings were almost completely covered in rust), or fully dilapidated. If not one, they were a combination of the three, with the same jagged yellow Energon crystals scattered throughout, often piercing through structures or forming ominous yellow towers that consumed entire far-off parts of town. The more Pyra looked at them, the more that whispering song returned, and that was before she took stock of the bodies.

Corpses of what she presumed were Tsiehshians littered about the streets and building sides, and Pyra was certain there were even more inside them. Some littered the ground, others were leaned against walls with dry, inert Energon splattered against them, and many were positioned in ways that made it clear their final moments were in violence. From blades plunged into Spark chambers and between the optics, to limbs and heads torn away by either savage brutality or precision lasers, and that wasn't even getting into what looked like bite marks on random parts of their bodies, armor plating torn off with jagged teeth…

Did the Decepticons do this? Pyra knelt down to the corpse right in front of her, seeing no other culprit, Their cruelty truly knows no bounds. But with how old these bodies look… how long ago did the conquer this world?

Was this the fate that awaited Caminus if something wasn't done about-

THOOM!

Pyra quickly stood up, "Did anyone else hear that?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Velocity nervously backed up, joined by Firestar and Skystriker as the others grew increasingly fearful.

THOOM!

The noise came again, one after the other per nanoklik in a way that Pyra recognized: Footsteps.

THOOM!

Something's coming. "Everyone hide! Now! Get to cover either inside or behind the buildings!" At her command, everyone ducked for shelter, some jumping through the building windows while others hunkered down out of her immediate site. Seeing that Firestar, Skystriker, and Velocity's optics were darting back and forth for any place to hide, Pyra quickly grabbed them all and tossed the tree into the nearest building window, shattering what little glass remained before jumping in herself.

But as she landed, her servo made contact with a lose shard of yellow Energon that'd been sprouting from the floor, her blue inner Energon mixing with it. Wincing, Pyra did what she could to ignore it and hid in the darkest corner next to a random looking corpse, sitting opposite to her three fellow Camiens, who hunkered together beneath the windowsill as the thunderous footsteps neared.

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!

With each passing step, the ground shook, pieces of rubble jumping slightly. Through it all, Pyra heard a static pierce her audio receptors, so loud and deafening that she clutched her head to tune it out. Yet it persisted, growing louder and louder in tandem with the steps, screams and cries of horror and agony reverberating within that static.

Until finally, it stopped.

Daring to open an optic, she attempted to look out the window for even the smallest glimpse of what could've been out there, but landed on the Camiens still hiding beneath it, gasping at what she saw.

They were gone, and in their place were three bots with red and aquamarine armor like hers. Two of them (one with a broken visor over her optics) had mangled propellers on their backs, their jet booster legs ruptured beyond repair. Between them was a much smaller, skinnier femme that looked like she'd been torn in half from the waist down, visor cracked and Energon pooling against the floor.

"S-Stormclash, Skyburst, Rust D-Dust?" Pyra whispered, almost crawling forward to reach out, unwilling to believe what she was seeing. But then the corpse that'd been next to her fell, Pyra turning back at the noise to see the same armor, the same horror in her optics, mask broken to reveal an agape mouth, and her chest caved in completely. "Dust Up…" Pyra held the body close, "No. Nononono! Please Primus NO!" Her optics shifted between each body as she desperately begged, feeling as though several arms were grabbing to drag her down, but she overpowered it and focused on the bodies of her friends, "Y-You can't be dead! I came all this way, I… p-please wake up. Please…"

"But they won't. Your comrades are gone, Pyra."

Pyra's optics flew wide open, looking up to see a hulking behemoth of a femme tear the building wall off like it was nothing. From the purple plating around the torso, shoulders, and legs, to the twin missile launchers on her shoulders, to the yellow, fan-like headcrest and three filters covering her mouth, every facet filled Pyra's Spark with pure fury. Shaking in wrath, Pyra's optics filled with hatred, teeth bared with a snarl.

"Strika!"

"I'm impressed you escaped, Camien," Strika's shoulder launchers aimed down at her, "A shame it will be short-lived."

The missiles fired, Pyra having no time to dodge. Yet somehow, she avoided the attack, finding herself thrown out into an adjacent room as the previous one was blown to splinters of shrapnel. Seeing an opening through another wall, she made a break for it, her footsteps feeling like a dozen as she rounded a corner and rolled back into the sand coated streets. Pulling out her axe, she stood face to face with Strika, who loomed over her by a full head, red optics boring into her blue.

"I see. So desperate to join your fallen sisters, aren't you?"

Enraged, Pyra roared and lunged forward, axe aimed for Strika's head. The Decepticon sidestepped, but not quick enough, sparks glimmering in the moonlight as the axe scraped against her armor. Seeming unfazed, Strika took to wild, surprisingly uncoordinated swings that Pyra managed to avoid. Rolling under a final backhand, the Torchbearer got behind Strika and delivered an axe strike right into the back of her knee, the blade embedding itself deep. The Con screamed in pain as Pyra pulled her weapon out, intent on avenging Caminus while she could.

But right as she was about to bring the axe down on the back of the kneeling monster's head, her vision began to flicker. Strika disappeared and reappeared, something taking her place, but the figure vanished too quickly for Pyra to make out what it was. Just as suddenly, Strika was back up, and the Camien found herself lifted by her throat and thrown far behind the Con. Her back clashed against the street, sending sparks and sand everywhere before she came to a stop, head bumping against a yellow Energon spire that glowed so bright it blinded her. She clutched at her head, trying to pick herself up as her vision slowly returned.

"Little Camien," Strika mocked, "You should have stayed in your place. You should have perished aboard that ship."

Pyra's vision fully returned, and she was prepared to fight back, but then she saw… This is…

She was back on Caminus again, that same familiar battlefield in the capital. Buildings were in flames, towers were falling, and a truly gargantuan ship resembling the Decepticon emblem soared high above, blocking out the sun as smaller ships descended from it. Everything burned, everything screamed, and standing above her was Strika, looming figure but a shadow amidst the fire.

"Or better yet," The Decepticon grabbed her by the chest plate and hoisted her up, "You should have turned the axe on yourself and spared me the trouble."

Only to be slammed down again on a jagged protrusion of the Energon spire. "ARGH!" Pyra screamed in agony, looking down at the spike running through her abdomen. She glared up at Strika as Energon began pouring from her mouth, "You-"

"Save your words for the Pit, Pyra," Strika leaned down and sneered in her face, "You'll need them for Praesidia. When you see her, I'm sure you two can have a nice chat about how much of a mistake it was to make you a Torchbearer. I'm sure everyone else you failed to save would agree, won't they?" With each word, Pyra found herself fighting less and less, vision swimming as the Decepticon Commander stood tall over her and backed up, "In fact, why don't I look around for your fellow survivors and ask them myse-ACK!"

Strika's body convulsed, almost falling forward before turning around. Pyra couldn't see what was happening, but with how the Decepticon reacted, it was almost like something was shooting at her. Covering her optics, Strika charged into the flames, a shadow appearing at Pyra's side, screaming her name as it came down on the crystal impaling her.

"Hang… on…" The shadow said in a wispy, ghost-like voice that sounded almost like-

Velocity? Pyra's optics blinked rapidly, vision glitching out the flames vanished, Velocity replacing the shadow and smashing the top portion of the Energon as she began to pull. Despite clearly pouring all her strength, Velocity struggled, only moving Pyra bit by bit off the spike. Seeing this, Pyra clenched her fist and pounded it against the spire, pushing herself off as Velocity pulled. Within moments, she was free, collapsing to the ground while her own Energon slowly pooled from her body in shades of blue.

She heard Velocity say something, a demand to hold still, but Pyra refused. Looking up, she saw the shadow of Strika attack against her fellow Camiens, a few of whom were shooting at her with reckless abandon. As Firestar and Skystriker were batted to the side, Pyra grit her teeth and felt her servo brush against something. She looked down and saw the Energon shards Velocity had broken off. Picking one up, she held it tightly and began to charge for her opponent.

"STRIKA!" She screamed, using the pain to propel her forward. Just as the Decepticon turned to face her, Pyra lunged into the air, taking the makeshift dagger and plunging it into Strika's… mask? Wait, huh?

"ARGH! DAMN YOU, AUTOBOT!" Strika's voice had completely changed, now calling her an Autobot (like Jetfire) as opposed to a Camien. Gone was the husky, deep, accented voice, and in its place was a lighter pitched, fairly masculine one that lacked any notable accent. The shadow of Strika's form had fully unveiled, revealing what looked like a hulking set of pitch black that covered its wearer entirely, the Decepticon emblem displayed proudly on its shoulders and kneecaps. The face was hidden behind a red, opaque visor that encompassed the front of a large helm with twin antenna. The Decepticon within was currently clutching at the broken half, trying to pull the shard of Energon out of their optic.

Thankfully, they never got the chance, for right as they began spewing death threats, a cannon shot rang out, blasting the Decepticon and knocking them flat on their back. Turning to the source, Pyra saw Velocity, arm cannon glowing and emitting smoke, and nodded in gratitude. The Decepticon's moans drew her attention back, however, and she walked up, the other Camiens surrounding them. She could see their face more clearly now, noting light blue optics that shivered in fear and pain, while the moonlight refracting through the visor gave their face an almost red hue. It made them look almost like-

Praesidia... Pyra couldn't help but wonder if this was how her leader looked as Strika killed her. But she just as quickly snuffed out that notion. Praesidia was… she was stronger than that, than her. The Torchbearer's leader would never have such horror evident in her optics like that. She would look death in its face and brave it with a defiant glare to the bitter end.

Suddenly, the Decepticon's optics froze, shifting to stare right into her own. The Camien gasped, watching as the dying Decepticon gave her a twisted smile. They began to whisper, echoing all around her like a chorus in the night.

"Pyra."

"Pyra."

"Pyra!"

"PYRA!" Firestar yelled, the Torchbearer snapping out of it.

"Wha-"

"I said that Velocity was asking to let her look at you! You're bleeding out!"

"I… I am?" Pyra felt a wave of pain throughout her body and looked down, noticing and remembering her impalement wound that continued to spill blue Energon, now mixed with some of the yellow. How did I forget that!? Shaking her head and scattered processor patterns, she put that to the side when she saw Skystriker and Velocity tending to the wounded. Sighing, she asked, "What about the others?"

"Pyra-"

"Never mind me right now. Did we-" Pyra felt her mouth go dry, but she pressed on, "Did we lose anyone?" At that, her fellow Camien went unnervingly quiet, a somber expression on her face, "Firestar, did we…" she followed the flame headed dancer's line of sight, optics wide as they landed on the bodies, No…

Scattered in front of her was a quartet of Camien corpses, all of them having been beaten to death by the armored Decepticon. She stared, feeling her optics quiver at yet another four she'd failed, and in those brief moments, the forms of the bodies flickered, her fellow Torchbearers taking their place before reverting back within a blink.

"Pyra, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you need to let me take care of your injuries now," Velocity said, walking up to her with a surprisingly stern expression in her optics. Pyra was about to tell her to focus on the others, but from the looks of it, everyone else seemed to be fully recovered, having only suffered minor, superficial injuries at best. Seeing no other option but to let the younger bot do her work, she was about to nod, but then she heard it again.

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!

Not again! Pyra looked to everyone and saw the same recognition and fear in their optics. Taking at least a modicum of solace in the fact that she wasn't hearing things (with how her day had been going, it was getting hard to tell), she motioned for everyone to hide once again, but this time stick close together rather than scatter throughout the area. They were all able to hide behind a building from where the noise was coming from, and spent the next couple of cycles waiting as it became louder. Soon enough, Pyra peaked out the corner and saw two more of those armored Decepticons arrived, searching the former battleground and spotting their downed colleague.

Walking up, one of them knelt down at the corpse and knocked on the helm a few times, "Yup! Looks like he stabbed himself."

"How's that even possible?"

"From my experience, I'd say things got so boring out here in dullsville that he stabbed his face with an Energon shard just to end it all. Either that or the radiation got to him and he went crazy. These suits can only provide protection for so long."

Radiation? Pyra looked back at her people, who had similar questioning looks as she reflected back on when they first arrived and traversed Tsiehshi, and came to a realization, The Energon!

"What'dya think the radiation made him see?" The continued Decepticon conversation cut off her train of thought.

"No clue," The other Con stood up, "Definitely a lot more exciting than this scrapheap, that's for sure," the two began walking off, "Let's head back to the mines. Tell the boss we didn't find anything… like always."

"Don't even see why we have to patrol the town," the other Decepticon whined, "This entire fragging planet's dead!"

"I think it's just to screw with us," As the Decepticons left, he said something else about their boss being utterly insane before pressing a comm and sounding an all clear. It honestly baffled the Torchbearer just a bit, seeing how utterly lazy the Decepticons were with their patrol, making her think that this sort of thing happened often, or they just plain didn't care about their fellow bots. Then again, with what she'd seen, it was most likely both. At the same time, Pyra wouldn't complain about the unexpected boon, and slowly began following far behind them, motioning for the others to do the same.

"Pyra, what are you doing?" Firestar whispered.

"If we follow them, they could lead us back to wherever their base is. And if we do that, then we can hijack a ship and get off this planet," Pyra answered, "You heard what they said about the radiation. If we don't get out of here soon, all of you will succumb, and I don't see any other options right now."

Everyone looked between each other, and Pyra found the smallest part of herself hoping that at least one of them would disagree, that at least one noticed something she hadn't and would say they had a better idea. Yet that didn't happen, and all nodded along with her plan, looking to her for guidance. Velocity and Skystriker seemed to be in agreement as well, though the former's optics were marred with worry. Firestar seemed to be the most ambivalent towards the whole thing, but even she didn't oppose the idea, simply crossing her arms, sighing, and nodding.

Unable to say anything more, much to her frustration, Pyra led the Camiens through the town, following far behind the armored Decepticons, hiding behind buildings, rubble, darkness, and crystal whenever necessary. The more she followed, the more she noticed details about their armor that seemed familiar, and eventually it clicked, illustrations from her early studies coming to the forefront of her mind. The armor heavily resembled one of Solus Prime's greatest creations: The Apex Armor, said to make any who wear it utterly invincible. However, aside from clearly not being invincible – if the fact that Pyra could damage and stab through it was any indication – it also came across as an utter mockery of Solus' work, making her anger boil over.

Calm down, Pyra. Remember where you are and what you're doing, She distracted herself by focusing on the idle chatter of the Decepticons. They didn't say much of interest, something about their shift ending three Stellar Cycles from now and how they were hoping to transfer to a military combat unit. If nothing else, it told Pyra and her fellow Camiens that the Decepticons here, or most of them at least, weren't warriors. It provided a small advantage, knowing their enemies couldn't fight on her level, but even still, they had superior numbers.

And I'm not doing so well right now, Pyra's vision swam for a nano-klik, flames and whispers surrounding her before she stifled it down, focusing in on the Decepticons' conversation.

"You think we're finally gonna reach that energy signature soon?"

"Scanners show we've been getting close. Any Solar Cycle now, hopefully…"

Energy signature? Pyra looked back to the others, who seemed equally perplexed as they continued to follow and listen in.

"Everyone else's placing bets on what it even is. What's your DAC on it being?"

"Thinking it's just a massive chunk of mutated Energon. Don't have high hopes for anything interesting after Primus knows how long it's been. You?"

"Same thing. Honestly wish we just left this planet alone. Anything that could mutate Energon on a scale this massive just screams 'Do not mess with'. I mean, look what happened before we even got here!"

What? Pyra blinked at that last bit as the pain from her wounds started becoming unbearable, causing her to tune out the rest of their conversation, The Decepticons aren't responsible for what happened to Tsiehshi? She ignored the pain again and tried to trace any deception in their speech, but they were completely unaware they were being followed, so the conversation was thoroughly honest. But… She pondered as they approached the edge of town and arrived near the arena, But what could have done this?

"By Primus!" One of the Camiens whispered, the full size of the arena looming over them, so immense that it completely eclipsed the moonlight. With the shroud of darkness, Pyra couldn't make the finer details of the arena out, so she settled for continuing to follow far behind the armored Cons, who walked down a rather obviously bot-made incline and out of sight.

Once they were gone, Pyra motioned for the others to step out of hiding as she sprawled herself along the cliff, getting a feel for what lied ahead.

Watching the two Decepticons walk down the incline, she saw that it led to a series of steps, going further down to a flat surface, where well over a dozen ships were parked. Further down was a large mining operation at the entrance of the arena, where many armored Decepticons were harvesting the yellow Energon crystals and storing them in crates while a large bot with claws, talons, and spikes coming out of their back and helm (resembling horns) yelled out orders. Piloted mining drills, pick axes, and more were used to hack away at the radioactive substance, all reminding Pyra of why they needed to get off Tsiehshi.

"Come on," Pyra jutted her head at the others once the Cons they'd been following were far below at the mining site. They all went down, keeping close as they approached the ships. From the looks of them and based on the size of their group, they'd only need about one or two to carry everyone off-world. Pyra was the first to approach the entrance ramps, crouch-walking along the edge to keep hidden while checking to make certain that the ships were empty. Looking back down, it seemed as though they were preparing to start loading up the Energon, so she didn't have long.

"Alright, everyone get onboard," Pyra motioned for the others to hop onto the ship furthest away from the mining site, everyone rushing aboard as quickly and quietly as they could. Once all were on, she noted that there was no more room, leaving her alone. Accepting that, Pyra looked among them and said, "As soon as you're off this planet, find the nearest uncharted one. Don't think we can trust anything on a Decepticon star map to not be one of their operations or under their control. Once you're there, send out a signal so I can find you, but if I don't respond within a Solar Cycle then…" Her injury started catching up to her again. Clutching at it, she concluded, "Then assume the worst and try to find safety somewhere. What matters is that you all survive."

Her fellow Camiens looked between each other, clearly uncertain of her suggestion, but she didn't see any other way at this point. If they stayed here, they'd die, either to the Decepticons or the radiation from the Energon.

"Besides, they're better off without you anyway," A voice in the back of her mind said, sounding oddly identical to Praesidia's.

"Okay then. We'll see you soon, Pyra," One of them said, knocking her out of the ensuing ennui as they all gave gestures of affirmation. Pyra nodded in kind, backing off the ramp as it closed, the ship's engines roaring to life as it hovered and flew up into the air. Within mere cycles, it was out of here, leaving behind the same trail that led them to this place. The Torchbearer let out a sigh of relief, now knowing that the others were safe, before turning around-

"Now can you let me look at that wound?"

-only to notice that Velocity, Firestar, and Skystriker were still here.

"What are you doing here!? Why didn't you get on the ship!?" Pyra glared at them, trying to keep her voice as low as possible, though she was at least… 74% sure-ish that she was failing.

"Because you're being stubborn and will die if I don't patch you up," Velocity fired back.

"Yeah, we're really starting to worry," Skystriker added before pondering, "Well, more than we already were."

Firestar huffed, "Pyra, look, I get what you're trying to do, but trust me when I say this isn't-"

"No, you don't understand! They're going to notice that one ship's missing already after it took flight like that and-" Pyra looked to the steps and saw a pair of Decepticons walking up it, "Frag, everyone inside!"

Amidst protest, Pyra shoved the others inside the second nearest ship right as the Decepticons approached the top of the steps. Hoping they weren't seen, she headed straight for the ship's control console and got to work on booting it up, only for Firestar's servo to stop her.

"No. You need a patch job first. You've been holding this off long enough."

"Firestar, now's not the-" Pyra's protests went unheard as she found herself forced to sit on the floor, Velocity being motioned to get a repair kit while Skystriker operated the control console.

"For the record, I have no idea how to operate one of these things, so it might take me a bit to figure it out," He chimed in just as Velocity knelt down to Pyra's wounded side with supplies at the ready.

"You're telling us this now!?" Firestar groaned, the ship's ramp closing. If nothing else, Skystriker had that down.

"Okay Pyra, just hold still," Velocity began repairs, Firestar glaring at Pyra to hold still while the Torchbearer glared back.

"May take me a bit too," Velocity said as she got to work, "Haven't graduated yet. I was still studying at the Lighthouse when everything happened."

"And how far along were you?" Pyra nervously asked. While the Lighthouse was one of Caminus' most prestigious medical facilities, she wasn't too keen on trusting her physical health to a trainee. She wasn't too keen on putting any focus towards it at all right now, but she didn't have a say in the matter, so she held her tongue.

"Well, I've had to retake my exams seven times at this point, so… far along enough for this, I guess?" Velocity seemed just as nervous, though considering how much pain Pyra was already in, if the younger Camien was adding to it, she couldn't tell. "Okay, patched up all internal circuits, stopped the Energon from bleeding…" Velocity rattled off while she worked, "Now I just gotta seal it up!"

Pyra blinked, surprised by how quickly that took. Physically at least, she felt a bit better, so maybe Velocity had a lot more potential? In any case, now somewhat receptive to repairs, she positioned herself to let the medic-in-training continue her work. Before she could, however, a loud banging rattled the ship, everyone turning to the closed entrance.

"Hello?" A Decepticon, femme from the sound of her voice, angrily knocked on the ship, "We saw someone run in here! Open up and maybe we'll go easy on you! Oh, and don't bother flying away unless you want to die harder!"

"Really?" Her companion admonished.

"What? I thought it sounded cool!"

Slag! Pyra forced herself up and lightly pushed Velocity off. Desperately looking around, her optics landed on a storage closet that she rushed to and opened. Not big enough for all four of us, but it should fit these three, Pyra nodded to herself and grabbed each of her fellow Camiens by their shoulders, "Okay, you three get in. You can pilot this ship out of here once they leave."

"But what about you?" Skystriker asked, causing Pyra to grimace for a nano-klik, but she quickly regained a more stoic expression, refusing to let herself falter.

"I'll keep them distracted so they won't come back here or shoot the ship down when it's airborne. The important thing is that once I have them chasing me, you fly and don't look back."

"No, wait! We can hel-"

The loud banging interrupted Velocity, followed by more yelling from the Decepticon outside, "Last chance! Open up or we're blowing this thing sky high with you in it!"

At the warning, Pyra wasted no time shoving the three into the storage closet against their protest. No matter what, she wouldn't allow anymore Camiens to die today. Once they were inside, she shoved the nearest heavy crate in front so they wouldn't barge out and reveal themselves to the Decepticons. It was all too likely they'd be able to bust out, but this would keep them still long enough for her to get the Cons away.

Sorry everyone. Looks like I won't be making it back home, Pyra tapped a few keys on the console and the rear ramp slowly began opening. Stepping up, Pyra steeled her gaze and transformed, revving up the engines of her battle runner form. The instant the ramp touched the ground, two Decepticons stood before her, body language shifting from aggression to surprise as she burst forward and rammed into them both. One of them still clung to her front as they plummeted down to the mining grounds. Before they could crash, she transformed back to full height, kicking herself off the Con and landing with a roll, a resounding crash just behind her.

Looking around, Pyra saw she was surrounded at all sides, armored Decepticons wielding their mining tools like weapons, though thankfully none of them ranged. Judging by how volatile the Energon looked, she could guess why that was. Close quarters combat being a language she understood, Pyra reached behind to pull out her axe, only to gasp and find nothing.

Frag! Pyra's optics darted everywhere upon realizing she must've dropped it when that Con in the town threw her. Just as one rushed her, she back-flipped overhead, feet landing on their helm to let her jump even higher. While in the air, her optics got a better view of the area, spotting a crate of explosives amidst the extra mining equipment, and seeing the entrance to the arena, she had an idea.

A terrible one, but at this point, all her ideas were terrible.

Upon landing, she transformed back into vehicle mode and started circling around the area, maneuvering past rocks and Energon while just barely avoiding any Decepticons that managed to get close. Just as she got in arm's reach of the explosives chest, she shifted a hand outward and grabbed one, refusing to slow down for even an instant. Now armed, she barreled her way through one of the armored Cons and made a break right for the Colosseum entrance, getting scraped in the side a few times by pickaxes while another managed to punt her into a spin. Gritting her teeth, she bore with it and realigned herself right as she reached the entrance, driving down while everyone gave chase.

Huh, none of them are transforming, Pyra noted as she drove past many crystal deposits within the metallic tunnel, realizing that the armor protecting them from radiation just as much hindered their abilities. Taking advantage of that and the narrow tunnel, she drove full speed ahead, her foes now far behind. Once certain she was far enough, she activated the explosive and dropped it mid-drive, nearing the end of the tunnel right as she heard it go off. Unfortunately, she underestimated the explosive yield of the bomb mixed with the Energon, as the shock wave knocked her forward and sent her crashing into an open area.

"ARGH!" Pyra transformed to full height and skidded forward, her back feeling scorched from the explosion. With a groan, she looked back to see that the tunnel had completely collapsed in on itself. Okay, good news, I got away, Pyra picked herself up, Hopefully the others managed to fly away while all that was happening. Bad news… I'm trapped in… what is this place?

Currently, she found herself what looked to be a massive, circular hallway within the arena itself. Directly in front of her, she saw a large podium with an extremely old, but still functional holo-screen. Curiosity getting the better of her, she ignored the metal burn on her back and stepped forward, holding a servo out to search for a way to activate it, but that alone was enough. She backed up slightly as a hologram towered over her, leaving the Camien to gape at the sight.

Standing before her was a truly large Cybertronian, armor plating of a spiky crimson and black. The helm had smaller, matching spikes that jutted upward, as did the shoulders with a slight arch inward. Red optics looked forward, as if eyeing countless Sparks far ahead of himself while clawed servos flexed. The mech crossed his arms, unwittingly emphasizing the massive cannon attached to his right arm. Gasping with servos clutched over her Spark, Pyra recognized the cannon.

That's the… The Torchbearer stared in awe, That's the Requiem Blaster! The weapon of… by Primus, I'm actually hearing the words of-

"Greetings. I am Megatronus Prime, the twelfth of my brothers and ruler of Tsiehshi. Welcome to the Septimus Arena. From here, you shall all bear witness to the might of Tsiehshi's greatest warriors. All of them will do battle against one another for the right to become leaders in my personal army. In joining our ranks, know that you will serve under me for one purpose…"

His gaze turned into a determined, murderous glare. Unbridled wrath felt across eons.

"The fall of the Primes."

At his final word, Pyra's optics went wide.

… w-what?

Well Pyra, time for you to learn the darker aspects of the Thirteen's history that Caminus never knew. Like I said, worst possible planet to have landed on, especially for a bot from a planet whose culture greatly leans towards worshipping the Thirteen as divine, flawless beings.

The Thirteen may be the divine, direct offspring of Primus Himself, but they're far from perfect, after all. Megatronus/The Fallen and Maximus/Liege Maximo are, more often than not, the de facto examples of that.

Speaking of, I tried to describe him as best I could, but just in case it isn't clear enough, Megatronus/The Fallen's physical appearance is derived predominantly from his Aligned version (not his RiD 2015 version, but the Covenant of Primus version).

Far as Strika goes (both for the hallucinated version and her actual version back on Caminus), she's a combination of her 2019 IDW version and her Animated counterpart, having the physical appearance of the former and the Russian accent of the latter. And with Pyra's hallucination, we also get some more glimpses of what else ensued for the invasion of Caminus.

With the armor the Decepticons are wearing, it's based off the Apex Armor from Transformers Prime, and it's actually taking the... conflicting origin stories it has within the Aligned Continuity (Aligned had a shit ton of continuity snarls between media given the series behind the scenes history. A consequence of different shows and games being shoved in when that wasn't creator intent during development). Starscream stated it to be of Decepticon origin in its debut episode, implying that it was created by the Cons during the war. But then according to the Exiles novel, the armor was created by Solus Prime during early Cybertronian civilization.

This is more or less a combination of the two. Solus created the original armor using her Forge, but the Cons later got their servos on it and made an effort to reverse engineer it. They were definitely less than successful, as Solus' creations are basically advanced super-tech even by the standards of an already hyper-advanced alien robot race. The fact that there's some serious godlike magical elements used in her creations (and used by the Primes in general for that matter) adds to the inability for anyone to replicate them. The most they could manage was armor that provides some enhanced durability, but nothing delving anywhere close to invincibility, with its most useful application being radiation shielding for mining hazards.

Good news at least is they've long since lost the original Apex Armor, so they won't be using it anytime soon.

As a "What could have been", I was originally gonna have the Decepticons use Cybernought armor like in IDW, but then I remembered how utterly colossal those things are, so I scrapped that idea in favor of modified Apex replicants.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! I'm going to try and get the next Camien Odyssey chapter started after this one.