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Part 47: Battle for the Allspark Part 4

Sunstreaker ran over to where he left Sideswipe and found Ratchet hard at work repairing his brother.

"How is he?" asked Sunstreaker.

"Not great," Ratchet admitted. "Starscream got him pretty good. I had to induce stasis lock so I could work on him properly.".

Sunstreaker looked at Sideswipe with a painful expression. "Can I do anything to help?" he asked.

Just then Sunstreaker heard a growl behind him. He and Ratchet looked over and saw Skywarp, now standing but covered in dust, scraps, and burn marks, looking over at both of them.

Skywarp didn't say anything. He just glared at Sunstreaker with a scowl.

Ratchet looked back at Sunstreaker. "Take care of these Decepticons so I can get Sideswipe back to my lab," Ratchet answered.

"That I can do," Sunstreaker said. He started rushing towards Skywarp, ready to fight. Skywarp raised his wrist guns and started shooting at the incoming Autobot. When Sunstreaker was close enough, Skywarp grabbed him by the hands and teleported them both away.

Ratchet couldn't worry about Sunstreaker right now; he needed to work on the problem he could solve and returned to fixing Sideswipe. "Hang in there, Sideswipe…" he murmured. "I got this…"

Luke, Hound, and Chromia emerged into the clearing where Prowl's message had come from and saw the chaos around them. Prowl was still being cornered by Skytread's jet and tank modes, and Barricade was still shooting at him with his pistols.

"You get Barricade! I got Skytread!" Hound said to Chromia.

"No problem!" Chromia declared. She ran up to Barricade and tackled the Decepticon with ferocity. Barricade was knocked away from his position and let out a "GRRRRR" as the two fell down and landed in a nearby ditch.

Barricade let out a roar of frustration and tossed Chromia off of him; she landed several feet away. Barricade then charged forward, throwing a punch at her. Chromia returned her own punch and the two kept fighting in the ditch they were in.

That left Skytread all up to Hound and Luke. Hound let out a torrent of laser fire at Skytread's jet mode, but it dodged all of his shots. Skytread's tank mode took advantage of this distraction and launched a mortar shell at Hound.

"Hound, look out!" cried Luke.

Hound looked up, but he wasn't able to respond in time. The shell hit him square in the chest and knocked him back several feet.

Just then, Hot Rod arrived with Thalia and Annabeth. He transformed out of his dodge viper mode, letting the two kids out.

"Hang on Hound!" Hot Rod called. He brought out his two laser pistols and started shooting at Skytread's tank mode, but that only left him open for the jet mode to swoop in. It launched a missile at Hot Rod, which impacted the young Autobot. He flinched and staggered in pain.

"How do we beat this guy?!" Thalia asked. "How do you take on someone who can be in two places at once?"

"Don't worry." Annabeth said. "I got a plan!"

"Then let's hear it!" Prowl said emerging from his rock cover once he was sure it was safe to move.

"There's something I've seen about Skytread these past few months." Annabeth explained. "I think he not only splits his body in half, but his personality as well. And both sides are easily irritable. We can use that against him."

"Sounds good." Prowl said. "What's your suggestion on going about that?"

"Making fun of him." Annabeth explained.

Prowl just stood there blinking for a few moments. Thalia, however, caught on to what Annabeth was suggesting and ran forward to where Hound, Hot Rod, and Luke were fighting Skytread.

"Hey!" Thalia called, putting her hands to her mouth to form a cone. "I don't know about you, but I like Skytread's tank mode the best!"

"I don't know!" shouted Annabeth."Nothing beats flying! The Jet mode is better."

Both halves of Skytread took note of that and turned around toward the two girls. They started firing at them, but Thalia and Annabeth had been ready for this and dodged them.

"Thalia! Annabeth! What are you doing!?" asked Hound.

"Trust us!" Annabeth called. "Follow our lead!"

Hound looked at Hot Rod and Luke; both of them shrugged. Then Luke ran forward to join in the insult flinging.

"Yeah!" he shouted. "I agree! The jet mode's better. Much faster!"

"Yeah!?" Skytread's tank mode said accusingly as it turned around on a dime. "Well, I got the firepower!" He launched a shell at Luke, but Hot Rod thought fast; he raised his arm and shot the shell out of the air with his pistol.

"See!?" Luke asked. "That's what I'm talking about! No style or finesse!"

"I don't know about you, but I don't think style is everything!" Hound shouted. "A bit of brute force does the trick! And that's what the tank is all about! The jet takes far too long to get anything done despite it's speed!"

"I'll show you speed!" Skytread's tank mode fumed and dove straight at Hound; the Autobot wound up his fist and punched the jet right in the nosecone as it came in, knocking it back several feet into a rock wall.

"Your turn, Prowl!" Annabeth called.

Prowl gave an awkward look "I don't really do trash ta–"

"Come on!" Annabeth insisted.

"Fine." Prowl sighed. "Erm, the jet is far more... Good looking! Yes! Far more areo dynamic!"

"You said it, Prowl!" Luke cheered. "Hear that tank!? You got beat in the looks department!"

Sparks flew off Skytread's tank mode. "SHUT UP!" he shouted, and it started firing rapidly all around, not even bothering to aim.

"Hah! Guess they had a point!" The jet mode yelled as it flew back into the air.

"You shut up too!" the tank mode yelled back.

"We almost got it!" Cheered Annabeth. "Keep going!"

"The tank mode is too slow!" Thalia taunted.

"The paint scheme on the jet is better!" Hound shouted.

"The jet's faster, and that's all that matters in my book!" Hot Rod yelled.

"The tank can't aim for crap!" Luke taunted.

"The jet had the better advantage on me earlier!" Prowl shouted.

By this point, both vehicles were starting to spark with rage. Skytread was finding it harder and harder to think and work on a united front.

"Can't…think…" said both modes at the same time. "Need… to…COMBINE!" Skytread shouted. Both vehicle modes started to shift as they formed Skytread's top and bottom halves.

It was the opening Prowl needed. He pulled a grenade out of one of his storage compartments he had in case of an emergency. He threw it right at Skytread as his two halves came together, the explosive landing in between them as they started to combine, getting caught in the shifting gears and circuits.

"OH NO!" cried Skytread just as he finished joining together.

"Hit the floor!" yelled Prowl. Everyone ducked and ran for cover as Skytread frantically put his arms all over him, trying to look for a way to get the explosive out, but there was nothing that could be done.

Once that realization hit Skytread, he let out a weak and defeated "No fair...".

The words hadn't left his mouth before a massive BOOM erupted all over the canyon. Skytread's two halves were blown apart as metal parts and pieces scattered everywhere.

Thalia looked up from her cover and saw nothing left of Skytread but his lower half.

"We got him, guys!" she shouted.

Luke, Annabeth, Hound, and Hot Rod looked up and let out a cheer of victory. "WOO HOO!" Hot Rod hollered. "Eat that Decepticon!"

"Uh guys!" called Luke, pointing in another direction.

Hot Rod turned his head and let out a sigh of exasperation. Soundwave and Thundercracker had recovered and were running right toward them. Soundwave had his gun drawn and started firing.

"Take cover!" Hound shouted as he went behind a rock to get a good shooting position.

"Give the Allspark to us!" he demanded. "Pathetic Autobots!"

"Fat chance, Soundwave!" Hot Rod said he pulled out his pistols and ran backwards. "Prowl, keep your distance! Don't let them—"

"Yeah, I know!" Prowl pointed out in his own expaseprated tone. "I'm not stupid!" He dove behind a rock and started shooting at the two Decepticons.

Luke ran to join Hound at his rock. Thalia was about to do the same and go to Hot Rod's, but Annabeth stopped her. "Wait, Thalia!" she said. "Ageis! Use your shield to stop them from getting too close!"

"Oh! Right!" Thalia said. With that, Annabeth ran to join Prowl, and Thalia raced to the center of the battlefield, deploying Ageis right in the center. The intimidating glare of the shield stopped Thundercracker and Soundwave right in their tracks.

"GRRRR can't get closer..." Thundercracker muttered. "What is with that shield!?"

"Unknown." Soundwave noted. "I shall look into it later. For now, keep firing!"

The two Decepticons let out a volley of laserfire that narrowly missed the Autobots, who ducked behind their cover.

Hot Rod jumped out from behind his cover and aimed his two pistols at the cons. "Hit em with everything we got!" he shouted as the shootout between the three Autobots and two Decepticons continued.

Chromia dodged another punch from Barricade before grabbing him by the neck and squeezed. "I owe you for the battle on the Ark-27 Barricade!" She roared with rage.

"You couldn't beat me then; you're not gonna beat me now!" Barricade stated defiantly as he grabbed Chromia by the neck as well.

The two foes struggled against each other in the grapple they had found themselves locked in. Once Chromia seemed complacent enough, faster than Chromia could react, Barricade moved his right arm to pick up his pistol and shot Chromia point blank in the chest. The shot hit Chromia with a BANG!

Chromia loosened her grip on Barricade and staggered backward. She looked down at the injury; a massive hole was now in her chest that was almost a clean shot in and out of her. Wires and exposed circuts dotted the hole.

Chromia wanted to give Barricade a good punch, but she couldn't find the strength to do so. She fell down on her knees, weakened and battered. She looked up and saw Barricade pointing his gun at her head.

"So much for settling the score," he taunted.

Chromia closed her optics.

"Don't worry." Barricade assured her. "I'll let everyone know you went down fight–" he stopped speaking as Chromia heard the sound of metal scraping.

When Chromia opened her optics, she saw Barricade standing there with a sword blade in his chest and his optics wide open. Behind him was Nightprowler, who was the one jabbing the sword into him.

"She's not the only one with a score to settle." Nightprowler said confidently.

It was the opening Chromia needed. Using what little strength she had left, she uppercutted Barricade, sending the Decepticon sprawling to the ground, unconscious.

"Thanks Nightprowler–Ugh…"Chromia moaned as she fell forward. Nightprowler rushed over to catch her.

"Chromia? Are you okay?" Nightprowler asked.

"No. I'm not." Chromia grimaced, looking at her wound. "It's bad Nightprowler. I think I'm out."

"Do you need me?" Nightprowler asked.

"No…" Chromia said as she took a seat down. "I'll call for Ratchet. You stop these Decepticon scrapheads."

"Very well." Nightprowler transformed into his Snow Leopard mode and ran off to find the others. Leaving Chromia behind slumped in the ditch.

Chromia used what strength she had to lift her wrist comm to her mouth. "Ratchet, I need help…" she managed to say.

Optimus had never seen Megatron fight with such ferocity before. The two of them were still battling in their little section in the canyon away from everyone else. It felt like every time Optimus tried some trick to get the upper hand on Megatron, the Decepticon leader had some sort of countermeasure ready for him.

After his latest attempt to sweep Megatron off his feet had backfired and Optimus found himself down on the ground on his back, Megatron looked down meancingly at him.

"Finished yet?" Megatron asked.

"Never!" Optimus declared. He grabbed Megatron's leg and pulled it, sending Megatron flying towards the ground. He leaped up to attack Megatron while he was down, but Megatron recovered faster than expected and intercepted Optimus's punch.

"Stop this Optimus! There's no reason for this!" Megatron insisted. "My offer still stands. We can go home and use the Allspark to repair our world right now!"

Optimus scoffed, "Are you really going to try and talk me out of it again?"

Megatron gave a cruel smile. "Can't fault a bot for trying. Besides..." he threw his own punch at Optimus's face. It landed with a clang and staggered Optimus badly. "You know I'm right." Megatron finished.

Optimus didn't respond. He was trying to recover from the blow Megatron had given him. Before he could, though, Megatron raised his right arm and fired his fusion cannon right at Optimus. Optimus let out a cry of pain as the blast tore into his left side, damaging his left arm and leaving a gaping half-hole in his body.

"And since I'm in the mood for telling the truth, allow me to tell you this." Megatron walked up and grabbed Optimus by the neck and forced him down on his knees. "Once I have the Allspark, this planet will be the first to be a part of the new Cybertronian empire."

"No…" Optimus said weakly as he struggled to free himself from Megatron's grip. "You can't, they're-"

"Weaker than us?" Megatron asked. "Please, I'll be doing them a favor. By the time I'm done, every being on this planet will be cheering on the Decepticons for uplifting them; even the gods."

Optimus's face took on a defiant look. "So long as the one their cheering is you?"

Megatron's cruel smile grew bigger. "I did say I was in the mood for telling the truth. And I'm going to make sure you have a front row seat."

Optimus tried to wedge himself free of Megatron's grip, but the Decepticon refused to let go. "Now come Optimus." Megatron said. He started to walk forward and dragged Optimus by the neck with him. "I have an Allspark to claim…"

After who knows how long, Starscream felt his head start to clear. Everything was a blur after Prowl snapped his leg in the wrong direction and sent them flying to the ground.

He looked up and saw lasers flying nearby. Three of the Autobots were shooting at Soundwave and Thundercracker. Thundercracker looked over and saw Starscream slowly getting up.

"Starscream! Help us out!" he called.

"Just give me a cyber damn cycle!" Starscream said as he stood up on his shaky leg; Prowl had twisted in pretty badly.

Starscream scowled as he looked at his broken leg before he looked over at the firefight. He noticed one of the humans, the black-haired one, was holding up a shield; it was the same shield that had intimidated him when they first arrived and was no doubt the thing keeping Thundercracker and Soundwave back.

It didn't look like the Autobots had noticed him yet, so Starscream carefully maneuvered himself around the side of the battle until he was behind Thalia.

Then he lifted his wrist gun at her. "Bye, bye, human," he muttered with a sadistic grin.

It all happened at once. Starscream fired his wrist gun at Thalia, but the shot got Hot Rod's attention just in time.

"THALIA!" he cried. Thinking fast, he leaped in front of Starscream's shot head-on. The shot ripped through his chest, and Hot Rod howled in pain and collapsed on the ground.

"Hot Rod!" cried Thalia. The moment distracted her just enough, and she looked away from the two Decepticons.

"That's our cue!" Thundercracker said. "Let's go!" He transformed into his jet mode before Thalia could look back. He flew right at the Autobots and let out a massive thunder boom that knocked Hound, Prowl, Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia off their feet.

"Move in! Get the Allspark!" Soundwave ordered as he rushed in, firing his guns all around the area.

"Already on it!" shouted Starscream with a sadistic laugh as he charged forward, shooting all the while.

The battlefield was in chaos, and Hound, Prowl, Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth weren't sure what to do.

"Scatter!" cried Prowl as he made a run for it; Hound did likewise, with Annabeth and Luke following them, respectively.

Thalia, however, stayed near the injured Hot Rod, looking at him with despair as the laser shots flew around him. Hot Rod moaned in pain. Then inspiration struck her.

"Prowl!? That Allspark can heal, right!?"

"What? Oh yes, it can!" Prowl said, realizing what Thalia had in mind.

"Toss it over here!" Thalia begged.

Prowl threw the Allspark at Thalia, and it flew through the air. Thalia watched as it came close and closer...

And then, when it was halfway across the battlefield, out from the ground, Quicksand leaped up and grabbed the Allspark in midair. Before anyone could stop him, he went back underground with the Allspark still in his pincers.

"NO!" cried Thalia

"Oh no, Oh no, Oh no!" Hound stammered. Right before Thundercracker came in with a strafing run, throwing him off balance. Luke barely managed

Prowl struggled to maintain some kind of focus as they're small team was attacked on all sides.

"Prowl, what do we do!?" Annabeth asked.

Prowl struggled and put a hand to his head. "Just give me a minute to think–"

Before he could even finish his sentence, there was a loud VOP sound followed by a crash.

"Now what!?" Prowl asked exasperatedly before looking over to see what had caused the sound. The answer was Skywarp teleporting in and holding Sunstreaker on the ground by the throat.

The momentary, unexpected element had caused everyone on the battlefield, even the Decepticons, to pause.

Utilizing the distraction, Prowl shot Skywarp in the back. Skywarp yelled in pain and flew off of Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker ran over to where Prowl was just as the Decepticons started shooting again.

"You okay!?" Prowl asked as he returned fire on the Decepticons.

"I'll let you know when we deal with these cons!" Sunstreaker answered as he pulled out his gun and fired on Thundercracker, who was coming in for another pass.

"Cover me!" yelled Hound. He started running toward Hot Rod's injured body, where Thalia was still trying to guard him with her shield. When he got over to him, Hound grabbed Hot Rod and started dragging his friend over to the rocks the Autobots had made their cover at. The decepticons lasers grazed and flew past him.

A shot from Soundwave flew straight at Hound, but Hound swerved his head just in time with a "WHOA!"

"This is insane!" Luke shouted.

"It's just another day on Cybertron!" Sunstreaker remarked.

Hound managed to pull Hot Rod into the Autobots cover area, and the young Autobot groaned.

"Hot Rod, you alright?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hot Rod muttered, but he still winced in pain a bit.

"Thanks for saving me." Thalia said.

"That's twice we've saved your life here on this planet, you know." Prowl pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in later!" Hot Rod protested.

"Where's the Allspark!?" asked Sunstreaker.

"Right here!" said a sinister voice.

Everyone, even the Decepticons, paused and looked over to where the voice was coming from.

There on the side of the battlefield was Megatron, carrying an injured Optimus Prime by the neck. Beside him, right at his feet was Quicksand now in robot mode, the Allspark still in his pincers.

"For you, my lord." Quicksand said, kneeling and handing the Allspark to Megatron. The Autobots watched in fear as Megatron picked up the Allspark in his hands. He gave a sadistic, cold grin as he stared at the cube.

Then he gripped it tighter as the cube started to glow and Megatron's red eyes began to shine brighter with even more ferocity.

"Now…" Megatron began, his smile widening. "Who's first?"

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