Shining Through

Chapter 4

All around me, the ground pulses. I feel the dark energon below me. Unicron is waking, but so am I. I feel a pain in my back, and I fall back into stasis.

3rd person

The three Autobots walk through the pine forest, their steps muffled by the undergrowth. Light flashes on blue plates. Arcee.

"I don't know what Ratchet thought we would find out here, there's nothing. His sensors must have been faulty." Bulkhead's deep voice penetrates the silence.

"You might be right Bulk, it's not exactly a party." Arcee replies after a moment. Her soft steps pause.

"So we should go back to base and tell Ratchet..." Bulkhead is cut off by incessant beeping. "Never mind, looks like Ratchet was right about something being out here. But it isn't a normal signal, it's also just ahead."

";"Then let's go!";" Bumblebee's whirrs and beeps are heard for the first time, signaling all three of them to start running towards the signal.

As they draw near a small hill, the scanner beeps four times- louder than before -and goes silent. Bulkhead taps the screen a few times before seeming to give up.

"It should be right here, under this hill."

They begin to dig. Arcee stands beside them to make sure that no one will sneak up, her glowing optics focused on the forest around them. Before long, they see black and dark silver plates. They slow down and take extra care to ensure that they do not harm the small femme.

-----A few minutes later-----

"Arcee to base. We need a bridge."

Ratchet's rough voice replies; "Did you find the source of the signal?"

"Yes, and 'the source' needs medical attention." Arcee sighs through the comm link.

Without another word, a ground bridge opens. The small group of Autobots trod through the swirling mass of blues and greens. They step through and into a small bunker, with high platforms for humans and an Autobot symbol on the floor. A white and orange bot rushes over to them. He motions towards a berth on one side of the room.

"Put her here. Quickly!" Bulkhead- as the one carrying the dark femme -sets her gently on the slab of metal. "Now shoo! I need to concentrate."

With that, the three bots walk towards a doorway that practically radiates the smell of outside. Once they are a few metres away, they transform and zip out of the base. Bulkhead's olive green plates are the last thing to disappear.

Before anything else, Ratchet scans the Cybertronian that was brought in. About halfway through his scan, it goes bright red and beeps. Ratchet flips the femme gently onto her stomach plates and gasps. Primus had repaired Nightblade's chassis and spark chamber, but could not fix the gash in her back.

The white med bot rushes around for a few minutes, putting Nightblade on life support and gathering tools. After he has done all of those things, he taps his forehelm and turns on the restraints that the berth has. The reason for the restraints is quite easy to guess. Out of the wound leaks a minute amount of dark energon, the 'blood' of Unicron.

-------Nightblade POV (time skip as well)-----

My helm hurts now, but my back does not hurt anymore. As I become more aware, I realize that I am restrained. Green lights flash in my helm to indicate that I have been repaired. My back is in contact with cold metal. It is soothing. Slowly, I hear panicking. Something about Unicron... Where am I again? The Void, no... that is not right. I was sent back... It is time. Time for what? I try to jolt up, but I remember the restraints. I open my optics instead.

I am in a bunker. That much is clear. Close to the ceiling is a network of small platforms. On them stand four, no five, small organic creatures. Those would be humans. Close to what I recognize as a groundbridge stands an orange and white bot. I would guess he is a medic. And disappearing through the open portal is a yellow Praxian mech, a bulky olive green mech and a blue femme that is about the same size as me.

"Get him out of there! Preferably alive!" The medical bot yells at them before turning to me and starting a little. "You are awake. Who are you? Why do you have dark energon? And why were you buried?"

I shutter my optics and then open them again. "I am Nightblade. I was not aware that I was buried. And as for why I have dark energon... I have always had dark energon. And one more question that you forgot to ask. Why I am here. As for that, I am here to fulfill a prophecy and send Unicron back into stasis. I am here to ensure that the currently living Prime does not die. I am here to save this world. Is that a good enough answer for you?"

He looks away and returns to his screen. "For now, yes. And I should probably tell you that my name is Ratchet." He addresses the screen, "What is going on?"

A deep voice replies to him, the voice of a Prime. "We seem to have a rather... Large problem. I need you t-Argh!" His orders are drowned out by a grunt of pain.

"Optimus! I am coming through!" Ratchet panics again and moves to open the groundbridge.

"Stop! Ratchet, if you go through, all of you will die! Let me go. I can save them." I know that my optics are glowing gold and silver now, and I do not care. He glances at my optics before moving to me and undoing the clamps.

"If you do anything... I swear that your spark will be the last thing you see." I smile at him, exposing my sharp Cybercat dentas.

"It already has been." He undoes the last clamp and backs up.

I roll my shoulder plates and flick my tail. He opens the groundbridge and says something, but I am already diving through the groundbridge. I emerge to see one of Unicron's smaller versions of himself. Made of dirt. Dirt, of all things. Dirt! On the ground lay the three Autobots I saw before. And closer to the giant foot of the Unicron manifestation is a pile of rubble. Under that pile of rubble, a red and blue bot is trapped.

I do not hesitate. My servos transform into twin blasters. I snarl and begin firing at the dirt. In it's ugly face. Of course, that causes it to then turn to me in shock.

"I told you so Unicron! I am back, and the prophecy will come true! Now stay away from them! Isn't it me that you want in the Void?!" I scream at him and backflip to avoid the mace that comes at me sideways. "Is that the best you can do?! What happened to the way you fought before?! Has my being gone made you soft?!"

As you can clearly see, my fighting style usually involves screaming things to make my enemy mad. And mech is he mad! His dirt self steps closer and starts swinging wildly at me. Soon enough, he hits me and sends me flying into the rock pile that the red and blue mech is under.

"What was that about the prophecy? Were you saying how it is doomed to fail?" He tries to taunt me, and almost succeeds.

"A prophecy always comes true. After all, I did speak the prophecy about you coming back, did I not?"

"Yeargh!" Was Unicron's only response, before he lifts his ped above myself and the motionless Prime.

"I am this planet's past, present and future, as well as yours; Nightblade. And as of this moment, all Primes are simply past! You will join your beloved Prime in death! But unlike you, this Prime will become part of my armies. While you will be reunited with the Void."

The large ped begins to slowly move closer. Mere moments before his ped hits the ground, crushing us to oblivion, there is a flash of purple above us. It knocks Unicron back and makes him go poof. The pieces crash to the ground around us, forming into a heaping mound of stone and dust.

Faintly, I hear the questioning voices of the Autobots, before a new voice joins.  The new voice says something about how 'he' happened.  Of course, he said 'I' so he was talking about himself.

  I snap my optics open for the second time in a cycle, focusing on a dark silver mech with a purple insignia.  The symbol glows sickly with the hue of dark energon.

  While I am taking note of his features, he walks over and assists the Prime in standing up.  He moves on to me after a moment's exchange of glances between them.  I observe his optics for a nanoclick before accepting his servo and standing.