A New Dawn - Transformers Prime (4)

Chapter Sixteen

So I've been taking this social distancing as an excuse to write, even though I'm technically not done my semester yet and have finals literally in a matter of weeks. I'm so whelmed that I don't even care at this point, hence the reason why I'm posting a day earlier. I just want you to see the good parts!

Anyways, I'll stop being annoying, enjoy lovelies!

[Amanda]

   "Hopefully she can give us something," I said, locking the door to the room Ratchet had showed me. "We could use any information we can get."

   He nodded. "Rafael and I are close to decrypting the remaining blocks in the ship's database. We should be able to access the information stored on there within the next day or so."

   "Fantastic," I said, though my tone didn't sound so enthusiastic. I scrubbed my hands over my face, trying to get myself back into it.

   "What do you think, though?" I asked as we walked back to the main area of the base. "You're our resident expert on all things Cybertronian. How are things falling together in your mind?"

   That made a frown cross his face. "We have many pieces of the story, but none have fallen directly where they should be as of yet. The presence of Tempest's ship in the desert, the markings of Valilorna on these smaller, human sized Cybertronians... the picture is hardly clear yet."

   "Agreed," I said. "Can you tell me anything about Valilorna, though? You fought against her during the war, didn't you?"

   "Yes. During a planet-wide stalemate, Megatron decided to tip the scales in his favor by travelling to the Zaren Pits to release Valilorna from the bonds Primus trapped her in after he and Cleona defeated Unicron and Valilorna. Though Valilorna pledged allegiance to the Decepticons, she hardly cared which side won so long as Cybertronians were perishing. The war, chaos, and death fueled her powers, making her almost undefeatable."

   "But she was imprisoned again," I said. "By Cleona?"

   He nodded. "As the Autobots fled Cybertron, Cleona faced Valilorna one last time. She used all of her powers to banish Valilorna once more, and that is where the goddess stayed," He shook his head. "At least, that is where she had stayed. It seems Valilorna broke through once again."

   "Could it be like Unicron?" I asked. "Maybe she's gaining power, but not fully out yet. It could be because Cybertron isn't dark anymore, or since Unicron almost awakened. Maybe there's still a way to keep her asleep the way we did with Unicron."

   "The only thing that kept Unicron dormant was the Matrix of Leadership," Ratchet said quietly. "Which we do not currently possess."

   We fell silent, pain filling a familiar spot in my chest where I used to feel the matrix and the Prime who carried it. Just as we reached the main part of the base, Ratchet stopped walking, causing me to stop to look at what was wrong.

   "I do not know what we're presently facing, Amanda," he admitted. "But I do not doubt that answers are on their way, whether it be from the database or our new prisoner. We may have hit a wall for now, but we have ways to get around it."

   I smiled a bit at that. "It's nothing we haven't hit before, huh?"

   The corner of his lips quirked up as he nodded and headed back to his computer, briefly speaking with Raf to catch up on his progress. I stayed where I was, thoughts running a million miles a minute, before I turned around and headed back down the hall. Ratchet was right; we had two ways of getting information now, either the database or the prisoner. While I couldn't be much help with the database, I had the power to help the other way.