Beyond the Cosmos: Tragedy and Fortune

A Strange Species

I awoke awash in the creek. Sitting up, I immediately felt my upper arm twinge. Half of the skin was red, and boiling hot. I saw a rather odd-looking purple liquid flow down the creek, mixing in with the water and turning it into grape juice.

The burn didn't hurt too badly once I got up. What even caused this? I scanned the forest for Silverstream, and saw her grazing not too far from where I got knocked out. "Hey girl!" I grinned as I mounted her. I wanted to scram from the forest, but couldn't help searching for what caused my skin to get fried.

Curiosity getting the better of me, we walked deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees seemed to close more around us, as if they were trying to make us unable to escape. That scared me a bit, and I ordered Silverstream to go faster.

It was getting pretty late. Strange noises soon filled the forest, echoing against every tree in sight. I got even more curious this time. I had not one, but two things to get to the bottom of. Despite the forest being beautiful at the start, it came to reason that it was getting more and more ominous every step Silverstream took.

***

After about half an hour of walking, we soon discovered a huge crater. Blue crystal sprouting out of the ground was scattered across, and I heard a huge explosion. The impact knocked me to the ground, right off of my horse, as I saw her spook and run away. Silver wasn't usually very scared of anything, but an impact like that? I wasn't surprised she ran away. That could even scare me.

My starshield came in handy that moment, because if I hadn't used it, rocks would've crushed me like a grape. I unequipped it, and glanced from behind the tree. There was a huge spaceship, and if that's not surprising enough, there were like, six or seven purple robots against a red one.

I rubbed my eyes and opened them again. The robots were still there, much to my astonishment. Watching this was like an action movie-- in real life! My mouth dangled open as the red robot transformed into what seemed like a 1969 Dodge Challenger. 

He transformed back into his bot form and gave one of the purple robots a good punch to the face. The other purples punched the red one, and before I knew it, one of the silvery horns was knocked off of his head. He fell to the ground and yelled, "You want the horns? You got 'em." 

Lasers appeared out of the six-pack ion cannons and knocked down another purple, and the purple robots started shooting back. But instead of blue, red lasers appeared of of their triangular cannons.

Suddenly, another explosion filled the crater, this one a lot bigger. The red robot was not looking good after that. The purples dragged him into an elevator, and they went up. I had to do something. An idea popped into my mind. I then called for Silverstream, and she came galloping. 

I jumped onto her back, and she went at full speed after the ship. I used my power to launch us onto the ship, and we landed right on top. "Wait here, girl!" I loudly whispered, and climbed to the windshield of the ship. 

I saw the red robot get dragged to a devious-looking silver one. I heard him say, "They said it couldn't be done-- the one called Cliffjumper, is too fierce, too strong-willed to be captured. Yet here you are, with a rare opportunity to make history. You see, I have been looking for Optimus Prime's location for eons. Tell me where he's hiding, and I will see to it that you perish quickly."

Using my cosmic power again, this time to portal through the window, I found a block to hide behind. I heard the red robot, or which must have been Cliffjumper, say, "Scream. It's been a while. So, where's your master?"

And Scream replied, "Never mind him. I am my own master." He pulled his arm back as if ready to stab Cliffjumper, and he was, until I stopped him. "Not so fast, Scream-- well, whatever your name is!"

I expected him to jump back, but instead he cackled, "Well, well, well! Looks like Cliffjumper has brought his fleshy pet with him."

"I don't know him. But I won't let you kill him."

"And what exactly are you going to do to stop me?" Scream asked as he leaned in my face. "Oh, you'll see!" I got my powers ready, and ran a starflash right into Scream's face. He jumped back and tried to wave the flash away.

"Hurry, Cliffjumper! We gotta get out of here!" I ordered. But Cliffjumper was very unsteady on his legs, and collapsed. "Cliff, get up! Scream's gonna kill you any minute now if you don't! Go, go, go!" Silverstream somehow got inside, and neighed for us to get into the portal.

Just before Starscream could get us, we jumped into the portal and it closed. Starscream clenched his fists and screamed because he was about to slay his hostage. On the north side of the crater, I saw another portal appear, with five more robots jumping out. 

"Looks like that's your rescue team, Cliffjumper!" I smiled. "I better go." 

 I mounted Silverstream and she galloped off before the others noticed us. But we watched from the top of the crater, as the other five checked on him and took him into the portal. "Until we meet again, Cliffjumper," I whispered. "Sometime."