Together We Stand Divided We Fall (Transformers Prime Beast Hunters)

Chapter 9

"I'm really going to miss Disney World. It was so much fun! Did you like it Optimus?" asked Aura. The gang arrived back in Jaspear earlier this morning. Everyone was back in their new base and the Autobots were back in their robot forms. "Yes I suppose I will. It was quite, entertaining." replyed Optimus. "See? I knew you'd like it!" stated Aura with a smile. Then the two giant sliding front doors of the base opened and in drove a new state of the art miliatry muscle truck with jet boosters on the back. "Prime, what we have here is a experimental all terrain fighting vehicle. Designed by the finest engineers in our mass division." said Fowler as he stepped out if the vehicle. Aura walked around it, examining every feature it contained. "Nice." commented Aura. "Thank you Agent Fowler. This will most certainly do." said Optimus. Agent Fowler stepped away from the vehicle as two blue laser scanners shot out of Optimus optics and scanned the vehicle. Aura watched as a photo of the vehicle projected itself into Opimus optics and disappear. "Thanks again Fowler." said Aura. "My pleasure. I'll be in my office if you need anything else." said Fowler as he walked away. As he left, Aura turned and faced the Autobot leader. "So, how does it feel to have a new body and vehicle mode?" asked Aura. "It feels, different. But, I'm use to it now." answered Optimus. "I can tell. But it might take me awhile to get used to the jetpack. I mean, look at that! It's amazing!" said Aura. It is isn't it?" replyed Optimus with a smirk on his face. "Optimus?" asked Aura in confusion. Optimus walked out of the base and stood outside of the base. He then activated his jetpack wings, and looked at Aura. "About that ride I told you before we left." said Optimus as he extended his hand towards Aura. She had a surprised look on her face. "Wait, your serious? Really serious?" asked Aura in shock. Optimus gave her a warm smile and nodded in reply. Aura proceeded towards him and placed her hand in his. Optimus pulled her towards him, wrapping his arm tightly but qently around her stomach. "Hold on." said Optimus. The booster egnited and the two Autobots soared into the night sky. Aura looked down at all the city lights from cars and buildings. "This is unbelievable!" said Aura. Optimus then swooped down towards a lake and they flew just right on top of it, making small waves as they flew over it. Optimus took Aura's over hand and placed it in the water. She could feel the water splashing against her hand and a smiling came across her face. At the end of the lake they flew back up into the sky and soared under the clouds. "Aura, look." said Optimus. She followed his gaze to see a brightly shined full moon. "Wow. It's beautiful." said Aura. The ride felt like it lasted forever but in reality it was only about 10 minutes. It was midnight when they arrived back at base. Optimus and Aura landed safely back on the ground, and the wings transformed back into the jetpack. "Optimus thank you so much! That was a wonderful adventure! The sensation from it was incredible!" said Aura with a big smile on her face. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's very late Aura, you should get some rest." replyed Optimus. "You kidding? After all that I don't think I'll be able to sleep all night!" stated Aura. Optimus gave her a small smirk. "Alright, I'll try." added Aura while laughing. "Goodnight Aura." said Optimus. "Good night Optimus." replyed Aura as she hugged him and he hugged back. Their relationship had grow ever since how Optimus told her how he felt about Aura. They parted from the hug and Aura walked back inside the base to her room.

Aura woke up late the next morning. She walked out into the command centre to see ground bridge portal open at other side of the base. "Return turjectory fluctuations have been stabalized." said Raf at a computer station giving Ratchet two thumbs up. "Ultra Magnus we are ready to proceed." said Ratchet through the comlink. Aura looked towards the ground bridge to see a blue semi truck that was similar to Optimus's previous vehicle mode. Bumblebee picked up an energon cube case from the cargo side of Ultra Magnus's truck as the second in command transformed back into his robot mode. He then walked towards Aura, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Arcee. "Did you find anything father?" asked Aura. "We didn't find much else in the former base." answered Ultra Magnus. At that moment, Wheeljack walked in through the ground bridge holding a giant yellow and blue metal ball in his hands. "You call this 'not much else'?" asked Wheeljack. "Hey! It's our lobbing ball!" cheered Aura. Wheeljack spung around and threw the ball at Wheeljack. "Huh?" said Bulkhead just as th ball bounced hard off Bulkheads chest. Aura ducked out of the ball's way and it headed straight for Jack, Miko, and Cole. Jack pulled them both oh of the way just into time. The ball slammed itself into Agent Fowler's office door. "You three ok?" asked Aura as she ran towards them. "I'm fine." answered Cole while rubbing his back feeling sore from the fall. "Wheeljack! You could have caused serious damage!" yelled Ratchet. "To me!" added Miko. "Me too!" added Cole as he and Jack helped Miko up. Aura noticed Fowler's door open, but he couldn't get out because if the ball. "Um, alittle help here?" asked Fowler. "I got you Fowler." said Aura. She grabbed a hold of the ball and pulled it out of the door way and placed it on the floor. "What were you thinking Soldier?" asked Ultra Magnus. "I was thinking Bulk' was going to catch that lob." answered Wheeljack with a smirk. "Allow me to make myself clear! As Optimus Prime's second in command, I have no intention of tolerating Wreaker behaviour." explained Ultra Magnus. "Some things never change." said Wheeljack as he faced Ultra Magnus. All optics were on the two Autobots. "What does he mean by that?" thought Aura. "Jackie..." warned Bulkhead. "Hmpt, need I remind you that it was Optimus Prime himself, who assigned me to command the Wreakers back on Cybertron, and get you loose cannons under control!" stated Ultra Magnus. "Father, you've made your point." said Aura. "Aura, don't interrupt." ordered Ultra Magnus. Aura let her head down and backed away. "An effective combat unit begins with discipline, if you won't except that, feel free to chose the path of least resistance. As you did before." finished Ultra Magnus. "What?" asked Aura. "If my ship weren't a twisted wreak, I'd do that, sir." replyed Wheeljack as he glared at Ultra Magnus. "Ok, that's it! Enough! Both of you!" said Aura as she stood between the two Autobots with one hand on each of their chest. "This has gone long enough." said Aura as she gave her father a stern look. "Jackie, take some time to walk it off." ordered Aura. Wheeljack nodded and walked out of the room without looking at anyone. The Autobots and humans watched Wheeljack leave then they faced Ultra Magnus and Aura. "Father we talked about this. Wheeljack may be alittle rough around the edges, but he's a good bot. Just please try to show him a little more respect?" pleaded Aura. Ultra Magnus sighed then nodded at his daughter. "Good." said Aura.

"So, any word from Optimus?" asked Ultra Magnus. "Yeah, where is he?" asked Aura. "He's investigating recent Decepticon activity. Hopefully an energon mine." answered Ratchet. "We could surely use some energon right now." said Aura as she stared at the pile of empty energon cube containers.

"How rad would it be if you all had jetpacks like Optimus!" said Miko excitedly. "Quite rad Miko. But the forge has been depleted of its power to do that." replyed Ratchet. "Now it's only good for pounding out dings." said Bulkhead. Aura looked around the room to see that one Autobot was missing. "Hey, where's Smokescreen?" asked Aura. At that moment, a double 38 racing sports car drove into the base. Only instead it had a yellow and blue paint job. "Smokescreen?" asked Arcee. "Is that you?" asked Aura. Right then, said Autobot transformed into his robot mode. "Aww, what gave me away?" asked Smokescreen in reply. Arcee smiled at the rookie. "Come on! Robots in disguise right?" asked Smokescreen. "I'm liking the new paint job Smoke'. I'm also starting to sense a trend here." said Aura. Ultra Magnus joined in on the group and faced Smokescreen. "Where have you been soldier?" asked Ultra Magnus. "Scanning new war paint. Thought it would be proactive to follow Optimus's lead. And Bumblebee's." answered Smokescreen. "Beep beep beep bop 'Got that right!'" said Bumblebee while stacking the energon containers. "Now you can look your best, while stacking those empty cubes." suggested Ultra Magnus. "Yes sir." replyed Smokescreen as he turned away towards the containers. "I'll help them. With your permission?" asked Aura. "Of course." answered Ultra Magnus. Aura nodded, then ran and caught up with Smokescreen. "I was nearly a Prime, but somehow I'm still a rookie." muttered Smokescreen. "Shh!" hushed Aura. "What was that about a Prime?" asked Ratchet as he stopped working. "Huh? Uh, time! Time to stop acting like a rookie." corrected Smokescreen as he and Aura got to work helping Bumblebee.

After 10 minutes of hard work, Raf opened up a ground bridge and Optimus came walking in, holding something in his hands. "Optimus, did you find energon?" asked Ratchet. "No, but I did uncover this." answered Optimus as placed the object on a table. It looked like the skull of some sort of animal. "What is that?" asked Aura. "It cannot be!" said Ratchet. "What?" asked Jack. All the Autobots and humans gathered around the table. "The ancient remains, of a Predicon." answered Optimus. "Though it remains unclear why such a skull would be found on your planet, it's presence reveals all too much of the Predicon which Megatron sent in pursuit of us." explained Ratchet. "You mean that dragon bot we put on ice?" asked Miko. "Except, the Predicons have been extinct since, well..." explained Ratchet. "Since before most life began on Cybertron." finnished Smokescreen. "Smokescreen is right. The Predicons have been gone for millions of years." added Aura. "They're like Earth's dinosaurs!" said Raf. "But more deadly." pointed out Cole. "Which means for you guys, running into one would be like us running into a T-Rex." said Jack. "So, then what were Dinobots?" asked Miko. "Totally different." answered Bulkhead. "With Megatron's new interest in escavating these prehistoric skeletons, and a certain Decepticon scientist back among the Decepticon ranks..." started Ratchet. "It would stand to reason, that Shockwave cloned the beast from one such find." finnished Optimus. "And now Megatron is looking to clone another." said Ultra Magnus. "What makes you think bucket head will stop at one?" asked Wheeljack. "He could make an army of Predicons!" added Aura. "We could have Beast Wars on our hands." pointed out Bulkhead. "And if Shockwave only requires a small single strand of CNA, from which to clone a beast..." said Ratchet. "He already possess what he needs to ingender this one. Autobots! We must become Beast Hunters." commanded Optimus. "One still doesn't follow." said Smokescreen. "What's up?" asked Aura. "Predicons went extinct on Cybertron! So, what were their bones be doing here?" asked Smokescreen. "I think I know. During the war for Cybertron a spy unit discovered that Shockwave was working on a new project. They said that he discovered Predicon fossils and was attempting to bring them back to life. He must have cloned them and sent them here to Earth, to ambush a team of Autobots that were stationed here in earth guarding energon reserves." explained Aura.