[ Trigger warning: injury, blood, PTSD ]
Light of the Groundbridge appeared at the bare area of a wild rocky forest. A white and orange fast-driving ambulance came out of the brightness and halted as soon as they realized they arrived at the spot. The blue sky wasn't clear anymore, big clouds floated from above, making the natural environment look darker and scarier than it was supposed to be. There was nothing besides the empty atmosphere and the sound of the rustling leaves hovering through the whispering wind.
"We are here." Ratchet alerted, Twilight and Spike peeped through his window next to the driver's seat where the girl was sitting. She remained in the vehicle for a short while, tapping her finger on the steering wheel, thinking. Numerous voices were running through her head, arguing with one another whether this was a good or a bad decision. She had a strong gut feeling about the whole mess, it could be a trap, but she had to risk it, there was still a chance they could find the others. The side mirror of the ambulance focused on her nervously staring at the forest. The girl came back to reality when the medical officer finally spoke, "Twilight, you don't have to do this."
Twilight pressed her lips, took a deep breath and sighed, "I have to. Our friends are somewhere there... and they need help. C'mon Spike." she told her dog, opened the door and stepped on the grass. Spike hesitated for a second but then he hopped down and sniffled around for any peculiar smells.
The ambulance's door closed itself and Ratchet cautioned, "You are only putting yourself into harm's way!" the girl ignored his comment and moved forward. The doctor grumbled, he converted into his robot form and followed them, "I can't believe I am leading you straight into their servos." he shook his helm, "Very unwise decision on my part."
Twilight gave him a glance from her shoulder, "It may be, but we don't have any other options now, do we? Isn't it better than doing nothing?"
"I cannot say you are wrong nor right at the moment. If Arcee finds out about this she will tear my head off."
The girl chuckled, "Don't worry, I will tell her it was my choice to come here in the first place, then she will most probably tear out mine."
"That does not make me feel any better."
Spike rapidly stopped at one place and looked at the duo, "Hey, guys! I think I got something!"
The robot and human's gaze turned to him, "Really?" Twilight asked in surprise.
Spike sniffled a bit more, "It's coming from... there!" the canine navigated and ran with his tiny paws through the bushes.
"Good job Spi- ayke!" before Twilight could rush to him she rapidly got scooped by Ratchet's servo.
The medical officer gently placed her up between his helm and shoulder-pad in case of any upcoming danger, "Don't even think about getting out of my sight, young lady."
The girl shot him a scowl, "You could've warned me before doing that, you know!" she scooted back and held herself tightly onto the robot's armor. Ratchet scoffed and stepped into the forest after the dog. As they passed through some trees and bushes, a distant fallen figure came into their view. What they found was an already dead Vehicon soldier, his back leaning on a tree and helm facing the ground with deep wounds and Energon leaking from his chest.
"What happened here...?" Twilight questioned in concern.
Spike slowly and carefully approached the immobile body of the fallen Decepticon and sniffled the blue liquid out of curiosity. Once the peculiar odor hit his nostrils, the dog grimaced in disgust and backed away, "Yuck, gross. Don't mean to offend you big guy but uh-- this smells awful."
"None taken." Ratchet replied, his optics completely focused on the Vehicon. He kneeled in front of the damaged body, lifted his arm and revealed his built-in scanner. After fully managing to examine the drone, he received the results and hummed, "As I assumed, no signs of life, he is completely offlined. Reading by the fresh hole through his chassis, it seems it happened pretty soon."
"Maybe it was the others, that means they are somewhere close! They can't be that far!" Twilight assumed with hope.
Spike raised his little paw and saluted, "Continuing on!" he confidently replied and kept on sniffing the area.
Meanwhile, Ratchet's gaze did not leave the deceased soldier, the tips of his metal fingers cautiously touched the injury, "Hm..." he studied the details of the left hole in his enemy's frame.
Twilight spotted his bothered expression and asked, "Something wrong?"
"Although it may have been from a blast, it does seem quite dissimilar..." he informed as he detected the purple burns on the hole, "I hardly believe this could be caused by a simple Energon blaster, nor Optimus', although powerful, cannot leave such damage."
Before the girl could say anything in return, loud rustling noises from the inner parts of the woods were heard and the ground started to vibrate. The trio rapidly became alert when they realized they weren't alone anymore. As the shakes became heavier, Ratchet revealed his blades and glanced to every side for the intruder.
While Spike's green eyes nervously observed from one place to another, he soon was greeted by a giant shadow that appeared from behind. The dog gulped anxiously and turned his head slowly. What he didn't expect to see was a large purple-colored tank standing above his small figure, "Huh-uh- g-guys..." his entire body trembled as he started backing away in total fear.
Twilight looked at her pet and gasped in horror the moment she saw the heavily armored fighting vehicle, "Spike!" her cry made Ratchet turn and his optics went wide, realizing who it actually was. The shaking dog didn't waste any more seconds and swiftly ran to his friends. That's when the tank's parts began to transform. Ratchet took a prepared fighting stance and Spike hid beside his pede.
Soon, the purple vehicle obtained the mode of a wide-shaped and purple-colored robot, with only one single red optic instead of a face-plate and a left-arm cannon. Ratchet gave him a cold death glare full of hatred and anger, the one-eyed Cybertronian focused on both him and the girl, "We meet again, doctor." the Decepticon greeted in a cold manner.
"Not so pleased to see you as well, Shockwave." Ratchet responded, his blades facing the enemy.
"Disinclination to accept my offer of you transferring me the humanoid that you currently possess without being offlined would be very illogical of you. I require you to capitulate, promptly." Shockwave suggested, his optic now completely focused on the human girl. Twilight felt her heart beating fast out of complete panic when the scary-looking Decepticon's stare focused on her. Ratchet converted one of his arms into a servo and reached for his comm-link, unfortunately for them, as he tried to contact Fixit, the sound of a static noise was the only thing that he could hear, "Do not waste your time with attempts of contacting your allies, it is pointless." the scientist advised.
Ratchet gritted his teeth, "What have you done to my team? Where are the humans?!"
"You will see them soon enough. Now, hand over the organic to me or I will have to take other measures."
"Not going to happen, I will not let you get any closer to her!"
"So be it." Shockwave briefly replied and moved his body aside, making way for the big running four-legged creature to charge at the white-orange medic. Before Ratchet could even try to dodge the attack, the beast jumped on him, causing the old medic to crash down and the girl to roughly fall from his shoulder.
The robotic black panther pinned Ratchet down and snarled, making it hard for the Autobot to get back up on his pedes. Twilight slowly got back up on her knees, her hair dropping all over her face, probably the tie had loosened up during the sudden hit. When she saw the doctor was in great danger, she let out a gasp and shouted his designation, "Ratchet!"
"Twilight, watch out!" Spike desperately cried for his owner from afar and she immediately turned her head, only to see Shockwave standing above her tiny form.
Realizing what the Decepticon was attempting to do after lowering his body, the teenager grasped her necklace and ponied up, her wings appeared and she swiftly flew away from the scientist's servo. She hovered over Spike and caught him in her arms, lifting herself higher to the sky. Shockwave's antennas slightly raised up, staring at the winged girl, "It appears the human possesses the ability of flight. Quite unanticipated."
Ratchet used his already transformed servo into a blade and slashed the cat's snout. The beast hissed and backed away from pain, allowing the old Autobot to stand up and look up at the girl, "Twilight, get far away from here immediately!" he directed at full volume.
"Are you insane?! That thing will tear you apart!" she yelled back.
"Stop contradicting me and go! I will--!" without noticing his foe behind his back, Ratchet's sentence was disturbed by his own loud and painful cry due to the powerful blast which damaged part of his shoulder-pad by the Decepticon's arm cannon.
With a horrified expression, Twilight watched how the doctor stumbled forwards and tried to support his entire body with his other unharmed arm. Upon seeing how both Shockwave and Ravage began to surround him, the girl screamed out of worry for the doctor's well-being, "NO! RATCHET!" she instantly dashed to the injured Autobot and lowered herself closer to the ground, "Stay here." she instructed Spike, the dog gave her a perplexed look.
"What are you gonna- Oof!" Twilight interrupted his question as she cautiously dropped him down in one of the thick bushes of the forest in order to keep him out of their enemies' sight and went to assist their wounded friend.
The two Decepticons slowly approached Ratchet who was grunting in enormous pain as he held onto his shoulder to reduce the leaking Energon which was dripping down on his entire arm, "Too weak to finish your job on your own so you've decided to call for backup?" the medic sneered at his one-eyed opponent.
"As I previously stated, my capture intentions are aimed towards the organic creature. But since you've chosen to get in my way, I have no other option but to offline you." Shockwave replied and aimed his cannon at Ratchet. Before he could shoot him into bits, the purple scientist's instincts abruptly hit in and successfully dodged the flying massive-sized boulder that was aimed at him. The 'Con glanced at the huge rock that crashed down on the hard surface and then at the individual who threw it.
What he didn't expect to see was the seventh element of harmony standing before them, with a noticeable tiredness in her stance, "Stay away from him!" she threatened through her exhales.
Ravage hissed at her and Shockwave responded, "You continue to grab my interest in your abilities. Perhaps, I may inspect you further after the operation is completely finished. Ravage, capture it. Alive." he ordered and the beast sprinted to her in an instant. Twilight quickly became aware and spread her wings. Unluckily for her, without even having the chance to lift herself higher, Ravage used all of his energy to jump at her and snatch her leg. His razor-sharped teeth deepened inside her skin, a dreadful piercing scream escaped through the girl's mouth as he dragged her down by force and viciously threw her entire body on the hard soil.
"TWILIGHT!" Ratchet let out a fearful yell for the attacked female teen and promptly stood up back on his pedes with all of his left strength. During the disturbance, the medic took out his blades again and slashed the scientist's side plating, making Shockwave groan out of discomfort and step away.
As they fought, Spike became aware of Twilight's distress and went to the rescue. Even if Ravage finally let go of her, she felt like her whole leg was burning, just looking at the ripped flesh and the trickling blood made her tear up even more. As she tried to move, the severe injury caused her to let out loud gasps and cries, her entire body shook from agony. Realizing she couldn't escape from him, the snarling mini-con slowly stepped above her fallen body, "Hey, you!" a tiny rock hit the back of his head and the cat's gaze turned around, only to see the purple-green canine with another stone in his paw.
"Spike...?" Twilight's eyes widened when she saw the small dog and the irritated robotic feline growling at him.
"Yeah, that's right! I'm talking to you, ugly!" Spike mocked and threw the other one at him, this time hitting him directly in the face, "Come and catch me if you can!" he wiggled his tail at him and the beast took a prepared posture, "Uh-oh..." he gulped and scurried for his dear life, Ravage chasing him dangerously close from behind.
Spike ran in various directions, he dodged and turned, but nevertheless, the big mini-con was way faster. Spike was near to being torn apart but luckily he was able to duck down in time and avoid Ravage's sharp claws that scratched a tree's trunk instead. Due to being distracted, his little paws soon stumbled on a root and rolled over, his body bumping into a tree. The mechanical black panther snarled as he got him trapped. Spike gasped, he squinted his eyes and covered his head, quivering out of fright. Before Ravage could slice him apart, something bizarrely happened. When Spike didn't feel anything, he opened one of his eyes and went mouth-wide at the scene ahead of him. The cat's body was wrapped in a pink sparkly aura, levitating him in the air. Ravage seemed pretty indignant at the situation, he was not able to move at all, as if someone was preventing him from doing so.
Spike peeked and saw a silhouette standing far away from the mini-con, which belonged to his owner, Twilight Sparkle. Her entire body was shuddering both from the huge weight and deep injury that continued to bleed. After combining all her strings of power, she lifted her hands higher along with the floating mini-con and tossed him straight to one of the biggest forest trees that got crushed by Ravage's heavy body and collapsed on top of him. The beast let out a painful roar and wiggled his entire form to get free but it was to no avail. Spike scuttled to Twilight who dropped on her knees and breathed heavily, "Are you alright, Spike?" she asked tiringly.
"I should be the one asking you that." Spike responded in worry as he nuzzled her. The sounds of powerful blasts and banging metal roared through the entire forest. Their gazes focused on Ratchet who was still fighting against Shockwave. Unluckily for the medic, the Decepticon scientist was way more tough and skilled in battle than he ever was. No matter how many times Ratchet stood up and attacked Shockwave with his blades, his rival was ahead of him. The medic was becoming exhausted, Energon continued to leak not only from his already damaged shoulder-pad but from his intake and several other parts of his frame, dents and scratches were also pretty visible on his entire armor. After receiving more hits and trying to regain his strength, Shockwave punched him in face-plate with his right servo, making the Autobot medic roughly fall on his back.
The Decepticon stepped closer to him, grabbed his front neck guard and lifted him up in the air, "Such a pitiful death for you, doctor." he coldly said, watching how Ratchet grunted and struggled to get out of his grip but was too weak to fight back. As he thought it was finally time to end this battle, Shockwave attempted to lift his arm cannon but something seemed to be holding him off. He glanced at his arm and saw a strange-looking aura that prevented him from moving his arm.
From a safe distance, Shockwave noticed how Twilight's hands were directed at him, the same aura also floating around her fingers. She held Shockwave's cannon steadily which gave Ratchet enough time to regain his strength and use the distraction to free himself. Before the scientist could sum up the situation, Ratchet used his blade to stab him in his mid-section plating. Even with no mouth, Shockwave released an agonizing groan and received a hard kick on his chest-plate which made his back crash in big moss-covered rocks and thick trunks.
Ratchet took several vents and looked at his organic friends. Twilight's body was trembling entirely, her head was spinning and soon her vision became blurry. Combining all the power she had to use against the 'Cons together with the huge amount of blood loss and throbbing wound, extreme dizziness and tiredness began to consume her. The distant shouts were fading away and all of a sudden, everything became pitch black, "Twilight!" Ratchet and Spike shouted in unison as they witnessed the girl finally losing consciousness.
Spike immediately scurried to the fainted teenager. Before Ratchet could do the same, a bright light emerged out of nowhere, close to his two organic companions. The dog growled and took a prepared stance in front of his fallen owner as protection. The size of the portal expanded and Ratchet's hopes went completely downhill. A few very familiar tentacles appeared from the Groundbridge and hovered above the organic beings, the medic's optics widened in terror. Realizing what was about to happen, he tried his best to get to them as fast as he could but it wasn't enough, the severe damage was slowing him down. Spike barked as the tentacles drew nearer, both he and Twilight got captured and lifted up in the air, dragging them inside the closing bridge, "No... No! NO!" Ratchet cried and winced as he attempted to run.
Right then, he heard loud engines coming from the inner parts of the woods. Assuming that this is probably where it ends, he prepared himself for yet another battle. To his surprise, four familiar vehicles along with one green dinobot came out visible through the trees, the medic shouted the instant he recognized them, "The portal! It's closing!" he directed. Being the first one to appear, the red-blue truck fastened its speed to the vanishing light. The second the Groundbridge's last spark of light evaporated into nothing, the giant truck passed through the spot of the once-existing portal, drifted his tires into the dry dirt and came to a harsh stop. Ratchet stood there, staring in the direction where the bridge disappeared. His optics examined the forest to find Shockwave.
But he wasn't there, not anymore.
Ravage too was nowhere to be found.
His legs finally gave up and fell on his knees, his servos placed on the ruined grass, "How... how could I let this happen...?" he closed his optics in pain and yet at the same time in shame. He failed. He failed to protect her and now she is in danger because of him, it was all his fault.
He could hear the noises of transforming metal parts and heavy pedes sprinting to him, "Doc!" Arcee yelled and instantly kneeled beside the medic, along with Optimus who also lowered down.
"Arcee... Optimus. You are okay." Ratchet said in relief, at least his teammates were alright and in a good state.
Optimus offered his servos to help him get back up on his pedes and put one of his arms on his back for support, "I cannot say the same for you my old friend, you are injured badly."
"I--"
"Ratchet..."
Arcee spoke up and scanned the area as if she was searching for someone, "Where is Twilight?"
Silence remained among them, Ratchet continued to stare down, avoiding eye contact with his team. He didn't even dare to glance at the concerned face-plate of the femme, "Ratchet?" she called him again, this time with a more apprehensive tone, "For Primus' sake-- where is she?!"
Smokescreen quickly grabbed her by the shoulder-pads, dragging her away from the wounded doctor, "Hey, whoa, take it easy 'Cee!"
"Your job was to protect her, not bringing her right to them!" she yelled at the doctor who winced at her shouts.
The Autobot leader stepped in, "Arcee, please remain calm. Our medic's current state is in bad condition, your outburst will not help us to--"
"Those creeps took her too and you want me to remain calm?! Not even when I clearly told him to keep an optic on her?!" she gave Ratchet a cold death glare, "What were you thinking?!"
"Now is not the time for accusations. Both of them were worried about our unknown state, so they've decided to take action as well." reasoned Optimus.
"Yeah, Fixit told us they tried to stop her from even going, didn't he?" Smokescreen reminded her, "Besides, weren't you the first one who wanted to help us, even though none of you knew how dangerous the situation was going to be?" the blue femme didn't argue back this time, but she was still furious. Arcee pulled her arms to release herself from the mech's servos and crossly stomped away from the group in order to cool down.
Optimus watched as she went further away from their current point, he nodded at Smokescreen and Grimlock to go and keep an optic on her in case of Decepticons. Both mechs went after the femme, then Optimus' gaze directed to the medic and gave him a sympathetic look, "My friend..."
"They... they took her Optimus," Ratchet let out a small vent, his optics still looking away, "I tried with everything I had... I was not able to save her. I wasn't strong enough."
"Do not blame yourself, let us not lose hope just yet. Our friends are stronger than we think. We need to bring you to the Medical Bay so Fixit could heal your wounds. In the meantime, we will be searching for their hidden location." Optimus informed and glanced at Strongarm.
The cadet lifted her servo to activate her comm-link, once she reached the base she spoke to the mini-con, "Send us a Groundbridge, Fixit. We uh... we found Ratchet."