Previously...
"How far are Braedey and Kento's teams?" Rex asked, now taking control from Chika.
"Braedey is about 50 or so miles away, while Kento is 10 miles behind them." Yukari informed. "We'll meet up with them at Stonehenge in a little while."
"Rex, keep the throttle open." Jessie ordered.
"I'm already ahead of you." Rex acknowledged, turning the Valkyrie towards the direction of Stonehenge.
~*~*~
Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3km) west of Amesbury. It consists of a ring of standing stones, each around 13ft (4.0m) high, seven feet (2.1m) wide, and weighing around 25 tonnes. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).
Archaeologists believe its constructed from 3000BC to 2000BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000BC. Stonehenge might have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.
The Valkyrie landed about 100m away, just to keep clear of the previous monument. After they landed, Rex and Jessie, along with Yukari, Mizore, and Chika all stepped out of the Valkyrie, awaiting for Kento and Braedey to arrive. They all looked over to the old rock monument before them, all the while with wondering why the clue would lead them here of all places.
"When will they get here?" Yukari asked in concern. "I mean, who knows when they'll show up."
"I'm sure they'll make it." Jessie asserted back. "I know it."
At that moment, Bumblebee raced into view with a red McLaren 570S behind it. The two cars pulled up nearby the Valkyrie, Bumblebee vanishing in the blue flash, revealing Braedey, Moka, and Kurumu, while Kento and Jento stepping out of the McLaren.
"Okay. We're here." Kento said to Braedey and the others. "So, what exactly are we looking for?" He asked.
"Yeah. I mean, we're looking at a pile of stones." Rex shrugged, only to get an elbow to the chest by Jessie.
"I think we could look around on the stones, maybe find anything that signifies anything Cybertronian." Braedey suggested to the others. "Best we go and take a look around us, and try to see if there's anything there."
Braedey, Rex, Kento, Jento, Jessie, Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, and Chika all began to take a look around the stones, all the while with respecting the ancient monument. As they made their way all around the stones, one particular stone seemed to get Jento's attention, as she whistled the others over, and she then pointed over to the stone.
"What did you find, sister?" Kento asked.
"Right here. There's some inscription on the stone." Jento said to them, as she gestured to them.
Braedey looked at the inscription, which has no doubt been around for just as long as Stonehenge has been around. He looked closely, then scanned the inscription with the Transformatrix for a moment.
"What do you think it means?" Jessie asked.
"I don't know as of yet, but we'll just have to wait and see what the Transformatrix tells us." Braedey replied, just as the watch beeped in response. "Wow. That was fast." He projected the inscription in hologram mode, then he and the others saw the translation:
'Only the power of the Primes shall find the chamber'
"'Power of the Primes'..." Moka then realised it, as she looked to the shapeshifting brunette. "Braedey, maybe this clue is meant for you." She said.
"Possibly..." Braedey walked up to the stone, then he looked to the Transformatrix. With a raised eyebrow, he held up the watch to the stone.
A second later, a blue glow shot from the watch's dial face, which aimed at what looked to be an Autobot insignia that's hidden on the stone, making a series of markings flow down to the ground, and snaking along the grass, stopping right at the feet of Braedey. A split second later, a door-like hole opened up, as well as a set of stairs.
"Looks like the chamber is hidden right underneath Stonehenge." Jessie shrugged innocently. "And people didn't even known about it."
"Right. Let's go." Braedey announced, as he and the others began to make their way down into the chamber below.
"Ladies first." Kento suggested, then saw the look the girls were giving him. "Okay, nevermind."
The interior was rather dark and damp, all the while looking to be made of metal and alloy, with Cybertronian symbols all across the walls and floors. There seemed to be no lighting anywhere, giving an ominous feeling to the whole chamber around them.
They continued out of the hallway into a different one before Braedey held his hand out, stopping Moka beside him. "Stop." He moved to the side of the wall before pointing at them with his hand. "Stay out of the light." He whispered.
Kento knelt against the other side, as Braedey and Moka crawled underneath the light beams, the others following in after them. Braedey helped Moka up, Kento and Rex doing the same for Kurumu and Jessie, the other girls crawling along. Braedey cautiously puts his hand in the light, then reeled back. A mere second after he did so, a line of articulated serrated spikes shot out from either side of the walls.
"Whoa. Sharp articulated scissor blades activated by light sensitive pressure hydraulics. Not bad." Braedey noted to the trap, as it retracted back into the walls.
"Come on, we should continue on." Kento spoke up.
The group continued on, making their way to a room that had no floor except a large chasm into an abyss, but a beam extending across the ceiling as though it was put there as a way to get across. Braedey then got an idea: he took off his belt, then he talked to Rex and Kento about his plan, and they agreed to the plan, linking up their belts together into a makeshift cable. Braedey spun around the belt-rope, then he wrapped it around the beam. Once making sure it was tightened and secured, he handed it to Moka, indicating that she go first. She swung across safely and swung the whip back, Jessie taking it, and she swung over, Jento doing the same. Kurumu then floated over with her wings, carrying Yukari in her arms. Mizore, meanwhile, she created a bridge of ice, and walked over it simply, the ice cracking and falling into the chasm. Braedey grabbed the belt, and he swung over, Kento doing the same. Rex looked at the belt-rope and the beam and followed the other two uncertainly. He swung over, but nearly fell into the chasm below, had it not for Braedey, grabbing him by the shirt, and pulled him back over.
Once that happened, Braedey got his, Rex, and Kento's belts back, and they put them back on, ready to go onward. They continued onward, now entering what looked to be the central room, where there looked to be something on the far end of the room.
"Let's hurry. There is nothing to fear here." Kurumu said, only for Kento to stop her, pinning her to the wall.
"That's what scares me." Kento muttered, then he let Kurumu go.
Braedey pulled out a wooden stick he found, then knelt the ground, drawing the tip across the floor over a diamond shaped floor ornament. The tip caught on the dirt and moss that was growing on the ornament. Braedey pressed the tip of the stick into the ornament, and the ornament sank an inch into the floor, triggering a poison-tip dart to embed itself into the top of the stick.
"Pressure-sensitive poison-tip dart shooters." Kento muttered. "Nasty piece of work."
Braedey eyed the dart in the stick, then passed the stick over to Rex, as he got to his feet. "All of you, stay here." He advised to the others.
"If you insist..." Chika shrugged.
"Be careful, Braedey." Moka whispered, as he handed her his blue jacket.
Braedey carefully made his way to the end of the room, tiptoeing Little by little, dodging the ornament symbols on the ground. Everyone watched on as Moka hid her face in Braedey's jacket, not wanting to watch her boyfriend screw up and get hurt, not to mention her poisoned. Braedey snuck his way along, utilising some flexibility to move around, eventually getting to the end. He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to the others, and gave a thumbs-up, Kento, Rex, and the girls all breathing a sigh.
Braedey now turned to look over at what was on the wall. He gave it a long look, using the Transformatrix as a light, as he examined what's there: it looked to be some mountains with intricate markings all across it, with a few small buildings in the foreground. And just underneath it was some Cybertronian inscriptions. Braedey took a scan of the writing on the wall, allowing it to be processed and translated, while he took a look at the wall.
"What you find?" Kento called.
"What looks to be an engraving of what could be the next location." Braedey reported in. "It looks to be a village in a mountainous region."
"And what's the next clue?" Yukari asked.
"Give me a tick..." Braedey checked the Transformatrix, and he saw the translation complete. Translation reads this...
'In a citadel of mysterious origin, on a mountain of the same name'
"That's what it reads." Braedey called in. "But... I'm a little lost as to what that could mean."
"'A citadel of mysterious origin...' That might mean that our next location is an old structure somewhere in the world." Rex took a guess, everyone just giving him a deadpan expression. "What?"
"Well, from the looks of this drawing, it looks as though the citadel is hidden in the mountains." Braedey spoke up. "That could mean it's hidden within mountainous terrain, and possibly shrouded in secret." He added.
"There's only a few places like that in the world." Kurumu sighed in exasperation. "I mean, it could take us forever to find it."
"Way to be optimistic about all this." Yukari muttered to herself. But, all that earned was a back hand to her butt, as Yukari whelped. "Owie, owie, owie...!"
"Hang on.... if I remember this correctly..." Jessie cupped her chin in thought, narrowing her eyes as she looked at the drawing on the wall. "Wait..." She suddenly snapped her fingers in response. "I got it! It's Machu Picchu! That's where the next clue is! The 'citadel of mysterious origin' must mean its the old city that's been around for who knows how many years, and the 'mountain of the same name' is of its location."
"Good thinking, Jessie." Kento announced.
"Of course!" Chika slapped herself on the forehead. "It was so obvious. It got me thinking, and now I know."
"Let's get going and off to Machu Picchu." Jento declared to the others. "And before the Decepticons find us."
Braedey smiled, and he now took a step forward, unintentionally releasing pressure on a square pressure plate he had been standing on, making him look back, as he saw the pressure plate sink into the floor. At once, the entire chamber began to groan and rumble, as if it had begun to transform.
"We have to get out of here now!" Rex called.
"Before we become the meat in this metal sandwich!" Mizore added in.
Rex and Jessie headed off ahead, Mizore and Yukari alongside them. Kento and the girls stayed behind to watch Braedey run towards them, stepping on what seemed like every diamond ornament in the floor, now releasing the darts from their places in both sides of the wall. Braedey managed to reach the other side, breathing a sigh to himself, and Moka pulled him off towards the previous room with the deep chasm with Kento, Kurumu, and Jento.
"There's no time to do the swing! We're gonna have to jump!" Kento called, as he jumped over with Jento, Kurumu flying over with her wings, and Chika doing a double frontflip over the chasm.
Moka was a little concerned, but she was surprised when Braedey picked her up in a bridal hold, making her blush a little, bit then hold on tight as she now then realised what he intended to do. Braedey took a few steps back, giving himself a running start, and he now sprinted forward, the walls behind him and Moka shifting and closing up, as he jumped over the chasm in one leap, landing on the other side with the others.
"Come on! Let's move, move, move!" Braedey called our like a drill Sargent, sprinting ahead with Moka in hand, the others all following them.
The group managed to get by the light-trigger spear trap, managing to not get skewered by the spears, and they headed off upstairs, entering the light of day, and arriving back on ground level, right at Stonehenge, just as the chamber sealed itself off with a metallic crunch.
"Phew. Well... that was..." Jessie panted, trying to add her five cents into the statement.
"Unexpected." Kento commented.
"Yes, that." Jessie sighed.
"At least we're got the next clue: Machu Picchu." Yukari piped up.
Braedey then puts Moka down on her two feet, her smiling back at him. But then, he groaned a little as he felt something in his right arm. He took a look, then he saw there was a poison-tip dart that got him in his lower arm.
"I think I got... hit..." Braedey muttered, his adrenaline wearing off, then he fell over onto his left side.
"Braedey!" Moka knelt down next to the brunette, as Kento ran up, picking up the brunette. "He got hit by the poison dart." She said to Kento quickly.
"Back to the Valkyrie, NOW!" Kento ordered, everyone now following him off to the ship. "We don't have much time."
The group eventually arrived back at the craft, Jessie and Rex getting the jet ready for liftoff, while Kento took the unconscious Braedey over to the medical bay, Moka following after him, while the others were waiting patiently and all the while concerned for Braedey. A little later, the jet took to the air, and it began to make its way from the UK to cross the whole Atlantic Ocean to South America.
"How did Braedey not know about the dart in his arm until we left the chamber?" Kurumu asked, crossing her arms under her ample chest, making them pop up.
"I guess the adrenaline was rushing through him at the time, so he didn't feel the pain until the adrenaline wore off." Chika guessed. "It's only logical."
"Guess so." Mizore muttered. She was just as concerned for Braedey's well-being as the others, and she hoped Kento and Moka will be able to help him out.
Moka then walked up to the others. "I've got some good news and bad news. The good news: Braedey will recover. Fortunately, there's anti-poison serum in the medical bay for this kind of emergency. Bad news: he'll be out of action for a little while." She reported in.
"How long will be 'a little while'?" Kurumu asked in concern.
"He's not sure how long, but I hope it won't be long." Moka replied reluctantly. She looked over to Jessie and Rex, and she walked over to the cockpit. "How are things on your end?" She asked.
"Well, we're going to cross over the cliffs of Dover, and we'll soon direct our path towards the South." Jessie replied back. Then, she looked to the radar. "But for now, we should keep our eyes and ears out, in case any of those Decepticons are failing us."
"Noted." Kento spoke up, walking in from the medical bay. "At the moment, Braedey is in a stable condition. He'll be out for a while no thanks to the medication he's been given. He'll be out for maybe two-to-three hours. He should be up and about eventually."
"That's good to hear." Moka sighed in relief.
"Yeah. I agree." Kurumu nodded, walking up to Kento, now hugging his arm, Kento blushing in response. "All the while, how long until we reach Machu Picchu?" She asked.
"Maybe another four or so hours, depending on the weather." Rex reported in. "Best you all get strapped in, just in case we have any unwelcome visitors..."