The Energon Pub

Okey-dokey. I decided to take a break from my movie stories. Don't worry, there'll be a sequel to Invasion, but right now, I wanna focus on Classics. This chapter is fairly short, because I'm in a rush. The others will be (slightly) longer.

I

Bumblebee bit his lip as the rapid-fire bullets came over the wall of the bunker. Picking up his blaster, he returned fire and ducked back down.

"Oh, great!" he muttered. "Bumblebee to base! My position's overrun! Need backup!"

He abruptly hung up, whirled around, and looked at the three trainees ducking down behind him. Attack or not, he had to keep his cool or these guys would never learn.

"Alright," he said. "What is the typical thing to do in this situation?"

One said, "We must fight back, to repel this attack!"

"Very good, Wheelie," Bumblebee replied.

He abruptly whirled around and pumped laser fire into a closing Centurion Drone. The drone collapsed. The trainees leapt into action. Wheelie pulled out his slingshot and fired a white-hot plasma ball into the torso of another drone. The other two trainees - Fireflight and Air Raid - jumped into action, opening fire with their laser rifles. Repelled by four Autobots, the drones were temporarily forced to pull back and fire from a distance.

"Now, what do we do?" Bumblebee asked, still firing.

"We, uh, pull back to the next bunker and set this one to blow," Air Raid said.

"Correct," Bumblebee replied.

He planted a charge by the door, as did the other three. Then, as one, they raced to the next bunker, dodging deadly missiles and plasma bolts.

"Alright, anything else?" he asked.

"Uh...TAKE COVER!" Fireflight cried.

A missile flew into the bunker and the world lit up.

In case you didn't know, Air Raid is the Legends 'Aerial Rivals' repaint of Soundwave, and Fireflight is the Classics Legends, repainted from Cybertron Jetfire. Bumblebee is obviously the Deluxe, and Wheelie is the Universe Legends.

II

Great, Bumblebee thought. First, let the new recruits let their guard down enough to be attacked by what seemed to be the whole Decepticon army, and then get them trapped in a bunker. Way to go, Bee.

He lit up an energon flare and held it up. Lots of room in here. Good thing, too. Fireflight and Air Raid were big boys.

"Wheelie," he said, "how much energon do we have?"

"Only enough for two days, I says."

Perfect. They'd never cut their way through twenty tons of solid steel in two days. And the rubble was so thick, he couldn't get a signal out. It seemed that their only hope was in finding the alternate exit. In case of emergency, every Autobot bunker had one.

"Fireflight, see if you can find this base's rations," he said. "Wheelie, look for the secret exit. Air Raid, help me try to blast out."

The Autobot recruits moved quickly to do as he said. As Fireflight dug through bags of energon cubes and small barrels of oil, he mentally counted how long it would last them.

"Enough here for five days, plus the stuff we already had. That's a week."

Bumblebee nodded and turned back to the wall. Air Raid was blasting away with his laser rifle. The wall started melting, but did not give way.

"Wheelie found the secret way, so let us go, I don't want to stay."

Bumblebee nodded and they jumped into the secret tunnel. It was very long, so they'd need that week's ration of energon. Above, the sounds of Centurion Drone footsteps were audible. Good thing they hadn't blasted out, because they would've been captured and tortured.

"How far to base?" Fireflight asked.

"About a week's journey," replied Bumblebee.

Fireflight sighed and sat down. He didn't think they could make it.

"Come on, bots!" Bumblebee said. "We can do this!"

"Yeah, but we need a rest," Air Raid said.

Bumblebee sighed and nodded. They sat down in the tunnel and went to sleep, the sound of footsteps echoing in their ears...

****

"Sir, the bunker guardians have disappeared," Skywarp reported. "Many believe they're dead."

"That's not enough," Megatron said. "I want them found now."

"Yessir."

Skywarp transformed and flew away. Megatron sat in his mobile command center and looked at the holographic map of the battlefield. The first four enemy bunkers had been overrun, another had collapsed, and a fifth was burning. In the very back of the Autobots' ground, Optimus Prime's command headquarters sat silently, four guards on each side.

"I need to get into that base," Megatron thought. "But the Autobots still resist me."

But not for long.

Alright, I know I left a few loose ends at the end of Invasion (like what happened to Sunstreaker and Bluestreak), but the sequel is coming, I promise. It will come as soon as this story is over.

III

Optimus Prime looked down at the map of the battlefield. The Decepticons were closing in fast, and they still hadn't heard from the rescue party sent to help Bumblebee. Were the little bot and his allies dead?

"Sir!" Ironhide said. "I'm ready to take out a strike team, sir!"

"Good. Go ahead, but keep a lookout for Bumblebee and/or any of his squad."

"Yessir!"

Optimus turned back to the map. Megatron's forces seemed to be working their way around his defenses, while letting the drones cut right through them. How would they stop them?

"Sir," said Prowl. "I see a distinct flaw in the Decepticon leader's plan."

"What's that, Prowl?" Optimus replied.

"They left the command center relatively unguarded."

"So an attack team should get through," Optimus finished for him. "Good. Get me the Elite Guard."

Prowl nodded, and very soon, Kup, Landshark, Flak, and Thunderclash were standing before Optimus Prime, their weaponry gleaming. Optimus looked at the four warriors.

"You know your mission," he said. "You will break into Decepticon headquarters and arrest Megatron."

"Yessir!" said Thunderclash. "Elite Guard, roll out! Sound the call: We are the best!"

"HURRAH!" cried the Elite Guard.

Optimus shook his head and chuckled.

"Was I ever that young, sir?" Prowl said.

"Yes Prowl, I remember a time where you would've raced into battle without a thought."

"You must be thinking of another Prowl."

****

Bumblebee sighed as they turned off into another tunnel. Why did the Autobots have to make this tunnel so stinking long?

"I feel tired," Air Raid said.

"Me too, I really do!" Wheelie muttered.

"Alright, guys," Bumblebee said. "We...we have to keep going. Just...rested a few hours ago..."

"You're tired too?" asked Fireflight.

"Y-yeah, I am. Let's rest."

As they sat down once again, the footsteps of the Decepticons became louder than ever.

"We have to get home soon..." Bumblebee said.

This is a very short story, due to my wanting to get it done with and take care of the sequel to Invasion. This chapter is not very long, and may wrap most things up. Though I don't usually update Saturdays, tomorrow will be the final chapter.

IV

The strike team moved with unnatural silence, approaching the Decepticon base without so much as a sound. The Centurion Drones guarding the base were trained to look straight ahead, so the four warriors snuck to the side of the base.

"Alright, Landshark," said Thunderclash, "get us inside."

The big brute punched his way through the wall. The four attackers snuck inside. Flak looked at his scanner uncertainly.

"Command center's straight up," he said.

Thunderclash nodded, and the team attached grapples to their blasters. As the ropes pulled them up, a Centurion Drone walked by below.

"Good thing he wasn't there a second ago," Kup whispered.

The old man hadn't donned his Elite Guard symbol or blaster arm attachment in a long time. It felt good to be back in action with the old team. As they reached the top, they opened fire. Several Centurions fell. Starscream and Megatron whirled around, shocked to see such an attack come from Autobots.

"Elite Guard, take 'em down!" Thunderclash cried.

His rifle pumped another round of lasers out, ripping up tables, chairs, and more drones. Megatron opened fire with his fusion cannon. Turning into his brute mode, Landshark charged to the frontline and blocked the laser blast. He roared and charged, ripping up more drones. The unliving defenders fell.

"Attack! Attack!" Thunderclash said. "finish off Megatron!"

Starscream fired with his null rays, stunning Flak. The Autobot fell numbly. Kup ran to his ally and tried to help him up. Thunderclash transformed and rammed through the remaining drones. When he converted back into robot mode, he had his blaster aimed at Megatron's face.

"Call. The drones. Off."

Megatron said nothing.

"I said. Call. The drones. Off. Now, please. We don't play."

"F-fine."

Megatron stood, began to deactivate the drones, whirled, and blasted Thunderclash in the face. The great Autobot fell with a thud, injured severely. As Thunderclash tried to sit up, Megatron pointed his cannon at the Autobot's face...

Oh you MEANIE!!! Such a cliffhanger!

I love the action-packed-ness of all your fics, but this time I think you've outdone yourself!

HK, keep up the good work!

hellkitty wrote:Oh you MEANIE!!! Such a cliffhanger!

I love the action-packed-ness of all your fics, but this time I think you've outdone yourself!

HK, keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Here it is...the final chapter.

V

Flak fired his rifle, blowing the drone control to scrap. Shocked, Megatron turned, giving Thunderclash the opportunity to blast the Decepticon leader right in the chest. Megatron gasped and fell over.

"Game over," snapped Thunderclash.

The base started to blow, and the Elite Guard didn't wait around to see if Megatron or Starscream escaped...they knew that they had. As they rolled out of the command center, the Decepticon Skyfall attempted to stop them.

****

The young Autobot and his team clambered down the tunnel as drones poured down from a hatch. And then...the drones deactivated. There was a loud explosion. Bumblebee commed Prime.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The Elite Guard went in...and we haven't heard from them yet."

"Oh."

Bumblebee hung his head.

"They were...good men," said Air Raid.

Then, everyone's comm turned on.

"Hey, you guys look like you just found out you had a month to live."

"Flak!" cried Bumblebee.

"You guys having a party without us?" Landshark asked.

"Oh, yeah!" cried Bumblebee. "We are!"

The cheers sounded over the battlefield.

THE END