Sturdy tires moved at breakneck speed on the natural ground. Two vehicles drove through the wild surroundings of the forest.

Bumblebee grunted while he made numerous attempts to contact his teammates, not a single one with success, "It's not working." the Urbana drove closer to the truck, "No one is answering, Optimus, not even from our base!" he told the Prime right beside him, both driving through the uninhabited environment.

"This is bad, this is really bad. What if they are in danger?!" anxiously assumed Fluttershy as she cupped her cheeks in panic.

"Shy, calm down and breathe, okay?" Sunset could hear the overreaction of her friend through Optimus' dashboard and tried to comfort her, "There's no need to jump to such conclusions. I'm sure they are fine, maybe it's just a..." she tried to come up with a reasonable issue, "Bad connection?"

"We must find the closest destination to where they were last active. Perhaps we will find evidence to where exactly they were headed." as soon as Optimus suggested, they heard something hovering from above and then out of nowhere, numerous blasters appeared from the cloudy sky. The girls' eyes widened and held tight to their seats, while their guardians dodged the attacks. Thankfully to their quick reactions and reflexes, they managed to avoid each blast as they swiftly turned in opposite directions and sped up.

"WHAT THE HAY WAS THAT?!" Sunset asked in utter confusion and alarm as she peeked through the window next to her. A small flying shadow could be seen flying through the clouds right overhead.

"Is that a jet?! No wait-- jets are way bigger than that! It looks like... a drone?"

As it began striking again, this time dangerously close to the truck, it caused the girl to fearfully retreat her head back inside. The Prime's side mirrors focused on their unknown attacker, seeing that it was getting lower to the ground, the Autobots drifted to a stop and transformed. The girls stayed beside them while they brought out their weapons for the forthcoming fight.

What they didn't expect to see was a small-sized flying robot, which seemed like a mechanical bird with an origami-shaped figure.

The mechs recognized it right away, "Laserbeak?! Тhat means--!" the lieutenant was interrupted when Laserbeak directed several shots at them, alarming the 'Bots to cover the girls and to scatter aside. While the Autobots blocked its blasts and tried to get a good aim, a light emerged behind their backs, making them turn around and stare in wide-eyed wonder.

A big portal appeared out of the blue, a tall silhouette emerging out from the brightness. The mini-con made its way above the group and landed on the extending arm of the visible figure. A very thin and angular-shaped black-purple body, along with long slender arms and a visor instead of a face. The girls froze in fright when the terrifying robot's helm concentrated on them.

Optimus stepped forward, covering the humans from the sight of the intimidating giant. The Autobot leader put on his mouthplate and indicated his Ion Blaster at their opponent, with a stern look in his optics, "Soundwave, no matter what you have already planned you shall never succeed. Stop this at once and leave these innocent life forms out of our rivalry." he warned with a powerful and threatening tone.

No one dared to move, at least not until something began to shift behind Soundwave's back. The group was taken aback by what they just witnessed. The strange-looking thing which was shaped like a backpack suddenly detached itself from Soundwave's body and was able to shapeshift mid-air right before landing on the ground.

Bumblebee's optics widened in realization the moment he saw the living being, "It can't be..."

It was a four-legged creature, a black panther to be exact, it had the same features as Soundwave's and a tail which seemed like a tentacle.

The giant cat snarled at their enemies and took a prepared stance to strike. The group quickly got themselves ready for the upcoming attack while the beast awaited his master's command.

::RAVAGE: EJECT::

::OPERATION: INTERFERENCE::

Soundwave's distinctive monotone, computerized voice finally spoke up and Ravage sprinted at them like lightning. Optimus opened fire, shooting beams at the creature, but it was hard for him to aim properly, he was dodging too fast. When the mini-con was finally able to pass through the Prime and reached the terrified girls, he jumped at them with a powerful roar. Gratefully, to Bumblebee's intuition, he was able to harshly shove him aside with his Decepticon Hunter which had already gained the form of a spear. The feline landed on his feet and shook his head, hissing at the glaring robot.

"Keep your filthy claws away from them!" the soldier rotated his spear and took a preparing stance. Ravage leaped and pounced at him, the young leader managed to shield himself with his hunter, but in the process, he roughly fell on his back to the ground.

"Bumblebee!!" Fluttershy let out a dreadful cry for her guardian. Ravage was on top of him, attempting to bite his helm off. Bumblebee was holding firmly onto his weapon, trying to keep the long sharp teeth further away from him. Optimus once again pointed his blaster at the panther, but right before he could fire, a tentacle wrapped around his arm, causing him to shoot in a different direction. The Prime's attention turned to Soundwave who revealed more tentacles coming out of his body. Before the silent mech could harm him, Optimus formed his other arm into a blade and sliced his slender, flexible limb. Soundwave backed away from pain and looked at the cut, only sparks coming out. The faceless Decepticon gazed at Laserbeak and nodded to his minion, as an order.

The bird-like mini-con flew higher and zoomed in his HUD camera on the teenagers who noticed him from afar, "I-is it looking at us?!" Fluttershy anxiously asked, her body began to shiver in fright while she and her friend took a few steps back, staring at the drone.

Sunset did not waste any more time and quickly grabbed Flutershy's hand, "RUN!" she shouted and both of them ran away to the inner side of the woods, Laserbeak flew on his way to get them captured.

"NO!" Optimus yelled at the sight. The moment he tried to stop Laserbeak, Soundwave threw him aside with his tentacles, roughly hitting the ground on his face-plate. Before the large Autobot could stand up, the Decepticon tackled his arms and pedes steadily to the ground, not being able to move at all. Optimus struggled to free himself, however, Soundwave generated a huge amount of powerful electricity from his tentacles on him, making the old Autobot to cry out in pain.

The Prime tried to keep himself conscious, his focus was blurry but he was still able to recognize the familiar purple scheme of the 'Con who appeared before him. Optimus slightly lifted his helm up and glared with hatred at Soundwave, who was standing in front of him with his intimidating stance. The Decepticon clenched his fist as he spoke his final words:

::SOUNDWAVE: SUPERIOR::

::AUTOBOTS: INFERIOR::

══════════════════

"What's going on?" questioned Twilight when she approached the orange mini-con who was standing in the command center, desperately searching for any signals or coordinates of his missing teammates.

Fixit has been trying to get in touch with the others for a while and it was becoming increasingly suspicious of their sudden disappearance, not even a small sign could be detected of their current locations, "N-No one is answering! Suddenly all the comm-link systems stopped working properly!"

Arcee stepped closer, although she very rarely showed it, she was troubled, "This is definitely not good. Do you know where they are?"

"I'm not certain... their activities are hard to locate, it's like something is jamming their signals." answered Fixit as he continued searching.

Arcee lightly nodded her helm in acknowledgment, it was time for them to take action as well, "Alright then, you will have to send me, Strongarm and Grimlock separately to each nearest location you are able to track down. We have to be quick and stealthy, they may be in trouble." she alerted the cadet and dinobot with a serious tone.

Strongarm smiled and saluted in respect, she was more than ready, "Yes, ma'am!"

"Oh yeah, finally!" Grimlock cheered and transformed into his T-Rex mode, punching his fists into one another.

"Especially you, Grimlock." Arcee gave him a forewarning glance.

"Don't worry 'Cee, I got it! Those humans won't notice a thing!" the dinobot reassured calmly.

"Arcee, wait!" Twilight sprinted to catch up with her guardian before she could leave, "I want to come with you!"

"Twilight,--" Ratchet interrupted, "We are clearly aware that you are worried and so do we but you need to remain here for your safety." the medic suggested.

"But I can--"

"Ratchet is right, kid." Arcee lowered to her level, "Look, I know you want to help but it will become more dangerous and complicated if you come with me. Please, understand. It's for your own good and as your guardian, my duty is to protect you from any harm's way, not getting you involved right into it."

Twilight stared down at the floor with uneasiness, tightly holding her necklace in her hands. She wanted to help, she really did, but they were right. She was only going to get in their way and make things worse. And that's what made her feel so distraught about herself. Because she couldn't do anything, not even with her magic. Not against those dangerous Decepticons. At this point, she was useless compared to all of them, "Just promise me-- promise each one of you will return back safe and sound, okay?" she slowly faced the femme with sad eyes.

Arcee put on a warm comforting smile, "Of course." she leaned over her charge and carefully wrapped her arms around her tiny body. Twilight lifted herself on her tiptoes and placed her tiny hands around her neck cabling, diving into the hug. They stood like that for a few seconds until the Groundbridge finally appeared in front of them and they let go of each other, "Ratch, watch over her 'till I get back." Arcee told the old medic who replied with a short nod. She gently ruffled Twilight's hair before standing up and transforming into her motorcycle form, "Stay safe kid."

"Good luck..." said Twilight with a small smile formed on her face. Her guardian turned on her engine and sped off to the opened portal, disappearing out of everyone's sight.

"Hey, don't think about it too much." Spike calmly inserted and walked closer to his owner, who was still clenching her hands around her magical geode, "They will be alright."

She only wished she could believe him.

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[Author's note]

Didn't see that coming, huh? I won't lie Ravage was a big challenge, especially since I'm not that good with drawing animals, let alone robotic ones (I had to use a reference for the pose ha) and I also tried to come up with a solution to how he could attach to Sounders, so I made him transform into a backpack!

I was inspired by several other fanon designs and of course the canon one from G1, but let me see what you guys think. Oh yeah, this chapter is a bit shorter than the previous one, I'm still trying to figure out how to write fighting scenes.

But the following ones will be officially separated because they are going to be longer! (and hopefully more intense XD)

Thanks again!