The element of generosity and loyalty remained completely motionless, heads raised and focused on the tall gray-colored Decepticon seeker.

Both of them took slow steps back when Starscream started coming closer, "How rude. Leaving so soon during such an amusing gathering, I must say that I'm quite offended." he pretended to sound hurt but soon his fake disappointed expression formed into a devious smile, "After all this planning you haven't even seen what we have prepared for you." he lowered himself and moved his sharp digits near the scared teenagers, but was abruptly stopped by a flying staff that came into his way and stabbed him right in the servo, "GAH!" he cried out in pain, the girls took this opportunity to run and hide.

Starscream threw the Energon Prod away in irritation. Two sets of pedes of another robot came near the weapon and picked it up. The seeker recognized the shiny mech who gracefully rotated his tool and took a prepared stance, "Don't touch something that doesn't belong to you, Starscream." Knock Out warned with a glare.

The seeker shook his helm and scoffed, "Joining the Autobots and hiding among them, just to keep your spark and lame paint job save." he supported himself on his knee as he stood up, "It's pathetic really."

"At first it may have been because they won, yes-" he started, the two of them walked in opposite ways, forming a circle, scowling at one another, "-but then I soon realized what they are really fighting for and saw how much respect they have towards each other. I gained their trust slowly, but surely. And to be honest, it's nice to be appreciated for all the efforts I put into helping this team. Something that I never got from the Decepticons." Starscream snarled even more as he continued, "As time passed, I dedicated myself into helping the Autobot cause, no matter what. I changed for the better and I will never regret this decision!" he clearly stated as he spoke his final words and hit the bottom of his staff hard on the rough dirt as a threat.

Starscream clenched his servo and grunted, "Very well," he took his claws out, "I will gladly offline you here and NOW!" he screeched and charged at Knock Out. The cherish red medic was able to dodge the attack on time, however, the seeker continued to fight, "I WILL RIP YOU APART!" he screamed like a maniac while Knock Out was blocking his aggressive striking attempts with his Energon Prod, nonetheless, Starscream had much more and longer fighting experiences than him.

Knock Out was ready to zap him with electricity until Starscream swiftly moved to one side, having the opportunity to catch his staff. The taller mech kicked him hard in the chest plate, making the doctor crash into a tree and fall on the rough dry soil. Knock Out grumbled as he lifted himself up and raised his helm, only to see a very angry Starsceam approaching. As he fought with the drones, Sideswipe saw his teammate was in trouble. Without thinking twice, the younger mech kicked several of his opponents away and sprinted to him.

"You want to be an Autobot?! Fine!" Starscream raised one of his arms and aimed his missile at the doctor, "THEN YOU SHALL DIE LIKE ONE!" the furious seeker shouted and launched his weapon. The medic covered himself in an instant, prepared for his end. When the pointy tip of the missile almost made contact with his armor, it exploded, creating a loud booming sound and big waves of strong force to spread around the natural environment, destroying a part of it even. A huge cloud of dust and smoke billowed into the sky. The gray mech lowered his arm with a satisfied smirk.

Starscream was about to leave until he took a second glance at where the expected 'dead' ex-Decepticon was supposed to be laying, "What?!" he questioned in utter confusion and in full disbelief, staring at what was coming out of the fading smoke. A large shiny crystal-formed shield was floating in front of the unharmed doctor. Knock Out opened one of his optics, expecting to be one with the Allspark. Instead, he saw the huge crystal wall ahead of him, he could see the shocked face of the seeker from the other side.

The winged robot gave the medic a perplexed look as if he was the one who summoned it. Knock Out's gaze went elsewhere and the seeker followed his lead, only to see the two tiny humans in the far distance. Rainbow Dash remained still, staring in awe at the scene and then there was Rarity, standing before her friend, hands directed at the large shield of crystal material. Her whole body was trembling, the girl seemed exhausted and drained from the power. In less than a second, her knees gave up and met the ground, supporting her tired body with her hands, causing the big shield to disappear out of everybody's vision. The purple-haired girl took deep breaths to restore her strength. Rainbow hurriedly came closer and gently placed a hand on her back to check if she was alright.

"What is the meaning of this?!" yelled Starscream, completely befuddled by the situation. Suddenly, he felt a few taps on his shoulder-pad.

He peeked behind him and saw the younger red Autobot, "Sup." Sideswipe greeted with his metal fist and punched him right in the face-plate, throwing the seeker on the hard dirt. Knock Out rapidly stood up, grabbing his staff and then his charge with his other servo. When Sideswipe rushed over to get Rainbow as well, both Autobots fled from their enemies.

Starscream held his face as he got up, feeling the aches caused by the hard punch. The seeker soon saw them running away and gave out a loud command to the Vehicons, "GET THEM THIS INSTANT YOU FOOLS!" they nodded and followed the escapers.

"Thank you, my dear." Knock Out expressed his gratitude to his charge who was carefully cared in his arm while he hurried away from the left-behind Decepticons.

"That was one of the biggest shields you ever made so far Rares! It was epic!" Rainbow cheered beside her in the hold of Sideswipe.

Rarity tried to smile through her exhausted condition, "Oh, it was nothing darling, really..."

"Are you alright?" Knock Out asked out of concern.

"Ah yes, yes! I feel perfect!" Rarity immediately replied, trying to show that she was doing absolutely fine. Right at that moment, the Autobots stopped in their tracks when the drones came into their way of escape and charged their weapons at them, "Well-- not so perfect..." the fashionista took her words back.

Starscream stepped between the soldiers, standing tall and proud, "You have nowhere to run!"

"But I have somewhere to fly! Leave this to me!" Rainbow responded with confidence as she clenched her hand onto her necklace, activating her magic.

When the girl ponied up, she spread her wings wide and flew out of her guardian's servo, "Rainbow, no! Stay here!" Sideswipe shouted at her to prevent her from getting in harm's way. Yet again, she did not listen.

"I got it dude!" she calmly reassured, "Hey creeps, catch me if you can!" Rainbow dared and flew around the tall bodies of the Vehicons with her super-speed, zooming from place to place.

"Where did she go?!"

"There!"

"No, there!"

"Since when do humans have wings?!"

"Whaat, too fast for ya? How about this!" she said and sped up, spinning around the large group, forming a wide colorful circle. They followed her tiny form but that only made them feel extremely dizzy. Soon all of their bodies wobbled around and fainted down on the ground, the girl stopped herself and laughed, "Ha! That's what you ge-- ACK!" she squirmed when something big snatched her tiny form.

"RAINBOW!" Rarity cried out in fear for her friend.

Rainbow kicked and twisted her entire body around just to get herself free, but it was to no success. As soon as she opened her eyes she was met by the devious smile of the grayish-winged Decepticon, "So this is the mysterious source of power we were seeking for. Impressive." he purred in wonderment while examining her pony ears and wings.

Just before he could do any more harm to her, a familiar voice spoke out of the blue, "Pick on someone your own size!" the moment he removed the girl from his vision, Sideswipe jumped and gave him a hard kick on the chassis. The seeker let go of the female as he got harshly pushed away. The red Autobot landed on his pedes and caught Rainbow in his open arms right on time. Sideswipe noticed her rapid coughing and the breaths she tried to take, "Easy, easy..." he gently told her out of worry. Her lungs were hurting a lot from the seeker's tight grip, it was very possible he might have broken one of her wings as well.

The Autobot heard the far curses of the seeker and looked at him, the Decepticon was trying to get on his heels, "You-- you think you will get away with this?! All of you will pay for--!" his threatening sentence was interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle engine.

Before Stascream could even see who it was, the vehicle transformed into a femme and bounced in the air, slamming his head back to the dirt with her pede. Her arms converted into blasters, pointing them at Starscream's helm, "Shut it, moron." she sternly said as she glowered at him with annoyance.

"Perfect timing as always." Knock Out told the femme, the whole foursome stepped closer with revealed smiles.

"What a graceful appearance, darling!" Rarity complimented when she and Rainbow were put down on the ground.

"Sorry for not coming sooner, we couldn't track your current locations. That's why it took me some time to find where exactly you are at." Arcee explained.

"I think we already figured out who is the one responsible for this." Knock Out answered as he glanced at the seeker with a stern glare. After that, everyone heard an evil chuckle coming out from Starscream's intake.

The group stared at each other in bewilderment and then back at the gray Decepticon, "What are you laughing about, freak?" Sideswipe asked.

Starscream lifted his helm enough for them to see his sinister smile and pulled out a small strange-looking remote with a single button, "This." he said, pressing on it.

Huge electroshocking energy came out of the armors of the two red mechs. They were shouting and shaking from the enormous pain which was overtaking their entire bodies, none of them was able to move at all. The female trio gasped and watched in terror. When the electroshock was brought to an end, the red robots fell onto the rough ground, completely paralyzed.

"KNOCK OUT!" Rarity screamed for her guardian and rushed to him.

"NO!" Rainbow shouted along and went to the young mech, kneeling beside him and examining his state, "Sideswipe?! C'mon, you have to get up!" the girl noticed something on his side plating, a very tiny odd device that was attached to his armor.

The teen moved her hand near the weird gadget, "D-Don't..." she heard his struggling voice through his grunts and stopped, realizing that the electricity was still flowing through their bodies.

"BOYS!" Arcee yelled for her teammates and looked at the seeker again, "What did you do to them?!" she furiously insisted on knowing. Unaware of his close presence, one of the Vehicon soldiers was able to throw her afar with a painful hit on the side of her helm.

"Arcee!" Rainbow called for the femme.

The faceless robot lowered himself, "Are you alright, sir?" he gave his servo to Starscream as an offering to help him but got slapped away.

"You incompetent excuse of a drone! What took you so long?! Be useful for once and bring me those humans! The rest of you, destroy the femme!" he gave out a strict order. Arcee let out a curse as she stroked her helm and saw her fallen allies. She quickly stood back up and dashed to them.

"I-I can't- move..." Sideswipe stuttered due to the high voltage of electricity.

Knock Out attempted to lift himself up as his entire armor trembled, but it was to no avail, "You h-have to get away with Arcee..." he told the girls.

"Are you crazy?!" Rainbow involved in disapproval.

"Absolutely not! We are not going to leave you behind with those ruffians!" sternly objected Rarity.

"They are after you... because of y-your power..." the medic weakly reminded with all the strength he had and focused on Arcee, slightly nodding her to go.

The femme gave him a sympathetic look, she closed her optics for a bit, it was hard for her to leave them behind in such condition with the Decepticons, but she knew they didn't have any other option. Arcee sighed, "We need to leave."

"No- wait!" Rainbow protested, "You can fight it off, I know you can! Please, get up!" her voice cracked while she desperately begged Sideswipe.

"We don't have a choice!" Arcee shouted as she saw the drones coming closer and transformed into her alt-mode, "Get on!" the teenagers looked down at the two shivering mechs who gave them those 'everything is going to be alright' faces, but neither of them believed that. The females finally gave in and hopped on the motorcycle, Rainbow in front and Rarity sat behind, clenching her arms over her friend's waist when Arcee set off in a flash.

Starscream greeted his teeth when he saw them getting away, "DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!" he ordered and transformed into his jet mode along with a few more troops, taking off after the runaways.

As they started shooting at the motorcycle, Arcee managed to avoid the blasts by making zig-zag movements. While the girls were holding on for their dear lives, she was trying to get in contact with the base, but no one was able to answer back, "Come on, come on..." she anxiously muttered to herself.

The flyers continued to shoot at their targets but the femme was too slippery for them. Starscream, however, became impatient, "Can't you do anything right?! Out of my way! I will do this myself!" he flew in the way of the Vehicons and aimed at the small vehicle. Once he obtained a good striking point, he released one of his missiles, flying to their course.

Although the roars of the motorcycle's engine were already loud enough, Rarity was able to hear the upcoming powerful whistling sound overhead. Her eyes went wide when she saw the fast-approaching weapon, "LOOK OUT!" she piercingly alerted, but before Arcee could react in time, the missile exploded so close it made them all fly aside from the strong force. Arcee instinctively transformed and embraced the girls to protect them. Her arms released the humans after she roughly crashed and rolled over on the ground. The girls groaned as they stood up, the high-pitched sound in their ears was gradually starting to vanish away.

Rainbow stroked her head from the accident, she glanced behind her and saw the immobile body of the femme. The girl gasped, "ARCEE!" she got on her feet and ran to her, Rarity following right after. Both girls kneeled beside her and realized she was only semi-conscious due to the small mumbles that slipped out of her intake.

The girls were too concentrated on Arcee that they didn't even hear the army of robots landing behind them, "I got you now!" Starscream chuckled, snatching the rainbow-haired girl and lifting her high up. One of the drones followed his lead and grabbed the fashionista as well. The female teens were twisting in their grips, shouting and demanding to be released.

"You ruthless monsters!" Rarity angrily insulted them as she rapidly moved her legs and screamed at her faceless capturer, "Unhand me you brute!"

"I will make you pay for hurting my friends!" Rainbow wriggled her body as much as she could. She was very pissed, the seeker could definitely tell and he was very amused by that.

Starscream only sneered in return, "I would like to see you try, organic." he lifted his sharp index digit to his audio-receptor, activating his comm-link, "This is Starscream, mission complete. The little vermins are currently in my possession." he proudly reported.

A distant light appeared from thin air, forming into a large portal. Arcee's optics blinked several times and slowly stood up. When she heard the distant cries of her human friends, her helm snapped in their direction, "Scrap!" she cursed and sprinted to them.

Starscream heard the sound of metal pedes coming closer and saw the femme running towards them, he rolled his optics and scoffed out of annoyance, "Ugh, of course. You two, offline her, at least we will have fewer problems to deal with later." he commanded to the two left Vehicons and continued stepping through the portal along with the soldier who was firmly holding Rarity.

"Don't you dare!" the fashionista cried out of fear for her robot friend.

"STOP!" Rainbow shouted as she watched how the Vehicons aimed their weapons at the blue Cybertronian. When Arcee approached closer, she bounced off the ground, strengthening her pede at the soldier who received a hard kick on the helm. Before the other one could process the situation, she blasted him on the chassis and leaped to the closing portal.

"So long!" Starscream mockingly waved goodbye and laughed.

"ARCEE!" the girls screamed before entering and disappearing through the portal.

"GIRLS-!" Arcee called out, gaining her vehicle mode again, increasing her speed to maximum. She was only a few inches away from the Groundbridge but its light vanished into nothingness right ahead of her. The femme drifted her wheels to a stop and transformed. She punched the rough soil out of frustration. In addition to her bad luck, she heard a few clicks behind her back. She turned around and saw the two Vehicons with their weapons targeted at her. Their chance of opening fire was instantly brought to an end till one of them got shot from behind and fell forwards, revealing the young yellow and blue colored mech. The other got tossed away with full force by a gigantic green tail, crashing his entire body into a tree.

"'Cee!" Arcee's gaze followed the energetic voice of Smokescreen, who ran to her along with Grimlock.

"Smokescreen, Grimlock? How did you find me?" she asked out of surprise.

"Heard a few blasters comin' from afar, and we thought, hey, who else could it be?" the dinobot briefly explained, "Did ya find the others?" hearing his question made the femme look away with a mixture of anger and sadness in her optics, "Uh-oh, that's not good..." Grimlock nervously added upon seeing her expression.

Arcee's servo tightened into a fist, "They took the girls right in front of me and it's very likely that they captured Knock Out and Sideswipe as well. When I get my servos on that winged creep I will--"

"Hang on, who are we talking about?" Smokescreen interrupted.

"Starscream."

"What?!" the two mechs shouted in unison, "B-But how is that possible?? He was supposed to be on Cybertron!" Smokescreen reminded still incapable of believing the information.

"No clue, but we will figure this out later, there is no time to waste. Have you seen the rest of the team?"

"About that--" before Smokescreen could continue any further, the sounds of far explosions grabbed their attention. They saw a flock of birds flying away from a distant point of the forest, directing the trio to where their other teammates were located.

"Found 'em." shortly answered Grimlock instead.