The two girls ran as fast as they could into the woodland. Their rapid breaths blended with the sounds of the leaves and sticks that were crushed under their feet.

Sunset Shimmer took a quick glance at the sky, when she saw the drone was hovering in the air and was approaching closer, she used all of her energy and fastened her pace, holding Fluttershy's hand tight in her grasp so she won't fall behind. Their throats were burning and their hearts were beating so fast it felt like they were trying to come out of their chests. They were avoiding so hard not to stumble into the roots, branches or rocks that came on their way, fearing if they slow down even a little bit it was going to be over. 

The woods were getting thicker and harder to pass through. Bad. That was really bad. Sunset nervously observed around for any kind of cover until her gaze focused somewhere through the big crowns of the large trees and all-around bushes, her eyes widened as she got an idea, "There!" Sunset instantly directed and pulled her friend to one side.

Fluttershy yelped as they changed course, completely disappearing from Laserbeak's vision. Nevertheless, that did not stop the mini-con from following them. He lowered himself and scanned the area, searching for his targets. He carefully explored around, but before he could spot any life signals, he halted as soon as he heard a distant noise of a rock falling on the ground from afar. The mini-con turned around and went searching for the source. After he flew away, Sunset peeked out her head behind one of the trees, watching Laserbeak fleeing further from their hiding spot. She closed her eyes as she sighed in relief and sat down next to her exhausted friend who was breathing heavily, they were sweating and were extremely tired from the chase.

"I take my words back for PE..." Sunset said quietly through her breaths as she tried to slow down her heart rate, "We really do need more running exercises."

"What are we going to do?!" Fluttershy whispered nervously, her body was still shaking by the horrifying hunt.

"We need to distract that stupid metal bird with something else." Sunset answered, thinking of any ideas that may help them escape and assist their new robot friends. She observed their surroundings until a small moving creature caught her eye. A squirrel was jumping over one of the tree's branches. As soon as it noticed the two humans, the mammal stopped and watched them with curiosity. Sunset's eyes went wide in realization and exclaimed, "Another target!" Fluttershy flinched at the high volume of her voice and Sunset immediately shut her own mouth with her hands. She examined the area in case Laserbeak heard her but luckily for them no one was around which made her calm down and glance at her friend, "Okay Fluttershy, I need you to listen to me." she said with a low serious tone and grabbed her friend's shoulders, "I know you are scared and so am I, but now we need to overcome these fears and help our friends. All of us are in great danger and if we don't act fast, things will get much worse. Do you understand?"

Fluttershy anxiously stared at her for a bit until she took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded in confirmation, "You are right, let's help our friends!" she blinked a few times and asked, "But- how... exactly?"

"I think I have an idea." Sunset replied with a reassuring smile and gestured for her to come closer. Fluttershy leaned her head and Sunset whispered her strategy, then she pointed at the small squirrel. The shy girl nodded in agreement and stood up, she softly knocked on the tree which grabbed the creature's attention and climbed down closer to the girl. Fluttershy smiled and the squirrel squeaked in a friendly manner, the girl leaned and whispered in its ear. After she was finished, the tiny mammal nodded and climbed up on the tree again, vanishing from their view.

"You think it will work out?" Fluttershy asked her friend who came next to her.

"We have to try."

══════════════════

Loud and painful cries escaped through the Autobot leader's intake. Soundwave once again generated high voltage of electricity with his tentacles on him due to his resistance. The faceless Decepticon, even though he couldn't show it, was very satisfied. Bumblebee wasn't any better either. Ravage's speed and reflexes were too fast for him, even blocking his attacks wasn't enough. Ravage jumped at him and Bumblebee rolled away and twirled his staff. The beast landed on one of the trees by shoving his big pointy claws into the trunk. When he saw the lieutenant, Ravage snarled. The yellow Autobot couldn't even react in time, the mini-con hopped over a tree to a tree, reducing his speed towards his target and the moment the beast bounced at him, his claws went through Bumblebee's chassis. The 'Bot yelled in enormous discomfort and Ravage slammed him on the ground, causing him to drop his Decepticon hunter.

Optimus peeped at him with concerned optics, "Bumblebee!" he shouted and Soundwave zapped him again with electricity. Optimus' screams were getting weaker, he was becoming exhausted, it was pretty clear just by looking at his half-opened optics. Soundwave was really enjoying his torture, however, he had other missions to fulfill. Soundwave kneeled in front of the Prime, to enjoy his last desperate cries, he lifted one of his free tentacles and it began spinning like a drill. It slowly started approaching Optimus' face-plate but before he could finish him off, he heard strange noises coming from the inner parts of the woods.

Something wasn't right.

Soundwave stood up and examined the area. As his HUD was in the process of scanning a small creature with two long front teeth and a fluffy tail appeared, sniffling his visor. A squirrel, he recalled from what he remembered while learning about Earth's living beings some time ago. He shoved the annoying creature away with his servo. Subsequently, he glanced up to the sky and saw his mini-con Laserbeak was coming, but he wasn't alone.

The drone was being attacked by all kinds of animals from the wildlife, more small four-legged creatures and flying birds were surrounding him from everywhere, throwing nuts and rocks at the drone, some of them were even knocking, biting and scratching him as hard as they can. Eventually, the poor mini-con crashed down from all the flying around and the attempts of him trying to get them off. When Soundwave made one step, he heard squeaks near his audio receptor. He glanced at his shoulder-pad and noticed the same squirrel... glaring at him?

Before the Decepticon could realize what was happening, the squirrel made loud squeaking sounds, as if it was calling for someone. Soon animals of all kinds and sizes came into view and stepped closer to him, they seemed pretty angry. Soundwave tried to push them away but they quickly started to attack and mess with him too. As the faceless 'Con struggled to free himself from the fury of the wild beings, he loosened his tentacles from Optimus's body and attempted to get rid of them but it was to no avail. The Prime stood up and supported himself with one knee on the ground. He focused on Bumblebee and saw that several forest creatures were gradually approaching Ravage. The robotic feline hissed at them in an intimidating way but the animals didn't back away at all, they tackled him down as well. Both Autobots were watching in shock and confusion.

"Optimus!" the Prime heard his designation being called by a familiar voice. He turned his helm and saw their two human companions Sunset and Fluttershy running to him, "Are you okay?" Sunset worriedly asked as she approached the big mech and placed her tiny hand on his arm.

Optimus was relieved that they were completely unharmed and well, he gave her a reassuring expression, "I'm alright Sunset, thank you." his gaze directed to the other female teen, "Is this your doing, Fluttershy?"

"Just a tiny bit." the pink-haired girl shyly replied and rubbed the back of her head, "We were able to gather all of the help that we will need to hold them busy until--" the girl let out a loud gasp when she saw her guardian stepped to them slowly, holding his chassis from leaking, "Bumblebee! You are hurt!"

"It's fine, nothing that the medics won't be able to fix." Bumblebee winced as he answered.

"We need to set off while they are distracted. Bumblebee, will you be able to transform and drive in such condition?" Optimus asked.

"Think I will manage Optimus, it won't slow me down."

"As soon as we arrive at the base you are getting the needed treatment. Now, follow-"

"Um-- guys?" Sunset interrupted Optimus, "What is that?" she worriedly questioned and everyone else looked at the direction she was pointing at.

Their eyes concentrated on Soundwave, one of his tentacles was holding some sort of a weird-shaped weapon. He lifted it up and aimed it at them. The mechs' optics widened in both horror and realization.

"Is that--?"

"The Resonance Blaster." once Optimus answered Bumblebee's question, Soundwave activated it.

He used loud sonic waves on everyone, the Autobots and girls covered their ears and receptors, screaming and groaning in pain. The loud sounds made every creature finally leave Soundwave and his mini-cons alone and scatter away in fright, back into the woods. Everyone else was struggling to keep themselves conscious. Optimus tried to use all of his left strength in him to get up but Soundwave increased the power of the blaster even more, making every robot and human cry in agony. Just as they thought it was over, Soundwave's weapon got blasted out of his tentacle.

"Take this!" the Decepticon quickly turned around when he heard the female voice and was greeted by a pede that kicked his visor so hard that it made him fly back, drop the blaster and crash into a tree. The group was gradually recovering from Soundwave's attack. They peeped at the individual who helped them and recognized the femme right away. It was the one and only cadet Strongarm.

"You have the right to remain silent!" she proudly told the fallen Decepticon until she realized what she said and scratched her helm awkwardly, "Actually... you are doing a pretty good job already." then she set sight on the rest, "Lieutenant! Optimus Prime, sir! Is everyone alright? Can you hear me?" the cadet hurriedly dashed and kneeled beside them.

Bumblebee groaned, he held his helm and looked at the femme perplexed, "Strongarm? But how did you--?"

"Fixit was able to detect the nearest location of your coordinates, sir. When I heard the loud sounds, I came as fast as I could!" Strongarm explained, afterwards, her optics landed on Bumblebee's hand which was covered in Energon, dripping from his wound, she gasped in worry, "Lieutenant, you are leaking!"

"Been worse, we have-" his body trembled as he stood up on his legs, "-much more serious problems to deal with right now."

"How is this-?!"

"Cadet Strongarm." the femme faced the Prime once her name was called, "We need to get these humans out of here and take them to safety. They are Soundwave's main targets and have to get away immediately."

"No Optimus, we are not going to leave you, not like this, not now!" Sunset protested back.

"We have no other choice Sunset, someone needs to get ahold of Soundwave and this will be me."

"But we can't just-!"

"SUNSET!" Strongarm shouted when she saw Ravage who leaped at the girl and before he could snatch her, Strongarm grabbed her in her arms and rolled over. She immediately put Sunset down, took her Decepticon Hunter and transformed it into a protoblaster, "Paws off you ugly feline!" she aimed her weapon at him and began shooting. Ravage successfully managed to avoid the blasts and as he passed close to the cadet, he wrapped his long tail around her leg and dragged her.

"STRONGARM!" Bumblebee and Sunset yelled at the same time. Ravage used all of his power in his tail to lift her up and slammed her whole body hard on the ground. Optimus ran to her but he swiftly got shoved away by Soundwave's tentacles. Bumblebee grabbed his weapon and before he went to assist his comrades, he heard a sound coming from above. He looked up and saw Laserbeak flying towards his charge, "FLUTTERSHY, WATCH OUT!" Bumblebee alerted and hurriedly stood in front of the girl, twirling his staff, blocking the mini-con's blasts.

Ravage focused on Sunset and growled at her, the girl started nervously to back away. The Autobot leader saw his charge was in trouble and transformed his arm into an Ion blaster and fired at Soundwave's shoulder-pad, making the Decepticon back away. Optimus ran and shot at the beast, making him scatter further from the girl, "Run, Sunset!" he shouted at Sunset but she seemed hesitant to leave him, he noticed her concern and shouted again, "Now!"

Although she didn't want to, she listened. But right before she could escape, a portal opened behind her and a slender arm with thin digits caught her on time, lifting her up. The girl's screams made Optimus instantly turn and freeze in one place, he saw his charge being held hostage in Soundwave's servo, "NO!" Optimus cried out and Ravage came into his way and pushed him down.

Sunset wriggled her entire body to get free from one of his servos. Soundwave opened another portal that appeared behind Fluttershy and snatched her with his tentacle. The element of kindness yelped in fright, instantly grabbing her guardian's attention.

"Don't-!" Bumblebee sprinted and went to stop him but was swiftly blasted away by Laserbeak, causing the already wounded Autobot to painfully fall down on the ground.

"Soundwave! Leave them at once!" Optimus warned as a thread while he fought with Ravage. At that exact moment, a Groundbridge opened from thin air, standing only a few meters away behind Soundwave, he was preparing to depart. 

To Sunset's surprise, all of this twisting finally helped her to free one of her arms. Without realizing what was about to happen, the girl touched one of Soundwave's digits and her eyes went fully white as she started exploring his memories.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

*first memory*

Darkness and emptiness. That's what the imprisoned faceless Decepticon could see in his cell. The only sound he could hear was the walking pedes which belong to the Autobot guards who were coming every now and then to keep an optic and check on their prisoners. He was sitting all alone on the floor, stasis cuffs on his arms. He couldn't do anything, he had no energy nor power to even try to escape. His mini-con Laserbeak wasn't even here with him, he was worried. He didn't know how much time passed since his last encounter with the Autobots on Earth. He couldn't even remember when he came back online. How long has it passed since then? Since his defeat by Team Bee. He stared at the floor, thinking about how he managed to let his plan be ruined and get beaten so easily by those pesky Autobots. What went wrong? He was so close. After such a long time being trapped in the Shadowzone, he was finally free, finally able to take his revenge on his enemies, to get in touch with his master, Lord Megatron, once again.

But he failed. He couldn't think about anything else besides his downfall. His failure. How much Megatron would be disappointed if he ever found out his most loyal ally was taken down by Bumblebee and his foolish crew.

While he was still lost in his own thoughts, he heard upcoming footsteps, but he didn't pay much attention to them, thinking that it probably was the average guard officers who came to check on the captivated criminals. Two officers finally approached Soundwave's cell and halted in front of his force-field door. The Decepticon slowly glanced back at them. No one said a word, but one of the mechs focused on the direction they came from and nodded to someone else to come as well. As Soundwave continued to confusingly gaze at them he heard more footsteps, but this time they were smaller ones. The faceless 'Con couldn't believe what he saw. He didn't even think about the chance of seeing them again. Ravage. And on his back was his other now freed mini-con Laserbeak. Soundwave quickly stood up on his pedes when he saw his loyal mini-cons, safe and sound.

They were here.

And they were okay.

But how?

One of the two guards went to the keypad next to Soudnwave's cell and deactivated the force field, letting him out. The faceless Cybertronian titled his helm at the two officers, he still seemed pretty confused about the whole situation. The two mysterious mechs lifted their arms and pressed some odd-looking devices which were attached to their armors.

Less than a second, their forms appeared to be only holograms which vanished into thin air and revealed two standing faceless Vehicon soldiers instead, "Glad to see you again, sir." one of them spoke and lifted a key that he used for his stasis cuffs and freed his arms.

Soundwave stared at his free servos and then at his mini-cons. He kneeled down beside them and patted both of their heads in relief. Ravage happily nuzzled his snout in his servo, grateful for the return and survival of his great master, the beast purred at the gentle touch, he missed it so much. Meanwhile, Laserbeak flew up and attached himself to Soundwave's chassis. They were finally reunited again. A sudden light emerged from nothingness and formed a big portal right beside them.

"Our Commander awaits us." one of the Vehicons said and gestured to Soundwave to go first. The thin Decepticon stood up and stepped through the portal, Ravage following from behind. When the two soldiers went through it last, the Groundbridge vanished.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

*second memory*

Soundwave stood still and tall, Ravage calmly sitting next to him, fully concentrated on the other two completely different Cybertronians who were having a conversation.

"Please do remind me again, Shockwave, why are we wasting our precious time in planning how to capture these stupid little flesh bags instead of striking right at the Autobots with our soldiers?!" the grey high-heeled seeker with pointy claws annoyingly asked.

"Do not be irrational as you always are, Starscream. You saw what your illogical actions led you to, nothing but failure." the purple and wide shaped 'Con named Shockwave replied, he had no face but a giant red optic instead. He was tapping something on the giant console until he turned his attention to his allies and although he didn't have an expression, he somehow managed to give them a dissatisfied look, "Both of you."

Soundwave, as usual, said nothing, Starscream however, "Illogical?!" he repeated in an offended tone, "My plans were brilliant and everything was going on perfectly fine, I was almost near to succeed, so close to destroying those pesky Autobots if it--!"

"You have no one and nothing else to blame except yourself." Shockwave interrupted and got closer to the seeker, "Tell me, what exactly you managed to achieve? Destroying two of my fellow successful creations? Freeing the weaponized mini-cons and letting them escape? Losing the Dark Star Saber to the