Shadow Chaser (Eh, I dunno)

I was just playing around and came up with this. I have no idea what I was thinking and I'm sorry I do no justice for characters Trailbreaker, Blaster, or Powerglide. There are only Two Acts so, eh *shrug*

Shadow ChaserAct 1
It was beyond an earthquake. The ground shook and trembled, dust flew high to descend in thick clouds choking the sight of light in heavy drifts. The air burned, taken over by thick eruptions of the earth when missiles land near sending shock waves outward to shatter against delicate hearing. Every few minutes came another sound shattering eruption, every set of seconds the rattle of machine guns gutting the air. Tan rocks crumble on impact with the dense soil, they clank against hollow metal. There was a single faction, a separation of missiles sent flying between the two in face off.

There were two robots.

The location was at the outskirts of an Arizona city Avandale, a section of highway overpass had been dismantled by malicious weapons devouring the concrete surface exposing the skeletal metal crinkled as a morbid display of pain. It was early noon holding back the high count of unmanned vehicles when the conflict began, the few abandoned had since then been coated in a heavy film of orange dust rising with each seism of the earth. Missiles that struck the backing metal became black fires crackling with red flames, interiors split wide to show the world burnished guts. Many of those that had once owned these had escaped to cover those that didn’t were no longer a part of the population count, flipped over to the casualties soon to rise.

Thus far these calamity had remained at the outskirts of the city but that could not last long. Good things often never did.

In a tight foxhole fashioned within chunks of asphalt and deep in the Arizona desert, young Erik Townshed scrunched his body up in the tightest ball he could make it in fear of the heat battle rained down. If he looked up he could see molten plasma wash down over the small hole he had found himself but only the scalding fire touched his skin, it never burned deep into him. It was a nightmare, one he wished to wake up from so he could lie in bed and wonder, but the more he wished for reality to end it did not. Somehow he fell into this bad position between two war raging machines. Transformers. After all the stories he had heard from the news, the articles from the net, even the textbooks issued by his school he knew only one thing. He was going to die this day.

It might not be in broad daylight, it might go on for hours until the sun was beyond the Earth’s curve and the sudden bolts of hot fire ran wild through the dark sky, there was no denying the truth. No one in their life had fallen between the lines of Autobots and Decepticons and lived.

Sure the Autobots could protect him from the aggression of the Decepticons, but it was inevitable. The Decepticons were pure evil and too often that overpowered the pure wishes. Before the clock struck midnight one thing would be certain, he and the city of Avandale would be a part of the high rising casualties that erupt among the factions of Transformer war. It was a small price to keep the Earth free from supreme control by the Decepticons. Young Erik was just another statistic that got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But there could be hope for him yet.

Beyond the foxholes opening, the two front lines of Autobot and Decepticon fought. Three Autobots had been issued to confront two Decepticons, both recognized as high priority capture among Autobot lines. A large purple and silver Decepticon known as Skywarp and a ground unit known as Demolishor, complimented by sharp claws for hands and saws for a leg and backbone. The Autobots responsible for extinguishing this threat to humanity were Trailbreaker a black and white heavy bulked Autobot, a bright red Autobot called Powerglide, and a multicolored boxy robot Blaster. Both sides had positioned themselves behind blocks using the cover of fire to inch forward, the Autobots holding the Decepticons out of the city and both Demolishor with Skywarp making their movements not toward the city directly, but the foxhole so conveniently shielded by orange dust.

Another barrage of missiles slammed the remains of the highway just above the foxhole, the thunder in result so painful Erik shrieked. “I’m gonna die!” he cried, not for the first time that day. Before it was a mock when he upset the school bully, the second time when he found his grades were not to standards for his mothers approval, and a few more times when the sudden clash between Transformers erupted. “I’ll be incinerated!” Unless his green cotton shirt with the collar, or his khakis could deflect mortars, this was pretty much true.

He scoots aside on the harsh rock as his roommate shifts positions, growling in his deep metallic voice.

It wasn’t a robot he had ever seen before, there were no sort of Internet searches that could tell him now, but it was a Transformer. At one point it was on the highway weaving through traffic, moments before a large rocket tore through the black road and sent chunks of hot tar through the roofs of vehicles. The obscure design of its body was no more animal than robot, to Erik he described it as a giant Velociraptor standing seven feet tall in solid dark gray armor, almost black. But unlike this prehistoric dinosaur extinct for over millions of years, this raptor had spike quills at its head, it also had long pointed ears that rose high or bent back in agitation. Its face was more bird like than reptile, it had fangs which it bared. Its body design was more raptornoid-human, a mixture of the two. A feature which stood out was the bands stretching along its arm, deep red luminous bands. Its eyes were a deep yellow reflecting an almost awesome intelligence benign its uncharacteristic brute design.

“Why’d you drag me into this?” he cried to the monster robot. “I just wanted to be home!”

The robot snorts and turns to him, eyes glistening in the poor light. The sound of its voice was mechanical like any Transformer but held a scratchy coarse tone apart from its animal like verbalization, a mimic of actual beasts of Earth. He winced when another rocket sent dust and rocks into the hole cracking the rim, and turned to Erik. He took the boy by the arms and lifted him, Erik responds by kicking his feet. He stopped when the large robot spread blade appendages from its back, slender knives that looked sharp but were in fact wings of some sort. He knew what would happen next but was helpless to stop it. Instead, he screamed.

“No! No! Noooo!”

The raptor shot out of the foxhole and lands on the hot desert surface, a piece of the once road a few feet from him covered in dust. He sprint aside avoiding weapon fire of purple plasma, enemy colors. He grunts and dug his claws into the hot sand, a portion of metal armor attached to his ankle was a part of him, his motorcycle design, it quivered in response to his movement riding just above the desert heat.

Erik screamed. He was in the arms of the mechanical monster moving aside from the confronting weapon fire but that didn’t stop chunks of rocks hitting his captor. Soon, all weapon fire has ceased as the machine moved away from the conflicting factions, but that was the least of his worries now.

From his point a mile from the Autobots, Skywarp’s excellent scope sight had locked onto the target robot as he shot from the hole and dashed away. The Autobots continued to pop back up to fire and duck down again but he had ceased, save for Demolishor whose optical sight was far from his own superior skill. He smacked his ally Decepticon on the shoulder and points to where the target was heading. “He’s getting away.”

Demolishor lowered down beside a piece of scorched rock and studied with his own optics the movement of the machine. It was fast on two feet but it couldn’t carry the human forever. “I’ll go after him, you stay and keep the Autobots busy.” Keeping low he trudged off slashing his hands through the desert to keep his out of proportion body from pitching forward.
“Acknowledged.” Adjusting his aim by two points off Skywarp continued firing, to stir up more dust and make up for the support Demolishor had taken away. This would further confuse the Autobots in the smoke screen that the city was the target when it was far from it.

Three fourths a mile away the mechanical Transformer had to slip the boy Erik onto his shoulder then to his back, his hands kept seeking the desert floor for acceleration. He may have appeared as a biped but his true speed was coiled in his vertebra spring, a system that dominated all two footed beasts.

Erik looked back when he thought he felt something, a steady rumble coming from the shredded desert. To his horror he saw the Decepticon named Demolishor approaching their path. “Hey—hey! Move faster!”

The mechanical raptor didn’t respond but glanced back, saw Demolishor, and gave a high roar. He turns forward redirecting his path toward one of the abandoned highways, its surface covered by red dust and ruble from the desert, it was still intact and would serve as his best means for gaining speed. Feet kicking deep through the hot desert he pushed himself toward the road, beyond it down a slope was a rickety fence with a play pen and grass. It was odd to see grass in such a parched desert but sight seeing would come later when he could afford it. He leapt high over the road, his form converting, systems altering, body splitting within the hollow shell of a motorcycle. A portion of the armor from his shoulder blades slid forward unfolding and became the portion of his motorcycle head, closing over his crumbling raptor face. As his eyes faded the motorcycles front lights came on, initiating the program of his alternate form.

The new streak gray and black motorcycle revved motor, the wheels compress against the hot tarmac, black smoke sped out as he pushed his wheels to seventy-three. He gave a hoarse growl.

Erik squealed, in part to fear when the raptor’s shape shifting under him, and in part to joy. He hadn’t expected this. “Go fast!” he cried, “Faster!” And glanced back. The raptor pushed speed up to eighty.

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Demolishor growled. “Two can play at that!” He jumped off one foot twisting sideways, his own body snapped apart and compressed, the armor of the saw at his knee and back uncoil and split up then fall. His tan body and helmet disappeared beneath the form of a construction vehicle to become a earth plow, his fingers became the claws for chewing up soil and any humans that fell into his path. His body performed some last system checks as he settled down against the road then sped up, moving after the odd raptor machine. “I can go ninety in this form!” He laughed in his dry vocals.

The raptor hissed putting the brakes on, he skid on his rear wheel turning to face the oncoming hell machine. “What are you doing?” Erik demands, as the motorcycle sped forward. He grabbed the handlebars at his disposal but to his sinking heart there was no control for him. He was at the mercy of the raptor now on route for Demolishor. “You’re crazy!” He ducked his head down. The motorcycle altered direction heading just pass Demolishor.

“I’ll sever you’re head!” Demolishor lowered the whirling blade of a saw on the motorcycle, but the machine braked skidding under the sweep of his weapon and sprout again just beyond the last tread. He gave a roar of anger as the motorcycle accelerates. “I’ll get you yet!” He proceeds to turn as the raptor made time.

Skywarp ducked down with a sigh. “That idiot, I knew I couldn’t trust him.” In an after thought he added that he never did. The Autobots were growing wise to this play tactics and so it was time to depart. He snaps down into a sleek purple and black fighter jet streaked silver and takes off, shooting over the Autobots heads toward the fast moving motorcycle.

“What’s going on?” Trailbreaker asked aloud as Skywarp shot over. He withheld his fire.

“Don’t know,” Blaster admits. “But they keep talkin’ about the target, it seems they’re in the market.” He turns around catching sight of Demolishor headed away from them in the same direction Skywarp had flown.

“For what?” Tailbreaker asked, already shifting to his large van form. Soon he knew they would find out.

On the road making tracks from Demolishor, Erik only looked back when he heard a sudden boom like the kind following a bright explosion. He choked on his own breath when he saw Skywarp headed right for them making wonderful time but not to his liking. “Go faster,” he told the motorcycle, “I know you can.”

The raptor machine groaned as though the entire process of accelerating might damage him. Regardless he put on a burst of speed moving beyond eighty-nine, to a hundred and then fifty more MPH higher. Eirk pressed himself against the curved backside of the machine, the wind whistled through his sandy blonde hair. He managed to look up and see cars whipping past, some burning with raw heat scorching but only for a brief past. He was lucky.

“You’ll have to go faster if you want to out master me on speed,” Skywarp called. Air whistled over Skywarp’s winds and out his engines. He caught up to the swift cycle and opened fire, machine gun pellets spitting from either side of his jet nose. His bullets missed as the motorcycle sped up swerved and reduced speed. “Give up!”

The raptor gave a fierce roar and sped up moving faster than two hundred, the road curved forcing him to slid on his side tires to avoid falling, at his speed any imperfection of the road would most likely tear him to pieces, and the same of the human riding him. Skywarp followed close to his tailpipe shooting more bullets pelting through the hot tar, a flare popped from one but only at a splint moment. He went up an overpass feeling his wheels come off the road but he didn’t, he kept to the ground and continued dodging the weapon fire of the Decepticon.

Erik could barely hold on at this speed, his hands were sweaty slipping on the rubber grips of the cycle, all he could do was huddle close and hope the airspeed didn’t peel him off first. I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, he said in his mind. He chanced a backwards glance and saw Skywarp, the air streaking his wings cut through any nearby articles, street lamps, palm trees, signs, anything, even a mailbox ripped from its bolts when he passed over. The insistent whistling sound made his ears feel like bleeding out, it sent throbs of pain splitting his skull. Or maybe it was the super sonic speed the raptor was moving at.

Darkness came and went when the raptor sped under an overpass. For a moment the whistle was gone then it was shallow, a moment later it had increased to Skywarp following, spitting bullets from his machine guns. “You can’t dodge forever.” The raptor growled at him, weaving through more bullets fearful they would punch holes into his body, but more that they would kill the human. There was traffic now, something more he had to consider. Humans were slow moving when dangers was near, particularly in large groups He had to find cover from Skywarp and fast, a way to lose the Decepticon and dump the human but it might already be too late for him. Erik was now apart of this. He was a target.

A car slid into his path determined to change lanes without checking. The raptor gave a snarl and swerved aside scraping another car as he went, the sudden motion of his jar nearly sent him off his wills into a lethal slid. He caught his balance before that skipping side to side, the fact Skywarp was shooting at him and the nearby vehicles didn’t help either. He hissed.

Erik screamed when he came loose, the air speed tearing his sweaty hands from the soft grips. His arms and legs were free, above him as he fell back he could feel the hot pavement beneath his bare skull and could only imagine the impact of brains sticking to frying pan. But his head didn’t hit the road, he was barely above it with the brisk heating baking his skull but he wasn’t touching it, at least. It was still humming under his head but he was not scraping it. He hoped it stayed that way. He leaned his head up to see the raptors foot had disconnected from the motorcycles wheel, the claws had looped around his chest but barely. They punctured his chest but he didn’t notice that, he only knew that his brain wasn’t being grated on the highway.

A car to his right hummed as the raptor zoomed past it, he was so near he could feel the air from the tires hitting him. He shield his head when Skywarp continued shooting, nearly hitting his body, he felt the bullets wisp past his green shirt, one even put a black hole into his collar but not his body. How had the raptor managed that he didn’t care, so long as that wasn’t through him.

Skywarp chuckled. “I have you trapped, Mini-Con. If I pass over you now then I’ll chop that human up in my slipstream, fall and the same will happen, there’s no way you can escape now. Surrender and save the human.”

The raptor gave a high roar. That was the least of his problems, in his path ahead was a stop light and all the cars were moving, but at his speed the light would turn yellow then red, all the cars would stop. Skywarp would shred them as he did the others preceding. He gave another roar, his body splitting apart. He practically leapt out of his motorcycle form with Erik in one foot to fire the thrusters on his backside, foot, and calf pushing himself forward just above Skywarp’s slipstream.

“Ah—y-you’re flight capable?” Skywarp snarled. He pulled himself up determined to catch the raptor if he stalled.

Erik grabbed the raptors foot looking down as the world became smaller and smaller, the cars shrinking. “Don’t drop me, please don’t drop me!” he begged.

The raptor had no intention to, his concentration at the moment went into keeping Erik out of Skywarp’s reach. He had enough trouble with keeping altitude with only his right side going, Erik at his left foot would not be invulnerable to the blue fire from his thrusters and therefore could not use them. Skywarp was ascending after him at a fifteen degree angle, not enough to stall out. Making a dangerous gamble he pulled his left leg up and grabbed Erik by the arm to hold in one arm as he fired the thrusters from his leg, he wasn’t at a high enough altitude to fall back but had no choice. He covered nine year old Erik with his arms and went into a free fall, curling his own body up tightly to avoid the sheer of Skywarp’s slipstream.

“You didn’t,” the Decepticon howled as he shot out.

The raptor uncoiled pushing his feet into the hot air and sent himself upward, climbing gradually high over the city and hopefully toward the Autobots. He looked back watching as Skywarp banked to pursue him yet again, he groaned to himself.

“When is this all going to be over?” Erik whimpered. He peered over the raptor’s hinged shoulder and saw rockets spilling white smoke in direct trajectory for him. He gave a cry of warning.

The raptor spun into a dive avoiding both rockets, the massive projectiles spill out across the sky to erupt against the other and fall as ruble to the roads below. He pulls himself back into a climb spinning and diving around more plasma as Skywarp dishes it out, he clutched Erik to his chest determined to shield him from whatever would come. Moving at two hundred he darts high and levels out, whirling away from more missiles and rising again high over the pass of Skywarp, the jet would twist and turn back on him. He realized though his speed gave him the advantage in the air to avoid such casualties, he was still a sitting duck. He scanned outward searching for the Autobots, surely they could help him if they didn’t shoot first but his active sight couldn’t locate them when his higher senses went into avoiding the accurate missile barrage of the skilled marksman. There was also no cover in the near vicinity unless he counted on the random patches of palm trees, but that would not last long, Skywarp’s optics would single him out in little than thirty minutes.

From this height he could identify the path he traveled with Skywarp on though he had not identified any landmarks on his way, the roads were marked with many torn vehicles.

“Watch it—!” Erik snapped too late. The impact of the raptors body smashing his nearly knocked him out but he was awake, his only injury a crack to his skull. He felt the weightlessness of falling and could look down at his feet, and the blue sky dulled by smoke. He saw a red, silver, and blue jet scream by laughing in a harsh voice.

“Shot him in the back,” it squealed. That was Starscream, vice commander of the Decepticons.

“Nooo!” Erik howled. The raptor was silent, the yellow blaze of his eyes vacant from his mask. “Wake up!” he cried, “please, wake up!” There was no response and the metal body was plunging, losing altitude faster than it was gained. A black smoke trailed followed the rapid descent. “Please, don’t do this now!” The mechanical arms that had held him tight now slacked falling out from him, he had to hold onto the metal chest plate or fall away and then what? He managed to pull himself up near the large head of the monster raptor, its jaw hung open revealing a row of gold teeth. “Wake up-wake up-waaaaakee uuuuupp!” Nothing worked. He looked up to the growing surface of the world, cars, trees, people were coming into clear view. He held tight with one hand as the other struck the metal snout. “Work, function, something before we’re killed! Come on!”

The yellow eyes flash, the raptor grunts in a refreshed tone that was somehow weak. He wrapped his arms around Erik and went into a spiral, tilting out to ascend brushing a high palm tree and cutting its top portion off with his thin blade-wings. It fell on a bystander.

After that Erik was panting hard, he had never been so scared in all his life. He clung to the raptor terrified that he would fall again. “I just want to go home,” he whimpered.

The raptor sighed in a deep tone, the scratchy synthesis of his voice in clear view. He looked up as the red jet orbits him, he growled. Behind him Skywarp passed.

“Give up, you’ll never escape us,” said Starscream, the voice projected from the jet.

Skywarp emitted the familiar tone of wind rustling over his wings. “Megatron wants you whether in two pieces or whole, it doesn’t matter. Surrender and we’ll leave peacefully, and that sack of flesh you’ve attached yourself to can go free as well.”

The red jet alternates form, the body unfolding and stretching legs out to push himself into position as thrusters in his heels reduce speed, his arms unhinge from him and his head flips up, his wings fold out at his back. He turns to the raptor machine as it ascends higher, he rises with it as Skywarp circles. “You have no choice. Give up!” He aimed rifles along his arms at the smaller robot. “Or find out how much longer you can run with that insect.”

The raptor hissed and roared, showing a jaw lined with many sharp teeth. He spat a beam of blood red fire, one which Starscream fell backwards beneath to avoid the singe, he aimed the rifles at his arms firing at the machine. The raptor flew circles around his purple plasma blasts ascending with it, across from him Skywarp transformed aiding his brother in the shooting. The raptor flies higher before turning to dive downward, snout aimed forward to pierce the air. Erik in his arms screamed, he couldn’t help it as that weightless feeling took over, he never even went on a rollercoaster at all in his lifetime. The two Decepticons dive, Starscream transformed as Skywarp simply vanished in midair. The raptor twists to avoid further fire from Starscream, including the null blasts that did more to his systems than frizzle out electrical commands, his thrusters malfunctioned more than twice which was enough when in a sheer dive.

Skywarp appeared below the raptor arms open and rifles aimed high. “Dead on,” he said, firing.

A direct hit to the raptor’s throat, he gave a sharp yelp but didn’t stop though and jet past the Decepticon’s head barely an inch from the black armor. Skywarp vanished once more before Starscream collided with him, the jet didn’t even slow or cease fire.

Within a mile from the surface of the road the raptor veers off his direct course, still descending with his snout down he was now on his back, the Decepticons still pursued him. He spun over pushing his feet out to guide himself down a street and up a hill just over a street lamp, he continued on his way passing over traffic moving. He shot himself through a neighborhood detecting the jets in hot pursuit above him holding fire until they could obtain a clear lock, when they did neither would miss. He put more speed behind his thrust pushing himself over a crowded intersection and through an ally, rifle fire from the accurate Skywarp missed him within a wisp, a garbage can struck blew apart sending rotten trash over the raptor. He pushed out high above the tops of houses and over another highway and descended in a parking lot, Starscream managed to hit most of the automobiles he passed but not him. His weapon fire were null beams that left the parking lot intact but the majority of the owners would soon discover their vehicles wouldn’t start.

“Pull out,” Starscream commands. Both he and Skywarp split and rise back while the raptor sped forward over a car and through the revolving doors of a large building, its impressive size forcing the Decepticons out of direct impact.

The smaller Transformer slipped through the revolving doors shooting through the building’s interior past windows of shops and wide open doors welcoming, his stiff speed tore the leaves off plants and the newspaper from a mans grip, five people fell over knocked out of the slipstream caused by the robot. He didn’t stop, not until his feet collide with a rail sending him down onto his side, he held Erik on one arm while the other broke his fall, sparks rise against the slick concrete floor. Still at a high speed he brakes through a brick wall and topples into a fountain of cold water filled with glittering coins, the water splashes across the walkway drenching two children.

Bystanders stop to watch. A small toddler tosses in a coin.

Spitting and soaked Erik pulled himself out of the water to stand knee deep, the sound of the fountain works gushing water everywhere didn’t settle his ease either. “W-what did you…do that for?” he choked. “A mall?” He looked up and around at the high ceiling decorated with banners and lights, a dome high above allowed sun beams to reach the indoor plants. He turns as the staggering form of the robot lifts, water pours from the hollow joints of his body. He could swear it was wheezing in deep short breaths.

The wings upon its back fold back against its body, its steps from the fountain with a thick trail of water and blue fluid following it. The raptor moves past the frightened people leaving Erik. He had done what was necessary and now was the time to leave. He dragged himself away towards a staircase at mid portion of the enormous mall and slid up beneath the backside, his body cooled he would have time to rest before the Decepticons endeavored to locate him. He fell to his side and rolled over pressing his body up against the icy concrete, it was firm against his back. That was good.

Nearby people comment, take pictures, and someone threw a coin into the fountain.

Erik followed the raptor, he was the only person with liberty to at this time. He leaned under the staircase as he approached. “Hey. What are you doing?” He sat on his knees and scoot himself towards the large machine. “They’ll be looking for you.” The raptor laid his head back and the eyes faded. Erik was at once frightened. He shook the sharp knee joint. “A-are you okay?” He was surprised the raptor looked at him. He noticed its neck, a portion of the armor had torn away to reveal a bundle of thick cables and wires, some of which were damaged sparkling against the open air, some slide in movement.

*Post a comment if you actually read this*

ace write more i am hooked

Second part. <SigH> I was really not thinking when I wrote this. I wanted to do more battle between Autos and Cons, but the raptor guy succeeded in having himself torn up and...just read

“I have made a grave error,” it said to him.

Erik stared at the raptor Transformer, who had just spoken. “Y-you can talk?”

It nods and winced. “I have…come to a time…searching….searching for—but, I was wrong.”

Erik waited. “You were searching? For what?”

“I am…the last of my p-people. I came s-searching but…but too far before.” He groans. “I came to-to warn my savior…to save us…b-but, I have…failed. I have…been seen.”

In silence Erik considered this. If it hadn’t been for him this raptor would not have shown itself, wouldn’t have been spied by the Decepticons. He had an encounter with it earlier that week. He went into the Chervon to pay for the fuel his mom put into the car and saw a cloaked figure buying a bottle of oil, odd as he didn’t own a car. The strangest part was when the cloaked figured paid, he didn’t have fingers but rather gray claws hidden under the tatters of his clothing. Four days later a Decepticon became irritated with him for sitting on the robots bumper, he aimed to teach Erik a lesson in manners but before the robot could break his leg this raptor tore in and broke his face. That was what brought out the Decepticons.

“I’m sorry,” Erik said, lowering his head. “If I hadn’t—” He tensed when the raptor gave a short hiss.

“You d-did nothing wrong. That…Decepticon…did. That’s why I-I broke his face and…not yours.”

Erik smirked at the comment.

“I am a warrior…and a guardian…I came s-searching, but…have f-failed. I-I have f-fought many wars before, m-many battles.” He leaned forward touching his backside where metal and wires had torn apart, shredded through. “I have…felt…pain both phy-physical and…mental, beyond…your comprehension.”

“You look like you’re in a lot of pain right now,” he said softly.

“Eh, eh…” he said, “but I have…been in worse conditions.” He sat up. “I came…here see-seeking the leader…big…bro.” He shook his head and whimpered. “Optimus…Prime.”

Erik whistled. “The Autobots leader? Why don’t you go see him now, one of the other Autobots could take you.”

The raptor shakes his head. “N-nay. He will not…recognize me, he…will fight me, and fo-for good reason.”

“Your injuries look bad,” Erik comments. “You have to get yourself looked at.”

“N-nay,” he said, shifting to his feet. “I have…spoken too much…already.” He stood on his clawed feet and moved out from under the staircase, dreading to braving the outside air and the waiting Decepticons. “You are…safe now.”

Erik stood and followed the raptor. “Wait, I want to go with you. Help you because…you helped me.” He followed it.

“Nay,” he said. “You’re safe here, with me…you will be-be in danger.”

“I don’t care.” Erik moved along side the raptor, eyeing the terrible wound on its back. “I’ll help you see Optimus, the Autobots won’t fight you if you’re with me, and—I’ll tell them you’re a good guy.”

The raptor hissed but kept walking. “Nay. This is not…my place…this is not w-where I wished to be. I-I have no business here.”

“What’s the difference?” Erik asked, holding his arms out. “No matter where you go it won’t change anything. You want to see Optimus, why don’t you go see him now?”

The raptor gurgled in its throat. “Now is not t-the time. I can’t…explain it, it-it’s a delicate…matter.” He wheezed. “I came to see…him, I made an error…I can…not wait.” Before he reached the revolving doors of the mall he began making acute scans of the outer world, the parking lot, the sky, the nearby foliage…he detected no foreign aircraft. He looked beside him to Erik.

“I don’t care what you say, I want to help you.”

“You’ll only g-get…yoursel—” He gave a deep roar when a Mini-Con burst through the revolving doors shattering the glass, it went everywhere. He recognized this blue and silver jet as Skywarp’s minion Thunderclash. The smaller android avoids him with the grace of a complement and grabs Erik by the arm and drags him away. He snapped his jaws and charged the Mini-Con, he recoiled holding Erik up in one arm and the pistol of his gauntlet to the boy’s head.

“I remember you,” he said. “Do you remember me? Slayer of ‘Cons and ‘Bots.”

The larger robot snarled and moved forward following the movement of the Mini-Cons, his optics blazing. “You remember me? Then you know what I will do to you once I have you.” He growled deep.

Thunderclash backed away holding the struggling boy tight. “Quit squirming, I don’t want to get on his bad side.” He backed out into the high noon, the sun blazed over his dark hide, across from him the raptor machine followed hissing deep and snarling. Those claws looked most unfriendly. He was only set at ease when Skywarp and Starscream land behind him in their most happy mood. “Told you I can do what you both couldn’t in less than nine minutes.”

“Yes, you did,” said Starscream, smirking. “How unfortunate for you Mini-Cons do not get the credit Decepticons do.”

The bright blue eyes of Thunderclash blaze but he could do nothing. Either suffer the wraith of his master or the Mini-Con across from him, he didn’t want both all at once. “Just get him out of my face.”

Skywarp chuckled. “Come here Mini-Con, you really have no choice now.” He beckoned with a hand.

The raptor snarled up at the purple Decepticon. “Donner Elektri!” His eyes blazed red as a bolt of crackling energy shot high, at the next instant from above the sky another surging bolt blazed down behind Thunderclash. He gave a cry falling backwards, the systems at his back shattered, he threw Erik forward with no choice. The boy hit the ground scrapping his palms.

“Get him!” Starscream opened fire first, Skywarp was soon to follow. Neither could hit the rapid zigzagging of the raptor as he shot forward firing up the thrusters on his feet and thighs, as he swooped between their feet he snatched Erik by the ankle.

“Ahh!” he said, yanked backwards. “Gotcha!” Thunderclash snarled, reaching to snag the boys wrist.

The raptor snarled slamming his tail down, he left a deep wound in the Mini-Con’s wrist where his tail blade struck. Within moments he was in the air again working to turn Erik around in his grip and hold onto him through the hell ready to break loose in the sky. Behind he could hear with his strong audio receptors the boom of sound shattering, a familiar sound to his.

“Maybe I should have rethought,” said Erik, wincing against the drag of the air.

The raptor hissed glancing back, his neck sparkled to the earlier attack in memory. “Can’t be helped now.” Behind him Starscream and Skywarp ascend after his flight, the dark glint of melding armor came when Thunderclash powerlinxed to Skywarp’s back. I cannot keep this up forever, he knew, I know who will feel the worse of it and I do not wish to say which.

“Mini-Con halt!” screeched Starscream, the rifles along his jet wings firing twin beams of fire after the weaving raptor. Skywarp added his power to the barrage hoping to catch the raptor in an evasive swoop. Luckily for the target he didn’t.

The raptor pulled himself into a steeper rise high over the Arizona city and took a breath, or more correctly began tapping power through neuron coils through his body. He spews a fierce beam of blood red fire from his throat back to his pursuers. He choked arching back his neck as he rose higher, the damage in his throat extended.

“Are you alright?” Erik called. He had his hands capped over his ears over the rustling of the slipstream.

“Eh, said the raptor, not so certain himself. He dives evading further plasma from the enemy jets but with two following and both excellent marksman it would only be a matter of time before he was hit and this time he doubts he would wake up before plunging to the world a mile or so below. Erik would not survive that. From behind the sizzling noise of a rocket came spewing hot vapor through the air. He spun over in mid dive using electrical bolts from his blade wings to incinerate the enemy rockets, he fell backwards momentarily stunned by his own attack.

Erik gripped the raptors arm as he plunged backwards. “What’s wrong with you?” he called.

The raptor didn’t even growl, but spun over tilting his head far back into a dangerous dive and pulled himself up as the jets streak after screaming through the air.

“You’re energy is limited!” Starscream howled. “Surrender!” He hated having to repeat himself, and hated even more to be wasting his time with a chase when he already knew the outcome. He had no more rockets after the recent fire but still had plenty of energy to dish out purple beams of energy, any one would tear through the target android.

The raptor extends a foot kicking the air with thruster alone to push himself into a deeper dive only to rise again and spin. He also had to keep in mind that his maneuvers while simple for his body to withstand were something else to a human child, and could very easily kill Erik as any laser bolt. Where can I go now? He wondered silently. I am trapped! He whimpered to himself diving again, avoiding a sudden appearance by Skywarp when he teleported to his predicted position. He managed to slip through the grasp of the Decepticon and dive, spinning to rise again.

“Stay with me,” he said to the boy.

Erik groans. “I can’t…it-it hurts!”

At this he snarled, rising high into the sky on a direct and easy swoop, one that would take the attention of the two jets. Skywarp had remained in robot form and vanished again as Starscream pulled his vehicle form into an impossible climb. He pushed himself higher and higher amid his desperate escape.

The bright yellow eyes flicker as he pulled back into a dive. “Stay with me now,” he said. He part his jaws drawing more power from his body to spill thick beams of red at the jet and robot, he dives at a direct ninety-degree angle for the ground far below. The edge of the city opening up like the pictures from a story book. Erik screamed.

“I’m tired of this!” Starscream snapped, tilting to dive after the target.

“He’s fast but he can’t avoid the instant,” Skywarp said, disappearing again.

“Just catch him.” Starscream leveled out his wings before he lost control and continued his fire, hoping to distract the Mini-Con until Skywarp made his appearance. Once they returned to Megatron he could take all the credit, in a subtle tone.

I don’t know what to do anymore, he thought with heartbreak. His ears perked, he opened his blade wings to evade the open grasp of Skywarp, he pulled out of his momentum faster than he had desired but couldn’t help it, he could not be caught now. His jaws part again as he slide beside the Decepticon, the evil orange eyes following his careful movement, he unleashed further flames from his gullet scorching the sleek faceguard of the Decepticon. Skywarp wasn’t the only one burned, for each use of his red blaze the wound in his throat became ever worse.

Skywarp flung his other arm out. “You little brute!” He caught the Mini-Con in his hip throwing him aside, the raptor barely cushioned the blow with his foot and even then his joint was nearly shattered. He flew away, Skywarp shifting to his other form to pursue. He made a precise aim and fired, catching that damaged hip the target seemed to favor now along with his damaged knee.

“Ark—!” said the raptor, stalling in the air. He curled his body up using his thick tail as a defensive block for further punishment to come and went into a tumble. Erik clung to his arm whimpering.

Within thirty feet of the desert floor the raptor opened his wings and went into a gradual glide, he lands on good leg limping and throwing his head about as the Decepticons descend already shifting to their suitable combat forms. But it was not escape that the Mini-Con was searching for. In the cities outskirts there was not much to see, a few houses set about at the farthest reaches with fences protecting their green lawns broiled in the summer months, there was a highway with traffic moving along as though everything was all right. A few trees grew nearby but nothing on the way of cover in their limbs.

The Mini-Con snarled baring his teeth, he set the unstable body of Erik down and swung himself back to the approaching Decepticons. “Stop right there!” he said in his deepest voice, which was fierce indeed given his size compared to a Decepticon.

“Ah, so my audio receptors were not mistaken,” Starscream said, sneering. “It does speak.”

Skywarp inched forward holding his weapons out from his body aimed on the target, labeled across his optics. “Say that again, I’ll shoot.” Unlike Starscream, Skywarp held more composure to his voice and control when in the face of their leader. He would shoot the raptor, and the boy, he’d blow up the city if it were deemed so by Megatron, but not unless he was ordered to.

Starscream held his arm out holding his fellow Decepticon steady. “And why should we?”

The raptor, now on his feet, was panting, his systems seeking raw atoms from the air to convert into energy within his body. “If you leave the boy I will go with you, harm him and I will fight.”

Starscream considered, stroking his chin and analyzing this small brute of a robot. “And what say we eliminate him now?”

The raptor tilt his head angling his ears forward. “Then, I fight. What is so difficult to grasp here?”

Flustered by the comment, Starscream growled under his breath. “Fine, do not resist. Skywarp, restrain—” A bolt of red struck Starscream high at his shoulder joint, it threw him cartwheel style against the raw stretch of orange dust. At the moment of impact, Skywarp vanished.

The raptor spun on Erik shielding the boy with his body, not willing to let anything happen now after all he had been through.

“Autobots!” Starscream hissed, getting to his feet. He held himself low and turned scanning, able to locate through his processings that the enemies fire came from his left side about five degrees off, in his vision he highlighted two characteristic features moving towards him in cover on the neighborhood. An aerial attack would do well to flush them out, but before he could rise on his feet more fire came from the sky pelting his backside. “AHHH!” He spun around to the shifting whine of metal as a bright red Autobot lands across from him, rifles aimed before he could lift his arms.

“Hold it there, Starscream.” Powerglide had come in from the rear while the other Autobots had caught the Decepticon attention. “That way I don’t have to a mess of…oh, that is your face.”

Starscream scols at the Decepticon. He couldn’t see behind him the mess Skywarp was causing but from the sound of it he’d admit his ally was bested by the Autobots.

~ “And where are you, Demolishor?” he communicates through a private frequency. The action caused Powerlgide to perk once ended. ~

~ “I-10, moron,” came the reply. “Where are you?” ~

~ Starscream sighed to himself. “Never mind. Now, listen carefully or I’ll be sure to report back to Megatron how you were useless in this mission.” To this the other Decepticon grunts. ~

“Hey! Cut communications!” Powerglide demands, arming his wrist ports.

“I’ll cut something but it won’t be my communications!” snarled Starscream, leaping forward. He tore from his backside a blade, which gleamed with fierce fire as he slung it down. Mid way through his leap Powerglide pelt him with two missiles, but those did little but burn the Decepticons armor and he was at once in a struggle for his life holding the blade between his palms as his foe fought to cleave it down. “Eh…help,” he squeaked, but unless he wanted to be halved he would concentrate his efforts on keeping his body in one piece. He glared past the glinting blade to the cold eyes of his attacker, shocked at how such hot optics could turn so icy when gripped by the lure of homicide.

A sharp roar came from beside the two titans grappling, then the leap of the raptor upon Starscream damaged should. The Decepticon gave a scream whirling from Powerglide to throw his attacker off, but that was not the case, the claws on the Mini-Cons feet and hands dug deep into his armor. “Get off! Get off! Get it off!” he wailed. The little monster had its teeth locked in his armor, tearing out wires while using the talons on its feet to anchor it. He spun around thrashing, throwing his sword down in order to take the machine in both hands but couldn’t pry it free, it had locked onto him with claws of torment.

“What the….” Powerglide spoke as he stepped back. He glanced over at Erik sitting in the sand looking very ill and went over to defend the boy from the mockery dance Starscream performed with his attacker.

“Get off! Get off! Get it…OFF!” With a final yank Starscream tore the raptor off and threw it down, hard as he could after the endeavor he put in. He stood back panting as the raptor moved to its feet, snarled at him, then fell down. His labored breath died taken over by pleasure. “Well, that was a complete…waste of my time. But at least I still have you.” He stepped forward reaching down the target. Those yellow eyes blazed up at him. He smirked in response.

“Freeze, Starscream!” At once weapons raise on the Decepticon, Trailbreaker and Blaster had come in aid to Powerglide once Skywarp had retreated. “Leave the android there and step away.”

He reared back glaring at the Autobots. “I will not! Demolishor!”

A nearby house erupted into pieces of wood and brick as Demolishor burst through, claws on his fists glistening as he turned to eye the Autobots. “Best take me down now before I get you first.” He raced across the desert, a saw at his back whirling to aim forward from his side. The Autobots avert aim from Starscream to the new threat before it could rip through them.

In all this, the raptor had moved to his feet and hopped backwards near to Powerglide and knelt down. “Oh boy,” Powerglide sighed, seeing that Demolishor was not to be hindered by the barrage of lasers hitting him. Unlike Starscream and Skywarp he had conserved his energy, the primary use of his attacks were physical.

When Demolishor reached the Autobots, raising an arm to rake down through their bodies…the light altered. The noon day dimmed though there was no sign in the sky, no cloud, no aircraft, there wasn’t even an eclipse. The Autobots had barely noticed this and so Demolishor thought none more as he took his claws to Trailbreaker’s shoulder, the Autobot giving a groan as his ally Blaster put his fist to the Decepticon’s faceplate.

A new sound came. Another roar, but not from the first raptor who was by now to drained of power to do more than move. At the Autobots with his second hand ready to tear Trailbreaker in two, his arm crumbled within a beam of blood red light. He gave a cry stumbling back in pain as his arm below his elbow joint became pieces of nothing. His massive body crashed to the orange desert floor.

Starscream took a double take. “What?” he screeched.

A raptor identical to the first stood, there were slight alterations to his armor and design but he was a near duplicate. His entire body was midnight black, his eyes a deep blood red. He carried two curved blades in either hand, blades which had no hilt and appeared very flimsy. He steps toward the fallen Decepticon and rears back, his body rigid.

“I was summoned,” he said, optics flashing.

The Autobots were silent. “What?” Blaster choked.

Erik looked from the first raptor to the new arrival and back again. “He’s just like you. Are you…friends?”

The raptor with yellow eyes moved to his feet, limping forward. “No.”

Starscream was far beyond words, he was fuming. “No! Stay right there or the kid gets it!” He aimed an arm towards Erik beside Powerglide, the Autobot was too frightened to move and doom the human.

“Hey, hey! Cool it,” Blaster called, “or I will.”

“Shut up!” Starscream turned back to the first raptor determined to get him before he wasted a failed attempt on the other. Demolishor just laid on his back, what a disgrace to Decepticons. “You said you would come with me.”

The raptor bent his ears back. “Of…course.” He turns his head.

Starscream followed this movement and saw the glint of black then the raptor, silent as death was at his feet leaping, and to his chest. The leaping charge knocked him off his feet and to his back, the android anchored himself to his chest glaring down, jaws wide. “W-what?”

The first raptor slipped on his feet groaning. Erik stood and ran over to him. “Are you all right?”

“Hey, kid…maybe you should stand away from that thing.” Powerglide moved forward. He caught sight of Trailbreaker motioning him to stand down.

The raptor shakes his head. “N-nay…I have…become very weak.” He put a hand to his neck sputtering with pain and lifts his head, a painful effort, to see Starscream at bay by his fellow.

“I thought you said you were the last,” Erik said.

He looked to him and seemed to smile. “Eh…no. Where…I come from I-I am.” He lowered his head and opened a panel of his chest aside and removed a ragged piece of cloth foreign from the articles he wore before. “I…have…this to g-give someone but I-I am,” he groans, and leans forward to Erik’s ear. “I am…out of time. B-but take…this and when you…are older, take it a-and b-bury it…someplace where…it will be safe. I will…come searching for it.” He hands the bundle to Erik.

Erik felt the weight of the cloth, something inside was very light but well protected, he looked up at the raptor. “Will you be able to find it? How?”

He bows his head. “I will….” He straightens up as best he could and turns to the other of his, calling, “Mark uacka neiry furhh….garwa jei Moongod!”

The raptor leans towards Starscream’s face hissing. “Maybe next time we meet you’ll actually fight…wait, you won’t remember.”

“Huh?”

The raptor hopped down and dashed towards his regal standing and stood by his side, almost the same height but not quite. He growled glancing around at the baffled Autobots.

The first raptor turned to Erik. “For some reason…this is all an illusion.”

Erik frowned. “Wait, what do you mean?” Then, before his eyes the two raptors fade, crumbling into the air, disappearing. He wasn’t certain how to describe it. “What’s going on?” he called. He looked around.

The Autobots left standing had lowered their heads, optics dark. On his back Demolishor flopped his head back, out, Starscream was the same.

“What’s going on?” Erik cried. The world around him suddenly became dark, the hot desert terrain fell out from beneath his feet, there was nothing. No heat, no air, there was only…nothingness. He clutched the parcel he was given tight to his chest but even that had begun to fade from his fingertips. No, what is going on, but he could not speak. There was nothing but the black void.

And a mirror.

The room was dark when he bolted up in his bed, faint beads of sweat across his brow and lip. He pants hard though he had only been sleeping, his lungs had an immediate craving for fresh air. The atmosphere of his room was cool but not cold, or hot, it was just perfect to his skin. When he had obtained control of himself he pushed the blackest from his legs finding his entire body shaking all over, though he was not scared. He was more…alarmed than anything.
He put his feet to the floor of his dormitory and sat in the dark for awhile reflecting over his dream. Kicker had many dreams, some more vivid than this recent one, but this was a reoccurrence. The sight of the raptors, the appearance of Autobots he was not familiar with was foreign to his senses no matter how many times he visited it. He couldn’t quit discern the feeling to himself and therefore could not actually decide how to explain it. He sighed.
“I wonder if I went there…if I dug in the ground, would I find it?” He looked at his feet. He wasn’t certain his curiosity was so eager to discover the truth.

nice! I like this a lot. I should have commented on the first one but I was busy at the time after reading... can't wait to read more!

Urk!?! There is no more. This was actually a promotion/prologue thing I did for a story I just finished. I slipped it in to the original but it's so faint a detail no one would notice.

Thanks for the commet. You wanna really good read, check out Transformers Version 2.0 By petey. Man, that stuff is some awesomus gold