There were no Temporal Stops in the Under-realm, so the Endeavor and the High Sky set a course for the Over-realm’s Drelda Forest. They were shrunk down and guided into the Capital Tree’s shipyards. All of the new visitors were a little stunned at the shrinking spells used to make them fit in the Tree. “Ah, it’s so good to be at my natural height!” sighed Rellmeer. “I’ve already told my people about our visitors, both organic and mechanical.”
“Then let’s meet the Fae,” declared Death. The respective landing ramps lowered for Arsha, Lardeth, and the Autobots. They were greeted with applause as they exited the ships.
“My people!” called Rellmeer. “Our knowledge of other worlds, other Realms, has expanded, thanks to the efforts of our combined protectors, the organization of Realmfleet! Our little stories about talking animals, robots that change shape, armored beings from another world, they have proven true in some manner. What we have erroneously called Change-a-trons are actually called Transformers! Permit me to present four of the Autobots, the true name of the Justitrons!” The group parted to reveal the four Autobots.
“ULTRA MAGNUS, TRANSFORM!” began Ultra Magnus as he changed to Robot Mode.
“STRONGARM, TRANSFORM!” announced Strongarm as she transformed.
“SWOOP, TRANSFORM!” called Swoop as he followed suit.
“SLASH, TRANSFORM!” roared Slash as she finished off the transformations.
“Greetings, members of the Fae Republic,” called Ultra Magnus. “I am Ultra Magnus, second in command of the Autobot Militia. From what I’ve seen in your world’s sci-fi, what I’m about to say is rather cliché, but we DO come in peace. At least, me and my comrades do. Unfortunately, there ARE those from our respective worlds that would do you harm. I have EVERY intention of stopping them and have the means to do so while keeping everyone safe and ensuring everyone’s trust, as do we all.”
“You see?” asked Rellmeer. “They’re friends.”
“Can they explain what happened in White Cap Ring?!” demanded a Fairy farmer.
“…I’m afraid I have not received news about White Cap Ring,” answered Rellmeer.
“Two of their number, a red robot and a smaller bat-like robot,” explained a Sprite senator, “killed two people before they fled!”
“They sound like two notorious Decepticons, Knock-out and Ratbat, our enemies,” replied Ultra Magnus. “What happened?”
What happened was simple, Knock-out was in robot mode and grumbling at all the nature surrounding him. “Trees, mud, rocks, water, they can all just go straight to the Pit!” he complained. “Stupid ground being so uneven! Why can’t someone pave over this slag and build a decent shopping strip?! Maybe with a nice body shop! Or a luxurious car wash! ANYTHING THAT WOULD INDICATE CIVILIZATION! NATURE CAN JUST BURN! The instant I find him, I’m going to ask Megatron for a fleet just so we can civilize this planet!”
“A waste of precious Energon,” came a thickly accented voice with the w’s replaced with v’s.
“Let me guess by the fuel economist’s talk alone!” sighed Knock-out. Ratbat then swooped in. “While I’m glad to see another Decepticon in these parts, can’t you just live a little?!” complained Knock-out.
“The only way to live at all is to conserve our Energon reserves,” argued Ratbat. “Until we find a decent power source, we must remain low.”
“Come on!” whined Knock-out. “We need to get some culture going on this planet!”
“Not until we find an adequate fuel source!” hissed Ratbat.
“I’m the CMO here,” snarled Knock-out, “and I say we start some mayhem to scratch that itch for…!” He tripped over a crystal as large as his foot. “NOW WHAT?!” he roared.
“Fascinating,” mused Ratbat as he sniffed it. “There is energy inside the crystal; energy that can be refined into Energon cubes.” He pulled out a device and broke off a crystal fragment. He then inserted the fragment into the device and it started producing glowing pink cubes.
“Okay, that’s a little fast,” remarked Knock-out as he temporarily forgot his appearance.
“Er, Knock-out, help me stop this thing!” yelped Ratbat as the Energon cubes came out at a faster rate and piled around him.
“Just turn it off!” shouted Knock-out.
“I can’t! It’s gonna blow!” yowled Ratbat. Knock-out then took the device and threw it into the air before it exploded.
“…Well!” gasped Knock-out. “…That happened!”
“Hey!” called a voice. Knock-out and Ratbat turned and realized they were surrounded by peasants of all Fae subspecies.
“…I think that new Energon is messing with my optical sensors,” gulped Ratbat.
“I’m afraid it isn’t,” replied Knock-out, “I’m seeing fairies too.”
“And Sprites and Pixies!” snapped a Fairy man as he thrust his pitchfork at Knock-out.
“HEY! WATCH THE PAINT!” roared Knock-out. He backhanded the Fairy and sent him flying into a giant White Cap mushroom. There were other mushrooms in a ring surrounding a central public forum and various farming plots surrounding each mushroom.
“BANTHIR!” cried a Sprite woman.
“GET THEM!” shouted a Pixie man. The Fae then threw pitchforks, hammers, stones, sticks, whatever they could get their hands on.
“Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!” declared Ratbat as he drank the new Energon. A charge of energy then flooded his circuits and he managed to direct it to his palms, creating a concussive blast that blew back a good portion of the crowd. When he realized what he did, he stared, then grinned. “Knock-out, why don’t you try some?” suggested Ratbat.
“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” chuckled Knock-out as he sipped another Energon cube. He experienced the same charge. “WHOO!” he cheered. “And Energon efficiency just went up, up, up! Let’s see how it works!” He leveled his hand at one of the mushrooms and fired a blast of energy at it, setting it on fire!
“I’m still at 99% efficiency,” called Ratbat.
“As am I,” confirmed Knock-out. “I’d recommend a little…‘stress relief’.”
“Only a fool argues with his doctor,” replied Ratbat. They both then set fire to various mushrooms and farming plots, putting the Fae into a panic. The two Decepticons continued knocking Fae down from both the air and the ground while the Fae continued throwing things at them.
“I lost my daughter during the raid,” finished the farmer as tears streamed from his eyes, “AND my grandson!”
“…This ends now!” hissed Ultra Magnus as he turned to the other Autobots.
“What are you doing?” asked Rellmeer.
“Organizing a hunt for them, that’s what!” answered Ultra Magnus. “The Decepticons are vicious and, evidently, child murderers! We’re going to stop them even if it kills us! Strongarm, begin patrolling the…!”
“Hold on a minute!” interjected Rellmeer.
“Empress, they’ve killed two children!” argued Ultra Magnus.
“A soul avenged in anger will never know rest,” countered Rellmeer. “It’s an immensely popular Fae proverb. Killing children is a vile crime, but if we charge at them now with no sense of strategy, they’ll get away and we’ll be doomed to hunt them forever. We must be smart about this and make them come to us.”
“How do you propose to do that?” asked Slash.
“With a little bit of mana crystal, that’s how,” answered Rellmeer.
Knock-out and Ratbat managed to repair the portable Energon refinery and headed off to the source of an energy reading. It led to an old mine, long abandoned after the mana crystals that rested there were extracted. They felt the need to chance it and so proceeded into the mine with Ratbat resting inside Knock-out’s vehicle mode. “Pedes off the dash!” hissed Knock-out as his Mobian Holo-form, a Cat, took the controls. Ratbat pretended not to listen and leaned back in his seat. “I said get your filthy pedes off my dash! I just had myself detailed!” snarled Knock-out. Ratbat didn’t move. Knock-out rolled his eyes, then blasted the radio, causing Ratbat to screech in shock and look around while getting his feet off the dash. Ratbat then calmed down and glared at Knock-out.
“Why Breakdown chose someone like you as his Conjunx Endura is beyond me,” he hissed.
“Despite his neurotic tendencies, he is a maestro behind a rotary buffer,” replied Knock-out. “Besides, love’s hardly logical.”
“He could have, at least, picked someone that ISN’T one of THOSE Decepticons!” grumbled Ratbat.
“That’s not a gay-bashing comment I’m hearing, is it?” snarled Knock-out.
“Considering my own preferences, no,” replied Ratbat. Knock-out hit the brakes. His eyes then went wide as he stared at Ratbat. “…What?!” hissed Ratbat.
“You’re gay like me?!” squeaked Knock-out. “I just…I mean I never…you look like a bot who appreciates a Femme’s frame more than a Mech’s!”
“Primus, no!” gagged Ratbat. “I just see them as friends, nothing more!”
“…Bonded to anyone I know?” asked Knock-out.
“Afterburn,” replied Ratbat.
“Wasn’t he declared KIA?” continued Knock-out.
“At least he understood which alt-mode to pick!” snarled Ratbat. “Unlike you and Breakdown! That’s what I meant by you being one of THOSE Decepticons!”
“Mind elaborating?!” hissed Knock-out.
“I never understood why you lot pick ground-based alt-modes when you can have flight!” explained Ratbat.
“Oh, you have ZERO room to talk!” shouted Knock-out. “Your current alt-mode is a Mobian motorcycle!”
“At least I can still fly!” snapped Ratbat. “You can now fly in your current alt-mode, yet I’ve never seen you go into the air once! You even picked a Ford 2015 Mustang as your alt-mode during the Earth Campaign! Why?!”
“I liked the way I looked in steel-belted radials!” replied Knock-out.
“Look!” called a voice. “Decepticons!” Knock-out and Ratbat then poked their heads out the windows to see 3 male Mobians and a red Autobot with a large set of microscope lens on his left shoulder. The Mobians were a red Echidna, a purple Chameleon, and a dark-furred Snub Nosed Monkey. Ratbat left Knock-out’s vehicle mode, allowing the Decepticon Medic to transform with a smirk on his face.
“One lonely Autobot wimp and three little animals,” he chuckled. “Hardly seems fair for me to crush you all.”
“I’ll take the red peacock!” declared the Microscope robot, Perceptor, as he activated a scope in front of his right eye. “You three take care of the knock-off vampire!”
“Got it!” confirmed the Echidna, Knuckles. The Chameleon, Espio, then vanished only to appear behind Ratbat and slam a knife into his back. Ratbat screeched in pain and swung his arm wildly only for Knuckles to punch him in the snout. The monkey had taken cover as Perceptor fired off shots from a sniper rifle and made Knock-out dance. Knuckles looked back at the monkey. “Henry! Any time now!” he shouted.
“What do you expect me to do?!” protested the monkey, Dr. Henry Zhou. “I’m a doctor, not a fighter!” Knuckles was then slashed at by Ratbat!
“Over there!” called a voice. Hiro, Dr. Borg, and Megatron ran up to the fight and grabbed Knock-out and Ratbat as a rift opened for them. They entered the rift and it closed, leaving the Mobians and Autobot very confused.
“…The Pit was that?” asked Perceptor.
“The noises came from over there!” called another voice. Who should round the corner but Sonic as he led everyone to the four in the mine. “Hey, Knucklehead!” laughed Sonic. “Lose a fight?”
“Knock it off, Sonic!” protested Knuckles as he massaged his arm, covering the wound Ratbat gave him.
“Hey, that looks bad,” remarked Sonic.
“We had a scuffle with Ratbat and Knock-out,” explained Espio.
“Where are they?!” demanded Rellmeer.
“Megatron took them,” replied Espio.
“Was he accompanied by a blue-skinned woman with wings and prosthetic limbs?” asked Arsha.
“Or a human with a fancy belt?” asked Hiroki.
“Both, actually, why?” quizzed Knuckles. Hiroki growled.
“They’re familiar to us,” he answered.
“Look, why don’t we all reconvene at the palace?” suggested Lardeth. “We can exchange stories there.”
“Good idea,” replied Perceptor. He then turned to Ultra Magnus. “Perceptor, reporting for duty,” he announced.
“Good to see you again, Warrant Officer,” returned Ultra Magnus. “Let’s get going.”
“Hold up! Knuckles is injured!” protested Henry. “We need an IV!”
“I have one for people your size!” called a Fairy man in a nurse’s clothes.
“IV?” asked Knuckles. “This is just a cut. Barely a boo-boo and…WHOA!” The needle was pretty long.
“A perfect length,” praised Henry. “Thank you…er…”
“Nurse Telter,” introduced the Fairy man.
“Thank you, Nurse Telter,” finished Henry.
“Doc, ain’t that overkill?!” protested Knuckles.
“This is standard procedure, so shut up and sit still,” dismissed Henry. “This is NOT the time for belonephobia.”
“You know, I’d prefer NO IV’s,” gulped Knuckles as he covered his wound. “Seriously, Doc, get that thing away from me!”
“Sir, do NOT test me right now!” snarled Henry. “Move your hand!” His own prosthetic hand moved towards Knuckles’ hand to get it away,.
“Forget it! No IV’s!” barked Knuckles as he tried to shove Henry away.
“You’re the patient here! Now sit down and take the IV!” shouted Henry as he tried to set up the IV.
“You’re crazy! I’m not letting you stick me with that!” argued Knuckles.
“Stop acting like a damn kid, you moronic monotreme!” snapped Henry. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way!”
“Well, it’s gonna have to be the hard way, you tree-climber,” snarled Knuckles, “because you’re not poking me with that thing!” Henry sighed, then punched Knuckles in the face with his cybernetic hand, knocking him out. Knuckles then had a neck-brace attached to him and was laid out on a backboard while the IV was inserted into him and he was carted off.