“So, what now? Indigo asked. “We can’t get back to Autobot HQ and the Rainbooms were kicked outta Canterlot…”

The Shadowbolts all gathered together at the park to come up with a plan of action. After hearing that their friends had been exiled and that communications with Autobot HQ were still down, they needed to adapt and prepare fast.

“Okay, so now we just gotta wait for Sugarcoat and the others.” Indigo asked.

“There they are now!” Lemon pointed.

Rolling into the park were the other two Shadowbolts, their guardians, along with Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Hot Shot.

“Thank goodness, you’re okay.” Sugarcoat said, racing up to them and giving them big hugs.

“Sugarcoat!” They all hugged her back.

Sour Sweet jumped out of Smallfoot and she joined in the group hug, feeling a warm welcome from her friends.

“Thank goodness, you’re both okay.” Sunny Flare said.

“I’m just glad you’re all alright, girls.” Sour Sweet rubbed her cheeks against the others. “I thought we’d lost you to those monsters…”

“Let me guess what you mean by monsters… our bad selves?” Indigo asked.

“Yes. Those mean, nasty, sticky, gooey… things tried to kill me and Smallfoot!” Sour wailed. “I don’t wanna see them again!”

Lemon pulled Sour in for a bigger hug than before, rubbing her back.

“Hey, shhh… it’s okay. We’re here, ya teddy bear.” Lemon cooed.

“Thanks, Lemon.” Sour cracked a tiny smile.

“Aw, don’t mention it.” Lemon smiled as she hugged her friend. She glanced over to Smallfoot who sat still, her engine humming in silence. “Is she… okay?”

Sour sighed. “No. She… she found out a secret that I didn’t want her to know and now… I feel like I’ll never get back with her again.” Sour sniffled.

“Wait, what happened? What does she now know?” Lemon asked.

Sour sighed. “That other me told her about my inner desire for us to… take things to the next step.”

Lemon blinked. “Wait, you… oh…” Lemon instantly caught on. “She didn’t take that well huh? Wait, isn’t that just your bad side, she shouldn’t be mad at you over that should she?”

“Lemon, that toxic side is just as every part of me as the one right here. And… it's true. I really do want to take things further but… I’m such a selfish jerk and I didn’t even put the needs of my girlfriend first!”

Sour sobbed again, and Lemon hugged her tightly.

“This relationship is either going to go really good… or really bad.” Indigo said.

“As sad as this is, I think those two should work on their relationship issues later. We have bigger fish to fry.” Sugarcoat stated.

“Agreed. We can resolve some of these issues later.” Highbrow nodded.

Sugarcoat cleared her throat, getting all of their attention.

“Okay, so, we were nearly killed just an hour ago by a toxic Sour Sweet. If rumors are true from what the rest of the girls have told us, that is all of the bad parts of Sour Sweet rolled into one. And if I’m correct, the same forms of all five us are on the loose out there, holding the worst parts of ourselves within.” Sugarcoat addressed.

The Shadowbolts nodded.

“And Sunset’s sounding really beat about this.” Indigo added. “It's not good, especially from the second-in-command of the Autobots.”

“And we can’t get back in touch with Optimus, so that’s even worse.” Bumblebee tried tapping into his comm devices again. “All I keep hearing is this weird static…”

Sugarcoat sighed. “Then it looks like we’re on our own. But, I believe we can do this. If the girls and I could take on the Decepticon army with only a few Autobots around, then I think we can handle these Toxic Bolts. And if Sideswipe and Rainbow Dash could take on a bunch of possessed zombie Transformers, then I think we can still do this.”

“The real question now, though, is what do we do?” Hot Shot asked. “I mean, if we can’t get in touch with Optimus or even get back into Autobot HQ, then we’re really in trouble.”

Sugarcoat shook her head. “We’re not giving up. We’re gonna keep pushing, and we’re gonna beat them. We may not have a good set of numbers, but let's not forget. Sunset and the Rainbooms are in the Everfree woods. And if I’m correct, that’s where Weirdwolf is living and the Protectobots are with them. Weirdwolf, do you have equipment we could use?”

The wolf-con gave one nod. “I believe I do. I have a base of operations in the cave where I live. In fact, since we’re all in danger, I will provide help to you, sister.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go already!” Indigo cried. “The faster we get away from danger, the better, right?”

Sugarcoat nodded. “Agreed. Autobots, let's transform and roll out!”

Everyone resumed vehicle mode, and their engines hummed. Sour was about to get into Smallfoot until she heard a snarl from her.

“Sour. I need some space. Okay? I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

Sour didn’t want to anger her anymore, so she backed away.

“Dearie, you can ride with me.” Sunny Flare called, with an open door in Outback’s vehicular mode.

Sour reluctantly got in and shuffled next to Sunny, tears dropping from her eyes. Sunny frowned, looking at poor Sour. She wish she could have helped, but she didn’t know how to help her.

Highbrow’s blades began to whir, and he took off into the air with Sugarcoat inside. The others pulled out of hiding, and everyone got onto the highway, on their way to the Everfree.

“YOU CANNOT RUN FROM ME, AUTOBOTS…” The corrupted Teletraan boomed across the base as all of the blue lighting quickly turned to blood red. “I SEE AND KNOW EVERYTHING. I CAN STRIKE FATAL BLOWS TO YOU AT WILL. YOU HAVE ALL FAILED.”

Every Autobot in the base was running for fear of their own life, and they were trying their hardest to not die. Several of their troops were getting hurt, and only a few members were killed.

“THERE IS NO NEED TO RESIST. YOUR ALLEGIANCE IS IN TATTERS.” Teletraan struck down a series of Autobots with some high-power laser turrets, shredding them in half.

Optimus held his back against the wall along with Ratchet and Red Alert.

“What’s our status?”

“Everyone is armed and ready to defend themselves.” Red Alert replied.

“Anyone hurt?”

“Staks, Heatwave, and Boulder. Unfortunately, Beamer bit the dust.” Ratchet replied.

“I CAN SEE YOUR FEARS, RED ALERT, OPTIMUS PRIME, AND RATCHET,” the supercomputer mocked. “ALL THAT ANXIETY AND DOUBT… IT’S DELICIOUS…”

“Do what you can, and find the others. We must round everyone together.” Optimus ordered.

“Understood Prime.”

On Cybertron…

Some of Starscream’s warriors were busy away on some monitors when a peculiar transmission flickered on the screen.

“Starscream?”

Starscream entered the room. “What is it, Twin Spin?”

“We’re receiving a strange message from Earth. I can’t make it out who it is.”

“Put it through.” Starscream tipped his hand.

The screen flickered to life, revealing the logo of the corrupted Teletraan-1 on it.

“DECEPTICONS,” it said. “I AM MALWARE-1. FORMERLY TELETRAAN-1 OF AUTOBOT HQ.”

The Decepticons standing had confused looks.

“Um… what?” Twin Spin cocked his head.

“Why would an Autobot Teletraan want to communicate with us?” Starscream tilted his head. “Did they capture one of our warriors?”

“Negative. All Decepticons are within the vicinity, Overlord Starscream,” Soundwave said in his modular.

Starscream was puzzled. Clearing his throat, he looked at the monitor. “Very well then, Malware-1. Speak. What are your intentions?”

“I NOW CONTROL AUTOBOT HQ AND AM EXTERMINATING A NUMBER OF THOSE INSIDIOUS MACHINES,” Malware-1 said. “OPTIMUS PRIME AND THE OTHERS ARE RUNNING LIKE HEADLESS CHICKENS.”

Starscream nodded. “Where’s your proof?”

The screen changed, to show a good chunk of the Rescue Bots including the Guardian Beamer being blasted through the chest, erasing their energy sources. The base’s defensive systems had turned against the bots and none of the guns seemed to stop firing.

“Is this for real?” Starscream cocked an evil grin. “Because if it is, nobody pinch me!”

“Wait, hold on. Why are you telling us this?” Twin Spin asked.

“BECAUSE THE AUTOBOTS ARE COWARDLY. WEAK. THEY HIDE WITHIN AUTOBOT HQ INSTEAD OF TAKE THE FIGHT DIRECTLY TO YOU.” Malware-1 flickered back to his logo. “I AM EXTERMINATING EVERYONE INSIDE THE BASE. LEAVING THE ONES OUTSIDE OF HQ AS EASY PICKINGS FOR YOU AND YOUR SUBJECTS.”

Starscream scratched his chin. “I see… and where might we find this Autobot base? Should you not succeed in killing them all?”

“TRANSMITTING AUTOBOT BASE HQ CO-ORDINATES NOW.” The screen showed a lot of source code before pinpointing it on a holographic projection of Earth. “WE ARE IN THE VICINITY OF THE MOJAVE DESERT IN NEVADA”

Twin Spin and Starscream shared malicious smirks.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Twin Spin asked.

“Yes, Twin Spin. I am liking our odds… We’ll depart for Earth in 12 Earth hours.” Starscream said to the computer.

“GOOD. I WILL CONTINUE TO TORTURE AND DECIMATE ANY REMAINING BOTS IN THE PROCESS,” he said. “MALWARE-1 OUT.” And the screen changed back to the Decepticon Logo.

Starscream let out a little chuckle. “This day has just gotten better. Twin Spin, Soundwave. Contact all of our Decepticon forces. Trypticon, the Combiners, multi-changers, Renegades, Seekers, EVERYONE! We have a base to raid!”

“Yes, Overlord Megatron.” They both nodded and ran off.

While Twin Spin ran ahead, two cassettes popped out of Soundwave’s chest. They were of course, Laserbeak and Rumble, his surveillance cassettes.

“Have you copied the data from the co-ordinates?” Soundwave asked Rumble and Laserbeak.

“We got them all on tape.” Rumble chuckled.

“Excellent.” He opened his chest up. “Return. And wait for further instruction.”

Starscream smirked to Soundwave as his cassettes flew back into him. “Soundwave, I want you to remember this day. This will be the day I prove to the Decepticon empire why I am a better ruler than Megatron. Megatron couldn’t find the base… but now we are in possession of their coordinates under my command…”

“Truly, there is no greater leader than you, Overlord Starscream,” lied Soundwave, but in a way that Starscream wouldn’t notice.

Starscream looked outside into Cybertron’s space.

“Enjoy your final moments, Prime. Because we will come for you, and you will die by my hands…” Starscream chuckled.

“All Decepticons. Report in,” Soundwave spoke through his comms device, sending the message all throughout Decepticon HQ and to the cons on Earth. “Autobot Headquarters has been located. Commence Operation: Landslide.”

Author's Note

Twist!