My Little Shockwave: Friendship is Logical

by Stalin with Da Spoon

Rating: teen
Tags: Transformers, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Princess Luna, Science Fiction, Adventure, Violence, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Death, Zecora, Main 6
Length: 11119

After team Prime managed to revive Cybertron, Shockwave became a hunted war criminal for his actions during the war, and as such, retreated to his lab, eventually constructing a space bridge and making a desperate escape to an unknown world...

At the end of the war, after Team Prime defeated Unicron and restored Cybertron, Shockwave had become wanted a war decepticon criminal for his various cruel experiments and creations during the war, including the Predacons, the Forged, and generally became a fugitive all over cybertron. Knowing he would eventually be found out, Shockwave retreated to his lab to activate an old project of his, a space bridge off of Cybertron that lead to an unknown world in the far outer reaches of space. Running out of options, Shockwave uses the space bridge, and winds up in a strange new world filled with strange new creatures. Now, Shockwave has the ability to study these creatures and experiment in peace, and potentially... Even befriend them. Of course, as long as it is Logical.

7/29/22: Featured boyos.

Note: This story includes lore from the Transformers: Prime series, Transformers: Cybertron Trilogy, and IDW comics.
I do not own Transformers or MLP.

Published 2022-07-29 02:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-01-26 01:55:05 UTC

Prologue: A Close, but Calculated Escape

Silence.

Peaceful, serene, silence.

Other Cybertronians would be driven mad by the constant silence, the dreaded loneliness, the deathly quiet, the serene tranquility, all factors that normal Cybertronians feared.

But for Shockwave, it allowed him to perform his greatest work, with a lack of noise and chaos to distract him from his logical research. And right now, it was more important than ever that he completed his work.

"Adjust the power value by sixty-seven percent... Tune trajectory calculation frequency by twenty-two... Ensure stability range is kept at nominal levels..." Shockwave hummed out the necessary steps and instructions to himself not only to help him remember and focus, but to help him keep calm in his current situation.

It had been ten solar-cycles since Cybertron was fully re-activated by Optimus prime and his team, and ten cycles since he became the most wanted mech on Cybertron. He had barely been able to avoid capture on several occasions, having to leave his lab to retrieve the materials necessary for his work. Now, the autobots were on the verge of discovering the location of his laboratory, and if they were successful, it would spell certain doom for Shockwave. However, Shockwave had a plan to escape his current scenario, and it was the project he was currently fine tuning right now.

The Space Bridge.

Originally destroyed thanks to the actions of autobot Arcee and Cliffjumper many cycles ago when they had infiltrated his base thanks to the moronic Starscream, Shockwave had been working on it's repairs since the day Cybertron awakened, originally as a emergency precaution, but now it was his last hope to escape the wrath of the Autobots, and to avoid paying for his many crimes and experiments against them. The creation of the Forged, the Predacons, the Dinobots, the Insecticons... The list could go on, and all of it was pinned on Shockwave, making him seen as an even greater evil than Megatron himself. Of course, Shockwave did not care what they thought of him, he just cared about how they would scrap him with their bare servo's if they found and captured him.

"It is a simple logical miracle that I have managed to evade detection for this long. If I am fortunate enough, I can- Agh!" The sound of ringing and static emitting from his voice modulator had returned yet again. It had started shortly after Shockwave's tussle with the massive predacon horde that had assailed him during Unicrons rise. Shockwave thought nothing of it at first, but after performing a diagnostic on himself, he had discovered the Predacons had managed to damage his voice modulation chip, the piece of the modulator that allowed every Cybertronian to have a unique voice.

Now fully fed up with the ringing, Shockwave turned away from the large space bridge and looked to a small table, upon which several tools and spare parts rested, including his old and broken optical lens he had replaced after the predacon attack. On the table were two voice chips, one of which being a copy of his voice from the early days of the war. He decided to store the old copy in a compartment in case he needed it before swiftly replacing his current damaged one with a fresh copy of his current voice.

"Finally, that incessant ringing is over. Now, to escape before I am inevitably detected." Shockwave actually preferred this new voice. While not sounding cold and emotionless like his previous voice, it was still sufficient, especially because it gave him a sense of nostalgia to the early days of the war, when he still had his massive tower to perform his glorious experiments in, including improving upon the Insecticons, and creating the Dinobots and Combaticons... But since that facility was destroyed, Shockwave felt a sense of emptiness, which this chip now reminded him of.

Regardless, with the new voice chip installed, Shockwave turned to the space bridge control panel, as he lifted his right servo and began calibrating its systems. Diagnostics showed that the Gateway was fully ready now, and only required a short amount of time to be charged, as he looked to the charge percentage slowly increasing, and made the quick time calculation in his neural cortex.

"One minute until the space bridge charging has finalized." Shockwave stated matter-of-factly couldn't help but feel relieved, knowing that his escape from the wrath of the autobots was so close, yet it felt so far away... Suddenly, something caught Shockwave's attention, as the sound of rapid beeping caused him to turn to a second screen to his right, displaying an alert, before revealing the camera feed of the entrance to the lab, as four bots could be seen outside the door, trying to bust it down, recognizing the bots as Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead. The Autobots were outside, having likely located his laboratory via either advanced tracking techniques or another unknown method.

Shockwave at first started to panic, before quickly calming himself down, as he looked to the other screen, and saw the space bridge was 50% fully charged, performing quick calculations in his mind.

"Thirty seconds."

The sound of the door being bashed in was un-mistakable, as Shockwave quickly turned and raised his massive arm cannon towards the door way, staring down the four entering Autobots with his single red optic, watching as they raised their blasters at him and entered a stand off.

"Shockwave... We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way..." Shockwave simply scoffed at Prime's words.

"And if I were to choose the easy way, even if it is highly illogical and improbable, would I not be hauled off to Kaon to be executed as a monstrous war criminal before all of Cybertron?"

"Shockwave, there is no need for more bloodshed... We can work to rebuild Cybertron together!"

"And leave it to be ruled and ruined by the Autobots? I am sorry Optimus, but I fail to see the logic in such a future, especially considering how it only dooms you all to repeat our civil war, as corruption and injustice takes root within our society once more. Simply put, under Autobot rule, Cybertron has no future. Even if the planet has been revived, it is doomed to die once more... And not even I will be able to save it. None are unwilling to do what must be done, and with Megatron gone, it is likely nobody ever will."

And with his retort finished, Shockwave heard the distinct sound of the Space Bridge powering up, turning to see its swirling vortex open up. He had no time to input the coordinates, so this was going to be a blind warp. If he could even make it to the bridge in time, that is. Not wasting a single second, Shockwave quickly charged up and fired multiple shots from his cannon, before turning and making a dash for the bridge.

"He's making a run for it!" Bumblebee cried out as the Autobots proceeded to fire upon Shockwave, as he quickly dropped to the ground and shifted into his tank form, going full speed with his tire treads leaving tread marks on the ground, while he rotated his turret 180 degrees and fired at the Autobots before driving through the bridge into the vortex. And before the Autobots could give chase, Shockwave fired one last shot at the bridge control panel, blowing it to pieces, as the Autobots vanished.

Shockwave then turned his turret to face forward, the end of the bridge tunnel being visible, revealing a large amount of trees and grass under a night sky, as he increased his speed, before rapidly exiting, as he soared through the air, easily flying a few meters off the ground, before transforming mid air, and finally falling and impacting the ground with heavy force, leaving a crater before bouncing and rolling across the grassy terrain, until he made contact with a large and sturdy tree, impacting it as his optic became blurry and a small crack formed across the lens, his back spines slightly dented, and his vision slowly beginning to black out as he went into temporary stasis mode to recover...

Shockwave was not afraid of his temporary shutdown however, because now, he had escaped Cybertron, he had escaped his Autobot pursuers, he had escaped the wrath of Optimus Prime and his team, he had left behind his past of serving Megatron and the Decepticons... And as he looked up to the stars above him before his vision blacked out, it finally sank in.

Shockwave was finally free.

1: Brand New Strange World, Same Old Mad Scientist

Darkness.

All Shockwave currently saw was darkness as he slowly rebooted his systems, assuming his optical sensor just needed time to start up. As if on cue, light flooded his sight, as his optical view began to calibrate, before granting him a clear view of the world around him, brightly illuminated by the sun high above in the sky. Once his eye was functional, his audio sensors were next to restart, and once they fully rebooted, his hearing was assailed by a variety of unknown sounds.

These sounds were un-familiar to Shockwave, and yet, they reminded him of certain sounds he had heard from the environments and creatures of the planet Earth during his time serving Megatron on that miserable little dirt ball of a planet. He could faintly identify the chirping of avian wildlife, the whistling of the wind and the rustling of the bushes and grass. Beside the sounds of nature around him, it was quiet, calm, serene, and Shockwave couldn't help but feel at ease. That is, until he felt something upon his lower body, as his head slowly gazed downward to see a tiny creature sitting upon his waist.

It was covered in light brown fur, with long ears and standing upon two hind legs, as it scratches it's long ears with it's left fore leg while it stared up at Shockwave in awe with it's dark brown eyes. Rapidly going through his memory core, he remembered encountering information on this type of creature in the data banks of the Nemesis. The creature's name? Oryctolagus cuniculus, also known as the humble rabbit. Shockwave could not help but wonder why this little defenseless and helpless creature was sat upon him, when he could clearly grasp it and crush it in his hand if he so wanted to. It's behavior was illogical, yet it did not seem to care.

That was an aspect of nature that confused Shockwave, it almost never acted logically or with reason, sometimes defying the laws of physics and reality itself to create something truly fascinating. While he usually hated such illogical behavior and inconsistency, it also earned his curiosity and respect, as he saw nature's defiance to the laws of the universe as somewhat similar to his experiments, testing what is and isn't possible.

Regardless, he watched through his partially cracked lens as the rabbit proceeded to hop away. Deciding it would be illogical to remain seated in his current position for any longer, Shockwave slowly kicked his servo actuators into gear and slowly began to stand up on his legs, dusting accumulated dirt and grim off of his chassis as he took in his surroundings.

Immediately, Shockwave could determine he was in a large forest, with large amounts of tree's surrounding him, extending for miles. In the distance above the tree line, he could see a few mountains, with one being much closer than the others. Looking directly up, he could see the sun hanging in the sky, with several clouds swirling around it.

Looking behind him to inspect the tree he had impacted, he could see visible cracks in the wood of the tree, with several pieces of wood and sticks having shattered off of the tree from his impact. Shockwave was more surprised the tree didn't collapse upon his impact, considering his large and heavy stature. As he turned back, he could see several deep marks and cuts within the ground in front of the tree, likely due to his rough exit from the space bridge.

What Shockwave did notice was what appeared to be a path, as a long stretch of rough dirt and sand stretched through a clearing in the trees. Determining it most logical that the path would lead to a potential point of interest, Shockwave began to slowly walk across the path. He could simply drive in his tank form, but he could possibly encounter obstructions in his path, and wanted to be safe. His heavy footsteps left sharp indents in the ground, with large square-like footprints in the ground behind him, as each step he took caused trees to shake and branches to crack. He would have to get used to the noice...

Shockwave then looked to inspect his right arm, seeing it had minimal damage, but he had also luckily remembered to bring his old Research Log Recorder with him, as he activated it, watching it unfold as it's tiny little screen pop out and pressed the record button, before he began to speak.

"Shockwave Research Log number... It's best I just start with one, considering this is technically a... 'New Start' for me. Anyways, I have recently awakened from my temporary trauma induced stasis after my quite rough exit from the space bridge portal, but luckily I am undamaged, aside from a slightly cracked optic, dented spines, and bruised aft. Now I am surrounded by large amounts of plant life and greenery for what seem like kilometers of distance. I have also confirmed the presence of animalistic life, though I have yet to properly determine a rate of intelligence and sapience. Regardless, now that I have escaped Cybertron, and by extension, the vengeful pursuit of the Autobots, I will now be able to continue my scientific endeavors in peace, once I locate a suitable location for my new laboratory."

"I was recently forced to change out my voice chip due to the previous one being damaged during my... Scuffle with the undead Predacon forces of Unicron, and I have decided to install a replacement audio chip. I came across an old copy of my standard voice from the early days of the war, and in an illogical feeling of nostalgia I have elected to hold onto it. Now to get back on topic, the only problems and obstacles that could potentially obstruct my research that I can think of are merely either a lack of resources, or a lack of energon to power my equipment. However, I am certain that this planet will have what I need, and if it does not, I will find a way to make do. I will continue to record these logs for every day from here on out. Shockwave signing off."

As Shockwave lowered his arm and looked forward to the path in front of him, he could notice how the trees rustled and the ground slightly shook with each step he took, emphasizing his size, with creatures scurrying away in fear from his giant form. Frankly, Shockwave did not mind, as he continued walking, before eventually discovering what appeared to be a flowing stream of water, as he knelt down and inspected the water, seeing that it was crystal clear.

Deciding to try and clear the more stubborn dirt and grime from his servo's, Shockwave splashed a bit of water onto his chassis, washing out the dust and rust from his system, which also helped to make him feel quite refreshed. Content with his new state of cleanliness, Shockwave proceeded to cross over the creek to the other side and continue along the path. However, for some strange reason, Shockwave could not shake the feeling he was being watched, being followed, being hunted...

In an act unlike that of the scientist, Shockwave acted purely on instinct as he rapidly turned around and rose his large cannon, charging it as he stared down whatever had been following him, only to find a tiny little brown bunny staring up at him, before scurrying away. Realizing his foolish mistake of overreacting and failing to act upon logic, Shockwave lowered his cannon and turned back around as he continued along the trail.

Shockwave did not know why, but this world was starting to unnerve him...

2: Shockwave Superior, Predators Inferior

Three hours...

Three lonely hours...

Shockwave had been walking for approximately three hours now, or at least in terms of Cybertronian time, as it was difficult to tell the time zoning and estimations of this planet's time frames, so he simply had to apply his own time scale until he could properly measure it. The sun appeared to be rapidly lowering over the horizon, indicating the approach of nightfall, which did not truly bother Shockwave, as his optic had built-in night vision to allow to see through the darkness.

And if any predatory beast attempted to assault him, believing him to be prey, he could very easily show them their fatal mistake. However, said predator would have to be either large enough to match his size, very stupid, incredibly desperate, or a type of pack animal. Regardless, Shockwave doubted that anything within this forest could pose a physical threat to him, considering his reinforced chassis had survived being crushed, shot, bashed, and more. Plus, with the added bonus of his massive arm-mounted plasma cannon, he would easily eradicate his foes.

Though, Shockwave still questioned if the trade off of a large cannon for a lack of a left hand was worth it. Ever since that foolish failed experiment Grimlock tore his arm off and then brought his entire tower down on top of him, he had been forced to entirely re-construct his frame into a grounder type chassis, and replace his arm with the large cannon. Though Shockwave had to admit, this cannon was his greatest weapon he had ever produced, as long as the Predacons, Dinobots, or the Forged did not count.

Shockwave looked up to the moon slowly rising into the sky, accompanied by the stars slowly revealing themselves. Although, upon closer inspection of the moon, he swear he could almost see... A face of something... Chocking it up to an illogical optical glitch, Shockwave ignored it and continued on his path. As he looked forward, he saw he was currently on a set path for the tall mountain in the distance, which was approximately a kilometer away. As Shockwave observed the mountain, he noticed a small cave entrance at it's peak, and decided it would be logical to stay there for the night, or even potentially build his lab inside.

Soon, the faint sound of crickets, the croaking of frogs, and other nighttime noises began to fill the air, with fireflies faintly hovering by. What was surprising was how much light the moon was producing, as it illuminated the entire forest in it's bright glow. Shockwave would likely have to look into how it produced so much light as a side project. However, what remained on Shockwave's neural processor, was that unceasing feeling of being watched, as he constantly shifted his gaze to the tree lines beside him, the metal antenna on his head twitching as they listened for any possible movement.

Yet all he heard were crickets and his own heavy footsteps. Usually he would be fully at peace with this serene silence, but now he was feeling highly unnerved, as he was far out of his element here. He needed to get to that cave as soon as possible. Thus, Shockwave decided it would be logical to slightly pick up the pace, going from a slow walk to a light jog, keeping a somewhat steady pace, which caused the ground and trees to shake and rattle slightly more, as birds were displaced from their nests and took to the sky in a flurry of caws and crows.

"I find myself reconsidering whether it was logical to switch to a heavy ground based chassis from my previous aerial form." Shockwave said as he cursed his massive stature, regretting having constructed such a heavy weight chassis for himself instead of going for a design more closely related to his original flyer chassis, which was not only much more leaner and would have allowed him to move faster, but would have also given him the ability to just fly up the mountain.

Though this heavy duty chassis had saved him from destruction on several occasions, including a space bridge collapsing right on top of him and jumping down from the very top of Megatron's citadel, so it would be illogical to be ungrateful for it's power. Plus, he had to admit that his tank mode had it's uses.

Not to mention without the strength and power of his current form, he would not be able to support his massive cannon which had dispatched many of his foes, even managing to damage the elite team Prime, even if for brief moments. Though only having one servo to work with was a notable drawback, however now that Shockwave had all the time in the galaxy to research and develop, he could theoretically rig up some method of providing him with additional servo's, perhaps a tendril design similar to those used by his late comrade Soundwave. Perhaps he could even revive the old avatar project and construct an advanced clone of himself, with a different model that could assist him in his lab work.

After all, the only true genius Shockwave could trust, was himself. It's not that he believed he was superior in every way and was simply trying to inflate his ego, but every other self proclaimed genius he had followed simply failed to either keep his loyalty or to keep their head. Or both. Plus, it was likely that he was now the only genius on the entire planet, so no other real options to choose from even if he wanted to.

"Once I finally reach the cave, I will be able to begin planning the construction of a new laboratory and analyze the surrounding area-" Before Shockwave could finish, a loud piercing howl pierced his hearing actuators, leaving Shockwave clenching his antenna and attempting to recover from the brief shock of the un-expected noise. Quickly deducing the source of the sound to be further along the path, Shockwave failed to stop his natural scientific curiosity from taking control, as he quickly transformed into his tank form and rapidly sped down the path towards the source of the sound, directing his audio sensors forward to detect any more sounds, until he finally heard something.

"Get behind us, Applejack!" As Shockwave detected the voice, he quickly began analyzing it's wave patterns and frequency, attempting to pick any viable information.

'Masculine tone, indicating adult male in origin, heavy traces of fear and anxiety detected, stress levels around 77%. Faint Southern-American accent. Likely in small group as the subject shouts to 'Applejack' to get behind them and presumably one other subject.'

"Get back ya wooden varmints, leave us alone!"

'Feminine tone, adult female origin, also possesses fear and anxiety, stress levels around 90%. Southern accent more prominent. Possibly said other subject beside male subject in front of 'Applejack'. Subject also refers to 'Varmints', likely source of howl, as 'Wooden'. Will need direct observation to further understand.'

Sounds of snarling, growling, and barking filled his sensors, accompanied by the occasional whimper of fear, likely from 'Applejack'.

'Intense barking and growling accompanied with snarling, indicating intense anger and tension, possibly due to either hunger or territorial instinct. Estimated around three subjects emitting sound. Similar to canine, specifically wolf sound pattern in origin, though some distortion is present.

Shockwave began to increase his speed, until his tank mode's optical scanner managed to focus in on the source of the sound... First diverting his attention to the source of the voices.

'Three biological subjects, similar to breed of Equus ferus caballus, aka the pony. Two of said equines appear around adult equine height and size, standing in front of one more teenage sized adolescent pony and possibly child of the two adults. First pony is likely a source of masculine voice, with Red mane and tail, accompanied by yellow coat of fur, and complete southern Stetson hat positioned atop it's head. Second subject is likely source of feminine voice, with orange mane and tail with lighter butter colored coat of fur. Last subject has bright orange fur and yellow mane and tail, with mane and tail braided using red ribbons. Signs of claw and bite marks on adults. Likely from hostile creatures. Subjects also seem to have been dragging behind them a small wooden cart.'

Turning his attention to the predators, Shockwave was quite surprised by their appearance.

'Three unidentified entities confirmed, similar to breed of Canis lupus, aka the Wolf. One wolf ahead of small pack, likely designated pack leader. However, various traits differentiate them from standard canines. Green eyes, and somehow an exterior formed entirely out of wood, with claws and teeth merely sharpened wood chipping. Will require subject to examine...'

Now having fully observed the situation, Shockwave had three options.

One, simply go around.

Two, watch and observe what occurs.

Three, intervene and halt predator assault.

Shockwave then did what he did best and weighed the factors. If he were to intervene, it would give himself away to the equines, but the wolves would likely be deterred by both his size and power. If he observed, he could easily gain large amounts of scientific data about the behavior of the predators, however it could be argued that intervening could provide more data, as if he intervened, he could gain more accurate and direct data on both parties. Simply going around was invalidated due to it lacking any potential to learn.

A potential factor of support for intervention was being able to leverage his assistance as a form of debt from the ponies, where their gratitude to him for saving their lives could be paid in various ways, some of which could be very beneficial. This was assuming they were willing to accept the type of demands Shockwave was likely to make. After some deliberation, Shockwave decided, as his cannon began to slowly charge up and take aim, before firing a single dark purple burst of energy towards the leader of the wooden wolf pack.

Bright Mac, for the first time in his life, was deathly afraid right now, but the only thing that mattered to him was protecting his daughter, as he looked to his loving wife, Pear Butter, her face full of determination telling him she felt the same way. He didn't want to risk taking his eyes off the wolves, but he could sense Applejack's immense fear as she cowered behind them. Bright mac audibly groaned at the pain he felt from the massive gash in his right leg, barely managing to stand, only sheer will allowing him to continue standing defiant.

If he was going to die, he would die standing. However, as the timberwolf leader leaped towards him and he closed his eyes ready to be struck, the most un-expected thing happened.

A bright burning ball of violet energy slammed right into the timberwolf as it shattered into thousands of tiny wooden pieces, before said pieces were burnt to ash from the intense heat of the blast. As Bright mac turned to the source, he saw an unknown object rapidly speeding down the path using it's wheels before it came to a complete stop, kicking up large amounts of dust and temporarily impeding his vision. As the dust settled, sounds akin to the grinding of steel and metal with shifting plates was heard, as a massive figure then loomed over them in the place of the original object.

As it faced the wolves, it's metallic armor was painted a dark shade of purple and chrome, it's back having massive metallic spines jutting out of it's back, as well as a large coil of some kind coming out of it's back and connecting to the massive cannon on it's arm as neon purple light flowed through it, which Bright mac assumed to be some sort of energy for the cannon, as the metal giant slowly raised it's cannon towards the wolves, who quickly whimpered in fear, before slowly backing away and finally breaking out into a full sprint back into the tree line.

As the wolves retreated, the titanic being slowly turned to face Bright mac and his family, as it stared down at them with it's singular red eye, and then spoke in a metallic and emotionless voice.

"I recommend you make haste to leave these woods before more of those... Predators arrive. Remaining in this area where you are exposed and vulnerable is highly illogical." A shiver of fear ran down Bright mac's spine, as he looked to both Pear butter and Applejack, who both shared his expression of fear, before he looked back into the beings one red eye and replied.

"Uh, ya got it, partner... And uh, what's yer name, mister..."

"Exchanging of names is irrelevant and not necessary in this situation, however you may refer to me as Shockwave. Now then, I would advise you ditch your cart, as it appears impossible to repair and would be illogical to haul it behind you while it is damaged and unusable. I theorize you should be able to vacate these woods before daybreak. Now move, to make sufficient use of your allotted time window."

Rapidly nodding and tipping his hat, Bright mac turned to his family as they quickly set off down the path, attempting to distance themselves from both the wolves and the titanic creature.

Whatever it was, it was merciful enough to pity them, and Bright mac was not going to waste his chance.

Meanwhile Shockwave watched as the little ponies ran away in fear, unable to suppress a little chuckle at their expense.

"Below average strength and combat effective, unable to stand up to these strange wooden canines..." Shockwave turned to the remains of the pack leader he had disintegrated, picking up a lone scorched branch in his servo as he analyzed it with his lone red optic.

"Once I have my lab, we shall see what illogical science spawned you, won't we?" Shockwave then stowed the lone branch in his sample containment compartment, before continuing along the path, knowing that when he reached the mountain...

He would have a long climb ahead of him.

3: Ascension

After a few more minutes of walking, Shockwave now stood at the very bottom of the large mountain, moving his head to look up towards the mountains tall peak, enhancing his optic's zoom to get a better view. From the looks of it, there was actually a small winding path that lead up to the mountain's peak, although Shockwave was unsure if it was stable enough to support his vehicle form, and it's rocky terrain could potentially damage his tires or treads. As such, he would have claim the mountain on foot.

Deciding to get right to it, Shockwave slowly began his march along the path up the large mountain, being mindful of any potential holes, gaps, or large rocks to ensure he didn't accidentally trip and fall, even if it would only cause miniscule damage and merely be a temporary setback. Keeping himself stable with both a heavily weighted cannon and only one servo to stabilize with was incredibly difficult, however the cannon's weight also allowed it to assist in balancing by throwing its tonnage around like a sort of ball and chain.

As Shockwave slowly climbed higher and higher up the mountain, he occasionally looked down to see a massive distance from the ground staring back at him, and he was thankful that he possessed no fear of heights, otherwise he would be absolutely terrified, an emotion which would hamper his decision making and logical thought. If it were not for the moon's illumination of the mountain, Shockwave would likely be unable to see a thing, and would have to rely solely on the light of his optic, which was unfortunately not very strong. Shockwave reminded himself to made adjustments to his optics light output at a later date, or potentially attach a light harness to his chassis, granting the ability to let him perform his experiments in darker environments. He could also install a night vision module, but that would require advanced equipment.

Five minutes after starting his climb, Shockwave was somehow already a quarter of the way up the mountain, with his large size most likely speeding up the journey, even if he had to take additional measures not to fall and start all over again. Looking back up to the path ahead of him, he could see it start to get slightly thinner as he progressed, so Shockwave began hugging the wall to ensure he did not fall.

Several more minutes of wall hugging and climbing later, and the mountains peak was within Shockwaves grasp, literally. He reminded himself to also try and create a better method of transit up the mountain if he were to establish his lab here. The wind on top of the mountain was increasing in strength, and little bits of light began to shine over the horizon as dawn approached. Shockwave was partially glad that the sunlight was returning, but also worried it would leave him exposed to the glaring eyes of potentially hostile lifeforms. As such, he hastened his ascent up the mountain, soon reaching the peak and coming upon the cave entrance, making his way inside just as the sun emerged over the horizon and shined down upon the forest below.

Shockwave audibly sighed in relief, before taking his time to survey the landscape surrounding the forest. In the distance, he could see a small rural village, and upon zooming in, found more of those small equine lifeforms, all varying in colors, and some possessing horns or even wings.

"It would be logical to retrieve one of these small equine lifeforms for dissection and study, to further our understanding of this planet and it's lifeform."

"Such a thing would be totally unnesscary however, as it is far more logical to observe them from a distance and passively gather data." A new voice spoke, seizing his voice processor as a far smoother voice with a light accent to it spoke in a calm tone, sounding like an exact copy of his early war voice.

"Wait, I do not recall thinking that... Or even saying that. I may be suffering from a neural defect, I will need to inspect it when I have the proper equipment."

"You are not experiencing a defect, you are only saying what is properly logical. Or at least, I am."

"And might I ask who you are, interloper?"

"The reasonable side of you."

"Impossible. This may present a potential issue, because now it appears like I am suffering from a split personality disorder, aren't I? How does that not count as a neural defect?"

"What it is identified as is inconsequential, but you most likely sustained neural damage from either the rough exit of the space bridge, or the unknown experimental effects of the bridge itself, considering our rushed work. Or perhaps we are even suffering some form of long-term psychological damage and it's symptoms."

"Regardless, your opinions are irrelevant and illogical in their contradictions to proper scientific methodology."

"Illogical? I cannot simply stand idle and let you potentially ruin what little standing we have with the locals. Doing so is illogical and could potentially lead to us becoming enemies with forces we do not yet fully understand. Unfortunately we will be forced to cooperate as of now, but at the very least I believe it is in our best interest to remain hidden."

"Very well, then we are in logical agreement. For now."

"Indeed, now then, it is advisable that we explore this cavern. I believe it may be of use to us." Shockwave said, as he turned to face the somewhat large cave, finding it quite dark as he activated his optic light and illuminated the cave before heading inside. Surprisingly, the cave was quite large, appearing almost bigger on the inside than the outside. However, this was likely due to the fact that the cave seemed to lead deeper into the mountain itself, as Shockwave descended deep inside.

Soon, as Shockwave was walking along, the clanging of metal caused him to look to the ground, to see he had stepped on a floor of steel, which confused him greatly, as it was not just any steel, but cybermatter. Directing his attention forward, he soon saw the walls and ceiling turn to steel cybermatter as well, before ending at a large metal door. As Shockwave approached, he saw the very symbol he once wore proudly.

The symbol of the Decepticons.

"But... How? This world isn't even in the Decepticon archives." His more reasonable side spoke in slight confusion. His logical side was already irritated by the emotion present in their tone, but remembering his prior nature before removing his emotive functions he realized it was only logical for them to inevitably resurface.

"Perhaps it is a simple outpost on an unremarkable, and not worth inputting into the already polluted and bloated archives."

"Is that the most logical solution that I can come up with?"

"I have several theories, but until we know more, that is my most prominent and logical one." Shockwave then turned to the terminal on the wall, walking over to it and pressing his hand against it. Remarkably, it powered on, as the door lit up before slowly opening, revealing a surprising sight. As the lights inside slowly turned on, illuminating the room in a dark purple light, as Shockwave could see several computer screens and terminals flash on, as well as highly advanced workbenches, fabricators, and tool racks. It reminded him of his own advanced laboratory on Cybertron, but what confused him was how this base was still powered. It was likely the base had been dormant for an extended period of time, and still had some enerong fuel left before it was shut down.

Shockwave noticed that one of the computer terminals was flashing with an alert, as he walked over and pressed it, displaying a screen showing the layout of the base. From the looks of it, this was only one room, as there were two other rooms connected to this lab, and from this screen, he could open the doors to both rooms, tapping the first door to reveal what was inside, as Shockwave turned to see it open and walked inside the new room.

It appeared to be a large operating room with a large operating and experimentation table at it's center, along with five large empty vats. As he turned to see a functional terminal, he walked over and activated it, scanning it's logs. Soon, he found a video file, and accessed it, only to be greeted with his face, or at least his face during the later part of the war, before he was maimed by Grimlock, as evident by them having two arms. (Aka, Shockwave from the Cybertron games Trilogy, also this version of Shockwave is voiced by Steven Blum).

"Project Predacon research and development log number 62. I have successfully completed my greatest work yet, and the five Predacon test subjects are a glorious success in both lab and field testing. The test subjects have been unleashed upon the planet, and their vital signs are reading nominal as they ravage it's landscape as well as hunt for any possible autobots hiding here. I shall continue to monitor them for a time before returning to Cybertron and beginning mass production of the Predacon clones for Lord Megatron. When I make my leave, my creations will gather any energon they can find on this planet before entering into stasis mode until my eventual return. End log." Suddenly, a rush of memories came flooding back to Shockwave.

This wasn't an average outpost, this was the one of the many research black sites he had developed project Predacon. He had deleted the knowledge long ago, to ensure it could not be extracted and used against the Decepticons by the Autobots in the event of his capture, which luckily never happened. He found it poetic that a set of random coordinates would bring him back to the site of where he developed one of his greatest creations yet.

Now sufficiently having his questions about the facilities origin answered, he turned to the five vats, now knowing they once contained the Predacons, before exiting the experimentation lab and going to open the door to the other room. As the door opened, he was greeted with a surprising sight, seeing five large holding cells, most likely meant for the Predacon test subjects, as well as a sixth much larger containment cell, meant for experimentation and observation on larger creatures. It was clear to Shockwave that this facility had all the essentials he needed, with the database even confirming the base had a supply of energon to keep him sustained.

As Shockwave entered the main room, he proceeded to pull out the charred piece of wood he had retrieved from the timber wolfs carcass and set it on a workbench. Sure, he could be busy finding those dormant Predacons, or looking through his old logs, but this took priority, as he felt the need to get to the bottom of the strange wooden wolfs origins. Because after all, if he wasn't here for science...

What else was he here for?

4: Scientific Expedition

How was this dark science even possible? No, scratch that, why was it possible? It was highly illogical.

Shockwave was currently stood before his scanning matrix, as the wooden piece of scorched bark was currently inside the small glass scanning chamber, slowly rotating as a purple light scanned it, displaying it's readings on the screen.

Scans of the wooden bark collected from the scorched remnants of the now designated 'Timberwolf' indicated almost no potential methods of locomotion or intelligence. The only slight clue were traces of an unknown type of energy, although it was practically impossible to discern it's power or source. What was stranger, is that it seemed to be reacting to the other samples of wood he had recovered, almost as if they were attracted.

It became clear to Shockwave that in order to learn the secrets of the Timberwolf, he would need to do two things.

One, acquire more samples from deceased Timberwolves for analysis and study. And two, capture a live specimen for direct examination.

The first goal would be easy to accomplish, seeing as he could simply hunt down and destroy more wolves to gather those samples, though he would need to find a way to ensure the samples were undamaged by his cannon. Developing a viable method of capturing the beasts however would be more difficult. Though gathering samples would take a higher priority, as it would also allow him to further explore and map out the forest, potentially discovering other scientific anomalies to research.

With his agenda for today decided, he quickly turned turned to another terminal to view a camera that was set up at the cave entrance to see that the sun was still climbing into the sky, so it would be most optimal to leave now. Making his way over to the door, he slowly opened it to reveal the dark and damp cavern outside, stepping out as the door closed behind him and he walked through the caves.

Thanks to activating the base's main power, a series of light fixtures along the walls of the cave were now functional, allowing to better see and navigate as he made his way to the exit, and leaving the cave to see the sun was about halfway across the sky, approximately early-evening. Noting that down to allow him to pinpoint this planet's time scale, he then looked down, and realized his problem. How was he going to get back down? Not only that, but getting back up would be a pain in the aft.

However, Shockwave remembered something, as he made his way back inside the cave, descending back into the depths of the mountain. As he arrived back at the door to his lab, he then turned to the right, to see a long brightly lit tunnel. Transforming into his vehicle form, he sped through the tunnel rapidly, approaching the end as suddenly it opened up to reveal the forest, as Shockwave flew out of the tunnel and emerged from a hidden hatch. Transforming back, he could see the hatch now closing, however from what he could see it was sensor activated, so upon his return it would open for him.

Now feeling slightly better knowing he wouldn't have to deal with the climbing, he turned around and set off through the forest. As he walked along the path, he soon saw something... Those equines from last night were back along the trail, and it seemed they were attempting to fix their cart.

'You cannot blame them for trying to retrieve it, it is likely useful for their labor.'

'Even if your emotion clouds your judgement, you are logical. That cart likely assists in the moving of cargo and goods seeing as they lack sufficient physical strength to carry it themselves.'

'Right, but it is best we go around, so as to limit our exposure and ensure our work is uninterrupted by potential interlopers.'

'That would be logical... If not for the fact that the young one has noticed us.'

Shockwave looked to see that the young 'Applejack' was waving at him while attempting to alert her parents. Taking his chance, Shockwave quickly ducked into the tree line, brushing aside a tree as he vanished within the thick shrubbery. He then used his antenna to overhear their conversation.

"But that Shockwave feller was just there!"

"Applejack, it is probably best that we do not bother mister Shockwave. After all, if he is still out here, maybe he just wants some peace and quiet or some alone time. Considering how big he is, it isn't as dangerous for him as it is for us. But tell you what, we'll leave him a gift basket as thanks."

"Alrighty! It's the least we could do seeing as he saved our lives!"

'My deduction was correct. Kindness has been repaid.'

'Even if this 'gift basket' likely serves us no effective utility, it might contain potential samples for my research, so I will accept it.'

'I understand that you are the more logical one, but does everything you do have to involve science?'

'Logically, we were the Chief Scientist of the Decepticons, and one of Cybertron's greatest scientific minds. Focusing on anything else seems counter-productive.'

'May I remind you that the Decepticons no longer exist. The symbol you bear is for a dead cause, fighting for it is illogical especially after it's own leader abandoned the cause.'

'Your point is logical, but I will bear it all the same, because it is in my opinion, a far more suitable symbol than that of the Autobots.'

'Very well, but attempting to force our point of perspective and ideology is highly illogical, as these primitives could likely not comprehend it.'

'I have far more vital tasks to tend to then explaining myself to an equine.'

'A logical point.'

Finishing his internal conversation, he listened to the ponies trotting away, tugging their newly repaired cart with them. After waiting a few minutes to allow their sound to dissipate, Shockwave emerged from the tree line and turned both directions and saw the equines were gone, before continuing on his path. Shockwave looked down to see the distinct hoof prints of the three equines lead along the trail before eventually he hit a crossroads. Seeing the hooves go down the right path, he went down the left, deeper into the forest.

'I am surprised you did not attempt a form of covert observation.'

'The daily lives of the local primitive fauna is of no importance to my goals, and as such would be an illogical waste of time to observe. Or at least, as of currently. Perhaps when we have a more open time table, we can set up proper methods of observation.'

Shockwave turned to his left and right, scanning the tree line for any potential movement. Shockwave sensors were currently on high alert, his antenna constantly flicking to listen to any source of sound. The lack of any kind of movement was putting him on edge, feeling as though he was being stalked. Honestly, these fears were born solely out of paranoia of the autobots somehow tracking him to this world, for they were the only ones that could pose a truly serious threat to him. But regardless, he made sure to banish those fears and continue along his path.

Now was not the time for paranoia, but instead, the time for discovery.

5: Live Studies

Shockwave to be quite frank, did not like this forest.

At all, to be exact.

So many dreaded bugs, wriggling worms, noisy insects, annoying birds, and other annoying sounds and sights. He made a mental note to develop a special chemical agent and release it into the atmosphere to exterminate any small lifeforms within the forest and give him some actual peace and quiet. It would likely damage the local eco-system and spread to the nearby settlement of equines, but that was not of his concern. Though, it would be more hassle and resources than it was really worth, so either he would need to put it off, or simply forget about it. Plus, damaging the local environment may track the attention of hostile forces, or even draw the autobots out to track him down.

As his heavy footsteps lightly shook the trees and left deep prints in the ground, Shockwave started thinking back to all his great achievements. The Dinobots, even if dis-loyal, were still a wonder of science. The Combaticons were also the perfect soldiers, and Bruticus was his finest work yet in terms of combiner advancement. The Predacons were arguably his greatest achievement, being able to revive an entire race of long dead beasts, even if they too were somewhat rebellious like the dinobots. He had also created the Cortical Physic Patch, arguably his most important invention due to it's ability to extract information. But enough reminiscing about the past, it was high time Shockwave focused on the current time period, as well the future.

Due to Shockwave walking at a cyber-slug's pace, he would likely not alert any potential target's or subjects to his presence even with his heavy steps shaking the very earth, but it doesn't really matter if he could just blast them before they ran away, even if it costed him the ability to bring in the subject alive. However, as Shockwave looked down, he saw hoof prints in the ground, likely from another one of those small Equine creatures. Perhaps it was best to follow the tracks. Who knows, maybe he would find a corpse to study.

As he continued to follow the trail of prints, he soon began to hear... Humming.

It's tone indicated it was feminine in origin, likely an adult female. As he approached, he slowly peaked through a large amount of shrubbery and soon spotted the source. It was indeed an Equine like the others, though it's skin pattern was far different, as it had black and white stripes, along with golden accessories on it's neck and ears. As the equine hummed, Shockwave slowly watched, before pulling away and hiding from the creature. He had determined it was likely a member of the earth species known as the Equus quagga family, aka the Zebra.

Cataloging his encounter into his memory banks, he continued walking along the path, being careful to conceal his heavy footsteps as he looked to the sun slowly descending down beyond the horizon, indicating nightfall would occur soon. He needed to find a specimen for study soon, or just head back to the lab and conduct some other type of experiment, though considering he lacked any proper resources or specimens to study, it was unlikely he would make any progress without a sufficient sample.

Luckily, fate seemed to smile upon him, as he suddenly began to growling behind, and turned to look at two 'Timberwolves', likely the same ones that followed the pack leader he had decimated last night as suggested by the light singe marks indicative of plasma detonation burns. They clearly wanted revenge, and Shockwave was willing to use this to his advantage. While it would be very difficult to capture them, at least breaking them apart into more complete samples and collecting them would suffice. As the first wolf lunged at him, he took his chance, and smacked it with his cannon, as the heavy knocked it away, flying into a tree and breaking apart.

One down, one to go.

As he turned to the second wolf, it began to howl, the volume of its howling almost overwhelming his audio sensors. He took note to save the audio file of the howl, as he had never heard such a roar before and liked to catalog every new sound he had heard, before deflecting it away with his cannon, as it remained whole when it impacted the ground. As it leaped for him again, Shockwave saw an opportunity and seized it, as he grasped the wolf in his large and strong robotic hand, watching it struggle as he spoke in his colder voice, which felt the need to take control for a while.

"Specimen acquired... Now then, let's see what makes you tick..."

It was a short trip back to the lab, thanks to Shockwave being able to transform while containing the quite angry wolf inside his tank form as he returned to the lab safely, before quickly securing it in one of the sealed containment cells, as he was currently reviewing the energy readings within the cell. His internal parts still somewhat ached from all the clawing and scratching the Timberwolf did when it was inside his tank form, but he managed to ignore it.

From what he saw, these readings were indeed radiating from the creatures itself, particularly it's green glowing eyes, with the main chestal area seeming to be the source. He just couldn't quite pinpoint what kind of energy this was, or even if it was energy at all. What kind of advanced technology or energy allowed timber and other wooden material to coagulate into a life form? it made no sense, especially how it seemed to replicate pack mentality as well as basic instinct seen from the Canis Lupus of Earth... Well, he could always experiment. Shockwave made his way into the Testing Control Room, taking a seat as he activated the console and viewed all six cells on the display, before selecting Containment Cell 1, the current cell for the specimen, as it zoomed in and gave a view of the cells interior and the timberwolf walking in circles.

"Let us commence testing. First experiment, weakness to electrical shock stimulation." Shockwave turned to a button on his console, pressing it as a hole opened in the ceiling of the cell and an electric coil slowly lowered, pulsing with purple electricity as it charged itself up before...

Zap!

The wolf suddenly dropped to the floor as it's wooden body coarsed with electricity while it shook violently, howling before the shock subsided, slowly standing back up while Shockwave analyzed the results.

"The subject reacted with heavy convulsions before making eventual recovery. Determinate result, temporary stun as well as disorientation."

"Next test, weakness to... Fire." The electric coil raised itself back up into the ceiling, the hole sealing with the floor itself shifted, tiny holes opening up as the room began to slowly heat before...

Fwoosh!

The room was lit aflame with fire scorching the Timberwolf loudly whimpered while it ran around in circles within it's cell, before the fire ceased, leaving both a somewhat burnt cell as well as a burnt Timberwolf still tucking and rolling as Shockwave recorded the data.

"The subject's body was heavily scorched, yet survived contact. Creature seems to be adept at putting itself out, likely due to having experienced contact with fire multiple times as a side effect to it's body consisting of highly flammable material."

While Shockwave was deciding on the next test idea, he thought back to that audio file of the wolves howl he had recorded, deciding to upload and test something.

"Final test, weakness to sonic frequency overload." The holes in the floor sealed before the speakers in the cell activated. Shockwave then proceeded to play the file of the wolf howl, fine tuning it's frequency, as it rang out and suddenly the wolf whimpered and howled before bursting apart into wooden pieces.

"It would appear that this frequency not only stuns allows all who hear it, but when tuned, adjusted, and properly aimed, it can easily dismantle these wooden creatures with heavy sonic bombardment. I have no doubt that it could also incapacitate other creatures, though we will need to test that theory." He slowly walked out of the room that housed the cells and back into his main workshop slash laboratory and walked over to his work table, and got to work.

'By utilizing a similar blueprint used in Soundwave's sonic frequency tuner, it is possible to produce an add-on to my cannon that could utilize this frequency as a type of secondary blast to incapacitate targets...'

Soon enough, he looked to his newly modified arm, a small sonar dish attached to the top of it, as he activated the holo targetting range with several holographic targets appearing, before Shockwave took aim and fired a purple ringed sonic blast, as it impacted the target and caused it to fizzle and glitch out before completely vanishing, indicative of the hologram malfunctioning from the sonic overload.

"Excellent. We have made a truly great discovery. Now then..."

"Let's go test our theory, shall we?"

6: Demonstration of the Scientific Method

The humble Oryctolagus cuniculus, or White Rabbit if you prefer, slowly nibbled and munched at the green grass while the sun shines down upon its fur. The warming light mixed with the birds chirping and filling the air with their serene music, worked to create a peaceful and calm environment while the Rabbit enjoyed his grassy green breakfast. It was quite a nice day...

Until the ground began to slightly shake, with the Rabbit turning to the rock wall that was part of the mountain begin to visibly shift and chance, as the ground itself in front of the wall seemed to lower into a ramp while the rock split in half and moved apart, opening a doorway of some kind. Before the rabbit could actually see inside the opened door, the sound of deep rumbiling was heard as a massive purple metal behemoth sped out of the doorway toward the bunny, flying off the ramp and through the air before landing and driving off along the path deeper into the forest. The bunny fell back on its butt as it shook its head before turning back to see the doorway close.

Fluttershy was going to love hearing about this.

Shockwave was surprised that the planet had fully finished its rotation cycle and began a new one while he was in his laboratory, still expecting the cycle to be in its night phase. It would appear he was correct about this planet having a different form of time-zone, approximately having the sun set three hours late and rise three hours early, resulting in the disruption of the twenty-four hour day equation. Adjustments would have to be made to his internal clock as well as his time dilation theory when he returned to the lab.

Adapting to this world was one of his main goals with the field testing of the new Sonic Disruption Modulator, or SDM, an attachment to his main cannon which would help incapacitate all forms of creatures for research. It could also be used as a non-lethal method for dealing with the locals and allow him to make an escape before they spread the word of his existence. Even if they likely possessed primitive technology as seen by their cart, they could still pose a threat. Perhaps those farmers he had protected from death by timberwolf mauling would be able to tell their friends he was not a threat and should be left alone.

Though that was just the more expressive side of him having high hopes, the more logical scenario was they would believe he was either a product of hysteria and hallucination, or nobody would believe them. Either way, it would work in his favor and allow him to carry out his research both un-impeded and un-interrupted. However, studying the local populace could be an interesting side project... Perhaps engineering their technological advancement, biological enhancing their physiology and anatomy via subtle genetic tampering, perhaps even utilizing advanced psychological manipulation to convince them he was some sort of deity, the possibilities were endless.

But the most logical one, was taking the role of the observer.

Some say it was a boring role, but one can learn many things from simply observing the activities of a planet's wildlife. One can learn their habits, instincts, diet, combat experience, reproduction methods, mating rituals, and many other factors of local indigenous life. All of it can be learned from simply watching and learning.

Of course, he may have to get up close and personal, testing his own theories to gather data, as he was doing right now. Even if this test went awry, it would likely not affect him. And even if it did cause a form of damage to his chassis or his internal systems, he could simply make a quick retreat back to his lab for repairs. While said repairs would take time due to his laboratories limited power and equipment capabilities, it would not really matter, as being a Cybertronian granted the perk of theoretically possessing all the time in the world, or perhaps even the universe.

It would also give him a chance to check up on why his personality has seemingly split in two, especially with the two halves both having their own conscience.

However, Shockwaves heavy thinking was great enough to trigger his other half to speak inside his own head.

'You do realize I can hear what you think, yes?'

'Quiet, I am thinking to myself, and would prefer to have some privacy while I do so.'

'Well sadly we are stuck in the same head, so think quieter, because I am trying to think as well, and cannot do so because of your over-complicated self-indulging speech. Apologies for the outburst of course, but you know it to be true.'

'It is clear that this is no longer a mere psychological effect or technical fault.'

'You could possibly be suffering from Cybertronian Psychosis, as Split-Personality is a common symptom.'

'Ironic, most assumed we were already insane, now we potentially are, although we have not conducted a proper diagnosis.'

'Is the proper term really We? Technically it is just you, or me, but now that I think about it, it would cause some confusion. Perhaps if I transmuted myself into the Laboritories Central Computer System upon our return, we could solve both the lack of an AI to look after our facility, and also clear up some head space for you.'

'That would be a logical solution to the problem. However, how exactly would you achieve such a thing?'

'I recall us viewing the data records of the Decepticons activities before our arrival aboard the Nemesis, and according to the logs, the autobot Bumblebee managed to enter the mind of Megatron, who was in a state of Stasis recovering from intense injuries. According to the logs, Bumblebee utilized a Cortical Pyschic Patch to enter Megatron's mind, apparently to retrieve the formula for a cure to the Cybonic plague, which had infected-'

'You do not need to explain the whole log, simply state your point.'

'My point is, by connecting a cortical pyschic patch to the facilities mainframe, I should theoretically be able to access it and upload myself into the CPU. Thus, I will be out of your head, literally. Now then, let us focus on the task at hand.'

Shockwave's optic brightened as he rapidly shook his head, regaining his awareness while he observed his surroundings, seeing no notable changes to the environment, aside from a few more leaves on the ground, likely dislodged from the surrounding via wind force. Now having fully recovered from his heavy thought, he raised his hand and activated his audio recorder.

"Note to self, deep thinking and talking with your split personality results in reduction of sensory functions and environmental awareness. Not advisable to perform 'Deep-Thinking' during scenarios requiring high sensory aptitude."

Finishing the recording, Shockwave lowered his arm and continued walking along the path, his antenna raised to sense any form of sound. And while he did not hear any unusual sounds, he did hear a more familiar one...

The distinct growling of a Timberwolf. Quickly turning to see a singular wolf growling and snarling at him, Shockwave wondered how many of these wooden creatures were in this forest, and how they were all able to identify him. Perhaps they shared a type of psionic link, or are simply parts of a singular entity or potentially a Hivemind. Regardless, an oppurtunity to test the SDM, as Shockwave raised his cannon, diverting it's charge to the small sonar dish as it glowed and pulsed with purple energy, before firing a ringed pulse right at the wolf. Upon impact, a garbled electronic howl rang out and the creature howled before it broke into tiny pieces of wood and timber.

"Sonic Disruption Modulator test is officially a success. With tuning of power levels and creating an independent power supply to prevent charge delay, this weapon can be considered successful. It shall be useful for neutralizing targets with both lethal and non-lethal methods. Commence return vector to laboratory."

Shockwave said before transforming into his tank mode, driving down the path towards the mountain.

All the while, a tiny rabbit sat and watched the whole thing.