Tangkubanparahu

Ultra Magnus was held hostage in a dream. It was daytime and he could smell the crisp freshness of Spring. He stood over a children’s playground: two boys were playing with Transformers toys, one of himself and one of Galvatron. The Galvatron toy had flashing lights and made electronic noises, the Ultra Magnus toy did not. He turned to see two other boys, also playing with Transformers toys, one of Fire Convoy and one of Megatron. The Fire Convoy toy had flashing lights and made electronic noises, the Megatron toy did not. Ultra Magnus considered the fragility of the children; they needed him to protect them from the Globequake. It became nighttime and Ultra Magnus looked up to into the clear night sky. Scrounge was sitting on a star, waving down at him. The dream faded. It was a message from Gaia, the spirit of the Earth and the consciousness of the Vector Sigma Geode. Ultra Magnus realised the time had come to defeat the monster and save the world, before it was too late.

Fire Convoy glanced a sweep over his Autobots on board the Aktirak. He had just experienced the same vision, not realising its significance or that the bonds he had formed in the past were not as strong as the one he was soon to form.

With Jennifer’s laptop on the passenger seat, David flew his converted BMW over the Atlantic Ocean towards the location of the Axalon. The wireless Internet connection fed the computer with hundreds upon hundreds of reports of earthquakes, eruptions, floods, tidal waves, and hurricanes from around the globe. This is it, he thought to himself.*

“Is this it?” Fire Convoy asked Mach Alert with contempt, looking across the Nevada valley at the Maximal exploration ship.

“Yes, sir,” replied Mach Alert. “That’s the Axalon.”

“Finally!” said Speedbreaker, impatiently.

“That’s what the humans made such a big deal about?” Fire Convoy was incredulous. “It’s so small and insignificant.”

“Be that as it may,” said Wildride, “but it contains our little Sideburn and, we hope, the spark of the original Megatron.”

“Give me the Brave Maximus, any day,” continued Fire Convoy. “I would never captain something like the Axalon.”

“Can we have a little focus please, commander,” said Pitstop as he fiddled with a scanner. “We need to disable that force field before we can even get close, let alone get inside and find what we’re looking for.”

“Any ideas?” Tow-Line asked blankly.

“Is this it?” Wedge asked Ultra Magnus, looking up the summit of the Tangkubanparahu Mountain at the volcanic siphon.

“Yep,” Ultra Magnus replied succinctly. “Now here’s the plan: you and the rest of the Build Team are to destroy the siphon while myself and the Bullet Team distract the Predacons.”

“How long do we have?” asked Railspike.

“It could blow at any moment,” Magnus replied. “Just as long as we destroy enough of the siphon to allow the volcano to release the pressure naturally. With a bit of luck that’ll be enough to stop the entire planet from cracking in half.”

“Come on guys,” said Midnight Express. “Those Predacons won’t know what hit them!”

Sideburn returned to consciousness but was still blind. Megatron had cruelly, and purposely, reconnected his circuits the wrong way round.

“You certainly proved more useful than I first thought,” Megatron whispered to the young Autobot. “Yes. A wise tyrant should always stay two steps ahead of the game.”

In the doorway, Bruticus growled impatiently.

“Yes, yes,” sang Megatron. “You will have your new play thing momentarily.” The Predacon leader leant close to Sideburn, grasping his helmet with his left hand, ready to twist. “It’s much more fun to play with an Autobot with limp limbs.”

Before Megatron could deal the killing twist, there was a sudden alert from Sentinel: “Sentinel, standing down.”

Megatron dropped the Autobot and turned to Bruticus. “What in the name of the Pit is going on?”

“Easy when you know how,” Speedtrap said smugly, closing a panel on his left forearm. The force field around the Axalon wobbled and then dissipated, leaving the ship unprotected.

“How on Cybertron did you do that?” asked Speedbreaker, genuinely impressed.

“Time to answer that later,” said Pitstop as his scanner blip-blipped. “I’ve got a lock on both Sideburn and the spark.”

“Excellent,” said Fire Convoy. “I’ll get Sideburn while the rest of you see to Megatron. And I want you Spychangers to remain here, make sure that force field doesn’t reactivate. Move!”

Mach Alert, Speedbreaker, and Wildride followed their leader, unholstering their weapons.

Pitstop and Tow-Line prepared to join them, but Pitstop suddenly noticed something on the far side of the Axalon. “Say, that’s David, isn’t it?”

Sky-byte, Wartoad, Darkscream, and Gaskunk were making their final adjustments to the siphon, expecting eruption of the volcano at any moment. Darkscream silently gestured down the slope: Ultra Magnus, the Bullet Team, and the Build Team were charging towards them, weapons firing.

Midnight Express fired a photon rocket at Gaskunk, hitting him squarely in the chest. Rapid Run fired his stun laser at Wartoad. Railspike swung his shield into Darkscream’s waist, knocking him to the ground. Ultra Magnus fired round upon round of mortar shells at Sky-byte. The Autobot felt nervous, six billion lives depended on the destruction of the siphon.

With the Predacons distracted, the Build Team merged into their gestalt form, Landslide. The giant robot proceeded to rip massive chunks out of the siphon. Sparks leapt out at him and small fire erupted around his feet. The Autobot howled in pain, but continued his assault.

Megatron and Bruticus emerged from the Axalon, both in beast mode, and charged at the attacking Autobots. Bruticus leapt up at Fire Convoy and clawed at his armour. Megatron unfolded into robot mode and spun his energy staff in his hands, moving towards Mach Alert, Wildride, and Speedbreaker. The three Autobots were sent flying backwards and landed hard on the desert rock. Before they could get up, Megatron peppered their armour with laserburn from his wrist-mounted blasters. Fire Convoy grabbed Bruticus by the tail and swung the Predacon dog into Megatron’s back, pushing him over.

A short distance away, David told Pitstop and Tow-Line that he would enter the Axalon and find Sideburn while they kept the Predacons distracted.

David slipped unnoticed into the Maximal craft while the two Autobots charged at Megatron. The Predacon leader transformed to bat mode and jumped into the air, clutching at Pitstop and Tow-Line with his claws. He flew up, then landed hard, crushing the two Autobots into the ground, rendering them unconscious. Megatron returned to robot mode and turned back to finish off the others.

There was a sudden communication from Sky-byte: “Megatron, the siphon is under attack from the Autobots. We need you here!”

“Incompetent shark,” Megatron growled. He turned to Bruticus, making a quick decision as to what was more important. “Do not let a single Autobot inside the Axalon,” he ordered as he converted to jet mode and blasted off into the sky.

Chicane kept his surveillance visor locked in on the brawl outside the Axalon. “We should be there helping. I feel useless.”

“I get the feeling that Fire Convoy just wants us out of the way,” joked Crosswise.

“We may yet be needed,” said Speedtrap. “It could all go wrong at any moment.”

“Keep on standby, team,” said Hot Shot, quickly counting his men. “Where’s Oilslick?” he asked Warcry.

“Dunno, boss. He was here.”

“Find him.”

Inside the Axalon, David was calling Sideburn’s name. He’s got to be here somewhere, he thought, the Axalon isn’t that big. David turned the corner, into the stasis hold and saw Megatron’s old (and apparently lifeless) Transmetal 2 body. He stood in front of it for a second, reaching for his Cryotek cannon, just in case it suddenly came to life.

Inside the chest cavity, David could see the spark of the original Megatron pulsating like a ghost in a machine. So, that’s what all this is about, he thought. Underneath the spark rested a spherical silver and black object with alien markings – the Transmetal 2 driver.

David turned to leave the stasis hold and resume his search. There was a humming noise behind him and he spun on his heels to see the alien driver activate. The robot’s optics suddenly glowed into life and focused in on David.

The Tangkubanparahu came into view as Megatron neared the siphon. He fired his plasma projectiles at Landslide, but the giant Autobot shrugged them off, and carried on tearing chunks out of the siphon. Underneath the Autobots and Predacons wrestled relentlessly.

“Such disregard for my personal property, Ultra Magnus!” Megatron bellowed as he transformed and landed in robot mode by the Autobot.

Ultra Magnus threw Sky-byte to the ground and punched Megatron in the face. “Such disregard for all life on planet Earth, Megatron.”

“So you were part of the squad that cyberformed this planet?” Megatron queried, nursing his nose.

“No,” said Ultra Magnus, “I was one of the ones trying to stop it.”

“It matters not, Autobot,” Megatron said, raising his arms into the air. “The fact remains that the planet I thought was Cybertron and the planet Earth are one and the same.”

Megatron summoned the power of his spark-fusion into one energy ball between his hands, and fired it at Ultra Magnus. The explosion blew a hole right through the Autobot’s abdomen. Ultra Magnus fell to the ground, clutching the wound.

The mountain began to shake violently, ready to blow. Molten lava seeped from the damage Landslide had inflicted on the siphon. The Predacons and the Bullet Team disengaged from one another and jumped away from the boiling stream of magma.

“This is it,” cheered Megatron. “Say goodbye to your precious planet Earth, Ultra Magnus!”

Fire Convoy wrapped his hands around Bruticus’ neck. “Get inside the Axalon and get what we came for!” he barked to the others.

The five Autobots, severely weakened by Megatron’s attack, made their way into the Axalon.

Fire Convoy’s personal communicator crackled. It was Ultra Magnus. “It’s too late,” the Autobot said weakly.

“What is?”

“We were too late to destroy the siphon in time. We need you.”

“What am I supposed to do, Magnus?”

“I’m not sure… somehow find a way of reducing the pressure build up. Leave the others to retrieve the spark.”

Fire Convoy thought for a second: Of Star Saber, of the Vok, of Sideburn, and of tomato seeds. He threw the Predacon dog to the ground. “I’m on my way!”

“Sideburn’s in the engineering bay, and the spark is in the stasis hold,” Pitstop reported.

“Okay, me, Mach Alert and Wildride will get Sideburn. You two get the spark,” Speedbreaker said.

The five Autobots split up. Unseen, Bruticus entered the Axalon. He had his master’s orders.

Megatron kicked Ultra Magnus where he lay, motionless on the ground, and laughed loudly. “Yes, yes!”

“Anyone ever tell you how camp you sound, Megatron?”

Fire Convoy stood with his hands on his hips, feeling charged by the heat of the volcano. For the first time on Earth he felt strong enough to take on anything. Any monster.

“Third time’s the charm, yes?”

“Bring it on!”

The Autobot Code says to talk first and fight later, to negotiate with the enemy and resolve matters peacefully. Nowhere does it say to charge at your foe, tackle him to the ground and rip the spike from the top of his helmet. Fire Convoy must have been reading the wrong book.

As the other Autobots shied away from the flowing lava, Fire Convoy revelled in the heat. The hotter it got, the more powerful he became, and the more fun he seemed to be having. As he lay the punches down upon Megatron, all Fire Convoy could think of was small-minded revenge and his love for battle. Right now he didn’t care about the Earth, or the humans, or even his fellow Autobots. He wanted to beat Megatron to death, confident that the others had already located the spark of the original Megatron aboard the Axalon. Fire Convoy had become lost in the tempest of hatred, and would ultimately be consumed by it.

David froze where he stood. The Transmetal 2 driver inside Megatron’s ex-body spun around like a tornado, and the spark of the original Megatron glowed intensely. David howled as a white shaft of light hit his chest. His whole body glimmered and he arched his back in pain, spreading his arms out. David suddenly disappeared and the radiation from the Transmetal driver mutated Megatron’s body from red to blue, and the robot lurched into life.*

Outside the Axalon, Warcry had found Oilslick sitting cross-legged on the ground, with a communications device between his legs.

“What’s going on?” the red and yellow Autobot asked his fellow cadet.

Oilslick jumped to his feet nervously. “Just, ah, catching an episode of All My Circuits.”

Warcry grabbed the device. “No you’re not. This thing is transmitting something. What the hell have you been doing?”

Speedbreaker dashed ahead of the others calling Sideburn’s name. The words echoed along the corridors of the Axalon, and the Autobot feared the worse. Suddenly something caught his attention. A faint and weary voice, calling out his name.

“I’ve found him,” Speedbreaker called into his communicator to Mach Alert and Wildride. “Lock onto my position.”

Sideburn lay on the table, blind and panicky. “Speedbreaker! Is that you?” he cried. “Help me. I need help.”

“I’m coming little buddy,” Speedbreaker reassured, as he sprinted into the engineering bay, and up to the slab that Sideburn was lying on.

“I can’t see.”

“It’s okay,” said Speedbreaker, gently putting his hand on the side of Sideburn’s face. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

There was a sudden noise of galloping feet against the floor. Bruticus grabbed Speedbreaker’s arms with two of his mouths and knocked him backwards onto the floor. The force of the attack knocked Sideburn off the slab and onto the floor in a broken heap. The slab fell on top of the small Autobot, crushing his legs.

Fire Convoy somersaulted backwards and away from Megatron, giving him the chance to get up. Megatron rose to his feet and fired from his wrist-mounted laser blasters. The lasers didn’t even seem to scratch Fire Convoy’s armour. Megatron raised his staff above his head and charged at the Autobot, bringing the staff down onto Fire Convoy’s shoulder. The Autobot retaliated with a punch to Megatron’s abdomen. The Predacon staggered backwards. “A challenge at last, yes,” he said.

“Oh, you like that, do you?” Fire Convoy said perversely, jumping back.

Megatron smiled and growled. The ground shook.

Fire Convoy’s ladder assembly pivoted upwards and rested on his shoulder. He grabbed the front of the ladder and deployed his arsenal of plasma missiles. “Then get ready to bite down!”

A few metres away, Ultra Magnus returned to consciousness. He looked up at the siphon, now completely destroyed by Landslide, then across at the Bullet Team, brawling with Sky-byte and the others.

He finally looked at Fire Convoy and Megatron. “You’ve got to stop fighting!” he called over. “The pressure is still building. There’s no time for this.”

Fire Convoy ignored him.

Mach Alert and Wildride ran into the engineering bay to see Speedbreaker wrestling with the Predacon dog. “A little help,” he cried out.

“He’s mine,” growled Wildride. The silver Autobot grabbed Bruticus with his powerful left arm and threw him across the bay, slamming him hard, heads first, into the far wall.

“You alright?” Mach Alert asked Speedbreaker.

“He bit into my finish!”

“Wait a cycle!” Pitstop called to Tow-Line. “The spark’s on the move.”

“Where is it heading?”

Megatron’s old body stood in the doorway of the stasis hold, its optics glowing intensely.

“Take a guess,” Pitstop said, pointing to the blue robot’s chest.

Tow-Line looked in horror to see a human body intermingled with the spark. It silently howled in pain as the spark’s energy danced around it. “David?”

The robot shook its head and growled. “Cryotek.”

Megatron clawed at the rim of the small crater that Fire Convoy’s missile attack had formed, hauling himself out. The Autobot marched towards him, balling his fist.

An audible distress signal bleeped at Megatron. “No, the spark,” he said to himself. “Something’s wrong.”

“Something’s very wrong,” Fire Convoy said, still enjoying himself, as he swung his right arm at Megatron. The punch connected with the Predacon’s forehead, and he fell limply to the ground.

Lava bubbled up from the small crater and Fire Convoy hovered his down turned palms over the pyroclastic steam.

From behind, Ultra Magnus was screaming his name. Fire Convoy turned to see the Autobot Leader in a state of nervous breakdown. Oil was pouring out of the wound in his abdomen and was dribbling from his mouth.

“Too late… it’s too late,” Magnus stammered. “You’ve killed us all.”

The three Autobot brothers were too busy attending to Sideburn to notice Bruticus transform into robot mode and remove a bomb from his chest compartment. It had been put there by the Megatron of the alternate Earth only to be used if the crew of the Ark were ever revived. Bruticus’ orders were to blow up the Ark. The Predacon’s head twitched. “Autobots… Ark…” he said, confused.

“Be careful, Wildride,” Speedbreaker cautioned. “The little guy’s badly damaged.”

Wildride frowned.

“Just concentrate, okay,” Mach Alert said.

Sideburn coughed up a globule of thick oil. “Th-thank you for helping me,” he said.

Speedbreaker smiled down at him. “You’re my hero, Sideburn. What would I do without you?”

“Hold up,” said Mach Alert. “My sensors have just detected the activation of an incendiary device.”

“You what?”

Speedbreaker pointed at Bruticus. “It’s the Predacon, he’s got a bomb!”

Fire Convoy knelt down beside Ultra Magnus. He was dying.

“There must be something I could still do.”

“You can’t,” Ultra Magnus said, his optics beginning to dull. “It’s too late. You failed.”

Fire Convoy held Magnus’ hand. “I thought you knew me, you know I don’t tolerate failure.”

Ultra Magnus blinked his optics shut tightly, then opened them again, and his hand fell limply from Fire Convoy’s grip.

“Hang in there, Magnus,” Fire Convoy said as he jumped to his feet. “There is something I can still do.”

Pitstop and Tow-Line chased Cryotek out of the Axalon and the human/Predacon/Decepticon hybrid transformed to dragon mode and flew away. Tow-Line called out his human friend’s name, but it was no use. The machine was fuelled by hatred, and had a destiny to fulfil.

“You two get that thing out of here,” Speedbreaker ordered his brothers.

“But what about you?”

“I’m not leaving without Sideburn. You just get that bomb out of here, and everything will be fine.”

Mach Alert and Wildride charged at Bruticus, and they each grabbed him by a shoulder, rushing him away. “Time to take the dog out, before he makes a mess in here.”

Megatron massaged his head as he returned online. Fire Convoy ran past him towards the siphon.

“Landslide, dig me a hole!” Fire Convoy shouted.

The massive Autobot split and each member of the Build Team transformed to vehicle mode and began digging into the side of the volcano. “Oh, so we’re useful now, are we?” Wedge said.

The ground continued to shake. The Bullet Team and the Predacons stopped their brawl and watched the four Autobots. Megatron got up and chased after Fire Convoy. “Whatever you’ve got planned won’t work, Autobot. You’re too late.”

The Build Team broke through and searing hot magma was spat out from the crevice. They quickly reversed away. Fire Convoy waded through the stream of molten lava, right past them and approached the opening.

“You’re mad, yes,” Megatron said to the Autobot. “You’ll never survive in there.”

“If you can’t stand the heat,” Fire Convoy said as he entered the opening, the lava flow at his knees, “stay out of the volcano.”

Wildride threw Bruticus into the ground. He lifted up a large boulder and brought it down hard onto the Predacon’s legs. “You’re not going anywhere now, so hand over the bomb.”

Mach Alert knelt down and searched the Predacon. There was no bomb. Mach Alert searched again frantically. “He’s dropped it. It must still be inside the Axalon.”

Inside the Tangkubanparahu, the intense heat chewed at Fire Convoy’s outer armour. “Magnus said to reduce the pressure,” Fire Convoy said to himself. “So let’s try to make it a bit more roomy in here.”

Fire Convoy wrapped his left arm around a stalagmite, allowing himself to hang from it. With his right hand, he fired his fusion pistol downwards until it completely discharged itself, digging a tunnel deeper into the bowels of the volcano. His armour warped and folded with the heat, the pain increasing by the second. He didn’t have much time. The Earth didn’t have much time.

He jumped down into the newly formed tunnel, balancing precariously on a small ledge. He fired all of his rounds of plasma missiles downwards, opening up the base of the volcano into a chasm. He jumped down deeper. Now out of weapons power he punched into the walls of the chasm, hoping soon that he would either reach the ocean or an air pocket. As he continued punching, his fists and forearms wore away down to his inner robot mode. Fire Convoy winced in pain as the level of magma rose up to waist level and he feared to think of the state of his legs.

“It’s too heavy,” Speedbreaker strained. “Should have had Wildride stay behind.”

The red Autobot grappled with the slab, trying to lift it so he wouldn’t damage Sideburn anymore. He wasn’t even sure if the young cadet would survive the shock.

Speedbreaker heard a small beep, and then a click. He turned around to see a small black device where Bruticus had stood.

“The bomb,” he whispered, throwing himself on top of Sideburn, acting as a shield.

The boiling sea of magma had completely submerged Fire Convoy. He wanted to keep punching away at the wall, but the lava was too thick and he was out of energy. The lava rose up to the top of the volcano, carrying the Autobot with it. He squeezed his optics shut, fighting the pain of the heat.

The entire planet shook, and the Earth started to split along the west coast of the Americas, underneath the Pacific Ocean towards the Australasian islands, and then northwest towards Java. If all went according to Megatron’s plan, the Tangkubanparahu would blow with enough pressure to crack the Earth in half, allowing the Megabolt station in Alaska to collect the unimaginable amounts of energy from the destruction of the planet.

Fire Convoy hoped that he’d done enough to reduce the pressure. Megatron fled the volcano in jet mode, and headed north. Ultra Magnus remained still, lying lifeless on the summit.

Half a world away, Bruticus’s bomb detonated, and the Axalon exploded with Sideburn and Speedbreaker still inside. And on the island of Java, the Tangkubanparahu erupted with Fire Convoy still inside.