Chereads / A Spark's Life That Shines / Chapter 41 - Chapter 18: Skyquake's return Part 1

Chapter 41 - Chapter 18: Skyquake's return Part 1

🎶I was a girl from the city to start a new life

Then I discovered I'm half Cybertronian after all this time

Now I gotta discover and find out more about my abilities

So much to learn and seek

Up in the base with my new friends and family

Joined war that's just waiting to end

A brand new world is waiting for me

I'm so ready to start

I'm finding out what being a Prime is all about

Making a new discovery, it's an adventure everyday

My time will soon come

To show them all that I'm ready to rise!🎶

After being infected by Dark Energon and being told that she was the Daughter of Alpha Trion. One of the Thirteen Original Primes and Optimus Prime's former mentor. Three days have already passed and she's still processing the fact that she's half Cybertronian.

But for now it was time to get trained for future battles. Emily was training so that she could become stronger. Arcee along with Wheeljack and Optimus offered themselves to train her.

To start the training, Arcee was sparring with Emily in blade against blade. Arcee was using her side blades while Emily used her Sword of Creation. Arcee was making Emily back down to try and corner her.

"Come on, Emily. I know you can do better than this." Arcee says as she strikes but Emily stops it.

Emily is holding Arcee with her Sword of Creation as she grinned at her.

"Keep talking, Arcee. I got you right where I want you." Emily started to push back.

"Based on what I'm seeing, I'm the one who has the upper hand right now." Arcee grinned back.

"Not for long." Emily said.

Emily then starts using all of her strength to push Arcee back. She succeeds and starts attacking her. Arcee tries to hold her off but she loses balance. Suddenly she trips from behind and just like that Emily had won the practice match and pointed the tip of her sword at her before pulling back and grinned at her.

"Looks like I won again." Emily smiled as Arcee stood back up.

"You did good but you still have a long way to go." Arcee said as she smiled down at her as Wheeljack approached.

"Looks to me like someone's a little jealous of losing." Wheeljack teased as Arcee gave him a deadpanned look.

"Think you can do better?" She challenged while putting a servo on her hip.

"Watch and learn. Ready to get some lessons, kid?" Wheeljack asked as he stood opposite of Emily as she nodded.

"Ready is my middle name." She said as Wheeljack chuckled.

"Kid's have confidence. I like that." Wheeljack said before he took out one of his swords from his back and pointed the tip at her.

"How about we only use one sword?" Wheeljack suggested while Emily held her sword of creation.

"Fine with me, Uncle Jackie." She agreed while calling him the nickname that Bulkhead used as well with the word uncle.

"This will be interesting to watch." Arcee crossed her arms while she stood by the sidelines with Optimus watching.

Wheeljack and Emily start getting ready for a sparring match using their swords.

"Whenever you're ready, kid." Wheeljack said before Emily gave the first attack but Wheeljack was able to defend himself from it.

"Nice move, kid. But you're gonna need more than that to beat me." Wheeljack tells her as he starts attacking Emily but she's able to hold him off.

"You're strong. But I'm faster. Think fast." Wheeljack said before he pushed Emily back and took out his second blade and pointed it at her as she regained her composure.

"Remember, kid. Cons aren't gonna play fair." Wheeljack said as he got ready.

"And neither am I." Emily grinned before she took out her second sword and attacked Wheeljack who blocked it.

Both are giving a splendid fight. But Wheeljack has the upper hand as he was using brute strength and power but Emily counters him with grace and precision and accuracy.

"You're skilled with your swords and yet I seem to have the advantage. Remember, when you're engaged in a sword battle, your enemy will always try to control your every move. Make sure you control his moves. Like this." Wheeljack advises her as he makes a move but luckily Emily avoids it quickly.

"Bring it, kid." Wheeljack said before she attacks him and makes him back down.

"Is that all you got?" Wheeljack taunted playfully.

Wheeljack then uses the same move he used before and pushes Emily back as she pushes back against him.

"Lesson number one. Never use an old-fashioned move. Your enemy will always be unpredictable. So you have to do the same." Wheeljack said as he charged in.

But Emily dodges his attack and uses an unpredictable move and makes him lose his balance as he falls down as Emily grinned at him.

"Thanks for the lesson, Uncle Jackie." Emily said as Wheeljack nodded with a smirk while he stood up.

"You're a fast learner." He said as Emily smiled at him before they looked up as Optimus approached them with Arcee.

"Granted that our young friend is a good warrior. But we must not forget that she's still young and needs further training." Optimus reminded them as Arcee agreed but Wheeljack knew that Emily was ready.

"Look, Prime. I don't mean to be disrespectful or anything but I think she's ready." Wheeljack said as he turned to him.

"She might look ready but she needs more practice." Arcee argued before the clearing of a throat was heard and they realized that their friend was still there with them.

"You know I'm still here right?" Emily said as she put her hands on her hips while giving them a look.

"Oh right. Sorry for that." Arcee laughs sheepishly while Emily just smirks up to her.

"Don't listen to her. You look ready to me. In fact you could give Optimus Prime here some competition." Wheeljack said and this threw both Emily and Optimus off guard.

"Who, me?" She asked before looking up to Optimus but started blushing and averted her eyes as Optimus cleared his throat a little.

"I..., well, uh... I... I'm not sure I can do it. I mean, Optimus is a Prime... and I wouldn't want to hurt him or anything." Emily told them as she rubbed her arm.

As much as she wants to spar with Optimus but she doesn't want to hurt him badly plus she doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of him.

"Come on. I'm sure the Daughter of Alpha Trion can keep up against Optimus Prime. After all, you almost beat Megatron." Wheeljack said since he wanted to see her spar with Optimus.

"Yeah..." Emily trailed off as she started to think about how she almost killed Megatron and that just made her upset about it.

Arcee noticed that Emily went quiet and became concerned quickly.

"Emily, you okay?" Arcee asked in concern as Emily came out of her own thoughts and looked up to her.

"Huh...? Oh yeah, yeah I'm good." Emily said as she shook her head to get rid of her thoughts of yesterday but Arcee can see that Emily isn't doing well and that maybe they should take a break.

"Perhaps we've trained enough for today." Arcee said as she smiled down at her as Emily nodded slowly while she made her sword disappear.

"Okay... I'll be with the others." Emily said before she left the training area as Optimus and Arcee watched her worriedly as Wheeljack looked confused.

"Why does she look so down?" Wheeljack asked in confusion but was worried.

"Perhaps it is something you said." Arcee told him as he looked offended.

"Who, me? And what about you? You're the one that kept saying that she wasn't ready and everything. Well I got news for you. She's ready." Wheeljack retorted as she gave him a look but there was pain and sadness in them that he almost didn't didn't notice.

"You don't know what you're talking about. She almost got killed by Megatron." Arcee said as she crossed her arms. She can't get the image of Emily at the mercy of Megatron out of her processor and it was a nightmare.

"Yeah but from what Bulk told me, she almost killed him too." Wheeljack argued back.

"That's enough, you two. Your faith is remarkable, Wheeljack. But Emily needs more training. Not only to fight the Decepticons, but to control her own power." Optimus stops them from starting a fight. He knows that Emily is ready but she needs to train more so she can not only fight the Decepticons but to control her powers.

"I see. Well let's just hope your plan works." Wheeljack said. He hopes that Optimus' plan works and that it will help their friend to adjust further to being half Cybertronian.

Meanwhile at the Nemesis, Megatron walks in the control room as Soundwave was by the computers.

"Soundwave, anything to report?" Megatron asked the silent mech as Dreadwing was with the silent con.

Soundwave then shows through his visor that everything seems normal and nothing was out of the ordinary.

"It seems that everything is normal, Lord Megatron." Dreadwing told him as Megatron nodded.

"Excellent, but we mustn't keep our guard down." Megatron ordered as Dreadwing and Soundwave nodded.

"Yes, Lord Megatron. I'll prepare myself if something happens." Dreadwing said as Megatron allowed him to do what he needed just in case.

Dreadwing leaves the room and when he's at the door, he bumps into Starscream who was coming to the control room. Dreadwing gave him a death glare knowing the fate of his twin-spark was due to the seeker's foolishness.

"Out of my way, fool." Starscream glared but complied as Dreadwing walked off to another part of the Nemesis as Starscream entered the control room.

"Hmph. Ah, Lord Megatron. How may I serve you today?" Starscream greeted as he kneel before his superior as Megatron just merely glanced at him before looking back to the computers.

"Always groveling at my feet huh, Starscream?" Megatron asked as Starscream stood back up.

"My only desire is to be of use to you, my liege." Starscream said as he didn't want to get on his master's bad side already.

Soundwave then shows Megatron that he has detected some sort of strange energy spike somewhere as this intrigued him.

"A mysterious energy spike? Do you have the location?" Megatron asked as the silent con nodded and showed Megatron the location of the energy spike through his visor and Starscream recognized the area and location, but why there?

"Wait a minute. That's the location of where Skyquake was buried." Starscream said as he didn't mistook the area. Megatron growled at him. He knew what happened to Skyquake and Dreadwing is really angry at what the seeker did to his twin-spark.

"Do not remind me of this chapter, Starscream. After all, Skyquake died because of you." Megatron turned to him as Starscream got nervous and tried to think of an excuse.

"But, master,... the Autobots killed him. I... only released him so he could serve our cause." Starscream said nervously but Megatron wasn't buying it since Soundwave showed him what the seeker did while Megatron was in deep stasis.

"Really? From what Soundwave showed. The only reason you released him from stasis, was to prove that you had the strength to lead the Decepticons." Megatron said as Starscream would have given Soundwave a death glare at this.

"Oh yeah... I forgot about that." Starscream muttered as Megatron turned back to the computers.

"Go check the place." Megatron ordered as Starscream nodded. At least he will get to do something.

"At once, Lord Megatron." Starscream said as he left the control room to go to the location.

Megatron waited until he made sure that Starscream wasn't in hearing range before turning to Soundwave.

"Any idea of what that energy spike could be?" He asked the silent mech who then showed him the picture of Skyquake before he died and this only confused the warlord.

"Impossible. There's no proof that shows Skyquake might've been the energy we detected. Keep looking and inform me if you find anything. Knowing Starscream, he would fail." Megatron said as he didn't know if what Soundwave showed was true but there was only one way to find out and it's to wait for Starscream to return.

Meanwhile back at the base, Jack, Miko and Raf were hanging there. They could've been playing and chilling but they were studying and doing their homework to get their grades back up. Everyone was working hard and quietly and needless to say that it was a real torture for Miko.

"Ugh... I can't take this anymore. Can't we just call it a day?" Miko groaned in dismay.

"Ah, ah, ah, not this time, young lady. You're gonna study for your next exam and no video games or TV until you get good grades." Bulkhead told her as she pouted as she was studying her math problems.

"You sound like my father." She grumbled.

"I'm more of a big father." Bulkhead said as Jack snorted out a small laugh at that as he corrected his mistake on his equation.

"More like a big brother." Jack said as he and Bulkhead both laughed.

Miko then threw her two books at their faces as Jack let out a small yelp of pain while Bulkhead blinked in surprise.

"Ow! That hurts." Jack gave Miko a small glare as he rubbed his now sore nose as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's supposed to hurt." Miko huffed at him but went back to her book.

"Come on, guys. We need to study for the next exams. You all know it's gonna be tough. Right, Ems? Emily?" Raf said before calling out to Emily but didn't get a response.

Emily was reading her book but in actuality she was thinking deeply. She was so caught in her own thoughts that she didn't hear Raf call her name as they looked at each other in concern.

"Emily, you okay?" Bulkhead asked in concern. It snapped her out of her thoughts as she heard him call her name and blinked slightly.

"Huh? Oh right, sorry. Yeah I'm okay. I was just focusing on the book." Emily gave him a small smile as Bulkhead just nodded but he knew that something was bothering her.

"Oh right, sorry. Kids, you should go back to study." Bulkhead turned to the kids as they nodded and went back to studying.

"Sure thing." Jack nodded.

The kids went back to studying but Jack couldn't help but ask to make sure that their friend is really okay since she has been spacing out for quite sometime in the past three days.

"Sure you are okay, Emily? You don't seem to be doing well." Jack said in concern as Emily glanced at him before going back to her book but knew that Jack was right in asking.

"I'm okay, Jack. It's just that... I don't know. I don't feel like myself." Emily reassured him as she just sighed softly.

"Well I guess that knowing you're a true OG can be kind of a bummer." Miko said as she tried to lighten the mood but it just bummed Emily a bit more.

"Yeah a total bummer. But that's not it. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just stress or something like that. Don't worry I'll figure it out." Emily started before she grabbed another book to read.

While the kids were studying, Arcee along with Optimus and Wheeljack came in as the femme noticed that Bulkhead look worried and was concern.

"You okay, Bulkhead?" Arcee asked as Bulkhead nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm good." Bulkhead said as Wheeljack crossed his arms and gave him a look. He knows Bulkhead and knows that something is wrong.

"Uh-huh... right. I know you well enough to know that something's going on. What's bugging you, Bulkhead?" Wheeljack asked as he watched Bulkhead who looked at Emily who was reading. The three could see that she was trying to read but had something in her mind.

"Well, I think Emily is having a hard time. You know, ever since she's been infected and all." Bulkhead said in worry and Arcee knew what he meant as she looked at her friend.

"Yeah we saw that. I feel bad for her. It's not easy right now." Arcee said as she was worried for Emily.

"Give her time." Optimus told them. Emily will need time to heal from her scars.

The computer scanners start blaring like crazy as it causes the four to cover their ears.

"Ah...! We're studying here. Can't you make it stop?" Raf said over the alarms as the Autobots came in when hearing the alarms before Ratchet turned it off.

"What's going on?" Smokescreen asked.

"We heard the alarm." Cliffjumper said as Bumblebee beeped and whirred a question.

"The scanners have detected something." Ratchet said as he went over quickly to check the computers to see what was going on and a familiar insignia pop up on a certain place.

"Decepticon movement." Ratchet informed them

"Cons huh? Let's go teach them a lesson." Cliffjumper punched his servo against his other one as Wheeljack smirked at this.

"Count me in." Wheeljack smirked but Ratchet gave them a look.

"Hold on, you two. We can't charge in like that. First we must investigate this Decepticon activity." Ratchet told them as Optimus nodded.

"Ratchet, open the ground bridge." Optimus told him as he nodded and put in the coordinates.

"Uploading coordinates." He then turns the ground bridge on as it whirred to life and the portal opened up.

"Let's get going." Wheeljack grinned before transforming and went straight through the portal as Arcee just shook her helm at the wrecker.

"Why does he always charge in like that?" Arcee asked as Bulkhead just shrugged with a smile.

"That's Wheeljack." He chuckled.

"Whoo-hoo! No more homework." Miko cheered as she was about to grab the TV remote but Bulkhead stopped her.

"Keep studying, Miko." Bulkhead told her and caused the 15 year old to groan as Jack rolled his eyes while answering a question.

"Tough luck." Jack said.

Emily was hesitating as she wanted to go with the team to help them but deep down inside she was still scared from the last mission and was afraid that it might happen again as Raf looked at her in concern and confusion.

"You're not going with them, Emily?" Raf asked in confusion and concern as Emily glanced at the ground bridge while biting her lip.

"Not today, Raf." She replied softly as Arcee saw this.

Arcee sees that Emily is hesitating on coming with them after what happened last time and understands why.

"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up with you." Arcee told them as Optimus nodded.

"Be quick, Arcee. Time is running out." Optimus said as he and the other Autobots all transformed and went through the portal.

When they're gone, Arcee goes to see Emily to check if she still wants to come with them on the mission.

"Sure you don't wanna go?" Arcee asked to be sure as Emily set the book down as she looked at her.

"Perhaps it's best if I stay." Emily answered softly as Arcee just smiled in understanding.

"Look. I know you're scared. After what happened, it's hard for you to go back out there. You're afraid of getting infected again. And that's okay. I'm scared too, but that shouldn't stop you. You know we will do anything to protect you. And you know, maybe hitting some cons might help you get better." Arcee told her as she grinned softly as Emily let out a small laugh and nodded and stood up before jumping down the railing as she stood beside the femme she viewed as a mother.

"Yeah you're right." Emily grinned back at her.

"Be careful out there." Ratchet told them but mostly Emily as she nodded with a smile.

"I will." Emily gave him a thumbs up.

"Let's go." Arcee said before they both ran through the portal and disappeared as the others watched on.

"Come back safely." Ratchet muttered as worry was in his voice.

"She'll be fine." Jack reassured him but he was worried as well.

"I feel bad about this. These past three days have been hard for her. You know, ever since she got infected with Dark Energon." Miko said as she was still feeling upset and sad about what happened the last three days.

"Emily is strong. She'll get over it. I just hope she will come back to us. We almost lost her once. I will not tolerate that a second time." Ratchet said. He failed on not letting anything bad happen to her and he will make sure that nothing happens to Emily again.

"Arcee and the others will make sure she comes back." Jack told him. He was confident that the bots would bring Emily back safely.

"Hey, is it me or the place you sent them is familiar?" Miko asked curiously since she noticed the coordinates on the computer screens and knew that it was familiar somehow.

"Let me check." Ratchet said as he quickly checked the location and coordinates of it and was a little surprised to see that it was the same place the others went to before.

"Why yes. It's the same place where Skyquake was buried." Ratchet told them as they remembered that particular incident.

"The place where we got sent to another reality." Raf said as he shuddered from experience.

"Can't forget about that. We were being chased by a zombie." Miko shrugged but deep down, she was still shaken from the experience.

"Jeez, I wonder why that happened." Jack said as he gave Miko a look since it was her fault to begin with.

"You gotta let that go, man." Miko huffed at him as Raf looked at Ratchet.

"What could possibly be causing that energy spike? There's nothing there." Raf asks curiously as Ratchet doesn't know as well.

"True but from what the scanners tell us. There's something there. Something that Megatron seems to be interested get his servos in. We can't let him have it. Up you go now. You still have homework to do." Ratchet said as he ushered them all back to their homework as Miko just groaned at this.

"Yeah, yeah we heard." She grumbled.

"Don't worry. Your second big bro here will make sure you get an A+." Jack told her only for Miko to throw her pencil case at his face and got a yelp as Raf and Ratchet shook their heads.

Meanwhile the Autobots who had crossed the other side of the portal were waiting for Arcee. Much to their surprise, Arcee was able to convince Emily to come with them as the two came out at the same time as Emily smiled up at them.

"Well, well, well. Glad you could join the party, kid." Wheeljack said as he smiled at her.

"Figured hitting some cons could cheer me up." Emily joked as Cliffjumper nodded.

"It will." Cliffjumper chuckled.

"Stay focused, Autobots. We must maintain our cover. Emily, are you sure you are completely focused on this mission?" Optimus told them before addressing the second female of the group as she walked up to him and nodded with a determined look but she could still see the worry in his optics.

"Sure, Optimus. I'm ready for this." She said confidently as he nodded with a small smile behind his battle mask.

"That's the spirit." Wheeljack said with a smile.

"Hey, Optimus. The scanner has detected something. Whatever it is, it's moving. Weird, the scanners indicate that it's right up ahead. This thing is really moving." Bulkhead informed the Autobot leader who nodded.

"Let's investigate. But be on your guard." Optimus told them as they followed Bulkhead who had the scanner as Arcee gave the other wrecker a stern look.

"That means no charging in like crazy, Wheeljack." Arcee told him as Wheeljack just rolled his optics.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I get it." Wheeljack said as they continued to walk forward as Wheeljack asked the other two about what's with Arcee being all stern and all.

"What's up with her?" Wheeljack asked as he pointed his digit at the femme who was conversing quietly with Emily beside Optimus.

"Arcee is always like that." Cliffjumper just shrugged.

"You'll get used to it." Smokescreen shook his head since it took him a while to get used to Arcee being all stern towards him.

"Yeah right. That'll be the day when I retire." Wheeljack said when suddenly they stumbled upon the Decepticons.

Starscream was there with them and he was ordering to find the source of the weird energy source. The Autobots quickly went and found cover. Cliffjumper with Arcee, Smokescreen with Bumblebee, Bulkhead with Wheeljack and Optimus with Emily as they watch their enemies quietly.

"Find the source of the energy and bring it to me so I can deliver it to Lord Megatron." Starscream ordered a vehicon as the bots and Emily continued to watch.

"Well, what do you know? Old Screamy is there." Smokescreen whispered to the others as they continued to watch.

"I'd sure like to kick his tailpipe right now." Cliffjumper whispered as Arcee prepared her arm blades just in case.

"Easy, they don't know we're here yet." Arcee whispered but Optimus made a signal to wait for a moment before striking.

Emily was watching the vehicons work but she was feeling a sense of dread like something was going to happen. All they can do now is wait before attacking.