Megatron suddenly stops and collapses to the ground, holding his helm. I stayed in my place as I watched, emotionless. "...Unicron grows ever stronger," Megatron says after the pause. He stands up and glances at Optimus before continueing on into the dark tunnel. I placed a servo over my heart, frowning from hearing the hush beeping slowly grow louder. "How do we know if Unicron isn't using Megatron to lead us into a trap?" Arcee asked. "We do not..." Optimus says as he follows the Decepticon leader. I jumped slightly from Bumblebee placing a servo on my shoulder. I looked up at him and he nods at me. We were moving on. I exhaled and followed everyone.

:

"Unicron's spark is near," Megatron says. I stared out into the tunnel's opening, where there was another large chamber. My vision goes into static for a second before coming back online. My optics widen to see my vision suddenly change. Everywhere I look, it was violet. I close my optics and shake my helm before opening them again. Still the same vision. I bit my lip and tried to ignore it as I followed everyone across the bridge.

Bulkhead starts to groan as he held his helm. Bumblebee quickly grabs his arm in case if he doesn't lose footing, 'Hey, do you need to rest?' "I'm fine, Bee. Just woozy," Bulkhead replied. "The Dark Energon, it's starting to affect him," Arcee assists Bumblebee to keep Bulkhead standing up, "Steady as you go, Bulk," I narrowed my optics slightly before following Optimus again. Hearing a unknown cry, I stopped in place, remaining silent. "He's preparing to expele us..." Megatron says as he faces us. I quickly activated my forearm blades and put them together for a cannon. I followed the cries with my audio sensors and see violet creatures flying toward us, screeching.

"What are those things?" Bulkhead asked as he activates his cannons along with Arcee and Bumblebee. "If they're in Unicron's body, it stands to reason they're some sort of anti-body," Optimus replies, activating his own cannon. Once the creatures were close enough, we all start to blast at them. I growled slightly, my vision bothering me as I missed every now and then. I stumbled a bit from the loud beep coming from my gem. I glanced at it and my optics widen from seeing the color of it. I blinked, noticing Arcee falling off the bridge. Oh no!

She lands on the bridge bellow, unharmed. Relief... At the corner of my optic, I see Bulkhead swaying and falling from the bridge. I gasped and snapped my helm to look at him as he held onto the edge of the bridge. "Bulkhead!" I rip my blades apart with force. They crack into pieces and fell to the floor as I winced in pain. Trying to ignore it, I dive towards Bulkhead and grab onto his arm before he fell into the abyss. I grind my dentals together as I tried to pull him up, slowly sliding on my knees towards the edge and feeling the armor on my arms crack. I clicked as I felt two servos grab my waist. I glance over my shoulder to see Bumblebee.

I turned to look at Bulkhead again, trying with all of my might to pull him back up. "Let me go, Ariona! I'll only take you down with me! Both of you!" Bulkhead says in alert. My optics widen, feeling them starting to liquefy. I grind my dentals together again, "No, I'm not going to let you go!" I start to pull even harder. I gasped as I felt my left arm's armor give away and split in two, revealing wires and tissue underneath. I whimpered and felt a wet substance trail down my cheek. The arm immediately deactivated and lost grip on Bulkhead's arm, causing me to slip with the right servo. I felt my spark stopping, watching as Bulkhead slipped from my grasp. Suddenly another arm appears and grabs Bulkhead's servo. I blinked and looked up, seeing Optimus. "I got you," He said as he pulls Bulkhead back onto the bridge.

Bulkhead turns to me, seeing my left arm, "Ariona..." Bumblebee helps me stand up. "It's okay, Bulk," I smiled at him sweetly. Without another moment to lose, we all start running across the bridge. "Arcee!" Optimus calls to the female below. Arcee nods and uses one of the creatures to fly up to us. Slick... We ran through to the other side of the chamber and entered another tunnel as the creatures followed behind.

:

Running into an enclosed chamber, I stay close to Optimus as everyone blasts at the creatures. My broken forearm blades were still out, dripping fuel. I hear Megatron groan loudly and I turn around along with Optimus to face him. "Megatron?" Optimus asked, confused. The Decepticon leader lunged at Optimus and forces him to duck to that he could fire at the creature that was dangerously close. "Unicron's spark..lies just beyond this door," Megatron points to the circular door and runs to it. Optimus follows, "How do we get inside?"

"By fooling Unicron's defenses into believing we're not a threat," Megatron replied as the 'Con symbol on his chest glows. He faces the door and walks close to it. I turned to look at the creatures. I ignored the door opening and the sound of Megatron entering inside. "Autobots, I need you to keep our attackers at bay for as long as you can," Optimus orders before running through before the door closed. I backed up to it and watched my comrades fighting the creatures. Arcee backs up next to me along with Bulkhead and Bumblebee. "We gotta hold fast, for Optimus!" Bulkhead says.

:

I opened my optics after hearing the last of the creatures dropping to the floor. "I-...Is it over...?" I asked. 'He did it!' Bumblebee beeps cheerfully. The door opens behind us and we ran through without hesitating. We eventually enter inside what used to be Unicron's spark chamber. I sighed in relief, seeing Optimus still in one piece. "Optimus, are you okay?" Bulkhead asked as we stopped a couple of feet away from Optimus and Megatron. "..Why did he call me that?" Optimus asked in confusion. I clicked, my spark skipping a beat. "What did you do to him...?" Arcee bellows at Megatron.

"Who are they?" Optimus asked. A bridge opens up behind them. We didn't call for one... "Our mortal enemies! We're outnumbered, go, I'll cover you!" Megatron says, pushing Optimus towards the bridge opening slightly as he points his cannon at us. W-What..? What's-!

Megatron suddenly shoots at us. "Ah-!" I dive to the ground to dodge the attack. I looked up at Optimus, seeing him run to the opening. I felt my body gradually starting to tremble and trails of liquid fell from my optics down my cheeks. No..no.

"Optimus!" I screamed out towards him. He comes to a stop and slowly turns to glance at all of us, his gaze falling onto me. My face scrunches up in pain and sorrow, looking into his optics, no longer seeing the Optimus I know. He turns around and runs into the bridge with Megatron following behind. I heard a small crackle and looked down at my gem, seeing a faint crack in it...

:

For almost half an hour, I remained seating on my crate back at base, hunched over and staring at the floor. Nikki was still gone. I really wished that she was here. Everyone else had gone into a different room to leave me be. The liquid on my cheek was dried up from excessive crying. I quickly look up from a pair of skittering. I gasped, jumping from something landing on my shoulder. "Ariona!"

"S-...Steel?" I blinked. I was honestly glad to see him. "I found it!" Steel said as he jumps with joy. "What?" I asked. "I found the seed, the seed of Oronion!"

:

"In here?" I asked, walking into the cavern with Steel. "I swear!" He says cheerfully. I shake my helm and continued to walk inside the darkness. After it felt like hours, I could see a bright blue light at the corner. I clicked, starting to pick up the pace. I turned the corner and felt myself melt. Laying on the ground, was a glowing, bright sphere. My optics widen from the sight, unaware of myself slowly creeping up towards hit. I knelled down in front of it, afraid to touch it, afraid to make it impure. Blue tendrils slowly orbit around the seed. It was so beautiful. I was unaware of the footsteps behind me.

"Ariona, look ou-!" Steel's voice came to an abrupt stop after a "clang" I swiftly turn around and look up to see a dark shadow looming over me, it's red optics staring down at me. I gasped and felt something crash on my helm and I fell onto the floor, unconscious.

:

Steel let's out a groan as his optics flicker back on. He looks up to see Ariona and the seed gone. "Oh no..."

:

"Where is she!" Nikki screamed into Steel's faceplate. "Nikki, calm down," Arcee says. "Calm down! Your leader is gone, and now Ariona's gone, too! Along with the seed! How can we stay calm!" Nikki shouts. Arcee narrows her optics at her. "Steel, tell me the coordinates, I'm going to find her!"

:

Nikki exits from the bridge and it immediately closes behind her. She looks up at the cavern opening and blinks, seeing one of the Decepticons. Breakdown. He turns to glance at Nikki. She activates her crossbow and glares at him, "Where is she-?" Nikki stops and sees a figure stepping out of the cavern, holding the seed. Nikki's optics widen from the site. A familiar Oronian female with gray armor and violet life force. "N-...N-" Nikki tried to speak. The Oronian's optics fell on Nikki, emotionless. A bridge opens near the two. Breakdown runs through without saying a word.

The Oronian follows behind, holding the seed. The opening closes, leaving Nikki with a shocked expression. She falls to her knees and deactivates her crossbow. "No..." Nikki suddenly screams out, holding her helm. "W-Why?" She curls up, scared for the first time in a long time.

"Ariona..."