Author's Notes:

So sorry for not having anything out for this! But now we finally have some development.

I hope you guys like it, and sorry for it being rushed!

Deep in the ocean, several robotic life forms were stomping their way through the ocean floor. Soundwave and his cassette warriors had been walking deep underwater, trying to find the signal to where the ship was located.

Nothing stopped them in their tracks. Swarms of fish, reefs, sharks, killer whales, nothing. They just brushed right past them like they were rubber.

"Hehe, those Autobots won't even see us coming." Frenzy quipped.

"First we crack their shells, then we crack the nuts inside!" Rumble chuckled. "Say, uh, Soundwave? We there yet?"

"We are only 5 more miles from their cruiser." Soundwave said.

Soundwave took three more steps, but he stopped when his communications alarm went off. He pressed his finger to the side of his head to listen in.

"Soundwave. Got something for you. Galvatron wants you to pursue an unidentified cruiser on the mainland. He thinks its an Autobot ship. Only one person on board." Jet Black Spark called.

"Hey, come on, we're almost to the crash!" Rumble complained.

"It doesn't matter! Just get to the mainland and deal with whoever has landed here. If there are any survivors in that ship, they can be left to die with no way out."

Soundwave could groan if he could, but he didn't. Instead he looked down to his cassette warriors and exchanged glances. If Galvatron told them to go, then they'd have to go.

Soundwave and the cassettes turned around and watched as a Groundbridge portal opened. With it opened, all of the cassette warriors walked through the portal onto the other side where it closed behind them.

Five minutes later, a new Groundbridge appeared, and a new Decepticon came out. A skinny one. One with minty green and pink highlights on her body, and long arms that stretched down to her legs.

"Earpierce. Now that Soundwave's been tricked... now is your chance to show Galvatron how much better you are than that walking computer."

"Understood dude. Over and out." Earpierce spoke.

The Groundbridge portal closed behind her, and she stretched her flat arms out as far as she could. As soon as her arms were back, her claw tapped a finger on the top of her chest, and a cassette compartment opened up. Out came five cassettes, each with Decepticon logos, all in different forms.

"Now that you dudes are working for me full time... you all ready to scrap some?"

Two of the cassettes who were bipedal figures both gulped in fear.

"S-Sure..." one of them spoke.

"Good. Now lets move it."

Earpierce took point and walked first, while the small minions followed close by.

Inside of the downed ship, the inside had grown dark and dim. Barely any lights were on, making the atmosphere bleak and creepy. Only a few sounds of some small parts running or a few sounds from some control panels were filling the air.

Almost all of the crew members were all unconscious. The Dinobots knocked their heads pretty hard when the ship crashed into the sea, and poor Blaster was thrown down on his stomach and he was knocked out as well. Lemon Zest however was slowly waking up from the crash, groaning in pain.

Her eyes slowly winced as light came into her vision, and the first thing that was fading into her eyes was a black colored head with a mask and a blue visor.

"G-Grimlock?" Lemon stuttered.

As it turns out, she was right. Grimlock was right by her side, trying to wake her up.

"Me Grimlock glad to see you alright." Grimlock roared.

Lemon giggled. "I'm glad to see you too Rexy. W-What happened?"

Grimlock offered a hand and helped Lemon get back up on her feet.

"We crashed into ocean. Ship now stuck. We can't get out. Me Grimlock only one online, so Grimlock see if Lemon Zest okay." Grimlock said.

"Well I am now Grim. I'm not sure about Blaster though..." Lemon said, going over to where Blaster was out. "Hey Grim. Can you pull him onto his back?"

Grimlock nodded and carefully moved Blaster around, getting him to now lie on his back. Lemon crawled up onto Blaster's stomach and moved to his face.

"Blaster? Buddy? You okay? Time to wake up..."

Lemon smushed his face with her hands, trying to see if he'd react.

Nothing.

"Blaster? Yo! Dude! Wake up!" Lemon then threw a hard slap onto his face. "Come on! Wake up!"

No other option in mind, Lemon just started throwing slaps onto Blaster's face. And she didn't stop. Grimlock didn't even try to stop her.

"Come on! Wake up! Why! Won't! You! Wake! Up! Wake up! That's for ditching me at Burger Bell! That's for not telling me about my sister's wedding! That's for the streaking jokes! That's because I feel like it! That's because the player keeps mashing the button! That's for Pinkie Pie shooting confetti in my face! Wake up! Come on!"

Lemon stopped slapping his face after a few minutes as her hand began to go red from how hard she kept slapping him.

"I guess he's not waking up. Looks like we're on our own Grim." Lemon looked up.

"But what can we do?" Grimlock asked.

Sudden static began to emit from one of the consoles, along with a garbled voice speaking through. Lemon and Grimlock sat down and they accepted the call.

On screen was two of the Dinobots who were down below in some of the other quarters of the ship.

"Snarl! Swoop! Boy am I glad to see you two are okay." Lemon smiled.

"Me Snarl glad to be okay. Are you alright?"

"I'm good dudes. And so is Grimlock. What happened down there?" Lemon asked.

"Engines malfunctioned and exploded. Me Swoop think I can repair it, but me Swoop need some time."

Lemon nodded. "Do what you can buddy. We'll see if there are repairs that can be done here."

The video feed turned off, and Lemon spun around in her chair, deep in thought. What could they do to help?

Earpierce and her little minions jumped on the top of the ship and looked around for an entry way. Luckily, they had already found a spot to break in.

"Dudes. Bust that hatch open. We're climbing into the vault."

The cassettes obeyed hesitantly, and smashed their bodies through an entrance and soon they all jumped through the hole with water leaking inside. Earpierce climbed her way in as well, and she moved some material back up to block the hole to keep water from filling up the room.

She stared down at her cassettes who all stood back out of her way in fear.

"You dudes need to chill out. Its not like your life is at stake. Oh wait, it is!" Earpierce laughed as she opened a door and walked in, chuckling. The cassettes stopped for a moment out of fear and looked to each other. Out of the five in their group, one was a wolf, a bull, an eagle, a Rumble and Frenzy look-alike with a different color scheme, and another was an Eject and Rewind look-alike with a different color scheme.

"Come on guys, we've got to bail Earpierce. We're not Cons." The Rumble-recolor asked.

"We can't Chart. If we do, they're gonna send the rest of the Cons on us!" The Rewind-look alike said.

"But Vinyl, if we don't, then we're just going to be miserable. Come on, Lemon needs us, we can't leave!" Chart replied.

Vinyl sighed. "I suppose you're right. How about, we stay for a bit longer, then when the time's right..." she smirked. "We give Earpierce a little bit of her own medicine."

The other animals let out small growls and roars as well, and they zipped out of the room and right behind Earpierce. Earpierce raised a hand up to stop them all for a moment and she stared up at a ceiling corner. A small surveillance camera was watching her, capturing her movements.

Raising her long bony arm out, she made one swipe at the camera, slicing it into pieces, disabling it.

Back in the main bridge, Lemon and Grimlock sat around for a few moments, but they stopped when they saw a bright red flash go off on a monitor with no audiotory noises. She took a seat and looked closely and she felt a lump form into her throat when she got a good look at what was there. She could see walking down several corridors and hallways there was the Decepticon variant to herself who kept on walking and slicing off cameras from the corners without haste.

"Uh Dinos? Can you go a little faster? We've got a visitor and I don't want to die!" Lemon panicked, calling another room on the ship.

She only received static and nothing else.

"Guys? Hello? Are you there?" Lemon asked.

"You're too late Lemon Zest... I'll be coming for you..." a scary voice spoke.

Lemon gulped and she backed off from the panel, recognizing her own voice being spoken in a demonic monotone. A chill ran down her spine and she felt her toes turning inwards from the creepiness.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the only lights in the room shut down out of nowhere, leaving only a few red lights on. Grimlock and Lemon Zest turned themselves around to look at the only door that would leave the room.

"G-Grim... you think... think you can fight?" Lemon asked.

Grimlock let out a small roar, quiet enough so they didn't give much attention. "Me Grimlock stealthy fighter."

"Sweet. And if I can..." Lemon Zest grabbed a blaster off the floor big enough for her hands to carry. "I believe I can help out a bit. Just be ready if she's coming."

Lemon Zest ducked behind a small wall that was near a set of stairs that walked up to the main controls, with her back against it, holding her gun in her hand. Grimlock stood on the other side of her, and he pulled out his sword which began to ignite in flames.

They listened carefully, and soon the door was plucked open by a pair of sharp skinny fingers. The fingers clutched onto two different sides of the door, and the fingers forced the doors wide open, revealing a faceless Earpierce who only stood in complete silence as she stared down at the two who were ready.

"You cannot run... you cannot hide... because in the end... the music catches up to you, and ensnares you into the mermaid's trap..." Earpierce whispered.

Lemon squinted her eyes. "That makes no sense!"

Earpierce replied back by blasting a laser near her which shot on the ground beside her. Lemon just quivered back in her hiding spot.

"Decepticon no shoot Lemon Zest! Dinobot shoots you!"

Grimlock let some fire shoot out of his sword which started to blaze onto Earpierce's armor, but the only damage she received were heavy burnt marks. The flame didn't penetrate her armored plating.

"You have to do more than that dude!"

Earpierce swung her arm out and whacked Grimlock's face, throwing him on his back. Lemon Zest moved from the side and she shot Earpierce's stomach, making her groan and dig her talons down into the floor of the ship and another onto her own heart to cover her wound.

She turned her visor around to stare at Lemon. Then with her voice put through a demonic filter, she spoke.

"Earpierce superior. Lemon Zest... inferior."

Lemon's teeth turned to dagger and her head turned into flames. "THAT'S IT!"

She charged at Earpierce who replied back by using her hand and swatting her to the side, and then grabbing her with her talons and pinning her against the wall.

"I'll give you a chance to live if you can just tell me... where is the Matrix of Leadership?"

"What is your deal!? Why are you even going through all of this trouble to find it?"

"By the time I tell you... your body will be a rotting corpse."

She readied the back of her other hand to dig into her body and kill her, but she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked behind her, and her face was smashed by Grimlock's fist. Earpierce's claw let go of Lemon Zest who was going to drop to the ground, but Grimlock saved her from falling.

"Thanks for the hand Grim." Lemon grinned.

Grimlock nodded and set her back down.

"Me Grimlock think we need more help."

"But how? Blaster's out, and we can't... wait. Maybe we can! If I can get to him, I can open up his cassette compartment and get the Cassettes out! Its not much, but they can give us a fighting chance!"

Earpierce rose back up and she pointed her arm cannon at Blaster's face.

"I wouldn't suggest getting near... unless you rather want Blaster to die."

Lemon froze in place and so did Grimlock. The two of them slowly backed up, not wanting harm to come to the downed Autobot.

"Alright. Now listen up... I don't know who else is online on this ship, but if there's anyone else, then--"

Earpierce didn't finish her sentence for a wolf-like form jumped up and pounced on her back, getting her away from Blaster. Then a moment later, a metallic bull came running in and rammed Earpierce in the stomach pushing her away from hurt Autobot.

She tried to get up, but she was then shot in the legs by Chart and Vinyl's blasters. Looking back up, a falcon cassette pecked at her visor, making her groan in agony and lay back in pain.

Lemon took this opportunity and quickly ran over to Blaster. Then looking at the switches on the top, she smirked. She looked back, and she used her hands to press down on one of the switches which opened the chest compartment.

"Sic em!" Lemon yelled.

Four cassettes came flying out of Blaster's chest, and each of them transformed into the miniature warriors that they were hiding.

Soon as Earpierce got back up, she stood and looked around her. Now she was surrounded. Nine cassette warriors were standing together, a human, and a Dinobot stood around ready to fight.

She growled in anger and clashed her talons.

"You five are traitors!" She yelled at the cassettes. "I am your real master, you will obey me!"

"You're wrong. You're not our master! The only person we belong to, is her!" Chart yelled, pointing at Lemon Zest. "I don't care what the Decepticons say, we're not staying with you!"

Earpiece was about to retaliate, but Lemon Zest moved through the cassettes and stood firmly as she huffed.

"You have to get through me to get to them."

Grimlock stomped, and stood next to Lemon Zest, pounding his two fists together.

"Me too."

Earpierce was about to attack, but she listened to the sounds of angry roaring. From the doors, the rest of the Dinobots made themselves known, and they were standing in bipedal forms with angry glares.

"Me Sludge say you must go!"

"Me Snarl say too!"

Earpierce screamed in anger, and pulled out all of her guns out to ready for another fight. But before she could attack...

"Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. Decepticon, detected!"

From the ceiling, arsenals of guns and lasers equipped out and pointed at Earpierce. Catching her off guard, a pair of moveable arms slided out and tried to grab her and hold her in place. Earpierce just swatted at them like flies and ran right past them, shoving the Dinobots out of the way.

"Seal the doors!" Swoop cried.

"Sealing the doors."

Everyone waited for a moment for a sound, anything that would alert them. Nothing.

"I... wait. Where am I? What has happened..." The voice of the ship stopped sounding monotone, and now everyone was hearing an actual voice, like the entire ship was a human being.

"Wait, this ship is alive?" Lemon asked.

The Dinobots nodded.

"This no ship..." Snarl replied. "Is Autobot."

Lemon's eyes widened. "This entire ship... is an Autobot?"

The Dinobots nodded.

"But, if this entire ship is an Autobot itself, why hasn't he talked to us?"

"Ship not online for years. After battle in war, Autobot was shut down to transport ship after great battle." Grimlock replied.

"Whoa... well, wait, how's he online now?"

"The Allspark fragments. Fell into spark chamber, now Autobot live again!" Swoop cried.

"I... I don't remember. Grimlock... where am I now?"

"Autobot on Earth! Now Autobots need help, must rescue friends!" Grimlock called.

"I... I can't move."

"Dinobots help you!" Slag said as he sat down in a control chair.

Lemon watched as the Dinobots all took seats in control chairs, but as she turned around she let out a gasp as she only now noticed what had appeared.

"Babies?" Lemon whimpered.

Earpierce's former Cassettes looked at Lemon with happy looks and a few tears of golden liquid formed in their eyes. A big grin formed on Lemon's face as she rushed to them and held them all close to her in a big hug.

"My babies! They're okay!" Lemon cried with happiness. "Its okay... I'm making sure that big meanie never hurts you again..."

The Cassettes were surprised at first, but they found themselves relaxing and eventually giving themselves hugs to Lemon Zest who cried in pure joy. It felt good to be back with the girl they really knew.

The Dinobots let out little chuckles as they watched Lemon hug them. It was adorable to see her giving them such affection.

"Dinobots... lets take off!" Grimlock ordered as his hands gripped the main controls.

The ship began to rumble and shake from the power boosting up, and soon, it slowly began to pull out from the dirt it had dug into, leaving the smudge made from the ship's front. As soon as it was out, it began to go straight up while standing straight, pushing the water out of its way until finally it was completely hovering right above the sea.

"Where do we go now?" Swoop asked.

"We must find Shadowbolts." Grimlock said, adjusting controls.

"... What are Shadowbolts?"

"Dinobots explain on way. Lets go!" Snarl yelled.

The ship's primary boosters let out exhaust flame, and the ship boomed as it flew above the sea slowly going up into the sky and into the clouds. Now that they were back in action, they had to move fast.

From the water, Earpierce slowly rose her head out and watched as they left. She could only growl in anger and frustration from her failure. She tapped the side of her head and into a comlink.

"Rush. Hypermind. Tremors. I have something you may want to know. I think its time we commence Operation: Bargaining. Those Dinobots and my human counterpart have taken off again..." Earpierce spoke.

Back on the city of Scorponok, the Shadowcon Surge was busy away in a weapons cache, looking for what new weapons for her to use against the enemy. They needed to get stronger with weapons.

"Heh, stupid Shadowbolts. They won't last very long against us. Do they even think--"

The power within the room out of nowhere shut down, making it pitch black as night, impossible to even see.

"Uh... Hello? Can someone turn on the light? Eh, who cares? I can see."

A bright red light flashed on in the room, activating as an emergency light in case the power went out. And as she turned around, she felt a chill go down her spine, accompanied by the whisper of a cold voice.

Hear me.... hear me...

Surge pulled out her gun and snarled.

"Who's there!? Laserbeak, if you're trying to prank me, it isn't going to work! I will scrap you if you do! I don't care what Soundwave says!"

"Laserbeak isn't here right now, Shadowcon." A whispering voice spoke.

"Who was that!?"

Surge turned her head side to side, and to the front and behind her, there was no one there and no one to be seen.

"I'm surprised you don't recognize me Surge... I thought you would recognize me already..."

Surge turned around to the front door to see if someone was there.

Nothing. Not a soul.

Then suddenly, she felt a huge shot in her stomach like someone had punched her, then a hard kick into her back, and she felt her entire body growing cold.

She dropped to her hands and knees breathing hard, and she looked up and around again to see who was near. Still no one. Who was that?

"I'll return soon enough my dear Surge... and I will return to my glory once again. And when I do... You'll be mine..."

Surge didn't see anyone around, and she slowly pulled herself on her feet. Who was it that attacked her?