//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Friendship is Prime // by Gammerick //------------------------------// Bulkhead opened his eyes and realized he was lying on his back. "Ugh, where am I?" he asked himself as his vision was coming back into focus. "I think he's finally waking up," sneered a familiar voice. Bulkhead sat up and looked around to find himself back in the Autobot base. He saw his other teammates all standing over him with warm smiles on their faces. "What happened?" Bulkhead asked in confusion. "You don't remember?" Ratchet inquired. "Actually no, I don't remember," Bulkhead said as he held his hand to his head. "Just a big white light, and now I'm here with you guys. I feel like I was doing something important." "Important is an understatement," Arcee responded. "You just helped us win the war against the Cons once and for all!" "Wait, what?" Bulkhead shrieked in surprise. "You must have been hit pretty hard," Ratchet picked up where Arcee left off. "Optimus and Megatron were in the heat of battle, locked in ferocious combat. The tide turned in Megatron's favor when he had Optimus pinned. His spark would have been extinguished if not for your bravery. You singlehandedly plowed through 20 Vehicon soldiers and managed to land a solid blow on Megatron's face." "Wow," Bulkhead said in amazement. "I feel like I would have remembered something like that." "Well, Megatron recovered pretty quickly," Arcee continued the story. "He managed to shoot you with a direct hit from his fusion cannon, which knocked you out. But you gave Optimus the inspiration and the opportunity to go at Megatron with unrelenting force! It wasn't easy, but Optimus finally put Megatron down for good. Without their leader, the rest of the Cons surrendered and agreed to leave the planet in peace." "I could not have achieved such a momentous victory without your assistance, Bulkhead." Optimus finally spoke up. "Both the citizens of earth and I owe you a great amount of thanks." "I don't know what to say," Bulkhead uttered softly. "I can't think of how this could get any better." As if right on cue, Miko, Jack, and Raf came in with excited expressions. "Hey Bulk!" Miko rang happily. "I got us two tickets to the open-lot Slash Monkey concert tonight. Get ready to rock out like never before!" "Wait, you got ME a ticket? Won't I stick out of the crowd, being a 40 foot tall robot and all?" "What's with him?" Jack asked as the three kids looked to the other Autobots for answers. "He just got hit really hard is all," Arcee answered. "He's fine, but he doesn't remember the big battle." "Good thing I've got pictures," Miko responded as she pulled out her cell phone and began showing an entire slideshow of photos to Bulkhead." "The fight with the Decepticons was huge, and unfortunately it ended up being dragged into the city," Ratchet monologued as Miko showed Bulkhead pictures of Decepticons attacking the city. "Fortunately, we were there to prevent casualties." The phone then shifted to pictures of Bulkhead rescuing civilians and fending off Decepticon soldiers. "The whole incident was too public to try and cover up, but the citizens were so grateful that they vouched for us at the public conference that would determine our fate. As such, the President himself decreed that Autobots were free to walk the earth as full citizens with equal rights." Miko then showed Bulkhead a picture of the president pinning a medal on Bulkhead (or rather his foot, since that was all that could fit on screen.). "That's amazing!" Bulkhead exclaimed. "Man, I wish I could remember how awesome that must have felt." "Don't worry about it," Jack answered. "Just go out and enjoy yourself tonight. You've earned it." "Ready to go?" Miko asked eagerly. Bulkhead transformed into a large green SUV and opened his passenger side door. "Hop in!" Bulkhead answered. As soon as Miko was buckled up, the two left the base, with Bulkhead's radio blaring full-blast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the concert raged on into the night, it was quite a spectacle to behold. The platform the band was performing on was surrounded by hundreds of cheering fans, the ferocious heavy metal music blaring loudly from the amplifiers. It would seem like a regular concert if not for one particular fan that literally towered over everyone else. The audience seemed to pay Bulkhead no mind however. That was fine, since he was there to rock out like the rest of them. "This is my favorite song!" Bulkhead cheered aloud as he banged his head to the beat of the music. "Tell me about it!" Miko cried out as she rocked along with her partner. Suddenly Bulkhead felt a sharp pain searing through his mind. He momentarily lost his balance as an image of a small orange creature flashed through his head. "You okay Bulk?" Miko asked in concern. "Yeah," Bulkhead muttered as he held a hand to his head. "It just feels like I'm trying to remember something." "It's probably nothing," Miko nudged her partner on his giant foot. "Come on, you're missing out on a great concert!" "I couldn't agree more!" cried a voice with a southern accent from seemingly nowhere. Bulkhead turned to see a small gray pony in a cowboy hat standing directly behind them. "I don't know what kind of music they're playing, but it sounds amazing!" She cried out happily. "Applejack?" Bulkhead exclaimed in surprise. "What are you- wait, how do I know you?" At once, the memories came flooding back into Bulkhead's brain. He saw images of him and Applejack flashing through his mind, from their meat up at the base to their attempt to find the Elements of Harmony. "Right, now I remember. I'm still on a mission!" Bulkhead exclaimed as his surroundings grew suspiciously quiet. He looked around to see all of the humans had vanished. Only he and Applejack remained. "Hey, where did everybody"- but before he could finish his question, Bulkhead felt a sharp blow to his back that sent him flying forward. After recovering from the attack, he quickly got up and faced his attacker. He was shocked to see Arcee standing there in a fighting stance, ready to attack Bulkhead again. "What the heck is going on?" Bulkhead exclaimed. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" "You really need to learn to relax, Bulkhead." Arcee said sternly. Bulkhead noticed her normally pale blue eyes were now a piercing red. "I concur," Ratchet's voice rang from behind Bulkhead. "As your doctor, I highly recommend you just forget about your troubles and just enjoy yourself." Ratchet's eyes' were also the same red glare as Arcee's. Bulkhead looked to his left and right and found Optimus and Bumblebee also surrounding him, both with red eyes as well. "Oh scrap," Bulkhead quietly muttered to himself. Arcee made another flying kick towards Bulkhead, but this time he grabbed her leg and tossed her aside. He was quickly ambushed by an attack from Bumblebee. Bumblebee threw a few quick jabs at Bulkhead, but he still managed to use his arms to guard against the strikes. He gave Bumblebee a hard punch that sent him flying. Bulkhead turned just in time to see Ratchet coming at him with his arm blades. As Ratchet struck down with his blades, Bulkhead managed to grab them both. He quickly used his foot to kick Ratchet square in the gut and send him reeling back. Bulkhead was then hit straight in the jaw with a fierce punch from Optimus that sent him spiraling to the ground. Bulkhead lifted his head up to see that he had landed next to Applejack. "Come on Bulkhead," Applejack beseeched him. "Why don't you just forget about your problems and go back to enjoying that concert of yours. You seemed really happy." "I'd listen to her if I were you," Arcee threatened as she began to approach Bulkhead. "But it wasn't real, none of this is," Bulkhead answered. "Aw shucks, this is better than the truth isn't it?" Applejack tempted. "No fightin', no hidin'; it's everything you ever wanted!" "Listen, Applejack," Bulkhead responded. "I know sometimes the truth isn't pretty, but you can't just hide from it and expect everything to be okay. Sometimes, when things get tough, you just have to get tougher!" Applejack seemed to give Bulkhead's words heavy consideration as Bulkhead quickly stood up again to take on the 'images' of his friends once more. Arcee and Bulmblebee quickly pulled out their blasters and started unleashing a barrage of numerous energy blasts at Bulkhead. Bulkhead was slightly knocked back by the constant pelting, but once he got a firm footing, he quickly recovered and charged forward. Arcee and Bumblebee kept firing, but Bulkhead seemed to just plow right through. Bulkhead reached the two of them and used both of his fists to hit each of them at the same time. Optimus came charging at him with another punch, but Bulkhead was able to dodge this time and land a clean blow across Optimus's face. Optimus quickly recovered however and returned the attack in kind. Bulkhead was taken back a bit, but he was still able to stand and keep going. He made a running charge toward Optimus and threw his entire weight into his opponent. The massive force from the blow sent Optimus flying back quite a distance. "But, what about you and your friends?" Applejack inquired. "You can just hang out and rock on all day. Don't you want that?" "My real friends are trying to save the world right now, and they probably need our help," Bulkhead retorted. "Are you telling me you can just stay here all day and not care what happens to your friends? Can you honestly turn your back on them after everything you've been through!?" "My…friends?" Applejack asked faintly as Bulkhead's words finally seemed to start getting through to her. She thought of her 5 other companions as memories began seeping into her mind. Just then Bulkhead was sideswiped by a blow from Ratchet. It sent Bulkhead reeling back in shock, and he was about to counterattack when suddenly Arcee delivered another flying kick to his backside. The blow had Bulkhead sprawling forward. He tried to keep himself upright when Bumblebee appeared and delivered a quick series of jabs and punches. Bulkhead was too worn down to block as each blow continued to drain his stamina. Bulkhead finally collapsed and fell to the ground in exhaustion. Optimus was directly overhead him, as he turned his hand into a blaster and took aim. "Now you wait just one darn minute!" cried a small voice that became surprisingly fierce. Optimus turned to see he was being addressed by Applejack, whose coat had regained its former orange color. "You aren't gonna lay another digit on him, got that?" Applejack ordered fiercely. "Oh really?" Arcee challenged Applejack as she aimed her own blaster at her. "And why's that?" "Because I know what's going on now." Applejack answered. "I was so scared of facing the truth when it would hurt someone. So I started to try and cover it up with lies. I even lied to myself. But no more! I'm facing the truth head on! And the truth is that you guys ain't nothing more than my own made up lies. So give me my element back, and scramble on out of here before I get REALLY mad!" Arcee gave Applejack an intimidating glare, to which Applejack refused to budge a single inch. "Very well," Arcee answered. She retracted her blaster and lowered her clenched fist to Applejack. She opened up her hand to reveal the Element of Honesty. "Now that's more like it," Applejack said to herself as she reached for her necklace and grabbed the element. As she touched her necklace, it let out another intense white light that bathed the entire area in a blinding flash. As soon as the flash receded, Applejack and Bulkhead found themselves in the mountainous area they were in before. Applejack and her element were now fully restored to their original colors. "Now THAT'S how a Wrecker does things," Bulkhead congratulated Applejack proudly with a thumbs up. Just then a huge boulder on the mountain above them started to give way. It started falling and was heading right towards them! Bulkhead took a protective stance over Applejack, but his own safety was not guaranteed. Then almost out of nowhere a missile was fired and sped toward the boulder. It smashed the boulder with a small explosion. The debris still fell over Bulkhead, but the pieces were too small to do any damage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Near the bottom of the mountain Breakdown stood facing the top, the missile launcher on his shoulder still smoking from a freshly fired shot. "Guess we're even now, Bulkhead," He said to himself as he alluded to events that take place outside this story. He transformed into a blue all-road vehicle and drove away without so much as a word. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What the heck was that about?" Applejack asked in concern. "I don't know," Bulkhead replied as he looked around to try and find the one who fired the missile. "But someone just saved us big time." "I'd sure like to know who to thank for that one." Applejack sighed with relief. "Me too," Bulkhead said quietly to himself. "Come on. Let's get back to base."