Planet Cup Third Leg
The skies over southern Cambodia were quiet for the most part… even considering the massive sleek fighter flying high over the Cardamom Mountains in the clouds.
“Now what have we here?” the pilot smirked as he looked at the small screen in his cockpit and saw a group of familiar-looking mech-units drilling into a certain ridge of the mountains. And a rather aggressive-looking man in a blue-and-red suit commanding them. “Out for the fresh air, Sebastian?”
Quickly regaining seriousness, the pilot turned on the coms. “Pit, this is Ghost Rider; Phantom-4. I got eyes on what looks like a Cobra dig site at those coordinates you gave me.”
“Copy, Ghost Rider. Any indication of what they’re digging for?” asked Cover Girl.
“Negative; definitely some sort of Cybertronian weapon, but I can’t tell what it is from here.” Ghost Rider countered, adjusting his red scarf as he flew.
“Alright, get all the recon photos you can and return to base.” Cover Girl ordered.
“Copy, Pit; reconning site and will RTB.” Ghost Rider noted and swiftly did as he was ordered, snapping as many recon photos as he could before he swiftly bugged out.
What he didn’t know was that his presence had been picked up on the surface. “Definitely a Joe aircraft, Major.” the soldier reported as he lowered his binoculars. “Sure we shouldn’t have engaged?”
“Someone was gonna find out about this site sooner or later anyway.” the major sneered with a powerful Australian accent. “Just count yerself lucky it was the Joes and not the Cons.”
“All respect Major Bludd, but how would the Decepticons be worse than the Joes?” asked the soldier.
“If the Joes catch us, they’ll lock us up.” Major Bludd pointed out. “If the Decepticons catch us, they’ll vaporize us. You do the math.”
The soldier paled a bit and nodded. “Understood, Major.” He returned to his work with that and allowed Major Bludd to walk to Destro’s side.
“Did ya really have to scare the lad like that, Sebastian?” Destro asked with a smirk on his metal face. “He’s only been with us a month.”
“Then he shoulda got the picture about this sooner.” Major Bludd countered.
“Aye. From what I heard, Black Out got an earful from the Commander back at base.” Destro smirked.
“Shocker,” Bludd remarked.
Suddenly one of the mechs moved from the digging site to look at the officers. “Destro! Major! We hit something!”
“Let’s see it, boys!” Destro smiled as he and Bludd dashed over to the pit… and were more than a bit surprised by what they saw. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Velocitron thrummed with life as the racers prepared for the third leg of the Planet Cup. Override opened her garage, ready to roll again… only to see Sideswipe parked outside her bay again. “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that,” she remarked bitterly.
“Now where have I heard that before?” Sideswipe smirked, remembering exactly where; the second time he’d tried racing Override, back before the war.
“If you’re just gonna pester me like that until the end of the race, you might as well save your air intake.” Override rolled her optics as she transformed, her avatar projected in the cabin as she revved her engine.
Sideswipe quickly projected his own avatar and slipped next to her car. “What’s her name?”
Override sighed; she’d been proven over and over that while she may not have understood this war Sideswipe went to fight in, the Autobots were at least fair sports. But that didn’t mean she forgave him for leaving her. “Prove to me that the war was worth leaving and maybe I’ll tell you.” She revved away to the line with that.
“Terms accepted.” Sideswipe nodded as his avatar deactivated and he transformed, walking back to the garage where the others were getting ready. “All set to ride, guys?”
“Good to go, Sideswipe.” Rainbow nodded; she’d been training in deep sand pits for this leg of the race since she’d heard it was always an offroad leg. She hadn’t admitted this to anyone, but she was a bit nervous about this leg; she’d only really raced offroad in motocross, including for the Friendship Games and while the medics had optimized her car for maximum ground clearance and torque, she wasn’t sure she could keep up with Dirt Boss.
“Alright, good luck out there, kid.” Sideswipe nodded. Sunset was somewhat relieved to be disqualified from the race, since it gave her more time to consider what Chromia had told her after the last leg; if Cityspeakers could communicate with the Titans, then she had to wonder if she was a Cityspeaker for hearing that voice in her mind. She hadn’t told anyone about it but was worried.
Soon enough, the blocks were filled and the racers were ready. “This is it!” the announcer bellowed. “The third leg of the Planet Cup is about to begin, and what a race it’s shaping up to be! Blurr, Override, Dirt Boss, Retrofit, Hot Rod, Dragstrip, Crumplezone, Ransack, and Rainbow Dash; the only racer left from this new hot-shot organic team! Excellent racers all, but only one can win! Who wants it more, the old favorites or the brash newcomers? You’re just gonna have to watch to find out!”
“Alright Rainbow, this is it.” Twilight smiled to her friend next to her car. “Remember what we practiced and keep your eyes open.”
“You got this, Dash, but remember; this ain’t just about speed, it’s endurance too.” Applejack reminded.
“Relax girls, I got this in the bag,” Rainbow smirked as she climbed into her car. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Famous last words,” Applejack remarked as she and Twilight walked away.
(Eurobeat Intensifies)
“Clear the blocks, pit crews!” Roadhandler bellowed as the start line was emptied. “RACERS! START! YOUR! ENGINES!!!” The blocks roared as the racers all revved their vehicles to life, the red light blinking to life. They went yellow and the whole crowd could feel the anticipation. Then the flare dropped and burst green, sending all the racers shooting out of the blocks like bullets, swiftly leaving the tarmac behind for the sands of what was apparently called the Diablo Desert.
Rainbow took an early lead, but it didn’t last long as a sensor on her dashboard started beeping. “Gah, barely any traction!” she groaned, her wheels spinning in the sand.
“Remember what we practiced, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight reminded swiftly. “Ease off the throttle!”
“Trying my best here, but I have to win this!” Rainbow growled as she drove onward… suddenly spotting something on the track ahead of her. “Uh… what’s that up ahead?”
“The Quicksilver Dunes; quicksand.” Hot Rod explained quickly, watching the sand dunes ahead writhe around large vortexes of quicksand. “You lose your line near one of those pits, you’re history.”
“Least you’re doin’ better than those idiots,” Dragstrip remarked, pointing behind him at Ransack and Crumplezone trying to dig their vehicles out of the sand.
“Man, you really don’t like those guys, do you?” Rainbow remarked.
“Neither does nature, apparently. It’s not my fault they drove straight into a sandstorm.” Dragstrip shrugged.
“Isn’t it, though?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but Dragstrip just ignored her and raced onward, bobbing and weaving between the quicksand pits behind Dirt Boss and the other two leaders. Considering Dirt Boss’s experience with offroad driving, it didn’t really surprise any of the Autobots that he was in the lead relatively quickly. “Gah, no time for agility; I got the need for speed!” With that in mind, Rainbow slammed on her thrusters and shot straight across the desert toward the lip of one of the quicksand pits.
“She’s not doin’ what I think she’s doin’, is she?” Spike asked seriously.
“Pretty sure she is.” Twilight nodded. “Hoist!”
“Way ahead of ya!” the tow truck nodded as he transformed and roared out onto the track. But it didn’t look like he would be needed as Rainbow hit the lip of the first pit and leaped well over it and three others… before she landed nearly square in the center of the fifth pit.
“Gah, aw man, I thought I was in the clear!” Rainbow groaned and transformed, but she just started sinking faster. “Ah, no use; I’m stuck! Someone help!”
“Help’s at hand, kiddo!” Retrofit assured as he roared over and transformed, reaching down to her. “Grab my hand!”
“Gah, I can’t reach!” Rainbow strained as she tried.
“Lemme lend a hand too!” Hot Rod smirked as he raced over and grabbed Retrofit by his ankles. “I’ll sling you over and give you more range!”
“No, that could get them both stuck.” Hoist warned over the coms as he rumbled onward. “Just hang tight; I’m almost there.”
“I don’t think you’re gonna make it in time, Hoist!” Rainbow remarked; she was already up to her knees in the quicksand. “Looks like it’s on you, Hot Rod! You’ve gotta win the race for us!”
“No way; I’m not ditching you like this!” Hot Rod assured.
Retrofit suddenly got an idea and fiddled with something on his back, before he threw a long black line down into the pit. “Grab the line!” he called.
Rainbow was surprised, but gladly grabbed on. “Okay, go!”
“Burn rubber, son!” Retrofit called to Hot Rod, who quickly transformed and let Retrofit climb onto his back before he floored it, the two bots combined pulling hard to drag Rainbow out of the quicksand.
Twilight was worried; if this went wrong, the Autobots would be out of the race altogether and either way, they were sitting ducks. And she saw just how right she was in short order. “Retrofit, nine o’clock!” she called over the coms.
The old racer looked just in time to see Dirt Boss aiming his cannons at the three in the sand trap. “You’re both outta the race!” he roared and fired two large blasts at them… and they nearly connected before Hoist leaped in and deflected the blasts with his towbar and leveled a bright yellow round hand cannon at him.
“You first!” the medic smirked and blasted Dirt Boss right in the chestplate, knocking him down just as Rainbow was hauled from the sandpit.
“You okay, kid?” Retrofit groaned in exhaustion.
Rainbow groaned as she stood up, her hip joints scraping as she moved. “Guh, aside from the mother of all sand wedgies, yeah,” she remarked, really hating that she had to feel pain from her bot-form in her organic body.
“A little help here?” Hoist called as he used what limited hand-to-hand skills he could to fight off Dirt Boss as he swung at him… but quickly his attention drifted elsewhere when he heard two loud engines closing in.
“What?!” he snarled as he saw Override and Blurr roar past. “OVERRIDE!!!” he roared and transformed, racing after the two racers. “Thought you could leave me in the dust, huh? This is my turf! No one does offroad like Dirt Boss!”
“We’ll see about that!” Override smirked as she deployed crampons on her tires and fired her thrusters, with Blurr racing close behind on his own nitro kick as they shot past Dirt Boss.
Naturally, Dirt Boss didn’t take that well and transformed before he leaped onto Override and started punching at her cockpit, but it barely even scratched her. “That the best you’ve got?” she smirked… before Dirt Boss was suddenly shot off her roof and sent tumbling into the sand ahead of Override. “What the-?!” She looked off to the distance and saw a bright red sniper rifle peaking out from the distance. Override couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of that rifle as she raced onward.
Sideswipe saw the rifle too and smirked just like Override, as he knew who that sharpshooter probably was. But he was more focused on how Override transformed and slammed the tire on her thigh against Dirt Boss’s face, burning rubber against his faceplate. “Ha-ha, that’s my girl!” Sideswipe laughed.
“I see why you fell for her so hard,” Ironhide smirked.
Not far from the site of Override beating down Dirt Boss, Ransack and Crumplezone saw their “friend” was in trouble and started firing, but Override leaped clear and drove off before any of their shots connected… leaving them to connect with Dirt Boss’s face, which only ticked him off more as he returned fire.
“Okay, you just set yourselves up for that one!” Dragstrip remarked to the two goons as he shot past Dirt Boss as he kept blasting at Ransack and Crumplezone until they hit him in the shins and sent him tumbling into a quicksand pit.
Quickly they transformed and looked down at him as he struggled for freedom. “Help me! Get me out of here!” he called.
“First he shoots at us, now he wants our help; make up your mind, man,” Crumplezone remarked in annoyance.
“I say we let him rust here!” Ransack smirked and the two goons drove away after the other racers.
(Cut it)
Further ahead, Rainbow and the others were still driving with Hoist now close behind just in case… and it looked like he’d be needed fairly soon as he saw Retrofit riding a bit rough. “You okay, old-timer?” Hot Rod smirked. “You’re not usually this slow when you race.”
“Just tired is all. Go ahead without me.” Retrofit assured.
Rainbow was less sure as she checked the diagnostic link to Retrofit’s systems Twilight had set up, and what she saw alarmed her. “Retrofit… what was that thing you threw me in the quicksand?”
“Don’t remember.” the old bot shrugged.
The diagnostics said otherwise. “It was your cooling belt, wasn’t it? You’re burning up!” She was right; the diagnostic feed showed a distinct lack of a cooling belt in Retrofit’s engine, which was running exponentially hotter than it should have.
Suddenly something popped and Retrofit skidded off to the side, nearly hitting Hoist as he spun out. “Retrofit!” Hot Rod called as he and Rainbow slid to a stop and raced back to his side as Hoist examined him.
“Is he okay?” asked Rainbow.
“As okay as he can be after driving about eight miles through a desert with a bad cooling system.” Hoist shrugged. “What could’ve possessed you to do that, Retrofit?”
“When I was in danger, Rainbow Dash here didn’t think twice before she leaped in.” Retrofit pointed out. “Why shouldn’t I do the same?”
“Because you’re a much older bot. Damage gets more severe with age; you know that.” Hoist pointed out.
“Cmon uncle, let’s get you back in that race.” Hot Rod smirked.
“Forget me; this race is all yours.” Retrofit groaned as he stood up and tried to walk away… but stumbled into the sand.
“I’ll strap you to my back and carry you across the line if I have to,” Rainbow said with conviction the girls weren’t used to.
“I don’t think you’ll have time,” Bumblebee called over the coms. “The others are almost on top of you.” Rainbow looked and indeed saw the telltale dust clouds of approaching racers.
“This race isn’t just for adrenaline or fun, Rainbow.” Hoist reminded. “This is about the fate of the universe. You know as well as the rest of us that if the Decepticons get their hands on that Galaxy Key, that’ll just make our job that much harder.” Rainbow groaned, knowing Hoist was right.
“Today isn’t where first place really counts, but if you two don’t get goin’ and qualify now, you’re outta here.” Retrofit reminded. “And you can’t do that draggin’ an old hunk of junk like me along with ya.”
“I’ll get him back to the pits in one piece so Ratchet and I can have a look at him.” Hoist assured. “I just hope to see you there.”
Rainbow sighed and nodded. “Alright, see ya there. I owe you one for this, Retrofit.”
The old bot just chuckled. “Way I see it, I owed you one. Let’s just say we’re even; now git!” Rainbow smirked as she and Hot Rod transformed and raced off toward the finish line.
“You really okay with this, Retrofit?” Hoist asked as he and the old bot transformed back to vehicle mode.
“Ah well, there’ll be other races, I guess.” Retrofit shrugged as Hoist winched him up on the towbar. “And next time, baby, I’m comin’ in first! Whoo-hee!”
“We’ll make sure of that, old-timer.” Hoist smiled as they rumbled onward.
At the line, it was Override with Blurr a close second. Dragstrip came in close behind with Ransack and Crumplezone right on his tail, and finally Rainbow and Hot Rod, all of whom rumbled into the pits. “Well, second to last is better than nothin’. Sorry, Hot Rod.” Rainbow shrugged.
“Don’t be. It’s just been fun to race out there.” Hot Rod smirked as he transformed and walked over to Clocker. “Sorry about Retrofit, Clocker.”
“It’s okay; I’m used to him thinking with his Spark.” Clocker smiled.
“Is he gonna be okay, Ratchet?” asked Rainbow.
“Hoist and I are the best medics the Autobots have to offer,” Ratchet assured. “He’ll be better than new, promise.”
“That’s good to hear.” Override noted from the door, surprising the group again. “Retrofit’s a good bot; taught me a lot when I was starting out.”
“I remember you talking about that.” Sideswipe nodded.
“What? He never told me that.” Clocker remarked in surprise.
“I asked him not to. Didn’t want it getting around that I learned some of my best tricks from an old nitrous farmer.” Override smiled. “You know how he is.”
“All too well.” Hot Rod nodded. “Well, guess all there is to say is good luck in the next leg.”
“You too.” Override nodded as she stepped over toward her pit.
Sideswipe waited until no one was looking and walked out after her. “I’ve got a bit more to say if you don’t mind.”
Override narrowed her optics at Sideswipe, but he could tell she was just putting on a face. “Depends what that bit is.”
“I saw the rifle,” Sideswipe said simply. “So what is her name?”
Override didn’t seem that surprised but was still fairly hesitant as she didn’t want to let that secret slip. But with everything she’d seen so far, she decided she might as well tell him as she walked into her garage. “Stormchaser.” With that, she slammed the door shut and left Sideswipe leaning against the wall.
“Stormchaser…” he smiled to himself. “Pretty name.” He didn’t notice Sunset had been spying on him as he walked back to the Autobots’ pit, but she had a pretty good idea of what was going on here now.
On the Nemesis, Megatron had just seen the events of this race from Ratbat’s feed and he was quite displeased. “Once again, Motormaster, your soldiers have disappointed me.” he snarled to his general over the communication link.
“There’s still one more race to go, Lord Megatron,” Motormaster assured. “And make no mistake, if Dragstrip doesn’t win that one, he’ll answer to us both.”
“I intend to make sure of that.” Megatron nodded as the com channel terminated. “Soundwave, prepare the SpaceBridge. I will attend to this personally.”
“Yes, Lord Megatron.” Soundwave nodded and activated the SpaceBridge just as Megatron approached the rig… along with a truly massive troop of Vehicon soldiers, no doubt ready to lay waste to any who got in their way when they arrived on Velocitron.
