13 - Relic

“Where did those two go off to in such a rush?” Hotshot remarked.
Elder Andromeda’s almond shaped eyes glowed purple, and she gasped as she saw what Optimus and his brother intended to do.
“They have found the Light bearer!” She cried. The transformers looked at her in surprise, and she continued, “And they are going to fight her!”
“Why?” Medivo asked.
“The Light Bearer has been with the New Ones for a long time,” The small elder answered softly, “And now Optimus tends to show us what who the true Light Bearer is … ”

***

Magnus soon caught up to Optimus, but was not prepared to find the figure of Elita there. Magnus growled and stepped forward, but Optimus held his arm out to block him. Magnus was a little surprised, but then openly shocked to see the look in his brother’s optics. They were glowing brighter than he had ever seen them, and alight with the fire of rage.
“Magnus,” He growled, “this is my fight.”
Magnus nodded, and drew back. “I’ll watch over here,” He motioned to the area along the ledge. Optimus gave no sigh of an answer, so Magnus went anyway.
“Aww,” Elita cooed, putting a hand up to her face, “Such a cute display! But you wont save him this time!”
Optimus crouched, and glowed a sparkling black. His cloak whipped out as he jumped up, using his element to make him go higher. He leapt over Elita, who turned around as Optimus landed on a stone opposite her.
“You will not hurt anyone else, Elita.” He growled, “I wont let you go anywhere near my brother!”
Elita laughed. “It says in the old legends that Dark and Light are equals in power.” She smirked at him, and pulled out the hilt of a sword. Optimus mimicked her. “Why don’t we test that theory!”
She launched herself into the air, bringing her now white energy sword down in a slash. A black sword came to meet her. The two had put their energies to form the blades of their swords.
Optimus then spun around and aimed a slash at her torso. She blocked this move too and managed to kick his side. He stumbled, but brought his sword up and slashed her chest. She cried out in pain and anger and vented it out by swinging her foot under him, tripping him up and sending him over the edge of their floating arena. As Optimus fell, he noticed that they were on a volcano for the first time, and that he was falling to his doom …
Suddenly, he stopped. At first he didn’t have a clue what was going on, but an indigo aura surrounded his form. He looked over to the ledge and saw his brother also glowing. He smirked and winked at him, moving his arm up and Optimus did the same. He used his Psychic element to save him. Elita screamed and whipped out her gun, shooting at Magnus. He merely raised a shield around himself and laughed at her in a ‘nana na’ way.
She didn’t prepare herself for Optimus cannoning into her either. She used her element to stay afloat, and glared at her opponent, who looked furious.
“I told you not to hurt my brother!” He roared at her, but she laughed at him.
“And who are you to stop me?” She whispered, as the two locked in a stale mate with their swords, “in case you didn’t know, Psychic is weak against Light!”
And she kicked Optimus in the gut, intending to shoot a bolt of light at the red bot below, but never got the chance as Optimus fired a blast of dark energy right at her. She flew across the arena, but shot a blast of light at him as he let loose a blast of darkness. They collided, and the blast it let off shook the entire place.
Magnus gasped as the two wielders flew at each other. The battle was heating up and that last blast had set the volcano off. Lava below bubbled and shot up in jets. It didn’t reach the floating stones above, but it came close. Magnus remembered Elita, and it was a bad memory at that. She had been their friend, but before the end of the war she betrayed them and went over to Megatron’s side. In the process, she had almost killed Magnus, who had gone on a rage and tried to attack her when he found out, but to no avail. She was far better than he was at the time, and cleaned him up good. Magnus had come back to the base, beaten and broken, and had told his brother what had happened. Optimus took this hard, and vowed revenge.
Magnus looked up and watched on as the two fought.
This battle is no use, Optimus thought angrily as he blocked another slash from her with his sword. The energies crackled. We’re evenly matched! Wait …
He looked at the middle of her chest where something caught his optic. There was a hole there, almost like …
She was implanted with the element, and not destined to have it!
He punched her there, and she cried out in pain. That’s it!
“Your no wielder!” He shouted, “You stole the Cloak!”
She snarled at him, and then noticed that the only way he was being kept afloat was because his brother was using his power to help. She smiled darkly; it was too good to lose …
She slashed his side with her sword, and faster than Optimus could see; she shot a huge bolt of light straight at Magnus! His optics widened as he formed his shield, but to no affect as the elemental blast ripped though him. He screamed in pain and was thrown back to the wall. He bounced off it and fell to the ground with a crash. He was unconscious.
“Magnus!” Optimus shouted. He didn’t answer.
“See?” Elita said, looking at the prone form of the red and black Psychic wielder. “He was always weak – huh?” She noticed Optimus’s colours; they were darkening!
She floated backwards a bit; this wasn’t in the legends!
She flew back, and his form darkened even more. The red became black, the silver became black and the blue became black. The lines became green, and his optics red.
The leader’s optics glowed crimson, and he roared, the lava shooting up to show that Nemesis Prime was now in the house. Elita’s mouth was agape, how had he summoned his dark form?!
The black prime flew at her like a bird from hell. She was too shocked in awe and fear when Nemesis’s fist slammed into her chest. The force of it made her gasp and her systems crumple, but it also …
It shot a ball of white light out of her body. It was the Cloak! He had knocked it right out of her!
He continued to belt the femme, who was now defenceless.
Magnus regained consciousness. He slowly lifted himself up as a cling sounded above him. He looked up, and a ball like thing fell on his head and rolled on the ground. Cursing it, he looked at it as it stopped. It glowed white and was bright with warmth. Magnus grew comforted by it, and crawled over to it. Picking it up, he held it in his hands, and the glow seemed to brighten.
“What is this thing?” He wondered aloud, forgetting the battle for a moment, then, the ball suddenly flared with a brilliant light, causing Magnus to look away.
Above him, Nemesis stopped his assault on Elita when he saw the light. He screamed in pain and then reverted back to his normal self. The darkness of his form could not stand the light of the other half.
“Magnus?!” he gasped. He couldn’t be!
It was then that Magnus realised that he was no longer the Wielder of Psychic. He stood up opening his arms as he did and felt the element he used to have leave him. The indigo cloak crumpled behind him as the ball of white light floated up to him. The patch of indigo on his shoulder also disappeared and Magnus closed his optics. The ball entered his body as a brilliant blast of light illuminated the room. Optimus shielded himself, but looked again when it died. Magnus was floating upwards, with a shimmering white cloak floating behind him; his old cloak in his hands.
“No!”
The two brothers looked down. Elita, battered and bruised, raised her gun at the new wielder; rage spilling from her optics in rivers.
Magnus smiled, or smirked, Optimus couldn’t tell. He moved his arm to point at her and flattened his palm. A ball of light formed in it, and shot towards the beaten femme. She screamed as she was vaporised by her own element, and crumbled to the ground in ashes. Optimus had heard her cry out ‘I shall return!’ but he knew she would never be back.
Magnus flew over and landed on the ground beside Optimus, a smile on his face.
“Check it out!” he said, excited. “I was right after all!”
“About what?” Optimus said, also happy.
“Don’t you remember?” He said, tapping his brother’s cranium. “Remember what I said about the Wielder of Darkness’s brother being the Wielder of Light? I was right!”
“So, why did you get the Psychic cloak?” Optimus said, now walking back up the hallway they had come from. Elita having been destroyed, the arena had calmed down again. It was a magical place that no one had ever figured out, but they could ask the elder later on.
“I can add that to my list of questions.” Magnus answered, then his smile faded, “I’m glad she’s gone …”
Optimus put an arm around his shoulders and said, “So am I.”

***

The bots turned as their leaders returned. They ran over to the two to find out where they had gone off to in such a rush.
“Magnus?!” Hotshot gasped in surprise once he caught site of his new cloak. “Where did you get that?”
“Off an old friend,” He said and glanced in Optimus’s direction. “Oh and Jetfire?”
“Yeah?” The V.C replied.
“You can have this,” Magnus said and chucked him his old indigo cloak.
“But – isn’t this yours?!” Jetfire said, surprised.
“Not anymore.” Magnus replied.
“Alright …” Jetfire held out the cloak and Elder Andromeda floated over.
“It’s okay.” She confirmed. “That cloak is suited to you.”
“If you say so, …” Jetfire said a little adhesive. He flung the cloak around his shoulders and fastened it like the others. It stayed still for a moment, but then glowed indigo. Jetfire let out a cry of surprise as the element fused itself with him, making a blotch of indigo appear on his shoulder. He looked over himself and said, “I like this one, but I wish I had the red one …”
He gazed longingly at Flare’s cloak.
“Keep your optics off the merchandise!” She growled, and her palm ignited with fire.
“Whoa!” The shuttle replied. “Calm down!”
Flare smirked and said, “Just checking.”
Meanwhile, Andromeda had lead Hotshot over to one of the glass cabinets. Inside was an orange cloak that sparked with purple. Hotshot had asked if he was suited to an element, and it turned out that Jetfire’s guess was accurate;
It was the Cloak of Plasma.
“ … and you must be careful of the Wielder of Steel,” Andromeda was saying, “because this element had no effect against it even at the heat plasma is. It will not phase it.”
“And who has that cloak?” Hotshot asked nervously.
“No one does at the moment,” The Elder replied, “but I sense that your brother is well suited to it and could use it well. The only thing that can beat steel is fire and electricity, so it’s best to watch yourself around your weakness.”
“Okay, I’m ready.” Hotshot replied.
The other bots turned to observe the scene. Wheeljack also stood by his cabinet, gazing longingly it the silver cloak that resided inside. Andromeda unlocked both cabinets, and the cloaks flew out, wrapping themselves around their new wielders. A patch of orange appeared on Hotshot’s shoulder while a silver one appeared on his brother’s. Sideswipe had stayed on the ship to build their new weapon, so he wouldn’t get one.
“Alright!” Hotshot and Wheeljack shouted at the same time, and smacked their fists together. The others laughed with them at their celebration about having a cloak now, and Optimus turned to the female Elder.
“Elder, we require information.” He said. The others listened in too.
Andromeda turned to the Darkness wielder, and said, “Yes of course. The New Ones, I know.”
Chairs materialised out of nowhere, and the transformers took their seats. The sat down in the air, and started.
“The New Ones were created on the planet Stormus by the High Lord from the essence of every being in the universe known. He wanted company at first, and what better company than to have a bunch of people that are able to mould into any being alive? At first, he was happy with what he had. He ruled a planet, and its people that he called the Stormians. But soon, his greed for power became more dominant that anything we knew. Because of the transformation abilities he had gifted his people with, he knew that he had created an army of great power. But there was a flaw in the plan that he had not foreseen – his creations all transformed into the beings of other planets, but they were not the same as the originals. To be able to transform into a replica of a particular being, the Orb of Life was required from the source planet. In your case, the Cybertron orb.
“So with his army, he began to take over planets, solar systems, galaxies and even entire global clusters. He gathered the Orbs from the planets he purged and used them to enhance himself as well as his army. The New Ones – or Stormians, then decided to take over your planet because you have advanced technology and great power on your own. We decided to help you out with the Cloaks of Power, and that’s why we called you Scavenger – “ She addressed the silent bot. “ – And your crew to come here so we could empower you with the Four Cloaks of the Root Elements. Poryon was an exception to this, and received the cloak of Poison as well. But we got a surprise when 100 years later Optimus here arrived. I sensed power unlike any I had seen before in him, and I knew you were strong enough to handle it.” She smiled sadly at him, “And I’m sorry you had to deal with so much because of it, but you were the only one strong enough to hold the Cloak of Darkness. When we created the cloaks, Light and Dark were by far the hardest to create of all. And I knew that one day someone strong enough would come. But then, no less than two days ago the other half – or the Cloak of Light was stolen from us. And I’m glad it is now in good hands.” She smiled and Magnus.
“I gave you the Psychic Cloak because I could feel a dominant power in you that matched the element, but I also felt a recessive one also. And only now do I realise that it was the Light that was calling me. But now that power is the dominant one, and you actually passed your now recessive power of Psychic to Jetfire here.”
“So now you probably want to know – how can you beat the Stormians?” They nodded. “The answer is … difficult as only the Plikaton’s have been know to do so. And they did it by using our cloaks also, but I’m not sure as to how they did it.”
“Oh great,” Magnus muttered, and the elder giggled.
“I’m sorry I can’t give you any other answer.” She said, “But I know this – it will be down to you two,” She motioned Optimus and Magnus, “To end it all.”

***

“Elita has been destroyed.”
Iseno cursed them. He would beat them somehow. He had the orb! But why was it not glowing like the rest?
He turned to look at it. Was it … fighting them? No, it couldn’t be!
“Have you got it?”
Iseno jumped as the voice of the High Lord rang though the room.
“Yes my Lord,” Iseno replied, bowing, “but something is amiss sir, the orb seems to be fighting us.”
“Fighting us you say?” The High Lord sounded interest. “I will deal with that later. What of our servant?”
“She was destroyed, sir.” Iseno mumbled, cringing as he awaited the onslaught.
“Oh well,” The Lord said and Iseno looked up in surprise. “Get yourself off that planet with the decomposer I sent you! I need to add that orb to our collection.”
“Sir!” Iseno saluted. The screen winked off.
Time to say goodbye, Cybertronians …

***

A rumble shook the floor of the chamber the Transformers all were. They stood up in surprise, and the Female Elder flew up to the communicator on the wall.
“Elder Pleiades! Status report!” She yelled.
“The Stormians have escaped!” Was the panicked response.
“We have to follow them!” Scavenger yelled and ran out of the room, nearly everyone following.
“Optimus! Magnus!” Andromeda called.
They turned to her and she smiled, “In the end, it will be up to you. When the time comes, you will know how to end this.”
With those wise words in their minds, the two Duel element bearers rushed to the ship. They saw the New Ones – or the Stormians ship race away. The damaged ship had been repaired to perfection and they ignited the engines of the ship. With new elements on their side, and now new hope, the Transformers raced the Stormians ship to their planet. Their fate was undecided yet, but they knew that this battle would be one to remember.
And they would restore Cybertron to normal again …