Through Ash and Dust (ROTB)

Chapter 56

Saphira was sitting on Optimus's shoulder right now as he was sitting, taking the time to think of what was going to happen now. With Scourge in possession of the Transwarp Key, they all knew what was going to happen. Everyone was in shock of what had just happened to Airazor, and the fact that Scourge now had the key. But Saphira hoped that there would be a plan to defeat Scourge and stop Unicron from devouring this world and Cybertron. Saphira caressed Optimus's cheek as she enjoyed the closeness of his presence right now.

Primal was sitting nearby, and Saphira looked at him for a moment before looking back at Optimus. "Is there anyway to track the Transwarp Key? I am sure you would want to know where Scourge is."

"Scourge won't need to go very far, Saphira," Primal said, turning his head to look at Saphira and Optimus, knowing he had answered the question that was meant for Optimus. "He doesn't particularly need to find somewhere to hide. The terrorcons are heading towards that mountain..." Primal pointed towards the mountain in the distance. "And he will summon Unicron."

Saphira stared at the mountain and thought for a moment. "But...we cannot just give up, Primal." Primal looked away from Saphira with a deep sigh. "There has to be a way to beat Scourge. He isn't invincible, nothing is. Even Unicron probably can be defeated, but I doubt we have the time to figure that out."

"So what do you propose we do to beat him?" Cheetor asked the girl with a sad voice. She looked at him as she could hear the pain of losing his friend in his voice. "Unfortunately, your world does not possess the might that could beat Scourge right now. That little gauntlet of yours won't even scratch Scourge, even if it could save your life from his little minions."

"I know, and I don't expect to be the one to kill Scourge. I am only a human. But surely there is a way. We cannot just let him win." Saphira understood that it probably felt impossible right now, given the losses that they have endured. "Giving up is just another victory for Scourge. I don't want to loss my life like that."

Optimus turned his head and kissed her cheek gently. "I will not give up, Saphira. You are right, we need a plan. On Cybertron, we believe that the battle with darkness will continue till all are one." Saphira smiled at him, glad that she heard that from him. "Even if there is only a small, glimmer of hope, it is enough to push us to succeed against Scourge."

Saphira kissed his cheek and looked towards the mountain, widening her eyes as she saw a tower forming at the top of it. She didn't even know Scourge was able to do that, and it definitely looked like he was creating something to summon Scourge to this world. And she did not like that at all. At least they now knew where Scourge was, they just needed to figure out how to stop him. Saphira was not sure of how, even though she wanted to create a plan.

Mirage stared at the mountain and frowned as he placed his hands on his hips. "I think he has activated the key."

"He has." Primal turned from the mountain and looked at the autobots and maximals. "It will take time for Unicron to entire this part of the galaxy when the portal is open, though it will still be a matter of a short hour before he passes through." He brought up a hologram image, and Saphira saw it was an image of the structure that Scourge had made. It was a strange structure, but Saphira observed it closely. "But with the Transwarp activated, it has more energy than a supernova. Any interruption would ignite it like a bomb." There was a brief example of an explosion of the structure as proof of what he was talking about, but Primal continued to speak. "The only way to stop this process is an access code installed long ago as a safeguard." Access code? Saphira hummed and thought about the symbols she found on the Airazor statue and the symbols on the chest that was meant to contain part of the key.

"Okay, sounds simple enough, what the code, then?" Mirage questioned, seemingly happy and thinking Primal knew the code.

"The code was split along with the key." Mirage frowned as soon as Pirmal said that and he rolled his optics, thinking that was silly and that the code should still be the same. "Sadly, the second half of that code died with Airazor."