This lame attempt at a catchphrase causes his teammates to roll their optics, but it does catch Skinkbomb’s attention.
The three bots charge from their hiding spot.
Bumblebee and Strongarm, still in their vehicle modes, crash into Skinkbomb, knocking him off balance and causing him to spill the oil in his claws.
Grimlock leaps into the air and comes thundering down on the Decepticon, knocking the wind out of his pistons and pinning him to the ground.
“Why don’t you try eating my Dino-Destructo Double Drop instead?” the towering Dinobot yells.
“You really think you goody two-treads could take me out that easy?” Skinkbomb asks, struggling under Grimlock’s bulk. “Don’t you know who I am?”
The Decepticon uses his pinned arm to tap at a button on his side.
A cascade of small spheres pour out of the containers around his waist—microbombs!
“Uh-oh,” Grimlock says.
KABOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
A series of explosions ring out around Skinkbomb, the sound and vibrations echoing loudly through the quarry.
Grimlock is thrown backward, allowing Skinkbomb to pull himself up and run back to the oil drums.
Through the haze of dust and smoke, Bumblebee sees that Skinkbomb’s tail is nearly regrown. He has to reach the Decepticon before he can finish his meal!
The yellow Autobot leaps into his bot mode and pulls out his blaster.
Bumblebee lets loose a series of shots that opens up the oil container like swiss cheese.
“Looks like you’ve sprung a leak, lizardbot!” Bumblebee cries.
His drink decimated, the aggravated Skinkbomb hurls the rapidly emptying drum at Bumblebee’s head.
The Autobot leader ducks a nanocycle too late and catches the corner of the barrel. The force of the impact knocks him off his treads, and he lands facedown in a pool of spilled oil.
Bumblebee quickly scrambles to his feet, but not before catching his reflection in the oil—and watching it quickly turn into the sinister, grinning face of Optimus!
Chapter 10
Liege Maximo looks down into the portal to Earth, crowing in delight as he summons an evil Optimus vision to taunt Bumblebee during battle.
“Oh, is the little Autobot distracted by his big, bad friend?”
Micronus suddenly appears behind the fiendish trickster.
“Sticking your horns where they don’t belong, Liege Maximo?”
The mischief-maker leaps up in shock, preparing to blast Micronus.
“Let’s not bother with the knuckle dusting,” Micronus says, hovering confidently in front of the horned bot. “We both know we’re too evenly matched for it to amount to anything but a waste of time.”
Liege Maximo’s optics flare with anger.
“Time is all we have, Micronus! Don’t you see how infinitely boring this realm has become? Manipulating these inconsequential Autobots is my new favorite pastime.”
“Your ‘fun’ is done, trickster!”
Liege Maximo’s horns twitch.
He makes a grand gesture with his hands and a smile cracks across his face.
“On the contrary, Micronus. My fun is NOT done.… It has just begun!”
Back on Earth, Bumblebee pulls himself up from the puddle of oil. Optimus’s eerie face isn’t a trick of the light—it’s staring up at the Autobot leader with hatred in its optics.
“BUMBLEBEE,” the voice echoes through the canyon. “YOU’RE A FOOL TO STAND AGAINST US. YOUR TEAM WILL FALL ONE BY ONE—JUST LIKE THE BOT YOU ALREADY FAILED.”
Skinkbomb, Grimlock, and Strongarm look around to see the source of the booming voice.
“Sir, why does that voice sound like Optimus?” Strongarm asks, drawing her blaster into a ready-to-fire position.
“Whoa,” Grimlock says. “Maybe we’ve all got brain rust!”
“No, Grim, this is nothing more than a trick,” Bumblebee says. “Is this your doing, Decepticon?”
Skinkbomb takes advantage of the confusion to scurry back to the oil drums.
“I’m not responsible for this spooky stereo act, but I sure enjoy dinner and a show!” The Decepticon begins shoveling metal scraps and great gulps of oil into his wide maw.
“You’re going on a diet, Skinkbomb!” Bumblebee shouts. “Grimlock, clean his plate for him!”
Grimlock nods and transforms into his Tyrannosaurus rex mode. The brutish bot smashes his tail into the ground, creating a shockwave that sends the remaining oil cans rolling across the quarry floor. With another wide swing of his tail, Grimlock swats the metal out of Skinkbomb’s claws.
“Strongarm, let’s defuse this explosive situation!” Bee says.
The law-bot leaps onto Skinkbomb’s back, pinning the Decepticon’s arms. Bumblebee dashes over and grabs hold of the nearly complete ticking time bomb of a tail.
“GIVE UP, BUMBLEBEE!” the imposter Optimus shouts. “WE DECEPTICONS ARE LEGION. YOU CANNOT DEFEAT US ALL!”
“I might not be able to defeat you all by myself,” Bumblebee says, tugging on the tail bomb. “But luckily—I don’t have to!”
Grimlock, back in bot mode, grabs hold alongside Bumblebee. With Strongarm keeping Skinkbomb’s arms bound, Bumblebee and Grimlock succeed in pulling the criminal’s incendiary tail loose!
“TOO LATE, AUTOBOT FOOLS!” the voice booms.
Bumblebee looks at the tail bomb in his hands. It’s ticking!
“Autobots, burn rubber!”
Bumblebee throws the bomb over his shoulder, and the three bots rush away with their captive in tow. They make it to the edge of the quarry before the force from the explosion knocks them flat.
KRAKA-BOOOOOM!
Bumblebee, Grimlock, and Strongarm stumble to their treads, their audio receptors still ringing.
Skinkbomb tries to scurry into the surrounding forest, but Grimlock quickly nabs the slippery lizardbot in an iron grip.
“It’s going to take more than a cheap imitation of Optimus and a few firecrackers to defeat this team!” Bumblebee says proudly.
In the Realm of the Primes, Optimus waits and meditates.
When his mentor, Micronus, left to confront Liege Maximo, he warned Optimus to prepare for an attack.
I have learned much during these simulated exercises, Optimus thinks to himself. I may need more time and training before I’m prepared to face off against this impending evil, but I’m ready right now for any child’s play that Liege Maximo can conjure up!
A fog begins to roll across the ground, carrying with it ominous cries from all directions:
“Earth has fallen!”
“Bumblebee betrayed us all!”
“How could the Autobots abandon us like this?”
The red-and-blue Autobot leader climbs to his feet and calmly draws his sword. He speaks evenly into the void, no trace of emotion in his voice.
“Your tricks and taunts don’t bother me, Liege Maximo. They never did.”
Optimus’s optics scan the fog.
Several figures appear in the distance, rapidly making their way toward his position. Malicious mockeries of Bumblebee, Strongarm, Grimlock, Sideswipe, and Fixit leap out of the fog and attack Optimus!
Optimus carves his blade in a wide arc, slashing through his attackers without hesitation.
WHOOSH!
Five of the six false Autobots fall to the ground and shatter into fragments of quickly disappearing light.
SKEESH!
Only the evil Bumblebee remains.
“Your confidence in these bots is misplaced, Optimus,” Bumblebee says. “They will let you down. They are weak and easily manipulated!”
“I don’t think so, Liege Maximo,” Optimus replies. “Bumblebee and the other bots are the bravest, most trustworthy bots I know. The only weak and easily manipulated one I see around here is you.”
Before Bumblebee can respond, Optimus steps forward and drives his blade through the illusion, sending it scattering into flickers of light.
FWISSSS!
“Curses! It’s not fair! It’s not—” an angry voice echoes through the Realm before being abruptly cut off.
When Optimus turns around, Micronus is hovering before him once more.
“You done good, kid,” Micronus says, a grin plastered to his face.
“Has Liege Maximo been defeated?” Optimus asks.
“It’s not as simple as that. Liege Maximo might be a menace, but he is one of us. The Primes will find a way to punish him, though. I promise you that.”
“And his tricks?”
“Over for now,” Micronus says. “And even if he tried again, you and Bumblebee are too wise for him.”
“Bumblebee?” Optimus asks. “Did Liege Maximo involve the real Bumblebee in all of this?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention—that wily wreck of a Prime was tinkering with your pal on Earth in the same way. Confused him for a nanocycle or two, but Bumblebee shook it off just as quickly as you did. Seems he isn’t too shabby of a leader himself.”
Optimus beams with pride for his former lieutenant.
“You might want to give him a few words of encouragement, though,” Micronus says. “Never hurts to hear a kind word from a friend.”
He waves his hands and opens a portal to the scrapyard. Bumblebee and the other bots are gathered around Fixit’s repair table.
Sideswipe picks himself up, clutching at his injured back with a grimace.
“Solus knows I could sure use a buff job!” he quips.
Team Bee feels a wash of relief that their friend and teammate is almost back to normal.
“Don’t rush your repair phase, Sideswipe,” Bumblebee says, gently pushing the younger bot back down to the table. “I think your heroism earned you a few cycles of rest mode.”
“What would you do without me, Bee?” Sideswipe asks.
“Let’s not answer that,” Bumblebee says with a laugh.
With Skinkbomb safely deposited in a stasis pod and Sideswipe’s prognosis looking better, the bots are looking forward to a little downtime.
Suddenly, their brief peace is interrupted by a much-too-familiar voice booming through the audio system.
“BUMBLEBEE!”
“Oh no, not this again!” Bumblebee says.
He pulls his blaster and aims it at the screen where Optimus’s face has materialized.
“This is no trick, Bee,” Optimus explains.
Bumblebee cautiously lowers his weapon.
“… Optimus?”
“I wish I could explain everything to you, but I can’t. With time, I will. But what I can tell you is that you’re a wise, worthy leader—and a fantastic friend.”
“I knew it couldn’t be you, Optimus,” Bumblebee says. “There’s no one I trust more on Earth, Cybertron, or wherever you are now.”
The other bots look on with smiles as their leader reconnects with his mentor.
“I’m being tested in the Realm of the Primes, Bumblebee,” Optimus states. “And I think you and I just passed an unexpected pair of trials. So, in a way, we were fighting side by side like the good old days. I’m grateful that Earth is under the watch of a confident, clear-headed Autobot like you, Bumblebee. You and your team have made me proud.”
Bumblebee stands tall with his friends beaming around him.
As quickly as it appeared, the vision of Optimus begins to fade.
“And in some time soon,” Optimus says, “I’ll be proud to protect Earth alongside you once again!”
For more great reads and free samplers, visit
LBYRDigitalDeals.com
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
HASBRO and its logo, TRANSFORMERS, TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE, the logo and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. © 2016 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Cover art by MVCreations
Cover design by Ching Chan
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
lb-kids.com
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First ebook edition: January 2016
ISBN 978-0-316-30193-0
E3
Transformers Robots in Disguise - The Trials of Optimus Prime Page 4
