

While Primal picked up Whitegrazer's whispers, his optics still dark and facing the ground as he kneeled before her, everything else faded around him. Everything seemed to slow down. Focusing on her words, he listened to his spark and felt it pulsate. It slowed, as well as his breathing, and the leader lowered his hand from his torso and placed it on the ground with his other hand that had been holding himself up. Optimus began to feel the warmth that numbed the pain, dispursing from his chest and out to his limbs. Will was easier for him to find. Will and determination. Whitegrazer was helping..."Optimus, if you can hear me," "Focus on your spark. Feel its pulse. Hear its rhythm. Look at yourself, inside yourself. Search for the warmth in which all life is created in. A warmth that can clear the pain, the noises of the outside and inside world, for what you are reaching for is only those with a strong will to fight and live can touch. It's the will, Optimus. It's the will to--"
"Clear Convoy" felt a strange warmth inside as he sat there. The alien didn't understand it, but he also didn't care too much about it. Unless... Ah. The control he had over the Maximal commander's body had been interrupted. He would engage it again and send him after the annoying flying rat.
Primal heard Sonar and looked up at the last second only to see his sonic blast right before it hammered him and Whitegrazer. The blast blew him over and caused him to roll sideways a couple times before stopping and finding himself on his back. Coughing and growling as he sat up, Optimus frowned at the injured mare who had selflessly taken the harder blow to the bat's blast, realizing that he had also harmed her earlier to get her off of her. Concern turned to anger and the leader's optic sensors flickered back to white, losing control over his body again with his clone. Furious, which only fueled the link between them, Primal stood up and saw Snow Trix's attack in time to react and protect his Maximals who had been spending most of their time protecting him. In a quick and precise movement, he lifted his right arm and fired his cannons at the fox's missiles to detonate them prematurely before they reached his group. Then he immediately activated his own missile launchers over his shoulders and fired two at Snow Trix."I'll enjoy your screams, Primal. As well as the screams of your clone!"
The temporarily grounded clone was pummeled by Megatron's blast that sent the invisible bot flying across the grass along with the debris. His upper left arm smacked into a rock that pertruded from the ground when he rolled over it and left a small but deep gash. Growling in frustration, he sat up and placed his right hand over the wound only to lift it and look at his hand to find some fluid on his palm and fingers from the open wound. With his damaged torso and arm, the alien was beginning to realize how much of a threat Megatron was. This Predacon leader was going to be trouble if the Vok didn't stop him. At least the advantage the clone had now was that Megatron didn't know where he was. If he could lay low for a while, maybe they'd focus on the out-of-control Maximal commander.
Optimus grabbed his left arm when he felt a sudden deep puncture to it, - when his clone's arm hit the rock - although visibly nothing could be seen wrong with it. But the painful sensation caused him to flinch which skewed the accuracy of his missiles that were fired off at Snow Trix. Lowering his hand from his arm, he used Whitegrazer's technique to ignore the pain and watch his missiles to see if they'd successfully hit their target or not with his white eyes still glowing brightly.
Megatron's words meant nothing to the Vok. The Predacon was very egotistic but also intelligent and powerful. And you will need more than your firepower and ego to survive your last day on this planet, the Vok clone thought. For the aliens can play a higher power and do with it as they pleased. They had no intention on singling out individuals in the end, though. All of these peculiar robotic lifeforms were going to perish. Before they made matters worse. The cloaked clone slowly stood up and observed the area, studying what the Maximals and Predacons were doing. He had also been notified of the skull's destruction far below under ground. So, they were making progress as well.You will need more then hiding to survive against the power of Megatron, pathetic creature!
-----
Tigatron looked up at Valkyrie with concern, studying her expression. "You mean to stop Optimus with force?" Take down their own leader? Was that wise? Perhaps he wasn't fully understanding of the situation, but it was apparent that she wasn't fond of the idea herself."For now it seems Whitegrazer is executing her plan. If she fails releasing the clone's hold over Optimus, we'll need to take him out as quickly as possible. Without causing permanent damage."
The white tiger wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do, but he knew he should notify the others and get ready for whatever Valkyrie was about to do. Watching her ascend with great speed, Tigatron snuck around the forest floor toward the opening and crouched so low to the ground that he could not be seen. Opening his comm. link, he said quietly, "Saber-Fang, Feralnight, Dinobot, and Whitegrazer, Valkyrie is on the move. She will be engaging the clone shortly, using herself as a decoy. We need to stop Optimus and sever the link that his clone has on him." He hoped... hoped? An odd word to use against a friend you were about to harm. He hoped that's all it would take to knock their leader unconscious. At least that way the alien couldn't control him, but if they couldn't find a way soon enough to disengage the link, he could wake back up and harm someone again. Putting him in stasis lock was a last resort. Optimus was a tough bot and would take a serious injury to knock him down into stasis, and if that happened, they would only have so much time to figure out the link, dispose of it, and then get his spark to a stable condition before it could expire, depending on the injury. Tigatron wondered, though, how it would work if Valkyrie could damage the clone enough instead to make the pain their leader would feel so unbearable that it would stress his systems or his spark so much and it would put him in stasis lock and they wouldn't even have to physically touch him to take him out. By the Martrix, what was he thinking about? Taking out their leader. How else will they be able to defeat the rest of the Predacons and find their comrades underground without their leader's guidance and firepower? The white cat wondered how they were holding up far below them. Trapped in the dark. He prayed they were alive and well."I'll engage the clone with extreme prejudice, and force the attention of the Predacons on the clone or on me. You need to act swiftly and effectively for this to work." "And if Whitegrazer succeeds, you and a few others should come and rescue me."
-----
In fear of losing their largest teammate, Rattrap did as Orcariner said and targeted the being's eyes with Rhinox, firing continuously but also trying to make his shots count. He was truly impressed with how the orca was handling the situation."Try going for the eyes!" "Now's the time!" he yelled, "Go for the eyes!"
"This is not the last... last... last... last..."
Rattrap held his fire and lowered his gun when the ugly alien creature finally released Orcariner after someone's shots blew out its eyes. "Yeah," he answered him. "What about you, Big O? You okay?" Watching him maneuver around the giant skull, Rattrap was curious about it and wanted to examine it, but he was far too cautious to go up to it. It was like one of those horror films to him. Just when you think the killer's dead, they come back and get ya!"What's our sitrep? Everyone ok?"
Putting his gun away, Rattrap caught the chips that Orcariner tossed to him and looked at them curiously."This thing knew its way around the labyrinth," "Considering how dense the shell was, almost everything inside of the skull is intact." "Any of these hardware may hold information vital to us reaching the transwarp point. If we're lucky, we might even find an exit."
Rattrap looked up from digging around the chips in his hands and over to Steelclaw and fell silent, listening. He thought he heard something, too. "...Was that... from below us?" he asked, looking about them for confirmation. ((OOC: Assuming I got that right. Heh.))"So you really think-" "Hey, do you guys hear something?"