Beast Machines: Rewritten

Thanks for the pointers, I will do my best to consider them in writing. It's the first fan fiction I've written in awhile so I'm trying to do my best to keep it level headed without any major twists yet.

Addressing your first comment, thanks. I always felt that way too about their Transmetal forms. However, I don't plan on making the Maximals weak and underpowered forever. Where they lack in numbers and firepower, they will have to make up for in their individuality and ability to think for themselves. Though the generals start off soon, the Vehicons will present more brutality. And as for a new concept, I introduced the "shell program" again. I felt it would help tie in another character later on and help explain how a Transformer was rewritten for Megatron's cause. It will also be a splitting way for the Transformer, ideally creating a new start. The Vehicons won't get along very well and bicker like "children". Just an idea I thought of.

To address your comment about characters. Do you mean my characters are not like BW or BM? Either way, if you could point it out for me, I'd appreciate it cause I'm trying to get them right. I find it really difficult to handle Blackarachnia so far. Though I have two future plots I could use to bring her Predacon experiences back out. In my version I hope to make it longer and have the transition into a more serious tone, after all saving the entire planet is quite a feat to accomplish as well as protecting the timeline.

They seem more like their Beast Wars selves so far. Some of the bits that really stand out are Rattrap calling Megatron "Megabutt" or some other wisecrack. That's something he did in BW and it lightened the mood by adding a little humor. I didn't see much of that in BMac. It's just a difference in tone or atmosphere. It doesn't mean one is better than the other.

Like I said, it's not criticism. I'm just getting a Beast Wars vibe more than a Beast Machines vibe out of the characters, and I think the more light-hearted Beast Wars personas don't suit the Beast Machines story. But that could just be me.

No offence taken, I seriously appreciate your comments cause it helps me make decisions on where I want to take the series. As for the characters right now, they will be like their BW selves. As the situation changes, accordingly their persona will change as well. My rewrite might start off a little slow but from what I've sketched out so far, it might match in darkness or get a little further than that.

Oh by the way, I'll be doing weekly updates now. I've written far enough into the future to have enough leeway time to write more and make weekly updates. Images for the character redesigns will be slow, but I'm working on it. I have most lines of the characters done but inks will take time

Episode 5#: Hidden Garden

Cheetor leapt as he tried to catch up with the Vehicons. He pulled out his sabres and pushed onward. Finally some action, Cheetor was tired of just waiting around with Primal’s orders. Megatron didn’t need to deliver the fight to them, who cares if they were outnumbered. The fight had to be brought to Megatron.

“Maximal signature detected,” beeped the onboard computer of two rear aero drones. The AI compensated for the organic target and Cheetor’s presence. The cycle drones would pursue the bat while the aero drones dealt with Cheetor. An impulse was sent to the Maximal citadel to inform Megatron of the occurrence.

Cheetor heard a rumbling, he tilted his head and caught sight of three tank drones taking their sweet time to box him in. “Heh… great… At least this will keep Megatron busy for a while. He’s going to have a lot more scrap to recycle…”

The tank drones converted to robot mode and aimed their shoulder cannons at Cheetor. Without a notice, they released plasma charges. Cheetor dodged but at the cost of one of his sabres. Instantly, the sleek feline jolted towards the first tank drone. Heavy laser fire came through the explosion from the aero drones.

“Take this!” shouted Cheetor leaping onto the middle tank drone. He raised his single sabre and stabbed it into the tank drone’s head. Malfunctions started to spread and the tank drone began to fire in all directions. Cheetor pulled his blade out and jumped away. “Too bad for you you’re so stupid…”

One of the aero drones was disabled from friendly fire, but the remaining one continued to fire on Cheetor. The damaged tank drone was put out of its misery when his partners blasted holes into his chassis.

“Woah… they really have no regard for their fellow bots!” Cheetor deflected a blast from the aero drone and cut through its left arm and then it’s right.

Disabled the aero drone wasn’t able to act, the tank drones closed in firing. Cheetor couldn’t deflect plasma blasts with his blade, he retracted it. With a single jump, Cheetor positioned himself behind the stunned aero drone. Using it as a shield he pushed the aero drone into the line of fire from the tank drones.

The aero drone’s armour began to buckle from the heat build up. Cheetor made one final push and used the chance to cut through the two tank drones. The Vehicons patrol had been nullified, now to get back onto his task.

“Cheetor!” exclaimed a voice from behind the dark smoke.

Cheetor rotated around and took out his blade in anticipation. But it was not foe that emerged from the smoke, his three friends had arrived.

Optimus looked around and examined the fallen Vehicon drones and looked up at the battle ready Cheetor. “Looks like you had little difficulty dispatching Megatron’s handiwork. Where’s that life form that you and Rattrap spotted earlier?”

Cheetor pointed in the direction and retracted his sabre once more. “That way, it’s still being chased by those three cycle drones. We’ve gotta catch up to it, I doubt it can defend itself from them.”

“Back to beast mode Cheetor, we don’t want to attract anymore attention than we have to,” command Optimus moving forward with Blackarachnia and Rattrap behind him.

Cheetor rushed ahead of him angered, “No point, Megs already knows we’re here. Plus I’ll catch up to the group faster this way.”

Optimus tried to stop the impulsive Cheetor but suddenly he cringed in a feeling he had never experienced before. His optics went dead for a nano-click. Optimus wasn’t sure what it was but he heard three voices screaming out to him then his optics reactivated.

“Hey you ok there Optimus?” spoke Blackarachnia helping her commander back up with her two front legs. She eyed him recover and looked into his optics. “You feeling ok? Maybe a side effect from interfacing with the Oracle?”

Optimus shook his head and took a deep breath. “Maybe… I heard voices… maybe it was just me but… let’s focus on the task at hand, let’s save that bat or whatever it is from those Vehicons. If Megatron gets his hands on it, he’ll surely destroy it.”

Cheetor didn’t look back and detected no following. He yelled back at his comrades whom were attending Optimus Primal, “Don’t complain later when you guys find all the Vehicons taken care of!”

“Let me guess… You’re going to say he’s still young?” questioned Blackarachnia running forward along with the other Maximals.

“Well isn’t that just Prime, transform Maximals!” announced Optimus leading the way. He burst open his jets and grabbed a hold of Blackarachnia and Rattrap. The jets kindled to life and flames soared outward. “Jets! Maximum burn!”

“Alert, unknown signature detected…” reported a feminine computer voice. A large blue coloured monitor presented data from the lead cycle drone that pursued them.

Megatron summoned his diagnostic drone and a few more monitors. “An organic life form? On Cybertron?”

“An interesting find my liege, preliminary scans reveal that it is purely organic but that’s about all we can find. However it does seem to be resonating a Maximal signature,” retorted the diagnostic drone checking out the chase on his own data-pad.

“Interesting!” roared Megatron. Something stirred inside his own spark, he wasn’t sure what but it was something new. Whether it was an experience from the Beast Wars or something more, it stung every time the thought of organic entered his processor.

The main monitor continued to process some more information from the drones. “Possibility of organic life improbable, likely to be a survivor,” reported the female computer voice. “Latest scan, four other Maximal signatures currently in pursuit of the three cycle drones. Signatures identified units Optimus Primal, Blackarachnia, Rattrap and Cheetor.”

“So Optimus plans to find out what this possible bat is… I can’t have that happen… no… Computer, continue the tracking of the Maximal signatures. We have now deduced which form they must be in for our tracking system to detect them. Drone, are the general’s shell programs fully functional?”

The drone quickly checked his information lest Megatron threaten his existence again. “The sparks have just been implanted and the shell program is being readied as we speak. It will be ready within fifteen cycles. The process has just begun my liege. If you wish it I will prepare their battalions for immediate pursuit upon their activation.”

“Make it so, I will use this opportunity to extract the Maximal sparks and dispose of that mongrel bat… yes…” hissed Megatron continuing to observe his minions chase the frightened creature into the depths of the catacombs.

“Stop!” shouted Cheetor coming upon the cycle drones as they surrounded the bat. One unit was turned away and shot at the Maximal. “Fine I offered you the easy way!” Cheetor evaded the blasts and cut through the cycle drone. He quickly turned his wrist and proceeded to gut the closest cycle drone.

By the time Optimus and the others had arrived Cheetor had once again finished off the Vehicons. The bat lay on the ground. Optimus reverted to beast mode and approached the creature.

“Heh… what do you know? It was a bat…” pointed out Rattrap laughing.

Cheetor placed his right paw on the bat’s wing to keep him in place. Optimus stepped forward and looked down on the bat who was glaring straight back. Cheetor spoke, “What’s an organic life form like this doing on Cybertron?”

“I… I don’t know… There’s no conceivable way…” Optimus was nervous, in all of his time activated he had learned that Cybertron was devoid of any life other than Cybertronians. Why would such a discovery come now in the midst of all this
conflict?

The bat squeaked in pain from Cheetor’s pressure. The sensitive membrane caused it to stretch as the bat turned to Cheetor. “Get… your stinking paws off me you overgrown cat!”

“It can talk?” asked Rattrap raising an eyelid. He watched Optimus instruct Cheetor to let go of the creature.

The greyish bat stood up and tried to flap his wings. He turned his head to Rattrap and blasted, “No... I didn’t talk, I’m just shouting!”

A sonic blast was let out as the cavern became unstable. Loose rocks fell around the Maximals. but luckily it was a subtle blast and not much damage was caused. Optimus used his arm deflectors and protected them from what rocks that fell.

Blackarachnia nimbly evaded some dirt that fell and examined the strange creature with several scans, “So you can talk kid… Are you a Maximal? How long have you been here? Do you have a name? Or… what?”

“Hold on! Better question, how did a carbon based life-form like you manage to live under Cybertron? We’ve got nothing but energon… and I guess Vehicons now…” retorted Rattrap trying to get his question across first.

Optimus motioned for his crew to quiet down. He gave the bat a friendly smile, “Please, tell us your name. I’m Optimus Primal and this is my crew, Rattrap, Blackarachnia and Cheetor.”

The bat thought hard before responding. He was unsure of himself but pulled his thoughts together, “Wait… Primal… Where… where have I heard that name before?”

“Eh… you know this kid big bot?” queried Cheetor pointing at the bat whom was scratching his head with his wing-tipped thumb.

“Oh right! You were the captain of the Axalon! I remember you now, I remember hearing the reports after the Golden Disk theft! Wait… Cybertron sent temporal probes and tried to find your crew but… nothing was found… What happened?” exclaimed the bat upon realization.

The voice echoed through the caverns. A low beating sound was heard by the five Maximals and they quickly identified it as the sound of Vehicons. There were more on their way.

“Answers later, we’ve got to get out of here or Megatron will find us for sure!” instructed Optimus trying to look for a correct path out of the labyrinth of dark tunnels.

Rattrap chuckled nervously, “And exactly where are we going to run to?”

The bat sighed and flew up. He indicated to a tunnel that Optimus had not considered and flew towards it. “The name is Nightscream, I’m a Maximal. As far as I can see you’re the first survivors I’ve met. Those drones won’t be far off, c’mon this way, I know these tunnels I’ll show you a way to get recharged.”

Optimus, Rattrap and Blackarachnia followed the bat into the tunnel but Cheetor was reluctant. “Big bot… how can we trust this guy? We just met him and you expect him to lead us to safety? For all we know he could be setting us up for a trap! We can’t trust anyone randomly!”

The rumbling sound got louder. Optimus Primal made a grimace and gestured for Cheetor to follow him. “It’s not like we have much of a choice, let’s get going before we get bogged down by more Vehicons. We need to conserve our energy remember?”

“So that’s what happened, most of Cybertron had lost hope when the temporal probes returned with nothing. And then the disappearance of Depth Charge, it was very unfortunate…” spoke the bat as he led the Maximals through the dark tunnel. Optimus kept up with the young Cybertronian.

“Heh who would’ve thought we’d have to fight for our own futures huh?” joked Rattrap giving Blackarachnia a glare.

“Nightscream, could you tell us anything about how Megatron took over Cybertron? Did he really extinguish all the sparks on Cybertron?” questioned Optimus Primal.

“Nobody saw it coming. A virus infected a few states at first. Before anyone could react, all of Cybertron had been hit. Transformation had been rendered offline and our circuits began to degrade. Some survived, but it was then the drones came. Just a few at first, but then more came, hundreds of them. They hunted us down, we fled, most of us disappeared. I… I managed to run underground… but I fell into the darkness. I probably went offline… but when I reactivated I woke up looking like this. Don’t ask me how or why, but its how I’ve managed to stay alive. I can’t transform but I assure you I am Maximal,” spoke Nightscream solemnly. He lead them into a small crack in the wall.

The Maximals entered, what they were met with was unbelievable. It took several cycles for any of them to talk. Groves upon groves of organic plants sprouted from the ground bearing fruit. It wasn’t a large chamber but it held a significant number of plants. On them hung pear shaped orange fruits. The ground wasn’t damp but somehow the soil in this chamber sustained these plants.

“How… in the…” Rattrap backed away in awe. Never had he thought plant life was possible on Cybertron. Of course never did anyone else on Cybertron.

Cheetor examined the plants, they were leafy green just like those on Earth but they weren’t of any species in his data-tracks. He took a look at the fruit and sniffed it, “What… what are these?”

“Go ahead, they’re safe to eat. Our bodies use it as energy alternative to simple energon. Trust me, its how I’ve managed to stay online all this time,” assured Nightscream grabbing one of the pears. He took a bite out of it and smiled back at the Maximals. “See, nothing to worry about.”

“This could solve our energon problems,” replied Optimus Primal inspecting a fruit more closely. All the plants in the chamber were of the same species and even the walls were lined with some vines. “My questions is how do these plants live here? What do they use for sustenance? There’s no sunlight… “

“I’m guessing they’ve adapted to the artificial light here,” suggested Blackarachnia taking a small nibble into the fruit. The sweetness delighted her, almost immediately her body began to process the fruit into energy. She felt her systems rejoice. Quickly she ran a scan in the chamber. “Heh funny… You know we’ve been so focussed on running away from Megatron and his goons that there is a very dense trace of oxygen and other molecules in the atmosphere…”

“Hey what are you doing legs? We have no idea what these fruits will do to our reformatted bodies. Sure our old ones could have handled the fruit, but this is an untested… varia…”

Cheetor and Optimus took a bite out of the fruits as well. Their systems seemed to accept the fruit and approved of recharge. Nightscream tossed one to Rattrap and finished off his fruit. “It’s not much, but it’ll keep you online for awhile at least.”

The rat accepted and cracked open the fruit to find a bit of juice. He preferred an energon refuel but under the circumstances this would have to do, for now.

“Speaking of which Nightscream, you never answered the question if there were more survivors,” said Optimus taking a seat next to Nightscream on an old stone bench.

Nightscream had a sullen face on and covered his head with his wings. He muffled silently, “You’re the first survivors I’ve seen… All my friends… gone…” He pulled his wings back again. Nightscream was overcome by sadness and contempt. “If only I had been stronger… If I had been able to transform… to fight off those drones…”

Optimus comforted the lonely Maximal. Blackarachnia strode over and examined the chamber. “One must wonder how this got here… how these plant’s live down here. Actually Optimus, more importantly what did you learn from the Oracle?”

Rattrap finished the first half of the fruit and prepared to go for the second half when suddenly a ripple shook the juice inside the fruit half. Rattrap went silent, and it happened again except the ripple was larger. He maximized his sensors, “Uhh guys… I think we’ve got company!”

Before the others could react a blast connected to the south wall of the chamber. The smoke subsided as tank drones and aero drones entered.
“HELLO UGLIES!” screamed a darker embroidered aero drone leading a tank and cycle drone behind him. He quickly scanned the area and spotted the five startled Maximals.

“Maximals, lets get ready to rock and roll!” ordered Cheetor smiling. He transformed to robot mode and prepared himself for battle.

Blackarachnia pointed at the three drones. It was simple to tell visually that they were different from the others, but the fact that one of them talked. “Hey who are you calling ugly? And how the hell do drones talk?”

“Drones? Drones? Oh my spider-chick that will have to cost you! A trip downtown in pieces! Jetstorm AFTERBURN!” The dark blue jet transformed to robot mode and motioned for the other aero drones to follow in and fire at them.

“Don’t think for a nano-click I’m going to let you have all the fun flyboy. Thrust, OVERDRIVE!” The crimson red cycle drone brought his cannons up and opened fire on the Maximals.

The third drone, the tank was a bit slower and remained in vehicle mode. He raised his cannon and scanned for a target. With a few sweeps he identified Optimus and charged. “Tankor SLAG beast bots! Tankor, SMASH!”

“Take cover! These guys are no ordinary drones!” shouted Cheetor jumping behind a large piece of the wall that was sent flying into the chamber.
Blackarachnia snuck up behind the rock and glanced over to see the three newcomers order their respective drones into attack patterns. “You think?”

Nightscream couldn’t believe the carnage that lay around him, the hidden garden that had kept him alive was dying. No more, he could take no more. He had lost his friends and all that he cared about, he was not going to let his only way of surviving end.

“Stop! This is pointless, leave here now!” screeched Nightscream flying to the top of the chamber. He surveyed the tank drones trampling over the groves of plants that saved him. The aero drones spewed laser fire and set the organics on fire, cycle drones senselessly drove over the plants. “No… if only… if only I could…”

Cheetor pranced into action and climbed onto the tank drone. He prepared to stab his sabres into the head when he was suddenly shaken violently. “Stay still! Rattrap can you help me out over here? Maybe if we took out these lead units, the others will be useless!”

“You think I can do anything here spots? I got no freaking weapons!” shouted Rattrap watching Optimus furiously defending the rest of the chamber from the Vehicon firepower. “Hey boss monkey, how bout saving our hides instead of those plants?”

Blackarachnia tangled with the cycle drone general Thrust. He put up a good fight and managed to corner her into the corner of the chamber and was backed by four cycle drones. Thrust expanded his left arm’s gun and laughed. “Say nighty night you eight eyed freak…”

Nightscream was frantic, he couldn’t do anything and the Maximals had their hands full. The new units were giving them more trouble than usual and the cost was high. More than half the chamber had been burnt down, the plants were dying.

Suddenly a blast came from above and knocked Nightscream down into the ground hard. He looked up to see Jetstorm and an entourage of aero drones follow up. They showed no mercy and pelted the defenceless Maximal with laser fire.

Optimus caught sight of this and acted quickly. He would not lose another spark. He ran and sent a punch which connected with Jetstorm’s back plate. With his next move, Primal used a kick and sent the nearest aero drone towards Jetstorm. Optimus charged his chest beam and sent a blast which struck the remaining aero drones into the chamber wall. They slid down and fell offline.

Nightscream was barely online. His already weakened systems were shutting down from the damage sustained. Stasis lock was imminent and without any proper medical attention, the possible last survivor was going to be terminated.
“It’s… it’s… all over… I shouldn’t have brought you here…”

Optimus held the fallen bat in his arms and weighed his options. He was not willing to let a comrade die even if it cost him his spark. “It’s my fault Nightscream, they tracked us here. If you are willing, the Oracle has given me the ability to reformat. I can reformat you, only if you choose so…”

Cheetor heard this and knew that this would not be a simple matter. Reformatting was something rarely ever done and even then he knew any dealing with mystical powers would be costly. “Big bot, don’t do it! We can find another way. We don’t know what affect this will have on you! You’ve never reformatted anyone else…”

Optimus turned and sharply replied, “No this is the only way! If we are to succeed I must trust in the gifts the Oracle has endowed me, even if it means harming myself. I will not lose Nightscream!”

Nightscream’s optics shut down, his systems were fading faster than Primal anticipated. He managed to use the remaining energy he had to say, “I… I want to function…”

Optimus’ spark cavity emanated bright blue energy as his energy cumulated. By channelling his own spark energy, Optimus Primal opened a portable interface to the Oracle’s reformatting program that had been loaded into his own processor. “Prepare to be reformatted…”

Nightscream awoke in a techno-organic body and ravelled in it. He examined his new wings and then sighted Optimus who laid in beast mode behind him. Instantly he knew that Optimus had given his all to save him. It was time to repay the favour and of course to test out his new body.

“Heh… ultra tech upgrade!” exclaimed Nightscream flying upward. He smiled as Jetstorm matched his altitude with the rest of the aero drones behind him. “Nightscream, MAXIMIZE!”

“What are you calling an upgrade kid? More like a downgrade,” said Rattrap shaking his head. He ran to Optimus and made sure the boss monkey was functional. Fortunately he was but his spark was weak from the reformatting.

“You… you’ll pay for scratching my fresh new paint job bozo!” spat Jetstorm pointing his finger at Optimus. He switched out his arm cannons and pointed them at the fallen Maximal commander. “Aero drones! Slag them all!”

Nightscream intervened, “Not so fast!” He opened his mouth and channelled his energy upward creating a sonic boom. A smash echoed the room as the first sound wave was sent through the room. “You’ll pay dearly for destroying these trees and hurting my friends…”

The aero drones were sent flying in all directions, their navigation systems disrupted of course. They smashed into their ground counterparts and erupted into flames. Jetstorm whom was damaged the most since he received the direct impact from the sonic boom titled his head up from the ground. “Aero drones… initiate my evacuation sequence…”

Cheetor sliced Tankor’s cannon as the maddened tank general thrashed about violently. “TANKOR can’t see cat bot!” The giant panicked and commanded his drones to shoot Cheetor whom was still holding onto his head. The drones charged and sent plasma beams towards Cheetor, but the sleek feline leapt and the blasts charred Tankor.

“Blackarachnia!” shouted Cheetor slicing through the cycle drones and Thrust like nothing. He helped her up as he watched the remaining drones evacuate the remaining two generals. “You ok?”

Blackarachnia got up and brushed herself off. She transformed back into beast mode along with Cheetor and Rattrap. She shuddered, “You could’ve been earlier you know? That cycle bot wasn’t going to corner me forever…”

“Uhh guys, sorry to step into your lovely conversation. But we’ve got a situation over here with the boss monkey,” reported Rattrap indicating with his arms to come over while Nightscream beat his wings and put out the fires that had nearly consumed the entire chamber room.

“Is he going to be… ok?” asked Nightscream noticing that Optimus had his optics off and dead silent.

Optimus kept his optics off and spoke very slowly. “You were right Cheetor… The reformatting took my spark energy away from me, but… it was worthwhile to save Nightscream…”

Cheetor shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t… you can’t just leave us big bot. We need you… we need you to guide us against Megatron. We don’t even know our mission yet and you’re…”

“I’m sure you’ll settle the chain of command as you have in the past… For now, Cheetor lead…” said Optimus as the last of his breath escaped him and he went into a stasis to conserve his energy.

Rattrap sighed and snatched one of the remaining fruits. He held it tight under his arm and looked at Cheetor. “Well I’m not up for the commander gig again but what’s your command, commander?”

Cheetor thought for a bit and realized what must be done. “Build a stretcher, we’ll need to get Optimus out of here and back to the base where we’ll be safe. Rattrap save a couple of those fruits, we’ll do some work in finding out what its
doing on Cybertron and if we’re lucky replant a grove of them.”

“Not even on the job for a nano-click and he already acts as if he were a real Optimus,” laughed Blackarachnia walking over to salvage some vines with Rattrap to build a stretcher for Optimus.

Cheetor watched his friends get to work and then turned his attention to the newcomer. “So how bout you kid? Looks like your garden isn’t so secret anymore, what are you going to do from here on in? Wanna join up with us and fight Megatron or…”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Nightscream smiling. He flew up and screeched. “I’d be honoured to fight by your side against Megatron. Afterall, I owe my life to your leader and finding you guys restored my hope for Cybertron’s tomorrow.”

“Incoming ship detected,” spoke the computer voice in the pitch dark citadel chamber. Nothing could be seen, not even the illumination of computer panels could be seen.

“Which ship is it?” spoke Megatron’s voice.

“Four spark signatures confirmed to be onboard. It’s the ship from prehistoric Earth,” continued the computer voice.

Megatron’s optics brimmed with red light and illuminated a bit in the chamber. “Excellent, so the ship was able to evade them… Looks like I’ll be able to ensure some victories after all today. Yes…”

Oooo...

Methinks I suspect that would be Inferno, Quickstrike, Rampage and Dinobot II.

EDIT: Or perhaps Tarantulas and Ravage are in the group.

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I'm not gonna spoil who they are so just wait and read on

Episode 6#: Relentless Pursuit

Optimus was in recovery mode. Hooked up to an older model CR chamber, the Maximal commander received minimal life support but at least it was better than being in stasis.

Although offline, Optimus’ spark interfaced with the Oracle once more. He flew in boundless space and encountered various fragments of ages long gone by. He looked around and extended his spark out into the Oracle and suddenly sensed four voices. The last time he had heard voices, they ran into three of Megatron’s new goons. He could sense sparks in the three generals. This offered him some hope but these four sparks he sensed. They were not confined like the previous three. And of the four sparks, three were familiar.

“Well all the systems are up and running now,” said Rattrap brushing his paws together. He pulled up a seat and booted up a good old game of poker on the computer monitor.

“Say don’t we get negatively affected if we stay in beast mode too long?” asked Nightscream booting up a computer monitor as well.

Blackarachnia shrugged with all eight legs. “Dunno, we can only assume that the reformatting has nullified that side effect. Are you guys all going to slack off and play games just because the base is operational now?”

“Uhh yeah?” replied Rattrap with a laugh.

Cheetor walked in and nodded in approval of the base setup. Mostly salvaged materials and gear but at least it worked and they had a stable source of energon. “Alright while Optimus is out of commission we’ve got some work to do. We’ve got to find out what Megatron did to those sparks and where he put them.”

“In other words…” spoke Nightscream while he raised his bid against Rattrap and other AI players.

“We’re going topside…” said Blackarachnia directing all eight eyes at Cheetor.

Cheetor nodded, “Precisely.”

The four Maximals snuck through Cybertropolis hiding in the shadows. For Cheetor, Rattrap and Blackarachnia coming to the surface was a rare treat. It was eerie how silent the city was, but it was true beauty to marvel at the towering skyscrapers in awe. Nightscream on the other hand hadn’t dared to go back to the surface ever since his reactivation as a bat form.

The group made their way silently to a large complex. It was abandoned and the area clearly was a factory production zone. Blackarachnia surveyed the perimeter and reported no Vehicons in sight.

“What is this place?” asked Blackarachnia as Rattrap led the group into a darkened factory. They passed through the front desk area and into a zone of familiar small crafts. Though empty, the spider instantly recognized what this factory produced. Stasis pods.

“Welcome to the Allspark Generator, we can check if there are any logs for the last spark shipments. It could give us a lead to where dormant sparks were placed,” introduced Cheetor throwing up a switch.

“I’m telling ya, we’re not going to find anything here,” said Nightscream casually.

Light illuminated the area, upon activation. The machinery was still intact as half completed pods laid in the clamps. Protoform slates had lacked power for countless cycles and had hence been useless.

Rattrap transformed to robot mode and turned on the main control terminal. He logged in and searched around the files. “Well… let’s see what we’ve got around here… c’mon… c’mon…”

Cheetor walked over in beast mode and tapped his comrade on the shoulder. “Find anything of use Rattrap?”

“Well doesn’t looks like Megs bothered to wipe out everything but most of the data is useless. No records of any spark transfers…” answered Rattrap disconnecting from the terminal.

“I told you we weren’t going to find anything,” chided Nightscream walking over to one of the open pods. He hit the hatch wit his wing and shut it down.

Blackarachnia observed some of the pods, it was somewhat nostalgic for her. She had no memory of her life before coming online on prehistoric earth. It gave her the chills. She turned to Nightscream, she found it odd that he knew they wouldn’t find anything. “How were you so sure kiddo?”

Nightscream stuck out his tongue and laughed. “Well for one thing, pod production was cut significantly after the Quantum Cycle upgrade. All of us were equipped with a personal DNA scanner. It might be why I came out like a bat. But I’ve never found the DNA source of it.”

“Well that’s the end of this senseless stroll, where to now commander?” asked Nightscream heading out to the exit. He pulled open the door and found a nasty sight. Tankor and his tank drones were primed and ready to attack. “Uhh… guys… did any of you invite Megs friends for a stroll?”

Tankor released his cannon blast along with the other tank drones. They spared no time and instantly charged up another round of plasma bursts. Tankor’s optics shined with bright red. “Bat bot go BANG! Tankor SMASH!”

Nightscream slammed the door shut and the plated doors took the full blasts of the first wave of blasts. He transformed and reached up for the lock and activated it. As that happened large metal plates slid into the locking clamps of the door as it sealed shut from the outside. Several pounding noises could be heard outside from repeated firing.

“Rattrap! You should have converted back to beast mode!” lamented Blackarachnia pointing at the rat in robot mode. The Vehicons must have scanned them during Rattrap’s robot mode time.

Cheetor took action and made his decision. He transformed to robot mode and instructed his band of Maximals to do the same. “Alright Maximals, we might not have an easy way out but we need to access the sewer system!”

The other Maximals converted to robot mode and prepared their weapons. A sudden crash shook the building. The four Maximals looked behind them to see the backend of the factory exposed to the outside. In that gap were the cycle drones and general Thrust.

“Time for you beasties to serve some time… Drones attack!” ordered Thrust charging forward in robot mode. He let his lasers free and the drones followed suit.

Blackarcahnia stood her ground taking her arms she channelled energy into the ground and sent it speeding towards the line of cycle drones. “You’re in my
way…”

The green lightning shot out and connected to the drones, Thrust backed off immediately. He transformed to vehicle mode and sped into the air just as the lightning spread through the front line of his drones and blew them to bits. Engines roared, Thrust surged forward knocking the spider into her Maximal friends.

Thrust looked behind them and noticed the ripping of the front door. Clearly energy build up wasn’t doing much but he needed reinforcements. He aimed up to the steel clamps and instructed his remaining drones to do so too. A wave of lasers blew past the Maximals’ heads.

Nightscream looked around. None of his comrades had been hit. “They missed? Good job tail pipe boy, get your scanners back online before you shoot next time.”

“Thanks for the tip, but I beg to differ. Turn around flyboy,” suggested Thrust pointing to the opened door.

“TANKOR ELIMINATE BEAST BOTS!” bellowed the dull witted tank general. He transformed and charged his weapons. The back row of the tank drones did the same and flooded in the factory chamber.

“Uhh I’m sorry?” Rattrap couldn’t do much this was not a good situation to be in and it was all his fault for remaining in beast mode too long. He knew it would be tough to get out of this mess without some help.

Cheetor pulled out his blades and shifted himself to face Tankor. He dashed forward with blades extended with opposing fire barely missing his body. “Take as many out as we can, then we’ve gotta go. If they call for backup, we’re done for.”

Nightscream wasn’t going to lose without giving it everything he had. He primed his back cannon for just this occasion. Turning to his comrades, “You guys might want to get out of here while you can, or at least cover your audio receptors. It’s going to get noisy.”

Rattrap nodded and converted back to beast mode. Cheetor and Blackarachnia reverted to beast as well and scurried out of the battle scene. Nightscream evaded the ground fire and completed his cycle charge for his back cannon.

“They’re getting away, Tankor send your drones after them. I can take the flyboy out myself…” said Thrust coolly continuing his stream of lasers.

“I think you have bigger problems to worry about tricycle!” screeched Nightscream unleashing a sonic blast towards the Vehicons drones. The wave slammed into the Vehicons hard, their systems shattered from the sheer decibels.
“Ahh… music to my ears!”

The wreckage was immense, the factory lay in ruins with Vehicon limbs scattering the layout. Nightscream had left the generals covered in steel scrap. Jetstorm hovered down with his pack of aero drones.

“Well if I had any consolation for this, I’d say you both loose our earlier bet. Now I’d love to stay and help you guys out but I’ve got some pests to exterminate! Jetstorm, afterburn!” mocked the sly aero general converting to vehicle mode. He blasted off to track the Maximals along with his group.

The group had made their way into the alleyway. The shadows of the buildings concealed them as they searched for a sewer plate. Rattrap was overcome with guilt that he had almost gotten the group slagged.

“Hey… about earlier… I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to help,” spoke Rattrap silently at the back of the line. The Maximals were travelling in single file along the edge of a skyscraper ledge.

“It’s alright buddy, just be more careful next time ok?” asked Cheetor falling back to accompany his friend. He knew Rattrap wasn’t happy about not having any weapons to defend himself with.

Rattrap shook his head, “It’s not… ”

“Hey if it makes you feel any better, I can take the load off for the team now! With my sonic boom attacks Megatron can kiss his Vehicons good bye,” exclaimed Nightscream happily.

“Shut up Nightscream. Look Rattrap we have things we can do and things we can’t do. You may not be able to do what we can but surely there is something you can do that we can’t,” comforted Blackarachnia crawling on the ledge above them.

Rattrap didn’t like to act positively to this kind of Maximal sentiment. It didn’t mean he didn’t like it, but he just preferred not to show he was grateful for the comments. “For bootin’ up cold, I didn’t ask for a basket of sentiments.”

“Oh but boo hoo the rat can’t fight back. Well I’ll make sure your friends won’t be able to after this!” shouted a voice from behind them.

Rattrap turned to see Jetstorm accelerate towards him knocking him off the
edge. He yelled in fear and transformed trying to grab onto something. Luckily as he fell his arm grabbed onto a ledge of the same building. He attempted to pull himself up but his wheeled legs didn’t make it any easier.

“Rattrap!” roared Cheetor in frenzy. He transformed and tried to locate his comrade. Suddenly he was sent slamming into the side of the building. The aero drones had opened fire.

Blackarachnia loaded out some small web disks and threw them at the few drones. She kept moving to dodge the blasts. “Nightscream… go find Rattrap, we’ll keep them occupied up here as long as we can!”

Nightscream complied and flew down to scan for the fallen Maximal. He was quickly surrounded by a squadron of aero drones along with Jetstorm. Nightscream transformed into robot mode and struck the nearest drone.

“Reduce him to atoms!” screamed Jetstorm pointing at the lone Maximal flyer. He watched happily as his minions proceeded to carry out his orders.

Nightscream acted quickly he dove down and slipped out of the aero drones’
grasp. He beat his wings up and met Jetstorm eye to eye. He smiled and opened his mouth. “I think its time for you to take a time out…”
A latch struck out at the startled Vehicon general. It immobilized him but Jetstorm tried to fight it. Suddenly he began to realize that it was pointless, his energon reserves were being drained. The pesky newcomer had another trick up his sleeve! “You…”

“Nighty night Jet loser!” said Nightscream finishing the drain. He retracted the latch into his mouth and swallowed with a gulp. “Thanks for the meal scrapheap, now where did Rattrap…”

Megatron slammed his fist into one of the floating monitors sending it flying into the darkness beneath him. Pulling up to another monitor he grabbed the diagnostic drone and crushed its left stabilizer.

“Where are my generals? I gave them life, I gave them power and I gave them individuality and what do I get? FAILURE!” bellowed an enraged Megatron tossing the diagnostic drone to side. He crushed his fist and hovered to the ceiling of the chamber. “Computer… my generals what is their current status?”

The computer ran a scan and retrieved data feeds form the generals’ neuro links. “Jetstorm’s current status is offline. Tankor’s current status is online engaged in pursuit. Thrust’s current status is online engaged in recovery mode. Maximal signatures are currently active, four. Identifying as unit Cheetor, Rattrap, Blackarachnia and one unidentified Maximal signature…”

“Interesting so Primal isn’t with them. That unidentified signature must be that creature the cycle drones found in the catacombs… How did that putrid life form manage to survive… Dispatch a mixed group of drones to inspect that cavern now!” contemplated Megatron.

“My liege, if I may there are more pressing matters to consider at the moment. The temporal shuttle has just breached transwarp space. There is currently one signature in pursuit. What are your orders?” spoke the damaged diagnostic drone faithfully reporting to his master.

“Modulate the planetary defence pods to shoot the follower as soon as the shuttle is out of transwarp space,” commanded Megatron looking at the computer estimates of arrival.

“My liege, by what means do we have to stop them this time? We failed in the search for the human population on Earth, it was sheer luck that we were able to get the four sparks off that planet,” said the drone trying to reason with the tyrant.

Megatron reached out with his red arm. It was charred and damaged, but nonetheless functioned. He held the drone and snarled. “My recent re-equitation of their treasure will solve our problems. Now if you want to suggest otherwise I will rip your processor out and reprogram a new drone!”

“My humble apologies my liege…”

“Computer, prepare for the shuttle’s landing. I don’t want the Maximals interfering. And have Thrust head to the following coordinates, tell him to use whatever means necessary,” commanded Megatron smiling.

Optimus Primal was released from the CR chamber, though not up to full strength he would manage. The base was empty, he walked out to the new hollowed out chamber and marvelled at the sight. His crew had managed to save a few of the plants and replant new ones. A makeshift garden but Optimus quickly realized this
could be what the Oracle spoke to him of.

He went out of the garden chamber and switched on a computer to locate his crew. Within a few nano-clicks the search revealed four Maximal signatures on the surface of Cybertron. Optimus sighed, though not fit to fight he would have to make sure his crew was ok. He exited the base and entered the catacombs, trekking towards the surface.

“Tankor SLAG spider!” boomed the mighty tank general leading a group of tank drones on the streets of Cybertropolis. Unable to fly, the tank drones fired from the ground and tried to pin down the nimble Blackarachnia.

Blackarachnia fell but spun a web and clung onto the side of an opposite building. She transformed back to beast mode and scurried along the wall just as more plasma shots slammed into the ground she was just on. “Geez, talk about a limited vocabulary!”

Three tank drones stayed in the rear and aimed their cannons. The moving target
was hard to lock onto but the three were ordered by Tankor to standby until the spider was only forced to go in three directions.

Rattrap entered the abandoned building. It was devoid of anything being there, but all the contents were intact. He rolled over to a panel and pressed the button. The floor plan illuminated as lights flickered online.

“Strip my parts and call me a toaster…” Rattrap rolled into the next room and smiled. He went up to a wall and pressed a button on the interface. A board opened revealing weapons upon weapons. “Guess Megatron never bothered to clean out the Maximal police base… Well lucky me…”

Cheetor hollered at Blackarachnia as he ran away from Tankor. She was injured and possibly trapped under rubble. He had to ensure her safety and get her out. The situation was not looking good especially since Nightscream hadn’t come back with Rattrap yet. Cheetor didn’t like leaving Optimus at the base unattended to; they had to fall back soon.

“Ugh… that does it! I’m slagging that bar eyed freak!” cursed Blackarachnia with a shrill. She pushed off a large piece of the above ledge and checked her internal systems. She didn’t suffer too much damage but she would have to watch her energon levels. The drones were more dangerous now since they were guided by generals.

Blackarachnia switched to robot mode, shot out a web and swung down. Doing so, she caught sight of Cheetor who wasn’t able to fight back. Smiling, she reached with her two free legs and grabbed two web disks.

Tankor rushed forward in vehicle mode. He moved quickly for a tank of his size but of course he thought slower than the average bot. His cannon resonated with noise of energy. “TANKOR… TANKOR BLAST CAT BOT!”

The blast went forward but Blackarachnia cut it off with the first of her web disks. The resulting explosion blinded the Vehicon general and his squadron. With the second she tossed it down as it expanded and spread across the street. The energy webbing tightened and strained as the Vehicons crashed into it.

Cheetor skid and turned around. He was relieved to see his comrade unharmed. “Blackarachnia, thanks for the save back there. Its good to see you didn’t get too damaged back there.”

Tankor struggled for he couldn’t move in the web. Blackarachnia walked over and shook her finger at him. She smiled, opened her palm and pressed it against the web. “Thanks for the recharge you big bulldozer.”

Energy sparkled from the Vehicons. The webbing drained their energon and channelled it right into Blackarachnia. Cheetor made a disgusted face, “You know we could’ve just eaten some of the fruit from Nightscream’s garden…”

“Well pardon me for preferring to refuel on energon…” smirked Blackarachnia finishing off her meal. She removed her hand from the web and reverted to beast mode. “Now how bout we go find the rat and the new kid?”

“Megatron, report from Thrust. Unit Optimus Primal has been apprehended, currently in route to the citadel,” reported the computer.

Megatron smiled in response to the report, it was the first piece of good new he had in awhile. “It’s time to catch up Primal… yes…”

Nice to see that Nightscream's not as much of a jerk as he was on the show.

It should be interesting to see who was on the shuttle from Earth. Again, you're able to do some things the show wasn't able to do, such as expand the cast beyond a few characters.

I didn't understand why Nightscream was captured as a jerk, I felt he would be a character that would be sympathesized with and to serve as a new character in the way Cheetor grew in BW but not such a big gap. Also I have some nice plans for him, rather than the whole Noble crisis.

As for the shuttle, I wanted to work in the reason how Waspinator would end up back on Cybertron. To clarify here and now, Waspinator wasn't on that shuttle. Feel free to guess who the four are

Hmmm -

I'll guess that 3 are Maximals.

I'm gonna go with Airazor/Tigatron, Depth Charge, Dinobot II, and Quickstrike.

(Quickstrike, after all, got a Maximal toy in BM. Plus his bio apparently reads like BW Quickstrike)

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