Beast Machines: Rewritten

Episode 7#: The Unexpected Hero

Monitors flickered online across Cybertropolis. Megatron’s ominous face soon appeared on the monitor across empty streets, but the three Maximals that were outside caught sight of the villain.

“Attention Maximals, I have good and bad news for you…” spoke Megatron calmly.

Blackarachnia looked confused, “What is he talking about?”

Cheetor shrugged but they paid attention. “Chances are if anything has to do with Megatron its only bad news…”

“Well I prefer good news so we’ll start with that, yes… I have called off my generals from your pursuit. The bad news, I have Primal…” announced Megatron grinning evilly. He turned away from the monitor and closed in a shot of Optimus unconscious but hanging from energon bonds.

“Big bot! No… how did he… no its my fault!” shouted Cheetor in shock of the situation.

“Hold on kid, it might be a trick. Megatron could be pulling our legs with a hologram… We can’t trust him,” advised Blackarachnia thinking back to her days on the Predacon faction.

“Don’t believe me? Well we’ll see what happens when I extract his spark won’t we? Surrender to me now and I will spare you the pain when I extract your sparks and finally put an end to your chaotic existence!” shouted Megatron as he tightened his fist. In response to that the energon bonds sent slectrical surges into Optimus whom was already unconscious.

“We’ve got to go and save Optimus, we have no choice. It’s not entirely impossible that they found our base,” said Cheetor realizing he had no other option really. He opened a channel in his com-link, “Nightscream, come in. Did you see that broadcast?”

“Nightscream here, yea I did. I haven’t found Rattrap yet, I have no idea where he is…” spoke Nightscream through the com-link.

“Abandon search now, we will have to fear the worst that he’s been captured too. I’ll leave a consistent signal for him to pick up in case his transmission is jammed.” Cheetor was worried, it was just the first day on the job and already things weren’t off to a good start. “Converge on these coordinates, we’ll meet you there. Cheetor out.”

“The Matrix help us if we’re walking into a trap…” muttered Blackarachnia as she followed Cheetor towards the council citadel at the heart of Cybertropolis. Chances were this would be the fight of their lives.

Rattrap continued in the building and rolled into a darker chamber. He threw the switch and the room became lit. The sight put a smile on the Maximal saboteur’s face. “Woo wee! We hit the jackpot!” He released the straps of all the high powered rifles on his back and examined his new found treasure. Now it was time to go back and show those Vehicons who was boss.

“Ah Primal, it’s been awhile hasn’t it? I offered you freedom from your suffering. I’ve been more than generous. Yet you insist on running… That’s something we can’t have here, no…” spoke Megatron bringing his harness down to Optimus’ eye level

Optimus was still drained from the reformatting and worse from the Vehicon ambush when he was in the catacombs. “I’ll never surrender to you Megatron… You’re megalomania has caused nothing but trouble for this universe…”

“I beg to differ Primal. I simply wish to correct Cybertron, with all the tools at my disposal I can remake Cybertron. The era of the Predacon are across the horizon, I will reprogram all of Cybertron with me at the top! No longer will we be slaves to you Maximals!” spat Megatron with rage pointing at Optimus. “I will create the perfect world, programmed as a single entity.”

“It’ll never work Megatron, the Matrix will find a way for those reprogrammed to break free of your code…” muttered Optimus.

“No Primal, individuality can be corrected. I’ve already set Cybertron on this course, all that remains is to collect the remaining sparks, namely yours. Then the great rewriting can begin!”

“It’ll never work Megatron, I won’t let it…” whispered Optimus trying to gather his energy.

“Oh but it will… You’ve met my general, Thrust? Well let’s just say that unlike his drone counterparts he houses a spark. A spark that is unaware thanks to the advanced shell program, it will be the key to your downfall!” revealed Megatron as he motioned for the cycle general to emerge from the shadows.

Optimus struggled to look up and speak to his arch nemesis. “Then if you wish to end the Maximal existence, why not end it now?”

Megatron simply laughed at his rival’s question. He shook his head while continuing to laugh. “Now where’s the fun in that Primal? I think I ought to entertain myself while you Maximal scrap still function, yes… Though you think your crew can wage war against me, you are simply amusement to me Primal. It’s
only a matter of time before my scheme comes to realization!”

“You’re so blinded by your ego Megatron… You tried your virus on us, we made it out. You tried to wipe this planet clean of Maximals, we found a survivor. Nothing you do will stop us from restoring the balance of freedom to Cybertron…” swore Optimus looking back at Megatron with confidence in his tired optics.

“You dare to defy me? You made it out at what cost? The lives of your two comrades? It will only be a matter of time before I find out how you restored your transformation abilities and reconfigure my virus for it! Pathetic Primal! I took everything away from you! Your Optimal abilities, your people and effectively your Optimus rank! You are just Primal now! So if I were you I’d shut up!” roared Megatron shocking Optimus with more volts of electricity.

“Three Maximal signatures detected. Identifying as unit Cheetor, Blackarachnia and the unidentified Maximal signature,” reported the computer voice. It brought a panel to Megatron and displayed the outside view of the citadel. The Maximals approached in beast mode.

“So the rat is lurking… no matter, the defences will take care of him. Computer, open the gate and let the guests in. Its time to start the party, yes…” commanded Megatron bringing in more Vehicon drones.

“Alright Maximals, MAXIMIZE!” commanded Cheetor as he and the others converted to robot mode. They rushed into the citadel armed with their weapons waiting to strike any that got in their way of reaching the central chamber.

Blackarachnia sprang into the central chamber only to be confronted by Thrust. The cycle general pushed out his left arm and chuckled as more cycle drones backed him up, “Miss me chick bot?”

“Ugh, in your dreams!” screeched Blackarachnia pointing her legs forward and sending a beam of electricity towards the general.

Thrust responded and moved to the side and used his hydraulic suspension to hope into the air and dodge the beam. He pointed both arms out and fired at Blackarachnia. “That trick of yours is getting old…”

Nightscream swept down and pulled Blackarachnia up. He sent a weaker sonic pulse and left the first wave of cycle drones disoriented. “Hey needed a lift huh? Next time order in advance ok?”

Thrust aimed at the flyer and had more cycle drones encircle him. “Fire, shoot them out of the sky!”

“I don’t think so!” roared Cheetor rushing out in beast mode. He clamped his jaws into Thrust’s chassis and sent him flying into the wall. He transformed as they rolled on the ground and pulled out his blades.

“Not so fast kitty cat,” said Thrust transforming to vehicle mode as he rolled back onto his wheels. He speed and around and drifted to face off with Cheetor. He converted back to robot mode and began to shoot.

Cheetor waved both his blades with skill and deflected and pushed towards Thrust. The lasers bounced back struck at the general’s chassis. Cheetor grit his teeth as a few lasers skinned off his shell. “Give it up Thrust, I… will beat you!”

Thrust backed off as Cheetor swung with his right arm and narrowly missed Thrust’s shoulder armour. Thrust fell and tried to get back up. Blackarachnia smashed down and punched Thrust into the side of the chamber wall. She quickly took out a web disk and encased Thrust in a web trap. “Call me that again and I won’t spare your processor next time…”

Thrust didn’t respond, the room fell silent when suddenly three steel
tentacles rushed out of the darkness and grabbed the unsuspecting Maximals. The grapple was strong and caused Cheetor to release his weapon.

Megatron emerged from the ceiling along with Optimus in tow. He laughed with his imminent victory. “So you Maximals never learn. Smashing into my citadel like a pack of wild animals, where do you think you are?” He hovered to Nightscream and inspected the new Maximal. “Ah the newbie, it will be interesting taking you apart piece by piece to find out how you made it through my virus…”

The Maximals were way too constricted by the steel tentacles to speak. Optimus lined in front of them and heard their screams. He felt responsible and was ultimately powerless to do anything.

Megatron counted his loot one by one and cracked a smile, “Four huh? One
more and I’ll have the whole set, ye… Tell me where the vermin is?”

A loud revving sound filled the spacious chamber of the citadel. The remaining cycle drones turned to face the dark hall that led to the chamber. They primed their weapons and rushed forward into the darkness to deal with the potential threat. Megatron waited intently for the return but only heard the sounds of laser blasts.

The revving sound started up again as Megatron waited in anticipation. A blast surged out as he moved his entire mass to dodge it. Rattrap came into the scene riding a monocycle equipped with a high powered rifle. Rattrap laughed and pointed his rifle at Megatron. “Someone call for a hero?”

At that moment the diagnostic drone came through a port along with four others behind him carrying spark extractors. The drone didn’t see the Maximals and flew up to Megatron, “My liege, the four sparks have been brought as you commanded…”

“Argh! Get out of my sight!” roared Megatron smashing the diagnostic drone away with his arm. He turned to Rattrap whom had sent blasts with his rifle to sever the steel armour of the tentacles. Megatron shouted in furiously and summoned Jetstorm from the darkness. “Get them!”

Rattrap aimed the rifle at Megatron and fired. The fire blast connected into Megatron’s harness and sent him flying into the back of the citadel. The mass of wires crackled as Rattrap’s next shot flew past it. Rattrap turned his attention to Jetstorm and his aero drones. “Yo Spots! Get the boss monkey out of here! I’ll take care of exhaust breath over here!”

“Say what! I may be damaged, but I’ll tear you to pieces mouse!” screamed Jetstorm firing lasers of his own at Rattrap. The few drones flew behind him and fired at the rat in a wheel.

Cheetor picked up Optimus in his arms and hauled him to the gate. Optimus struggled to make one request. He looked up at Cheetor from his arms and weakly spoke with his remaining energy. “Cheetor… the four sparks… we must rescue them…”

Cheetor acknowledged and turned to Nightscream who knew what to do. The flyer transformed to robot mode and swept down to pick up Optimus and headed to the gate with Blackarachnia. Cheetor turned back to face Nightscream, “Get Optimus back to base, I’ll follow with Rattrap once we’ve got the sparks.”

“Alright, you heard him kid! Let’s get going!” yelled Blackarachnia transforming to robot mode and running. Her expression turned into a frown when she was confronted with Tankor and a small legion tank drones lined up to form a blockade. “Oh isn’t that just great…”

“TANKOR say finish off spider bot now!” pounded the mighty titan as he and his drones released a wave of plasma blasts.

Blackarachnia grimaced and braced herself for impact. She didn’t have
enough time to dodge. But a few nano-clicks passed and she opened the left row of her eyes and saw that she still stood. “Hah! Missed me!”

“Ahhh!!!” screamed Nightscream as he fell from his previous altitude. He transformed and tried to dive down to save Optimus whom was falling faster than he could jet forward. “Slag No! Optimus!”

Blackarachnia looked up and threw out two web disks. They collided into the walls of the citadel and stretched across to form a well weaved web. Optimus smashed down and stuck in place. “Phew… So that dull witted tank does have a brain after all… Nightscream are you alright?”

Nightscream didn’t respond to his comrade’s question. Boosting upwards with his back jets, he recovered from the dive and primed his back cannon for a sonic boom. “You’ll pay for that you slagging Vehicon!”

Cheetor propelled himself off a cycle drone and grappled onto one of the diagnostic drones. He grunted and tried to pry the steel fingers off the extractor and tried to cut through with his claws. “Quite persistent for a drone aren’t you?

Megatron looked up from his clumped state and widened his optics as he watched Cheetor slice off the diagnostic drone’s fingers and remove the spark extractor. “No! Don’t let him leave alive! Get that spark back at all costs you incompetent!”

The frontal diagnostic drone responded and opened a hidden door in the back of the chamber and led the three others through. Responding to the neural command, two aero drones came to the side of Megatron.

Cheetor looked over and rushed forward to try and catch onto another diagnostic drone. Megatron smiled as he was brought upward by his drones. “You cats land on your feet don’t you? Let’s test that shall we? Yes…”

The panels on the floor separated and lifted off. They tilted and Cheetor slid off falling into the darkness. He hung onto the spark extractor as he heard Megatron laughing. The tyrant watched the feline fall to the depths of the chamber’s base.

“Hold on pussycat! Here comes Captain Rattrap to the rescue!” assured Rattrap firing one final blast from his rifle at Jetstorm. The monocycle he rode fell into the depths too. Rattrap pressed a button as the cycle produced two jetpacks and thrust him towards his comrade.

Cheetor fell into the cycle and Rattrap piloted it back up to the gate. “Whoa… Where did you find that thing?”

“No! Jetstorm! Get your skid plate back up there and chase them! Don’t you dare let them escape with that spark!” barked Megatron clinging onto his two aero drones.

Rattrap passed Cheetor the high powered rifle and grabbed back onto the cycle’s interface. “Do the shooting and I’ll get us out of here alright?”

“Get back here Maximals! Don’t think for a click that the game is over, quitting is for losers!” shouted Jetstorm chasing the Maximals on his own. He switched out his hands for more fire power and pelted the duo with everything he had for he dared not to anger Megatron.

Cheetor nodded as Rattrap started up the monocycle. They sped out and Cheetor turned around and aimed his rifle. Locking the targeting system Cheetor pulled back the piston and fired a well aimed shot. It slammed into Jetstorm’s laser shot and burst into flames. “Boo yeah! Who’s the loser now?”

Sparing no time at all Cheetor made one more aimed shot. Locking the spark extractor into a clamp on the wheel, he pointed the rifle at Megatron and pulled back the piston once more. Silently, Cheetor thought to himself. “This one’s for you… Forgive me sparks…”

The single shot razed outward and as Megatron turned he heard the sound of the blast. He turned around as the yellow burst of energy missed his forehead and severed the mass of wires that connected his harness to the ceiling. The citadel fell dark instantly hiding Megatron’s fate from Cheetor. However, the young Maximal heard Megatron scream as the aero drones lost power and he fell into the abyss that he revealed.

I'm quite enjoying this saga. More, please!

Aaaand...

I'm a-guessing they just got Quickstrike.

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We'll have to wait and see. I keep Shane's words close to heart, I can do things the show never was able to do, and I intend to. There were a few things that weren't explored fully in BM regarding the continuity of BW and I'll definitely try to keep that in mind too.

And thanks ChrisW, your support means a lot

Episode 8#: The Junkyard

“Hey nice job saving that spark Cheetor!” commended Nightscream flying back down to ground level as he munched into a fruit. He smiled and watched as Rattrap hooked the spark containment unit to a power supply.

Cheetor relaxed and sat down. “Its thanks to you guys too, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the other three… I failed to save the other three, who knows what Megatron will do to those poor sparks now?”

“Hey it’s not your fault, we’ll get them back. Plus look at the bright side, we the boss monkey out of there and saved a spark!” laughed Rattrap plugging in the final wire and making sure the spark was stable on the small monitor.

“Well its all thanks to your save back there Rattrap! Where did you get that monocycle anyway?” asked Cheetor standing up. He strode over to the cycle which was parked against the wall. Then he noticed the markings on its white armour.

“Found it when I fell off the ledge earlier. The building I ran into was the Maximal Police Armada’s. Literally, Megatron left all their equipment intact including the smallest furnishings,” answered Rattrap finishing his diagnostic and made sure the spark was in a safe and stable state.

Nightscream hovered over and took a closer inspection of the cycle. “Nice, and it’s a Quantum series too. Top of the line product!”

“Well rats have an eye for junk, this rat has an eye for priceless junk,” said Blackarachnia walking past the CR Chamber that housed Optimus Primal. She glanced at the spark that hovered safely in the spark extractor’s containment unit. “Speaking of which… what are we going to do with this spark?”

“We’ve got to find a shell for it. Question is where can we find one?” brought up Nightscream turning to Rattrap who had booted up one of the three consoles in the base. He fluttered over and perched on top of the terminal’s monitor. “I don’t think Megatron will just blatantly leave out shells in the open…”

Cheetor walked over and watched Rattrap hack into Cybertron’s information core. Statistics of the buildings and streets popped up. “Well that’s one thing we’re going to have to find out…”

“Nadda, not much on here but locales. But… If I may suggest we check out the shell manufacturing plant,” said Rattrap spinning around on the console chair to face his comrades.

Blackarachnia wasn’t satisfied with such an easy answer. “And what makes you think Megatron wouldn’t have scrapped a place like that? If we know Megatron he’d probably compensate if he lost a spark or two, he’d get rid of any way to survive…”

Nightscream smirked and pointed at himself. “Well I made it out didn’t I? Plus we won’t know if we go and find out for ourselves. I say we go to the shell production plant and take a look around.”

“Pshh… How could Megatron ever know there was organic life on Cybertron let alone imagine such a maze of tunnels down here? You were lucky to survive kid, don’t say things like that unless you sure others survived. And chances are slim…” retorted Blackarachnia. Her comment sent Nightscream into a guilty mood and silence.

“Well, if that doesn’t please you… You can always check out my favourite place on Cybertron, the scrap yard on sector Destron out by the outskirts of Cybertropolis. Who knows what you’ll find there,” suggested Rattrap falling back onto the floor. He scurried to the monocycle and prepared to get on.

“Agreed,” said Cheetor he walked in front of the crew that assembled next to Rattrap. He took a quick glance over at Optimus in the CR Chamber. “We’ll send a reconnaissance team up to inspect the shell yard. It won’t attract as much attention from Megatron, it’s our safest bet. Rattrap, I’ll be counting on you since you’ll lead this mission.”

“Wahh? Me? How about you?” exclaimed Rattrap in surprise. He pointed to Cheetor and then to himself.

“No, this time I’ll be staying behind to make sure Optimus recovers. Plus you know this scrap yard the best, see if you can find anything salvageable for the spark,” commanded Cheetor. He eyed Rattrap head closer to the monocycle. “And don’t take the monocycle, it’s a reconnaissance mission not a big hitter. Get going, be back within four megacycles.”

Above on Cybertropolis, Megatron was in utter rage from the defeat that was shoved in his face. He had lost most of the controls to his Cybertron. Only a few systems functioned and luckily his generals were online.

“Diagnostic drone, how much longer before the computer is online?” questioned Megatron lying slumped on the bottom of the pit in the chamber. He was weakened by the fall and the short circuiting when he was severed from the wire mass.

The faithful diagnostic drone came to his master’s side and made a report. “My liege, systems are at minimal operating capacity. It will take at least a stellar cycle to get the computer running. I do believe it is more important to insure your recovery first as the implications that come with your separation with…”

“The sparks? Is the containment chamber still?” questioned Megatron interrupting his drone’s report.
“The backup generator is still functional. The sparks are in stable condition. Your condition my liege…” continued the drone pressing a few commands on his data-pad.

“Have my generals located the Maximals? I want that spark back in my possession,” queried Megatron continuing to ignore the drone’s worry for his own wellbeing.

The drone shook his optic from side to side in negative response. “I’m afraid not my liege. Tankor and Jetstorm are searching as we speak. Thrust is in recovery mode, as you should be.”

“My internal repair system will more than suffice my repair sequence. The anomaly, I trust it was taken care of?”

The drone sighed and checked off a few more commands in his data-pad. “The initial warp was nullified, but with you severed from Cybertron… I cannot guarantee the functionality of the planetary defences. If you are not repaired soon, you cannot guarantee that they will not act. Your internal repair system is not sufficient.”

“Oh and why is that?” eyed Megatron looking up at the back of the data-pad.

“No my liege, it is just that your organic systems will take longer to invoke effective repairs. The transmetal technology incorporated into you requires further study. The earlier applications of the transmetal virus upon yourself have proved to damage your internals beyond what your repair processes are capable of…”

Megatron lay there silent for a few cycles, the drone attended patiently. Deep within him something pulsed to life, something that had not been felt by him before. A new hatred rose through the circuitry and formulated in his processor. “So it is the organics that hinders my recovery… The same organics that defeated me on Earth… The organics that saved Optimus Primal and his Maximals… Well I’ll just have to purge that organic existence off Cybertron won’t I? Yes…”

“Tankor not detect beast bots… Think they go underground?” thought Tankor bringing up the rear of ten tank drones. He rotated his head from side to side in his vehicle mode and kept his scanners on the maximum.

Jetstorm soared above with six aero drones. He blew off some steam as he did a few loops and tricks while his drones continued forward. “Oh great… I get stuck with the hollow headed idiot… It’s dangerous without a full armada he says, slag that! I am danger!”

Tankor stopped at the edge of a metal cliff that led out of Cybertropolis and into a neighbouring district. He glared over the edge and saw another expanse of buildings that stretched as far as his optic could see. “No beast bots here turn back…”

Jetstorm swooped down and transformed to robot mode. “Say what? Just because we haven’t seen the Maximals doesn’t mean they’re not here. For all you know, they’re hiding in beast mode!”

Tankor didn’t respond but his machinery hummed patiently as he waited for Jetstorm to do something. Jetstorm caught on and snarled, he slid open his upper arm compartment and ejected two mobile disks. “Disengage! Search for Maximal signatures.”

“Whoa… that’s not your regular scrap…” said Blackarachnia with disgust in her voice. They looked down upon the vast scrap yard and caught sight of countless compacted metal chunks. She fabricated a spindle and slid down carrying Rattrap.

Nightscream observed in horror as he descended from the top that separated the scrap yard from the rest of the Destron sector. His optics quickly identified the metal chunks. “No… they couldn’t have been…”

Rattrap and Blackarachnia couldn’t believe what they were met with. Rattrap got off Blackarachnia’s leg and rushed over to confirm the sighting. He gasped in horror and shook his head sadly, “The Matrix have mercy on us all…”

“All the bodies of the Cybertronians were discarded and compacted here?” sputtered Blackarachnia quickly thinking back to the loss of her love Silverbolt. Was his body dealt with in the same fashion? The sight was difficult to bare. All of Cybertron’s populace had their sparks extracted and now this. She couldn’t imagine her love being in
the same situation.

Raged shrouded Nightscream and transformed into robot mode. He fell onto his knees and bowed his head as he was overcome by emotions of loss. Megatron had to pay for his crimes. Then the question entered his processor, were his friends here? He had to find out, he ignited his back jets and surged forward looking in every direction knowing he wouldn’t be able to pick up their signature.

“Webs, watch our back I’ll go get the kid to calm his circuits down. Better get him to beast mode too, wouldn’t want any Vehicons crashing into a recon mission would we?” spat Rattrap chasing after the enraged Maximal.

Blackarachnia nodded and shouted back, “How bout finding a body that’s in good shape? We still need one for the spark!”

“It would be a crime to use one of these bodies, even I know that. Just watch our backs for any uninvited guests. We can’t let our guard down even if the city is out dark,” replied Rattrap trying to keep up with Nightscream. His short paws and legs weren’t helping keep up with a bot propelled by jet packs and capable of flight.

Unknown to the Maximals one of the disks caught the signature of Nightscream’s transformation. It instantaneously transmitted a code one alert to Jetstorm.

Jetstorm’s excitement exploded upon reception. He converted to vehicle mode and aligned himself with his six drones. Tilting his head to Tankor, Jetstorm activated his thrusters and zoomed off. “Catch ya later slowpoke!”

“Hey big bot, you feeling alright?” asked Cheetor helping Optimus down from the CR Chamber. The chamber wasn’t as high tech as the one on the Axalon but it served its purpose.

“Ugh… the sparks…” muttered Optimus as his first concern came up immediately. He took a seat with the aid of Cheetor and opened his optics. Cheetor brought the spark into view on the control table. “Thank the Matrix…”

“Sorry big bot, we were only able to save one of them. The other three weren’t so fortunate…” admitted Cheetor sadly.

“I’m sure you did your best to save them. All that matters is that at least you were able to save one. Speaking of which, where are the others?” asked Optimus opening his beast optics to full.

“Rattrap is leading a mission to the surface. Strictly recon, I promise. I’ve instructed them to look for a potential shell to house our new guest. We can’t just keep the spark sustained in a containment unit forever,” answered Cheetor punching tapping his shoulder. In response the containment unit retracted into the table where it would be safer.

“Obsessed with the surface huh Cheetor? The Matrix help us all if they fall prey to Megatron and his Vehicons…” commented Optimus leaning back against the wall. He was still tired, though he had recovered physically a lot of spark stress left him useless for the time being.

“Well let’s hope it doesn’t come to that…” replied Cheetor.

“Yo batboy you ok? Cool your circuits and get back to beast mode please…” begged Rattrap continuing his pursuit of Nightscream. Suddenly Nightscream came to a halt and fell to the ground abruptly. Rattrap puffed and comforted the survivor. “Hey… “

Nightscream turned his head and stared right into Rattrap’s optics. Though mechanical, it could be understood that he was experiencing unparalleled anger. Turning back he extended a finger and pointed in the direction ahead of him. “He… he… he was my best friend… why… why couldn’t it be me there instead of him? Why?”

Rattrap remained silent. He had no comeback for this one. No not this time, Rattrap knew too well the pain of loss. From his comrades Tigatron to Rhinox, he had experienced the loss of a comrade far too many times. “I… I know I’m sorry.”

“Megatron… it’s his entire fault! You know if you won the Beast Wars maybe this wouldn’t have happened!” shot Nightscream slapping Rattrap away in the midst of his anger.

He looked up one more time upon the crushed shell of his best friend and covered the side of his face with his right hand trying to comprehend how this could have happened. Such a horror to be inflicted, it was difficult to understand how anyone could have done such an act of crime.

Shots rang out from the other end of scrap yard. Nightscream still wearing an angry frown moved his attention to the direction. He caught sight of Jetstorm laughing wildly as he blasted Blackarachnia. “You… I’ll start with you…”

“Run, run! You can’t run from me forever spider chick! Ha!” cackled Jetstorm leading his small platoon on a wild spider chase. He bore all his weapons and let lose. The sheer power of the lasers ripped into the ground as the obstacles cornered Blackarachnia.

She screamed for help but none came. She would have to dispatch of Jetstorm and his flunkies alone. Taking out three web disks she prepared to throw them. But a laser blast came and ripped the web disks to atoms. “What? How did you…”

“You really think generals don’t talk to each other? I’m appalled by your stupidity!” announced Jetstorm as a drone from his upper right moved to his side. Clearly he had instructed his drones to watch for any attack preparation Blackarachnia made. “Good night sweetheart…”

“Drones pick her up. Megatron wants these junk bots in one piece, dunno why but at least I’ve got a job! Now where are those other Maxies?” questioned Jetstorm flying up and looking around.

A sudden impact from behind sent him crashing into the drones picking up the fallen spider. A dark silhouette encompassed Jetstorm and his crew.

“Looking for me?” dared Nightscream sending a punch into Jetstorm’s visor. The visor cracked and before Nightscream made another sound he flew and punched Jetstorm into a crate of miscellaneous scrap.

“You’ll pay for that Maximal, I’ll clip your wings personally!” swore Jetstorm recovering from his fall. He sent his companions away so that he could deal with his rival alone. He extended both of his arms’ cannons.

Blasts came at Nightscream from all angles. The young Maximal didn’t even try to dodge. Heat beams phased his arms and body armour but he still hovered in place. He grunted at the shots and simply replied, “My turn!”


Nightscream accelerated at full speed and rammed into Jetstorm. The force of the crash brought the duo smashing into the side of the scrap yard complex. Nightscream pulled away and smashed his left fist into Jetstorm’s face completely breaking the general’s visual capabilities.

“How’s it feel to be helpless, Vehicon?” questioned Nightscream sending a kick into Jetstorm’s back. The damage deactivated Jetstorm’s jets and he fell. Instantly aero drones came to his rescue but Nightscream acted once more. “Not so fast!”

Jetstorm looked around wildly but couldn’t see anything. His audio receptors crackled and knew that Nightscream had disposed of his six aero drones once more with a sonic attack. He slammed into the steel ground hard.

Nightscream heaved and flew down. Using his foot as a clamp, Nightscream bent over and ripped open the blue chest place of Jetstorm. “Where’s your spark you monster? I’ll tear you apart until I find it!”

Jetstorm screamed in pain as his armour was peeled off. He was immobilized and unable to retaliate as Nightscream uncovered his spark container. Mech fluid spilled all over from the severed tubes and wires. “Say… Say what? You’re the real monster! I knew you Maximals were messed up from the start!”

As Nightscream reached over with his hand to tear out the fallen aero drone’s spark a plasma beam came by and incinerated his hand. A transformation sound was heard, the tank drones had arrived. “Bat bot step back now! Tankor SMASH puny beast bots!”

Rattrap converted to robot mode and secured a sewer hatch. He saw Blackarachnia near Nightscream. He threw open the hatch and gestured for the two to come over. “Yo webs! Paralyze the kid and get him back here! We’re retreating!”

Blackarachnia transformed to beast mode, grabbed the shocked Nightscream and injected him with a small dosage of cyber venom. He fell unconscious and reverted to beast mode. She flung him over her back and rushed to Rattrap. “The kid will be out cold for a couple cycles! Let’s get our skid plates going before Tankor decides to follow us.”

“Think Tankor will follow us?” asked Rattrap leading the way in the tunnel. He frequently looked back just in case. From what he had heard from Blackarachnia, Tankor wasn’t as dim witted as they had originally thought. Obviously that spark in there had some sort of intelligence.

Blackarachnia exhaled and thought back to the mangled shell of Jetstorm. It would probably take several megacycles to get that thing repaired and back online. “No, I have a pretty good feeling that he’s got his own problems to worry about.”

“Think the kid will be ok? He took it pretty hard back there, well I guess anyone would if they saw what he did…” shuddered Rattrap falling back along side with Blackarachnia to check up on Nightscream. He took a look at Nightscream and remembered watching the young survivor rip the aero general to shreds. “That kid sure is violent when he gets mad… Wouldn’t want to be the Vehicons…”

Blackarachnia continued to press forward. She turned four of her eyes to pay attention to Rattrap. “He’ll be fine, physically. It’s his spark I’m worried about. One thing for sure, his spark will never be the same again…”

nice read, a few errors in grammar in missing word at a few points but it works well. i wonder who the spark they saved was, maybe buzzsaw or even dinobot

Episode 9#: The Beast Without

“I never thought… I underestimated our individualistic feelings in this struggle, I’m sorry…” replied Cheetor trying to gain Nightscream’s forgiveness. The young Maximal was probably the greatest victim of Megatron’s madness.

Nightscream was solemn he saw Rattrap and extended a wing. He gulped and spoke, “Rattrap… back then about what I said… I’m sorry; I was blinded by the feelings that had overcome me. Everything led back to Megatron and then I linked the reason why he was back on Cybertron… I’m so…”

“Its alright, I understand how it feels to loose someone close to you. Trust me, we probably would’ve all done the same thing,” replied Rattrap sitting at the terminal. He faced the group who was having a small discussion several megacycles after their return from the scrap yard.

Nightscream shifted to Blackarachnia, “And thanks for saving me back there… If you hadn’t stopped me then… I don’t know what I would’ve done… not only to Tankor but any of you.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all lost people close to us. We should focus on the task at hand, we can’t keep letting the past stop us from reaching the future. The freedom of Cybertron rests on us,” spoke Blackarachnia silently. She thought back to the yard and remembered Silverbolt. How she found comfort that she didn’t see his shell there but worried that his shell suffered a demeaning end.

Optimus realized his crew’s morale was low and needed some uplifting. He knew it was time that he relayed his latest interface from the Oracle with his crew. He stepped forward and received the full attention of his crew. “I have something rather difficult to tell you… During my stasis, I don’t know how but I interfaced with the Oracle once again. Previously I had been granted the ability to reformat, as I did with Nightscream. Though it has drained me, I have recovered and I am glad to see him join our ranks.”

“Any clues how to fight Megatron? Free the sparks anything?” asked Cheetor eagerly. He had waited long enough for Optimus to awaken but even longer for the others to come back so that Optimus would reveal to them what had happened.

“As I realized earlier, I was also given the affinity to sense sparks through the Allspark. Those three generals house sparks, possibly Maximal. We can’t fight them as we did Predacons back on Earth. They are being tricked by Megatron into doing so…”

“The shell program!” exclaimed Blackarachnia.

“Precisely, but until we can find a method to break them free of Megatron’s new shell program we’ll have to watch ourselves in combat,” directed Optimus giving Nightscream an assured pat on the back. “Furthermore, I sensed those four sparks coming in. I’m not from where but those four were sensed. Unfortunately I cannot sense the others…”

“Well we’ll have to look for them won’t we? I’m sure if we tear through the citadel we’ll find those sparks sooner or later,” suggested Nightscream gleaming with hope that he’d be able to fight Megatron one on one. He rubbed the tips of his wings together in anticipation.

“No Nightscream, aside from your personal feelings we are not meant to wage a war… or not that I’m aware of. The Oracle said to find the balance, that the seeds of the future lay buried in the past. From what we’ve seen so far, our new beast modes can amplify our emotions. We must tame the beast without and unleash the warrior within. Otherwise we cannot make the most of our new bodies.”

“Uhh not to break into your speech boss monkey, but let’s focus on what to do with our spark here,” interrupted Rattrap pointing to the pulsating spark in the containment unit. He fiddled a few controls and adjusted the unit. “Clearly we won’t be able to use the scrap yard…”

“Agreed, not only that but the Oracle has revealed the virus still plagues Cybertron. The body must be reformatted, I was hoping you’d be able to rig something up for the spark,” replied Optimus taking a closer look at the spark. For an instant, it almost seemed like a spark he had seen before but then the feeling left quickly just as it had came.

“Actually I’ve got something if we can get our hands on one of those stasis pods with a protoform in it. A blank would provide the nanites necessary to generate a body plus if we interface it correctly with the Oracle we can get it reformatted,” suggested Rattrap panning out some data charts. He searched up the location again and pointed. “The complex wasn’t completely destroyed but if we can get in there and grab one of the protoform slates in the other storage wing I can get started.”

Cheetor agreed, “Ok I’ll go myself. Less risk for everyone else would be ideal for…”

“No, Blackarachnia accompany him. If anything happens, Nightscream and I will back you up and remember whatever happens keep your thoughts and emotions stable,” commanded Optimus interjecting Cheetor’s plan. “Rattrap during that time I want you to search the surrounding buildings and see if you can salvage anymore leftover tech that may be of use to us.”

The soft sound of stepping brought less eeriness to the city than the total darkness that had fallen over Cybertropolis. Although the lack of power was linked to Megatron’s defeat at the citadel, the Maximals knew they had to focus on their current mission to retrieve a stasis pod.

“Anyone else find it freaky we’re the only ones out here? I mean it’s so dark…” asked Nightscream following against the wall with Optimus and Blackarachnia. Cheetor followed up at the rear.

“I thought you scanned a bat, you should be comfortable in the darkness,” replied Blackarachnia bringing the Maximals to a stop. They had arrived at the decimated site of the Allspark Generator. “I had forgotten how good tenants we were that day… Oh well, Cheetor let’s get going.”

Nightscream perched alongside the ledge of the building and remained hidden in the darkness. “Hey Optimus, you think they’ll find anything down there?”

“Let’s hope so, for that spark’s sake…” replied Optimus Primal taking a seat on the ledge. He surveyed the damage and responded heartily to Nightscream’s statement. “We were never good tenants to begin with, even on prehistoric Earth.”

Blackarachnia nimbly walked through the ruins as quickly as she could. Not wanting to spend too much time in this place, she wanted to find a viable pod and go. The Allspark Generator gave her the shivers. “Rattrap said in the right wing, well let’s go inside Cheetor.”

Cheetor jumped up to the exposed second floor of the right wing. He waited for Blackarachnia who spun a web and climbed up. “I… I remember this place. Come on follow me.”

The duo walked through the empty corridors of the Allspark Generator. After moving forward a few clicks Cheetor made a turn into a room. He quickly scanned the area and nodded. “Here’s the place, I remember coming here before we left for our exploration mission. Guess Rattrap remembered it too. This was where they kept ready blanks. Gimme a second, I’ll need to transform.”

“Make it quick Cheetor, if we get into combat with Vehicons I don’t think Optimus can handle himself out there quite yet…” acknowledged Blackarachnia watching Cheetor transform.

The tall Maximal moved his hand over the console. The computer brimmed to life and checked for the correct authority. It bleeped and accepted, with a click the wall opened and ejected a rack of stasis pods.

“Nice work, I guess old Megatron wasn’t smart enough to wipe out all Maximal authority authentication checks,” replied Cheetor reverting to beast mode. He climbed onto the rack and pulled one of the stasis pods out. Confirming the still functioning nanites in the pod he instructed Blackarachnia.

She aimed her spindle up and encased the pod in several layers of her energy webbing. Once secured, she fashioned a rope and passed one end of it to Cheetor. “Make it quick. Let’s get this thing out of here.”

The duo made it to the break in the right wing of the complex when they caught sight of a swarm of aero and cycle drones fighting it out with Optimus and Nightscream. Tankor’s drones had been disposed of but he functioned and continued to fight.

“Spider chick and loser cat at one o’clock!” shouted Jetstorm pointing in their direction. He stuck his arm in the air and indicated with his index and middle finger for a small group of aero drones to follow him. “Jetstorm, AFTERBURN!”

Blackarachnia detached the webbing from her spindle and transformed to robot mode. She readied several web disks and made her decision to fight. “Cheetor, I’ll take care of him. I’ve got a bone to pick with this one…”

“No, I’ll take care of him. You get the pod back to the base, plus remember Primal said not to let our emotions overwhelm us,” objected Cheetor transforming and trying to pass the web back to Blackarachnia.

Blackarachnia opened all eight of her optics and refused. “Listen, let me deal with him myself. You’re the fastest out of all of us, get the pod back to base and then come back. I’m sure Nightscream can cover for Optimus and I’ll cover for you.”

Cheetor realized she was right and pulled back into beast mode. He grabbed the webbing into his jaws and pulled the casing down to the ground level. Taking one last look at Blackarachnia, he knew he had to trust her and he could.

“So this was where you were hiding! I guess I didn’t mess you up enough last time, allow me to finish the job!” exclaimed Jetstorm bringing all his aero drones into robot mode.

Blackarachnia widened all eight optics and tracked the drones including Jetstorm individually. She reached with four of her spider legs and tossed out eight web disks like ninja stars.

Jetstorm faintly moved from side to side watching the disks fly by him in slow motion. He shook his finger, “Ah ah ah… Missed me, now ya gotta kiss me!”

“Try again reject!” shouted Blackarachnia smiling. The web disks struck the aero drones and connected to each other forming a web around Jetstorm. The large webbing plate held them in the sky. “Enjoy your fall!”

Blackarachnia snapped her finger and the web sent out an impulse of electricity. The result caused the drones to go offline and fall from gravity. Even Jetstorm couldn’t keep the weight of the web and his drones a lift.

Jetstorm groaned and tried to push himself off the rubble. He turned himself over but couldn’t break free of the webbing. Before he could try a smash came into his bottom torso. Blackarachnia had jumped down and focussed her energy into puncturing his armour. “So… this is how it ends huh? Thought we had something there spider chick, you know?”

“Like I haven’t heard that before, are all your dreams in techni-colour?” asked Blackarachnia preparing to finish him off. She pin pointed his spark chamber from the last time Nightscream ripped it open. Pointing her legs together she charged an energy blast.

“No! Blackarachnia, we can’t risk his spark! For all we know he might be an innocent Maximal being used by Megatron!” shouted Optimus Primal blasting over to Blackarachnia’s location. He deactivated his jets upon landing and examined the fallen aero drone. He tried to think what might motivate Blackarachnia to this. He put his hand on her back and she stepped back from the charge. “Look, I know you still mourn over Silverbolt’s demise but we can’t vent our anger on the innocent…”

A familiar voice boomed across the scene. “Foolish Primal, whoever said my generals were innocent? They all carry some sort of wrong doing in their past, you are in no position to judge them.”

“Megatron…” hissed Nightscream silently. He scanned in every direction around him for the tyrant that had enslaved Cybertron. Despite what Optimus had instructed, he couldn’t let Megatron off the hook that easily.

A large building rose from the ground and revealed a side of pure monitors. It flashed and relayed the image of Megatron’s face. “I may not have all my controls back Primal, but I assure you I have enough of Cybertron under my control to finish you off. I will begin by disposing of your Maximals!”

Nightscream used that opportunity to react and sent his jets into full throttle. “MEGATRON! I’ll make you pay!”

“No! Nightscream, control your anger! You can’t give into the instability of your emotions. The reformatted bodies can’t aid you if you’ve become blinded…” warned Optimus, but it was too late. He flew forward but watched as Nightscream surged forward only to be shot down by Megatron’s automated defences.

“Foolishness, you’ll only be rewarded by destruction, yes… I promise you Primal that before this day is done I will show you who can’t control their emotions.” A spark of energy lashed out and knocked out Blackarachnia. Megatron laughed in the fall of his former saboteur.

“NO!” cried Optimus with Nightscream in his arms. He carried him while running to inspect the motionless shell of Blackarachnia. Optimus beamed at Megatron with infuriated optics. “Your games will stop here Megatron! Fight me!”

“Oh but the fun has just begun, yes… I think I’ll draw out your pain a little longer before I end your existence,” threatened Megatron sneering. His face scaled larger as he loomed closer to the receptor. “Rest assured I’ll end it soon. For I have a new reason to wipe your vestige off this planet. I know answers haven’t been easy for you since you’ve hit Cybertron but I’ll let you in on this one. Your putrid organics, it will come to an end! Your existence contaminates my Cybertron, I will not tolerate it!”

“I don’t know about you Megatron but I’ve never hated my beast form. In fact, if I remember it correctly it was yourself that went to the lengths of stealing the original Megatron’s spark to enhance your own twisted designs!” shouted Optimus pointing at Megatron.

“I… I assure you I have been cured of that pestilence of a beast mode, yes…” Megatron struggled to maintain his calm but his transmetal two body didn’t take rage well either. His emotions could not be contained and his conscious was consumed by fire. He roared and transformed into dragon mode.

Optimus was surprised as he was to see Megatron still in his transmetal body. Perhaps there was something holding back the reverting of the beast form. “Who’s the beast now Megatron?”

Megatron quickly shook it off and transformed back to robot mode. He flew back up and entered the harness. “You have infuriated me for the last time Primal, yes… To reward you for that meaningless show, allow me to tell you what I did with the trillions of Transformer bodies. Ever wonder what happened to all of them? Sure you’ve heard about the processing plant, but the real aim was to melt them down and build Vehicon drones!”

Such an act to be committed rang through every single one of Optimus’ logic circuits. He too erupted with anger. First Megatron removed the spark of every Transformer now he violated their remains. Optimus’ optics changed ambience and pounded his chest. “MEGATRON!”

Primal flew up and unleashed a giant wave from his chest. He did not rest after the first shot, he released wave after wave of it. Megatron’s display was destroyed from the first shot and the building crashed into the ground. However audio still worked, some where in the midst a machine broadcasted.

“Who’s the beast now Primal? Generals, eliminate them once and for all. It’s been fun Primal, but I have much more important matters to attend to…”

“Where are you Megatron?” blasted Optimus Primal sending equally powerful waves in every direction. He had become totally blinded by his anger. If he could not see, he would continue firing until Megatron could no longer be heard.

Tankor sprang to life and converted to vehicle mode. The range of the Maximal’s blasts exceeded him but the angle passed right above him. Tankor took one well aimed
shot and knocked the rampaging Optimus out. “TANKOR hit monkey!”

“Nice shot heavy buddy,” chuckled Thrust bringing his group of surviving cycle drones up behind him. He continued to chuckle as the group encircled the three offline Maximals.

“Attention dim wits! Step away from the monkey, spider and winged rat!” exclaimed a voice. The two generals turned to see Rattrap yelling with a megaphone and Cheetor mounted on two quasar monocycles.

Cheetor locked and loaded his rifle. He laughed at Rattrap’s comment, “Isn’t that kind of you to use those words to describe our comrades?”

“Hey, they’ll owe us big time for saving them from being scrapped kiddo. C’mon
let’s scorch some Vehicons!” Rattrap booted up the monocycle’s targeting system. It beeped and locked onto five targets. “Gotta love the feds gear…” Rattrap didn’t take his rifle, he rushed forward and used the cycle’s automated blasters to attack.

“What the!” exclaimed Thrust as he was clouded with exhaust from Rattrap’s monocycle. His optic sensors couldn’t see through the pollution and fired in fear that he would be taken out. The cloud cleared and he found his drones on the floor. Rattrap’s hand blaster clicked behind his head. “Aw slag…”

Tankor converted into vehicle mode. He released two clamps from each side and locked into the ground. Using the fixed location he rotated his cannon blasting in every direction. “SMASH BEAST BOTS!”

“Geez, seriously he’s smart but he could improve on the vocabulary…” noted Cheetor, he pressed a button and threw on the monocycle’s thrusters. The cycle rose into the air and Cheetor retaliated with blasts of his own. “Rattrap get Optimus, Nightscream and Blackarachnia out of there!”

“On it!” saluted Rattrap activating his own thrusters. He hitched the blaster back
onto the monocycle. He rammed forward and grabbed onto Optimus and pulled him onto his cycle.

Tankor caught sight of Rattrap’s little retrieval operation and decided to intervene. He retracted his clamps and accelerated forward. He pulled up and sent blasts as Rattrap tried to pick up Blackarachnia’s shell. “TANKOR stop rat bot… SMASH!”

Rattrap looked up in a frenzy to see one of the blasts head straight for him. He skid the monocycle around and tried to protect himself and his comrades. A bang was heard and he turned around, the blast had been intercepted.

“Thank me later!” shouted Cheetor. Locking the rifle again, Cheetor sent another blast and rendered Tankor’s cannon unusable. He smiled and sent another blast down causing Tankor to erupt in flames. Clicking another button the monocycle began to descend and upon landing Cheetor locked the rifle again. “Heh… too easy…”

“Hey kiddo, let’s get these guys back to base. We got what we came for,” suggested Rattrap pointing to Optimus who still lay on the floor.

Cheetor nodded, “Let’s go back and get that spark online.”

oohh. this is getting interesting

Episode 10#: The Spark

Megatron’s cries of pain resonated in the hollow chamber. The echoes bounced into the steel walls and bounced back. Megatron grit his teeth and rammed his fist into an offline monitor. “How can it be so difficult to remove my putrid beast form?”

With most systems still down, only the diagnostic drone answered his call. The tiny machine flew to his master and made his analysis. He looked Megatron from head to toe and punched a few digits into his trusty data-pad. “As I’ve stated before, your transmetal two’s properties have been bonded to your spark in unknown parameters. I cannot reverse the nanite configuration without risk to your spark, my liege…”

“Slag!” Megatron’s curse went in vain, only the drone heard but what would AI do to respond? He looked into the drone’s mono-optic. “What other option do I have?”

“Well my liege, I can’t promise anything but a spark transfer could be in order. With most of the systems still offline I can only estimate that the process would be ready in… oh maybe two to three stellar cycles at the most taking into account that an appropriate shell must be prepared for your spark,” reported the drone giving a mini salute with its short hands.

Megatron instantly reacted by shaking his head. “No… impossible, I cannot risk the safety of Cybertron while Primal and his crew run rampant. I cannot insure the complete effectiveness of my shell program either, or risk them attacking. That option is not viable, at least not yet… If it means insuring my victory, I will learn to cope with this unfortunate beast mode for a little longer… Yes…”

“Rattrap, is everything ready?” came Optimus as he came up from the makeshift lift to the main level of where they had first encountered the Oracle. With a couple megacycles worth of work and digging, the Maximal base had now been linked to the site of the Oracle.

Rattrap fiddled with a few switches and hooked up a few gizmos to the stasis pod’s cylindrical terminal. “Well with not much idea of how to do this, we’re hoping on a miracle here boss monkey. Not to mention we’ll need to find a beast mode for this spark to protect it from Megatron’s scanners. Mind telling me where we can find one of those on Cybertron?”

“The rat’s got a point there Optimus,” sided Blackarachnia leaping down with the spark containment unit. Lightly bouncing off the cobble stone ground, the spider held the container up high. She handed it to Optimus for safe keeping. “Here ya go, it’s all yours.”

“Like I said there’s no guarantee this will work… You’re putting the spark and yourself at risk,” noted Rattrap finalizing whatever preparations he had thought of. Rattrap wasn’t a tech wiz like Rhinox was but he learnt enough from Rhinox, especially the skill of improvising.

Optimus peered through the glass portions of the containment unit and knew this had to be done. Keeping a spark contained for so long wasn’t exactly humane. “I may be able to help you out there Rattrap. If the Oracle really is the all seeing and can interface with the Allspark, perhaps it can interface with other computer systems as well.”

Rattrap shrugged, “Whatever you say, you’re the big banana.”

“What are you trying say?” asked Blackarachnia not looking convinced. Ever since Optimus Primal interfaced with the Oracle, he had said some strange things and Blackarachnia wasn’t buying all of it. She wasn’t a blind follower, but Optimus had gotten them this far, she would at least listen to his idea.

“I’m saying that we just might be able to find a beast mode for this spark. There’s an old archive I remember hearing about from another science vessel captain. The archive was cast in die cast metal and loaded since the original Autobots won the war against the Decepticons. Any returning Cybertronian vessel downloaded their alternate modes and other life form data from their journey into it. I believe we can find some organic beast modes in there. Any requests?”

Rattrap’s right optic widened, “What request…”

“As in for this protoform, we’ll need one before we reformat it…” spoke Optimus preparing to interface with the Oracle. He shut his optics and concentrated, the power he had been endowed awoke replacing his regular coloured optics to ones of gold.

“Woah… well that’s not something you see everyday,” remarked Blackarachnia watching the mysterious energy pour out of Optimus and shroud him. She hesitated and pondered the possibility of this happening, she wasn’t about to believe in some mystical reality coming about.

Rattrap laughed nervously at first but then calmed down. Optimus gave a look of reassurance and asked once more, “Well, what’s it going to be?”

“Uh… a flyer would be nice… Batboy needs an accomplice to deal with Jetstorm’s ego,” replied Rattrap trying to think strategically. He knew that they were outnumbered and that Optimus and Nightscream couldn’t take it all in the air. Plus the most troublesome enemy other than Megatron so far was the blue flying jet.

Optimus did not respond to Rattrap’s words but did receive them. He closed his optics once more and began the interface. All went silent and the light vanished in the same fashion it had appeared. Optimus tumbled through the infinite reaches of the Oracle without a voice guiding him, somewhere deep down in his processor he knew what to seek.

“Hey Cheetor, the boss monkey has entered search mode. Do you and batboy copy?” asked Rattrap tapping his shoulder intercom. A click went off and he walked over to the side of a wall.

A buzz and static filtered in. Cheetor’s voice came in. “Yeah we copy, let’s hope this works…”

A loud crash came into the giant empty chamber. Chunks of rock and steel went flying into the air. Blackarachnia and Rattrap spun around and saw a gigantic steel barrel emerge from the ground. Lights shot out from the tip of the barrel and sharp blades spun at violent speeds cutting up bits of rock. It fell to ground level and began heading towards Rattrap.

Blackarachnia hissed and spun a web picking up Rattrap and bringing him over to the upper ledge. She caught sight of Optimus and the protoform on the other side of bridge, hidden from plain sight. “Call for backup, we’ve got to protect the boss monkey and that spark at all costs. I’ll lure them away from here.”

Rattrap didn’t like the plan but he had to follow since he wouldn’t be able to help fight back. He silently complied and snuck away into the shadows. “If I had my… slag… I’d show you…”

Shrieks resonated in the chamber. Jet engines thundered and a small group of aero-drones flew up to the ledge. The dark blue unit transformed and Jetstorm rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. “Well lookee here what I found! I told those knuckleheads I’d find the Maximals, but no… if Thrust and Tankor weren’t such tinhorns, they’d actually be worth something! But I promise you spider chick, I’m more than enough to take care of business…”

“Blackarachnia, MAXIMIZE!” The black widow converted and led the aero-drones chasing after her across the ledge. She reared her head and taunted the boastful Jetstorm. “Hey Jetstorm, catch me, if you can!”

Jetstorm loved a challenge and couldn’t refuse the lady. Pointing in her direction with a few twists and turns he transformed into jet mode. Churning out his larger blasters from his underbelly he began to fire along with his group. “I’d be careful what I wished for spider chick! But your wish is my command!”

Blackarachnia kept focussed, she needed to lure the big mouth away from Optimus whom was clearly not in any state to fight back. She made a turn and continued through a dark tunnel. Her footsteps resonated with each contact upon the steel plated floor. She made another turn as the blasts from the aero drones smashed behind her and erupted. Focussing two of her eyes she felt confidant that the aero drones had spelled their own demise, but they rushed through the fires continuing their pursuit.

“Oh did I forget to introduce my new friend? Say hello to my new toy, mole!” shouted Jetstorm. Blackarachnia ambled nimbly through but then a rupture tore into the wall. Another massive digging machine ate its way through the rock. It stopped Blackarachnia in her tracks as she made another sharp turn.

“Can’t seem to catch a break,” huffed Blackarachnia leaping across a fallen mass of junk. Missiles and energy blasts flew over and eradicated the mass. Then she ran headfirst into something. She looked up against the red surface. “Huh?”

“For once, I agree with you,” spoke the voice coolly. Thrust backed off and dropped Blackarachnia to the floor. Two rows of four cycle drones aligned the wall aiming their weapons at her. “Pity it had to end this way…”

A shout came through the hallway, “Back off tailpipe sweeper! She’s mine!” Jetstorm dished out one blast and it burnt the side of Thrust’s head. “Hear me buzzer face?”

Thrust rolled forward and pulled off his own show. He switched his weapons to red, full power. Blackarachnia stood between them in horror as they went about their business to annihilate each other.

“Hey spots, we’ve got trouble!” announced Rattrap swinging down into the base. He looked around frantically and eyed the monocycle. He rushed and pulled it onto the makeshift lift.

Cheetor and Nightscream came up from another lift. Nightscream fluttered onto Rattrap’s lift, perched on the monocycle and complained, “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“For your information, I sent a radio transmission several cycles earlier. Not my fault if you didn’t get it kiddo! Try listening for once, geez thought bat’s had better hearing than others…” retorted Rattrap pointing at Nightscream angrily. He was fed up with taking all this garbage.

“That’s enough! Both of you, Optimus is vulnerable and Blackarachnia is dealing with for what we know, one Vehicon general alone. Things won’t be pretty unless we get there soon. We’ll have to assume the worst, Megatron has found our approximate location and is jamming us. C’mon we don’t have much time to spare, let’s get going,” ordered Cheetor

“My liege, it’s as you speculated. The Maximals have been found!” remarked the diagnostic drone bringing Megatron an update.

It was the first good news Megatron had received in a long time. “Of course, those Maximals can’t hide from me forever. It seems as if the moles are performing well on their first test run. We must have hit close to their base of operations.”

“Shall I send more drones my liege? Jetstorm and Thrust have engaged the enemy, Tankor is on his way. We could use this opportunity to end this once and for all. Then you are one step closer to ridding yourself of that beast mode.”

“Indeed, send more. At the same time I want a composite analysis of each Maximal before termination and to better understand how they rid themselves of their previous forms and cheated death,” finalized Megatron continuing to work on a single data screen.

“Of course, as you wish my liege.”

“Think you can run away Maximal?” asked Thrust chasing Blackarachnia through the tunnels. He quickly converted to vehicle mode and accelerated. A smaller group of cycle drones followed him now, the rest rested underneath melted metal along with Jetstorm.

Blackarachnia was lost, she lost track of her turns and path. There was no way of knowing for sure where she was heading to now. Finding her way out of lost was not her skill, she had to rely on instinct now. “Slag, if only Rattrap were here now…”

The two tangled through the tunnel and finally made it back into the starting chamber. Tankor was waiting below with a fresh crew of Vehicons looked up, ready for the kill. “Tank bots, SLAG ARACHNID!”

Two monocycles sped out and crashed into Tankor and his drones knocking them over. Cheetor revved up his and fired a few concussion shots at the drones. Nightscream pierced through the air and picked up Blackarachnia off her feet and got her to safety.

Nightscream set her down and transformed. He saw Thrust bring what was left of his crew down to reinforce Tankor. He turned on his sensors, something was coming. “Blackarachnia… something’s coming…. I don’t know what, but it’s not going to play nice.”

“The moles!” thought Blackarachnia. She transformed to robot mode and dialled in with her communicator. “Rattrap, Cheetor get off the ground!”

Cheetor and Rattrap acknowledged. The Vehicons continued to fire, but the combined power of the two monocycles provided heavy return fire. The drones were but decimated.

“Not to shabby,” remarked Blackarachnia from a distance.

Rattrap snickered and pointed his high powered rifle at Tankor while Cheetor pointed his at Thrust. “How bout we call it a night?” asked Rattrap tapping the trigger with his index finger.

The rumbling got louder and broke loose. Four moles emerged followed by two more. The spun around with their mouths pointing inwards. The back hatches flung open and clanged when the plates hit the rocky ground. Drones rushed out accompanied by two diagnostic drones.

“Heh, too bad for you the cavalry has arrived!” said Thrust with happiness. His new arrivals backed him up. Their engines roared as he completed his sentence and converted to vehicle mode on his command. “I’ll run you over!”

“Say what? Not after I’m finished with you Thrust!” shouted Jetstorm emerging from the above tunnel in bits and pieces. His armour was pierced from bullet rounds and his blue darkened from laser burns. “Come ‘ere you…”

One of the diagnostic drones got to work while the other hovered up to Jetstorm. Four aero drone arrivals followed the diagnostic drone. It ran a quick scan of Jetstorm, “Delete that last process Jetstorm. Megatron has ordered for the termination of the Maximals. I would highly recommend that comes first, lest you suffer his wrath.”

“Say what? You’ll regret this, drone…” exclaimed Jetstorm once more.

“Furthermore, you are in no condition to pick a fight with Thrust, let alone me,” threatened the drone as the aero drones behind him targeted Jetstorm’s chest. The laser targeting system illuminated red as it pulsed along with the beat of
Jetstorm’s spark.

“Lets send these rejects to the scrap heap!” suggested Nightscream eagerly. He soared along the ceiling of the giant cavern. He reached back and pulled out a blaster and began firing.

Thrust forced his crew into a formation. The cycle drones aligned and accelerated. They drove up the back of their comrades into the air. With Thrust leading the way, in midair he transformed and began shooting. “Funny, you Maximals agree with me quite a bit today. Let me just say, my sentiments exactly!”

Tankor formed a pentagon on the ground with his drones. They laid their firing paths so that they would cross and fired. The network of plasma bursts struck the two monocycles.

“Critical damage! Systems failing,” bleeped the cycle’s onboard computer.

“Slag, Rattrap time to fade!” shouted Cheetor releasing the harness from him. He looked down as they plummeted. Grabbing the rifle with one hand he leapt out and grappled onto a ledge. He watched his monocycle crash into the ground.
Rattrap had no luxury of ejecting as quickly. His wheels provided him less mobility on the monocycle. “Oh man… I’m really missing my two legs right about now… I’m going to die…”

Rattrap’s monocycle fell as Vehicons continued to fire at it hoping to burst it and take Rattrap with it. Blackarachnia swung into action. She ejected a launcher from her spindle and fired an energy web across the cavern. She pulled and swung down. “Rattrap, jump!”

Quickly answering the call, Rattrap fell out and Blackarachnia managed to get a hold on him. Rattrap held on tight to Blackarachnia’s back and was relieved. “Oh man Webs, am I ever glad…”

“Don’t thank me just yet Rattrap!” screamed Blackarachnia. Tankor continued his onslaught and eradicated the webbing. The two detached from the web and fell towards the ground.

Rattrap shut his optics and prepared for impact. He gulped and smeared his face into Blackarachnia’s back. “Oh man… at least I won’t die alone…”

Tankor transformed and had his drones surround the two unconscious Maximals. He gave his drones approval to finish off the Maximals. “Squash arachnid and rat bot now, Megatron reward Tankor…”

The second diagnostic drone came down and met Tankor optic to optic. “No, Megatron wants a composite scan of each Maximal. Make sure they’re offline with a low impulse blast, I will prepare the scanning mechanism.”

Tankor obliged and recalibrated his plasma cannon. “Put beast bots to sleep, Megatron will reward Tankor later.”

“Dang it big bot, we could really use your help right now…” said Cheetor under his breath. He was surrounded by Thrust and his cycle drones. He couldn’t keep up with their numbers and the speed they were firing at. His sabres could no longer deflect all the shots. One by one, lasers sped by and burnt his fur and armour.

“Let me repay the damage you inflicted upon me last time brat!” offered Jetstorm striking Nightscream with a punch. The young Maximal fell backward and Jetstorm took the advantage to smash his head into the Maximal’s.

Nightscream tried to shake it off, but his visual sensors were scrambled. He looked up but only saw blurs and Jetstorm looked like a massive blue blob. Nightscream panicked and shout our randomly with his blaster causing rocks to fall from the ceiling. “Stay away! I’m telling you again, stay away from me!”

A large chunk of ceiling debris fell and squashed Thrust and a few of his drones. Nightscream still frantically shot all around him only to dislodge more debris. More pieces fell and one struck Cheetor as he tried to flee.

Jetstorm cackled maniacally. “Well I’ll commend you on one thing brat, you took care of Thrust for me and the cat. I’ll reward you with this!” spat Jetstorm taking aiming both his arm blasters at the blinded Nightscream. He fired mercilessly as Nightscream fell to the ground. “Now, where can I find the monkey?”

“Now interfacing with the Trion Compilation Archives,” stated the Oracle.
Optimus flew through trillions of forms. Most he didn’t recognize but some he quickly identified as forms from his data files back in the day of the academy. It wasn’t long before he sped through more nostalgic forms. A red flat nosed truck, a sleek red sports car, and military green jeep and many more among the forms in the archive. He had come to the planet that Cybertron had formed the strongest relations with, Earth. Optimus looked about, searching for the ideal flyer form for the protoform. Suddenly he heard a cry from behind him. He turned to see dark brown coloured bird and smiled. He had found the right one.

A blinding flash filled the entire cavern. All sight was lost from Tankor to Jetstorm to the diagnostic drones. Jetstorm tried to shield his optics with his bent fingers, but no avail, the piercing beams rendered his attempts futile.

His receptors recalibrated and found Optimus Primal trying to catch his breath on the ground. He saw the stasis pod, it was opened, the protoform was missing. He glanced around, “Where… where’d the protoform go?”

Jetstorm spun around upon a tap on his shoulder from behind. He turned only to see a chrome fist smash into his face sending him into the ground. The being flashed behind the shocked Jetstorm and grabbed him and threw him faster into the ground.

Scanning for the next target, Tankor released his plasma shot. “New beast bot?
All the same to Tankor. SMASH new beast bot!”

The figure danced through the air effortlessly gracing each shot. It stepped onto Tankor’s head and sent a thrust downward with the left leg. It penetrated the shell of the head and sent the general offline. The tank drones effectively fell down.

The second diagnostic drone scrambled to complete his scan of Blackarachnia and Rattrap. It motioned for three aero drones to deal with the threat while it finished. “Prevent it from impeding our mission at all costs. Terminate the Maximals without fail!”

The aero drones flew head on to meet the danger. The danger remained emotionless and dealt with the three. It reached out its hands and stopped the advancement. Pulling the hands back, the figure smashed the hands into the chest and threw the sparking shells into the third.
“We must terminate the threat now. Megatron will be displeased if we return without the Maximal sparks,” stated the second diagnostic drone folding its data-pad. It handed it to the first.

The spark of the new transformer pulsed wanting more. It transformed and screeched. Flying towards the second diagnostic drone, the transformer stuck out its talons and shredded the drone to pieces. Without sparing a nano-click, the figure transformed back into robot mode with a simple Maximize and set its optics on the cycle drones that accompanied the first diagnostic drone. Some began to run but the slower two were caught by the newcomer. It ejected a tail blade and ignited the beam upon it. With a few simple strokes the two cycle drones were reduced to spare parts.

The first diagnostic drone fled with the data-pad clutched in its feeble fingers. Looking back it knew that the main part of the mission had failed. Megatron would probably punish them but they had managed to scan two Maximals, hopefully the data gained from this would appease Megatron’s plans. It returned to the moles and located the three generals. Pointing at the remaining cycle drones, the diagnostic drone quickly carried out pre-programmed instructions. “Cycle drones, retrieve the generals. Engage order 1.999, evacuation!”

The remaining cycle drones set out and pulled out the shells of the generals. They grouped into threes dragging the generals back to the moles with most haste. Steel hatches retracted and sealed the moles. The sharp teeth of the machinations spun back to life and dug back into the ground vanishing from the cavern.

Optimus Primal finally shook off the feeling from serving as a conduit between the Oracle and Rattrap’s mix match of parts to the stasis pod. He levelled his head and was shocked with what he saw. The decimation of the entire Vehicon army that had come to terminate them had been cut up to pieces. He could sense the spark of the newcomer pulsing with intensity.

The figure spun around and panted. Its spark had yet to calm down from the massacre of Vehicons. It released the grip of the tail blade and dropped it to the ground. Energy violently beat through the systems, and it eyed Optimus Primal’s optics with seriousness. “Where’s Tigatron?”

I'm reminded of the comment I read somewhere, and I can't remember who made it or I'd give attribution. "A character is never more effective than on his or her first appearance." We'll have to see if that holds true for your story. I take it the new Maximal is Airrazor?

One comment about writing style, if I may. You might double space between paragraphs to help with the changing scenes. I jumped from the fight with Jetstorm and Thrust and the Maximals straight to the Diagnostic Drone reporting to Megatron, and didn't realize for a moment that locations and characters had changed.

I like the fact that you write the Vehicons and their drones as generally effective. It always irritated me on the show when the Maximals could trash tons of drones with seemingly no trouble at all. If nothing else, sheer numbers ought to give the Vehicons a considerable advantage.

So is Megatron going to dump his dragon mode early?