A BEAST WARS Story
by Eliot Lefebvre
Another round of blasts riddled the otherwise peaceful forest with explosions as Optimus Primal continued to avoid his attacker's relentless pursuit.
"Yeeeeee-haw!" yelled Terrorsaur as he and Lazorbeak swung back and forth, firing a multitude of blasts. "I haven't had this much fun since Cybertron!"
"Well, it looks like it's not going to last a heck of a lot longer, because here comes more firepower!"
"Who the - aw, damn!"
Primal looked up and saw Bloodclot and Jetstorm coming at him from one side, with Buzz Saw and Waspinator coming at him from the other.
"Well, I'll just kill him now!" Lazorbeak went into a spiral dive straight towards Primal. Primal grabbed Lazorbeak and hurled him at Terrorsaur. Lazorbeak tranformed before he hit Terrorsaur, and the two plummeted downwards in a tangle of limbs and wings.
"Die, dammit!" shouted Waspinator, he and Buzz Saw using their stinger missiles to try and force Optimus towards Bloodclot. Jetstorm swooped low to try and take out Primal before he had a chance to recover...
And was greeted by Primal transforming and sweetly blasting Jetstorm right in the head. The dragonfly fell very quickly, and landed in a crumpled mass.
Another burst of laser fire told Primal that Lazorbeak and Terrorsaur had recovered enough to take back to the sky. Jetstorm and Waspinator were transforming, with Jetstorm firing his missiles with amazing accuracy.
"Hi, Waspi!" A blur of blue and yellow zoomed out from behind Primal and tackled Waspinator, sending him sprawling into a tree. Right behind Cheetor were Tigatron and Rhinox, and he saw Polar Claw's claw weapon digging into Bloodclot.
Rhinox whipped his gun out of subspace and blasted at Jetstorm. Tigatron lept up, twisted around, and started clawing at Buzz Saw.
Minimus Primal, Polar Claw's bat companion, began attacking the still-woozy Lazorbeak. Primal simply lept on top of Terrorsaur, his weight sending the smaller Predacon right to the ground.
"Maximals, retreat!" called Primal as the rest of the Predacons fell. He didn't want to wait around and see if any of the other Predacons were about to show up, especially considering that he wasn't sure backup was around for another round of attacks.
The Maximals transformed and sped away from the battle.
* * * * * * * * * *
"You IDIOTS!" shouted Megatron as he clutched a large object in his T-Rex hand and threw it at his injured warriors. "You BUMBLING, INCOMPETENT FOOLS!"
"How were we supposed to know that -" began Buzz Saw.
"SHUT UP!!" shouted Megatron. Buzz Saw wisely said nothing.
"YOU two," said Megatron, pointing at Lazorbeak and Terrorsaur. "YOU two had him in your GRASP! And what did you do? You TOYED with him! You didn't KILL him - no, a competent warrior would have killed him. Instead, I, mighty Megatron, am stuck on a planet with all of YOU idiots as an excuse for an ARMY!"
Megatron finally stopped ranting. "All of you go to Scorponok's lab and have him patch you up." The wounded Predacons gladly complied, moving as fast as they could towards the door.
"AGAIN this time." Megatron sighed and slumped into his chair. He pushed the comm button.
Tarantulas' face appeared on the screen. "Yes, lord?" asked the ninja.
"I want you and Blackarachnia to go on patrol around the Maximal ship. Inform me of any comings or goings. DO NOT, I reapeat, DO NOT engage them."
"Yes, m'lord." Tarantulas replied, and the comm winked off. Megatron was always amazed that he could have such incredibly competent warriors like Tarantulas under his command, and such mindless fools as Waspinator, all on the same crew.
He sighed and decided to go keep an eye on Scorponok's repairs, to make sure they were being as painful as possible.
* * * * * * * * * *
"That was bright, Primal," said Dinobot loudly. "Really, REALLY bright."
"Calm down, Dinobot, I'm fine," said Primal as he winced from yet another pulled muscle.
"Since when have I worried about whether or not you're okay?" Dinobot asked quizzicaly. "The dumb thing was leaving the wounded Preds. You could've blasted them to Inferno!"
"Keep your loads of slag to yourself, Dinobot," snapped Vixen as she finished connecting one last neural pathway. "There. You should be fine now, Primal, aside from the strained muscle of your organic form, which, I'm afraid, I can't do anything about."
"Well, just so long as I'm not keeling over," Primal muttered, rising to his feet.
"Primal! You're back!" Rhinox exclaimed. "Did you get the chip?"
Primal reached into his subspace pocket - something that had been quickly shrinking for all of them since they got here - and pulled out a small chip in the shape of the old Decepticon sigil.
"Thanks," said Rhinox. "Stormcloud was pretty sure that he lost it in the stasis pod."
"What IS it?" asked Bonecrusher.
"The gestalt chip," Rhinox replied. "Me and Stormcloud are working on configuring a gestalt."
"Anyways," said Razorbeast as he walked out of the core section of the Axalon, "you should recognize it. It was from YOUR pod, initially."
"Huh?" asked Bonecrusher.
Dinobot sighed. "You used to be a member of the Decepticon gestalt team, the Constructicons - though considering your complete technical ineptitude I find it difficult to figure out WHY. Stormcloud had removed the chip because you no longer wanted to be reminded of the joining process."
"I see," said Bonecrusher. "In that case, I probably still have some of that engineering knowledge in the back of my head."
"Assuming the memory circuits that held the data weren't destroyed," said Vixen, leaning on the table in the center of the room.
"In any case," continued Rhinox, "now that we have the chip, we've got the required technology for the robotic half of the team set. All we need is to figure out how to make the organic transformations work right."
"And does anybody ask ME about any of this? Nooooooooooo!" called Rattrap sarcastically from the security controls.
"You're supposed to be giving the security report, Scrapface!" bellowed Bonecrusher.
"Yeah, well, nothing much going on...birds singing...Wolfang patrolling...wind blowing...sun shining...Tarantulas and Blackarachnia watching us from a tree..."
"WHAT?!" shouted Primal.
"Please don't tell me you want me to repeat all of that AGAIN?"
"No. Send a comm mesage to Wolfang to attack them. Bonecrusher, Dinobot, you go give him a hand."
"Yeah!" shouted Bonecrusher. He transformed into bison mode and ran out of the ship, shuddering the structure as he ran. Dinobot sighed and followed in robot mode after him.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Uh, mighty Megatron?"
"Yes, Blackarachnia?"
"We've got three Maximals leaving the base."
"Where are they headed?"
"Ummm...oh dear."
"Blackarachnia?"
"I think you're going to have to wait a little while for the full report, sir."
The comm linked winked off as Megatron heard the sound of a bison charging.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Let's take 'em out!"
Bonecrusher charged forward, ramming straight through the tree Blackarachnia and Tarantulas were nestled in. Blackarachnia shot her grappling line and swung over to another tree, but Tarantuals converted to spider mode and landed on top of Bonecrusher.
Wolfang sprang at Blackarachnia while Dinobot whirled around as he heard a slight buzzing noise, and was face-to-face with Jetstorm, now fully recovered. As Jetstorm readided to launch his missiles, Dinobot took his rotor weapon and thrust it at the Predacon. Jetstorm fell to the ground and began staggering to his feet.
"C'mon, Pred, is this the best you can do?" shouted Bonecrusher. He was charging through the forest at breakneck speeds, plowing straight through trees. His thickly-built frame could shatter right through trees without any problem. Tarantulas, however, was not built to withstand these sorts of blows, and was clinging on half-conciously as Bonecrusher plowed through the multitude of trees.
Bonecrusher enjoyed moments of combat like this. It kept him from focusing on the jumble of thoughts still ricocheting through his mind. He was still unsure as to who he was in his past life, and he often wondered if these people truly WERE his allies. But moments like this were moments of joy for him. Moments that could, for once, be taken at face value, with no underlying emotions or hidden meanings.
His thoughts were shattered as he felt Tranatulas leap off his back. He stopped abruptly and spinned around to face his foe, transforming as he did so. "C'mon, Pred, get out here and fight!"
"With pleasure," a voice replied as an array of missiles pounded into Bonecrusher's back.
Wofang lept forward and transformed into robot mode, crossbow and shield leaping into his hands. He blasted twice at the form of Blackarachnia, rapidly fleeing into the trees, then began running after her.
He heard a noise behind him and whirled about to see Blackarachnia squatting in a tree, missile launcher pointed straight at Wolfang. "Nice day to die, isn't it?" she said in her melodious voice, then fired twice at him. He dived to the left and rolled into a bush. Twisting around, he fired a crossbow bolt at her previous position, but by that time she was gone.
A low whislte sounded behind him, and he did a backflip as Blackarachnia's grappling line hit the ground. Wolfang grabbed the line and yanked hard, trying to pull her out of the tree. Instead, he was greeted by a mass of self-weaving web, trying to ensnare him. Wolfang used his claws to shred through the web, then sprung out of the way as it quickly regenerated.
"You can't escape, Maximal!" Blackarachnia's voice cried, mocking him. Wolfang had the distinct feeling she was right.
"Megatron will be quite pleased if I bring back your head!" shouted Jetstorm as he made a vicous attack with his missile launcher at Dinobot.
"Bring back the head of ME? One of his best soldiers? He'd more likely have YOUR head on a stick!" replied Dinobot, swinging a blow at Jetstorm with his sword. Jetstorm ducked under the blow, and got a series of swipes from Dinobot's rotor weapon, tripping Jetstorm up. Dinobot tried to spear Jetstorm's head with his sword, but Jetstorm rolled out of the way and kicked Dinobot in the midsection. Dinobot staggered back.
"We both know that there's far more to this then the fact that you're a good soldier," said Jetstorm, raising to his feet.
"Yes," said Dinobot, jumping away from another barrage of missiles from Jetstorm. "Megs always was uptight about respecting my heritage."
"Considering his relation to you, I don't think you should be suprised," said Jetstorm, speinging into the air and transforming into dragonfly mode. He twriled around and made a strafing run with missiles against Dinobot. Dinobot sped up his rotor weapon, using it as a sort of shield against the undogably fast barrage.
With a roar, Dinobot lept high and transformed, trying to come down on top of Jetstorm.
"This is an honorable end to a warrior's life," said Tarantulas calmly, choking the life out of Bonecrusher. "You should be glad that your journey to Inferno will be so dignified."
"I've got better things to do today than die!" said Bonecrusher, smacking Tarantulas away. He blinked. Who had he heard say that before? It was someone, he knew it...
...he saw an image of himself a lifetime away, lined up with many others, in front of a city smoking with damage. "Attack!" their commander yelled, and they sprung out, twisting and reshaping to form...
Bonecrusher's thoughts returned to the present. Raising his gun, he fired a few blasts at Tarantulas. The nimble ninja master sprung out of the way of the blasts and shot more missiles at Bonecrusher. Having learned from his first encounter, Bonecrusher spun out of the way of the series of blasts and launched more missiles back at his foe. Still, Tarantulas dodged the missiles. Tarantulas launched a web at Bonecrusher, who easily tore through the web.
Bonecrusher was by no means the sharpest Maximal - indeed, Dinobot had often pointed out his learning curve verged on a flat line - but he could see when he was getting nowhere. Changing tactics, he suddenly transformed into bison mode and charged forward at Tarantulas.
Tarantula's face was frozen in an expression of a sudden, unpleasent suprise as Bonecrusher charged right into him.
Wolfang raised his shield to parry another missile barrage. As he fired his crossbow at the source of the missiles, another barrage came from behind. He twirled around and fired, but by then missiles were coming at him from another direction.
"Face it, Maximal!" screamed Blackarachnia, her scream echoing around Wolfang. He desperately tried to locate her, to finally get a target to shoot at. "You have no chance of escaping with your miserable hide! Why not succumb right now, and surrender to the mighty Predacons? It would be a whole lot safer, and you'll proabably be able to get off with a minimum of torture."
No response. Blackarachnia smiled to herself, sprinign to another place and launching another volley of missiles. She knew that she never got any response. In truth, it actually was preferable not to get any response. That way it was all that much more satisfying to blow the self-righteous slagpit away. She only repeated the line to emphasise the futility of trying to resist the Predacons.
Wolfang spun away from the barrage of missiles and accidentaly tripped over a branch blasted loose earlier. He fell to the ground, losing his hold on his shield as it spun across the luch green forest floor. He tried to roll out of the way of the next barrage, but then he had another idea. He stopped dead and let himself be consumed by the series of blasts.
Blackarachnia's face split into a wide smile. She dropped out of the tree to the ground, striding with practiced ease towards her dead adversary. "Megatron will be pleased," she said to herself. "And he didn't think females could hold a place in his army." She saw a slight spark in his eye, moved her launcher over his head, and prepared to send her foe to Inferno -
Wolfang suddenly leveled his crossbow at her and deliverd repeated shots to the elegant female Predacon. She screamed in pain and raced out of the path of his missiles. "But how?" she began, firing a missile at Wolfang. Wolfang rolled away and stood up.
"It's called rolling with the impact, Blackarachnia," said Wolfang, firing more blasts at Blackarachnia. "They taught it to you in the Cybertronian War Academy. It allows you to take possibly even fatal damage without dying."
As Wolfang sprang towards Blackarachnia, Blackarachnia kicked him away with a quick leap.
"I'm not going to die today, Maximal!" she cried as she steeled herself for the battle about to ensue.
Dinobot gave a definitive swipe with his large claw, slashing deep into Jetstorm's back. Howling in pain, Jetstorm rolled, shaking Dinobot off his back. Dinobot transformed and landed on the ground, weapons at the ready. His sword was still fine, but his rotor was too badly damaged from being used as a makeshift defense shield to really be useful anymore. He slung the rotor weapon over his back and turned to face Jetstorm.
Jetstorm had transformed and was peppering Dinobot with missiles. Dinobot nimbly dodged back and forth to avoid being hit by the missiles. As he closed in on Jetstorm, Jetstorm suddenly straightened his wings, slamming into Dinobot. Dinobot was shoved backwards.
"Why not defect back, Dinobot?" asked Jetstorm, standing over Dinobot with his missile launcher poised to fire.
"Megatron would never take me back," Dinobot said calmly, without the slightest hint of remorse in his voice.
Jetstorm laughed. "That's not true, and you know it. Megatron would rather sever his left arm than turn you away."
"Then he can amputate himself," said Dinobot, swinging his sword upwards at Jetstrom. He cut a deep gouge into the Predacon's side. Lubricant and blood flowed from the wound and mingled, forming a gruesome puddle at the feet of Jetstorm.
With a cry of rage, Jetstorm transformed and streaked into the sky.
Dinobot got up and looked in the direction Jetstorm had gone. An odd course of action, all things considered. Dinobot knew Jetstorm fairly well. While not courageous by any stretch of the word, Jetstorm certainly would not not have allowed that severity of wound to make him retreat.
Unless he wasn't really retreating...
Dinobot toppled forward as Jetstorm smashed into him from behind. The Predacon raised his launcher and fired point-blank into Dinobot's back.
Dinobot shuddered slightly at the impact of the missile, then lay perfectly still.
Bonecrusher charged forward, Tarantulas desperately trying to free himself from the Maximal's horns. Tree after tree was split asunder as Tarantulas shuddered with the force of the impacts. Bonecrusher was beginning to lose steam, but he still charged intensely.
Tarantulas finally managed to free himself, and silently leaped off of Bonecrusher, prepaing to dissappear into the forest and ambush Bonecrusher again. He was not going to win in a toe-to-toe slugfest like this one.
"Not THIS time!" roared Bonecrusher. He charged forward and impaled Tarantulas on his horns, slamming through a couple trees.
Tarantulas drove a large needle deep into Bonecrusher's robotic body, then withdrew it. He pulled himself off of Bonecrusher's horns, and fired his grappling line into the trees, swinging away from the Maximal.
"All Predacons - I have the sample! Retreat!"
Blackarachnia looked at Wolfang. "We will continue this battle another day, Maximal!' she exclaimed, then fired her grappling line into the trees.
Jetstorm had his launcher pressed against Dinobot's head. If he waited just a little bit longer, he could kill the traitor - and risk Megatron's wrath...
He lept off the Maximal and flew off after the two spiders.
"Dinobot!" yelled Bonecrusher, hefting the damaged robot and returning to base. Wolfang transformed and followed suit.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"You got what you were supposed to?" asked Megatron.
"Wait a minute," interjected Blackarachnia. "I thought we were just on a scouting mission. How did the two of you set this whole thing up?"
"Well," began Megatron, "I figured a while ago that the gestalt members would eventually fall to this planet, and that most likely one of the members would still have a chip that was functioning. So we patrol the area, find out which Maximal it is, and boom! The Predacons have the gestalts again."
"But how did you know this would be the one?" Blackarachnia asked.
"Bonecrusher used to be a Decepticon," replied Jetstorm flatly. "It was inevitable that he would want to lead the charge when he found us."
"But if we don't have the actual chip..," said Blackarachnia, still not entirely clear on the strategy.
"Scorponok already remebers a good portion of the gestalt technology. We just needed some of the finer circuits to finalize it and begin working on the really hard part: merging the organic forms."
"Here's the circuitry, mighty Megatron," said Tarantulas, handing him the needle.
"Thank you," said Megatron. "You all go into the restoration chamber and get repaired."
The three of them hurried to the restoration chambers. Megatron twirled the long needle in his hand. He pressed another comm button. "Scorponok!" he said.
The second-in-command's face appeared on the screen. "Yes, lord Megatron?" asked Scorponok with a slight smile. "Are there more incompotents that I can...he he he...reapair for you?"
"Not exactly, Scorponok," replied Megatron with a large grin spreading across his face. "You remember the gestalt you've been tinkering with?"
* * * * * * * * * *
"He IS going to be okay, right?" asked Cheetor tensely.
Vixen looked over the comatose Dinobot once again. "He should be. He took a lot of damage to the back, severing his spine, but he didn't take much other damage. A few days in the restoraation tank and the organic spine should have reconnected itself. If we're lucky, he might even be fine by tomorrow."
"I thought you knew the severity of the wound," said Cheetor, springing off the table he had been sitting on and dashing over to inspect Dinobot's wounds for himself.
Vixen sighed, leaning on the table Dinobot was resting on. "Biological medicine is not my specialty. It was included in my training, but I can only do so much." Vixen shoved off of the table and walked over to the restoration chamber, preparing it to recieve the wounded Dinobot.
"Why don't you talk to Skydive, then?" said Cheetor, dashing from the table to lean over Vixen's shoulder. "He's a biologist. Heck, he even served on Earth at one point. He should know plenty about biologicals."
"To start - could you please stop leaning over my shoulder?"
"Sorry," said Cheetor.
"Why don't you bring Dinobot over here?" asked Vixen.
"Sure," he replied, zooming over to the table.
"Thanks," she said, continuing to prep the chamber. "Anyhow, to start with, Skydive is busy being reconfigured into a gestalt." She helped Cheetor load Dinobot into the chamber and began sealing it. "And what's more, he used to be an Autobot. I wouldn't trust him with a comrade's life."
"Oh, come on," said Cheetor. "The Autobots couldn't have been THAT bad. I mean, the Maximal faction DID spring from them, after all."
"In a way," she replied, sealing and activating the chamber. "Still, I really can't blame you for your ignorance. You weren't on Cybertron long enough to really experience what went on." She finished activating the chamber and walked out of the medical room.
"But they're on our side," said Cheetor in a meek tone. He looked at the Maximal sigil on the restoration chamber.
"Aren't they?"
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Slag," muttered Stormcloud under his breath.
"What?" asked Rhinox, operating on the prostate form of one of the new Maximals - Wingspan, he was called.
"I can't seem to find any lifeforms on this planet tha repeatedly join to form larger entities," replied Stormcloud, fingers flying across the keyboard. "I know that earth possessed entities known as 'slime molds' to the natives, but I can't seem to find that lifeform on this planet."
"Well, if you're not making any headway on the biological version of all of this, then come help me install the energon shield into Wingspan," Rhinox replied.
Stormcloud walked over, transformed into a Peregrine falcon, and helped lift up the device.
"There," said Stormcloud. "By the by, exactly what do you mean by the energon shield?"
"It's a smaller version of what keeps the Axalon from being flooded with energon. I've designed it into five segments, one for each member of the gestalt team. With this ability, the merged robot should be able to fight indefinitely."
"Why couldn't we just install it in all of us individual robots?"
"Energon consumption. If we had a generator in each of us personally, then we wouldn't be able to consume energon. The gestalt does not need to consume energon directly, therefore it is able to have the shield and yet still not have to suffer the inability to consume energon."
"Hmm. Not bad." Stormcloud flew back over to the computer and resumed typing.
"You never give up, do you?" asked Rhinox.
"No," replied the Maximal.
*Sheesh,* thought Rhinox. *And they say that I'M tight-lipped!*
Rhinox walked out of the room. He turned off the light, and he saw Stormcloud hunched over the computer, the slight glow from the monitor illuminating his face, focusing resolutely on the task ahead of him.
Rhinox shook his head and closed the door.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"C'mon, Stormcloud, you can do this."
"You won't fail this time."
"What happened back then was not your fault."
"You did your best."
Stormcloud wiped the sweat from his brow. He did a double take. Sweat? Oh, well, a part of the organics, he supposed.
He once again went through the motions he had gone through so many times before that night, giving the same commands
[QUERY: MERGING LIFEFORMS], he typed
[SEARCHING DATABANKS...]
[NO MATCHES FOUND. PLEASE ENTER A NEW SEARCH QUERY.]
"Damn!" he exclaimed loudly. His head ached with the sleep his organic from wanted so badly. Shoving it to the back of his mind, he repeated the sequence.
[NO MATCHES FOUND. PLEASE ENTER A NEW SEARCH QUERY.]
"SLAG!" he cried loudly.
"What's the matter?" asked Vixen, slipping into the lab.
Stormcloud looked up. "I didn't hear you approaching," he said.
"It's my organic form," she said. "It's practically silent. Unless you had been trying to hear it, you wouldn't."
"Ah," he said, leaning back over the computer.
"What IS the matter?" she said again, sitting in one of the chairs in the room. "Why don't you just go get some sleep?"
"I can't do that," he said.
He started as he felt her hand on his shoulder. He was suprised at its soft warmth.
"What are you afraid of?" she asked with a certain sympathy.
Stormcloud sighed and whirled around to face her. "It happened back on Cybertron," he said.
She sat down in a chair to listen. From force of habit, he got up and started pacing back and forth.
"I was the computer technician for a small group of Maximals," he continued tensely. "We were planning a raid on a Decepticon base. My job was to simply break into the computer system and shut down the security system.
"I spent a few hours on the program. I figured that I had it pretty much down pat. I knew that their were a few loose ends, but I figured they wouldn't come up. I stopped working, went out, and had a good time. And I let my work alone.
"I brought up the program. The force began their attack. And all hell broke loose."
Stormcloud sat down again. He bent over slightly, and his words carried a thick cloud of sadness.
"I had left open some things, and the Decepticons broke through my program. All of the systems came on. We were totally unprepared. They slaughtered the troops. Chaseplane, Retrograde, Breakneck, Longtooth..." He bent over and stopped talking.
Vixen was shocked. She found her tongue again. "Stormcloud...I know how you feel...but it wasn't your fault..."
"Bullslag!" he exclaimed. His voice was heavy with sorrow. "I've been told the same thing time after time, and it's all bullslag! It WAS my fault! I KNEW the loose ends were there, and I let them go! I KILLED THEM! Maybe I wasn't holding the gun, but I killed them! I was their excutioner!!!"
He turned back to the computer. "I can't allow myself to fail this time," he said, beginning to type again.
She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up by it. "Maybe it was your fault. But you can't let yourself die along with them."
"Why the slag not? I should've died, not them."
"But you didn't die. You lived. Because Primus still has things for you to do. But that doesn't include torturing yourself over the event until you destroy yourself."
He looked up into her green eyes, and saw an incredibly strong compassion...and he knew that she saw the something in his, too...
She recovered and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Now, as the primary Repairion and Medic, I insist that you get some sleep." She exited the room.
He turned off the computer and walked off to his rest area.
* * * * * * * * * * *
*Barren,* was the first thought he had as he awoke. *This room is completely barren.*
He was right. He had landed in stasis right as the gestalt technology was beginning to come to the forefront, and since then had spent very little time in his quarters. Not even to sleep, in fact. Many times he had been awakened slumped over the computer console, Rhinox shaking him to attention.
"Mornin', technofreak," said Rattrap, walking past his quarters. "Finally found where you sleep, eh? Pillows are softer than a computer, y'know."
Stormcloud considered just telling Rattrap to slag off, but then a better, much nastier idea came to his mind. He smiled sadistically. Then, losing the smile, he turned to Rattrap.
"Have you ever considered how a falcon kills it's prey, Rattrap?"
"No. Why?"
"Just very interesting. It climbs to a high altitude, and dives on it's prey." He made a swooping downward motion. "It kills from sheer impact. Usually they prey doesn't even know what's hit it."
Rattrap gulped.
"Of course, they don't always kill from impact. You see, they have immense control over their dives. They sometimes just paralyze their prey and eat it while it's still alive.
Rattrap shrank a little and walked away at a brisk pace.
Stormcloud smiled. Then he headed back to the lab.
* * * * * * * * * *
[NO MATCHES FOUND. PLEASE ENTER A NEW SEARCH QUERY.]
Stormcloud gave an exasperated sigh as the same response came up for the umpteenth time.
"At this rate, we'll be here for a couple thousand more vorns, at least," he groaned. He began typing again.
Rhinox was sitting near the prostrate form of Windrider, polishing his chain rail gun. "What if we just disable the organic forms during the merge?"
"I already tested that theory. There's a 96.4789% chance that disabling the forms even temporarily would permanently sever the bonding of the forms."
"Never tell me the odds," said Rattrap, walking into the lab with Armordillo and Razorbeast close behind.
Stormcloud looked up. "In case the three of you hadn't noticed," he stated coldly, "nobody is fighting in here, there isn't any energon, and there aren't any females in here."
"Ah, give us a break, will ya?" asked Armordillo, peering over Stormcloud's shoulder. "Watcha doing?"
Stormcloud sighed. "We are TRYING to finish the organic half of the gestalt merging process."
"Say what?"
"We're trying to make the animals merge."
"Ah, so it's sort of like group sex for combat purposes," replied Armordillo, the light of realization finally dawning in his eyes.
"That's just sick, Armor," said Razorbeast, examining Windrider. "Hey, what happens when I press this -"
Windrider leaped up, tearing off the array of tubes that covered his body. He slammed Razorbeast into Rhinox, and fired his launcher once at Armordillo and once at Rattrap. Rattrap dodged, but Armordillo was flung across the room.
Stormcloud smiled. "I like these Maximals already," he said.
Windrider stopped and straightened up. "Sorry," he said.
"Well, it's understandable," said Rhinox. "I expected that would happen."
"Then why didn't you tell Razorbe - never mind, I just answered my own question."
"Umm," began Windrider, glancing around at all of the other gestalt members still comatose, "did I sorta miss something?"
"You mean ASIDE from crashing on the planet, having to bond with organics to protect ourselves from lethal energon fields, having one of the Predacons defect to our side, and you being configured into a gestalt arm?" said Stormcloud.
"Yeah. Besides that."
"Nope. You didn't miss anything."
Armordillo and Razorbeast staggered to their feet. "What was THAT all about?" asked Armordillo. Despite the small smoking spot of ash on his chest, he was none the worse for wear. Stormcloud had to admit, that kind of armor was pretty admirable.
"Adjustment shock," replied Stormcloud. "You'll be fine." He knelt over the computer and resumed typing.
"Hey, what's the problem?" asked Windrider, looking on to the computer screen.
"We're having trouble figuring out how to make the organic forms correctly meld," replied Stormcloud.
"Huh. Reminds me of slime molds."
"Yeah, me too," said Stormcloud. "But it's not native to this planet. If I could just get a bit of the DNA, then I could make it work."
"Is that all you need? Then why don't you get my stasis pod?"
"Why?"
"I had a few DNA samples in there. I was trying to preserve them."
Stormcloud stood up. "Rhinox, where is the stasis pod for Windrider?"
Rhinox stopped polishing his gun. "We kept them all on the mountain where they landed."
"I'm going to retrieve the DNA," said Stormcloud. "Windrider, Razorbeast, come with me. I'll get Airazor and then we're off."
"Yessir," said Razorbeast, transforming to boar mode and galloping out of the Axalon. Stormcloud went out to get Airazor.
* * * * * * * * * *
"This is Stormcloud to Airazor. Come in Airazor."
"Airazor here," she said into the wrist communicator as she hovered over the pods.
"Any Pred slag in your area?"
"Nope. From what I can see, when you guys get here we can just get the DNA and get back to the Axalon."
"Good."
A few minutes later, Stormcloud and Windrider swooped into view, transforming into their robot modes. Razorbeast ran up a few seconds later, a little winded.
Stormcloud opened up the stasis pod. "You know the code to open the storage chamber, right?" he asked.
Windrider kneeled on the gound and began fiddling with something on the interior of the stasis pod. A few seconds later, Airazor heard a soft "psssffffft" as the compartment opened. "Ladies first," said Windrider, making a motion for her to retrieve the DNA capsules. She bent over and gathered the small capsules up, placing them in her small storage compartment in her right shoulder.
"Sure they're safe there?" asked Stormcloud tensely.
"Yes," she replied. "It's well armored. They should be just fine."
An explosion suddenly echoed through the mountain. They whirled around. Lazorbeak and Terrorsaur were flying in front. Buzz Saw, Waspinator, and Bloodclot were in the rear. Hovering nearby was Inferno, waiting in his helicopter attack mode.
"Take cover!" shouted Stormcloud. He leaped forward, folding into his sleek falcon form. Windrider pulled Airazor down behind a large rock. A missile exploded behind them. "Stay here," he ordered.
"No way!" she said indignantly. "I'm going to help you!"
"Not this time, Airazor," said Razorbeast, leaping forward into robot mode. "You've got to protect the DNA. Charging into a battle is not a very good protection strategy."
Windrider began to transform. "Hold it!" she said. "You're part of a gestalt team. By your own reasoning, you've got to stay here too."
He finished transforming. "I can be replaced," he said flatly. He then flew off to help Stormcloud.
Airazor knelt on the groud, her pistol coming together in her hand. *Nobody said being ground support was unsafe,* she thought as she took shots at the Predacons.
Stormcloud climbed, then suddenly turned and dived, using the natural speed of the perigrine falcon to his advantage. He dove with incredible speed towards Bloodclot, talons extended.
Bloodclot screamed as the claws dug into his back. Transforming to robot mode, Stormcloud brought his missile launcher to his hand, and pressed it into the wound. Preparing to leap away, he pulled the trigger. Chunks of the Predacon flew loose as the huge explosion consumed the giant mosquito. Stormcloud jumped off as the Pred spiraled down towards the ground.
Stormcloud transformed into falcon mode again and climbed once again to full height. He dove down, but Inferno must've heard him because the hovering Predacon twirled around and fired his missile launcher. Stormcloud banked a hard left and felt a searing pain as the missile clipped his right wing.
Coming out of his roll, he change his technique and hlew straight up at Inferno. Inferno was suprised by the kamikaze tactic and was caught off gaurd. Stormcloud transformed, grabbed on to Inferno's back, and began punching him repeatedly.
"Must - defend - the colony!" grunted Inferno, tossing Stormcloud off his back. Stormcloud began hovering, bringing his lightning gun and launcher to his hands.
"Ha ha! C'mon! You can hit me!" Windrider continued to weave in between Waspinator and Buzz Saw's shots. He dove, then climbed up and to an angle, making the two Preds try to trace his path. Flying up behind Buzz Saw, Waspinator's shots ripped through his partner's shoulder.
"Hey!" exclaimed the wounded Predacon.
"Smooth move, scrapbrain," said Windrider, diving on Waspinator. The Predacon fell to the ground as Windrider's talons dug into his back, rending flesh and metal. "Say, you mind if I snap out your wings, too? They'll look just great on the gestaaaaaagh!"
Windrider screamed out as Buzz Saw's shots strafed across his back. He turned to Buzz Saw, releasing Waspinator. Waspinator transformed before he hit the ground and began flying wobbily towards Windrider, blasting all the while.
Trying to dodge the pincher-style attack, Windrider dived to one side, wings tight against his body. The two Preds transformed to beast mode and chased him in his mad dive.
Razorbeast dodged yet another series of bursts from the two pterodactyls and returned the fire with a short burst from his double-barreled cannon. Lazorbeak squawked as the shot hit his crest.
Razorbeast hated flying, but he kew that he really had no choice in the matter. He ignited the small rockets, spread his large "wings" on his back, and glided towards the two Predacons.
They banked away suddenly. "Whatsamatta, guys?" he asked, smiling. "Ain't ya never seen a guy fly before?" He punctuated his comment with a sweeping burst of fire at the two. They once again banked apart, then flew towards him, cannons blazing.
He said nothing more, instead dived straight down, raking fire across their vulnerable bellies. Screaming, they turned to his and concentrated their fire on his left leg. The leg melted under the intense heat, and Razorbeast felt the rockets in it give out. He began to spiral, losing the crucial counterbalance.
Controlling the spin, he wobbily did a barrel roll and flew right at Lazorbeak. He grabbed the Pred by the crest and swung himself up onto it's back. He pressed his cannon into the Pred's back and fired. The Pred cried out as he spiraled down.
As he leaped off the back of the Predacon, he looked up and saw Terrorsaur swooping in on him. His chest was riddled with holes as the Pred blasted him with his lasers. Razorbeak lost conciousness before he hit the ground at 20 MPH.
Stormcloud reeled from yet another barrage from Inferno. He almost lost hold of his launcher and lightning gun, but steadied himself. Diving low, he began to sweep across the ground. Inferno transformed to fire ant mode and chased after Stormcloud.
"Perfect," said Stormcloud. He cartwheeled over, spinning onto Inferno's back. Calling out his lightning gun, pressed it hard into Inferno's back, and pulled the trigger.
A burst of electricity spewed forth from it as Stormcloud leaped off Inferno. It practically exploded, and flowed through Inferno's body - the nearest electrical conductor. The fire ant went into convulsions, twitching madly from the immense amoount of pure voltage. He transformed to robot mode, took two steps towards Stormcloud, and fell down, a charred mass of smoking electirfied metal.
Windrider went into a roll, missiles clipping his wings. He dived straight down and then climbed up again, firing at the Preds from beneath. Waspinator finally gave up and plummeted to the ground, a damaged hunk of metal.
"Give it up, Maximal!" cried Buzz Saw, firing madly. "You can't hold out forever!"
"As someone I once knew said," replied Windrider, "I've got two words for you: Up, and yours!"
Another slew of missiles whistled past his side. *Maybe that wasn't such a great thing to say,* he thought. He twirled around and rushed right at Buzz Saw, talons at the ready. Buzz Saw tried to swing away, but by that point it was too late to veer off. Windrider's talons slashed through Buzz Saw's bug face. Windrider, however, kept going, flying over Buzz Saw and transforming. Landing and Buzz Saw's back, he raised his arms, endowed with his powerful talons from hawk mode, and thrust them through Buzz Saw's body.
Buzz Saw screamed as he plummeted into the ground. Windrider leaped off and shot towards Terrorsaur. Stormcloud did the same.
Terrorsaur took stock of the situation. He could probably take out one or the other of them, considering the severity of their wounds, but the likelihood of him being able to take them both down without severe wounds was very low. Also, he had seen a fourth Maximal who had not engaged in combat, and their was a high probability that the three of them could take down the one of him.
He picked up Waspinator and Lazorbeak as the severely wounded Bloodclot picked up Buzz Saw and Inferno. The two Predacons then limped off to their ship.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Two in the chambers at once? It's a new record!" Vixen continued patching up Stormcloud's wounded arm. "Well, you almost died that time. Now do you feel any better?"
Stormcloud chuckled a little. "Actually, yes," he said.
Vixen looked up in terror.
"I'm kidding," he said. "I just wanted to see your reaction."
She punched him lightly. "You're starting to act like Armordillo," she said.
"Now there's a scary thought," he said. He hopped off the table and walked over to Airazor. "The DNA?"
The compartment in her shoulder popped open. "Here you go," she said, handing him the small capsules.
He took them and began walking back towards the lab. He motioned for Windrider to follow him
"Wait just a slagging minute!" she called after them. "You aren't repaired yet!"
"That can wait," he said.
Vixen buried her head in her hands and sighed. "You are INFURIATING, you know."
"Apparently," he replied.
She hopped off the table after him. "At least let me come with you to finish the repairs."
"Feel free," he said.
Airazor watched as the three robots left the room, throughly amused.
"Well, what do you know. Stormcloud has finally realized that Vixen existed," said Rattrap, his words practically dripping with sarcasm.
"You've gotta admit, it is pretty amusing," she said. She got up and walked out of the medlab.
"Was it something I said?" asked Rattrap.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Did the strike succeed?" asked Megatron.
"That would depend on whose immediate positon you were in, sir," replied Terrorsaur. "But yes, we did get the DNA scan."
"We most certainly did," said Fadeout, only his outline visible.
"Where were you?" asked Terrorsaur in an irritated tone.
Fadout's body became visisble, filling in his faint outline. "I was still using my camos form," he replied. "If I had attacked the Maximals, they would have noticed me, and my cover would have been blown."
"Really?" said Terrorsaur in an irritated tone. "How convinient for you that you couldn't attack our you'd endanger our mission."
"Shut. Up. Terrorsaur," said Megatron.
Terrorsaur considered the merits of speaking his mind over disobeying someone who's original namesake had been called "The Slag Maker." He shut up.
"Take your scan to Scorponok," said Megatron. Fadeout nodded compliantly and headed off to Scorponok's lab.
"The rest of you get into the restoration chambers. And some of you," he glared at Terrorsaur, "had better stay in there for a LONG time."
As usual, his troops scrambled to the restoration tanks. ANYTHING was better than risking Megatron's wrath.
"Excuse me, mighty Megatron," said Blackarachnia, turning to face him, "but how is it that you continue to snatch some small victory out of every defeat?"
"Knowing what will happen before it happens can be a great asset," Megatron replied. He leaned back in his throne and began chuckling to himself.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Okay, is everybody ready?" said Stormcloud, standing in front of all of the other Maximal troops.
"Get on with it!" called somebody, probably Armordillo.
"Alrighty then," he said, turning to the five gestalt members. "You guys all ready for this?"
Windrider was flexing his wrist, slashing through the air with his repaired talons. Skydive was absorbed in the arm-stored computer. Skyfall was perched on the top of the Axalon in falcon form. Cloudspin was leaning against the wall, her arms folded across her chest. Over them all, Wingspan stood as leader of the team. "We're ready," he said. "Aeriomals, merge to form...Skyking!!!"
The five robots leaped together, twisting and melding into one gigantic form. The robot forms fit together, and the organic forms intertwined with small tenderils, all forming one massive robot.
"Skyking," whispered Vixen. "Impressive, Stormcloud."
"I agree," said Megatron.
The Maximals whirled around to see the Predacons standing behind them. One of them stood tall and cried out "Reptilicons, form Reptilitor!!!"
The five gestalt members twined together as the Maximal gestalt had done but a few scant moments ago.
Reptilitor and Skyking stood across from one another. Reptilitor was a ensemble of scales and claws. His face was a twisted in an expression of rage. Skyking was feathers and talons and smooth, gleaming metal. His face was a rigid expression of stoic heroism. Then, he tossed Reptilitor a cocky grin and charged forward.
The two met in a giantic clash. Reptilitor threw a vicous uppercut, but Skyking dodged to the right and shoved him backwards. Reptilitor, as he fell backwards, aimed a cannon at Skyking, blasting him in the shoulder. Skyking leaped backwards and fired an arm cannon a Reptilitor, who lept skyward and lashed out with a whip towards Skyking. He dodged out of the way and extended the talon on his right arm.
For a moment, the Predacon and Maximal armies were frozen, watching the titanic opponents batter each other with arrays of weapons. Then, almost as an afterthought, Megatron yelled "Charge!" and the battle was on.
Stormcloud fired blast after blast, knocking out various Predacons. He waded through a sea of them, not looking for anybody in particular, just trying to cause the most damage.
Then he saw it.
Vixen had somehow found Megatron, and had tried to take him down. Now he was proving his position as leader of the Predacons by displaying the only sort of politics that existed in the Predacons: raw power. He pounded her with blow after blow.
"NnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" screamed Stormcloud. He launched himslef dead at Megatron. The Predacon leader barely had a chance to turn his head before Stormcloud slammed into him. He began blasting and flailing at him, his assault carrying strength only from his frantic actions.
"Your side killed my CREATORS!" he cried as he punched Megatron in the face. "They killed my FRIENDS!" he yelled as he blasted his lightning gun into Megatron's flank. "They killed my SISTER!" as he elbowed Megatron in the stomach. "And they killed my LIFE!" as he clenched his fists together and smacked Megatron across the face. He pressed his missile launcher into Megatron's head. "But you won't kill her," he said as he tightened his grip on the trigger.
He felt a huge force ripping through his chest. He looked down and saw Megatron's T-Rex head cannon ripping through his chest, propelling him up and backwards into a tree. The gaping hole in his chest was charred around the edges, and sent painrocketing through his entire body. He couldn't see straight. He saw Megatron stepping towards Vixen, and clumsily fired a lightning bolt at Megatron.
He hit purely out of luck. "Want more, eh?" said Megatron, aiming his cannon at Stormcloud's head. "Hopefully, this will be enough to finish you ugh!"
The next word was hypothetically "off", but it was cut short as Optimus Primal charged into him at full speed. "Leave my troops alone!" he yelled.
Vixen walked over to Stormcloud. "You nearly died for me," she said.
He smiled weakly.
She picked up and cradled his remains, and ran with him towards the Axalon.
"Get OFF me!" screamed Megatron as he shoved Primal off him. Primal rolled to one side, then turned at Megatron and fired at him. Megatron recoiled from the blast and shot at Primal's shoulder. Primal was knocked down from the intensity of the blast.
"Now SURRENDER!" said Megatron, pointing his cannon at Primal's head.
Priaml said nothing, simply hurled his mace at Megatron. The large weapon slammed into Megatron, and Megatron was knocked back. Primal drew his swords and lept at Megatron, trying to keep Megatron away from the Maximals that were fleeing into the Axalon. He recognized one of them as Vixen, but he didn't know the other one very well, although he knew that he was the Maximal who was head of the gestalt project.
Primal and Megatron continued to fight.
Reptilitor struck Skyking again with his whip, leaving a trail of red and yellow behind it. Skyking, knocked down, rolled backwards and then lept forward, smashing into Reptilitor with his talon. Reptilitor aimed his cannon into Skyking's chest, but Skyking grabbed the cannon and twisted it shut. Reptilitor tripped Skyking and prepared to smash Skyking's head. Skyking rolled away and got up again.
Grabbing a large stone, Skyking swung at Reptilitor. The Predacon gestlat fell to the ground. Preparing to stab through his enemy with his talons, Skyking was knocked back as his enemy kicked him hard with both legs. Reptilitor picked up a rock and hurled it at Skyking, who leaped into the air and fired at Reptilitor. Reptilitor fell down to the ground.
"I grow weary of this battle," growled Megatron, as he pummeled Primal with yet another blast. "Now, fall!"
"NEVER!" yelled Primal. He blasted wildly at Megatron. Megatron steps back, startled by the assault. Primal picked up his sword and drove it through Megatron's chest, and began ripping it open. He stopped and stood back, yanking out his sword.
Megatron fell to the ground.
Terrorsaur looked over the battlefield. Although the Maximals were taking a beating, the Predacons were being pushed back. Megatron and Scorponok were too injured to fight anymore. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, he screamed, "Predacons, retreat!"
The gestalt fighting Skyking broke up and disperesed. Firing a few last shots, the Predacons gathered up their wounded and left. Skyking stood tall, a towering pillar of strength. *Stormcloud would be proud,* thought Rhinox as he headed back into the Axalon, carrying a wounded Maximal. *He would most certainly be proud.*
* * * * * * * * * *
Stormcloud's world hazily came back into focus, showing Vixen's smiling face.
"Don't due that again," she said, reconnecting various internal wires. "If I hadn't been nearby, or Primal hadn't stopped Megatron - well, you might've died."
"The...gestalt...did...it...work...right...?" His face was twisted into an expression that Vixen couldn't quite read.
"Yes," she said. "It worked perfectly, Stormcloud. You've proved yourself. You did wonderfully."
He smiled. "Thank...you..," he said weakly. He allowed himself to drift back into unconciousness.
She gently ran a hand up his head. "Rest," she said, smiling softly at him.
* * * * * * * * * *
They were gone now. He could be released.
He leaped out of the small compartment, unfolding from his small, tiny, hidden form. He stretched his arms high above his head - Primus, it felt good to be able to STRETCH again! He stretched for a few more minutes, letting his motors get used to the atmosphere and movement again, then sat down.
He began a scan of the area. There were high levels of energon on the planet - he mentally activated his energy absorbtion field to keep the energon within safe levels. There were also two crashed ship, apparently of Cybertronian origin. Further scans revealed a Predacon sigil and a Maximal sigil, confirming his theory about the origin of the ships. He wondered how the two had come to be here - but then again, most likely it had something to do with the stasis pod he had hidden in.
Getting up, he searched around for any sort of cavern or the like. Finding a small cave, he began to drag the stasis pods into the cave. He also grabbed a few loose robot parts that looked like they could prove useful in the future. When he was done, he left the cave, squatting on a small ledge and gazed out over the landscape, with the exoctic flora and fauna blossoming over the horizon.
He was quite pleased with this world he had landed on. He would take the pods and spare parts, and he would finish reconfiguring himself to a slightly more opportune form. When he was done with that, then he would want to go exploring - find out where to get energon, where the hideaways were - and possibly find out what the Predacons and Maximals were doing on this planet.
It was certainly an interesting mystery to investigate. He might wind up lending his assistance as an ally to one of them - or maybe he'd just destroy them. It really wasn't something he'd planned for, but it was an interesting new twist to decide upon. He would figure it all out in time.
And, if nothing else, time was one thing he had plenty of.
T H E E N D