Alone?

An exhausted Rhinox got ready to go to bed. He had spent another hard day in the lab. He couldn't figure out that alien artifact. What was it
supposed to do? Was it some sort of weapon? Kismet and he had been trying to figure that out for the past couple of months. He would figure it
out one day; now he was going to get some sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------

"HYDE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!!!!" Megatron roared as he picked Hyde up off the floor.
"What's going on? Is this a joke?" Hyde muttered. The last thing he remembered was being in bed, and now he was in Megatron's quarters.
"I've been getting complaints about you all night, and now this! You have three hours in the brig!" Megatron exclaimed as he took Hyde to the
brig and threw him in.
"BUT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"Don't give me that. Maybe some time alone will do you good," Megatron said as he closed the door.
"I can't believe I got in trouble for something I didn't do. Well, this a first. Megatron actually thinks this brig can hold me? What he
doesn't know is that there's a fake panel," Hyde said as he began to move the fake panel. "What, it's closed in?" Hyde said as he finished removing
it. Words were written in reddish green paint. "Are you alone?"
Was there a camera in there? Yeah, that was it. There was no way no one could have known about this. Megatron didn't take his weapons; he could
blast his way out. "What the-! Where are my weapons?" Inside one of his compartments was a note that said: "One step ahead, and I'm not in your
head." They were mocking him! He couldn't wait to catch the person or persons behind this.
"They can't keep us down. No they can't. I'm Hyde. Who Hyde? I'm Hyde.
Heheehehee. They can't beat us. We... No, I can't allow it," Hyde said to himself as he searched for a way out.

Rhinox woke up after falling off his cot. "I don't know what hurts more- falling off the bed or sleeping on it? I'd better see if anyone needs
help in the control room," Rhinox said to himself as he headed towards the control room. It was quiet as he walked the corridor to get to the
control room. It was too quiet, even if it was a slow day. When he got to the control room he found no one there.
"That's weird." He checked a console to see if he could find any information where the others were at.
For some reason, he could read almost none of the words on the screen.
All of a sudden, he lost control of his body and he took the lift outside. While this was happening, he was trying to get control of his body.
He could think, but he couldn't move his body. It was like his body had its own agenda.
Rhinox couldn't believe what he saw when he got outside. The sun was blue and the sky had taken on a green hue. The land was constantly
changing colors and the mountains were upside down. "This can't be happening. It's not logical." In the distant he saw a humanoid figure for a few
seconds, then it disappeared."Am I still sleeping?" Rhinox mused.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyde was out. It may had taken two mega cycles to get out of the brig, but he got out. He needed to go to the control room to get to the
security console. There, he could see where everyone was and avoid those areas. Luckily, only Waspinator was in the control room. He slid past him and looked at the screens on the wall, each showing a different part of the ship, except for crew members' quarters.
One showed Quickstrike and Terrorsaur hanging out in the game room.
Another showed Inferno lecturing Snide on something. One screen caught his attention. It showed him walking down an corridor. He couldn't believe
his eyes. Someone was out there, pretending to be him. His double was heading for Tarantulas' room, and he was going to cut him off. What Hyde
didn't notice when he left the room was a image of Soundwave on a screen two consoles down from where he was at.
Hyde pulled out a small blaster he stole off Megatron when he threw him in the brig as he runs to intercept his double. When he rounded the
corner to where the double was supposed to be, no one was there.
"You've got to be kidding me!" He ran down that corridor and began checking rooms. There was no trace of him, and that was the only way he
could had gone.
He walked to the game room and asked Quickstrike and Terrorsaur if they saw anyone pass by the door.
"Nope you're the first person to come 'round these parts in awhile," Quickstrike answerd.
"And we've been here for a long time," Terrorsaur added. "Hey, Tripe, wanna join us in a game of Blackjack?" Terrorsaur asked as Tripe walked
into the room.
"Yeah, why not. Hopefully, it will take mine mind off things."
"Hey, Tripe, I saw Inferno lecturing Snide about something. You know what that's about?" Hyde asked.
"About how our room should be clean and whatnot. Ant-boy got mad when he came into our room and tripped over a oversized cassette."
"What did he want, anyway?"
"I don't know, he's still lecturing Snide. So, Hyde, you in?"
"One hand can't hurt, so yeah, I'm in," Hyde said as he sat down and cut the deck.

Rhinox couldn't believe how fast he'd gotten to the Predacon base. He also couldn't believe how dark and gloomy it had gotten around the base.
The base was also different. It was bigger, and looked more sinister.
Its wings were like the horns of a ram. The back ramp looked like an open dinosaur mouth, threatening to swallow him up. Slowly, he made his
way inside the base.
He had one of his chain machine guns out in case he ran into any Predacons. How could this be happening? It had to be some kind of Predacon
trick. That was the only thing that could explain what was going on. The sooner the better. He didn't want to come back here after what
happened. He wished he could make that day go away, but he couldn't. A voice brought him out of his thoughts:
"Ah, Rhinox. I knew you would return to your family. What took you so long?"
"MEGATRON!" Rhinox yelled as he turned around, chain gun blazing.
Rhinox blinked as he looked down the empty corridor. "This is getting too weird. I need to get out of here," Rhinox said as he rushes to the exit.
Waiting for him on the ramp was someone he knew very well... himself!

Inferno had several large containers lined up in a row. One was halfway filled with pebbles no larger than his hand.
"Come on, drone, you still have five more containers to fill."
"I'M NOT A DRONE!" Snide yelled as he picked up another hand of pebbles. He continued after he dropped them into the container. "Why isn't
Tripe helping me out? It's his room, too."
"You're right, justice will be served," Inferno said as he headed towards the base.
"Glad he's gone. Time to blow this lava stand." Just as he was about to fly, someone grabed his shoulder.
"Going somewhere?" Inferno asked.
"To tell the royalty I'm sorry for not being a productive drone," Snide said with a smile.
"Don't humor me."
"Inferno, did you know what you just said? You just admitted that you've got a sense of humor. High five. Okay, we need to work on that."
"Stop babbling and get back to work. No slacking, either. I be back with your other half soon," Inferno said as he left.
"That robot's got issues," Snide said as he got back to work.

They were on their eighth hand when Blackarachnia came bursting into the room, shouting:
"MEGATRON'S PET IS COMING!"
"He must be after me!" Tripe said as he panicked.
"Quick, hide!" Terrorsaur squawked.
When Inferno walked into the room, it was a picture of innocence.
Blackarachnia, Hyde, Terrorsaur and Quickstrike were calmly playing a game of Go Fish.
"Have any of you seen Tripe?" Inferno asked.
"Yeah, I think he went to write a ballad about Megatron," Terrorsaur said with a grin.
The others began to laugh at this.
"Is that so. What a glorious way to honor our leader!" Inferno said as he got ready to leave. Blackarachnia mouthed, "Is he serious?" to the
rest of them. Hyde noticed a box walking towards the door. If Inferno turn around, Tripe would be caught!
"I got this, partner." Quickstrike whispered to Hyde and got up. "See here, Inferno, that's
one way to honor Megatron, but there are other ways to honor him. Like with a song. Come on, lets rustle us up a song. OH MEGATRON, OH
MEGATRON, WE... come on guys. What's wrong?"
"I'd rather eat cerebellum," Terrorsaur replied.
"I'd rather go out on a date with Waspinator," Blackarachnia said.

"I thought it would be Quickstrike."
"HEY, THAT'S UNCALLED FOR, BIG BEAK!"
"AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?"
"TEACH YOU A LESSON!" Quickstrike said as he launched himself at Terrorsaur. As Inferno tried to break up the fight, Blackarachnia tapped him on the shoulder. She pointed at a storage closet, and Hyde watched. His spark beat faster as he saw Tripe come out of the closet and bolted through the door. If that was Tripe, who was in the box?

He stared into his hard, cold eyes. He felt a shiver go down his back.
He tried to calm himself down. Was this how the Predacons felt when he betrayed them when he was a Predacon?
"What you doing here?" Rhinox asked his double.
"What do you mean? I'm always with you, for you and I are one."
"I am nothing like you!"
"Don't give me that. Every time you go out on the battle field, every time you get frustrated, every time you're angry, I'm there. Why do you
think you get a small joy in scrapping Waspinator? Why do you blow up on people once in awhile? It's because
of me. Megatron didn't make you evil, he just enhanced it."
"I'M NOT EVIL!"
"Not entirely evil, but to a degree you are. You think you and your Maximal pals are totally good? You think Megatron and the Predacons are
just bad? That no good can come out of them? That's your problem, you think that there are just two sides, black and white. You think that there
are no shades of gray that connect the two."
"So, if you and I are one, then why are we in two different forms?"
"You don't get it, do you? You see what you want to see."
"So I see you?"
"Now we're getting somewhere. You know why you're seeing me?"
"Because you're my fear. I fear that I might lose control again and end up alone."
"You have nothing to fear. There's a me in everyone, it's just that most people don't like to admit it," Rhinox' double said as it faded away.
"Bravo, Rhinox! I was almost touched. Almost," a voice said.

Hyde was out of the room in a flash. He knew whoever was in the box couldn't have gone far. Whoever was in that box was behind all this. Hyde
stopped when he came to his room. The door was slightly ajar. He slowly took out his gun and slipped inside. He slowly went
over the room and found no one there.
He was about to leave when he noticed his pills were missing.
Tarantulas had recently come up with these pills for him, so his other personalities would stay
in check. Whoever was messing with him was doing a good job of it. Now he needed to see the mad hatter and get more of those pills before he
started losing it again.
He was halfway there when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and chased the sound of running footsteps to a room. He went into the room and found nothing. As he turned to leave, he heard a gun power up.
"Why me?" he asks himself.
"Because you messed with the wrong people, and what's worst, we are a part of you!" a voice came behind him.
"Long time no see, Datum. How are you and Razor Beak..."
"SAVE IT! We're both fine, no thanks to you. I had a long time to think about what I was going to do to you. Why not just destroy your body
when we can destroy your mind also?"
"So, where is Razor Beak? Ain't he going to say hi?"
"He's in the control room, hooked up to the security system. He's watching us right now, but he's making sure no one else does," Datum bragged. So that was the second image of him running around, an image Razor Beak made and fed to the system. "How can you do that to us! Leaving us behind. Soundwave would have never done that!"
"I wasn't in my mind at the time," Hyde protested.
"Thanks, Hyde."
"For what?"
"Now I know what to say to Megatron after I kill you!" Datum said as he fired.

"Who are you?" Rhinox demanded at the figure that appeared in front of him.
"I'm Phallus, and I brought you to your new home to take you away from it all. Oh, and don't worry, Rhinox, I'll take care of your body in the real world," Phallus said as she disappeared.
What was she talking about? Take care of my body? But my body's right here. What did she mean? Could it be that he was in some dream world? Nonsense, that couldn't be. It just didn't add up, but there was no other way to explain it. He needed to find a way back before Phallus did something.

Rattrap ran into the control room at full speed and knocked into Cheetor.
"Hey, watch it, Rattrap!" Cheetor said as he got up. Optimus saw the look on Rattrap's
face and asked: "What's wrong, Rattrap?"
"Why don't you ask Rhinox that when he gets here."
"What? Rattrap, get to the point." Cheetor said.
"There he is now!" Rattrap said as he fired at Rhinox, who just came into the doorway.
Rhinox quickly ducked out the way and opened fire. Rattrap rolled under the control table. Optimus and Cheetor join him.
"How long has he been like this?" Optimus shouted over the roar of Rhinox's guns.
"I don't know. I saw him walking down the hall and gave him one of my award-winning smiles. Then, out of the blue, he went berserk on me. So
what now, boss monkey?"
"Wow! Wait a minute, we're not thinking about taking action against Rhinox?" A shocked Cheetor said.
"Look, Cheetor, I don't like it anymore than you do, but... wait a minute it- stop." Behind the table, they heard a body drop and the sound of someone kicking something. When they got up, they saw Dinobot and Airazor over Rhinox' body.
"Good work. No harm done?"
"No, I just knocked him out. I'll put him in a empty storage room," Dinobot said as he set upon his task. Soon, Dinobot had Rhinox' body in a empty storage room, and then left the room, unaware of the battle that would take place for Rhinox' body.

Hyde jumped behind a crate as gunfire erupted around him. He took a couple of hits getting there, but luckily Datum's gun didn't pack the power of a
normal Transformer's gun. He quickly broke cover to shoot off a couple of random shots.
"Come on, Datum, do you seriously think you can beat me?" Hyde said as he got
ready to fire off another round. Datum didn't get a answer. "Well!"
"Hyde, you're here because I wanted you here. That's right, Hyde, I've got a couple of tricks to even up the playing field," Datum said as he
appeared on top of the crate Hyde was hiding behind. Hyde fired as he stumbles backwards. Datum laughed as the shots went through him. "Sorry Hyde, I'm not the real me, I'm just a holo. By the way, look out below," the holo Datum said as the ceiling came down
on them.
Many cycles later, he extracted himself from the rumble that lay atop him. When he gets out, he saw the fake Datum sitting on top of the
rubble.
"About time you got out. I was off when I predicted when you would dig yourself out."
"You think this is funny? When I'm done with... Wait, if you knew I was going to make it out of there alive... Ah, slag," Hyde said as he
looked up. Above him where the ceiling used to be, was replaced with five auto guns. All of the silver guns were locked onto him, ready to go off
at the given command. Hyde was so out of it, he didn't notice Datum getting closer to him.
"By the way, when you were buried, I put the holo away," Datum said as he snatched Hyde's blaster and shots him with it. Datum watched with pleasure as Hyde fell back with shock at what just happened.
"Auto guns online," was the last thing Hyde heard as he passed out.

Phallus was waiting for Rhinox' body to come to, when Rhinox struck.
She rolled with the attack and stopped his next punch with her index finger. She couldn't have done that in the real world, but then again, it wasn't the real world. Before Rhinox could do something, she threw a kick at him that sent him flying. She watched with glee as he sailed away.
"Looks like I won't be seeing him again," Phallus commented as she continued to wait.
Rhinox hoped the landing wouldn't be hard when he landed, whenever he did. It'd been four cycles since he'd been in the air. He was now traveling over green and red hills. The patterns on them changed with the wind. He finally landed softly on a cloud.
"About time. Now, how am I supposed to get out of here?"
"You know, they say talking to oneself is the first sign of madness," a voice said from behind him. When he turned around, he saw three bots
behind him. All were large and bore the Autobots' symbol. He knew who the first two were right away.
"Optimus Prime, Kup?"
"Yes, Rhinox, it's us and this one here who made that lovely comment is Snowcap," Kup replies, "But how?"
"You are in a dream world, and sometimes Transformers can control what's going on when they are in this case. In even rarer cases, they can even interact with other Transformers and once in a while contact the Matrix," Optimus Prime explained. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, from what I understand. So, whatever I want to happen, can?"
"Correct."
"Keep that in mind, because it can either help you or hinder you," Snowcap added.
"What are we waiting for? Lets get Phallus!" Rhinox sputtered. Hewatched the three
Autobots give each other uneasy looks. A long silence followed.
"I afraid we can't help you, lad," Kup finally said. "We're sorry, but... how can I say it?"
"It's not our fight," Snowcap answers. "That's the best way we can explain it."
"I understand," Rhinox manage to say. He really didn't understand, but he didn't want to question them. He saw them transform and thought that they were going to leave. "Wait, there's so much I need to ask!"
"Sorry, but there's no time. Soon, you will be waking up," Optimus Prime said.
"Can I gain access to my body from here?"
"Not if two or more people are trying to gain access to your body at the same time. Which is why you must stop Phallus first, if you want your
body back."
"She's so far away, I'll never get there in time!"
"That's why we're giving you a lift."
"That's right boy. We're going to get you there fast, and with style,"
Kup said as all three Autobots lined up at the back of the cloud. Rhinox got into the driver
seat of Optimus Prime and reminded himself that this was not real.
"LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!" Snowcap roared as they drove off the cloud onto nothing. Rhinox was going dizzy at the speed they were going.
"Can we slow down?"
"Come on, Rhinox, chill out. In the dream world, you don't need to worry much. Now that I think about it, you don't need to worry much when you're dead, too. Trust me, I should know," Snowcap said. Rhinox closed his eyes and sat back and imagined a paved road. When he opened them again, he saw that they were on the open road.
"Good job, Rhinox. See, it's not too hard," Optimus Prime commented
"Try something else." Rhinox put all his will into making them go faster. The road began to become a blur as they shot forward at a rate of speed he never imagined could exist.

Datum was surprised when Hyde came to and grabbed him. Hyde laughed as energy beams tore through them. Datum knew how Hyde came back to so soon. One of the other Hydes must had taken over.
"AUTO GUNS OFF!" Datum yelled over the hiss of auto guns. Hyde released him and when he turned around, Datum was gone. Datum was hidden in a stack of weapons in a crate. He headed there and began to stock up on weaponry.
"I'm gonna make him pay for this! Why does every thing I do go wrong?"
"Because you talk too much!" Hyde said from behind him. Before Datum could turn around, he got kicked into the crate. Hyde quickly picked up the lid and sealed it. He then picked it up and limps out the door. "What are you doing?" The crate said.
"Finding a high cliff."
"Put me down! You're not throwing me off a cliff!"
"Oh, I'll put you down alright. Oh, by the way, Datum, you may not see it, but there's a smile on my face. I must admit I'm hurting, but not as much as you when I toss you off this cliff!" Hyde said when he saw a nice tall cliff. "There it is, any final words?"
Hyde didn't hear what Datum said as slowly he drifts off.

Phallus turned around suddenly as a bright light forced her to turn away. Whatever was making that light was coming closer by the second. Just when she thought she couldn't take the noise anymore, it stopped. When she turned around, she saw four figures. Standing in a semi circle were three
Autobots. In the center of the semi circle was Rhinox, who, compared to them, seemed very small.
"You finally figured it out. You think your big pals there can take me on?"
"I didn't make them."
"What!" Phallus exclaimed. She couldn't believe it, but then again, she herself knew little about this world. Who were they, and what had they told them? She wasn't staying around to find out, and without another word she summoned fog all around and disappeared.
"I wasn't expecting that," Rhinox said to Kup.
"Neither did we. I think the lass' nerves got the better of her."
"So, now that she's gone, how do I get back?"
"Empty your mind, let it drift," Optimus Prime explained. Slowly, Rhinox let himself relax and his mind began to go blank. When he came to, he find himself in a storage room. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He hit his comlink and said:
"Get me out of here. I've got something I need to tell Optimus."

Hyde had fainted from a loss of mech fluid. Inferno had found him and Datum. After freeing Datum from the crate, he brought them back to base
for repair. Now he was in front of Megatron, waiting along Datum and Razorbeak for their sentence. The only other person there beside them was
Scorponok. He wondered what was going through Megatron's mind. Everyone was silent. It stayed like that for a while until Datum had enough guts
to speak up.
"Megatro..."
"Save it. I've already decided your fate. Megatron never had these problems with Soundwave. So I decided that it's time for you all to get
together and become a little happy family."
"What!"
"Don't start, Hyde, I have spoken. You are all on leave for now and on leave until you work all your problems out. There's an unexplored area
to the east, that's where that will take place. There will be things for you to do that will help you do so. Scorponok and Blackarachnia will
go with you to make sure things go well. Blackarachnia has your things ready to go now."
"Go now?" Razor Beak asked.
"It's advised."
"We're going now," Hyde said for all of them as they filed out. When everyone was gone, Megatron got into his hot bath and relaxed.

"I'll post the others on that, Rhinox." Optimus said after Rhinox finished reporting to him. He was going to add something, when Cheetor
yelled over to him:
"GROUP OF PREDS HEADING TO SECTOR..."
"What's the sector?"
"We never gave that area a name; it's unexplored."
"What could Megatron know that we don't know? Send Tigatron, Airazor, and Rattrap after them. Tell them to keep us posted."
"Yes Optimus."
"Optimus, I feel I should go."
"For what reasons, Rhinox?"
"For research. Think of all the things that are in that sector that we might discover!"
"Alright, you can go. Get ready to leave in five cycles," Optimus said as he left the room. Five cycles later, the small band started their
journey after the Predacons into an unknown sector, each eager to explore the land that they would soon enter.