Buying Time

"Rhinox, we’ve got a problem," Rattrap said as he checked the reading of the ship again.

"Optimus will be done in five cycles, but Cheetor's got at least eight mega-cycles."

"Turn off everything we don’t need even sentinel and put it all toward the CR chambers."

"What happens if the CR chamber runs out of energon before Cheetor gets out?" Airazor said from her post.

He didn’t know why, but two Predacons had been chasing him for the past three clicks. It didn’t help him having talons for feet.

"GIVE IT UP BIRD. YOU WILL BURN IN THE INFERNO," Inferno bellowed as he fired his flame-thrower at the Hawk. The Hawk hopped out of the way and continued to run.

"Why's the new Maximal not flying?" Scorponok asked as he fired another toxic sting at the bird. A green beam intercepted the toxic sting, causing a small explosion. Standing on a cliff, posed for battle, were two warriors. "It's the Maximals."

"Leave the bird alone," Tigatron growld as he jumped off the cliff to the ground. Dinobot followed his example.

"Gladly," Dinobot said as he stepped aside and stuck out his arm. Before Inferno could stop himself, he slammed into Dinobot's arm. Before Inferno could fall to the ground, Dinobot grabbed him and flung him into a tree. Tigatron shot a grenade at Scorponok, who kicked it back at Tigatron.

"A little help?" Tigatron told the new Maximal as he jumped out of the grenade's way. The grenade went off, sending Tigatron flying.

"Oh. Drillbeak, Maximize," Drillbeak said as he transformed. His robot mode was a mix of gold and brown. On his left arm were two small drills. Besides that, he look like a bigger version of Airazor. He pulled out a small blaster and shot at Scorponok, who got hit in his left shoulder, but kept coming.

"BEAST MODE!" Tigatron roared as he transformed and jumped on Scorponok. Scorponok kicked him off, but before he could fire another missile, Tigatron bit his right leg. Before Scorponok could retaliate, Dinobot and Drillbeak combined firepower finish him off.

"Why didn’t you try to fight back earlier?" Dinobot asked as he transformed back to beast mode.

"One, I was outnumbered. Two, I'm a miner, not a fighter," Drillbeak said as he also transformed back to beast mode.

"I should have expected nothing less. Can you fly ahead and make sure there are no Preds waiting for us?"

"Prime, why do you hate me?" Drillbeak asked as he took to the air. A minute later he came back. "All clear, considering I wouldn’t know how any of the other Preds would look."

"I'd hold my tongue, for now. I've got point, Drillbeak you follow me, and Tigatron, you're rearguard," Dinobot said as he took off. The other Maximals followed.

"So we need to get more energon, then," Optimus said after Rhinox filled him in on the situation.

"Mining for energon takes time. The closest energon deposit is in sector Beta, which is a couple of nanoclicks from here. So it's easy to get to. We just have to make sure the Preds don’t try to stop us."

"True, the Predacons attacking will make it harder to mine. Looks like we have to keep them busy."

"Boss monkey, Dinobot said he's coming in with Tigatron and the new Maximal," Rattrap said from his console.

"Negative. Tell Dinobot and his team to report to sector Beta and find the energon deposit. Once they do find it, secure it for Rhinox and fill him in on the situation."

"Your help. We need to attack the Predacon base so they won’t interfere with Rhinox's mining."

"You're on. That wasp will regret messing with me. So, Optimus is it only me and you?"

"Get her, we've got work to do. YESSSSS!" Megatron said as his mind worked out a plan.

"Dinobot, Tigatron, where's the new recruit?" Rhinox asked as he arrived on the scene on a cargo platform. Another one floated beside the one he was on.

"Digging," Dinobot said as he pointed toward a hole. The hole was maybe five by seven feet. "Our new recruit's a miner. He found an energon vein and followed it to the main energon deposit. Oh, and don’t worry, it gets bigger as you go along."

"How'd you get so much energon so fast?" Rhinox asked as he looked at a large pile of energon.

"There was an outcrop over there," Tigatron said as he pointed to a space near the entrance.

"There was, but we filled it up with topsoil. Made it look good as new," Tigatron said proudly as he admired his work.

"Load it up and get it back to base," Rhinox said as he unpacked the big suitcase he was carrying. "We have no time to waste."

"On my way," Tigatron said as he began to load one of cargo crate with energon, unaware of the camera watching them.

"What are they up to?" Waspinator said as he watched Stinger's bee cam record the Maximal's every movement. "Of course, they're getting energon for something, but for what? Terrorsaur and Byzantine, intercept Tigatron and destroy him. Bring the energon back to me."

Optimus, Megatron and Airazor watched in dismay as Terrorsaur and Byzantine left the Darkside and took to the air.

"Now, Megatron," Optimus said as he rushed forward and dove off the cliff they were on. Megatron entered a code on a pad on his arm. The pad beeped and a computerized voice said, "Darkside defenses are down for approximately two mega-cycles." Optimus went into a roll as he touched the ground.

"No, this is just to be on the safe side," Megatron said as he began his descent down the mountain. Optimus opened fire on the two fliers when he came out of his roll. Terrorsaur didn’t know what hit him when a shot from Optimus spun him out of control.

"We know, we're on our way. Forget about the Maximals, they're trying to stall you."

"Alright, we're going. Hey, fly boy, we can get them later," Byzantine said as she grabbed Terrorsaur's, who had regained control, and led him away from the battle. Megatron, who was a few nano clicks from Optimus, opened fire on the Darkside. The other two Maximals did the same.

"PREDACONS, ATTACK!" Waspinator yelled as he led the rest of the Predacons toward the threesome.

"Slag! Hey buddy, got a extra Auger Drill? Mine broke," Drillbeak asked as he threw aside the one he broke. "Thanks." He continued drilling. "You know a lot about mining. Done it before?"

"No, but I've studied it before. I thought it might come in handy," Rhinox replies.

"Look like it is. So, what happens to this Cheetor if he's still in the CR chamber when it runs out of energon?"

"No one really knows. There's been theories, but they're just theories. We don’t need to worry about that if we stop talking and start mining."

"That's okay.," Rhinox said as he took up his pick and swung it into the tunnel wall. He repeated this over and over again until he was rewarded with the sight of a tip of an energon cube. Rhinox would have been affected by energon interference by now, but Drillbeak lent him one of the four-energon dampers he had. The rocks around the energon were fragile, so it broke off easily.

Using a Percussion drill, Rhinox soon had the entire energon cube exposed. Drillbeak was just beginning to fill in the face he was finished with. He was working as fast as he could. He didn’t have any of the materials he needed to support the tunnel. He knew that and Rhinox knew that. He knew there could be a cave in at anytime. Any tr… Drillbeak's thought was cut off as the tunnel collapseed around him, burying him like it buried the energon he was digging.

Optimus took out his two swords as Stinger came in fast. Optimus caught Stinger's energon sword with both of his swords. Optimus kept on increasing the pressure until Stinger’s sword snapped in half. Stinger rolled back and took out one of his throwing knives. Optimus knew what Stinger was about to do, and shot the knife out of Stinger's hand.

"Megatron, what are you doing?" Airazor asked as she took a snapshot at Tarantulas.

"Oh, you'll see," Megatron said as he entered two more codes into the pad that was on his arm. Waspinator lined up a shot at Optimus' head, but before he could, fire a platform rammed into him.

"What the-?" Waspinator said as he dodged another platform. The platforms the Predacons usually used to get around the Darkside were now being used against them. Waspinator was about to order a retreat when he noticed there was no place to retreat to. All entrances to enter the Darkside were locked. They were locked out of their own base!

Pain. Such pain. Dinobot could hear them laughing at him, mocking him. He tried to move, but that only brought more pain. They came so fast. He tried his best and failed. One of the figures standing over him mentioned that they still needed to stop Tigatron. If Tigatron was stopped, that meant Cheetor was doomed. He knew he couldn’t let that happen. He must overcome the pain. To embrace the pain. To become pain.

Tigatron was now on foot, carrying a crate filled with energon. The cargo platform broke after driving it into a boulder to avoid a Rabbit who came out of nowhere. He was walking near the river that ran near the base. All he had to do now was follow it back to base. As Tigatron walked along the river, he tripped over a rock and dropped the crate. It tumbled into the river and began to flow downstream (away from the base). Why me? Tigatron thought to himself as he ran after it.

“Who could have done this?” Waspinator asks himself as he looks around the battlefield. His eyes fall on a smirking Megatron. “MEGATRON!” Waspinator roars as he shoots at Megatron.

“Looks like you got Waspinator’a attention,” Airazor said as the shot shoots by Megatron’s head.

“I always had a knave for getting people’s attention,” Megatron replies as he hops on one of the platforms and flies at Waspinator. Tarantulas shoots Megatron off the platform onto Optimus. Tarantulas had no time to celebrate as got shot in the arm by Airazor.

“Off of me,” Optimus said as he pushed Megatron off him. Between the platforms and Airazor all the Predacons were occupied, except Stinger.

“One or two it makes no difference,” Stinger said as he waved them on with his broken sword.

“I need no help from him,” Megatron said as he charged Stinger. Stinger swings his sword at the ground bringing up a cloud of dust. The dust covers Stinger and the area around him. As Megatron nears the cloud a leg pops out into Megatron’s face. As Megatron backs up in pain, Stinger uses the butt of his sword to knock Megatron out.

Optimus came in fast with both of his swords swinging. Stinger ducks under a cut and comes behind Optimus. He delivers an elbow to Optimus’ head and picks up his fallen knife. Stinger sweep kicks Optimus off his feet. He lands next to Megatron. Stinger waits as Optimus and Megatron recover. He couldn’t attack them while they were down. It would be an unworthy act.

“You dare say I’m not worthy of my name? Optimus, let us work together to beat some sense into our friend.”

“Agreed. Let’s do this,” Optimus said as the two titans charge into battle.

“Oh no. Dis is not good,” Rattrap said as he finished checking all the ship systems. The CR chamber was about to run of energy, unless he did something. Rattrap opens the door to Optimus’ room and enters. As soon as he stepped into Optimus’ room he saw what he was looking for. An energon cube about two feet long in a display case. All captains receive one when they first become captain. He hoped Optimus would forgive him for what he was about to do.

Rattrap takes the display case and throws it on the floor. Rattrap takes the energon cube from what was left of the display case. He rushes to engineering and runs to the energon duct. He drops the energon cube in and walks over to a console. He began turning off everything. The only thing he didn’t turn off was the lift to the base, the CR chamber Cheetor was in, and everything in engineering. He switches to Inferred. That bought Cheetor some time. Rattrap walks out of engineering and begins looking for more energon.

Dinobot sits up with his eye blazing green. The energy behind his eyes was getting stronger every second. As he let it loose, he roars:

“EAT SLAG!” The beam hit Terrorsaur in the back and knocked him into Byzantine. Before Byzantine could get up, Dinobot unleash another blast from his eyes. With both Predacons down he turns to the collapse tunnel. He drops to his knees and begins to dig with his bare hands.

Tigatron finally got of ahead of the crate. He uses his gun to freeze the water in front of the crate. He slides down the ice and waits for the crate to come to him.

“Ah come to me little one,” Tigatron said as he swept up his crate and began making his way back to base, unaware that a pair of eyes were watching him. Tigatron was making his way up a hill when he slips. Tumbling backwards down the hill, Tigatron lost all sense of direction. When he finally stops, he slowly sits up. Out the corner of his eye he sees a black figure pick up the crate of energon and disappear into the woods.

Giving chase he ducks and weaves through the forest trying not to lose sight of the thief. The culprit nimbly ducks behind a tree. When Tigatron looks behind the tree no one is there, but the crate is. Tigatron opens the top of the crate and notices that a few cubes of energon were missing. Besides that the rest of the energon was there. There was no sign of the thief anywhere. Tigatron once again begins to make his way back to base.

What better place to look for energon than in Rhinox’s lab? Rattrap thought to himself as he sliced into the computer at the door.

"Come on, a little more, there," Rattrap said as he successfully opened the door. "Whew, nice place. Wonder why I've never been here?" Rattrap said as he stepped inside Rhinox’s lab. The first thing that caught his eyes was a tall blue robot in the corner of the room. Something that big much need a lot of energon to power it up. Rattrap walked over to the robot and located a control panel on the robot's left arm. When he tried to open the control panel, the robot came to life and flung Rattrap into a table.

"Intruder fails to comply. Open fire." The lab lit up from the robot's guns going off.

"Man, if this keeps up, Cheetor won’t be the only person needing the CR chamber. This is a lab, so Rhinox must have more gadgets lying around here. There's one!" Making a dash for a long curved pipe with a yellow cone on the tip, Rattrap used every trick in his book to avoid being cut down by the onslaught of the robot.

He quickly found the activation button on the device and fired it at the robot. A blue beam shot out of the device and hit the robot. Blue electricity danced around the robot, spreading all over him, short circuiting him. Rattrap tossed the device away as the robot fells silent. With the threat gone, he began taking energon from various devices and putting them in his sub compartments. Rattrap was too lost in his task to notice the robot's red eyes coming back to life.

Blackarachnia shot at another flying platform and succeedes in destroying it. She turned her head so she could see the fight going on between Stinger, Megatron and Optimus. Megatron and Optimus were about to charge Stinger. Now would be the perfect time to get her revenge on them both.

"Never mind, you're taking too long. I can make it without your help," Blackarachnia said as she went into a run. Transfomeing to beast mode, she ran across the Darkside's outside exterior towards her targets. None of them seemed to notice her until it was too late. Hopping on top of Megatron's head, she clung for dear life as Megatron thrashed about, trying to get her off his head.

Before Optimus could do anything, a knife found his left shoulder. Optimus didn’t have time to pull out the knife as Stinger (now in beast mode) tackled Optimus into the Darkside. They both went through several walls before coming to a stop. Both of them lay motionless on the floor, unaware of what was taking place outside.

Megatron finally managed to get Blackarachnia off his head. She was now in robot mode and was staring him down.

"You sure are," Blackarachnia said as she launched herself at Megatron. Right before she reached Megatron, she did a backflip to avoid getting punched. She quickly kicked him in his shins three times and grabbed his arms. She jumped over Megatron, turning in mid air and brought her knees into Megatron's back. Fighting the pain, Megatron turned around and bit Blackarachnia with his arm with the T-rex head on it. After this, he flung her into a flying platform.

"Bravo, Megatron. I'm surprised you outwitted me. I promise you that won’t happen again. I'll make sure of it myself," Waspinator exclaimed as he attacked Megatron.

Light streams into Drillbeak's eyes as he came back online. His legs was still covered in dirt, but he didn’t mind. He was alive!

"Welcome back," Dinobot said as he helped Drillbeak up. He looks from Dinobot to Rhinox and then looked at himself.

"That's what working in a tunnel will do to you, son," Rhinox replied as he managed a smile.

"You can say that. Now, let's get the energon that we managed to get and get back to base," Dinobot said as he limped to the cargo platform.

He finally made it to the base. It felt so empty to Tigatron as he looked at the empty control room. He made his way to engineering and emptied his load into a energon duct. Walking down the hall outside of engineering, he stopped upon hearing someone yelling. He followed it to a source. Rattrap was sitting against the wall outside of Rhinox’s lab. He was holding his left arm where a gash was.

"Ro… robot wen… berserk on me," Rattrap said as darkness clouded his vision.

"It all right now. Here, let's get you to the CR chamber," Tigatron said as he helped Rattrap to the CR chamber. On their way there, Rattrap's legs gave out several times. For the first time, Tigatron noticed how torn up Rattrap's legs were. When he finished putting Rattrap into the CR chamber, he made his way to the armory. He needed all the firepower he could muster to take that thing down.

"Poor Megatron, first I stole your glory and pride. NOW I WILL STEAL YOUR LIFE!" Waspinator yelled as he flew at him. Megatron ducked and Waspinator flew right into Optimus' sword. Optimus was breathing heavily as he dropped his sword.

"Megatron, go, take Airazor with you. You’re now the leader of the Maximals. Their fate is now in your hands," Optimus said as he used a boulder to balance himself.

"Go now. I'll hold them off. The automatic defenses are about to go back online. If that happens, then none of us are going to make it out of here."

"Alright, Primal, it's your death. Airazor, come on, it's time to get out of here," Megatron said as he began to put distance between himself and the Darkside. Airazor hesitated for a moment, and went after Megatron, but not before flying overhead and taking out the first two cannons that came up. I always thought Optimus would die at my hands. I never thought it would come like this. Optimus gave his life to save me, after all he'd done to me. Where did it all go wrong? Megatron thought as he kept on running.

"TAKE THIS!" Tigatron roared as he launched five missiles into the lab. There was no wreckage, as Tigatron expected there to be. That was because the Robot was gone! There were tracks; all he needed to do was to follow the tracks to find it. Tigatron followed the tracks as fast as he could. It soon led to the lift that went outside. As he got off the lift, he felt better, seeing a cargo platform heading his way.

"Tigatron, where's the vermin?" Dinobot said as he hopped off the platform and helped begin to unload the platform.

"I don’t know about you, but I say we take care of the energon first. We're in no condition to go after that thing," Drillbeak said as he looked around nervously. They all agreed on this and continued their task.

Optimus ran past another cannon, slicing it as he ran by. As he blocked shots from a cannon, another one shot him in his back. Using his wrist gun, he shot both cannons. Taking cover behind a boulder, he waited. He had no idea how much longer he could keep this up. He felt like sleeping. Sleeping is good. Optimus was fast asleep, unaware of Tarantulas standing over him.

"Teehehe, a new guinea pig for me. Now to get you inside before anyone sees you. If anyone asks, you got away," Tarantulas said as he slung Optimus over his back and made his way his lair. He would come back for the others later.

"It feels so good to be out of the CR chamber. Hey, why the sad faces? Where's big bot?" Cheetor said as he came out of the CR chamber.