Rain on your Parade

Beast Wars Anonymous:

Beast Wars and all related belong to Hasbro. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 1
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

It was pouring down rain, and Cheetor was scared. The rain was slowing down his flight and his patrol of the Pi Sector, plus he knew that Megatron had been too quiet the last couple days. He couldn't talk to anyone either, the storm was interfering with his communications.

" Well," Cheetor thought, " At least the Preds won't be doing much better than I am."

Speaking of Preds, Megatron was skating around the base with nothing else to do. He was reminiscing on battles won, and (very briefly) battles lost. He was just looking at things from before the Quantum Surge, and holding the thought of Optimus's death close in his mind. He was looking at his old tail weapon when he saw it. A lock of Primal's hair was stuck on it.

"This" he said, "has possibilities..."

At the Ark, Rhinox and Optimus were having problems. The computers were very off-line. Rhinox got a second of visual as the rain slacked off a bit. On the screen, there were four purple blips in the Pi Sector. There was also a red blip, which meant a Maximal. Of course, this meant trouble, as purple means Predacons! Unfortunately, this image went by way too fast for Rhinox or Optimus to see.

Meanwhile, Silverbolt (who couldn't understand computers) and Rattrap (who didn't care) were having a very involved cyber-chess game.

"Check." said Rattrap plainly.

"Check." Silverbolt imitated after moving his prime. That's a king for human chess players.

"Check."

"CheckMATE!" Silverbolt shrieked excitedly. "Yes! The honor of Silverbolt has been preserved!"

"Hey hey hey hey! That's not checkmate!" Rattrap put in hastily. He then moved his prime. "Now, THAT is checkmate."

"What? NOOOOOOOooooooooo!" Silverbolt screamed in unnecessary agony.

When Blackarachnia walked in, Silverbolt cheered up instantly. Tigatron and Airazor were on their way to the base, and Tigatron would understand.

Now let's get to the place of anther checkmate, namely Cheetor's patrol route. Quickstrike was about ten feet below our shiny kitty, with his snake head ready to fire. With Inferno on Cheetor's left and Waspinator on his right, he had nowhere to go. Except, of course, up. Up was exactly where he was headed when Rampage's metallic pincher grabbed him. Rampage ignored Cheetor's screams and tossed the helpless Maximal as far as he could (Which, when you're as big as Rampage, is pretty far...) off of the cliff that happened to be nearby.

As Cheetor flew through the air, he heard the maniacal laughter of Inferno and Waspinator just a few clicks away. Thinking he should've written out his will on lunch break yesterday, Cheetor felt someone catch him. He turned around and saw a strange 'bot. A strange voice that belonged to the strange bot said to Cheetor,
"Don't panic, Little Dude."

"Who?"

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 2
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

In his lair, Tarantulas was trying in vain to get his computers back on-line.

"Aaargh!" he yelled in frustration, " These fraggin' computers!"

Tarantulas had a spot of luck got his scanners back on-line. He started to dance around in celebration when Megatron's face appeared on the console.

"What are you doing?" Megatron asked in a somewhat angry tone.

Tarantulas didn't think it was a good idea to say, " Trying to get my computers to work so I can overthrow you", so he started to stammer.

"Um, uh...watching movies, Megatron." Tarantulas said and gave an innocent smile. Or at least the best smile he could with that weird mouth of his.

"Sure you were..." Meagatron sighed. Then he perked up a bit. "Well, come to the main hall. I have something to show you."

While the spider made his way to the base through the rain, the Maximals lucked out, as Tarantulas did, and got the scanners to work. In Sector Pi, they saw 4 Pred energy signatures (Inferno, Rampage, Quickstrike and Waspinator), 1 Maximal (Cheetor), and 1 unknown signature.

"One Maximal against four Predacons?!" Optimus yelled. "I'm on it!"

With that, he transformed into Beast Mode and flew off.

Silverbolt, who never lets a friend go it alone (and had to get away from the cyber-chess game) transformed and flew off. Blackarachnia followed, making sure no one saw her. She had a reputation to keep up. Tigatron and Airazor arrived back a few minutes later.

As the two Maximals flew off, Tarantulas made it to the base. Megatron greeted him at the entrance.

"Uh, hi..." said Tarantulas, who knew that Megatron knew about his secret (well, not anymore) lair.

" Where have you been?!?" Megatron bellowed.

"At the Human Valley Cineplex" Tarantulas smart-mouthed, "Watching movies like I said."

Megatron clamped his tail weapon around his throat, and said curtly, and "Do shut up."

"Y-y-yuh-yes, Sir!" he gagged and choked.

Megatron released her and she fell to the floor. Megatron explained the plan he had for his tail weapon and the lock of Primal's hair.

"CLONE Primal?!" Tarantulas spat. "The Transmetal Primal and the other Transmetals could easily destroy him!"

"I have foreseen this," Megatron replied, calmer than Tarantulas, "But unless you have forgotten, originally Primal and I were larger than we are now, and with the new-"

"Or old, depending on your viewpoint," Tarantulas cut in.

"Clever." Megatron said with heavy sarcasm, "But with Onyx II, as I will call him, and the clone of my former self, Galvatron, we will have more and bigger troops."

"Hmmmmmmmm................" Tarantulas thought on the matter, "That's so crazy it just might work!"

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 3
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

Cheetor was still shaky as he flew away with a Transmetallized grizzly bear. The bear called herself Grizzena.

"What's going on here?" asked Grizzena.

"Well, my faction, the Maximals, are fighting against the Predacons. They-"

Cheetor was interrupted by a sky boarding blue-tinted gorilla who flew up and said, "Cheetor! You're okay! Who's your friend?"

"Hey Big 'Bot!" Cheetor said, "this is Grizzena. Grizzena, this is Optimus."

"Charmed," said Grizzena, "Hey Optimus, why don't you tell me about these Predacon creeps? They sound like jerks."

Optimus was going to explain about the crash on this planet, the Preds, the Energon, the Aliens and lots of other things, when his comm buzzed.

"Optimus here," Primal said to the comm.

" 'Ey, Fearless Leader, I got a hypothetical question." Rattrap said, his voice distorted by static.

"Go ahead," Optimus told Rattrap, "As long as you don't mind a hypothetical answer."

"Hey, that's not bad," approved Rattrap, "But I just wanted to know..... What would you do if a giant-sized model of the old you and the old Megs was flyin' around the base?"

"I'd use every troop at our disposal, and the new one Cheetor just found to try to hold'em off." Optimus replied. He got suspicious, so he asked, "Why do you ask?"

" 'Cuz it's HAPPENIN'!!!!" Rattrap screamed. "Oh, on the plus side, we cain't find that spider witch anywhere!"

"Prime.........." Optimus said and told Grizzena before they flew off, "To help us out, just shout the Maximal activation code."

"Which is?" Grizzena wondered.

Optimus and Cheetor shouted together, "MAXIMIZE!!!!!" They both transformed and flew off.

"Come on!" Cheetor called back. Silverbolt, who had just arrived, (he's not as fast as Optimal Optimus) turned around and followed Cheetor after a polite "hello" to Grizzena.

"Hmmmmm........." Grizzena said, and then, "MAXIMIZE!!!"

She transformed into black-and-brown humanoid robot, and flew off, trying to catch up.

Back at the Ark, Onyx II and Galvatron were doing a very good job of dampening Sentinel's (or at least what was left of it) power. Rattrap, Rhinox, Tigatron and Airazor were trying their best to keep the shield's up, but their best obviously wasn't quite good enough. The two clones had extremely high endurance and firepower, something that the Ark did not. But once Optimus and the others get here, things will be okay, right? Well.........

En Route to the Ark, Optimus and the others fell under heavy fire. (as if heavy rain weren't enough.....) Sub-commander Inferno and the others had somehow caught up with the Maximal group, and were trying again to introduce them to pain (Inferno's best friend.). Optimus tried to return fire, but was stopped by Cheetor.

"Hold on Big Bot," Cheetor said, "I've got an idea!"

"Let's hear it, quick!" Grizzena demanded.

"OK, OK!" Cheetor said, "Optimus, flight mode, now!"

"Yes, sir!" Optimus teased.

"Everyone else, get on him!" Cheetor continued. Everyone climbed on Optimus as Cheetor said, "Big Bot! Let's hit the beach!"

Optimus flew off eastward, the direction of the coast, with a squad of Preds on his tail, and a handful of Maximals on his back.

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 4
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

Megatron was in his lair with Tarantulas. They watched on the view-globe as Onyx and Galvatron blasted through the doors. And they watched Rhinox, Rattrap and the others try to defend themselves. Let's watch too.

Rhinox and the others hid behind a big rock inside the Ark, hoping not to get blasted. Rhinox knew that without help, they would get nowhere.

"Rattrap, call Optimus!" Rhinox demanded, and with that jumped up and slagged everything he could with his chain guns. "NOW, Rattrap!!"

"OK, OK!!" Rattrap said, and pushed the comm button. "Hey, Optimus, get over here, we're in trouble!"

"So are we!!" Optimus shouted back. "I don't think we can make it in time!!"

"You've GOT TA make it in time!!" Rattrap shouted back. "Rattrap out."

"Prime...." Optimus sighed. "Cheetor, Grizzena, back to base! Help out Rhinox and the others!"

"Got it Big Bot!" said Cheetor and flew off.

"Yes, Sir!" said Grizzena, "Just one thing.... Where's base?"

"Follow Cheetor, and hurry up!" Optimus shouted.

As Waspinator flew after the Optimus, he saw something moving. Something black and yellow. Something Maximal.

He swooped down after it and picked it up. She screamed, but Waspinator didn't care. He held her up as a human (er, bot) shield.

"Silverbolt!!!" Blackarachnia screamed.

From Optimus' back he could hear her yell. He saw her and Waspinator's gun leveled and her head.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Silverbolt, in Beast Mode, jumped off Optimus and flew as he had never flown before.

He was shot at and hit, but he did not care. If Blackarachnia was in danger, he couldn't just stand and watch. He flew so fast all Waspinator could see was a gray blur. But that was all he needed to see to know what to do next.

BLAM! Screamed Waspinator's blaster rifle.

NOOO! Screamed Silverbolt.

AAHH! Screamed Blackarachnia.

And the rest, as they say, is silence.

Silverbolt, in a fit of rage, shot his missiles at Waspinator (from about 4 feet away) as Blackarachnia fell to the ground. Waspinator was hit square in the chest. He was disoriented (even more so than usual) and Silverbolt took advantage of this. He ripped Waspinator's head off and stuck one of his own feather missiles in it. Silverbolt threw the makeshift bomb at Inferno as Waspinator's body fell to the ground. Inferno was too intent on getting Optimus for "the Royalty" (that's Megatron for those who don't watch the show) that he didn't see the bomb coming at him. The bomb hit home, (right in home's arm) and Inferno turned around.

"For the Royalty!!" he hollered and went after Silverbolt.

Quickstrike thought this would be more fun than chasing Optimus, so he followed Inferno, leaving Rampage to handle Optimus. But Rampage was all it took.

"Rampage, TERRORIZE!!!!!" He transformed and took one well-aimed shot at Optimus's thrusters.

BLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!

"AAAAAAaaaahhhhh!!" yelled Optimus as he went down. They were right at the beach, so he plummeted into the water with a huge SPA-LOOSH!!!!!!!!

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 5
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

At the Ark, Cheetor and Grizzena gave the clones all they had. It distracted them, temporarily, and Onyx sent Galvatron inside while he took care of the "gnats" (as he called them.) Onyx knew that at least Cheetor would not fire on his former leader. Grizzena was a different story.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot 'im!!!!" Grizzena yelled at Cheetor.

"No.........." Cheetor couldn't bring himself to shoot Onyx. He flew into the base after Galvatron. Now that was something he could shoot at.

As Optimus plummeted through the water, Rampage transformed to Beast Mode and went after him. Optimus soon hit bottom, and he started to malfunction.
"Water interfering with circuitry" his computer said, "Leave water immediately."

"Easier said than done" Optimus said to himself. He turned on his comm. "Depth Charge this is Optimus, come in." There was no answer. "Depth Charge come in! Protoform X is on a rampage!!" Hence the name, Optimus thought to himself.

Depth Charge wasn't answering, but Optimus kept the comm on-line anyway. He started to look for Depth Charge when he heard a canon blast. Rampage, he thought, and turned to fight him. He was about to fire his chest missiles when he felt something glide through the water. Depth Charge!

"I am not in the mood for your crap, Primal," he said upon arrival, "but if X is here, I guess we'll have to work together." Depth Charge fired his chest rocket discs. Optimus fired his own and they were subduing Rampage pretty good when a computer voice said, "Water interfering with fire mechanisms. Missile ammo explosion, imminent."

"Oh slag......" said Optimus to his computer. He tried to jump out, but it was too late.

WAH-ROOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

The explosion covered a few hundred yards. Inside those yards were Rampage and Depth Charge. Optimus, of course, was not at, but WAS Ground Zero.

Silverbolt, still going crazy, decided it was Quickstrike's turn. He swooped down and raked Quickstrike's head with his talons. Then he Maximized and ripped off Quickstrike's snake arm. Then he used it shoot venom all over Quickstrike. He watched as he started to sizzle, but Inferno shot at him. Silverbolt jumped and slammed Inferno into Quickstrike, covering Inferno with acid. He was about to burn them when it finally hit him. Blackarachnia was gone. He regained his thoughts and looked around. Seeing what he had done, he fell to the ground.

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 6
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

At the Ark, Cheetor and Grizzena were doing a pretty bad job of holding off the clones. Grizzena 's blasts, which could knock a normal sized 'bot absolutely loopy, seemed to have little effect on Onyx II. Cheetor was having the same problem with Galvatron, and the unconscious bodies of his comrades weren't helping that much. They were useful for shields, but not much else. Cheetor was finally able to find his weakness-his neck. One well placed shot in there and Galvatron was down. Cheetor flew out to Grizzena and screamed "The neck the neck!!"

"Say WHAT?" Grizzena said, without looking away from Onyx.

"Shoot him IN THE NECK!!!!!!!!" Cheetor shouted.

She did as she was told, and Onyx was down. "Hey I got an idea!" said Grizzena "Why don't we reprogram this monstrosity?"

"Good call!" Cheetor said. "We'll have to repair Rhinox though, and the others too."

"Who?" Grizzena asked.

"Sorry, you haven't met them yet. Come on, let's see how the CR chamber held up under the fire."

Under the water a few mega-clicks away, Depth Charge awoke. He blinked his optics and looked around. What happened? he asked himself. Things were kind of fuzzy. Primal.... Crash..... The X.... Explosion........ EXPLOSION!!!!! It came back to him. Optimus blew up, and Rampage apparently ran away while Optimus and Depth Charge were napping (so to speak.). Rampage may be indestructible, but that explosion couldn't have been a picnic for him either. It went against his nature, but he had to get Optimus back to the Ark. Man, I hate having a conscience, Depth Charge thought to himself. He picked up Optimus, but decided he couldn't carry him that way. He tried to drag him, but that didn't work either. Slag it, Primal, this had better be worth it. He fired a tow cable around Optimus and they got through the water without any more hassle. The ground was harder to drag him on, but he revived after a while and they flew back to base. (Depth Charge can fly in beast mode when on land.).

Cheetor, Grizzena, and the others were waiting for them there. Rhinox had recovered and was trying to reprogram a downed Onyx II. Galvatron had gotten away somehow. Onyx II was a very big 'bot, about as big as Depth Charge. Depth Charge, who liked being the second biggest, didn't want to reprogram Onyx. Nobody else cared and wanted loyal troops no matter who they were, and they told Depth Charge that.

"Aah, is this the thanks I get for saving Primal's tail?" Depth Charge grumbled.

"Speaking of saving tails", said Cheetor (who overheard DC talking) "Where the slag is Silverbolt? And Blackarachnia?"

"Don't worry my tail none about that witch" Rattrap said.

Tigatron, who had just gotten out of the CR chamber, replied, "Silverbolt cares for Blackarachnia as I do Airazor. That is reason enough for me to look for her!" With that, he transformed to Beast Mode and went out the door. Airazor followed as soon as she got out of the CR chamber.

Speaking of Silverbolt, he had just woken up from fainting. He looked around and saw that none of the Predacons he slagged were there. (Silverbolt didn't know, but Tarantulas had taken them while he was fainted.) He regained his thoughts and instantly they went to Blackarachnia. He looked at her limp, lifeless body. She was as beautiful as she always was, except for a blackened, smoking hole in the side her head. He picked her up, and stared at her some more. He gazed into her black eyes. They had been black before, but now it was the blackness of death. He looked back at everything that had happened between them. Locking eyes at the Energon cavern. Being stranded together while Protoform X was at first roaming around. When Optimus had punished him for not shooting Blackarachnia. When they had crashed her skiff. When they broke into the Ark. When he shielded her from Cheetor. There was more, but he did not want to dwell on it. He glanced at her one last time, and flew off with her in his arms.

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 7
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

Tigatron and Airazor looked for Silverbolt where Optimus said he crashed. He wasn't there, but Tigatron picked up his scent. And Blackarachnia's. Airazor was a little jealous, she was used to being the only female and didn't particularly like the spider anyway. But she had loyalty to Tigatron, even if Silverbolt WAS a huge hunk. Another reason to dislike Blackarachnia. Airazor got so caught up in her thoughts that she looked around and realized that Tigatron wasn't there. Slag, she thought, and flew to catch up. She was faster than Tigatron, so catching up wasn't that hard.

Back at the Predacon Base, Inferno was just reviving, ready to report to Megatron.

"What in the name of Primus happened out there?!" Megatron bellowed.

"Forgive our incompetence, My Queen, but after Waspinator destroyed the traitor to our colony, the Fuzor became mad and attempted to destroy us all. It is my fault that he almost succeeded. Punish me!!!" Inferno threw himself down to Megatron's feet.

Megatron kicked him away, and contemplated the only important thing Inferno had said. Traitor? he thought, Destroyed? Blackarachnia was destroyed? We must exploit this new weakness, yesssssss.

Silverbolt carried his lady back to the Ark as quickly as he could with such a heavy heart. Tigatron and Airazor, both faster than Silverbolt, were on his heels but he didn't know it until they stepped into the base behind him. Rhinox looked up from his work and saw Silverbolt and a limp Blackarachnia with a smoldering hole in her head. "What happened?" Rhinox asked in alarm.

Silverbolt shoved Blackarachnia into Rhinox's hands and left, silently saying "You figure it out." Silverbolt, still grief-stricken, left the room. Tigatron maximized and followed after him.

Megatron, feeling idiotically lucky because of Blackarachnia's passing, decided to raid the Ark by himself, taking only Inferno with him. They will be mourning for their fallen comrade so that even the smallest blow will destroy them. Inferno interrupted his thoughts by saying, "Look, my Queen! It's you!"

"Inferno, you idiot, I'm right here, don't toy with me!" Megatron said, trying to sound angrier than he really was.

"No, Royalty, look!" Inferno persisted, "It's the old you!"

The OLD me? Megatron thought, Galvatron?

Megatron looked to see his clone, battle-beaten, meandering his way to the Predacon base.

"Inferno!" Megatron commanded, "Take him and escort him back to base! Immediately!"

"Yes My Queen!" Inferno said and was off.

Megatron, still confident that he could destroy his opponents, continued onward.

Author's Note: Optimal Optimus is in this story, but is called just plain Optimus.

Rain on Your Parade, pt. 7
by Drewbacca (truebluedrew@hotmail.com)

Silverbolt made his way up to the top of the mountain the Ark was lodged in, never losing Tigatron. He didn't even know he was being followed. When he arrived at the top, he began to howl.

He was interrupted, however, by Tigatron. "Silverbolt, I know you are broken down, but you can not let it consume you." Tigatron began. He had been planning his speech since he started following Silverbolt, but that was as far as he'd gotten. "Um, the lady has been put into the CR chamber, it helps you to know that." He continued.

"Gone!!" Silverbolt said loudly. "She's gone! The CR chamber will only seal up her head, it won't bring her miraculously back to life!! She's gone, and I never had a chance to tell her anything!!!" He started to breath hard, and sob, and then continued softly, "She's gone."

Tigatron said "I know how you feel. It is better to love and lose than to never love at all."

"Try it." Silverbolt muttered bitterly.

"I have." Tigatron said. He surprised even himself, he never talked about Snowstalker's death.

"What?" Silverbolt's sadness was almost overcome by his new curiosity.

"Snowstalker, a white tigress, was my wife before she was killed by an avalanche." Tigatron's voice started to crack, but he continued anyway. "We were fighting the Predacons, Cheetor, Dinobot and I. Inferno, Waspinator and Terrorsaur, a bot you should be glad you never met, had ambushed Dinobot and Cheetor. Cheetor sent a distress call, which I answered. Snowstalker was distracting Waspinator, who thought she was me. The battle went on, and eventually I was shooting at Inferno while he was in the air. I shot once, it hit him so I shot twice more. On the second shot, Inferno was knocked back, causing the third shot to hit Terrorsaur's stockpile of bombs. The bombs caused a huge avalanche, one that swallowed Snowstalker alive."

"I'm sorry," said Silverbolt, who had nothing else to say. "Then what happened?" Silverbolt wanted to keep Tigatron talking so he didn't have to think about Blackarachnia.

"Then, I told myself it was my fault, and I left the Maximals and the Beast Wars, what I had wanted to be forever." Tigatron was now done with the sad part of his story and his voice grew a little bit stronger.

"What brought you back?" Silverbolt was now very intrigued.

"Dinobot sat me down, well actually he sat on me so I wouldn't run away, and told me about the same as what I just told you."

"He has lost a lady?" Silverbolt thought it unlikely that Dinobot ever had a lady to lose.

"No, but he told me that, basically, life will sometimes stink, and sometimes it will be good. All I had to do was see it hrough till a the good times came." Tigatron wrapped up.

"Easier said than done," Silverbolt said in a tone Tigatron couldn't quite read.

"Amen to that," Tigatron said, " I'll leave you alone now, if you wish."

Silverbolt felt better than he did at first, but still felt like he needed that howl. "Thank you, Tigatron. I-"

Silverbolt would have said more if Megatron had no fired a blast in between Tigatron and himself. Silverbolt and Tigatron, both wanting to take out their frustrations out on Megatron, glared at him. Seeing the look on their faces, Megatron knew it would take more than him to take those two. He began the flight back quickly, and then slowed down to think up a good lie about why he was back so soon.

Tigatron left, and Silverbolt began his howling. In the CR chamber a few hundred yards below Silverbolt, two black eyes opened. "Silverbolt?" She asked herself, and then stepped out.