"OC Episode #4"

[WorpeX]

"I'm Optimus Primal, Commander of the Maximals. And you are?"

Optimus Primal!? What was he doing here? Had the maximal leader not come here by choice? Was this planet not exile? Luckily, it seemed primal was so far oblivious to who he was... for now. His plan of disguising himself as the new protoform worked, just hopefully, the stasis pod would keep quiet long enough to not blow his cover. "I am Mant...' He paused, suddenly realizing that Optimus would likely recognize his name. "...remendous. Yes, Mantremendous. I am the maximal from this stasis pod, so you may leave now." Quickly recovering from his mistake, the Predicon felt rather proud of himself that he could think on his feat so quickly. He was in no position to fight at the moment, and even if he could, Optimus would surely best him. With any luck, he would believe the Mantis' lies and simply go away when asked. Surely someone as important as him had more important matters to deal with, like saving the planet or wildlife of some sort. It seemed to Manterror that the Maximals presence would hinder his plan significantly, making it quite a bit harder for him to take over the world.

---

"Repair required before protoform ceases to exist in 10.4 cycles."

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"I am Mant...' "...remendous. Yes, Mantremendous. I am the maximal from this stasis pod, so you may leave now."

Optimus may have been more convinced that he was being honest with that pause in what seemed to be recollecting his own name because his data tracks may have been damaged to some minor extent. However, what "Mantremendous" added afterwards made the leader only more suspicious about this insect. If he didn't know any better, he'd say this 'bot was lying straight to his face.

"Frilla," Primal called to her, but did not take his optics off of the mantis. "Check on the stasis pod." The maximized gorilla kept himself between the female lizard and the praying mantis in case he decided to attack. Optimus may be inexperienced in leading a team through war, but he was not a fool. Not usually.

Still studying the insect before him, he addressed "Mantremendous" with, "I think you've misunderstood. We're here to help you and lead you back to the Maximal base. It's not safe out here." His voice was calm but direct.

-----

"Tigatron this Wintersong, we're close to the pod's location and shouldn't be far from you."

"Copy that, Wintersong," Tigatron confirmed over the comm. link. Despite the last mission they were on together, he enjoyed spending time around her. I hoped it didn't linger much on her mind anymore. He did not know Dinobot very well, so this would be a prime opportunity to see him in action and what he was all about. He doubted he was anything like Rattrap had described him as because Rattrap was... well, he was Rattrap. At times, the rat suffered from a chronic case of tunnel vision. "I think I have visual on you already," he grinned, running across a hill and down the bank toward her and the raptor.

-----

I'm not sure we'll want her out there too long.. storms out at sea are not normally a mild thing like inland, they can form into typhoons, hurricanes.. with waves large enough to flip the Nomad or pull her under. She should either fly higher or get inside.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, thought Rattrap, although Icebreaker was right. Rattrap figured Feralnight knew what kind of weather she was comfortable flying in, but the penguin had a point. Around or over water, storms were very unpredictable.

We should be coming on that ship's crash site soon, but the Nomad isn't detecting anything yet.

Before the rodent could say anything, Feral's voice rang through on the transmission.

"INCOMING!"

Gasping in surprise, the rodent yelled, "Saber-Fang, veer right! Right! Icebreaker, get on our weapons an' get ready ta return fire! Feralnight, get yer tail inside the Nomad on the side entrance!" Using some controls, he pressed a button to command the side door to slide open for her so she didn't have to waste any time waiting for it to open when she got there. "Who the heck is firin' at us?!" He thought it was the Predacons at first but the Leviathan hadn't been detected on their radar. Was it the ship they thought had crashed?

[Night-Hunter]

"INCOMING!"

"Saber-Fang, veer right! Right! Icebreaker, get on our weapons an' get ready ta return fire! Feralnight, get yer tail inside the Nomad on the side entrance!"

Saber flinched for a second before doing as Rattrap ordered. Sadly her timing was off and the blasts hit the left wing, the impact had hit ship's left wing and the alarms went off.

"Slag it! That blast knocked the navigation and controls off line, we're going down!!!" Saber shouted over the roar of the alarms as she tried to stay on course.

((OOC: A little drama and danger never hurt any body. ^_^))

[NaitoKage]

Icebreaker held tightly to the console as he heard Rattrap, then released sliding past Saber towards the gun controls grabbing the wall and climbing into the seat Well, I didn't expect the crashed ship would be attacking us! Icebreaker then said.

the Nomad itself dropped three or four feet from the air hitting the water surface, simply bobbing and rocking about in the water like a boat, but not sinking. Icebreaker then grabbed the controls as the turrets on top of the ship came online, a sudden stream of four autoguns started firing towards the ship flying ahead of them.

[una]

Cheetor sprinted off as soon as Rhinox had said he could and he soon caught up with Whitegrazer.

Despite the speed of her gallop, it only took about a cycle for Cheetor to realize he wanted to run ahead of even her. And well, she wouldn't be too far behind him when he arrived on scene, right?

So he went back to his full speed and dashed ahead.

I'm probably going to hear about this back at base, he despaired to himself. But he was too worried about the pod to stop.

Whitegrazer had to widen her eyes as she was really surprised at how far Cheetor was from her now.

Fascinating speed

She kept her speed, watching out for the cat as best as she can. They were still supposed to keep themselves aware of their surroundings. Lucky no Preds so far.

"Oh, you're serious?" Steelclaw asked Blackarachnia. "Because I was just joking."

That was true. It would have been very strange for Steelclaw to walk up to the the rest of Blackarachnia's team and tattle on her. Besides, they could probably already guess what her feelings were.

She stared at Steelclaw for a moment, her face in contemplation. When Glowstick spoke, she knew it was time for her go, maybe get out before Scorponok and the others. Following those bozos all the way to the pod would make her go insane...and irritated.

The black widow uncrossed her legs and stood up, chuckling in a rather seductive manner towards the black bear and gotten really close to his face, "Good luck on your mission, Steelclaw."

She strutted down the exit, going outside. She went into beast mode and couldn't wait to retrieve the pod. Maybe she could have someone she could use or maybe another femme?

[New Moon]

Frilla perked up a little when Optmus called her and she quietly crept through the tall grass and around towards the pod, the grass twitching a bit as she emerged. Watching the Mantis she crawled to the pod, "Maximize." She said and transformed to robot form, stepping closer to look inside the pod and towards the front of it to check if it already was indeed empty or if not had done a scan for a life form.

Yet what kind could be found in this place? Insects were probably the likeliest chance, perhaps even a lizard or snake of some sort. So maybe this Mantremendous was telling the truth? Well it was best to make sure either way.

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

"I'm coming! Just hang in there guys!" Feralnight said, watching the Nomad falling a few feet and hitting the water which luckily it didn't sink. Diving down she kept out of the way of the autoguns as they began to shoot, hoping none of her comrades inside were hurt if the impact tossed them about a little.

[starshadow]

Cerulia was indeed happy to ship falling into the water.

"Yes- NANI(what)?!" she quickly manuvered the ship to avoid the shots coming towards her put on of them hit the wings.

"GAH!! Why you little..!!" she started shooting the Nohmad with yellow lasers.

[NaitoKage]

Icebreaker braced himself as the Nomad was hit by the lasers,Icebreaker snarled getting up from the seat, his visor and faceplate sliding over his face as he stood up drawing his gun. If the controls are dead, the Nomad is a sitting duck, the Autoguns wont take that down in time.. You two try to get the Nomad's controls working again.

Icebreaker then pulled out a magazine loading it into his gun and pulled the lever on the side I'll see if we can take it down or buy some time for you guys.. he then ran towards the side exit opening the door and jumping out into the water.

A few moments later he was seen riding on his board on the rough waves, he activated his comlink Feralnight, the Nomad's systems are down. Fly around and help flank that thing. Between the both of us, we might have enough firepower to take it.

[Alak]

"Let's move!" ordered Scorponok.

Crawling out onto the dirt in his beast mode, Scorponok saved the pod's coordinates onto his HUD so that he would not lose them.

"Blackarachnia and I will maintain a terrain approach. You flyers will cover our hides. We will approach the pod together and use our numbers to our advantage against whatever Maximals we come across!"

Terrorsaur blinked, stepping off the ramp of the Leviathan.

"Umm," he began, "We're fast enough to reach the pod before most of the Maximals get within radar range. Optimus, maybe Cheetor, could meet us head on. Either way, Waspinator and I can take them and secure the pod for you and 'legs'."

Scorponok waved off the advice.

"We go together," he said with finality.

Terrorsaur looked at Waspinator and rolled his optics. Transforming into beast mode, he rose into the sky and lazily held back as the 1st Lieutenant led the way. Should the arthropod get ambushed, he might let a few shots land before swooping in to save him. Honestly, Terrorsaur could not care less for his superior's well-being at the moment.

[starshadow]

Rain started to pour, strong winds blew and lightning strikes were accompanied with the sounds of thunder.

The screen zoomed in to the Maximal transport then to the penguin bot.

"Heh..time for you to sleep in your watery grave.." Cerulia activated the autopilot system of the ship, sending it to a nearby island and pressed another button for the cockpit glass to slide back. The octopus femme jumped out of the ship and dived into the ocean, going deeper and towards the unknown bot.

[Phoenix]

Resisting the urge to tell the loudmouth purple dinosaur off, Nemesis soared ahead of the ship that was hosting the others. At least it would give her a chance to go out on her own a bit, unsupervised. Perhaps if she was lucky, she would encounter some Maximals to practice her skills against. Or maybe even find a way to get off this planet and revert back to her old form somehow.

Even in this form, Nemesis was quite fast and agile, easily outmanouvering the larger ship that followed. She set course for the location of the fallen pod, keeping a sharp eye out for intruders in her path.

[WorpeX]

"Frilla,Check on the stasis pod. I think you've misunderstood. We're here to help you and lead you back to the Maximal base. It's not safe out here."

Manterror's mind began racing. If the other Maximal checked the pod they would know he was lying and probably kill him. Standing and waiting for that to happen had no benefit. It seemed there was no peaceful way to resolve this, and he didn't want to give Optimus the edge. The only option's were to run or sneak attack, but he wasn't going to give up so easily. In that moment he decided on his strategy: he would stand on top of the pod and fire from that, hopefully the Maximal's will be too afraid to fire upon him in fear of damaging the pod. If that failed, he would flee, surely there were more pods around here for him to take.

Following the plan, the Praying Mantis jumped on top of the stasis pod. "NO! Get away, it's mine! Manterror, TERRORIZE!" he screamed maniacally and transformed. His legs unfolding from under his body to hold himself up as his mantis head dropped down, revealing the ever smiling face. In mere seconds, he was in his robot form. Still standing on the pod, he spoke once more. "You always put a damper on my scheme's Optimus Primal, but not this time! I found the protoform first, it's MINE FOR THE TAKING!"

Curling his right arm to the other side of his body as if to throw a Frisbee, he immediately released it again in a wide arc. From underneath the mantis claw, a spinning disk released itself and spun towards the Maximal Leaders feat. Manterror launched the first attack.

[Night-Hunter]

Saber had braced herself but her hands slipped as the Nomad hit the water and she bashed her head against the console, stars flashed before her eyes as the pain hit. The shock from hitting the console had competely knocked her out and she lay there slumped against the console.

* * *

"Let's move!" "Blackarachnia and I will maintain a terrain approach. You flyers will cover our hides. We will approach the pod together and use our numbers to our advantage against whatever Maximals we come across!"

Waspinator followed Terrorsaur off the Leviathan.

"Umm," "We're fast enough to reach the pod before most of the Maximals get within radar range. Optimus, maybe Cheetor, could meet us head on. Either way, Waspinator and I can take them and secure the pod for you and 'legs'."

Waspinator giggled like a sparkling at the spiders nickname.

"We go together,"

The wasp followed his wing mans lead and transformed into his beast mode and followed behind the second in command.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: I'm starting to like Manterror. ))

"NO! Get away, it's mine! Manterror, TERRORIZE!"

Watching the mantis leap on top of the pod and transform, Optimus wasn't entirely expecting that reaction from him. "Manterror!" he recalled outloud, immediately targeting him with his wrist cannons on his right arm but hesitated to fire.

"You always put a damper on my scheme's Optimus Primal, but not this time! I found the protoform first, it's MINE FOR THE TAKING!"

"This stasis pod is Maximal property!" the leader corrected Manterror before he attacked the gorilla in robot mode. Why did Predacons always think first on "finders keepers" when the object they stumbled upon could very well belong to someone else? Stasis pods were not theirs for the taking! Circumstances like this made him regret his decision to release them all into orbit before they crashed on this Primus-forsaken planet. Especially one that been kept so secret.

Because of the direction and angle of Manterror's disk that he threw, Optimus could not deflect it with a shot that could also possibly harm the stasis pod, which was obviously still occupied judging by the Predacon's desire to protect it and keep it for his own, so Optimus instead jumped to the side to avoid the weapon and landed back on his feet. Reacquiring his target quickly, he carefully fired a shot from his cannons at Manterror's torso. Since the Pred wanted the protoform as badly as he and Frilla did, he doubted he would harm the pod. Hopefully. He just had to keep the mantis distracted so he wouldn't fire at Frilla while she could do whatever she needed to do to bring it safely on-line. "I suggest you surrender or retreat, Manterror!" Primal warned him. "My back-up will be here any moment." Which was fairly accurate, but he hoped it would make him think twice about hanging around, especially for a battle he was likely to lose in.

-----

"Slag it! That blast knocked the navigation and controls off line, we're going down!!!"

Rattrap braced for impact, grabbing hold of the arms of his chair and closing his optics. In his mind, he screamed, We're all gonna die! When everything stopped, except the noise of the alarms, the rat slowly opened on optic and then the other. "We're dead, right?" He looked around taking in everything that went wrong in an instant. "What the heck was that hesitation all about, Fangs?!" Rattrap confronted her.

"I'm coming! Just hang in there guys!"

At least Feralnight knew how to fly. Aye. Now what? Gaining his composure, he heard Icebreaker speak up.

If the controls are dead, the Nomad is a sitting duck, the Autoguns wont take that down in time.. You two try to get the Nomad's controls working again. I'll see if we can take it down or buy some time for you guys..

"You? Yer gonna take down another ship on yer own? Yeah, okay, buddy," Rattrap said sarcastically, standing up and balancing himself in the rocking transport. "At least keep it distracted for us." And he watched the penguin leap out and dive into the water. That guy was nuts. He had to admit that he worried about his and Feralnight's well being now. They were out there in the storm with a dangerous and unknown opponent. Well, at least Rattrap was dry inside of the Nomad. ...That could eventually end up sinking, and then he and Saber would drown. What a great mission it's been already!

Realizing Saber hadn't made a comment earlier, his optics searched for her and found her laying unconscious against the console she was occupying. "Saber? Yo, Fangs?" Hurrying over to her, he leaned over and examined her. "Saber, can you hear me? Saber, wake up. We gotta get dis thing back on-line. Saber?" He carefully shook her by her shoulders a couple times to see if it would wake her up. This can NOT be happening to me! Rattrap thought angrily and impatiently. Holding his hands under her arms, he gently pulled her off of her chair and laid her on the floor on her back so she couldn't knock her head again against anything. It looked like she had a nasty shiner as it was, but she might come back on her own. She was too heavy for him to carry down the ladder and put her in the CR, and there wasn't much time for him to perform first-aid. He needed to use her console to try and reboot some of the systems, so he sat down in her chair and began frantically tampering with buttons, levers, and knobs until anything would come back on-line.

[NaitoKage]

Icebreaker blinked coming to a stop in the water as the craft started to retreat, noticing something dive into the water with his visor. Uh.. what the..? he then said, holstering his gun at his side bobbing in the waves, he activated his comlink again on all Maximal channels for the area Cancel that.. looks like the ship just threw someone overboard and retreated..? I guess I'll investigate... How are things on your end Rattrap?

He then started up his board turning in the water and heading towards the direction of the thrown out thing, he wasn't sure what to think, but if it was a maximal that needed help he didn't want to risk losing them in such rough weather.