"OC Episode #5"

[NaitoKage]

Megatron smirked watching the creature go down, and then disappear. He could hear Sonar in the background seeming to enjoy himself, though that might prove to be a problem.. But at this moment, he didn't care. The Maximals were expendable, useless. He'd seen a sign of power, and he was planning to take it, no matter the cost.

As he saw Manterror get blasted away, he pointed his left arm forward which appeared to have a Mega Missile loaded onto it, then fired it off towards where he saw the source of the plasma cannon firing. It didn't matter for accuracy at this range, since he wasn't aiming directly for the clone anyway, a trick he'd picked up from a battle with the Maximal's icebird, by using the splash damage of the missile you didn't even need to use a lockon when on the ground.

He then brought himself down onto one knee and raised his left arm like a shield as the missile struck the ground near the clone, exploding into a 5 meter wide creator at the impact zone blowing debris outwardly and knocking the majority of the Maximals and predacons down from the shockwave.

Megatron then stood up as the wind blew the dust away, his body lightly burned but otherwise undamaged with most the burns and damage seen on his tail weapon which took the brunt of the explosive force, he simply let out a twisted deep laugh You will need more then hiding to survive against the power of Megatron, pathetic creature!

_________________

Icebreaker looked towards Wintersong as she spoke, he then nodded Yeah, I can get through that easily, I can probably stop the water too. He then looked at the Monitor seeing Glowstick carving the tentacles to pieces with his lasers while radiating the red glow Never seen him do that.. Yikes.. They might not need my help after all.. Still should give it a shot, lets go Cecaelia! he then ran over to Cecaelia taking her hand and running into the water, moving towards the tunnel with the strong current that Cheetor and Wintersong went through.

[New Moon]

Frilla looked as the place began to shake violently, backing up a bit as the skull erupted from the ground and seemed intent on attacking them. Though the frilled lizard hissed, dodging a part of the ceiling that fell in all the chaos,"Geez Glowstick when your mad you really show it."She said staying well away from the bigger transformers and in times like these she wished she had better weapons. She looked for an opening and reverted to beast mode running past her former teammates and slipping past the big skull though barely avoiding one of it's tentacles.

"Maximize!"Frilla commanded and transformed pulling out her Pellet Gun and getting close enough to start firing her acid pellets from behind hoping to distract this skull or whatever it was trying to harm them.

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

Feralnight growled as she was hit by the sonic blast and retreated a bit,"Darn you bat."She growled but before she could try anything else the fuzor was knocked off her feet by the force of the missile explosion from Megatron, landing in a bush nearby.Shaking her head Feralnight grumbled under her breathe and pushed herself up,"This day just gets better."She muttered sarcastically, looking back at the battle field.

[una]

Optimus suddenly fell on the ground flat on his chest when Whitegrazer's arms locked his legs that were in motion. His shot on Dinobot was skewed and prematurely fired off far above him.

Growling, Primal kicked his legs and flipped himself over, glaring at the mare with his white optics. He lifted his arm and targeted her with his cannons but hesitated to fire. Hesitated as if he was fighting something inside, desperately trying to avoid harming someone he cared about. As she grabbed his hands and held them down, the commander's expression briefly went from angry to sad, looking up at her with his mouth plate still closed over his mouth.

To have someone else controlling your body and mind...she can't imagine the struggle Optimus was having within himself now. She hoped that someone could find something. There had to be a clue somewhere. They will figure it out. She knew they all will.

Unfortunately it didn't last long, and Optimus used his strength to break one of his arms free from Whitegrazer's grasp, firing point blank on her shoulder with his wrist cannon to get her off of him. He then sprang to his feet and turned to face Megatron again until he heard a shriek. Unsheathing one of his swords, he looked in the direction of Sonar and waited for him to attack. Watching Feralnight swoop in and fire at the bat, Primal remained ready to defend himself in case the Fuzor missed.

She let out a shout of pain when the cannon hit her point blank on her shoulder, weakening her hold on Optimus enough to get her off. She placed her right hand over her left shoulder to see that the cannon had shattered it in half. It was sparking but that wasn't the worse part. Because of her injury, the energon buildup overcame her which forced her into beast mode.

Her messed up shoulder could be shown as a black spot.

Focused on the advancing Dinobot, the Vok fired two shots at him from his wrist cannons; one aimed at his legs and another at his shoulder. However, because of this distraction, Megatron's cannon blast hammered its target on the clone's lower torso. The power of the blast knocked him backwards off of his feet, landing on his back. "Oouugh!" Grabbing the wound, obviously very uncomfortable with his restless legs, he activated his invisibility and vanished save for anyone who could still detect him with other means of sight or sonar. Hearing Manterror screaming wildly toward him, he looked over while laying cloaked on the ground and stretched out his arm, firing at the crazy mantis. He'd have to change his position soon, though. Flight came to mind, but he had to make sure his wound wasn't too severe to move at such high speeds.

"AAAARRRGH!" Optimus suddenly dropped his sword and fell to his knees, his mouth plate opening and holding his hands over his torso. His optics flashed back to normal and he kneeled there in pain after Megatron had shot his clone, falling to one hand on the ground, the other still covering the unseen injury to his lower torso. His head faced the ground with his optics "closed," trying to bear the agony. At the moment, he was oblivious to everything else.

Whitegrazer dimmed her optics, focusing her audio sensors on her pulsing spark. Hearing its pulse, the energy that kept her mind and soul alive but it wasn't the spark itself that she was reaching towards. It was something beyond herself, the mental and physical, something more deep. A feeling she felt many times over every time she did this like there was a warm hand around her. The pain in her shoulder ceased within seconds. She felt like she wasn't even in the battlefield at all. Everything around her seem so pure and calm. She lit her optics back up and stood in front of Primal, looking at him. He was still trying to take away the pain.

"Optimus, if you can hear me," She whispered when she lowered her head, "Focus on your spark. Feel its pulse. Hear its rhythm. Look at yourself, inside yourself. Search for the warmth in which all life is created in. A warmth that can clear the pain, the noises of the outside and inside world, for what you are reaching for is only those with a strong will to fight and live can touch. It's the will, Optimus. It's the will to--"

((OOC: Wow! I can't believe I wrote that in my tired state. XD ))

"I'll enjoy your screams, Primal. As well as the screams of your clone!" He snarled then fired a sonic blast at the Maximal leader.

Her talk was interrupted by Sonar and his sonic blast came towards them. Whitegrazer's body was in way but still, they will both feel the blast because of how close she was. She hoped her body at least limit its impact on their leader. As the blast was coming, she saw Megatron's ruthlessness unfold.

His callousness will be his downfall. someone familiar whispered inside her, Dinobot can take Megatron and with the others. You guys can do it. One thing at a time. One thing at a time.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Blackarachnia's focus was broken as she shrieked at surprise of what started to happen around her and their group.

Glowstick then barked orders in a rather aggressive tone, as if he was about to tear the group's heads off. Blackarachnia, Scorponok, Terrorsaur, fire your missiles at that thing's face NOW! No arguments!

She didn't even need to be told what to do. She was already doing it! She fired at the thing's face feroicously.

[Alak]

Orcariner felt vibrations up and down the snake-like arms as hundreds of bullets and lasers rained into the mass of metal tentacles. The ferocious assault from the group was enough to distract the monster, and the bind's intensity was alleviated enough for the Maximal to move his arms. Retracting his swords, Orcariner used the extra room to bend his elbows at a ninety degree angle before the tentacles tightened once more. Despite the elimination of light from his part, the constantly flashing guns were enough to illuminate the passageway.

This thing's got to have a weakness somewhere.

While burly in appearance, it appeared that the tentacle arms were actually able to be forced back by this wall of firepower. Still, the alien was structurally in good shape. Allowing himself to be reeled in closer, Orcariner turned his head and tried to get a close look at the monster through the sporadic bursts of light that popped up from the collision of bullets. Feeling the occasional stray ballistic round bounce off the back of his head, the giant moved it from side-to-side so that he could fully concentrate.

The skull is completely metal. I don't know if I can even call it armor because I see no plating or anything to exploit.

"Try going for the eyes!" he yelled as loud as he could.

Not being able to identify any other weak structure, Orcariner decided his time as a hostage was over. Both energo-swords sprang to life and punched straight through the tentacle gripping him waist. Heaving his arms upward, the orca continued to cleave through the bind that held him and swiftly broke free from his prison. Not surprisingly, the alien machine had no response other than sending forth two more tentacles for every one that he slashed.

Wonderful, this thing doesn't feel pain. Regardless, I should do something these things or else the others won't get a clear shot at its face.

Charging ahead at full speed, Orcariner used every ounce of his strength to push on against the tide of metallic snakes. It was possibly the most difficult experience he had ever dealt with in regards to cutting through something. The blades of energon had forced their way through the steel of the Predacon's once-mighty water craft. They had forced their way through the stone walls of mountains. They had forced their way through the dense mass of the icebergs. Orcariner had done so much with these weapons and he had no intention of stopping now. Hacking several times at one that wrapped around his right arm, the tall Maximal jumped towards the skull itself and tried to grab on. The metal was surprisingly difficult to hold onto due to its unnaturally smooth surface.

It's like it oiled itself before coming here, he thought, frustrated at his lack of grip.

Stabbing at the temporal region, Orcariner was stunned to find that his blade only penetrated the surface only a few inches. He tried to force the sword through but it was a futile effort.

What's this thing made of?

Orcariner retracted the blade but proceeded to pierce the skull over and over at the same spot, hoping that he would achieve some sort of breakthrough. Tentacles continued to attack him from behind, but they were only shielding him from the team's onslaught. Rhinox alone was unleashing a large enough volley to weaken the alien's attacks on the killer whale.

Finally!

The sword was half-way into the metal skull. While not ideal, Orcariner now had a firm grip on his target. It was time to show this alien why the Axalon rated the Maximal's strength as a Class 10. Taking a deep breath, he dragged the entire head around him so that it was facing the group. With his free arm, Orcariner brought his sword down onto the tentacles branching from the right side of the head. The lack of momentum and the sheer density of the metal snakes made it impossible to make a clean cut. The giant continued to slash away, clearing up the slithering shield that protected this machine.

"Now's the time!" he yelled, "Go for the eyes!"


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


Scorponok's jaw had been dropping too many times this day. Terrosaur took it upon himself to use his new arm to slap the lieutenant's face in order to close his mouth.

"Stop it!" the obsidian Predacon hissed.

He got slapped again.

Terrosaur grinned, admiring the squid's appendage, "Sorry, it's the only thing I know how to do with this thing."

They were fortunate that at least one of their teammates was able to react quick enough to this invader. Glowstick barked orders to open fire and the two proceeded to follow suit. Scorponok's remaining claw opened up, revealing two fire-ready mega missiles. With the squid trying his best to combat the swarm of metal tentacles, the lieutenant launched both warheads directly at the skull's frontal lobe.

"Gotcha," he smirked.

To his surprise, one of the tentacles deviated from the group and punched one of the mega missiles into the wall. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to shake the hallway, sending rocks tumbling from the ceiling. The second missile was able to avoid the alien's defenses and struck skull directly on the forehead. The second explosion brought cracks to the ceiling and dust from both the eruption as well as the environment began to cloud the room. Scorponok was unsure if the creature was dead, but it did seem odd that the tentacles were able to seek the missiles out on their own.

We took out its eyes, but it can still see us.

Come to think of it, it should have dawned to him earlier that the tentacles were also visual extensions of the body once they assaulted Glowstick. The smoke slowly cleared and once again, Scorponok's jaw dropped. The alien was still alive and in one piece, aside from the shattered tentacle that stopped the first missile.

"How?" he asked aloud, "I scored a direct hit on the forehead."

His moment of awe was quickly halted as Terrorsaur slapped him again.

"You moron!" he said, "The frontal bone is the strongest section of the skull! Even I know that!"

Scorponok quizzically looked at the flyer. Terrorsaur never was the intelligent type, so how was it that he knew anything about anatomy?

Terrorsaur dangled his glowing tentacle in Blackarachnia's direction, who was still firing all eight of her guns at the aggravated alien machine.

"There's a reason why she headbutts people."

That's how he knows, Scorponok thought, He just sees what other people do and makes assumptions.

Despite his failure to down the alien, Scorponok was comforted by the thought that Terrorsaur did not receive such information from higher education. Granted, Scorponok himself was a failed scientist at Cybertron's Academy, but it was nice to know that he was still above Terrorsaur's level.

"So why aren't you shooting?"

"My guns don't work," Terrorsaur replied, popping out two shoulder cannons which then fell off.

The lieutenant wanted to kick the pterodactyl.

"Then what exactly are you doing right now?!"

Terrorsaur shrugged, "Cheering you on."

"By mocking my tactics?"

"It's constructive criticism. It's part of the cheerleading process."

Grinding his jaw quite loudly, Scorponok turned back to the alien and fired a glob of acid from his tail's stinger. Another surprise greeted him, but his jaw did not drop this time. Instead, he smiled.

The spot where he had struck the skull with his acid attack was now entering a rapid state of decay. The metal began to crack and soon crumble, leaving a small but noticeable gash on the alien's head.

"I found a way to beat it!" he exclaimed.

Terrorsaur grinned again, "Thanks to my cheerleading efforts."

"Shut up."


((OOC: That last part is foreshadowing to the end of Season 1. Megatron knew that Scorponok's acid was strong enough break through the Vok's defenses as opposed to Rattrap's laser cutter. I figured the events in this encounter will be how Megatron acquired such knowledge.))

[starshadow]

((LOL Love the Scorpy and Terry's convo!))

"Hai, Icebreaker-kun!" Cecaelia said as she dived into the water with him and swam through the powerful water currents. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!" she sang in a happy tone.

Starshadow then looked to the cats then to the water. "It's up to us felines. I'm not sure if the water could pull us down to the depths. Let's go!" she dived into the water and tried her best to swim through the currents. I wish I could just be a catshark...lots of hard work she thought.

[Wintersong]

Wintersong watched Icebreaker ad Cecaelia head off before them the glanced at Cheetor and Venetrix,"See you guys soon I guess.Beast mode!"She said and transformed to her beast form before leaping into the water using her paws to go through the water glad her form was a strong swimmer."Starshadow try transforming, might be better with four paws."She suggested glancing slightly towards the panther even though on other occasions she wouldn't have ever thought to help the maniac cat but this situation was another story. But getting back up to the other tunnel would be a bit more difficult.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snow Trix started to come around, her back ad head aching from the collision with the tree and blast from Dinobot."Ugh I really need to reconsider my opponents."She muttered as the fox pushed herself up and took a few disoriented steps then shook her head a bit. But looking around she saw everyone gone, sounds coming from somewhere in the forest which she guessed the others were. Curious the fox quietly moved towards the sounds and peeked through a bush keeping low yet didn't bother to reveal herself, as far as she could see her teammates had it under control or well Megatron mostly. Though Snow Trix really didn't give a slag either if they lost.

"Terrorize."Snow Trix muttered transforming before stepping from the trees, observing the situation a bit more. It seemed Feralnight,Optimus Primal, and Whitegrazer were easier targets though Sonar seemed to be in the middle of an attack.The fox failed to notice Valkyrie and Tigatron and saw Dinobot as well."Might as well do something."Snow Trix aimed her wrist mounted missile launchers and fired two towards where Optimus, Whitegrazer, Feralnight, and Sonar were not really caring if the bat got caught in the process.

[starshadow]

"BEAST MODE!" Starshadow reverted to her beast mode and swam. "There's no difference in getting through the currents! Just hope that these waters don't have any fishes that are in a pack and have red bellies and sharp teeth, they are malicious!" the water just kept splashing on her face It was hard to look where you were going when every water droplets land on your eyes. Out of boredom, she radioed Sonar since he was fun to harass his aft.

"Hey...Bats, how you're doing up there? Having..a...hard time?"

[NaitoKage]

(Yep, that is true. Scorponok and Frilla are probably the best suited for dealing with Vok technology since they use acid. Though I wonder how effective a Energo blade would be considering they still mostly use organic based technology and that sort of weapon should destroy nearly everything in it's path.)

Rhinox shifted his aim as he started firing into the creature's eyes, still letting out his Rambo like roar as he fired.

__________________

Icebreaker made it through the stream rather easily, he then looked upward towards the hole above, pulling out his gun and loading a grappling hook into it. He fired it up towards the ceiling, having it impale into the ceiling and extend into the rock, he then put his arm around Cecaelia and had the winch on the gun pull the two up.

Icebreaker looked towards the water stream and swung into it, then started to swim along the current towards the next hall, he set Cecaelia down as he looked in surprise at the battle.Glowstick looked ticked off but he looked pretty bad for wear as well, even starting to notice smoke starting to pour out of his body, likely from his lasers overheating.

Icebreaker cut the line coming from his gun which was washed down the stream towards the hole, he then pointed his gun towards the stream and fired, then moved his gun seeming to move a gigantic wave of ice and swing it into the direction of the alien skull creature slamming the creature into the right wall, the ice encasing the creature solid though it was seen the rapid cooling of it's heated surface caused the cracks and holes put into it's body had become much larger. Icebreaker then fired off another shot towards the source of the river freezing the point of exit, causing the stream of water to suddenly stop.

Down bellow in the tunnel Starshadow and Wintersong soon noticed the water current had become easier to go through and the water levels were rapidly dropping, while at the end of the tunnel a line of cable long enough to climb to the top was visible to them.

Icebreaker looked towards the Predacons Well, you guys look better for wear then what I thought too. Come on, I think I can get us all out!

Glowstick blinked, and stopped firing his lasers as he saw the creature was frozen. The Ice had even entered inside of it because of the holes generated by Scorponok and Frilla,effectively freezing it solid.

Glowstick let out a deep breath while closing his optics, his red color shifting back to blue. Alright, sounds good to me. Lets get out of this dungeon already. You guys did good, good thinking on the acid Scorponok. his arms then stretched picking up the two guns that fell off Terrorsaur, looking at the damaged guns, he then looked up as he noticed Cecaelia with his one functioning optic Ah, Hey. Guess this ruined your beauty sleep?

[WorpeX]

((It isn't that traps are boring, its just we hadn't had any good ones. I have an interesting idea for one though after this. It might make things even more interesting!))



Airazor watched the Alien appear from the ground and grab the larger Maximal. Instinctively, the whole group grabbed for their weapons and began to fire a barrage at the unknown creature. Airazor quickly decided that using Rockets in an underground passage was not a good idea, she instead reached behind her and grabbed her pistol. She had never actually used the weapon before. It felt clumsy in her hands, it was not nearly as mobile as her wrist blasters. Yet, it was much more accurate and still packed a nice punch.

"Now's the time!" he yelled, "Go for the eyes!"

Without wasting any time, she took aim and began to fire upon the unknown aliens eyes. They would be able to defeat this alien, yet, somehow she doubted it would help in the long run. If they wanted to kill them, killing one of their friends would only make them more angry.

---



After coming only a few inches away from the clone, the crazy predicon was shot straight in the chest. Manterror flew back the way he came and landed hard on the ground. Not bothering to get up, he thought back to his previous battles of the day. So far, he had done... nothing. Nothing at all. His left claw was shot by the clone and damaged. His attack on the maximal bird was a failure. His teammate and some maximal prevented him from hacking apart the clone for some unknown reason. Now, he got shot in the chest after launching another failed assault. He was useless. Utterly useless. He might as well just resign right now and take up gardening as a hobby. He would likely achieve much better results.

Still lying in the grass, he secretly wished the clone would come over and just finish him off.

[starshadow]

"GLOWSTICK-KUN!!" Cecaelia ran over to Glowstick and gave him a big hug. "Daijoubu desu ka?(Are you alright?) You're severely damaged!"
* * * *

Finally it became easier to swim. But how? Starshadow transformed into her robot mode and grabbed hold of the rope and started to climb. Once she have reached the top, she shook the water off her fur like a cat. "The battle's over? Why didn't you guys save the fun for me..?"

[New Moon]

Frilla lowered her weapon when the skull was taken care of and stepped around the pieces before joining the group. She was relieved to see Icebreaker but raised an optic ridge as she looked down the other tunnel,"Starshadow is here too "She said a bit surprised. She never though the cat would be down in some tunnels.

[Wintersong]

When the current was easier to get through Wintersong moved to the rope and transformed waiting for Starshadow before climbing up."There will be others Starshadow don't sound so down." She said shaking the water from fur and frame before walking on the ice to the others."And at least you guys are alive so there's some victory for both sides."

[Venatrix]

((OOC: I might have a slight idea after watching a Naruto episode when i was bored. Where they head to fight clones which fight similar to the originals but don't seem to tire.
And have the Preds and Maxies switch opponents after fighting their clones a while.))

Valkyrie acknowledged Tigertron with a nod, without looking away from the battlefield.
"For now it seems Whitegrazer is executing her plan. If she fails releasing the clone's hold over Optimus, we'll need to take him out as quickly as possible. Without causing permanent damage."
The maximal bird had a serious look on her face. Maybe even a hit of sadness.
"I'll engage the clone with extreme prejudice, and force the attention of the Predacons on the clone or on me. You need to act swiftly and effectively for this to work."

She spread her wings widely and held the branch tightly with her talons.
"And if Whitegrazer succeeds, you and a few others should come and rescue me." she sais with a smile, before releasing her grip on the brance and flapped her powerful wings a few time.
Within seconds she was well above the battlefield, and waited for the opportune moment to strike at the clone.
She only hoped her systems could hold on until this was over, because if her systems crash while she was fighting with the clone, the Predacons, or even both parties, she'd be terminated quite quickly.

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

Venatrix watched the other jump into the water and swim up towards the hole.
The octopus and the penguin would have little trouble getting up.
The Maximal tigress and Starshadow are foolishly trying to do the same.
Venatrix could easily do the same, and leave the younger Maximal cat behind, but that would be a waste of precious energon.
Icebreaker, being a Maximal, would never leave a teammate stranded. Not with a capable Predacon warrior there as well.
So she waited patiently.
She had watched most Maximals in action, and so she would have a pretty good understanding of their abilities.
The fastest way, would be for him to fire his ice-weapon at the water, and freeze it long enough for herself and Cheetor to climb up.

She sat down and flicked her tail as she turned her head to the Maximal cheetah.
"I hope you have maintained your claws correctly, you will need them soon."

Thats when the noise from the water that fell down one level through the hole they fell through changed.
She turned to see the waterfall became nothing more the a slight stream that would take eons to fill the rest of the hole she and Cheetor where in right now.
Now they both could effortlessly climb up.
They needed to be careful though, and not rush things, or the slippery rock would cause the to lose grip, and have them fall back down.
She had enough confidence in her own abilities to climb up without falling, but the young Maximal cat is often to rash and could mess up, slip and fall down.
But that was of little concern to her. He was a Maximal after all.
If the opportune moment arisen, he probably use this rashness and attack her.
But that was not today she suspected.

"Get back to beastmode and follow me up slowly. Be patience, and you get up easily enough."
With that said she started to climb up slowly, by digging her claws into the slippery rocks, and gracefully.
It almost looked like she had done this daily, and without using the rope she soon was out of the hole..

As she looked ahead, she saw the monster that was sent to fight the team above.
"Looks like you enjoyed yourselves."
The black panther walked over to the frozen monster, and noticed the molten hole in its huge skull and smirked as she turned her head to Scorponok.
"And it looks like you made good use of your little stinger. Well done."
She turned around and walked back to the hole to see what was taking Cheetor.
Again she sat down and flicked her tail, while looking down into the hole with an amused look on her face.

[Alak]

The metallic skull emitted a groan when both of its optics were destroyed by the immediate hail of gunfire. Sensing it push back in order to create room from the fighters, Orcariner used its momentum to run his other sword straight into the back. With so many tentacles cut off, the occipital region proved to be the more vulnerable spot without any shielding whatsoever. Feelings the tentacle stubs gradually falter in their hasty movements, the Maximal withdrew his swords dove his hand into open wound from behind.

"This is not the last... last... last... last..."

The creature did not manage to finish its final threat before Orcariner unleashed his energo-sword once more but from within the head this time. It was finally dead. Breathing a sigh of relief, the orca took a step back and observed the motionless machine. Giving the team a quick thumbs up, Orcariner skimmed his body for damage and found cracks and dents all over from both the alien and his teammate's assault. None of the attacks had successfully gotten through all his protective layers, so Orcariner figured the pain he was feeling was simply from the brutish impact from the monster. Approaching the skull one more time, he called out his team.

"What's our sitrep? Everyone ok?"

Cutting through the remaining tentacles, Orcariner pushed the severed limbs aside and observed the back of the skull. It was an interesting sight, seeing so many stubs where the metal snakes used to branch off from as well as the noticeable gape where the Maximal killed the monster. Using his swords to widen the wound, Orcariner was quickly to hollow out the entire occipital bone. The skull itself was huge, and if it were hollow, Orcariner himself could have fit inside of it. Instead, it was filled with gears, boxes, and other hardware not so different from standard robotic technology. Whatever this was, it was a developed war machine and not an actual sentient being.

"This thing knew its way around the labyrinth," Orcariner said, "Considering how dense the shell was, almost everything inside of the skull is intact."

He pulled out several computer boxes and chips, throwing some of the boxes at Rhinox and the smaller chips at Rattrap. Carefully looking at the large black box in his own hands, Orcariner explained to the rest of the group.

"Any of these hardware may hold information vital to us reaching the transwarp point. If we're lucky, we might even find an exit."

The bad news that he did not feel like sharing since it should go unsaid, was that this technology is completely foreign. They served the same purpose as any other robotic lifeform, but the actual construct and coding was different. The Axalon crew tried many times to interpret the data they had collected from previous encounters with these aliens. None of those attempts had been successful. Still, it was worth a try. Extracting the machine's memories or even a stored map would be quite useful.

[Blazemane]

Cheetor guessed by the lack of noise coming from the group he had been separated from that the skull had been stopped.

Get back to beastmode and follow me up slowly. Be patience, and you get up easily enough.

Cheetor transformed to beast mode and followed her easily through the tunnel which led to the hole where the rocks were for him to climb, but the now-icy minerals quickly got the better of him, and he slipped back down, into the metal tunnel, along its still wet inclined slope and into the closed off cavern, splashing in its stream. He scrambled out quickly, and was about to charge back into the metal tunnel, when a voice stopped him.

"Thank your companion for making his selection. As you can see, you are free to go now. But know that we may call you back here," the voice boomed out again.

"If you say so..." Cheetor remarked to whoever the source of the voice that was speaking was. Why'd they want them to pick a team anyways?

"Also, be aware that both sentinels are prepared to self-destruct upon their deactivation.

Cheetor's optics bulged. He dashed at full speed back up the tunnel into the spike filled hole and, not even attempting to climb the rocks, bellowed at the top of his voice to those above him, "That thing's about to blow! Everybody take cover!"

* * *

Steelclaw put his weapon up, and tried to find an opening to blast the skull, but the sentinel died without his needing to assist.

Relaxing visibly, he put his rifle away and walked to the skull, and then past it, where he found his mini-gun lying on the ground. All the while, he listened to Ocariner.

"So you really think-" Something cut him off. "Hey, do you guys hear something?"