@ Wildfire: Good thinking! I was going to suggest that myself but forgot to write it. My bad. Yes, replacements for Waspinator, Inferno and any other cannon Predacons whose players are currently unavailable would be fine for the mushroom scene. Thanks! ))
So far so good. Ending his transmission with Airazor, Optimus returned Whitegrazer's smile, feeling her confidence and reassurance. Although it comforted him greatly, he knew there was something troublesome ahead. She had warned him, and with the Vok making their return, it rattled his bolts."Great. I'll meet them there"
Rattrap looked up at Whitegrazer curiously. Why did it sound like she already knew the outcome of this mission? Could she? ...Naaaah. No one knew the future; it hasn't been written yet. Maybe she was just trying to keep him calm."I don't know what we will face at this site, but I know we will be all right. We just have to stay alert. Hopefully, things wouldn't be too...crazy."
Primal watched Whitegrazer and Rattrap exit the base before he turned his attention to Frilla, Feralnight and Tigatron.
"Feral I want you to go in place. The ocean just wouldn't be the best place for a frilled lizard and DInobot was right, they need aerial support not someone who will mostly get in the way and besides I think this alien interference is more my forte."
"Thanks Frilla and I think your right. Especially since my fellow fliers will be busy elsewhere." "Beast mode!"
Smiling lightly at the exchange between the frilled lizard and the wolf/raven Fuzor, the Maximal leader was proud to see the co-operation between the two, as well as with everyone else considering what they had just gone through the day before. It seemed the losses they had greatly suffered had only made them stronger."Good luck to you two by the way, if anything goes wrong feel free to call one of us. Or well if anything comes up here I'll let you know." "Rhinox, Dinobot Feralnight will be going in my place on this retrieval, I'll be working on that signal and see if I can't discover something else behind it but be careful out there."
"Frilla, let me know if you uncover anything with the Vok anomaly," Optimus asked of her.
"Tigatron, stay here and monitor the other systems. I'm going to make a quick round of the base, so I'll be back soon." With that, Primal turned around and immediately headed down the corridor.
Nodding, Tigatron took a seat near Frilla and began over-seeing the communications and scanners. After having heard Airazor's voice and learning where she was, he prayed for her safety, as well as Whitegrazer's and Rattrap's. They were about to head into dangerous and unpredictable territory. And after what Ironclaw told them about the aliens coming, this might be the final controntation.
Coming to Aurora's quarters, who had been unusually absent the entire afternoon now, Optimus thought it best to check up on her even if he was disturbing her rest. Knocking lightly on her door, he said, "Aurora?" Waiting for a moment with no answer, he gently knocked again, repeating, "Aurora?" Still no answer. A little concerned, he tried opening her door. Succeeding, he stepped in and looked around seeing every kind of plant and her other collections but not a sign of her. Where was she? Growing even more worried now, something on her computer monitor caught his attention. A blinking of something. Walking over to it, he read the words outloud, "Forgive me." Primal's optics thoughtfully drifted away for a second. Aurora? Where have you gone? Forgive you for what? Disappearing? Beginning to feel a little panic with no sign of the young Fuzor anywhere and trying not to harbor the thought of losing her, he radioed to the white tiger on the command bridge.
"Tigatron, check the logs. Did Aurora sign out?" There was concern in his voice as he turned around and left Aurora's quarters, closing the door behind him.
"Standby," Tigatron replied.
Had she left with Orcariner? He had been absent for some time as well. Well, there was one way to find out. Optimus walked swiftly toward the hangar, doubting the largest Maximal was in his own quarters.
"Aurora has not logged out of the base, Optimus," he answered him after checking the roster.
"That doesn't mean she hasn't taken off," he returned worriedly, and disappointed that she failed to follow his orders. However, her safety was far more important to him, so he pushed his anger aside. "She's not in her quarters. I fear she might have snuck out to find some peace to herself. Maybe losing Icebreaker was too much for her after all," Primal said sadly. "Try to contact her. I can't have her roaming around alone out there while the Vok may be making another grand appearance, and the Predacons could be scattered about."
"I will do so, Optimus," was all Tigatron said before terminating the communication link.
Nearly charging into the hangar, Primal's optics darted around as he called out, "Orcariner?"
"Aurora, this is Tigatron. Do you read me?" he attempted to reach her through the Axalon's communication system since it would've been stronger than his own to reach further distances in case she had wandered too far.
-----
"You got it, Frills," Rattrap told Frilla just as the lift was lowering with him and Whitegrazer."Good luck to you two by the way, if anything goes wrong feel free to call one of us. Or well if anything comes up here I'll let you know."
"Nah, I'm just too lazy," the brown rat laughed. After she converted to her equine mode, Rattrap climbed up onto her back and grabbed hold of her mane. "Gitty up, 'Grazer!" he joked."Wanna a ride or am I too fast for you?"
-----
Meanwhile, at the alien site, all was quiet. There was a large, round, flat surface on the ground in the middle of rugged terrain. And right in the center of the circular formation in the seemingly to be dirt with large symbols or patterns was a fairly big, blue glowing orb-like crystal, pulsating and emitting the signal which was similar to that of the Standing Stones that all of the Maximals' and Predacons' frequencies would've picked up by now. It had been interfering with their long-range scanners. This blue sphere crystal sat in five small arced arms that petruded from the ground, holding it up. Around the perimeter of the large circle were several short pillars evenly spaced apart, and further inside of it between the perimeter and the center were six taller pillars that arced toward the crystal. This was no more than a trap. Bait. The Vok knew this crystal's energy would attract both factions, but they were searching for one specific Cybertronian; the one they've scanned before. Anyone else who was to trigger the crystal's function and was "unauthorized" would be punished. All they had to do was wait for the activation by a Cybertronian's touch. They would be far too curious to ignore it.
But I did kinda see a lack of support Megatron would have needed such as he did in the show, so improvised with available OCs that seemed to have needed action. Besides I'm sure Nemesis has looked forward to it after being locked away in a freezer, not really but the general idea of it. And Megs will appear in another post since I know the Preds were likely observing during the whole thing until Rattrap pulled Airazor to safety.))
))