The Intergalactic Highway

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote: "This is foolish, Dinobot! We're Maximals! You are a Predacon!"

Dinobot regarded Optimus' expression coldly. "All the more reason I should lead then," he countered icily, snubbing Maximals at large. He tilted his head at Optimus, smiling sarcastically, waiting for the Maximal commander's next move.

"All the more reason I should lead then,"

"Look! I don't know what happened between you and Megatron..." Optimus began but got cut off by the raptor.

Rhinox diverted his eyes from the two on the rocky, narrow bridge and glanced back at the others he stood with. He focused briefly on Wintersong and Valkyrie, the ones who were injured during the last battle besides Cheetor and Optimus. He knew Optimus wanted to make this fight quick because the white tigress and the eagle needed repairs, but as bad luck would have it, it didn't look like Dinobot was going to budge. Wintersong definitely appeared to be struggling and he had concern for her. Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do at that moment.

The rat had grown temporarily quiet while the ape and the dinosaur chatted. It wasn't that he wouldn't care if Optimus was the one to fall, it was just that he had been the one to approach the over-grown lizard and it was his place, more or less, to deal with the situation. Call him a coward or self centered, but Rattrap wasn't one to volunteer his life so willingly over something like leadership, especially with the Pred so outnumbered. What exactly did Dinobot think would happen if he killed Optimus? That the Maximals would welcome him with open arms? Rattrap sure as heck didn't think so. He didn't trust ANY Predacon as far as he could throw one. And there was no way he'd put up with a Predhead in their ranks. So for Primal's sake, he better win that fight.

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:"Look! I don't know what happened between you and Megatron..." Optimus began but got cut off by the raptor.

"Megatron!" Dinobot burst out. The hurt and humiliation of being so easily disposed of made Dinobot's new organic stomach churn. Getting a handle on himself, the raptor continued in a more controlled tone. "Megatron will fall as soon as I have your-" Dinobot held back some less flattering adjectives- "Maximals at my command." His tail thrashed, his eyes never wavering from Optimus; When Dinobot had sparred with Venatrix or Terrorsaur, he was always alert for a sudden attack in the midst of banter.

"Megatron will fall as soon as I have your-" "Maximals at my command."

Yeah right, like i'd ever follow you, Dinobot. You arrogant piece of scrap. She thought with a growl.
If any thing were to happen to Optimus, Rhinox would be the most likely to take over as commander but if he didn't then she would take command of the maximals.

"Megatron!" "Megatron will fall as soon as I have your-" "Maximals at my command."

It sounded like Optimus hit a nerve for a moment, but Dinobot stubbornly continued to rant about taking his Maximals under his command. And for what? So he'd have an army against Megatron? That's not how Maximals worked, especially if it was for Dinobot's own selfish ambitions. This Predacon was beginning to look more delusional than when he first proclaimed his strategy.

Primal kept his eye contact just as strong as Dinobot did and said, "You are welcome to join us. But you shall not lead!" pointing his index finger at the raptor and standing his ground.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did dat crazy ape just say that Predacon could join us?! Rattrap angrily thought. No way. He must've heard wrong. His ears must be clogged. Was that his last resort to avoid a battle? Fer bootin' up cold!

"You are welcome to join us. But you shall not lead!"

Offering Dinobot a chance to join the Maximals caught Saber off guard she had not explected Optimus to do that. But she growled in aggreement when Optimus told Dinobot that he couldn't lead.
We have two hurt Maximals can't he see that!? A small voice shouted.
Saber was getting a little edgy Dinobot was getting on her nerves but she forced herself to stay put she couldn't put Valkyrie in danger. She was thankful that the brid was on her back other wise she would have jumped over Optimus and knock Dinobot off the frigging bridge just so they could get back to the base.

A growl came low in Wintersong's throat her eyes narrowed to slits. When it came to abttle she refused to give in but given the exception of serious damage, and the fact that she hadn't gotten in trouble for being a stowway kept her from doing anything. But this whole thing made the white tigeress on edge, every fiber of ehr being wanting to leap and shut the lizard up entirely! But another part of her, the more cautious and less reckless side, kept her where she stood. Though she glanced at the others again and the damaged easgle transformer she did not recognize.

"There's no way we'd follow a Predacon." She muttered under her breahte. But her ears went forward at what Optimus Primal had said. Had she heard correctly! He was letting the Predacon join them! That just seemed an unlikely thing to suggest. BUt again it wasn't her choice to make.

"You are welcome to join us. But you shall not lead!"

Valkyrie smiled slightly at his choice of words.
Those few word showed enough of his personality to fill countless data-disks with.
The Maximal council had chosen very well indeed.
She could easily read the thoughts on everybody's mind regarding those few words. She herself however, accepted it as if it was a direct order.
Again she spread her wings, and flapped them twice before folding them back onto her back.
And even though she hadn't encountered Dinobot personally before, she could pretty much pick out his thoughts as well.
He was a Predacon after all.

This would turn into a serious fight between the 2 bots.

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

"Enough." Megatron regarded Starshadow and Venatrix. "Unless the two of you have repaired yourselves faster than the rest of us, I suggest you do not waste your energy."

Venatrix couldn't suppress a smirk after that.
The only damage she ended up with was a few dents in her armor. The damage the energon surge caused didn't cause any damge at all.
Megatron was hit by that Maximal's quasar rifle's charge, and that should be the main concern of Megatron.
But she was wise not to make her thoughts heared by Megatron. Because even though she didn't respected him, he could still break her in half without much effort.
A true warrior knows his or her short comings, and she knew hers pretty well.

"Megatron. I believe me and Starshadow should be able to use the abilities of our beast-modes to track the Maximals.
I can smell them even now."

It was true, she did smell them. What she neglected to mention however, was that there was another smell coming from that same direction. A smell she finds to be rather formiliar, but wasn't sure as it was mixed with the sent of the Maximals.

"Thanks for the useful tip you gave me Vennie..."

The word coming from the other black panther where as cold as ice, and knew she was getting the desired outcome of her taunts.
They will have many enjoyable fights with each other she knew.

"When we are back at our base, I could give you some more VERY useful tips and demonstrations."

As Starshadow moved towards Tarantulas, she made sure she crossed her path first. Giving one last tant before getting back to business.
As she walked passed Starshadow very closely, she moved her tail to brush along the underside of the other cat's chin.

Venatrix walked a circle while sniffing the air and stopped when she was again in front of Megatron.
She motioned her head into the direction the sent was strongest. "This way."

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:You are welcome to join us. But you shall not lead!"

Dinobot regarded Optimus's finger like some sort of weapon. He had forseen that the Maximal would not give up his coveted leadership. It was the same situation back on Cybertron; Maximals were stubbornly convinced that they were superior to their more agressive cousins (Predacons). With that particular injustice in mind, Dinobot's eyes narrowed again. "I beg to differ," he practically spat.

He could see the other Maximals, watching. Most were giving him the stink eye. Particularly the felines of the group. When he became leader, Dinobot would wipe those expressions clean off their faces. Perhaps keeping a member of the crew hostage so the other would be more... willing to do his bidding. The rat, for instance, didn't look that hard to subdue....

"For anticipation for my new role as leader," Dinobot continued, "I have already reprogrammed my activation code." This was the only part Dinobot had struggled with. It was hard changing his activation code merely because he held an unfathomable dislike for all Maximals and now he had to share their code too. However, he hoped that this small gesture would reassure the Maximals that he was on their side now. "Dinobot MAXIMIZE!"

With a untamed roar, Dinobot reared up, his powerful legs sliding up to become muscled arms that ended in clawed hands, his beast mode's head became a tan striped chest-plate, and a helmeted head with fiery red optics lifted from a silver neck plating. With a smile that was all teeth and no humor, Dinobot unsheathed his long blade from his spine sheath and pulled his tail shield from subspace.

"I beg to differ," "For anticipation for my new role as leader," "I have already reprogrammed my activation code." "Dinobot MAXIMIZE!"

By the Matrix, this Predacon had determination! It was a shame Dinobot didn't simply want to join them because there was something about him that didn't make him just any ordinary Pred. So be it.

After watching the former Predacon maximize, Optimus did the same and prepared himself for battle. "Optimus Primal, MAXIMIZE!" His legs rotated clockwise, his shoulder armor lifted from his upper arms and his gorilla head flipped down to his chest revealing his own brightly illuminated red optic sensors. He observed Dinobot wield his sharp rotating sword, along with his spinning shield that was once his tail in beast mode. He certainly appeared to be a lethal bot but, again, Primal wasn't intimidated; not even by his toothy grin. As Dinobot came near, and noticing that he prefered hand-held weapons in this fight, the Maximal leader swung out his own pair of swords and crossed them in front of him to block the ex-Pred until he stepped back. No gun fire it seemed. It didn't mean that Dinobot didn't have any, though, so he'd have to be cautious because Predacons didn't always play fair. Or honorable.

So, the Preda-scum had already changed his activation code. Rattrap wondered how painful that must've been for the sniveling raptor; to turn himself to an allegiance that he despised so much. Kind of ironic. He heard Wintersong mutter something and turned an ear in her direction but he couldn't make out what it was. Probably something about that scale belly that was in their way. Cheetor had seemed pretty cranked up moments ago, so the rat kept a close eye on him incase he wanted to try anything that could compromise the battle.

Rhinox watched the two on the bridge closely. Dinobot looked like a tough bot, but he was confident that Optimus could handle him. He at least understood why Optimus offered the ex-Predacon to join them. That was one of the qualities he had that separated him from the other leaders. Unfortunately, Dinobot refused and now they had to sit on the side lines and watch Primal fight for his right to hold his leadership and keep his crew. And his life.

Saber wanted to bash her head into some thing.
We don't have time for this! She wanted to shout but kept her mouth shut.
As she watched Optimus and Dinobot fight, she noticed that Dinobot wasn't like any Predicon that she had come across in the past, Dinobot had a certain quality that other preds didn't. But she couldn't figure out what it was.

'I hope Primal can win this.' The white tigeress though, not exactly sure how he ran things with this crew. But of course this was one fight none of them wuld seem to be able to interfere with but that didn't mean one of the fellow Maximals would jump in if somehing went wrong. Wintersong glanced around carefully and her fur bristled uncomfortably at the fact that the other PRedacons could be watching them right now. "If this fight doesn't knock some sense into that lizard's brain then nothing will." Wintersong said aloud, not giving a care if anyone heard her since right now she was more concerned for this to end and to avoid fighting the PRedacons....in this condition at least.

For the most part Wintersong loved to fight, no matter if the enemies were intimidating or not. It was the side she refered as the "untamed wild cat" to which she'd fight until she was either dead or too damaged. But as much as she loved fighting she kept quiet often, which she had been doing now.

But she also wondered if this would be a problem for the others.

Dinobot watched Optimus unsheath twin curved swords, sneering with contempt. The split tail that made his shield snapped viciously together, pointed at Optimus.
If Optimus was as novice as Dinobot hoped, his tail shield should've created a sufficient distraction to give Dinobot the window he needed to end the Maximal forever. Holding his rotating sword like a jousting pole, he rocketed toward the ape-bot.

Dinobot and Primal were both armed and ready to go. The pred was going to attack, Big Bot was going to defend, and Cheetor...

couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm going there! Cheetor, maxim-" An unbidden reprimand suddenly stopped him mid-sentence.

...He woulda' had the lizard, too...

"If this fight doesn't knock some sense into that lizard's brain then nothing will."

"Yeah, you got dat right, sister," Rattrap said. He really, really didn't want to deal with a Predacon on their team. Even though he changed his activation code. Big deal. That didn't change what he believed in and what he really wanted, which was everything completely opposite of Maximals.

"I'm going there! Cheetor, maxim-"

Felines! It was probably the quickest the rat had ever moved. As soon as Cheetor's first word left his mouth, Rattrap ran over and jumped onto the cheetah's back, gripping his jaws shut so he couldn't finish his command. "Clamp it, kitty! Nailing the chopper from behind won't settle anything," he told him.

"Yeah," Rhinox agreed, glancing at the two. "Like it or not, we gotta let 'em finish." He looked back at the two on the bridge while Rattrap released Cheetor and hopped off of him, returning to Rhinox's side.

Primal saw Dinobot charge at him like a locomotive. He observed the placement of his sword and shield and saw an opening. If only that opportunity held by the time he reached him. And by Primus, he thought he could see the sheer determination in Dinobot's optics to terminate him. However, just as the raptor was on top of him, Optimus ducked and pushed his shoulders up into Dinobot's chest, using the ex-Predacon's own speed and weight to flip him right over him. And he didn't even use his swords. The Maximal leader turned around while he watched his opponent fly through the air behind him.

The rhinoceros smiled and nodded in satisfactory and with confidence in their leader.