"Aftermath: Part I - New Introductions"

[NaitoKage]

Quickstrike raised a crooked ridge as he heard Megatron.

"Ah yes, of course. My proof is a simple one. You merely have to speak aloud the Predacon activation code: Terrorize!" "There. You see?"

He then spoke up questionly Now all I gotta say is.. "Quickstrike Terrorize!" he then suddenly transformed in surprise with a yell WHOA-What in tarnation?! His snakearm snapping it's jaw and giving a low hiss, Quickstrike himself seemed rather disoriented from the sudden transformation.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Starshadow, N-H, your posts are getting way too short.

Get well soon, DarkSpark!

Thank you, Warwulf.

Edit: Seeing that Orcariner is going kinda slow,I guess we'll even the odds for Airazor even though.. OOP hates when I play hero. *LOL* )

Well when it's every battle, NK, and not letting someone else be the hero, it gets old. By the way, thank you for taking over Waspinator. No idea what has happened to Convoy... ))

IC:

"They ran like the cowards they are,"

Rattrap had smirked at Aurora's comment about the female Predacons scurrying off. Hopefully, though, they wouldn't be joining back in the Predacon forces too quickly. More specificly right now while the Maximals were so scattered about and trying to catch up to their pods, likely to be outnumbered at the crash sites by the time they arrived.

"Rattrap, Feralnight, Silverstreak; I think I'm out of scanner range, but I'm comin' up pretty close to Crashville, it looks like Megatron and a couple o' the other space pirates are already there, and I hate to point out a glitch, but the protoforms might already be awake and makin' introductions. Should I start distracting, or wait out of sight so we can go in together?"

Yeah. This. Is. Awesome! he thought as he wildly drove around in his brand new vehicle mode. After adjusting his speed and testing his brakes, along with his agility around large objects such as trees and boulders, Rattrap caught up to Silverstreak and decelerated to a cruise that matched her pace just as Cheetor's voice rang in. "Great," he said sarcastically to the bounding fox beside him, "We're too late." Pausing, the hot-rodent added, "Maybe." After all, maybe the protoforms were still Maximals and the Predacons were too late to change their programming. On the other hand, if they were Maximals, wouldn't the Preds have taken them down already? Too many variables and not enough information for a calculated approach.

"How about you try a little bit o' spyin' first, Cheetor?" Rattrap responded to the flying feline. "Hang back outta sight an' see if you can eavesdrop and find out what's goin' on. We're right behind ya." Send him in outnumbered while he was still getting the hang of his new body? That was suicide and there was no way Rattrap was going to lose Cheetor under his command, not after everything Optimus had been through to keep them alive in this gloomy war. He knew how much the kid meant to the monkey. Gotta do this right, he told himself.

"Feralnight, what's yer current position?" the rat opened a comm. link to the wolf/raven Fuzor. "Converge on Cheetor's location as fast as you can but don't engage de Predacons."

Glancing at the female Maximal beside him with his neon green eyes, Rattrap asked, "So... How's yer first day been so far? Heh." Having already been a part of this war since the beginning, used to all of these pod races and battles with the Predacons, he couldn't really imagine what it was like to be in Silverstreak's position, arriving right in the middle of all the chaos, right when the planet was about to explode. She seemed to be fairing remarkably well despite everything.

-----

Giving a second glance of hesitation at Frilla, Rhinox and Inferno, Tigatron went on to follow Aurora and Whitegrazer, exiting the Axalon and converting to his beast mode.

"Aurora, there is something I been meaning to talk to you about."

The white tiger got the feeling it was more a private conversation between his two companions on this short trip, so he trotted on past them and toward the pod they were instructed to retrieve, scoping out the area ahead of time. This part of the region around their broken ship didn't seem to have been effected as much by the aliens' weapon. There was still some green grass and a few green bushes around. Slowling down to a cautious walk, Tigatron kept his sensors on full, his nose inhaling every scent on the cool, dawn breeze, and his ears twitching at almost every sound they could pick up, from the morning birds to the busy insects that had miraculously survived the attack just like they had thanks to Optimus.

-----

"It's a surprise and I want to see the look on your face when it happens. And yes, you will like it."

Hmmm. Optimus wasn't quite comfortable with TyCross's grin. He smelled a trick in the midst. How would he know what he would like? He didn't know Primal. This couldn't really be Whitegrazer's master. How did they ever tolerate one another?

"Don't be a sparkling about the pain," "hers is ten times worse."

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the string broke, and a gasp of pain escaped the former leader's mouth. He wasn't expecting that. And could it be called pain? It was like a shock directly to his spark. Now Optimus was growing impatient, intolerant and angry with this guy's antics and magic tricks. Was this to be the way he'd spend his eternity? Torture and mind games by this being before him?

"You'll have to excuse me, TyCross," Optimus said with a sarcastic tone and a pinch of aggravation, "I only just got here and already you're pushing my boundaries." He sent him a quick glare, still left in the dark, unaware of what TC was trying to accomplish. Just communication? No, it had to be something more. All that "it's not your time" talk and "it's a surprise, you'll like it." Enough with the riddles! "Her's is ten times worse? Then stop this nonsense!" He didn't want her to feel any more anguish!

"That's her role, her answer."

Noticing the string reappearing, Primal grew quiet and looked at TyCross.

"She taught you those meditations, didn't she? Well, I need you to really concentrate. Imagine that you are the string, searching for your own half to be completed."

Studying him with a perplexed expression while he listened, Optimus finally gave in and began to calm himself down. Breathing in slowly, holding, and exhaling slowly. Breathing? In death? Whatever. Nothing is making sense anymore, he thought. Just roll with it. Recalling the techniques of finding peace, warmth and tranquility within himself that Whitegrazer had taught him, his slightly translucent optics dimmed as he released all of his frustration, sorrow, and loneliness.

"Focus."

He was focusing as hard as he could without making himself notice he was doing so. He thought nothing of Megatron, his Predacons, or anything negative. Only positives like his Maximals, his friends, the planet's soft breeze and sweet flower scents carried along with it, and Whitegrazer. Every detail of her face was generated in his mind. Her smile, her optics. It was as if he could reach out and gently lay the palm of his hand on her cheek. Whitegrazer, he thought, lost in his mind, in his meditation, forgetting about TyCross and his magical wire that was attached to him.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Hope you are feeling better, Darkspark. Also, hope I didn't miss anything in my post. There are a lot of posts to read over....I tried to be thorough, but I'm sure I missed something. Just let me know and I'll edit it, but right now my laptop is about to die and I'm not retyping all of this!

BIC:

As Inferno raced into the command center, a big, green rocket raced out in front of him and pinned his body against the wall with his arm. The green Maximal's weapon was in one hand and his free hand was used to disarm the ant's weapon. It clanged loudly as it fell to the floor.

"Go!" Rhinox told the other Maximals, glancing at those peering from the bridge. "Frilla and I can handle this. You must rescue our fallen comrades!"

Inferno watched as the other Maximals responded to the green monster's commands and fled the base.

Once they were gone, Inferno howled with manical laughter.

"You are a worthy opponent my green, horned friend. Now, unhand me and prepare to battle as equals!"

Inferno was quite shocked actually that the big lug could move as fast as he did.

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

"Shift through the wreckage and salvage whatever you can, we may have to resort to "borrowing" equipment from the base itself if what we need here has already been destroyed, and I'd rather not risk a meeting with the others in our current state unless absolutely necessary"

Arachnitron nodded in response to Tarantulas' order. She immediately began looking around the lair for anything that resembled the kind of equipment that Tarantulas and Blackarachnia might need. She didn't have much experience as far as technology was concerned as the other spiders seemed to have. She had spent most of her life trying to escape from her cell and causing other kinds of mischief, but she had worked with the scientists a bit during a short period where they were convinced that their experimentation had been successful.

She wasn't sure what the other spiders would need, so she grabbed anything that looked functional. She picked out wires, cables, and other equipment that she found lying around and piled it up carefully in an empty box she found. She also grabbed some tools that Tarantulas had left out.

"So, how are you going to do this without frying the both of us, Legs?"

Arachnitron was also curious to hear Tarantulas' plan. She was sure Tarantulas wouldn't have put himself in Blackarachnia's head without having some kind of plan to get out of it. She walked back over to Blackarachnia with her box in hand.

"Well, this is what I found," she announced placing the box in front of Blackarachnia. "Do you think we have everything?

[Night-Hunter]

"I believe you told me that a long time ago. C'mon spit it out. What's wrong? What is so bad that you can't tell?"

Soonar let out a loud annoyed groan before landing in a branch.

"One: Its my personal business and Two: It's none of your slaggin business! Infact, why do you even care! He asked angrily.

* * *

Saber groaned as she once again regained consciousness. She had no idea what had hit her it had happened so fast.

Shaking her head she headed to the control room to see what the situation was.

[starshadow]

"One: Its my personal business and Two: It's none of your slaggin business! Infact, why do you even care!

Starshadow's ears would have moved back if they could. Her optics narrowed with annoyance by his growling and him not telling her his secret.

Was that anger even necessary? she thought. Starshadow rubbed her face, sighing before she looked at him without looking sarcastic or happy but serious and spoke, "One, how personal can it be? She killed your future bondmate? Two, I don't care and I'm curious, I want to know. In fact, I do care because you're the bot that always keep my mind off my personal unfinished business which I rather not think about," she looked at the scenery just ahead of them and smiled before looking down, "in other words, you're more than just a bot to me. You're a pal for bickering, small fun fights and harrassing, someone I'll..well.."

She just could not say that she would miss him if he did not survive in this war. She cannot put it in a way which would make it sound less awkward. The horrible truth was she liked him, his freakishness, his unusual personality and his looks, those dark killer eyes and dashing smile..

No this is wrong! Definitely wrong! she screamed in her mind. She had to say something before he does.

"I don't even know why we hate each other in the first place."

[Night-Hunter]

Sonar's optic twitched as his patients began to wain, she wasn't sure how much more of this before blasting her away with a sonic blast.

"Wrong as usual. You are crazy, obnoxious, and irritating!" With a growl he let go of the branch and took off.

* * *
Saber entered the control room and turned on the radio.

"This Saber-Fang, any Maximal who isn't busy out in the field please respond. What is the situation?

[Wintersong]

Long before Wintersong had arrived to the scene the sounds of battle had reached her audio receptors, making her frown slightly at how bad this could be for her teammates and for their suppose to be comrade who was likely awake by now. That was if the Predacons hadn't reprogrammed them or they weren't already a Predacon upon activation. Already some had turned out that way since the start of this war and the transmetal tigress could only hope things were alright.

But when she did arrive there was really no use in trying to hide the fact she was there, already many of her comrades were engaged in the battle and she could have sworn she saw someone knew for a brief moment but for now could only quickly survey the field. But the one that caught her eye the most was Tantrum, the only other transformer she had seen at such a height in this war and who seemed he could go toe-to-toe with Orcanier which he was doing so already and it was painfully obvious they were too late to for this pod. "Wintersong, maximize!"The feline femme commanded to her systems before her thrusts cut off and went back into her side and at the speed she was going Wintersong had to transform during mid-roll and went skidding a few feet before she could stop and unfortunately saw no enemies at this time to strike in close combat, which had seemed she would have to get to know. And unfortunately she wasn't aware of Umbra and Cecaelia hidden away.

Deciding to grab what was left of her laser rifle Wintersong turned her sights towards the Predacon fliers, seeming as they were another primary target at this time. "Hope this even helps,"She muttered to herself before aiming her rifle and began to fire skyward towards Terrorsaur and Nemesis.

[starshadow]

"Wrong as usual. You are crazy, obnoxious, and irritating!"

Starshadow's optics turned red in anger. Crazy? Fine. Obnoxious? What did she even do in the beginning? Irritating? Why doesn't he look at himself first? This time, no Glowstick to hold her back. It was unusual to be almost in her killer instincts in such a short time. But what can she say? She was a wild cat!

Starshadow transformed into her beast mode and flew towards Sonar in full speed and slamed him on a tree with her paws, "crazy?! obnoxious?! irritating?! Tell that to yourself!" and with that, she transformed again and tossed him in the air, "let's settle this once and for all. No running, flying or escaping like a coward!"

[Alak]

((OOC: Yeah, there's really no set posting order in this particular game. It'll be too inconvenient with this many people and the game's slow enough as it is. Since, other characters are waiting on Orcariner's reaction, I'll be posting now...))

BIC:


Orcariner's optics widened as Tantrum fired off a salvo from his cannons. The Maximal instinctively raised his arms to cover his face, unaware that a mouth plate had automatically activated. The impact from the attacker's shots sent Orcariner flying backwards. He involuntarily grunted as his body was thrown onto the ground by the force that struck him and smoke rose from his arms and chest. He had not been hit this hard since that last battle against Glowstick's behemoth. While, his physical well-being was not compromised, Orcariner could not say that he enjoyed being knocked around like this. The giant wanted to check his radar to reassess the battlefield, but his attention was drawn away as the ground shook. Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of a tank bearing towards him.

"I AM CREDIT TO TEAM!"

Orcariner sighed, "Not good."

Tantrum was not holding back by any means, and volleys of energy discharges were exploding all around the Maximal. Orcariner's initial close proximity to this new foe made it very difficult for him to move out of the way during the initial strike. However, due to the new range he gained from being sent flying back by that first hit, the killer whale found that he had more room to work with. Explosions erupted all around him, but at least none were actually landing direct hits. His armor was durable enough to prevent the shrapnel and shockwaves from disrupting his concentration. Orcariner tried to use this to his advantage before Tantrum was able to close the distance between the two of them.

At this range, his artillery fire loses accuracy, especially in his enraged state where he isn't patient enough to actually aim. I can't sit here forever, though, because if he gets close enough, he won't actually have to worry about aiming. I also can't wait for his friends to gang up on me either, or else I'll be slagged before that tank even gets to me.

The orca narrowed his optics and studied the spotted tank that was barreling towards him. The vehicular design looked odd and somewhat archaic. The treads were just as slow as Orcariner's beast mode on land, and the guns were mounted on the side as opposed to the center of the body. His tactical headset was highlighting statistical figures in regards to the guns' power output and possible weakpoints, but Orcariner ignored all of that information. He knew what he had to do in order to survive this onslaught.

"Nowhere to go but forward."

Clenching his left hand, the Maximal activated an energy shield that sized up at ten feet in diameter. The thrusters on his back roared to life and Orcariner was swiftly propelled forward towards his equally-massive target. The shield flashed as one shot struck it. According to his readings, the deployable energy shield was able to sustain a hit from Tantrum's cannons easily. However, as the distance between the two combatants closed, more and more shots began to land. Warning signs flashed on his interface as the shield was beginning to disintegrate from the continual impact of concussive energy. Orcariner chose not to change course even as the shield disappeared in a flash of light, no longer able to maintain composition in the face of such a beating. He was already safe from the cannons. The Maximal now found himself directly in front of Tantrum, and since the tank's guns were placed on the side, they were unable to hit him since he was no longer within their line of sight. Orcariner pushed his palms onto the front plate of Tantrum's vehicular mode and firmly planted his feet onto the ground, halting the tank's progression.

"Look here, we're not here to hurt you. We're Maximals, friend. We're on your side."

He sincerely hoped that his words could reach through to the newcomer. Orcariner was running out of ideas and he doubted that he that would be able to hold Tantrum in place forever. Through his peripheral vision, he noticed that shots were fired at the Predacon flyers above him. According to his radar, Wintersong was now part of the battle.

Thank Primus!

[Night-Hunter]

((OOC: Catfight! Kind of.))

"crazy?! obnoxious?! irritating?! Tell that to yourself!"

At least I know I'm crazy. Your the one whose in denial! Sonar thought.

"let's settle this once and for all. No running, flying or escaping like a coward!"

As he was thrown into the air, transformed into his robot form and activated his left guyver blade.

"You want a fight? I'll give you one!"

[starshadow]

((OOC: MEOW MEOW! MMMMM...MAO! Hahhahahahahaha!))

"You want a fight? I'll give you one!"

Starshadow's optics and some parts of her armor glowed brightly. Long glowing blades came out from the side of her arms with electric statics emitted out from it, "I've been waiting for this for a loooonng time."

Ideas on how to torture Sonar popped up in her mind. Electrocution, sticking her blade up on his ugly aft and shock him, eating him alive, rip out everything inside him and make art and more. Giving him a quick death would be too kind for him...She wanted him to suffer slowly and painfully, under her mercy. That bat was going to regret it.

Starshadow kicked off the branch and activated her thrusters, charging towards him with a blade and a roar. Of course she had tricks yet to be shown. Now it was time to play like a cat with a mouse except this mouse has wings.

[Wildfire94]

When Quickstrike had let go Onyx was relieved, his leg being freed now allowed him a chance to step back and survey any possible damage from the clamped pincers but only saw some dents that didn't exactly penetrate the thick armor which again he was glad for. But as Megatron decided to take command of the situation the black stallion did kind of wish he could have better answered Silverbolt but it seemed he wouldn't be able to especially since the t-rex would think of some elaborate lie as to twist these two new comers into joining their cause, or at least Megatron's cause.

Unfortunately the stallion was still having a hard time comprehending the now transmetal Predacon leader's ways of making sure the Predacons were the ones who would rule Cybertron. Weren't trying to be equals just as good? Onyx thought so, and he highly doubted he was the only Predacon who thought that there. But of course what use was it to even try and speak out when he would just get another beating in a way Megatron would make sure he was obediant to him despite the fact Onyx had for now known better then to speak out of term. But one of these days that wouldn't be the case. And at the moment he could only watch helplessly as these poor souls were twisted into Megatron's control but just a brief exchange of words with the wolf/eagle fuzor gave Onyx a sense that he seemed too noble to really seem like a Predacon in some form but then again he could have been wrong.

With an inward sigh Onyx moved back to join Steelclaw who he had at the moment to thank for not making a stupid decision not too long ago of trying to turn to the Maximals to escape this misfortune being under Megatron's rule, something he decided he might as well endure. After all what good would it do to turn to an enemy when they could still be like minded bots despite being opposing sides? "Beast mode."Onyx muttered before he transformed and stood watching the two new fuzors as they discovered their transformations. All the while however Onyx was only hoping neither would end up suffering under Megatron's brutality when they realized he wasn't as kind as he was acting now.

==========================

Silverstreak wasn't at all surprised that Rattrap easily caught up to her and she could have sworn Feralnight passed her by now too but she hadn't noticed, mostly focused on getting to their destination and had yet to show signs of being afraid. Like earlier she was mentally preparing herself for what might come, especially the inevitable chance of getting into a fight with the Predacons who to their dismay was already there. What kind of lies would the tyrant tell them just to twist them into loyalty? Would they really believe his story? These were just some of the questions they could think of and hope at least one of the new arrivals would decide to come to their side and see Megatron for what he really way. Of course, this was only wishful thinking as she had seen enough as it was to know things were well bad enough.

Though she gave a side glance to Rattrap as he spoke to her, "Well think chaotic might be the best word, Rattrap."She said to him as she looked at the transmetal rat,"I will admit this was nothing I was expecting since I came on this voyage expecting something new and well got more then I really bargained for. In fact, think all of us did from the looks of things."She answered him in the best way she could sum it up in.

(( Hope this helps to affirm that Onyx is indeed staying on the Predacons, just the fact he doesn't share Megs' ways of going about things.))

[New Moon]

It took a little bit longer before Feralnight had arrived to the destination, Cheetor now being one of the fastest when it came to flying even if it might be a rough start in the beginning but you eventually learned to get the grasp on things. And of course she had overtaken Silverstreak long before the fox would get there but at this rate that would have been a good thing as Cheetor reported to them of the Predacons already being there and the pods already activated,"Just perfect,"The fuzor sighed to herself as she arrived to the location but stayed just out of range of their scanners. Or she hoped she was as she could get a visual on her comrade and the Predacons below which at the very moment Rattrap commed her next.

"I'm just getting to the location Rattrap and seems things are pretty calm at the moment. And trust me I have no intention of attacking them."Feralnight reported looking for another place to land so she could get in closer as well before she flapped her wings and began to quietly descend on the other side of the Predacons and unknown bots so they could have two different angles to work from and maybe get a better chance of seeing what was going on. With a final flare of her wings the wolf/raven fuzor managed to land behind a large boulder and crouched slightly, glad for the slight cover of night though with the single bright moon it was hard to hide fully so she had to rely on the shadow of the boulder and dark ground to avoid accidently being seen. Though she took the chance to peek around the boulder and focused in her optics slightly enough to get a decent visual of the group. But it surprised her quite a bit that these two new bots were also fuzors like her and Aurora.

[Night-Hunter]

"I've been waiting for this for a long time

I'm sure you have. Sonar thought.

Sonar wasn't worried, sure Starshadow got an upgrade but he had years of combat experience under his belt. He let out his own battle cry before flying towards to meet her half way.

* * *

When Saber didn't get an answer she decided to open all frequencies that way she might be able to get a far better range.

"I repeat, are there any Maximals in the field who can tell me the situation?"

[starshadow]

Once they have met, her blades clashed onto his and more electric statics were emitted. While they have a moment of distraction, Starshadow stretched her left leg to the right and kicked him but not hard enough to send him far away and retracted the blade on her right arm while charging up electricity in her fist which caused it to glow brightly. "Fried bats for dinner!"

She slammed her fist on his gut and thrusted forward to pin him on a tree as she laughed maniacally.