The Intergalactic Highway

((Who is in the Axalon besides Umbra? If i'm missing someone let me know and i'll edit them in."))

Manterror's laughing died right as he felt the blast that Optimus gave him. It shot the Mantis backwards 20 feet before he landed in a crumpled pile of scrap.

---

“Airazor, make sure the base is safe for the others to return and fend off any Predacons who linger in our territory.”

"Easily." The falcon responded confidently and turned towards the Axalon. However, she immediately did a double take and looked towards the sky. She saw Terrorsaur, but was unsure as to his condition. Not wanting to take any chances, she raised her right arm and fired off 2 of her own missiles towards him. He had inflicted some serious damage to her and she needed a bit of retribution! Not bothering to stick around for the fireworks, she continued her journey towards the lift.

The lift brought Airazor up to bridge and she took one step off before collapsing onto the floor. Her stomach was in so much pain from the brutal scratches her rival had given her. She winced and waited for the pain to subside. It was clear that she was in no condition to fight. Still on the floor, Airazor crawled towards one of the console chairs and pushed herself onto it. "That's better." She said to herself and spun herself around to the computer screen.

"Sentinel, show all active lifeforms" She spoke and waited for a response. Acknowledged. It spoke and displayed a map of the ships interior and immediate area outside. It neatly marked each bot with a Maximal or Predicon symbol with their name over top of it. No Predicons were detected in the Axalon. "Whew... thats a relief" She said aloud and was about to radio Optimus when she noticed a strange anomaly. Sentinel was displaying 2 cheetors! One outside the Axalon and one inside.

Having just come from the outside and seeing the real Cheetor, Airazor immediately recognized the intruder as likely being Umbra. She had heard of the shapeshifting Predicon although had not yet encountered him. Still using the voice activation commands, Airazor identified Umbra and marked him as an enemy intruder.

Target acquired. Sentinel responded and immediately began to fire upon Umbra. Airazor smiled, hoping that she had just taken care of this situation without ever having to fight. Activating her com, she spoke to the rest of the Maximals. "Umbra infiltrated our base. I am taking care of it now."

(Only one inside Axalon predacon wise is Umbra. Though.. Airazor entering the bridge is okay, but nobody cleared the hallway debris, and all the bridge computers are destroyed from an explosive.. and Whitegrazer being smashed through one and the center console was blown up in triple gatling gun blasts. There's a cracked monitor, but you'd probably have to give Sentinel voice commands instead of touch screen commands and it's not going to be that clear.. but maybe Aurora turned the SSID back on, so Airazor could remotely operate the ship maybe? Sorry, but those were the technical details that were causing all the others trouble..Rhinox could manage.. but he was literally touching broken wires together to act as a keyboard because he is that awesome. )

((OOC:

Airazor entering the bridge is okay, but nobody cleared the hallway debris,

Rhinox had cleared it after it happened when Umbra and Cece got away, enough for most Maximals to squeeze by, but Phoenix had posted with Aurora that the bridge was still blocked, so I played along with that and had Optimus remove everything, setting the scrap along the sides of the hall so he could get Aurora to the CR chamber. It's not blocked anymore, people! Understood? ))

( I stand corrected! Though if that's the case.. Airazor could just shoot down the hall. *LOL* )

((Sorry, I don't remember specifics well. Also, I tried to make it clear that she is too damaged to fight, thus she wouldn't shoot down the hallway. Do I need to change anything?))

(Eh.. I guess just use voice commands for Sentinel for now? )

((OOC: Argh! I got on tonight and tried to read the posts that I hadn't gone through before so I could know what to say next. But I must be having focus-issues of some sort, because somehow it took me two hours to read page 21 (with a few paragraphs already having been read last night on top of that). Well, now it's 1:00, and I have to be up at 7:00, so this is me saying sorry again.

There are still a few things I wanted to mention, though:

1.) Thank you very much, OOP and Phoenix, for the compliments on my last post. They really did make me feel good.

2.)

Phoenix wrote:The constant noises created by explosions, shooting firearms, and the dying whimpers of his enemies, all melded together to form a symphony of sorts. Now this was his idea of perfection.

My mind jumped to "My Lullaby" from The Lion King 2. I can not help myself.

3.)

Night-Hunter wrote:"It would appear that you get to live to see another day, my sweet." Sonar said softly, making sure to stay in the sun so he wouldn't be spotted.

I feel like pointing out the alliteration here, because I thought it was kind of cool. So I guess I'll do that: there's alliteration here, and I think it's kind of cool. "It would appear that you get to live to see another day, my sweet." Sonar said softly, making (s)ure to stay in the sun so he wouldn't be spotted.))

Cecaelia just laughed when Ironclaw got hit by her beam but stopped when the barrel of her cannon was knocked to an undesirable position. "Why you-" before she could finish what she was saying, she was grabbed and thrown on the ground. That was when she lost it. Cecaelia stood up and switched the cannon's mode back to the previous mode but when she pulled the trigger, not a single laser was fired.

"What?" she looked at her cannon, pulling the trigger a few more times again. The cover just above the heat meter of her cannon burst open with hot gas emitting out. An overheat at this point of time?! she screamed in her mind. The octopus femme drew one of her fire daggers and burned his shoulder with its flame and slammed the back of her hand which was balled into a fist on the side of his head.


Starshadow snarled when Optimus flew across her.

"Predacons.. Destroy him!,"

He didn't have to tell her twice. Starshadow immediately activated her thrusters, flying to the sky and followed Optimus near low cloud level. Once he was right below her, she increased her thruster's acceleration and dived down right beside him, quickly turning to face him and fired two electric bolts out of her hands. (OPTIMUS, AVOID THOSE SLAG!)

OOC: It may have been a week since my last in character post, but it has only been three days since I could logically post again. I had to wait for a few players to respond. I waited for anyone I mentioned in the post even if Arachnitron only indirectly interacted with them. Who knows what they may have done in response.

Not to mention, I had to wait to see if anyone would attack Inferno, but I didn't see anything. Hopefully I didn't miss anything.

BIC:

Arachnitron was a bit disappointed that her shot of retaliation hadn't hit its target. She shot another angry glare at Rattrap before turning back to Tarantulas.

"Stick to guns your own size, vermin, Hehahahaha!"

Tarantulas mocked the rat. Arachnitron snickered with him pleased to see that he had dodged the bullets from Rhinox's weapon that Rattrap was attempting to use.

"The concern is appreciated my dear, but the rat couldn't hit the broadside of Omega Supreme"

Arachnitron nodded. "I suppose you're right," she agreed. Pain shot through her again and she cried out before she could stop herself. She doubled over in response. She didn't have a chance to worry if Tarantulas had seen her do this or not because just at that moment a loud explosion caught her attention.

"Well, that's just prime!"

Optimus blew through the side of the Axalon damaging his own ship. Arachnitron realized she hadn't seen him earlier, but with all the shooting going on, she didn't have time to wonder where he had been. It was strange to see him show up all of a sudden so late in the battle. Where had he been earlier?

She noticed Tarantulas' expression of shock and fear. In fact, many Predacons, and Maximals as well, had a similar expression. She obviously missed something. It had to have been something that happened while she was locked away in the brig with Starshadow, Inferno and Tarantulas' body.

"Predacons.. Destroy him!,"

Megatron commanded. Arachnitron remembered Tarantulas' instructions to her that she was supposed to do whatever Megatron told her to do so as to hide the fact that she was really working solely for Tarantulas. But she looked at Optimus reluctantly. Out of all the Maximals, the only one she felt who had ever accepted her was Optimus. Everyone else was just following orders. They were a bit hypocritical actually in their holier-than-thou Maixmal attitudes. They all thought they were better than she because of her Predacon origin, but they were just the same as the Predacons. They preached about wanting peace and trusting others and being kind and whatever else they believed in, but it only extended to other Maximals. Truth be told, the Maximals hated Predacons just as much as Predacons hated them. Optimus was the only one who didn't seem to think this way. He had trusted her in a way that the other Maximals weren't able or willing to do. She frowned. She didn't care about shooting the other Maximals, but she didn't think she could shoot at Optimus. She lowered her weapon planning to claim that it had jammed.

"MY turn!”

Optimus announced before sending a barrage of missiles in their direction. He fired at the big, new guy, that annoying praying mantis, Tarantulas and then herself. She flew backward with the impact. He hadn't really aimed so it didn't quite reach her, but it had landed just a few inches in front of her. His missiles were so powerful that just the aftershock alone was damaging. She wiped the dust from her optics and rubbed the sore arm she had landed on. Perhaps she was a bit too quick to claim Optimus was different than the other Maximals. She had lowered her weapon, defying Megatron and Tarantulas, and this was how he repaid her?

She still held her fire against him mostly because she was still gathering her wits after being shot backwards by Optimus. He fired at the other Predacons in the line up and then he took to the skies. Arachnitron hurried to her feet, but not being a flier, there wasn't much she could do to get to him. She was contemplating chasing after him on the ground, but a movement caught her attention from where the other Maximals had been taking cover.

It was Rattrap standing up to take the damaged and wounded Maximals back inside. She had missed him before, but now she had another chance. He didn't seem to realize some of the Predacons were still hanging around and hadn't yet changed their target. She raised her cybervenom launcher and fired it at the unsuspecting rat.

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Inferno laughed with glee at the Maximals' plight. It did seem that the Predacons were winning! Initially, he had been a bit concerned about the future of his duties as protector of the Colony, but now he was caught up in the moment. He laughed and fired at the cowering Maximals. Most of them were out of ammo which meant they couldn't fight back!

Suddenly, an explosion from the Axalon interrupted him. He stopped firing to see which Maximal it was that all of a sudden had ammo to use. Before the smoke cleared, he heard those infamous words:

"Well, that's just prime!"

He, too, had missed the gorilla's death, but he hadn't seen him during the battle. He was surprised to see that the Maximal leader had been one of the few who had gone Transmetal after the quantum surge.

"Predacons.. Destroy him!,"

The Royalty commanded. Inferno raised his rocket launcher. "As you command, my Queen!" he stated and sent his missiles towards Optimus. The Predacons seemed to all take the same moment to reload because the shooting halted all at the same time. Or maybe they just figured that the Maximal had taken so much damage that he must be dead by now! Whatever the reason, he and the others paused in their shooting all at the same time.

"MY turn!”

Optimus announced. He raised his own weapons and fired at the line of Predacons. One after another before any one of them had time to react. Optimus' shot at Inferno had managed to meet its target, but the damage was superficial given the Maximals' poor aim. The ant was knocked off his feet for a moment and his arm wasn't quite functioning properly, but he could still fight.

Optimus took to the sky and Inferno followed him with his gaze from where he was on the ground. He watched Optimus swoop and soar above them in his flight mode and it seemed as though he may have been showing off a bit. Inferno couldn't pass up this opportunity to show him that Optimus may have needed the improvements of the quantum surge, but Inferno didn't!

"It's your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!" Inferno shouted up at him. He started up his propellers and followed after him in the air sending a stream of fire from his flame thrower at the Maximal commander.

Slumped against the hull of the Axalon, Orcariner's optics remained shut. The overwhelming heat from the entire Predacon team had burned holes into his armor plating. His left optic was melted shut and he was too tired to even try and open the right. The muffled sound of gunfire kept him conscious, but the Maximal had difficulty making out who was shooting and who was being shot. The interface on his HUD was flickering and fading uncontrollably, making it impossible for him to read his radar.

Can't stop now... we have to keep fighting...

For a moment, there was silence. Orcariner wondered if he had finally died but he was quickly proven wrong when he heard Megatron's voice bellow with pride. It appeared that the battle was nearing its end. The Maximals had lost the Beast Wars and there was nothing that could save them now. They had no leader to look up to. They had no defense to protect them. There was no friendly ship to hide in. The orca twitched a few times but that was all he could muster as he tried to move his arm. If they were to die in this very moment, Orcariner wanted to die fighting.

There was a violent vibration that resonated throughout the Axalon's hull. Orcariner could feel it traveling along his back as he still rested against the ship. An audible boom caught his attention, but the giant did not look upwards to see what had happened. Then, there is was. A voice so familiar and yet it was impossible to believe.

Optimus Primal wrote:"Well, that's just prime!"

Orcariner's right optic was wide open. The images in front of him were fuzzy, but he could make out the forms of his teammates who had come to his rescue. They had all lined up in front of him to protect him from the Predacon onslaught. Despite their failed efforts, he could not help but crack a small smile in response to their loyalty. It was alright, however, since they were now saved. He had returned to save them all.

"Optimus?"

As the name escaped his lips, Orcariner leaned his head back and closed his optic once again. A feeling of relief washed over him and the pain seemed to have dissipated somewhat. Despite all of the damage that was inflicted upon his body, Orcariner knew that the tide of the battle had turned. Bearing that in mind, he continued to cling onto his life.

Megatron fired his cannon repeatedly at the figure, believed to be Primal, who was taking shelter inside the badly damaged ship. All the shots were producing a rather impressive amount of smoke as they penetrated against the walls of the Axalon and the foolish Maximal, temporarily obscuring him from their view. As more and more Predacons joined in, loud blasts filling the early morning sky, Megatron felt confident that his somehow risen foe would once again join the Matrix. In the end part of him was nearly pleased by the prospect of possibly having a part or two of Primal's severed carcass decorating his private chambers. Yessss..

He didn't know how Optimus could possibly have returned, but quite frankly.. nor did he care. All he wanted was to see his defeated foe lay on the ground, in pieces, the thought further fueling his blood lust.

It was not until his own warning system began protesting the abuse of his weapon that he finally slowed down. By then a majority of the blasts had quieted down, his Predacons running low on ammunition by now. An increasing excitement filled the tyrant as the smoke settled, his hand raised to settle down the few that were still wasting bullets. And so his optics settled on the opening, widening and flashing upon realizing that the Maximal was not only alive but appeared to be unharmed from the assault as well.

His rage immediately building up within, bringing about an almost deranged sneer as his enemy almost casually tossed aside his protective shield without as much as a scratch on him to show for the ordeal. The worst part was almost that confident smugness in his voice as he then proclaimed; “MY turn!” and as if to make the point stick a pair of rather massive guns were now aimed directly at them.. at him!

Megatron was barely able to avoid the massive burst of fire that suddenly came straight at him, making a less than graceful leap to the side to do so. He was less fortunate when the next wave came, a shot gracing his arm despite his attempt to dodge again.

For a moment Megatron lost track of his attacker, his concern being his own well being for now. When he returned his glare to Optimus, his foe was already in his beast form, standing on a hover board of sorts. Before Megatron again had managed to aim his fusion cannon at his opponent, the metallic monkey had started moving away from the base. In his rage, Megatron could not care less about this being an obvious tactic to lure them away from the others.

His own body began twisting, changing his own form into his vehicle mode as well, Megatron shouted loud enough for Optimus to hear..

"Flight is no longer your advantage, Optimus!"


With his own transformation now complete, Megatron fired up his thrusters so that he could take off. He suspected he was not quite as fast as his fleeing foe, but his brute force and stamina should make up for it. Thrusters at maximum, the t-rex set off after Primal.

(ooc: Will add Nem's post tomorrow.)

OOP wrote: “MY turn!” Primal proclaimed deeply but loud and clear, his smile gone with seriousness in its wake, and activated his personal “auto-guns”. The armored pack on his back along with this shoulder plates lifted up over his head and locked into place over his chest. He put his hands behind his shoulder plates which were now acting as shields for them, and targeted the first line of Predacons with a holographic crosshair that appeared between his duel clubs, beginning with Megatron, the biggest one ((Tantrum)), Manterror, Tarantulas and Arachnitron and began firing. With as much power that his clubs-turned-guns were producing, as if they were one of the Axalon’s turrets, he had to keep one foot back farther than the other again to keep himself stabilized. And even then both of his feet were slowly sliding backwards across the metal flooring after every consecutive shot. Once those three scattered, then he swept across toward Inferno, Nemesis, Starshadow and Terrorsaur. He even fired a few shots at Onyx and Steelclaw, but intentionally missed them. Whether his shots were direct hits or not on the others, he wasn’t too worried about it because all Optimus really wanted to do was break them up, instill fear into them, and make them retreat.

Tarantulas couldn't believe his optics as Primal not only withstood the full brunt of his and every other predacon's firepower behind a mere shield, but the proceeded to return said firepower seemingly shot for shot, forcing every pred to back or scatter to avoid being vaporized on the spot.


"Beast mode!" Tarantulas exclaimed as he changed into his spider form & activated his new wheels, speeding away from Primal's shots as fast as he could to avoid destruction, his mind still struggling to comprehend how this filthy ape had cheated a death that he himself had done everything in his power to make certain.

Meanwhile, up in the sky, Terrorsaur had likewise done the same, changing into beast mode and activating his thrusters to put as much distance between himself and Primal's onslaught as he possibly could.

"RAWK! Blast you Primal, just as things were getting good!" Terrorsaur cursed to himself, everything having been going so well for him today, for it to all go so horribly wrong so fast just infuriated him.

Why couldn't anything ever go his way?...Ugh, now he was beginning to think like Waspinator.

Blackrose wrote: Optimus announced before sending a barrage of missiles in their direction. He fired at the big, new guy, that annoying praying mantis, Tarantulas and then herself. She flew backward with the impact. He hadn't really aimed so it didn't quite reach her, but it had landed just a few inches in front of her. His missiles were so powerful that just the aftershock alone was damaging. She wiped the dust from her optics and rubbed the sore arm she had landed on. Perhaps she was a bit too quick to claim Optimus was different than the other Maximals. She had lowered her weapon, defying Megatron and Tarantulas, and this was how he repaid her?

She still held her fire against him mostly because she was still gathering her wits after being shot backwards by Optimus. He fired at the other Predacons in the line up and then he took to the skies. Arachnitron hurried to her feet, but not being a flier, there wasn't much she could do to get to him. She was contemplating chasing after him on the ground, but a movement caught her attention from where the other Maximals had been taking cover.

It was Rattrap standing up to take the damaged and wounded Maximals back inside. She had missed him before, but now she had another chance. He didn't seem to realize some of the Predacons were still hanging around and hadn't yet changed their target. She raised her cybervenom launcher and fired it at the unsuspecting rat.

"Arachnitron, if you still function then follow me! We need to neutralize that damn dirty ape before the situation spirals even further out of control than it already has!" Tarantulas scowled, remembering his new minion and looking back to see what she was doing.

Tarantulas approved of her shooting the rat in the back as he attempted to tend to the wounded, but the wounded maximals were no threat for the moment, there were simply not enough CR chambers in the Axalon to tend to all of them at once and it would take far too long for even one of them to finish repairs in time to make a difference in this battle. No, they could all be picked off at their leisure once Primal and what few troops he had left standing were disposed of, once Primal fell, the rest would follow, that was still an indisputable fact even in this dire situation. The ape must die, pure and simple.

OOP wrote: Just in case that wasn’t enough for some of them, like Megatron and Terrorsaur who never knew when to quit, Primal deactivated his miniature gun turret that automatically settled back onto his back and turned to his fellow aerial Maximal to say, “Airazor, make sure the base is safe for the others to return and fend off any Predacons who linger in our territory.” Without explaining his plan or telling her where he was going, he quickly hopped into his vehicle mode, immediately hovering above the floor he had been standing on. A vibrant blue and very shiny gorilla was clearly his beast form now with not a single piece or patch of fur, and with bright pink optics in contrast to his metallic blue face. His vehicle mode was that of some sort of hover board, which he had to admit was a little tricky at first but he was determined to give it a test flight despite being pursued by very dangerous Predacons who likely already knew how to use their new vehicular alterations and desperately wanted to kill him. Again. His hip-holstered gun was now the thruster for his acceleration and deceleration, the engines making the hovering even capable were located underneath it and steering was all up to his balance and movement of his body, arms, and legs which were attached the board. For a tight departure from the Axalon, he grabbed the side of the board with one of his hands and pulled it up until he got to the altitude and direction he wanted to head in - away from the Maximal base - releasing his hand and leveling out with the outraged Predacons in tow. He hoped some of them would follow, especially Megatron, so they’d finally leave his crew alone and forget about them, giving them an opportunity to find cover and help those who may have been consumed by stasis lock.

"A monkey on a surfboard? You must be kidding me" Terrorsaur snarled as he watched the ape take flight, a thought then occurring to him "Why isn't he in robot mode?"

"Oh my...Could it be the mighty Optimus Primal can't fly in robot mode anymore?" Terrorsaur thought evilly as he then contacted the other predacon flyers on his commlink "Terrorsaur to Starshadow, Nemesis, and yes, even you Manterror, I believe its about high team we true masters of the air taught Primal why monkeys were never meant to fly, TERRORIZE!"

Terrorsaur changed into robot mode and began to head towards Optimus, swords drawn and missile launchers armed and ready.

"You're about to make the shortest comeback in Cybertronian history Primal!" Terrorsaur taunted as he fired four shoulder missiles towards Optimus.



OOC: Sorry WorpeX, Terrorsaur was well out of range of Airazor's missiles because he had fallen back in response to Optimus' gunfire, I can TRY to work in a reply to your post in somewhere if you want but as I was writing for Terry and Legs I felt the natural reaction for both of them to make was to put as much distance between themselves and Optimus, and thus Airazor too, as possible. I just didn't want ya to think I missed your post or ignored it, sorry >_<

As Umbra made his way down the hall, he heard some noise from the lift up ahead, but couldn't exactly see who was in the bridge, he remained quiet.

Airazor wrote:"Sentinel, show all active lifeforms" . "Whew... that's a relief"

He stalked closer slowly, reaching for his back as part of his disguise unraveled to allow him access to his sword. He hadn't been noticed yet, if he could get closer he could probably take the target out.

Airazor wrote:Still using the voice activation commands, Airazor identified Umbra and marked him as an enemy intruder.

His optics narrowed as he drew his blade slightly..This female seemed to be onto his ruse already.

Airazor wrote:Target acquired. Sentinel responded and immediately began to fire upon Umbra. Airazor smiled, hoping that she had just taken care of this situation without ever having to fight. Activating her com, she spoke to the rest of the Maximals. "Umbra infiltrated our base. I am taking care of it now."

Hearing the defense turret come down, he turned drawing his blade slashing through a few of the stun bolts coming from the turret but then striked in the chest, he backed into the medical bay, leaning against the wall against the doorway. Now he was pinned down, and the damage he made earlier would make it impossible to get to the bridge from the vent. But even if he did retake the Axalon, his hacking skills weren't high enough to take over Sentinel again.

He activated his comlink Lady Cecaelia, what is your status and the status of the battle? He'd have to make a choice, try again later, or press on, or furthest from his mind, retreat. He sheathed his blade, holding it close to his side watching the doorway, then looked around. The personnel quarters didn't have cameras, but the medical bay probably did.. He looked up at the ceiling, then reached up pulling the camera down looking at the lens, still in his disguise his face gave a look not of fear, if anything it was just a cold empty expression, something Cheetor had probably never shown.

He then crushed the camera in his hand.

(ooc:

My mind jumped to "My Lullaby" from The Lion King 2. I can not help myself.

I can see the similarities.

And Whitegrazer seeing the Nemesis' nanites is kinda creepy! They're hidden on the inside after all, only becoming visible when repairing wounds and when doing so they mostly just show as a bluish glow given their small size. I never really considered what they looked like, but I do sort of like the idea of a metallic bug appearance in a way. Or at least that's what they would probably look like to others if they could actually see them. )

Nemesis had lowered the sword slowly at the unexpected appearance of Primal. Her expression was one of confusion, never expecting anyone to return from an obvious oblivion. A swift glance over at the others, Maximal and Predacon alike, showed very similar facial expressions.. each and every one of them displaying a look of bewilderment, some with a hint of shock and fear whereas others showing joy and hope. The avian female merely stood as if frozen, her sword pointed in her target's general direction but without touching, her focus entirely on the mysterious yet oh so familiar figure standing in the new opening of the Axalon wall.

Optimus Primal wrote:"My turn!"

She watched as some of her comrades began scattering, a barrage of incoming shots from the newly resurrected Maximal leader forcing them to move away to avoid getting hit. Yet as Primal's shots then came flying her way, the predacon flyer held her position. She was too close to several of Primal's most loyal friends, so she seriously doubted he would take much risk of accidently hitting some of them in an attempt to hit her. No. She stood a greater risk if she tried moving at this point, which is what she suspected he was trying to make her do anyway.

Sure enough. Just a brief moment later Primal's shots slammed into the ground on either side of her, too far away to cause any damage yet close enough for the debris and dust that whirled up to hit her.

Nemesis cocked her head, watching as the former Maximal commander took to the air on a hoverboard of sorts, a horde of her Predacon brethren taking off after him.

Whitegrazer wrote:"Nemesis."

A voice from right next to her caught her attention, bringing Nemesis' focus back to her task at hand. The other female had grabbed the blade of her lowered sword and was tugging at it. At the same time Nemesis became acutely aware of a strange sensation that had started within her, one she found extremely perplexing as well as uncomfortable. It caused her to feel a bit exposed in a sense.

She stared back at the other female, unable to see the world through her eyes.

Whitegrazer wrote:"This doesn't belong to you."

Nemesis' optics narrowed a bit at those words and the calmness and compassion behind them. Feeling the other female tug harder on the sword, attempting to get her to release it, anger once again began to rise from within.

Not caring about the obviously wounded condition the other female was in, Nemesis merely placed a well aimed kick to the other female's upper chest to knock her away. "That is not your decision to make!," she hissed at the other female as she swiftly grabbed for the wounded femme's wrists, forcefully and effectively pinning the hands together by driving the sai into the ground with the spikes trapping the wrists between them. Then she stood up, towering over the other female with Primal's sword now pointed straight at Whitegrazer's spark chamber concealed within her chest.

Nemesis cast a daring glance at the rodent Maximal who remained close enough to not only see what was going on but potentially try to intervene. "I wouldn't try anything foolish if I were you. You wouldn't want my hand to slip, now would you?"

With a look that promised this was no mere empty threat, she turned back to Whitegrazer. The way the other female had been, and still was, looking at her still bothered her somewhat. It was a gaze that felt like it was stripping her down to her very core, almost a tender presence of sorts that was trying to communicate.. to reach her, her very essence, the one she had been so long ago before all the wars had shaded her and changed her.

Nemesis brushed it off.

Some were simply beyond saving..

"Flight is no longer your advantage, Optimus!"

"Do you mean I finally have a challenge now?" Primal taunted Megatron as he flew off at a high speed. So Megatron had acquired the ability of flight? Great. Optimus wasn't too enthusiastic about him boasting on the subject but no matter. The ape still had a lot more flying experience under his belt than the t-rex did. Granted he was in a new body now and had to adjust to this new kind of flight, but the principles were the same.

"It's your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!"

Still the same pyromaniac. The Maximal Commander swerved to the side to avoid the fiery heat and then sent a short burst of his thruster at Inferno behind him, hoping to give him a quick dose of his own medicine before he flew up into the clouds in hopes of losing the flying ant.

Dropping back down from the cloud cover, out of his peripheral vision, Optimus took notice of Starshadow suddenly arriving next to him in the air from above, invading his personal space. With a quick glance of his optics meeting her's, he didn't even wait to see what she was going to do. Primal immediately cut his thrust power and engines and suddenly free-fell away from her out of her electrical reach. Spiraling downward a few several feet, he ignited his power again and leveled out, briefly looking back up at her to see her hands sparking. That was a new trick she had. And rather dangerous... But he wasn't out of trouble yet.

"You're about to make the shortest comeback in Cybertronian history Primal!"

Was Terrosaur holding grudges? Was he still determined to be the best flier in this war? Optimus couldn't care less about it. He was simply an opportunistic and improvisational Maximal. It wasn't his fault Terrosaur blinded himself most of the time. Time to shake these missiles.

Diving down toward the canyons below - some of the terrain that been changed and quaked due to the Vok's death ray - Primal weaved through the ravines as close as he could to the rock walls and naturally formed rock bridges and overhangs in an attempt to get the projectiles to hit those instead of him. Tightening his turns and barrel rolling over just inches away from a bridge that stretched across from one side of the ravine to the other, two of the missiles hammered into the rock and exploded, raining dust and gravel everywhere below and behind him. Leveling out for a moment, he turned himself horizontally and raced along the rocky side of the gorge sideways. Just before he reached a large formation of protruding rock, he grabbed the side of his board with his hand and pulled upward, the back end of his hover board just nicking the edge of the cliff. The missile, lacking the maneuvering that Optimus could perform, exploded into the ledge. Three down, one to go.

"Hey, dat is not fair! Come out here so I can shoot you better!""I'm not done with you yet. I'm coming for you!"

The blue ape shot straight into air, lifting away from the canyon and spotting the largest Predacon still in pursuit of him but obviously restricted to the ground. Recalling what that big guy had said to him earlier, he didn't sound like the sharpest tool in the shed, which gave him an idea. Performing a large loop upside down to keep space between him and the missile, Primal then dive-bombed toward the tank and leveled out just a few feet above the ground, flying head-on at Tantrum.

"Special delivery! Courtesy of Terrorsaur." Optimus hollered to the cow/tank with the dactyl's missile in tow before he quickly barrel rolled just off to the tank's side, barely missing him and the ground as he grabbed his board with one hand again to pull it tightly toward his body, hoping the projectile would hit the Predacon. Unfortunately, Optimus hadn't been equipped with countermeasures. After the roll, Primal banked hard and turned upward again, flying back in Terrosaur, Starshadow and Inferno's direction again.

(( OOC: I'm assuming Terry's missiles lock on to their targets. Not sure but that's how I played it. ))

-----

Rattrap was relieved that so many of the Predacons were actually chasing after Optimus instead of finishing off the rest of the Maximals whom they had been so close to terminating. Must have been their leader's intention all along. But how the new blue monkey was going to take care of them by himself, he didn't know, and that worried him. Speaking of worries, the Preds who did linger behind were still trouble. Nemesis, for example, was still posing as a great threat toward Whitegrazer and the rest of the Maximals around her.

"Umbra infiltrated our base. I am taking care of it now."

Still? thought Rattrap. Dat slimy, camouflaging, tentacle freak. "Careful, Airazor. I hear he has pretty convincing camo," he warned her.

"Optimus?"

The TransMetal rodent heard Orcariner for the first time since... well, he figured since he helped him set up the Nomad's turret that Terrorsaur destroyed. "Hold on, Big O," Rattrap tried assuring the big guy, watching his optic close again. He worried for his current condition; it looked like he'd slip in stasis any moment.

"That is not your decision to make!,"

The rat, falling apart like everyone else, quickly turned back to Whitegrazer when he heard Nemesis yell at the mare.

"I wouldn't try anything foolish if I were you. You wouldn't want my hand to slip, now would you?"

Rattrap kept a grip on his tail that was now flexible instead of locked into a straight spear, but he kept his distance so as not to trigger Nemesis to harm Whitegrazer. He wasn't sure what to do now. "Are you two actually fightin' over a sword?" he said, trying to take the Predacon female's attention off of Whitegrazer and humiliate her. ...If that was even possible. He snickered and added, "Why don't you go after de guy who gave dat sword to the one who knocked you do-" Suddenly, Rattrap cried out and fell to the ground, shaking involuntarily as Arachnitron's cybervenom shot made contact on the small Maximal and paralyzed his systems. He laid quietly and still on the dirt, his red optics now dark.

-----

"Optimus has perfect timing,"

Rhinox couldn't agree more with Frilla. Optimus always had a knack to show up in the nick of time. But he didn't hang around, instead he tried luring the Predacons away from the Axalon and the injured Maximals. He hoped he'd be all right handling them on his own. He hoped none of this would have been in vain only to lose him again and thus the Maximals losing the Beast Wars just like they were about to only moments ago.

"I don't think Optimus was the only one who's online guys."

Rhinox turned his head toward Feralnight's observation as he laid on the ground on his back. Who could she have been talking about?

"In fact it might be Ironclaw."

Ironclaw? Had he survived after all? They could sure use his help now with these pesky Preds who were refusing to leave. It was then when Rhinox suddenly noticed a shot coming from one of the spider's that was targeting the rat.

"Rattrap!" Rhinox's voice rumbled as he witnessed Arachnitron shoot him and saw his smaller friend collapse. He tried so hard to get up but his systems simply wouldn't allow it. Furious, concerned, and fed up being wounded all the time recently, he glared across the way at Arachnitron, wishing he still had his guns so he could scare her away. But he didn't. He was out of ammo. And even with Optimus making such an introduction, a few of these annoying Predacons were still hanging around trying to finish them off.

"Dinobot... Feralnight... Silverstreak... Anyone with ammo left or a weapon... Get Nemesis out of here!" the rhinoceros pleaded over his comm. link.

(( OOC: Didn't know what else to do about this situation, except for throwing a rock at Nem. ))