The Intergalactic Highway

Despite their smaller size, each warrior in the hallway was stronger than their bodies indicated. The combined efforts from both Maximals and Predacons was enough to change Orcariner's course of direction as he found himself no longer sinking, but rather being pulled towards the edge of the pit. Still holding onto the tentacle with his right arm, the giant used his other hand to try and grab onto the dry ground. It was only a matter of seconds until he managed to lift himself up to chest level out of the quick sand.

"Let's see if this works," he muttered.

Firing off his gravity lifts one more time, Orcariner could feel his body tip towards the others as his heavy legs were able to emerge from the mud. With a final push, the orca found himself on solid ground again. Panting, he collapsed to the ground and closed his eyes. That was one experience he could do without. His vents were clogged with mud, and the tremors of scrapping sand was exceedingly annoying everytime he moved his joints. Nonetheless, Orcariner was happy to be alive. The CR chamber would be quite lovely should the line for it be fairly short.

((OOC: I hope all your family and friends are okay as well, Phoenix. I was completely shocked over the attack.))

"It is unfortunate that these aliens refuse to co-operate with us."

Whatever happened to simple communication these days? She won't understand...no she understood it but she wished some people could use clear thinking instead of attacking.

"No need. Seems Sonar had the right idea for once and left with dino breathe, now we need to figure out a way to cut that link between Primal and the clone."

"Perhaps. I do not think he will leave all together. Megatron will want that transwarp device just as badly as we do."

She nodded at Feralnight, "Maybe after we get the device and our people back, we could use the scans back at base to find the link if nothing else."

She noticed that Optimus who was being helped by Saber and the rest were coming towards them. "Well, we will all just have to come and put our heads together and figure out what to do next." She smiled optimistically then looked at the others who were still coming over, still wearing the smile with a bit of motherly warmth towards them.

________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia could hear from above the echoes from the other group stuck here, "Looks like the penguin found the others."

The markings on the cave seemed to repeat itself. She shook her head, staring at it wasn't going to make it easier to read.

"Hah! Well, you know how much us rats miss aerial predators like you when you ain't tearin' us apart with yer beak,"

"I'd never do such a thing to you Rattrap!" She said with a sly smile on her face. "Unless I was very hungry!"

"We're all going to need to pull if we plan on dragging him out. Come on 'bots!" "Anyone else feel like a pirate?"

Joining in on the massive tug-of-war, Airazor grabbed onto the very end of the tentacle and began to pull with all her might. The combined strength of the team was able to pull the orca out of the mud, although the falcon felt as if her own strength contributed nothing to the team. Still, they were successful in their job. Orcariner was now on dry land.

Surprised that Ice Breaker had been able to find them, she gave him a slight nod to acknowledge his presence. Taking a glance at Orcariner, it was clear that the mud had effected his systems. It would likely be painful for him to walk around, finding an exit to this cave would be optimal.

"When I flew back to get the tentacle, I noticed that where the roof had collapsed, a shimmer of light shown through" She spoke louder than she was used to for fear that no one would hear her usual quiet tone. She hadn't been entirely sure who to address, so she took a glance at each of the team members in turn. "Perhaps we can dig our way out and get back to fresh air!"

Orcariner's eyes opened at the sounds of good news. Turning to Airazor, he asked her.

"Fresh air, huh? Mind leading the way? We took a lot of twists and turns that I don't remember our path too well."

Pausing, he added with a chuckle.

"I'm also clogged with mud, so that might be messing with me, too."

Pushing himself to his feet, Orcariner noticed a mixture of blue and brown falling to the floor. He took little notice of his wounds earlier before. Being so focused on their others, the Maximal had not realized that he was possibly in worse shape than everyone else. The misfortune of falling into the quick sand made things a bit worse. While not having any medical expertise in particular, Orcariner knew that being submerged in mud with open wounds was never a good thing. He was more than ready to get out of here and go home.

(Well, you guys are almost out, then you should be more re-oriented Star.)
Icebreaker looked over to Rattrap and smirked as he responded It wasn't that hard really. Though I think I have Scorponok to thank partially, he noticed the fluid dripping from the ceiling in the tunnel bellow, so I blew a hole in the ceiling..floor.. thing.. We came in through the cave outside to look for you guys. I imagine things are a mess top side.. Primal's clone buddy is back. Not doing too well underground either, the Preds bellow were in pretty bad shape, Glowstick is nearly dead and Terrorsaur is missing so many pieces I'm surprised he's alive. Wintersong Frilla and Cheetor seemed alright though.

After finishing pulling Orcariner out of the mud, Icebreaker's magnetic grapple detached from Orcariner pulling back to his gun, he then pulled the missile out of the barrel putting it away. He glanced towards Airazor as she mentioned the exit, then looked to Orcariner. I guess you'll just have to leave making the exit to us then..

He looked towards Rattrap After all, why dig your way out when you have a demolition expert? If your explosives are too much for the job I still have some left in my bag of tricks.

Rhinox looked towards Orcariner with some concern as he mentioned the mud Hm.. Your systems should handle that better then some of the others, being aquatic you should be more waterproof then us. But that will gum things up..Do you think you'll be able to transform when we get outside?

___________________

Meanwhile in rather unreachable place.. a landscape of pure darkness, a slightly bored expression was on his face, being one of the few light sources in the darkness lounged back. Glowstick's optics blinked Going by my last memories.. I was impaled and received catastrophic damage.. So I guess this is the after life?.. kinda empty for the matrix.. and here I was hoping it was all just a dog's dream.

He then heard a laugh as a green glowing figure appeared in front of him You always did come up with strange ideas.

Glowstick blinked looking at the figure, it was basically a repaint of himself in a green color scheme. You know.. if your Primus, you're violating my copyright design!

The figure tilted his head to the side for a moment Primus huh.. But you don't even like to admit he exists.

Glowstick leaned up Who would? A cowardly god that created a race of lifeforms for the purpose of killing a portion of himself? So.. where is this anyway?

Primus was a strange creature for one of the light gods, but his methods are no different then your own. You strengthen yourself with your allies, the only difference being you don't see them as expendable.. which is why you're here after that last action.. This place is inside your spark. Appears to be a rather gloomy place, wouldn't you agree?

Inside my spark? well.. I guess that explains that.

he then pointed to the side as a stage from a photo shoot of random female maximals and predacons posing in front of a beach like setting with a purple colored Glowstick taking pictures. The green one blinked rubbing the back of his head Uh.. yeah. That would be one facet of your mind, I'm more your.. intellectual side. He's more your..er.. fun side? he then stated, seeming rather embarrassed by the scene.

Glowstick snickered slightly More like unrealistic dreaming side, that would NEVER happen. But he does look like he's having fun, while on the other appendage.. I'm stuck here, talking to you. So, I'm guessing this isn't the matrix as I would probably be him over there or acting as some sort of data hub.So Greeny, I'm guessing your here so I can pick my brain?

The green Glowstick crossed his arms Defrag more like.. Now then, lets begin.. tell me, what do you think of Megatron so far- He then stopped as he noticed Glowstick floating away towards the purple one Hey buddy, let me show you how to use that camera! HEY! Get back here!

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Meanwhile back in reality..

Tarantulus stopped as he heard Megatron and Sonar behind him, laying low he moved back silently into some deep grass and shrubs slowly to obscure himself from ether's detection.

Starshadow threw her claws in the air with rage and stood up, "I'm tired of sitting around, doing nothing and be stuck in this HORRIBLE, BORING PLACE! Let's go Cecaelia..." she looked at the hole and looked at the octopus femme.

"It should be easy to get up there." Cecaelia said as she started climbing and extended a tentacle to the catbot. Starshadow looked at her sharp nails and started to climb on the walls with the short femme. It was slippery which means dangerous. Her claws nearly slipped away from a rock.

"Well..that wasn't so har-" the cat nearly fell when she almost reached to the hole. Letting out her cat-like hiss, she made her way up, as she pulled Cecaelia up to the hole. The others were found. Finally, a "happy" reunion with the predacons. The two girls walked towards to the group, dusting themselves.

"Let's go. I don't want to be sticking around in this suffocating place of boredom anndddd...." the catbot looked at Orcariner who was covered with mud, "you need a bath."

"OH ME ME ME! I'LL BATHE HIM!!" Cecaelia waved a tentacle excitedly with a big smile on her face.

Dinobot would have battled Sonar for knocking him down were the bat not out of reach. And anyways, once Megatron agreed to Sonar's suggestion of retreating, Dinobot knew that he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do.

But even as he walked to Optimus and Saber-Fang, he refused to let his guard down. The Predacons were capable of coming back at any moment, and the alien was still on the battlefield. Once he reached Optimus, he spoke up.

"You will have to excuse my confrontation, Optimus Primal. Keeping you away from your target seemed in your best interest. And now, what do you propose we are going to do about our alien enemy? So long as he is online, he poses a great danger to us, and an even greater danger to you. But terminating him seems no more accessible an option."

* * *

Cheetor, getting to the bottom of the hole, tried to walk down the metal tunnel, but he lost his grip.

"Woah!" he shouted before falling flat on his back. He sighed and then let himself slip the rest of the way down. "Not again," he moaned.

Coming to a slow landing in the next tunnel, he held the flare up again and looked at the ceiling, trying to find the exit Icebreaker was talking about.

He noticed the others who had already come down. "Hey Frilla... Terrorsaur, Scorpon-"

"Welcome once more, foreign-"

"SHUT UP!" Cheetor shouted suddenly, facing the room off to the side. "I've had it with your skulls, and your bombs, and your catch-22's, and your downhill tunnels, and your mazes, and your slagging ground water!" he said, emphasizing his last point by kicking the stream in the middle of the tunnel, splashing some of the water onto the next bank. His foot sparked from the contact. This only maddened Cheetor more.

"Fascinating," the voice spoke again. At this, Cheetor strode angrily across the stream and towards the room the voice was coming from. "It appears the alternate life forms adapted by your race have some influence on your personalities- even on such aspects as your phobias."

"I'll have some influence on your personality!" Crying aloud, Cheetor shot every single monitor in the room, dropping his flare to have both hands on his gun. He took a moment to silence himself, and noticed his chest was heaving up and down. Then he decided to shoot every monitor again.

Picking up his flare, he looked around the room to see the damage he'd done.

"You still there?" he asked.

A short silence followed. Then the voice came back.

"No."

Cheetor bowed his head in defeat. Then he looked up at the ceiling. Oh yeah. Icebreaker said that's where he'd fallen through.

"Guys- I found our exit!"

* * *

Steelclaw had noticed Icebreaker join the group, but he'd somehow missed the two Predacons' arrivals.

"Hey, you two. Looks like I have allies again. Say, you didn't happen to see Waspinator on your way here, did you?"

Then he looked to Ocariner.

"Can I ask you a question, Maximal?" he asked.

Frilla looked back as she heard Cheetor yell and sighed in relief when it sounded like he was safe but she also saw she wasn't making much progress and shook her head, "I must be getting dumb or brave." She sighed and leapt off the wall letting herself free fall instead,"Frilla maximize!oof!" Not a moment too soon did Frilla transform and felt the ground, her legs buckling a little enough to have to crouch slightly. Grumbling she stood with a sigh, walking through the water that still flooded the tunnels and came out to where Icebreaker had indicated.

Though when Cheetor started shooting a console she guessed it helped a bit to let out some frustration from these aliens. They actually sounded like they were amused by the efforts and yet nothing seemed to be enough,"Let's just get out of these tunnels and with the others. Hey Blackarachnia think you could give us a hand to get to this tunnel?" She called looking back for the spider.

Wintersong looked a most of the others followed but found Cecaelia and Starshadow missing it seemed and had followed Icebreaker instead. Shaking her head with a sigh the tigeress turned in surprise at the anger Cheetor showed as these aliens were pretty much taunting him, and it was getting old so she came over to his side glancing at the damaged monitors,"Come on Cheetor don't let these alien freak get the best of you. They've sent use down here with traps, giant skulls, and probably everything else in the book but we're not finished." She pointed out trying to help her fellow cat though glared at the machine.

"And you alien scum can eat slag!" She growled knowing they were listening but turned away not quite in the mood to be dealing with a mocking voice with nothing better to do then say meaningless things. "Let's get out of this death trap. Think all of us are tired of seeing dirt."She said looking at the ceiling.

Icebreaker wrote: I guess you'll just have to leave making the exit to us then..

Orcariner brushed as much mud off his body as he could. Looking at his friend, the orca replied.

"Thanks, buddy, but as long as I still function I'm going to do everything I can to help out," he said with a smile, "Plus, I owe you one for coming in here out of the blue and helping the others pull me out of that mud hole... or quick sand as Rattrap calls it."

He turned to the others.

"Thank you. All of you."

Rhinox wrote: Hm.. Your systems should handle that better then some of the others, being aquatic you should be more waterproof then us. But that will gum things up..Do you think you'll be able to transform when we get outside?

Still trying to clean himself to no avail, Orcariner shrugged with doubt.

"I'm not entirely sure. My body's tough and it'll force itself together, but it definitely won't go smoothly."

It might be a bit painful, too.

Starshadow wrote:"you need a bath."

Cecaelia wrote:"OH ME ME ME! I'LL BATHE HIM!!"

Orcariner peered behind the taller presences of Icebreaker and Rhinox and noticed that two others had accompanied Icebreaker. One was a black panther whose voice he recognized as Starshadow's. The other, however, was a complete stranger. She was a blue and yellow cephalopod that sort of reminded him of Glowstick. While he was not familiar with her physical appearance, Orcariner immediately knew her identity based on the previous mission reports.

"You must be Cecaelia," he said, a bit cautiously as he never encountered the Predacon, "I'm Orcariner. Thanks for the offer but I'll be fine for now."

Gotta remember to register her name with her radar signature, he silently thought.

Orcariner activated his vents and spewed more mud out of his body. It was straining, but at least he would not be carrying unnecessary weight with him. As he continued working on the mess, Steelclaw grabbed his attention.

Steelclaw wrote:"Can I ask you a question, Maximal?"

"Shoot," the killer whale replied.

The Maximal had the bear more than his fair share of questions during their time down in the labyrinth. It was only right that the Predacon would return the favor.

"Here... lean on me."

Optimus stopped, rather surprised how quickly Saber showed up at his side not that he had gotten far before she reacted.

"Or better yet, get on. You're in no condition to walk."

I can walk, he thought with a sigh, but before he could object to her offer, she was already laying down, inviting the gorilla to climb on and rest. "I won't be too heavy for you to carry?" Primal asked Saber-Fang as he laid one leg over her back and straddled her, keeping his sword with him. She was injured as well, after all, and he wasn't exactly a light bot.

"You will have to excuse my confrontation, Optimus Primal. Keeping you away from your target seemed in your best interest.

Looking at Dinobot while on Saber-Fang's back as they walked, Optimus nodded to him. "There's no need for explanations, Dinobot. I couldn't c-c-control my actions. ...But thank you. I almost expected the worst in order for someone to stop me. ...I have always feared of harming my own crew." The ordeal was a nightmare come true for the leader. He was growing tired of these aliens.

And now, what do you propose we are going to do about our alien enemy? So long as he is online, he poses a great danger to us, and an even greater danger to you. But terminating him seems no more accessible an option."

Primal turned his head away from Dinobot, thoughtfully looking down at the long, curved blade in his lap. He wasn't thinking about using his sword to cause injury to anyone, it just happened to be the object that his eyes lingered on at the moment while they walked toward the other group and his throbbing head and shoulder interfered with coming up with a plan and answering the raptor's question.

"Maybe after we get the device and our people back, we could use the scans back at base to find the link if nothing else." "Well, we will all just have to come and put our heads together and figure out what to do next."

Tigatron smiled lightly and nodded to Whitegrazer before looking back down at the clone, keeping a watchful eye on him while Optimus, Saber-Fang and Dinobot approached them.

The gorilla remained on Saber's back for now when they walked up to Whitegrazer's group. He was relieved to see that they were all all right despite some injuries. ...Some of which had been caused by him. The thought bothered him greatly. His brown eyes lowered to the clone on the ground, much of his upper body frozen which explained why Optimus couldn't stop shivering. His eyes narrowed but he took a deep breath and looked back up to Feralnight, Whitegrazer and Tigatron (and Valkyrie?). "He's unconscious? And you have him restrained. Impressive," he gratefully commended them. His Maximals did what he and the Predacons couldn't. "Any word from the others under ground?" he asked everyone present. Getting an idea on the whole situation would help him figure out the next move. They had to find out how to sever the link between him and his clone, and either get the transwarp device before Megatron makes a move or stop them when they do. He had no doubt that there were traps surrounding that prize. Or the device itself was just one massive explosive designed to take out as many of them as possible. What a day.

-----

"Let's see if this works,"

Yes! the smaller Maximal cheered inside his head as Orcariner climbed out of the mud and dropped his end of the tentacle. "You okay, Orcariner?" Rattrap asked him as the big guy fell to his hands and knees. He was absolutely filthy, not that Rattrap was much cleaner, but he had gone in in his beast mode, which protected his joints, and had shaken most of it off.

It wasn't that hard really. Though I think I have Scorponok to thank partially, he noticed the fluid dripping from the ceiling in the tunnel bellow, so I blew a hole in the ceiling..floor.. thing.. We came in through the cave outside to look for you guys. I imagine things are a mess top side.. Primal's clone buddy is back. Not doing too well underground either, the Preds bellow were in pretty bad shape, Glowstick is nearly dead and Terrorsaur is missing so many pieces I'm surprised he's alive. Wintersong Frilla and Cheetor seemed alright though.

Aye. Fer bootin' up cold, thought the rat, shaking his head. So they were right below them? Huh.

"I'd never do such a thing to you Rattrap!" "Unless I was very hungry!"

Smirking, Rattrap said, "I knew it! Well, just know that I don't go down withoutta fight, sista."

When I flew back to get the tentacle, I noticed that where the roof had collapsed, a shimmer of light shown through" "Perhaps we can dig our way out and get back to fresh air!"

There was hope for them yet!

"Fresh air, huh? Mind leading the way? We took a lot of twists and turns that I don't remember our path too well." "I'm also clogged with mud, so that might be messing with me, too."

Hm.. Your systems should handle that better then some of the others, being aquatic you should be more waterproof then us. But that will gum things up..Do you think you'll be able to transform when we get outside?

I guess you'll just have to leave making the exit to us then.. After all, why dig your way out when you have a demolition expert? If your explosives are too much for the job I still have some left in my bag of tricks.

"Eh. I might be able to work somethin' out. We just gotta be careful not ta bury ourselves alive. Know what I mean?" the explosives expert grinned.

"Let's go. I don't want to be sticking around in this suffocating place of boredom anndddd...." "you need a bath."

"OH ME ME ME! I'LL BATHE HIM!!"

"Hey, you two. Looks like I have allies again. Say, you didn't happen to see Waspinator on your way here, did you?"

MORE Preds? Greeeaat. Rattrap sighed, trying to ignore the femmes' introductions and their reunion with Steelclaw. He casually moved over closer to Airazor. It would be interesting to see how the bear would act around the Maximals now that he wasn't alone and had somewhat more intelligent company besides Waspinator.

"Thanks, buddy, but as long as I still function I'm going to do everything I can to help out," "Plus, I owe you one for coming in here out of the blue and helping the others pull me out of that mud hole... or quick sand as Rattrap calls it."

"You never heard about quick sand before?" Rattrap shook his head at the orca. "Not so easy gettin' out of it on yer own, is it?" he joked.

"Thank you. All of you."

"Don't mention it, Big O. Besides, I think we still owe you for what you did back there with that skull monster." With that, he started walking back down the tunnel in search of that opening Airazor was talking about. He didn't want to spend another second down there with the Preds AND the alien traps. "Let's find that exit an' get the heck outta here," he called back to the others loitering around Orcariner.

"I won't be too heavy for you to carry?"

Saber smiled a little.

"No, you'll be fine." She didn't want to brag, but if she wanted to she could carry both Rhinox and Dinobot's dead weight on her back, she kept that to herself so not offend him. But having Primal ride on her back wouldn't be a problem.

Back on her feet, she and the Maximal leader headed toward the others.

"You will have to excuse my confrontation, Optimus Primal. Keeping you away from your target seemed in your best interest.

"There's no need for explanations, Dinobot. I couldn't c-c-control my actions. ...But thank you. I almost expected the worst in order for someone to stop me. ...I have always feared of harming my own crew."

Saber's ears drooped a little, she also feared about hurting her team mates, she knew the power of the beast and it scared her.

And now, what do you propose we are going to do about our alien enemy? So long as he is online, he poses a great danger to us, and an even greater danger to you. But terminating him seems no more accessible an option."

"Wouldn't that cause more harm then good?" She asked.

Saber narrowed her eyes as she saw the half frozen clone, had never seen the clone so this was her first time seeing it. It was freaky that it looked exactly like Optimus, but it had an evil aura coming off it. She could feel Optimus shivering, most likely caused by the link shared between them.

She opened her jaws and drank in his scent, his scent was almost identical to Primal scent, only it had a metallic taste to it.

Whitegrazer thought since they had a quiet moment, she should take advantage of it. Transforming into her beast mode, the ones that broke still strained her servos near them so she had to take a position by her bending her front legs forward under her body--it looked like she was bowing.

That should take away some strain on my systems.

"Any word from the others under ground?"

She shook her head, "Not a peep yet." But that meant nothing. They were alive down there. She knew it because they were tough and they had to will to see it through. All of them.

_______________________________________________________________________

Blackarchnia was amused by the foreign voice but it made her angry at the aliens, they really loved to torture them, didn't they?

,"Let's just get out of these tunnels and with the others. Hey Blackarachnia think you could give us a hand to get to this tunnel?"

She took out her grapple gun ((OOC: I don't know what it is called on the show but it looks like a big grapple gun to me XDD)) and shoot out a webbing, "Ready to get outta here?" She winked at everyone.

Feralnight nodded as Optimus, Saber-fang, and Dinobot joined them lettin them talk."I'll take a watch from the air, if my wings are functional." She said and checked with her internal computer. They were not completely repaired but with a few flaps she found them operational enough,"Alright if I see anything you guys will get a report." With a crouch Feralnight pushed off the ground as she flapped her wings and took flight over the forest and headed towards the battlefield from earlier, scanning the aera of where the Maximals and Predacons below had fallen and towards where Icebreaker, Starshadow, and Cecealia had gone. So far though it seemed quiet but she only hoped nothing bad had happened.

Icebreaker shrugged I wouldn't call it out of the blue. I used to do search and rescue all the time before I joined the Axalon. So finding lost bots, blowing up holes, and patching people up is really all I'm good at. Bit better at blowing things up in my opinion though..



Icebreaker blinked and thought for a moment the idea of Cecaelia bathing Orcariner, considering she was 1/4th his size and half Icebreaker's size. Under normal circumstances that would probably bring up images which Rattrap wouldn't mind, but due to the size differences, the image was far more innocent of the tiny cephalopod crawling around with a brush or mop while being hyper. He laughed a bit Don't worry about him Cecaelia, he'll probably just use the waterfall back at base as his personal shower. Then a relaxing dip in the CR tank should get him back to top shape. Icebreaker could tell Orcariner was nervous around Cecaelia, and it likely wasn't because she suddenly took a interest in the whale. From what he could tell of Cecaelia's actions, she seemed to have a thing for amphibious lifeforms, as she nearly attacked every maximal earlier until she realized he was part of the group. If she ever became their enemy he imagined they might have a harder time dealing with her then Glowstick as her body was naturally far more stealthy compared to the music and light obsessed squid.

Steelclaw wrote:"Can I ask you a question,maximal?"

Orcariner wrote:"Shoot," the killer whale replied.

Icebreaker gave a nervous laugh Bad choice of words there buddy, that's what he usually does.

He then turned and followed Rattrap, his visor switching through it's optical settings to see where he was going, as well as try to see a source of light. He reached on the top of his head plucking one of his feathers, then held it up seeming to move his arm about, until he noticed the feather move from the air current. He then stopped looking around, then looking up at the ceiling. Pretty high up, might be easier if Orcariner or Airazor give you a boost Rattrap.

Rhinox stayed with Orcariner, watching the Predacon females carefully. He wasn't sure why they came in with Icebreaker, but he did remember the penguin telling him about Cecaelia. The creatures of the ocean seemed to have alot of draw backs out of water, but had almost fantastical natural abilities compared to alot of the ones on land. Sure there were birds and insects that could fly, but the creatures of the ocean often had abnormal sensory, camouflage,poisons, and even projectile capabilities. The planet in a sense was more ruled by the oceans being nearly 70% water, but luckily the majority of the stasis pods landed on dry land. He couldn't even imagine what their lives would be like if the Axalon or Darkside crashed into the ocean instead.