"Tangled Webs & Muddle"

[una]

"Thank you, Orcariner, but I'm afraid your gratitude should be directed toward Rhinox and Whitegrazer. If not for them, I wouldn't even be here,"

Whitegrazer felt Optimus squeeze her hand. She closed her optics, rubbing her thumb on his hand as he talked with Orcariner. She studied him intently as he relayed a message from Icebreaker. Her optics widened abit with surprise then turned to a big grin. Ever since he returned, he didn't seem to remember his time in the Matrix. Pieces. Fragments of memories. It was normal for people who had returned from the Matrix to have temporary amnesia... until certain events help those memories recollect. That didn't surprise her. What surprised her was the message from Icebreaker. She really didn't expect that, but it was a welcome surprise. If only Aurora could know...

"There's nothing to talk about," Saber replied, not meaning to sound so harsh. "I'm a ticking time bomb, a threat to any Maximal abroad this ship. Primus, why did I even come back to the Axalon? At least out in the wilds, no Maximal is in danger of becoming the latest victim of my... condition."

She had asked herself that very question several times since she recovered from her latest transformation.

"Friends protect each other, Saber-Fang," Whitegrazer said softly to Saber-Fang. She remembered how Saber-Fang had left the Maximals to isolate herself, but despite herself, her sense of duty and compassion towards her friends made her return to them. The soldier still seemed plagued by this beast who has made an effort to ruin her life by changing her into an untamed monster with unstoppable and indiscriminating rage.

She had offered herself to help in Saber-Fang's pain before, but the Maximal didn't seem to think it would work.

"If you can't beat the beast, turn it into an ally, a force of good. Control it by the strength of your own convictions, your own spark, and calm it to listen, teaching it to see friend from foe. Then discipline it to come out by your own will, not it's own."

She smiled with empathy at the Maximal feline, "I can help with that if you want. It may not be the same literally, but I'm no stranger to having something deep inside that threatens to destroy your life around you. The same techniques apply, though."
______________________________________________________________________________________________

"I cannot believe that Megatron expects me to carry out such a menial task"

She rolled her optics at Tarantulas, "Oh, stop complaining!" She let out a grunt as she placed her last container onto the other stuff on her cart. She looked at all four of the carts. Everything was equal in amount of weight between the supplies they had to carry. A smirk came across her lips. Perfect. Everything was all set, "I divided everything into equal shares. So no one should be complaining." She glared daggers at Tarantulas, "The sooner we get on the trail, the sooner we can get back. We don't want to keep Megatron waiting for his refueling station, do we?"

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: So sorry for the wait, guys. I don't know why, but I've just been so tired this week and haven't been able to focus long enough to type up a post. I wish it were a bit better, but I guess it'll have to do so I don't continue to hold up the game.

BIC:

Arachnitron had been listening quietly to what was going on in the bridge while at the same time observing Tarantulas' reactions. She wanted to know how he felt about the assignment.

"What precisely are you doing?" Tarantulas inquired of his leader in name only.

"Planning for the future, NOW GO!" Megatron commanded the spider, Tarantulas turning away on his hover platform to carry out his orders...Or so Megatron thought.

After he was out of earshot of Megatron and the rest, though trusting his fellow arachnids would follow in his wake, Tarantulas scratched his chin in thought as he pondered aloud "So Megatron means to persist in his madness."

Arachnitron followed Tarantulas out of the bridge and down to the cargo hold to pick up the supplies they were to take to the refueling station. She was close enough to hear what he had said, but decided not to ask him what Megatron's plans were. Tarantulas probably would think Blackarachnia and Quickstrike unworthy to over hear the plans. He probably would choose not to speak of Megatron's plans in the presence of the other arachnids.

Once they reached the cargo and the transport carts they were going to use to haul the supplies, Tarantulas' opinion of the assignment became quite clear. He began complaining almost the moment they started loading up the carts.

"I cannot believe that Megatron expects me to carry out such a menial task"

"Careful with those containers Arachnitron, last thing we want is Megatron to whine about us damaging his precious resources before we even begin construction of his oh so important refueling station, a complete and utter misuse of my talents"

“Of course,” Arachnitron responded. There were four transport carts; one for each of them. Arachnitron obediently began loading up the cart that was meant for her to pull.

"Oh, stop complaining! I divided everything into equal shares. So no one should be complaining. The sooner we get on the trail, the sooner we can get back. We don't want to keep Megatron waiting for his refueling station, do we?"

Arachnitron shrugged. She frankly didn't care what Megatron had to say. She knew that as long as Tarantulas was happy then she was doing her job.

Once her cart was loaded up, she picked up the reigns and readied herself to begin transporting. She turned to look at the others.

“Ready to go?” she asked them.

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

"Well spoken Subcommander, though I suspect Starshadow at least has learned her lesson, Yes?"

The Royalty had been pleased with Inferno's response to the situation regarding Starshadow and Sonar. He grinned with pride.

Inferno's attempts to quell the situation between Manterror, Nemesis and Umbra, however, had failed. Umbra dodged the shot that Inferno had sent his way.

"Now that was a little uncalled for,"

The black stallion called Onyx interrupted the exchange. Another one pining for his position as sub-commander!

“Anything done in The Royalty's name is not uncalled for!” the red ant argued with a glare.

“The Maximals have the same detection capabilities that we do. If we do not hurry, we may be too late to capture the new protoform,"

“Fine, but I shall lead. The Royalty commands it,” Inferno insisted. He tried to speed ahead of Nemesis and Manterror ignoring Manterror's indignant shouts of protest, but to no avail. The two had already had a significant head start.

Once they reached the location of where the stasis pod was supposed to be, Inferno and his task force (ooc: for lack of a better word) landed and began exploring the area in attempts to find the pod and the protoform it contained. The pod was there, but the protoform was nowhere to be seen. Manterror didn't waste any time jumping to ridiculous conclusions.

"What did you do with the protoform!? No wonder you wanted to be first, to steal the new predicon for yourself!! Bahahahah!!! Can't trick me you stupid bird!!"

“Silence!” Inferno snapped at the mantis. “You will give away our position to the enemy!”

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

Dinobot had spent the majority of the days after the battle with the Predacons, and Optimus' miraculous return, researching. He spent hour after hour searching for information on the golden disks, but the Maximal's data tracks didn't have much information about the disks. He had, however, stumbled upon some encrypted files that he had just recently begun trying to decode. He, unfortunately, was a warrior and not an engineer. He found this work to be tedious and he had no skill or talent for it.

While he worked, he overheard sentinel informing them of an incoming status pod. Feeling that he had no more energy to continue working anyway, he made his way to the bridge to find out where the pods were and if he could be of any help in securing them.

As he walked onto the bridge, Rhinox, Frilla, and Rattrap were there along with Aurora, the child fuzor (OOC: and probably others...I just can't remember who).

"Cheetor, Aerostriker, Silverstreak and Feralnight, there has been a stasis pod activation in sector Zeta three-three-five. Optimus wants you to investigate and interfere with the Predacons only if necessary. We can't be sure if it's hostile or not, so proceed with caution."

Rhinox had radioed the others. Shortly after, Sentinel alerted them of another stasis pod. Optimus' voice suddenly boomed from Rattrap's comm link.

"Rattrap, Airazor, Silverbolt, Wintersong and Ironclaw, this is Optimus. Converge on sector Gamma 81 for stasis pod retrieval and assisting the life form. Be cautious of a Predacon attack.”

Dinobot snarled in disapproval. Why wasn't he chosen to search for the fallen stasis pods! Surely, he was much more valuable on the battle field than at the base doing nothing!

Rhinox and Frilla were discussing the improvements that had been made to some of the crew. Dinobot listened intently and couldn't help but to feel a bit jealous. Upgraded exostructure meant upgraded weapons most likely went along with that. Upgraded weapons lead to more power, stamina, strength......everything! Why wasn't he given that?

"More lethal? You guys talkin' about me again?"” Rattrap smirked

“Yes,” Dinobot answered without missing a beat. “We were discussing how much more lethal your stench has become regardless of your new, less organic form.”

"Where's Wintersong and Ironflaw?"” Rattrap asked.

The engineer spun around in his chair and looked at his TransMetal friend after nodding with a smile to Aurora. “Looks like they're already outside and on their way, along with Airazor. Better hurry on out there.”

"They'll be eatin' my dust in 60 seconds,"

"Communication will be limited in that location, Rattrap," Rhinox added on a serious note."Be careful.”

"Got it, Big Green. I'll make sure at least half of us come back," he winked.

"Can he ever be serious?"

Rhinox had asked once Rattrap left the bridge.

“That is highly unlikely,” Dinobot responded. Switching gears a bit, he approached Rhinox and stood beside him. “What would you have me do?” Dinobot asked.

[Night-Hunter]

"No Maximal except you. And what if the Predacons were to capture you? Of if you stumbled across a Vok trap? ... Assuming there are any left and if they know the plan to still here. Saber-Fang, you are right where you should be. Everyone is aware of the possible danger and we have precautions in place."

That might not be enough, this thing is crazy strong and powerful. Saber wanted to say but didn't.

"But as for your involvement with Sonar, that's something that we have yet to discuss."

Saber's ears went back at his last words.

"Friends protect each other, Saber-Fang."

* * *

"Terrorize," Sonar commanded. "Hows this for a wake up call."

With a smirk the bat reached into his bag of goodies and removed a concussion grenade.

"Knock, knock." He said removing the pin and dropping the now active weapon, knowing it would detonate on impact.

* * *

"If you can't beat the beast, turn it into an ally a force for good. Control it by the strength of your own convictions, your own spark, and calm it to listen, teaching to see friend from foe. Then discipline it to come out from your own will, not its own."

"Don't you think I've tried!" Saber all but shouted. "This thing can not be controled, the Maximal Elders tried to control those with the same condition even experimented on them. In the end anyone with this genetic mutation or what they called it was killed."

She forced her hackles to lower, last thing she wanted was to provoke the beast into rearing its ugly head.

She smiled with empathy at the Maximal feline. "I can help you with that if you want. It may not be the same literally, but I am no stranger to having something deep inside you that threatens to destroy your life around you. The same techniques apply though."

"Not like this you haven't." Saber replied before turning to walked away.

* * *

"Boom." Sonar smirked as a moment later the grenade exploded upon hitting the shield.

[Warwulf]

((OOC: Sorry for the delay. Was eager to post earlier on this episode, but wasn't paying attention during the delay. When Sunny mentioned I was up, I got trapped in the vicious cycle "Oh, I'll post later tonight." "I'm too tired to make a decent post now." "Working, I'll post when I have better access." "Too tired." Anyways, here's 'Bolt. I will get to Tantrum soon.))

Silverbolt nodded in acknowledgement to Feralnight. So, Rattrap's not an early bird... or rat. Judging by the muffled response from Rattrap's room, this seemed to hold true. He was about to knock a second time when the comm kicked to life.

"Rattrap, Airazor, Silverbolt, Wintersong and Ironclaw, this is Optimus. Converge on sector Gamma 81 for stasis pod retrieval and assisting the life form. Be cautious of a Predacon attack,"

"Let's go, Bird-dog, we got a pod ta fetch," he said without looking back at him as he walked briskly to the command center.

Silverbolt followed Rattrap into the command center wordlessly. Duty called, and Silverbolt took it seriously. After listening to the banter and exchange amongst his colleagues, he know the importance of their role. His comrades had already gone ahead and may need support. As Rattrap took to the lift, Silverbolt took the the air, flying out from the hatch. 'Bolt flew a few hundred feet above Rattrap, following his dust trail below.

[New Moon]

Frilla turned also in her chair, smiling when seeing the rat finally awake, grinning with the fact Rattrap knew they were at least only being humorous to the whole change in their forms and she had to admit the rat had grown on her. Many months ago they likely would have been hostile to one another from her just being a Predacon but that had long since passed, it seemed since her attempts to just joke around with Rattrap things had changed drastically along with proving herself to the others at the fact she was not trying to harm her teammates but help them. And she smiled even more when seeing Aurora and Dinobot coming along as well, "Seems everyone is finally out and about." She said, seeing that everyone seemed well rested and in better spirits over the last several days and even Silverbolt seemed to have settled in well but of course Rattrap was likely going to give him a hard time for a while.

"I think given some...rare occasions he might pull off being serious once in a while." Frilla said with a slight shrug, trying to be positive in that outlook but she had to agree with Dinobot it'd be very unlikely. She had never seen a moment when Rattrap was truly the serious kind of bot. "Least everyone seems to be in..."Frilla cut off when hearing the boom from on top of the shields above their heads, making the transmetal lizard turn back to the monitor and press a button for their scanners to check what was out there. Surprisingly a familiar signature popped up that caused Frilla to sigh, "In speaking of rats, the rat with wings seems to want to come ruining our morning." She reported, turning to look at Rhinox, Dinobot, and Aurora, wondering if they should just have the autoguns take care of the lone Predacon or having one of them handle it. "Should we turn on the autoguns?"She asked.

[Wintersong]

((I'm doing a quick reply for Wintersong, just gonna do a time skip since the whole transportation thing is going to be a pain in the neck to begin with. And I'm fixing to end up pretty busy here again soon, got two classes down but still three to go so will reply with Spineback in the next day or so.))

After traveling the long distance to arrive to where the pod was supposedly was, the transmetal tigress had shifted back to moving on foot and using her vehicle mode on and off to get here and to lessen the time. She might have gotten a little ahead of Ironclaw but she knew he had seemed to keep close the whole time when they traveled and Wintersong was sure the others couldn't be far behind when it came to Airazor and Rattrap, the bird femme was one of the fastest fliers among them and Rattrap's vehicle form was a dragster of some kind so it wouldn't be long before they showed. Still, it was best to try and secure the pod and or protoform if they could. "Well since this is the area, might as well begin looking."She muttered before she continued on and now preferring to run in her beast mode then waste more energy from her boosters which she did notice took up quite a bit of energy if she wasn't careful.

Though what did bother her was the fact the terrain was far more open than she liked, the tigress was use to trees, tall grass on occasion, maybe even rocks here and there which many of the rocks here were small and hardly worth cover. It was more of an open plain like animals for horses and a few other grazers upon this world which in speaking of which she could see some of the animals in the distance here and there but hardly paid much attention to them. So far, none of them had given off anything unusual. And as Wintersong was nearing closer to the pod she came to a halt when smelling faintly on the wind the scent of Predacons close by, which meant they might be expecting a fight here eventually. "So Preds are here, others can't be far."Wintersong spoke before commanding softly, "Stealth mode." She had to admit, she was beginning to see why Tigatron used the stealth mode he had, it would work wonders to prevent the Predacons from detecting her right off the bat but they could easily spot her shiny new form from a distance so she still had to be careful. So with this in mind, the transmetal feline continued on a bit more cautiously until she eventually came across some llamas that made her stop and raise an optic ridge.

They never seemed to have a care in the world the few times she had seen them but they were also strange...and disgusting with the way they defended themselves with spitting up their food at you. It made her shudder a bit as she continued on past them, unaware of these llamas was actually Buster closeby.

(FYI, getting spit on by a llama is absolutely disgusting. Gotta admit, good thing I have glasses otherwise would have been right in the eye. Anyone else ever had that unfortunate experience? Lol))

[Alak]

"Thank you, Orcariner, but I'm afraid your gratitude should be directed toward Rhinox and Whitegrazer. If not for them, I wouldn't even be here,"
"From what I understand, your courage and selflessness is to be commended."

"Just doing my job," Orcariner smiled, then directing his attention to Whitegrazer, "And thank you for bringing him back."

He noticed his leader grab the femme bot's hand. The touch was fleeting, but there was a hint of compassion there. Orcariner did not let his facial expression show his reaction, but he was genuinely surprised by this. Intimacy between officers was always frowned upon at the Academy, and even outright banned in certain stations. However, the large Maximal reminded himself that despite being stuck in the middle of a war, this was not a military crew. This was not even a scientific crew, at least not anymore. They were much closer than that now. Having been together through so many moments of joy and tragedy, the Maximals of the Axalon have risen above being a simple collection of professionals. They were all close friends, if not family.

"I remember. Icebreaker wanted you and Aurora to know that he's doing all right. And to try to keep up hope." "I'm sorry,"
"They are only fragments but when I saw you, it specifically triggered that memory."

Orcariner stood there stunned at what he had just heard.

Did he just... did he just say Icebreaker?

The giant did not know what to make of this news. Sure, it all sounded a bit farfetched, but then again Orcariner thought death-and-resurrection was a fantasy until Optimus returned. Optimus was not the type to lie, especially about things such as this. If he said Icebreaker gave him a message, then the penguin really did speak to him from the other side. Orcariner was still in shock.

"Um... wow..." he was struggling to find words to say, "I don't know... what to say, I mean."

Finding difficulty to maintain eye contact now, the sentry found himself staring at the floor. Primal found a way to do it. He found a way to contact Icebreaker.

"It was reported to me that you've taken on a different attitude now, that your self confidence has grown significantly and you're more involved with the crew. I can't tell you how proud I am to hear that, Orcariner. You've always had the strength and courage, you just needed to believe in yourself and your abilities because I have never doubted them."

Those last comments glazed over Orcariner as he continued to dwell on what was previously said. He knew he had to say something before the situation became awkward. The orca had already moved on from Icebreaker's death, yet, the news was still so shocking to him. Still, he did not want the others to think that it was a burden for him.

"Thank you for the kind words, and thanks for relaying the message," he looked up at Optimus Primal and Whitegrazer, "I'll certainly keep it close to my spark."

Giving all three of the Maximals a nod and smile, Orcariner excused himself as he left the training room. Starting to head back to the hangar bay, the large orca stopped in the middle of the hallway. There were no thoughts running inside of his head, but he continued to remain motionless as he stared down the long, empty corridor. He stayed that way for another minute, exhaled, and proceeded to return to his station.


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


Buster wanted to vomit, but the grass was necessary to sustain his new body. Despite the horrid taste, his body was welcoming the food as he noticed his mouth was secreting more and more saliva. It was quite the view: bits of chewed grass and drool were falling from his reluctant jaws. He would have been ashamed of his appearance, but the other llamas were no better off than he was.

He forcefully swallowed, "Ugh... they so did not mention this in the travel brochure."

Just as he was about to reach his face back down to the ground, Buster heard some voices over the hill. They were coming from the same direction that his pod had crash landed. Voices meant people, and people meant edible food!

"Aha! I'm saved!"

Galloping as fast as he could, the llama worked his way back up the green hill. He was so excited to hear audible, coherent words that he was completely oblivious to the presence of the white tigress nearby.

"Can't trick me you stupid bird!!"

He stopped mid-stride. A blank, emotionless expression quickly washed over his llama face as he stared at what was happening near the impact crater. A green transformer was laughing maniacally at a black female one.

“Silence! You will give away our position to the enemy!”

A red one with an enormous backside was now chewing out the green one. They sure were a colorful bunch. Unsure what to make of this little rescue party, Buster looked down at the grass one more time. It looked atrocious to him. Raising his optics back to the loud group of Cybertronians, he concluded that they were a much better option than this poor excuse for food. Still, it was always a good idea to practice caution. For all he knew, their trigger fingers could be just as short-fused as their tempers.

"Alrighty, Buster. Go get 'em."

Remaining in his beast mode, he trotted in their direction trying to look as casual and nonchalant as possible. He would try to spy on them a little bit using his newfound animal disguise. If they were trustworthy enough, the llama would then transform and reveal him as a stranded victim of a science expedition gone wrong. Buster also decided to throw a little swag into his walk. He may have wanted to look like a llama, but at least he would look like a pretty cool llama. One that the llamas would look at and think, "Wow, I wanna be that llama right there".

[starshadow]

((Buster, why you so cute?!))

"Think perhaps testing your limits first would have been better Cecaelia, seems you overworked that engine of your's."

Thank Primus that he did not know anything.

"Umbra seems right though, it hasn't been that hard to keep up with you or almost outmatch you."

If she could puff her cheeks, they would be as big as a frog's inflated throat, "I will outmatch you any day! Just err...not today!"

Umbra was quiet for awhile which worried Cecaelia. Maybe.. don't tell me he knows! she thought.

Ug.. You know, since this isn't a smooth road, you shouldn't try to drive that fast.. you could damage your suspension. You also haven't broken in your engine yet, so it'll probably act up until the seals seat for the cylinders..Least from what I remember of my Bike mode back on Cybertron..

With a gasp in her thoughts, he knows.... how she wished that she would just crawl in her sea cave right now and bury herself with seaweed. Cecaelia snapped out of it when the terrain changed and followed her observant driver's orders.

Starshadow lowered down herself below cloud level and landed on her feet, scanning the grassy land. It seems Manterror and Inferno were near-by with their banter of insanity. "I see you mechs have arrived just in time." she called out to them before walking around. These animals with long necks and long hair...She had seen giraffes in the savannah but this? No. Then there was this llama which looked like it wanted some attention. It did not behave like the others so it must be the awaken protoform. She catwalked towards it and circled around it. Maybe if it feels threatened, it may transform. If it does not, oh well.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: I don't think Inferno would have been able to catch up to Nemesis much less pull in front of her and Manterror. She has a speed stat of 10 whereas Inferno is a 6 and Manterror a 7.)

Nemesis could but shake her head as the insane mantis joined her in the search for the new protoform and immediately began accusing her of.. Something. She honestly wasn't quite sure what the mantis was trying to insinuate but it most certainly was annoying.

"What did you do with the protoform!?" He snapped. The mantis was transforming back into his Robot form and landed just a few feet behind Nemesis. "No wonder you wanted to be first, to steal the new predicon for yourself!! Bahahahah!!! Can't trick me you stupid bird!!"

Inferno arrived just in time to witness the altercation, suitably annoyed that the two of them had gone on without him. The Decepticon-turned-Predacon could not care less.

“Silence!” Inferno snapped at the mantis. “You will give away our position to the enemy!”

Sending the mantis a warning look to let him know he was treading in dangerous waters here, Nemesis used every bit of self-control she possessed to resist the urge of punching the smaller insect hard in the face. The only reason she didn't was that it would accomplish nothing. Insane as the blabbering insect was, Megatron decided to keep him around. Amusement of having a pet, she supposed, since she honestly couldn't see any other reason for allowing such a pathetic creature to live.

"Perhaps it would be best if you simply keep your mouth shut and stand there looking..," she paused for a moment, attempting to refrain from bursting out laughing while finishing, "..imposing like the tough guy you are."


She then glanced around at the number of creatures that had started gathering, a majority of them grazing seemingly unaware of the new threat. Part of her wanted to settle this quickly by merely setting off an explosive and see which of the animals did not scatter as quickly as the rest.

Still..

"Don't be afraid," she called out, taking the diplomatic approach instead.. for now. "We've come to help you."

Through the corner of her optic she took note of a specific animal who seemed more than a little interested in their whereabouts in this place. And also seemed somewhat reluctant to continue grazing. If anything he looked somewhat nauseated. And he was approaching them, if a little wearily.

Turning towards the strange creature, she offered; "We have energon available if you're hungry?"

Aurora smiled and was about to speak up as Rattrap and Silverbolt came by just as she was about to enter the Axalon bridge. The rodent spoke up first, however, following his friendly "Hey, Aurora!" up with messing up her already unruly white hair even more.

"Hey!," she protested, attempting to squirm away as she realized what Rattrap was about to do, but it was already too late. So she merely glared at him ever so briefly underneath messy bangs before the giggles overcame her. "Just you wait," she called after him, "I'll get you for that." She stuck her tongue out as if to prove a point, Rattrap having the uncanny ability to bring out the child in her with his wisecracking ways.

Following them inside the large room, she almost desperately tried to get her bangs back out of her face when Rhinox' voice caught her attention.

"Aurora, how are you doing? You look well rested,"

"No thanks to cheese-breath over there," she responded, but her tone implied she was more amused than anything, smiling back at Frilla as the other small female spoke up.

"Should we turn on the autoguns?"

"Or we could just send out or secret weapon," Aurora suggested, "All Rattrap would have to do is breathe in their direction and the smell will surely knock them out. Turning the other end will likely have a similar effect but.. that might actually be lethal," she winked. Then she merely followed Rattrap and Silverbolt with teasing eyes as they headed out.

[Wintersong]

As the sounds grew closer and closer Spineback began to tense slightly, that was until her computer informed her of two energy signatures being of Predacon origin which intrigued the Spinosaurus and proving the fact that there were other Cybertronians. For now she relaxed, but not entirely as not all Predacons held back from attacking even their own kind more often than not so she was being ready for the worst as two fliers came into view, but they were more metallic than she had expected, and one of them had a similar form to her own. Curiosity filled her eyes then, seeing the two exchanging some words but she patiently awaited for them to land or one of them too.

Finally, the purple and black t-rex was the one to land in the shallows of the water before her, scaring away the fish that had begun to return after her initial catch of the first one and the pteradon landing in a tree close by. Turning her attention fully to Megatron, she tilting her head as he introduced himself and the name seemed to strike quick a shock in the femme as she began examining this mech who proclaimed himself with a name similar to that of her deceased commander Megatron, last known as Galvatron before his defeat. Was it a name he took in honor of being the leader of these Predacons? Or was it something of the matter of a powerful name fitting to a powerful looking mech? Further intrigued Spineback finally spoke, "My name is Spineback sir, medic and former Decepticon soldier, or probably better to say a "retired" soldier." Spineback introduced herself, figuring Megatron's own curiosity from his expression before might be to her form or the fact her signal still had a hint of her past Decepticon programming before she upgraded to this much smaller, more energy efficient body.

"And to confirm my allegiance, if you are curious Megatron, this could help...Spineback, terrorize."She commanded calmly before she snarled and transformed to her robot form being just a few inches shorter than Megatron himself and giving a slight bow. "Also, if you do not mind my inquiring what is the current situation? I last recall being aboard the exploration ship the Axalon and find myself waking up here upon this organic world, so you could say I am quite curious to what has gone on, especially your forms aren't exactly what I expected either."She asked, as she stood straight again.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Great post with Dinobot, Blackrose! ))

Optimus watched Saber's ears bend back when he had mentioned Sonar. It would seem the Predacon bat was still a touchy subject for her. Perhaps that meant she still had a lot to hide. She didn't have to, though. It wasn't like it would anger the leader. All he wanted to do was try to help but there wasn't much he could offer if she wasn't going to share what she and Sonar already knew.

"Friends protect each other, Saber-Fang," "If you can't beat the beast, turn it into an ally, a force of good. Control it by the strength of your own convictions, your own spark, and calm it to listen, teaching it to see friend from foe. Then discipline it to come out by your own will, not it's own." "I can help with that if you want. It may not be the same literally, but I'm no stranger to having something deep inside that threatens to destroy your life around you. The same techniques apply, though."

"Don't you think I've tried!" "This thing can not be controled, the Maximal Elders tried to control those with the same condition even experimented on them. In the end anyone with this genetic mutation or what they called it was killed." "Not like this you haven't."

Despite Whitegrazer's willingness to help and offer different avenues, the former General seemed to immediately shoot her down and think all of it was a waste of time that would all of them no where. Her reaction and possibly stubbornness disappointed Optimus after everything they had been though. On the other hand, Saber would know about it more than them because she never discussed anything with them and only seemed to seek Sonar's help when she needed it, which wouldn't irk Optimus as much as it did if she'd just tell him about Sonar's involvement and possibly even work with him together. At any rate, when Saber-Fang brought up the Elders and their experiments, Primal couldn't help but feel guilty. Although he didn't have any direct involvement with her history, he used to be a part of that "research" in general and it was disgraceful. It was one reason why he felt so much empathy and offered compassion for Nemesis and Arachnitron, which none of the other Maximals understood because he bundled their secrets with his own and kept his word. It was his dark vault in his mind that he hadn't even told Whitegrazer yet because he felt so ashamed and deceitful to his crew. Optimus frowned at the saber-tooth's words and watched her walk away. "Probably best to let her cool off," he said softly toward Whitegrazer. He just wished she'd open up about her past with Sonar.

"Just doing my job,"

It wasn't just a job when it came to their team, though. They were family. For all of the times that Orcariner threw himself in harm's way in order to protect his comrades, it should always be recognized and never go unnoticed or taken for granted. He was a large enough target as it was to the Predacons, and Primal understood that the TransMetal orca used that to his advantage when he could just to keep his friends safe.

"Um... wow..." "I don't know... what to say, I mean."

It was too much too soon, wasn't it? Primal suddenly felt reluctant to have blurted it out the way he did. He'd have to learn to bite his tongue the next time a memory like that found its way to the surface so abruptly. Watching Orcariner fall back to the timid whale he recognized when he usually confronted him, his optics falling to the floor and avoid eye contact, Optimus took a breath and fell silent, allowing Orcariner to compose himself and take his time.

"Thank you for the kind words, and thanks for relaying the message," "I'll certainly keep it close to my spark."

"Allow me to speak to Aurora about it," Optimus asked of him before he stepped out, just in case he was going to discuss the penguin's message with her before he would see her since they were both so close to Icebreaker. Hopefully by then Primal would find a more subtle way to bring it up. As the large Maximal exited after Saber-Fang, the blue and silver ape looked at Whitegrazer.

"Well, we sure do know how to clear a room, don't we?" he said half jokingly. "We better get to our sparring match before anything else comes up." And then, of course, there was a small rumble that came from outside.

"Rhinox, report."

-----

"No thanks to cheese-breath over there,"

“Yes,” “We were discussing how much more lethal your stench has become regardless of your new, less organic form.”

Despite Rhinox shaking his head at Dinobot and Rattrap's continued bantering, a smile had appeared at the sarcasm and witty comments, as well as Aurora's comment explaining her messy hair.

"I think given some...rare occasions he might pull off being serious once in a while."

Frilla was right. In dire situations, Rattrap was far more focused and serious, especially if Optimus wasn't around. But to have that sense of humor around more often than not, Rhinox thought it was good for the crew's moral.

“That is highly unlikely,” “What would you have me do?”

"Least everyone seems to be in..." "In speaking of rats, the rat with wings seems to want to come ruining our morning." "Should we turn on the autoguns?"

"Or we could just send out or secret weapon," "All Rattrap would have to do is breathe in their direction and the smell will surely knock them out. Turning the other end will likely have a similar effect but.. that might actually be lethal,

Having noticed the raptor's disappointed snarl earlier to having not being able to join the others on the pod rescue missions, the engineer thought it best to allow him to vent his cabin fever on the lonely Predacon instead of using the ship's energy for the autoguns. "As improvisational an idea as yours is, Aurora," Rhinox chuckled lightly, "I think Dinobot could offer some services just as damaging without the odor."

"Dinobot, if you wouldn't mind swatting away that pesky bat," the rhinoceros said, allowing the velociraptor to engage him. Why a lonely Predacon like Sonar would come sniffing around their base was rather unusual, unless he wanted something to do with Saber-Fang. It no secret, after all, about his strange obsession with her and her inner beast. Did he want to be taken prisoner again? The Axalon's scanners weren't picking up any other Predacon signatures in the vicinity.

"Rhinox, report."

"Sonar just used a grenade on our shields, Optimus. He appears to be alone. I'm sending Dinobot out to chase him away, or perhaps figure out what he wants," Rhinox answered.

"Copy that. Just keep a close eye for an ambush or any other tricks. It may just be Saber-Fang he's looking for," the Maximal leader replied.

"Understood," said Big Green and looked at Dinobot with a nod to go ahead.

-----

"Hey!," "Just you wait," "I'll get you for that."

Remembering Aurora's words and her sticking her tongue out at him, Rattrap smirked to himself while he drove on, weaving around rocks and trees, and catching up to Wintersong and Ironclaw.

Glancing above them in the air as their little group moved along, and barely picking up Airazor further ahead on his sensors, the rodent watched Silverbolt for a moment or two. "What do you guys think of the new guy?" he asked the TM tigress and badger, just making conversation on their long journey.

"How 're things lookin' up ahead, Airazor?" he sent via comm. link so she knew their group was on the way.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Is anyone gonna take up Quickstrike? We kinda need his involvement for this episode and for stories that'll follow

Wintersong wrote: Finally, the purple and black t-rex was the one to land in the shallows of the water before her, scaring away the fish that had begun to return after her initial catch of the first one and the pteradon landing in a tree close by. Turning her attention fully to Megatron, she tilting her head as he introduced himself and the name seemed to strike quick a shock in the femme as she began examining this mech who proclaimed himself with a name similar to that of her deceased commander Megatron, last known as Galvatron before his defeat. Was it a name he took in honor of being the leader of these Predacons? Or was it something of the matter of a powerful name fitting to a powerful looking mech? Further intrigued Spineback finally spoke, "My name is Spineback sir, medic and former Decepticon soldier, or probably better to say a "retired" soldier." Spineback introduced herself, figuring Megatron's own curiosity from his expression before might be to her form or the fact her signal still had a hint of her past Decepticon programming before she upgraded to this much smaller, more energy efficient body.

"And to confirm my allegiance, if you are curious Megatron, this could help...Spineback, terrorize."She commanded calmly before she snarled and transformed to her robot form being just a few inches shorter than Megatron himself and giving a slight bow. "Also, if you do not mind my inquiring what is the current situation? I last recall being aboard the exploration ship the Axalon and find myself waking up here upon this organic world, so you could say I am quite curious to what has gone on, especially your forms aren't exactly what I expected either."She asked, as she stood straight again.

Megatron's eyes widened in controlled surprise at the revelation of his latest recruit being an ex-decepticon of all things, while Terrorsaur gawked at Spineback, jaw wide open.

"You were were a decepticon?!" Terrorsaur exclaimed, the sneaky schemer unable to hold back his shock, something like this never having happened before, not counting the ghost of Starscream incident.

"Compose yourself Terrorsaur, surprising though it maybe such things are not unheard of, most surviving decepticons retired after the accursed Pax Cybertronia was signed, but some were upgraded into Predacons...Though I must confess I am surprised to discover one of your distinguished background aboard a maximal ship, as a protoform no less. Megatron, terrorize!" Megatron said, as he changed from beast mode to robot mode, approaching Spineback with his best smile and an extended hand as he added, "Would you care to enlighten us, Doctor? I will of course fill you in on our current situation on the way back to base, but it is sadly a rather long and complicated story, and this planet is infested with maximal hostiles. We best walk while we talk. Terrorsaur, provide aerial recon and inform the others that the situation is under control. We'll meet them halfway."

"As you command, mighty Megatron" Terrorsaur grumbled, doing as he was told and taking flight overhead, opening a comlink to Umbra and company, "Terrorsaur to ground team. We found the protoform and its on our side, Megatron and the new femme will fill you in on the details when meet up. We'll meet ya halfway through the swamp, Terrorsaur out."

Typical, Megatron got a new soldier to kiss his skidplate, an ancient decepticon war veteran no less, and he was busy playing skywatch, this trip had been the pits...But at least he could brag that their team accomplished their mission first to the others when they got back. Ha!

Una wrote: She rolled her optics at Tarantulas, "Oh, stop complaining!" She let out a grunt as she placed her last container onto the other stuff on her cart. She looked at all four of the carts. Everything was equal in amount of weight between the supplies they had to carry. A smirk came across her lips. Perfect. Everything was all set, "I divided everything into equal shares. So no one should be complaining." She glared daggers at Tarantulas, "The sooner we get on the trail, the sooner we can get back. We don't want to keep Megatron waiting for his refueling station, do we?"

Tarantulas clutched his clawed hands to together and sarcastically replied "Oh yes, and we do live to serve Megatron, don't we?"

He turned his back on Blackarachnia and hid behind one of the carts and mused to himself quietly while the others were distracted "But perhaps the maximals can throw a little hitch into Megatron's plans."

With that, he tossed a very special arachnoid drone like a throwing knife into the lead cart, the drone slipping its spidery legs between the girders while its satellite dish head gave off a signal that would lure the maximals like moths to a flame...Tarantulas may still be stuck on this world, but he still intended to sabotage Megatron's plans for conquest of Cybertron however he could, the balance of power in the Beast Wars still needed some careful handling to avoid either Megatron or Optimus from winning too soon.

Permitting himself a few smug chuckled, he then transformed into his beast mode, activated his wheels, hooked up to his own cart, and in imitation of the fuzor Blackarachnia had been working her "charms" on as of late, spoke in a southern accent "Well then partner, lets head em up and move em out!"

With that, he was the first of the four arachnids to leave the base, his transmetal wheels making his task considerably easier than it would be for the others.

Blackrose wrote: Arachnitron shrugged. She frankly didn't care what Megatron had to say. She knew that as long as Tarantulas was happy then she was doing her job.

Once her cart was loaded up, she picked up the reigns and readied herself to begin transporting. She turned to look at the others.

“Ready to go?” she asked them.

"I'd say so my dear, though I can't say the same for the witch and the fuzor, they seem to enjoy wasting their time" Tarantulas mused to his assistant over comlink as he continued ahead, waiting for the others to catch up.

[Wildfire94]

"I'll help you up here in the air, Striker better to have two looks out than just one." Cheetor told him and glanced back towards Silverstreak as he moved closer to the ground to allow her to get down, "You sure you'll be alright here on the ground?"He asked her, beginning to have some second thoughts to his initial assurance things could be fine but with actually seeing the ground he wasn't looking so sure now. Silverstreak though looked at the ground for a brief moment, her cyan optics gazing at the tracks before she hoped down and luckily felt solid ground that was only slightly muddy. "I think we're all set, which means you should be fine as well Feralnight so tracking from the ground shouldn't be too bad." She confirmed before transforming to beast mode and sniffing the tracks for a moment to get a good scent trail.

"Alright I got a scent so we'll head on from the ground."Sivlerstreak said before she began following the trail while keeping an eye out for any of the Predacons that were surely in the area. Cheetor nodded before he flew back up slightly but only enough to keep low and where he could weave around the trees if he had to. But he still wondered if the activated protoform was truly on their side considering the form, usually the reptiles ended up on the Predacon side with the exceptions to Frill and Dinobot, both who defected to the Maximals early in the Beast Wars. Would this just be a case that was the only form available or were there chances they were facing a Predacon already in a pod?

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

Even with Cecaelia slowly down Onyx kept at his speed, the terrain so far having no real affect on his own speeds but he could see the ground was softer and muddier than the rest as they went further and further into the tropical jungle. "I'd say we are certainly in your element my friends, but even with your aquatic forms that water looks like it'll be hard to see anything ahead of you." Onyx observed, seeing the water they passed was muddy and murky, hardly any sight at all unless the water was shallow to see the bottom. What kind of form could this protoform had gotten? They likely wouldn't know until they came across it. And that was when the black stallion overheard the com. Umbra got which made him look surprised Terrorsaur and Megatron had discovered the protoform already which meant it was activated and online.

"So the protoform is online, but if that is the case we better still keep our optics peeled for Maximals, they surely cannot be far behind." Onyx said, beginning to now focus more on watching for the Maximals instead of focusing upon finding the already active protoform. Hopefully though this one might be a decent Predacon, one that had their head on straight and knew what they were doing instead of being blindly loyal or psychotic, or really both at the same time.

[New Moon]

((Suppose I could have a go at Quickstrike, not sure how well the southern drawl will be and the way he talks will turn out but probably better than nothing. Besides might be nice to have a Pred that's actually loyal, least supposedly. We know how that turned out in Season 3. ))

Feralnight certainly wouldn't mind leaving the excellent eye sight from above to Airaozr either since her bird half of her form wasn't anywhere close to being a falcon, but indeed Silverstreak had some good eye sight to have spotted the pod through these trees and for now she waited to let Stag work before they would do anything else. But it certainly would save them time when he displayed what the protoform's beast mode was which happened to be an extinct dinosaur that surely couldn't be overly hard to find, especially when their possible new comrade left them a trail in the muddy ground to follow and scent trail. "Well, with no data tracks guess we follow our noses." Feralnight agreed before she transformed back to beast mode and landed on the slightly muddy ground which felt weird beneath her paws.

Nonetheless, she folded her wings on her back and nodded at them, "Just stay close by boys and if trouble is lurking let's hope it's not an ambush." She said before she turned to the tracks and began following the trail. For a little while they followed that trail that seemed to be going in no real direction until they would eventually arrive to one of the many spots of water around the jungle which made the femme fuzor pause for a moment and half expecting they had lost the trail. In this murky water they likely could be hiding beneath the surface or waiting to see what they did which caused Feralnight to begin trying to search for more tracks or the scent trail once more before she caught it going another direction but this time it was much more recent. "This way."She said, having some hope in her voice as she began following it once more, her pace a little more brisk as it might mean they were not far behind. Yet, even when they drew near more scents began to hit her nose and she came to a sudden halt, hearing the distant voice of Megatron and it sounded like Terrorsaur and another voice, this one more feminine.

"I think we just found the Preds."Feralnight said in a low voice to the others, also looking worried that they had been too late.

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

Frilla actually chuckled at Aurora's idea, "I don't know Aurora they might knock each other out. I wouldn't say Sonar is exactly smelling like fresh roses, in fact I think there's been a time when he smelled worse than Rattrap which is saying something." She joked, though there was some partial truth behind it as from time to time she could have sworn that bat had his own stench but she figured it could be from just about anything from that bat. He tended to be creepy in his own way just as Tarantulas tended to be so she was not looking forward in trying to face him today. On another hand however, some of the bickering exchanges between Sonar and Starshadow had sometimes been amusing and annoying at the same time so maybe she did have some funny memories back then, though a majority of the ones she had with the Predacons weren't exactly all of what she wanted to remember.

"Have fun out there Dinobot, sure he might make good for target practice." Frilla said, as she turned in her chair to look towards the raptor for a bit before she glanced towards the monitor. There had been no other signs of any Predacons close by so she began to wonder why Sonar would have any business here in the first place, unless it had to do with the former general Saber-Fang and her inner beast. So unless it was such a situation Frilla figured he was just there to be a thorn in their side, which most often the Predacons were when they weren't trying to kill them.

[Alak]

Orcariner stood at the entrance of the hangar bay door and stared at the vast open space before him. He was unsure of what his next course of action would be. The recent revelation that Icebreaker was still existing in some other worldly plane was absolutely stunning to him. Rhinox and Whitegrazer managed to successfully contact and resurrect Optimus, and the orca wondered if the same could be done with the penguin. Then again, his area of scientific expertise was far from that of which was necessary to perform such miracles. Not to mention the fact that Rhinox utilized a blank protoform that the Maximal team was lucky enough to procure.

"I need a distraction," he mumbled.

Walking towards his desk, Orcariner noticed that a reminder notice was blinking on his console. It was that flight tutorial that Aerostriker had sent him earlier, but the giant was too busy at the time to read it. Apparently, Orcariner's tactical headset had relayed the document to his personal station. That was a feature that he was previously unaware of. It seemed that he needed to spend more time learning about his new body's functions beyond the ability of flight.

Oh well, one thing at a time.

Tapping on the document, a file was brought up on screen that featured many charts and images that explained the principles of aerodynamics. Sighing, Orcariner pulled up his large chair and mentally prepared himself for the steep learning curve. He had thought that these types of lessons were history after he graduated from the Academy.


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


Buster continued his suave approach towards the peculiar trio, trying his best to remain incognito. He had always considered stealth to be his forte. The llama was a soldier of many talents, but he had always appreciated his ability to stay under the radar. It helped keep him out of trouble, and it certainly kept him alive this long.

"Don't be afraid,"

The llama stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened as he feared his cover was blown.

"We've come to help you."

They widened even further.

"We have energon available...

Still widening.

"...if you're hungry?"

Buster's eyes could not get any wider.

"YESSSSS!!!!"

Galloping at full speed towards the black Predacon flyer, Buster could not help but shine a huge smile on his face. Tears were streaming from his eyes, but not necessarily out of joy, but mostly due to the fact that he still had not blinked since the femme started talking to him. No more dry, awful grass. No more having to share food with rude, furry llamas.

"My heroes! Saviors! I will do anything you ask, just give me some slaggin' food that's not green and- PTUI"

He involuntarily spit at Nemesis. A look of horror swept across Buster's face as he had quickly realized what he had done.

"I'm... I'm so sorry. That's never happened before..."