"More Than Meets The Eye: Part I"

[Night-Hunter]

Ug... Thanks Fangs!

Saber gave him a thumbs up as she continued to fire her weapon at Starshadow, she made sure that none of her rounds hit Landslide.

She couldn't hear what Rattrap said due to the sound of gun fire, but she quickly noticed the two Predacon flyers.

"I'm getting tired of you, Saber!"

Saber had to duck behind a large boulder to avoid the shots.

"Our little grudges mean nothing now. I have proven myself stronger then you are from our last two battles. Save yourself from another session of humiliation and turn back!"

"You still have a lot to learn, Starshadow!" Saber shot back. "It's not just about strength, skill and experience is a key factor! And you don't know me at all!"

[Wintersong]

((Whoa, gone for five days and suddenly a pick up in posts!! I'll post tonight guys, i just got back yesterday from Seattle so haven't had the chance to see the new responses.))

It didn't seem to take long before the rest of the Predacons arrived and the Maximals were caught up in a fight in a matter of minutes of arriving to the pod. Wintersong didn't need Rattrap's warning to know she needed to take cover, immediately ducking down as several rounds barely just missed the transmetal tigress and she barely peeked over to see that her teammates were in some serious trouble but from her vantage point she likely wouldn't have much luck in helping them. Getting an idea to try from a different point the transmetal femme quickly slipped around to move behind the group of Predacons, all of which seemed distracted by their battles with her fellow Maximals and leaving her a chance to scan over for a possible target.

That was when she heard Rattrap call out to her through the com. links and glanced towards Terrorsaur who was obviously having a little too much fun. "On it,"She responded as she activated her wrist launchers while ducking down behind another boulder and aimed towards the pteradon. After a few short seconds she fired four of her mini-missiles towards the flier but noticed movement from the corner of her optics to which she could see Blackarachnia was back on her feet. Well, the spiders certainly were resilient that was for sure.

As much as she should have kept her attention on Terrorsaur Wintersong decided to give back up to Landslide as well since he had his own problems at the moment. Drawing her gun at her side Wintersong quickly began firing towards the black widow in hopes to keep her at bay from the large beetle.

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

Following closely behind the others Spineback kept a close eye on her surroundings as she followed, having slowed down a bit as she took note of Umbra's warning about the environment. This rain forest somewhat reminded her of the swamp she had been activated in and it was pretty clear this place got quite a bit of rain, probably year round from the looks of it and one wrong move could mean falling into some mud that could be like quick sand. Though she strangely felt at home in such places she had noticed, likely from her choice of a beast mode and she was even more glad she had a form that adapted to aquatic environments since it likely could prove an asset in some battles that required land and water. Though it seemed strangely quiet for such a night as this, making the Spinosaurus femme wonder if any creatures besides insects and birds lived there at all.

Though she paused for a moment as she watched the two spiders heading into the trees, waiting as Umbra rejoined her and she went on searching once again. "Seems a little too quiet out here." She stated quietly, pausing to look around for signs of tracks, having to zoom in her optics sensors within her eyes just to see a bit more towards the ground in the dark but looked back as she heard Umbra seeming to be having issues. And that was when he warned her that there was interference with his visor. "Well, that's usually not a good sign guess we'll be keeping our optics peeled for something else other then Maximals." She said before growling as she transformed to robot form to be ready in case of a fight.

((Also if there's anything wrong in Spineback's size at all I don't mind changing it. Just if I had gone with something different she would have likely been taller than Megatron or maybe half the size of say Orcarnier and Tantrum since a Spinosaurus is supposedly bigger than a t-rex in terms of height and length from what I could find.))

[Phoenix]

"Megatron is willing to take the lives that stand in his way, but I will not. And that's what wears on me the most. Every time I send my crew into the battlefield, I worry that they won't come back. ...A few have not. Most of us are scientists and explorers, not soldiers,"

Nexus dropped his jovial smile for but a moment as he took in the solemn words from his old pupil, the responsibility of leadership obviously having taken a toll on the younger leader. It was almost heartbreaking to see the once eager and seemingly confident officer now weigh his every action against the risk of losing his crew. The old admiral knew the feeling well, having been in situations where he had to weigh the need of the few against that of the many over and over. His crew had been loyal and had stayed with him despite some horrific choices that he had to make. In some ways it seemed that history was now repeating itself.

"As is the case with most Maximals," the older male reminded him softly, "Not many Maximals were created as soldiers, yet we are in control of our home world. Battles are not merely fought with ferociousness, but also with intelligence, tact and perseveration. The alliance with the Predacons might be a little fragile, yet it still remains. We persist against seemingly impossible odds, and that is why renegades like your Megatron and his cohorts are doomed to fail."

He paused as the younger leader continued.

"And if it isn't Megatron trying to terminate us, it's the Vok."

A look of confusion appeared on the old soldier's face before he managed to shake it off.

The Vok? Seemed like there were some issues he needed to be updated on. He made a mental note to have Optimus update him on that situation later, when they were not standing out in the open like this.

"That's only because you found your star pupil. I admit there have been times when my hope was hanging by a thread, when all seemed lost, and I'd stand there wondering how we've made it this far because I lacked the experience and confidence in leadership and war. There is always hope and optimism, but more importantly, there is my crew. If not for these extraordinary Maximals, I wouldn't be here. So, growing in this war with them I've come to realize that hopelessness is not an option no matter how bleak things may be."

"To me it sounds like you've already earned that new rank of yours, Optimus," Nexus responded, that reassuring smile back on his face before he glanced over at where Primal's troops were now moving away. "As well as the respect of those you surround yourself with. Power does not make a leader, the ability to lead by example does. Great leaders are not created that way, they gain their success through experiences. Some of them will be good, many will be horrifying, but altogether they shape you into something more.. something far superior to what you started out as. I have no doubt that your crew is extraordinary, as you say, but I feel you give yourself far too little credit in shaping them into that. Please do not doubt yourself. You say that only Megatron is able to take on such an undertaking, whereas I say that if the situation should ever call for it I believe you are capable to do what is right.. whatever that may be."

His smile took on a more serious undertone, perhaps revealing the fact that he was speaking from experience.

"There is no such thing as a perfect leader, Optimus, so there is no point in striving for it. All I ask is that you never give up on yourself. As impressive as your accomplishments are, your legacy is far from finished. "


He paused for a nanoclick, maybe two, pondering if his words of encouragement applied to himself as much as they did to Optimus. He did not have long to reflect on the answer, however, as one of Primal's troops reported back with some rather unsettling if not entirely unexpected news. While listening in on the conversation, his gaze returned to greet Primal's as he finally stopped moping and turned to face him.

"I hope you haven't grown soft in your retirement, Nexus,"

Nexus found himself almost gaping at the galls of that statement, but then a brief chuckle worked its way out instead.

"If you have any blast shields that we can use, then they should be retrieved. And if the Akira's weapons systems are still functional, we're going to need all the help we can get."

The admiral nodded. "The weapon systems are located in the less damaged portions of the the Akira so there is a good chance they can be reactivated," he said, his attention suddenly divided as the heat from a shot that had impacted close to his left foot reached his armor. Only then did he register the sound of incoming fire. He glanced up at the nearby hill, scanning the environment for his foe.

"You must understand how much more damaging our new TransMetal technology can be against you. And Megatron has become even more powerful with the upgrade. So if you don't hang back with Whitegrazer and Aurora while Orcariner, Silverbolt and I engage, then I must insist that you be extremely cautious in battle."

As a sudden downpour of powerful shots rained down all around them, nearly drowning out Optimus' warning. A warning that the old admiral had no intention of heeding anyway.

"Do you take me for an old man, Optimus? Granted I have gotten up there in years, but I like to think that my age has not truly caught up with me yet," he said, his transformation already in progress. Nexus had never backed down from a fight and he was certainly not about to start now, even if he did officially retire a long time ago. The transformation was not quite as smooth as some of the newer generations, yet still all his parts slid into place to form an armored all-terrain vehicle with two rather impressive plasma cannons mounted on top. Engine roaring and wheels spinning, the old warrior sped towards the location the shots were being fired from. A few of Megatron's relentless shots bounced off his armor, not slowing the Maximal down in the least in this form. Still he attempted to avoid the incoming blasts as best he could since his armor did have its limits, his own cannons now returning fire.

Aurora nearly lost her balance as a few stray shots hit the ship, causing the already broken vessel to tremble, parts of the fragile hull threatening to fall down on top of the two females. A bit shakily she cast a concerned glance at the other femme, letting Whitegrazer take the lead.

"Aurora, let's get to the bridge. I have an idea. We must be swift, though before any of the Predacons decide to attack this ship or be aware that we are in it."

Not a bad plan. Pretty much any useful function the Akira still maintained would be accessible through the bridge, provided the control panels had not been severed from the rest of the equipment in the crash.

"I'm not entirely sure whether they are already attacking us, or if their aim is just that terrible," she muttered, coming to a halt by the security console. While waiting for Whitegrazer, Aurora's hands worked quickly to open up the console and removing and rearranging some of the processors inside. "There," she then said as the console flickered back to life. "Most of the weapon systems are down, but a few are still intact, including some of the guns."

Nemesis moved through the air, still firing at the pesky rodent who had taken shelter behind some rocks. Occasionally he would peek out and return fire, which is why she'd started moving in the first place. Of course moving made it slightly more difficult to hit her target, but it also made it harder for the Maximal master marksman to hit her. It also gave her the opportunity to maneuver to the other side of the rocks, thus leaving the rat exposed.

[una]

"I'm not entirely sure whether they are already attacking us, or if their aim is just that terrible," she muttered, coming to a halt by the security console. While waiting for Whitegrazer, Aurora's hands worked quickly to open up the console and removing and rearranging some of the processors inside. "There," she then said as the console flickered back to life. "Most of the weapon systems are down, but a few are still intact, including some of the guns."

Whitegrazer watched as Aurora got to work on the bridge's main console since the young ermine knew what she was doing. Many of the weapons were offline, but like Aurora had said, only few would worked, "Is there any other way to give the weapons more power? Like maybe borrow from parts of the ships that we don't need?" And with the ship falling apart, they may not last long inside here. Maybe if she reinforce the hull plating, that could buy them more time or it might not. But she had to try!

"I will try my best to give more power and repair the weapons' systems as well as trying to reinforce some of the hull plating. It may give you more time to fire on the Predacons. Do the best that you can to drive the Predacons away from this area. "

Whitegrazer peered around the bridge, looking any emergency tools and from some underneath a loosen bulkhead, "If you need any help with the Predacons, contact me and I can give you any information you need on them. If the ship gets too much damage, we will have to evalucate and join our comrades outside. "

She stood up and looked at Aurora with a hopeful smile, "All right, let's do it!" Whitegrazer went to patch some of the wires that were hanging up on the bridge, melding some of the plating together. She wanted to make sure Aurora was well-protected from any stray fire before she moved to the heavy weaponry farther away that was sparking and flaming. She should be expecting mores sparks and fires soon when the Predacons try to destroy the down ship.

She had to work fast.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia let Starshadow have a taste of the Maximal but it seems the female kitty-cat Starshadow hated had thrown her off her target, which Landslide to her capable hands. She was going to fire her cybervenom, but changed her mind. She decided to use her web anchor instead. The Maximal seemed too preoccupied elsewhere to notice her dash towards him. She fired her web anchor at his legs, sliding to the opposite of him in the matter to pull him to ground when the Maximal Wintersong fired on her. The black widow let out a disguntled grunt as she got herself to her feet, feeling the hit of a couple of shots.

She bought out her cybervenom and fired it at Wintersong.

[Warwulf]

((OOC: By the way, OOP, Silverbolt's comm system is out of commission. Also, since I hadn't yet had Silverbolt take off from the initial meeting between Nexus and Optimus, I'm going to assume he's still there and within earshot to hear your order. ))

Megatron didn't even spare the foolish fuzor a glance as he continued to observe his most unexpected opponent, Nexus, merely snorting a response "I should think so Quickstrike, considering that living fossil is a veteran of the last Great War. Arrogant codger never even bothered to update his form like the rest of his oppressive ilk, he's arguably more autobot than maximal, minus the larger stature of course. Lucky for him he didn't crash on this planet back when its energon fields were at their peak, he'd have perished quickly I imagine. Unluckily for him, we're here to ensure the old admiral never sets sail for home again, yesssss. Inferno, you and I shall concentrate our firepower on Primal and his old friend, I want them taken out of this fight as quickly as possible, one would be successor to Prime is bad enough, I don't need two of them afoot. Tantrum, I want you to go around the other side and hit that ship with everything you've got, I never want to see the stars again, nor do I want the maximals to salvage any of its technology, make it go BOOM...You like doing that don't you, yesss?"

As Megatron issued these orders, he spared a glance upwards and finally noticed the transmetal orca approaching them from the skies and added "Quickstrike, give Primal's eye in the sky a taste of poison would you? As for the rest of you, PREDACONS TERRORIZE!"

"Very good!" Tantrum cheered. "I vill crush ship like eety beety child toy! HAHAHA!"

With that, Tantrum turned and crashed headlong through the forest like a bulldozer through a bunch of match sticks. As he ground the life out of any trees and saplings that stood in his way, he happily savored the thought of his high explosive railgun rounds slicing apart the Maximal ship. In just a few minutes, he will be in firing position.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Silverbolt, keep Quickstrike away from Orcariner!" the Commander ordered

Silverbolt nodded in acknowledgement to Optimus's order. While he wasn't fully confident in the hasty repairs that were completed on his damaged flight control system, he had no choice but to put them through their paces in live combat. Silverbolt circled around wide to take Quickstrike from the flank. As he did so, he caught sight of the Predacon leviathan making his way to flank the Maximal position at the Akira. He started to activate his comm link, before realizing how futile that would be with his damaged system. Faced with the dilemma of what to do, he decided he would go to the immediate aid of his comrade.

Silverbolt closed in on Quickstrike with wings extended, waiting to get within weapons range. But before that was reached, he watched as Orcariner was shot from the sky. Slag, he was too late. Silverbolt fired his wing missiles at Quickstrike, hoping to take him by surprise before rolling out to dive to where Orcariner had crashed in the midst of the enemy lines. Though at that speed the landing was a hard one, Silverbolt didn't miss a beat and assumed a defensive pose beside his comrade -- a pair of wing missiles wielded as blades in his hands and another pair ready to launch from his outstretched wings.

"Never fear, friend. You won't have to fight alone," Silverbolt reassured his comrade while conveying the gravity of their precarious position in a somber, if not slightly over dramatic, fashion. "I'll be with you to the end."

[WorpeX]

Airazor was glad to see the rest of the team already assembled and waiting for her. Luckily, no one seemed to bother that she was a bit late. She had already mostly forgotten about her nightmare and had completely regained her composure. Her mind was now on the task at hand. Seeing Dinobot give the order to roll out, she followed him out of the ship and into the great outdoors.

"I'll scout ahead and meet you at the pod." She spoke to Dinobot and the rest of the team. "Catch you all on the flip side!" She finished and transformed into her falcon disguise. Without any further comment, she took off into the pale blue sky. Within seconds she disappeared from view.

---



Manterror arrived to the battle slightly late. While he was travelling towards the pod, he had a sudden and immediate urge to drain his main liquid disposal valve. It was rather poor timing but when a bot has to go, he simply cannot wait! His stop was short, but long enough that it delayed his arrival by a few clicks. Perhaps though, it was actually a good thing.

Most of the maximals were already occupied battling their opponents. None of them would expect a sneak attack from the mantis! "stealth mode" He said quietly and his engines became a low whisper. He could see the battle from where he flew now and was able to decide where he wanted to strike. It seemed to him that Blackarachnia was the one needing the most help. She was attempting to deal with 2 bots at once. Then, he saw the perfect target. A bot he rarely had the opportunity to sink his blades into. He intended to kill her before she even noticed him coming.

Sneaking in from behind, the mantis slowly touched the ground only a few kilometers from Wintersong. His weapons were still not activated. Sadly, they were not part of stealth mode. Activating his kill-saw's would reveal himself immediately. Instead, he walked slowly towards his victim. She was completely focused on the black widow! It wasn't until he was in leaping distance that he decided it was time to strike. In one quick moment, the mantis lunged towards Wintersong claws first. His blades activated mid-jump and he had them perfectly aimed to slice through her neck on contact. His strike would have been almost completely silent and perfect if it weren't for the distinctive evil laugh he made the moment his feet left the ground. "DIE MAXIMAL!! BAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

[New Moon]

((Sorry everyone, you'll have to kind of forgive me since real life is still in the way. So yes I will be slow to post, I apologize for some inconvience ahead of time.))

As they arrived down beneath the ship Frilla smiled as Cheetor didn't mind giving her lift to which she chuckled at his words. "Oh come on Cheetor, I'm a lizard we always have good grip." She said in joking manner before she transformed to her beast mode. In this form she would be easier to carry and could hold onto the Transmetal cheetah better. But she would have to be careful of her claws since they were sharper and meant for gripping, she likely could leave a few scratches or puncture marks in his armor.

Now transformed the frilled lizard leaped up and landed lightly on Cheetor's back and carefully held on. "Full speed ahead Golden Rocket!" She said, once again having a playful tone in her voice.

~~~~~~~~~~

Feralnight nodded towards Rhinox, knowing her wing mechanism had been damaged more then enough times these days. "Honestly, it amazes me I can still fly at all. I think I'm beginning to have permanent scars beneath all these feathers." She said as she shifted her wings slightly as a habit now to make sure they were functioning at all. Once again she was still shocked they moved at all or that she almost hadn't lost these wings permanently. Then again it wasn't like she wasn't familiar with having her wings damaged to begin with, especially in the past which she often tried to dismiss, even more so lately since those memories had often flooded back as of late. Somehow, she was wondering if anyone even was aware she had nightmares from time to time which made her wonder if any of the crew did and they just weren't saying anything. Unless of course she didn't talk in her sleep.

But in speaking of the past the wolf-raven fuzor suddenly recalled a while back she had inquired to the rhinoceros of doing a scan of her systems, a little before they had known of Glowstick's untimely demise. "Hey Rhinox, if your not too busy do you think maybe we can do that scan of my systems? I know it's been sometime since I've asked about it but if the Predacons are busy trying to race our teammates this might be the best time to do it." The fuzor inquired, hoping she hadn't caught the medic and scientist at a bad time.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: We are approved to adopt the kitty!!! We are very excited....a little nervous about how she will interact with the rabbit and chinchilla, but we're looking forward to her coming home!

I'm really just winging it with this post....sorry in advance if I forget someone or make something up that didn't really happen....I read all the posts, but lately my attention span is just very very short. I just can't seem to process these posts.

BIC:

Inferno followed behind Megatron bobbing and weaving through the trees of the rain forest terrain. When he finally landed, the red ant joined him on the ground. He realized that the Queen had stopped to monitor the Maximals and the fallen ship. A Cybertronian had been flying the ship that had crashed...it appeared to be an autobot or at least of autobot descent based on Megatron's statement. The ship was in pretty bad shape, but some of the parts might have survived the crash. Inferno looked over expectantly at Megatron.

"What are your orders, my Queen?"

"Inferno, you and I shall concentrate our firepower on Primal and his old friend, I want them taken out of this fight as quickly as possible, one would be successor to Prime is bad enough, I don't need two of them afoot. Tantrum, I want you to go around the other side and hit that ship with everything you've got, I never want to see the stars again, nor do I want the maximals to salvage any of its technology, make it go BOOM...You like doing that don't you, yesss?"

Inferno saluted the Royalty. "As you wish!"

Inferno immediately took to the sky and, with his propellers roaring, he flew to a spot a few hundred feet closer to the unsuspecting Maximals.

Megatron didn't hesitate to fire upon the two Prime successors, as he had referred to them. Taking his cues from his beloved Royalty (OOC: What is it with my characters having strange and not reciprocated infatuations with Darkspark's characters? ), Inferno fired up his flamethrower weapon and fired upon the two Maximals as well.

"FOR THE ROYALTY!!!" Inferno obnoxiously announced as his flame headed down towards the Maixmals below.

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

Once they approached the rain forest, Umbra approached Tarantulas with a suggestion.

Lieutenant, sorry to impose, but might I suggest we try surveying the environment from a higher point? We might have a better chance at spotting the pod's wreckage.

Arachnitron winced slightly and shot Umbra a look. Tarantulas would not appreciate being interrupted or being told what to do by someone who was, clearly, his subordinate. But, miraculously, Tarantulas accepted Umbra's advice graciously.

"Sound advice Umbra. Arachnitron and I shall take to the trees and see what we can find, you and Spineback shall continue on foot for the moment, be sure to note any tracks that could be leading to or away from the pods crash site. Come Arachnitron"

Arachnitron nodded in compliance and chose a tree across from Tarantulas so that he could survey the one side and she could survey the other. She skittered up the tree in beast mode.

Unaware of what Umbra had thought he had seen on the ground, Arachnitron could have sworn she felt a whoosh of air by her side as she climbed to the top of the tree. She didn't say anything though thinking it was merely a large insect.

Once at the top of the trees, Arachnitron looked around to survey the area. At first she saw nothing, but then she noticed the stasis pod a bit of a distance ahead of her and the rest of her party. She could see and hear Tarantulas from where she was and pointed out the empty pod to him.

"Tarantulas, there's the crashed pod over that way!" Arachnitron said to Tarantulas pointing in the direction of the pod. "Should we approach the pod and investigate?" she asked him. "So far, no sign of the Maximals," she added as an afterthought.

OOC: I have no idea if they can even see the pod from where they are. If not, I can edit.

So....let's just see if I have this right. The Tarantulas group is heading towards the Banshee pod....so is the Dinobot group.....right???? Just wanted to be sure.

( Sorry, I didn't have Cheetor post yet since Newmoon hasn't posted, so if you want to have Dinobot have the group head on, I'll have Cheetor also move on and just assume Frilla hopped on or didn't depending on if she goes m.i.a. )

NK, just after you wrote this, Newmoon and Worpex both posted for their characters. So, now it's your turn! I'll wait though since you were waiting for them and you usually lurk daily....

[NaitoKage]

(Sorry for the wait Was a bit busy. And yes, the Dinobot group is heading towards the Banshee pod as well.

(OOC: What is it with my characters having strange and not reciprocated infatuations with Darkspark's characters? )

Must be a spider thing. )
Quickstrike continued firing, as he noticed he kept missing Orcariner. Why Blast wont Blast you Blast hit?! he said, giving an impressive light show, though not realizing the difficulty of hitting a moving target with his weapon.

His optics widen nearly to the size of dinner plates as Buster's missile closed in and slammed into Orcariner with a large explosion, knocking the Maximal titan out of the air. Quickstrike turned looking back towards Buster Hey-hey, nice job new guy.. though I could do better-AH! as he attempted to finish his sentence, Quickstrike was knocked into the air from a Silverbolt's missile hitting his backside.

Leaning up rubbing his head, Quickstrike looked towards Silverbolt rubbing his head with his snake arm Oh my aching.. he muttered to himself getting up slowly.

______________________________
(Spineback's size is fine, since Megatron isn't accurate size to a T-rex either.. he's much smaller then one. A proper sized Spinosaur is the length of a bus and a robot mode the size of Orcariner or Tantrum. If you still want to make her bigger or smaller you can,but I doubt you'd want to be as big as any of the titans unless you want to use some of your G1 history as reason for that, apparently Rampage was supposed to be part G1 technology.. likely due to the Starscream immortal spark thing. )

"Seems a little too quiet out here."

"Well, that's usually not a good sign guess we'll be keeping our optics peeled for something else other then Maximals."

Umbra turned off his flashlight, turning his visor on again looking around in the trees a bit The interference moved.. he said, then glanced towards Spineback in her robot mode. For a medic she seemed ready and willing to fight. Umbra looked up at the trees, but couldn't detect the interference this time anywhere he looked, there was simply too much brush in the way. I've lost it.. For now lets keep moving.
Umbra calmly walked ahead of Spineback, his tentacles moving the tree branches from hitting him or her as they moved along the trail, looking for any sort of evidence of Maximal activity, from bent blades of grass, broken tree branches, or footprints similar to known beast modes or unusual ones from transmetals.
_________________
( It's okay Moon, don't worry about it. Also nice remembering that old virus, even Megatron doesn't remember that. *LOL*)

"Oh come on Cheetor, I'm a lizard we always have good grip."

"Full speed ahead Golden Rocket!"

Cheetor's feline face curled into a grin You got it! he rushed ahead suddenly, the jets on his sides firing up, suddenly accelerating him up into the air and cruising along in the direction of the stasis pod.

As they made their way towards the rainforest, Cheetor slowed down landing just at the forest's edge This should be the spot. It's too dark to see the preds like this and my jets will have be spotted a mile away. So I'll take the ground route, but you should be able to move in the trees to spot the pod easier without the Preds noticing, right? Cheetor then said to Frilla, not wanting to relive the events that caused the Preds to spot the Maximals last time, having lost Aerostriker, it might be best to just be cautious as much as possible.

[DarkSpark]

OOC: Is the old virus mentioned meant to be the homewrecker virus?

Thanks for the stats on Nexus, I hope what I wrote for the beginning of their battle is appropriate given their stats, if not I can change it, but I figured this would be more interesting than simply continuing to return fire.

P.S. its late so I may have missed something, but Wintersong hasn't posted yet has she? I know Rattrap ordered her to do something about Terry but I might have overlooked it. If so, I'll make an appropriate edit in the morning, sorry for the wait.

Alak wrote: "SHADDUP!!!"

The light turned from yellow to red and Buster fired his rocket launcher. The rocket itself flew forward with incredible speed, marginally missing Megatron's head by half a meter, for which Buster was glad that he did not accidentally assassinate his own leader.

Megatron whirled around to face whoever had nearly taken his head off with a rocket, anger burning in his optics when he spotted the culprit, the late AND incompetent newcomer who was skating on thin ice with him already.

In the midst of battle already, Megatron had no time to properly discipline the bumbling oaf, but instead grabbed him by the neck with his free hand and said "Whether by sheer stupidity or deliberate design, you WILL suffer for that near miss my careless crony, yesss, but for now, go support Tantrum, and DO NOT FIRE ON ME AGAIN!"

And with that, Megatron threw the light weight llama overhead in the ballistic bovine's direction, where his firepower would hopefully aid in the ship's destruction, or at least keep him out of his way.

Phoenix wrote: As a sudden downpour of powerful shots rained down all around them, nearly drowning out Optimus' warning. A warning that the old admiral had no intention of heeding anyway.

"Do you take me for an old man, Optimus? Granted I have gotten up there in years, but I like to think that my age has not truly caught up with me yet," he said, his transformation already in progress. Nexus had never backed down from a fight and he was certainly not about to start now, even if he did officially retire a long time ago. The transformation was not quite as smooth as some of the newer generations, yet still all his parts slid into place to form an armored all-terrain vehicle with two rather impressive plasma cannons mounted on top. Engine roaring and wheels spinning, the old warrior sped towards the location the shots were being fired from. A few of Megatron's relentless shots bounced off his armor, not slowing the Maximal down in the least in this form. Still he attempted to avoid the incoming blasts as best he could since his armor did have its limits, his own cannons now returning fire.

Aurora nearly lost her balance as a few stray shots hit the ship, causing the already broken vessel to tremble, parts of the fragile hull threatening to fall down on top of the two females. A bit shakily she cast a concerned glance at the other femme, letting Whitegrazer take the lead.

Megatron growled as the living relic Nexus changed into an antiquated vehicular mode and began to charge his position, his own shots surprisingly bouncing off his armor while the transmetal dinopred evaded his new foe's shots.

"Hmph, die cast construction I see, not bad, but this is the age of transmetals, Son of Primes, and you're simply obsolete, YESSS!" he proclaimed as he changed tactics and switched to beast mode, deciding he would meet this autobot throwback head on and show to one and all the power of the predacons! THE POWER OF MEGATRON!

Activating his jets and his wheels, Megatron raced down towards Nexus, easily dodging most of the old soldier's shots, the few that did hit bouncing off of his transmetal hide without a dent to show for it. With his head down like a battering ram, Megatron then collided with Nexus' vehicle mode with the full force of his own brute strength and high powered jet engines behind him, the sound of metal on metal and the terrain being torn apart filling the air as he pushed Nexus back, the two too close now for him to aim or fire his guns on him, while on the other hand his teeth were free to sink into his side with a bloodlust usually reserved only for Primal. So he did, and the sound of crunching metal and the taste of leaking mech fluid was most satisfying to the tyrant's sensors. Yes indeed.

This maximal scum or autobot spawn was descended from the line of the Primes, and thus was the enemy of all predacons, especially those worthy of bearing the name of Megatron. Nexus would die by his hand, and his people, the oppressed but ambitious predacons, would cheer for him when he brought his empty spark chamber home as a trophy to adorn his throne.

Blackrose wrote: "Tarantulas, there's the crashed pod over that way!" Arachnitron said to Tarantulas pointing in the direction of the pod. "Should we approach the pod and investigate?" she asked him. "So far, no sign of the Maximals," she added as an afterthought.

"Yes, I see it now, excellent work my dear. Tarantulas to Umbra & Spineback, we've located the fallen stasis pod, follow us on foot and keep a look out for any unwelcome company, or for the protoform if its already come online. Tarantulas out" Tarantulas ordered his team, scanning the trees for signs of cybertronian life.


"Lets keep moving Arachnitron, the sooner we recover our fallen friend the better" Tarantulas lied through his fangs, just in case the maximal was already out and listening...He still chuckled whenever he thought about how Megatron had inadvertently cemented Tigatron's allegiance to the maximals with his carelessness long ago in the arctic.

Tarantulas sprang from one tree to the next like a giant jumping spider, swinging by his webbing when the distance was too great, drawing closer and closer to the pod, his eyes watching, always watching for signs of movement or heat signature. This pod's occupant would be his if he could help it, or at least a token offering to Megatron to get him off his back and alleviate any lingering suspicions he may have over the mine incident.

Naitokage wrote: His back then felt multiple small explosions potting against his backside from Nemesis, followed by the laser beam hitting his backside, a small area pitting and cracking from the constant random spray of explosive gunfire, while the laser slowly heated up a point on his back forming a dark red glowing spot. Landslide pushed himself up as his side thrusters extended turning opposite directions,then let out a short burst of thrust turning in the same spot quickly tearing up the ground a bit with his legs.

Lowering his shoulder horns with anti air guns, the twin guns started to spin up, then release what could be described as a twin cyclone of bullets up towards Terrorsaur's missiles in a short burst, causing them to explode in mid air. His guns and upperbody moving as he then took aim on Terrorsaur firing off another short burst, having become distracted by the priority of taking out Terrorsaur. Even though his missiles weren't as powerful as Starshadow's attack against him, the AOE effect from the missiles was more dangerous to everyone around, including even Terrorsaur's own allies.

"Slagging bug!" Terrorsaur cursed as the brutish beetle returned fire and took out his missiles, the transmetal pterodactyle nimbly avoiding his gun shots with a barrel roll as he returned fire with his lasers.

"The sky is my domain dirt crawler, go back to the ground where you belong!" Terrorsaur jeered, firing more missiles his way to keep the beetle busy while he looked for an opening to attack something vital, the missiles twisting and turning in all directions as they all homed in on the same target, Landslide.

Wintersong wrote: That was when she heard Rattrap call out to her through the com. links and glanced towards Terrorsaur who was obviously having a little too much fun. "On it,"She responded as she activated her wrist launchers while ducking down behind another boulder and aimed towards the pteradon. After a few short seconds she fired four of her mini-missiles towards the flier but noticed movement from the corner of her optics to which she could see Blackarachnia was back on her feet. Well, the spiders certainly were resilient that was for sure.

"Heh heh, Waspinator will regret missing out on all this fun...Ah slag" Terrorsaur cursed to himself as he noticed four incoming mini missiles incoming from the ground, quickly firing his eye beams to take out two of the projectiles, but having to use his wing blades to block the remaining two and, unprepared as he was, found himself being sent flying backwards head over heels away from Landslide by the impact of the blast.

"SLAGGING MAXIS!" Terrorsaur screamed in outrage as he struggled to correct his flight pattern, switching into beast mode and flying up into the clouds to find some cover and strike back.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"As is the case with most Maximals," "Not many Maximals were created as soldiers, yet we are in control of our home world.

Are we? Optimus questioned to himself as the Admiral's words resonated with him. He feared there was something brewing on the horizon for Cybertron. It was slow but it was there in the shadows. He couldn't possibly know what it was especially since he hadn't been there for so long now, but with Megatron and Cryotek and the other criminals gradually emerging and wreaking havoc like Megatron was on this planet and stealing the golden disk, instinct told him that there was more going on in the darkness than the Elders and other authorities may or may not know of. And although many Maximals weren't soldiers, they at least had the proper training to protect themselves and others in a war.

Battles are not merely fought with ferociousness, but also with intelligence, tact and perseveration. The alliance with the Predacons might be a little fragile, yet it still remains. We persist against seemingly impossible odds, and that is why renegades like your Megatron and his cohorts are doomed to fail."

Primal wanted to believe his mentor, after all he knew all about such things and outcomes in his years and experience, but it was difficult for him to accept.

"To me it sounds like you've already earned that new rank of yours, Optimus," "As well as the respect of those you surround yourself with. Power does not make a leader, the ability to lead by example does. Great leaders are not created that way, they gain their success through experiences. Some of them will be good, many will be horrifying, but altogether they shape you into something more.. something far superior to what you started out as. I have no doubt that your crew is extraordinary, as you say, but I feel you give yourself far too little credit in shaping them into that. Please do not doubt yourself. You say that only Megatron is able to take on such an undertaking, whereas I say that if the situation should ever call for it I believe you are capable to do what is right.. whatever that may be." "There is no such thing as a perfect leader, Optimus, so there is no point in striving for it. All I ask is that you never give up on yourself. As impressive as your accomplishments are, your legacy is far from finished."

Perfection and a legacy were not what Optimus was looking for. All he wanted was to get his Maximals home safe and sound. Still, hearing this lecture from the one he looked up to in his younger years was a great boost to his confidence that had already been strengthened by his crew and his successes with them by stopping Megatron over the years. He truly appreciated these words from Nexus; they energized him and inspired him to push forward, much like Rhinox's and Whitegrazer's had done so in the past after their darkest hours in this drawn-out war.

"The weapon systems are located in the less damaged portions of the the Akira so there is a good chance they can be reactivated,"

Optimus nodded to this as he continued blocking the shots with his shield from Megatron and Inferno.

"Do you take me for an old man, Optimus? Granted I have gotten up there in years, but I like to think that my age has not truly caught up with me yet,"

A small smirk came to the Maximal leader as he watched Nexus transform and drive off toward the enemy. He knew he'd jump into the battle but he didn't think it wise, especially taking on someone like Megatron for the first time. Although he had wanted Nexus to help Whitegrazer and Aurora since they didn't know his ship as well he did and could have gotten things done quicker, he opened his comm. link to the ermine Fuzor inside.

"Aurora, we're under heavy fire out here. See if you can get the weapons on-line and target the Predacons," unbeknownst to Primal that she and Whitegrazer were already handling it. But if anyone could it get done like Rattrap could have, it would be Aurora.

"Ugh... Or-Orcariner to Optimus. I... I-I think I'm down."

Hearing the explosion, Primal's attention darted in Orcariner's direction with concern, and the orca's transmission confirmed what the leader was trying to avoid. Fliers always had a great advantage in battle; they were quick (most were) with a greater vantage point in the air. Now they were already down one, possibly two if Silverbolt's wings were still damaged. "Assistance is on the way, Orcariner," Optimus encouraged him as he watched Silverbolt take off and Nexus collide with Megatron. Not far from the TransMetal t-rex was his loyal minion Inferno. They would do better without him flying around and burning everything, so the Commander decided to focus on him since at the time being he was unaware of Tantrum's presence that was gradually making his way through the forest and toward the Akira.

"FOR THE ROYALTY!!!"

Sprinting toward the Predacons on foot, his makeshift shield of the Akira's armor and gun in hand, Optimus held up his weapon and targeted Inferno, firing several shots at him while he ran toward him and dodged the stream of fire that was pouring out of his flamethrower.

-----

"DIE MAXIMAL!! BAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

"Wintersong!" Rattrap called out as he witnessed Manterror stalking her, although it was unlikely that she would have heard him over the gun fire and distance between them. He took aim and fired two shots at the menacing mantis in hopes to knock him back and give the tigress a chance to react or run, but since she was concentrating on Terrorsaur like he had told her, his efforts might have been futile. And since he lost his focus on Nemesis, one of her shots hammered the boulder right in front of his face, the impacting blowing him backward and landing on his back, completely exposed to her next onslaught.

Quickly, Rattrap got on to his knees and reverted to his vehicle mode, spinning his wheels on the rocky dirt which created a small cloud of dust in the air and driving off toward Manterror with or without Nemesis following him. If he was lucky, he could get to the two fliers to collide with each other or accidentally inflict pain on one another with their weapons. Either way, he was just winging it.

-----

"Honestly, it amazes me I can still fly at all. I think I'm beginning to have permanent scars beneath all these feathers."

"It wouldn't be too unlikely," Rhinox said to Feralnight as he turned in his chair toward her although he hoped that wasn't the case for her sake.

"Hey Rhinox, if your not too busy do you think maybe we can do that scan of my systems? I know it's been sometime since I've asked about it but if the Predacons are busy trying to race our teammates this might be the best time to do it."

"Probably as good a time as any," he agreed with the Fuzor as he got up out of his seat and motioned her to follow him after he programmed Sentinel to alert him directly of any signature detection and radio communication. He had nearly forgotten about her request that she had made some time ago; so much had happened between then and now.

Making their way to the infirmary where there was better equipment for such a particular scan, Rhinox said casually to Feralnight, "Lay down on this cot," and grabbed a machine that looked a little complicated and that dangled from the ceiling, pulling it over to hang over the thin "bed". When she laid down, he turned it on and it performed its automatic calibrations and procedures before an invisible beam stretched over her entire body and began scanning underneath her exterior, calculating and recording all of the data and displaying it on the monitor near her head.

(( OOC: I'm not sure what it may or may not say, New Moon, so I'll leave the results up to you. I'm afraid I don't remember all that happened to her. It's quite vague to me. Sorry about that. ))

[NaitoKage]

(In terms of Feralnight's scan, there's two things that happened, one of which you can confirm, and one of which is up to New moon to confirm.

The most important would be the virus, which Glowstick implanted into Feralnight. The virus isn't anything harmful directly, it just copied a feed of her audio and visual information and transmitted it to the Predacons via her comlink. Removing it will be simple and harmless as.. Glowstick wasn't a dick like Tarantulas doing things to Blackarachnia.

The second optional part would be that her memories were altered by Glowstick to make her believe she was randomly attacked and nothing more, when in reality she went to the Predacon base in an attempt to join them, due to her own personal reasons.. This could be found noticing an error in her databanks, though fixing it would be up to you two. )



Terrorsaur's laser blast struck Landslide head on against the chest, but Landslide didn't even flinch, just leaving a burn mark on his grey and black armor,giving a light Heh.. like chuckle as the beam hit for a short period. He reached behind himself with his left arm as his Shield detached. He couldn't notice Blackarachnia on the ground as his head was focused up towards the sky on Terrorsaur's movements, firing his anti airguns to counter the missiles as they split off, a few making it past the shots heading towards him.

Landslide's guns stopped firing with his horns raising up and his grenade launcher retracted, he raised up his heavy shield and braced for impact as three missiles collided with his body, knocking him back a bit onto the butt end of his container on his back with a Oof! as he was knocked back, but not knocking him over. A small crack formed on his shield, but other then a few dents and scorch marks, he was still well operational.

(Also to note, since Blackarachnia was so near Landslide.. she probably also got hit by the missile's explosion indirectly. Predacons seem to love Friendly fire.. but I guess then again that's the only "friendly" thing about them. Also sorry for seeming like Landslide is ignoring Blackarachnia but.. she's really small at just above his knee, so it's not like he'd notice his legs while fending off missiles in the sky... )

With the gunfire stopped, he looked up seeing Terrorsaur retreat into the clouds, and could hear around him now. (I know it sounds silly, but.. I can't imagine hearing anything if you have two of these fire linked http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... System.jpg on either side of your head. )

"Wintersong!"

Landslide heard Rattrap cry out, Landslide leaned up onto his feet as his guns lowered down, looking up towards Nemesis who Rattrap was engaged in fire with, his anti air guns adjusting their aim as he opened fire in twin bursts on the avian female as cover fire for Rattrap.

[starshadow]

"You still have a lot to learn, Starshadow!" Saber shot back. "It's not just about strength, skill and experience is a key factor! And you don't know me at all!"

"That's cute..." Starshadow flew up to the skies to avoid the shots, "because during our last few battles, Sonar kept saving your aft. Now why's that? Too weak to fight to your death you had to ask a Predacon to help you? Now that would be embarassing..for a retired general like you!" she activated her galvaconduct driver, charging up her fists and fired off a few electricity bolts at Saber.

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

Xychona flew high above Tarantulas, observing him. She might have to be careful about the other little spider and their "friends".

(Not much to post for Banban.)

[Wintersong]

Being focused on Blackarachnia at this time Wintersong really could only hope her mini-missiles hit their mark for Terrorsaur, so she was listening as much as she could over the gunfire but she barely could hear much of anything. Luckily her shots got the widow's attention away from Landslide and focused upon her, the tigress watching the spider closely before quickly ducking the blast of cybervenom aimed towards her. And faintly she heard Terrorsaur scream something over the gunfire which made her grin behind her mask slightly as she assumed she had indeed hit her mark. So far so good it seemed.

Yet, the transmetal femme failed to realize the psychotic mantis Manterror was flying silently close to her as she stood to aim back towards Blackarachnia but had barely squeezed the trigger before she heard Manterror yell as he usually did which was enough for her to turn with wide optics and lean away enough for the blades to cut deep into her shoulder armor while barely missing severing her neck. It hurt like slag but Wintersong gritted her teeth as she merely endured the pain, having gotten quite use to the fact she seemed a magnet for the worse of injuries and instead aimed her gun and gave the mantis a few close range shots as a few other shots came likely from somewhere else but she couldn't see who from. "You don't seem to understand a surprise attack very well mantis, you really need to stop yelling about killing your targets, it's a bad habit that just isn't helping you." She said, hoping the shots would force him off her.

Though in the mean time Wintersong couldn't help wondering if Blackarachnia would attack her while she was tangling with Manterror now.

((Will post for Spineback when I get the chance, don't have time now.))

[WorpeX]

((OOC: Sorry, im a bit confused here. Is Xychona = Banshee??))



The Mantis could feel his blades digging into the exposed skin of Wintersong. The texture of crushed metal on his claws was heaven to his senses and it was a taste that he never could get enough of. However, knew immediately that he was off target. The Maximal had adjusted positions at the last moment and moved far enough away for his blades to not land a kill-shot.

With a quick spin move, the Mantis retracted his blade out of her body and turned to face her. He was then greeted with the un-welcomed sight of a gun barrel aimed at his face - point blank range. With little time to react, the predicon attempted to minimize damage by jumping into the shelter of a nearby rock. Unfortunately for him, he felt the sting of one or two shots which happened to make contact with his metal frame. Ignoring the pain, he waited until Wintersong stopped firing. He had taken a crouched position behind the rock, waiting patiently for his opponent. Once she stopped, he jumped up and returned fire by launching 2 of his own spinning blades. Then, he re-activated his stealth and took off into the sky. He was far more mobile in the air and if he was going to dodge weapon fire, he could do it best from above.

---



Airazor was a few clicks ahead of her team but had found the pod fairly quickly. With her optical zoom lenses, she was easily able to make it out from a distance. The pod was alone. She saw no predicon's. Perhaps they had arrived first? Or, maybe it was an ambush? Something felt wrong about the situation. It was too quiet. From previous missions, she knew the predicon's were always around - even if you couldn't see them at first glance.

"Airazor to Dinobot:" She spoke, directing her communicator to the team's leader. "I spotted the stasis pod a few clicks from my coordinates. No signs of predicon's yet."

The numerous amount of trees in the vicinity made it difficult for her to tell if the predicon's were present. So far, she detected no signatures for her enemy but it was very possible that they were simply out of her range. Airazor kept her distance from the pod, instead, she circled around to get a better lay of the land. Her primary goal now was the find the predicon's. She knew they were here, somewhere. She feel it...