The Intergalactic Highway

Cheetor had been distracted by Primal's plight when he realized the most imminent threat coming for his group- Starshadow.

"Cheetor, Maximize!" he shouted.

Pumping his quasar gun, he pointed it in Starshadow's direction.

"From one cat to another," Cheetor said defiantly, "you're giving our kind a bad name!" Then he fired repetitively.

Cheetor would have shot regardless of who was defending him. But as much as he would have hated admitting it, he appreciated that the more experienced Rattrap was also firing at the same target. And with the new Maximal, Wintersong, doing the exact same, there was almost no way the Predacon was going to reach Saber.

He'd go to stasis lock before he'd let that happen.

Skyfire became frustrated over the fact that not a single one of her shots hit anything. She thought that maybe taking to the air, maybe she could distract the Predacons long enough and provide cover fire for Rhinox, because she could see from his body language what he planned to do. She knew her idea was risky, but right now her comrades needed help.

She told to air, and shouted over to the Predacons. "Hey, Preds! I bet you can't hit me!" and resumed firing shots at the them to at least get thier attention.

Venatrix smiled slightly at Megatron. Hasn't he noticed her till just now?
She wasn't really being stealthy since they landed.
"I've been around and been doing my job, Megatron. I take it the idea for this attack is to cut the Maximals off from this route to their base, am i correct?"
She then transformed to bot mode, and drew one of her blades.
Then she removed a power cell from her belly, and tied it to hilt of her blade.
"Scorponock. fire one of your missiles at this blade."
Venatrix hurled her blade into the rocky bridge, having the glowing power cell dangle down the hilt as an obvious target.
The combined power of Scorponock and her power cell should be able to take the bridge out.

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Her last encounter with Waspinator wasn't one she intend to repeat.
She moved swiftly in the air, to make sure the Predacon bug couldn't get a lock on her.
Flying like this took her ability away to use her missiles, but she still had her wrist mounted rapid firing vulcan blasters, and fired a few rounds at the wasp.
Though her bullets wouldn't cause to much damage, they would be enough of a nuisance to the wasp for him to halt his attack for a slight moment.
That short moment, she moved her wings forwards and fired 2 missiles at Waspinator.
That's when she noticed the blade in the bridge with the glowing power cell on it.
"Maximals! Move to the other side! Now!"

Wintersong growled ducking down slightly to try and think of a better plan. On one hand she could risk using her close combat weapon fist and claws but then that'd leave Sber open to be attacked or on the other use her other hand to fire instead. THinking thorugh carefully Wintersong shook ehr head swtching hands and came abck up firing once more at Starshadow, "You won't win Starshadow! I can gurantee that!" With Rattrap and Cheetor helping surely Starsahdow didn't stand a chance! But would it be enough? Plus fromt he outcome it didn't look as if Optimus and Dinobot would last much longer.

Starshadow could not wait any longer while she was dodging the maximal's attack. She forced a string of web out of the Tarantulas, get some spikes from her tail and make a spiked ball covered with web. She swinged it around and threw it high in the air in 45 degree of angle.
"TRY THIS, RAINING SPIKES ON FIRE!!" She pulled out her gun and shot the ball which made the sharp spikes scattered around in the air but on fire.
"ARE YOU SURE WINTER FURBALL?! I'VE BATTLED AGAINST ELITE CLASS BOTS!! YOU SURE I WON'T STAND A CHANCE?!" Starshadow was laughing evily.

(Why thank ya OOP. )

Dinobot couldn't argue with Optimus, the situation had elevated far out of his reach anyway. He grunted and locked his joints to remain as still as possible, in order to make what would be their last few moments easier on Primal.

***

Waspinator didn't really mind that Valkyrie was too fast for his target lock- he never used it anyway. He just kept blasting in her general direction. But that's the thing with random fire, it doesn't usually work on a swift enemy.

Small burning bullets hit Waspinator's front, dotting his shappy appearance with even more singe and burn marks. Buzzing furiously, Waspinator shook his head, a loose bolt jangling around in his cranium, and reset his vision back on Valkyrie. He instead caught Valkyrie's missiles. He gulped, his high speed wing beat stuttering, faltering, then stopping dead. He began to plummet toward the misty ground, nanoclicks right before the missiles occupied the airspace he had been hovering.

His flight program rebooted, and he was back at eyelevel with Valkyrie before you could say 'Cheese Pie.'

Venatrix wrote:"Maximals! Move to the other side! Now!"

"Wazzpinator not mizz thizz time," he promised himself, a red targeting symbol scrolling across his vision, flashing green as he locked on to Valkyrie. He fired his Stinger, clutching his burning side.

"Hey, Preds! I bet you can't hit me!"

Rhinox watched Skyfire pull off a rather risky manuever. Perhaps Rattrap could assist her with target practice sometime since she seemed to have trouble shooting at her targets. In any case, her diversion was perfect for him to put his weapon away and hurry to aid Optimus and Dinobot.

"Maximals! Move to the other side! Now!"

Primal picked up Valkyrie's holler soon after he witnessed Venatrix's blade pierce the rock with a very powerful object dangling from it. His brown eyes widened in shock and fear. If someone didn't help them soon, the explosion was going to take out the bridge, and with it, him and Dinobot. He couldn't hold them there much longer...

Big Green heard the eagle as well and saw what she was talking about. They had to move quickly. "Cheetor, help Saber-Fang!" he told him. "Everyone, across the bridge! NOW!" Wintersong was injured enough to worry about herself, but Cheetor should be able to help Saber across the bridge, even if she was still unconscious. Of course, that Predacon known as Starshadow was getting to be a real problem. Rhinox stepped on to the bridge and made his way to Optimus and Dinobot, surprisingly without any shots hitting him since he was such a large bot.

As for Optimus, he couldn't hold on any longer. It felt like his toes were ripping off of his foot, but he wasn't going to let Dinobot go just to save himself. If they were going to fall, then they'd both go. The gorilla gave out a cry of pain just as he released the rock he was grasping, and for a split second thought that was the end of it. Until he felt a hand around his ankle and came to a sudden stop. He did not let go of Dinobot.

"Goin' up?" Rhinox said, kneeling over and catching Optimus just in time. He was more than strong enough to pull both Primal and Dinobot back up on to the bridge and gently set them down.

The Maximal leader was beyond relieved and grateful to have such a tramendous team who, all together, saved his and Dinobot's lives.

"From one cat to another," "you're giving our kind a bad name!"

Got dat right, Rattrap thought. Felines.

"You won't win Starshadow! I can gurantee that!"

"TRY THIS, RAINING SPIKES ON FIRE!!" "ARE YOU SURE WINTER FURBALL?! I'VE BATTLED AGAINST ELITE CLASS BOTS!! YOU SURE I WON'T STAND A CHANCE?!"

Yeah, Rattrap heard Valkyrie and Rhinox tell them to get across the bridge, but he couldn't just leave Saber and Winter behind, not while Starshadow was still a big threat. So he stayed put and ducked from the fiery spikes that filtered the air around him and Winter. One of the spikes managed to graze his left arm but it wasn't an injury he couldn't handle. He tried ignoring it for now since there was no time to tend to it. "Just 'cause you battled 'Elite class bots'," Rattrap mocked the Predacon, "don't mean you've battled anyone like us! Clearly Starshadow was getting on his nerves now. All he wanted to do was go back to the Axalon, curl up in a ball, and sleep. He's had enough action for one day.

This time, the rat targeted and fired at Star's joints, like her elbows, shoulders and knees. Places that were a lot more vulnerable and less armored, and would hopefully stop her from attacking them at least while they attempted their escape across the narrow bridge.

WIntersong heard Rhinox call Cheetor to help Saber-fang, but before Wintersong transformed she took a few hits from the burning spikes and it wasn't exactly helping with the injuries she already had. Plus at the samemoment the energon surge hit faster this time from damage and the tigeress was forced to transform earlier then before. "Hurry Cheetor!" She called but wouldn't leave until the cheetah came for Saber. TO which only WIntersong could hope she'd wake up soon.

Skyfire heard Rhinox and Valkyrie's call for all Maximals to cross the bridge. Since she was in the air she knew she would be okay, but she saw that Saber-Fang was in bad shape, and so was this other feline amoung her comrades, she wasn't sure who it, but it looked like they needed help and she couldn't just stay safe in the air and do nothing.

"Hey, do you guys need any help?!" She called To Cheetor and the tigress.

The spikes had looked menacing for a bit, but their explosive dispersal caused their points to be directed in multiple ways- many non-lethal. One spike hit Cheetor right in the leg, but the point of it had been aimed the other direction, and as a result, it bounced harmlessly off.

Rhinox wrote:"Cheetor, help Saber-Fang!"

Cheetor took one last shot at Starshadow, and then turned around to look at the unconscious general.

Being a robot, Cheetor was naturally stronger than he looked, but he still doubted he could actually lift Saber's body off the ground and get her across the bridge.

Cheetor grabbed her left arm, and pulled it over his shoulder. He tried standing up to get a better grasp on the Maximal. But she was just too heavy.

Skyfire wrote:"Hey, do you guys need any help?!"

Cheetor took advantage of the opportunity immediately.

"I need help lifting Saber. She's too heavy for me by myself." he shouted.

Wintersong felt useless and could have helped Cheetor. WIth no other choice she made a painful dash towards the bridge, full sprint and artly limping, following the other Maximals while trying to avoid being hit. Glancing back she hoped things would turn out better so or they were sitting ducks!

Starshadow saw Rattrap and Cheetor fired afew shots and it was headed to her. To prevent herself from getting blasted away, she jumped on to the rocky walls behind her and dug her claws into it prevent herself from sliding down. She charged her plasma beam from her mouth, aiming at the other side of the bridge which was near to the maximals's base but it takes time to charge the power of the beam to destroy the bridge.

I need help lifting Saber. She's too heavy for me by myself

Sky got over to Cheetor to Saber-Fang as quickly as possible and began to help Cheetor get Saber across the bridge.

Blaze howled loudly,bounding to her feet again. Noticing that Waspinator was unusually close,she made a swift decision.

"Hey,Bug Eyes!" she hollered,"Eat slag!" Aiming most of her firepower at the insect,she blasted him hard and fast. Ducking as one of Tarantulas' missiles came hurdling through the air only to detinate a few feet away from her,she made her way to the bridge.

"Oh slag!. We're like sittin' ducks up here," she thought,dodging as much of the Pred weaponry as she could manage while trying to keep her balance. Not an easy thing to do,but it wasn't like she needed to say it out loud. Everyone else had enough problems as it was without having her point out the obvious.

With Cheetor and Skyfire helping Saber,there were two sets of hands that couldn't shoot-Or protect themselves from getting shot. They'd need coverfire,she realized. With a grim expression on her face,the hyena used everything she had.

Megatron snarled,ducking behind the rocks as a shot pierced the moutain's face where his head had been a moment before. Starshadow probably would have hissed,but she seemed to be doing something else. From the distance between them it was hard to tell.

Counteracting her shots was a large,black Predacon,who seemed to know his combat to a "t". She didn't know his name,but she certainly hoped that she could outdo him,because if they didn't make it across the bridge in time...Primus only knew what would happen afterwords.
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Megatron could not believe his good luck. All the Maximals had lined up neatly in a row; The traitor too,in perfect range to fall to their dooms,provided his lackeys didn't bungle the job. He frowned for a moment,concidering this. No,of course they wouldn't. This was too easy! Even Waspinator couldn't mess up so simple an opperation! Where was he anyway? Ah well,it didn't matter.

"This is our oppertunity,yesss! All weapons," he ordered,pointing his cannon at the bridge. Smiling with satisfaction,he watched as his enemies struggled to keep pace as he and his army destroyed their only hope of reaching the other side safely. On his left,Stashadow,he knew,was preparing to finish the job.
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Blaze ran as fast as her legs would carry her across the the rock to safety.
But try as she might,she realized that Rattrap and herself were falling behind. The rodent risked one quick glance back at her and the crumbling bridge. A fatal mistake,for in that moment he slowed his pace and the rest of the stone crumbled beneath them. Blaze wanted to scream,as did Rattrap,but the sound would not come from their vocal porcessors as they plumeted down into the abyss.

Saber was slowly coming to after being shot, the first thing she realized was that she being dragged by two bots. Her frist instinct was to struggle but then she realized that the two carrying her was two of her team mates.
Oh, man. I'm going to feel this tomorrow. She thought ignoring the pain in her shoulder.
Then she remembered about the battle from what was going on around her Optimus must have won the fight, and Dinobot was either dead or still alive and right now she didn't care which.