The Intergalactic Highway

Upon seeing the furry animal come rushing towards them as fast as its legs could possibly carry it, Nemesis could not help shaking her head at how silly of an alternate form this protoform had chosen. She had decided to try the welcoming approach to make their motley crew seem a bit more appealing given the fact she still did not know if this protoform was Maximal or not. Oddly enough the Axalon had been carrying a number of Predacon prisoners on their trip so even if this protoform came from a Maximal vessel there were no guarantees it swore allegiance to one side or the other.

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

A somewhat unsettling feeling filled her as the beast came closer, green-tinged drool dripping out through the corners of his mouth and his cheeks puffing up as if..

" PTUI"

Seeing the slimy green mass escape from the animal's mouth, Nemesis very swiftly tossed herself to the side. She wasn't quite sure what the substance was, for all she knew it could have been acid, so she side-stepped as quickly as her feet would allow her. This, of course, put Inferno and Manterror in a direct path of the slimy cluster. Even Nemesis herself was unable to escape entirely, her left wing taking a portion of the substance as well.

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

Unable to hide the annoyance and disgust on her face as she shook her wing to try to get the sticky substance off, the avian female decided that this was as good a time as any to let Inferno do the talking.

"Yes, a most unfortunate mishap, I'm sure. Allow me to introduce our merry little band. They call me Nemesis. This is Inferno; sub-commander and team leader," she said while nodding to the red ant, blatantly ignoring the insane mantis.

(Only take him if you want him Frilla. If no one wants him I'll cover for him til someone does want him. As for Southern drawl.. like I've said before, take some inspiration from Bugs bunny cartoons with Yosemite Sam, works very well for his sort of vocabulary. Some old westerns might help, but those would be longer then a 10 minute cartoon. )


Umbra looked down towards Cecaelia as he noticed she slowed down, also noticing some slight coloration differences on her exterior.. which was how Octopus communicate. He removed his left hand from her handlebars rubbing the top of her gastank/mantle. Don't let it bug you. We can get that taken care of later. he then said to improve her morale.

Onyx wrote: "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."

Not really a problem for me.. If anything, just makes it easier to disappear.

Terrorsaur wrote: "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."

Onyx wrote:"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."

Umbra gave a nod towards Onyx as he responded Right. If we haven't spotted them yet.. they could be setting up an ambush.

As the mud started to get deeper, Umbra then hopped off Cecaelia, transforming to his beast mode. Landing on the mud, his body then curled it's tentacles back with the flatfish shape he'd used a few times before. His camouflage taking the colors of mud and moss, including their texture. He then started to jet forward swiftly over the mud, slithering slightly as he moved. Normally such a skill would only be used underwater by a Mimic Octopus, but Umbra had found it could be used much like a hovercraft skirt, using the compressed air from his siphon to propel him forward and create a ground effect surface over many types of terrain. This wasn't the most energy efficient method so it wasn't something the Octopus could perform the entire trip.

There I lightened the load a little. If either of you get stuck I'll get you out.

______________________________________________

Cheetor wrote:"I'll help you up here in the air, Striker better to have two looks out than just one."

Aerostriker smirked and gave a nod towards Cheetor Alright.

Stag hopped off the stasispod, flying back towards Aerostriker and attaching to him once again as Aerostriker spread his wings and took to the air once more, seeming to almost glide above the tree tops, while flapping his large wings as necessary to provide lift.

As they flew, Aerostriker and Stag suddenly detected the presence of the three Predacons. At that moment, he'd almost wished Cheetor was an owl, since they could fly silently, though the swift was hardly that much better at stealth.

Feralnight wrote:"I think we just found the Preds."

Aerostriker responded quietly Looks like just three.. Girls, use the woods for cover.. they probably wont notice you. Stag.. Prep plan B.

Stag nodded silently, preparing to charge his gun mode.

((So I'm going to say something which may not be very popular but its been on my mind for a long time. We seem to keep a lot of Canon characters around simply for the fact that they were in the real story... when in reality, we don't need them at all. Our OC characters are more fun for many of us to RP and most of them have already taken the role played by a canon character in the real story. So... can't we just kill some of these Canon's off already? No one has wanted Tigatron for what feels like a year now and I own the only character he actually has story with in the show... and I don't even want him around! Same goes for Quickstrike, we don't need him, plenty of other OC preds have already taken up his role in the real story like Manterror and Arachnitron. Bunch of other characters which I feel could fall under this category too but they technically have owners so I wont mention them.))

"How 're things lookin' up ahead, Airazor?"

Airazor had arrived at the drop site and had been spying on the predicons using her optical zoom eyes. She decided to not run in first this time, having learned from previous mistakes. She was out of visual range from the predicons - unless they also had zoom eyes like her, though she didn't think so. That was one thing which made her unique to the Maximal team! Her vision was far superior to anyone eleses.

"The Predicons reached the pod first." She explained quietly to Rattrap. "The protoform appears to be some ugly 4-legged hunchback beast." Unaware of what the actual name for the animal was. She also didn't really care too much either. Her focus was on watching the predicons and making sure they didn't escape with the protoform. She wished her hearing was half as good as her sight was as the predicon's were an odd bunch to watch. Manterror appeared to be quite the odd one and was yelling towards nemesis about something. Nemesis of course, didn't care one bit about him and Airazor was shocked to see that she didn't scrap him completely.

She was also shocked that Manterror didn't end up screwing the whole mission up completely. Instead, the Protoform was the first to throw things awry. He spit at the predicons and slimy goo went all over Manterrors face. Some even got on Nemesis and the look of disguist on her face was PRICELESS. Airazor chuckled to herself as it all unfolded.

With her communication to Rattrap still active, she continued her report. "I wish these Predicon's came with subtitles." She said, resisting the urge to not laugh out loud. "I'm in position and waiting for your orders."

"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."

Whitegrazer didn't react as Saber-Fang raised her voice at her. She lost the smile, but she stood attentive and intently at the Maximal sabertooth. Her expression looked emotionless yet deeper inside, if one was observant, could see the sorrow in them. The mentioning of the Maximal Elders and genetic mutation made her spark ache. Experimentation.

"... Cold needles sticking into her body and spark. Hands go inside, studying, studying, studying... Rage! Machine-like callousness of spoken words. No life. No emotion. Just pure ice."

"Not like this you haven't."

"Probably best to let her cool off,"

As Saber-Fang turned her back, Whitegrazer had raised her hand and wanted to place a hand on her shoulder. But Optimus' words halted her action, and she settled the arm back to its original position by her side. No, it was okay.

Before Orcariner left the room, Whitegrazer gave a smile, "You stay safe, Orcariner."

"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."

She nodded and was about to say something before Optimus was interrupted by another communication, which made her chuckle.

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

"Sonar..."

She hoped the others would deal with him. Not Saber-Fang. Not now.

Shaking her head, she had to clear her thoughts. In the corner of her optic, her master ghostly form was sitting on the simulation of a rock formation. His legs were dangling and his expression was that of glee. He as really looking forward to watching her fight Optimus. Of course, when he was alive, he always wanted to fight, looked for a fight, and taught by fighting. She looked at Optimus, studying him with interest.

"I'm not going to come out of this unscathed, am I?" She cocked her right optic with one of amusement. She had to experience everything she could from the transmetal forms. She didn't expect her to win this match nor be able to deduce everything. This match was going to be tough for her, but she was eager to learn. With the Beast Wars changing, she will have to adapt as well as do what she must to be able to protect her friends and do her duty.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachina sniffled a laugh from Tarantulas' futile attempt copying Quickstrike's accent. Transforming to her spider form, she hooked her cart onto her back and started crawling her way towards the exit. It was still heavy but it was nothing she couldn't handle. There was nothing she couldn't handle. She looked at Arachnitron for a second and quickly put herself inbetween Tarantulas and herself. She knew Arachnitron noticed her subtlety in driving a distance between those two. She had her reasons. It was sickened her.

((Alak, I did have Starshadow circling Buster like a vulture but ehh...never mind about that.))

Don't let it bug you. We can get that taken care of later.

That did not boost her morale. It made her feel more embarrassed. The ground got softer and swampy lands were never Cecaelia's favorite terrains. After Umbra hopped off her, she had a little trouble deciding if she should transform and get her armor dirty since her wheel were slightly stucked to the mud or she should stay and let the others handle it.

"Hmmmm....slag this...Terrorize!" she commanded reluctantly and she transformed on the mud, "Ugh! The horror!" she took big steps and jumped into the river and realized the water was not clean either, making her burst out of the water.

"I didn't sign up for this slag!" she yelled and sounded as if she was about to cry.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

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

That was some enthusiasm coming from a maximal protoform but the spit was just disgusting. She was surprised that Nemesis didn't strangle him after that.

"We can skip the introductions for later, Nemesis. The sooner we get back to base, the sooner we can do our own things. The Maximals will be here any moment."

(ooc: Alas I'm working tomorrow so making another quick response here to address Starshadow.)

Starshadow wrote:"We can skip the introductions for later, Nemesis. The sooner we get back to base, the sooner we can do our own things. The Maximals will be here any moment."

As grossed out as she was by the protoform's excessive salivation, Nemesis fought hard to maintain a calm demeanor. More than likely Starshadow's predictions were right and the Maximals would soon arrive to collect their protoform. However this fact only gave the Predacons more reason to persuade the creature to come willingly rather than having to use force to bring him back to base. They were, after all, far away from the base and from what she had seen of this creature thus far she doubted anyone with half of normal mental capacity would be willing to give him a ride.. Unconscious or otherwise. The beast truly was revolting at best.

"I sincerely hope so," the avian female then responded to Starshadow, doing very little to hide the excitement of wanting a chance to correct the travesty that had been their previous encounter with the Maximals. Nemesis wanted nothing more than to prove to herself that she had not lost her edge and that her inability to give the sappy Maximal the final blow had merely been a one time occurrence.. A temporary flaw that had since been corrected.

"Now why don't you check the perimeter in the meanwhile to make sure the Maximals have not already arrived," she suggested to the other female, stepping away from Inferno and the spitting beast in case the incident would turn out to be a pattern.

Frilla wrote: "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."

Aurora moved her hand up to pinch her nose to imply that the joint body odors described sounded less than appealing. "Eeewwww!," she said in a most nasal voice, rather glad this Sonar had thus far stayed outside the base rather than try to force his way inside. Well.. if he truly smelled like that, at least they would have a fair warning if he did come closer.

Rhinox wrote: "As improvisational an idea as yours is, Aurora, I think Dinobot could offer some services just as damaging without the odor."

"Better him than me!," the little ermine quickly responded, still holding her nose pinched between her fingers.

((Make up some quick replies before studying has me busy again.))

WIntersong glanced back when she heard Rattrap finally catching up and she could have sworn she detected Airazor not far off before. Though it was silent for a moment as the transmetal tigress walked she glanced upwards to where Rattrap was looking seeing Silverbolt not far off either, "Honestly, I think he's going to be a great addition to our crew Rattrap and I think he's trustworthy. Sure he might be a little corny heroic kind of bot but that's a little quirky I'm sure won't be much of a bother, nothing compared to your usual sarcasm and unpleasant stench." Wintersong told him, having already beginning to trust the new fuzor as he has not seemed like anything close to a Predacon from the beginning and she had been glad for his help back during the battle many days ago.

But a commotion soon captured Wintersong's attention, her ears perking forward at the voices in the distance. "Though I think we should be keeping ourselves ready right now, the Predacons don't sound too far away." She said shortly after Airazor was giving her report and the tigress quickened her pace slightly to see what was going on. But as she was coming over one of the few hills the tiger femme quickly stopped, seeing the group a little ways away and crouching slightly so she wasn't seen so quickly, "Well there they are." She said, not expecting to see them this soon but there was someone new among them that she suspected was the new protoform.

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

Seeing their shocked expressions, Terrorsaur's jaw drop actually making the corner's of her mouth twitch slightly in amusement, she could guess there weren't many or any former Decepticons before. Least not to her knowledge. "Yes you are correct sir, or shall I say my Lord. When the Pax Cybertronia was signed many of us didn't really have much else to do but drop our weapons and I was one of the few who decided to upgrade my body to a much smaller frame, though I decided it might as well be a good time as any to figure something else out so my skills as a medic come into play from those years of training." Spineback explained before she decided it was indeed unwise to stay much longer in the open as she began following the two Predacons, her newest comrades. Though the mention of Maximals being around possibly anywhere had Spineback glancing around a bit in wonder, recalling she had heard the sound of jets before but had figured it had been Megatron and Terrorsaur she had heard but perhaps one of the Maximals was around as well?

"Well I certainly look forward to hearing of the current exploits of the Predacons, Lord Megatron. And more so in getting back into a war again, I grew quite bored after my medic training was complete so it's why I became a protoform again and join upon the Axalon but if there had been a Predacon ship going out at the time I'd have said sign me right up any day."Spineback added as they walked but once against faintly heard the sounds of jets. For sure this time it couldn't have been any Predacons, this was just some distance away at least but loud enough to be heard which caused the femme to pause for a moment to listen. "Are you sure you two are the only fliers that came?"She finally inquired, now wanting to be certain she just wasn't hearing things.

((I'm assuming Cheetor's jets are to a point noisy so I'd think with the Maximals close they might hear them. Though if I'm wrong just let me know and I'll edit this.))

Ironlcaw had already transformed by the time Wintersong and the others had come within visual range of the Predacons. He did not have much interest in their previous conversation about the new Maximal, to him it was merely more numbers to fight the Predacons. Ironclaw had also heard Airazor's report on the status of the stasis pod and the Predacons that were in the vicinity. Their numbers were equal but the badger had not reached any conclusions about each and everyones fighting capability. As Wintersong suspected Ironlcaw had been close by, which he was. He approached her from behind and ran his hand across the back of her tiger form again. He stepped onto the top of the small peak ahead of him, one foot in front of the other, facing the Predacons. He could them out in the distance, all five of them and one in particular looking more intimidating than the others, one of the females. His gaze became fixed upon her as he looked out over the landscape.

"The Predicons reached the pod first." She explained quietly to Rattrap. "The protoform appears to be some ugly 4-legged hunchback beast."

Silverbolt kept to the air in the area. Overhearing Airazor's comm communication with Rattrap, he knew this kindred Maximal was in danger of being deceived. Deceived in much the same way that he had been by the Predacons. Silverbolt though back to his time with the Predacons... how he was used and abused. And how he fought the Maximals until he learned the truth from Optimus. He felt ashamed it took him that long to realize it, though he had felt a general unease for some time. Silverbolt circled for a moment, deciding what to do. While he didn't want to throw off the other Maximal's plans.... he HAD to stop this travesty from happening.

Silverbolt dove down towards the tropical treeline, flying low over the tree tops, he closed in on the protoform and the Predacons. Transforming in to robot mode, he took a hard landing on the ground behind the new bot.

"WAIT! Don't listen to them!" Silverbolt interjected, hoping to interrupt before it was too late. "They are trying to deceive you. You are a Maximal... like me. Come with me. Let me lead you to safety."

Silverbolt reached and outstretched and in the new arrival's direction.

((OOC: Sorry if I was absent or anything. Life got in the way but anyway, I should post as Waspinator now. Just pretend that Waspinator is somewhat late to group up with Nemesis and the others.)

"Ooohhh, Wazzpinator late! Wazzpinator muzzt hurry or Megatron might zzcrap Wazzpinator!"

Buzzing ahead towards the location of the Protoform was none other than Waspinator in his beast-mode, obviously worried over the possibility of Megatron being angry of Waspinator's tardiness. In Waspinator's defense (which Megs will not care for), he was too busy cleaning himself in victory over the fact that he wasn't slagged once when he became a Transmetal.

"Ooohhhh....Why can't Wazzpinator move fazzter!" The pred complained, buzzing in annoyance.

It only took a few moments before Waspinator realized something.

"Wazzpinator has jet-mode! WHY DID WAZZPINATOR FORGET THAT!?!" He said in confusion and anger over his forgetfulness on that little fact. He immediately transformed into his vehicle mode before jetting off.

"Sonar..."

"Yes," Optimus sighed, wishing Saber-Fang would open up to him more about their history.

"I'm not going to come out of this unscathed, am I?"

Primal was also looking in the same direction Whitegrazer was. He couldn't see him but he felt as though someone was there watching and lurking. It was familiar but distant. His gaze broke away when the mare spoke up. "Probably not," Optimus smiled as deviously as he could, teasing her as he slowly stepped back away from her and then transformed to his robot mode.

(( OOC: Una and I will work on a joint post for this so we can get through it quickly before the teams out in the field call for back-up and interrupt their little sparring match. Stay tuned! ))

-----

"Honestly, I think he's going to be a great addition to our crew Rattrap and I think he's trustworthy. Sure he might be a little corny heroic kind of bot but that's a little quirky I'm sure won't be much of a bother, nothing compared to your usual sarcasm and unpleasant stench."

"Oh yeah? Well, you weren't danglin' by your tail two thousand feet in the air with yer life in his hands," Rattrap debated with Wintersong.

"The Predicons reached the pod first."

Fantastic, Rattrap thought sarcastically. How do they always get there before us?!

"The protoform appears to be some ugly 4-legged hunchback beast."

"Well, we can't just assume it's a Pred 'cause it's ugly. I mean, look at Chopper Face... Oh wait," he joked over their transmission. At least they were fortunate enough to have Airazor on site already. And as stealthy as she was, the Preds would never notice her.

"I wish these Predicon's came with subtitles."

"I can probably make some for ya dat would be surprisingly accurate even though I have no idea what's going on," he smirked, amused by himself.

"I'm in position and waiting for your orders."

"All right, Air. Just sit tight for a moment. Stay alert."

"Though I think we should be keeping ourselves ready right now, the Predacons don't sound too far away."

"Yeah," Rattrap said in a softer tone to Wintersong before glancing at the badger and sarcastically adding to him, "Hey, thanks for yer input dere, Ironclaw. Good ta see your willingness and socialization with participating in this team." And everyone thought Rattrap had a bad attitude?

"Well there they are."

Slowing his speed dramatically, Rattrap rolled up beside Wintersong to a stop on the hill and observed the Predacons with the new bot quietly. "Great. Nemesis is here," the TransMetal rodent grumbled softly. "On de bright side, she'll be the only difficult one to take down if we have ta," he said to Wintersong and Ironclaw. "Let's spl-" Before he could finish, he watched Silverbolt fly ahead and swoop in. "Fer bootin' up cold!" he angrily expressed.

"What're you doin', 'Bolt?! We don't know if it's hostile or not!" he called after him on his comm. link, obviously upset, but he didn't expect an answer. The newest Fuzor to their team was already involved at ground zero.

"Everybody move out before he gets his head blown off!" Rattrap ordered Wintersong and Ironclaw. "But hold yer fire unless you're attacked." With Silverbolt's arrival there, it automatically told the Preds that the Maximals were already in the vicinity, so they might as well join the party now that their sensors and senses would be searching for them. A surprise welcoming committee would be useless now. Fortunately, it didn't look like the Preds had harmed the new bot yet, so hopefully they could keep the gun fire to a minimum this time, especially since Megatron wasn't there to encourage them to obliterate them. However, there was Inferno and Manterror, two of most psycho and incompetent Predacons he had ever met. Such a bad combination of programming.

"Winter, 'Claw, you two split up and try flankin' the Preds," he ordered the two.

"Airazor, stay right where you are until I need you. Be our eyes in the sky and watch our backs." Driving off on his wheels, Rattrap rolled down the hill without bothering to make himself invisible and calmly approached the group surrounding the new guy. Disengaging his vehicle mode, he immediately maximized but didn't pull out his weapon... despite how much he wanted to considering who they were dealing with. He'd rather avoid the gun fire. And since he didn't know what the Preds already said to try to convince this llama guy that the Maximals were the bad guys, he thought it better to show that he wasn't trigger happy and that his team was peaceful. Let the Preds make that mistake since Manterror and Inferno wouldn't be able to control themselves.

"You Preds need help with somethin'?" asked Rattrap, implying that they should back off.

-----

"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." "Have fun out there Dinobot, sure he might make good for target practice."

"Eeewwww!," "Better him than me!,"

As the ladies carried on with their jokes, Rhinox soon distracted himself by keeping up with the teams and their missions. Rattrap's group was soon out of the Axalon's scanners' reach, and that also included radio transmissions. He certainly hoped they would return safe with a new member, as well as Cheetor and Feralnight's team who may not have had a designated leader by chain of command but he knew all of them would work together and help each other.

"Hm, guess if your fine with not seeing much ahead of you suppose that's true."Onyx said as he looked towards the murky water, not seeing how anyone would be able to see at all despite the fact it'd do well for hiding away from enemy eyes. Then again, that's why he wasn't one with the aquatic form here despite the fact his beast form of choice could swim but such waters even made him uneasy as who knew what could be lurking in those muddy depths. And with the terrain growing muddy beneath his hooves the burly mech had to slow somewhat to not have a chance of falling into a concealed sink hole or getting stuck in mud, or even slipping. This is why he wished Megatron had sent him to the other pod that had supposedly been an open field, his form would have done well in such open plains where it was built for. Though, the black equine also had some suspicions he was there so Megatron could have kept an optic on him.

Upon hearing Cecaelia though Onyx slowed to a stop to look back at the femme, wincing when she got a bit loud from jumping into the water but even yelling when she realized it was not clean either. A sigh escaped him as he looked back at Umbra for a moment before trotting back over, "Then perhaps I can give you a ride Cecealia. You'll avoid the mud and in trouble comes our way from any sink holes you have less chance of getting stuck and messing up your armor." He told her but turned his head sharply as his ears twitched back from a sound that headed their way. That was the sound of jets which made Onyx turn away from the femme long enough to notice they were being watched.

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

"Don't have to tell me twice,"Silverstreak muttered as she quickly ducked down behind some bushes, peeking out through the leaves as she tried to getting a reading on this newest arrival's signature. And quite an odd signature it was. It wasn't exactly Predacon but had a slight difference to it, though it was nothing the young vixen femme was familiar with and it made her quite uneasy to not know if this was truly a Predacon. Although, judging from how chummy this femme was with Megatron she more than likely was a Predacon already waiting to come out of that pod and now they were likely to be outnumbered if there were others nearby. And unfortunately it seemed Cheetor above them was having to stay further back, his boosters being far louder than Aerostriker's. Sadly enough, that also could very well give away their position of being there.

It was quite unfortunate for Cheetor, having heard the warning of three Predacons being there and figuring the new arrival was a Predacon the moment it set foot out of that pod. For now the transmetal cheetah was having to hang back to avoid the Predacons hearing him if they already hadn't. "I'm going to move back further, see if I can't find a good place to land then rejoin you." Cheetor informed them quietly before he banked off towards his left and began heading to find a good place to land until a scream captured his attention making the transmetal cat pause in wonder. Was that one of the other Predacons? It had to be, far as they knew no other Maximals had followed them from base and surely couldn't have risked being this loud.

Narrowing his eyes, Cheetor decided to check it out and risk finding more Preds than having his teammates face anymore and quickly flew off towards the direction of the noise but had to stop quickly when seeing it was Cecaelia who had been yelling, and accompanying her was the more right minded Predacons, Umbra and Onyx. Yet again, his jets gave away that he was there and Onyx was soon facing him making the feline gulp before he quickly took off once more and decided to take a chance of a free fall as he deactivated his boosters and landed right down on his feet. "Slag, ran into three other Preds guys! Unfortunately I think Onyx found me."He informed them over the com-links as he ran back to try and regroup with the other Maximals.

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

Onyx watched as the feline took off, more than ready to go after the lone Maximal. "I'll see where the flea bitten cat is headed, can't have the Maximals knowing there's more of us." He said before looking back, "You two meet up with Megatron and Terrorsaur, if he's heading elsewhere I'll be back shortly." He added before he quickly galloped off after Cheetor, hoping to intercept the young mech before he could reach help.

((OOC: Just posting a quick reply to Warwulf's post before I take off. If I missed anyone else, I apologize!))

Silverbolt wrote:"WAIT! Don't listen to them!"
"They are trying to deceive you. You are a Maximal... like me. Come with me. Let me lead you to safety."

Buster stood there, holding that stunned expression on his face. First, he had unintentionally spit at his newfound saviors. Now, there was some awkward looking transformer, who appeared to be a fusion of two different animals, telling him that he should be going with the flying dog instead. This was way too much information for the starving llama to process.

"Uh..." he leaned towards Silverbolt with his abnormally large neck, "I'm not sure what you're talking about with this whole Maximal racial thing. Last time I checked, I'm supposed to be a llama. I could be wrong, my pod fell head first on the ground, but I don't see what the fuss is all about."

Motioning with his head towards the Predacon group with a big smile.

"That lovely lady there is even gonna feed me!"

His eyes darting between the two parties, Buster continued to hold his smile in an effort to calm everyone down. They appeared to be at odds with one another, and if these bots end up slagging each other, that would mean the llama would be stuck with eating grass again. Well, he actually could resort to feasting on their carcasses, but that would be disgusting.

"Can't we all be friends and get drunk of energon together? I thought that's how things were done back home?"

Cecaelia wrote: "Hmmmm....slag this...Terrorize!" "Ugh! The horror!" "I didn't sign up for this slag!"

Onyx wrote: "Then perhaps I can give you a ride Cecealia. You'll avoid the mud and in trouble comes our way from any sink holes you have less chance of getting stuck and messing up your armor."

Umbra observed Cecaelia as he turned towards the water, in the corner of his eye noticing something in the air.

Onyx wrote:"I'll see where the flea bitten cat is headed, can't have the Maximals knowing there's more of us." He said before looking back, "You two meet up with Megatron and Terrorsaur, if he's heading elsewhere I'll be back shortly."

Understood, radio if you require assistance. Umbra responded. As he moved towards the water, he inflated his mantle. Two of his tentacles then extended wrapping around Cecaelia and lifting her up, then setting her down ontop of his inflated mantle, seeming to act like a giant pool raft to the smaller female, specially in the case of his abnormally large beast mode. Alright, you don't have to go in the muddy water.Just stay there and clean yourself up. While Onyx was right about the water quality, Umbra didn't seem to have to worry. Much like an Alligator, Mimic Octopus have their eyes located on the top of their head to make it easier for them to watch while covered in sand or mud. His other arms started to grasp along the bottom, pulling himself along without too much effort.

As he moved, he then noticed something in the water. A log? No.. it seemed to have eyes..

As the creature started to move towards him, he projected a few arms around it, lifting what appeared to be a 6 ft crocodile out of the water by the jaws and tail,the creature thrashing about in the air violently but with futile effort to the gigantic octopus. Umbra raised a lid on his stock Huh.. some sort of.. water reptile.. I wonder.. he then muttered to himself scanning the creature over, then tossed it to the side into the mud as if it were a mere bath toy.

Umbra's tentacles then started to lock together, his skin rippling with it's color changing as he took on the appearance of a gigantic crocodile. While he had trouble copying land animals with his beast mode, he seemed to have no issue with mimicking aquatic animals, this one however might be more useful then he'd think.

Floating down the river with his "tail" paddling along, Umbra was now starting to close in on the other Predacons, starting to notice them in a shallow in the distance. As he moved closer, he noticed something golden in the air.


Aerostriker attempted to keep as quiet as possible as he got closer, clearly spotting three targets near each other, his head then adjusted as he noticed Cecaelia seeming to be riding on the back of some sort of strange aquatic reptile. As Stag scanned the creature, a error popped up on Aerostriker's hud. Was it possible they had gained two predacons during this mission, or was this thing in the water that Ninja he'd heard about? He had heard Umbra's camouflage was good, but taking on the appearance of other beast modes.. This would certainly be a problem if any random animal,rock,or tree could be suspected as an enemy.

Cheetor wrote:"Slag, ran into three other Preds guys! Unfortunately I think Onyx found me."

As Aerostriker tried to turn back, he then heard a voice from bellow.

Cecaelia, enemy flier above.. please take him out.

Aerostriker cringed and turned transforming to his vehicle mode. As he made a hard banking turn while his rear jets kicked in, he flew above the Predacons making a strafing run of rapid laser fire from his back turret, then started to head off pulling up into the air I'm spotted too Cheets, I'll lead some of the fliers away and join up with you.

____________________________

Quickstrike walked into the hanger, a bit late from spending a night of heavy energon usage. He was starting to get more used to the predacon life, and learning quiet a bit on things that explode or hurt him. As he made it towards one of the trailers the light outside caused him to squint and shield his optics with his giant hand, muttering to himself Ah hate mornin's.. Beast mode he transformed to his fuzor form.

Moving towards the trailer, his snake head bit onto a bar lifting the end up as he started to follow Tarantulas out. He didn't care much for Tarantulas, the guy seemed like a smart guy.. he didn't care much for their kind. With his fancy beaker jars and soldering irons.... The only iron you need is a cattle iron to melt the face off a maximal!

OOC: Hope this latest post is alright with you guys, I figured letting Megs and Terry flush the maximals out of hiding would make the most sense just in case they weren't in plain sight amongst the foliage, and simple post for Tarantulas this time since he doesn't have much to play off of just yet, but things will improve soon once we get the ball rolling on the spider's new "adventure" lol

Wintersong wrote:
Seeing their shocked expressions, Terrorsaur's jaw drop actually making the corner's of her mouth twitch slightly in amusement, she could guess there weren't many or any former Decepticons before. Least not to her knowledge. "Yes you are correct sir, or shall I say my Lord. When the Pax Cybertronia was signed many of us didn't really have much else to do but drop our weapons and I was one of the few who decided to upgrade my body to a much smaller frame, though I decided it might as well be a good time as any to figure something else out so my skills as a medic come into play from those years of training." Spineback explained before she decided it was indeed unwise to stay much longer in the open as she began following the two Predacons, her newest comrades. Though the mention of Maximals being around possibly anywhere had Spineback glancing around a bit in wonder, recalling she had heard the sound of jets before but had figured it had been Megatron and Terrorsaur she had heard but perhaps one of the Maximals was around as well?

"Well I certainly look forward to hearing of the current exploits of the Predacons, Lord Megatron. And more so in getting back into a war again, I grew quite bored after my medic training was complete so it's why I became a protoform again and join upon the Axalon but if there had been a Predacon ship going out at the time I'd have said sign me right up any day."Spineback added as they walked but once against faintly heard the sounds of jets. For sure this time it couldn't have been any Predacons, this was just some distance away at least but loud enough to be heard which caused the femme to pause for a moment to listen. "Are you sure you two are the only fliers that came?"She finally inquired, now wanting to be certain she just wasn't hearing things.

((I'm assuming Cheetor's jets are to a point noisy so I'd think with the Maximals close they might hear them. Though if I'm wrong just let me know and I'll edit this.))

My lord? Oh yes, Megatron liked this newcomer, yes indeed! He patiently listened to his new recruit as she told her tale, Megatron sufficiently convinced that she was not a maximal spy, his mech fluid boiling at the notion of a decepticon war vet forced to join the crew of a maximal ship...Did the Maximal scum have no shame? First they robbed his ancestors of their rightful place as rulers of Cybertron, now they dared to strip away their very dignity! Well, Spineback's medical skills would be far better utilized amongst his own forces, he would see to that, oh yes indeed.

However, before he could share any tales of his own exploits to his newest subordinate, she brought to his attention the sound of what could only be jet engines, and not those of Terrorsaur or any of his other flyers.

"Alas dear doctor, I am quite certain none of my remaining fliers are in this sector, Terrorsaur! SEEK AND DESTROY!" Megatron commanded, peering through the underbrush to spot the maximal vermin, firing several shots of his overwhelmingly powerful plasma cannon into the foliage to flush them out.

"Music to my ears, Terrorsaur TERRORIZE!" the predacon flyer crowed gleefully as he transformed into battle mode and fired two energy signature seeking missiles out ahead of him to track down the maximals, assuming Megatron hadn't slagged them himself already, following the projectiles with eye beams charging.

Una wrote:
Blackarachina sniffled a laugh from Tarantulas' futile attempt copying Quickstrike's accent. Transforming to her spider form, she hooked her cart onto her back and started crawling her way towards the exit. It was still heavy but it was nothing she couldn't handle. There was nothing she couldn't handle. She looked at Arachnitron for a second and quickly put herself inbetween Tarantulas and herself. She knew Arachnitron noticed her subtlety in driving a distance between those two. She had her reasons. It was sickened her.

Tarantulas noticed Blackarachnia's attempt to separate him from Arachnitron, partly amused by her dislike of his master/servant relationship with the third spider pred, partly annoyed by her defiance. He would let it slide for now, and see how Arachnitron reacted to BA's actions...But if the elder widow pushed him too far, she would suffer a psychic backlash for her troubles. He was the master, she was the servant, and she would learn to OBEY him.