The Intergalactic Highway

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote: "Still hangin' on," Rattrap answered Whitegrazer after Frilla. "But remind me to get ya a saddle next time," he grinned jokingly. Hearing what she added after that turned his buck-tooth smile upside down. He had the same feeling that something was wrong with this mission, but he was drawing it from experience. It definitely felt like the godly aliens were behind this, but all they could do was follow their leader's orders.

Whitegrazer was glad that the two weren't any worse for wear and she smiled at Rattrap, "Not in your life, buddy. You just going to have to deal with it."

To lighten the situation, she winked, "Don't worry. We will prevail since we know to be careful."

Ocariner wrote:Attention all road runners. This is Marine One. Sky Team is being engaged by enemy flyers at M18. Zone's hot so keep your sensors up and running when you approach it...

We also have enemy reinforcements coming in. A lot of them, too. Prepare to go weapons free as soon as you guys are in range. Grab a battle buddy and may Primus be with you all. Marine One out.

Well, here we go.

"See?" Cheetor said in a mockingly reassuring tone. "What'd I tell ya'?"

Dinobot only continued to stare ahead as the group of Maximals ran.

"So, uh... you gonna' need a battle buddy?" the Maximal asked, turning his head. All of a sudden, things got a lot brighter. Cheetor turned back ahead and realized they were out of the woods and at the battleground.

"It certainly won't be you," Dinobot finished the conversation and put on an extra burst of speed. "Dinobot, Maximize!" he shouted. Even as he transformed, he continued running. Cheetor hung back and turned to the other three.

"Well, I guess there were five of us. The math wouldn't exactly have... y'know... anyways." Cheetor looked at the battlefield and shouted his own activation code. "Cheetor, Maximize!"

Like Dinobot, Cheetor quickly forgot the concept of partnering up with somebody as the excitement of battle came over him. Unlike Dinobot, Cheetor's charge was a reckless one, and he began firing quasar indiscriminately at any and all of the Predacons he could find.

Dinobot noticed Optimus had just been blinded, so he came to his aid. It would not do for the leader to be taken out of the battle.

Dinobot stared at Glowstick for a second to get his aim right and then fired, hoping the combined assaults of two Maximals would take him down.

Watching Cheetor and Dinobot rush into battle, Whitegrazer gave a heavy sigh, "So much for careful."

She didn't want to rush into battle like those two have especially with Rattrap and Frilla on her back. Also, due to the fact that she didn't want to use her weapon.

"Any objections to a more stealthy approach?" She asked the two.

Looking at the surroundings, she kept herself hidden inside the trees, watching the battles up ahead. Keeping themselves well hidden, Whitegrazer softly galloped left to see the Predacons more clearly

"More Predacons will be coming in soon."

"There you are!" yelled Scorponok with a pretentious tone.

Stretching a claw back, he grabbed the large weapon off his back and handed it towards the bear. The sounds of missiles and lasers boomed in the distance across the sky. The lieutenant had no doubt that their flyers were engaged with the Maximals. With an event this big, it was a good idea for Steelclaw to request his most powerful weapon.

Whitegrazer's optics zoomed in to see the approaching Predacons, "Oh boy. They are surely bringing in weapons."

She was going to make it her job to take that out, "I'm going to let you guys off here. That minigun is going to tear people to shreds if we don't take it out."

"I got a plan but it will be risky." She said quietly, "How good is your long range aim, guys?"

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia heard the battles and she saw the minigun that Scorponok threw to that bear. She itched closer to Tarantulas and was by his side as she transformed.

She noticed that kitty cat running into the battlefield recklessly as usual

Time to get some payback, kid.

She ran and started firing her from her legs at Cheetor.

(( OOC: Nice, Alak. I had thought of the clone's missiles doing something similar, but I didn't want to do so much at once. Figured I'd leave it up to you. Poor Terrorsaur. He was actually blown up before Waspinator! ))

Blasting by Glowstick, his attack unsuccessful, the clone was suddenly blinded by a white light from the Predacon he found most interesting. At the same time, he felt an uncomfortable warmth surrounding him, so the Vok immediately barrel rolled a couple times to the left in order to escape the wide laser's path and leveled out before flying straight up into the sky to get away from any other attacks that may have been chasing him. Stopping and hovering high in the air, he let his optic sensors re-adjust to the lighting before he turned and looked down toward everyone, observing some of the ground runners entering the battle.

With Feralnight and Dinobot now just attacking Glowstick, and Terrorsaur was already down, "Clear Convoy" decided to assist Valkyrie since both Waspinator and that new mantis Predacon were tag-teaming her. Flying down and lowering his altitude, he targeted the two Predacons with his wrist cannons and fired them several times right past Valkyrie, spraying his shots from in front of them, over them and behind them.

-----

Groaning faintly, Primal's red optics flickered on-line. Dazed, he slowly turned his head and saw the saber toothed tigress beside him. "Saber-Fang?" Moving his lower jaw caused a good deal of pain since it had been hammered by... What happened? Where was he? Glancing around, he took in the trees and squinted at the sunlight peeking through the canopy above them. He had been flying toward the transwarp signature with the others not far behind. That much he remembered. But what had caused him to black out? It was a blur. He slowly sat up, the debris sliding off of his body, and saw Icebreaker nearby as well. In the distance, he could hear gunfire. The battle! The other Maximals were already there? Didn't they notice he was missing?

-----

"Not in your life, buddy. You just going to have to deal with it."

Rattrap laughed at her.

"Don't worry. We will prevail since we know to be careful."

"Hey, it ain't my skills I'm worried about. It's always what we least expect with these kinds of missions," the rat commented.

"Attention all road runners," "This is Marine One. Sky Team is being engaged by enemy flyers at M18. Zone's hot so keep your sensors up and running when you approach it." "We also have enemy reinforcements coming in. A lot of them, too. Prepare to go weapons free as soon as you guys are in range. Grab a battle buddy and may Primus be with you all. Marine One out."

"Oh, great," Rattrap said sarcastically to Whitegrazer and Frilla. "Is Spots and Dinoboob already there? I don't see 'em ahead of us," he asked, peeking around the mare's head. He didn't know who he'd pair up with yet; that would kind of depend on the situation at the battle field. He kind of assumed Cheetor running around on his own because he wasn't so careful and always rushed into trouble. And if that was the case, he'd leave Frilla and Whitegrazer together to help the cheetah. But he'd wait and see once they arrived.

"So much for careful."

"Nevermind. I see 'em," Rattrap noticed not too far ahead now.

"Any objections to a more stealthy approach?"

"Nope," answered the rodent. "Stealth is my middle name," he grinned.

"More Predacons will be coming in soon."

"Yeah, they never disappoint."

"Oh boy. They are surely bringing in weapons." "I'm going to let you guys off here. That minigun is going to tear people to shreds if we don't take it out." "I got a plan but it will be risky." "How good is your long range aim, guys?"

Hopping off of Whitegrazer, Rattrap peered between the trees and saw what the equine was talking about. "Next to perfect," the rat said softly. "What's yer plan, 'Grazer? You guys wanna flank 'im while I distract him?"

-----

Listening to Orcariner, Tigatron remained quiet while he ran beside him, Wintersong and Rhinox. His thoughts were more focused on Airazor, whom he found he cared for very much. He prayed she was all right.

"Great." Hearing about the other Predacons and seeing them Frilla was suddenly more nervous then ever to be facing her former teammates and peeked around the two maximals. "Mine isn't that good, the only weapon I have for a gun is a Pellet Gun, and it's short ranged." She said quietly. She hoped down from Whitegrazer standing on her hind legs before turning to the mare to listen to the plan.

A few of the shots from Feralnight went by as Glowstick fell at his terminal velocity, he turned his head as he noticed the flashes, however it was two late as two shots slammed into his tentacles leaving burn marks, followed by the sudden laser strike from Dinobot slamming into his right side from bellow, he let out a cough from the beak on his chest. The situation was looking bleak so fast it was pathetic, the Predacons were quickly becoming out numbered. His optics narrowed as he activated his anti gravity, one of his tentacles moving to hold the wound at his side, it'd torn through his armor with some minor internal bleeding. His other back tentacles moved and formed together acting like a pair of wings using the thermal current to suddenly lift him back up towards the others in the sky.

He activated his comlink Ug.. Megatron, this battle is going no where, Terrorsaur is down, Inferno is showing excessive damage, and their ground support is hammering us.

Megatron simply laughed in response Is this all you have Glowstick? Quit your sniveling and fight!

Glowstick let out a low growl This battle is pointless! And without ground support to take out their ground support will be over soon!

Your "ground support" is almost there, so try to survive until we get there.

Glowstick looked towards the sword in one of his tentacles, if he could get close enough to use it he could probably turn the tide. If there was ever a time for this piece of junk to light my darkest hour, it'd be now.. he said to himself, the music suddenly cut out from his speakers as they closed, his sword flashing as it powered up with a computerized female voice speaking up from the sword Password Acknowledged! Good luck!.

As he grabbed the weapon with both of his feeder tentacles as he headed towards Primal, it flashed for a moment as he swung it to cut through a few of Cheetor and Feralnight's random shots, then swung his arms allowing them to extend, the weapon powering up to full making a loud squelching noise while the blade itself extended to it's open position with random bolts of plasma and electricity flying from the weapon. The weapon arced widely as he swung it across Primal's backside, though even before it hit the energy crackling from it striked first, the unshielded energy scrambling radars in the area, burning the air around it into ozone and plasma and randomly striking anything near it, including the user of it. From the end of the weapon a few random bolts struck across Glowstick's feeder tentacles leaving black scars across his flesh with smoke emitting where he held it at the grip.

Swinging around with his entire body, Glowstick's arms started to retract as he moved to swing the sword above his head, the crackling energy seen spreading off the weapon like in a plasma globe at his own body as he screamed a monstrous roar from the beak on his chest readying for the second blow.

(Gives me another reason to post this. And yes, currently ALL radios and radars are disabled with it used adding to the chaos, the sword essentially acts like a unshielded high voltage piece of equipment completely messing with everything on the radio spectrum. Works best when you leave it pressed against a target though since it's continuous damage,heating and electrocuting a surface for maximum pain and damage like a blowtorch against an icecube. Of course the trade off being it damages the user, and pulls energy out of him faster then you can say "Last Resort")
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After finishing his converstation with Glowstick, Megatron looked up as he noticed something flash in the sky, though had no clue as to what, he attempted his comlink again only to find radio interference. That Squid is up to something, I'm only getting radio interference... No matter! Predacons! TERRORIZE! he then commanded, transforming to his robot mode, he pointed his T-rex head into the distance at Dinobot and fired off a fusion blast, then started running towards the Maximals.

Tarantulus watched as Blackarachnia and Megatron charged on ahead, he looked towards the woods giving a snicker No.. I believe I'll be taking a more.. adept approach. he then crawled towards the woods, he'd use the area to hide his position, then come up from behind for a sneak attack. A head on approach was never his style anyway.

__________________

Icebreaker looked towards Optimus rather surprised, he transformed to his robot mode examining Optimus and helping him sit up It's going to be okay Optimus. Looks like you took a nasty shiner there.. He then said, then placed a hand on the side of his head as he heard the sounds of the battle, activating his radio This is Icebreaker, we've foun-Gah! he then moved his hand away from his head as a few sparks were seen coming out of his arm radio with a loud random noise emitting from it, he quickly turned it off rather surprised What in the.. It's like someone threw my radio in the Microwave! Communications are jammed.

He then looked towards Optimus again Alright, um.. let me see how your doing. he then said as he raised his hand holding up a finger and moving it slowly back in forth, watching Optimus's optics for tracking. Do you remember who or what attacked you? he said with a tone of concern, it wasn't easy to knock Optimus out, even the fliers usually had some trouble doing that without double teaming, but he didn't seem to show any firepower based damage so it likely wasn't them.

"Cecaelia, TERRORIZE!" the octopus transformed on Starshadows back and pulled out her venom blaster. "Who shall we take on first Starshadow-sama?"

The panther's eyes was fixed on Tarantulus. "We'll see what that spider's up to.." she replied and followed the arachnid. Catching up to him, she then spoke, "I'm thinking you have a good plan for a surprise attack.."

((Sorry guys, i'm having trouble keeping up at the moment. I'm doing the best I can though. >.< I sort of skimmed through some posts so I'd have more time to write, sorry if I had forgotten something.))



After trailing Terrorsaur for a few moments, Airazor suddenly realized she she couldn't keep up with him in her condition. Just as she was about to give up however, the predicon stopped to take a few shots at Optimus. Perfect! she thought to herself. With him stopped, she would be able to get a free shot on him. By lowering her legs slightly, she decelerated to a point where she was able to lower her arms and hover in the air. After performing the technique, she soon felt the aftereffects. She winced from another wave of pain coming from her stomach. Her mind immediately wandered back to the day she had first met her new teammates. They were all so reluctant to get repairs and dealt with the pain from their injuries as if they didn't exist at all. She wished she was as strong as they were, she simply wasn't able deal with pain like that.

After the pain subsided, she raised her left arm and flipped up her missile. Taking an extra moment to get a good lock on her target, she was just about to fire when she suddenly realized that she made a fatal mistake. With no time to react, she was pelted by a blaster shot to her side. Thrown backwards from the hit, she was able to keep airborne, but lost her chance at attacking Terrorsaur. The other Predicon who had shot at her from before was back, and not happy at all. Turning her attention towards her attacker, she noticed another shot coming her way. With the missile still armed, she quickly aimed it and fired back at the insect. Hoping to take him out with her.

Not having time to see if her missile hit, Infernos second shot landed square in her chest. This time, she lost complete control. Her propulsion jets shut down and she dropped from the sky like a rock. As she fell, she darkened her optics, not wanted to know what was waiting for her below. Luckily, her body landed in a soft bush which dampened her landing greatly. Now on the ground, she rolled away from the plant and lay on her stomach. Groaning, she quietly wished she had hit the ground instead. She would likely have then sustained enough damage to enter stasis lock and not have to feel anything.

---



"Can Mantis-bit keep Hawk-bot buzzzy, while Wazzpinator flank Hawk-bot?"

With a big grin, he responded without much a thought to his plan. "HA! She'll have no head when you do!"

Jumping into action, the Mantis replaced the missing razorblade in his claw with a spare and set them spinning again. This time though, he didn't launch them. Flying forwards, he went after Valkyrie. He needed to get much closer to his target if he wished to attack in melee combat. Keeping his claws stretched outwards, Manterror laughed maniacally as he easily dodged the shots his prey was shooting towards him. Surprisingly, Optimus Primal showed up behind her and helped fire towards the Mantis as well. Having seen him with more than enough time to spare, the Mantis dodged most of his shots easily. One of them however, caught his left claw. The claw flew backwards from the hit, but stayed attached.

Still flying at a full speed, he glanced at his damaged arm. It no longer was functional as a weapon. The blade had stopped spinning and wouldn't react to any of his commands. No matter though! His insect of choice was blessed with two of them. Still with one usable blade arm, he was finally close enough to Valkyrie to strike. Swinging with utmost precision, he struck forwards at his target. The spinning blade under his claw turning ruthlessly and inching closer and closer to his targets chest.

Snow Trix watched Tarantulas, Statshadow, and Cecaelia head to the trees but followed after Megatron. "Snow Trix terrorize!" She transformed after the others and fired a few mini missiles from her wrists towards the sky and at the Maximal fliers. Nothing well aimed but hopefully enough distraction. Following after Megatron the fox looked across the field to see a few of the maximal forces but it didn't seem the last of them.

((OOC: If Optimus wants to strangle her, now is a good time. Lol.))

Before Saber had a chance to sniff Optimus's body to see where he was injuried the most, the Maximal leader began to stir. Moments later they made optic contact.

"Saber-Fang?"

She game him a small smile. "Hey Optimus."

It's going to be okay Optimus. Looks like you took a nasty shiner there..

Saber looked at Icebreaker, aside from his need to be reckless at times, he had the makings of a great medic all he needed to do was stop making rash decisions.

That sounds familar. She thought.

This is Icebreaker, we've foun-Gah! What in the.. It's like someone threw my radio in the Microwave! Communications are jammed.

Saber narrowed her green eyes, then she tried hers only to hiss in pain as loud ruskus brust out of her COM link.

"Ok, do we know any one who can do that?" She asked, rubbing her right ear with the back of her paw.

Alright, um.. let me see how your doing.

Saber watched Icebreakers finger for a few minutes before turning away to keep watch.

Do you remember who or what attacked you?

Saber opend her jaws to once again taste the air, she closed her jaws when she caught another strange scent, it was identical to Primals but had a metallic taste to it.

"That's strange." She said aloud.

* * *

"HA! She'll have no head when you do!"

Waspinator watched as Manterror went on the attack, now he just had to make it look as if he were leaving the battle when really he was heading toward the sun, he had seen a organic hawk hide in the sun from its prey so it didn't it was being stalked. Using that method, he transformed into his beast mode before headed toward the sun. Once he was there he adjusted himself making sure that he would hit the Hawk-bot. Transforming back into his robot form he made a bee-line for the bot, his weapon aimed and at the ready, he fired several shots minutes before he would hit the bird. Then at the last second he veered off to the right.

* * *

Inferno smiled as his attack hit it's mark, he narrowed his optics as the bird fired it's own shot, he managed to avoid getting hit with that one and was able to see his other missile hit the female in the chest, he let out a metallic battle cry as he watched her fall to the earth below.

"No one attacks the Colony of the royalty and lives!!" He shouted as she fell.

Once the brid was no longer a threat to his colony, he scanned the battle field for the Maximals Queen, with him out of the way the Maximals would have no choice but to retreat. When he spotted him he let another battle cry.

"It's your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!!" He shouted before attacking the Maximal leader.

Orcariner called out to Wintersong.

"I'm getting a weird block ahead. There's a hole in my radar so I think the Predacons brought a jammer with them."

He wished his hover pads could move him faster. If there was trouble at the battlefield, then his team would need his help. The explosions were at least visible now even though the flyers appeared to be bugs in the sky.

"I have an idea," Orcariner added, "How's your experience with artillery? My carbine isn't all that powerful, but it's rate of fire makes up for it if you're able to time the bursts. It's too big for the others, but if you sit on my shoulder you can use it as a gun turret."

He needed to reach the transwarp device and access it. A large Maximal such as himself would be too noticeable, so he required an escort who would keep the Predacons off him.


----------


Scorponok followed his master and transformed as well. All four missile launchers engaged, the lieutenant prepared for battle. To his surprise, however, he was unable to achieve a missile lock.

"Radar's down?" he wondered.

Looking back at Glowstick in the sky, he grinded his jaw.

"What's that fool doing? Half our flyers will be dumb firing up there! I'll be dumb firing down here!"

Scorponok continued to complain as he followed the much larger Predacon leader. He loaded himself to the brink with missiles, and now his long range capacity was taken away and by a teammate no less. Punishment will be delivered after this battle. His report will ensure it. Looking to Steelclaw who was now equipped with the mini-gun, he barked.

"Steelclaw, we'll be going in blind. Give us cover fire from any Maximal infantry and we'll provide cover from their flyers."

Dinobot didn't stop to congratulate himself for hitting Glowstick. And once the Predacon activated his sword, taking him down became even more necessary. Dinobot's eyes turned green once more. But just before he would have fired, a large blast hit him dead center and knocked him down.

Snarling, Dinobot scrambled back to his feet and saw Megatron. He deployed his shield and sword and immediately ran to close the distance between them with a battlecry escaping his throat.

Even as he came near his former leader, he refused to slow down to make some sort of stand. Instead, he barreled straight into him, letting his shield make the initial impact.

It was a graceless maneuver, fueled by pure hatred, and if the force was enough to knock Megatron down, Dinobot would probably be forced to fall right with him. For the moment, he didn't care.

* * *

Cheetor didn't have any cover to hide behind when Blackarachnia started attacking him, so he couldn't avoid her machine guns unless he ran. He wanted to fight.

"If I didn't no any better, I'd say you had a thing for me," Cheetor said as he shot back at Blackarachnia with his quasar weapon. He quickly reached behind his beast mode legs and pulled out a grenade. "I'm not interested." He tore off the pin and threw the explosive at his opponent.

* * *

Steelclaw didn't respond to Scorponok's comment. He transformed and accepted his weapon as soon as Scorponok offered it.

He looked on the grounds in front of him. Dinobot was too close to Megatron, but Cheetor was far enough away from Blackarachnia. Without wasting another moment in analysis, he fired up his weapon.

The barrels spun threateningly for just one moment before the lasers poured from them in a relentless torrent of firepower.

Scorponok wrote:Steelclaw, we'll be going in blind. Give us cover fire from any Maximal infantry and we'll provide cover from their flyers.

"I'm on it!" Steelclaw shouted without turning his gaze.

New Moon wrote:"Great." Hearing about the other Predacons and seeing them Frilla was suddenly more nervous then ever to be facing her former teammates and peeked around the two maximals. "Mine isn't that good, the only weapon I have for a gun is a Pellet Gun, and it's short ranged." She said quietly. She hoped down from Whitegrazer standing on her hind legs before turning to the mare to listen to the plan.

"We can deal with that." She reassured Frilla and noticed how nervous she was, "Take it easy. Deep breaths."

She can understand why she will still be scared of her former comrades.

Hopping off of Whitegrazer, Rattrap peered between the trees and saw what the equine was talking about. "Next to perfect," the rat said softly. "What's yer plan, 'Grazer? You guys wanna flank 'im while I distract him?"

"You read my mind." She looked around the surroundings farther away. There was a strong boulder that good enough for cover especially for Rattrap to, in his beast form to cover and duck at, "That boulder over there should give you cover."

Looking at Frilla, she smiled, "Frilla, you will sneak to the right and I will be on the left side. Once we are all in position, Rattrap, you can draw his fire. Frilla and I will flank him on both sides."

"You ready?" She asked them both.

Steelclaw didn't respond to Scorponok's comment. He transformed and accepted his weapon as soon as Scorponok offered it.

He looked on the grounds in front of him. Dinobot was too close to Megatron, but Cheetor was far enough away from Blackarachnia. Without wasting another moment in analysis, he fired up his weapon.

The barrels spun threateningly for just one moment before the lasers poured from them in a relentless torrent of firepower.

She saw that the bear was firing and it was a powerful weapon, "Let's do it!"

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Blackarachnia just scoffed and kept firing, nearly missing some of his shots, "Watch your mouth, kid."

She jumped in the air to avoid the grenade and came at him with a kick towards his head, using the explosion of the grenade to help her towards him.

Having yet to partake in the fight, Scorponok remained weary of his surroundings. His radar and lock on systems were disabled because of Glowstick's desperate actions. He tried to pick a flyer to shoot down but they were far too evasive for his mega missiles. Regardless if he launched all four at the same time, the sky was limitless to those above him. Scoffing, Scorponok looked back at Steelclaw. The steady stream of lasers flowed like a river of energy. The Predacon lieutenant was rarely impressed but this was a notable exception. Perhaps the bear could rival him in firepower after all... perhaps. Something grabbed his attention from afar as heat signatures shimmered through his visor. Scorponok could barely make out the forms, but one was unmistakeably a horse. The others were small and it was difficult to differentiate between the body core and the heat trails. They were all darting in different directions as if attempting to approach the battlefield in a covert manner.

"Steelclaw!" he radioed.

There was nothing but static. Of course, radio was being jammed as well. The sound of rapid fire from the mini-gun was too loud for Steelclaw to hear him. Running up to the smaller Predacon, he yelled up close from behind.

"Steelclaw! There are more Maximals approaching from the west! Let Blackarachnia finish the cat off while we protect Megatron from ambush!"

His tail brought itself upright in a defensive position. The smell of acid pierced the air from the sharp tip. Retrieving his bee drone, Scorponok inputted a few programs and let it zip above his head. Normally, he would try to control it as a kamikaze bomb but the inhibition of radio waves prevented that from happening. Instead, the bee now acted as a sentry around Scorponok and Steelclaw. Should anyone actually succeed in penetrating their line of fire, the bee would fly in on its own and attack the invader. He knew it would not do much, but any interference would buy them enough time to finish off the Maximal. Both claws opened up to reveal an astonishing arsenal of mega missiles. Scorponok would provide the warheads. Steelclaw would provide the lasers.

I will... no... Megatron will have his victory today.

(( OOC: Nah, N-H. It would not be the time or place for him to punish her now. It'll have to wait. ))

After firing at the mantis, "Convoy" noticed the female falcon (Airazor) falling. To make his impersonation more authentic, he would have cried out her name with great concern, but he still didn't know it yet. Oh well. Distracted now, the clone suddenly felt a burst of intense energy across his back. Crying out, the electrical shock short-circuited his prime jets and he fell to the ground, sliding across the dirt and grass. As he laid there on his stomach, he slowly turned his head to see that it was Glowstick who had struck him with that incredible sword. This wasn't quite how he imagined his plan happening. Watching him lift the sword again, the Vok saw an opportunity and took it. Raising one of his arms, he targeted the squid with his wrist-mounted cannons and shot at his chest several times. His aim was a little inaccurate since he had just crashed and he was in a lot of pain, but hopefully a few would knock him for a loop.

"It's your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!!"

Hearing the tall red Predacon screaming for him, or rather the real one, the clone turned his attention away from Glowstick and struggled to push himself up to his feet with the painful slash along his backside. As soon as he stood, he locked on to the crazy ant with his missiles and fired two of them at him. If he didn't stop either of these guys, he was going to be in trouble. He wouldn't be able to keep up this gig for long before showing them who he really was. And that would take all the fun away!

-----

"Hey Optimus."

Despite everything, and how much trouble she was in, Optimus faintly smiled back at Saber before looking to Icebreaker.

It's going to be okay Optimus. Looks like you took a nasty shiner there..

Optimus didn't care about that. Right now he needed to get moving and help his Maximals out there. He had to admit, however, that he liked this calmer side of Icebreaker. It was a shame that the penguin couldn't have learned more from Nightmist and her medical skills before they had lost her.

This is Icebreaker, we've foun-Gah! What in the.. It's like someone threw my radio in the Microwave! Communications are jammed.

"Ok, do we know any one who can do that?"

Since both of their attempts failed, Primal didn't bother trying his comm. link. "Most likely Glowstick," he answered Saber-Fang. "He has an impecable knack for disrupting and hacking communications." And for it to happen now was the worst timing possible.

Alright, um.. let me see how your doing. Do you remember who or what attacked you?

The leader's optics followed Icebreaker's finger without wavering. But feeling like they were wasting precious time, Optimus lifted his hand and gently pushed Icebreaker's finger away from his face. "I'm all right," he assured him and Saber-Fang. "I'm not sure what happened. I thought..." he paused, struggling to find answers in his memory. Shaking his head, he didn't think it was possible. His clone? But he was gone. They defeated him. No, he must have been recalling it wrong. "We have to catch up with the others," said Primal, getting to his feet. He noticed his left arm was tingling a little but he assumed he had hit it on the way down through the trees. "If they're engaged with the Predacons already, then they're outnumbered," he said with great concern. Just before he started to walk, an immense pain to his back made him arch it backwards a little. He nearly fell to his knees but caught himself with the trunk of a neaby tree. Growling in pain, Optimus had no idea where it had come from. It was fine a minute ago! Maybe it was from the fall. It didn't matter! It only made him grow more frustrated and he refused to waste anymore time. "Come on!" he told Saber-Fang and Icebreaker as he started to run through the forest toward the battle, ignoring the scent the former general was picking up. He shouldn't have but he was in a hurry to aid his Maximals.

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"We can deal with that." "Take it easy. Deep breaths."

After Whitegrazer addressed Frilla, Rattrap looked at the lizard and frowned, realizing just how nervous she was about all of this. He felt bad. For all the trouble he had given her, Optimus was right when he said he should try to see through her point of view when betraying the Predacons. "Don't worry, Frilla," he tried telling her with care, "we'll watch yer back." After all, he did admire the story of how Primal tried protecting her from a few of the Predacons at once on their last mission. Rattrap would do the same for Frilla, he admitted to himself. However, he wasn't normally good at trying to comfort someone. He was glad Whitegrazer was there; she was better at it.

"You read my mind." "That boulder over there should give you cover." "Frilla, you will sneak to the right and I will be on the left side. Once we are all in position, Rattrap, you can draw his fire. Frilla and I will flank him on both sides." "You ready?"

Picking out the boulder the mare was talking about, Rattrap nodded and got ready to move while he listened to 'Grazer's plan.

"Let's do it!"

That being said, he immediately started running in his beast mode, quietly jumping over roots and limbs. Steelclaw probably wouldn't have heard them anyway with the noise from the weapon he was firing now, but just in case, the rat was as stealthy as he could be. Sometimes it paid to be small and light on your feet. Reaching the boulder and hiding, Rattrap peeked around it to get a visual on the bear, waiting for Whitegrazer and Frilla to get in position. ((OOC: Is it all right if I skip ahead and have RT distract him? That way you guys can post a lot more in reaction rather than just saying your characters are in position and waiting for me to post again.))

"Rattrap, maximize," he whispered, and transformed to his robot mode. Pulling out his gun, he peered over the boulder again very slowly and rested the barrel of his weapon on top. As a master marksman, he was sure he wouldn't miss, but even if he did, it was merely to distract Steelclaw anyway. Aiming at the bear's shoulder through the trees, Rattrap squeezed the trigger and fired at the Pred, unaware of the cyber bee that was just unleashed. After he fired, he had only just heard Scorponok's voice nearby. Uh oh, he thought, but remained at his position. Their plan could still work.

Wintersong looked down at Orcanier as he called again,"It's not the best nor is my timing but I say give it a go. The fliers will need the back up and so will the others." She said using her optical scanners to focus in more on the Predacons that were visible."Megatron and most of the Predacons are there already and it seems most ofthe ground unit is too." She reported. Her aim would hopefully be good this time when they did get there.

It seemed the battle was already in full swing now as the ground units began to arrive. Taking a deep breathe the tigeress was going to have to be watchful of the foes that turned their sights on Orcanier since one wrong move could very well cost them.

Feralnight watched as Glowstick was preparing for well something but she wasn't goof to stick around to find out. Diving towards the ground the fuzor caught sight of the Predacons below then looked where the Maximals were arriving. Hopefully this would level the playing field or at least gve them some chance. Turning in the air as she pulled up into a hover Feralnight looked to the remaining Predacon fliers and flew towards them to give some help to the other Maximals, firing her shoulder cannon.

Looking at Whitegrazer and Rattrap she nodded her thanks before listening to the plan. "Here we go." She muttered and quickly started moving to the right of Steelclaw and Scorponok, watching them carefully. When she reached her position she waited for Whitegrazer to do the same and for Rattrap to fire.

As soon as the rat fired Frilla commanded,"Maximize!" and with a hiss transformed drawing her weapon and switching to the acid pellets started to try and move closer to attack her former comrades.