Let the War Begin

Chapter 4

By: LoneMaximal

With an earth-shattering crash, the Axalon hit the planet’s surface. It skidded bumpily along the rough ground, sending mounds of earth and trees flying everywhere. It left a huge trench behind it as it skidded and began to slow. But amazingly, the Axalon held together. The soil on the planet had acted as a sort of shock absorber, considerably cutting the damage the Axalon would have received, certainly by  Cybertronian standards.

  After going down a slight bank, the Axalon finally shunted to a stop on a ledge over-looking a mighty gorge with a river flowing next to it and a waterfall pouring over the side.

  It was a beautiful sight. The trees swaying slightly in the breeze, the water flowing calmly and showering over the edge, and birds chirping all around, seemingly unaware of the loud disturbance that had just occurred.

A long time seemed to pass, although much shorter than it felt. The Axalon had settled down and was quiet. Nothing stirred both inside and out.

  Something suddenly flickered on the big screen in the cock-pit. It was shattered, with fragments littering the cock-pit floor. How the computer had survived was a complete mystery, but it still had some life left.

Scanning ship surroundings… Complete.

 Assigning DNA scanner sampler…

A small, ball shaped probe popped out of one of the metal plates on the Axalon’s roof. It zoomed around, focusing and re-focusing  it’s front lense. Skittish and quick, it zig-zagged around the nearby forest.

  Something moved. It darted around, quickly focusing  it’s lense. A gorilla pulling on a low tree branch, a bunch of ripe bananas nearly within it’s grasp. The scanner fully opened it’s lens and a yellow wave passed over the gorilla. This wave copied the gorilla’s genetic matter and structure exactly. The gorilla turned around and cocked it head, clearly puzzled by what had just happened.

  On the scanner zoomed, over the far plains that spread at the bottom of the gorge. A lone rhyno was grazing on some juicy grass. The scanner quickly picked up on this movement and sent out it’s yellow scanning wave once again.

  Something else darted off in the distance, a cheetah. The scanner quickly gave chase, as if it were hunting the big cat. It soon got what it needed from the speedy feline.

  Making it’s way back, the scanner detected the small presence of a grey rat, munching on some straw outside the Axalon. Without hesitation, it sent out the yellow wave again. The rat dropped what it was eating and scampered off with a squeak.

  Satisfied with the specimens it had collected, the scanner returned to the plate in the Axalons roof. It then proceeded to download it’s findings to the the computer in the cock-pit. The computer started to whirr and click, diagrams of the animals and Maximals on the ship kept flicking on the screen.

Begin DNA compatibility. Alternate forms- processing…

Another probe suddenly shot out of an opening in the computer. It zoomed to the back of the ship. There it found the Maximals, sprawled across the floor  in different rooms. They were all in stasis lock. Though they had not been too badly damaged, the shock of the impact was enough to send their systems into a fake panic, leading up to a system shut down and stasis lock.

  The probe came upon Optimus first. It shot out a white, glowing beam which completely covered his body. It began rebuilding him, repairing him and making him different. Newer; more flexible. Better. Energy coursed through his body; every gear, every circuit, every system. He felt renewed with strength. The probe quickly departed as soon as the upgrade was complete.

  Optimus opened his optics, at least what he thought were his optics, and rubbed his head with his paw.

PAW!?

  He quickly got up and looked himself over. He was covered in black hair. The only parts not covered were his chest and stomach, which seemed to be grey, soft skin.

  ‘By the Matrix…’ he muttered to himself, feeling his chest and arms. ‘What…what’s happened to me?’

   At least he still sounded the same, that was a small relief. Then suddenly everything came flooding back to him. Cybertron, the Predacons, the fight, the crash.

   Where was everybody else? Had they made it?

  The cock-pit, he thought to himself. I bet everyone’s fine and they’re just waiting for me there. Of course he knew this was a really big thing to hope for, but he just couldn’t bare the thought of losing any of his new crew, even if they had only known each other for a short time. After all they’d been through, he had already grown quite attached to them all.

He made his way quickly to the cock-pit, a rather embarrassing experience as he found himself crawling on all fours when he moved. He kept stopping and standing up straight to walk, then fell into the inescapable urge to crawl.

   The cock-pit door automatically opened, he half expected a roar of laughter to greet him. But everything was silent. Nobody was there. The room was completely wrecked.

Please, he thought to himself looking over the wreckage, let them be alright. The flickering screen caught his attention. He crawled over to it and read what was on the screen.

  The door opened again, startling Optimus, who automatically whirred around. In prowled a black spotted, yellow cheetah. He looked from side to side, taking in the destruction all around him. His head suddenly stopped when he noticed Optimus and his eyes focused hard.

‘Optimus!?’ he gasped, a startled expression appearing on his feline face.

  Optimus smiled and nodded. He knew that young voice anywhere.

  ‘Speedcat…’ he smiled. ‘I’m so glad you made it all right.’

  Speedcat returned the smile. ‘Hey, check it out,’ he exclaimed excitedly, ‘now I really am a speed cat! This is SO cool!’ He then tilted his head sideways, thinking for a nano. ‘Although… Speedcat does sound a little text book. Hmm, I’m a cheetah, but my new name will be… Cheetor!’

‘Talk about a play on names,’ a dry, aged voice echoed from behind them.

  ‘Rhinox!’ both Optimus and, the now named, Cheetor called together happily. In trudged a heavy, sandy-brown rhyno. His great stomps filled the room.

  ‘But I think I’ll keep my name. It seems to suit me even more now.’

  They all chuckled together.

  ‘Uh, hey,’ Cheetor broke the moment. ‘Where’s Mouse?’

  Their happiness suddenly faded from their faces. Both Rhinox and Optimus looked around the cock-pit for a minute.

  ‘Mouse!?’ they both called.

‘That name no longer registers,’ the sly, high pitched voice of Mouse was heard. The other Maximals turned around. In crawled an oversized, furry grey rat. He sat up on his back legs and folded his front paws across his small, furry chest.

  ‘The name’s… Rattrap,’ he smiled. ‘And first one of you’s to laugh gets a bite in the ankle!!’ He pointed a clawed digit at the three Maximals.

  The others laughed with rejoice, welcoming the final Maximal over.

  ****

Far away, on a completely different part of the strange, new planet, a similar metamorphosis was about to take place.

  The Predacon ship had landed in a more desolate, more deserted part of the planet. It was highly volcanic, with lava flowing all around the ship. It was, in all honesty, plain luck that it had not landed in one of the many huge lava pools; landing instead rather neatly on a large rock surface smack in the middle of one.

  Megatron was the first Predacon to come online again. He and his fellow Predacons  had suffered the same offline sequence as the Maximals.

  Groggy at first, he quickly realised how different he had become. The first tell tale sign was his short, stubby little claws, which he noticed when he went to rub his huge, scaly head, and couldn’t quite reach the back of it. Or the front for that matter.

  ‘Uh..?’ he muttered, twiddling his tiny digits. This was too strange. He had to see himself properly.

  He lumbered into the central command room of the ship. Looking at a bent wall plate, he caught a rather incorrect reflection of himself.

  ‘DEAR LORD!!’ he cried, recoiling from the plate. ‘I’m a freak!’

  The nearby computer clicked, diverting his attention to it. He trudged over to it, a giant tail swinging from side to side as he walked.

  ‘Not only is it ugly, it’s uncomfortable,’ he muttered bitterly to himself.

  On the screen was an image of both his robot mode and, to his relief, a proper image of his new form- a giant, purple Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 Oh, what a handsome beast! he thought to himself, studying the picture. Then it suddenly changed to that of a giant, blue scorpion. Megatron stepped back, puzzled and disappointed at the sudden change. He hadn’t finished looking at how magnificent his new form was.

A clicking noise, like that of Spanish castanets, was heard from behind him. He turned around to see the exact same scorpion that was on the screen scuttle through the automatic door.

  ‘Wow, what a ride,’ the scorpion exclaimed, his voice echoing around the room. Then he stopped still when he saw Megatron.

  ‘Huh? Megatron!?’ he gasped. ‘Wow, I’m so relieved you survived. Hey, you’re looking good!’

  A huge beam spread across Megatron’s massive dino mouth.

  ‘Oh really? You think? Oh, go on!’ he replied, waving a tiny arm. ‘I too am pleased that you, of all Predacons, should survive, my loyal Scorponok.’

  Scorponok was instantly  filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. He rubbed the back of his head with a giant pincer.

  Wrapped around my little finger, Megatron thought to himself, chuckling in his head.

  As Scorponok scuttled over to where Megatron was standing, the screen changed again.

A red pterodactyl flipped up. Almost instantly, an inaudible screeching echoed behind the now closed door. It sounded like a wailing banshee.

The doors suddenly flew open and in swooped a the red, scaly, albatross like creature, with great leathery wings and a long, protruding, needled nose. It skimmed around the room and finally settled on an upturned work-desk.

  ‘Oh, I feel so alive!!’ he cried joyously. Megatron narrowed his eyes.

 ‘Oh no,’ he muttered to himself, ‘not him. Of all Predacons to survive, he had to be one.’

  The pterodactyl looked over to the other two Predacons.

  ‘Oh, hey guys. Great new form, huh? Yup, pretty special.’ He closed his eyes and turned up his nose arrogantly.

  Megatron fumed. The nerve of this, this… rookie! Flying about all high and mighty, thinking he was Lord of the ship. Well, he’d definitely get a rude wake-up call, yes.

  ‘So…’ Megatron said coolly, trying to keep his nerve. ‘ Just WHO are you?’

  The pterodactyl opened it’s beady eye and surveyed the T-rex.

  ‘The name’s Terrorsaur.’ He screeched slightly as his words came out.

  Megatron looked as if he was about to say something, something witty and cruel about Terrorsaur’s uncontrollable voice, when the computer screen changed for the third time.

  ‘Hmm, I think we’re on a roll with the survivors, yes,’ Megatron mused as he looked at the next form that flashed onto the screen. It was a great black and yellow striped wasp, with a sleek, thin tail and great, powerful wings.

‘NNNNNZZZ!!’ an annoying buzzing was heard all around the ship. The three Predacons whirred around, wondering which way the new Predacon would emerge.

BAM!!

  The opposite doors that couldn’t open automatically flew off their hinges. The three Predacons almost jumped out of their shells, they had expected the new recruit to have come through the front doors.

‘ZZZOOWWW!!’ An all too familiar squeal emitted from the giant flying insect. It circled around the room recklessly, holding it’s head with it’s front legs.

  ‘Then again, maybe not.’ Megatron sighed dryly, fallowing the skittish wasp’s movements with his head as the other two did. The deranged creature spiralled above them, their heads looping as they tried to keep up with him. Then they all winced and turned away as he crashed into the ceiling.

 ‘BLEECK!!’

  ‘Ouch, that’s gotta hurt,’ Scorponok remarked, returning his gaze to the twitching creature stuck to the ceiling. Megatron and Terrorsaur nodded, also fixated by the yellow and black mass stuck above their heads.

  Finally, the wasp peeled off the ceiling and landed with a thud in front of them all. The three Predacons were silent, blinking and staring at the still heap in front of them.

  ‘Um… you ok?’ Terrorsaur asked nervously, hopping closer to the giant out wasp. He then quickly let out a startled cry, as the creature started mumbling and flittering.

    The wasp got to it’s feet and shook it’s head.

  ‘BRRRR!! Okey-dokey!’ it chirped. ‘Luckily, Wazzpinator land on his head!’ He patted his crown with one of his front claws, a faint echo emitting from it.

  The others stared at him, wide-eyed and in disbelief. Megatron felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh grow inside him, yet at the same time felt totally freaked out and bewildered. This was no ordinary transformer!

  ‘Um, welcome aboard… Waspinator was it?’ Megatron attempted to greet, taking a step towards Waspinator. The giant bug shook it’s head energetically.

  ‘I’m sure you’ll make a fine new addition to our, heh heh, happy little family.’ Megatron smiled over to Waspinator. At least he was enthusiastic, if a little unpredictable.

  ‘Hey look, the screen’s changed again!’ Scorponok cried, pointing a claw to the computer.

  ‘Guess Tarantulas made it after-all,’ Terrorsaur remarked, hopping to the side of Scorponok to get a good view of what was on screen.

  A huge spider suddenly appeared on screen.

   Ugh, another insect. Megatron thought to himself.

 However, he quickly overlooked this fact when he saw it in detail. It was a brown and yellow tarantula. It’s legs were long, thin and spindly and it had two huge fangs sticking out of it’s mouth.

And as predicted, the rear doors opened shortly afterwards and the huge spider emerged from the entrance. He scurried inside quickly, his feet not making a sound, and was met by the gaze of the four waiting Predacons.

  ‘Ah, Tarantulas. So good to see you alive and well.’ Megatron greeted warmly. ‘As you can see, the party has already started without you, but never worry,’ he smirked, ‘now we can really get started.’

  Tarantulas scuttled over to them silently, and took his place next to Waspinator. He surveyed the Predacons through his eight red eyes. Yes, all had survived, as hideous as they all looked. He himself found his new form rather comfortable and suiting.

  ‘I’ll adjust,’ he muttered, meaning he would serve under Megatron.

  ‘Good,’ the Predacon leader nodded. After all, he really would need Tarantulas’ skills. Tarantulas was of more value to Megatron than he let on, but, give a bot too much credit and it could lead to big upset, yes.

   ‘And now, to business.’ Megatron called his fellow Predacons around. ‘I have no doubts that, as weak as those pathetic androids are, some Maximals will have survived. We must therefore hunt them down and destroy them while we still have the chance. They will be weak and defenceless after the crash, the perfect time for a full scale assault.’

 Cheers echoed from the surrounding Predacons.

  ‘Then we are agreed,’ Megatron chuckled. ‘Go forth and annihilate every single one, by any means necessary. I will join you shortly. Victory will be ours!’

  With that he dismissed them and watched as they zoomed, scurried and scuttled as fast as they could to begin the deadly assault. Their spirits were high, and with their new strength came a blood lust; an unquenchable thirst for battle. But Megatron’s far surpassed theirs. Indeed, he hungered for battle as he watched them all leave, longing to head the attack. He would be there soon, of course, but now he had one more matter to take care of.

When he was sure all the Predacons were gone, he walked through the automatic doors his troops had just rushed through and up the hallway. His tail swished as he calmly moved up the corridor, turning his head every now and then. The corridor had many doors on each side where the other Predacons had taken cover. But he couldn’t see the one he was looking for, no, not yet.

  Nearing the end of the corridor, he noticed it. One door slightly ajar, standing out above the rest. He smiled and crept over to it. Standing in front of it, facing the end wall of the corridor, he tried not to even glance at the opening.

  It was dark. Nothing could be seen in the room, even from the sliver of light through the creak. But there was something in it. He could hear it breathing. Hear it gasp.

  ‘I see you survived, thankfully,’ he said coolly, not averting his gaze from the wall.

  Out of the shadow, eight glowing red eyes suddenly appeared. The breathing got louder.

   ‘And you’ve already acquired your new form, good.’ 

  The eyes shook up and down menacingly, the breathing still loud.

  ‘I’m afraid I must apologise for the rather bumpy ride.’ He bowed his head as he said this, and looked into the darkness of the room. ‘But it doesn’t seem to have afflicted you too badly.’

  A low hiss echoed in the darkness and a slight growling noise replaced the breathing. Megatron smirked.

  ‘Oh, please don’t be sore with me, my dear,’ he crooned. ‘I just know there’s a way to make it up to you. That is, of course, if you’re still interested.’ He paused for a second and stared unblinking into the deep red, glowing spheres. ‘So how about it, you’re still going to fight for me?’

  The eyes shook again as a silent reply.

  ****

Over at the Axalon, the Maximals were attempting to assess their exact situation. They’d been trying to salvage anything that was still working on the ship and had attempted to repair minor pieces of equipment, which went surprisingly well. They were also in the middle of cleaning up, giving the Axalon that ‘homey’ touch, which seemed to be making more progress than anything else.

  But neither Maximal had actually transformed yet or even knew what their robot modes looked like; another sign of how much more high-tech the Predacon ship was than theirs. Optimus and Rhinox just told Rattrap and Cheetor to stay in their new forms, or ‘Beast Mode’ as they’d gotten into the habit of calling it, unless they absolutely had to.

  ‘Ok,’ Rhinox started. ‘We’ve got these new forms for a very important reason…’

  ‘Yeah, so that we fit in with the locals,’ Rattrap snorted, through a mouthful of apple, shooting pieces of the fruit everywhere.

Rattrap had recently done some exploring outside the ship and hadn’t gotten very far when he found a fruit tree. It was right in front of the Axalon to be precise, meaning he hadn’t ventured far at all and still didn’t know anything about the surroundings. The only thing he did know was that the food here was edible, and to be honest, not bad; definitely a nice change from energon loaf and oil.

‘It’s not a fashion statement, and will you please not talk with your mouth full,’ Optimus complained, wiping a wet chunk off his cheek.

  He didn’t like the fact that Rattrap was eating alien food, especially untested alien food which none of them had any idea of the potential side-effects it could cause. But Rhinox had assured him that the fruit on this planet would not do their systems any harm. If anything, it could be relied upon as an emergency energy source, since their new forms seemed to react to the fruit as proper food and fuel.

‘As I was saying,’ Rhynox coughed, directing all attention to himself. ‘This planet is very different from Cybertron. It is actually packed with raw, and highly unstable, energon. The computer has monitored dangerously high energon levels, which in a nutshell, would fry every system we had  if it wasn’t for these new forms.’ He stopped to let what he had just said sink in.

  Cheetor pondered. ‘So, what you’re saying is: without these Beast Modes,  we’d be…’

  ‘A mess of melted circuitry,’ Rattrap quipped, and quickly took another bite out of his apple.

  Optimus sighed and shook his head defeatedly.

  ‘Well, we wouldn’t last very long. That goes for transforming now, too.’ He looked over to Rattrap to see if he was listening. Rattrap looked up from his apple and smiled meekly.

  ‘Wow, wow! Hold-up!’ Cheetor cried. ‘So you’re saying even with these new bods, we can’t stay in robot-mode that long!? What a rip!!’

PREDACON SIGNATURE DETECTED. The computer called.

‘PREDACONS!!??’ the four echoed and whirred around, Rattrap dropping the remains of his apple.

 ‘So, they survived,’ Optimus growled. ‘At least, some of them.’

  ‘Computer, show positions. How far away are they? How many are there?’ Rhinox asked the computer quickly.

  FOUR PREDACON SIGNATURES DETECTED. ALL WITHIN TWO CLICKS. HEADING FROM THE NORTH.

  Optimus stood up straight. ‘Well, if it’s a fight they’re looking for. OPTIMUS PRIMAL, MAXIMIZE!!’

With that, the other three Maximals watched in awe as their leader quickly transformed to his true form. The gorilla head folded back, revealing the same, gentle face he had before. A jet pack formed from underneath his back. His torso twisted behind him, revealing his robot legs, still half covered by the black fur. His shoulders spread out and were now shoulder pads to his large arms.

‘RHINOX, MAXIMIZE!’ Rhinox called out when Optimus had finished his transformation. He let out a loud roar as his rhyno head split in two and his robot head and chest shot through the middle of it. His stumpy rhyno legs became armour as bigger, fuller arms and legs formed out of them.

  ‘Hey, not bad,’ he remarked, looking over himself.

 ‘That’s nothing. CHEETOR, MAXIMIZE!’ the youngest Maximal cried.

The cheetah head folded down onto his chest, revealing a rather different robot head. It was young, and had a feline mouth and features.  Under his yellow optics small, black, freckle-like spots could be seen, and he had the cheetah stripes going from the side of his optics to his mouth. His paws twisted and rested on his back, his arms swung out from underneath them as they twisted, and his legs did the same for his back paws.

  ‘COOL!’ Cheetor exclaimed, almost mimicking Rhinox in checking his new robot-mode over.

‘That aint nothin’, pussy cat!’ Rattrap retorted, his voice breaking high. ‘RATTRAP, MAXIMIZE!!’

  His robot-mode practically jumped out of his rat body. It seemed to open up at the bottom and let his robot-mode crawl out, then rested comfortably on his back like a fur coat. His arms and legs were of a standard size, but his body was quite small, giving him an overall stumpy look. The fact that he was smaller than the other Maximals only seemed to magnify this. One distinctive feature he did have was a pair of rodent-like buck teeth, which stuck out of his mouth.

  ‘WHAT!?’ he cried, raising his arms in a questioning matter when he saw the other Maximals. They were all snorting, trying to keep a straight face. Even Optimus, who had turned to one side, struggled to fight off the fit of laughter spreading over his lips. Rattrap grumbled and folded his arms.

  ‘Ok,’ Optimus finally said with a straight face, which had taken him a nano to master. ‘I want this to be a counter attack only. If they retreat, we let them retreat. We’re in no shape to start a war.’

  The others nodded, showing they understood.

  ‘Alright, LET’S GO!’

 ****

Terrorsaur was heading the attack. His strong wings made him the fastest in both land and sky. He was fallowed by Waspinator, who probably would have been out in front if he didn’t keep darting  from side to side. On the ground, Tarantulas was narrowly ahead of Scorponok, who was scuttling as fast as his six legs could carry him.

  When they reached a bank, Terrorsaur stopped and hovered in mid-air. He could see the Axalon not far below them.

  ‘Thay’re straight ahead of us!’ he screeched.

  ‘Then let’s get ready to welcome them,’ Tarantulas chuckled. ‘TARANTULAS, TERRORIZE!!’

His spider head quickly flew forwards as his robot head and chest formed from underneath it. His mouth was obscured by, what could only be described as, small fangs which spread fully across his mouth. His spindly spider legs flew backwards as his robot arms and legs were uncovered.

‘Hey! I’m second in command, I transform first!!’ Scorponok moaned loudly. ‘SCORPONOK, TERRORIZE!’

  Scorponok’s fanged head disappeared, as his robot head formed. His scorpion body shot upright and became outer armour as his robot body formed. His robot legs seemed to come from beneath his scorpion armour. His pincers remained in place and were the majority of his arms, while his tail looped over his back, just like his blaster used to in his old robot mode. His pincers clicked, signalling his transformation was complete.

‘Now we’re talking,’ Terrorsaur cried with glee. ‘TERRORSAUR, TERRORIZE!!’

  His scaly chest split as the robot head and arms came out. Below his waist also split in places to reveal his legs and middle. The wings folded onto his back, along with the majority of his Beast Mode, and a jet pack formed and was concealed underneath them.

Waspinator took his cue from Terrorsaur and quickly copied him.

  ‘WAZZPINATOR, TERRORIZE!!’ he cried.

  The wasp head folded down onto his chest. He had the same insect-like eyes and antennae on his head, and at the side of his mouth great fangs crossed over.  His back seemed to split open as his arms came out. Most of his bulbous tail stayed in tact as his two biggest hind legs changed into his robot legs and part of his tail split off and formed the tops of them. His wings stayed on his back and gave him the ability to fly while in robot mode.

Unfortunately, Waspinator’s moment of glory was over much sooner than he’d hoped when one of  Optimus’ shoulder mounted missiles hit him square in the chest.

  ‘NAARRGH!!’

  ‘Huh!? The Maximals are attacking!’ Scorponok screeched, as Waspinator hurtled to the ground. ‘Um, Predacons… uh… attack!…?’

  Terrorsaur and Tarantulas rolled their optics to one another.

  ‘You want me to tell Megatron about your insolence?’

   They both jerked and looked at him.

  ‘Uh, attack, sure, right,’ they both said together and readied their weapons.

  Tarantulas took position behind some rocks near the banks surface and started firing down towards the Maximals. He was, however, in quite a bad position and missed.

  Terrorsaur zoomed up into the air and dived down the bank, firing his blaster everywhere. The Maximals all took cover as he swooped over them.

  ‘HA HA! Run, run and hide you cowards. HA HA!!’ he hollered in mid-flight.

  ‘AH, SHADUP!!’ Rattrap yelled and quickly jumped out from where he was hiding. He fired a single shot that hit Terrorsaur in the back, sending him crashing to the ground with a trail of black smoke behind him.

 BOOM!!

  ‘RATTRAP!’ Optimus shouted. ‘Get back here right now!!’

  The other Maximals were crouched behind a convenient barrage of rocks at the bottom of the bank.

  ‘Aw, relax Optimus,’ Cheetor, who was beside him, remarked coolly. ‘It’s four against two, there’s no way they can win.’

  Optimus looked at him for a second but didn’t say anything. Then he looked over to Rhinox. As their gaze met, Optimus knew Rhinox was thinking exactly what he was thinking; it shouldn’t be this easy, and where’s Megatron?

 But Rattrap was now in the open and left himself an easy target to Scorponok’s missiles. He cried out in pain and shock as he was struck hard in the chest by one, and was flung backwards by the force of the impact. He skidded on his back when he hit the ground, the earth scraping his back half.

‘RATTRAP!!’ Optimus cried, and Cheetor sprinted off from beside him to the wounded fallen Maximal.

 ‘CHEETOR, NO!!’ Rhinox called, and Optimus turned around to see Cheetor swiftly making his way to Rattrap. He stared after him in horror for a second, then got to his feet.

‘Rhinox, cover me, I have to help Cheetor,’ he said quickly and ran off in Cheetor’s direction.

‘And just WHO’S gonna cover me?’ Rhinox called after him sarcastically. Optimus smiled to himself at the joke as he ran. He knew he could rely on Rhinox to take care of not only himself, but everyone else aswell.

Cheetor was nearing Rattrap and began firing his quasar cannon at the two Predacons perched above the bank. The shots missed, but managed to buy him enough time to reach Rattrap.

 ‘You ok!?’ Cheetor gasped, catching his breath.

  ‘UGH, I’ll be fine,’ Rattrap grumbled, trying to sit up. But his strength failed him, and he could only muster laying back on his arms. ‘I don’t need no kitty cat playing slottin’ medic!!’

Tarantulas and Scorponok had now recovered from Cheetor’s decoy and were now preparing to open fire on both Maximals.

  ‘Get down!’ Optimus called from behind Rattrap and Cheetor. He quickly skidded in front of them and unlocked his wrist mounted blasters and back mounted missile launchers. Cheetor got down to his knees as Optimus opened fire. He aimed directly at Tarantulas and Scorponok, who were far too slow to react and received the attack heavily.

  As he watched them fall  to the ground, Optimus lowered his weapons and sighed heavily. He then turned around to face Rattrap and Cheetor.

  ‘I know you wanted to be the hero, Rattrap,’ he knelt down and placed a hand gently on the Maximal’s shoulder. ‘But in order for us all to survive, we have to work as a team. That goes for you too, Cheetor.’ He looked over to the young Maximal, who looked quite shocked that he had been brought into the conversation. ‘Though your actions were noble, and indeed brave, you also put yourself and others in danger.’

  Cheetor lowered his head. ‘Sorry,’ he replied, almost in a whisper.

Rhinox decided to go over and see what was going on. As he did so, a black missile struck the ground next to him, knocking him off balance and creating a huge crater. Waspinator had appeared out of nowhere and was now firing down on Rhinox.

  Optimus turned around and aimed some quick shots at him. Waspinator surprised everyone by skilfully dodging them, and flew over to join the other Predacons at the top of the bank, still firing as he flew over.

  A deafening, ferocious, angry roar suddenly echoed from the top of the bank.

‘CAN’T YOU PATHETIC PEONS DO ANYTHING RGHT!!??’

  It was Megatron. He’d just arrived at the battle and was looking over the pathetic display of attack his Predacons had tried to put up.

 ‘I am very disappointed Scorponok, yes,’ he snarled. ‘It seems that if I want something done right, I have to do it myself.’

  Scorponok started blubbering and tried to explain what had happened, but Megatron just ignored him.

 He continued to growl and snarl, then trudged over to the edge of the bank. He wasn’t afraid of the Maximals, or their weapons. He wanted them to see his greatness as he transformed, see what they were truly up against.

‘MEGATRON, TERRORIZE!!’ he roared, and instantly began to transform.

  The T-Rex head swung to the right, forming his right robot arm. His tail swung right around to the left, forming his left arm. His whole T-Rex body swung around and split so his head and large, metal body came through. His legs stayed as they were.

    Optimus glared up to him, an uneasy look on his face. Megatron smiled cruelly down to him.

  ‘Dear me, Optimus Primal,’ there was a wicked sneer in his voice. ‘So this is how we finally meet. Not on Cybertron, but rather a wasteland. Pity. Now no-one will see me finally get rid of you once and for all.’

  ‘Cheetor, get Rattrap back to cover with Rhinox, and make sure he’s ok too.’ Optimus whispered behind his shoulder.

  ‘What!? No way!’ Cheetor hissed.

  ‘That’s an order!!’ Optimus hissed back, turning his head around so he looked Cheetor square in the optics.

  Cheetor gaped, like he was trying to say something but just couldn’t get the words out. He finally averted his gaze downwards, his expression hurt, and turned to help Rattrap up.

‘How rude!’ Megatron smirked to himself, and raised his right, dino-headed arm. It snapped open. Optimus’ audio receptors twitched at the sound and he turned around to face Megatron again. He gasped in horror as Megatron lowered the weapon and aimed it him.

  A purple coloured laser shot out of it, making a frightening droning noise as it echoed through the T-Rex head and out of the gaping mouth.

‘OPTIMUS, MOVE!!’ Rhinox shouted in horror, as he gripped a rock’s surface gingerly and tried to pull himself up.

Cheetor turned around quickly with Rattrap supported on his shoulder and saw the vivid purple beam. Optimus braced himself and closed his optics. He knew he could’ve easily avoided it. Just leap to the side and let it miss. But he couldn’t. Not with Cheetor and Rattrap behind him.

  He wondered how long it would take to hit him, how painful it would be when it barraged him square in the chest.

  Cheetor and Rattrap braced close against one-another, closing their optics tightly. Rhinox did exactly the same thing from the rock barrage. They just didn’t want to see Optimus get hurt this way.

The noise of impact echoed over the bank. A loud, booming bang of laser hitting it’s target. But it sounded…strange. It didn’t sound like that familiar metal -splitting -open- under- pressure sound. It sounded almost like…a bomb. A bomb blowing up a large building or mountain.

 Optimus flinched at the noise.  A huge explosion of rock and earth hit him, Rattrap and Cheetor. Cheetor let out a frightened cry, his optics still tightly shut, as the fragments showered over him. Both he and Rattrap began to tremble.

  As the rubble swept over them, Optimus finally opened his optics. He looked himself over quickly. He hadn’t been hit.

  The cruel, shrill sound of laughter came from the top of the bank and filled the area. Optimus felt himself fill with rage.

  ‘HA HA!! Oh my!’ Megatron snickered through hysterics of laughter, ‘that really was priceless! Just to see you all squirm!!’ He gripped his chest with his right arm and pointed his left tailed-arm at Optimus, Cheetor and Rattrap, and then was instantly engulfed in another laughing fit.

  Optimus’ mech fluid boiled. He growled lowly, his face twitching with anger.

But for Rhinox far over at the rock barrage, that was all he could take. Not only had Megatron fired on his friends and comrades, but he’d also had the bolts to see it all as a sick joke.

  ‘YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SLAG!!’ Rhinox roared and leaped out  from behind the barrage. Optimus, Cheetor and Rattrap jumped at his sudden outburst and stared over to him. He stood up straight, his shoulders arched together, twin chain guns out in each hand, and his arms fixed upwards. His face bared an out of character, and rather frightening, snarl.

  Megatron stopped laughing and shot Rhinox a piercing stare.

  ‘Mind your tongue, and have some gratitude,’ he sneered. ‘And for goodness sake, put those things down. You’re not going to shoot, no. None of you pathetic Maximals have the killer instinct.’

  A sly smile spread across Rhinox’s face.

  ‘Wanna bet?’ he smirked, and let rip his chain guns at full power.

  Megatron seemed to have a delayed reaction, probably because he was in shock at what had just happened. Either way, he couldn’t find himself fast enough to get off the top of the bank. He stumbled and fell to the ground as Rhinox’s shots pounded him all over.

  ‘WASPINATOR!!’ he roared. ‘Get here, NOW!’

  Waspinator hovered just above him in mid-air. He saluted and looked as if he was about to dash off headlong to Rhinox, when he was bombarded with four different types of firearms.

  ‘NAAAGGH!!’ he buzzed loudly as he went hurtling backwards. Megatron rubbed his head with his dino-headed arm and sighed loudly.

The Maximals had all re-grouped around Rhinox. Optimus and Cheetor were on either side of him and Rattrap was sat in a gap between them. The healthy Maximals seemed to form a protective circle around him since he was still badly damaged.

They ceased fire after about a couple of cycles, unsure of the full extent of the damage they had inflicted on the Predacons. A sandy mist had kicked up and was hanging in the air on top of the bank.

Silence. Nothing stirred, except small fragments of rubble.

  The nano clicks ticked by like hours.

Then suddenly movement was heard. The Maximals stared up at the top of the bank, focussing on the mist that was beginning to settle, their weapons gripped tightly in their hands.

  Eight red spheres gleamed through the settling mist like beacons. A round, dark shape scuttled to the edge of the bank, and golden, spindly legs sprawled out of the mist, the first distinguishable feature of whoever or whatever it was.

  Then, slowly, the body came into view. It was a huge black widow spider, a vivid red blotch was stained on it’s back. It had huge black fangs on either side of it’s mouth and two smaller limbs attached just on it’s sides under it’s head., which seemed to act like arms for the black widow. It seemed to be surveying the battle field, then it’s gaze rested on the Maximals. On Optimus.

  Optimus felt it’s eyes bore on him. There was something familiar about them, but he just couldn’t quite think what.

‘Psst, Optimus!’ Cheetor whispered. ‘Do you have any idea who or what the heck that is?’

  Optimus shook his head, not averting his gaze from the spider’s cold, piercing glare.

More movement came from behind the black widow. Waspinator’s buzzing was heard complaining, seconded by Scorponok, who was also whining. Even more surprising, Terrosaur’s screechy voice could be heard. How he’d managed to stay static and find his way up the bank was actually quite impressive.

  The Maximals were instantly shocked at the noise. Had they really missed so badly? All this time they had been recovering. All the Predacons seemed to be online. All except Megatron.

Without warning, a huge purple beam suddenly shot from over the black widow spider. Optimus was taken completely by surprise and was hit square in the chest. He screamed in pain, a horrible, blood chilling cry, as he was knocked off his feet and landed with a hideous thud on the ground.

  ‘OPTIMUS!!’ the Maximals cried in unison as they watched their leader go down.

  Then the massive silhouette of Megatron could be made from behind the spider.

  The black widow turned her head and saw Megatron behind her. Their gaze met for a fraction of a click. She nodded and turned forwards again.

‘BLACK ARACHNIA, TERRORIZE!’ a shrill cry echoed from her fangs and she instantly transformed.

    The spider head moved down as her back flipped open, allowing her top robot-mode top half to form. The spider head then rested on her waist as her spider legs flung behind her and rested on her back. Her rather long robot legs appeared from underneath the spider stomach. Her robot arms had formed partly from the two short limbs under  her spider head, and ended in claws which secreted her weaponry. She stretched out fully as her transformation completed.

‘DESTROY THEM ALL!’ Megatron bellowed, and a stream of arsenal flew all around him. It flowed down the bank.

  ‘Get out of here, NOW!!’ Optimus winced clutching his chest, which was a bloody, mech-fluid mess.

  ‘Suits me!’ Rattarp cried.‘Ey, Rhinox. How’s about a lift, big buddy?’

  Rhinox looked over helplessly at Optimus, then scooped up Rattrap.

  ‘C’mon!’ he grunted to Cheetor and ran with Rattrap slumped over his shoulder.

  Cheetor stared at Optimus.

 ‘…I’m not going,’ he said quietly.

  Rhinox stopped dead for a fraction of a click and stared at him, wide opticked.

  ‘No…please,’ Optimus winced again.

  ‘INCOMING!!’ Rattrap shrieked, and practically kicked Rhinox to move.

  The firearms were starting to rain down from the bank. All around Cheetor and Optimus, the explosions of missiles and lasers missing them and hitting the ground echoed everywhere. Then slowly, the stream got closer to them. Cheetor leaped and dived into Optimus, pushing himself and his weary leader out of the way of a particularly nasty stream of arsenal; which left an ominous, smoking crater where they once were.

  Both Maximals landed heavily, skidding on the ground. Cheetor winced as he scraped his front, he felt a sharp pain across his chest. But he quickly got up on all fours and bared the pain. He had to, for Optimus’ sake. He glanced forward and quickly saw Optimus sprawled on his back.

  With every ounce of strength he had left, Cheetor got to his feet, thinking only of Optimus and how much pain he must be in. He took a step forward.

  Almost instantly, a purple laser hit the ground in front of him. The explosion from the impact sent him flying backwards, and he landed hard on his rear.

  ‘Tut tut!’ Megatron sang, waving a finger. ‘I can’t have you interfering now, can I? Besides, you’ll soon suffer the same fate, pussy cat. Yes.’

  Megatron walked to edge of the bank and looked down. He saw Optimus lying on the ground, his body stained with his own mech fluid from the open wound on his chest. But he was still static. His head tossed to the side as he tried feebly to get up.

  Megatron smiled. Seeing him in so much pain made it all worthwhile. And now knowing he would finally be rid of Optimus for good, how could he hide how happy he was.

  He ventured further forward, his foot half hanging over the edge of the bank, when a clawed, metal yellow arm pushed against his chest.

  Megatron stared at the arm, then in the direction of who it was coming from, a plain look of stern distaste on his face.

 ‘You do remember our little deal, don’t you?’  the husky voice of the new female Predacon rang.

  Megatron stared at her, his expression cold and his optics piercing. Then a small smile etched itself into the corner of his mouth.

  ‘But of course, my dear,’ he replied coolly. He then took a step backwards, bowing slightly, and held out his right arm in a gentlemen-like manner, as if letting her go before him.

  ‘Of course, I was so hoping you’d forgotten.’ He sounded rather disappointed, in a joking way.

  The yellow and black Predacon stepped down the bank, zigzagging to get good footholes. She finally landed on the solid ground below, on Optimus’ level.

  Optimus managed to tilt his head up to see her.

  ‘Black…Black Widow!?’ he whispered, he was now very weak.

  ‘The name’s Blackarachnia!’ she snapped angrily. ‘And don’t you forget it.’

  She stared at him with disgust, her brow furred deeply and her optics looked fierce.

  ‘You should be more concerned about yourself,’ she hissed viciously. She began to walk up to him slowly.

 ‘But then…’ a cruel smirk spread across her lips, ‘ you always were good at that, weren’t you?’

  ‘Black Wi…Blackarachnia, please don’t do this,’ Optimus pleaded meekly. He was completely defenceless. 

  The other Predcons leaned over the bank top, captivated by the drama that was unfolding.

  The other Maximals could only watch on. If any of them tried to move, all the Predacons would surely open fire on them all.

  She stopped in front of him, her expression the same, and stuck out her arm. The claw at the end opened slightly, revealing a crossbow-like missile launcher.

  ‘Hope you hadn’t made any more promises,’ he sneered and pushed the weapon against his forehead.

  Optimus heard it click; the safety was off and it was fully loaded. He stared at her, gasping deeply. Her optics still looked fierce. She wasn’t showing any signs of mercy, any signs of stopping.

  He closed his optics. So this was how it was going to end? The Decepticon he had once practically taken in back on Cybertron was now about to seal his doom.

Suddenly, Blackarachnia let out a shriek. Optimus jerked his head up to see what was happening.

  White waves of energon sprawled across her body, like white serpents coiling over one-another. She stumbled backwards unsteadily.

 WARNING, WARNING. ENERGON BUILD UP REACHING CRITICAL MASS. STASIS LOCK- IMINANT. RETURN TO BEAST MODE, Blackarachnia’s internal computer droned.

   The same thing happened to the other Predacons, then to the Maximals, and finally Optimus.

   ‘NO!! Not now!!’ Megatron roared, as the white waves grew more painful. He roared angrily as he reverted back to the purple T-Rex.

  ‘Grrr, back to Beast  Mode. We need to get back to base and recover!’

  The other Predacons complied without complaint and quickly exited the scene. He looked down the bank.

  ‘BLACKARACHNIA!!’ he yelled. ‘Finish it another day!’

   He then stomped off, cursing and muttering to himself.

  Blackarachnia snarled and looked up to him. The waves were getting more painful with every passing click. She could feel her systems beginning to fail.

  She glared at Optimus with the same snarl.

  ‘Next time…’ she began, but was instantly overcome with a painful white flash. She cried out and winced.

  Optimus tried to get up. Something inside himself urged him to try and help her. But he was still too weak, and was experiencing the same pain she was.

  Finally, she reluctantly called out ‘Beast Mode,’ and changed back to the black widow spider. She glanced over to him one last time, then scurried off up the bank to fallow Megatron.

  ‘Beast Mode,’ Optimus sighed quietly, and he too changed back to his animal form.

  The other Maximals came charging up to him, Cheetor galloping from his landing place, and Rhinox, with Rattrap’s furry Beast Mode clutching onto his back, fallowed close behind.

   ‘Optimus, you ok?’ Cheetor panted as he skidded in front of the gorilla.

  Optimus didn’t answer. He was too distracted in his thoughts. He just looked up the bank, where he last saw Blackarachnia before she disappeared from view.

  ‘Uh…Optimus?’

  ‘Leave him be,’ Rhinox said, walking up to the large cat. ‘He’s going to have a lot on his mind right now. Just let him be alone for a while.’

  Rattrap was about to say something, but decided not to. It was after all, a very sombre moment.

Everything just seemed to have happened too fast for Optimus. His mind was filled with questions. Why had Black Widow become a Predacon? Did he really hurt her that badly? Did she really hate him that much?

  One thing was certain, he’d never look at her in the same way again. Just imagining those cold, merciless optics made him realise how much she really had changed.

  He sighed deeply.

  No more. No more thinking about her. No more feelings for her. It all ends now.

  She’s a Predacon. She has no feelings, she doesn’t care about anyone. So why should he.

  He finally turned around.

  ‘Come on, team, back to base.’ He spoke in the same, gentle voice he always did. But the Maximals knew it wasn’t the same.

****

High above the battlefield, on a similar bank overlooking the craterous mess, a white tiger was sitting on his haunches. His tail swished from left to right with interest and thought. He’d seen everything and heard everything, but had remained silent throughout it all.

He focussed hard on the scene, his green tiger eyes narrowed like slits. He was very angry.

  A gold and brown falcon flew overhead, cawing to make herself known. She then swooped down and landed neatly in a tree next to him. She ruffled her feathers and turned to face him.

  ‘Are they friendly?’ she asked, a hint of curiosity in her soft voice.

  The white tiger looked at her. A faint smile spread across his feline mouth.

  ‘If you call shooting at each other with Energon-weapons friendly, then yes,’ he replied with a chuckle. He had a cool, calm, easy-going voice.

  But to both of them, this was no laughing matter.

  ‘The Earth Protector must know about this!’ the falcon exclaimed, and spread her wings, ready to fly.

  ‘Be careful,’ the white tiger said almost in a whisper. ‘And tell everyone you meet to evacuate underground. I shall go a different way to spread the news more.’

  And with that, the tiger and the falcon parted ways and set off on their secret mission.