Cheetor was lazily resting on a branch of a nice big tree, purring loudly. He loved hearing the rumbling in his ribcage, and the feeling of contentment it brought him. He looked out on the savannah, flocks of antelope grazed here and there, and Cheetor, being the smartest of them all, felt like he was King of Jungle, or Savannah. Only that smug-looking panther that wandered into the grasslands would ever stand a tiny chance against Cheetor in beast mode.

A low rumble meet his sharp ears, and Cheetor looked skyward. A silver pod was zooming toward the savannah. And judging by the fleeing antelope that were stampeding in all directions, Cheetor wasn’t the only one who knew something was coming.

The pod’s landing jets came online and the pod rested gently on the ground. A large scanner beam swept the grasslands, then the pod’s lid flipped up.

Hmmm, it would be cool if we got an antelope on our team, Cheetor thought, moving closer to the pod. Cheetor placed his two front paws on the edge of the pod and looked in.

A black cat-face almost identical to Cheetor’s beast mode (except the color [obviously]) popped out and stared at Cheetor, who stared right back.

“Hi,” Cheetor said, breaking the silence, “My name’s-”

“What a nano-click! Little bro, is that you?” the black panther asked incredulously.

“Wha-? Saberburn? I didn’t know you signed up for this mission!” Cheetor grinned. Saberburn was his brother back on Cybertron.

“Yup, I got bored of designing my Saberskates for Elctroporter, so I decided to explore the universe,” the panther smiled, then he said, “I don’t think my name fits my new body though,” Saberburn looked at his sleek black body. “Hmmm… I got it, I’ll be Pantor!”

“Hey, that’s just like my name Sabe- Pantor; on this planet, I’m called Cheetor,” enthused Cheetor, though inside, he was a little annoyed Pantor’s name was so close to his own.

“Coolio, little bro, now, um, what are we doing here? It doesn‘t look like the like the Juwana. It was supposed to be freezing…”

Cheetor looked uncomfortable, “Well, we crashed here, because the Predacons that stole the Golden Disc shot at us… and well, because of the Energon supply on this planet…” Cheetor trailed away, while Pantor’s expression told him he wasn’t doing a good job of explaining. “Well, I’ll let Optimus explain it.”

“Optimus? Not the Optimus Primal? Dude! He was like a genius! He practically made the Pred-Max Peace Treaty.”

“Yup,” Cheetor said impressively.

“You gotta introduce me!” Pantor cried excitedly. Cheetor nodded, then lead Pantor towards the Axalon.

***

“Hi, I’m Pantor, Cheetor’s big brother,” Pantor said respectfully. He and Cheetor had made it to the Axalon without incident, and he was now introducing himself to all the Maximals.

“It’s good to meet you, Pantor, welcome to the Maximal team,” Optimus returned with a smile. “Well, you already seem to know me and Cheetor, but these others are Dinobot, Ratrap, and Rhinox.” Optimus pointed at the other members of the Maximals.

“Anothuh cat? I hope yous got more sense dan your spotty-brained brothuh,” Ratrap smirked. Cheetor glared at him from behind his brother’s back. Just a few super-cycles ago, Ratrap had to rescue him from a tight spot… or web.

“Oh, don’t worry, I got the brains… and the brawn now that I think of it,” Pantor replied with a smile.

Ratrap laughed, “Huh, you two are almost idenical, but dis guy’s got wit, I tink I’ll like ‘im.” Ratrap’s comment hit Cheetor like a missile, because one, now that Cheetor looked, Pantor was like a mirror image of him, except taller, more muscular, and was blue and black (his beast mode was like that too), and two, Ratrap just called him dumb.

“Yes, his wit far exceeds you own, Vermin,” Dinobot remarked from his corner.

Ratrap opened his mouth to retort, but Pantor turned and faced Dinobot, “You honor me with your praise, Dinobot.” Dinobot’s optics widened in surprise at this unexpected show of gratitude, then his face was masked again by his signature scowl.

Cheetor gave a sigh, his brother always knew what to say, who to say it to, and generally be the best liked between the two of them. This was a pretty good example of his brother’s charisma and people (or robot)-skills.

“Alright,” Rhinox said, rubbing his palms together, “If that’s finished, I have to go and fix up that E.P. commlink.”

“You made an Energon Powered commlink?” Pantor asked in awe. “Without the expensive lab equipment like the kind on Cybertron? You must be a genius.”

Rhinox shuffled his feet modestly, “It’s nothing, really just a small Energon refiner wired to a commlink.”

“I’d love to see it sometime,” Pantor said, nodding with enthusiasm.

“Well, first things first,” Optimus cut in, “Cheetor, why don’t you give a tour of the Axalon to your bother.”

“Okay!” Cheetor tried to match Pantor’s enthusiastic attitude.

***

“And this is your room,” Cheetor raised a hand to gesture at the metal door, which slid smoothly open to reveal a simple room with a cot, mirror, and a small table.

“Hmmm… I think this is bigger than your room,” commented Pantor, circling the perimeter of the room.

“No, it’s just your imagination,” Cheetor said through gritted teeth, “all the rooms are the exact same size, except for Optimus’s. You know since he’s the captain.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Pantor was busy inspecting his cot from every possible angle.

Cheetor looked away from his irritating brother, “So…”

Pantor turned to look questioningly at Cheetor, as if to say in the rudest manor possible, “What?”

“What was it like being a protoform?” Cheetor asked at random.

“Boring. All you can do is dwell on your memories, if the wiping process doesn’t clean out your memory bank.”

“Wiping process?” Cheetor looked puzzled.

“The process of making a Maximal a protoform,” Pantor rolled his eyes when Cheetor adopted a even more puzzled look on his face. “Okay, so you know back on Cybertron, all transformers, Maximal and Predacon, had a robot mode, and a vehicle mode?”

Cheetor nodded.

“Well, the wiping process is strictly for explorers. Since we don’t know what kind of environment the planet we land on has, we need to be able to adapt, so some smarty-pants scientists put you through a scanner. The scanner wipes you clean of your vehicle and robot mode, so you’ll be ready to adjust to the planet. Got me so far?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, since the scanner is made to clean out your body, so you’re like a blank, your memory bank sometimes get wiped to, and all you can remember is vague feelings from your spark, which makes remains untouched throughout the entire process. The spark is replaced within the newly made protoform, then the protoform is sealed in a stasis pod and loaded onto a ship.”

“Oh. I’m glad Optimus had me on the online crew,” Cheetor said fervently.

“Ah, well…” Pantor resumed examining his room, as if picturing future décor hanging on the walls.

“Anyway, enjoy, and I‘ll see you later,” Cheetor said, after a silence, when Pantor continued to ignore him.

“Whatever.”

***

The next few super-cycles (days) showed no improvement for Cheetor. Pantor seemed to be making fast friends with all the Maximals, and there was no Predacon activity to distract him from this depressing thought.

Cheetor sauntered into the control room, intending to ask Ratrap to a game of Plug the Pred (a shooting game involving automatic weapons and a virtual Waspinator), but froze when he entered the room.

“Ah, ya got lucky, Pantor,” Ratrap said good-naturedly, as the screen flashed ‘Winner: Pantor,’ “but I bet cha I’ll beat your sorry butt next round.”

Pantor grinned recklessly, “You’re on.”

Soon the two were pushing buttons wildly and saying things like, “Take-that Ratface!” or “Got’cha Pussycat!”

***

The next day, Cheetor went to go visit Rhinox in his lab to see if he could help repair a broken power converter.

“Hey, Big Green,” Cheetor said, happy that he thought of something to do.

“Hello, Cheetor,” Rhinox was busily welding something together, and didn’t look up.

“So… do you need help fixing that power converter?”

“Nope, Pantor helped me get working earlier today.”

“Oh,” Cheetor left, feeling imensely dispirited.

***

The next solar-cycle was extremely frustrating and irritable for Cheetor, every time he tried to spend time doing something with someone, Pantor had beaten him to it.

Cheetor peeked into the training area, intending to ask Dinobot if he could train with him, but his spark plummeted. Pantor was already sparring with Dinobot. Dinobot had his deadly, drill-like sword, while Pantor had a blade of shimmering steel. The two twisted and turned as if dancing, sometimes only an inch apart, then they would whirl apart, only to crash together with a clang of metal on metal.

Cheetor had to admit they were impressive fighters, but that somehow darkened his mood even more.

“Hey, Big-Bot!” Cheetor greeted, as he entered Optimus’s room.

“Hello, Cheetor,” Optimus looked up from the book he was reading to smile at the young Maximal.

“What ‘cha doing?”

“Reading, why?”

“Well, I was wondering, do you wanna play Strategex with me?” Strategex was the Cybertronian form of chess.

Optimus smiled sadly, “Sorry, Cheetor. I’ve just finished playing against Pantor. I just managed to beat him.”

“Oh… that’s cool. Later,” Cheetor hurriedly got out of there, resisting the urge to scream.

“Pantor…” Cheetor asked tentatively.

“Yes?“ Pantor sounded slightly annoyed.

“Do you wanna hang out some time?”

Pantor looked about ready to laugh out loud, but managed to say in a somewhat even voice, “Sorry, little bro, I’ve got more important things to do.”

“Like what?” Cheetor inquired.

Pantor looked genuinely annoyed now, “That, is none of your business. Now scram.”

Everyone seemed to forgotten all about Cheetor.

***

Cheetor was back in his tree, purring loudly, trying to forget his stressful super-cycle, and spending his time by himself (which he seemed to be doing a lot lately). He just lay in a branch, vigilantly aware of all of the antelopes’ movements. A sudden movement caught his watchful optics. A blotch of black on the yellow and brown that dominated the savannah.

Tarantulas was sneaking around the edge of the grasslands, as an enormous tarantula.

“So,” Cheetor growled, contempt dripping from every syllable, “Eight-Eyes is in Maximal territory. It’s time for some payback!”

Cheetor leapt from the tree with easy grace, and silently slunk through the long grass, his beast mode blending in perfectly with his surroundings. Soon he was with in fourteen feet of the spider.

“… at Quadrant Delta in a few mega-cycles,” the spider was saying to someone.

“I can do that,” replied a second voice. The sound of footsteps faded away, while Tarantulas cackled to himself.

“What’s so funny, Eight-Eyes?”

“Ooo, hoo, hoo! Hello, my little entrée, I don’t see the rat around to help you this time,” Tarantulas took a step toward Cheetor.

“Cheetor, MAXIMIZE!” Cheetor transformed with super-speed, whipping out his gun from subspace.

“Tarantulas, TER- AH!” Tarantulas fell to the ground in a blackened heap. Being shot while transforming was the worst possible time, as you were the most vulnerable then.

“Any last words, Pred?” Cheetor grinned, pointing his gun straight at Tarantula’s forehead.

“Cheetor!?! Come in Cheetor!” his commlink practically yelled.

Cheetor jumped. Tarantulas used this diversion to flee into the long grass.

“Fragging…” mumbled Cheetor, then spoke into his commlink. “Cheetor here.”

“Hey, little bro, what ‘cha you doing?” Pantor’s voice sounded unusually chipper, he usually used his most uninterested tone when talking to his brother.

“You… called… me…” Cheetor began, slowly, his voice trembling with rage, “to… ask HOW I WAS DOING?!?”

“Whoa, calm down little bro, what’s with you?” Pantor sounded taken aback.

“Didn’t Optimus say that commlinks were not toys?”

“Yeah, he might of said something like that…” Pantor said vaguely.

“Well,” Cheetor began angrily, “you just cost me getting back at Hairy Legs.”

“‘Hairy Legs’?” Pantor stifled a laugh. “Whatever. Bye.”

The commlink clunked as it disconnected.

“Stupid older brother,” Cheetor grumbled, sulkily making his way back to the Axalon.

***

“… Tarantulas was talking to somebody, but I didn’t see who,” Cheetor finished.

“Well, this is certainly a bad situation, either the Preds have found another intelligent species on this planet, or another stasis pod landed without our knowledge,” Optimus said gravely, steepling his fingers, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Or somebody,” Ratrap muttered with a glance at Dinobot, “is a double-agent.”

Dinobot snarled, and half-rose from leaning against the doorway.

“Cool your circuits, Dinobot,” Optimus stepped in. Rhinox and Optimus began discussing the possibility of Preds scrambling the scanners, while Dinobot and Ratrap began a rather heated discussion about each other’s appearances.

Cheetor noticed that Pantor slipped away from the others and entered the hatch, to leave the Axalon.

He’s been slipping away a lot lately… Cheetor frowned, then followed his brother.

He just caught a glimpse of black moving north.

“Beast mode,” Cheetor cried, and sprinted after Pantor. After chasing him for sometime, Cheetor noticed where Pantor was going.

“This is Quadrant Delta…” Cheetor said slowly.

Cheetor dismissed the thought that rose up in his mind. Pantor couldn’t be a traitor, he just couldn’t.

Pantor stopped in the middle of Quadrant Delta and waited. Cheetor had seen enough and plus, he didn’t want to know if his suspicions of his brother were correct. He decided he would confront Pantor later, and then ran back to the Axalon.

***

Cheetor volunteered for monitor duty that night, saying that Ratrap deserved a break. His real reason was that he wanted to be there for Pantor’s arrival.

A couple, long mega-cycles later, Pantor came up in the hatch. He was obviously expecting to find a snoozing Ratrap, and jumped when Cheetor said, “So.”

Pantor regained his composure smoothly, “Hey, little bro. I thought Ratrap was on duty tonight?”

“Cut the slag, Pantor. What in Primus’s name where you doing in Quadrant Delta tonight?” snapped Cheetor, in no mood to deal with his brother’s smooth tongue.

His brother considered him, then nodded as if deciding something, “I wanna show you something.” Pantor beckoned to Cheetor.

“What?” Cheetor asked sourly (though he was intrigued), as they exited the Axalon via elevator.

“Ah, you’re not still sore about the commlink thing are you?” Pantor asked, as if Cheetor was being immature.

“Maybe, but I’m more sore about you sneaking around,” Cheetor scowled.

Pantor sighed, “I’m sorry. Are you gonna get over it, or will I have to deal with a sourpuss all day?”

“What about you sneaking off to Pred Territory?” Cheetor said accusingly.

Pantor smiled and said, “Beast mode,” and became a sleek, black panther.

“Follow me.”

Cheetor followed suit and then looked at Pantor again, “Where are we going?”

“Oh, it’s a surprise,” Pantor smiled slyly. Cheetor looked suspiciously at his brother, but followed him into the setting sun.

***

The sun had disappeared behind the mountains, leaving a few rays of reddish pink light to illuminate the sky before they faded into darkness. The two cat brothers stood together at the mouth of a gaping chasm.

Cheetor stood beside his brother, who blended in with the night perfectly.

“So… what are we looking for?” Cheetor asked his brother, only to turn and find that his brother had left him, alone. “Pantor? Pantor!?! PANTOR!!!”

No one responded, but Cheetor swore he heard someone move to his right. He turned. He only saw darkness.

Suddenly someone’s footsteps were charging toward him, and he felt himself falling into the pit. He looked up and saw the chasm’s mouth illuminated by the beams of a full moon. Two figures stood side by side.

“Tee, hee, hee!” Cheetor recognized Tarantulas’s cackle. “Your have done well, Megatron will be pleased.”

“My only wish is to please the Predacon commander,” another voice said. Cheetor’s energon pump stopped.

No, no that isn’t… thought Cheetor desperately.

“Goodbye, brother,” Pantor said wickedly. Cheetor watched the outline of his brother pull out a gun, and shoot the top of the chasm.

Boulders, rocks, and rubble poured on top of Cheetor, crushing him, cutting off the mech-fluids flow to his body parts. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t think! The weight of the rocks became heavier and heavier as more of the boulders piled on top of him. He would die under a pile of rocks, at the hands of his own brother.

Just before Cheetor was completely crushed he said in complete contempt, “I hate you!”

At the mouth of the abyss, Pantor grinned at Tarantulas, “I quite enjoyed that.”

Tarantulas began to cackle into the night.

End of Part 1

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