Author's Notes: Hi Ya'll! Minerva here but you can call me Mad Jackel! You'll see why when you read Secrets'
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I'll make a wish for you and hope it will come true
That life will just be kind to such a gentle mind
And if you lose your way look back on yesterday
Remember me this way...remember me this way....
-- 'Remember Me This Way' by Jordan Hill
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Prologue
Alone she stood, watching, waiting.
She knew he was close, so close she could easily have gone to him. But his mind was too far away for that. It had been for a long time, and it saddened her deeply. If she went to him now he would not understand who she was or what she was or that she was his friend... he was lost to her now...
But she knew, buried deep beneath that shroud of insanity, he was still the person she had meet so long ago. A kind, simple, and caring person, despite his alliance. She must find a way to bring him back... somehow....
She once feared she had lost him in body as well as mind when he disappeared, but fate again brought them together. This time, in a way she knew she would be able to help him. It was forbidden to do anything directly, that's true, but indirectly there might be a way!
It was a risk, but she must take it. For him.. and for all...
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Quickstrike was busy doing monitor duty, not much of a fun job and one he particularly disliked. He suddenly became aware of an annoying buzz coming from behind him. "Whata ya want, bug-brains?"
"Wazzpinator wanted to see what two-head wazz doing. Can Wazzpinator help?"
"Go away, ya idget," growled the fuzor. "This job is bad enough without you hangin' around bugging me!"
"But..." Waspinator began. "Never mind."
He flew off, sighing. He had been hoping to be friends with Quickstrike, but it didn't seem to be working out. In fact, being friends with anyone around the base seemed impossible. Waspinator almost missed Terrorsaur and Scorponok. Terrorsaur had always been a bit of a bully, but at least he was someone to hang out with. And Scorponok was pushy, but kinda fun to make cracks at and at least respected Waspinator as an able Predacon.
But now with them gone he was beginning to feel a bit lonely.
"Waspinator!" shouted Megatron over the intercom. "Report to the command center immediately!"
The wasp gulped and did what he was told, hopping he wasn't in trouble for anything... again!
"Wazzpinator reporting," he said as he entered the room.
"I have a mission for you, insect." Megatron turned on a holographic map and pointed to a part of the jungle. "We have reason to believe a stasis pod is somewhere in this area. I want you to retrieve it. However, there is an electric storm headed towards there."
Waspinator frowned. Considering how much he hated flying in rain, he wasn't too thrilled about this. "Wazzpinator should wait till storm pazz maybe?"
"No, I want you to go now before the pod is damaged!"
"Not care if Wazzpinator get damaged, nooooo..." the Pred grumbled in a low voice.
"What was that?"
"Uh... nothing."
"Then go!" Megatron said sternly.
"Wazzpinator go." He sighed, transformed to beast mode, and buzzed out of the base. So far, this day was not going well.
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Somewhere far from the two bases, away from all the fighting and commotion, a white tiger paused a moment to breathe in the sweet smells of the day. A peregrine falcon swooped in and landed on a large rock beside him.
"What are you doing?" asked Airazor in her ever-kind voice.
"Just admiring the beauty of this land," said Tigatron dreamily as he stared out upon the tropical landscape. "I wish I could stay out here forever."
"Me too." Airazor was enjoying spending time with him as much as she enjoyed being out in the open. "But we have to get back to base sometime, and we've been gone for a month now."
"Yes, I just wish we had something to show for our effort," her companion sighed. They hadn't been able to find any functional stasis pods while on their quest, and that fact bothered them both.
"Yeah..." the female lifted her head. "There seems to be a storm coming; we'd better go." She spread her wings and took off into the sky.
Tigatron smiled as he watched her and spoke to himself in a soft voice, "Ah... such beauty in the sky as well." Then he took off after the bird on foot, all the while smiling.
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"Wazzpinator do thizz, Wazzpinator do that. Wazzpinator sick of slag orderzz, never get to do anything fun!"
The Predacon buzzed through the sky, searching for the stasis pod he had been commanded to find, while dark storm clouds were coming ever closer.
"Someday Wazzpinator be leader, then he give the orderzzz," Waspinator sighed. "Right now juzzt settle for zzomeone to talk to..."
A sudden crack of lightning came too close for comfort and the wasp dived down into the jungle for cover, landing on a large, moss-covered rock. "Ohh... Wazzpinator really hate thizz!"
It was at that moment he realized what he was sitting on wasn't a rock, it was much too smooth, and it seemed to be... humming?
Waspinator transformed to bot mode, examining the object. He cleared away some of the moss for a better look. His purple eyes lit up as he discovered that it was in fact a stasis pod! "Good, now Wazzpinator can go home."
He grabbed the pod and began to pull with all his might, only succeeding in causing himself to fall backwards into the mud when he lost his grip. "Zztupid pod!" The wasp kicked it and decided that had been a very bad idea as his foot was now in great pain. "Oh fine, Wazzpinator juzzt program you here! Then you can walk back to bazze yourzzelf," he grumbled, opening the pod's computer. He was also ignoring how close the lightning was getting.
In the flash of a moment, the sky was lit by a massive lightning bolt. It struck the pod and Waspinator, sending an electric pulse through his exostruture. He was blown clear of the pod and landed a few feet away in some soft bushes.
It may have be the electricity or some form of an illusion, but Waspinator thought he saw a pair of beautiful green eyes looking down at him. Then everything went black.
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Tigatron and Airazor had reached a small rock passage and were walking along in bot mode to get through it easier.
Airazor looked at the tiger and sighed. It's now or never, girl, you're almost back to base, she thought to herself. "Uh... Tigatron?"
He turned to her. "Yes?"
"I was... I mean... I..." she sighed again. Why couldn't she put what was in her heart into words? Why couldn't she just tell him how she felt?
Tigatron was looking into her eyes. "Airazor..."
The falcon returned his gaze. "Tigatron..."
Tigatron took her into his arms; she held him close as the two kissed passionately.
They kissed, and kissed some more, and continued kissing, and... (you get the idea, it was a very long kiss ;)
At last they stopped and looked at each other, smiling.
"Whoa." Airazor grinned, then straightened up. "We... I suppose we had better be going."
"Yes." Tigatron took her hand. "Together, my love."
Airazor blushed a bit and the two continued towards the base.
They would have gotten there soon, too, had it not been for the road block they found a few moments later... a stasis pod...
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"Ohhh..." Waspinator groaned as he regained consciousness. Except for a few sore joints, he realized he wasn't damaged much; this sort of surprised him. "What happened?"
It was then he noticed he heard buzzing. Of course that noise he heard all the time, but this buzzing wasn't coming from him...
The Predacon turned to the stasis pod; its lid was now open, and he realized something inside it was the source of the buzzing. He stood up and began to walk towards it.
Suddenly a giant yellow jacket emerged from the pod and landed on the ground beside him. Next, it transformed to its robot mode, all without saying a word.
Waspinator rubbed his optics to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Except for the coloration and a few other small details, the new robot was an exact duplicate of himself. He came a little closer, cocking his head to one side. The yellow jacket cocked its head too. Waspinator blinked, it blinked. He shook his arm, it did the same. The two circled each other for a moment, then the robot finally spoke. "Hello."
The wasp stepped back as if he hadn't really expected the creature to talk. "Who you?"
"I Buzz Saw," was the reply. "Who you?"
"Wazzpinator." He smiled, realizing what had happened.
"Wazzpinator create Buzz Saw, Wazzpinator izz Buzz Saw's brother-bot," the yellow jacket said with the same buzz in his voice as his companion.
Waspinator had never really wanted a brother, but now that he had one he kinda liked it. "Storm getting bad, we better get back to bazze. Have lotzz of talking to do."
Buzz Saw nodded and the two new friends headed back towards the Predacon base. And Waspinator, for the first time in a long time, was truly happy.
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"Well, it seems to be functional," said Tigatron, examining the pod. "All it needs is a beast form."
Airazor looked around the barren rocks. "Where is it going to find animal DNA in this place?"
[DNA scan complete, begin replication process] said the pod's computer.
Tigatron shrugged. "Well, it found something."
The two robots stepped back as the pod did its work. A moment later, the lid opened and a pair of large, back antennas appeared, soon followed by the rest of a giant firefly.
The Maximals exchanged a look. This wasn't exactly what they had expected.
"Geez, what a trip! That's the last time I sign up to be in stasis lock," grumbled the firefly. She looked at them. "Hey, what're you two starin' at?"
"Well... um.." Airazor stuttered, trying not to be rude. "We just weren't expecting that particular beast form."
"Huh?" the firefly caught her reflection in the pod and nearly screamed. "I'm a bug, for Primus's sake! Oh man!"
"It's not so bad," said Tigatron, trying to be helpful. "I'm sure your robot form will be to your liking."
"Sure hope so. Livewire, maximize!" She transformed into a slender red and black robot, not much bigger than Rattrap. She looked at her companions. "Yeah, that's better. So who are you two, anyway?"
"I am Tigatron," said the male, bowing. "And this fair lady is Airazor."
"Ooook..." Livewire rolled her eyes. "The name's Livewire, if you haven't already guessed. Now, where the heck are we and what happened to the Axalon?"
Airazor sighed, "It's a long story."
"Yeah, so start tellin'. I'm listening."
So the three started off towards the Maximal base. While Tigatron related the events of the war, Airazor watched for danger from above, and Livewire... complained some more about being an insect.
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"Blast, where is Waspinator? He should have been back by now!" growled Megatron as his fist left yet another dent in the arm of the command chair. "Stupid insect can't even carry out a simple order!"
"Geez, he's in a bad mood today," said Blackarachnia, quietly monitoring her station.
"You said it, sugarbot," replied Quickstrike from the station next to her.
The female smirked a bit, but suddenly stopped and spoke up. "Megatron, I'm getting two Predacon energy signatures headed this way. One is Waspinator... but the other is unknown."
"Hmm... perhaps he was not as incompetent as I thought." The commander scratched his chin. "Tarantulas, bring up a visual on screen."
The spider grumbled a bit. He turned on the main viewing screen, revealing a picture of Waspinator and Buzz Saw, both in beast mode.
Quickstrike raised a brow. "Umm... I the only one seein' double here?"
"It appears the insect has made a friend for himself," Tarantulas chuckled (not really for a reason, he just liked chuckling because it annoyed Megatron).
"Then I was right the first time, he is incompetent." Megatron leaned back in his chair. "Have Inferno escort those two here when they arrive... I have some business to discuss with them!"
The three arachnids snickered, knowing full well that meant Waspinator was in BIG trouble.
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"They're back, they're back!" cheered Cheetor as he raced into the command center, nearly running over Rattrap in the process.
"Yo kid, slow down," the rat grumbled. "What's all the commotion about, anyways?"
"Tigatron and Airazor are back," said Rhinox happily.
Silverbolt smiled. "I am anxious to meet them at long last; I've heard so many good things."
"And they're bringing back a new Maximal with them, too," added Optimus.
"A new warrior to tip the balance of power into our favor," said Dinobot. Even he seemed slightly in a good mood.
Rattrap rolled his eyes. "Thanks for your input, Chopperface, but one more person ain't gonna win us the Beast Wars."
"They're coming in through Sentinel now." Rhinox ignored the comment. "They should be coming up the lift any moment."
"Aren't you excited, big R?" asked the hyperactive cheetah.
"Eh," the transmetal rat shrugged, just as the lift was coming up. "To tell the truth, I don't think another bot is gonna make much differ...ence..." Rattrap's jaw dropped as the most perfect female he had ever seen stepped off the lift. His energon pump was beating overtime. She was beautiful, she was young, she was about his size! "Whoa..."
"Big cat! Raze!" Cheetor rushed over to his friends, hugging them.
"Nice to see you too, little cat," Tigatron laughed.
"Glad to have you two back." Optimus turned to the new robot. "And welcome, miss...um..?"
"Livewire DeBolt." Livewire nodded to everyone in the room. "Nice to meet you."
A lot of boring introductions followed that ya don't really need to hear about, so I'll just leave it here.
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"Fool, I told you to bring the pod back to base," yelled Megatron, shoving Waspinator into the wall while keeping a tight grip around his neck.
"Wazzpinator... glup... try... uff... pod wazz stuck."
Megatron loosened his grip a bit so the wasp could at least talk. "Well, explain this, then." He pointed to Buzz Saw, who was standing nearby and shaking.
"Wazzpintor not mean to make clone of self, juzzzt happen, wazz accident!"
"Well, I suppose one having another Predacon, even if he is like you, is an advantage." The larger Pred dropped Waspinator and began to walk away. "I will let you off this time, insect."
Buzz Saw helped his brother up. "Wazzpinator okay?"
"Been through worzze," the wasp sighed. "Now come on, Wazzpinator have whole ship to show you!" He smirked. "And whole crew of wackozz to tell you about!"
They walked off giggling like old friends.
