Another old, demented Beast Wars fic from the dusty, forgotten corners of my computer and mind. Don't own the chars, don't claim to, don't claim that this is anything NEAR in-character, don't claim that I actually checked the grammar before posting it (oops), don't claim that this fic has any value what-so-ever. But it's an interesting concept, don't you think? (No? okay…)
Just a Kid
For the first time in several of the latest battles, it was the Maximals who were forced to retreat first. With their failure came consequences - they had lost rights to a recently discovered lot of raw Energon. Resources would be thin again until the next lot had been uncovered, and hopefully, nearer the Axilon to provide more sheltered ground in which to mine.
Looking past the sting of the loss, one Maximal found himself seeing fault in a specific comrade. The one more interested in conquest than in the benefits of victory.
Rattrap narrowed his eyes accusingly at the limping bot that fell into the back spot in the line. The rat had slowly dropped back in the group to meet his adversary without the other Maximals noticing his intents.
The raptor in return uttered a low snarl, acknowledging the rat's silent accusation, and limped forward. He had grown accustomed to letting the opinions of others bounce off his hide in the short time that they had been fighting the Beast Wars.
Dinobot then diverted his attention as if to return in the silent actions 'I have nothing to say if you'll just leave me alone'.
Rattrap shook his head and began to slow down; letting the other Maximals gain land ahead of him, until his pace was equal with the raptor's.
Dinobot looked down at the rat, then back to the group in front of him. With a sigh, he stopped moving forward and looked at the rodent expectantly.
Moving in front of the large velociraptor, Rattrap glowered up at the dinosaur.
"You blame me for our defeat Vermin. I wish to know why," his words formed as a series of growls in his throat, hoping to intimidate Rattrap so that he could be out of the conversation as quickly as possible.
The voice prickled the rat's nerves – not out of fear as the voice's owner had wished, but out of anger.
"I'm damned sick of your slaggin' attitude!" Rattrap reprimanded the soldier, as he spoke, he stood up in his beast mode as if in his robotic form, so as to be at eye level with the raptor.
"As you know, Cheese Eater, I have little concern for your opinions," Dinobot put on a menacing front, as his beast form was so adept at doing.
"Don't feed me that crap, kid."
Dinobot snapped back at the title bristling and ready to tear the rat into several pieces and scatter the rat-bits across the forest like confetti, "I do not believe that you know to whom you addressed that statement."
Rattrap let air catch in the back of his mouth to become a scoff, "Ya know, I was like you once."
"I believe you to be mistaken," Dinobot snarled an answer before the rat could finish his statement.
"Really?" he quickly replied to his own question, "well, novice, let me tell you a little story."
Dinobot snarled at the name with which he had been addressed and glared as only a raptor could. However, he allowed the rat to continue.
"That's right, growl at me – tell me that I'm an idiot. I was young once. I know exactly what you're thinking 'this guy thinks that I'm incompetent just because he's been around longer than I have', 'The say I don't know what I'm doing just because I haven't done it before'. I've got news for you, kid – they were right," Rattrap lowered himself back to the ground to stand comfortably in his beast mode. He had the raptor's attention know. He would be listened to even if he weren't fanning out his proverbial cobra's neck.
"I know that you've probably just recently been brought on-line. You learned of the Great War, you read classic old war stories. You even became so interested that went and learned more about the history of military procedures… I know, kid, 'cause I did the same thing." Rattrap stopped for a few moments, giving time for his words to sink in and to let the raptor respond.
A bit crestfallen, Dinobot gave the only response he could think of, "You're point?" his voice was submissive, showing the rat that he had gained respect.
"What you didn't hear about in all of you're studies, is that under the outward peace, there was still a feud between the Maximals and Predacons over territory and resources – not unlike the situation on this planet now," Rattrap prepared to tell his story, as to illustrate his ultimate point.
"My first ambition was to mine Energon," the rat began, "From the point I was brought on-line it was my goal. It may not seem like much to you, after what you've been through on this planet, but at the time it was the most adventurous thing you could hope to do. We had all heard about the odd attack on the miners at that time – long before you were around I'm sure – and that was where all the action was, to the average Cybertronian.
"I wanted to be where the action was. I wanted to go and fight off the Predacons. I was going to be the star of 'The Red Badge of Courage'. I was going to single-handedly fight off every squad of 'Those Stinkin' Preds' that dared interrupt my missions!" Rattrap smiled in a fond remembrance of his blind self-confidence.
"And?" Dinobot cocked his head to the side in a manner that signified the curiosity he felt in his beast mode, although he had a feeling that he already knew what was going to be said next.
"I blew it!" Rattrap snapped, knowing that his answer was obvious, "I tried to take an attack squad down on my own. I began the fight in the middle of the night, while the rest of the bots in my sector were asleep. They barely managed to salvage my spark from a pile of burnt-out gears and a superstructure that might as well have been used for target practice – right after the whole team took on the Predacons as they had planned on doing anyway the day after my little stunt. But maybe if I hadn't tried to attack without them the night before, I wouldn't have tipped off the Preds that we knew they were there. Maybe if I had waited, my friends would have been stronger in their attack the next day. But out of over forty bots on that team, I was one of the only six that survived. I was one of the ones who was lucky enough to survive the megacycles laying on the battlefield, waiting for someone to come and collect the little pieces of Maximal scattered all over the mining area. Thirty-eight of the best friends that I ever had before or since died that day, and if I hadn't been so cocky I could have prevented it.
"They kicked me out of the mining business after that. No one wanted to deal with me after what I tried. I was stuck in half a dozen different positions before I finally got assigned to exploration. I might not have been a very good miner, but the area was hurting for help enough that bots didn't just get thrown out. I wasn't very good at any of the jobs after that either… But the point is, I shot all of my second chances out of existence when I tried to handle things solo," Rattrap finished on that note, not wanting to go into more detail but confidant that he had proved his case to the new recruit.
The raptor said nothing, but Rattrap could see the previous battle replay before the younger bot's eyes, and the raptor hung his head, so as to not meet the eyes of the one that he newly found to be his superior.
"I am dishonored," Dinobot finally spoke his reaction to the rat's story, feeling strongly the truth behind the words of the Axalon's navigator, and he understood why Optimus would choose the bot for second-in-command.
"Well, they say that experience is to recognize your mistake make it again," Rattrap grinned and began to walk again, at a pace that would let him catch up to the other Maximals.
Dinobot began to follow, consoled at some level, and felt it proper to match the rat's strides.
"Don't look so down, Chopper-face," Rattrap was back to his irritating self in his own eyes, but felt that something remained to be said, "The only true tragedy of some classic stories is that the heroes are too proud to accept that, sometimes, their action depict them to be untrusting of the ones the should believe in. There isn't always a message between the line when people speak."
In the weeks to come, Optimus noticed a definite change in the actions of the ex-Predacon while working with others on the team. As if the raptor-bot had let his guard down when interacting with the other Maximals. Not so different in his general actions – he still snarled when he was upset, still spent hours in his quarters researching the newest battle plans, still let it be known when he thought that an idea was all-out idiocy - but more willing to interact.
The raptor hadn't thrown a single insult a Rattrap during the previous few days – as the greatest surprise, and the team had started to become edgy with the general quite around the base.
In a discussion on strategy, he had agreed with Optimus on a strategy that didn't involve head-on attacking.
He showed interest in a program Rhinox was designing instead of just working on battle Sims when he was assigned to help with research.
Listened patiently when Tigatron gave a report on a newly discovered flower.
Acknowledged Air Razor's existence.
Once, to the shock of the entire team, to the point that they could do nothing but crowd into the room and stare, he played a video game with Cheetor.
Not wanting to disrupt the new patterns of Dinobot's behavior, the Maximal leader kept his mouth shut. Yet he couldn't help wonder who had said what to change the general balance of action within the Axilon.