I'm not sure at the moment when some of the characters died, so I am just saying all of the ones I have listed in the story are alive at the same time.

But I guess I must say that I do not own any of the following characters except for Swifteye and any others that I will and might make up. So please enjoy what I have painstakingly made just for you.

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Underneath the shade of an African tree, a metal pod beeped and turned on. A slight whizzing noise emanated from the pod, alerting nearby animals of its presence. A trio of cheetahs padded forward, curious as to what it was. The female of the three stepped forward, she had odd patterns, not the spots like all cheetahs, but markings like those of a leopard and nosed the pod, only to jump back as a metal rod rose from the surface and the tip of it unfolded into a metal disc.

"Scanning for compatible life forms," a voice, filled with static spoke into the still air. The scanner shot out and spun, taking in several animals, including the cheetahs, which spooked them into running. "Scanning complete," the voice stated as the scanner retracted.

The pod made a whirring noise, as gears began to turn but sparks shot out and a crunching noise emanated, the lid wouldn't open.

The protoform inside was still offline, this one was programmed to wake when the pod was fully done with the process it was set to do. With the form selected, all the protoform could do was wait for someone to open it.

And it was in luck, nearby, a bot was buzzing along.

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Waspinator was depressed, he had once again been blown up by the Maximals and Megatron had once again brought his wrath down upon the hapless bug. The bot sighed as he flew above the pleasantly warm plain and it was a complete accident that one of the bots arms fell off, having not been attached correctly.

Eyes downcast, Waspinator descended and landed next to his arm and bent to pick it up. As he went to stand, his eyes came in contact with something metal, his eyes came up further and he understood what it was, it was a pod.

"Megatron be happy when he seez what Wazpinator haz found," he jumped joyfully as he bent over the pod. Waspinator tapped a screen and it lit up, words scrolled down the screen and the bot read them carefully.

Animal: King Cheetah

Name: Swifteye

Position: Scout

Age: Young Adult

Side: Maximal

Weapons: blades, blaster, sniper

"Another Cat bot?" the bug bot scratched his head in confusion, he did not understand what a 'King Cheetah' was. With a shrug, he tapped a few more keys, unsure of what to do.

"Wazpinator to base," Waspinator called over his com and was answered by the big bot himself.

"What is it Waspinator?" Megatron sounded exasperated, "this better be important."

"Oh it is Megatron!" Waspinator nodded happily to himself, "Wazpinator found a pod."

On the other end of the line he could hear a low chuckle before Megatron replied, "Bring it in Waspinator, those Maximals will never know what hit them, yessss."

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Megatron smirked evilly as Waspinator dragged to the pod into the base and waited for the bug bot to get it to the foot of his throne before he stood. "Good work Waspinator, now go busy yourself, I will call you when you are needed."

Waspinator looked crestfallen as he exited the room but Megatron didn't care, he had the pod and a one up on the Maximals. It felt so good when he was able to take one of the Maximals own.

He stalked around to the front of the pod and looked down at the screen before tapping a few keys. "Slag, the protoform's form cannot be changed, no matter, this form will have to do," Megatron pulled the front of a panel off the pod and inserted a Predacon chip and pressing a few more buttons, "it is done."

The pod made a loud screeching noise before the top finally moved and opened with a slowness that almost had Megatron impatient.

The protoform that stepped out was of the sleek earth cat, known as a cheetah. Its golden fur shone in the dim light of the Predacon base as its blue eyes locked onto Megatron's own.

"Welcome new recruit, yess," Megatron smiled down at the new bot, "speak the activation code and transform."

The bot looked thoughtful for a moment before a clearly feminine voice called out, "Swifteye terrorize." The cat head split and became shoulder guards as the bot pushed back onto her back paws as they became shapely legs, letting her front paws fold out, becoming arms, the tail disengaged and became a sniper, which the new bot caught. Swifteye looked basically like Cheetor, except for the leopard like markings the placement of the head and the easily seen feminine figure.

Swifteye looked about curiously at the interior of the base as Megatron looked her over, he could see the femme bot's keen eyes taking in every detail. The femme finished her inspection and looked back toward Megatron, "thank you for the warm welcome commander."

"My pleasure Swifteye," Megatron smiled, "but we must skip past the pleasantries, I have a mission for you and the rest of my troops and I want you to lead, I must see your performance, yess."

The new femme bot bowed lightly as she waited for her new commander and the rest of the troops to get the debriefing. But she couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right, the command bot looked down right evil, but she was a good follower, so she swept those thoughts from her processor.

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Gears worked smoothly as her animal form ate up the distance to their destination in no time at all. Their orders were to destroy all or as many Maximals as possible, you may be wondering who 'their' are. Swifteye's companions on this mission were:

Megatron: Tyrannosaurus rex (back at base)

Quickstrike: scorpion/snake

Rampage: Crab

Inferno: Fire Ant

Waspinator: Wasp

Taranchulas: Tarantula

Terrasaur: Pterodactyl

Swifteye: King Cheetah (herself)

Her eyes traveled over the others as she followed behind them, they were all older and they were males. For this she was very nervous of their very presence and she was sure the crab bot knew, but how? Waspinator was completely oblivious, Quickstrike had hit on her the moment she met him, Inferno was completely devoted to Megatron and Teranchulas (sp?) was a scheming scoundrel.

With a shake of her head she pulled her mission up on the screens inside her optics, her part was to take a high vantage point and assist with her sniper where ever she was needed. Megatron had marked a spot where she could get a clear view of the base.

Swifteye had been briefed on how many Maximals there where and what they were:

Optimus: Gorilla

Rhinox: Rhino

Rattrap: Rat

Silverbolt: Wolf/Hawk

Black Arachnia: Black Widow (traitor: kill on sight)

Cheetor: Cheetah

Dinobot: Raptor

There had been two others but currently, their position was unknown. Inferno signaled they were almost their and gave her a nod and signaled her to take her position.

Swifteye nodded back and broke away from the group and made her way up a slope to perch on its point, below her she could see the other Predacons approaching and several Maximals milling about around the base.

"Swifteye terrorize," she said calmly as she transformed noiselessly and caught the sniper as it popped over her shoulder, those words tasted foul but it was who she was, wasn't it? Swifteye dropped to one knee and set the butt of the sniper firmly against her shoulder and since the rest of the Predacons wouldn't arrive for a few minutes, she decided to check out her opponents.

Sighting down the scope, Swifteye saw the first enemy; it was the raptor, Dinobot. He was the warrior of the group and he stuck to what he called honor, she was bringing up all files that the Predacons had on the Maximals. The next was Rattrap, the small rodent seemed to be arguing with Dinobot, but the bigger bot was ignoring him. The scope turned to the last Maximal that sat outside, it was the one they called Optimus Primal, the large gorilla watched the two other Maximals bicker.

She sighed, how fun it would be, to be around someone her own age, someone she could pick on and get them in trouble. Oh how she missed…Swifteye dropped the scope and inch as her processors worked overtime, she didn't know what she missed, she couldn't remember.

But the sound of blasters brought her optics swinging back toward the battle field and she sighted down her scope. The Maximals had been caught unaware, the rat lay face down on the ground as the now transformed Dinobot and Optimus took cover behind the few rocks they could. Unknown to them, they presented her with the perfect targets, Swifteye could easily pick them off from her vantage point, but she hesitated.

Her finger rested on the trigger, she told herself to pull as the crosshairs lined up with the head of Optimus, but she couldn't bring herself to.

"Cat bot!" the voice of Inferno buzzed over the line, "fire upon the Maximal scum, for the royalty!"

Swifteye could not disobey a direct order, so with deadly precision, she took aim and fired.

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Optimus had been startled by the attack; the Predacons were a tricky lot and were not to be trusted not to attack. Rattrap was the first to fall; he couldn't tell where the small transformer had been hit, and just that he had taken a bad one. He and Dinobot had been able to take cover, but they didn't know when the others could join in and help.

Cursing lowly, Optimus fired back at the Peds, why did the Axelon have to take this time to loose power for the defense systems?

As Optimus rose to take another shot at the Predacons, his gun was shot out of his hands and sent flying away from him.

"Optimus, we are being fired upon from the hills!" Dinobot tried to take cover from the two positions they were being attacked from, but it was not possible. Dinobot's own gun was shot right out of his hand, leaving him with only his eye lasers to keep the Predacons at bay.

Taking a quick count, Optimus was able to deduct that either Megatron had taken up snipering or the Predacons had gained a new member without them knowing. The sniper must be good; they had taken away the maximal's weapons leaving them with only the bare essentials.

A familiar sound brought the big bots optics back toward the base as the weapons from the ship rose and trained on the Predacons, as the lift descended from the ship. Cheetor was the first off, followed by Silverbolt who took to the air and Black Arachnia who jumped right into the battle. Rhinox was no doubt keeping everything on line inside.

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Swifteye hesitated after she had shot the weapons from the two Maximal's hands, it didn't seem right, ganging up on the defenseless. Her optics narrowed as the ship bristled with weapons and more Maximals descended from the ship, the blaster fire seemed to have lessened.

She swung the gun around to train it where her team mates were stationed, they were gone. She searched for them and found them retreating, running like cowards, with a slight shrug she turned back to the celebrating Maximals. Now was the time to attack, it was more fair when at least they had a chance, with a grin she took aim at the cheetah that seemed to be pointing his own blaster in a mock shot.

With a pull of the trigger, the other cat bot found his gun laying several yards away from him and a bewildered look on his face, Swifteye giggled at his look. She saw as the other Maximals immediately took cover, optics searching franticly for their attacker.

Swifteye paused when static crackled over her com and a voice followed, "Swifteye, report back to base." With a frown, Swifteye lowered her gun, these Maximals couldn't be as bad as Megatron described them, and with a last glance she turned and walked away. "Swifteye transform," as a cheetah, her long legs carried her swiftly back toward the cowardly team mates of hers.

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Silverbolt had been scoping the area, making sure the Predacons were gone when the last shot reverberated through the air. He was only able to catch sight of a retreating figure before he landed down with the rest of the Maximals, "Silverbolt Maximize."

"Optimus, I believe we have a new arrival in the Beast wars," he looked at Optimus, concern evident in his eyes before they swung towards Cheetor, "but with a familiar look."

The rest turned to look at Cheetor as he looked about confused, "what?"