A/N: Have we given up on our Yu-Gi-Oh fics? Not at all! Hikari had this idea and we decided to run with it. Can't guarantee how often updates will come, especially starting again soon, but this should be fun.
Also, we own nothing of the Transformer's franchise other than our original characters. The rest belongs to Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment.
Three million years ago, when the Earth was still young, mankind was beginning to awaken, coming into their place in the world. Unbeknown to the fledging human race, however, they were far from the first sentient beings to come to their planet.
Lying under their feet for one-million years was a spacecraft, on board which were countless giant robots known as Autobots and Decepticons from the planet Cybertron. The two factions had been at war for some time, leading to the Autobots attempting to find resources to restock their depleted world. An ambush from the Decepticons, however, led to both groups crashing upon Earth and shutting down. In time, they would awaken to fight what would become known as the Great War.
Before that day could come to pass though, another Cybertronian drama would find its way to our small planet. The descendents of the two factions, known as the Maximals and the Predacons, from far in the future would find their way to Earth thanks to a hole in space-time and the dreams of a young conqueror. The leader of the Predacons, Megatron the second, attempted all methods he could to succeed where his predecessor had failed.
The Maximals, who were mere victims of circumstance in this conflict, were forced to release several pods containing their allies into orbit in order to save them. Overtime, these pods came to the surface of the planet, and were fought over for the ownership of the robot within.
In addition, during this conflict, the spark of a warrior from the time of the Great War, which had found its way through the gap in time to this new conflict managed to temporarily posses the body of a Predacon soldier. The ancient warrior was quickly exorcized from his host, setting his spark adrift once more.
Meanwhile, the war came to its end, both sides returning to their own world with ten warriors recovered from the pods.
But, you may ask, what of the others?
Beast Wars:
Unsung
Chapter one
Activation
"I'LL BE BACK! EVEN IF IT TAKES A THOUSAND YEARS, I'LL BE REVENGED ON YOU ALL!"
Starscream's voice echoed throughout space as his immortal spark drifted away from the planet below.
How could things have gone so wrong for him? He, who had once been the charismatic, influential air commander of the Decepticon battle fleet during the Great War, being forced from the body of some miniature insecticon that he had been lucky enough to possess after Galvitron blasted him to bits?
"It's unthinkable, criminal even!" Starscream yelled from within the depths of his own spark as he helplessly watched the blue planet spin into the cold reaches of space behind him. "I was destined for greatness, and now look at me!"
Starscream's spark floated in place for a moment before slowly, almost sadly floating off in the opposite direction of Earth.
What could have gone wrong…" he moaned to himself. "Well, first off…I should never have taken my eyes off that conniving little spider-witch back there! Ooh…If I never see her again it will be too soon! Then there's that idiotic leader of theirs…"
Starscream's pace seemed to have quickened as he continued to think of everyone, other than himself, who was to blame for his latest predicament.
"Maybe I should make a list…Nah, how long could this take?" Starscream wondered.
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1.5 MILLION YEARS LATER…
"Okay…did I already name Thundercraker?" Starscream wondered, his seemingly endless journey through space continuing. "Damn it, I should have made a list!
Time, while it had little meaning to one who was immortal, proved one thing of Starscream. He did have a finite supply of patience. Being a disembodied spark, and therefore incapable of shutting down to recharge, refuel, or do other such activities to make the time pass, Starscream was approaching his wits end.
"This is insane…I'm going insane!" He realized. "I can't even tell how long I've been floating out here! Endless planets and stars and moons and…"
Starscream stopped in his vapor trail. It had felt like someone had just called his name off in the distance. Spinning around, the exiled Transformer was shocked to see a small, blue speck off in the distance, growing larger with each passing moment as it orbited around a yellow star.
A new sensation surrounded Starscream, as though something were gently pushing him toward this speck. He took off toward it, slowly beginning to realize what he was looking at.
"I don't believe it, it's Earth…Again," He said to himself as he drew closer to the spot. "Only one moon I can see from here though, no debris. There were two moons when I was in the bug's body though…So that must mean the second moon was lost sometime between then and the Great War. I wonder what happened to it."
Starscream was much closer now, and the voice calling his name seemed louder than ever, and somehow familiar. What was more, it was coming from the planet that he was starting to draw close too.
"Could it be? Is there a body down there that I can use?" Starscream asked himself as he allowed the gravity of Earth to grab and pull him in. "Well, only one way to find out!
Pushing his hovering form downward toward the surface, Starscream was never more relieved that his current 'body' was nothing more than a mass of electrons and therefore had little to worry from friction with the air. The planet's surface filled his vision as the sky turned from black to blue behind him. Leveling off, he flew, keeping a weather on the ground far below for signs of life.
"No civilizations, no technology that I can see. This is clearly long before I would have woken up here to fight the Autobots." He said. "But I can't fight this feeling that there's something down here for me."
Fields passed below him, slowly giving way to a vast forest just being touched by the rising sun. Up ahead, a mountain rose majestically at the far edge of the woods, the tree line reaching about halfway up. It was to this area where the trees ended that Starscream could fell himself being pulled.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" He shouted.
The trees passed by quickly enough (no wind resistance to slow him down left Starscream moving very quickly). As he skipped over the grey stone something glinted in the rising sun. Drawing closer to it, Starscream was shocked to find what looked almost like a steel coffin, a small window up near the top, sticking out of the stony ground with only the back half of it submerged under the rock.
"A stasis pod! I'm saved! This was the greatest psychotic episode that I've ever had…And the only one come to think of it," Starscream cheered as he flew circles around the pod.
It never came to his attention that the word 'AXILON 21' was engraved in Cybertronian characters into the metal that he was flying over. Wasting no time Starscream entered the stasis pod, his vision immediately blacking out. He felt his consciousness connect with the protoform robot inside the pod.
"Perfect. No other spark in here, no previous programming. It's a blank, things are finally going my way." Starscream realized as a beeping noise confirmed the pod still functioned. "Now all I need to do is copy the basic programming keys I remember from Waspinator and…"
A mechanical voice filled the pod as it began to light up inside.
"Beginning activation programming," The pod's computer stated.
"Well, here goes something!" Starscream thought, the voice stalling as the lights flickered while he forcefully began to access the computer.
"Maximal programming cannot be accessed, Scanning for nearby related signals," The voice declared.
"Come on you piece of scrap…" Starscream willed, pushing as much energy as he could into his efforts.
"New programming accepted scanning for compatible life-forms"
From the pod emerged a small orb at the top, which began to rotate around, releasing a green curtain of light that swept over the nearby area. Starscream was almost beside himself with joy as he watched multiple images begin to pass before his vision, each one a different creature the scanner was picking up.
"Compatible life-form found, beginning replication," The computer announced, locking an image into place in front of Starscream.
"That? Well…It has wings, at least." Starscream thought as he stared at the fossil that was in front of him.
The lights inside the pod flared brighter, the protoform body shifting and reshaping its framework as it accepted the new form.
Just as Starscream was starting to get impatient he heard the door unlock.
"Replication complete you may emerge," the pod confirmed.
As Starscream stepped out of the pod into the grey light of early morning, he examined his new body. Standing about as tall as a human he seemed to be a hybrid of both lizard and bird. He had a reptilian face, hands, and feet, All covered in blue-black scales. His arms were covered in whitish grey feathers except for the flight feathers which seemed to be rusty reddish-brown in hue, this color covered most of his body except for his head, neck, and tail these were covered by feathers of an ashy-cobalt. A faint memory in his data tracks suggested he was in the form of an archaeopteryx albeit much larger than usual.
Despite finally inhabiting a body after so long, however, something on the rogue transformer's new face suggested disappointment.
"Hmmm, not exactly what I pictured. I just wish I had something more…awe inspiring," Starscream let out a chirping whine as he pictured his old jet body.
Suddenly a small green wasp with a yellow and black abdomen buzzed past his vision. It paused for a moment in front of his eyes before buzzing off down the side of the mountain. Starscream immediately stopped whining and shuddered as a flood of memories came rushing back to him.
"On second thought, there could be inferior bodies," He admitted. "Better check and see what the situation is here…"
It barely took a thought for Starscream to access his new body's built in radio transmitter. A hiss of static entered his head as he scanned through the channels, looking for any sign of intelligent life. Much to his shock and disappointment, however, nothing but white noise came in over any of the frequencies.
Trying to put together what this new discovery could mean, Starscream was jolted from his thoughts as the voice of his internal computer rang in.
"Warning energon readings are far beyond known parameters. It is advised to stay in beast mode until further notice," the machine stated.
Starscream paused at this, the situation was getting intriguing now. He was slowly starting to draw a picture of what must have come to pass since his last visit.
"Well, it seems Megatron didn't win … the planet would be stripped of energon if he had. But if he had been destroyed, then the Maximals wouldn't have left any pods behind, even blanks," he pondered about this, his forehead wrinkled in thought. "The Maximals must have left with Megatron intending to come back but didn't for some reason. It so simple, so obvious, so perfect!"
Starscream paused, an evil grin crossing his face.
"I'd better take to the air, See if I can find any more pods. If I do I can reprogram them, loyal to me, gather the rest of this planets energon, and lead them on a conquest of Cybertron!" He cried to the heavens.
Despite this declaration of absolute evil, the sky above remained stoic and uninterested. Starscream paused for thought, rubbing his head.
"But first, maybe I should get over this bad habit of talking to myself," He reasoned.
After saying this Starscream ran to the edge of a nearby cliff and jumped, spreading his wings as he did. The air caught underneath his feathers, allowing him to glide off in search of stasis pods.
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Far across the plains from where Starscream had awoken, sat a rocky, mountainous area covered with scrubby plantlife. Time and nature had worn away at the face of these structures, pitting it with caves and tunnels connecting them. Animals of all kind had taken up residence in these natural structures, and competition would often have one species 'evict' the other.
Such was the fate that had befallen a huge beast covered with shaggy, brown fur. At almost twenty-feet tall, the giant ground sloth had become the victim of a pair of cave lions. About ten-feet in length from nose to tail, the pair of predators were now dragging their fresh kill into their new cave.
As they approached the back of their new home, the two animals noticed several rocks that had slid down from the walls. Rolling them with their paws, they began piling the stones over their meal to save it for later. As they did, however, the shifting of the rocks caused a larger pile to tumble down, forcing the beast away.
Both lions stopped where they stood and stared in curiosity at the strange capsule, labeled Axilon 17, that the rock slide had revealed. Lights began to flicker on on the surface of the pod, and both creatures moved closer to this strange phenomenon.
Inside the pod lay another proto-form robot, dead to the world outside his resting place. Within its mind, however, the robot was slowly becoming self aware once more.
"Where am I?" Wondered the protoform.
He was silenced as a glowing pair of purple eyes appeared in the forefront of his vision.
"Leos…Awaken!" ordered a calm, booming voice inside his head.
The two cave lions drew away from their new find as the lights on it flared brighter.
"Maximal programming accepted, scanning for compatible life-forms," the machine announced.
Both lions hissed at the noise and light that the scanners emitted, sweeping over both of them. The pod continued to glow as the scanner faded.
"Compatible life-form found, beginning replication," The pod said, unfazed by the two lions as they drew closer.
There was a loud clicking as the door unfastened.
"Replication complete you may emerge," came the voice one last time.
Out of the pod padded a large cave lion a good five inches taller at the shoulder than its counterpart. His fur was a glossy flaxen with faint darker rosettes sprinkled across the body, while around his neck was a ruff of slightly longer auburn fur.
The new lion looked around, and opened its mouth as thought to say something, but was cut short.
The other two lions were growling at him, furious that this newcomer had invaded their cave. One of them lunged forward, claws bared, intent on protecting its new home. Narrowing his amber eyes the new lion dodged the attack and bolted for the mouth of the cave, his paws pounding across the rocky soil as he fled from his angered landlords. The lion continued following the ridge in which the cave was set, sweeping his head back and forth as he tried to take in his surroundings.
He didn't stop to rest until he had left the mountains far behind. He stopped at the edge of a field of tall grass, a confused look on his face. Tilting his head to one side, the lion could here a hiss of static inside his head.
"Am I the only one online?" he wondered allowed, listening intently with his radio receptor.
Despite finding no clear communication on any channel, he could still hear a small voice, like the one that had urged him from his pod.
"All right," he decided, turning off the communicator and cutting the static. "No choice, I'll need to do some reconnaissance to find out what's going on."
"Warning!" his internal system suddenly cautioned "Energon readings exceed safe parameters; protocol suggests staying in beast mode as best course of action."
The lion blinked slowly before nodding his head, "And apparently I must be cautious"
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While the new lion-bot had been waking up, Starscream had been dealing with issues of his own.
His search for more pods had proven highly fruitful. As he swooped down from the mountain, occasionally flapping his wings for extra lift, he had spotted an extraordinary sight as he cleared the forest. Sitting at the edge of the woods, near the banks of the river that separated it from the plains, he had spotted the glint of metal that indicated something out of place. After a semi-rough landing on his new legs, he had begun digging up the metal that he had spotted.
Now, by sheer luck it would seem, he stood over not one, but two stasis pods. Both in good condition, with only a few scratches and dents due to the passage of time. There ID labels were still visible: Axilon 6 and Axilon 14.
"You have to appreciate good craftsmanship," Starscream smirked to himself as he tended to the pods. "Now if I'm right, it should be easy enough to reprogram the protoforms inside."
Starscream set to work on the first pod, a small keyboard emerging from the side of it as he ran his talons underneath it. Although his taloned hands were clumsy for typing, it was clear that shifting to robot form and risking energon overload would be a rather poor ending for his story.
"Predacon programming accepted," beeped the pod.
"Well, that was easy," Starscream smiled.
"No suitable life forms detected within range. Scan can not be performed at this time," warned the machine.
Starscream let out a frustrated squawking noise as he banged one hand against the device.
"You little…We're right next to a forest for Primus's sake!" He protested.
Leaning in closer to the machine and then running to look at the other, he noticed that the head ends of the metal caskets both had large gouges around them. The scanners in these portions were heavily damaged, and Starscream ground the small teeth in his beak together.
"Slag…these scanners won't pick up anything up unless it's right on top them!" He lamented. "Something must have attacked them or something…But that hardly matters now. Looks like I've got some hunting to do."
Pausing for a moment, Starscream quickly reprogrammed the second of the pods. Offering himself a little smile at his handy work as he heard the confirmation message again, he headed into the woods.
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"Ottobot…Awaken!" A hushed voice ordered as the purple-eyed glare appeared in another pod, this one far to the East of Starscream's current position.
"Ugh…Five more cycles…" The robot inside thought.
"Replication complete you may emerge," A voice suddenly declared.
"Say wha…AHH!" Screamed the robot as the pod suddenly opened, and he felt himself fall out into a pool of cold water.
Sinking under the surface, the newly awakened transformer flailed and twisted his body about in shock as he tried to get escape the cold grip of the water. To his surprise, he found himself beginning to rise upward, and froze for moment.
As he did, he noticed six sleek shapes swimming circles around him. They stopped, and paddled in place, revealing a family of long, thin otters, looking at the sunken bot in front of them. Looking up to the surface, the robot began paddling as fast as he could, rising to the top quickly and finding himself breathing in fresh air under the morning sun.
"Hey, I should wake up like that every day!" He smiled, noticing how refreshed he now felt.
Looking around, he saw that he had landed in a small lake, not too far from the bank. His pod was half submerged in the water, set into the steeper edge of the lake. The robot watched as one of the otters climbed out of the water onto the top of his pod (labeled Axilon 11), then jumped off and landed with a small splash.
Making his way to a gentler slope on the bank, the robot climbed out of the water, then ran around to the steeper edge where his pod sat. He looked down into the lake, his reflection in the water distorted by the frolicking animals with it.
"Yo, everybody. Out of the pool," He ordered.
To his surprise, the otters all looked up at him, then made they way to the same bank he had climbed out on and ran out of the water. The six otters scampered around to where the transformer stood, and began to sniff around in the grass and playful wrestle one another. Looking at his reflection, and then back at the otters, gave the robot a better idea of his own appearance. Compared to the real animals this maximal was a deeper chocolate color and quite a bit bigger. He had small ears, a long lithe body, and webbed feet for swimming.
"Oh great I'm cute, of all the possible animals and I have to be cute!" He cried out, staring down out his webbed paws with some disappointment.
Hearing a splash, he looked back up to see that the otters were back to using his pod as a spring board. He studied the movements of the small animals as they gleefully splashed around the lake, before reaching up near his ear for a moment. The hiss of static he heard was not taken as a good sign, nor was the fact that every channel he could access had the same results.
"I'm alone? Well ain't that a piece of cold slag!" He complained, stopping to take some deep breaths. "Okay, okay, logic says the senior officers of the mission will come looking for me, right?"
The question was directed as much to himself as to the otter that had come up next to him. The otter didn't seem to be listening as it jumped back on top of the pod, and then into the water again, as though inviting the bigger otter to play.
"Attention energon levels are exceedingly high in immediate area, it is advisory to remain in beast mode until further notice." informed his internal computer.
"And if I don't?" The maximal asked a little frustrated. "The look is slick and all but I'd rather be me, ya know? Plus I drink the stuff… how bad can it be?"
"Excessive exposure to levels of this magnitude will result in circuitry damage, memory loss, stasis lock, and permanent loss of spark. These scenarios are not advisable," the computer answered the question bluntly.
"Yeah, well…Who asked you?" Replied the bot, grumpily.
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Roughly an hour had passed since Starscream had left behind the two pods he had been working on. They had sat, undisturbed by the edge of the forest, their useless scanners occasionally attempting to activate only for the safety programs to shut them down as a few sparks flew from the devices.
Starscream suddenly reemerged from the woods, panting and stumbling as he fell to the ground between his prizes. His feathers were ruffled and unkempt, showing evidence of several…Less than graceful landings.
From his recollection of his previous time as a Predacon, the preferred choices for beast form were insect or reptilian creatures. Therefore, he had set out into the forest framing the clearing in search of such specimens. Finding and catching these animals however proved easier said than done. The last hour had produced nothing except for several comical chases, many minor bruises and a strong dislike of trees.
"Stupid…Little…Why do they gotta be so hard to catch?" Starscream wondered as he pulled himself up.
Starscream leaned back against one of the pods panting and cursing. Then, as if the universe itself were mocking him, a small anole crawled onto the pod to sun itself not a foot away from him. Starscream paid no attention to the creature, to flustered from his recent experience to even turn around until the pod began to beep.
"Genetic code accepted. Replicating," The container announced.
Starscream turned around right then and there, and stared at the tiny reptile that was happily lazing in the warm sunbeam.
"You stupid little…" Starscream began to growl, lifting one wing to swipe at the lizard.
He stopped himself, and began cursing under his breath again.
"Dang pod probably still needs this thing to finish the replication cycle," He realized. "Still, that's one down."
Turning back toward the forest, Starscream stopped as yet another hint of his ill-fortune fluttered up to him. A moth with dazzling green wings landed gently on the tip of his beak, spreading its wings to display a pair of purple splotches shaped like eyes. Starscream rolled his own optics up to the sky before carefully reaching up and closing his hands around the insect. Moving quickly, he set it down on the other pod, which sounded a repeat of the confirmation message that had played from the first one.
As he sat down he noticed the first pod seemed to be taking its time with the programming. He sighed in relief as he leaned back against a tree to watch the two technological marvels continue their work.
"Replication complete, you may emerge." Sounded the second of the pods as the moth flew away.
"Well, that was easy," Starscream commented as the top of the pod lifted away.
Four wings of emerald with veins of jade uncurled, each wing was about three feet long and had a large amethyst and black eye spot, the bottom two even had swallow like tails on the end. A slender white insect leg stretched from the pod and out climbed a white moth with amethyst eyes, a gigantic version of the insect that the pod had scanned.
"Well, this is impressive," Starscream commented as the newly revived Predacon began to look over its body.
"Where…Am I?" Asked the insect in a distinctly feminine voice.
"Well my dear…" Starscream began.
"Replication complete, you may emerge," The first pod interrupted.
"Uh, hold that thought," Starscream instructed as the door of the pod flung itself open, sending the frightened anole flying into the forest. Both Predacons watched as the pod out scurried a giant anole, four feet from nose to tail. He was a vibrant neon green with patches of dark beige and, as he crawled in to the mostly brown grass, this scheme reversed itself and dulled to match the background. One eye focused on each of the other two creatures before him, a curious look on its face.
"Well, this is something new to wake up to," Commented the lizard. "Just who would you two be?"
"I'd be more than happy to explain," Starscream said as turned to his new subordinates. "But first, I believe introductions are in order. Name and rank, please."
Both lizard and bug looked at one another and, seeing no reason to remain silent, nodded to each other.
"I am coding and translation specialist for the mission, you can call me…Hmm," The lizard started, looking over his new body. "This new form demands a fitting name. Call me, Quickchange."
"Chief medical officer," The moth said, with a sweep of her colorful wings. "My name, is Medmoth. Now, who are you that revived us?"
"Me?" Starscream asked. "You don't remember me?"
Both of the Transformers shook their heads, as much as a lizard and an insect can shake their heads at any rate.
"Perfect," Starscream thought with a grin.
"I suppose with the crash that it can't be helped," Starscream said as he began to strut back and forth in front of the two.
"Crash?" Quickchange asked.
"I don't remember any crash…" Medmoth muttered.
"That's because you fine members of the Predacon crew were ejected at the last minute, along with a few other personnel, for your own protection from the Maximal attackers," Starscream informed them. "We were sent here to harvest energon, with dreams of reviving our former glory on Cybertron! But the Maximals saw fit to shoot us down as we entered the planet's orbit, separating us from the higher commanders and…Yes, Quickchange?"
The lizard, who had raised one scaly claw, now lowered the limb with a skeptical look in his eyes.
"Yes, how do we know that what you say is true?" Quickchange asked. "And even it is, how do we know the rest of the Predacons aren't looking for us?"
Starscream withheld the urge to grind his teeth together, realizing that his story might be less believable than he originally thought.
"Why don't you try checking the radio frequencies?" He suggested, regaining composure quickly. "As you can see, there is no one else on-line."
Quickchange and Medmoth both began to focus, streaming through channels of static. With no response anywhere, Quickchange frowned, but nodded to Starscream.
"Very well, so we were the only survivors, you're saying?" Quickchange asked.
"There are probably other pods out there, waiting for us to rescue them," Starscream explained. "Unfortunately, it's more than likely that some Maximal pods are also on this planet, deployed to destroy us Predacons."
"Well, that is troubling," Medmoth interjected.
"Don't worry, I have my ways of dealing with Maximals," Starscream went on. "For now though, our first priority is to scout the area for any signs of Maximal hunters, or material we can use for a base."
"And why should we obey you?" Quickchange asked, scowling at Starscream.
"Because as of the crash, I'm in charge," Starscream responded. "Allow me to present myself: Air commnder of the Predacon forces, Starscream!"
Starscream spread his wings, and made a slight bow. Quickchange rolled his eyes, while Medmoth fluttered her wings and began to hover over the ground.
"Just what proof do you have that we even work under you?" Quickchange asked.
"Skeptical aren't you?" Starscream grumbled. "Never the less, skepticism has its place. If you don't believe me, then why not just use the Predacon activation code to shift forms?"
"Very well, show us," Quickchange requested.
Starscream took a few steps back from the other two bots, and folded in his wings.
"This Quickchange fellow might be troublesome later," Starscream said to himself.
"Starscream…Terrorize!" He shouted.
With a whine and whir, Starscream's new body began to shift. The wings and face both folding away onto his back, and his legs changing shape. Medmoth and Quickchange watched with intense interest as their leader finished his transformation.
Where once a large, prehistoric bird stood, there was now a red robot with molted grey and blue feather patterns over his armor. A pair of metal wings extended from his back, and the face of his beast form was displayed on his chest. He reached down to his hip and swiftly unholstered a pair of plasma guns which he aimed into the air and fired off, sending steaks of red energy arching high over the forest.
"New form, new weapons, new opportunity," Starscream smiled. "I do miss my Null Ray though."
"Now then, why don't you two give it a shot?" Starscream offered.
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To the north of the trio of Predacons, a lone coyote sat, its eyes scanning over the tall grass as it searched for small prey. Thus far, the canine was having no luck in its hunt, and was about to move on when a voice from a nearby rock pile grabbed its attention.
"Scanning for suitable life forms…" The voice declared.
Curious, the coyote carefully prowled its way to the rocks and began to sniff around. It stopped as it came across another of the pods, this one marked Axilon 8. It lowered its head to sniff at the base of the pod, not noticing the green light that scanned over its body as it did so. The pod remained silent for a moment, before the voice chimed in again.
"Replication complete, you may emerge," The voice stated, causing the coyote to step back.
The animal didn't retreat far enough, though. The top of the pod sprang open, striking the poor canine right on top of its head. The coyote lay on the ground in a daze for a few seconds, before crawling back from the pod with a whimper. As it stood up, it was surprised to see a new form emerge from the pod.
Out of the pod leapt another coyote, about the same size as the wild one, her silky fur was a striking blend of ginger, cream, and toffee colors all shaded with smoky grays and black. She had intense azure eyes and a black arm-band on her front left leg. The first coyote wagged his tail, and drew closer to the female, giving her a curious sniff.
The female recoiled away from the curious stranger, a look of agitation on her face.
"Move along there buddy," She cautioned, waving one paw to shoo away the animal.
The wild coyote let out a yelp at the strange noises the other coyote had made, and quickly ran away. The newly awakened Maximal let out a sigh of relief as she began listening to the static playing in her head.
"Oh great, the radio is out…" She grumbled, before a hearing a musical series of beeps chime from the band around her leg. "Oh…more good news."
"Good morning!" The band greeted in a sing-song voice. "I hope that enjoyed your rest, and that you're ready to get back to work."
"I thought I broke your after dropping you down the stairs before we left," The coyote muttered to the band.
"Auto repairs completed some time ago. I am now 100 functional!" The armband replied, mistakening its master's frustration for relief. "Your personal field scanner is once again at your service."
"Joy…" Muttered the coyote, rolling her eyes. "Anychance you can pick up on any other Maximals around here?"
"Scanning…" Replied the device.
While it was silent as it performed the scan, the Maximal chuckled to herself as she remember the tiny machines trip down the stairs. She began to play back the memory file, laughing a bit with each memorized clunk down the steps, before she was jerked back to reality by an annoyingly chipper voice.
"I'm sorry, but I can't detect any Cybertronian signatures within100 meters," The scanner reported. "There's too much energon interference on this planet to get accurate readings beyond that. By the way, considering your lack of energon resistance, I'd recommend staying in this new beast form of yours. Extended exposure to this level of energon can cause…"
"Circuitry damage, memory loss, stasis lock, and permanent loss of spark." The maximal quoted from memory.
"Er…Right," The scanner confirmed. "The good news is, I've managed to detect a few life forms not very far from this location. Try heading to the South."
The coyote nodded, and began her trek in the indicated direction. All the time running through the radio channels in search of others.
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Back near the forest, Starscream smile as his two new comrades shifted back to their beast forms. Quickchange gave his new leader a reluctant nod, while Medmoth fluttered her wings in his direction.
"Anymore questions?" Starscream asked.
"I suppose not, Starscream," Quickchange sighed. "Your orders?"
"Now this is more like it," Starscream thought, clearing his throat.
"I suppose we should do some reconnaissance first. Quickchange, you go to the South East," Starscream ordered, pointing to the lizard. "Medmoth, head North East. If either one of you finds anything, shoot it first, then come and find me."
Both Predacons nodded, Medmoth flapping her wings and taking off toward the north. Quickchange scurried off on all fours into the taller grass, stopping for a brief instant to look back at Starscream before continuing on his way.
Starscream watched the two of them head off, and sat himself down next to the pods.
"Now then, once they've scouted out something we can use as a base I'll be in business," Starscream grinned. "Mining the energon from this planet will be like taking oil from a sparkling."
------------------------------------------
The coyote Maximal had been traveling for some time. Listening to static had gotten boring, and so she had attempted to find other ways to occupy her time. A search through her memory files, however, had come up with some rather distressing results. She cautioned a glance to her field scanner, wondering whether or not it would be worth asking.
"Something wrong?" The scanner asked. "You're being awful quiet."
"Scanner, I was wondering…" The coyote asked. "Why are some of my memory files missing? Does it have anything to do with the strange, purple lights I saw before waking up?"
"Well I can't account for any purple I'm afraid. As for your memories, It's possible that when the pod was ejected at mission start that a rough landing screw loose in your head," The band spoke, still obnoxiously cheerful. "I'd say the memory is probably temporary, you just need a chance to take it easy and reboot. After we find somewhere safe to switch out of beast mode, of course."
"Got it," The coyote nodded, somewhat relieved. "At least that'll be easy enough to fix."
She was about to try to radio someone again, when a distant sound caught her attention and her large ears turned toward it. She began a casual jog toward the sound and soon found the origin. It was a bunch of human children playing together. There were two boys and three little girls, all the children were wearing pelt tunics, had broad and honest faces framed by shaggy black hair. They were gathered around a large group of rocks and boulders, taking turns climbing up to the top of the pile and leaping back down.
The maximal settled down nearby, hiding herself in the grass, and began to observe the children. The scanner let out another musical beep, before its voice chimed in at a reduced volume.
"Well now, this is unexpected," the scanner stated.
"What's so interesting? They're just playing," The coyote whispered.
"It's not the activity, it's the creatures performing. My data banks recognize them as primitive humans, from the planet Earth," The scanner reported. "According the mission specs though, this particular sub-species has been extinct for millions of years."
The coyote stared from her band to the humans, who now seemed bored with the rock-climbing and were chasing one another around the field.
"Maybe you're the one with a loose screw. The mission didn't involve time travel or coming anywhere near Earth," She hissed. "Maybe I ought to open you up and take a look."
"And remove the vocalizer while I'm at it," She said to herself, before a loud hiss drew her attention.
Looking back toward the humans, the fembot noticed a snake laying in the grass between her and them. Somehow the serpent had avoided her detection, possibly due to the fact that it had been laying flat until just a moment ago. Now it was coiled, its head and tail raised as it shook its tail, releasing a threatening, rattling noise. The children did not hear this, and continued their game, drawing closer to the snake and the Maximal whose attention was on it.
"Hmm…Interesting. The biological response to a threat is to draw attention to itself?" The maximal swatted a stone in the snake's direction as she whispered this, and watched as it struck at the stone.
Eyes wide at the reaction time the reptile possessed, she also saw that the stone now had several drops of liquid on it where the fangs had struck. Checking to make sure the snake wasn't watching her, she looked back to her armband.
"Okay…Field scanner, do what you do best and analyze that stuff it put on the rock," The Maximal ordered.
Her armband beeped and a small section lit up, releasing a red light to scan the surface of the stone. The scanner beeped once more, before the light turned off.
"Well that's interesting. That substance seems to be a potent hemo-toxin. No hazard to robot mode, but I'm unable to determine effect upon beast mode." The scanner reported.
The Maximal looked toward the children as they drew closer, agitating the snake further.
"What would happen to those younglings if it bit them?" She asked.
"Probability of fatality is 78, probability of loosing a limb is 99.9." The scanner reported. "If I've estimated this planet's current level of medical correctly that is. I don't think I'm far off given what the younglings are wearing. I'd recommend staying back and observing to be sure."
"Slag that idea," She growled in response, jumping up to her feet. "Hey, stop!"
The children stopped, shocked by the sudden presence of a predatory canine in their midst. The girls drew back while one of the boys quickly grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it toward the Maximal. The rock didn't reach her but landed close enough to the snake for it to strike at the stone. The children looked from the snake to the Maximal and then ran away. The snake turned toward the fembot, hissing at the only remaining threat, only to watch as the coyote walked away. Pleased with itself, the serpent returned to a prone position in the grass.
"Hope those younglings make it home safely," worried the Maximal as she got back on the move.
"Hey there, we're supposed to be researching on this mission, not playing hero," warned the field scanner. "Now I made that suggestion so we could complete our mission."
"You made a suggestion, nothing said I had to follow it," The Maximal growled back. ---"And if you have anymore suggestions like that, you can keep them to yourself."
---------------------------------------------
Back at the lake, the otter/Maximal was sunning himself on the banks of the water, stretched out along a gentle slope of sand. The regular otters were still splashing and playing about in the water, oblivious to the world outside of their lake. The robot otter opened one eye to observe his new playmates, before chuckling to himself and getting back to his feet.
"Okay, okay, enough fun time," He said, thinking out loud. "About time I started scouting around for…something at least."
The transformer began to plod his way toward the grass surrounding the lake. The otters stopped playing and watched as their larger counterpart began to wander off. Suddenly, one of the playful creatures lifted its head up, as if in shock and made a strange hissing noise. The other otters all turned toward it, then dove underwater as quickly as they could.
Hearing the light splashes and the hiss, the robot turned back toward the lake, and stared at the now-empty water.
"Hey, where'd everybody go?" He wondered, walking back toward the water.
"Excuse me," A voice hissed from nearby.
The otter robot stood still, and then took a stumbling step backward as a huge lizard scurried out from the grass. The reptile's green coloring had hidden it amongst the plant life from the otter's optic sensors, but it now stood in stark contrast near the lake.
"I couldn't help but overhear what you were saying," The lizard said, slinking his way toward the otter. "Especially since, to the best of my knowledge, most of the animals on this planet are in capable of speaking Cybertronian."
"Oh…Heh, yeah," The robot nodded. "Man, am I glad to see you. I thought I was only Maximal on the planet…"
"Oh…You're a Maximal?" The lizard asked, his voice dripping with interest. "Well isn't that a pleasant surprise…"
"Yeah, so where are the others…" The otter started to ask.
He was cut off as the lizard suddenly charged forward, head butting him in the side and sending the poor mammal flying backward. The otter got up, a bruise forming over his ribs, staring at the lizard.
"What in the Inferno was that for?!" He shouted.
"I suppose I should clarify…Quickchange, terrorize!" The lizard responded.
With a whir of gears and pistons, the anole rose to his hind legs, which quickly twisted and reshaped their joints. The head fell forward, onto the chest, revealing his true, pale green robotic face with glowing green optics as his lizard skin retracted into layers on his back to reveal a similarly colored chest. His forelegs folded back and collapsed to his sides, allowing his robotic arms to come up from the shoulders, a pale green in color. The left arm quickly reached around his back and came back, his reptilian tail now covering his arm up to the elbow and crackling with green energy at the tip.
"A Pred, here?" The otter gasped, stumbling back.
"That's right, but don't fret any," Quickchange hissed. "I won't matter to you once you're a pile of scrap!"
A blast of sizzling green plasma fired from the tail weapon, striking the ground near the Maximal's feet. The otter scrambled away, dodging into the taller grass only to hear the stomping of robot feet and then feel a very solid grasp go around his neck.
The otter began to choke as his webbed paws were pulled from the ground in a stranglehold by Quickchange, who had a sadistic grin on his face as he pointed his weapon at the Maximal's stomach.
"Any last words, Maximal?" Quickchange taunted.
"Just…Two…" Choked out the otter, managing to draw a breath. "Ottobot…Maximize!"
"Uh oh…" Quickchange muttered.
The lizard gasped as his quarry suddenly slid from his grasp, landing on the ground and rolling in a somersault motion onto his hind paws. His tail and torso shortened, while his limbs lengthened. The forepaws reshaped into hands as Otto spun around toward his opponent, the otter head spitting in half and falling onto his shoulders like a pair of pads to reveal his steel-colored face with white and red markings. A white chevron stood out prominently on his forehead. The last of his furry torso retracted, revealing his white and red robot body, and his red hands swiftly unholstered a plasma pistol which he pointed at Quickchange.
"I'm unimpressed," Quickchanged hissed.
"Oh yeah, try this Pred-head!" Otto responded, squeezing a few shot from his weapon.
Quickchange laughed as he dove back into the grass, Otto's attack going wide. Otto's optics narrowed as he attempted to spot his foe, the green paintjob making him hard to discern from the grass. A light ripple to his left was all the warning he had before Quickchange lunged out and tackled the Maximal, sending both of them rolling back toward the water.
Otto clenched his jaw and managed to shove the Predacon off of him as they both tumbled into the lake. Feeling himself sinking back into the Ottobot quickly took a deep breath before he submerged…
"Beast mode!" He called out.
As Otto's furry body began to shift back, Quickchange suddenly pulled himself from the cold water, gasping and shuddering as he began to shift back to his lizard form.
"C-c-c-c-cold!" He shouted, running into the grass. "S-s-s-so…c-c-c-cold! C-c-c-c-curse you Maximal…"
Otto resurfaced, now fully otter again, and was surprised as the other otters surfaced with him.
"Well that's just perfect," He grumbled, wincing a bit as he felt his tender side.
"Excuse me," A deeper voice called out from the lakeside. "Are you alright?"
The otters dove again, and Otto turned toward the source of the new voice. A large cave lion stood near the bank, a look of worry in his eyes.
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The coyote let out a frustrated sigh as she picked up more static over her radio.
"I don't see why you're still bothering with that," the field scanner admonished. "I'd pick up on any Cybertronian signatures in the area before you do."
The coyote sighed again and muttered darkly under breath as she picked a new station to monitor. As she did, she paused for a moment to look down from the small hill she had been climbing for some time now.
A human settlement of crudely fashioned dwellings sat nestled just beyond the base of the hill. Though it would have been faster to walk through the village, the Maximal had decided it was better to avoid the humans until she knew how well they took to wild canines appearing in their midst.
The Maximal began moving again, taking note from a distance of the human children that she had helped earlier running about the village. Suddenly, the field scanner let out a series of loud beeps and began to flash green.
"Woah there, I just picked up on a Cybertronian signal!" Shouted the armband.
The coyote scanned through her radio signals as fast as she could. She choked back a string of profanity a mile long as she realized her radio was still silent.
"Are you sure, there's nothing on the radio," the Maximal responded, hoping the scanner was malfunctioning.
"What did I say earlier?" Asked the smaller machine. "I can pick this stuff up sooner then you can, remember?"
"Like you're gonna let me forget now," the coyote-bot said to herself.
Her ears pricked up, the sound of exceptionally large wings flapping reaching them. Looking to the sky, her eyes went wide as she spotted a giant moth winging its way over the village right toward her.
"I somehow doubt bugs get that big on this planet," the coyote observed. "At least, I hope they don't."
"That's the one I picked up, looks like were weren't the only ones active after all," the arm band cheered.
In the village, the humans scattered back to their dwellings, hiding in there homes as the monstrous insect passed over them. The moth turned its segmented gaze toward the coyote's position, and let out an excited chittering noise as she began to circle overhead.
"Well, well, little Maximal, looks like I found you," The moth cooed as the coyote looked up at her.
"Hi there!" The coyote shouted up. "Hey, do you know what's going on here? Where are we, where are the others?"
"Hush now dearie, those little questions will all go away…Medmoth, terrorize!" Shouted the moth.
"Terrorize…Oh, slag…" The coyote fretted.
"I've got a feeling she's not on our side," fretted the arm band.
In the sky above, Medmoth's six legs retracted into her body and her moth head folded down to flatten against her chest like a chest plate. Her sky-blue arms and legs emerged from her insect torso, and she turned a graceful spin in midair her wings lowering slightly to cover her thorax which hung behind her like a thick tail.
A grin crossed the metallic black face of the Predacon as she pulled out a small gun roughly the size of her hand. She began launching off a volley of laser fire, sending the coyote scampering over the hill for safety.
"How did a Predacon get here?" Asked the field scanner.
"That's up there with 'How did we get here?'" Responded the Maximal. "Better try to get her to back off…"
"I'd recommend fighting back, and I think you might actually listen to that one given your previous behavior," The field scanner griped.
"Hey, not a bad idea, for once," grinned the coyote as she ran for the top of the hill and faced her aggressor. "Slyswift, maximize!"
The coyote shifted onto her hind paws as her legs twisted and swelled to reveal robotic limbs. Her forelegs followed suit, the paws expanding into hands as grey metal forced the fur back. The coyote head pulled back, forming a hood over her grey, robotic face, and a three strips of metal emerged to cover the lower half of it. Her tail swung around her right hip, clicking into place over a pistol, which she pull out and took aim with.
"Back off, or I open fire!" Slyswif warned.
All this earned her was a barrage of energy bolts shot in her general direction. Retreating several steps, Slyswift fired off two shots of her own, aiming at her shots toward Medmoth's wings. The first missed as the Predacon twirled out of the way, but the second grazed the edge of the fragile limb, throwing off Medmoth's balance.
"Good shot," congratulated the field scanner.
Medmoth glared down at her target, and began to take aim once more when Slyswift suddenly let out a cry of pain, blue bolts of energy arcing over her body.
"No…Not now…" She choked out. "Beast mode!"
In less than a second Slyswift had shifted back to coyote form, gasping for breath. Medmoth smiled as she raised her own weapon.
"Aww…Bad energon shielding?" She taunted.
"Any ideas?" Slyswift asked.
"Just one…RUN!" Shouted the field scanner.
Slyswift turned and took off as fast as her paws could move. Medmoth laughed as she transformed back to her moth form, flying after the fleeing Maximal.
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"Any particular reason you're riding on my back?" Asked the lion, turning his head to look up at the otter.
"Hey, you expect me to keep up with these short, stubby legs?" Ottobot asked, holding up his webbed paws. "Trust me, moving on land in this body ain't fun…Ah…Sorry, forgot your name again?"
"Just call me Leos, for now," answered the lion as he moved back to watching his path.
"Right, Leos. Did I mention how relieved I am that I'm not the only Maximal around?" Otto wondered, stretching out on the back of his ride.
"It may have come up a few times…" Leos answered. "So, what was that you were saying earlier about a Predacon attacking you?"
"Yeah, out of nowhere, I swear! Some big, honking lizard crawls outta the grass and starts acting all friendly like," Otto sighed, rubbing at his still-sore side. "He finds I'm a Maximal, and starts trying to scrap me!"
Otto let out a sigh as he shook his head, "What's the world coming to these days?"
Leos remained silent, the large cat strolling his way through the thick grass. He had been walking for quite a while already with the talkative otter on his back. It was understandable, somewhat, seeing as Otto had just been in a battle and would have difficulty keeping up with Leos due to his height, but the lion Maximal was now wondering when his passenger would feel up to walking for himself.
"So, where do you think we are? What happened? How'd we get here?" Otto fired off the questions rapidly, causing Leos to let out a sigh again.
"To answer in order: I don't know, couldn't tell you, and I wish I knew," Leos grumbled. "Though in all honesty, answering those questions should be our top priority."
"Shouldn't a senior officer be around to clear all this up?" Otto wondered.
"If you manage to find one then feel free to let me know…What in the Matrix is that?" Leos gasped, coming to a halt.
Otto's optics shone brighter as he and Leos stared at a most unusual phenomenon. A huge moth was fluttering just beyond the edge of a hill not far from them. Several rocks and sticks were being thrown from the grass toward the moth, which was doing its best to dodge the incoming attacks.
"Do bugs get that big on this planet?" Leos wondered aloud.
"I sure hope not…" Otto muttered, ducking down behind Leos' head. "Maybe we outta let the natives sort this one out?"
"Hold on, an insect that large could be one of us, and we're supposed to be researching anyway," Leos pointed out, bounding toward the moth, Otto clinging for dear life to his back. "We need to get a closer…Whoa!"
Leos stumbled forward as his front paws caught on something on the ground. Otto screamed as he was launched from his mount and crashed to the ground, letting out a groan.
"Ah slag…I miss having my own wheels…" Otto grumbled as he got up. "What'd you trip over?"
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Roughly five minutes before Otto and Leos arrived, the hill had been a very quiet and peaceful place. Nothing but grass and flowers springing up over its surface.
About a second later, Slyswift came charging over the hill, her tongue hanging out of her muzzle and her air compressor burning as it worked overdrive trying to keep her moving. Overhead, Medmoth was lazily winging her way overhead, and seemed considerably more well rested. This may have been due to a tailwind that she had been lucky enough to catch, or simply thanks to the fact that she had much fewer obstacles in the air than her prey did on the ground.
"Oh come on dearie, this won't hurt…much," the Predacon taunted from overhead.
Slyswift was too tired to try and come up with a witty reply, and her armband wasn't helping matters. It had fallen completely silent since giving the order to run, which Slyswift had been doing for longer than she thought she ever could have.
Reaching the crest of the hill, it was obvious the Maximal was at her limits. She stumbled as she reached the peak, and Medmoth noticed the break in the pace.
"Let's try this again! Medmoth, terrorize!" Shouted the moth, her body once more shifting to its sleek robotic form as she unhooked her weapon.
A rain of rapidly fired energy pulses came down toward Slyswift, who quickly began to zig-zag her way downhill. Her speed was decreasing with each movement, each shot hitting closer than the last. As she jumped away from a potentially devastating blow, she stumbled upon the landing and, with a moan, her momentum carried her into a tumble down the remainder of the hill.
As Slyswift came to a rest at the bottom, Medmoth grinned as she took aim with her weapon. The Maximal was lying senseless in place, completely helpless as the Predacon took careful aim…
Suddenly, something clanged against the side of Medmoth's head, causing her to jerk her arm to the side and sending the shot wide where it left a smoking patch of burnt grass. Medmoth scowled as she glared in the direction the attack had come from, and was surprised to see no less than six human standing on the ground nearby, wielding stones and carrying wooden spears.
"Why you little…" Medmoth snarled, raising her gun to the primitive humans.
As if signaled by the approaching threat, all six humans began to pitch stones and their spears followed by more stones toward the moth robot. Medmoth shouted in pain most of the attack were turned away by her metallic body while several struck the delicate joints of her arms and legs.
"Ow, ow, ouch, ow!" Medmoth shouted, switching back to beast mode, causing the humans to draw back in fright. "Back off you primitive little flesh bags!"
The giant moth began to lower herself over the humans, only for another barrage of stones and sticks to fly up toward her underside. Medmoth shouted in pain again as she tried to climb beyond throwing range only for the humans to begain aiming at her large wings, hampering her flight.
"You little…Wait till I…Oooooooh!" Medmoth growled.
A sudden crash from below drew her attention as well as the attention of her attackers. Both parties watched as a cave lion with a giant otter on his back tripped over Slyswift, sending the lion stumbling and the otter flying to the ground.
The otter got, grumbling under his breath, while the lion looked back as the canine he had almost flattened. He noticed the armband she wore over her front leg, and nodded as he turned to the humans.
"Alright, that's enough," Leos warned, stepping toward the frightened people. "Otto, you check on that canine there, I think it's one of us."
"You've got that right!" Shouted Slyswift's field scanner. "And watch out for that moth, she's…"
"You little big mouth!" Medmoth roared, shifting to robot form again and taking aim with her gun toward the small target. "I should vaporized you with the first shot…"
Ottobot quickly rose onto his hind legs and took a deep breath, only for Leos to beat him to the punch as the lion let out a low roar.
"Leos, maximize!" He shouted.
With a whir of gears that sent the humans running back over the hill, Leo's legs reversed at the joint and expanded, allowing him to shift to bipedal stance. His chest fur drew back, revealing red metal as his front legs collapsed down to the side to reveal his arms, red with white joints. The lion face shifted down to cover his chest, revealing his red and white streaked robotic face (with somewhat feline black markings near the mouth and nose). As his transformation reached its end the tail fully retracted itself into his body, and he swiftly drew a large plasma gun from his waist and pointed it into the air.
Otto stared in awe at the sight of Leos' robotic form, easily standing ten feet tall. Hearing a beep from behind him, he spun toward the collapsed Slysift as her armband spoke up again.
"Hey, you want maybe move your friend here away from the fight?" The field scanner asked. "Just so you know, she's suffered no major injuries…"
"You will if you don't shut up…" Slyswift groaned as she tried to get back up.
"Whoa there, you better stay down," Otto warned. "Don't worry, we're on your side here."
"Stand down ma'am," Leos warned, aiming his weapon over Medmoth's shoulder. "I don't want to use this."
Medmoth drew back slightly, before holstering her own gun and shifting back to beast form.
"Another day then, Maximals," Medmoth hissed. "I'll make sure to bring all my friends to play. You have to agree, three on one isn't fair…"
Taking to the sky once again, the moth swiftly flew off into the distance.
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Quickchange was sprawled out on his pod absorbing the afternoon sun to his sparks content, his beast mode seemed unable to keep a steady core temperature and after taking a dunking in the cold water earlier he was feeling positively sluggish. Quickchange would have just coiled up and taken a recharge, but his companion was annoying him to no end, and in his current state he couldn't muster up the motivation to say anything.
StarScream was too busy with his own matters to notice anything, his feathers were fluffed so he looked twice as thick as he normally did. He was rapidly pacing back and forth and whenever he changed direction he clawed angrily at the air with his wingtips. He had actually managed to make a slight groove in the soft ground of the bank from his constant movement. Looking up at the sun, the agitated robot let out a frustrated sigh.
"Where is she! Medmoth should have been back 3 mega cycles ago!" He complained, his pacing becoming even more agitated.
Quickchange just took a deep, sighing breath before he began drumming his claws on his stasis pod. This seemed to break Starscream's concentration as he now turned to glare at Quickchange.
"Forgive me Starscream, but don't you believe it is quite possible she is actually following your orders. I may have been outnumbered but…." Quickchange started to say.
He did not get any farther before something heavy suddenly plummeted from above and crashed onto the pod next to him. Quickchange let out a startled cry as he skittered away from his resting place and dashed behind Starscream, who sneered down at the sniveling lizard before looking over to the crashed Medmoth as she wearily lifted her wings.
"Lo- Lord Starscream," she gasped.
"I have a bad feeling about this report…" Starscream thought.
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Far beyond the realm of mortal senses, a pair of purple eyes narrowed upon the small, blue marble floating through space. It focused in particular on two unlikely herds of animals, each one consisting of only three creatures. A light chuckle was heard as the eyes admired their handy work.
"It's been far to quiet lately," the owner of the eyes thought. "Maximals, Predacons, it's about time I got a good show…"
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"So you ran into Maximals and you didn't destroy them?" Starscream shouted.
Medmoth cringed, but slowly nodded as Starscream began pacing again, aiming a kick at Quickchange as he passed by and missing as the lizard scuttled out of the way.
"Great, two bad reports, at least three Maximals running around, and from the sound of things they've managed to regroup!" Starscream fumed in his head. "Oooh…No wonder the first group of Maximal ejected these two into space, they're useless!"
Starscream stopped his pacing and glared toward his subordinates. He ruffled his feathers some more before speaking once again.
"Okay, one Maximal is bad enough, and we've got three to put up with," Starscream instructed. "At the moment, the beast course of action is to find somewhere we can call a base."
"Agreed," Quickchange muttered as Medmoth began to flap her wings.
"Alright, let's get a move on. Oh, and Quickchange? Take those pods with us, we might need them for parts," Starscream ordered.
"What?" Quickchange asked in a startle voice.
Medmoth and Starscream were already taking to the air, and out of hearing range. The lizard began to grumble under his breath as he pulled one of the pods onto his back, grunting under the weight, and grabbed with his tail.
"I did not sign on to this to be a transport bot…" Quickchange growled darkly as he began dragging the pods along.
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In the meantime, Leos and Ottobot were in beast mode, watching for danger while their new companion seemed dead to the waking world. Ever since Medmoth had flown off in a huff, Slyswift (as she had introduced herself before shutting down) had dropped into stasis. Ottobot and Leos had since been taking turns keeping watch, while waiting for the coyote to awaken.
"Internal repairs complete," The field scanner suddenly spoke up, breaking the monotonous silence that had fallen over the scene.
"It's about time," Otto chimed in, stretching as Leos walked away from his post.
SlySwift opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking around in confusion she turned back to her new companions. Leos stood over her, a gentle expression on his face.
"Can you walk?" He asked.
Slyswift nodded, and Otto scrambled onto his back once again.
"Good, we should get going," Leos advised.
Slyswift got to her feet as the lion set off, and she quickly fell into pace behind him.
"So, since we're moving, I'm guessing that psychotic Predacon isn't gone for good," she guessed as she walked
Leos just stared at her with an almost disbelieving look on his feline face.
"How do you know she was a Predacon?" he queried. "I thought you were off line when she…"
"It was pretty clear when she started shooting at me," Slyswift explained. "That, and I was awake when she said, at least for a cycle."
"Glad to see I'm the only one having Pred trouble today," Otto said.
Leos was looking between the other two, confusion etched on his face as he cleared his throat.
"I don't understand why the Predacons would just attack out of the blue like that," he stated. "We've had peace with them ever since we adopted the Pax Cybertronia…"
Leos was cut short as both of his companions let out a skeptical chuckle. Leveling a gaze at both of them, Otto and Slyswift both stopped laughing as they looked at their comrade's serious eyes.
"Where exactly did you come online?" they both asked in unison.
This merited another glare from Leos, which resulted in Otto taking a somewhat nervous step back. Slyswift cleared her throat, drawing the lion's attention to her.
"My memory of home may be a bit distorted. But I do remember it being quite a stretch for the term peace to cover the situation" she shook her head sadly.
"And I'm no Pred sympathizer, but the Pax Cybertronia treaty?" Otto chimed in with a sarcastic tone. "It ain't exactly fair if ya know what I mean. There's bout 300 stellar cycles of bad blood just sitting there biding its time."
Otto looked off into the distance as an insecure look crossed his face.
"Hey, wasn't this supposed to be an exploration mission? How did we end up involved in a fight?" his voice shook a little as he attempted to cover his anxiety, but his youth failed him in that regard.
Leos tilted his head as he thought, "Hmm…Otto seems tough, yes, but very young. This is probably his first job out of academy training and he may have only been assigned to this particular mission because someone else on-board had a lot of similar experience."
Slyswift gave Otto a sympathetic look as she looked up at him.
Noticing this, Leos found himself wondering, "And this Slyswift…She can't be much older than Ottobot, but she acts much more mature. Her reaction to his anxiety probably has something to do with her job, a job that would require a lot of close interaction with other bots. Judging by the field scanner, she's more than likely a medic."
Leos blinked, and shook his head as he realized how much he had gathered just from a few casual observations.
"How did I know all that?" Leos asked himself. "Why is it that I can't seem remember anything about what my purpose was on Cybertron?"
Shaking the unsettling thoughts from his head, Leos focused on moving forward, noticing that Otto and Slyswift were averting some questioning gazes from him as he did so.
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"That's…It…" Quickchange grunted, uncurling his tail from the second pod as the other two landed in front of him. "I'm not…Hauling these…Scrap piles another step…Without help!"
"And what do you propose we do? I can't fly if I carry something like that, and my mobility on the ground is greatly hampered," Starscream pointed out.
"What about Medmoth? She had six legs, she could carry one of these in her beast mode easily," Quickchange argued.
"Unfortunately this insectoid beast mode is ill equipped to handle heavy weights," Medmoth chimed in. "Otherwise I'd be…"
"Prove it," Quickchange interrupted.
"Excuse me?" Medmoth asked.
"Prove you can't carry it, and I'll stop complaining," Quickchange offered.
Sighing, the giant moth settled on top of the pod resting on the anole's back and began pumping her wings. All six limbs were hooked around the pod like a trio of claw lifts as she rose unsteadily into the air. Quickchange fired a smug grin at Starscream, then shrieked in pain as the pod fell back down and trapped him against the ground.
"Told you," Medmoth taunted as she landed on the ground again, shaking the soreness out of her wings.
"That was clearly intentional!" Quickchange gasped, rolling the pod off of his back as he got back to all fours.
"Then why don't you prove it," Starscream suggested as he looked about.
His gaze locked onto something moving off down in the grass just a few yards away from the hill top the Predacons had stopped on. Starscream grinned as he turned to the other two.
"So…What did you two say the Maximal's were disguised as then?" He asked.
"Let me think," Medmoth muttered. "There was a large feline…Some sort of wild canine…Oh, and a rodent of kind, looked semi-aquatic."
"Yeah, the one I fought," Quickchange nodded.
"I thought you said you were outnumbered," Medmoth taunted. "Suddenly you only fought 'one' Maximal."
"Listen you…" Quickchange began.
He was cut off as Starscream grabbed hold of both him and Medmoth and pulled them over to the slope of the hill. He pointed down at the three figures, a smile on his beak.
"Oh, yeah, those are the ones," Medmoth affirmed as Starscream released both her and Quickchange.
"So, what exactly are you planning?" Quickchange wondered.
"We're gonna go welcome the new neighbors, of course," Starscream answered. "Predcaons, terrorize!"
"Music to my audio receptors," Quickchange grinned as he and Medmoth began to shift.
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Leos, Otto and Slyswift had just finished their discussion. Leos was currently trying to ignore the odd stares given to him by his compatriots, who seemed curious about his sudden 'zone out' a moment back.
"You sure that you're alright?" Slyswift asked.
"Trust me, if something was wrong with I'd be the first to let you know," the field scanner spoke up.
"Oh yeah, you survived the fight, didn't you?" Slyswift asked.
"You bet! Oh, by the way, you might be interested in…" the scanner began.
"No," Slyswift interrupted.
"But…" The arm band tried to say.
"I said shut it you little…" Slyswift caught herself as she noticed Leos and Otto were now staring at her. "Er…I mean…Go into power reserve mode, scanner."
"Okay, but you might tell that to the Predacons standing thirty clicks to the East," confirmed the band, before letting out a series of beeps and shutting off.
"Did it say Predacons?" Otto asked.
A barrage of laser fire answered that question as plasma bolts rained from all directions, striking the ground around the three Maximals. Otto hopped to the ground, standing on his hind legs while Leos looked up into the sky with worry etched over his features. Starscream hovered down into view, both his weapons trained on the Maximals as Medmoth approached from the right and Quickchange from behind.
"Well now, I was thinking we'd deal with you later but there's no time like the present, right?" Starscream grinned.
"Listen, we have not come here to fight you," Leos called up to the hovering threat.
"Aww, that's too bad," Starscream lamented. "That means this will be entirely too easy! Predacons, attack!"
"Maximals, maximize!" Leos ordered.
With a whir of gears and shifting parts, all three Maximals entered their robotic state and pulled loose their guns. Leos paused for a moment, fingering his firearm before taking aim.
"I didn't want it to come to this…" He muttered.
"Frankly, I don't think they're gonna give us a choice," Ottobot worried.
"Let's do this," Slyswift growled, charging her weapon.
A/N: Okay, that's it for the first chapter. What do you think? Please review, we'll be looking forward to it as we try to work on the next chapter between work on the Yu-Gi-Oh and Sonic fics we've got.