Insert standard disclaimer here. If you don't remember or haven't read my KAOS fics, please go to my bio page. There is a short description of the series and characters there. Oh yes, and sorry for the 4 year wait for a fic update! -bows in apology-
Lian's Ball of Yarn
By Nurannoniel Amruniel The Insane Mutant Elf
Lian lay shivering slightly in her cold metal recharge alcove. The fuzor looked around her quarters on The Lair; dark, grey Cybertronian alloy walls covered with bright posters of anime; one measly round window letting in the afternoon sun; a round table with one very uncomfortable chair in front of it; the door. All crossed her line of sight. Above her was a shelf, which she rolled over to paw at playfully. As she did so, something red and soft fell off, landing in her face. She swatted it off, annoyed. That was when the youngest KAOS kitty saw the object for what it truly was.
Her favourite ball of red yarn.
The feline/avian fuzor gave off a fang-filled grin. Fun! Lian rolled on to her beast mode's belly and pulled her legs in to position. For a moment, only her tail wriggled around. She was a virtually motionless statue.
POUNCE!
Suddenly she was on the floor, having over-shot the tightly wound ball. Her wing caught the chair and knocked it the floor with her, making a thunderous crash as it did so. Lian meowed loudly in protest and shook off the chair. Oh, yes, this was fun! Once again Lian swung her paw at the yarn, this time sending it skittering across the room towards the door. The door's motion sensor reacted and the ball rolled out in to the hall. Lian dashed after it.
Like her room, the hallway was made of cold grey metal. Going one way, it led to her sisters' rooms and to the lift down to the engine room. Going the other way was the bridge. It was this direction that Lian swatted the ball. The red yarn rolled several meters and in to the lift leading out. Lian pounced again, this time crashing in to the back of the lift. The cat cursed her terrible aim as the lift lowered, activated by the force of her crash.
Once the lift had finished it's decent, Lian again jumped over the ball and swung with all her might. She missed. She swung again. The ball flew off to the north. Lian gleefully chased after her toy, continuously batting and chasing, biting and pawing, all the way across the savannah. Finally the little red ball of yarn rolled to a stop in front of the Axalon, a hot and panting KAOS Kitty trailing behind it. With the cat now exhausted, Lian collapsed next to her ball. Out from the shadow of the ship walked a snarling Dinobot.
"And just what," he growled, "do you think you are doing here?"
"Playing." Lian weakly pushed the ball towards the ex-Predacon warrior. Dinobot looked at the ball with disgust and kicked it back.
Lian's ears perked up. She swatted the ball towards Dinobot again. Almost gagging, he kicked it back a second time. Again Lian hit the ball.
"What the Pit are you doing, cat?!"
"I told you, lizard! I'm playing! Hurry up and kick it back!"
Suddenly it occurred to the mech he had just participated in her horrendous game. With a grunt, he turned and headed towards the lift.
"Dinobooooot! Play with me!"
"NO!"
The feline sent Dinobot the best raspberry she could, considering her beak wasn't designed for such a feat. When he didn't turn around, Lian picked herself up and retrieved the ball. Suddenly, Rattrap flew out of the cargo lift. Literally.
"YOU entertain her, rodent!"
"Aw please, choppuh-face…!" A red ball of yarn rolled up and gently tapped Rattrap's right foot.
"Play!"
The rat-bot turned stiffly and slowly. Behind him, Lian was standing with her ears and wings perked. "Play!"
Rattrap's gaze fell towards the ball by his feet. He went to poke it, but pulled his hand away when he felt the texture of damp yarn under his fingers. "Slag! No way, pussy-cat! Dat's just disgustin'."
The cat's tail twitched dangerously. Answering in a growl, Lian said "I told you to play."
"And I said—"
Suddenly, Rattrap found himself staring up at an azure, cloudless sky and an angry gold-and-blue face. The cat-bot sat her full weight on Rattrap's abdomen and refused to move despite the Maximal's struggles. "I waaarned youuuuuuu," she sang. Rattrap huffed and wheezed some more, and attempted to roll to the side without much success. Lain began to roll her head in a mirror of the pinned bot's movements. After a few more futile attempts to free himself from the lion, Rattrap let his arms drop. Making eye contact with his captor, he at last relented.
"All right pussy cat, whadda'ya want me ta do?"
Lian's optics appeared to glow with menace. "Play." Standing up off the rat, Lian went to retrieve her ball. Rattrap carefully rose as well. When the ball hit his feet this time, he reluctantly picked it up. Gawking at it for a moment, an idea began to form in his CPU.
"Alright cat, ya wanna play catch?" Lian nodded fiercely. "Then catch this!" Rattrap stuffed the ball into his gun and fired. A flash of red soared through the air towards the lava pits to the south, vanishing as it flew further and further away. The fuzor before him barely had time to send Rattrap a death-glare before her beast mode's instincts took over and caused her to give chase to her precious toy. Rattrap sunk to the ground in relief.
A clacking noise behind him made him look up. Dinobot snarled a quick "good job, rat" before returning to the open lift.
The rat-bot huffed and replied, "good riddance."
Waspinator was buzzing happily; it was a good day. He had returned from patrol and hadn't received so much as a scratch, and he'd found some more flowers for his collection! Yes, it was a very good day. That was until the wasp-bot went to descend to the dusty black ground bellow and the entrance of the Darkside. Something round, cold, and wet had landed on his back, giving the Predacon a sudden feeling of dread. Waspinator froze. Oh well, might as well get it over with.
"Why univerzze hate Wazzpinator?"
"YEEEAAAAAAARRRRRG!!" Gold and blue furry came falling out of the sky with wings trimmed, claws out, and tongue lolling to the side as she dive-bombed the Predacon wasp. Lian landed with her back paws first, digging her claws in to Waspinator's back and sending them both into a 360 backward spin. Before he could process what-in-the-Pit had just happened to him, Waspinator's face was buried in the ground and his back was stinging. A clawed paw scraped across him one last time, removing the cold round thing that had started the attack. Then the sharp needles buried in his thorax dug out and scampered off.
So much for that good day.
Lian continued her game despite the scenery change. Swat, miss, swat again, chase, knock over Quickstrike, repeat, all the way to the throne room. Here, she altered the pattern slightly; swat, hit Terrorsaur, chase, pick new target, swat, hit Scorponok, chase. Megatron watched with some amusement. For her being so clearly bored, this "game" of the cat's was, for once, seemingly harmless. Besides, he thought, was it ever slagging funny to watch his troops get annoyed at the youngling, yesss!
SPLAT!
And suddenly, Megatron was no longer amused, noooo. The purpled tyrant peeled the soggy ball of red yarn off his face with a snarl.
"Enough!"
Lian froze, eyeing her ball cautiously.
"Do you want this back, cat?" Megatron sneered. Lian nodded. "Then go get it!" Megatron turned in his chair and drew his arm back.
In a panic, Lian made a dash for him, but Inferno cut her off. He held her by the cord of her necklace and dug his feet in to the metal floor, grunting with exertion. "Stay away… from the royalty!"
Lian choked out a "Nooo!" as Megatron flung the ball. It sailed out towards the open lava. Lian let out an anguished squeak as it went over the platform and disappeared, never to be seen again. The fuzor hit the floor and let out a high-pitched wail.
Terrorsaur covered his audios in agony and shouted towards Megatron, "Good going, Megs! Now you've upset her!"
The tyrant roared in reply, "Get her out of here!" However, Lian had dug her claws in to the metal deck and refused to budge, kicking and swatting anyone that got too close.
"Now what do we do, royalty?" Inferno cringed as the cat fuzor's wail hit another high pitch.
"Shoot her if you have to, just—"
"Did someone drop this?" All attention turned to Rampage, who was casually leaning on the rail of a hover platform. In his hand was a dripping red ball of yarn. A small smear of drool glinted off the side of his head. The crab-bot visibly twitched as Lian ran towards him and transformed, glomping him when she reached the platform.
"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!!" Lian plucked the ball out of the killer's hand and back flipped back on the main deck. She turned, eyeing the Predacon tyrant above her. "You'll pay for that," she growled, then continued in a cheery tone "on another day anyways thanks for playing with me everyone and I'll see you later!" Lian bounced merrily out of Predacon base, pleased with the terrified looks she was receiving and happy about her spared toy.
"Permission to kill her next time?"
Megatron turned to face the psychotic crab that had only recently joined his crew.
"Granted."
As Lian came in to sight of The Lair, her sisters came out to meet her. Kit reached her first, transforming and hugging her younger sibling. "Where have you been?" She asked. "We've been about you!"
Lian dropped her ball and snuggled in to her sister's embrace. "I was playing with my ball first I went to the Maximal base but Dinobot wouldn't play and Rattrap shot my ball and then it landed on…"
"You went to play with our friends and didn't tell us?" Tigress said, sounding a bit dejected.
Lian mewed, rolling her ball towards the tiger. "I'm sorry I promise we'll all go play together next time okay?"
"Okay!"
Kit chuckled. "Hey Lian?"
"Yes Kit what is it?"
"We made catnip cookies while you were gone. Want some?"
The KAOS kitty youngling squealed in glee and dashed inside, dragging her sisters with her.
Okay, so maybe it was a good day after all.
