Chapter 1: Stuck In The Middle With You

I leaped through the dense jungle on all fours, the leaves and vines brushing and scratching at my long, whiskered face as I darted through, trying to get away from that annoying chauvinist, Silverbolt. I looked over my back for a second and heard a rustling noise in front of me. I turned my head back and barely managed to miss a tree snake that looked like it wanted to bite me, but thought better of it. I clearly wasn't made of skin and fur. I was in a hurry to get as far away from Silverbolt for two reasons that day. One was the fact that I just plain hate him and his stupid chivalry. The other reason was that I really didn't want to be bothered to join in the Beast Wars. Not today. I bounded over a raised tree root, making sure to keep my wings tucked nice and close to my thin body so they didn't get entangled and end up slowing me down. I was suddenly cut off mid-stride and almost ran into this new obstacle. Silverbolt. He found me. I cursed myself and transformed, my transmetal body clanking and whirring. I grabbed the two machetes from my wingtips and prepared to fight. I wasn't scared of this wuss.

The chivalrous Maximal fuzor did the same, then realizing I was a femme (How could he have missed it?), he put his weapons down.

That didn't stop me, of course, savage that I am. I ran at him, ready to tear him limb from mis-matched limb for being so chivalrous. I ripped at him in a fury--barely visible, even--and he just stood there and let me, which infuriated me further.

"Come on, Maximal. Fight!" I snarled at him.

Reluctantly, he picked his weapons back up and bolted at me.

I jumped up and executed a perfect front flip over Silverbolt, changing directions while I was upside down. I landed flawlessly behind him and swiftly took one of my razor sharp machetes and in one clean swipe, I sliced his right wing off.

He howled in pain and turned around to face me.

"Please, I mean you no harm." He said desperately, sparks and assorted types of electricity flying off of his back and disintegrating before they hit the ground. He clearly didn't want to fight me. Either he knew I was going to give his doggy-bird tail a good whipping, or because of his stupid chauvinism. Maybe it was both.

I scoffed. "I have two questions for you, Maximal." I held up one clawed finger. "If you mean me no harm, then why are you following me?" I held up another finger and continued. "Do you honestly think I care if you're too much of a sissy to fight me?" I then cleaned off the machete I'd used on his wing and twirled it between my fingers.

"I'm guessing that's a 'no'...?" He said, completely disregarding my first question.

"More like a Dear-Primus-don't-tell-me-he's-serious." I responded, grinning a grin that showed off my front fangs nicely.

Silverbolt blinked and I flipped back over him. Before he had time to react, I used my other machete to chop off his remaining wing.

"That's for being a chauvinistic twit." I retorted as I transformed and took flight.

My name is Moonshredder, or more commonly known as Shredder, as my favourite pastime was shredding anyone who comes near me to confetti. I was the first fuzor to arrive, and neither Maximal or Predacon. As I already mentioned, I was a freelancer. I really didn't want to get caught up in their silly war.

I'd always admired my beast mode, since way before the transwarp explosion, when I was a soft and fluffy black panther with big, brown eagle wings. Kind of out of place, huh? I wasn't all black though, I had a single, silver crescent moon on my left flank, which is where the first part of my name comes from. After the transwarp explosion, the soft feathers that made up my wings were turned into precision blades, each and everyone of them. The topmost 'feathers' were now-- as you know--machetes, the end of my tail, where there used to be a fuzzy fringe was now a curved dagger, and my tail was sectioned so I could swing it easier. At the joint of both of my wings used to be an out-of-place feather. Now it was a small short sword. I have two claws--those were always there, but now they were made of metal--on the back of each of my legs, up at the elbow joint and also down by my 'wrists'.

I was one 'bot you did not want to run into when I was in a bad mood.

--

"Shredder's on the move again." Cheetor reported as he and Rattrap dragged Silverbolt and his severed wings into the Maximal base.

"An' she ain't happy." Rattrap added.

"Maybe I can convince her to join our side." Silverbolt offered hopefully

Optimus Primal shook his head. "If you try that again, she might mount your head on a plaque." He paused for a split nanocycle. " Megatron can't even get her to join the Predacons. She's a freelancer." He paused again and surveyed the room thoughtfully. "She might join our side for pay, though.."

"I can...try to..convince her." Dinobot spoke up. "We both have our...honor."

"You can try, Dinobot, but be careful." Optimus consented. "Cheetor!" He called. "Scout the air for Shredder and I'll send Dinobot out when you've found her."

--

I flew around in no particular area or pattern, bored as a 'bot could be when she didn't have any friends. Of course, the whole war thing didn't make things any easier, I suppose, what with the opposing sides only seeking me out because I was fast and strong.

It wasn't too long before I ran into everyone's favourite idiotic bug. Waspinator.

He transformed and looked at me hopefully as I did the same. "Wazzpinator like cat-bird. Will cat-bird join Predaconzz for Wazzpinator?" He asked.

I always found his third-person dialect hilarious, but managed to keep a straight face.

"Oh, bug off, bug face." I retorted as I reached for my left machete and my tail, which doubled as an excruciatingly painful whip.

"Wazzpinator not want to fight cat-bird." He said, nearly panicking.

"Oh yeah, well, what if I want to fight you, huh, Predacon?" I growled.

"Wazzpinator not want to do thizz.." He said as he pulled out his gun. He shot at me, and surprisingly enough, he managed to hit my left wing, sending me backwards a few meters.

I chuckled menacingly and Waspinator looked at me in pure and total fear. "That's exactly what I was waiting for...Waspinator." I grinned a lopsided grin and narrowed one gold and green optic. Waspinator looked at me in surprise. I had never called anyone by their actual names, but more often, referred to them by what side they were on. "Don't worry," I started in a slightly erotic voice, stunning him into silence. I slowly raised my machete, practically praying to Primus that he would keep his gaze fixed on me. "I'll go easy on you."

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, about where my spark was. The shot did some nasty internal damage, though I knew I was going to get out of this just fine. Considering, of course, that I wasn't captured by anyone.

--

Cheetor was flying around, looking for the one 'bot he did not want to find. Sure, Shredder was cute, but she was also deadly. She had almost killed him once, before the transwarp explosion, when she was a bit more sociable. Getting turned into a walking armory had hardened her. Back then, she had reasons for trying to kill him. Now, she would just attack anything that moved. Luckily for Cheetor, Rattrap had managed to get the former moved before the dangerous femme could finish the job.

"No sign of her yet, Bigbot." He spoke tentatively into his commlink.

"Keep looking." Optimus replied. "She could be on the ground too, so watch your back."

"Gotcha."

Just as Cheetor was about to turn off his jets and scout the ground, he heard the familiar clanking and slicing sounds. A Predacon somewhere nearby was transforming. As quietly as he could manage, the small cat moved closer to the source of the sound, and faintly heard someone--with a horrible vocabulary--ask someone else if the latter would join his side. Moonshredder had been about four meters in front of Cheetor, and when she transformed, he nearly fell out of the sky as she reached for her left machete and her tail.

The two conversed for a little while, then Waspinator shot Shredder's wing. She chuckled after she had straightened herself up a bit, and Waspinator looked like he was going to fall apart all on his own, and just out of fear.ed to talk and began to move a nit closer to him, Primus only knew why.

All of a sudden, Inferno appeared just beyond Waspinator, raised his hand in a salute and said something that looked to Cheetor like "For the Royalty", or "For the Colony". Then he shot her in the chest.

The femme's wings folded and she spiraled into the jungle, letting out a long, loud mew of pain.

"Found her, Bigbot. Inferno just shot her out of the sky. Get Dinobot out here." Cheetor said before killing the jets to follow Shredder into the dark.

--

I groaned and tried to sit up, but the pain in my chest was too great, and I collapsed back against what felt to be a tree trunk.

"Just relax." A voice said calmly. "Relax and don't try to move. You'll only make it worse."

"Wh...Who are you?" I asked groggily.

"That doesn't matter." The voice replied. "What matters now is that you're still in one piece, surprisingly. Inferno hit you pretty hard."

"Inferno?" I exclaimed, attempting to open my optics, but failing. It seemed as though they were sealed shut. "Why that little fire ant! I'll get him. I'll get him so good Megatron won't be able to find all of his parts! That little sonova--"

"Shh." The voice said, and soon, I heard another voice.

"Is she..alright?" The second voice asked.

I groaned again and sat up with some difficulty.

"Inferno did quite a number on her internals." The first voice paused, as if trying to asses the damage, then continued worriedly. "She can't open her optics and she could barely sit up."

"Rhinox can...fix her." The second voice said with confident affirmation.

Then I blacked out.