This story is a work of fiction. In this story, I use several Original Characters, including Dustfang, Veteran, and Bull-Strike, and several others. All other characters are property of Hasbro and whoever owns the copyright for said company and its creations.
Trails Un-followed: A Beast Wars Fan-Fiction
Chapter One- A New Set of Wings
The first thing he saw was the night sky. He sat up in his opened Stasis Pod, staring at the hundreds of thousands of stars. He placed one hand on the rim of the pod and used it to push himself to his feet in the pod.
His head was tilted back as he examined the amazing view. He climbed down out of the pod, still watching the cosmos.
"Incredible…" he drawled, his voice patterns resembling what a human would call a southern drawl.
"Sure is," a second voice called out, somewhere to his left.
The figure whipped around, two blasters resembling western-style revolvers ready and cocked.
"Who's that!?" He demanded, the hammers pulled back. A strange, lopsided figure walked out of the shadows. One arm was a long serpent head and neck, the gold and green cobra hood extended outwards.
"Pardon the int'rush'un, pardner." He said, raising his other arm, a strange limb that had, in place of a forearm, eight, long, multi-jointed digits. "I ain't a enemy."
The revolvers lowered slightly, and so did the others arms.
"Names Quickstrike, friend."
BANG! BANG!
'Quickstrike' was hurled off his feet, tossed back into a tree with two smoking craters in his chest.
"Quickstrike, mah fender-plate!" The male twirled his guns around his fingers, then shoved them into the holsters on his waist...which promptly retracted into his body. "better do something with him..." He walked over to the wounded Predacon, for that is what it was, and grabbed him by the foot. He dragged him over to the Stasis Pod, chucking him in, then slamming the lid. He activated the repair module, then set up a Maximal Homing Beacon. Now, all he had to do was wait.
Black Arachnia was the first to recieve the transmission. She turned her head, looking in the direction of the beacon, and then activated her comm unit.
"BA to Base. I got a MHB in Alpha-Zulon District. Am checking it out now." She deactivated her comm, then turned in the direction of the beacon. She fired her blaster at a tree, a string of Cyber-Web shooting out and grabbing the branch. She leapt up and swung off.
Rhinox sighed. There was no arguing with her. He looked over his shoudler at Cheetor, who was shining his arm, and said "Cheetor, go after her..." He stood up, snapping to attention, and said "YESSIR!!" He turned, shifting into beast mode, and running off.
Silverbolt saw Cheetor run through the cracked doors, and tracked him with the man-cannons at the front. His rival quickly disapeared, his power-jet hurling him at high speeds into territory Silverbolt saw unworthy of attention, unless Rhinox had told Cheetor to go there. He activated his comm and said "Rhinox? Where is Cheetor off to?"
"He is checking out A-Z district. Black Arachnia detected a MHB, a Maximal Homing Beacon, and I sent Cheetor to check it out with her. You got a problem with that, Silverbolt?" The last sentence had a hint of challenge, and Silverbolt detected it.
"No, sir..." Silverbolt replied, grinding his teeth. "Silverbolt out."
Black Arachnia landed in the center of the clearing. The clearing was empty, save for the closed Stasis Pod and the Beacon sitting on the top of it. She looked around, scanning the vicinity for any signs of life, be Predacon or Maximal. She nearly jumped out of her skid plates when the round barrel of a weapon of some kind pressed against her back.
"Howdy Darlin'." Her captor said, and her eyes narrowed. The voice was familiar, but it wasn't Quickstrike. They had the same accent...but sometihing was different about his voice. She felt...deep inside her spark, a twinge of some passed memory. It reminded her, ever so briefly, of her feelings towards Silverbolt. Strange.
"Hello there. You wouldn't happen to be the Maximal who set up the Stasis Pod, would you?" She asked. "You also wouldn't happen to be a Predacon, would you?"
The male laughed, and once more, Black Arachnia felt that twinge. "No, darlin', just cautious is all." He stepped back, holstering his gun, then walked around her, heading for the beacon.
He was tall, for a typical Maximal, and his color scheme, Black and Shining purple, reminded her of a transmetal. Her eyes nrrowed slightly when she saw his head.
It had a hat, something the humans called a ten gallon, and jutting from underneath, a loose pony-tail hung. Also, on his back, the two halves of his beast mode head, she assumed, were clamped. It looked like a horse, but it had long bat ears and fangs.
He turned around and she saw his front. She had thought him plain, but she saw that the long black armor plates that had hid his back was actually a coat like construct, created by his wings, and his feet looked like...cowboy boots. She had studied Earth Culture, and she noticed that this male was a Fanatic. He loved Earth Culture so much, he had designed his form after them. He had chosen the Cowboy form, and she found she liked it.
"What is your name?" She asked. And, for some reason, she felt she knew the answer.
The 'bot looked up and grinned. "Call me Dustfang, little lady."
Black Arachnia watched the male move. He picked up the Beacon, shutting it off, and then turned to his pod. She watched him open it, peer inside, and pull someone out. She hissed and drew her weapon, her leg guns pointing as well. Dustfang looked up at her, one eybrow raised. She relaxed slightly, feeling slightly embarrassed. What the hell!! She thought, raising her weapons again. Silverbolt hadn't even made her feel embarrassed, and, by primus, he slept with her on a regular basis! Who is this guy!
"Somethin' a matter darlin'?" He asked, and she realized what she had gotten riled up for in the first place.
"That is a predacon, idiot, and I was wondering why you were pulling him out of your Stasis Pod."
He grinned, almost sheepishly, and she wanted to lower her weapons and laugh at how cute he was. CUTE!! She was thining of cute! She hated cute! She shot at cute whenever she got the chance!
"I beat him, is all. He wasn't dead, so I thought it on'y fair, as the winna, to make sure he lived to improve...It is a sort of...a warriors code of honor, you know?" He looked up and, for the first time, got a good look at her face. If he had had blood, it would have drained from his face.
"No way..." He muttered, standing up. His hands twiched and he lunged forward, reaching out to wrap his arms around her, the fem-bot from his past. "Barinia!!"
Black Arachnia was a little sluggish. She felt his embrace before she could respond to his movements, and the tenderness of it surprised it. She gulped, then whispered quietly, still stunned, "Who is...Barinia?"
Cheetor chose that moment to arrive. He caught sight of a large bot holding a surprised Black Arachnia to him, and transformed, drawing his weapon. He pointed it at the male, another rival for Black Arachnia's attention, and fired, snarling like the feral cat he changed into. The male went hurling away, and Black Arachnia stumbled back.
"Cheetor! He is a-" Her complaint was cut short by a horrendous shriek.
Dustfang leapt at Cheetor from where he had fallen, his form now exactly what Black Arachnia had guessed. He was a large horse, made of Black and purple chrome, huge bat wings extending from his mechanical back. The huge bat ears on his head were held flat, and from behind his long fangs a hissing sound eminated. He leapt at Cheetor who, as Black Arachnia looked back at the other young, male 'bot, had reverted to his animal form. When the two collided, she noticed just how similar they looked. Her eyes widened as she realized what Dustfang really was.
Somehow, he gotten a Transmetal two form!
Then the sound of screeching and howling echoed around her. Dustfang and Cheetor wrestled around on the ground, hissing and biting, clawing and batting at each other with whatever limbs they could. Cheetors long claws raked Dustfang's flank, but he raked right back with his fore-feet, which were clawed and resembled a bats hindlegs. His own hindlegs ended in hooves, like a horses, and they were kicking at Cheetor as well.
Black Arachnia sighed and fired twice, hitting each with a blast of her venom. The transmetal's struggled for a few nano-clics, then went limp, Cheetor with his tail embedded in Dustfangs side, and Dustfangs mouth clenched tight around Cheetors left forearm.
Black Arachnia activated her comm, then said "Rhinox, I need a pick-up crew. Our two boys got in a fight." She shut it off, but not before she heard Rhinox's sigh.