Beast Wars
(movie continuity)
Episode 2
Beast Wars
Part 2
Characters:
Maximals:
Optimus Primal
Rhinox
Ratrap
Cheetor
Dinobot (Predacon)
Li (Human)
Predacons:
Megatron
Scorpinok
Tarantulas
Terrorsaur
Waspinator
On the narrow bridge, Optimus and Dinobot neared each other for the challenge. Dinobot reassured Optimus of his defeat to come, saying that one would lead and the other would fall to his doom in the pit. "I don't want to fight you!" declared Optimus. "You do not have a choice," stated Dinobot. "Your base is back there, and no one crosses this bridge until you fight me."
"Don't we get a say in this?" asked Rhinox. "Oh whatever. Let chopperface and the boss monkey duke it out. No fur off my tail." That was Ratrap. "No way! Hey scalebelly! How about you try a piece of the bad kitty, huh?" "Cool your circuits, Cheetor. I wouldn't send anyone to do something I wouldn't do." "Oh, so now you tell us!" "Arrgh. Dinobot, this is ridiculous. We're Maximals, you're a Predacon."
"All the more reason I should lead them." "Look I don't know what happened between you and Megatron-." "Megatron! Megatron will fall as soon as I have your Maximals at my command." "You are welcome to join us. But you shall not lead."
"I beg to differ. For in anticipation of my new role as leader, I have already reprogrammed my activation code. Dinobot Maximize!" "Optimus Primal Maximize!" Dinobot advanced, while Optimus held his ground and waited.
"I'm going in there!" yelled Cheetor. "Cheetor Maximi-." Ratrap muzzled him. "Clam it kid. Nailing the chopperface from behind won't solve anything." "Yeah," Rhinox stated grimly. "Like it or not, we have to let them finish."
Dinobot ran toward Optimus and Optimus flipped him over his back. Dinobot bounced a few times and then flipped back unto his feet and into a kick, which knocked Optimus onto his back, dislodging rocks from the bridge to the ground far below. Optimus shook the dizziness from his head and looked up in shock and then glared. As Dinobot brought his sword down, Optimus gave him a knuckle sandwich that spun his head around and he fell down. Optimus put his blade to Dinobot's throat… in a Maximal challenge that would mean that he had won.
"I still live. Finish it," demanded Dinobot. Optimus put one of his swords away and offered Dinobot a hand up. "That is not how we Maximals do things." "Then that will have to change – what the slag is that?" Optimus turned to look in the direction of the base, and his eyes went wide, as did the eyes of the others. A great white beam of light flowed into the sky.
"Li!" Optimus stumbled forward and lost his balance, nearly falling from the narrow bridge. Hanging from one side, he was at Dinobot's mercy. Dinobot grabbed him and threw him up on the bridge. "Let's finish this." "What are you doing? You've won!" "You slipped, due to the interference of the beam. To defeat you in such a manner, would be lacking in honor. I would not have earned the right to lead. I prefer to beat my opponents the old-fashioned way – brutally!" They exchanged blows with their swords.
"For a Predacon, Dinobot, you have qualities I could like." "And you have proved to be a worthy adversary. I will have you recycled with full honors." "Well, that's just Prime!"
Hidden from their view, the beast mode Predacons watched. Megatron commented, "Well, this is an interesting site. Yes. Optimus and the traitor Dinobot engaged in battle, and behind them a strange energy source gives off that beam of light." Scorpinok eagerly asked, "Wh- Who do you think's gonna win?" Waspinator replied, "Ooo, Waspinator pick on Optimus."
"Heheheh," Laughed Tarantulas. "The winner isn't what interests me. It's that light. And finding out what it is." "Nor me, no," said Megatron. "How much more preferable it would be if they both lost, and we got the energy source. Yes. Megatron terrorize!" All the Predacons reverted to robot mode.
Hearing the noises, Ratrap looked up in alarm. "Yo! Shift your scanners due east there, pals. This party's got big time crashers." "Fire!" Ordered Megatron. The Preds blasted away at the narrow bridge on which Optimus and Dinobot battled. Cheetor's eyes went wide as he saw this and yelled, "OPTIMUS!"
Optimus turned to look and shifted to Beast Mode, grabbed Dinobot and jumped from the bridge. Rhinox and Cheetor looked down the deep chasm seeing nothing, and Cheetor called his name and then bowed his head in grief. Optimus' voice suddenly called out, "If you guys aren't doing anything, a little speed would be prime." He was hanging from the bridge by just one gorilla foot upside, and hanging on to the robot form foot of Dinobot, while the Preds continued to fire.
"Destroy them!" yelled Megatron. "Let's go! Cheetor Maximize!" "Rhinox Maximize!" Rhinox tapped rat form Ratrap on the head. "Hey, hey, hey. You go and get yourselves slaged 'cause I ain't.. huh alright alright." He said as Rhinox picked him up by the neck and turned him so that he was looking him in the face.
Dinobot began to short out from the Energon. "Aarrrgh… Too much Energon! I can't take it!" He yelled. "Hang on!" Optimus yelled back. "You can't transform in this position." "Let me fall – save yourself!" "Now where would the honor be in that?" Optimus was slipping – now he was only holding on by one toe. "You have no choice!" "Then we both go!" Optimus lost his grip and they fell.
They fell only a few inches, as Rhinox grabbed Optimus' leg. "Going up," Rhinox said as he pulled them both up. Dinobot transformed. Megatron yelled, "All of the Maximals are on the bridge! Destroy it now!" The barrage began.
The Maximals with Dinobot now included ran towards their base, the other side of the bridge collapsing as Ratrap the last one ran over it and just as Ratrap was about to cross onto land, the last of the bridge fell and he with it. Only Optimus' outstretched hand grabbing his and pulling him to safety saved his life. "You're welcome." "Um it's your job as leader." Optimus growled.
Megatron was about to slag some of his crew for incompetence, when Tarantulas noted the energy source was still emitting the light, and Terrorsaur pointed out that some of their missiles had revealed a lot of Energon in one of the mountains. "Forget the energy source for now, we will see about it later, if it is still emitting the light. Energon is our primary mission here. Let's get going."
"Megatron's on the move! Bearing 6-1-7-5," Cheetor informed Optimus. "He's after the Energon. A crystal that size would make him unstoppable." "Oh thanks a lot for the hot tip, chopperface," replied Ratrap. Optimus turned to Dinobot, "Will he send flyers?" "Oh for Bootnut cold, you're not going to going to believe a Predacon are ya?" Ratrap whined.
Optimus looked at him. "That's my call." He turned back to Dinobot. "Will he?" "Negative. That crystal is too big for flyers. Only Tarantulas has the skill to cut it." Optimus looked at the Energon mountain, then towards base and then back at the mountain. Quickly he made his decision. "Then we have to get there first. All five of us."
"Yeah all five of us. Hey wait, five? But Optimus, Li is back at base," Ratrap commented. "I'm not talking about Li. I'm talking about Dinobot. Li wanted to be a full member of the crew, and now she has her chance. I feel sure she can handle that energy source on her own, and we can't spare any one right now. I just hope she's not in any danger. Let's go." "What? Chopperface is going with us? We're all going to die."
Cybertron, Present Day, Chamber of the Council of the Elders
"No, it's not acceptable! How dare you take over Lisa's body! And allow a war to take place? Unacceptable!" Lord Bumblebee was furious. Lord Rodious Prime put his hand on Lord Bumblebee's shoulder. "Calm yourself, Bumblebee. Please excuse him. He is her adopted father. He is concerned for her wellbeing."
Li looked at him. "EXPLAIN THESE WORDS – ADOPTED, FATHER. WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND." Lord Prime was visibly shocked that he was dealing with a species that did know the word father. "A father is a male parent." "EXPLAIN – MALE, PARENT. WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND." This species was very different indeed. He would attempt to be clearer.
"Among our race and many others, there are two 'genders' or types – 'males' and 'females'. It takes a male 'parent' and a female 'parent' to create a child or children. Parents often raise children to 'adulthood', a stage in life where they can be full members of society and even create and raise their own child or children.
"The being you have taken, is an 'orphan,' a child whose parents were killed before they could fully raise her to adulthood – in fact at a stage in life, where if she were not cared for, she would die. Lord Bumblebee, being friends of her family, stepped in and 'adopted' her– took on the responsibility to raise her as if she were his own child.
"AND RAISING CHILDREN TO ADULTHOOD OFTEN BRINGS BONDS BETWEEN CHILD AND PARENT. WE UNDERSTAND. LORD BUMBLEBEE, KNOW THIS, YOUR CHILD IS UNHARMED BY THIS – WE WOULD NOT ALLOW IT. SHE HAS ALSO AGREED TO IT WILLINGLY."
Lady Acree cleared her throat. "Excuse me, friends. I am Lady Acree. I am curious as to why you refer to Lisa as the 'future of your children'. Do you have a problem with satisfying my curiosity?"
"NO. ON THE PLANET YOU NOW CALL EARTH, WHERE AND WHEN THE MAXIMALS, AND THE PREDACONS ARE BEGINNING THEIR 'BEAST WARS,' WE ARE CURRENTLY, IN OUR TIME PERFORMING EXPERIMENTS WITH CREATING A PURELY ORGANIC WORLD. YOU SEE, WE ARE NEITHER TECHNOLOGICAL NOR ORGANIC, BUT A FORM YOU DO NOT KNOW. WE DO THIS PURELY FOR SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. WE HAVE ALSO DEALT WITH TECHNOLOGICAL LIFE NOT UNLIKE YOURS, YET FAR, FAR MORE PRIMITIVE."
Lord Hot Shot, impulsive in his youth, was furious, but stayed calm. "I am Lord Hot Shot. Your experiments involve playing God – an omnipotent, omniscient being who can or thinks he or she can do anything they wish? Including creating sentient and sapient life forms?"
"YOUR CONCERN IS VALID. OUR EXPERIMENTS WERE NEVER INTENDED FOR SUCH PURPOSES – OR TO GO SO FAR – SOMEHOW THERE WAS AN ERROR ON OUR PARTS EVIDENTLY. NOW THAT WE KNOW, THOUGH… WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO TERMINATE IT AND STOP THAT LIFE FROM EVOLVING. WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO ERASE A RACE FROM EXISTANCE – ESPECIALLY OUR OWN CHILDREN. THAT IS WHY WE NEED THIS INFORMATION. THE HUMANS HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO EVOLVE, WE HAVE NO IDEA WHICH SPECIES THEY WILL EVOLVE FROM, AND YET WE NEED TO PROTECT THEM FROM BOTH SIDES.
"AND WHO IS TO SAY, THAT IT IS NOT THIS CONFLICT WHICH CAUSES THEM TO EVOLVE? WHAT IF IT IS SOMETHING THAT THE MAXIMALS TEACH THEM, OR SOMETHING THAT THEY DO TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THE PREDACONS – OR EVEN SOMETHING WE DO TO PROTECT THEM?"
"And what of death?" Lord Prime asked. "EXPLAIN DEATH." Lord Prime's jaw dropped. Lady Acree fainted, and Lord Hot Shot caught her, while nearly falling out of his own chair. All were in shock. For evidently they were dealing with a race that did not die – and how do you explain death to a deathless race that has never met a race that dies? It would be like trying to describe the color purple to a Human born blind – which with those born so; they still had not been able to cure.
"With our race, we each are born – or come into existence. However there comes a time when creatures of many races, including Transformers, Humans and other life forms on our worlds die – our physical bodies stop working permanently and become empty shells. For animals, plants, and techno life without sparks, there is nothing else.
"For Humans, their spirits, their souls or internal eternal selves move on to another plane of existence which neither we nor they understand completely – we less then they - and a lot of what happens to them there depends on how they lived their lives here. For us Transformers, our sparks pay for our crimes and then become one with the Matrix. The reason, we are concerned is that most of us are not ready for that to happen yet."
"AHH. YES. DEATH. WE ARE BEING TO TRULY LEARN OF THIS CONCEPT FROM THE ORGANIC LIFE THAT NATURALLY LIVES AND DIES ON ITS OWN. LIFE FORMS ONLY TAKE LIVES TO EAT AND SURVIVE. ARE YOU SAYING THAT THE MAXIMALS AND PREDACONS WILL KILL WITHOUT THE NEED TO EAT?"
"That is what war is. The Predacons sometimes kill for no reason. Mainly they want Galactic conquest though – the violent take over of the Galaxy. However, Maximals usually don't kill unless they have to. They don't harm those who can't fight back. And they give those weaker a chance to surrender. The Maximals only fight to protect."
"UNDERSTOOD. WE PROPOSE A COMPROMISE. ONLY THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO DIE WILL DIE. FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT, WE WILL PROVIDE A WAY TO REVIVE THEM. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?"
Lord Prime put it to a vote. Lord Bumblebee was the last to vote. "Lord Bumblebee? I want it to be unanimous." Lord Bumblebee was silent for a moment. "Fine." Lord Prime looked to Li on the screen and nodded. "You have our permission, Vok." She nodded and the screen went blank.
Earth, 4 million years ago
Nightfall came, and the Maximals; Dinobot included neared the mountain. Rhinox asked how Optimus' repairs were coming and he replied that they were completed. Rhinox suggested that in robot mode, Optimus could fly to the mountain faster than any of them, but Optimus insisted they stick together. "The Predacons could attack at any moment and there could be other surprises from this unknown planet other than that beam of light." "There are."
A hundred meters below them lay an unusual stone formation, alien in nature, not natural, not built by the Predacons or themselves. "Interesting." There was no time to study it for Pred flyers were incoming.
After a brief skirmish with Waspinator and Terrorsaur, they traveled on. Both Preds and Maxs were informed that within the mountain, they would be unable to access robot form and would have to battle in beast mode. Megatron said that he would handle Optimus personally.
The two teams met on the field of battle, broken by large Energon crystals. Megatron made his speech. "Across the galaxy, it has come to this, Optimus Primal; face to face, tooth to claw. Yes. Have you anything to say?" "I'd said that's just prime. Let's do it! Rawr!" The two factions ran at each other and collided. It was cheetah on giant wasp, rhinoceros on giant scorpion, giant rat on pterodactyl, giant velociraptor on giant tarantula, and gorilla on tyrannosaurus rex.
It was quite a fight with Maximals either winning or not giving up. Megatron demanded that Optimus admit defeat. "Never!" He threw Megatron headfirst into a wall. "You surrender! You're trapped!" "No! You shall not defeat me!" He broke free and charged Optimus, ramming him into the mountainside. While Optimus recovered, Megatron bit and bit hard into Optimus' leg. Optimus screamed, and Megatron bit him again in the leg, revealing the circuitry within.
Optimus knocked him away. He got up and grabbed Megatron's tail. He swung Megatron around and threw him into the mountain. He began to advance towards Megatron, but his damaged leg sent spasms of pain knocked him down. He cried out and grabbed his leg. "It is over, Megatron!" "It is never over! No!" He transformed. "For if I must die, I shall take you with me!"
He fired a rocket at Optimus, which Dinobot heroically knocked out of the way and into the Energon crystals launching an explosion. Rhinox yelled, "It's gonna blow!" "Time to fade, heroes!" All transformers leaped for their lives, as the mountain exploded.
Rhinox took the lead as Optimus was knocked unconscious by the exploded. He carried the offline Optimus on his back, and led Cheetor, Ratrap, and Dinobot back to base, where they noticed that the light beam was gone. "That's odd. Hmm, perhaps Li was able to secure it and shut it off," Rhinox surmised.
"Well, if she did, can we go home now?" "No. The ship's slag, there's still more Energon, and Megatron might come back," Rhinox replied. Dinobot nodded. "Agreed."
Back in the base, Rhinox had Cheetor shut off the ship alarm, and then placed Optimus in the CR chamber and then called for Li. "Mmm. Rhinox is that you?" Rhinox replied, "Affirmative," and Li asked what happened to the rest of the Maximals.
Ratrap turned and stared at her, "Didn't you hear the explosion? An entire mountain exploded!" "Um, no. I kinda of fell asleep soon after you guys left." "Asleep? A warrior does not sleep while on guard duty!" Dinobot snarled. Li snarled back. "Rhinox, what the slag is this Pred doing here?" Pure hate blazed in her eyes.
Dinobot too glared at the young human "A human? You allow a human here?" he continued, forgetting his recent allegiance change. "This is why you Maximals will lose this war, and the Predacons will remain supreme!" Ratrap piped in, "Ah shut it Chopperface, Li this guy here wants to take down Megs, so the Bossmonkey 'allowed' him to join our ranks." Rhinox bellowed, "Dinobot, Rattrap both of you stop talking this instant we need to sort things out still."
Li narrowed her eyes. "Fine. By Human Law, and Human Honor, I can tolerate a Predacon crewmate, if a trusted Maximal or Autobot Commander orders it. What do we need to sort out, Rhinox?"
Rhinox continued speaking, calmer, this time. "The Predacons have all survived, and have also taken beast forms. The Energon on this planet is far greater then any I have ever seen, Optimus will also be offline for a while as he repairs damage from the Predacon attack. Li, what happened here? We saw a flash of light emit from the base"
Li looked puzzled. "I don't know. I was in a deep sleep the entire time - I barely remember setting the alarms and the sensors and making it to bed, before I woke up to the sound of your voice." She walked over to her computer console, and began looking in the sensor logs. "Odd. The computer doesn't register it either."
Ratrap pipes in once more, "Ay, Bossmonkey said, you'se could fight with us after all. We need all the help we can get, but I wouldn't fall asleep if I was you, or Dinobutt over there might eat cha!" getting a groan out of Rhinox a snarl out of Dinobot and Li just jumped for glee. Rhinox looked at the CR chamber. "For now, let the battle be here on this unknown planet. And let it be called Beast Wars."