Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Transmetal Madness".

Stasis, Chapter 3

By TVfan

Space

The two beings observed the two robotic bodies slowly dissolve and reform into a single body in triumphant silence. Both were confident in victory and all they needed was to wait for the report from Scavenger to say that the army was ready. One of the robotic forms had been disassembled faster then the other and suddenly a spark emerged from within the robotic body. Neither being noticed it as they continued to focus on the body of the 'general' that they were creating out of the other two robotic bodies. The spark looked at what was left of the robotic body it had left and then at the other robotic form. It blinked for a few minutes and then quickly left the area and began to return toward Earth.

Earth, the Ark

"You want to what?" Rhinox asked in a surprised voice.

"I want to attack the Darkside directly," Dinobot said in a firm tone, "It is lightly defended and the perfect opportunity."

"If it's lightly defended, that means Megatron is in fact looking for the lost stasis pods," Optimus commented, "We should expand our efforts to recover them."

"Right," Rhinox nodded, "If Megatron recovers most of the stasis pods, he will have more Predicons then we have Maximals. If that happens we will lose."

"He can not attack without a base," Dinobot growled, "Without the Darkside, he may gain numbers, but any real advantage they would have provided him will be gone. He would have to assault the Ark directly, and that would risk destroying the ancient Decepticons."

"Not to mention that if we take the base, we could recover Sentinel and any information that Megatron's left lying around," Blackarachnia spoke up, "Then if you want to go around the world, you can, knowing that Megatron can't counterattack you and that you know his plans."

"That does sound like a good idea," Rattrap commented, "We attack his base. Defeat any Predicon inside, and get Sentinel and Megatron's plans. Then destroy the base leaving the Preds without one."

Optimus passed the command center of the Ark for a few moments. After about a minute or so, he stopped and turned to address the present Maximals.

"Knowing Megatron's plans would be the best thing we can do right now," Optimus announced, "If Megatron is looking already, he already has a head start and I'm the only one who can catch up. Taking out his base will give us the advantage in the long run. Hopefully the others can secure enough stasis pods that Megatron won't be able to get all of them."

Mountains

"The signal is coming from this direction," Silverbolt commented as he gestured with one hand, while using his wings to hover in the air.

"I don't see it," Stagstripe answered as he bounded up over sever large boulders.

"Me either," Silverbolt nodded, "I think it's on the other side of this mountain."

Stagstripe nodded and continued bound up the mountain as fast as the new Maximal fuzor could.

"I'm sorry if I'm slowing you down," Stagstripe commented as he saw Silverbolt slowly flying behind him.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Silverbolt answered him quickly, "You're a Maximal. We all stick together."

Slowly and surely they made it to the top of the mountain. When they got to the top they saw where the stasis pod was. It was nestled inside a small valley between the mountain that Silverbolt and Stagstripe were on and another nearby peak. Unfortunately, the stasis pod wasn't the only thing they saw.

"Didn't you say you were the only Maximal in the area?" Stagstripe asked.

"I am," Silverbolt answered, "Those are Predicons."

"Those who do evil?" Stagstripe asked.

"Mostly," Silverbolt sighed in response, "I don't know who the third is, but the other two are Waspinator and Inferno."

"What's your plan?" Stagstripe asked, "We can't let them take the stasis pod."

"You take out the third transformer," Silverbolt instructed, "I'll distract Waspinator and Inferno long enough for you to activate the pod."

"Right," Stagstripe nodded as he transformed and aimed his laser pistol at the black queen-ant transformer that was slowly walking along the ground, slightly behind Inferno.

Silverbolt transformed and readied his feather missiles.

"Now!" Silverbolt yelled to Stagstripe.

Stagstripe fired a series of quick blasts while Silverbolt dove downward and fired his wing missiles. Stagstripe's shots hit Carpenter in the back and knocked the black ant back down the cliff face. Inferno and Waspinator turned to be hit in the chest by Silverbolt's wing missiles. The blasts knocked both transmetal two Predicons to the ground.

"You won't get that pod, Predicons," Silverbolt announced.

Inferno only answered by firing powerful blasts of fire at the first Maximal fuzor.

"Doggie-bot!" Waspinator exclaimed, "Waspinator will scrap!"

Silverbolt dove down toward Waspinator and armed his feather missiles again. Both he and Waspinator fired at the same time. Silverbolt, however, pulled up and managed to avoid being hit by the Predicons darts, which flew on to hit Inferno, who was still turning around to fire again on Silverbolt. Silverbolt's feather missiles knocked Waspinator back down the mountain into Carpenter, who was still taking fire from Stagstripe.

"Get off me, you stupid male!" Carpenter growled, "That nut has a partner somewhere!"

"Waspinator not see partner," Waspinator whined, "Waspinator see Doggie-bot. Female Ant-bot could help deal with him."

"Go scrap yourself," Carpenter growled back, "His partner is going after the stasis pod."

Waspinator struggled to his feet and saw that Carpenter was right. There was another Maximal with Silverbolt. It was another fuzor, part tiger part deer. It was slowly working its way toward the stasis pod while laying down suppressing fire on Waspinator and Carpenter's position.

Inferno meanwhile took to the air to pursue Silverbolt. The male Predicon ant fired shot after shot of fireballs at the winged wolf, but Silverbolt managed to dodge most of Inferno's fire. The shots that did hit him burned the feathers on his wings and made flying slightly more difficult.

"You will burn, Maximal!" Inferno vowed behind him.

Silverbolt ignored him and flew toward the side of another nearby mountain. He dodged constantly to avoid being hit by Inferno's fire from behind him. The Maximal fuzor banked barely inches away from hitting the mountainside and flew up toward the sun. Inferno, paying no attention to anything but firing on Silverbolt, flew straight into the cliff face and then crashed to the ground below. Silverbolt flipped over to fire his feather missiles at the cliff itself. The resulting explosions caused a rockslide that buried Inferno under several tons of rock.

"That ought to keep him busy for awhile," Silverbolt sighed to himself and then turned back toward Stagstripe was dealing with Waspinator and Carpenter.

Stagstripe had been forced into a tight spot. The Predicon identified as Waspinator was not distracted by Silverbolt's initial attack and was firing down on his position while Carpenter moved up from the bottom of the mountain firing on him. This had kept him from making any further progress from moving toward the stasis pod. He'd dodge behind a rock and fire on Waspinator, to do only minor damage and to have Waspinator destroy the rock he was taking cover behind.

"Little Maximal can not escape from Waspinator!" Waspinator exclaimed triumphantly.

"Don't count him out yet!" came Silverbolt's voice as the first Maximal fuzor charged into the scene and rammed into Waspinator.

Silverbolt then threw a powerful punch that knocked Waspinator back several feet, giving Silverbolt the room to fire his feather missiles. He did so, which blasted Waspinator down to ground level. Another feather missile salvo brought a massive rock down on the Predicon wasp, pinning him there.

While Silverbolt dealt with Waspinator, Stagstripe dealt with Carpenter. The female Predicon ant fired several blasts at Stagstripe, but unlike the transmetal two Waspinator, she could not do much damage to the boulders that Stagstripe used as cover. Stagstripe fired back at her while he inched his way toward the stasis pod. He was thankful that the pod was closer to him then it was to the Predicon. His shots bounced off of several boulders that Carpenter used as cover, but a few did find their intended target. Unfortunately, Carpenter's armor was only slightly damaged. As she inched her way forward, she had to duck to avoid many of Stagstripe's shots. Eventually, she was knocked backward again by Silverbolt's feather missiles.

"Slagging males," Carpenter cursed, "Couldn't even take care of two Maximals. I'd better pull back for now. This pod is theirs."

Carpenter meanwhile transformed to her beast mode and moved away from the battle zone quickly. With the Predicon's retreat, Silverbolt and Stagstripe quickly converged on the stasis pod. Stagstripe watched as Silverbolt carefully operated the pod's computer to activate the pod inside. After a few seconds a snow leopard transformer slowly pulled itself out of the pod.

"Snowstalker, Maximize!" the transformer announced as she transformed to her robot mode.

Silverbolt and Stagstripe stood in silence as the femmebot pulled herself to her feet.

"Hello," Snowstalker greeted the other two Maximals.

"Hello, my Lady," Silverbolt answered with a polite bow.

Elsewhere

Megatron, Quickstrike, and Jawbreaker found their second pod in what appeared to be a dried up creek bed.

"Not a sign of anyone," Quickstrike commented as he moved up to the stasis pod.

"Good," Megatron answered as he folded his wings behind him, "then we shouldn't have to worry about any interference."

Not that Megatron was afraid of having to deal with some Maximal that came along. He was certain that the Maximals had no idea what his plan was and that he could activate the Maximal's stasis pods and use them to defeat the Maximals once and for all. Jawbreaker and Quickstrike took positions to make sure that no one could interfere with Megatron as he began activating the stasis pod. After a few minutes the pod's hatch opened and a large Spinosaurus transformer rose out of the pod. Covered in golden scales, the transformer adjusted its sail so that it caught the sunlight.

"So, where's the boss?" the transformer asked.

"I'm right here," Megatron answered simply.

The transformer eyed Megatron for a few moments before speaking.

"Well you certainly look like you're tough enough for a mug like me to follow," the transformer commented, "Spine, Terrorize!"

Megatron watched as Spine transformed to his robot mode. The new Predicon transformed in a similar manner to the way Megatron transformed from a Tyrannosaurus Rex to his robot mode in the first stages of the Beast Wars.

"So, what's our racket?" Spine asked as he approached Megatron.

"Conquering and defeating the Maximals," Megatron answered, "That is our ultimate goal, yes."

"Sounds interesting, boss," Spine answered.

"That it is," Megatron smiled back.

Ocean bottom

Rampage slowly approached the crashed stasis pod that lay on the ocean floor directly ahead of him. The water was actually fairly shallow, so the Predicon crab could see various creatures moving about the water around him. Octopix swam close behind him, and whenever he looked up he saw Terrorsaur hovering just above the water's surface. Megatron preferred that Terrorsaur actually activate the pods, but since this pod was a far distance away from land, Rampage decided to activate it on his own and transformed to his robot mode.

"Terrorsaur said only he could activate the pods," Octopix commented as he swam closer.

"You gonna listen to everything he says?" Rampage asked back, "He can't swim and there isn't any land for miles. I'm not going to haul a stasis pod that far. Besides, I don't think that Megatron would truly care all that much if I or Terrorsaur activate the pod so long as it's another Predicon."

Rampage then set to work activating the pod, and being sure to change the Maximal personality chip for that of a Predicon's. After a few moments, the pod opened and a lionfish transformer swam out of it.

"Stingfin, Terrorize!" the transformer announced and switched to its robot mode.

Rampage and Octopix stood silently as they saw that the transformer was female.

"Who are you?" Stingfin demanded as she turned her attention to Rampage and Octopix.

"I am Octopix and this is Rampage," Octopix explained, "And we are Predicons."

"Hey, I'll do the explaining," Rampage growled, "I'm in charge here…"

Rampage's comment was suddenly stopped as the transmetal crab felt pressure and pain come down on his spark. Stingfin then heard a third voice speak to her over a radio frequency.

"My name is Terrorsaur," Terrorsaur said over the radio, "I'm flying over the water, if you're wondering where I am. As Octopix said we are all Predicons. We are currently on a mission to activate various crashed Maximal stasis pods as Predicons for our leader, Megatron."

"What's in it for me?" Stingfin asked.

"What?" Terrorsaur questioned.

"What do I get if I help Megatron?" Stingfin rephrased her question, "I'm not going to do this for free."

"One, you'll get a share of the glory when we conquer the Maximals and Cybertron," Terrorsaur answered, "Two, and most importantly, you'll still be online if you help Megatron."

Stingfin looked to see that Rampage was recovering from whatever had caused him pain earlier and looked at Octopix. She noted that both were armed.

"I'll serve," Stingfin answered, "But I would like to negotiate with Megatron about a benefits package."

"Don't count on it," Rampage grumbled.

Outside the Predicon Base

Dinobot's transmetalized talons easily destroyed another of the small auto cannons that Megatron had placed around the crashed Darkside. The male raptor then looked down on Predicon ship and gave a half snarl as he did so. Rapther, Blackarachnia, Rattrap, and Optimus were close behind him.

"Man, you were right about this place bein' lightly guarded," Rattrap commented, "Other then those cannons, there hasn't been a sign of anyone. Not even Ravage or Inferno."

"Any Predicons that are here are likely to be inside the ship," Optimus commented, "That way they can run Sentinel at full power."

"This lends credibility to the fact that Megatron is looking for the crashed stasis pods," Rapther commented, "This had better work."

"It will," Optimus commented, "As much as I'd prefer to try and race Megatron to getting the most stasis pods activated, destroying his base would give us a better advantage. With no place to attack from, there isn't much that he can do. We're going to have to hope that Silverbolt, Cheetor, and Depthcharge can activate enough pods to make sure that Megatron can not activate most of them."

"How are we going to destroy the base though?" Blackarachnia asked, "Tarantulus and I took the Darkside's transwarp cell before the aliens first appeared here. There's nothing that could destroy the whole ship. And the energon fields are gone now, which means we can't set of the energon to create a similar reaction."

"That's were demolitions comes into play," Rattrap smirked, "A few bombs here, a grenade there and the Darkside will collapse on itself. Especially since it can't be too structurally sound since it crashed the way it did."

"And the fact that any battle with whoever is guarding the ship once we get inside is likely to do more damage," Dinobot added, "Destroying the Ark will not be the hard part."

"Then what is?" Blackarachnia asked.

Almost at the same time the five transformers watched the Sentinel shield raise itself around the crashed Darkside. Several other auto cannons began firing on their position as well. Dinobot quickly fired his optics lasers at several of the other cannons while Rattrap fired at them with his gun.

"Sentinel will be the most difficult part," Optimus answered as he destroyed another of the auto cannons with his weapons, "We'll have to wear the shield down in order to get into the base, and that could take awhile."

Five minutes later, the last of the auto cannons that could fire at them was destroyed and the five Maximals were left looking at the raised shields around the Darkside.

"Now to deal directly with the shield," Optimus said fired two powerful shots at the shield.

The other Maximals fired soon after. It took roughly ten minutes to wear down the Sentinel shield before it finally fell, leaving the space clear to attack the ship directly. Optimus then transformed to his vehicle mode and flew directly towards the roof armor near their position, intending to blast straight through the ship's armor. The other Maximals followed close behind.

"Okay," Optimus began, "Rattrap, I want you to start planting the various explosive charges in the points you think will destroy the base. Make sure that they are set to detonate after we have left the base."

"I'll place the detonation charge control in a remote," Rattrap answered, "We can 'blow' this joint in comfort."

The transmetal rat then went down one nearby hallway carrying a sack of explosives with him. Optimus, meanwhile, turned to the others.

"Our objective is to get to the bridge and recover Sentinel and any copies of Megatron's plans," Optimus said to the others.

They managed to get to the bridge rather quickly. Strangely, the bridge seemed to be abandoned.

"I can't believe Megatron left this place COMPLETELY unguarded," Rapther commented, "There should be someone here."

"Maybe the guard is looking for Rattrap or dealing with his explosives," Dinobot commented.

"Let's get Sentinel before we start worrying about why we haven't found anyone," Optimus commented and began to approach Megatron's throne.

Blackarachnia meanwhile moved to one of the other communications panels. Dinobot and Rapther moved to other various panels around the Predicon base's command center. Optimus found a few data pads around Megatron's throne. The Maximal commander put the pads in a compartment in his chest but couldn't find the Sentinal program box.

Rapther hadn't had any better luck as she looked around the computer panel that she was investigating. There were various maps of the planet and apparently security footage of Megatron taking an oil bath with a rubber ducky, but nothing else. Then, without warning, she felt something hit her left ankle, which because of the way her legs were designed was raised in the air, and knocked her to the ground. She let out a screech of pain and looked see that the blast had blown her foot off.

"Rapther!" Optimus exclaimed as another powerful blast came seemingly out of nowhere, toppling Megatron's throne onto the Maximal commander.

Blackarachnia turned to face whoever was firing on them, only to be hit in the chest by another powerful blast. It flung her back into the panel she was investigating and then forced her to the floor. She was thankful that her new transmetal two armor prevented her from taking serious damage, but she didn't want to take another hit like that.

Dinobot stood in momentary shock when he saw Rapther lying on the floor with her left foot blown off and then seeing Optimus and Blackarachnia taken out of the fight for the time being. The transmetal two raptor barely managed to avoid taking a hit from one of these blasts as he ducked down as he turned. The blast flew over his head and destroyed the panel he was investigating. He turned to see Ravage standing hidden in the shadows of the command center with a powerful laser-pulse rifle. His black coloring had kept him hidden from view. The male raptor gave a threatening snarl as he began to approach the Predicon.

"You can not beat me," Ravage snarled back.

Dinobot fired his optics laser, blasting the weapon as Ravage went to fire again. Ravage lunged forward at Dinobot in an attempt to knock the raptor off of the raised platforms down into the molten lava that the Predicon base's lowest levels had been consumed by. Dinobot caught the Predicon with one hand and with the large sickle-like talon on that hand, cut Ravage's hand off, while beheading the Predicon with talon on the other hand at the same time. Ravage's head bounced a few times before rolling to a stop near Optimus as he threw Megatron's throne off of him.

"Decepticons forever!" Ravage said weakly, his voice fading as he lost power, "Decepticons forever! Decepti…"

The last vow ended his optics dimmed. Dinobot then knocked the lifeless body of Ravage to the ground and moved back to the other Maximals in the area.

"Are you alright?" Optimus asked Rapther as he and Dinobot came closer.

"I'll be fine," Rapther winced, "As soon as I come out of the CR chamber."

Optimus sighed and looked down on the female raptor. Dinobot meanwhile stood in nervous silence looking on.

"Why don't you get her back to the Ark," Blackarachnia suggested, "We'll handle everything here."

"Would you mind getting a lift?" Optimus asked as he turned his focus back to Rapther.

"I'm going to have to take it," Rapther gave a hissing sigh, "I can't walk on one leg."

Optimus sighed and scooped the female raptor into his arms. He then activated his jets and left. Dinobot stood silently and watched as Optimus left.

"She'll be fine," Blackarachnia commenting from her position, snapping Dinobot out of it, "let's get back to work. The sooner we get Sentinel, the sooner we can leave."

Dinobot slowly nodded and returned to the panel he had been looking at earlier. He found it practically destroyed by Ravage's attack, but many of the nearby panels were still functional. Placed inside a computer panel near the floor was a small box-like panel that Dinobot did not remember being part of the Darkside when he had still been a member of the ship's crew. Grabbing it with one hand, he slowly began to pull it out. Once it was out he noticed the Maximal insignia painted on one side of the box.

"I believe I've found it," Dinobot announced and began to leave the base.

"I wonder how Megatron will react to seeing his base destroyed," Blackarachnia mused to herself as she turned to follow Dinobot out.

The two met up with Rattrap on their way out. The transmetal rat was carrying a small remote with him. Once they had gotten a safe distance away from the Darkside, Dinobot turned to Rattrap.

"Destroy the base," Dinobot ordered.

"Where's Primal?" Rattrap asked, "I ain't blowing that ship, till he's here and safe."

"Primal's gone back to the Ark with Rapther," Blackarachnia answered, preventing Dinobot from growling at Rattrap, "Ravage was hiding in the bridge and she needed to get to a CR chamber."

Rattrap turned to look at Dinobot, but found the raptor's face unreadable and shrugged. Rattrap then pressed the main button on the remote in his hand. What followed was a massive explosion that destroyed the crashed Darkside as various parts of the ship crashed to the ground, the three Maximals slowly began to make their way back to the Ark.

Desert

Tarantulus rolled to a stop, unaware that the Predicon base and Ravage had been destroyed. The pod lay half buried in sand near a small oasis. Slither and Scorpinok arrived just as the transmetal tarantula had taken his robot mode.

"Any sign of any Maximals?" Scorpinok questioned as he approached the pod.

"No," Tarantulus answered and began working on activating the pod as a Predicon.

The pod's computers proved to be the only thing that wasn't covered in sand and after a few minutes the three Predicons heard the sounds of something banging against the lid. Tarantulus sighed and quickly moved to help Scorpinok pull the pod out of the sand. Slither used his tail to wipe more sand away. Once the pod was out, the hatch opened and a camel transformer emerged from the pod.

"Supplex, Terrorize!" the transformer announced and took its robot mode.

"Supplex?" Scorpinok asked.

"I am a provisions expert," Supplex answered, "Give me a campaign and I'll find a way to supply it."

"Right now the campaign is merely a search for the Maximal's lost stasis pods," Scorpinok explained, "You will be helping us."

"Understood," Supplex nodded.

Ocean

Depthcharge and Cybershark had to dive deep to get to the next stasis pod that they were near, and both were thankful that their armor was easily able to resist the water pressure.

"Do you think the pod survived the water pressure?" Cybershark asked as he swam after Depthcharge, "I know I can feel it."

"The detection device is picking up the signal," Depthcharge answered, "It had to have survived."

Sure enough, they found that the pod had in fact survived. Both Maximals transformed to their robot modes as they approached the pod. Depthcharge worked to begin activating the pod while Cybershark covered him. The pod's scanner sent the scan wave miles into the blackness of the ocean depths before a compatible life form was found. After a few moments, the pod hatch opened and a massive blue whale transformer, almost as large as Optimus, emerged from the pod.

"Whaler, Maximize!" the transformer announced and transformed to its robot mode.

Depthcharge and Cybershark hovered in place as Whaler looked himself over.

"How far did the scanning equipment reach?" Whaler asked, "From Maximal studies of various organic life forms, I know that no whale even dives this deep."

Depthcharge looked to Cybershark, who only shrugged.

"We don't know," Depthcharge answered, "Right now, that isn't our main concern. Right now our main concern is making sure that we recover more stasis pods then the Predicons do."

Whaler looked at the transmetal manta ray with a puzzled look on his face.

"Why should that matter?" Whaler asked, "The Great War is long over."

"The Great War is over," Depthcharge sighed as he began to swim away, "But the Beast Wars are not."

"Great," Whaler sighed and began to swim after the other two Maximals.

Space

The lone spark had finally arrived in Earth's solar system and began to descend onto the planet. It quickly passed the Earth's moon and came down toward the Earth's surface. It found a lone stasis pod sitting on top of a cliff overlooking a long plain. The spark hovered near the pod's circuitry and discovered that the pod was a blank. The spark then quickly dove into the pod to activate itself.

"Spark detected," the pod's computer announced, "Previous DNA and personality accepted."

A few minutes later a peregrine falcon transformer hopped out of the pod and stretched its wings.

"The pod activated itself before we could activate it," came a voice from behind the falcon transformer.

It turned its head to see a triceratops transformer and a raven transformer. Remembering its previous ordeal the falcon quickly leaped into the air.

"Airazor, Maximize!" the falcon transformer announced and watched as the other two transformers took their robot modes as well.

"Who are you?" Airazor asked, "We've given you no reason to attack us."

"I am Gore, and this is Nightwing," the triceratops transformer announced, "We are acolytes of the Vok."

"As for your faction's involvement," Nightwing added, "The Maximals have done nothing directly. Your enemies, however, have deliberately altered time and space from the way the Vok ordered it to be. You persist in battling them, which has only made the damage grow greater."

"To solve this," Gore commented as he pulled his beast mode head out from behind him to use as a powerful laser cannon, "It has been decided that both your factions are to be destroyed."

Gore fired, but Airazor easily managed to dodge the attack and quickly fired her darts at Nightwing's wings, preventing the raven transformer from flying and quickly zoomed away near the speed of sound.

"I've got to warn the others," Airazor thought to herself as she broke the sound barrier.

Gore, meanwhile, helped Nightwing back to his feet.

"Scavenger isn't going to like this," Gore commented.

Nightwing could only nod in agreement.

Swamp

Venom and Croacker had found another stasis pod located in the middle of a large swamp. It was half buried in mud, but undamaged.

"This is getting easy," Venom chuckled to herself as she approached the pod.

"Yeah," Croacker added, "Scavenger will reward us."

"The real reward will come when the general arrives," Venom reminded him.

Croacker only nodded as Venom began to activate the pod. She made sure to implant a new personality chip which had a skull with long 'hairs' around it painted on the front of it. After a few minutes, the pod's lid opened and a snapping turtle transformer crawled out of it.

"Snapper, Organize!" the transformer announced.

Venom and Croacker watched as the new Vok acolyte cleaned the mud off of her armor.

"Welcome to the Vok acolytes," Venom greeted the new transformer.

"Thank you," Snapper answered, "I am ready to serve the general."

"Good," Croacker said firmly, "Unfortunately, the general has not yet arrived, and our orders are to secure as many Maximal stasis pods as possible."

"Any easy task," Snapper replied.

Tundra

Scavenger meanwhile observed several new Vok transformers beginning to work on a bridge between the continent that they were on and another one in the far distance. Ice and dirt were being piled up to create a land bridge and the work was being done as quickly as possible. Mammoth, a large wooly mammoth transformer did most the work as he pushed large sums of earth with his trunk.

Saber, a saber-toothed tiger transformer aided by tossing a few tree trunks from a nearby forest in Mammoth's direction so that they could be pushed into the land bridge as well. A large male polar bear transformer, who had take the name Polar Claw helped the other two push dirt and ice blocks into place. A female caribou transformer who had taken the name Ice Hoof meanwhile lead the direct observation of the progress and Scavenger found her to be quite the engineer.

Turning his attention from the construction of the land bridge, Scavenger turned his attention to a small hummingbird transformer that hovered nearby.

"Speed," Scavenger spoke quietly, "Go check on the other members of the army. I would like a situation report."

"Yes, sir," Speed nodded her head and flew off at high speed.

Jungle

Fang and Toxin found another stasis pod laying in the middle of a thick rainforest type environment next to a river. The pod was alone and undamaged.

"Man it's hot here," Fang grumbled, "Thank goodness this is the last stasis pod on this continent."

"I hadn't noticed," Toxin commented.

Fang looked down on the centipede transformer. The creature that Toxin's beast mode took after was quite tolerant of many temperatures, especially the warm ones. Fang could tolerate the heat, but he certainly didn't like it. He took his robot mode and slowly began to activate the pod. After a few minutes, the pod lid opened a poison dart frog transformer hopped out of it.

"Dart, organize," the transformer announced and took its robot mode.

Fang and Toxin looked the new transformer over then began to welcome Dart into the Vok acolytes.

Island

Prowl had flown a great distance east before he finally arrived at the location of the stasis pod that he had been sent to find. It was on an island miles east of the continent where the rest of the Vok's acolytes were located. He found the pod crashed through a small forest and had upset a colony of hornets. Prowl was surprised by how large these hornets were. They were massive and several of them were buzzing around the stasis pod. Prowl blasted a few of them with a small laser blaster and cleared the way to begin activating the pod. The hornets continued buzz around both the pod and Prowl. The insect's stings did nothing to the robot's armored body, and he viewed them as little more then an annoyance. After a few minutes the pod activation process was finished and the pod hatch opened.

Prowl stepped back as a large hornet of the same species of hornet that had been swarming around the pod emerged.

"Heavsting, Organize," the new transformer buzzed and took her robot mode.

"Welcome to the Vok's acolytes," Prowl greeted the new transformer.

"What is your purpose here?" Heavsting answered in a plain voice, differentiating herself from Waspinator, whose voice buzzed.

"I was sent by Scavenger to activate as many Maximal stasis pods as possible to prepare for the destruction of the Maximals and Predicons, who have disordered the galaxy," Prowl answered.

"We are the scouts," Heavsting commented.

"At the present time, yes," Prowl nodded, "But soon, we will be the attacking force."

To Be Continued…