"LET GO OF ME!!"
Megator turned at those words and felt a superior smile form at his lips. "Ah, my dear Ms. Windchaser. I see you somehow managed to get off that cliff-face, although it did you no good. No."
"Do you always talk to yourself, Megabum?" Windchaser growled out at Megator, as she struggled to get free, obviously more than a little angry.
"I simply have a longing for INTELLIGENT conversation, bird."
"You still haven't answered my question, you purple behemoth!"
"Oh, you'll pay for that bird, yeeeessssss."
"I doubt it, BARNEY."
"Royalty!" Inferno shouted as he led ten fighters into the desert clearing where their new base resided. The fighters were carrying a gigantic black box; "I have captured the cat my queen! He resides in this box of his own free will! Awaiting YOU to open it."
"Ah, good. Now Maximals, prepare to witness my flawless victory as I open this box and have your loyal cat join my ranks… Open it!"
Inferno quickly opened the box. As the door swung open, Megator's gloat was replaced by anger and surprise at what awaited him there. "WHAT?!? You fool! That's a ROCK!! Where is the cat?!?"
"Right behind you."
Megator stiffened at the voice behind him. He spun around to find himself looking at Cheetor's new beast-mode.
Optimus looked at Cheetor's new form in surprise. He was built like a heavier version of his old Trans-metal mode, but he had fur now instead of metal for his hide. Although he had had kept the long jaw of his Trans-metal; he now had gold wings instead of engines. Optimus blinked as he realized that the new form seemed to have retractable claws. A definite change from when Cheetor, like the Cheetah he mimicked, could not fully retract his claws.
Megator smiled, "Very intelligent cat. You used the hologram ability that I gave you to trick Inferno into thinking that he had captured you. Leaving you free, as well as giving yourself ample opportunity to find out where our new base resided. Ohohoho, I like you pussycat, yeeeessssss. Now, what do you have to say for yourself, hmmmmmm?"
Megator smiled at Cheetor, but Cheetor didn't return the smile. He just walked slowly into the circle of Predicons and walked around till he hit an area with no one behind him, then turned to face Megator. Cheetor leaned back slightly. He obviously knew exactly what he had to do.
"I have just two words to say to you, Megator, and those two words will prove my allegiance to all beyond a shadow of a doubt."
Everyone leaned forward, especially the Maximals. What was the cat planning?
"Cheetor…"
Well, here was the answer.
"MAXIMIZE!!!"
Cheetor transformed. He transformed in the same manner as Windchaser. He kept the cat legs and a small flap went down just like hers, but unlike Windchaser, he kept his cat's tail. Like Windchaser, his wings pulled back to show a secret compartment that had held his robot arms before. However, now his cat front legs swung around as his robot arms swung out and the cat legs were then hidden as the wings swung closed and hid them. Unlike his old transformation, the cat's head did not become his chest plate; it lifted up and over, clicking into place on his back, with the cat's head facing up. Much like Rhinox's rhino head did, but unlike Rhinox's rhino head, Cheetor's cat head was completely on his back, with the tip of the muzzle touching his shoulder blades.
Megator stared in open amazement as Cheetor calmly crossed his arms in front of the stylized, blue flame symbol that decorated his chest and looked at Megator.
"Your move, Megabum."
"All Predicons fire on the cat. FIRE!!"
All of the Predicons started shooting at Cheetor. Cheetor flipped his wings in front of him and soon, none could see him for the smoke of all the impacting weapons. Finally, Megator called for a stop.
"Well done Predicons. NOTHING could have survived that."
"Guess again…"
Megator spun around at the voice, just in time to see golden wings sweep forward then return to behind his shoulders, revealing a VERY uninjured Cheetor.
"WHAT!?! HOW?!?"
"You designed this exo-structure very well Megator, including wings made of Tironium. You know that almost indestructible material that stasis-pods are made of. Coupled with my ability to make almost instantaneous self-repairs; along with abilities and weapons that I can't even access yet; well, you may have bit off a bit more than you can chew.
"Blast you to the PIT, cat!! Predicons… destroy him!"
Cheetor got balanced for the fight. Waspinator was the first to get within fighting distance. It wasn't even a real fight. Waspinator was scrap in a nanoclick. That was enough to make the other Predicons pause. They looked at each other, then back at Megator.
"Well, apparently the cat has some new fighting abilities. Tarantulas … destroy him!"
Tarantulas raced forward in robot-mode, yelling and shooting. Cheetor simply kept dodging the blasts, but otherwise he didn't move. That is, until Tarantulas reached him. Then, Cheetor punched him, hard enough to take Tarantulas off his feet and send him flying three times his body length back and sending the Tarantula crashing into the blackness of being off-line.
"Alright… who's next?"
Three or more at a time, the Predicons attacked Cheetor. The cat simply dodged, spun, and retaliated. The cat was as tall as Rhinox, but he had kept his cat speed, making him an extremely dangerous adversary. Everyone was intensely watching the fight, including the Predicon that held Windchaser captive. Windchaser smiled to herself, 'Caught going into enemy turf, dragged in front of Megator, and now held captive while Rodeesh fights the enemy. All and all, everything is going according to plan. ' Windchaser didn't even wait when the Predicon stopped concentrating on her. She elbowed the fighter as hard in the stomach as she could. As soon as her grip on her loosened a bit, she tore her arms free and spun around. She kicked him as hard as she possibly could between the legs, then grabbed him by the shoulders. A split-nanoclick later, the poor Predicon was getting a lesson in flying backwards and upside down. He didn't enjoy it, or his abrupt landing into the wall of the warcruiser hull.
"Well, I like DAT move, cat-bird," Rattrap said with a chuckle as Windchaser hurried up to their cages and began trying to figure out how to open them. "Alright, how'd ya manage dis?"
"Simple. Rodeesh pulled me up off the cliff-face, then came up with this plan," Windchaser smiled, then chuckled. "So far, everything is going according to plan."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"What's wrong, Preds? Afraid to fight the kitty-cat? Come-on! Try to fight!" Cheetor's voice was filled with rage.
Rattrap shook his head as Windchaser said half in pity and half in laughter.
"Poor Preds! They haven't got a chance!"
Cheetor suddenly popped up at Windchaser's side. "Hurrying would be good 'Chase. Megator's powering up!"
"I'm going as fast as I can! I just can't cut through this!"
Windchaser opened her mouth to ask Rodeesh for help when suddenly the cat used the blades on his arms to quickly slash through the locks on the cage doors. "Can we get a bit more of a move on, 'Chase?"
"Oh, you're so funn… Rod watch out!!!"
Cheetor didn't ask what Windchaser meant. He spun so that he faced the direction that Windchaser had pointed to and snapped his wings in front of himself. It was just in time to block Megator's blast. But the sheer force of it pushed him back. Cheetor's wings were holding up against the strain of the laser blast, but even with his feet braced in the ground, he still moved back, his feet leaving furrows in the ground.
"Maximals -- Maximize and open fire!" Optimus shouted as soon as Windchaser shot the last lock. Megator stopped firing at Cheetor and turned his attention to the Maximals as they all opened fire at him.
Cheetor had been leaning forward so the blast wouldn't knock him over and expose any unprotected area. However, with the sudden lack of laser pushing at him, he lost his balance and fell rather ungracefully forward. Cheetor struggled up to his knees and raised his right arm. A small arm mounted laser popped up and a bright red laser lashed out, tearing it's way through Megator's shoulder.
"Ahhhhhhrg! Blast you cat! You will die for this! Yeeeessssss."
Cheetor looked down at his arm and the small laser with a surprised look that quickly turned into a slight grimace. "Well, THAT was unexpected." he muttered. Cheetor dodged to the side as Megator turned his attention, and his laser, back to him. Cheetor rolled nimbly to the side, then stopped rolling and pushed himself off the ground and onto one knee. He drew the gold bow tight as he aimed, and paled at the sight that greeted his optics.
"Optimus!"
"Now cat, stand down, or I will kill your precious leader. Yeeeessssss," Megator said, holding Optimus in front of him by the neck. "You will not fire. Everyone knows how bad your aim is and *I* know that you will not risk harming your leader."
Cheetor stayed on one knee. But he slowly drew his arrow back the rest of the way, sighting along the shaft. "You may know my aim with energy weapons, Megator. But you made the mistake of making the bow and arrow my primary weapons, and with these weapons, I am a master."
With that, Cheetor released the arrow. It raced through the air with only a slight whistling sound to accompany it. The arrow slid right through the opening in Megator's defense.
"Ahhhhhhrg!" Megator screamed as the arrow pierced his hide. Releasing Optimus, Megator tore the arrow out and glared at Cheetor. Then he did a double take. That marking on his chest… "NO! It can not be!!"
"New form, new abilities… old memories… Rodeesh, is back."
"NOOOOOO!! Predicons, retreat into the base! Engage autoguns!!"
"Running would be good Optimus!" Cheetor said as the Predicon's automatic weapons kicked in. "Running would be a REALLY good idea!!"
"Maximals, transform and pull out!"
Halfway back to base, Cheetor finished up a rough summery of his life. He told them the main points of his past and what had happened right up to when he had shown up at Megator's base.
Optimus chuckled as Rattrap began complaining again. Something's never change, most noticeably on the list, Rattrap and Cheetor.
Cheetor beat his wings in the air and did a summersault in beast –mode. "Well, let's head in fellow fighters, our battle for today is wo…"
"YOU HAVE WON NO BATTLES YET. RODEESH OF THE MAXIMALS!!" a voice boomed out of the sky.
Everyone snapped their heads up to see something that made them all tremble.
"UNICRON!!!"
"YES. IT IS I! PREPARE TO DIE!!"
"Well this is not good…" Cheetor muttered under his breath as he looked up in shock at the moon sized being above them.
"NOW YOU, AND ALL THAT YOU HOLD DEAR, WILL PERISH!"
Cheetor glared up at Unicron…
"I don't think so… Strike Team attack!!"
Of all the things that Optimus had expected, THIS was not one of them. Unicron showing up and knowing Cheetor, well Rodeesh's, name was pretty terrifying. He had half-expected Cheetor to fall flat on his face. He hadn't. To be sure, when Unicron appeared every one that had been in the air had landed when earth's atmosphere was pulled towards Unicron, creating a storm of terrible proportions. Cheetor and Windchaser maximized almost as soon as they landed. Suddenly, almost seeming to come out of thin air, Nightwolf and Skywitch showed up. Optimus had a feeling that he wasn't the only one that growled up at Unicron's threat. But to his utter surprise when Unicron announced that he would kill them now, he hadn't expected Cheetor to narrow his eyes and tell the Strike to attack. However, just as he realized that that was exactly what Cheetor had done, the Strike team had taken off, and was racing up towards Unicron.
"Dat crazy kid! They'll be killed!"
"Maybe, maybe not. It's a good day to die. So let's do it!"
"Slag, I KNEW that I was going to have to protect that kid!"
"Prime. Let's do it!"
"I don't believe this! There is no way that we can win against that, that… THING!!"
"Ah, but don't forget my love; we shall fight until the bitter end, and all shall remember…"
*'Do you ever stop with the speeches, 'Bolt?'*
"Well I… never… I should…"
*'Save it, Bowzer!'*
*'I HEARD that, Windchaser!'*
*'Good. You were supposed to! Now get your never-quiet-mouth up here! Maybe you can bore Unicron to sleep!'*
*'Windchaser…'*
*'What?!? I didn't do anything, Rodeesh!'*
*'Cheetor.'*
*'Rodeesh.'*
*'Cheetor!!'*
*'Rodeesh!!'*
*'Will you two save it!?!'*
*'Sorry!!'*
*'Let's do it! And it's Cheetor!'*
*'Rodeesh!'*
*'Cheetor!'*
*'What did Rhinox just say to the two of you?'*
*'Sorry!!'*
*'Rodeesh, watch your left! Incoming!!'*
*'Copy that! Cheetor!'*
*'Rodeesh!'*
*'Oh I give up!'*
*'What?!?'*
Cheetor was doing plenty of damage, Depthcharge noticed. The cat climbed into the air away from Unicron and then dove back down. Cheetor would then slam his claws into Unicron's hide and let his momentum spin him around and pull him back, leaving deep scour marks in Unicron's hide.
*'Fall back! I repeat, all fighters fall back!!'* Cheetor started slightly at Optimus's voice as it came over the comm. He glanced around then repeated Optimus's order when the Strike Team stayed behind.
"We need to find a way to fight him, Optimus!" Cheetor said, coming up beside the giant robot, "Do any of you remember how the Autobots fought Unicron? I… I think they used the matrix, right? I can't remember what Rodimus said about it…"
"Kiddo, come on, ya just got these memories back. Ya can't remember everything."
"I… don't trust the memories yet. I guess I… wait a nanoclick! I do know one thing that we can do!"
"What would that be, pussycat?" Depthcharge asked as he came up beside Cheetor, Optimus and Rattrap. Rattrap looked over from his perch on Optimus and gave a half grin.
"Well… we need more fighters right?"
"Right," Optimus said, not seeing where Cheetor was going in this.
"Well… I know where we can get a lot of fighters that will probably be willing to fight Unicron with us."
"The stasis-pods? That won't work, kid. We don't have time to find and activate all of them." Depthcharge stated; though he was beginning to get a glimmer of where Cheetor was going.
"That's not what I meant. I mean; some already on-line fighters that will probably hate Unicron as much as we do, and will probably be willing to help us get rid of him."
"But…" Optimus said, a bit confused "the only fighters beside us that are on-line are…"
"Yeah, the Predicons."
"You're crazy kiddo, ya know dat, right?" said Rattrap, "Why would Megator agree to help US?"
"Well, I didn't say that I liked this idea. And if anybody has a better suggestion, I would love to hear it. But… we need the fighters, and I somehow doubt that Megator would want Unicron to destroy a planet that he couldn't get off of."
"Well, that's just PRIME."
*'Predicon base, come in.'*
Megator looked up from his throne. Such anger and controlled power in that voice, yeeeessssss. It was strong enough that he forgot the fact that he had been musing over the sudden weather change and walked over to the new comm. station and answered the unknown maximal himself.
*'Megator here, Maximal. Who said that? Yeeeessssss."
*'This is CHEETOR, Megator. Now listen up, ya miswired… Have any of you trash-bots scanned the skies lately?'*
*'Is there any reason that we should have done so, cat?'*
*'I think a moon-sized evil entity is a REASON, Megator."
*'WHAT are you talking about?'*
*'UNICRON Megator. Unicron is here."
"What?!? Waspinator, I want a scan of everything that's in the sky, NOW!!"
"Wazzzipinator scanning; scan shows cat-bot, bird-bot, dog-bot, bird-dog-bot, and lizard-bot in skies…"
*'We detect nothing in the skies but you, the Strike Team, Silverbolt and this storm, cat. What are you…'*
*'Look UP, you idiot!! Use your optics!!!'*
*'By the pit… Unicron. What do you want, cat?'*
*'A truce, a REAL truce. We work together until Unicron is destroyed. No one goes into anybody else's base. No one tries to kill anyone except Unicron.'* Cheetor paused, then added, *'and you stay clear from Optimus. Deal?'*
*'Agreed, cat. I will honor this truce UNTIL Unicron is destroyed.'*
*'Fine… Cheetor out.'*
"Well," Cheetor said to the flyers that hovered in the storm beside him. "He meant it when he said he'd honor it, if nothing else. Let's just hope that he doesn't change his mind."
"I am open to suggestions, Cat," Megator said, glaring at Cheetor. The cat had not only had at least ONE Maximal watching him at all times, but he had personally kept Megator out of range of Optimus. It was maddening! Now when the leaders met, Cheetor showed up, with the eagle-cat tight at his heels. His excuse for showing up? Simple. He led the Strike Team. Therefore, all decisions that would or could endanger HIS team would be stated now and he would be present to argue for or against the plan. His REAL reason? Easy to see. To protect Optimus from Megator… by force if necessary.
You need not worry so much, cat. I will abide by my promise, yeeeessssss."
"Until Unicron is destroyed, we are allies, Megator. But be warned. The only reason that I abide by this treaty is that I am not leader but second-in-command under Rodeesh. He alone keeps your life intact. Once this Unicron is destroyed though, watch your back. I will soon have you as my prey, and none have survived being so for long."
Megator turned to glare at the eagle-cat. What was this annoying femme called again? Ah, yes.
"Rest at ease, Ms. Windchaser. I promise that your record of THAT will end the nanoclick I kill you. I may even let you fight long enough to understand my superiority, femme."
"IF we can return to our WAR CONSEL?" Optimus said, as Cheetor physically pulled Windchaser off Megator's throat. "We have more pressing concerns. Such as destroying Unicron."
"Yeah, DAT'S goin' ta be fun."
"You should not speak in such a manner to the royalty, vermin!"
"May I ask you again Primal? Why must we encumber ourselves with our seconds-in-command? Yeeeessssss."
"Prime. Can we get back to our more pressing topic is here?!?"
Cheetor switched to beast-mode and roared at the top of his lungs (sounding like the almost-lion one heard during the Beast Wars Intro).
Windchaser had been the only one to cover her audio-receivers, everyone else could not hear for a cycle or two. Cheetor maximized and glared at Megator, since he had been the one that had started the whole argument.
"Now LOOK… I am NOT in the mood for a fight, either physical or verbal. If we do not decide on what to do about Unicron NOW, we will all be dead, and these arguments will be the cause! Now… Megator, the Predicons have data tracks that include Unicron. Correct?"
"Yeeeessssss."
"Optimus, did YOU find any data on Unicron in the Axalon's data tracks?"
"Yes."
"The Strike Team and I went through the Drake's files and copied all the data onto this crystal. As we agreed, we have a computer here that is attached to NO computers at EITHER base. That means that we can all use it without worrying."
"That's prime, Cheetor. Let's finish this before Unicron's attack begins again."
"That is a question that we should all ponder as well Primal, Unicron IS here. Why has he stopped his attack?"
"I don't know Megator. There probably is a reason… 'sides REALLY good luck!"
"How can you possibly call UNICRON good luck cat?!?"
"No Megator, I don't call Unicron good luck. I call still being alive to FIGHT him good luck. I just hope that it holds."
"Now Cheetor, if you are done with your little inspirational speech… let us see what information we have… yeeeessssss."
