Transformers: All Spark

by Shei B. Kroeker

Nearly 100 years after the events of Transformers: Cybertron, a new generation of Autobots under the leadership of Blurr must battle the new Decepticons under the leadership of Starscream for the ultimate power in the universe: the All Spark.

13. Chapter 12: To Jungle Planet!

Chapter Twelve:
To Jungle Planet!

The next morning, Hotstreak was in Towline's science lab, curious to know if the tech had any thoughts on the strange energy sword that had appeared in and disappeared from his hand. Towline, though, was currently busy with the tests he was running on Blade Stryke's sword which had been pulled from the depths of the Seta Ravine.

"Don't misinterpret, son," Towline was saying, not once taking his optics off his work, "I'm very curious to find out the cause of your recent experience, but without a tangible object to study, such efforts would be in vain."

Hotstreak scratched his helm and sighed; "I guess that makes sense," he responded looking over Towline's shoulder at Blade Stryke's recovered sword, "So…what've you learned from that?"

"Nothing about Blade, if that's what you mean, but…take a look at this."

The older mech commanded the lights in the building to shut off, and the room went pitch black save for the illumination of Hotstreak and Towline's optic sensors. That was almost comical to see, like two cartoon characters on an otherwise blacked-out screen. Hotstreak was a little confused.

"While your optics are a lovely shade of orange," he said sarcastically, "I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary in the dark."

"Just wait a nano," Towline assured, "science takes time; watch."

As his optics began to adjust to the lack of light, Hotstreak could just barely make out Towline's outline. He was holding what looked like a scanning wand in his left hand, and he was sweeping back and forth like the beam mechanism in what humans called a "copier machine." As the object passed over, portions of the blade reacted, glowing with a dim electric blue light.

"How—?" Hotstreak was baffled, "How did you do that?"

"When Silverbolt heard about the possible discovery of the All Spark," Towline explained as the lights came back on, "he had Wheeljack fashion three of these… locators, if you will, that have a small concentration of energy from the Iacon Chambers stored in them. It's theorized that that power was originally provided by the All Spark, but we don't have anything like Cybertron's ICs here on Velocitron. Blade's sword shouldn't have reacted to the scan like that, unless…"

Towline trailed off leaving Hotstreak in an unbearable suspense while the older mech shuffled through some data tracks for an unspecified compilation of text. When he finally found what he was looking for, he loaded it into the computer and went on scanning through all the data on the disc until he found his particular file. Hotstreak was getting a bit edgy in Towline's silence, but he managed to maintain his composure and save face when he spoke up.

"Unless what?" he asked.

"Unless," Towline responded slowly, "the scientific theories about the ICs are actually facts, and the life-giving power flowing through them really is from the All Spark."

Hotstreak raised an optic ridge in confusion; "Okay…" he mused, "…so what you're saying is…yeah, I don't get it. What does all that have to do with Blade's sword and its reaction to the scan?"

"Think about it, kid. This weapon is radiating with IC power, and since we don't have an IC on Velocitron it means…?"

Hotstreak crossed his arms over his chest plat in contemplation; "Um…" was the only answer he could muster.

Towline smacked the palm of his servo to his forehead; "Slag it all, Hotstreak!" he blurted, "Science really is over your helm isn't it? That means it was here, kid! The All Spark was right here on Velocitron, and Blade Stryke was right there with it—within centimeters of it, at least!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hotstreak exclaimed when the realization hit him, "So then, there's still a chance she survived!"

"Or was incinerated," Towline contradicted, his tone shifting from excitement to a gloomy uncertainty, "The All Spark is said to be raw power. Very few tales show bots coming in contact with it and surviving. That which gives life, can also take it under certain circumstances."

What a way to kill a hope, Towline, Hotstreak thought almost bitterly. Just then, Blurr entered the science lab with Max in tow. At dawn's first light, the two of them had gone back out to the desert to follow up on the Energon trail Max had found the day before. They had hoped to use that trail to locate Freeride and Siren, and now some of Hotstreak's own hope returned.

"Blurr! Max!" He shouted with renewed enthusiasm, "Please tell me you have some better news than what I've been hearing."

"Not gonna happen, bro," Max spoke up first, a hit of annoyance in her voice, "the trail was just another dead end. We followed it all the way to the last bit, and there was nothing there but their tire tracks, which by the way just cut off in the middle of the desert! There was nothing but a freaking crater of sinking sand!"

"That's not all," Blurr added much more calmly than Max, "We also found evidence of a large space transport vehicle that must have occupied the same spot. I think it's safe to say that those two femmes are no longer on Velocitron."

"But how's that possible?" Hotstreak asked.

"I don't know," Blurr admitted, "but as of now, our search missions for the femmes are officially over. We've done everything we could for them, now it's time to help our allies on Jungle Planet—even though they don't remember being allies. Towline, could you get any communications to the beast bots?

Towline shook his head; "Negative," he said, "all com channels on Jungle Planet are dead. I can't even get a signal from their Space Bridge, which means that that's offline as well. It's like a planet-wide quarantine."

"No Space Bridge?" Max echoed, "Great. Now we'll have to find another way to the planet."

"We?" Blurr repeated sharply, "Just what makes you think you're going this time?"

Max was momentarily taken by surprise; "Well," she spoke carefully, "why wouldn't I? I'm already in this deep with everything."

"You're not coming. The whole of Jungle Planet seems hostile now, and we won't be able to keep you safe and focus on the beasts. Sorry, kid, you're going to have to sit this one out."

"But I have—"

"That's an order, Maxine; it's not open for debate. I'm not hearing any more about it."

Max folded her arms defiantly but did not press the issue any further. Satisfied, Blurr called Clocker in from the training course, and when he arrived, Blurr started explaining his plan for Jungle Planet.

"For starters," he began, "we'll deal with getting to Jungle Planet. Just because their Space Bridge is offline doesn't mean we can't still travel by ours."

"True," Towline agreed with just a hint of doubt, "but it's a dangerous venture. Without a receiving bridge to lock on to, the sender could become unstable, and the travelers could be flung all over the planet. The chances of everyone landing in a safe location—and all together—are approximately seven thousand two hundred twenty-four to one. That's bad enough considering the treacherous landing possibilities."

"A chance we'll have to take. Aim the Space Bridge as best as you can towards a safe clearing. There should be some acceptable coordinates stored in the computer memory from Hot Shot's last visit. Anyway, once we get there, we'll need to locate whoever's in charge. Clocker and Hotstreak, I want you two ready to depart by 1430 hours. That means you'll have half the day to prepare the Space Bridge, Towline."

Towline acknowledged and departed for the Space Bridge terminal. Max also left the science lab, but she didn't bother to tell anyone where she was going. When she was out of earshot, Hotstreak looked over at Blurr and raised an optic ridge matter-of-factly.

"She'll end up going to Jungle Planet anyway, you know," he said smugly, "You'll see."

Blurr did not bother to respond. He was confident in that even though Max was persistent, the young human would not disobey his command. Without further discussion, Blurr and Clocker left the science lab, but Hotstreak opted to stay behind a little longer. He looked over at the sword on the lab table; it was all that was left of his friend, and he considered taking it as his own weapon. After all, Skullgrin was still at large and every bit as dangerous as Venomous and Road Rage were, and Hotstreak's new weapon was too random to be reliable. He reached his hand out towards the handle of the sword, and as he did, he head something.

"Hotstreak…" a voice called out like a whisper.

Thinking someone was nearby, Hotstreak pulled his hand back; "Hello?" he sad, he voice echoing down empty halls, "Blurr?"

When no one answered, Hotstreak shrugged and returned to the sword. Again he reached out to pick it up, and again the voice called out to him, only much louder.

"Hotstreak!"

"What the—?" the young Autobot was startled, "It's coming from the sword?"

Hotstreak did not hesitate any further as he took a hold of the black and silver weapon, and when he did, it was like a thousand voices crying out for help. He was surrounded by a halo of that strange blue electric light which dissipated until Hotstreak could see the distorted image of a world that he could only identify as Jungle Planet. Half of the population of beast bots seemed to be fleeing in terror from some unseen foe. There was one bot, almost completely blurred to vision, that appeared to be leading the frightened beasts to safety. Then a voice from s distance—a femme—called out to the leader.

"Lookout, Depth Charge!"

Then there was an explosion, and Hotstreak was thrown from the dream! Blade Stryke's sword clattered to the floor as Hotstreak fought to regain himself. What in the name of Cybertron was that? he thought when he could finally see straight, A vision of Jungle planet? But how could I get visions from Blade's sword? Unless… As the thought trailed off, Hotstreak remembered what Towline had said about the weapon being infused with All Spark power; perhaps the vision was actually induced by the residual energy from the All Spark onto the blade. Okay, the young mech pondered once more, that explains where the hallucination came from, but…Towline had had his servos on that sword all day. Why didn't he see anything? He looked down at the weapon he had dropped on the floor, the light-blue electric currents subtly running over it, and he realized it was the same substance his own mysterious sword had been made of.

"Coincidence?" he asked himself aloud, "I think not. I've got to tell Blurr about this…and about what I saw!"

As he was leaving, Hotstreak took one last look at the fallen sword. The electric currents had ceased to flow, leaving the weapon dormant with no obvious signs of power to it. He hesitated at first, wondering whether or not to leave it where it lay, but he decided that that was ridiculous in itself. He reached for it and, hearing no voices, picked it up once more. Seeing no vision this time, he proceeded to store the blade on his back.

"I think I'd better take this with me," he decided at long last, "If the lingering All Spark power gives me any more visions, it might even lead me to find Blade Stryke and the others."

He dashed out of the science lab towards the Communications Center with his newfound knowledge, full of new hope for the upcoming mission.

* * *

Blurr was on the comlink to Autobot City on Earth talking with Jazz, the stand-in commander in Crosswise's stead. They were discussing the possibilities of the All Spark's recent discovery.

"According to Towline," Blurr was saying, "there's a good chance the All Spark may have been here on Velocitron at least for a brief period of time. A recovered weapon from one of our missing femmes was completely saturated with power matching that which flows through the Iacon Chambers on Cybertron."

"Wild, Blurr," Jazz responded in wonder, "absolutely wild. Still, there's not much the rest of us can do. Even if the All Spark had been there, it's not there now, so whatever proof you may have won't be of much help. The All Spark—if legends are true—could have transported itself halfway across the universe by now."

"I know, Jazz, but there is also the slim chance it may have gone to one of the Cyber Planets. Don't worry too much about focusing on the All Spark just yet, but do me a favor. My team is about to head out to Jungle Planet for a recon mission, so would you mind relaying my message about the All Spark to the other Leaders-Apparent?"

"Sure thing, Blurr. By the way, have you heard anything from Jetfire and the others?"

A new shadow of concern fell over Blurr's mechanical face as he pondered Jazz's question; "No," he said finally, "Come to think of it, I haven't put much thought into the whereabouts of our leaders until you mentioned them."

"Well, it's been almost two solar cycles since they left your system, and there hasn't been a single contact from them since. I'm a little worried."

"Let's not jump to conclusions, Jazz," Blurr said, hiding his own concern, "They told us before they departed that such connections might be impossible to achieve."

"Perhaps, but the path they took to the starship Atlantis should have lead them right by Cybertron and Earth—well within communications range."

"It'll take them at least two more solar cycles to pass Gigantion, though. We should give them that long to correspond with us on their progress—we can save the worrying for later. For now, let's fill in Silverbolt and Hoist on the current All Spark status."

"Got it. Jazz, out."

When the communication ended, Blurr's hidden fear for the Planet Leaders surfaced. He accessed the main computer and ordered it to trace out the last known trajectory of the Planet Leaders and the predicted path they were on towards the exploration ship Atlantis, the vessel Jetfire had chosen to investigate first. Once the computer complied, Blurr saw that the Leaders had already passed Cybertron and so estimated the approximate time in which they would pass by Gigantion.

"Computer," Blurr commanded, "copy this file and send it to Hoist on Gigantion with the following encrypted message:

"'The Planet Leaders will be passing you in two point seventy-five solar cycles. We have been unable to make contact, but they should be in com your range by then. Keep the rest of us informed.

—Commander Blurr, Velocitron'"

The computer obeyed and sent the message immediately. No sooner had that been completed did Hotstreak come busting through the Communication Center doors. Blurr was taken by surprise, and all the drones present went into security mode with their electromagnetic pulse rays ready. Hotstreak paid them no mind at all as he ran straight to Blurr.

"Sentinel Drones! Stand Down!" Blurr ordered quickly before turning to Hotstreak with a disappointed look, "By the Pit, Hotstreak! What in the Inferno has gotten your circuits all in a twist?"

"Hold on a nano!" Hotstreak responded hastily, looking for something amidst the darkened corners of the room, "Um…has Towline got the Space Bridge positioned yet?"

"Not quite, why? And what in the galaxy are you looking for?"

"Max…I know she's in here somewhere eavesdropping."

Blurr folded his arms over his chest plate and raised an optic ridge in amusement; "'Streak," he said clearing his resonator to hide a chuckle, "Max isn't even on the planet anymore. Sunstreaker picked her up about half a mega cycle ago and took her back to Earth."

"Oh…wait, what? Really? Where was I?"

"Don't act so surprised, kid. Max may be persistent, but she wouldn't go against direct orders. She sent for a ride just after I told her she couldn't come to Jungle Planet with us. That aside, why are you suddenly so concerned about the Space Bridge? Just the other day, you didn't even want to go to Jungle Planet."

Hotstreak paused for a moment trying to gather his words together to explain his vision without sounding like a psycho-mech. Before long, he realized that that was an impossible plan, so he just told it as it had happened. He revealed what had happened when he touched the sword, trying very hard no to sound like a fool. He talked about the vision itself last, hoping his vivid details about a planet he had never actually seen before would be convincing enough.

"…and as for locating the bot in charge," Hotstreak concluded, "if I heard correctly, that would be a mech called Depth Charge."

Blurr had been listening intently to everything the younger mech had to say, but the look in his optics was obvious skepticism. It was a radical story, after all; human children would not have believed it. Still, Blurr was not the type to dismiss anything, especially noting the specific planetary details of Jungle Planet when Hotstreak had never been off Velocitron before.

"You know that's quite a wild tale," he pointed out.

"I know," Hotstreak agreed in a rush, "it's slaggin' insane, but I know what I saw. We must get to Jungle Planet quickly, or the only thing left to rescue will be burnt-out toaster parts!"

Blurr nodded; "I don't want to challenge the possibility," he said in concurrence, "but Towline's work on the Space Bridge isn't finished yet. If he's rushed, it could land us in a volcano or over a cliff. The terrain on Jungle Planet is so wild that locating a safe entry zone could be next to impossible."

"Yeah, but—!"

"Hotstreak, unless your dream mystically gave you useful longitude and latitude, we aren't going anywhere. We don't have a choice but to wait until Towline finishes aligning the Space Bridge."

Hotstreak dropped his hands in defeat. Blurr was right; there was nothing that could be done to speed the process up. Hotstreak was beginning to get anxious. Sure whish Freeride was here, he thought, Right about now she'd have some brilliant idea about where to aim the bridge…like…he let the thought trail as he realized the answer. Of course! Why didn't we think about that before?

"Blurr, I just thought of something," the youthful mech announced excitedly, "Aren't the coordinates for Jungle Planet's Space Bridge set on the safest ground of the world? Just because it's offline doesn't mean we can't land in the same location. Whaddaya think? No dreaming necessary."

Blurr was nearly floored by this revelation. Why had he not thought of that? Why not Towline? Oh well, he thought humbly, it's still my first week on the job; I'm bound to overlook a few details at first.

"Good idea, kid," he said at last, sounding fairly impressed, "I wish we'd recognized that sooner, but as they say: 'Better late than never.' I'll get the message to Towline; he should be able to get everything ready in just a few cycles."

Blurr alerted Towline immediately, and sure enough, the medic had the Space Bridge realigned in under five minutes. A few last adjustments even made it to where the bridge would not lose stability from not being connected to another terminal. Blurr, Clocker, and Hotstreak all assembled at the Space Bridge with Towline being the only witness to their departure. Normally, when a Planet Leader left for another world on a mission of diplomacy, the civilian population would be summoned to see them off. However, the nature of this particular task was classified Code Violet, which meant there was a high chance that the team involved would not return in one piece. Therefore, it was to be a covert mission, per Jetfire's orders.

"Okay, Towline," Blurr said authoritatively, "open the Space Bridge to Jungle Planet; coordinates twenty-four degrees latitude and thirty degrees longitude; Grid Theta; Sector Twenty-Six."

"Yes, sir," Towline acknowledged, "Opening Space Bridge…now!"

The mechanism roared to life, opening a circular gateway that looked like a digital portal on a video game bursting with it's kaleidoscope of glittering colors. A broad, near-invisible stretched out before the small group of Transformers well beyond their ability to see, and what a sight it was! Hotstreak had never been this close to the gateway before; he was astonished. Blurr, Clocker, and he all stepped onto the bridge at the same time, but for a brief moment, the experience was Hotstreak's alone to enjoy. Space surrounded the bridge like a tunnel, the vacuum held at bay by an unseen force field the entire distance. Velocitron's solar sphere made the sight twice as beautiful to any eye that beheld this wonder. A hand upon Hotstreak's shoulder broke him from his awe.

"You okay, 'Streak?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah…this is awesome."

"Good. Let's get going. This is a solar cycle and a half's travel by Space Bridge to Jungle Planet. We want to get there as soon as possible."

Hotstreak nodded, and Blurr ordered the Autobots to transform to vehicle mode in order to move faster. The three mechs took off through the bridge to their destination. Meanwhile on Velocitron, Towline had averted his attention from the Space Bridge for a nano to check communications. That was the opening Road Rage needed to enter the portal himself.

"How kind of you to leave the door open for me," the mutant snickered silently, "Soon…very soon…I'll have my new powerful form, and that boy will be the one crawling in the sand!"

His laughter echoed like ghosts in the wind as he disappeared into the gateway to Jungle Planet.

The Unwelcoming Committee

Jungle Planet shimmered like a glass, jade jewel in the light of its massive solar sphere. Had it not been for the danger he remembered from his vision, Hotstreak would have been lost in awe of this sight.

The small convoy had nearly completed the day and a half journey over the Space Bridge with only a couple of hours left to go. Right about now, the Planet Leaders would be passing over Gigantion, and Blurr wondered any contact had been made yet. He tried to assert communiqués with Towline, but it seemed that the denizens of Jungle Planet had jammed all off-world comlinks as well as severing their own communications.

"Well, Autobots," he spoke up just moments from landing, "things are a bit worse than we thought. Seems like the Beast bots have jammed all com frequencies up to four thousand clicks out from and around their planet; until we can find someone to reconnect the lines, we'll be on our own."

"You can't be fraggin' serious!" Clocker complained, "We should've brought more bots with us. If the Beasts are all hostile, the three of us won't even last a nano!"

"Don't blow a gasket, Clocks," Hotstreak laughed, "Towline's probably figured it out already and is taking action as we speak."

"I hope so," Blurr said cautiously, sharing some of Clocker's doubt, "but we can't worry about that right now. Transform and prepare for one incredibly rough landing!"

Hotstreak and Clocker followed Blurr's lead and transformed to robot mode. As they did, the Space Bridge suddenly began to shake and sloped at an unnatural angle. The path became too steep for the bots to maintain the necessary friction to keep their balance!

"By the Pit!" Clocker exclaimed as he began sliding down the bridge rapidly, "What the slag is goin' on?"

"Whoa!" Hotstreak shouted as he, too, started going down, "I thought Towline said we wouldn't lose stability!"

"He said we might not," Blurr corrected, assessing the situation and searching for a solution, "we can't blame him, and once again, we can't worry about that! Right now we need to concentrate on turning this dangerous fall in to a long, controlled jump. On my signal, go for the exit portal! Ready? Jump!"

The Transformers pushed themselves off the collapsing Space Bridge and literally dove through the portal into Jungle Planet's open sky. The mighty wind of this world knocked them off their original landing course, but they each managed to turn themselves around in midair so that their feet pointed downwards allowing them to gain control of their fall and land as safely as possible on a soft patch of ground several miles south of Jungle Planet's Space Bridge terminal platform.

"Anyone damaged?" Blurr asked once they were all on solid—or at least semi-solid—ground.

"I'm fine," Hotstreak answered first after running an internal systems check.

"I'm acceptably functional," Clocker said, "nothing too major, but I think I busted a piston pump in my knee joint."

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah, but it'll be very noisy."

"We'll deal. Let's find someone willing to tell us what's going on around here."

The Autobots took in their environs in order to determine the best direction to take, but they did not even get one step forward before they found themselves surrounded by ferocious laser fire!

"What the—? Take cover!" Blurr ordered.

His team quickly ducked behind the trees and large boulders, prepared to defend themselves from this sudden, unwarranted attack. Blurr chanced a peek from his cover, noting that the direction of the blasts never shifted to his team. The red and green beams streaked back and forth between two specific points of origin. Too precise to be attacking us, Blurr thought tactically.

"Why are they firing at us?!" Hotstreak asked, breaking Blurr's thoughts.

"They're not," Blurr answered, "at least, not deliberately. It seems we've stepped into a battle that must have been going on before we even got here! I can't see either side of the battle, so lay low until this clears up!"

"Yes, sir!" Hotstreak and Clocker acknowledged in unison.

The Autobots lowered themselves all the way to the ground until they were lying on their chest plates and observed what little bit of the battle they could see. Intense roaring, snarling, and hissing all but overpowered the deafening shrieks of blaster bolts, and it was clear that the Autobots had indeed landed in one of Jungle Planet's many new battle grounds. Then suddenly, the firing ceases, and strange voices could now be heard from within the woods.

"Tarantulas, they're retreating!" a wheezing voice reported loudly.

"Keep after them, Sidewinder!" another voice, mid-high pitched and cackling—probably the one called Tarantulas—responded, "Magamatron's orders were to eliminate any Maximals we come across!"

Seconds later, a large group of seven predator-like beasts emerged from their hiding place. The one up front was a black, gold, and purple transmetal tarantula spider, whose designation had to be Tarantulas—what else? To his right was a giant, organic, gold king cobra; clearly Sidewinder. The ones that followed were a red, organic pterosaur, a black, blue, and silver transmetal great horned owl, an orange organic sand crab, and taking up the rear were a silver mechanical scorpion and a black and purple organic black widow spider. As the group charged passed, Blurr turned his attention to his team.

"Well," he said, "we know who the hostiles are. Let's move; we may have to cut in on this little dance."

Staying within the cover of the trees, Blurr lead his team forward, trailing after Tarantulas' group from scouting distance. However, the Autobots did not want to be behind the enemy only to arrive too late to keep them from damaging anyone. Inevitably, the Velocitronians picked up their pace and managed to get ahead of the enemy beasts without being detected. When they reached the end of the trail—which opened up into a great clearing—the Autobots saw that friendlies had been cut off and ambushed from the other direction by a different team of hostiles!

"No choice, Maximals," a transmetal rat with a New Jersey accent spoke up, "we've got to fight back! This recon mission's just become a struggle for survival!"

"Me, Grimlock, agree," said a mechanical tyrannosaurus rex, "Me, Grimlock think it time to bash metal!"

"But Rattrap!" a femme, transmetal peregrine falcon said with concern, "Cheetor was badly damaged by the Predacons' first attack! We can't protect him and fight them off; they'll have us outnumbered four to one!"

"If you got a better plan, Airrazor, then tell us, otherwise I suggest you shake those tail feathers and take a defensive position around Cheetor!"

The three functioning beasts of the small group of four circled their fallen comrade—a yellow furred organic cheetah—and transformed to robot mode aiming their weapons in the directions from where their adversaries were coming. But then, all fire suddenly ceased around the Maximals—the deathly calm before the massacring storm. Blurr and the Autobots watched in unbridled anticipation and impatience as they waited for the Predacons' imminent attack in order to jump in. If they intervened too soon, the Maximals might also see them as the enemy.

"Me, Grimlock not like this," the tyrannosaur whispered, "it too quiet."

Then as if on cue, Tarantulas and his team emerged from hiding; "Well, Maximals," he snickered sinisterly, "then allow us to turn up the decibels! Ha, ha, ha! Predacons…attack!"

The Predacons opened fire once more as the other group—lead by a skeletal, transmetal Velociraptor and followed by a blue and gold transmetal scorpion/cobra fuzor, a giant organic fire ant, a giant organic yellow jacket, and a black and gold organic goliath bird-eating spider—also surfaced from hiding opposite of Tarantulas' team. Together, the Predacons totaled twelve, definitely more than the already half-damaged team of Maximals. Finally, Hotstreak could take no more.

"Blurr, we have to move in now!" the young mech begged, "They're going to get slaughtered out there!"

"Agreed!" Blurr concurred without a second thought, "Autobots: roll out!"

Blurr, Hotstreak, and Clocker leapt out from the cover of the jungle and took positions filling the gaps between the three Maximals that were still standing. Rattrap and Airrazor took quick glances at the Autobots asserting that they were there to help, but Grimlock did not appreciate the intrusion.

"Me, Grimlock not know you," he grumbled, "me think you Predacon spy!"

"Can it, Grimlock!" Rattrap commanded in irritation, "You'll have time to be suspicious later; right now, use that energy to push the Preds back!"

That was a bit of relief for the Autobots as they focused their weapons in the directions from which the Predacons attacked. Even with their support, the Maximals still found themselves on the losing side of the fight.

"They still outnumber us!" Airrazor screamed above the laser fire, "We can't hold out much longer!"

"Me, Grimlock know that already, but me, Grimlock not go down without fight! Raaawwr!!"

Grimlock transformed to beast mode and charged Tarantulas and his team, spewing fire out from within his structure. Blurr acted on this.

"Clocker, cover him!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Clocker obeyed as he redirected his fire.

"Hey, new guys!" Rattrap shouted over his shoulder, "Don't waste power covering the lizard! He can handle that alone! Concentrate on Dinobot; he's the brains behind the attack! Take him down, and the rest will fall!"

Hotstreak and Blurr turned attention to the transmetal Velociraptor identified as Dinobot, but Clocker kept providing cover for Grimlock. If this Dinobot were truly the tactician of the battle, hen he would be expecting the Maximals to focus on him in order for Tarantulas to gain the advantage from behind. The rat is a fool if he couldn't see that obvious trap, Blurr thought, and the T-Rex just charged in blindly and arrogance…no way he can take out that whole squad alone with that mindset. Therefore, Clocker was ordered to stay on Grimlock. However, it truly did prove unnecessary as that group of Predacons was not prepared for the tyrannosaur's sudden rampage; they were easily trampled under foot—perhaps too easily. Seeing the other team practically vanquished, Dinobot pulled back into the woods.

"Predacons!" Dinobot called out, "retreat!"

"Told ya, stranger!" Rattrap cheered, "Grim's better than any bulldozer in the universe!"

Clocker had gone up to check out Grimlock's handiwork, but he was not as enthusiastic as Rattrap was; "Hey, Blurr!" he called out, "How many beasts did we count in this group?"

"Seven," was the answer, "Why?"

"There's only five. Two are missing!"

"Me, Grimlock say you need optics repaired," Grimlock sneered, "Me not see seven when me come this way!"

"If Grimlock didn't see 'em," Rattrap defended his buddy quickly, "then they weren't there, stranger."

"Hold on a nano!" Hotstreak interjected, "Uh, Rattrap, right? Look, we realize our first impressions don't exactly warrant immediate trust, but we're telling you the truth. There were two others: a scorpion and a black widow spider."

"Well, if that's all," Rattrap spoke with contempt, "then we have nothing to worry about. The black widow probably ran away like the coward she is. It's just like that she-spider to turn tail in a battle."

Airrazor did not seem as confident as her rodent friend; "Yeah, that's like her," she agreed with emphasis, "but not like Scorponok."

The two beasts looked at each other suddenly and shouted in unison: "Cheetor!"

Everyone turned around to see where the damaged cat bot was laying just as a rumbling in the ground echoed throughout the jungle. Both Maximal and Autobot alike made a mad dash for Cheetor to get him out of the way, but they were not fast enough. Scorponok burst through the ground firing rapid projectiles at them from the turrets that made up his scorpion claws. Then Dinobot and his team reemerged! The retreat had been a diversion to cover a diversion! Scorponok's attack allowed Dinobot to reposition his squad—and a rejuvenated Tarantulas with all but one of his teammates—in a circled perimeter around the Maximals and Autobots; they were trapped good! Scorponok stood in the middle of the circle in between Cheetor and his allies steadily aiming his guns at them, daring them to come closer.

"I don't think this plan was very well thought through," Clocker whispered to Blurr.

"Really?" Blurr asked with false shock, "I didn't even know there was a plan."

"Silence, fools!" Dinobot shouted, "Scorponok, retrieve the stolen data from the cat, now!"

Scorponok, obeying Dinobot's command, began walking backwards slowly, keeping his weapons locked on target and twitching ever so slightly at any movement from the Maximals and their odd-looking allies. A sharp, needle-like prong extended from the tip of the scorpion's tail. It appeared to be an input device, and it proved to be such when Scorponok inserted it into an exposed output unit at the base of Cheetor's neck joint. After a few seconds, Scorponok let out a string of twisted mechanical beeps and whirs indicating that he had retrieved the data from the cheetah's mainframe and even erased it.

"Excellent, Scorponok," Dinobot praised him halfheartedly, "now get back in ranks!"

Scorponok violently burrowed back underground, and presumably got back in line—he never resurfaced, so it was difficult to know for sure. The Autobots glanced down at the fallen Maximal, and then Blurr did his best to speak to Hotstreak and Clocker without being heard by Dinobot or any other Predacon.

"They aren't going to let us go this easily," he whispered, "Their teamwork is far better than any battalion of Decepticons I ever fought against. I'd go so far as to say it may be better than most Autobot teams I've been part of; this makes them more unpredictable and twice as dangerous.

"Our armor can take more damage than the Beasts' can, so be prepared to go servo-to-servo with the enemy."

The other two mechs quietly agreed, but their moment came much quicker than even Blurr could have anticipated as Dinobot gave the termination order almost immediately after Blurr had made his own. Blurr quickly jumped in front or Airrazor to defend her from fire as Hotstreak covered the wounded Cheetor and Clocker the short-statured Rattrap. Grimlock's hide was mechanical rather than organic like his compatriots, so the Autobots left him to his business while they took direct fire from the Predacons. To Hotstreak, the raining laser fire was equivalent to a Level Four Racer Combat Training Course back on Velocitron, although the stings did not feel as sharp as the drones' he had battled against then. He knew, of course, that that was because of his Subaru® armor, which was twice as strong as his previous Chrysler® armor had been. His higher tolerance allowed him to divide his attention between monitoring his personal shield, protecting Cheetor, and searching for any possible ambush attempts from wayward Predacons. Then suddenly, the edges of his vision began to blur just as it had done in his vision of Jungle Planet. He doubted his armor strength had anything to do with that. What do you want me to see? the young mech thought to himself but spoke to the All Spark power he knew was within him. Even as the thought passed, he saw the ground rising and falling as though a massive mecha-worm were tunneling heading right for him; Scorponok was coming back to finish the cat-bot off! Hotstreak did not have time to think up a plan as his normal sight returned only to see the scorpion's tail rise from the ground like a Sharkticon's dorsal fin from water, the sharp prong poised to stab through anything in his path. Hotstreak moved to grab Blade Stryke's sword from the compartment on his back plate, but as he raised his hand to get it, he sound his own mystical weapon, his gift from the All Spark, glowing in full ferocity against its master's encroaching enemy. Hotstreak did not stop to ponder its sudden, coincidental appearance as he made a crescent slash at the space between him and Scorponok. The blade never made contact with anything solid—the intent had been to scare the metal arachnid—but its wielder was surprised to see that a great crevice was left in the wake of the weapon's sweep of raw energy. Not only that, but it seared off half of Scorponok's tail! The Predacon squealed in pain as he reversed course and ran away. Hotstreak quickly grabbed the severed tail before it could hit the ground. It wriggled violently though it was detached from its body, and Hotstreak wrestled with the appendage before it finally lost power and went limp in the Autobot's grip. He hurled it into the midst of the battle, which caused the other Predacons to cease fire and stare in fear and confusion at the mech who separated it from its unit. Tarantulas particularly looked most curiously at the sword of pure energy this strange visitor carried.

"Ah, Dinobot," the spider chuckled nervously, "perhaps out current situation calls for an immediate, tactical withdraw?"

Dinobot was quick to agree without question as he called the troops off and fell back into the woods in a hasty retreat. The Predacons transformed to beast mode and followed their commander back to their base.

"We must report these visitors to Magmatron," Dinobot was saying to Tarantulas, "Particularly, the one who cut off Scorponok's tail could easily turn this was against the Predacon cause!"

"I agree," Tarantulas responded with a hint of intrigue in his vocals, "and I should very much like to get a closer look at that marvelous weapon that boy of a mech was holding."

"Black Arachnia can accommodate that, I'm sure. Where is she?"

"The witch fled at the beginning of the battle as usual."

"Excellent. Contact her; tell her to abort her mission to the dragon's lair and track these off-worlders. Have her collect intelligence on them and, if at all possible, use her ability to download the boy's weapon."

Tarantulas snickered sinisterly as he broke off from the group and scurried off into the jungle and out of sight.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Maximals—though thankful for the assistance—turned their mistrust on the odd-looking mechs that had jumped into the recent fray.

"I don't know where you guys came from," Rattrap said bitterly, "but I think it's high time you am-scray while the am-scrayin's good!"

"What he's trying to say," Airrazor interjected quickly, "is thanks for the help, but we can handle it from here. We're not exactly open for tourism."

The three Autobots exchanged confused glances; "We're not tourists," Clocker tried to explain, "We're old friends of your Planet Leader, Scourge."

"Scourge?!" Airrazor repeated with more excitement now, "You know where he is, then?"

"No," Blurr shook his head disappointedly, "we were hoping someone here could tell us."

Rattrap scoffed at them as he watched Grimlock transform to beast mode and lift a stasis-locked Cheetor onto his back; "I told you not to get your hopes up, bird-lady," he said, "Scourge abandoned us, just like the boss fish said…besides, we can't believe what these weirdoes say!"

"Hey!" Hotstreak pushed his way to the front, "these weirdoes just saved your ungrateful skid plates, mouse!"

"Well, whaddaya want, eh? A medal? Ha! Get lost, kid!"

Hotstreak advanced on Rattrap, but Blurr placed his servo on the younger mech's shoulder joint to stop him. The last thing the Autobots needed was to frighten off the only potential allies they had on the planet.

"This doesn't need to turn into a fight," the Autobot leader said, "we just need to speak to the mech called Depth Charge. We have it on…'good faith'…that he's the beast currently in charge."

His attempt to avoid the subject of Hotstreak's vision was a considerably weak one, but it seemed to work just fine on this small team of Maximals. Rattrap maintained his aggressive façade, however, and continued to deny aid to Blurr and his group. Through it all, Blurr took considerable notice in the change in the atmosphere. Airrazor's embarrassment whenever Rattrap spoke became more apparent—Blurr had noticed it before, but now that the battle was over, it showed more prominently. Rattrap himself had originally been quick to accept the Autobots' help, but now he was allowing his personal suspicions surface boldly. Then there was Grimlock who, at the beginning, accused the Autobots of being Predacon spies. He was less vocal now as he observed the interaction between his rodent friend and the off-world guests. He seemed much more patient than he originally appeared, and the air that flowed around him resonated a kind of authority that just screamed out to the universe.

"Depth Charge don't waste his time on outlanders," Rattrap spat one last time, "so make like a bee-droid and buzz off!"

Blurr allowed a smile to spread across his metal face; "Sorry, mouse," he said, "but I believe such decisions can only be made by your team commander…right, Grimlock?"

Rattrap and Airrazor were taken by complete surprise! How did he know? Rattrap asked himself, We were so careful to keep that information concealed! Grimlock did not share his comrades' shock, Blurr could tell, but he decided to humor them anyway.

"How you, stranger, know that me, Grimlock, lead?" he asked with obvious amusement.

"Simple, really," Blurr explained, "Rattrap is too much of a hothead to lead a group like this, and Airrazor seemed humiliated rather than supportive every time the rat spoke. A good leader maintains a clear mind at all times. I'll admit the seemingly blind solo charge into the depths of that Predacon group had me second guessing for a moment until I realized you were actually moving to higher ground to assess the situation and locate any possible escape route for your outnumbered and injured team."

Grimlock smiled a toothy grin in restrained pride at the recognition, but Rattrap only scowled with impatience.

"Big deal!" the small mech said, "It's not like that suddenly makes us buddies or nuttin'!"

"Grimlock?" Blurr reiterated with a slight tilt of his head.

"Me, Grimlock, say," the tyrannosaur said after a moment, "we take new friends to leader, Depth Charge."

"What?!" Rattrap wailed, "For bootin' up cold, Grim! They really could be Pred spies!"

"They don't look much like Predacons to me," Airrazor observed, "and with long-range communications knocked out, the Preds wouldn't have been able to call for off-world aid."

"I don't trust 'em!"

"Me, Grimlock, gave order!" Grimlock bellowed, "You, Rattrap, will follow!"

An awkward silence followed while Grimlock and Rattrap stared each other down. However, it did not take long for Rattrap to concede to the dinosaur's command as he scoffed and transformed to beast mode. Airrazor also transformed. The Autobots observed their surroundings, realizing that the planet's terrain would be too rough for their vehicle modes. Blurr laid mention to this to Grimlock.

"That okay," the beast said, "Me, Grimlock, take you long way through meadow. Soon you, new friends, meet him, Depth Charge, and him thank you properly for helping us."

They tagged along behind Grimlock to the edge of the jungle as it opened up into a wide open plain. The Autobots then transformed to their vehicle modes and, resisting the urge to race across the land, traveled in a protective perimeter around the Maximals heading due west along the tree line.

In the darkness of the forest, Road Rage watched his target Hotstreak carefully. The mutant Transformer had landed clear on the other side of the jungle when the Space Bridge caved, but luckily for him, the sounds of battle lead him straight to his quarry. Unfortunately, however, the Autobots had new allies now; this was no time to even contemplate an attack.

"I need to wait until he's alone," Road Rage plotted with the air, "only then could I gain the advantage and destroy him without interference!"

He sunk back into the shadows and continued his silent stalk of his prey.

Depth Charge

The motley crew of robots came to and stopped at an enormous mountain set at the centermost area of the valley. There were no visible cave openings, so Hotstreak began to wonder if Grimlock had gotten himself lost on his own planet. However, as if reading the young mech's mind, Grimlock then transformed to robot mode and stepped straight through the mountain wall! The rippling effect caused by this unforeseen action gave an instant recognition to the mechanism.

"It's a hologram!" Hotstreak exclaimed, "But…couldn't this be easily detected by any passing enemies?"

Grimlock poked his head back out of the mountain; "Me, Grimlock say it not time for questions," he said, "him, Depthcharge, waiting."

Without further conversation, both Maximals and Autobots transformed to robot mode and walled through the rock projection into a cooled, dimly lit cave that appeared to slope down into the depths of the planet. Once everyone was safely inside, they heard a deep, metallic boom resonate from behind them. The Autobots turned to see that a massive iron door—much larger than the cave opening itself—had closed up behind them.

"Predacons not detect hologram," Grimlock spoke up suddenly, answering Hotstreak's ten-minute-old question, "because door has real rock bed on outside, and hologram shuts off when door closes."

"Cleaver," Blurr commented quietly then turned his attention to Cheetor and changed the subject, "What exactly was the kid carrying that got your enemies riled up so badly?"

"Codes," Airrazor answered, "Well, partial codes, anyway. Ever since the Predacons sabotaged planet-wide communications, we Maximals have been trying to restore them to gain tactical advantage in this war. One of our rouge operatives tipped us off to the facility at the far end of the East Jungle containing the fourth of ten encrypted sets of codes to reestablish communications."

"Rogue operative?" Blurr echoed skeptically, "You mean like someone who broke away from your team based on conflicting interests? You'd trust someone like that?"

"You're misunderstandin'," Rattrap defended, the hostility no longer resonating in his vocabulator, "Draga didn't desert us; she branched off of us, bearing in mind the exact same goals Depth Charge has of liberating our world of the Predacons. What caused this, however, might count as 'conflictin' interests,' I suppose."

"And what was that?" Clocker asked after a brief silence.

"That," Airrazor chimed in, "would be the moment Depth Charge began vocalizing his suspicions about Scourge abandoning us in our hour of need. That was bad enough, but then he began claiming his theories as true which is what inevitably lead to Draga and two others breaking away from Depth Charge's leadership.

"Draga was Scourge's most trusted advisor and battle tactician who moved up quickly in rank when the Predacons first started revealing their presence. Of course, at that time, no separate factions existed, though Scourge and his two captains Snarl and Leobreaker bore the same insignia as you guys do."

"Yes," Blurr confirmed, "Before he was reformatted by the planet as Leobreaker, Overhaul was sent here to obtain Jungle Planet's Cyber Key. There weren't any distinct factions here then, either. After Overhaul's reformatting into Leobreaker, Optimus Prime arrived in hopes of reasoning with Scourge, but Megatron had gotten to him first. Thus, Scourge flew the flag of the Decepticon army, but as time passed he began to see the error of his ways. By the end of the war, the Dragon had become an honorable Autobot warrior."

Rattrap sighed and shook his head in disagreement, but a harsh glance from Airrazor kept him from voicing his opinion. The cavern became steeper as the Transformers made their way down in brief silence. Before long, however, Rattrap was able to gain enough of his composure to pick up where Airrazor had left off.

"Anyway," he said, "Draga claimed to have been present during Scourge's disappearance, except her account was that he had been taken by some other-worldly force. She testified that Scourge was abducted from his own hall while he, Snarl, Leobreaker, and Draga were preparing a battle strategy against the sudden uprising of the Predacons. According to Draga, the entire mountain temple shook as though it'd been hit by a barrage of missiles; then a weird pillar of light materialized out of nowhere, sent an energy surge through all four bots' circuitry, and finally just swallowed Scourge, Leobreaker, and Snarl. Draga herself was found a megacycle later in emergency stasis lock by her own lieutenants Dilophotron and Hyenix and by Depth Charge. Her circuits were almost completely fried.

"Needless to say, once the Preds gained knowledge of Scourge's disappearance, they attacked. Depth Charge felt it was too convenient that our enemies were able to attack as swiftly as they did, and so he began accusing Scourge of desertion. He even went so far as to claim our leader was in league with Magmatron, the Pred leader, in order to reestablish a tyrannical rule as it was before the Cyber Planet Wars. Despite Draga's report to the contrary, Depth Charge held fast to his theory, and Draga put up with it for six months in honor of her close friendship with Depth Charge. The final straw came when Depth Charge flat out called Scourge 'a traitor from the beginning of his reign,' using the Dragon's past history as a tyrant against him. Draga left and hasn't set paw or claw in this base since, but she promised to keep us informed of Predacon activity while pursuing her own mission to locate Scourge and bring him and the others home."

Blurr nodded in understanding of Rattrap's telling of the story. It made a whole lot more sense knowing the reason behind this Draga's rogue status, and Blurr, for one, believed her more than Depth Charge even though he had yet to meet either one of them. Of course, now he was curious as to where the other Maximals stood on the matter. Rattrap was clearly on Depth Charge's side while Airrazor seemed more apt to agree with Draga. Grimlock was much harder to read than the others and just seemed to be a loyal soldier, but Blurr had nearly misinterpreted the mechanical tyrannosaur once before and knew better than to judge his personality by sight. Also according to Rattrap, only two others followed Draga when she left. What did that say? No one believed her? Or, maybe she did not want many to come with her? There was no telling, but with any luck, he would find some answers with the Maximals in this hidden mountain base.

Airrazor then interrupted his thoughts; "That was really only the most recent of our problems," she said.

"What do you mean?" Blurr asked, not quite so interested as he had been taken off guard.

"Airrazor," Rattrap scowled, sounding disturbed by this new subject, "Do we have ta bring dat up now?"

"Well, no," the falcon admitted, "but it's just as important as the rest of the story, don't you think?"

Rattrap pondered that for what seemed like ages as the Autobots glanced silently between the two debating Maximals; "Yeah, well, I guess," the rat surrendered.

"You don't have to tell us, you know," Clocker assured, "especially if it's something too painful to talk about. We don't need to know everything."

"Dat's right: you don't," Rattrap almost sneered, but restrained himself, "However, Airrazor's right. Dinobot's story is just as important."

"Dinobot?" Hotstreak echoed perplexed, "You mean that Predacon raptor who lead that assault on you guys in the clearing?"

"Yeah…but he wasn't always a Predacon. He used ta be one of us, a Maximal, before Magmatron twisted him into the stinkin' Pred he is now. Even dat is a tale in itself, and Depth Charge blames himself for our friend's fate."

Blurr's interest peaked a little; "How so?" he asked.

"Dinobot wasn't the most virtuous of the Maximals," Airrazor said with a soft smile, "but he was the most honorable and commanded the greatest respect of the best of us. He was second-in-command before Grimlock, and Depth Charge had considered many times of letting Dinobot lead the Maximals in this war—of course our raptor's pride and unorthodox tactics kept Depth Charge from fully going through with it. I do wish he were still around, that sneaky lizard."

"Wait a second," Hotstreak stopped her a second, "you're talking about him like he no longer exists. I mean, isn't there some way you could just convince him to come back?"

Rattrap looked away as Airrazor responded: "No. Dinobot—the real Dinobot—was off-lined by Magmatron during a routine scouting operation in Sector Fourteen in the West Jungle about two months before Draga ankled out. Dinobot was on patrol per Depth Charge's orders in Pred territory. Supposedly there was a hostage situation with some civilian bots in the area. Depth Charge insisted it was a trap, but Dinobot's personal code of honor wouldn't allow him to take that chance. Depth Charge couldn't convince the raptor to wait for backup, and when he didn't contact us for three solar cycles, our team was sent to find him."

All three Maximals hung their heads as though giving a moment of silence to their comrade before Rattrap picked up again; "When we got dare, Dinobot was nearly off-line," he nearly choked up, "but he managed to stay around long enough to tell us what happened. The 'hostage' was a blank protoform…he tried to tell us that they were using him as a secondary trap to catch more Maximals, but Magmatron and two others showed up before he could tell us such. We were completely unprepared for such a sneak attack, but if Dinobot hadn't mustered up the last of his strength to shield us, we would have been obliterated! Magmatron was seriously damaged in the attack, so he and his soldiers retreated. Dinobot's spark joined the Matrix shortly afterwards. Upon hearing the tale, Depth Charge performed the funeral and Dinobot's exostructure burned on a pyre. Afterwards, Depth Charge locked himself in his quarters and mourned silently for weeks. He blamed himself, and he blamed Scourge's abandonment."

"That must've been what really set Draga off," Clocker mused.

"In a word," Airrazor confirmed, "yes. Draga was second lieutenant after Dinobot in the new Maximal ranks; she loved Dinobot, but her loyalty was to Scourge first. Depth Charge tried to use her feelings for Dinobot to get her to change her mind about Scourge ever coming back, but after a long grueling argument, she left."

"So," Blurr spoke up, "if Dinobot was off-lined, who was that skeletal raptor in the jungle brawl?"

"Him, twisted clone," Grimlock inputted for the first time in several minutes, "Him, Dinobot II, created by him, Magmatron, using half a spark from him, Rampage. Stripped him, Dinobot, of his honor and now he like puppet on string. Very cunning puppet him is, but blindly following nonetheless. No more about past. It hurt Grimlock's CPU too much to hear."

The silence that followed was like that of a funeral procession, and the Autobots felt rather bad for even asking about the Maximals' problems. The group finally came out of the rocky cavern into a brightly lit area laid out with steel-tiled floors, reinforced iron wall panels, and florescent light structures hanging in a multitude of neatly lined rows across the ceiling. Many computer terminals were embedded in the walls of the Maximal base which seemed to span the entire area of the mountain's foundation. A few of the natural rocky features of the mountain were still visibly protruding through the iron and steel lining, and the entire facility was overgrown with lush, organic plant life. It was supported by artificial solar energy emanating from a few select light fixtures that were mixed amidst the florescent set ups and by a misty sprinkler mechanism that ran at different intervals by use of a programmed timing system. A large pond was set at the center of this indoor jungle, and many organic creatures roamed freely throughout. Aside from the obvious presence of Transformer technology, the mountain headquarters was designed perfectly to make the Maximals feel more at home.

Off to the right of the pond just where the artificial jungle began was erected a stone statue of the original Dinobot, which was a completely different appearance than the bony creature the Autobots had encountered earlier. The statue depicted Dinobot as an organic velociraptor who wielded a spinal cord sword and rotating shield. His helm was samurai-like in design, and the plaque below his likeness was embossed with the inscription: "He Lived a Warrior and Died a Hero." What a legacy, Hotstreak thought.

Just then, a large-framed Maximal approached the new arrivals hastily bearing a look of obvious concern missed with confusion. He was green with brown, leathery armor that suggested he was an organic rhinoceros in his beast mode. He was mostly focused on Cheetor who was badly damaged and still in stasis lock upon Grimlock's back. His confusion was directed at the Autobots' presence, but he kept his priority on his injured comrade.

"Cheetor!" he exclaimed with a soft baritone voice, "Grimlock, what happened out there?"

"Predacon ambush," Airrazor beat Grimlock to the answer as she helped the newcomer get Cheetor into a recharge unit.

The rhinoceros examined Cheetor thoroughly; "He's in bad shape," he said almost sadly, "I'm going to need some help with the repairs."

"I'm on it!"

"I'm comin', too," Rattrap insisted.

Both Airrazor and Rattrap followed behind the larger bot, pushing the hovering gurney along, while the rest of the group, following Grimlock, continued with their own quest.

"Who was that?" Clocker inquired.

"Him, Rhinox," Grimlock answered, "him, medical technician and chief science officer, but that not important right now."

Grimlock stopped everyone at the edge of the crystal-clear pond and pointed down into the water. The Autobots looked into its depths and saw that the pond actually exited from a wide tunnel and into the mountain spring that emptied into the broad lake that cut through the valley just outside. From the tunnel opening, the Autobots saw, emerged a flat, blue, fish-like beast with a long, barbed tail, wing-like fins, and yellow eyes set at either side of its wide, compressed face. The organic manta ray floated up to the top of the pond, transforming to robot mode as he entered shallow ground and broke through the surface of the water. He did not even take the time to glance at the Autobots accompanying Grimlock as he directly approached his lieutenant. That was enough to drop what little respect Blurr was reserving for the Maximals' leader-apparent. For whatever reason, it was obvious that Depth Charge was not going to show the same hospitality as Grimlock and the others had shown.

"Grimlock," Depth Charge spoke with an almost unbearable dark tone in his voice, the sound of someone who felt he had been betrayed many times but was trying to hide behind a façade of indifference to any past situation, "Was your mission successful?"

Grimlock transformed to robot mode and saluted his commander—with a respect that even Grimlock suddenly seemed to feel was misplaced but appropriate—before reporting the details of his failed mission. The Autobots waited patiently for him to finish, silently studying Depth Charge, the one these Maximals looked to for leadership despite his overbearingly depressive demeanor. Blurr had already determined that they would not easily gain Depth Charge's trust as the beast's deliberate ignorance of their presence showed. Hotstreak also noted this Maximal's poor attitude. Particularly to him, this bot appeared to be rather arrogant, possibly a little self-righteous considering the tale Rattrap had told them.

Depth Charge's facial features were molded in a deep scowl, his optics ridges contorting downwards no matter what Grimlock said to him. His chest late, which was where the face of his manta ray form had folded down and over his broad frame, rose and fell in calm, controlled breaths. When Grimlock finally came to the part of his story involving the Autobots, Depth Charge finally honored Blurr with a single, fleeting glance, and at the moment Grimlock concluded his report, the fish gave his full attention to the three strangers, his face seeming to twist even more with harsh discontent.

"I appreciate your assistance," he said less-than appreciatively, "but I'm going to have to ask you to leave this world. We're in the middle of a war, in case you haven't noticed, and I don't care much—nor have the time to—entertain the whims of off-world visitors."

"Now just wait a slaggin' nano!" Hotstreak exclaimed, rather irked at Depth Charge's lack of common courtesy, but Blurr quickly raised a hand to signal for the younger bot to hold off the verbal assault.

Blurr cleared his resonator and addressed Depth Charge; "You're welcome," he said, mimicking the Maximal leader's tone, "but we didn't come here to sight-see or to be entertained. We're here to find—"

"I know what you're here for, off-worlder," the fish snapped back hastily, taking umbrage at Blurr's mockery, "That saurian of a leader and his two cronies abandoned us almost two stellar cycles ago, betraying us to our enemies, the Predacons. You're wasting your time and mine if you think I'm going to stop what I'm doing to help you find those traitors."

"You don't have any solid evidence to your claims, Depth Charge. Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?"

Depth Charge turned his back to company and with an annoyed grunt waved his hand dismissively; "I have all I need," he growled, "There are no innocents in war, Autobots, you should know that. I believe you know the way out. Grimlock, reassemble your team for a second run at the communications bunker."

As Depth Charge continued to give his orders to Grimlock, Blurr motioned for his own team to head for the exit.

"I can't believe that guy," Hotstreak said, "his 'thank you' wasn't worth axel grease on a race track!"

"I know what you mean," Clocker agreed, "I have half a mind to look the other way the next time they need help."

"Cool it, Autobots," Blurr ordered solemnly, "that's not our style. We won't interfere with their missions again, but we won't stoop to Depth Charge's level and deny them any requested assistance. Besides, we didn't come here to fight a war. We need to find more clues as to Scourge's disappearance, and we can't do that if we spend our time arguing with the beasts. Let's go."

They said no more as they continued for the cavern, but before they could walk out, the Autobots were approached by the bot Grimlock had identified as Rhinox. He had the look of concern mixed with despair in his red-tinted optic as though he were expecting a negative reaction to his unspoken purpose for his approaching them.

"I take it your visit with Depth Charge was a less than productive one," he observed almost jokingly.

"To say the least," Blurr responded with a nod, politely shaking Rhinox's outstretched servo.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but that's been his modus operandi as of late. I mean, he's always been rough around the edges and hard to deal with, but this bitterness and lack of trust only manifested after we lost Dinobot and then more so when Draga left. Don't worry, though; he'll come around eventually."

"I hope so, for you and your comrades' benefit if no other. Speaking of which, how's your spotted friend fairing?"

"Mmm, not so good, I'm afraid," Rhinox shook his head in dismay, "he's lost a good portion of his memory and personality programming to Scorponok's interface. I can repair the damages to his exostructure and possibly to his CPU, but his intelligence won't even match wits with a mining drone. Considering his embedded Maximal programming as a fighter, he'd become a danger to himself and everyone around him; we'd have to keep him in stasis lock for an indefinite amount of time."

"That's too bad," Blurr said sincerely, "I've only heard good things about the kid, and from what little I saw in the jungle, he had done quite a job at protecting that information he had acquired."

"He's one of the best scouts we have, servos down, and I'd really hate to give up on such a promising Maximal soldier."

Blurr could tell that Rhinox was beating around the bush about what he really wanted to ask of the visiting Autobots; "I suppose you have something in mind for helping him, then," he observed with a sly sparkle in his optics, "perhaps something we can be of assistance with?"

"I'll admit I was afraid to ask," Rhinox admitted boldly yet sheepishly, "but Airrazor and Rattrap were telling me that your young friend there had cut off Scorponok's tail without much effort shortly after the Pred disabled Cheetor."

Hotstreak gave a modest shrug of his shoulder joints from the recognition. Of course, he disagreed with the "not much effort" part, especially since his personal combat training was limited to the aspects of racing. It was sheer luck anyway, he knew. He was not even trying to hit the mechanical arachnid; it was the sword, energized by the All Spark that actually did the job. The Maximals would not have known that, however, and it was still too early to explain that to them just yet.

"At any rate," Rhinox continued without acknowledging Hotstreak's modesty, "Scorponok wouldn't have had enough time to store all that data into his own core in the heat of battle. I can restore all of Cheetor's primary programming if you can just bring me that tail—or at least the data storage interface module off the tip of the tail. That action alone might earn at least some gratitude from Depth Charge upon your return."

"With all due respect," Blurr said intrepidly, "Depth Charge's gratitude is hardly an incentive to lend a hand, but we are Autobots. That means we serve the common good with or without the thought of reward. Don't worry, Rhinox, we'll do this for you and for Cheetor."

Rhinox smiled gratefully as the three Autobots left the Maximal's hidden mountain base. Blurr knew it would not be difficult to retrace their steps back to the clearing where the battle had taken place, but he also realized that if Rhinox knew about the importance of Scorponok's severed tail, then the Predacons would no doubt also have that invaluable knowledge. That meant the enemy would most definitely be heading back to the sight as well. Fraggin' perfect, Blurr thought sarcastically, and here I thought this mission was going to be difficult!

Once the Autobots left, Rhinox returned to Cheetor's bedside where Airrazor and Rattrap were waiting for medic gave the two smaller beast bots a stern and meaningful look.

"Not a word of this to Depth Charge," he whispered then returned to his work.

The Predacons

On the opposite end of the jungle, just a few hours' trek from the recently burglarized communications bunker, stood the Predacon base. It was not a natural structure but an artificial building assembled in the lushest portion of the wood. Thick vines wrapped around the domed, black iron base, and moss grew out of the crevasses and cracks of the twisted and poorly welded panels that made up the frame. A large, set of curved double-doors—as badly constructed as the rest of the compound—creaked and groaned loudly as they slid open to allow Dinobot and the two squads of recently defeated Predacon warriors to enter.

"Waspinator," Dinobot addressed the large yellow-jacket that hovered at the end of the rank, "get Scorponok to the CR chamber."

"Why Wazzpinator have to do all the work?" the insect complained in a high-pitched buzzing voice, "It not enough Wazzpinator have to cover you sorry ssskid-plate, but now you want Wazzpinator to be taxi for scorpion-bot?"

Dinobot did not offer a response, but rather he suddenly raised a clawed foot into the air and violently pinned Waspinator to the floor; "Any other objections?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Objectionzz?" Waspinator repeated with an innocent and nervous chuckle, "No, no, Wazzpinator not object…juzzt big mizzunderstanding. Wazzpinator go help Scorponok now."

Satisfied, Dinobot allowed Waspinator up, but he glared coldly after the insect as he carried out his duties. Dinobot then transformed to robot mode and marched into the main computer room where, at the center of the chamber, stood a black and green organic tyrannosaurus rex. Upon seeing his first lieutenant, the Predacon leader Magmatron transformed to robot mode so as to give his full and undivided attention to Dinobot.

As stated before, Magmatron was a black and green organic tyrannosaurus rex in beast mode. In robot mode, the massive predator stood nearly ten feet tall, his chest plate so broad he could shame the very walls of his base. The upper and lower jaw of his tyrannosaurus mode served as protective shoulder armor in robot mode, and the tail became the sheath for his bayonet weapon that hung off of his left hip joint. His helm was like a cross between the helm of a medieval human knight and that of a Japanese samurai warrior. His optic sensors were green, and they blazed with an insatiable hunger for power that surpassed even the mere conquest of Jungle Planet.

Magmatron stood cross-armed before his subordinate; "I trust your mission was a success?" he asked calmly at first.

"Far be it from me to report failure, Lord Magmatron," Dinobot began with a small hint of hesitation, "but let it be much further for me to speak in only half truths. We were able to stop the Maximals from getting away with the communication command codes, but we were thwarted from destroying them for good."

"That does not please me, Dinobot," Magmatron's voice remained calm, but his anger had become rather obvious, "How was a military troop of twelve bested by a inadequate scout team of four?"

Dinobot hesitated once more, realizing that what had caused their defeat would most likely not be covered by Magmatron's already limited repertoire of forgiveness. How could he explain the details of the situation without sounding like a complete fool? Of course, he knew there was no way around it, so he braced himself for reprimand, hoping that maybe the explanation of the explanation would lesson the punishment he was sure to receive.

"The Maximals were aided by odd-looking mechs—three of them, possibly from off-world," Dinobot revealed in the calmest manner of a soldier as he could muster, "There armor was stronger than most of the metals we used for out base, and their weapons were far superior to ours—though I can't say the same for their fighting prowess. Their leader—ack!"

"Dinobot," Magmatron had grabbed his inferior by the neck joint and held him at optic level. Still speaking calmly, he continued, "I grow weary of excuses. Three new warriors shouldn't have been nearly enough reinforcement to turn the tides in battle. That tells me you panicked."

"Never—ack—Lord Magmatron!" Dinobot squeaked as his leader slowly crushed his vocabulator, "If you'll just—ack—give me—ack—a cycle to explain—ack!"

Magmatron pondered the request for a moment the released the raptor in annoyance; "One cycle, Dinobot," he growled waving his index finger in Dinobot's face, "Starting now, and it had better be good."

Dinobot rose to his full height slowly, regaining his composure and demeanor as he did; "It's better than 'good,' Lord Magmatron," he assured confidently with a sinister grin, "These three mechs who supported the Maximals bore the same insignias as our beloved Planet Leader Scourge and his entourage that followed him."

"Is that so?" Magmatron's interest peaked, "They're probably ambassadors from Cybertron, no doubt, wondering why their 'allies' haven't been in contact for so long. How very intriguing."

"Cybertron?" Dinobot echoed with confusion, "What's Cybertron?"

"Ah, yes, I forget; Scourge's tale is before your time. I'll explain it at a later time. For now, tell me more about out Autobot friends."

Dinobot obediently retold the events of the jungle battle without giving so much as a second thought to the mentioning of Cybertron.

The story behind the Predacon Dinobot is a long, sad tale, and though he personally did not remember it, Magmatron knew it as though he had written it himself. Originally as Maximal under the leadership of Depth Charge, Dinobot was a coveted warrior in Magmatron's eyes. He would have made the perfect Predacon in his first existence were it not for his deplorable sense of honor and the love of a femme. Dinobot had gone out on call in response to a hostage situation in Predacon territory against his commander's better judgment, the majority of the Maximals believing it was a trap. That proved too true when the "hostages" turned out to be nothing more than piles of scraps and spare parts. Dinobot was badly damaged in the following Predacon ambush but only enough to incapacitate him. Thus he became a trap for his fellow Maximals, but when a small scouting party had come to get him, he sacrificed himself to give the outnumbered Maximals time to acquire backup. It was considered the noblest act of valor by both Maximal and Predacon alike, and for seven solar cycles a planet-wide truce was put into effect in the fallen warrior's honor. This solitary act of compassion was what set the Predacons in a league far higher than the far more numerous Decepticons that the rest of the known galaxy was familiar with.

However, such chivalry could not last amidst even "noble" Predacons—if such terms could be used for them—as Magmatron set into motion his new plan to strike down his Maximal adversaries. He had acquired a piece of Dinobot's armor, which contained bits and pieces of the Maximal warrior's personality program, not to mention his energy signature—which worked a lot like the unique DNA in organics. Using that bit of armor and a blank protoform unit, Magmatron began work on reviving Dinobot in his own image. Unfortunately, Dinobot's spark had already bonded with the Matrix, and there was no way to bring it back. Therefore, Magmatron took half a spark from one of his strongest warriors—Rampage, a maniacal and miserable immortal Predacon—and used it to bring the new Dinobot life. Then, a second misfortune befell Magmatron during the experiment in that there was not enough data in the miniscule sliver of Dinobot's armor to fully reconstruct his exostructure. So, the Predacon leader—at the suggestion of his scientist Tarantulas—used the fossilized bones of an organic velociraptor to male up for the gaps in Dinobot's energy signature and exostructure. The combination also resulted in the creation of the very first Transmetal Beast Transformer, as Dinobot emerged as a steel-alloy, bone-ivory skeleton of his former self with a few extra tricks built in.