Beast Wars

Chapter 24: Babysitter's Nightmare
Seyvont's Residence

Spring Break

Aelita was in her room, now with a few Hello Kitty stuffed animals, a desk littered with papers, and some clothes neatly folded or hung in the closet. She was working on a math assignment at the time; that's when the phone rang for her. Sarah had purchased her a room phone so that if she ever had any girl friends, she could call them or her on this. She picked it up and smiled knowing who it was now, "Toni! It's good to hear your voice. How are you?" She had told Justin and Alex of what Toni had learned from them and boy were they sweating beads at that.

They figured that they would have to try and tone down the Maximal activities. She listened to Toni on the phone and swore she heard crying in the background. "Uh huh, okay. I see…", she said while she heard Toni talk to her. "Okay. Can I bring Justin and Alex along too?" She waited for a moment and then lit up at the answer. "Alright, we'll see you then." She hung up and went to Justin's room, "Justin!" Justin was a little shaken up at the moment when Aelita busted in his room. He turned around looking a little out of breath from her barging him and startling her.

"What's up, Aelita?", Justin asked. Aelita smiled broadly at what she had to say, "Toni called up, she said she wanted to know if we could help her with sitting of a baby." Justin got a clueless look on his face, "Sitting on a baby? Oh wait, you mean babysitting?" She nodded, "Correct, and we could also bring along Alex too. If that's okay with you?" Justin thought about it for a moment; Aelita didn't know what babies were so he figured that this could be a good learning experience for her. So he answered, "Okay, this might be a good learning experience for you."

She beamed with happiness as she ran towards Justin as he was getting up and hugged him. "Oh, thank you, Justin. Thank you." There were times like this for Justin that he was actually glad to have a girl living with him.

Toni's House

Aelita, Justin and Alex had arrived at the house and Justin knocked on the door. The door then suddenly opened and they saw Toni in her usual style of clothing, but she looked a little worse for wear. There was what looked like splotches of powder on her face and clothing. She even looked a little exhausted even as she spoke, "I was wondering when you'd guys would ever get here." The trio looked at her and sweatdropped at their friend's condition, "Is it that bad to take care of one kid?", Alex asked.

She let them in as they got a good look around the place; it looked like a tornado as it was littered with baby toys. "My baby cousin, Timothy's a little hard to calm down. That's why I needed the extra help on this." They then heard screaming cries as Toni lowered her head in exhaustion, "And now the little demon is awake." As Toni went to get her cousin, Aelita asked, "I'm a little confused at this baby thing, Justin. What are they exactly?"

Justin and Alex looked at each other and knew they were going to be asked this question. So Alex answered, "Okay, you see when a mommy and a daddy really love each other…" Justin stopped him in time by pushing him out of the way. He felt she wasn't ready for this one so he explained, "A baby is sort of the Larva stage for when a human is just started after they've been birthed." Aelita then probably understood that but she still had one question to ask, "So if a baby's the early stage of humans, where does the baby come from?"

Both the boys got exasperated looks on their faces; they weren't sure if she needed to know that just now. They were saved by the bell as Toni walked in, and in her arms was to Aelita, the cutest little thing you've ever seen. A baby with strawberry red hair and beautiful green eyes, wearing a blue footed Pajama suit; this was Toni's baby cousin, Timothy. Aelita squealed, "He's the most adorable thing I've ever seen!" She then turned to Justin and asked, "Justin! Were you this cute when you were a baby?"

Justin only blushed from that question, while Alex asked, "Didn't you ever look through Justin's photo album." She shook her head but as they did the baby started to cry again. "Ugh, and it was so hard to get him to be quiet again. I fed him, changed his diaper, rubbed his tummy, and helped him burp. I just don't think I'm going to be cut out as a mother in the future." "Isn't that a little far in the future?", Alex asked. She shrugged at that and looked to Aelita, "Hey, could you hold him for me a minute?"

Aelita beamed and shook her head in response, "Of course, Toni, I'd love to." Toni exchanged Timothy into Aelita's arms very carefully, and as soon as he was in Aelita's arms, he stopped screaming and started giggling. Toni sarcastically responded to this, "Oh so you cry in my arms, but you get all giggly in hers? What am I, the devil?" "Well, you do kind of dress like it.", Alex shot at her in humor. After she heard that, she chased him around the house, screaming she's going to shave him bald.

Justin and Aelita, who was still holding the baby, were watching in both confusion and amusement at the whole thing. He then turned to Aelita and saw how peaceful and happy Timothy was when she held him. He almost thought that she was the mother of the child for that moment. Aelita then saw that Justin was staring at her and she asked, "Is there something wrong?" "Huh? Oh it's nothing; it's just that you didn't know anything about babies before, but now you seem to know on by instinct."

She lightly blushed at this, and Justin just thought as she gently cradled Timothy, 'She's really good at taking care of kids. Maybe one day she might make a great mother.' He then pictured Aelita all grown up and in her arms, bundled in a blanket, was a little baby. In his mind, she was pictured heavenly, but he shook it out of his head as he tried to get it out.

Alex and Toni stopped for a moment, and Aelita and Timothy watched in amusement at Justin's little reaction as he tried so desperately to get that image out of his head.

Outside
Hanging or laying up on a tree branch in the back to where the teens were spotted in, were Cheetor, Foxfire, and JackFoot, in Beast Mode, and keeping an eye on the kids. "I must admit, I am a little curious at this strange activity, they call 'sitting on the baby'." Cheetor just sweat-dropped at what she had just said; there were times that he thought she didn't get what others really said. JackFoot just face vaulted after that, got back up, and replied to her, "Foxfire! It's not 'sitting on the baby', it's pronounced baby-sitting."

Foxfire seemed to understand that, but just kept on looking at the window until she saw everyone come in to the back way. Then she spotted Aelita, and she was holding a tiny human like creature. She nearly squealed at he sight of it, "Oh, how adorable! I wonder if that is the 'baby' Aelita was talking about." She giggled in amusement and jumped down from the tree. Cheetor was freaking out as he saw her about to go in from the basement doorway that was slightly opened. Before she had a chance to go in, Cheetor pounced on Foxfire and kept her pinned down.

"Cheetor! What are you…?", Foxfire asked. But Cheetor got to the point, "You can't just waltz in there like that, Foxfire. Don't forget, we're supposed to be undercover." Foxfire merely pouted as she realized that. But then they saw JackFoot zoomed past them and into the basement; they both paled at this action and followed after her in pursuit.

Back inside, Toni was talking with the others, until Justin sniffed the air, "Hey, is there something burning?" Toni gasped as she knew what that was, "the spinach!" With that she dashed madly into the kitchen to get to it before it burned. The three teens just stared in confusion as they heard a lot of banging and cursing as Toni tried desperately to save her dinner. "Man, if this is how small you guys started out, I'd hate to see what would happen if you were in front of a Predacon when you're that small." The trio turned around and on the couch, was JackFoot, in Robot Mode, and looking rather comfortable. The three were a little scared right now, but Aelita smiled and waved while still holding on to Timothy, "Oh, hi JackFoot. Did you come to help baby-sit?" It was then that Justin came up and asked seriously, "You do realize you're putting the Maximals' secret in danger if you're spotted by Toni, who happens to be a reporter of our school paper."

JackFoot just shrugged, "Hey, as long as I'm in Beast Mode, she won't notice. Besides I'll be here and there before she even notices I've even been in the room." The three teens just sighed in defeat until they saw Cheetor and Foxfire, in Robot Mode, and rushed over to JackFoot. Cheetor, not in a very good mood, scowled JackFoot, "Mrowl! Do you have any idea of how much trouble we're in now, kid? I can't believe you'd just expose yourself like that."

Justin walked up to his first Maximal buddy and just lightly padded him on the back, "relax, Cheetor. Babies don't remember much stuff like this when they're just in this stage of their life. So he probably won't remember you guys." Cheetor raised an eyebrow at that and figured that may have been an okay case. Just then, Timothy, still in Aelita's arms, reached out towards Cheetor giggling. Cheetor just looked puzzled, "Uh, why's he acting like that towards me?" Aelita just smiled, "Oh, I think he likes you, Cheetor."

Then Foxfire walked up to Aelita and asked, "May I hold the 'Joy-Bundle'?" Aelita was a little confused at that, but knew what she meant, "Sure, Foxfire." But just as she was about to hand Timothy over to her, they heard Toni coming back into the room. Quickly, the Maximals transformed to Beast Mode and hid anywhere around the room so they couldn't be spotted.

As soon as Toni entered the room, everyone tried their best to act like nothing happened. She saw that everyone looked funny and asked as she took off her apron, "Why's everyone looking like they're hiding something?" The three looked at each other and Alex made up something, "Okay, I confess. We're hiding a secret so powerfully mind-blowing….it could…blow your mind away." Toni just had an exhausted deadpan look on her face as she just said, "Never mind. Hey, I'm taking Timothy to the park later on. The spinach was saved so I have something to take for him for lunch. So you want to come with?"

They looked at each other and the three just nodded, and Toni smiled, "Great, just let me get the carriage, my bags, and lunch ready and we'll be on our way." But before she left, Alex asked, "are you sure your mom's okay with this?" She turned around and nodded, "Yeah, don't worry about it." And with that everyone got ready while the Maximals hid around the room undetected.

Later

The four teens were walking in a shortcut that was trailed into the forest, a place where the teen Maximals could keep an eye on everyone. Cheetor and Foxfire were hopping from the treetops, while JackFoot looked after them from below. But in the baby carriage, Timothy could see Cheetor and Foxfire up in the trees, and giggled and reached up in hoping to hold him. Toni looked upward, but saw nothing, "What is it, Timmy? You see something you like?"

Cheetor and Foxfire hid in the bushel of leaves, as Cheetor sighed, "this is goin' to be very difficult keeping an eye on them." Foxfire nodded. They were going deeper in the woods as Justin noticed, "Are you sure we're going the right way?" Toni nodded, "Trust me; I know where we're going." She looked around and noticed that nothing seemed familiar, "Okay, now I don't know where we are." Just then, they heard laughter: dark, creepy, and somewhat familiar laughter that only Aelita, Alex, and Justin knew.

Aelita moved over to Justin and whispered, "Justin, it's them." He nodded in response, "I know, and not at a better time." He looked over to Toni and noticed she was getting freaked out. This was confirmed as she shouted, "ALRIGHT WHO ARE YOU? SHOW YOURSELVES!" Alex sweat dropped, "Not the wisest idea." Just then, out of the trees, flew out Waspinator, Shadow-Panther, and Jetstorm, all in Beast Mode. The three were a little freaked out, but Toni was just a little shocked, but then shouted, "T-this….is…THE SCOOP OF THE CENTURY!" Justin, Alex, and Aelita all sweat dropped at this, and surprisingly, so did the Predacons. Waspinator looked over to Jetstorm and asked, "Fleshy girl not zcared of Wazpinator?" Jetstorm answered, "Guess she thinks giant bugs are cool." Just then, Justin ran up and stood in front of Toni and Timothy with Alex right next to him, and shouted, "Just what do you guys want?" "Yeah. Don't tell me you guys have decided to lower yourselves to kidnappers?", Alex quirked.

Shadow-Panther got an amused look on her face and replied, "Well we weren't thinking of kidnapping you guys, just roughing you up a bit." She then caught a glimpse of Timothy, and snickered, "but I think the tiny human in that carriage would do for a hostage for the Key." Aelita and Toni ran over to Timothy in order to protect him. "And I think we'll take him now. Predacons—TERRORIZE!" And to Toni's surprise, the creatures transformed into humanoid robots, the bugs almost looking more insect like while the panther transformed into a drop dead gorgeous fembot.

Just then out of the trees, Cheetor and Foxfire popped up with JackFoot popping out of the brushes. "Mrowl! Back off, Preds! Maximals—MAXIMIZE!" And with that said JackFoot, Foxfire, and Cheetor transformed as well. "Time to pounce, Maximals!", Cheetor shouted as they got their weapons at the ready. He then turned JackFoot and ordered, "JackFoot, keep an optic out for Aelita and Toni over there." She nodded and jumped right aside to the two girls protecting Timothy. Toni then asked, "You guys know my name? They know your name?" Aelita and JackFoot sweatdropped and smiled nervously as they realized Cheetor had called out Aelita's name.

Then suddenly, a huge firefight ensued as Alex and Justin took cover while Cheetor and foxfire fought against the three Predacons. JackFoot motioned for the girls to get out of there, so Toni grabbed Timothy out of the carriage. As they got a good distance away from the fight, Toni accidentally dropped her cousin, "Timothy!" But then out of nowhere, he was caught by a long and huge tongue as it pulled Timmy into the trees, where the three girls saw Spittor, in Beast Mode, sticking to a tree.

He smirked, "Thanths for tha kid, humanths." And then jumped away with Timothy. Toni screamed out, "Hey, come back here!" But she was pulled back by JackFoot and Aelita, who tried to calm her down, "Toni! Don't!" "I can't leave my cousin to that thing! He'll get eaten! Timothy!", Toni shouted as she was being held back. Cheetor hear the screaming and saw Spittor getting away with Timothy in his arms; he looked towards Foxfire, "Radio for backup, I'm goin' frog hunting!"

But before she could protest, he shifted into Beast Mode and was out of there, running past the three Predacons that were shooting at them. Shadow-Panther saw this and went to Beast Mode herself, "Oh, I love a good chase!", she mused as she was in hot pursuit. Foxfire realized she had no choice but to radio for backup.

Back With the Chase

Cheetor was catching up with the slimy frog during the tree jumping chase; he scared him a little with a roar or two. Spittor was being slowed down due to the brat, "Man, time for you ta gow, now!" With that, he retracted his tongue throwing the kid in the air. "NOOO!", Cheetor shouted as he tried to get a good jumping distance to catch Timothy. But before he could catch him, Shadow-Panther jumped out of nowhere and caught the little tike by the collar of his pjs.

She stopped right in front of him holding the baby, when he stopped in front of her a few feet away. He gulped, remembering the kiss she had given him, so when he talked he was a little nervous, "Um, that little guy belongs to a friend of mine.", Cheetor said. Shadow-Panther smirked, "Oh, really, well I'll just hold on to him for a little while if you don't mind." Cheetor growled, "Mrowl! You're really pushing it!" Shadow-Panther simply mused as she said, "You want him? Give me a little cat-kiss on the nose and I think I'll do it." Cheetor just growled, "Bite me."

Just then out of the trees, Tarantulas,in Beast Mode,pounced on top of Cheetor. Tarantulas chuckled, "If you insist.",and sank his fangs into his neck. Cheetor winced in pain as this happened, and then in a few seconds, Cheetor was on the ground completely passed out.

Back with the Others
To Toni's surprise, there were more of these strange robotic/animal beings, as from out of nowhere, a giant robot wearing a grizzly bear skin, accompanied by a robot wearing a razorback skin, and saved their butts. The razorback robot fired at the two bugs and shot out their weapons. Then it was the big bot's turn as he ran up to them, smashed down his fists on their heads nearly flattening them. Then, he picked them up and threw them high in the air.

When the battle was over, Alex, Justin and the others met up with the three girls. Aelita ran over to Grizzly-1 and smiled, "I'm glad you guys got here in time." Grizzly just shrugged, "Aw, it was nothing. You should be thanking Foxfire for the comlink; she's the one who radioed us." It was then that Toni had gotten to the boiling point and shouted, "HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND HERE?" Everyone looked at each other, including Alex and the two. It was then that Aelita should make the suggestion, "I think it's about time we let her in." Razorbeast just put his hand over his face and muttered, "Optimus is not going to like this."

Justin mentioned, "We'll worry about it later…" he walked up to Toni, who looked a little more freaked than usually, "Toni…you might want to sit down, cause this might be a long story." An hour went by as Justin explained everything: the Maximals and Predacons, the strange explosions, Aelita's origin, the whole story of the Beast Wars. It's not everyday you realize your friends are part of a war that's been going on in the woods behind your home. Everyone thought that Toni took it pretty well.

"Sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie.", was all that she said. Alex nodded, "Yeah, I know this is all something out of the Twilight Zone, but the whole story's true: two transforming robot races crashed here on our planet a long time ago. Woke up and are duking it out over Aelita there in order to save the Galaxy from total galactic domination." Then Justin stepped in, "Yeah, but it's all true despite some things seem a little fictional."

It was then that Toni realized something else, "Oh my God, Timothy!" It was then that everyone else realized that as well; Foxfire then had everyone calm down, "Do not become alarmed, Cheetor went straight after him and will surely be victorious in retrieving little Timothy." Razorbeast then stated, "Well, just to be sure…" he turned on his comlink, which was located on his chest plate, and called out for a reply on the situation. "Cheetor…come in." Nothing but static was heard, "Cheetor…do you read me? Over?"

It was then that they realized…Cheetor and Timothy were both going to need a lot of rescuing.

Near the Predacons hiding Place
It was a rustle area of the mountains; completely isolated and nowhere near human eyes. It was sort of a boxed canyon area with a river traveling through it, a perfect place for the Predacons to stay around. Cheetor groaned a little as he slowly got up, "Oh, man. I've got to stop letting that spider get me like that." It was then that he noticed he was in a cage of Predacon design, and still in Beast Mode.

He also noticed Waspinator, Jetstorm, Tarantulas, and Spittor were all present with Shadow-Panther missing. The four Predacons were currently in Robot Mode, and were keeping an eye on Timothy; Cheetor snarled out, "Hey, Preds. Keep your hands off him! He's got nothing to do with this!" but then he sweatdropped as he realized what was going on here; timothy was crying ever since Shadow-Panther, being the only female figure around there, was gone to deliver a message for the Key's surrender for the baby. She had left the Male-Preds in charge of keeping the human infant docile. In this situation, they were most likely about to kill the kid.

"Human baby will lizten to Wazpinator! Wazpinator in charge zo human baby will obey Wazpinator'z orderz!" Timothy just kept on crying like crazy, which made Waspinator cry in frustration as he cried, "WHAAAHAAHAHAHAHG!" Jetstorm just groaned as he grabbed his head, hoping to block out the crying, "Make it stop! I can't take it anymore!" Tarantulas screamed, "I've eaten things that didn't complain this much!" Just then, Jetstorm noticed how Waspinator was holding the baby; it was practically upside down, "Hey, Bug Eyes! You're holding it wrong!" Waspinator saw this and flipped him over, but it still cried.

Just then, Spittor grabbed the kid, "Here, let me try." He set Timothy down on a tree trunk stub, on his back. The Predacon covered his eyes, "Where's the baby?", he said in a playful tone, "THERE HE IS!" He shouted as he opened his hands to show his orange eyes bugging out comically staring at the kid; this made Timothy just stare up at him frozen stiff. The Predacon realized that this worked as Spittor tried it a second time, "Where's the baby?...THERE HE IS!" But then it failed as Timothy burst out crying even louder and Waspinator hit Spittor in the back of his head, "Great! Frog-Bot make it worze!"

Cheetor had to admit it but he felt sorry for these guys, but then an idea had struck him. He got up and shouted, "Hey, Preds! I can get him to stop if you hand him over to me." The Predacons looked at each other, hesitant to do this if the Maximal had a trick up his sleeve. But after hearing Timothy crying out more, Waspinator just caved in as he grabbed the baby and handed him over to the Maximal teen. "Here, take it and make Wazpinator'z life eazier." Cheetor smirked, "You got it." He knew that Waspinator was the one holding the keys, so when he put Timothy in the cage, he also snagged the keys that Waspinator had around Timothy's neck.

Waspinator left them alone after the exchange, as Cheetor pretended to tickle Timmy's stomach. In the process, he slowly picked up the keys in his mouth. He muffled, "Don't worry, kid. I'm bustin' us outta here." He had to get the door unlocked very quickly, if any hope for an escape against four Predacons was ever possible. It worked when Cheetor heard a clicking sound and the door opened, unfortunately, so did Tarantulas as he turned around, "WHA?"

Cheetor shouted, "Sorry, Predheads, but me and the kid are bailing this joint!" With that said, he picked up timothy like a Cheetah cub, and ran as fast as he could from the Preds. Waspinator shouted as he went to Beast Mode, "After Cat-Bot!" With that said, the Predacons went to Beast Mode and flew after him. Cheetor jumped on the ridges of the box canyon holding on to Timothy, who was giggling at the whole thing. Cheetor guessed that Timothy thought they were playing some kind of game, "Not a care in the world for you, huh?", Cheetor muffled.

The Preds tried to catch up to the cat, but to no avail, so Jetstorm shouted, "Well, forget this! I'll blow'em both away!" He transformed to Robot Mode and brought out his shoulder mounted missile launchers. "Say Goodbye, Kitty Kat!" Cheetor saw this and tossed Timothy high in the air, and reverted to Beast Mode. He pulled out his Quasar Cannon and fired at Jetstorm's missiles before he could fire them, causing them to explode. Unfortunately, Waspinator while carrying Spittor and Tarantulas following pursuit, were caught in the explosion.

Cheetor caught timothy as he fell down to him, and he simply quirked, "Goodbye." Timothy continued to giggle at the whole thing, and Cheetor couldn't help but smile at this kid. Suddenly, a huge slashing sound came out of nowhere and Cheetor was in pain as he kneeled down groaning. Timothy stopped laughing and was silent, and then started to cry. Cheetor turned around to see Shadow-Panther and he spoke with his teeth gritting, "Hey…I thought you said you liked me?" Shadow-Panther smirked, "I do, but I can't let an opportunity like this slip by me. Getting the Key could be a huge leap in my ranks in the Predacons."

She walked over to Cheetor with her three steel claws popping out of her fists, "So just surrender and stay as my prisoners for a little longer." Cheetor grit his teeth and looked down at Timothy; he couldn't let this kid be a prisoner in Predacon control. So he got up, turned around and shot Shadow-Panther a look, "In...your…dreams." Panther was a little surprised at that, but was even more surprised as Cheetor charged a punch at her. On instinct, she brought up one of her fists, and stabbed Cheetor's arm, which caused him to grunt in pain as he pulled back.

She was seeing a side of this pussycat she'd never seen before; he charged at her again, unleashing a combo while still holding and protecting Timothy, and she did everything to evade and assault attacks on him. When the battle was nearly over, Cheetor was standing there, still holding on to Timothy with one arm, but he looked worse for wear. Some parts of him were slashed open, his Cheetah fur were in patches, a few scars were on his faceplate, and in some areas that weren't near Timothy; mech fluid was leaking out.

Shadow-Panther thought that Cheetor had lost his mind, "What are you doing? Just ditch the kid and you can fight me seriously!" Cheetor slowly rose his head up, and instead of the cold determined look he had, he was having a sad, yet calm look on his face, "If I did that…Timothy here would be exposed….and he could get hurt…and…I don't think my friend's friend could…bear it if…something happened to him…" and just like that, after he said that, he went into stasis lock, still standing and holding on to Timothy.

Shadow-Panther just stood there with a look that showed both shock and sadness. She whispered to herself as she lowered her head, "I see…so you'd rather die, than have the child hurt at all." She charged forward and as she was close to stab him in the face, she stopped a few centimeters from him. She looked up to him at his still frozen face, and then she turned away. "See you soon…Cheetor." She went to Beast Mode and ran off, leaving the Maximal there standing still there with Timothy crying out loud.

An Hour Later

The Axelon

Cheetor awoke as the doors to the CR Chamber opened and out he came, brand new and functional, as he saw the faces of his friends and teammates, especially a teary-eyed Foxfire. She immediately ran up to him and gave him a huge hug and wouldn't let go, "Cheetor! Thank the Matrix, you are functional again!" Razorbeast popped up, "You were in pretty bad shape; lucky for you Alex heard the tatter-tot's crying." It was then that Cheetor remembered, "Where's Timothy?" just then Toni walked up, completely unfazed of the whole situation, and showed in her arms a giggling Timothy, reaching out for Cheetor.

Toni smiled, "Thanks for looking after my cousin, Cheetor. I owe you guys." Cheetor grinned at that, and Optimus walked up, "Well, seeing as how we've been found out by another…" everyone waited for the final judgement on Optimus' decision, "I guess we'll have to make her a Maximal as well." Everyone else, except for Dinobot and Rattrap, who just merely groaned, went over to Toni and congratulated for joining in.

Justin, Aelita and Alex just hugged Toni back and Timothy just giggled on as everyone welcomed their newest member. Of course this wouldn't mean things would change between them at all.

Next Chapter: Double Trouble