The day had been hot. The wild land had been drenched in burning gold sunlight, feeding into the recent drought. A wonderful, if not slightly difficult, day for most of the wildlife living there, well unless you became another creature's dinner that is. However, it wasn't fairing that well for one of the resident groups of cybertronians. The Maximals. Rhinox and Rattrap had been working on a more recent invention but due to the heat he had been worried about some of the finer tunings of his device. Meaning the test run of said device had been moved to that evening.

As the sun began its decent, the Maximals took leave of their base. Predacon activity had been low recently, so they weren't too concerned with an attack on their base. Optimus primal, was currently carrying the new device, while he and Rattrap rode on Rhinox's back, with Cheetor and Dinobot following close behind them on foot. All of them in beast mode for safety reasons. However, one of them wasn't so excited about the abrupt fieldtrip.

"Why are we going out again?" Cheetor asked.

"Did ya forget already, Spots? Me and Rhinox got to test da gadget we made." Rattrap said.

"I know that. I just don't understand why can't you do it back at base? Or why I have to be involved?" Cheetor said.

"Because, we don't know what might happen, when we turn it on. I had been forced to use some outdated components. We're going out so that our home doesn't accidentally blow up." Rhinox explained.

"Okay, I get that, but why do I have to come?"

"Consider this a team building trip, Cheetor. And what's this about? You're usually excited for any mission. I would expect this kind of behavior from Dinobot, not you," Optimus Primal chimed in.

Cheetor sighed, "I just had planned something this evening. That's all."

Rattrap burst out laughing, "Plans! Yah right! Besides for the Predacons we're da only people on this mudball planet, with a broken ship and no communications. I know for a fact you's not fixin' da ship, so what could you's possibly be missing out on? A hot date?"

Cheetor sighed again and rolled his eyes. He didn't answer Rattrap. Sure, the kittycat didn't mind missions, he loved them, it's just his involvement in this one felt unnecessary and he was planning on doing something else this evening. Running. It was some uncontrollable desire that he couldn't explain to the others no matter how much he tried too. He looked over to the sun as it gave its last gleaming golden rays of day light. He felt the soft breeze as the evening began to set in, and the urge to leap out into the flowing grasses of wild plains came with it.

It had become a little ritual to the young Maximal, to go off on long and fast runs at dawn and dusk. It had started when he had deleted the Maximal programing block that was supposed to control his beast urges. The need to run, to be free, to go fast had hit him like a ton of bricks at first. He had felt constantly trapped inside of their ship. Heck! At one point he'd thought the walls were closing in on him. Switching to robot-mode did bring some kind of relief from it, but it was still there, deep inside, nagging at the back of his mind. Eventually, he'd figured out that running would cure his stir craziness. The wind flowing through his fur, and his paws beating against the rough solid ground; it was so addictive. However, tonight, he would just have to ignore it.

It was only a fifteen-kilk walk to get to the desired destination. An open grassland area, with not that many trees, and most importantly the area wasn't as potent with energon here as the rest of the planet. Sure, they wouldn't be able to stay in their robot-mode forever, but it would give them a few more moments before the Energon Field built up took effect. A good thing too, as Rattrap and Rhinox would need to use their servos.

Cheetor slumped down onto his stomach waiting for the others to be ready. The soft grass felt comfortable against his fur. Optimus was helping Rhinox and Rattrap set up, and Dinobot, ever the warrior, was on look out. Cheetor didn't really care what the others were doing, he just wanted to run.

*chirp*

His ear flicked, and suddenly turned. Did someone say something? He looked over to the ridge away from the group. What was that sound? Glancing back at the others, seeing as how they weren't even close to being finished, he decided a little investigating couldn't hurt while the others were finishing up. He wasn't going far anyway.

Leaping to his paws he started towards the sound. He climbed up and onto one of the nearby ridges and looked into the valley below. Much to his disappointment, there was nothing over there. Well, nothing out of the ordinary. Only a stunning view of a golden savanna sea; tall glowing golden grasses flowing in waves of warm gentle wind. They shimmered, as they were whipped around. A few trees and rocks sprinkled throughout, acting as the islands in the golden sea. Laying himself down once again he simply just gazed at the sight before him. Even if it wasn't what he was looking for, it was still pretty.

There was a sudden, non-wind like, movement amongst the reeds. His sharp green eyes darted to the stop just to see… A tail? He could have sworn that's what he had saw. A golden tail, spotted with black, and tipped with a bit of white. No, it couldn't have been. He looked back at his own tail. Golden, spotted with black, and tipped with white. His had more gold fur than the other, but they were close enough. Was there another cheetah that lived nearby? He thought he had scared most of the ones in the area off by this point. They didn't really like a chatty cheetah, like him.

It had kind of made him sad, not just the fact that he had scared creatures out of their homes, but that he would've like to get to know them. Of course, he knew they couldn't talk to him like he could to them, but it would've nice to have someone to go running with, or if they wouldn't freak out to just talk with. Sure, he had the other Maximals to talk to, but they didn't always want to talk to him. Dinobot didn't really engaged in very long conversations, and Rattrap practically talked as much as he did, though it was never really on subjects that Cheetor cared about nor understood. Airazor and Tigatron are usually away from the base. Rhinox, and Optimus, would sometimes listen to him, but they eventually would reach their limits at some point. Another cheetah would be something, even if it wasn't a cybertronian.

He leaped down for the ridge, trying to get a closer look. The tall grass made it difficult to see if someone was there, especially if that someone happen to have golden fur. His limbs moved slowly and silently. His bright green optics narrowed, trying to catch any movement. His ears flicked, searching for any sound. His nose twitched as it caught an unknown, yet familiar scent. Someone was here.

Glance left. Glance right. He couldn't see anyone. He could still smell them though, one of the great additions that came with his beast mode. Where were they?

He dropped his guard, and raised his head, looking around for any sign of anyone. He lowered his head once more; he must have been smelling things again. He was about to turn around to rejoin the maximals but…

His bright green optics suddenly locked with, two organic eyes.

Hidden amongst the reeds, and the shadows in between, were two wild eyes. Auburn, etched with dark brown, and dusted with golden flecks. Black slit pupils resting in the middle, glassy. The dying sun light made them glisten. So, wild. So, free. So, clear. So, mysterious.

Cheetor's legs felt stuck. Even if he wanted too, he wouldn't able to move. The pair of wild eyes, had ensnared him. Never had he'd seen something like this, not even on cybertron had he'd seen something as bewitching as these eyes. There was nothing but him and these eyes.

"CHEETOR!" he heard Dinobot screech.

Until the world slapped him in face. He quickly looked towards his friend's voice and heard something behind him scuttle away. He turned back. The eyes were gone.

"Aww man," Cheetor mumbled.

"FURBALL!" Dinobot called again.

The spotty catbot rolled his green optics, disappointed that whatever, no, whoever that was, had been scared off. Man, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about this for weeks.

"CHEETOR!"

Cheetor sighed deeply, "OKAY, OKAY I'M COMING! Jeez…"

The young maximal, strode out of the tall reeds, ready to rejoin his fellow maximals. But he glanced back, hoping that he would see whoever those eyes belonged to. Disappointment struck him like a lightning bolt. No one was there.

Cheetor stared at the monitor with a passionate boredom. Every sector they could see was quiet; the preds were taking a vacation today. He checked his chronometer, he still had about a half a joor left on his shift. He leaned back into his seat, and stretched his arms over his helm, yawning. He suddenly switched the screen to sector 7; the same savanna plain where he had seen the eyes.

Ever since that day he hadn't been able to stop wondering about them. He'd thought for sure they had belonged to some kind of cheetah, or wild cat. Due to some reason or another, he'd hadn't had the time to leave the base to investigate further. Maybe if he could score some free time he could go searching later.

"Cheetor?"

The kittycat nearly jumped out of his seat, at the sudden voice. He calmed down the moment he turned around and recognized the speaker. Optimus.

Cheetor put his servo over his spark, "Oh, gears and circuits. Don't scare me like that bigbot."

"Sorry about that Cheetor."

"It's fine. What's up?"

"Sentinel picked up some strange energy readings."

"Another pod?"

"Possibly, I need someone to investigate. I know you still have some time left on the monitors so if you want to decline…"

"Oh no. I'll go," Cheetor, not wanting to miss a chance of getting away from this desktop, hopped out of his seat and started for the door, but then, "Uhm…Where am I going?"

Optimus chuckled, "Sector 7."

Ultra-gear! Cheetor leaped into beast mode and bounded down the hall toward the exit.

Optimus ran towards the doorway hoping to catch the youngster's audio receptor, "and on the lookout for predacons!"

"Don't worry Big Bot! I won't let you down!" Cheetor called back.

Cheetor glanced down at the scanner in his servo. He was smack in the middle of sector 7 and hadn't found scrap. He scratched the side of his helm, puzzled before feeling a sudden sharp tingle go across his body. Not this again. Rolling his optics, he switched over to beast mode, carefully stowing the scanner into his subspace and continuing on his way.

The sun hung high in the afternoon sky, it's blazing light washing over the savanna. The drought had been continuing throughout the recent weeks. Local water ways had been noticeably shrinking. Not really a problem for an alien robot, but some of the nature fans in the team, such as Optimus and Tigatron…well mostly Tigatron, had expressed their concern for the local wild-life. Going so far as to suggest that they should make an artificial watering hole. Cheetor wasn't as concerned, his reasoning being that these creatures had lived here for who knows how long and are still alive; they had to have some kind of plan for when droughts happen.

He continued to creep through the tall golden grass. It once more went over his head, making it difficult to see. He groaned, and leaped to the top of a near by ridge. The same ridge he had climbed the day he saw the eyes. The view was almost the same, the only real difference being the lighting; the grass looked more, tan rather than the sunset gold they were that evening. Maybe he could start looking for them now. He'd mostly had been focusing on the strange reading; searching for the eyes for a few minutes wouldn't hurt.

The yipping of a herd of gazelles, suddenly caught his attention. His ears flicked up with anticipation, and his body suddenly tensed at the thought of prey. Before he could stop himself, he had leaped off of the ridge and started towards the sounds.

Hunting was another urge he had to get used to after removing the programming block. It wasn't as strong as the need to run but it was still there. Dinobot and Tigatron had been dealing with this one as well. As only carnivores in the group, they would occasionally try to hunt together. Which usually meant Cheetor would try to be quiet enough not to fully tick off the velociraptor and other wild cat as they led them into the wilderness. Dinobot was one who started all this wanting to satisfy his beast side with a fresh kill, while Cheetor did have the same urge, his reason for going on their little missions was really more curiosity driven. He just wanted to see if he could hunt. Sure, they could eat meat if they wanted too and while Dinobot probably would, he did eat a clone of himself after all, Cheetor would need a bit more convincing. However, that fact of whether they would or would not eat their prey didn't really matter, as neither of them were very good at hunting, and had yet to get any kills under their belts. It must have been some sort of instinct that they lacked, due to technically being robots.

Once he had finally broken through the sea of grass, he'd had found a smaller field that, thankfully, had much shorter grass. There the herd of gazelle rested. Cheetor wasn't really in the hunting mood. This made him awfully excited, while even if he couldn't catch one it was still fun to chase them. Cheetor had nearly jumped into the field, to started the chase, when something suddenly caught his optic. Cheetor froze.

There on the other side of the field, hiding amongst the edge of the reeds, much like he was, crept another cheetah. Well at least he thought it was a cheetah, he couldn't really tell this far off, but something seemed off about the other wild cat. They seemed darker. Though the next few moments would prove what this wild cat was.

Cheetor watched closely as the other cat slowly stalked one of the gazelles. Creeping slowly out of the reeds, they remained crouched low to the ground ready to pounce. For a creature know for there speed, he was amazed at how slow they were moving. Growling the cheetah launched at the chosen gazelle and the chase began. If Cheetor had blinked he would have missed it. The gazelle had tried every twist and turn it could think of, until it darted out of view into the reeds, the funny looking cheetah quickly following it. Yiping and growling was heard but then silence.

Was the chase successful? Before Cheetor could run over and find out, the familiar and dreaded sound of insect like wings buzzed overhead. The Maximal crouched lower into the reeds hoping his fur camouflage would be enough to avoid detection.

"Wasspinator doessn't like thiss idea." Spoke an all too familiar voice.

"Oh, would you shut up! It's a simple retrieval mission, as long as we don't attract any unnecessary attention, we'll be fine." Spoke another all too familiar voice.

"Terror-bot don't undersstand. Terror-bot don't have to be worried about being blown up. Maximals never blow Terror-bot up. Maximals always blow up Wasspinator."

"Oh, come on! What makes you think that Maximals will be there?"

"Wasspinator and terror-bot going after maximal pod. Maximals always there."

A pod!? Cheetor, suddenly perked up. That must have been the source of the strange energy readings.

"Just stop griping! We're almost there anyway," squawked Terrorsaur.

The young maximal looked towards the direction, where the two predacons were flying. In the distance stood a large swirling grey smokestack. How did he miss that? Must have been too focused on the new cheetah, whom was now no where to be found. He shook his head, he needed to focus on his mission. He was too far away from the base, to comm for help.

The smart, sensible choice was to run into back into the comm range, and try to call in back up. The risky choice was trying to take them one his own. He went with the latter.

His legs pumped and his paws dug into the soil as he ran. Catching up with two flying predacons wasn't exactly an easy feat, but with his beast mode specialized for speed he could do it. He had to get to that pod first.

He crawling up a nearby ridge, keeping his body low to the ground to remain hidden. Peering over the edge he'd found what he was looking for, by the looks of it had beaten the preds to the prize. The stasis pod had wedged itself deep into the bottom of what appeared to be a long-dried river or lake, and by the looks of it had been there for a long time. How did they miss it?

Slowly he leaped down, and stalked towards the pod. Standing up on his hind legs and leaning up onto one of his front paws, he carefully peered into the pod. The glass was, for some reason, fogged, blocking view of the protoform inside. His ears flicked back, slightly disappointed.

"Don't worry, whoever you are, I'll make sure you get back home," Cheetor quietly vowed.

"Aww…how sweet," someone said before squawking.

Cheetor suddenly glanced up, only to see two predacons looming over him.

"But the new predacon will be coming with us," Terrorsaur squawked, and Waspinator cackled.

"This is a maximal protoform and you won't lay a single dirty servo on them! Cheetor Maximize!"

"Terrorsaur Terrorize!"

"Wasspinator terrorize!"

Cheetor pulled out his rifle and began to fire at the predacons, hitting Terrorsaur in the wing and sending him tumbling out of the sky. He started running away from the pod to draw the remaining pred's fired away from it. He couldn't risk the preds damaging the pod's stasis systems.

Waspinator continued to send his explosive darts to pummel down the catbot. Cheetor continued to slip in between the shots, but the large rattling explosions that happened in between them continued to confuse him. The heat stuck to his fur, and heavy smoke blinded his optics. At one point he was sure he was just firing at nothing.

A large figure suddenly came out of the smoke, and shoved him hard into the ground. Dirt and dust got forced into his intake and vents. Instinct kicked in. Run. Breathe. Get away. Survive. Coughing, he switched to beast mode and started to run.

He had just exited the smoke plume, only to find himself cornered by the steep dead banks. Something slammed hard into the back of his helm. His audio receptors scream with pain. Then the world faded to nothing but black.

His helm hurt. No. His everything hurt. His helm, his legs, Pit, even his tail hurt! He didn't open his optics, thinking it would make him purge his tanks. The taste of dust filled his intake. All he could hear was a faint ringing in his audio receptors. That was until, the ringing slowly turned into voices.

"…Keep digging…"

"…pinator trying…"

"Faster, who knows how long until…maximal forces show up…"

Cheetor groaned. The voices quieted.

"Watch him…almost…digging…"

"Alright…"

Cheetor suddenly felt heavy pressure on his neck. Something heavy and hot was pushing against it. He didn't really need to breathe, but it was cutting off vital energon lines to this processor. He squirmed; the pressure increased. He opened his optics, finding Waspinator's pede pressing against his neck. Panicking he tried squirming again, only to have Waspinator put more weight on his foot. His vision started to swirl and dance. He felt like he was falling. Sound faded out once more. His processor needed energon. It needed the life blood of cybertronians. It needed energon…

A shadow flew over him, and the pressure was gone. A rush came over him as energon flooded back into his processor, his vents came hard and fast. Once sound returned to him; screaming. Panic screaming. He onlined his optics, which he didn't even realize they were off.

Waspinator was the one screaming, and he had good reason too. The funny looking cheetah was latched onto him. Their sharp fangs piercing into the tender tubes and wires in Waspinator neck.

"GET OFF KITTY! GET OFF OF WASSPINATOR!" Waspinator screeched, as he flailed, desperately trying to fling the wild cat off him.

"Hold still!" Squawked, Terrorsaur. As he pulled his rifle out, and aimed it at the cheetah.

Cheetor tried to get to his paws to stop Terrorsaur, but his processor was still too fuzzy to keep on his paws. The sickening sound of a shot was heard, along with a pained bleat. Cheetor watched in horror as the shot struck the cheetah, sending it flying into the dried bank.

An enraged growl filled Cheetor throat, as he finally got to his paws. He turned back to the preds to find them dragging the pod away, in their beast modes. He maximized and ran after them, firing shot after shot at them, until they were out of range. He growled in frustration and anger, but when his sensitive audio receptors picked up a small whimpering. He turned; all his anger melted away.

"Beast mode," he murmured, before running back over to the other cheetah.

The poor thing was trying to pick itself off the ground, but is legs were shaky, and one appeared to bending in an unnatural way. Cheetor quickly rushed to its side giving it something to lean on. The cheetah continued to pant and whimper.

Well… at least Cheetor thought it was a cheetah. Now looking at it closer he couldn't tell, if it was anymore. The creature's fur was thicker and it didn't have spots like him, instead it had splotches, as if something had splattered it with black ink. Three jet black strips were painted down their back, as if marked with by a thick brush. A tuff of black fur adorned its neck. Everything else seemed to be cheetah like. Was it some kind of cross between a leopard and a cheetah?

Cheetor didn't have any time to put more thought into this though. Within moments the strange wild cat started retching; clearly trying to purge something out. Drops of Waspinator's energon, splattered onto the ground. Its body began to shake uncontrollably. Cheetor caught a glimpse of its eyes…wild, free, clear, and now frightened…it was them, the eyes he had seen that day, and then the creature, collapsed to the ground.

"So, let me get this straight," Optimus primal spoke, while rubbing his servo over his faceplate, "You, went out searching for the source of the energy readings, found one of our pods, but so did the predacons. You engaged them, and in the end a wild cheetah/leopard thing saved you."

"And you lost the pod," Interjected Dinobot.

It had been certainly a shock to everyone on the Axalon when Cheetor came running into the ship carrying another cat on his back. Rhinox quickly jumped into action upon seeing the poor creature was injured; immediately taking it into the med-bay. Rattrap following close behind to help his best friend. Leaving Cheetor to explain what happened to the rest of the bewildered crew.

"Well…yes…" Cheetor sheepishly answered, he knew how important pods were and was worried how the others would react to him losing one.

"You do realize the possibility of a new predacon warrior is now imminent!" Dinobot suddenly shouted.

"Dinobot, calm down!" Tigatron intervened, "Yes, Little Cat did lose a pod, but it was either that or lose an innocent life. That seemed like an equal trade off to me."

"This isn't about, a life for a life! This is about the fact that the enemy has just gained another soldier! Meaning that this war will be just that much harder to win! If the furball had gone after them there might be a chance the predacons wouldn't have gained this advantage."

"And if Cheetor had gone after them, he would have abandoned the very being that had saved his life, and where would be the honor in that?!" Tigatron was ticked. The tracker could usually keep his temper in check, but right now he was an exploding volcano. Playing the honor card was just an extra way to tell the former predacon to back off.

"Why you...!" Dinobot started to say, only to be cut off by optimus.

"That's enough! Arguing isn't going to change our situation, and it certainly isn't going to make anyone feel better. What happened, happened and we'll just have to deal with the consequences," the maximal leader turned to the smaller catbot in the base, "And while I'm not happy with you engaging predacons on your own or losing that pod," he sighed, "I am proud of you for trying to save a life."

Dinobot shook his helm and stormed out. Most likely going to train in order to cool off.

Cheetor smile internally. That went better than expected, he'd honestly thought that he was going to get an earful. Now, all he was worried about was the strange wild cat. What was it? Why did it save him? and most importantly. Would it survive?

Cheetor curled up in beast mode on the floor near the med-bay door. It would be another hour, until Cheetor got his answers. A whole hour of worry.

Optimus upon seeing the younger maximal's concern, decided to allow Cheetor to wait by the med-bay's closed door. Though, he was initially confused, by the youngster's reaction, he eventually chalked it up to him being concerned for a being of a species similar to his.

Eventually Rhinox, and Rattrap exited the, med-bay. Both of them looking tired, and still a little shocked.

Cheetor hopped to his paws, "Well?"

"She'll live Spots. Though, I didn' think you's be bringing home girls, just yet," Rattrap said, taking a seat in a nearby chair.

"What?" Cheetor titled his head to the side and cocked up one ear.

Thankfully Rhinox came to his rescue and explained, "The cheetah you brought home. It's a healthy female, maybe in between 18-20 quartexs old."

"Oh…So, she is a cheetah?" Opitmus asked.

"Yes, she is. A rare variety, known as a king cheetah actually," Rhinox pulled some pictures up on one of the nearby monitors.

"King Cheetah?" Optimus asked now intrigued.

"Yes, it's a rare recessive gene mutation, that causes the signature spot pattern. They are usually identified but the three thick stripes on their backs and their thicker fur." Rhinox explained further.

"Fascinating," Tigatron said looking closer at the images on screen.

"Meaning dat Furball got himself a very lucky lady. Didn' think he 'ad it in 'im," Rattrap teased.

Cheetor, just ignored Rattrap after that jab. He was too busy looking towards the med-bay, "Will she be alright?"

"With time she will. The energon poisoning is being treated. I doubt it will affect her that much and the burn on her back will fix itself. It's her leg I'm concerned about. It had a pretty bad fracture. I've splinted it, but if I can't get it to heal properly, I'm not sure if she'll be able to hunt on her own." Rhinox answered.

"Is there anything you can do to ensure her recovery?" Tigatron asked.

"Me and Rattrap have come up with a few options…"

Cheetor tuned out the conversation behind him and quietly trotted into the med-bay. There it…she was. Lying on her side, her left front leg splinted, and cords attached to her. He quietly and gently leaped up on to the table. Her black and sandy fur was chaotic, but in a way beautiful. His tail flicked back and forth sadly, when he saw the looked of pain on her face. He carefully lied down next to her, trying to bring what comfort he could; her fur was so soft and warm. He peacefully slipped in to recharge, with the heart monitor, slowly and steadily sounding her pulse.

A/N:

Hello! Everybody! Welcome to the start of my first beast wars story! I hope you all enjoy this! If these guys sound a little bit out of character please let me know, I'm not as well verse in this show as I should be.

And yes, a king cheetah is a real thing. When I was inventing this OC of mine, I knew I wanted her to be similar to Cheetor, but different enough so that she didn't seem like a carbon female copy of Cheetor. So, I did a little research, and found that there is a different variation of cheetah. The king cheetah. Look up pictures they are so pretty.

So, read, review, and I'll see you in the next one.