Hello, bots and cons. Centurion here and welcome back to Transformers: Wild Earth. Now, the Maximals have a new ally in the human Noah Pike after he helped Ventus Primal. Not only that, but a stasis has begun entering Earth's atmosphere.
Before we start, I'd like to say that this story was actually partly inspired by Stone-Man85's story that's actually named Beast Wars. So, once again, thank you, Stone-Man85 for giving me the inspiration to start writing this story.
I have no contributors to this story so far, but I'm hoping that changes over time. Now, let's get back into the action!
*Outer Space. Earth's Orbit. Unknown Time*
The stasis pod was already on a fast track through Earth's atmosphere, narrowly missing a couple of satellites on it's path. It began lighting up like a beacon as it continued through the atmosphere. Soon, it crashed into a large body of water, making a huge splash as it entered.
*Algonquin National Park, Ontario. The Peaceful Traveler. Main Lobby. 8:00 am*
The Maximals had just finished showing Noah around their ship as a thank-you for him helping out Ventus Primal. "Well, that concludes the tour of our base, Noah." Spritewing smiled.
Noah was unsurprisingly in awe at what he was in. "I just can't believe that I'm in an actual alien ship!"
"I can imagine this being 'breathtaking' for you, as you humans say." Tai Chimp voiced.
"That's exactly what this is, Tai Chimp." Noah smiled at the older Maximal. "I never thought something this cool would ever happen to me in all my life."
"Just remember that you can't tell anyone else about this." Spritewing reminded.
"I know. I don't plan on telling anyone anyway." Noah reassured.
"That's good. We don't want humans getting hurt because of us." Butterflame muttered with pure concern.
"That's a given considering the Predacons seem to be stronger than the Maximals from what I saw." Noah added. "Although, what are stasis pods that Ground Hound mentioned?"
"Stasis pods are capsules that we use to store crewmates when we're traveling long distances like when we got to Earth. However, a battle with the Predacons in space had us losing all the pods on our ship as well as the ones the Predacons stole back on Cybertron, and they're all in orbit around your world as we speak." Ventus explained.
"So, you know where they are?" Noah asked.
"That's the good news. The bad news is that we can't get to them at all. Also, the Preds know where they are, too." High Kick brought up.
Suddenly, alarms started going off all over the ship. The Maximals sans Ventus went to their stations to check it out. "Oh, Primus!" Ground Hound exclaimed.
"What is it?" Ventus asked.
"It's a stasis pod! Coming in fast!" Ground Hound answered happily.
"Sweet! One of our friends is coming in to join us!" High Kick fist-pumped.
"That's if we can get to it first. Where's it gonna hit?" Spritewing asked.
Tai Chimp typed in a few commands to determine the pod's trajectory. After a minute, he had projected the pod's destination. "It's crashed in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California!"
"Damn it! It's in the ocean!" Ground Hound slammed his fist down.
"Luckily, the Individual Submersibles were undamaged when we crashed." Ventus reminded. "Maximals, open the ground bridge and to the Submersibles! Noah, you stay here and monitor the situation for the Predacons!"
"Alright!" Noah acknowledged. He ran, and struggled to get onto the monitor as the Maximals left through the Ground Bridge.
*Lake Superior, Ontario. The Darkstar. Main Lobby. 8:31 am*
Like in the Maximal ship, alarms went off all over the Predacon ship. "Brainjack, identify what's setting off the alarms." Venomous ordered.
Brainjack silently did just that as the others barreled into the main lobby. "I don't believe it. Sir, it's a stasis pod!" As soon as he said that, every Predacon stood at perfect attention.
"Well, what's it's location?!" Venomous demanded.
Brainjack checked and when he found out, he sighed in disappointment. "It's… in the Pacific Ocean, sir."
"Yes!" Electreeek cheered. "I'm more than ready for a swim in the ocean!"
"He's going to be like that for most of this mission, isn't he?" Giga Kwaga whispered to Gorger.
"Oh, yeah. Big time." Gorger rolled her optics while Death Roll facepalmed.
*Pacific Ocean. Coast of California. 9:02 am*
The pod was sinking within a Giant Kelp forest and finally settled on the bottom, scaring off all the marine life close to it. Despite the splash it made, it was still undetected by the Predacons who were traveling in their own submersible except for Electreeek who was enjoying himself. "Now, this is my kind of locale." He said.
"Good for you, Electreeek." Death Roll replied with sarcasm.
"Oh, come on, Death Roll. I see you near the water a lot in your beast mode." Electreeek retorted with smugness evident in his voice.
"Yes, but my beast mode isn't suited for saltwater!" Death Roll growled.
"Calm down, Death Roll. Just focus on finding that stasis pod." Venomous ordered. "Gorger take us lower."
"Yes, sir!" Gorger obeyed and started taking the submersible lower into the kelp forest.
"Electreeek, continue to look for the stasis pod." Venomous directed.
"On it, Venomous!" Electreeek swam even further down, feeling a sense of power as he was the only Predacon with an aquatic based beast mode.
Meanwhile, the Maximals had arrived through the ground bridge in their individual submersibles. "Okay, Maximals: Search for that pod!" Ventus commanded. With that, the Maximals split up to search the kelp forest.
One by one, they scanned their respective areas they moved to, but all came up with nothing. "That's strange. I could've sworn the pod crashed in this area." Ground Hound muttered.
"Noah, could you please check the location again?" Ventus asked.
"On it, Ventus!" Noah answered through the commlink. It took about three minutes until Noah answered again. "The scans show it is there. Maybe you guys aren't looking deep enough. It could've landed on the bottom."
"Copy that, Noah." Spritewing said. They went back to searching for the stasis pod. The deeper they got, the stronger the signal got until they reached the bottom of the kelp forest. Noah's right. It actually should be on the bottom as the signal's strongest down here."
"Then we shouldn't be far from it after all." High Kick smiled.
"We have to assume the Predacons are searching for the pod as well. More likely is that they're very close to finding it." Butterflame reasoned.
"Closer than you think, Maximals!" Venomous shouted. The Maximals looked in front of them and saw a large Predacon submersible in front of them, weapons completely armed. "Predacons, open fire! Brainjack, take a pod and help Electreeek reprogram the protoform in the pod!"
"At once, Venomous Primal." Brainjack calmly responded as he went to a personal pod and went with Electreeek while the others fired on the Maximals.
"We have to stop them!" Ventus shouted. The Maximals began trying to maneuver around the Predacon Submersible, but the Predacons were following their every move.
With Electreeek and Brainjack, Electreeek was basically providing cover while Brainjack worked on reprogramming the protoform inside the stasis pod. "How's it coming, Brainjack?" Electreeek asked impatiently.
"This kind of work takes great precision and patience, two traits which you have none of, Electreeek." Brainjack calmly retorted.
"Oh, you…" Electreeek held in the rest of what he was going to say and continued to provide cover fire.
Needless to say, the Maximals were currently unable to get anywhere near the pod. "Scrap! They've got us cornered!" High Kick growled.
"That doesn't matter, High Kick! We must reach our comrade!" Tai Chimp retorted.
"You're too late, Maximals." Brainjack suddenly said. "New Predacon, EMERGE!" Within nano-kliks, the pod opened and a brown and blue Common Octopus swam out.
"No..." Ventus breathed.
"Octoplasm, TERRORIZE!" The octopus transformed to robot mode, the tentacles moved to the arms and back while the head moved to the feet. "Say good-bye, Maximals!" Suddenly, Octoplasm fired ink from his tentacles at all the Maximals' submersibles.
"Guys, this ink is causing my systems to glitch out!" Butterflame exclaimed in panic.
"Mine, too!" Ground Hound confirmed.
"Neat little trick, isn't it?" Octoplasm taunted. "Now, watch this!" Transforming to beast mode, he seemed to disappear.
"Where'd he go?" Spritewing was confused. However, Octoplasm appeared as suddenly as he disappeared and was back in his robot mode. His tentacles began firing energy blasts from the spiracles on said tentacles.
"Like what I can do?" Octoplasm continued to taunt the Maximals.
"Predacons, return to base! We have what we came for!" Venomous ordered. All the Predacons including Octoplasm fell back through their ground bridge, leaving the Maximals downtrodden, so to speak.
Ventus sighed heavily. "Alright, Maximals. It's time for us to go as well."
*Algonquin National Park, Ontario. The Peaceful Traveler. Main Lobby. 9:40 am*
When Noah saw the Maximals return, he could quickly tell that things didn't go the way they wanted. "Before you ask, kid, we didn't get the stasis pod." High Kick groaned. "The Predacons have a new member who's calling himself Octoplasm."
"We failed, utterly." Ground Hound added.
"Look, just because you guys didn't get this one stasis pod doesn't mean you've lost everything. That wasn't the only pod. You said so yourselves. Please don't despair over this one loss, otherwise the Predacons have already won." Noah said, albeit a little dramatically. The Maximals looked at Noah, but didn't say anything. Besides, they didn't really want to talk right now. They knew Noah was right. There would be other stasis pods to rescue, but this was still a loss to them. They were going to do their best to make sure this didn't happen again.
Hello, everyone. I hope you all liked this chapter of Transformers: Wild Earth. The Maximals have shown Noah around the Peaceful Traveler, explaining what stasis pods are to him. Unfortunately for the Maximals, the stasis pod's protoform has been reprogrammed into a new Predacon named Octoplasm who transforms into a Common Octopus, obviously. He'll prove to be a challenge for the Maximals since it's another aquatic threat they have to deal with now and they don't have any aquatic Maximals to combat them. In the end, the Preds welcome Octoplasm into their fold.
As seen, Octoplasm can shoot ink from his tentacles in robot mode which have varying effects as well as use it for a makeshift smokescreen to infiltrate and/or escape undetected. Not to mention that in beast mode, Octoplasm's eyes are sensitive to even the slightest movement as well as naturally camouflage. His tentacles can also shoot energy blasts.
Obviously after that, the Maximals are down in the dumps seeing one of their own reprogrammed into a Predacon. Noah reminds them that one lost battle doesn't mean the war's over.
As usual, if anyone has any ideas for this story, don't hesitate to let me know in the comments/reviews, or personally PM me.