Sorry this chapter is a little late. I meant to have it up yesterday, but they changed my schedule at work and it's got my internal clock all out of whack until I readjust. Anyway, Pokémon is the property of Nintendo, Gamefreak and several other companies, while Beast Wars and all other Transformers related media is the property of Hasbro and Takara Tomy. Blibbity, Blibbity, Bloo. Enjoy.

Chapter 4: Maximize!

Despite the earth rattling beneath his feet, Ash managed to stay calm in the face of the oncoming danger. He didn't quite know what the strange sphere hurdling towards them was, but he was almost certain of who it belonged to.

A few minutes later, the giant orb came to a sudden halt just a few feet away from the group. Then, a pair of stubby arms and legs extended from the outer shell, followed by some kind of crude looking head. Overall, it looked like some sort of 30 foot tall metal Golem with a giant crimson R stamped right in the center.

"Team Rocket." The young lad muttered harshly under his breath.

"Pika Pi." Said the little mouse Pokémon on his shoulder.

"Easy, buddy. We'll get through this, just like always."

Suddenly, there was loud POP and a familiar tune came pouring out of the robot's mouth. Ordinarily, this music would be accompanied by a recitation of the Team Rocket Motto, but strangely enough, this time Ash's constant pursuers were uncharacteristically silent. This continued for several more minutes until…

"POP…. Featherbrained Moron!" yelled the unmistakable voice of Jessie over the loudspeaker. "Who taught you now to wire a robot?"

"Well, excuse me, Jess. I didn't exactly go to school for this, you know." Argued the equally unmistakable voice of James.

"But you went to kindergarten, didn't you? You know colors, right? It says right here in the instructions. Red wire to red button. Green wire to green button. How could you possibly screw that up?"

"You woke me up before sunrise to put this stupid thing together. I guess I got confused!"

"Both of yah, shuddup!" shouted Meowth, the third member of the unseen trio. "I fixed the PA, they can hear us now!"

An awkward silence fell over the scene.

"Yes, well… whatever." Jessie said after regaining her composure. "Forget the intro. You know who we are and what we want. So let's skip the theatrics and get right down to business."

"Do your worst!" shouted Ash defiantly.

"Yeah, we're not afraid of you clowns!" added May as she and the rest of the group came to back him up.

"Honestly, aren't you three a little too old to be playing supervillains?" Prof. Oak said disapprovingly. "Why don't you end this foolishness and go get real jobs?"

"You try finding a job with nothing but 'Professional Sneakthief' on your resume." Relied James sarcastically. "And anyway, we'd like nothing better than to end this age-old rivalry of ours. Which is why we paid the extra $29.99 for this nifty little option."

Just then, the robot's giant R logo split in half, revealing a familiar looking device built right into the metal Pokémon.

"A trading machine?" Ash said aloud in disbelief.

"An astute observation, my good twerp." Jessie replied condescendingly. "You see, we've recently had a run of good fortune, and we've all decided we're rather sick of this 'Stalk the Good Guys' routine. So instead of fighting, why don't we settle this like adults and end our petty rivalry with a simple trade. Your Pikachu for my Wobbuffet."

"WOOOOBBUFFET!"

"UGH! Get back in your ball, you stupid blob! Sorry about that, now what was I saying?"

"I was saying, Pikachu, use Thunderbol…"

"Not so fast." James interrupted suddenly. "We figured you'd need some convincing. Which is why we paid the extra $39.95 for these little addons."

A split-second later, the top of the metal Golem opened up to reveal what appeared to be a multi-barreled missile launcher, followed swiftly by a gatling gun in each of the robot's palms.

"Since when does Team Rocket use live ammunition?" asked Brock in horrified disbelief.

"Since we got a bigger budget. But don't worry, this stuff's all nonlethal." Jessie answered cockily. "Now we may not have the best track record when it comes to robbing you twerps, but we more than make up for it with tenacity. We never know when to call it quits and we tend to do a lot of collateral damage in the process. And just for your information, we've got enough tear gas bombs and rubber bullets to bust up an outdoor music festival. Lots of Pokémon could get hurt, to say nothing of all the innocent townspeople nearby. So before you get all gung-ho on us, I suggest you reconsider our generous offer to end this peacefully."

And reconsider it he did. This was a new tactic for Team Rocket, but it was just as lowdown and sneaky as anything else they'd tried so far. And what's worse, it seemed to be working. He couldn't very well risk the health and safety of everyone in town and all of the Pokémon in Prof. Oak's care just to save one of his own. But at the same time, he couldn't just hand over his best friend to someone like Jessie. Just the thought of his little buddy being subjected to one of her 'Salon Roquette' style makeovers and forced to perform some humiliating routine in a Pokémon Contest was enough to make him shake with rage. It was a fate he wouldn't wish on even his worst enemy; except perhaps Jessie herself.

"So twerp, what do you say?" the so-called 'lady' thief asked smugly.

To which Ash replied,

"I say, drop dead!"

"Fine… have it your way."

And then they opened fire.

XXX

A short distance away, Optimus observed as the situation dissolved into a warzone. Rubber bullets whizzed through the air like mosquitoes and riot gas bombs went off almost every two seconds. It was a miracle no one had been hurt.

Yet.

Just then, the Maximal Commander got a buzz on his commlink.

"Optimus here, what's everyone's status?"

"What's our status?" Backstop repeated disbelievingly. "Optimus, I can hear explosions clear across the facility. What the slag is going on over there?"

"I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but it looks like some sort of robbery. Suspects are armed and presumed dangerous."

"I've got eyes on 'em, Big Bot." Houndor chimed in. "One big ugly picking on a bunch of kids. Just say the word and I'll show him the business end of my teeth."

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Settle down, cowboy." Rattrap added. "This ain't our fight. In fact, I say we use this little ruckus as a distraction and get the heck outta here before we're caught."

"Nuts to that! Those kids need our help. We gotta do something."

"No we don't. This has nothin' to do with us. Plus, ain't there a rule about noninterference and all that scrap?"

"It's your call, Optimus." Backstop added calmly. "I can be over there in a few minutes, or we can all be on our way back to the ship in the same time. But you have to give the order."

Optimus thought about this for a moment. On the one hand, Rattrap was right. This wasn't their fight and there were laws against interfering with the lives of less advanced species, unless absolutely necessary. But on the other hand, these children were seriously outgunned and if that didn't constitute 'absolutely necessary' then what did? And besides, there was something about the way that human boy stood up to that metal giant, something about the look in his eyes, that stirred something deep within his Spark.

"Alright… here's what we're gonna do…"

XXX

Inside the menacing Mecha-Golem, James and Meowth were manning the robot's basic motor functions while Jessie had the time of her life playing with the weapons; especially the gatling guns.

"MWHA-HA-HA-HA~" she cackled madly as he took aim as her most hated contest rival, May. "Take this! And that! And one of these! And three of those!"

"Jessie!" exclaimed James suddenly.

"What?" Jess replied annoyedly as she fired a tear gas bomb at her younger foe.

"Go easy on the guns. You use 'em too much and they'll overheat. Besides, I thought this was just supposed to be a bluff. You almost hit that poor girl."

"Relax, James, I wasn't aiming for anything important. I just wanted to make her dance a little. That's all."

"Still though, I think this is going a little too far. The Twerp should've surrendered by now."

"He's just being stubborn. He wants to look tough in front of his friends, but he'll cave soon enough. I mean, no sane person would risk the lives of six people, including his own mother, just to hold on to one lousy Pokémon."

"Granted, but no sane person would do all this just to steal one lousy Pokémon."

"Uh…" Jessie replied, having no good comeback, but luckily Meowth jumped in before she could embarrass herself any further.

"Yo, Jessie. That girl shoulda come outta that cloud by now."

"Huh?" she said dumbly before turning her attention back to the monitor. She'd completely forgotten that she'd just fired a tear gas bomb.

"He's got a point, Jess." James added concernedly. "Even you can't hold your breath that long."

"Sigh. Fine." She relented. "James, fire the net launcher and drag her…"

Just then, something flew across the screen. She'd only caught it out of the corner of her eye, but Jessie had seen enough to know which direction the strange streak had gone. So she quickly adjusted the monitor to follow its path and that's when she saw it.

It was her rival coordinator, May, being cradled in the arms of a Blastoise.

"When did the twerps get one of those?"

XXX

With a painful hacking cough, Prof. Oak stumbled out of one of the tear gas clouds; his eyes burning like mad.

This little game had gone on long enough.

Now, in general, the Professor was a fairly easygoing fellow, and if at all possible, he preferred to let the younger generations handle their own problems, but even he had his limits. These unscrupulous reprobates had gone too far; using live ammunition on women and children. It was time to put an end to their unique brand of stupidity once and for all. To that end, he reached for a single Pokeball on his belt; the one that contained his prized Dragonite. But just before he could grab it, his vision returned and he was met with a most unusual sight.

Standing directly in front of him was a Blastoise and in its arms was the limp and motionless body of Ash's young friend May.

"My word…" he muttered in horror, only to receive an even bigger shock.

"It's alright. She just fainted." The Blastoise said in a calm, collected voice, much to the Professor's amazement. "Are you strong enough to take her?"

"Wh-What? I mean, yes, I believe so." He replied dumbfoundedly as he took the unconscious girl into his own arms. As he did so, she stirred a little, which put to rest some of his greater fears, but did nothing for his confusion.

"I'm sorry." Said the Blastoise, jarring the Professor once again. "If I had known something like this was going to happen, I would've stepped in sooner. But don't worry, we'll put a stop this right now."

"Well, that's quite alright, you don't have to… we?"

Just then, a loud bang caught his attention. In the distance he saw a Houndoom, the same Houndoom he'd rescued earlier that morning, delivering a swift kick with its hindlegs to Team Rocket's infernal machine, causing it to nearly fall over. Then, not a few seconds later, an Aggron charged in from seemingly out of nowhere and knocked the robot over with one decisive headbutt. Before long, the two mysterious Pokémon had gotten together and were quickly joined by an equally mysterious Raichu.

"Stay back, we'll take it from here." The Blastoise said in a calm but commanding voice, before marching off to join the others.

It was at this moment that the old researcher noticed something else that was unusual about this mysterious Pokémon; there was a strange looking insignia imprinted on the back of its shell. It looked sort of a Mightyena's head, only the muzzle was warped into a pair of thin, forklike prongs. Upon further inspection, he noticed the same insignia printed on the bodies of the other three.

Just what in the name of Heaven was going on here?

"Ugh…" May groaned groggily as she finally came to. "Pro…Prof. Oak? What happened? What's going on?"

"I wish I knew, May. I wish I knew."

A sudden, strong wind swept over the field, blowing away most of the gas and giving everyone an unobstructed view of their four mysterious saviors. All was deathly quiet, until…

"I wish to address the beings piloting this machine." Said the Blastoise in a firm, commanding voice; shocking everyone who hadn't already heard him speak. "I know you can understand me. So there's no point in playing dumb."

"Some of us ain't playin'," said the voice of Meowth in a mocking tone as the robot finally managed to get back on its feet.

"Oh, shut up!" Jessie shouted at her teammate before addressing the strangely eloquent turtle Pokémon. "And as for you, my eloquent little friend, you'll forgive us if we don't gasp in surprise, but you're not exactly the first talking Pokémon we've ever seen."

"I'm not trying to surprise you. I'm merely trying to appeal to your sense of reason."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yes, it is. Now, I know I'm an outsider here, and I don't have all the information. But surely, you must realize that this situation is out of control. That young girl could've been seriously hurt. There's nothing you could possibly want that justifies this kind of senseless mayhem."

"Uh, hello~ Cybertron to Optimus." Said the Raichu sarcastically. "They're bad guys! You don't reason with 'em. You just hit 'em."

A sudden burst of laughter erupted from the metal Golem.

"Say, that's pretty good." Said James amusedly. "Meowth, that Raichu does your accent better than you do."

"Aw shuddup!"

"Both of you, shut up!" shouted Jessie furiously. "And anyway, who the heck are you to tell me what's right and wrong? What are you, my dad?"

"I don't enjoy preaching to others, but in this case I'll make an exception. You have disrupted the peace of this sanctuary and endangered the lives of women and children, all for the sake of your own greed. If you have even the slightest sense of decency, then you'll lay down your arms and surrender right now. Otherwise, we'll have no choice but to stop you."

"Oh, really? Well let me tell you something Mr. I-Owe-A-Freaking-Thesaurus, I'm not…"

"Jessie, I little sidebar, please. Sidebar!" James jumped in unexpectedly. "I think we'd better do what he says."

"What?"

"Well… the plan isn't working. The twerp's never gonna give you his Pikachu, and now things are just getting weird. I think we should just cut our losses and try something else later. Maybe something without guns."

"I'd listen to your friend, Ma'am." Said the Blastoise firmly. "He seems to be the sensible one."

"Oh, shut up! Both of you, just shut up!" Jessie exploded. "We are not surrendering! Not when we've come this far! And as for you, my nosey little friend. If you wanna stop us, go ahead and try! I dare you! In case you haven't noticed. We're the ones in the giant robot!"

"So that's your final answer then?"

"Yeah, it is." Jessie replied cockily as she aimed all of the robot's weapons squarely at the mysterious Pokémon.

"Well… that's just prime." The Blastoise said in a stern, almost reluctant tone, before shouting. "Maximals, Maximize!"

Then one by one, they all gave out a heroic cry.

"Houndor, Maximize!"

"Rattrap, Maximize!"

"Backstop, Maximize!"

"Optimus Primal. Maximize!"

Suddenly, the bodies of the four mysterious Pokémon began to shift and rearrange themselves. Within moments, the Houndoom, Raichu, Aggron and Blastoise had been completely reconfigured, transformed if you will, into four highly advanced looking humanoid robots; all of them armed to the teeth.

A stunned silence fell over the battlefield, only to be broken by James when he sardonically said to his teammate.

"You and your big, fat mouth."

End Notes:

Just for future reference, I'll be leaving the Maximals and Predacons' robot modes largely to the reader's imagination, but the story calls for me to specifically describe one part of their anatomy. One of the things I didn't care for in Charizardag's story was the giant walls of text intimately describing every detail of every Transformer's robot mode. So I'm doing away with that all together for the sake of narrative flow.

Anyway, thanks for reading and Happy Holidays.

Peace on Earth.