ROYALTY: part 3
The sounds of battle raged along the countryside. To Dinobot, it was music to his ears. Already he had taken down Scorpanok and was ready to advance to Megatron.
Moltraca was flying overhead, firing her optic lasers at the Maximals. A frustrated Cheetor continually tried to shoot her. "Hey Bigbot!" he yelled to Optimus. "We're outnumbered!"
Tigatron asked, "Where is the Princess?" Then, the boulder he was shooting from exploded.
Optimus wasn't in a hurry to answer that question.
"We're all gonna die!" said Rattrap. Everyone was too busy to tell him to shut up.
"I've got an idea," said Optimus, rocketing into the sky on his jets.
"Oh, I'm scared." said Moltraca sarcastically. "You're outnumbered even in the air." She looked to Terrosaur, who was behind her. "Terrosaur, keep firing! Black Arachnia, take over for Scorpanok!"
"Hmmm..." thought Tarantulus. "The Princess is used to giving orders, but what about taking them..."
While Moltraca and Optimus battled in the air, Cheetor, Rattrap and Dinobot struggled to keep busy on the ground. Rhinox was huddled over Tigatron, who had taken heavy damage and was out of the fight. "We've gotta get out here!" he yelled.
Dinobot would have said no, but that wasn't possible because he found Waspinator's blaster shoved right in his face. His buzzing wings drowned out all other sounds. "Lizard-bot getzzz slagged now! Waspinator having good day!" Then, Dinbot saw an electro-arrow fly from the clouds and strike Waspinator right in the back. "Nooooo!" he yelled, crashing to the ground.
"Articuna?" Dinobot asked.
Optimus Primal never expected Moltraca to have such areial skill. He had planned to take an offesive position, but found himself on defense.
"Now I'm going to do what Megatron couldn't." said Moltraca. She raised her battle ax in one hand and swung down right toward Optimus. Awkwardly, he dodged that attack, but then he saw Moltraca's real purpose: The force of her blow moved her behind him. Before he could turn around, she used her optic lasers to destroy Optimus' jets.
"Ha Ha!" she laughed. "You Maximals are so stupid!" she pointed the the canyon Optimus was falling into. He would have no way to avoid that.
"Bigbot!" Cheetor gasped.
"Hang on!" came a new voice. Princess Articuna, in robot mode, dove from the clouds after Optimus.
"No!" gasped Moltraca, before she was clipped by Dinobot's optic lasers.
Articuna dove as fast as she could and grabbed Optimus by the foot, then spread her wings and glided onto the edge of the canyon.
Megatron roared in anger. "Noooooo! Predacons retreat!"
Once the Predacons were gone, Articuna asked Optimus, "Are you okay?"
"What in the name of the Matrix do you think you were doing?!" Optimus yelled.
Articuna paused, as if she didn't quite get the picture. "Saving your life?" She glanced at the sparks shooting from Optimus' jets.
"You disobyed my orders and left the base!"
"If I didn't you'd be a pile of scrap down there!"
"It's the principal of the thing! What do you have to say for yourself?"
Articuna crossed her arms. She glanced at the others, finally, her optics stopped at Dinobot. He only looked back at her. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she replied, "You're welcome." She went to Beast Mode and waited for them to return to base.
PERSONAL JOURNAL: PRINCESS ARTICUNA
----Well, I've totally embarressed myself in front of Dinobot. I TRY to help out but Optimus insists on making sure that I'm with someone else at all times. At least Tigatron and Rhinox aren't giving me a hard time. I really wish Dinobot would look me in the eye again....
The Maximals were gathered around a holoprojection of the Predacon base. "Where's Articuna?" Cheetor asked.
"I don't know." said Optimus. He turned on his comlink. "Optimus to Articuna, come in."
"Articuna here. You rang?"
"Did you forget there was a meeting?"
"No. I'm waiting for my escort."
Optimus rolled his optics. "I'm pretty sure it's safe."
"Fine. Articuna out."
Optimus sighed. "Does she have to make a drama out of this?"
Dinobot spoke up. "It seems to me that you are the one, Optimus, who is making a drama out of this."
A voice from behind said, "I agree." Articuna sat down between Dinobot and Rhinox. "Sorry I'm late."
Optimus nodded. "Articuna, I want to have a meeting with you when this is over. Okay Maximals, here's what we think is going to happen..."
ROYALTY part 4
Moltraca struggled to breathe, but Megatron retained a harsh grip on her small frame, crushing her with his T-rex hand. "The last battle has proven your inability to lead and predict the Maximals actions. Now you will accept me as your commander or you will be destroyed, yes..."
"Any who wants you as their commander needs a full system diagnostic." Moltraca replied.
Megatron clenched his teeth. "Then you shall die!" He squeezed harder and harder. Soon Moltraca's computer began droning out warnings.
"Fine!" She gasped, knowing that being dead wouldn't help her win. "You can lead...just let me go!" Megatron abrubtly dropped her.
"Let this be a reminder," he said to the others watching. "of what will happen to those who oppose me." With that, he left the room. The other Predacons obidently followed.
Moltraca worked on catching her breath, kneeling on the floor. She had never lost such a match before. ~Smooth move, girl~ she thought to herself. ~You've really shown him who's boss.~
Suddenly, she realized that someone else was in the room with her. She looked up to see Terrosaur standing over her. "What do you want?" she asked as coldly as she could.
Terrosaur didn't speak, and from the look on his face made Moltraca think that he really didn't know why he was there.
"If you don't have a good reason for being here then get out before I turn you into a hood ornament." she told him.
"Well, I..." he started. "I saw that you um...tried to get control from Megatron and I uh...well I was wondering if you'd um...like a um...um..."
"WHAT?!" shouted Moltraca.
"A partner. Please don't hurt me!" he held his arms over his face.
Moltraca normally would have taken out her battle ax and given Terrosaur a serious reformatting, but with the situation..."Terrosaur," she said. "Partner, you're mind kind of guy." She put an arm over his shoulders.
"What?" Terrosaur asked.
3 WEEKS LATER...
Princess Articuna of the Maximals spread her wings. It felt so good to get out in the cool breeze for once.
Optimus Primal finally lifted some of the security protocols he had put on her for her protection. He realized that he'd need all the troops he could get and holding back Articuna wouldn't help.
Rhinox had sent her and Dinobot out to salvage the last of the energon from the standing stones and investigate it further. Already the Maximals had taken the energon from the odd monument, but they wanted to make sure the Preds hadn't raided it.
Articuna looked down from the sky at Dinobot. The raptor was running down below, darting his head to the sides at times, watching for any Predacons.
Articuna was doing that, too. Or at least trying to. It was just SUCH a nice & she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. The cool breeze, the bright sun, the singing birds...
"Dinobot to Princess Articuna," Dinobot had opened their comm channel.
"Articuna here. Is something wrong?"
"Perhaps I should be asking you that question." said Dinobot. "Are you all right?"
"What do you mean?"
"You have been gliding on and off course for the past ten minutes."
If Articuna could have, she would have blushed. Looking around, she realized that Dinobot was right. With a slight adjustment of her wings, she was back on course. "Sorry about that. Thanks Dinobot. I'm just not used to being outside."
"I understand. We will arrive at the Standing Stones soon. Have you detected any Predacons?"
"Not yet, but I'll do a quick check." Articuna quickly went to Scan Mode. After a minute, she replied. "Nope. Everything looks fine."
"Good. Dinobot out."
Once at the standing stones, Articuna looked around, landing on her talons. There was still rock scattered about from the Maximals first raid on the energon there.
Dinobot sniffed the air. "Hmmm...we must make this quick."
Articuna peered into the rock-like bowl that once held a cache of energon. "That's it, it's all empty. At least we beat the Preds to it." She looked at him. "I wonder who built this..."
"I have no wish to find out. I am a warrior, not a scientist." Dinobot replied. He carefully touched one of the massive square boulders with a claw. "The dimensions of this site are all very precise. It would have taken a people with technology to build it. Yet the needed technology is not present on this planet. And it would not be the Predacons. They would not have wasted the energon here."
Articuna took out BJ. "BJ," she said. "Analyze this site, level 6 scaning."
"Scanning," replied BJ. A few minutes later, BJ reported, "Scan complete."
Articuna looked at the small screen, her bright owl eyes wide. "Now what's this?" she eyed the odd blueprints on the small screen.
"What?" asked Dinbot, trying to look over her shoulder.
Articuna paused, thinking. "BJ, using all present data, project possible function of this...place."
"Projecting," said BJ. Soon a hologram appeared before Articuna & Dinobot. It showed the energon's power being released & causing an explosion. The blast caused a beam of energy to shoot into space.
"It's some kind of signal." hissed Dinobot.
Articuna was silent for a minute. "Someone's been here before us." she said quietly. "We have to tell Optimus."
"You won't be tell Optimus a thing." sneered a voice. Articuna & Dinobot turned and saw Terrosaur and Moltraca perched on one of the stones. "That was so nice of you two to figure this out for us."
"Dinobot, Maximize!"
"Articuna, Maximize!"
"Terrosaur, Terrorize!"
"Moltraca, Terrorize!"
Articuna clutched her bow. "It's gonna be a long day..." she muttered.
With a loud yell, Dinobot leaped in the air, sword in hand. Terrosaur tried to shoot him, but missed. Dinobot's sword knoced Terrosaur's weapon from his hand.
Articuna flapped her wings and faced Moltraca. "There isn't any energon here." Articuna told her. "What don't you just leave?" She aimed an electro-arrow at the Princess of the Predacons.
"Because I don't want the energon." replied Moltraca.
"Then what do you want?"
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." With that, Moltraca powered up her optic lasers.
Meanwhile, at the ground, Terrosaur and Dinobot were locked in combat. Dinobot knew he had the upper hand. Literally, in that he was strangling Terrosaur. "Now, my former commrade-" he began.
TSSSEEEWWWWWWW!!!! Following the sound of a laser was the sound of metal being severed. At his feet, an electro-arrow fell to the ground. Looking up, he saw Articuna fall to the ground. Her left wing had been severed from her body. Dinobot looked at Articuna in surprise. He knew he had to get to her, but...
"What were you saying?" asked Terrosaur. Dinbot had no chance to reply, for he was knocked out by a laser from Terrosaur.
To be continued......
The sounds of battle raged along the countryside. To Dinobot, it was music to his ears. Already he had taken down Scorpanok and was ready to advance to Megatron.
Moltraca was flying overhead, firing her optic lasers at the Maximals. A frustrated Cheetor continually tried to shoot her. "Hey Bigbot!" he yelled to Optimus. "We're outnumbered!"
Tigatron asked, "Where is the Princess?" Then, the boulder he was shooting from exploded.
Optimus wasn't in a hurry to answer that question.
"We're all gonna die!" said Rattrap. Everyone was too busy to tell him to shut up.
"I've got an idea," said Optimus, rocketing into the sky on his jets.
"Oh, I'm scared." said Moltraca sarcastically. "You're outnumbered even in the air." She looked to Terrosaur, who was behind her. "Terrosaur, keep firing! Black Arachnia, take over for Scorpanok!"
"Hmmm..." thought Tarantulus. "The Princess is used to giving orders, but what about taking them..."
While Moltraca and Optimus battled in the air, Cheetor, Rattrap and Dinobot struggled to keep busy on the ground. Rhinox was huddled over Tigatron, who had taken heavy damage and was out of the fight. "We've gotta get out here!" he yelled.
Dinobot would have said no, but that wasn't possible because he found Waspinator's blaster shoved right in his face. His buzzing wings drowned out all other sounds. "Lizard-bot getzzz slagged now! Waspinator having good day!" Then, Dinbot saw an electro-arrow fly from the clouds and strike Waspinator right in the back. "Nooooo!" he yelled, crashing to the ground.
"Articuna?" Dinobot asked.
Optimus Primal never expected Moltraca to have such areial skill. He had planned to take an offesive position, but found himself on defense.
"Now I'm going to do what Megatron couldn't." said Moltraca. She raised her battle ax in one hand and swung down right toward Optimus. Awkwardly, he dodged that attack, but then he saw Moltraca's real purpose: The force of her blow moved her behind him. Before he could turn around, she used her optic lasers to destroy Optimus' jets.
"Ha Ha!" she laughed. "You Maximals are so stupid!" she pointed the the canyon Optimus was falling into. He would have no way to avoid that.
"Bigbot!" Cheetor gasped.
"Hang on!" came a new voice. Princess Articuna, in robot mode, dove from the clouds after Optimus.
"No!" gasped Moltraca, before she was clipped by Dinobot's optic lasers.
Articuna dove as fast as she could and grabbed Optimus by the foot, then spread her wings and glided onto the edge of the canyon.
Megatron roared in anger. "Noooooo! Predacons retreat!"
Once the Predacons were gone, Articuna asked Optimus, "Are you okay?"
"What in the name of the Matrix do you think you were doing?!" Optimus yelled.
Articuna paused, as if she didn't quite get the picture. "Saving your life?" She glanced at the sparks shooting from Optimus' jets.
"You disobyed my orders and left the base!"
"If I didn't you'd be a pile of scrap down there!"
"It's the principal of the thing! What do you have to say for yourself?"
Articuna crossed her arms. She glanced at the others, finally, her optics stopped at Dinobot. He only looked back at her. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she replied, "You're welcome." She went to Beast Mode and waited for them to return to base.
PERSONAL JOURNAL: PRINCESS ARTICUNA
----Well, I've totally embarressed myself in front of Dinobot. I TRY to help out but Optimus insists on making sure that I'm with someone else at all times. At least Tigatron and Rhinox aren't giving me a hard time. I really wish Dinobot would look me in the eye again....
The Maximals were gathered around a holoprojection of the Predacon base. "Where's Articuna?" Cheetor asked.
"I don't know." said Optimus. He turned on his comlink. "Optimus to Articuna, come in."
"Articuna here. You rang?"
"Did you forget there was a meeting?"
"No. I'm waiting for my escort."
Optimus rolled his optics. "I'm pretty sure it's safe."
"Fine. Articuna out."
Optimus sighed. "Does she have to make a drama out of this?"
Dinobot spoke up. "It seems to me that you are the one, Optimus, who is making a drama out of this."
A voice from behind said, "I agree." Articuna sat down between Dinobot and Rhinox. "Sorry I'm late."
Optimus nodded. "Articuna, I want to have a meeting with you when this is over. Okay Maximals, here's what we think is going to happen..."
ROYALTY part 4
Moltraca struggled to breathe, but Megatron retained a harsh grip on her small frame, crushing her with his T-rex hand. "The last battle has proven your inability to lead and predict the Maximals actions. Now you will accept me as your commander or you will be destroyed, yes..."
"Any who wants you as their commander needs a full system diagnostic." Moltraca replied.
Megatron clenched his teeth. "Then you shall die!" He squeezed harder and harder. Soon Moltraca's computer began droning out warnings.
"Fine!" She gasped, knowing that being dead wouldn't help her win. "You can lead...just let me go!" Megatron abrubtly dropped her.
"Let this be a reminder," he said to the others watching. "of what will happen to those who oppose me." With that, he left the room. The other Predacons obidently followed.
Moltraca worked on catching her breath, kneeling on the floor. She had never lost such a match before. ~Smooth move, girl~ she thought to herself. ~You've really shown him who's boss.~
Suddenly, she realized that someone else was in the room with her. She looked up to see Terrosaur standing over her. "What do you want?" she asked as coldly as she could.
Terrosaur didn't speak, and from the look on his face made Moltraca think that he really didn't know why he was there.
"If you don't have a good reason for being here then get out before I turn you into a hood ornament." she told him.
"Well, I..." he started. "I saw that you um...tried to get control from Megatron and I uh...well I was wondering if you'd um...like a um...um..."
"WHAT?!" shouted Moltraca.
"A partner. Please don't hurt me!" he held his arms over his face.
Moltraca normally would have taken out her battle ax and given Terrosaur a serious reformatting, but with the situation..."Terrosaur," she said. "Partner, you're mind kind of guy." She put an arm over his shoulders.
"What?" Terrosaur asked.
3 WEEKS LATER...
Princess Articuna of the Maximals spread her wings. It felt so good to get out in the cool breeze for once.
Optimus Primal finally lifted some of the security protocols he had put on her for her protection. He realized that he'd need all the troops he could get and holding back Articuna wouldn't help.
Rhinox had sent her and Dinobot out to salvage the last of the energon from the standing stones and investigate it further. Already the Maximals had taken the energon from the odd monument, but they wanted to make sure the Preds hadn't raided it.
Articuna looked down from the sky at Dinobot. The raptor was running down below, darting his head to the sides at times, watching for any Predacons.
Articuna was doing that, too. Or at least trying to. It was just SUCH a nice & she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. The cool breeze, the bright sun, the singing birds...
"Dinobot to Princess Articuna," Dinobot had opened their comm channel.
"Articuna here. Is something wrong?"
"Perhaps I should be asking you that question." said Dinobot. "Are you all right?"
"What do you mean?"
"You have been gliding on and off course for the past ten minutes."
If Articuna could have, she would have blushed. Looking around, she realized that Dinobot was right. With a slight adjustment of her wings, she was back on course. "Sorry about that. Thanks Dinobot. I'm just not used to being outside."
"I understand. We will arrive at the Standing Stones soon. Have you detected any Predacons?"
"Not yet, but I'll do a quick check." Articuna quickly went to Scan Mode. After a minute, she replied. "Nope. Everything looks fine."
"Good. Dinobot out."
Once at the standing stones, Articuna looked around, landing on her talons. There was still rock scattered about from the Maximals first raid on the energon there.
Dinobot sniffed the air. "Hmmm...we must make this quick."
Articuna peered into the rock-like bowl that once held a cache of energon. "That's it, it's all empty. At least we beat the Preds to it." She looked at him. "I wonder who built this..."
"I have no wish to find out. I am a warrior, not a scientist." Dinobot replied. He carefully touched one of the massive square boulders with a claw. "The dimensions of this site are all very precise. It would have taken a people with technology to build it. Yet the needed technology is not present on this planet. And it would not be the Predacons. They would not have wasted the energon here."
Articuna took out BJ. "BJ," she said. "Analyze this site, level 6 scaning."
"Scanning," replied BJ. A few minutes later, BJ reported, "Scan complete."
Articuna looked at the small screen, her bright owl eyes wide. "Now what's this?" she eyed the odd blueprints on the small screen.
"What?" asked Dinbot, trying to look over her shoulder.
Articuna paused, thinking. "BJ, using all present data, project possible function of this...place."
"Projecting," said BJ. Soon a hologram appeared before Articuna & Dinobot. It showed the energon's power being released & causing an explosion. The blast caused a beam of energy to shoot into space.
"It's some kind of signal." hissed Dinobot.
Articuna was silent for a minute. "Someone's been here before us." she said quietly. "We have to tell Optimus."
"You won't be tell Optimus a thing." sneered a voice. Articuna & Dinobot turned and saw Terrosaur and Moltraca perched on one of the stones. "That was so nice of you two to figure this out for us."
"Dinobot, Maximize!"
"Articuna, Maximize!"
"Terrosaur, Terrorize!"
"Moltraca, Terrorize!"
Articuna clutched her bow. "It's gonna be a long day..." she muttered.
With a loud yell, Dinobot leaped in the air, sword in hand. Terrosaur tried to shoot him, but missed. Dinobot's sword knoced Terrosaur's weapon from his hand.
Articuna flapped her wings and faced Moltraca. "There isn't any energon here." Articuna told her. "What don't you just leave?" She aimed an electro-arrow at the Princess of the Predacons.
"Because I don't want the energon." replied Moltraca.
"Then what do you want?"
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." With that, Moltraca powered up her optic lasers.
Meanwhile, at the ground, Terrosaur and Dinobot were locked in combat. Dinobot knew he had the upper hand. Literally, in that he was strangling Terrosaur. "Now, my former commrade-" he began.
TSSSEEEWWWWWWW!!!! Following the sound of a laser was the sound of metal being severed. At his feet, an electro-arrow fell to the ground. Looking up, he saw Articuna fall to the ground. Her left wing had been severed from her body. Dinobot looked at Articuna in surprise. He knew he had to get to her, but...
"What were you saying?" asked Terrosaur. Dinbot had no chance to reply, for he was knocked out by a laser from Terrosaur.
To be continued......