Disclaimer: I don't own Beast Wars, or Christmas.

Grr, Armada boxes are so hard to wrap; that curved panel in the front is a real pain.

Hmm, firstly, I'd just like to say that I HATE this story; it's far too old, and it's the only movie they ever put on here.

Ah well, everyone's done it, from the Flintstones to the Muppets, so I thought that I'd have a crack at it too, I hope you all like the surprise twist at the end.

Anyway, on with the fic, and have a merry Christmas all!!!

…

T'was the night before Christmas.

Megatron had already beaten waspy senseless for the sake of it, and was generally in a bad mood.

"Stupid Predacons. If I'd only brought more reliable bots, I could be home for Christmas now."

Megs was relaxing in his tub with his ducky, and generally taking the rest of his bad mood out by staring coldly at the rust spots on the ceiling.

"My Queen."

"STOP CALLLING ME QUEEN OR I"LL TURN YOU INTO A CEILING FAN!!!"

"Yes my queen!"

Megatron sighed, it was going to be one of those nights.

"What do you want Inferno?"

"My queen. My flamethrowers are almost out of fuel. It's getting cold out there, could we possibly have a bit more fuel?"

"What have I told you before? Fuel is expensive, you're burning it far too fast. You can have one more can, but it's coming out of your energon ration."

Inferno sighed. It was going to be spring soon, and with all the queens' offspring, he wasn't sure how he was going to keep the extended family fed on his current wage. Waspy was already developing a limp from the repeated abuse from the Maximals and was already needing to lean on a crutch more and more. If conditions didn't improve soon, Inferno really didn't know what would happen to the poor Pred.

"Yes my queen. There's one last thing."

"What do you want now?"

"Well royalty, it is the night before Christmas."

"And what of it?"

"Well, the rest of the Preds are complaining that I don't spend enough time with them. I was wondering, it being Christmas and all, if I could leave work early tonight."

"Time is money Inferno. You can leave early, but I'm only paying you a half-days wages."

"Yes my queen."

"And I expect you to be in early tomorrow morning."

"Yes my queen."

Inferno took one last sigh and closed the door to the warm room. He knew that he should be thankful of Megatron to give him such a good job, but part of him just felt that it was all a little unfair.

Megaton sighed and sank deeper into his tub. Since his partner Scorponok had died running the preds was a lot harder; they were understaffed for one thing, and thus there weren't enough of them to bring in the same amount of energon that they used to.

With the worries of life haunting him, he soon fell into a restless sleep, his rubber ducky gently bobbing against his cheek.

"Megatron."

Megatron groggily opened his eyes, he thought he'd heard someone he knew calling his name, but it was impossible. That bot was dead.

"Must've been a dream."
"Megatron."

Megatron gripped his ducky, slightly afraid. There was a weird glow appearing on one of the walls, and a black bot stepped through.

"Scorponok? My old partner? But I thought you were dead."

"I am dead Megatron, but I've been allowed to return on this night to give you a warning. Three spirits will visit you tonight, warning you that if you don't change your ways then the chains that you will carry in the afterlife will be even bigger than mine."

The spirit held up what was easily half a tonne of iron, he rattled them to emphasise the point.

"Smelter is already making the chains for you Megatron. The ills that you've committed in life will be yours to carry around for the rest of the afterlife in the Inferno."

"Scorponok. I don't want to be doomed like you. Tell me what I have to change and I'll do it."

"It's too late for me Megatron, Smelter is calling. I must return to the Inferno."

"Wait, Scorponok. I'm afraid."

"So you should be."

The floor of the ship started to glow a deep red. For a moment Megatron thought that the heat from the lava pits was finally melting through the floor, but then his old partner begun to sink through.

"Scorponok!"
"Don't forget my warning Megatron."

With that the spirit passed through the floor, which then returned to its usual colour.

Megatron sighed and rolled over in his tub. The words of his partner still haunted him, but he was too tired to deal with it at the moment. In a few cycles he'd convinced himself that it must've been all a dream, and returned to his deep slumber.

An hour later, Megatron awoke to a cold draft.

"Slag, Infernos' let the boiler go out."

He was just contemplating getting up to re-stoke it when he noticed that the window was open. Sitting on the windowsill was an oddly familiar bird.

"Leave me alone you stupid bird."

The raptor tilted her head to one side, regarding Megatron with one piercing eye. She then transformed.

Megaton pulled his gun out of the tub and charged it, levelling it at Airazor, who was wearing a white flowing robe.

"Die Maximal!"

The shot passed right through the femme, who regarded Megatron with a sad stare.

"Megaton. I am the spark of Christmas past. I'm here to show you what once was."

"I already know what once was, I was there. Now leave me be spirit."
Airazor walked over and took Megatrons hand, he felt a strange tingling feeling as the femme dragged him out of the tub and toward the open window.
"Let me go."

"No Megatron, you will see what I have to show you this night."

Megatron shrieked as the bot dragged him through the open window, fully expecting to fall into the lava below. To his surprise however, he found he was flying without being in vehicle mode.

"I'm sad that you don't trust me Megatron."

"Why should I? You're just a filthy Maximal. Where are we going anyway?"
"You'll see."

The two bots flew above the surface of the planet, before heading straight up.

The planet shrank below, soon the transwarp anomaly was in view.

They passed through it, and headed out deep into space until a metallic planet appeared in the distance and quickly grew.

"You're taking me back to Cybertron?"

"Cybertron. The home I never knew and never will. Yes Megatron, there are things here that you must see."

They flew in silence for a while until they arrived in a familiar district.

"I know this place. This is where we planned to steal the golden disks from. Oh spirit, this is a happy place, what meaning do you have to bring me here?"

Airazor pointed to a window, which Megatron eagerly looked into.

Inside was a slightly younger version of himself, his former partner Scorponok, Waspinator, Dinobot, Tarantulas and Terrorsaur.

The bots were celebrating a Cybertron Christmas, with radium being passed around to all. Everyone was happy, Waspy and Scorponok were dancing with joy. Megatron remembered that they'd just worked the final bugs out of the plan to take the Golden Disks, and were celebrating.

Terrorsaur was currently wearing an apron which said 'kiss the cook' and was handing Megatron a big plate of energon moulded in the shape of a Christmas ham.

"Ah Terrorsaur. We were such good friends back then. Can we go inside spirit?"

"There is more that I must show you this night. Come."

Megatron grudgingly tore himself away from the window and followed the spirit.

"Now where are we going?"

"You'll see."
They appeared to be in the same street, Megatron again peered in though the window.

Inside was a lot less happy; Terrorsaur and Megatron were again fighting, and Dinobot was pacing anti-socially.

"Why have you shown me this spirit? This isn't a happy memory. Please let use leave."
"You used to be the life of the party, then your greed made your friends Dinobot and Terrorsaur hate you. If only you hadn't been so blind and self-centred, you could have done something about it."

"Bah, I don't need them."
"Look at yourself now; your life of greed has turned you into a bitter old bot. Terrorsaur is dead now, and Dinobot is a Maximal. You drove them to both hate you so much."

"I don't need friends like them."

"No, but you did once, and unless you change your ways, it's only gonna get worse."

"Humbug."

"I've shown you all that I can on this night, I hope that the other spirits make you change your ways better than I have."

"Wait spirit, you're just gonna leave me here?"
"The next spirit will be along shortly. Just sit and think about what I've shown you."
With that, there was a stunning blue light, and Airazor disappeared.

"Stupid Maximal. Everything went the way that I wanted it to. I don't need friends like Dinobot or Terrorsaur. Typical Maximal."

"Typical Maximal indeed."

Megatron spun around to see a large white tiger standing behind him, Tigatron transformed and was wearing a flowing white cloak.

"Great, another Maximal. Let's get this over with."
"I am the spark of Christmas present."

"Christmas presents?"
"No."

"Slag."

"Am here for a purpose Megatron, and my time grows short. Come, I have lots to tell you."
Tigatron grabbed Megatron by the arm, and they were back at the Darkside.

"You mean to show me my own ship spirit?"
"Only what you can't see yourself."

"Very well then."
The two bots walked into the central room of the ship, the other bots were oblivious to their presence.

Inferno was sitting near the fire, which wasn't much more than his flamethrowers propped up against the wall. Megatron could tell from the colour of the flame that they were almost empty.

"It's freezing in here, can't Inferno afford more fuel?"
"No, not on what you pay him."

"Bah, he must have more energon than this."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Quickstrike got up and opened it to admit Waspinator, who was leaning heavily on a crutch and had a sling around one arm. A bandage covered most of his head and hung down over one eye. He sneezed once, visibly shaking from the cold as the snow melted off him in the meagre heat, wetting his bandages.

"Damn Megatron, look what he's reduced us to. We don't even have enough energon for a decent meal. The house is cold, and look at poor waspy."

Inferno put a hand on Tarries shoulder.

"Now now Tarantulas, we should thank Megatron for giving me a job at all. At least we aren't out in the cold begging."

"We're close enough. Look, Waspy's caught a cold from being out on patrol. I'm going to give Megatron a piece of my mind tomorrow."

"It's Christmas Eve Tarry, can't you have a little cheer?"
Megatron shot Tigatron a dry look.

"This is all very touching, but what's the point."
"See how your crew suffers, its all your fault."

Megaton took another look at the pitiful scene and again scoffed. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty as Waspinator curled up shivering next to the flamethrowers.

"Alright spirit, what do you have in mind for me to fix this?"
"It's up to you to find a solution. I think you know the one thing that would make them happy."
"That's rich coming from a Maximal. The only thing that would make them happy would be if we beat the Maximals and went back to Cybertron."

"You must do as you must. I am beyond caring about what mortals do now."
"Now what, have you shown me all that you have?"

"Primus calls, I must return to the Matrix. You will be visited by one more spirit tonight. Hopefully he will make you change you ways."
Megatron was left standing in the cold room as Tigatron disappeared in the same way that Airazor had.

"Well, I may as well wait somewhere where it's warm."


It was about an hour later and Megatron was fast asleep in his tub when he again felt a cold draft.

He glanced up. And up. Standing next to the tub was a bot that he'd never seen before. He towered above Megatron and was slightly hunched over against the ceiling.

"So, you're the spark of Christmas yet to come?"
The bot didn't answer. He was clad in a black robe, with a pair of massive feather covered wings sticking out of his back. Megaton sensed great power emanating from this bot, and the same alien symbol that had been on the floating island was on this bots robe and etched into several places on his armour that were visible underneath it.

The bot reached down and grabbed Megatron by the neck, lifting him up to eye-level before floating up through the ceiling.

They were again hovering over Cybertron, and Megatron was terrified of what was going to happen.

The bot pointed down do a place on the ground. Megatron took one look and then gaped at what he saw.

The streets were empty, except for about thirty tank bots patrolling the streets. Several strange jets flew by overhead. On one of the buildings was a large poster with his face on it. There were no Maximals in sight.

"Spirit, what is this that you show me?"

They flew on until they reached a large building covered in posters of Megatron. More of the tanks were coming and going.

"Spirit, can I ask one thing? Do my optics deceive me, or do I rule Cybertron?"

The bot pointed to a place outside the temple, there several pieces of familiar armour were placed; Optimal Optimus' chest armour and wings, Rattraps wheels. And several other pieces of the hated Maximals.

"Spirit. Is what you show me what will be, or only what may be? What do I have to do to make this come true?"
The bot again pointed at the armour.

"You're telling me that if I beat the Maximals, that this will all come true?"

The bot nodded, before disappearing.

Megatron awoke in his tub.

"Was it all a dream? Or did it all happen?"

Inferno knocked on the door, Megatron checked the clock; it was about three hours before work was to begin.

"What are you doing here Inferno?"
"My Queen, you told me to be here early this morning to make up for going home early last night."

"I see. Change of plans; gather the troops, we attack the Maximals at dawn."

"Yes my queen!"
Inferno ran out of Megatrons room to spread the news to the troops. While they were preparing their weapons, Megatron heard a knock on the outer door.

The rest of the crew were still getting ready, so Megatron went to see who it was just as they knocked again.

He threw open the door and stood agape with his charged weapon hanging by his side.

"Primal?"

The Maximals were standing on the doorstep freezing, Rattrap was nearly crushed under what looked like a massive turkey.

"I'm sorry to bother you so early on Christmas morning Megatron, but I had to get over here as soon as I could."

"What are you doing?"
"Last night I was visited by Alpha Trion, Optimus Prime, and what looked like Hotrod, which didn't make sense, because he shouldn't be dead yet. But to the point, they each showed me past, present and future. They told me that if I didn't change my ways that I'd wind up dead in a Cybertron ruled by you."

Megatron was shocked, but Primal continued.

"I woke up this morning realising the errors of my ways, and so I sent Rattrap out to find the biggest turkey he could."

Rattrap looked as if he was about to collapse. The shape of the turkey bag looked oddly familiar, but Megatron couldn't quite place it since the two legs that were sticking out of the bag gave no hints either; they were covered with the frilly paper things that turkeys usually wore when being served.

"Eh, is 'dere some place I can put dis down?"
"Inferno, Take the turkey off Rattrap, and tell the troops to prepare to have guests."

Rattrap handed the turkey over to Inferno, before producing a large stick and beating it over the head, since it had begun to wriggle inside the bag.

"Keep it down in dere Dinobutt!"

The 'turkey' let out a low growl as Inferno took it away to the kitchen.

"So Primal, what do you want?"

"We want to surrender in the hopes that you will let us be on your side when you take over Cybertron. Rhinox has always expressed his desire to be a General, and recently he's been telling me how much he wished he was a tank."

"Very well Primal, since you put it so nicely, I'll accept your surrender. Now, let's go and have that lovely turkey."

The Maximals forwarded into the base, where the 'turkey' was on a plate with an apple in his mouth struggling to get off the platter. The rest of the Preds looked on in mouth-watering anticipation as Inferno produced a knife and began sharpening it on a steel.

 Just before they started eating, Waspy limped over, before saying in a loud voice.

"Primuzzz blezz uzzz everyone!"

 

Well, what'd you think? Drop me a line and tell me.

If I don't 'see' you all before new years, then have a happy one, and I hope that all your presents this year are of the transformable kind.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!