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The Extreme, Part 1: Calm
By nightdragon0
Nightfire knelt down, feeling the wind rustling through the wings of his dragon form. He closed his eyes and reached out, beginning to feel all that was around me. Every sound, every movement, nothing escaped his senses. At the bottom of the ravine, sitting at a stream that branched off from a small waterfall nearby, there were certainly a lot of sounds.
Then, he felt the disturbance.
Reacting swiftly, Nightfire reached up, caught Syndrea's sword arm and threw her to the ground in front of him.
"Looks like you're still dead." The dragon laughed, holding his sword against her chest.
"Hey no fair. You were probing me, weren't you?" The female velociraptor protested.
"Yeah, maybe. Don't worry about it. It's good practice for us both." He said, pulling her up. "Speaking of practice, up for a match?"
"You bet. General's been teaching me a few tricks!"
General was Kirath's nickname, in regard to the rank he'd once held.
"Maximize," Nightfire transformed, "Let's go!"
"Yargh!" With a roar, Nightfire was on the attack.
Syndrea met him head on, blocking each of his blows. She launched a counter attack of her own, Nightfire in turn guarding aginst that. Syndrea jumped back as he tried a wide swing and immediately went on to stike at his sword.
That actually statrled the dragon, nearly disarming him as well. Still, having experience in the technique, he managed to hold on.
Nightfire charged and threw his body wieght against her. At closer range, the force of the blow was enough to send the smaller transformer to the ground. However, Syndrea cushioned the impact of her fall by slamming her arms to the ground and rolling backwards, avoiding Nightfire's downward thrust, ending with his sword impaled in the ground.
Nightfire tugged at his weapon and got it out just time time to leapt away as Syndrea rolled forward and attacked.
Leaping into the air, the dragon brought his sword down in a downward thrust. Syndrea summersalted away, but turned and struck. Nightfire guarded, but recieved a fist to his face as well. Gorwling, he lashed with his tail, forcing his sparring partner back.
The match was becoming more intense. Syndrea was actually doing well. She jumped back against a rock and used it to propel her slim body over him. Nightfire immediately spun around and they met head on in a series of furious yells and slashes.
And they were fighting with their actual weapons, not the practice swords used for training. In the midst of things, water and small stones were being kicked up everywhere.
Finally the two clashed, shoved back, then poised themselves to charge again. Unfortunately, Syndrea stumbled and fell forward. Instinctively Nightfire halted his attack and reached out to catch her, but had to twist his body to avoid both her weapon, and prevent his from hitting her.
At that awkward angle, he was unable to keep his balance and the two fell, ending up in a heap on the floor.
"Ouch...whew...not bad Syndrea." He panted. "You might...actually take down one of the current Preds with that."
"Oh...don't...patronize me." Syndrea replied, annoyed.
"Boy, that looks very professional." Calico's voice interrupted the pair. A brown fox had appeared, standing on the ledge above them.
Nightfire and Syndrea sprang to sitting positions in surprise.
"The foxy lady." Nightfire muttered, "So, what do we owe the pleasure of this visit? Optimus still mad at me for throwing that flashbang when he said not to?"
"Sure as hell he is, but that's not why I'm here. I just need to talk to Syndrea for a while."
"No problem." Syndrea agreed, cheerful as always.
"I'll..." Nightfire begun.
"Sorry, ladies only." Calico held up her paw. "Syndrea? If you please?"
"Be good and wait a while." Syndrea transformed to beast mode and placed a claw on his shoulder. "We won't be long."
"And no eavesdropping!" Calico said sternly.
The two left, walking to the top of the waterfall. It happened to be on an open clearing, with the nearest trees being miles away. Nightfire knew that there was absolutely no way to sneak up on someone like that, especially in broad daylight where his black hide stood out like a sore thumb.
But...I'm not a good boy, now am I? Hehehe... He rubbed his claws together in eagerness.
"Syndrea, you noticed how tight Airazor and Tigatron have been getting lately?" Calico asked.
"Yeah, the two nature guides." The velociraptor replied, nodding.
"Then, you and dragon-breath back there are, well, sort of close too."
"Calico, what's your point?" Syndrea asked, noticing that there was more to it.
"I...erm...well...I... I...I sorta like Dinobot, but I can't find a way to tell him!" She finally blurted out.
Syndrea was silent for a while, and then started giggling.
"That was it?"
"Hey, I'm a soldier remember? This kind of situation isn't actually my field of expertise."
"Well, not like I'm a psychologist or anything." Syndrea spoke, "But I think you don't have to say anything."
"Huh?"
"Really, I would wait and let it come. It'll take time, but Dinobot sure doesn't look like the type who'd appreciate being popped 'the' four-letter word."
"I DO NOT love him!" Calico yelled so loudly that it startled several birds nearby. "I mean, I realize he's an honorable bot, you know, that kind of mushy stuff, and I just want to be, close friends. That's it."
"OK, just relax there." Syndrea held up her claws, "I get your point. But I still say you get to know him better. You know, it reminds me a lot of Nightfire too. They're both stubborn..."
"Nasty." Calico cut in.
"Mean." Syndrea continued.
"Insensitive."
"Don't know when and how to ask for help."
"Predacons."
"Great, I've run out of words." Syndrea laughed, "But you get the picture."
"Yes, I think I do." Calico stood up, "Well, thanks."
"Anytime." They gave each other a paw to claw high-five before the brown fox took off, following a trail that led down into the ravine.
Syndrea waited until her friend had disappeared from sight, then turned around and scanned the surrounding area. Something didn't feel quite right.
"Nightfire, I know you're here somewhere!" She yelled, "Come out now!"
On cue, a hole opened in the dirt near her feet and Nightfire's dragon head popped out.
"You're starting to think so much like me that it's scary." He grinned, showing off his fangs.
"You dug through the entire slope?" Syndrea queried.
"Nah, I flew till about three quarters way and dug through from there. Damn, all that work and all I got was girl talk."
"So, you heard everything?"
"Every word." He laughed, "And so, I'm a stubborn, mean, nasty, insensitive Predacon, am I?"
"And you're starting to corrupt me with you evil influence too." Syndrea sighed.
"Now, doesn't that just beat all?"
"Certainly, because before meeting you, I wouldn't have had to guts to do THIS!" Syndrea raised her foot and stomped his head back underground. All the dragon could do was let off a muffled cry.
High above these scenes, the twin moons were just barely visible. What neither of them knew was that the time with two moons was drawing to a close.
Soon, Nightfire would be called upon to infiltrate the Predacon base on a very important mission...
During 'Coming of the Fuzors: Part Two', several days later...
"Rrrrrrraarrgghhh!"
With a loud clang and an electric sizzle, Nightfire's Energon sword met the Gunblade of his rival, Deathwing.
"Hah!"
Each one blocking the other's blows, their swords locked and they met, face to face. Although both had been affected by the recent Quantum serge that had hit the planet, their rivalry had remained unaltered.
"Give it up!" Deathwing taunted, "The Maximals are finished, and you've no where else to run to."
"Then at least I can kill you before I die!" Nightfire roared, kicking his opponent away.
The pair backed away from each other and regained their balance, posing in battle stances. Then, they charged. Nightfire ducked beneath Deathwing's sword swing and, with a Rurouni Kenshin-style maneuver, was suddenly behind his opponent and up in the air, weapon ready.
However, the click of a Shotgun caused Nightfire to abruptly changed his course of action and swerve to the side. He felt the crackle of the energy blast whizzing past his shoulder as much as the loud boom temporarily deafened him.
Growling, he landed and stared towards the source of the attack, Muricate, the saber-toothed tiger poised on a rock.
"What are you doing here?" Deathwing yelled, annoyed. "Get lost! This is my business!"
"I fight all who are...argh!" The silent Predacon's words were suddenly interrupted as she was blown off her perch.
Syndrea stepped into view, holding Nightfire's previously dropped M4A1 Assault rifle. Like the rest who'd come out of stasis pods, the Quantum serge had not affected her.
"Late for the dance, am I?" She grinned, taking a place beside Nightfire and drawing her own, blue-bladed energon sword.
"Let's make this a duet, shall we?" Nightfire winked at her. She hadn't let him down, just as he'd expected of her.
In response, Muricate equipped her knuckle-mounted claws.
"Don't get in my way girl." Deathwing growled, clutching his Gunblade more tightly.
"Worry about yourself." She replied, not taking her eyes off the two Maximals.
With that, the battle continued. Male to male. Female to female.
Nightfire and Syndrea coordinated their attacks as they 'danced' around, their respective green and blue shimmering blades slicing flying about like a pair of Jedi Knights'.
The two Predacons were experienced fighters, but as individuals and not as a team. In the midst of the slashing, guarding, deflecting and blocking, Nightfire and Syndrea constantly traded places, and traded opponents, serving to further confuse them.
Nightfire slashed at Deathwing, then bent down and let Syndrea leapt over him and kick Deathwing in the face. Immediately, she rolled back and allowed Nightfire space to launch an uppercut into Muricate, who happened to be approaching for and attack.
The two Preds hit the ground at the same time.
"Don't look now, but I think your buds are making a break for it." Nightfire pointed.
Indeed, Optimus Primal's suddenly reentry into the battle had turned the tide and the Predacon forces were beginning to retreat.
"Damn! We'll finish this another time!" Deathwing cursed angrily as he transformed.
Muricate waved to him, and he grabbed his colleague in his vulture talons and flew off.
The battle had been hard and the Maximals had been caught outnumbered. Nightfire and Syndrea, who had left earlier on, had barely returned in time to join the final clash. Still, they'd prevailed and lived to fight another day.
The couple happily gave each other high-fives before turning and walking back towards the Maximal base.
Later on, Nightfire was standing in the room he used while he was in the base and looking over his new, Transmetal robot form.
"Well, someone's certainly happily about his new look."
Turning away from the mirror, he saw Syndrea leaning against the doorway.
"Yeah, well, a bit metallic on the scales, but I guess the extra armor will be useful."
The basic structure of his robot form had not changed much, with the exception of colors. The primary color was still a shinny black. The pervious silver sections: dragon's 'toes', dragon's claws, out-linings around the knees, waist, elbows, wrists and neck were now golden.
He now had a pair of broad shoulder pads, each one with two golden spikes pointing away from his body. His arms were a dark blue between the shoulder pads to where the beast mode forelegs folded to reveal dark blue robot hands and serve as armguards. On each upper arm was a trio of black leather straps that had been wrapped around them.
His wings, through metallic now, were still as flexible and moveable as before. They were now in a single color too: silver.
The three horns on his head still pointed backwards, except now they were golden. The gold color ran on and a red jewel was embedded where the three points met on his forehead, making it almost look like a crown.
"The imperial dragon." Syndrea laughed, remembering when the quantum surge had knocked everybody offline, she'd woken up in his arms and stared in shock, even through she was glaring up into his familiar fiery red eyes.
Nightfire gave a thumbs-up and breathed in, trying to spread out his shoulders and make them look wider. His height had not changed, but the new armor certainly gave him a figure contradicting to that.
The only new addition to his arsenal was a miniature electronic rail cannon that could be mounted on his wrist or on his back, between the wings. Slow to fire and very heavy in power consumption, but a devastating weapon nevertheless.
Nightfire shifted into beast mode with the same transformation sequence as before. Dropping onto all fours, armguards lengthened to became the dragon's forelimbs and foreclaws. The hidden dragon head and neck emerged from beneath the chestplate and covered his robot head. The dragon head had been given the same 'crown-like' treatment of his robot one, together with a sliver mask that covered the entire head above the jaws, revealing only the glowing red eyes.
Since his beast form carried on a lot of properties from his robot form, the color-coding remained the same.
"Shall we go? I'm eager to stretch these new wings here."
Syndrea returned to beast mode too and together, they walked towards the exit.
"You know, I think those aliens of ours had more to do with my beast form than just this." Nightfire suddenly muttered.
"What do you mean?" Syndrea asked.
"I haven't told you how I first got this form, now did I?"
"Strangely, no."
"Well, when we first crashed here, the other sent out the scanners of get their beast forms and stuff, right?"
"Yeah."
"I wasn't happy about those we got here. And Cheetor decided to run off, so I told the others to go first. They didn't know about me being a Predacon then, so they left me alone in the base, with the scanner running."
"And then?"
"That was when I started to feel an odd presence. I can't really describe it, but something like the chill you get when you think ghosts are around. Then, the long-range scanners picked up something at the very furthest of their capabilities, which weren't very good back then. It was this."
Nightfire lifted a claw and tapped his chest.
"A dragon, I knew it from the old earth myths. But they were supposedly just myths. So, I got myself into the scales and went to check it out. All I found was a footprint on top of a sandy cliff. I thumped my foot there and it was exactly the same. But then, I got a call from the others needing me in the first battle and I went off. I came back later, but the footprints were gone by then. So, basically, I never found whatever it was that gave me this."
"That's very interesting."
"Here, check this out."
He brought up a palmtop and flashed a holographic video clip. The image was quite blurred and full of static, but it clearly showed the outline of two dragon-like shapes in a forest, one a darker color than the other. They were jumping from tree to tree, at very close proximity to the camera.
"I stole this little thing from Iacon's old database. They say it was taken around the 20th Century, on Earth, but no one knows for sure."
Syndrea's response was a long whistle.
"About what?" Nightfire asked, swinging his bladed black tail behind him. "The clip or that fact that I stole it from Iacon?"
"Both."
"Then, everything was swell until the day where I met Deathwing face-to-face in battle. He recognized me and blurted it out to everyone else there. Of course, you know what it did to my standing with my 'comrades'. That was just before you showed up."
"Geez, that sorta sucks. But everything's all right now, isn't it?"
"Thanks mostly to you." He gave a toothy grin, showing off his white fangs.
The pair reached the main control room, which was currently empty and opened the roof hatch, revealing the shinning stars of the night sky.
"Vehicle mode." Nightfire commanded his system.
Like the other transmetals, he too had a third form. This one simply involved spreading his wings out flat, like a plane's, and tucking all his limbs except for his tail in. Finally, the new rail cannon took its designated spot on his back.
"Dragon glider, at your service." He winked, bending his neck towards her.
"Show off." The velociraptor laughed.
She hopped on, holding tightly onto the handles of the mounted cannon with her foreclaws, and lay down on her chest.
"Hold on tight and fasten your safety belt!" Nightfire said.
"What safety belllllllttttttt? Yyyyaaaarrgghhhhh!" Syndrea screamed as Nightfire suddenly lifted through the open roof hatch and accelerated. "Idiot! Do you always have to do that?"
"Food and beverage will not be served on this flight." Nightfire continued in a cheerful tone. "And whatever you do, do not press the big red button on the rail cannon with the 'smiley' face when the cannon is pointed at any part of my body. Epically my head."
Syndrea examined the weapon and found the button he was talking about. It was obviously the trigger for the cannon.
"Cause I wouldn't appreciate having my head blown off. Thank you and have a pleasant flight!"
The pair carried on in silence for a short while.
"You know, things seem to have calmed down a little." Syndrea commented, "But I'm doubtful you feel that way."
"I tend to be painfully right whenever I get a bad feeling, like I've got now."
"And what would that be?"
"I don't know! It's just a hunch, that's all. Hey, we can handle aliens, I'm sure we can handle whatever the future decides to throw at us."
"I suppose." Syndrea said, not entirely convinced. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you. What is it between you and Deathwing?"
"I...erm...look, the sun's coming up! Nice weather, huh?" Nightfire staggered, eager to change the subject.
Syndrea sighed. That basically equaled an 'I don't want to talk about it'.
The remaining sections take place between 'Maximal no more' and 'Other Visits'.
Deathwing walked along the corridor, his feet clanging loudly on the metal floor. Normally, a lot of Predacons with something to hide would find more discrete ways of moving around. The Transmetal, however, wasn't in the mood.
Like his rival, he'd gained quite a bit out of the Quantum surge.
For him, it had mostly 'stiffened' out the feathers of his black vulture beast mode and added pieces of silver armor onto certain sections: the chest, head and both upper and lower sections of the wings. That and the additional set of jets at the base of the wings, where they met his body, gave him added speed and defense.
His transformation was still similar to Airazor's, with the beast head ending up on the chest and wings staying on his back. His wings were now equipped with a hidden set of missile launchers on both the upper and lower sides, beneath the armored plating.
The third mode was also modified from his beast mode. It involved revealing the missile launchers, swinging the jets up onto the wings and converting them to rotors, and sliding a 'helmet' over his head. This gave him underwater attack capabilities, something both sides currently lacked, but at the same time water wasn't much of his forte. Still, there was always the thrill of the extra challenge. And the prospect of something potentially advantageous was not to be ignored.
Bringing his mind back to the present, the mercenary glared up at his destination, an old computer room and the east wing of this lower level. It was rarely used, and maintained even less, but also making it an excellent place for someone wanting to hack into restricted files without being traced. Of course, one had to be able to set up and modify the old machine to one's needs, but Deathwing was certainly capable of it.
However, it seemed someone else was inside. That someone was punching the wall in frustration.
"I don't get it! What AM I?"
It was Muricate. Deathwing was surprised that she'd actually progressed this far.
The feline had been created as part of an experiment that had involved tapping into the spirit energies of the planet's dead creatures. Essentially, taking a random creature's soul, mixing it with a Cybetronian's programming and creating a spark. Megatron had scrapped the project due to its inefficiency, but Muricate remained nevertheless.
At first, she'd been wild and vicious, barely telling ally from enemy. However, in spite of the little time he spent around the base, Deathwing noticed that was she beginning to learn. Slowly at first, but it had been there. Now, she was almost to the intelligence level of the rest of the Predacons. And in the case of one or two, above them. She might not know much about computers and systems, but she'd picked up combat strategies relatively quickly and was a natural born fighter.
It surprised him, really, how adaptable creatures on this world were.
Perhaps, she might just work to my advantage, if played correctly. He thought, opening the doorway and leaning against it, arms folded.
She seemed to have taken a slight liking to him after the incident during the aftershocks of the Quantum surge where he'd prevented her from plunging into the lava by shoving her into one of the CR chambers below. It had been entirely an accident; he'd grabbed onto Terrorsaur to prevent his fellow flyer from ending up in the lava with Scorponok. However, he'd lost his balance and hit into her, but not like she knew that.
Since her body was made out of the same 'Substance P' metal that Nightfire's new body was, that same action had probably prevented her from becoming transmetallized like him.
As to Terrorsaur, Deathwing had weighed his options and figured he didn't want to be doing flying missions with bug-face and the ant. And since he had the common sense not to stand on one of the hovering platforms, might as well make the featherless freak owe him a huge debt.
Muricate begun throwing random objects around in frustration, one of which was a pipe that Deathwing caught to protect his head.
"Ahem..." He grunted loudly.
"Oh...it's you." Muricate stopped and turned towards him.
"You want to know what you are?"
Muricate faced the computer, then looked towards him and nodded.
"No one else will tell me, and this thing won't work either! But I know there's something different about me. I'm not like the rest of you, I just don't know!"
"You are correct. You are something else. An experiment most others see as gone wrong. That's probably why they won't talk."
From her expression, Muricate didn't seem entirely convinced.
"Your distrust is expected, but let me tell you, I just work here. What motives Megatron and his goons have is out of my business."
"Then, you'll explain it all to me?" She asked, giving in.
Nodding, Deathwing slowly detailed the story of her creation. When he was done, he added in a few more convincing words of his own.
"Despite your origins, you are a Predacon now. And one who is a good warrior. One that I've been looking for."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I'm proposing we enter a partnership. You and I. A secret one of course. One with many rewards, more than just victory alone." He winked.
Deathwing felt she agreed almost too easily.
"Now, I'm going to need your help with something." He placed a disc into the computer and brought up a map. "Blackarachnia is not an entirely reliable source when it comes to getting information stored on CDs, but I have way to countercheck things. Now listen closely my dear."
With that, Deathwing outlined his plans for the next day and showed her what he intended on the screen. By the end of it, she was grinning with glee and nodding.
"Tomorrow then." She agreed.
"Indeed." Deathwing smiled. He then leaned closer and kissed her. Muricate was a little surprised at first, but soon she was enjoying the moment.
The two then went their separate ways.
Not bad at all, the vulture was thinking, recalling all the seductive tricks he used to pull on the bar girls back on Cybertron. I get to have a little fun at the same time.
Meanwhile, Shadowflare, the Black Panther, stepped out form his hiding place deep in the shadows of the room.
"In my humble opinion, fascinating indeed." He whispered to himself.
Kirath swerved left, carefully avoiding the jagged rocky outcropping.
The jade-green dragon turned back to make sure Cheetor was still following him. He needn't have worried, as the young Maximal was hot on his heels, as energetic as ever.
Kirath landed on a cliff, followed by the Transmetal cat in his flight mode.
"We getting any readings General?" Cheetor asked.
"Some, unfortunately they're disorientated." Kirath replied, banging on the sensory device. "Not good."
"Megs must be jamming up the place." Cheetor said, "Slagging jamming stations."
"Complaining won't help us zero in on that power source we detected earlier on." Kirath sighed, putting the sensor away. "I'm sure you heard? The one with alien origin."
"Yeah. Geez, after nearly killing us back with that planet buster, you'd think they'd leave us alone already?"
"One thing about enemies kid, is that if they really want you dead, they want you dead. And they'll keep trying." He turned and glanced down into the snow-covered valley below them. Branching out from it was a series of mountains, likewise covered with snow.
And pinpointing a specific location amongst them without sensory equipment would prove to be quite a task.
"Right now, we have to worry about getting to whatever that power source may be before the Predacons do." Kirath said, spreading his wings.
"Man, I guess no one said it was going to be easy, huh?" Cheetor replied, firing up his jets.
"You've got the spirit kid. Let's see how you keep it up."
"Watch me."
With that, they were off.
"Hey feathers! I...ugh!"
Terrorsaur gasped as Deathwing abruptly grabbed his neck with his talons.
"Listen here you featherless freak," The vulture snarled, "the only reason I didn't let you go dropping like a rock into that lava pit was so that I wouldn't end up doing this sort of thing with bug-face and the mindless drone. So, whatever scheme you've got in mind there, I'm not interested. Clear?"
"Yes..." The dactyl-bot squeaked.
"Good." He released his hold. "Now, since you're got the sensor, lead the way and we can get this fragging search over and done with."
The Transmetal Terrorsaur nodded and brought a visor down over his eyes.
(Author's note: In this series, Terrorsaur survived the Quantum surge and was Transmetallized by it. He appears exactly the same as the Transmetal Terrorsaur toy does.)
Deathwing let his companion fly several feet away, and then activated his com-link.
"Muricate, you done yet?" He whispered.
A loud bang came from the other side of the receiver, followed by Muricate's laugh.
"Don't worry. Waspinator and Inferno are experiencing some 'technical difficulties', as you requested." She kicked a piece of Waspinator away, admiring her handiwork of the neatly planted bomb.
"Excellent. We can't have those two buffoons babbling about any of this to Megatron. Now you can..."
The sounds of shots being fired interrupted him.
"Slaggit!"
"Muricate? What's going on?"
"Grrrr ... Maximals found us! Dinobot, the rat and the fox. I'll take them on here!"
"Negative. Fall back immediately!"
"Shadowflare and Blackarachnia are already nearing my position. I'll look too suspicious if I start running off!"
"All right then. Just keep the Maximals away."
"Sorry about it." She said, over the noise of her shotgun, and ended the transmission.
"Deathwing," Terrorsaur called, "over here! I think it's right down here!"
He was pointing down to a valley below.
"What happened to those two?" Blackarachnia asked, pointing to the pile of Waspinator and Inferno pieces.
"What do you think?" Shadowflare muttered as he fired his Bowgun. "In my humble opinion, it's a typical sight."
"They did make good shields through." Muricate lied.
However, she was cursing on the inside. She wouldn't be able to stick to Deathwing's plan now that she was caught up in this battle.
On the other side of the battlefield, the three Maximals were involved in a pretty much standard duck-shoot-duck procedure.
"This appears to be a diversion." Dinobot muttered.
"Yeah, chopper-face may actually be right." Rattrap said.
"Unfortunately, we need to get PAST them, and it's too difficult to go around them without taking them out first." Calico finished.
As she stood up to fire, a shot hit the rock she was hiding behind. The 'boom' right in front of her face startled her, sending the fox falling backwards and losing her twin Uzis. One of the machine guns fell forward into a ditch in front of her, out of reach. The other landed behind her.
Swearing under her breath, she reached for it. Dinobot, who'd seen her fall, apparently got the same idea. So, it happened that their hands met on top of the gun. For a moment, both stared at each other in surprise.
"Hello? People? We've got a battle to fight here!" Rattrap yelled, breaking the moment up.
Giving each other annoyed glances, Dinobot and Calico went back to firing.
"Grrrr...stand down or die!"
Deathwing recognized the voice as belonging to the green dragon who'd recently appeared out of seemingly nowhere.
Pity, I was hoping Nightfire would show up here. Oh well, I suppose I could take it out on this one.
Kirath was approaching rapidly and let loose with his lightning breath, contrary to the fiery one Nightfire breathed.
"Terrorize!" He shouted, dodging to the side, not caring weather Terrorsaur had been hit or not. Drawing his Gunblade, he took aim at the green dragon.
"No you don't!" Out of the blue, Cheetor transformed to robot mode and jumped onto him, attempting to wrestle the weapon from his hands.
"Get off!" Deathwing yelled, furiously swerving around and trying to shake Cheetor off.
As he spun around wildly, he saw Terrorsaur and Kirath, having both transformed in mid-air, were trading shots as well. In the midst of his own struggle, the Gunblade went off, sending a Buckshot round down into the mountainside.
All of a sudden, there was one explosion after another.
What in the pit? My rounds couldn't possibly do that much damage! There had to be something there...
Deathwing finally managed to throw Cheetor off him, however he was currently more interested in looking down at the mountainside he'd just blown open than finishing the battle. Snow should've started pouring down, but something was preventing it.
As he looked down, Deathwing spotted a glowing blue sphere about the size of both his fists put together. It begun to glow so brightly that everyone had to stop fighting and cover their eyes.
Squinting, Deathwing saw the explosions had jarred something else lose from an adjacent mountain.
A ... stasis pod?
One that seemed to be marked with a large 'X' on it. It fell, directly into blinding blue light of the alien sphere. Almost immediately, an explosion of energon shook the area.
Deathwing cried out in pain as the energon surge erupted into his circuitry.