NOTE: WW, I've liked transformers for ages, I just watched all my old tapes again.
Chapter Three: Other Vengeances
The essence of space seemed eternal and unchanging, propped up against the unwavering fanatics that hovered there, overlooking that essence. Large, white skeletons, one with red eyes, the other with green. They lacked bodies, but they did have long, white, almost dreadlocks hanging out of the backs of their heads. They were not in a good mood.
"Our attempt at stopping Megatron has failed," said Green-Eyes. "The threat to the space-time continuum still exists. The drone has simply changed to the side of Optimus Primal."
"We are limited in our options, but we must stop them," said Red-Eyes. "The Predacons wish to change history."
"We have spent many a millennia acting as policemen of this galaxy, and our efforts are failing thanks to one dark transformer," said Green-Eyes. "It is time to revisit an old tactic that failed miserably last time, besides for two measly Predacon minions."
"How shall we go about it?" asked Red-Eyes. "We lack the luxury of a device such as a moon to perform the task right there for us."
"If we cannot destroy the entire planet," said Green-Eyes. "Then we simply have to destroy every Transformer living there. But no former maximal shall go. I think it is time that we formally meet these Transformers ourselves."
Red-Eyes thought for a second. "Unfortunately, we have no physical form they could comprehend."
Green-Eyes had already thought of an answer. "When Optimus Primal spoiled our plan to destroy their planet, stasis pods orbiting around the planet crashed. There happen to be two Transformers that I know of that know nothing of Optimus Primal of Megatron. One is a beetle that goes by the name of Scarem. The other is a bat named Sonar. We could use them to our advantage."
And so the two Vok left their home in the sky, headed out to the far reaches of the galaxy, to the planet called Earth.
The Ark was in a much more quiet mood than it had been in several days. Rattrap sat in a corner playing a video game. Rhinox was taking a nap. Depth Charge, as usual, was out doing whatever he wanted. No one was speaking, due to the events of the previous day. Then finally, Optimus spoke.
"Cheetor, why did you leave him so willingly?"
Cheetor growled. "Because I understand. Ramulus is much happier by himself than he would ever be with us as friends. Besides, he's not very fun to be around anyway."
"He's still a Maximal!" cried Optimus.
Cheetor growled again. "Look, you and I know he'll never truly be a Maximal!"
Rhinox interrupted. "Hold on, you two. Look!" He pointed to the computer screen.
Written on the screen was "Proximity Alert." Then suddenly, the computer's voice began to cry the same. "Alien Energy Signal approaching," it said.
"What?" shouted Rhinox. "Estimate landing coordinates."
"Estimated landing coordinates similar to previous alien encounter."
"The Darkside?!" cried Silverbolt.
Rhinox shook his head. Then the computer said, "Negative. Estimate landing coordinates as well as signature identical to that of data tracks Tau 7."
Rhinox gasped. "The standing stones."
"Ah, come on, you mean Tarantulas's scrappas are back again."
Optimus reverted to vehicle mode. "Their attempt to destroy Megatron failed. So I'm sure they would come back, but they probably won't be very happy. I'm going over there. Tigerhawk, I think you better come too."
Tigerhawk changed to his beast mode. "Always willing."
Silverbolt then asked, "Should I come too?"
"No," said Optimus. "You should stay here. You're our only other flier, besides Depth Charge. It'd be best if you stayed here."
"Affirmative, brave monkey hero."
Rhinox saluted to Optimus. "We'll be watching. May the Matrix be with you."
"Always," replied Optimus.
Rhinox pressed a button on the control panel. "Computer, open the door."
"Affirmative. Doors opening."
Optimus and Tigerhawk departed through the doors, and flew out of sight.
"I guess all we can do now is wait," said Blackarachnia.
"Yep," replied Rhinox.
Optimus reverted to robot mode and pressed his com-link button. "Rhinox, what's the estimated time of arrival?"
"4.7 cycles."
"Gotcha."
And so the two Maximals waited. Optimus could remember nearly three stellar cycles earlier, when himself and Dinobot had encountered a signature similar to the one headed to them now. Optimus, then, had been sucked into a strange apparatus that was created by the Vok. But everything had changed since then, he knew.
The standing stones looked like they always had. No one could have been able to tell that aliens were approaching these rocks.
Then suddenly, it all happened. A large corona came down from the sky, blinding Optimus and Tigerhawk. It came down and hovered in the middle of the circle created by the stones, before disappearing.
"Huh?" asked Optimus. "AAAHHH!"
Primal was thrown backwards with Tigerhawk by some unknown agent. They were now together in a heap on the ground. "So where are the Vok?" asked Tigerhawk.
"I don't know," answered Optimus.
Optimus and Tigerhawk were left there, like nothing had ever happened. The entire scenery looked exactly the same as it had for many stellar cycles. No Vok. No nothing.
"What was that?" cried Megatron. He lay spread eagled on the ground next to a cave entrance. All he remembered is that he had experienced a great flash, and then a force like he had never felt before forced him onto the ground.
"Would you like me to find whoever did this to us, my queen?" asked Inferno, emerging out of the cave beside Megatron.
"Inferno, stop calling me that, or I will start to call you a queen, if you understanding my meaning," answered Megatron.
"Yes, my queen!"
Megatron growled and clenched his fist. Even with his new power of dragon, he was doomed to suffer the incompetence of his minions. "No, Inferno," he said. "That will not be necessary. What is necessary is equipping our new base."
Ramulus thought to himself. What was I thinking, possibly allying myself with those pathetic Maximals? I'm much too good for that. And besides, I have made myself a living by myself, fighting off Scarem and Sonar every day of my life.
He was standing beside his cave entrance, in robot mode, with his horns in hand as a weapon. Today he was expecting to encounter Scarem and Sonar; he had not seen them in several days.
So he decided to finally, for once, get the drop on his two predators. He began to journey through the forest, in all of Scarem and Sonar's usual hiding spots: the grove of trees, the meadow, and the cave with the monkey-men in it. But they weren't there. Nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, Scarem? Sonar?!!!!" yelled Ramulus.
But nowhere to be found. Ramulus turned around, maybe thinking that it was impossible for him to possibly be on the attack against his hunters of the forest. But then he heard a voice. In fact, a scream. Scarem. From behind the set of trees on his left. Ramulus ducked behind to have a look.
There he saw Scarem and Sonar, together, screaming in agony. Ramulus chuckled. It felt good to see them hurt for once. But Ramulus didn't understand why. No one was attacking them or anything, but then…
Ramulus was shot to the ground by some kind of explosion, but there was no fire. And Scarem and Sonar stopped screaming. They seemed quite normal.
"Shall we proceed to destroy the Maximals and Predacons?" asked Scarem.
"Yes."
Ramulus
overheard this. Huh? I think this warrants talking to the
Maximals.
"Beast mode," Ramulus
whispered, and he changed and leapt off ahead of Scarem and Sonar.
"Optimus, why are you still waiting there?" the monkey heard Rhinox's voice through his com-link.
"Something just happened, and I am going to wait here until I find out what," Primal answered demandingly.
"You've been there nearly a megacycle!" said Rhinox.
Optimus sighed. "Tigerhawk, you can go back to base if you'd like," he said.
"No, Optimus," answered Tigerhawk. "This concerns me, and I'm not going to leave until I learn exactly what 'this' is."
"You hear that, Rhinox?" asked Optimus. "We're gonna wait it out!"
"Fine. Rhinox out."
"So…Tigerhawk…" asked Optimus, "…how's it goin'?"
"Fine, Optimus," he answered. There was a slight pause. "You?"
Optimus sighed. "Same as always. Wait…Ramulus!"
Out in the distance, from the east, Optimus could see Ramulus running toward them. "Wow…he's fast," said Tigerhawk.
"Especially for a ram," said Optimus.
Ramulus had neared about ten meters before he stopped. "Ramulus, transform!"
"What's up, Ramulus?" asked Optimus.
"Stop with the small talk, ape," said Ramulus. "This is urgent. This concerns both of us."
"Huh?" said Tigerhawk. "What do you mean?"
Ramulus pointed back to his forest. "I told Cheetor of this. I have had two predators seeking me in my forest. Two transformers, named Scarem and Sonar. A beetle and bat. Today I was actually hunting them for once. And I saw them, talking about destroying both Maximals and Predacons. I was never aware that they were aware that any of you existed."
"Hmm…" said Optimus. "I don't think they are. Ramulus, when did this occur?"
"Uhh…I guess about a megacycle ago. Right before they started to talk, there was a large explosion without fire.."
Optimus turned to the forest. "By Primus no…it's the Vok! They've taken control of Scarem and Sonar, and now they're trying to destroy us all. Ramulus, this is far above your head. I can't let another Maximal die by being by himself. I think it is best if you stay with us."
Ramulus shook his head as he said, "Sorry, ape, but I can't do that. I'll be better off by myself."
Optimus laughed. "Well, Ramulus, then I am sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"Tigerhawk?" asked Optimus. Ramulus didn't know what he meant.
Then Ramulus's mind went blank. And the next moment, he was laying on the ground, with Tigerhawk's fist outstretched. Optimus grabbed Ramulus's leg and they began to fly back together to the Ark.
Back at the Ark, Optimus addressed his crew of the situation and of all that had happened.
"So, uh, big guy," said Rattrap, "These warped-out aliens have taken control of some of goatboy's old pals, and now they're on their way here to blow us all to scrap? Oh, we're all gonna die…"
"Shut up, Rattrap," said the group together.
"Megatron still holds the spark of the original Megatron, and that means that we have to protect him…at any cost," said Optimus.
"Uh, uh," said Rattrap, "So I've gotta go out and save Megatron's ugly butt because he did somethin' stupid?"
"Exactly," said Optimus.
"We don't even know where Megatron is!" said Silverbolt.
Rhinox stood up from his bench. "Optimus, yesterday Depth Charge and I lied to you. Depth Charge saw Rampage at the Darkside and engaged with him. I tried to stop him, but I had no choice. Megatron, however, was not with them. They eventually escaped."
"Yeah," Cheetor said. "Ramulus told us that the Preds were at the Darkside, and not the Scorponok." :)
"So I guess we have to return to yesterday's plan?" asked Blackarachnia.
"Yes," said Optimus, then added, "This time we have to be in a real big hurry. We don't know how far along the Vok are. They could already be in this area."
"But we have to keep people in the base," said Tigerhawk.
"All right," said Optimus. "Cheetor, you're staying here to keep an eye on Ramulus. You seem to know him best."
"Gotcha, bigbot," said Cheetor.
"As for the rest of you, we're going to split up completely, and find Megatron. Speak with him. Except for you, Rattrap. You call for someone else to talk. I know you hardly have the art of charisma."
"Aww…" said Rattrap.
"Let's move out, team," ordered Optimus. "And hurry…for the Matrix's sake."
"Wow," muttered Megatron. He was quite pleased with the base he had made for himself. It was nearing completion of a defense system, using old pieces of Sentinel, and a command center. He also used pieces from Tarantulas's old lair. This would make quite a base, indeed.
"All right, troops. Assemble!" cried Megatron.
A line soon formed in front of him made up of Quickstrike, Inferno, Rampage, and Dinobot.
"Troops," started Megatron, "We have managed to rearm ourselves with a base. Those Maximals will have nothing more than we have now…and we can restart the Beast Wars at full force. As for a name, this I have pondered for quite a while. We shall call this base the Darkside II, even though it lacks the luxury of also being a ship. But that is for much later…the reason I started my plan so long ago."
Then the base's computer made its first dialogue. "Maximal signal approaching. Autoguns offline. Unit Optimus Primal detected."
"Ah, Optimus…I'm sure we can engage with him with ease," said Megatron.
And so all of the Predacons stepped out of the Darkside II and onto the cliffside that overlooked a vast plain and then the ocean. And there, on that plain, was Optimus Primal, with his hands in the air.
Megatron stepped out to greet him, with his left hand petting his right hand's dragonhead. "Ah, Optimus, how nice of you to come and join the party."
"I don't have time for battle, Megatron," answered Optimus. "What I'm here to talk with you about stretches far over either of our heads. It's about the aliens. They're back."
"Ah, our friends the Vok. They have returned? In what form?"
Optimus sighed. "In the form of a beetle and bat named Scarem and Sonar. They're headed here. I understand that we as Maximals and keepers of peace and harmony that we have no choice but to protect you, Megatron. You are still carrying the spark of the original Megatron, so that means that you must remain alive."
"Ah, I see what you mean," said Megatron. "And I assume that these 'Vok' are once again after me?"
"No," answered Optimus. "They're done with aiming for one target. They want to destroy all of us. Maximal and Predacon. They believe that the only way to guarantee peace in the space-time continuum is to have us all destroyed. That's why I invite you to a truce until we can sort out this situation."
"Well, Optimus, you're offering me bodyguards, so I can't help but agree."
"That means that not a single one of your troops will fire upon a single one of my troops, you hear?"
"Agreed," answered Megatron.
"I ask that all of your troops come to the Ark, so we can fight this enemy together. The Sanctuary of the Autobots will be closed off to you and all of your men, as well as ours. And, just to maintain control, Depth Charge is going to wait out this time in the water. I have already communicated with him. It seems that these aliens have other vengeances they want to sort out with us."
Megatron chuckled. "No doubt they do. All right, troops, make way to the Ark. It seems the Maximals and Predacons are now fighting as the Army of the Transformers."
TO BE CONTINUED in….Other Vagabonds!
