(Hey Everyone… Sorry for posting this SOO long compared to the last one. I just had trouble with things but now here it is. And let me say you won't be sorry for the wait. I hope you all had a great 4th of July, been meaning to say that to everyone. Can you believe how crazy the weather's been lately? Well if it didn't have a mind of its own then It wouldn't be as fun.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Pokémon or Beast Wars they are the properties of their respective owners.
Please Read, Review, and Enjoy)
It was another day in the Kalos region and Foxfire had gotten used to her new surroundings and overall mission while on this planet. She even liked how there was no war or major conflicts of any kind on this planet; felt it to be the perfect world with so many wondrous creatures, like the one she had scanned her new Poké mode from, teeming on this planet.
When she was filled in on the three who helped the Predacons' attempt at kidnapping and reprogramming, Foxfire felt so mad that she accidently sent a burst of fire out, causing some damage to one of the walls on the ship. It took several days to fix, but despite anything else, Foxfire became a welcomed member of the crew and a good friend to the human children and their Pokémon.
Just as Serena and her Fennekin were assisting Foxfire with her new powers as a Pokémon, the alarm sounded. There were two pods coming from what Ash identified as the Sinnoh Region. The coordinates of one of the pods appeared to be near a marsh like area near a city; the other, the mountain side. The Maximals decided to divide up into two groups, heading to each of the coordinates, well as close as they could get. The marsh team composed of Kabubot, Ratitrap, Absotron, and Clemont, and the mountain team composed of Optimus, Cheattor, Ash, and Serena. Bonnie complained about not being able to go this time, but Optimus assured the young girl that it was too dangerous for her to go with the teams, especially after what almost happened the last time. This caused both Bonnie and Dedenne to pout.
Foxfire to was disappointed that she wasn't going to be deployed, but understood the importance of being needed to keep their base safe while the teams were away. Before Optimus' team departed, Foxfire said to the speedster, "Please be careful everyone."
"Will do." Cheattor assured her, thumbs up, as he and Optimus changed into their Poké-modes. After the two trainers got on them, Optimus opened the portal and the mountain team went through it.
Noticing the concerned look on the femme's face, Rhynox assured, "They'll be fine."
After they got confirmation that Optimus' team and made it to Sinnoh safely, Rhynox added the coordinates for the Marshlands and Absotron's team went through the portal. Rhynox let out a sigh of relief as he said, keeping an eye on the systems, "All we can do now is wait."
Bonnie pouted; she hated waiting, especially when there were Pokémon that she might have never seen before.
When the team composed of Kabubot, Ratitrap, Absotron, and Clemont arrived, they made a splashy entrance. Instead being at the edge of the swamp, they were instead in the middle of it, up to their knees, well in Ratitrap's case, up to his stomach of it as he gave a yell, "Wha in da..."
"Seems like the teleporter system still needs work.." Clemont commented and hurried to get out before his inventions would get ruined. Absotron helped him out while Ratitrap seemed to have forgotten that the Pokémon he chose was able to swim. Kabubot, however, snarled, grabbing the rodent in-between his blades and pulled him out, "Aparently, rodent, you forgot that you could swim in that form."
"Oh! -xcuse me rock head. I was busy tryin to keep from drownin to remembah!" Ratitrap shot back, resulting in getting dropped by the former Predacon, face first, into the muddy water.
Absotron sighed. He looked to his human companion, "Anything on the locator?"
"Nothing yet." Clemont said as he looked around, "Guess we're continuing from here."
The four of them began their search for one of their Stasis pods, unaware of what was to come, or a certain red Aerodactyl flying overhead.
Optimus and his team shook themselves when they exited the portal, feeling as though their hair/fur was standing up.
"Looks like we made it without a hitch." Optimus commented, unaware of Serena freezing up all of a sudden.
Noticing, Ash asked, "What's the matter, Serena?"
Serena's face was one of fear, but was nervously trying to laugh it off as she said, "Huh? ha ha, nothing... Nothing at all."
Ash and Pikachu noticed and gave a yell of surprise as the trainer grabbed Serena's hand and pulled her quickly from the edge of a cliff.
"Ash!" Cheattor said, seeing his friends in trouble before they went over the edge. Using his tail, which Ash grabbed hold of, pulled his friends to safety. Optimus came over and asked, "What happened?"
"The teleporter brought us too close to the Cliffside." Ash said, after letting his heart to retreat back into his chest.
"Yeah, Big bot, that was too dangerous. Remember our return trip from the Orange Islands? It almost got us just into that city in Kalos before we got it right." Cheattor said, ignoring the pain he felt from his tail from being held and pulled.
Optimus nodded, "Agreed, but the main thing is no one got hurt."
Looking around, the Slaking asked, "Ash, you've been to Sinnoh before; any ideas on where the pod might be?"
Ash and Pikachu looked around before he said, "It looks like we're near Veilstone City."
"Veilstone City?" Serena asked, after getting her breathing back in order.
"It's a city that's home to the fighting type gym, led by Maylene." Ash explained, remembering the layout.
As they walked, Ash told them how his rival in the Sinnoh League, a boy named Paul, had beaten the gym leader's Pokémon mercilessly, causing her to lose confidence in herself. Dawn, a friend of his, stayed to talk and help her regain her confidence while Ash and Brock, the former Gym Leader of Pewter City, went to a Pokémon Breeder's place that happened to be run by Paul's older brother, Reggie. They battled and Ash won; however his Staravia was able to learn a powerful move known as Brave Bird, one of the most powerful Flying-Type attacks in the world. But it was Dawn that was able to help Maylene regain her confidence in order to battle and be a Gym Leader again.
As they walked, Optimus asked, curious as to how a trainer did this to a Gym Leader with more experience, "What kind of person is this Paul?"
Ash crossed his arms and thought about it, "Well… at first he was a real jerk that didn't give any recognition to any of his Pokémon or other people. He was especially harsh on his Pokémon, scolding them if they lost a match and training them as harshly to get them to be stronger. He'd even release them if they weren't strong enough, checking on the new caught Pokémon for their moves and power."
That information horrified Serena. Unable to understand why someone would be so cold to their teammates. She asked, "Why would he do something like that? Pokémon are our friends."'
Looking back Ash explained, "He felt that bonding with his Pokémon would turn them into slackers, feeling that they'd lose more than show their true strength."
Cheattor glared at that. Optimus, however asked, "What made him become that way?"
Ash thought for a moment and said, "I think Reggie said that it was because of how he lost a match to one of the frontier brains, the strongest of them, Brandon, and how he gave up being a trainer because of it."
Optimus looked down in thought as he walked. Apparently the stories of Earth's humans being both noble and cruel from the historical records were true after all. They could be found even on a peaceful world as this one.
They continued walking as they followed the signal to the pod closest to them.
On another road to Veilstone City, was a girl with deep blue hair, a white hat, pink skirt, and dark top walking along. The girl, Dawn, was one of the top ranked Pokémon Coordinators in Sinnoh by now, taking some time off to visit her friend, Maylene. She's been wondering how the Gym Leader was doing after finishing her business in Blackthorn city, in Johto.
She and her partner Piplup were minding their business when they heard voices.
"I think the signal's coming from that way." a girl's voice said, Dawn had to admit to herself that it sounded pretty.
"Let's hope it's close. We need to get it opened up so as to keep the pod out of enemy hands." An older voice said, almost sounding like a concerned father.
"Relax, Big Bot, if a Pred show's up we'll show 'em how good we got thanks to our new buds." A confident voice of a man almost the same age as Reggie said. He seemed sure about what they needed to do.
"This is so cool, I can't wait to see what kind of Pokémon it'll be." A voice that made Dawn and her partner looked surprised to hear. Especially when they heard the familiar agreement from the one person they didn't think they'd hear from anytime soon.
Stepping from their hiding spot, Dawn came out and asked, "Ash? Pikachu? Is that you?"
Dawn saw a girl with dirty blond hair holding a device in hand, walking next to a Slaking that didn't look very tired, a purple feline Pokémon with yellow spots on its back and red around the eyes. Standing next to the three was, indeed, Ash and Pikachu.
Ash looked shocked to see one of his best friends there. Soon the shock became a smile and he greeted, "Hey Dawn."
The moment that Ash confirmed the deep blue haired girl's identity, Serena looked disheartened, feeling sad about how she thought that Dawn was a boy, not a pretty looking girl who might have caught Ash's attention by how long they've traveled together, before his arrival to Kalos.
Back in the marsh, Clemont was sitting on Absotron's back. He kept his eyes on the locator. His expression suddenly, became Solemn.
"What's the matter Clemont?" Absotron asked, noticing the change in the boy's mood.
Clemont was snapped out of his thoughts and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just... There's still much I don't know about with science, especially if it made you able to possess freewill and the ability to transform so convincingly that even the Pokédex identified you as a Pokémon. A means to travel across the universe in a blink of an eye..."
Clemont shook with joy as he said, "Oh I wish I can see your planet. To see all the wonders that your science has to offer."
"Yeah, well. Dat's been possible tanks to a lil' ting we call the "Great War." Ratitrap reminded, getting a warning growl from the security officer.
Ratitrap's words made Clemont look down sadly, "I did a little research and I can't believe how long such a terrible war like that had been…"
"Such is the way of war…" Kabubot snarled, swimming alongside the other two. His Poké mode allowed him to dive underneath the surface as he looked for the Stasis Pod. He happened to have reappeared from below the water's surface when he heard Clemont's question.
Ratitrap snorted, " 'Specially if yer ancestors were da ones who started it…"
This became another attempt for Kabubot to try and silence the loudmouth rodent while Clemont and Absoltron sighed. Absoltron felt a tug from his horn and growled to silence the fighting. The four waited and watched to see what was going to happen.
Ash explained to Dawn how, even though he hadn't won the Unova league championship title, he had a great time in Unova. About how he was currently in Kalos, winning badges, until he was asked to help his new friends find things that belonged to them before someone like Team Rocket or another criminal got their hands on it. It wasn't a lie; he did see the Maximals as his friends looking for their stasis pods, but it was enough because Ash knew how Dawn would react if he mentioned the Slaking and Liepard with him were actually alien robots from another galaxy.
Dawn nodded, taking it all in as she knew Ash wouldn't lie. Piplup went over and looked at the two Pokémon.
Cheattor, putting on a convincing performance as a Liepard, leaned towards the small penguin Pokémon and sniffed him.
Piplup's expression was too expected by how one like him would react when a large, fully evolved, predator looking Pokémon got in close. He freaked out and hid behind Dawn, who was surprised by her partner hiding behind him.
"What's the matter Piplup?" Dawn asked, looking down at the water Pokémon.
Piplup made several chirps while pointing at the Liepard and motioning with his flippers like jaws biting.
"Oh I wouldn't worry, Cheattor wouldn't hurt a Caterpie." Ash assured, unaware of his goofing up.
"Cheattor?" Dawn asked, looking confused alongside her partner.
Realizing his mistake, Ash said, laughing nervously, "Uh… Yeah! I named him Cheattor by umm.. how fast he was when he stole the control to one of Team Rocket's gadgets."
Dawn stared, unconvinced. She then noticed the girl with the red hat and asked, "So, Ash? Who's that girl?"
Their faces became smug-like as the coordinator asked, "Your new girlfriend? Hmm?"
Serena stiffened at the question, her face became as red as a beet. Ash's remained the same, surprised, but the same as he waved her off, "No she's Serena, a new trainer from the Kalos Region. She wants to be Kalos Queen in the Pokémon Performers contest."
"Pokémon Performer?" Dawn asked.
Ash nodded. He was about to explain when Serena came and explained for him, "A Pokémon Performer is a trainer that trains their Pokémon to show off their talents and perform in front of audiences."
"Oh so it's sorta like Coordination contests." Dawn summarized, confusing the three with them.
Turning to the disguised Maximals and Kalos trainer, Ash explained, "A Pokémon Coordinator is a trainer that shows off their Pokemon's own beauty, then enters their Pokémon in coordinator contests."
Serena smiled at the comparison, asking, "Do you think you can show me what sort of Pokémon you have? That way we can learn from each other to improve our routines?"
Dawn smiled, "Sure, why not."
After the attention was turned from them, Optimus approached and suggested to Ash in a whisper, "I'll continue on to the location of the pod here, but I'll be leaving Cheattor here as an extra precaution."
"You sure you don't need him with you?" Ash asked, he looked concerned at the Maximal leader for being alone when they don't know how many Predacons are around.
Optimus shook his head, though he was appreciative of the offer, "Unlike me, Cheattor doesn't have on board flight capabilities in his robot mode so I have to make the climb by myself. I'll be working my way down back to your location if I don't see the pod at the peak, especially if the ore in the mountain is messing with the locator beacon."
Ash nodded, understanding, before asking, "Do you need help from Fletchinder?"
"Thank you, but I don't want to run the risk of it being hurt by the Predacons." Optimus said before walking away from the group, finding a secluded area to transform and rocket to the peak of the mountain before the planet's Energon fields effect his systems.
When he met up with the group, Ash saw that both Dawn and Serena had brought out their Pokémon. All six of Dawn's met with Serena's performing duo. And they seemed to be getting along well, until they saw Ash.
"Hey Ash! Serena and I've been getting to know each other." Dawn said, seeing her best friend.
Her face took on a teasing expression, when she said, "I gotta admit, I didn't think your girlfriend was so talented at things like making home cooked treats, and dancing?"
Serena's face became as red as the fur on her Fennekin, but it faded when Ash said, "What're you talking about? Serena's a good friend."
Dawn sighed, unable to believe how dense Ash was, "Nevermind."
She then noticed, "Where'd that Slaking go?"
This made Ash sweat, thinking of a good answer, "Umm… He met with his trainer and went looking for that thing they're looking for."
"Don't worry about it, I'll see them later." Dawn assured, smiling to them, knowing that her friends would understand.
Serena nodded her thanks, before noticing something. Behind Dawn's Mamoswine's foreleg was a small, bipedal, rabbit-like Pokémon with brown ears, one of which appeared to be curled up. It had two types of fur that covered its body; a light tan fleece that covered much of its lower body, feet, and the tips of its ears, and a smooth chocolate colored pelt on the upper half of its body. It had a small, triangular pink nose, pink paw pads on the undersides of its feet, and small tan spots above its eyes. It also had a small brown puff of a tail.
It was staring at Ash's Pikachu with such a longing that had made it approach, its muzzle becoming a chocolate color from it blushing. Pikachu noticed the Pokémon and went to greet it, or in this case, her. Buneary blushed greatly at seeing her crush greeting her. She went over and pressed her cheek against Pikachu's, causing him to look embarrassed.
This was all happening while Ash was showing Dawn the Pokémon he caught while in the Kalos region. Dawn got to meet Ash's watery ninja-frog, Frogedier, the showing flying fighter, Hawlucha, the fiery bird, Fletchinder, and the latest addition to his team, the watery dragon, Goomy.
When Dawn saw Goomy, she gently pressed her hand into its watery body, "It's so cute, and squishy."
Goomy blushed at the compliment and let Dawn poke and press her hand even more.
It wasn't long before Serena looked over in another direction, and gushed, "Oh, how cute."
Everyone turned to see the cotton covered bunny pressing her cheek against a shy Pikachu. Pikachu chuckled on reflex as Serena asked, "Does that little Pokémon have a crush on Pikachu?"
"Yup." Ash said chuckling a bit from experience as he was used to watching this during his time in Sinnoh. Cheattor approached and smiled, "Whoa, you had a femme friend all this time and you didn't tell me? Come on Pikachu, I thought we were friends."
Dawn and her Pokémon all froze before they, well the more comical members of her team, and the trainer all cried out in surprise.
Cheattor, realizing what he had done groaned, "Oops…"
"H-ho-how is that Liepard talking? Don't tell me it's like Meowth from Team Rocket." Dawn asked, shaking in fear of it being another Team Rocket agent.
"Umm… Cheattor's not like Meowth… He's a…" Ash began before sharing a glance with Serena, unsure of how to put it.
Cheattor got up and said, "I'm just looking for some buddies of mine who got separated from my friends and I, when Ash and his group found us. We're not going to hurt you."
Dawn wasn't so sure, but saw Ash's Pikachu moving to stand defensively in front of the talking Pokémon, urging the others to listen to him.
Piplup looked and spoke to Pikachu asking if he was certain that the talking Pokémon with them wasn't going to hurt them.
Pikachu nodded and said that Cheattor was a good friend in the Pokémon language. Having known Pikachu through their journey together in this very region, Dawn and her Pokémon team agreed to give Cheattor the benefit of the doubt.
Back in the Marsh, however, their search was prolonged as they were engaged with Skorupinok, Terrorsaur, Seviperella (in Poké mode), and what appeared to be a Croagunk, much bigger than listed in the Pokédex's archives. This could only mean one thing.
"They turned the Maximal into a Predacon!" Absotron shouted over the sounds of blaster fire.
Kabubot growled before he fired several blasts of his Water Gun at the Predacons.
Ratitrap muttered, "Ah knew dis wuldn't work. Ah just knew it."
Clemont, however, took cover and said, "This is bad, we need to warn the others."
Looking over, Ratitrap shouted, "On it. Ratitrap, Maximize!"
Firing from his cover, Ratitrap activated his comlink, "Dis is Marsh team to big Gorilla. Does anybody read meh?"
"Optimus here. Go ahead." Came the reply from the Maximal commander.
"We hit a snag 'ere in the swamps. De Preds got dere hands on the Protoform and got us pinned down on sector 4 of the marshes."
He then saw a missile coming his way and pulled Clemont out of the way, using his body to shield the human trainer.
"Hang on Ratitrap, I'm heading to your location." Optimus told them, ending his connection before opening communications with Cheattor, "Cheattor, Ash, Serena? Do you both read me?"
"Loud and clear, Big Bot. What's up?" Cheattor asked.
"Speed up the search for the pod, I'm going to provide Ratitrap's group a hand. Keep searching for the other pod." Optimus ordered as he flew down towards the marshes.
He felt it wasn't necessary for everyone to go and leave the secondary pod abandoned where more of the Predacons would find it and reprogram the Protoform inside.
Back at the battle in the marsh, the three Maximals were quickly losing ground while the Croagunk Predacon looked over at Serviparella and said, "So all I's gotta do is take those three chumps and I'd get to show ya guys my stuff?"
"Exactly, Croakface." The second in command said, shooting more missiles at the Maximals.
"Then leave it to the Croaker, yo!" He said hopping along as he got in Kabubot's face and said, "Hey bro. How's it going yo?"
Kabubot, finding the new Predacon annoying, swung his pike at the Croagunk. But with fast reflexes, Croaker ducked, smirking, "Too slow old man."
His arms began to glow purple as he began jabbing at Kabubot in a, almost, blinding speed, "How you like my poison jabbing special? Bet it's to die for yo."
After several thousand jabs later, Kabubot coughed and collapsed. Purple sparks of energy shot out from his twitching body.
"Kabubot!" Clemont cried out in fear. Absotron fired at the Croagunk who hopped out of the way. Ratitrap fired on the other Predacons. While the Predacons were distracted, Clemont went digging into his backpack and looked around for an antidote to all Poison type moves.
Looking to the poisoned warrior, Clemont asked, "Can you go back to Poké mode?"
"I don't know… But I-I can t-tr-try…" Kabubot wheezed, shakily changing back from robot mode. Clemont administered the antidote into the Kabutop's mouth.
"Don't worry. This antidote works great for Pokémon who have been poisoned by poison type moves." Clemont said, trying to keep the tears in. He wasn't sure if it would work on a Cybertronian like Kabubot or any of them, but he held on to his hope that it would.
Absotron jumped high into the air, using the dagger made from the scythe-blade and slashed, causing a Razor Wind to fly out from his stroke. Which only caused the frog to jump over the attack. Only to be back-blasted by Terrorsaur. Then the Croagunk used Brick Break, doing massive damage to Absotron since his Poké mode was based off a dark type like Absotron.
"What de heck happened?" Ratitrap asked, not understanding how a new Predacon was able to take out two more experienced fighters.
Clemont saw this and cried, "That move's super effective against Dark types."
The electric type gym leader's eyes widen in horror as he looked around and gasped, "Oh no…"
He looks around and saw how all three Maximals with him were the two out of the types that were weak to this new Predacon's fighting type movies. The only reason why Kabubot fell prey to the con's Poison jab was because there were so many one after the other.
Landing next to the two land units, Croaker asked, "So what ya think of the Croak-Meister, babe?"
Serviperella smirked, converted to robot mode and said, petting the poisonous frog, "Not bad kid. You might just make it as a Predacon after all."
"I love it when you talk to me like that." The Croagunk swooned, which inadvertently caused the female scientist of the Predacons to look disgusted. She smacked the poison frog with a hand, "Just get me the human, frog."
Just when it looked like they were going to be over run, several missiles fired, causing the Predacons to scatter.
Croaker even had to jump backwards, "Whoa man! No one said anything about heavy hardware like that!"
Serviperella hissed, "That accursed ape, spoiling everything."
"Predacons, fall back!" Skorupinok ordered, causing those in robot mode to change back into their Poké modes and run for it.
When he landed, the Maximal commander changed into his Poké mode and approached his crew. Looking around, Optimus ordered, "Status report."
Clemont began explaining.
After getting his orders from Optimus, Cheattor looked over to Ash and Serena, "Okay you guys, let's get to the pod before the preds turn our buddy into another one of them."
"Right." Ash and Serena said simultaneously.
As the three began to leave, Dawn caught up, "Hold on you guys. Maybe we can help too."
Looking back, Cheattor seemed uncertain, "I don't know… Big bot doesn't want anyone else to get hurt because of us or the Preds."
Dawn, shaken a bit, shook herself out of her fears and placed her hand to her chest, "No need to worry."
Ash, knowing where this was leading said, "That's when we worry the most."
Dawn stiffened (Anime style), at remembering those words. She then shook her head out of it and said, hotly, "Oh Ash, will you drop that already?"
"Excuse me. I heard from Iris how you thought a Foongus was a rare Pokémon when we went to look for that special Onyx on that Island." Ash teased back, remembering the good times he had in Unova.
Serena, reminding herself that Dawn was Ash's friend, asked the Maximal, "Can't they help? It wouldn't hurt having more people searching."
Cheattor thought about it for a moment nodding, "Okay but if you see a red Aerodactyl, a super-sized Skorupi, or anything that doesn't register as a natural life form on this planet, don't even thinking about battling them."
As he spoke he used his tail to draw a basic image of what a Stasis Pod looked like for the new help to know what to look for.
"Right!" Dawn and her Pokémon said, before splitting up into several groups. Bunearry however was holding on tightly to Pikachu and didn't want to go with another teammate.
Dawn's Togikiss flew with Ash's Fletchinder. Mamoswine went with Frogadier, Quilava left with Hawlucha. Piplup stayed with his best friend, Pikachu, and his teammate, Bunearry wh. Pachirisu and Goomy went off in another direction. Serena's two Pokémon, Fennekin and Pancham stayed with their friend Pikachu. Bunearry, however, was suspicious of the fiery fox like Pokémon and held Pikachu closer to her. Pikachu sighed at this. Cheattor's laughing didn't help much as they went searching for the pod.
Clemont finished explaining what happened before Optimus came to the rescue. Optimus had reverted back to Poké mode while listening so that the Energon fields wouldn't affect his systems.
Optimus sighed, "I see… It's unfortunate that the Predacons got to the pod before us."
"It is also a strategic disadvantage for us. A Predacon to know Pokémon moves that are weak against our chosen Poké modes." Kabubot growled weakly as he was helped up by Clemont and Absotron.
Looking over to the others, specifically Absoltron and Kabubot, "You two better call Rhynox to open the portal and return to base for repairs."
Absoltron and Kabubot nodded and they weakly moved back to the coordinates of their arrival point to do so.
Turning to the human in the blue jump suit, Optimus said, "Clemont, I want you to tell me everything you can about the Pokémon species that the new Predacon is and tell me about any way we can beat it."
"Of course, Optimus." Clemont said. He began walking with the Maximal leader and Ratitrap. They need to find a well-hidden area before Optimus could transform and fly them to Cheattor, Ash's, and Serena's location.
While searching for the pod, Dawn came up and asked, "So what exactly is inside this pod anyway? Is it another talking Pokémon like him? Or another talking Liepard?"
"Umm… It's another talking Pokémon, but we don't know what it is yet." Ash said, sweating as he tried to explain to Dawn.
Cheattor began sweating as he chuckled, "If we get there before they show up."
"They?" Dawn asked, tilting her head confused.
Before Cheattor could answer, they heard a sqwuak and looked up to see a familiar red Aerodactyl.
"Well, well, well. It must be my lucky day if I'm taking out the kid, two humans, and the Pikachu that those idiots from Team Rocket can't even catch." Terrorsaur smirked as he flew down and roared, "Have a taste of my Ancient Power!"
Just as it did in the battle of the giant Energon cluster, Terrorsaur's body lit up. The image of his from the energy became a sphere in his wing before swinging it at them. Cheattor, thinking quickly, jumped up and with his claws glowing, slashed at the attack with his fury swipes.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
"Piplup, Bubble Beam!"
"Pancham, Dark Pulse!"
The three Pokemon obeyed as their combined attacks caused the red Predacon to squawk, "Sssslllaaaagggg!" before hitting the ground in a big cloud of smoke.
Cheattor smiled at the six, as more Predacons jumped out.
"You kiddies aren't going to get lucky like last time." The female of the group said as she slithered up.
The Large Skorupi ordered, "Predacons, Terrorize!"
To Dawn's and her two Pokémon's surprise, the Skorupi and Serviper both transformed into what appeared to be robots with pieces of Pokémon as a part of their armor. The Croagunk, however, remained in Poké mode as he waved, "Waddup! Name's Croaker and unlike you fools, I don't need any human's help to get strong."
"And when we get the other protoform they'll be welcomed as a member of the Predacons, helping us in conquering this pathetic world and enslaving its people." The female bot said, smiling sinisterly. She pulled out her rifle and aimed at them.
Cheattor growled at the new Predacon and said, "Cheattor, Maximize!"
After transforming, Cheattor fired at the Predacons, trying to keep them distracted as the kids and their Pokémon hid behind some rocks. Cheattor fired more before flipping over the boulder, asking, "You guys okay?"
"Uh-huh." Ash and Serena said, smiling appreciatively at the Maximal. Dawn, however, was flabbergasted. Her two Pokémon, however, stared in awe.
Their thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sounds of laser and missiles firing at their location.
Using his own body to cover them Cheattor said, "Ash, you guys go look for the pod while I deal with the Preds."
"What?" Ash asked, wanting to help.
Serena grabbed him by the arm, "Ash, come on!"
Ash sighed, following her while Dawn, shaking herself from the surprise ran after them.
As they ran Dawn asked, "So. Cheattor and those other Pokémon that can talk? They're robots?"
"Not exactly." Serena said, leading as she explained, "They're robotic aliens from a galaxy far away from here."
"But why are they disguising themselves as Pokémon?" Dawn asked, running to keep up, "Are they going to invade us?"
Ash answered as they ran, "No, they transform into Pokémon to keep themselves safe from too much exposure from Energon. It's like a shield."
"The ones who attacked us are called Predacons." Serena picked up, "They're trying to conquer the universe with Energon and reprogramming all the Maximals in the stasis pods into more Predacons."
Dawn looked shocked at that. She then took on a determined expression, "Let's find that pod."
Her Pokémon nodded in agreement with their trainer's words and they hurried off to the source of the signal.
Back at the battlefield, Cheattor was completely surrounded by the Predacons, especially now that Terrorsaur had pulled himself from the ground and joined in the fight. Cheattor would've been out of the fight for sure had it not been for his ability to use moves in Poké mode and Robot mode as well.
Cheattor needed to make sure that none of them got away, especially the femme scientist of the cons. He got a good hit in with his blaster, knocking her into stasis lock. Croaker, however, surprised the Liepard former by trying a fighting type move. Cheattor, using agility, dodged the attack before slashing with fury swipes at the frog Predacon.
"Yeow! Man what's the deal?! Let me hit ya." Croaker croaked before hopping back to deliver a kick. Cheattor, however, fell on his back, transforming again. Things went in slow motion as the frog Predacon kicked the air where the Maximal stood and was shot in the back by his foe.
Croaker bounced and skidded before hitting the mountain wall, comically. He fell backwards, groaning, "That hurt… yo…"
Cheattor smirked, going back into Poké mode and hurrying to find the humans and their Pokémon. Unfortunately, a missile from Skorupinok and a laser bolt from Terrorsaur hit the feline from behind, forcing him to fall unconscious, but not exactly entering stasis lock yet.
Terrorsaur cackled, getting his blaster ready to fire on the helpless maximal. He was stopped by the Predacon second-in-command.
"What's the idea?!" Terrorsaur snapped, annoyed with the guy stopping him.
"We need to get to the pod before those humans and their pets get their hands on it." Skorupinok reminded and shifted into Poké mode.
Looking back, Terrorsaur asked, "What about the new guy?"
"Carry him along. He might be useful for those humans since he took out the Absol and the traitor." Skorupinok ordered. He went to Seviperella and activated the return protocol for her to be teleported back to the base for repairs. Terrorsaur, changing into his poké mode, grabbed the unconscious Croagunk and flew after Megatron's lapdog.
Ash and his group hurried along following the signal beacon to where the pod was hidden. They stopped when they saw that it was inside the mountain's wall.
Looking to their Pokémon, the trainers ordered,
"Pikachu, Iron Tail."
"Piplup, Peck."
"Pancham, Arm Thrust."
The three Pokémon used their attacks to break through the rock. It took some time, because of how strong the wall was. This was beginning to tire out the three Pokémon with the moves that were usually good with rocks.
It wasn't long before they heard the sound of rockets and to Dawn's surprise it was a robot whose armor looked similar to Slaking. A boy with blond hair, wearing a jumpsuit and round glasses was being carried by the bot. Seeing this lit up Ash's and Serena's faces, "Optimus!"
Shifting back into poké mode, and letting Clemont down, he looked around and saw the dark blue haired girl and her Pokémon. Narrowing his eyes he asked, "Explain."
"Please don't be mad, Optimus. The Predacons attacked, and Cheattor had no choice but to transform to protect us while holding them off." Ash began.
"He's alone?!" Optimus asked, worried about the young bot.
Serena however assured, "He's not too far. Maybe you and Clemont can follow Fennekin back to where we last saw him."
Optmius nodded before he hurried off. Clemont stuck around only to call out Bunnelby to use his Dig to help with getting the pod out. Dawn and Buneary were surprised to see another rabbit Pokémon using his ears like a drill on the rock.
It took a couple more minutes, but they were finally able to get the pod out. By the looks of things, it was completely intact with no damage to the computer that Rhynox explained was vital for the activation of the proto-form inside.
Ash smiled and said, "Great work you guys."
Looking over, Dawn asked, "Okay. How are we going to get this thing started?"
Ash remained silent, completely forgetting about how to activate it. Serena, however, spoke telling him, "Ash, you need to tell the computer to begin waking the maximal inside."
"Oh yeah." Ash said, smiling sheepishly. He went to the controls, "Umm…. Computer. Wake the maximal inside."
Nothing happened however. Confusing the kids, Ash asked, "Computer?"
"Incorrect vocal commands." The computer announced.
The three humans looked at each other as the computer asked, "Requesting activation of protoform and DNA scanning sequence?"
"Uh, yeah. That. If you don't mind." Ash said to the computer, much to the embarrassment of his friends.
The stasis pod began start up procedures as the DNA scanners propped out from the compartment and began scanning around for a compatible life-form for the maximal inside to be scanned and the organic shell replicated around the robotic exterior as a Poké mode. It found a suitable life-form, "Compatible life-form detected, beginning activation sequence."
Just as they wondered which of the Pokémon it found for its Poké mode, they heard a familiar squawk. The seven of them looked up to see Terrorsaur and Croaker flying at them, the aerial bot carrying the poisonous frog. From the road they came from, they heard, "Terrorize!"
Skorupinok transformed and began firing missiles at the humans and their Pokémon. But Pikachu's Electro ball caused the missiles to turn about face in midair and back at Skorupinok. Terrorsaur dropped Croaker on the mountain trail on the other side to box the human allies of the Maximals in before transforming and firing lasers from his optics. Only to fly into a rock spike curtesy of Pancham's Stone Edge.
"Don't leave the Croakster behind, yo!" Croaker said, hopping along as he shouted, "Croaker, Terrorize!"
He began to transform; his Croagunk arms flipped on his back, his chest widening for the Croagunk head to become the chest plate, revealing the head of the predacon. The legs of the Croagunk shot up to be the robot's arms. An extra pair of apendages opened up from the body of the Predacon and became his legs. The head looked organic in design but the eyes were electric green with an orange mouth guard over his mouth. The Croagunk arms then rose upwards and folded over the shoulder to resemble shoulder cannons.
All fighting stopped as the pod's loud hissing reached their ears and they all turned to see what the new Maximal would look like.
"Oh sweet Primus! Run! Run for your sparks dudes! It's..." Croaker began, looking fearful. That was before he paused and said in a mocking, cutesy, voice, "a wittle-baby bunny."
He, Skorupinok, and Terrorsaur looked at each other before they began laughing their sparks out when they processed what the latest Maximal's poke mode was. A buneary that looked as though, from her Poké-mode, that she'd be as small as Ratitrap in his poké mode if not smaller.
"Wittle?!" The buneary asked, her voice sounding like it was a young teenager compared to the trainers that helped wake her up. She was very mad, then hopped over, and slugged the Pred with one of her glowing cotton ears, shouting, "Who're you calling so small that you'd need a molecular imager to see me as clear as day!?"
With his hand to his mouth, he muffled a whimper, "That's not what I said."
Croaker got up, his eyes spinning before falling on the ground.
"Whoa… A Dizzy Punch right off the bat." Dawn said, surprised by this. Dawn's Buneary nodded proudly that a new friend was able to use her moves so effectively.
Skorupinok growled, opening his pincers, "You're molten metal, kid."
"She's mine to blast!" Terrorsaur shouted, firing his blaster at the bunny Maximal. Time seemed to have slowed down as the Maximal, who was remaining calm, simply side-stepped the shot as it hit the rocky wall behind her. Everyone stared in shock. Her confidence slowly turned to one of fear. Realizing what happened as she glanced to the blacked spot on the rock wall.
"SCARY!" She screamed, hysterically, surprising everyone as she began running around, while carefully avoiding being shot at by the remaining Predacons.
Terrorsaur squawked, annoyed that his shots weren't getting anywhere with the new Maximal. Skorupinok then noticed how every time they got ready to fire she'd move and make herself look silly to avoid being hit by their weapons. He hissed, "She's reading the trajectory of the blasts by watching our gun movements while using that Agility thing."
"That's insane!" Terrorsaur yelled, still shooting. The kid, however, kept hopping and running before she got in too close and caused the two Predacons to fire on each other, sending them backwards. They exclaimed in surprise when they realized that they were firing at each other.
She smirked and said, "That's what ya get for messing with…"
She looked around before seeing her Poké mode, especially with all the cotton and exclaimed, "Cotton Buns!"
The two Predacons looked at each other, then they fell unconscious. After getting his head to see straight, Croaker got up and growled, "All right, doll. Yer gonna get yor aft in a sling when I'm done."
"Doll?!" Cotton Buns asked, angrily.
"Ah-huh." Croaker said, smirking at he got her angry.
"Cotton Buns, Maximize!" The new maximal then transformed, the buneary head split vertically in half, revealing the robot head and arms inside. The head folded into the form of arm guard from her forearms to her hands with the ears sticking out to be some kind of bladed mace. The Buneary top folded backwards, over her back with her buneary arms pointing downwards on her back, revealing the robot chest and a maximal symbol on her chest plate. The cotton bottom tranformed itself into properly proportioned legs for her petite body frame where the cotton fluff is covering the outside of her thighs while the lower half were revealed to be metallic with knee curved knee guards. The buneary feet opened up as metal feet folded out from the metal shins, making her feet more stabilized as she stood.
She then dashed forward and used a fury of jabs and kicks on the dazed and dimwitted Predacon, making it look like her limbs were everywhere. Croaker was hit so many times he forgot that he was being pushed back before he found himself standing on the edge of the cliff side.
Cotton Buns walked over calmly. Croaker, still dazed asked, "Yes?"
She grabbed him by the side of his face and said, "Don't ever call me, doll."
She then blew on him, causing Croaker to fall off the cliff. When she walked back, changing into Poké mode, they heard a thud, signaling that the frog had finally hit the bottom. Looking at the humans and Pokémon she said, smirking, "I've always wanted to say that."
That was before being glomped by the two human girls who couldn't take how cute the bunny Pokémon looked any longer.
"Aww! Your so adorable! Can't believe that you signed up on a space exploration like the rest of the Maximals." Serena cooed, hugging Cotton Buns close to her. These words caused the new maximal to stiffen, the color seemed to fade from her face, even more than should have for someone being hugged tightly by the other human girl.
"I know! She's too cute to be fighting evil creeps like them! " Dawn added, causing Cotton Buns to cringe more as she began to sweat bullets from the back of her head, especially when they heard approaching feet and Ash turned to see Optimus, Cheattor (who was back online thanks to Clemont), Clemont, and their Pokémon.
Back at the base, Dawn and the two Pokemon who were able to fit or not cause problems stared in awe at the Maximal ship. Once Clemont had peeled his sister away from Dawn, saving her from being asking by Bonnie to take care of him. Rhynox had been filling the dark blue hair girl in on the same things that Optimus told Ash and his friends, their mission of the Maximals and try to find a way to recover the rest of their crew and defeat the Predacons while trying to keep their war from reaching the public. Dinobot was currently holding the buneary maximal by the scruff of her neck. She was wiggling, frantic to get out of his grip.
Before Dawn could say anything, Optimus' furious voice echoed, "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
All eyes turned to Optimus as he double checked the crew manifest as well as any salvageable security footage. He found that the Maximal known as Cotton Buns wasn't on the manifest and found her, while in a basic robotic form, sneaking into the cargo hold and entering a stasis pod. The maximal in question flinched at the tone of the voice.
Approaching, Ash asked, "Optimus what's the matter?"
"For starters this Maximal's a stowaway AND too young to be considered to take part in an exploration mission." Optimus revealed.
Looking at the bunny Pokémon, Optimus glared, "Do you have any idea what could've happened? You are under the registered age limits for signing on an exploration crew let alone having no prior training in combat or a means of being useful on an exploration vessel. You weren't even given permission by the Maximal High Council to take part in this crew."
Turning away, Optimus asked, "What if you were destroyed from our fire fight with the Predacons? Or reprogrammed to become one of Megatron's disposable weapons? What would you parental units say if they knew?"
Cotton Bun hung limply as she muttered, "I doubt they'd say anything…"
"And why would that be, child?" Kabubot asked looking at the latest Maximal with distrust.
Looking up she spat, "It's because I've been on my own since I came online…"
Everyone was surprised by this, even Kabubot. The buneary used her two legs to kick him in the face as she hurried out of the ship. The five humans and their Pokémon went after her, to try and help her calm down. Optimus however used his computer to find out everything about the maximal to see if her claims were true. The High council had updated the Axalon with the identifications and biographies of all the Maximals that existed. He heard from Ash and his friends on how the girl was able to handle herself against a Predacon… which proved that she is a capable warrior defender, but, like Ash, she has the same kind of spirit as the trainer. Perhaps…
(Oh. Who wasn't expecting a small bunny Pokémon with height issues and a temper being the one who made three Preds in need of repair after facing her? What will Optimus do with the young Maximal stowaway? Will Dawn and her Pokemon be forced to stay to insure that she wouldn't tell anyone of their secret? And where was Team Rocket in all of this? How Will Megatron react when his troops report that they were defeated by someone half their size and ages? Findout next time.
Hope you all had a great long weekend and holiday. Next time it'll be more of the Maximals in Ash's story. So stay tuned, as the Journey continues.)