When I came to, the first thing I noticed was that I was definitely NOT in Kansas anymore (never been to Kansas, actually. Wonder what it's like there…). Figuratively speaking. Literally speaking, I wasn't in my dimension anymore. Fit your brain around THAT. The next thing I realized was that all my Extensions looked…well, different, to put it basically.
Ravage was still panther-like, but even more so; he had real fur on most of his body (excepting the backs of his hind legs, which were a lovely shade of gray metal). Grimlock appeared to be a normal white veloceraptor with black speckles (except for the whole talking thing). Steeljaw had somehow become a sleek German Sheppard (much to his dismay, as any cat people can imagine). Buzzsaw seemed to be a huge golden eagle, feathers and all, which has was extremely proud of. Lazerbeak was more streamlined, with glossy metal armor and some cool new jet engines (one under each wing). His rust-red hide gleamed, smooth and sleek.
Of my cell phone and charger, there was no sign – a fact that might get me killed if I ever told my mom. This, of course, made me wonder what I looked like, so I took stock of what the dimension had given me. I wore sturdy shoes, a light T-shirt, and full-length jeans, but I wasn't overheating in the desert we'd landed in (Oops. Did I forget to mention that?). I also took note of the fact that my hair and skin appeared to have changed. I now glowed in the sunlight and sported a sleek mass of blue-gray hair (no comments about the gray part, please).
Nervously, I looked through Ravage's eyes to see how my face had been affected and nearly choked. My features were mostly the same, but my eyes shone teal. What had happened to me? Had I been put in an alien's body? (Okay, another creepy thought. Even if it was pretty much impossible.) Only one being left unaccounted for, then: Perceptor.
"Where'd Perceptor go?" I asked groggily. I forgot for a moment that I could speak to them with my mind.
Perceptor fried, Grimlock reported. I sighed. His grammar hadn't changed from its Perfectly Awful setting.
"Perceptor was fried, or is fried, Grimlock," I corrected absently. Then I realized what I'd just said. I whirled on the now-scaly Transformer. "WHAT?" I croaked. "Perceptor got fried?"
Unfortunately, Steeljaw confirmed. I was trying do decide what to destroy to blow off some steam when I heard a little cough from the smoking, blackened pile of rubble that was Perceptor.
"Lynn? That you?" he mumbled. I ran over to him, relief flooding through me. He was still alive! "Ravage…only can help so much. Get new 'stentions, they can help…" With that, Perceptor's head fell back and his blue optics dimmed. Only my nifty knowledge of giant alien robots kept me from panicking. He wasn't dead; just in emergency stasis (which is basically like a coma for mechanical beings from other planets)
"Perceptor, you pain in the-"
Lynn, Ravage scolded. I sighed.
"All right. Let's move; we can't stay out here in the middle of nowhere for very long," I pointed out numbly. I stumbled getting to my feet, and Grimlock caught me with his tail. I sagged against it, letting him hold me up. I didn't know what to do anymore. With no danger to lend my system some adrenaline, my brain was toast.
Well, ask and ye shall receive, I guess, because just then a volley of lazerfire of all things split the pleasant evening quiet. A shimmering gold something was jetting across the sky away from a pursuing silver something, a purple and bronze something, and a red and yellow something.
Consulting my handy dandy Beast Wars encyclopedia, I easily figured out what was going on. I'd punched in coordinates for the Coming of the Fuzors, and the Fuzors were hot on poor Cheetor's tail. See, Cheetor (a Maximal – a good guy) had stumbled across the awakening of two new Transformers, Silverbolt and Quickstrike, respectively (Silverbolt being silver and Quickstrike being the yellow part of the red and yellow something). He was now being chased by said Transformers, Inferno (the red part of the red and yellow something), and Megatron, leader of the Predacons (bad guys).
Another volley of lazerfire. Were these guys just out to ruin my night, or what? I noticed two pulsing blue crystals drop from the engaged group of fighters. Without thinking (adrenaline rush: just what the doctor – me – ordered), I leaped onto Lazerbeak's now-broad back and we flew high up into the cool desert night, peaceful at last…not. Yeah, we went for a fly, but just to catch the falling Spark-fragments. Nothing peaceful about the scene above us, either. As I caught them, I felt carefully who they were, and was relieved when I realized it was Cheetor and Silverbolt.
Quick, Lazerbeak, dive! I ordered. The huge, rust-armored bird rocketed earthward, much to my immediate dismay. However, I was gratified that none of the local combatants seemed to have noticed us.
The four Predacons were intent on chasing that poor Maximal, but I decided to wait before calling my new Extensions to me. I though about what Perceptor had said earlier – about needing new Extensions, I mean. Well, I had two new ones, and they weren't much help right now; they were fighting their quaintly named Beast Wars.
I thought back as we (my Extensions, the unconscious Perceptor, and me) made our way over the cracked, dry landscape. I was trying to figure out how I'd gotten us stuck here. Where had those coordinates come from, anyway? I couldn't remember exactly.
Perceptor was talking to Wheeljack. He said them, remember? Ravage reminded me. I nodded; I did remember, now that he said it. Perceptor, again. Why hadn't he known…what, exactly? That going to Beast Wars would leave him half dead? It hadn't damaged the others at all; in fact, the warp had improved their bodies so that they were better suited to the Beast Wars.
Lynn, shouldn't you eat something? I haven't seen you eat in days, Ravage grumbled. Grimlock nodded.
I'm not hungry at all. But thanks for your concern, you metal mother hen, I snapped. It made me think, though. I wasn't hungry; I hadn't been in a while. Once I got Ravage, I hadn't been as hungry as before, even less when I got Grimlock, and not at all since Steeljaw.
Maybe we recharge you the way you recharge and heal us, Steeljaw speculated.
That's silly. I don't think it would work that way, I protested. But as I thought about it…maybe. Maybe the bond worked both ways. I shoved the thought out of my head; I could contemplate this once we were under cover. Let's find some shelter. It'll be REALLY bed if the Maximals and Predacons find us in the middle of an episode. I'm not sure how I knew that, but I figured it WOULD be bad.
They all seemed confused, so I explained how the Autobots won the Great War (much grumbles and glares from the Decepticons at that), how, eons later, the Maximals and Predacons replaced their ancestors, the Autobots and Decepticons, and how the Maximals ruled on Cybertron. I also told them about a certain rogue Predacon – Megatron – had gone back in time (transwarp technology is so wonderful, is it not?) to try to change the future course of the Great War by attacking – and nearly destroying – Optimus Prime.
Idiot, Ravage snarled. If he succeeds, he won't have been created, because the Decepticons won't need him, because they will have won, so his actions won't have happened, either. Then the Decepticons will lose, and he'll go back and destroy Prime, so then they'll win…
Me, Grimlock's head spinning, Grimlock grumbled. Me, Grimlock's, brain confused.
You, Grimlock, HAVE no brain! Ravage retorted with a toss of his sleek-furred head.
Hey! Grimlock roared, outraged.
Hello! Lazerbeak chirped. Grimlock stomped his huge white foot and roared again in frustration, nearly stepping on Buzzsaw's tail.
Watch it, you lumbering oaf! You're worse than Omega Supreme! Buzzsaw screeched. Grimlock lashed out with his tail, swatting Steeljaw into the Decepticons accidentally, which created a domino effect. They all ended up sprawled on the hard-packed earth.
"Stop it!" I screamed. I couldn't stand it anymore. "We are going to look for some cover, then Steeljaw and I will look for Energon while you four get Perceptor under cover. Understood?" I demanded. They nodded meekly. I glanced around, and then pointed to an enormous tree whose branches were bent over so they formed a kind of tent. "There." I climbed on Ravage's back and we were off, racing over the burnt earth. When we got there, I slid off his back and stepped into the cool shade of the tree's spreading branches. Ravage ran back to the others to help get Perceptor to the tree-tent.
As I looked around, I realized it was actually two trees with interlocked limbs, not one, with a screen of drooping branches between the two. I brushed aside the leafy curtain and gasped. Smooth steel walls blocked out the branches that concealed them from outsiders' prying eyes. There was a Transformer-sized metal table with a rack of human-sized tools beside it – a miniature medilab. Along one section of wall was a human size control panel. It had a radar screen, climate controls, defense systems controls, that sort of thing.
I was still pouring over these controls when Ravage poked his head in and informed me that Perceptor was in the back portion of the first tree. I nodded, and then turned back to the panel I had been examining. It had four sections, each with an icon on it. There was a green tree, a brown tree, a green hill, and a brown hill. Huh. The brown tree icon was glowing faintly.
It means no one's home, Ravage guessed. I blinked; it made sense. Brown, dead tree – no life forms present. I tapped the green tree, and the glow shifted to that image. A yelp and two squawks pierced the relative quiet.
The leaves all turned from brown to green! Lazerbeak cried, obviously unnerved by this turn of events.
Those must control the cloaking device on this place,Ravage mused. Very high-tech for a tree.
"What the…?" a heavily accented voice exclaimed outside. I dashed to the entrance of the first tree to find a mountain sheep (goat, whatever) staring openmouthed at the tree-tent. Buzzsaw and Lazerbeak were perched in the branches, Steeljaw stood, bristling at the base of the tree, and Grimlock was in front of the mountain sheep. He (the sheep thing) was weird: purple shoulders and face, gold hindquarters and fetlocks; bronze everything else. Most of him was smooth metal – not your average mountain sheep or goat or whatever he was supposed to be. "Extensions!" With that, he turned and ran.
Ravage, Steeljaw, Grimlock! I shouted. Follow him! They took off. I hadn't realized how long I'd been in the second tree; it was dawn, and I'd gone in around noon. It hadn't seemed like very long, maybe fifteen minutes, tops. Hmmm.
We have him! Steeljaw reported a moment later. I jumped on Lazerbeak's back, and we burst through the now-green ceiling with Buzzsaw close behind. I wanted to talk to this weird Transformer (I mean, come on. Strange, metal-and-furry mountain thing in the middle of Beast Wars? He's obviously a Transformer.).
Where? I asked.
Here, Grimlock told me, picturing his surroundings. It was a jagged mountain peak. I recognized it. Megatron would eventually cook up a Transmetal Two machine to improve the Transmetal technology, and create a new, fully Predacon Dinobot clone. But that hadn't happened yet. As far as I new, Megatron was too busy with the Maximals to worry about cloning and stuff.
We were circling the mountain, looking for a good place to land, when two Maximals swooped in a landed on either side of the mystery robot, who was facing Ravage, Steeljaw, and Grimlock. Lazerbeak set me down, and I was able to hear their conversation (apparently, they'd found their voices).
"Halt, you villains! Leave him alone!" a wolf with eagle wings barked. He was Silverbolt, one of the two Maximal Extensions I hadn't alerted to their new roles yet. The other was a smooth-armored, gold-silver-blue cat; Cheetor, my other Maximal Extension.
Of course, they didn't even know they were Extensions, let alone MY extensions.
"Why should we, fuzor?" Ravage hissed.
"Yeah! Are you going to MAKE us?" Steeljaw snarled.
"Of course we are!" Cheetor snapped. With a might lunge, Steeljaw tackled the Transmetal. The two Transformers fought fiercely, their metal claws and fangs bared. Silverbolt tried to help, only to be charged by an enraged Grimlock.
"Bird dog not hurt me, Grimlock's, friends!" The veloceraptor roared as he wakced the Maximal with his tail. The mountain goat turned to flee, but Ravage blocked his path.
"Leaving so soon? I don't think so! This party's just getting started!" the former Decepticon announced, swiping at the other Transformer's snout. He reared, horns poised to slam Ravage into a Cybertronian pancake.
"You don't belong in this Generation, cat!" be bellowed. Ravage leaped back, and the mountain goat's horns pounded into the earth where he'd been a split second before.
"If memory serves, there aren't any freakish mountain goats in Beast Wars!" Ravage spat.
"Air Razor! It's about time!" the strange Transformer called. I glanced skyward, but the only birds in sight were Buzzsaw and Lazerbeak, who dove at Cheetor and Silverbolt. Steeljaw jumped clear, and Buzzsaw hit Cheetor's flank, metal beak slamming into the Maximal "Air Razor, what are you doing?" the goat yelled. Steeljaw had Cheetor pinned down now, leaving Buzzsaw free to fly at the goat.
"Do I LOOK like a girl to YOU, veggie-breath!" the golden bird screeched. The mountain goat snorted in surprise.
"Ravage, Grimlock's down, and I can't hold this pile of fuzz and feathers much longer!" Lazerbeak shouted.
"Get off of me, you hunk of slag!" Silverbolt howled in a very un-Silverbolt-like tone of voice, throwing the rust-colored bird. He lunged desperately for the sky, only to be harried back to the ground by Lazerbeak. Ravage laughed as Grimlock staggered uncertainly to his feet, tripped, and then fell in a rather undignified manner on the noble-minded fuzor.
"Buzzsaw, take Cheetor! Steeljaw, come and help me with our friend goat boy over here!" Ravage ordered. The new Transformer did a rather comical double-take when he heard the names.
"No! That's impossible! Steeljaw is a lion, not a mutt! Surely not a mutt!" he muttered. I must say, my Extension did not take kindly to the mystery bot's mistake.
"I used to be a lion, horn-head. Obviously I'm not anymore, or I would have a little more fur around my neck, don't you think?" the former Autobot corrected, his tone scathing. With a sharp nod of his head, Ravage told the others to release the now subdued Maximals. They were reluctant to let them go, but did so without hesitating. The Maximals made no attempt to escape, because they realized that it would be an attempt only, and they would be captured again immediately. Ravage nodded again, this time in satisfaction. Then he turned to the weird goat.
"Do I know you from somewhere – or somewhen?" he hissed. Steeljaw and Grimlock flanked him. While Buzzsaw and Lazerbeak hovered threateningly overhead, ready for any stupid stunt the mountain goat might try to pull.
When had they started working so well together, moving so smoothly with one another? Honestly, I was surprised by how easily – especially Grinlock, who was used to being commander of his own team – obeyed Ravage.
"Do I know you?" Ravage asked again, obviously not satisfied with the goat's response – or lack thereof.
"I don't know, but I am Ramhorn, a G1 Autobot cassette and Extension of Cougar. Do you know me, kitty cat?" he sneered. Ravage snarled and drew himself up indignantly.
"I am Ravage, G1 Decepticon cassette and First Extension of Jaguar." He put extra emphasis on 'first'. Wait a minute. Jaguar? Where in the name of Primus had THAT come from?
Giving me a new nickname, Ravage? I asked. My Extension swished his thin black tail.
Don't look at me; I don't know where that came from! It fits you though, somehow, but I can't seem to pinpoint how I got that… he confessed. Ramhorn reared, jolting my attention back to the present.
"And just where IS this Jaguar? I've never heard of her!" he bellowed. I decided that I simply couldn't let my Extensions have ALL the fun, and vaulted over the rocks I had been hiding behind to stand beside Ravage.
"I'm right here, goat boy!" I yelled. He reared again (what is it with goat boy and rearing?) and snorted in surprise.
"If you are the Jaguar, then restrain your Extensions! They have been running all over, and I will not permit it!" he ordered. I frowned and him, and he actually flinched.
"I would very much like to know what gives you the right to order me around like that. However, I do have orders for my Transformers. Lazerbeak, Buzzsaw, would you explain things to the Maximals? Ravage, I want you to take Steeljaw and Grimlock and do a quarter-mile sweep of the area. Make sure Rammy here doesn't have any friends hanging around, then spiral back in. Go!" I ordered. The three TFs took off at top speed. I really hoped they could still pay attention to what was going on around them when they were moving that fast. I turned to Ramhorn.;
"When they get back, you are going to take me to meet this Cougar person you were talking about – your Sparkholder, I presume," I added. "Right?" He glared at me, then glanced at the birds, and sighed.
"Fine."
A few hours later, I was standing outside a green tree base that was almost identical to the one I was using, even though they were on opposite sides of Beast Wars territory.
Grimlock had taken the birds and Cheetor back to my base, to hold down the fort, so to speak. Meanwhile, Ravage, Steeljaw, and Silverbolt waited outside Cougar's base with me. Cheetor and Solverbolt were 'full' Extensions now, according to the others, as they had decided to stay with the rest of us.
Of course, Cougar didn't trust me in the slightest (wise of her, in my opinion; I didn't trust her one bit either), so Tigertron – the white tiger Maximal – and Air Razor – who wore the form of a peregrine falcon – were on either side of my group as we waited. The I realized something – Air Razor and Tigertron weren't in Season Two!
"Hey," I began, addressing Tigertron, "aren't you two supposed to be with the Vok right now? Or, rather, about to be kidnapped by them?" He blinked, green eyes confused, and refused to respond.
"So, this is the knowledgeable Jaguar," an extremely guarded female voice said. I turned away from Tigertron and fixed my attention back on the tree-base. In the leaf-lined doorway was a young woman with glowing skin, fizzy golden hair, and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She was COUgar, as I would soon find out.
"Yep! That would probably be me, Cougar!" I answered, stroking Ravage's tesnse shoulder. Cougar surveyed me for a long moment, then turned and gestured to Tigertron and Air Razor. She stepped backwards into the shadowy depths of the tree and beckoned for me to follow.
Here we go, I muttered to my Extensions.
Inside Cougar's base, many strange animals faced us in a semi-circle. There was a large ray rat, a brown rhinoceros, a white tiger, a peregrine falcon, the freak mountain goat from before, a striped veloceraptor, and a brilliant red saber-toothed tiger. Some of them I recognized – in fact, I recognized almost all of them. They were Rattrap, Rhinox, Tigertron, Air Razor, Ramhorn (from before, remember?) and Dinobot. I had absolutely no idea who the saber tooth could be.
Cougar sat cross legged in the center of the leaf-drapped chamber. Two of my Extensions stood behind me, almost against the wall. Ravage followed me to the middle, and curled around me when I sat down opposite Cougar. He stretched out and laid his sleek black head alongside me.
"Well? Why are you here? The 43's have done more than enough damage without sending another newbie to 'help' me!" Cougar spat. I blinked in surprise, and Ravage bristled.
"Another? Did someone come here with you?" I asked earnestly. The Cougar snorted.
"Don't play dumb! Firebird goofed up my coordinates, and sent me here, instead of to G1, where I was supposed to be going! I was supposed to go with the rest of my Unit to help three new Sparkholders, but the fool typed in the coordinates for some Sparklet's Monitoring mission instead. The 43's went to G1, and we were sent here. Luckily, most of my Extensions are Maximals, so when our time-path changed mid-warp, I was able to anchor myself. And find a safe house, but…the rest of my Unit was not so lucky…" She trailed off, and blinked in surprise that she had shared this much of her story with a complete stranger.
I tried to calm both myself and Ravage by stroking his ears. Cougar and her Extensions caught the gesture, and her glowing teal eyes narrowed. I stiffened at her scrutiny.
"What?" I snapped angrily. "You're making him nervous! Who's this Firebird, and these 43's, anyway?" Cougar's back straightened, and I could see the Transformers around the leafy chamber tense. Then her eyes fell on Ravage again, and she forced herself to relax and change the topic.
"Your Extension," she began. "Is he the real Ravage? The Generation One spy-master?" she inquired. I could tell Ravage had some joke in mind even before he answered for me, so I let him.
"No," he stated in a curious monotone voice. "I am a cyborg, a techorganic drone that has been programmed to look and act like the real Ravage." At his words, so matter-of-fact and plain, Cougar did a comical double-take that made her resemble Ramhorn, and then leaned forward, intent.
"Really?" she whispered. Ravage, with his fantastic Decepticon poker face, did not laugh. I managed to keep a straight face for only a few moments before I burst out laughing. Ravage purred right along with me.
"Yeah," he rumbled, "I'm as mush a drone as goat boy over there!" Cougar smoldered. I decided to explain my Extension's outburst, since he was showing no further inclination to talk.
"Ravage is just as sentient as your Maximals; don't treat him like he's just a simple pet because he used to be a Decepticon," I murmured. Steeljaw managed to turn a laugh into a cough – barely. Cougar nodded, serious again.
"You are in Beast Wars, but you do not patrol as we Sparkholders are trained, so you must be here for some other reason than Monitoring," she said. I nodded.
"I'd move on – try to get to the Sparkworld – but there's an injured Autobot in my care. I can't fix him, and I think another warp just might kill him." I figured, if anyone could help me with Perceptor, it was a 'trained' Sparkholder.
Cougar frowned at me, though. "Can't you just use you Sparkholder powers to heal him?" Then her eyes widened. "I mean, you didn't take a regular Transformer – a Holderless – through a warp, did you?" I shook my head quickly, and she relaxed again. I sighed heavily. It was starting to look like confession time.
"I don't think you understand. The Transformer that came with me is Generation One Perceptor." Hello, hurricane.
"WHAT?" Cougar yelled. "Why'd you do THAT? You know that no Transformer can go between dimensions with a different Sparkholder and no Spark-Watch!" I shook my head again.
"No, I don't know. That's what I've been trying to tell you; I've never been to the Sparkworld." In the stunned silence that followed, I proceeded to explain about how I got Ravage, meeting the Autobots, getting the others, and accidentally creating a trans-dimensional gate to the Beast Wars. Through it all, Cougar sat, eyes wide and silent. When I finished, I stood and started to excuse myself, but my host murmured "Wait," and disappeared for a moment into the second tree.
She emerged with a red watch in her hand. She fastened it on my wrist, and it flashed white, then vanished. In its place on my arm perched a seafoam-green hawk.
"This is your Spark-Watch. It has five sizes – that's size two it's in right now – and it can do anything you need it to and more," she told me.
I studied the hawk for a while, and its name came to me: Seahawk. I glanced at Cougar, trying to figure out where her Spark-Watch was. She caught my look and gestured to the red saber-toothed tiger.
"This is Fang, my Spark-Watch. I'll see what my Extensions can whip up regarding Perceptor. His link to Soulholder should keep him alive, but…" she trailed off, unwilling to say out loud what we both knew: he might not live. I nodded, and then left. I flew on Silverbolt's back to the tree-base – my tree-base – and spent the time examining Seahawk. Ravage and Steeljaw, reluctant to leave the nice, safe ground, ran below us.