5: Knight to the Rescue
"Uh…uh…" Knight awoke to darkness both in his mind and in the world around him. It was night. He liked night. But the darkness in his mind was something unbearable. No memory. No friends. Wait, what about Darkstar and Brent? Hope returned, and Knight stood up.
It was an unpleasant scene into which he awakened. Darkstar was there, ruthlessly attacking the big spider which was lying unconscious. His teeth were, strangely, not damaged by the hard metal, as he bit and ripped with them.
"That's enough," said Brent. "I hate being here while that thing is around. We have to run. More of these creatures might come."
"Which is why we have to put a dent in their numbers," Darkstar said. He growled out of the corners of his mouth as he ripped a long piece of metal off the spider. The arachnid made a noise. It was far too weak to yell; it just moaned softly. "Grr-arrrr!" Darkstar raked his large paws across the spider's body, making the terrible squeaky sound of claws against metal, and leaving long scratch-marks.
Knight's heart went out to the poor creature. "Stop this," he snapped, startling Brent, Darkstar, and all the wolves present. "Halt this outrage at once! This is uncalled for revenge; what we are doing to this creature is no less wrong than what she did to us! Am I right?"
"No!" snapped Darkstar. He jumped on the spider, adding height to himself so he could stand above Knight. "This creature has to die. And it'll be a slow death, because I have not the tools to do it otherwise." Darkstar ripped into the metal and mech fluid spilled out.
"You disgusting abomination!" Knight roared, head-butting Darkstar off the spider's battered body.
Darkstar was on his feet again in an instant. "So, it's a fight you want, it is?"
"If I have to resort to violence to defend the innocent, so be it!" Knight huffed.
"You're dead meat," Brent laughed.
***
"Now what is he up to?" Depth Charge stood behind a large rock, watching the large, sturdy figure of Megatron. The Transmetal Tyrannosaurus-rex was investigating a flat plateau which was all flat rocks; there was not a sight of grass or soil. Large boulders surrounded the clear, barren area in which the predacon leader stood, and it was behind one of these stones that Depth Charge was hiding.
Good. Megatron's the perfect target. Depth Charge needed something to fight tonight. After that grueling, painful talk with the spider woman, he needed some cheering up. The spider woman. Mm, poor kid. She's getting a taste of what I have to go through everyday. It's a pity.
Depth Charge threw a pebble at Megatron's back and then took out his gun.
The purple dinosaur whirled around. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
Depth Charge came into plain view, his blaster aimed for Megatron's head. "Aw, what's wrong?" he asked coolly. "Out here at night, all alone? You poor thing." He fired.
Megatron was unprepared. There was no way he could doge it.
"Oof!" Depth Charge was thrown to the ground as the earth reeled under him. It was as if the world suddenly lost all balance—gravity and forces had gone astray. This also caused the Ray-bot's missile to go completely off-course and miss its target.
Megatron kept his footing, as if used to this gravity-disordered situation. Quickly transforming into robot mode, he powered up his gun. That infamous evil, playful smile crossed his face as he stood over Depth Charge.
"Ah, nice try you senseless little fish, yesss," Megatron laughed. "But let me show you how it is really done—this is not a good night for tyros."
Depth Charge rolled out of the way just as Megatron released his fire. Depth Charge sprang to his feet, grabbed Megatron's shoulders, and flipped him over. "Not a good night for tyros—my thoughts exactly," Depth Charge panted, holding his blaster at the ready.
Megatron roared as he kicked Depth Charge's legs, making him fall over. The T-rex robot once again held his opponent at gunpoint.
"This was fun at first, but now it's getting a little redundant," the warrior ray remarked. "What is a tyro, anyway? Oh never mind. Just tell me this: have you ever had an energon sandwich?"
"This stalling is beneath you, Depth Charge," Megatron replied coolly.
"Oh, but I'm not stalling at all!" Depth Charge objected. "I just wanted to know if an energon sandwich tastes anything like a knuckle sandwich!!!" Depth Charge punched Megatron with impressive force, knocking the saurian flat on his face.
In a moment he tottered to his feet, returned to beast mode, and took off.
"Catcha later, plum-noggin," Depth Charge said. He watched Megatron's figure until it disappeared into the dark sky. "Well…why on earth would he be out here now, and by himself, too?" the ray-bot pondered. "And what's up with this gravitational junk? I bet Rhinox could explain it, computer geek that he is."
"You're not going back to the base until you tell me what you know," said a familiar voice.
Depth Charge readied his weapon. "Ah!" he cried sharply, as the weapon was shot from his hand. The ray-bot looked around for an enemy, but could see nothing. "Come out and fight! You gonna be a coward?"
"Depends. How much will you tell me without seeing me?"
"Not much," said Depth Charge.
"Okay then." He stepped out.
****************************************
Meanwhile… "Ugn!" Knight was thrown to the ground, winded. Darkstar stood over him with a sneer. Brent and the other wolves watched anxiously.
"Now let that teach you to remember your rank in this pack," Darkstar panted. "Leave me alone and let me destroy this inferior pile of metal!" He snarled in the direction of the spider, but to his surprise, found that the creature was conscious, and was moving slowly away.
"See? It's retreating!" Knight said when he had recovered his breath. "Leave it alone." Knight felt suddenly strong, but he could not remember why. Then he realized: it was because that unbearable pain in his chest had for a moment lifted. For the first time since he had been with Brent's pack, Knight was free. Darkstar noticed the change and seemed interested, but he said nothing. Brent looked at Knight also.
"Guide the spider out of camp," Brent ordered, assuming his authority again.
"Brent, sir, I really must object," Darkstar said quickly. "It would be a sens—"
"I'm in charge!" Brent roared. "Darkstar, you shut up. Knight, we're going ahead and starting on our journey. You make sure that spider does not follow us until we are out of sight, then when it passes out, you go after us. Understood?"
"Affirmative," Knight replied, happy to be by the wounded creature's side.
***
She didn't know what hit her. One moment, Blackarachnia was following the disfigured wolf, and the next, four of the snarling animals were upon her. She didn't like to hurt them—they reminded her so much of Silverbolt, and she had come to make peace with them. Nevertheless, she had to defend herself.
It was going well until that dirty silver wolf jumped into action, and then came the gunshot. Blackarachnia had been fighting in the Beast Wars long enough to know what was a robot's gunfire and what wasn't. She blacked out and the waking was horrible. There was a black wolf that almost killed her.
Now, Blackarachnia crawled as far away from the beasts as she could. It was extremely relieving that the black wolf and most of the others had gone away, but that dirty wolf was still here, watching her.
She was too weak to turn her spider head and look at him; she could only crawl, stop to gather her strength, and crawl again. She blacked out more than once. That wolf wouldn't leave her alone. "Please…go on," she murmured weakly. "Go find your friends. Leave me alone."
***
Brent and the pack were son lost to view, and Knight knew it was time to part with the spider. He knew she was hurt, but orders were orders, and he had stalled long enough.
The spider had fainted several times, and the last time Knight thought she was dead. He was cuddled up next to her as he had seen Brent do to injured wolves, to pass some warmth into the hurt animal's body. But now, it was time to go.
Knight rose. One of the spider's legs shot out and wrapped around his back paw.
"Please, don't go," Blackarachnia whispered, though she knew the wolf would not understand.
Knight had to communicate with her somehow, to tell her that he was leaving. He did not know where the word came from, but he said, "Goodbye."
Blackarachnia gaped. Had that wolf just…talked? She forced her head up to look at the wolf, but she went out cold again.
Knight was just as shocked as she was. What had he said? Oh well, time to follow Brent, he remembered. The disfigured wolf loped off into the night, not without turning his head and looking back several times.