Part 2

"The Battle"

Chapter 3

Cheetor was not here, as Optimus had expected. In fact, he was not anywhere. They've searched for a mega cycle in and around the base. Some of the are still looking, while Stinger and Jack were still a CR Chamber to change their exostructure to protect them from the little bit of unstable energon they had left on this planet.

Finally, the Chambers beeped and opened. Stinger came out first, then Jack. Optimus looked at their beast modes.

Stinger was . . . well, a fuzor which Optimus knew that much was for sure. He was a black wolf, with black crow wings, and a black scorpion stinger as a tail(much like Scorponok's tail). Stinger looked at his body and called out, "Sting, MAXIMIZE!" Sting(shortened his name) transformed to robot mode. He Looked basicly the same except he had wings and his tail turned into a new gun. He looked very powerful and very deadly.

Optimus turned his eyes towards Jack. Jack was a black bat, just a plain old bat. He maximized with his same name and looked at his robot mode. He looked the same except for the jets he had on his back, his wings went into a small carpartment in his back, and his bat head comes in the front of his chest. "Wow . . . I'm a bat." he said in his rich spanish accent.

Sting turned towards Jack, "Yeah, that's real nice, Jack-o. But I don't have time to look at myself in a mirror . . . I'm going to find Starchaser." Sting started to walk away but Optimus stopped him.

"Wait, Stinger. I'm still commander here and-"

"Yeah, you are . . . but not mine! I'm going to find my friend and you and everyone else can kiss my skin plate." Sting backed away from Optimus and headed out the door. Jack looked at Optimus.

"What's hiz problem?"

"Wish I knew." Optimus open his comm link to Rhinox. "Rhinox, how are you doing so far?"

"Not so good. I found some of Cheetor's marks along with other ones that I can't identify. Also, Rattrap and Silverbolt found an empty pod not far from here. Whatever it is, it's a Maximal."

"Great, just another lost Maximal to find."

"What?"

"Stinger, who's calling himself Sting now, has just walked out."

"You want us to look for him too?"

"No, our first priority is to find Cheetor, and the new Maximal. Keep a look out for him while you search . . . Cover everything and everywhere. If you find anything, report it to me. I'm putting the guns on auto and heading out with Jack."

"Alright, good luck."

'That's what we need . . .' Optimus thought and left.

Takà looked at her new body. They had landed in a desert area so she had to pick out one of the living creatures, it just so happened she picked one of the cutest animals on earth had to offer. A fennec, a small desert fox with very big ears. She had a sandy colored fur with a snow white belly. She looked at the rest of the bots who had just come out of different CR Chambers. They were all different kinds of animals.

They all transformed. Some calling out "Maximized" and others "Terrorized". Seers didn't believe in the Great War that pit the Maximals' and the Predacons' ancestors against each other. The thought they should have saved their strength and power for a greater threat . . . the Seers.

Though some Seers didn't believe in any war, the peaceful ones, like Starchaser.

"Takà!" the fennec jumped and turned towards the voice. It was General Overdrive, one of Shadow Demon's most loyal servant.

"Yea, General. What is it?"

"The lord commands that you and a group of warriors go in search of the young Seer."

"Negative. I can find him by myself. He'll listen to me, not to a bunch of dimwads who can't think on their own. I'm going alone."

Before the other bot could argue, Takà turned and left. 'I'm going to find my son . . .'

'Chicken . . . Coward . . . hiding when you should be fighting . . . wuss . . .' those were the thoughts going into Cheetor's head as he waited until dark. He knew it was a better way to contact Optimus and the others while most are asleep. But he kept thinking what would happen if Shadow Demon would find Optimus before he found him. 'Damn . . .'

Cheetor looked down the cavern he had helped to make it a replacement home until the Shadow warriors left or was destroyed. Goldenwind was laid back and a sleep, Tigatron and Airrazor were talking quietly to each other and Waspinator was trying to listen to some note about something. Cheetor shook his head and started to stare back out-side when he heard a voice, one he thought he'd never hear again.

'Starchaser . . .'

Sting looked around in the dark. Though he felt his presence, Starchaser was no where to be found. He called out again, 'Starchaser . . .can you hear me?'

There. He felt it again, it was like a mental feeling, someone else feeling. The first one was surprise, then it was confusion. He called out again. Now it was happiness, which followed by a laugh of glee. Finally a voice rang out.

"Stinger! By Primus, is it really you?" the voice called out from a shadow. Sting liked in it a found a cat, not just any cat. One with cyber claws and a jet pack on his back.

"Starchaser?"

"It's been a while since I was called that, but yeah, it's me!" Starchaser transformed into bot mode and came forward.

'He's changed a lot . . .' Sting thought as he watched a cat-like bot stand in front of him. Starchaser blinked a couple of times himself as he took in the new Stinger. "Wow! You look so grown up. It's been only three years!"

"Well, when you're fighting a war, it seems longer. How did you get here? How did you find me? Where's Big Bot?"

"Hold on," Stinger chuckled. "I assume that 'Big Bot' is Primal right?"

Starchaser nodded, waiting for Sting to answer. "I found out that the Axalon crew had finally came home. But I also found out that they left you behind. And, boy, was I ticked. So I demanded General Piper t send me on a rescue mission to get you."

"And, boy, am I glad you did! There's some guy after me called-"

"Shadow Demon, I know."

"What?! How did you know?"

"That's because I'm a Seer, too." Starchaser was stunned. Sting took it as he was confused, until 'Chaser finally spoke up.

"You too? Boy, this is a small Universe . . ."

"So you know all about it?"

"Not really, my lessons where cut short-"

"You mean you knew since before you left?"

"No. I learned a bit after we landed here."

"How?"

"It just so happened that another crew member was also a Seer."

"Who?"

"Tigatron!"

"Who?"

"You'll meant him in a minute."

"Oh." Sting shook his head. "Starchaser, I-"

"Cheetor."

"What?"

"I'm called Cheetor now."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Cheetor. I have some news you're not going to like."

"I already know, Shadow Demon's already here."

"Oh . . . but that's not it."

"There's more? . . . grrreat . . ."

"It's about your mom."

"What? She's been dead since . . ."

"That's just it . . . she's not-"

"Starchaser?"

Both bot's jumped up and turned towards the new voice. A fox came out of the bushes.

Cheetor saw that kind of fox before. It was a fennec, a desert fox. It was also a transformer because why would a desert fox be in a jungle?

"Oh, Starchaser. It is you . . ." The fox said. Shivers of joy went down Cheetor's back, for it was a voice he hadn't heard since he was a little bot on Cybertron.

"Mama?"

"Oh, baby. It's me. Takà, MAXIMIZE!" The fox transformed. Both Cheetor and Sting gasped, because Takà looked exactly like Cheetor's first body, only her chest plate was a fox head, not a cheetah and she had no spots. Cheetor cried out with joy.

"Mama!" He started to run towards her, but Sting stopped him.

"No," Sting shouted, "She's working for Demon!" Cheetor looked confused and Takà looked mortified. Cheetor looked at Sting, then at Takà.

"What? Is it true?"

Takà sighed. "Yes, it's true . . . it was the only way I could find you . . . was to joined him." She said "him" with such distaste Cheetor winced. "I couldn't find you . . . and he did. At first I fought him, but then I decided to play along . . ."

"Don't give me any of that!" Sting yelled. "I know what you've done! You killed his father and Starhopper! You tried to kill him, too!" pointing to Cheetor. "So don't give me or him any lies!" Cheetor was stunned.

"You killed . . . dad?" the young bot said in a small voice, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"No! I didn't kill my husband or Starhopper! I could never kill Starchaser!" she turned to her son, "My husband tried to protect us, 'Chase. He really did, but they were too strong, I was still very weak from a virus that hit Cybertron a week before, so I hid you with Starhopper. News about our killings all over the news, and you were asleep when I took you away, so I dought you remember. I told the "General" to make you believe I as dead because, as I said before, I was too weak to care for you or protect you. But I always knew how you were, I never stopped loving you. Until that day when Starhopper died. I knew you were in trouble, I tried to get to Starhopper but he wasn't a Seer, so he didn't hear . . . but you are, so I could at least save you . . . "

"So it was you who told me to hide." Cheetor remembered the voice clearly, now that he thought about it, the voice was familiar.

"Yes, it was me. But before I could get you, you had ran away. And I couldn't find you . . ."

"Lies! You where the one who attacked him that night in the streets." Sting spit out. Takà shook her head violently.

"No! I didn't even know he was in danger until it was too late. I came to late . . ."

"That's a bunch of BS!"

"No!" Cheetor cried out. "I remember that night! There're was the bots, and none of them where my mother!"

"Yeah, but she could have been behind it!"

"No, she couldn't! I've read her mind, I know she speaks the truth. You forget that I'm a Seer, too!" Sting topped when Cheetor said that. It was true, he had forgotten that he was a Seer, he also forgot that Seers read the minds of other Seers. Sting looked at Taka. Suddenly, all the thoughts in her mind was also his. He saw Cheetor's father falling to the ground, saw the sleeping Cheetor in Takà's arms handing him over to Starhopper, saw Taka watching over Cheetor as he grew, and seeing him take off into space for Taka was hiding in a distance. At first, Sting thought that she was making up the images until he read her power level, which was too low to make up images of that intent. Sting sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"That's alright, I am glad that someone cares for my son that much," Taka smiled and opened her arms to Cheetor, who quickly ran to them. They hugged for a few minutes. It was a funny sight because Cheetor with his new body towered over Taka.

"Okay, I really would love to stay here all day and hug you, Mom, but we got to find a way to defeat Shadow Demon." Cheetor said as they finished hugging. Taka smiled and removed a little fluff away from his eye (you know what I mean).

"You're right... have any ideas?"

"Not really, I wanted to talk to Big Bot before we do anything."

"First, who's 'Big Bot'? And I'm guess 'we' are your friends."

"Big Bot's my... uh... leader. Optimus Primal is his real name, but I call him Big Bot. And yes, 'we' means my friends..." Cheetor trailed off as he saw the look on his mother's face, which was a kind of a shocked look. "What?"

Taka shook her head. "Nothing, it's just that I was paying so much attention on you, I forgot to see who was your commander... that's all. Let's go get him and get a plan..."

"Right, let me get my friends and head out... oh, boy... how am I going to tell them about this one?" Cheetor sighed and started towards the underground cave. Sting and Taka followed.

Optimus watched Rhinox and the others walk towards him and Jack. They all looked tired and irritated. "Nothing at all?"

"Nope," Rattrap shook his head. "Not one little leaf or twig...wit' his or dat odder Maxi's scent... it's almost as if he doesn't want to be found..."

"Maybe... if he knew someone was after him, he'd might. And let's hope he is."

"Why," Jack asked.

"Because if he isn't hiding, he's either captured or..."

"Destroyed!" someone else finished Optimus's sentence. All the Maximals turned around to face the new voice, and was suddenly by bots, almost 100 of them.

"Oh.... boy..." Rattrap muttered as they backed against the big bolder behind them.