It's that time again everyone. Welcome to a new chapter of Beast Wars Prime. I'm actually very excited about this chapter and hope it's well received. And for those who might be interested, a Spanish translation of this story is now available on Wattpad, posted by lukisam under the name guerra de bestias prime. For now though, please enjoy.
"Alright Megatron." Shockwave called as he hefted the last part of the deposed Decepticon leaders rebuild onto his shoulder. "It's ready." Exiting the cave, he saw two of the three dinosaur-based beast modes Megatron now sported playing with Transmutate as the recently restored Astrotrain watched them in baffled amazement.
"I see it." The triple changer muttered to himself. "But I still don't believe it."
"A real Norman Rockwell moment." The illusion of Tarantulas added although only Shockwave could hear him. "Makes me wanna puke."
"Believe it Astrotrain." Megatron replied, his third beast mode sitting not too far from the cave entrance. "I was wondering when it'd be ready Shockwave. Having no legs of any kind in one mode is rather disconcerting."
"Reforging a Prime artifact takes time. And you needed more practice working three bodies simultaneously." Shockwave replied, setting his load down and watching as four flippers unfolded from it. "Two out of three works fine too."
"I still can't believe you had the Skyboom Shield all this time either." Astrotrain added as Shockwave set the third beast that composed his leader into the shield. The flippers in said shield suddenly became active and began pushing Megatron around the ground.
"Awkward." Megatron criticized. "But for a sea-based mode, it shall suffice."
"And with the Seasaur complete, so too is your rebuild." Shockwave added as Transmutate ambled over accompanied by the rest of Megatron.
"Seasaur?"
"Well, none of your three modes are based on anything in any fossil record." So, I improvised names. Seasaur." Shockwave began his explanation, pointing to the greyish blue Elasmosaurus like beast. "Landsaur." He continued, pointing to what looked like a purple Giganotosaurus standing next to Transmutate. "And Skysaur." He finished, pointing at a blazing red Pterosaur that landed in on his shoulder.
"In any case Shockwave." Megatron replied with Skysaur. "This new body goes well above your usual work." With that, the three dinos began to combine and transform.
Landsaur started off with its' hips folding downward with the legs to form a new lower body with rigging unfolding from the thighs to give it more height. The rest of the body unfolded into a new chest hull as the dino arms folded into the waist and the head came to rest where the right shoulder would be. Seasar leapt up and unfolded into a back and a pair of slim but muscled arms with the modified Skyboom Shield taking up residence on the left forearm. The two bodies merged together as Skysaur landed on the shoulders and unfolded into Megatrons' new head with the wings moving part way down his back to give him limited flight capabilities in bot mode.
Megatron took in his newly complete form. Whereas his previous body exuded overwhelming power and strength, his new one seemed to blend his previous strength with precision. Taking a glimpse of his face in his shields' reflection, he scowled.
"Shockwave, did you really have to change my optic color?" He asked. He'd been so used to his red optics that seeing them a pale green had been a shock. The new helm, sure, it needed to fit inside Skysaur. But this.
"Honestly, no." The scientist senator replied before looking his commander in the optic. "However, if you survive what's to come, then being unrecognizable may be your way to stay alive." He nodded to Transmutate. "For her sake."
Looking down at the femme he'd all but adopted as his own daughter, Megatron nodded. Maybe, once the war was over, starting a new life with his new appearance could be an option. Besides, after realizing what all his work had led to, he no longer wished to be the warlord Megatron.
He'd have to consider a new designation though.
"Not that it really matters." Tarantulas grumbled. "In a few hours I'll have control again and I'll be able to hunt them down using your body afterwards."
"However, I must inform you three of a situation." Shockwave continued. "I was able to slip free from Tarantulas' control of me when his body was destroyed." He paused a moment. "He is nearly recovered enough to begin controlling me again."
"What!"
"Oh great!"
"Way to spoil it." The disembodied scientist grumbled.
"I have a way to stop him." Shockwave replied. "However, on the off chance it doesn't work." He turned to look at Astrotrain. "I want you three to be well away from me when I attempt it, for your own safety."
"Shockwave." Megatron looked at the scientist with a pained expression. He was well aware that the then senator was the one who saved him from the senates' shadow play. It was a bitter pill for him to swallow that he was unable to return the favor.
"Quick rundown of your body's new features." Shockwave interrupted. "In addition to separating into three modes you have an amalgamated mode I call Chimerasaur. This mode also allows you to use the weapons I built into each of your beast modes."
"Which are?" Megatron asked, his concern for his comrade temporarily overridden by his curiosity.
"Skysaur has a built-in flamethrower." Shockwave continued. "Seasaur has a cryokinetic beam mounted into the mouth. And Landsaur has an upgraded and compact version of your fusion cannon. All this in addition to the Skyboom Shield which can either deflect a blast or absorb and redirect almost any blast."
"Makes Megatron even more of a one mech army." Astrotrain finished.
"Which is exactly what we need to take down Galvatron." Megatron finished with a growl.
Back on Cybertron, Mach Hoof, Whirl and the Dinobots were traversing away from the city of Iacon in the general direction the latter remembered their leader running off in. After getting out of the city, the terrain quickly changed from battle scarred planes, to dense alien jungle. Dense enough that both Whirl and Swoop were unable to follow from the air.
"Get along there, little lizzie!" Whirl called as he rode on Slugs' back through the dense foliage.
"Say that again and I'm going to roll over onto you." The irritable Dinobot growled as he barreled through another stretch of rusted vines. The only reason he agreed to carry the Wrecker was because he'd irritated Snarl and Sludge was already carrying Swoop for similar reasons.
"You guys are sure this is where the boss ran?" Slash asked as she and Allison kept pace with the larger Dinobots. Seeing an upcoming fallen log, she leapt up onto and over it with her girlfriend managing to do the same before Sludge smashed his way through it.
"We think so." Snarl answered as he ran. "Then again, we were captured before he was out of sight so who knows for sure which direction he." The medic stopped as he saw a mote of light glowing at the base of a tree. Then another near a spinepin bush.
"Hold up." Snarl called, bringing the group to a halt. Transforming, he looked at a third nearby mote of light at the base of another tree. "This can't be right." He muttered to himself.
"Ehh, what's up doc?" Whirl asked. He regretted those words immediately as Slug made good on his threat and rolled over like a dog before transforming. Leaving the Wrecker slightly squished.
"Knew I'd regret that the instant I said it."
"What is it Snarl?" Slash asked as she stepped up to the medic.
"A spark." Snarl whispered as he examined the light. "One in the process of formatting."
"How?" Sludge asked. "The Allspark is still missing."
"I don't know." The medic admitted. "Maybe this was a dormant hotspot before the shut down." He explained. "But we're on the outer fringes of it." Looking at the scattered motes of light, he noticed a pattern.
"The center of the hotspot is that way." Snarl announced, pointing to the groups far left.
"What about Grimlock?" Mach Hoof asked. Not that this wasn't a good thing, but it was not what they were after.
"Young sparks need a steady supply of energon as they mature." Snarl responded, before transforming back into beast mode. "I'm sure that Grimlock sensed the hotspot and its' energon and headed that direction on instinct. It's kind of how humans instinctively follow the sun when lost."
A moment later, the group were charging through the increasing jungle foliage towards the center of the hotspot. As they traveled, they noticed the number of sparks become progressively larger. A sign that they were drawing closer.
"What's with the green sparks?" Allison asked as they moved. "Are they corrupted or something?"
"No." Slash answered. She'd noticed an unusually high number of green sparks herself. "They're outliers. Bots that will be born with enhanced abilities."
"Like Trailbreaker." Allison whispered to herself, feeling a pang for her dead partner and mentor. Shaking her head, she continued the conversation. "So, what are we going to do about all these...little ones?" She asked.
"Not much." Snarl continued. "While normally Cybertronians go from this to fully formed in a matter of weeks, whatever reactivated the hotspot seems to have slowed their gestation if my guess is right."
"Probably the Cybermatter." Swoop called. "We shot it into the well of all sparks to revitalize the planet. Maybe it reignited some hotspots in the bargain?"
"Possibly." The Dinobot medic answered. "But if I my guess is right, they will emerge fully formed about a year from now."
"Then we can worry about them later." Slug yelled as he charged ahead. "Right now, we need to, woah!" He called as he broke through the tree line ahead of the others.
"Slug!" Sludge called as the group emerged from the jungle as well. "What is?" He was cut short as they took in the view before them.
In front of them was a great and seemingly endless valley that seemed to be glowing from all angles. Through its' center was a mighty river of energon flowing from a waterfall at the end of it. All around the valley were glowing sparks in clusters amongst the alien vegetation. The entire valley seemed to be alive in and of itself.
"What is this place?" Allison asked. Looking closer at the vegetation, she could see that it was like a Cybertronian hybrid of an Earth fern plant. Part of her wished her sister was here to see this.
"I don't know." Snarl whispered. "I've never seen a place like this before."
"Do you think the cybermatter created this place when it created the hotspot?" Allison queried. "I mean, it gave the planet a copy of Earths' atmosphere."
"Possibly."
"Hey!" Swoop called out from the air. "Head east, there's something strange there!"
The group made their way across the valley, taking care not to step on any of the young sparks around them. Eventually, they came across a gigantic pool of what looked like molten gold.
"Never seen this kind of thing before either." Slug mumbled as he stared at his reflection in the lagoon. "Any idea Snarl?"
Transforming, the Dinobot medic deployed a laser probe and analyzed the lagoons' golden liquid. Activating the hologram display, he began to study the results.
"Well, it's not Electrum." He began. "The closest thing I can get is similar to the readings I had on the cybermatter, only it's electrified somehow.
"Is it safe?" Slash asked, ready to pull Allie back if it wasn't.
"CANNONBALL!" Whirl yelled before jumping into the lagoon with a big splash.
"We're about to find out."
A few moments later, the water where Whirl landed flashed before the Wrecker surfaced.
"Woo!" He yelled, throwing his arms into the air. "Come on in, the water's fine!" Turning to the Dinobots and Maximal on the shoreline, he noticed them all staring at him. "What? Did I lose my aft plate."
"No." Allison answered with wide eyes. "It's just, your face."
"Very funny." Whirl snarked going to run a hook down his singular optic. "You know I haven't had a face since before." He stopped as his vision became covered by a lemon-yellow hand.
"What the!"
Scrambling out of the golden lagoon, Whirl looked at his reflection. He was shocked to find his original yellow face and blue optics had been restored. The cyclopean eye and hooks the Empurata had given him were gone. He turned to look at Snarl.
"How did this happen?"
The Dinobot looked at his readout.
"From what I can tell Whirl." He began. "This is an unstable form of cybermatter. It can break down most any matter and from there it can be restructured." Snarl looked at Whirl. "Were you thinking anything specific when you were submerged?"
"Just an idle notion that swimming would be easier if I had hands instead of hooks."
"So, it's intent based." Snarl muttered to himself. Theoretically, one could enter the lagoon and come out with a whole new body. He smirked. That'd be a way to ruffle the feathers of functionism.
Allison stepped up to the lagoon and looked at her reflection. For a brief moment, she wondered whether or not she should just jump in herself. The idea of turning back into a normal human girl was very tempting and this lagoon could grant that wish.
"I'd understand if you want to Allie." Slash whispered, catching her off guard and making her jump. "And if I survive the war too, I can join you." There was a moment of silence as Allison contemplated this.
"I never thought I'd meet a girl like you Slash." Allison began.
"Do what's right for you, not."
"Let me finish." She interrupted her girlfriend's rebuttal. "But now that I have, I want to spend as much of my life as possible with you." She looked the Dinobot in the optic. "And I'm not settling for a measly hundred years anymore." Stepping forward, Allison Blackrock wrapped her Dinobot girlfriend in a tight hug and pressed her lips to hers. Pulling back, she smiled at the dazed femme.
"And nothing's going to change that."
While the two femmes were talking and Snarl was examining Whirl, the other Dinobots were scouting the area.
"Look at all these sparks." Swoop called as he circled overhead. "There's enough to fill an entire city."
"Hmm, Dinobot city." Slug mumbled to himself. "Has a nice ring to it."
"Not if the wildlife eats the sparks!" Sludge yelled pointing across the river. "Look!"
Across the river, a large four-legged animal was digging at one of the green sparks in the riverbed. It was silvery grey with red eyes and had a mane and tail of what looked like spikes. Everyone turned to look at it, never noticing the ripple in the lagoon.
"Get that Turbofox away from there!" Snarl yelled; his attention finally pulled away from Whirl. "If it digs away enough of the sentio metallico, that spark will die!" As one, the group transformed and attempted to get to the Turbofox.
Only for something else to get there first.
With a mighty roar, a familiar looking Tyrannosaurus burst from the tree line on a direct path to the Turbofox.
"Grimlock!?" The Dinobots called at their feral leader.
Hearing the mighty predator charging at it, the Turbofox stopped its' attempt at a meal and beat a hasty retreat. The Dinobot was faster however and managed to clamp his jaws around the beast's middle. Whipping his head from side to side momentarily, Grimlock threw the Turbofox to ground. It didn't get up again.
Satisfied that the threat was dead, Grimlock went back to the spark it was digging at and gently nosed the sentio metallico back into place before pressing down on it with his foot. Turning away from his work, the Dinobot gave a massive roar that echoed across the valley.
From their spot across the river, the collective group watched as Grimlock ceased roaring and turned towards them. As the feral Dinobot began to walk towards them, they began trying to make a plan.
"If we don't move, he can't see us." Sludge offered. Thinking of Jurassic Park
"That was just a movie, dummy." Slash hissed. "That was disproven years ago."
"Yeah, and it's Grimlock." Snarl added. "He can see us."
Their planning was cut off as Grimlock stared down at them, judging them to some degree. He surveyed the collection of Autobots in front of him, sniffing a little bit as he went from bot to bot. Finaly, the inspection ended with the Tyranobot simply walking away towards the other end of the valley.
"You think he recognized us?" Allison asked as she watched the retreating Tyrannosaurus.
"Enough to not deem us a threat." Snarl confirmed. "However, I am curious. He seems to be protecting the sparks in this valley like a nesting mother."
"Do you think the boss has been meaning to tell us something?" Sludge asked out loud. This was answered by a smack to the back of the head. "OW!"
"We only look like dinosaurs Sludge." Slash explained, rubbing her optics. "Grimlock may be feral at the moment, but he's still Grimlock. He's protecting those who need it. Violently, if he can."
"So, like a warrior king defending his subjects." Allison added.
"Which does beg the question." Whirl added. "How are we going to get him out of here?"
"Is it even really the best thing right now?" Swoop asked.
"Run that by me again bird brain." Slug growled.
"Look." The flyer defended himself. "Ratchet even admitted that his condition is irreversible, maybe, maybe this is the best place for him."
"I don't like it." Snarl began after a moment. "But I can see where you're coming from."
"You want us to just leave him here?" Slash asked.
"In a sheltered area, with more than enough energon to sustain him." Snarl explained. "To say nothing of having so many young ones to watch after."
"But it's Grimlock!" Sludge argued.
"I think." Whirl interrupted, sounding unsure if he should even be in this discussion or not. "That we should rest and recharge a bit. We've all had a big day."
There were some murmurs, both in agreement and not, but no further arguments. Not long afterwards, the group had dispersed. However, they were taking special care to stay in sight of one another. One member of the group however, was sitting a bit farther apart from the others.
"Whirl?" Allison called, trotting up to the Wrecker in beast mode. "Are you alright? I figured you'd be happier having your face and hands back."
"I am." Whirl admitted, as he looked at his reflection again. "The thing is though." He continued. "This isn't the face of a soldier."
"Excuse me?"
"If you remember correctly, I left the Air Force to become a watch maker." The Wrecker began. "After the senate got through with me, I had to completely reinvent myself. It wasn't like I could make watches with hooks. The war broke out not long after and."
"You decided to put on a mask." Allison finished. "Have we, ever met the real you?"
"To be brutally honest." Whirl answered. "I don't even know."
The moment was ruined by the sound of an explosion followed by a familiar roar.
"What the hell!?" Mach Hoof yelled, mentally switching to 'battle mode' and transforming.
"Grimlock!" Slug yelled before transforming and taking off through the valley towards the commotion. Within moments, the other Dinobots as well as the Maximal and Wrecker were following him.
Charging through the foliage into another clearing, the group saw the Dinobot leader attempting to fend off a group of five attackers. Or more specifically, one attacker with the other four working around the battle. Grimlock was locked in battle with what looked like a wingless two headed dragon while four other mechs darted around, extracting every outlier spark in the area and loading them into some kind of pods.
"Sludge, you and me help Grimlock." Snarl yelled before transforming back into his stegosaurus mode. "The rest of you, stop them from taking the sparks."
"I think not." A feminine voice came from one of the dragons' heads. While one head had its' maw locked with Grimlocks' the other breathed a fireball at the feet of the oncoming Sludge. The apatosaur attempted to dodge it only to step right in the line of a ball of gunk aimed at his feet, gluing him in place.
"Good trick boss." The surprise attacker called. He was a large blue and purple simian who had fluid leaking from various joints.
"Just keep extracting sparks Blot." The dragon called as she spun around, Grimlock still locked with her, using his mass to send Snarl flying. The Dinobot medic collided with the nearby cliff, leaving him dazed.
"No sweat Hun-Gurr." A pale grey and blue mech called, dodging shots from Swoop and Whirl. "Hey, Cutthroat, mind giving me some cover fire?"
"Always gotta be me doing the dirty work." A tan and green mech grumbled before turning into a kind of pterosaur like gargoyle. "Coming right up Rippersnapper." Cutthroat called before taking off and attempting to knock Swoop out of the air. When the flyers dodged him, the mech flew over his opponents and transformed. Using his twin pistols, he peppered Swoops wings with holes, and shot the rotor off Whirls' tail, forcing the two to land.
"Tricky flying." Rippersnapper called as Cutthroat landed heavily on the transforming Swoop, taking him out and shooting and felling a tree topin Whirl before he could recover from his crash. His attention was called to the charging Mach Hoof a moment later. Giving a sigh, he transformed into a landshark alt mode before diving into the loose ground beneath him, giving the Maximal pause.
"Oh, great. Now where'd he?" She was cut off as the landshark erupted up behind her. Before she could even get a shot off, Mach Hoof found herself flying through the air after being smacked by his massive tail fin. Slamming into a tree, she blacked out.
"Allie!" Slash yelled. Drawing her pistol she took aim at Rippersnapper. "Eat this you." She was cut off as a blob of clear slime fried from a transformed Blot. The blob engulfed Slashs' pistol and both of her hands, creating a perfect pair of makeshift handcuffs.
"That's what happens when you think with your sparks rather than your heads." Blot laughed gurgling all the while. "Your team becomes as strong as your weakest link."
"I'll show you weakest!" Slug bellowed as he charged Blot, mouth ablaze. He was so focused on Blot, that he never noticed the other bot until it was too late.
With an intense speed, a long yellow serpent darted from the tree line and wrapped its' way around the charging Dinobots' legs, sending him tumbling end over end. As he came to as stop, Slug realized that the serpent who was constricting him, had two heads that were smirking at him. As he went to breath fire at him, one of the heads forced his mouth shut by constricting it as well.
"Thank you for the demonstration of being the weakest link." He hissed in Slugs' ear. "Trust in me when I say that you cannot simply bulldoze your way through a battle, lest you fall prey to an ambush predator." The second head hissed, still smirking at him.
"About time you showed up Sinnertwin." Blot gurgled.
"Simply picking my moment." Sinnertwin explained. Further conversation was interrupted as Hun-Gurr and Grimlock wrestled their way through the trees back towards the golden lagoon. "Knock this hothead out so we can help the boss out." He ordered.
"One Dinobot, going down." Blot laughed as he transformed and slammed his simian fist into Slugs' head, rendering him unconscious. As Blot went to assist restraining the other Dinobots and Sinnertwin uncoiled from Slug, the latter noticed something amiss.
"Where'd the little Dinobot go?"
Slash dashed through the foliage as fast as she could. With her hands and gun cocooned in Blots' slime, she was unable to fight, or transform. She barely had enough time to hide the unconscious Mach Hoof before taking off after Grimlock. Maybe she could distract Hun-Gurr enough to give Grimlock an opening.
Coming up on the battle between the two, she noticed that while Grimlock was still going strong, Hun-Gurr was beginning to waver. Giving a roar of frustration, the two headed dragon stepped back and transformed into a femme about the size of Grimlocks' bot mode. Her beast modes' hindquarters became her arms while the front legs folded onto her hips like a belt. Interestingly, her beast modes' necks became long legs that ended with feet made of her dragon heads.
"I can see that brute force won't be enough." Hun-Gurr began, drawing what looked like a small machine gun. "Seems I'll have to rely on superior firepower." She smirked. "And a little weakness." Rather than opening fire on Grimlock, she turned her gun on one of the nearby sparks before firing. The blast created a small fire that caused the spark to begin flickering.
This infuriated Grimlock. Swinging his tail at Hun-Gurr to distract her, he quickly began to stomp out the fire near the threatened spark. The distraction allowed Hun-Gurr to use a stronger series of blasts to tear a gaping wound into the feral Dinobots' side.
Roaring in pain as the fire was extinguished, Grimlock turned to charge Hun-Gurr again. Dodging left, she opened fire again, this time the spark she targeted was extinguished. The scent of burn ozone, which was a telltale smell of an extinguished spark permeated the air spurring the Tyrannosaurus to new levels of rage. Swinging his tail at her again, Hun-Gurr ducked down. Deploying a small blade, she slashed her opponents' stubby arm at the shoulder before following up with a blast.
From her hiding place in the trees, Slash watched in horror as the right arm of Grimlocks' dino mode dangled by a wire for a moment before falling off completely. This cowardly glitch was targeting newborns and systematically taking Grimlock apart at the same time. Seeing Hun-Gurr target another young spark drove Slash to act. She didn't care if she was unarmed and unable to transform.
She couldn't let this continue.
With a roar of fury, the smallest Dinobot ran forward with her gunk covered hands raised over her head. The sound and subsequent bang to her leg distracted Hun-Gurr long enough for Grimlock to send her flying backwards with his tail. Standing close to Slash, Grimlock gave a defiant roar. Neither of them would back down.
Their moment of triumph however was ruined by the arrival of two of Hun-Gurr's team. Coming through the jungle, Blot fired off several more shots of fluid, knocking Slash to the ground and cementing her in place while Cutthroat helped his boss up. Using this distraction, Hun-Gurr took aim at a quartet of sparks near the edge of the lagoon.
Seeing what was about to happen, Grimlock ran to place himself between her and the sparks. Seeing that her plan had worked, Hun-Gurr adjusted her aim and fired a full power blast at the dinobot. The resulting explosion tore off a sizable chunk of his hide, revealing his bot mode head and spark chamber beneath.
"Now, together, aim for the wound!" Hun-Gurr ordered.
"Grimlock, no, RUN!" Slash screamed as the trio opened fire.
It was too late. The collective fire of the three attackers poured into the gaping wound in Grimlocks' side, driving the Dinobot into the shallows of the golden lagoon and onto his side. Smoke billowed from his wound as he feebly gave one last roar of defiance before his strength failed him completely and he collapsed, half submerged within the lagoon.
Grimlock, the great Dinobot leader. strong, stalwart, and brave, was dead.
Back where the battle had begun, Rippersnapper and Sinnertwin were guarding the remaining Dinobots and waiting for the rest of their team to return.
"Gotta admit." Sinnertwin hissed as he transformed into his bot mode. This mostly involved lengths of his snake body pressing together and merging into a bipedal form with his two snake heads forming an arm cannon and a head and left hand emerging from the coils and tail respectively. "This was a good way to liven up the work day."
"What are you even doing here?" Snarl growled. After being knocked across the clearing by Grimlocks' backside, he woke up glued to the ground by some kind of substance he did not want to think about. "Gathering outliers for the cons?" He asked.
"What is with everyone thinking we're decepticons." Rippersnapper grimaced. "We're just entrepreneurs taking advantage of an untapped resource for an equally untapped market."
"What?" Sludge asked from his spot near Snarl.
"You see, a great deal of worlds across the galaxy have seen the kind of devastation we can cause." Sinnertwin supplied. "And all around us are weapons of mass destruction just waiting to go on the market."
"Apparently, the concept of genocidal despots and tyrants is an intergalactic concept. Rippersnapper added. "Who knew?"
"So, you're going to rip these sparks out and sell them as slave weapons to the highest bidders?" Swoop asked, furious at the concept.
"Just wind them up, and watch them go." Hun-Gurr added as she returned with Blot and Cutthroat. Slash was still cocooned in gunk under Blots' arm. "However, you won't be here to see it."
"Hold up a second boss." Cutthroat interrupted. "These are the Dinobots. A quick mnemosurgery and we can have some products ready to go for demonstration purposes."
"And who's going to preform it Cutthroat? You?"
"Thundertron is the one who will be putting us in contact with customers." The flyer replied. "I'm sure he knows someone. It's just a pity we don't have the whole set." He added as Blot tossed Slash next to Snarl.
"Say what?" Slug asked. Surely, they didn't mean?
"Grimlock's gone." Slash whispered in shock, barely loud enough for the others to hear.
"Yes, it's a pity." Hun-Gurr sighed. "Oh well, a few slight modifications to the price point should allow us to recoup our losses. Let's load up some more outlier sparks and." She was cut off as every spark in the valley seemed to begin glowing brighter.
"What the pit is this all about?" Blot asked out loud. As if in answer, each spark gave off a pulse of energy before fading back to normal brightness in a wave that washed over them.
Nearby, Hun-Gurr noticed that in spite of having both the Dinobots and the Wrecker, they were still missing something.
"Where is that other little femme that was with them?" Seeing her team trade looks with each other was enough for her to figure out that they had forgotten all about it. "I'll stand guard over these, you four go find her." She ordered. "If even one of them is loose it could give them all a chance to escape."
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Sinnertwin muttered to himself as he and the other four mechs deployed their weapons or transformed and headed for the tree line.
Back at the golden lagoon the wave of energy from the sparks of the valley flowed into it. The collected energy caused the cybermatter within it to glow brightly before it began being absorbed by the body of their defender. The sparks throughout the valley had sensed that the one who defended them from harm had fallen and instinctively reached out to help him as he helped them.
Moments later, the light receded as the energy was fully absorbed into the corpse in the water. For a moment, it seemed as if nothing had happened before a banging sound echoed from the lagoon.
Right from Grimlocks' body.
The noise became louder and louder before finally, a white fist erupted through the grey hide.
In the trees near where the Dinobots and Whirl were being held captive, Mach Hoof watched as four of the five bots they'd been fighting entered the woods, looking for her. She'd awoken from where Slash had hidden her and moved out of the way before they remembered she was there. While she felt sadness at Grimlocks' passing, she knew she had things to do before she could mourn him like she did Trailbreaker.
Chiefly among them, she needed to rescue Slash and the others. Call her predictable, but she knew she wouldn't be able to take on five attackers alone. Especially when they were all considerably larger than her. However, against one with the element of surprise, she might have a chance. She'd just have to hit the femme with a Nucleon pulse and try to free Sludge, Snarl or Slug before either she recovered or her team returned. Deploying her saber, Mach Hoof prepared to charge before a large arm wrapped around her and a bone white hand clamped her mouth shut.
"Shh." The stranger whispered into her ear. The voice however, caught the young Maximal by surprise. Twisting a little bit, she saw the face of the large mech, causing her eyes to widen comically in recognition. The mech nodded before gesturing deeper into the foliage. Mach Hoof nodded back, she may not know what plan he had, but she knew him enough to go along with it.
Sinnertwin silently slithered over the dense jungle foliage. He had a plan to catch that little femme. He'd just lay in wait, hidden among the branches of a tree. Eventually, she would pass by him or be chased to his position. And then he'd strike.
Hearing some nearby plants rustle, the serpent stopped. Poking one of his heads through the leaves of a nearby bush, he saw the equine Maximal stopping to catch her breath in beast mode. Slowly retracting his head, Sinnertwin quietly transformed and trained his snake head blaster on Mach Hoof before stepping into her view. Smirking, he watched as a look of terror emerged on the Maximals' face.
"It's alright lovely." He hissed. "One low power blast and it'll be nap time for." He was cut off as he saw something black and white emerged from the brush right behind him out of the corner of his optic with a mouth full of sharp teeth and a low hiss. Looking back at Mach Hoof he saw her expression go from terrified to smug.
He'd been had.
"Clever girl." Sinnertwin whispered. Turning rapidly to fire on the attacker, he had a brief glimpse of white teeth as the attacker bit down on his head and a claw ripped through his spark chamber before everything went black. He never got a shot or scream out.
Hearing the sound of metal tearing into metal, Rippersnapper transformed into his landshark mode and burrowed his way through the ground. Emerging close to where he heard the noise, he found Sinnertwin dead on the ground. His head had been crushed and his chest hull torn open exposing a now empty spark chamber.
Looking around for the attacker, he saw a white figure some distance away before they took off running. Transforming back into bot mode, Rippersnapper took off after him at a sprint. After a couple minutes chasing after the stranger, the two of them found themselves in a dead-end canyon. Jumping onto a hollow log, Rippersnapper drew a rifle and took aim at his opponent, who'd just activated a glowing spinning blade weapon.
"Thanks for raising everyone else's profits." He laughed before taking a shot at the mech. He maneuvered the spinning blades like a shield, deflecting the blasts into the canyon walls. Snarling, Rippersnapper yelled at the mech.
"You can't keep that up forever!"
"He doesn't have to." Mach Hoof called from inside the log.
"What the?" Rippersnapper asked wide opticed as the Maximals' saber erupted through the log between his legs.
"Make a wish suckerfish." Suddenly, the mech was electrocuted by a strong Nucleon pulse that caused him to drop his rifle and convulse on the ground. Through the pain, he saw a green flash of light come from the stranger. Then nothing more.
Elsewhere in the jungle foliage, Cutthroat and Blot had decided to search for the remaining femme together. While not in the same area of the valley jungles, they were close enough to hear the echos of what happened to their compatriots. They both remembered the fact that their target was not very large and the possibility she could take down Rippersnapper and Sinnertwin both, was very unlikely.
"You think one of the others got away from the boss lady?" Cutthroat asked.
"It's the most likely scenario." Blot agreed. Despite his admittedly poor hygiene, he wasn't stupid. "Two heads may be better than one, but each can only see so much at one time. And it's not like that other Dinobot can help her."
The two laughed momentarily before an echoing scream of rage rent the air, unnerving the pair. Before either of them could even guess what made that noise, a long drill-like sword carved its' way through Blots' right shoulder before becoming lodged in his midsection.
Leaping away from Blot, Cutthroat saw a mostly white mech with gold and silver legs and a blue helm. He also saw the sword being held by the mech was now stuck in Blot. Seeing an opportunity, Cutthroat drew his pistols and activated their rapid-fire mode before taking his shot. His attempt to offline their attacker backfired however. The stranger simply turned and used Blot as a living shield.
Stopping his attack in shock. The assailant used the distraction to draw the rifle he'd stolen from Rippersnapper and land a direct shot to Cutthroats' spark chamber, killing him instantly. He then turned the gun upwards towards Blots' head and fired. Ending the mechs suffering.
Pulling his sword from Blots' carcass, the mech looked up to see Mach Hoof trotting towards him.
"Four down, one to go." She whispered.
"Stay here." The mech ordered. Part of Mach Hoof wanted to argue but understood that Hun-Gurr had likely heard what they'd done to her team and would most likely be on guard. "Me finish this myself."
Back in the clearing, Hun-Gurr listened to the struggles of her team against an unknown assailant. Hearing the fight with Blot and Cutthroat, she rolled her optics. Now she'd need to find a new crew.
"Never send an underling to do a boss' job." She muttered to herself. "First things first however." She turned to Whirl and the Dinobots. Better to do this now rather than give them a chance to spoil everything else.
"Sorry to end our working relationship like this." Hun-Gurr began. "But I can't have you telling anyone about my little cash crop." She transformed and began advancing on the bound group. "And you Autobots are too noble to even consider hiring for a job like this."
"Well excuse us for having standards!" Slug bellowed. The fact that she was willing to sell these younglings into slavery at birth infuriated the group.
"Right." Hun-Gurr slurred. "Like you six did nothing questionable in the war?"
A brief flash of green out of the corner of her optic was all the warning Hun-Gurr needed to jump out of the way of a green blast of energy. The beam passed over her heads and blasted a large boulder free from a canyon wall near the energon river, which created a large crater when it landed. A second dodged blast destroyed the boulder and created a small canal, feeding energon into the new pond.
Looking over towards the tree line where the blasts had come from, the femme saw her attacker emerge from the foliage. He seemed to be mostly white with black markings with golden lower legs and silver thighs. There was an Autobot insignia on his waist and a Maximal one like a tattoo on his left arm. However, it was the blue helm that gave away his identity.
"What?"
"No way!"
"He survived!"
"YOU?!" Hun-Gurr screamed with both heads. It was impossible! She saw him die!
"Me." He confirmed before charging the femme at full speed. "Grimlock, MAXIMIZE!" On either side of Grimlock, four hard light Utahraptors appeared, running alongside him and glowing light blue as the Dinobot Maximal transformed.
His bot modes head was swallowed up by his chest as his new raptor head emerged from it and connected with his folding sides. His spinning blade shield folded up into a tail that came to rest on his haunches as Grimlocks arms became powerful legs ending with a scythe-like killing claw. The end result was a white reptilian looking raptor with black spots along its' back and tail. A moment later he was enveloped in the same glow as the constructs before they charged. A quick burst of speed and change of direction, and Grimlock was indistinguishable from the rest of his hard light flock.
Using both of her beast modes' heads, Hun-Gurr tracked the running raptors as best she could. Nine targets, one attacker. Taking her chance, the femme launched two fireballs at a pair of raptors with her left head and lunged for a third with her right. In that move, three hard light constructs shattered, allowing Grimlock to transform back into bot mode and drive his barbed drill sword through the skull of Hun-Gurr's right head, taking out both optics in it.
"I'll chew you up and spit you out for that!" The femme roared in pain. Turning to face him, she let loose several more fireballs from both mouths, using her unblinded head to guide the blind one.
Undeterred, Grimlock drew his tail shield and held it in front of him. Angling it as each fireball hit it, he was able to deflect most of them away from him and any vulnerable sparks nearby. The last one he deflected at the canal he'd created earlier, damming it up and sealing the pond of energon.
The trap was set.
As Hun-Gurr prepared to launch another fireball, Grimlock dodged right and fired an energy beam from his optics, right into his opponents' open maw. The chain reaction resulted in blowing the jaw off of the femmes' right head, rendering both of them functionally useless. The coordination to keep fighting like this was too great for her, forcing her to transform back into bot mode.
"That's it!" Hun-Gurr yelled, deploying her machine gun. Both of her feet hurt after the damage they took from being her heads. "I killed you once, I can kill you again!" She was so focused on Grimlock that she didn't notice the large tail swinging at her until it was too late.
Shocked, Grimlock turned and saw Sludge had been the one to attack Hun-Gurr. He was further surprised when Slug hit her with his fire breath, launching her into the air a bit only to be picked up by Swoop, who lifted the femme high into the air before dropping her. She only fell a few feet before Snarl hit her with a ball of solar radiation and Slash peppered her with several shots from her pistol alongside Whirl in his helicopter mode. Looking to his left, the Dinobot leader saw Mach Hoof watching the battle in satisfaction. Suddenly the other Dinobots' assistance made sense.
"I thought me told you to stay where safe?" He asked.
"And YOU of all Autobots expected me to follow orders?" Mach Hoof answered, looking Grimlock dead in the visor.
The mech shook his head.
"Your junxie pure Dinobot material Slash." Grimlock laughed, enjoying the embarrassed smiles the two femmes gave each other as Hun-Gurr crashed down to the ground. As she tried to stand back up, Grimlock fired a low power energy beam to knock her into the energon pond.
Right where he wanted her.
"Stubborn slag!" Hun-Gurr sputtered as she stood up fully. "Who do you think you are!?"
"Me Grimlock." He growled powering up his optic beams to maximum with a hum.
"KING OF BEASTS!"
As he yelled, Grimlock unleashed a full power optic blast right into the pool, igniting the energon. The resulting explosion sent Hun-Gurr flying over the wall of the canyon, alight with bunning energon, and out of the valley.
After a few moments of silence, the inquisition began.
"Boss, how did you come back?"
"I saw you die."
"Is your head alright now?"
"ENOUGH!" Grimlock yelled, quieting his Dinobots down. Giving a sigh, he attempted to explain. "Me not sure what happened to me. Last me knew, we in Vegas, next me tumbling down dark hole when bunch of lights appear and lift me up." He looked at the group.
"Next thing me know, me wake up like this in old dead body."
"The sparks in this valley must've used their power to revive you." Snarl suggested, deploying a sensor to begin scanning Grimlocks body. "Apparently they decided to give you a Maximal style body."
"Me may look likeMaximal." Grimlock countered. "But me still Dinobot first and most."
"Kind of a downgrade if you ask me?" Slug muttered, not realizing he said it out loud. While Grimlock was still quite larger than Slash or Mach Hoof, he now only came up to Slugs' chest.
Giving a growl, Grimlock leapt up and punched Slug right in the forehead, sending the transformed Triceratops Dinobot sprawling. Shaking the cobwebs from his head, Slug felt the blade of Grimlocks new sword pressed to his neck.
"And they say Sludge stupid one." Grimlock replied.
"Hey"
"Have any more smart aft comments?" The Dinobot leader added, addressing all the Dinobots but keeping his optics on Slug. At the groups' collective 'uh-uh', Grimlock let Slug stand up again. Looking around, he saw two of their number were now missing.
"Where Slash and Whirl?"
"Right here Grimboy." Whirl exclaimed as he exited the tree line. "Just had to swing by the golden lagoon." His appearance surprised the Dinobots.
"You changed your face and hands back?" Allison asked the cyclopean (again) Wrecker.
"For now." Whirl confirmed. "What you met was 'peace time' Whirl. Once this war is over with, I'll take another dip and see about working out a deal with that Rolex company I heard about."
"I'll be one of your first customers then." Allison laughed. "But where's Slash?"
"Right here." Said Dinobot answered, exiting into the clearing being Whirl.
"You used the lagoon too?" she asked, trying to see if there was anything different about her girlfriend.
"I did." Slash replied coyly. "Let's just say that I wanted to upgrade myself a little to make us a little more 'compatible'." She leaned in a little closer. "Maybe you'll find out how if you're a good girl"
"And if I'm a bad one?" Allison teased, trying hard not to blush.
"You might find out a little sooner." Slash answered, enjoying the blush on her girlfriends' face as her saber involuntarily deployed.
"Weapon boner!" Whirl teased without malice.
"It was a malfunction!"
"Stop teasing." Grimlock called. "Before we leave, me want to make sure these sparks are put back in ground." He added, indicating the pods Hun-Gurr and her team had filled. "Let's go." As the group began replanting the sparks, Snarl pulled Grimlock aside.
"Boss." The Dinobot medic began, double checking his readout. "Whatever happened to revive you also cured your deteriorating mental condition, including your glitchy speech centers." He looked at Grimlock. "So why are you still talking like that?"
Several seconds of silence reigned before grimlock retracted his mouth plate and visor, exposing his real blue opticed face.
"I like that it makes my opponents underestimate my intelligence." Grimlock answered in a normal sounding voice.
"I get it." Snarl snorted. Of course it would be something like that. "You Grimlock, like." He was cut off as his commanding officer transformed into his new raptor mode.
"Because me Grimlock, badass." The Dinobot leader finished with a toothy smile before leaving to help.
Several miles away from the valley, a scorched and dented Hun-Gurr was limping down a canyon that was filled with exposed Predacon fossils. She'd blacked out as she was soaring through the air and reactivated in the canyon. Having seen it on her teams' reconnaissance mission that found the valley, she knew where she was and that her ship wasn't too far away. A little time with the automated repair drones, and then she would use the ship to blow the energon river and burn the valley to the ground.
Petty, but worth it.
As she came to a bend near the end of the canyon, the femme observed a pair of flashes, one purple, one magenta. There was a brief rumbling before everything went still again. Then she heard a voice she hadn't heard in millions of years.
"Blast it!" Galvatron yelled as his latest attempt failed. "Apparently the synthetic enigma frequency will not work on mindless Terrorcons. I need a central intelligence to act as a bonding agent to get the desired result." He muttered.
"Galavar?" Hun-Gurr queried, rounding the bend. She noticed he was accompanied by an assortment of beast bots that made her now dead team look normal by comparison.
"Hun-Gurr?" Galvatron answered in shock. He hadn't seen his ex-conjunx since the height of the war. While she was a femme that he generally got along with, her desire for profit over power ultimately pushed them apart.
"You've come up in the world." Hun-Gurr purred as she attempted to strut up to her ex. He may have been an egomaniac, but that may be what she needs now.
"And you've certainly looked better." The mech answered, watching as she rested on a Predacon skull. Having a sudden flash of inspiration, he stepped up to the femme. "And I go by Galvatron nowadays."
"Just having a bad day." Hun-Gurr replied. "And the new name suits you, love the look." She purred, running a finger along one of his wings. "Tell me, do you have the firepower to match?"
"More than enough." Galvatron responded, preening a bit under the praise. "And I'm guessing that whatever did this to you is nearby."
"Never could slip one past you, could I?" Hun-Gurr sighed. "I had a run in with some Predacon throwbacks."
"So, the Dinobots did survive the fall." Galvatron guessed. "And what happened to your team?" He asked. He knew she'd hired the other four shortly after they separated.
"Between those lousy lizards, the Wrecker and the weird looking femme. Dead." She answered simply.
"Wrecker? Weird looking femme?" Galvatron asked. He hoped he was wrong, but considering his luck of late, that seemed unlikely.
"Blue helicopter with a yellow face and the femme looked like she was part organic." Hun-Gurr explained. "Kinda like your team here." She added.
"Slag it!" Galvatron cursed. The Dinobots he expected, but the other two were proof that the Autobots had arrived on Cybertron. "I was hoping to do this quietly."
"Maybe we have a common cause again, you and I?" Hun-Gurr purred, holding out a hand. Galvatron chuckled, taking it.
"Indeed." He began. "You always could give me what I wanted." Grabbing her arm with his other hand, Galvatron swung Hun-Gurr around and into the wall. Looking down, the femme saw she now had a Predacon rib protruding out from her midsection.
"Wh-why?" She sputtered, energon dribbling out her mouth and down her chin.
"What I really need right now, 'dear'." Galvatron began, picking up a gun-like emitter laced with the synthetic Enigma of Combination frequency and setting it next to him. "Is a living spark for all these new Terrorcons to combinewith." Opening his chest, Galvatron removed the Dark Matrix and aimed it at the wall next to Hun-Gurr. Moments later, several undead claws burst through the wall and grabbed onto the femme.
"No, NO!" Hun-Gurr cried out in fear. "Galvatron please!"
"You needn't worry though." Galvatron continued, ignoring his ex's terror. "You shall play a critical role in my conquest of the universe. Yes." Turning the emitter on her now, he fired a magenta beam at Hun-Gurr. The claws began to glow too as they pulled the femme into the wall with them.
"No! Nooo-" Her screams faded as she was pulled into the rock with the Terrorcons.
"Now that's one way to tell your ex to get boned." Spittor laughed.
"You were never around her when she was low on energon." Galvatron replied dismissively.
"So little miss Hun-Gurr would get Hangry." Shriek added, drawing an unamused look from their leader.
"Get back on your patrol." Galvatron ordered. As the two Predacons took off, the dragon bot began processing this newest piece of intel.
"We shall have to accelerate our plans." He spoke out loud. "My little Terrorcon project will need some time to incubate, but it should come out nicely." Turning away from where his ex had vanished, he looked at the ruined city of Tarn where Scorponok resided. Hopefully the warrior he allied himself with would return with good news.
"I may have to push a little harder on my Insecticon insider. Yes."
Back on Earth, Shockwave watched as Astrotrain took off with Megatron and Transmutate safely inside him. He wished he could've said more to them, but he knew that Tarantulas would regain control of him soon. And he really didn't want them around for this next part.
"Yes." The illusion of the Predacon scientist began. "This fabled method to free you from me. I admit I'm curious. Present situation aside, once someone's caught in my web, they tend to stay stuck."
"A situation I'm well aware of." Shockwave replied, returning to the cave where they'd been hiding. "I can free myself from you, albeit the process is rather drastic." Turning to his makeshift work bench, the former senator moved his amputated gun arm into position. Ironic that it would be used for this.
"Okay, putting your proper arm back on will save me some time." Tarantulas taunted.
"This is my solution." Shockwave began, setting one of the packing crates in front of the cannon and setting himself down on it. "I am going to remove myself from the board completely."
"WHAT!"
"You covet my mind to help with Unicrons' schemes." Shockwave explained. "And this is the only way to truly free myself and ensure he does not get it." Reaching out with his Vehicon arm, he picked up a simple push button on a cord connected to the triggering mechanism. Thankfully he made sure the gun had a built-in backup power source millennia ago.
"You, you can't!" Tarantulas yelled, trying to will his body to reassemble faster to prevent what he realized was about to happen. "IT ISN'T LOGICAL!"
Shockwave gave an insane sounding laugh as he turned to stare down the barrel of the gun.
"I KNOW!"
And he pushed the trigger.
In Las Vegas, Nemesis Prime heard Tarantulas before he sensed him. The Predacon scientists' scream of fury echoed throughout the pyramid. A moment later, the spider bot stomped through the door in a fury.
"I can't believe he did that!" He yelled. Turning to a control array, he let loose a volley of fire from the ends of his shoulders to vent his anger, destroying it in the process.
"I take it Shockwaves' services are no longer available." Nemesis Prime stated, unfazed by the Predacons' tantrum.
"NO!" Tarantulas confirmed angrily. "And the way he did it means we can't revive him as a genius Terrorcon either! Destroyed his own head." He muttered.
"Then we shall have to proceed without him." Nemesis continued. "I am sure you will be able to complete the dark energon seeders without his assistance."
"I should be able to build one and have the new fabrication arrays create the desired number of copies as I build it." He sighed. "That way, I won't have to build the same machine over and over again."
"And I shall be one step closer to freedom." Nemesis added.
"Master, if I may." Bludgeon interrupted. The skeletal samurai had stayed behind on Earth to act as a guard for both bots present. "While this plan is quite clever. Might I suggest this?" As he described his idea to the two, Nemesis Prime looked to Tarantulas.
"Well, can it be done?" He asked.
"I'll just have to set the arrays for a larger output and change my assembly procedure a bit, but yes."
"Then it shall be so." Nemesis Prime finished ominously.
A/N: And there we have it. A moment of silence for the noble senator Shockwave.
I know some of you wanted to give Grimlock the Transmetal Megatron form. However, while I didn't feel confident enough to write in THE Dinobot, I wanted the Maximals to have A Dinobot. He is based on his toy in the original Beast Wars line and appears organic in part due to the method of his revival. The fact that Maximal Grimlock is a Dinobot recolor also endeared me to that body.
My decision to make Hun-Gurr and the G1 Terrorcons freelance bots was an attempt to give a fresh spin on a less remembered combiner team (To say nothing of adding another femme to the mix). Albeit I had no idea what to call them since Terrorcon was already taken. And making her Galvatrons' ex was just a fun idea to try out to give him some more backstory.
As some of you have guessed, Megatrons' new body is a copy of Magmatrons' with a few extras. I really liked the triple split concept and wanted to incorporate it. Eventually, he will take on the name as a means to start over, but that will be for another chapter.
Next Time: Twin Cities, Twin Speakers pt.1
Until then, fave, follow, and review.
Thank you.