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Goldar brought the Tearing Tiger chariot to a screeching halt two and a half inches from the steel barriers erected by the Maximals. The other passengers, Power Jaguar, Death Spider, Dog Hunter, and Hedgehog gripped the sides for dear life. Jaguar quickly jumped off the side of the chariot and pulled his little brother from the driver's seat as he did so.
"That's the LAST time I let you drive, Goldar!"
"Oh come on Jaguar, at least I didn't hit anyone this time.." he looked at the ground. "Well, trees don't count, do they?"
Jaguar knelt and pulled a pine branch from the mouth of the Chariot, waving it in Goldar's face. "You're going to pluck every single needle out of that thing when we get back..."
Hedgehog checked his quills and smoothed them out. "You know, I don't know which is worse, Goldar's driving, or Dog Hunter's slobbering along the way!
"Hey!" Dog Hunter objected "I like letting my tongue hang in the wind, thank you."
"Yeah, but not when it's hanging all over me!"
"Oh yeah? Hang this!"
Before Hedgehog could run, Dog Hunter had him in a headlock, administering a series of grinding noogies.
"Help!" he pleaded, "This is inhumane!"
Jaguar laughed and shook his head. "Alright, that's enough you two. Come on."
They followed, Hedgehog rubbing his head. The steel walls the Maximals had constructed were impressive, considering it was built with leftover scrap from their ship. Jaguar tapped on the wall, hearing a metallic echo from inside. Goldar joined his side.
"Think we should've brought a cake?"
Jaguar smiled. "I don't think they want any housewarming presents until after they get back to New Cybertron."
With a low hiss, the hydraulic system parted the walls, allowing Jaguar and his beasts entrance. Rhinox's voice boomed over a hidden speaker.
"Glad your here, come on in."
The Beasts entered, being promptly met by Silverbolt and Cheetor. The winged wolf flew down with whimsical salutations.
"Greetings friends! I am Silverbolt, and this is Cheetor." Cheetor recognized Jaguar and Death Spider immediately. "Hey, long time no see!"
Jaguar looked Cheetor over, confused. The Beasts had minimum contact with the maximals in the last few months, they'd had their own problems with Aligatron and the Lazerbeasts. Their last transmission was brief at most. Truthfully, it wasn't a transmission they were supposed to receive, but Power Nozzle had picked it up while testing for Lazerbeast signals. As best they could tell, the situation between the Maximals and Predacons had gotten a lot more intense, with some major gains and losses on both sides.
Chettor sensed Jaguar's confusion and smiled. The last time they'd met he was a regular cheetah in beast mode. Now he'd gone Transmetal 2, no wonder the big cat was befuddled.
"What do ya think of my new look?" Cheetor maximized, still shorter than Jaguar in robot mode.
"It's.. interesting."
"Yeah, it's awesome!" he leaned closer to Jaguar and lowered his voice so Silverbolt couldn't hear. "The chicks love it! I caught Blackarachnia checking me out yesterday..."
"Uh, that's great Cheetor..." Jaguar shuddered at the thought of that spider woman checking anybody out, but kept it to himself.
Optimal Optimus emerged from the base and greeted the new arrivals. Jaguar looked up at the hulking mass of metal.
"I see you've put on some weight."
Optimus laughed and patted Jaguar lightly on the back. "It's good to see you too! Glad you brought your sense of humor along, you'll need it if what you've told me is true."
"The Lazerbeasts joining the Predacons, oh yeah, it's true." Jaguar pointed to his accompanying Beasts. "This is Hedgehog and Dog Hunter, Goldar,and you may or may not remember Death Spider. You were in pretty bad shape last time we met."
"Yes, I recall."
"So let's get started, the sooner we take out Ghost Aligatron, the sooner we-"
"Not so fast," Optimus halted Jaguar, "We're expecting more of your friends."
"Oh no..." Goldar groaned and smacked his forehead. "You didn't invite those stupid Woodies did you?"
The confusion on Optimus' face told the Fire Beasts he didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about. Jaguar folded his arms and sighed, visibly annoyed.
Silverbolt, confused by the Beasts' actions, asked them what the problem was. Jaguar answered.
"Fire Beasts don't like Wood Beasts. Never have, never will."
Dog Hunter added with a smile "They're still mad about that whole 'Fire beats Wood' thing..."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, you're all Beasts, are you not?" Silverbolt was still confused. "I thought you were all friends."
Jaguar almost laughed at the notion. "We would be, if Violet Horn's head wasn't so far up his-"
"Aha!" Hedgehog shouted, "Here come the tree huggers now."
The low rumble of the Woods' chariot, the Deer Stalker, could be heard as it approached. It rolled along at a steady pace, coming to a halt before Optimus. Driving the chariot was Violet Horn himself, leader of the Wood Beasts. Along with the great bison came Big Serow, Dream Eater, Yellow Giraffe,and Flying Attacker, each holding onto the Deer Stalker's side supports.
"Greetings friend!" Violet Horn approached Optimus with an extended hand. "A new body for a new meeting eh?"
"Greetings to you too Violet Horn, I'm glad you could make it."
Jaguar flattened his ears and glared at Violet Horn. "That makes one of us."
Violet Horn heard the snide remark and turned towards Jaguar. "Ah Jaguar, a pleasure as always."
"Trust me, the pleasure's all yours."
Big Serow began to approach "You know what? I've had just about enough of your sh-"
Violet Horn held out a hand to silence the angry deer. "Now Big Serow, 'tis not the time for such trivialities." He glared back at Jaguar "We've much bigger things to be concerned about, correct Optimus?"
Optimus wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, but thought it best to get the beasts inside and keep them separated. "That's correct. Come on, let's go inside."
Silverbolt and Cheetor looked at each other and shrugged, following behind.
**********
Positioned just beyond the Maximal's stronghold, Scarem watched the Maximals and Beastformers entered the base. He, along with Scavenger, Jetstorm, and Iguanus had been sent by Megatron with orders to do heavy damage.
"They're inside."
"Eeeexceleeeent!" Scavenger shouted, transforming to vehicle mode. "Then we's gonna have ourselves a party right now! Predacons, follow meeee!"
"Not so fast!" Iguanus jumped in Scavenger's way. "We need a plan first, we can't just run in there guns blazing!"
Jetstorm transformed and hovered above Iguanus. "Why not?"
"Because we need a plan first, that's why!"
Scavenger revved his engine, impatient. "Look, I ain't standing around waiting for you to get an idea. We hit em hard noooow, when they don't expect a thing!
Scarem transformed to insect mode and scurried alongside of Scavenger. "I gotta agree. We need to catch 'em off guard."
Iguanus sighed, outvoted. "Fine. Sic 'em boys."
With a howl Scavenger tunneled underground, Jetstorm took to the air and Scarem scrambled along on land, Iguanus close behind.
**********
"Optimus!" Rhinox squinted at the screen which registered three predacon signals headed their way. "The preds are at it again!"
"Preds huh?" Goldar rubbed his hands together. "Been a long time since we tangled with them huh bro?" Jaguar shook his head. "You mean first time for you. You never fought a Predacon before."
"Ah, Lazerbeast, Predacon, what's the difference?"
The base shook as the Predacons pressed their attack. Optimus immediately began giving orders. "Cheetor, you and Silverbolt cover me. Rhinox, where's Rattrap?!"
"Still out scouting, won't be back till tomorrow."
"And Blackarachnia?"
Rhinox just looked at him.
"Okay okay, stupid question."
"If I might offer my assistance Optimus." Violet Horn and his beasts stood ready, weapons in hand.
"It's too dangerous Violet Horn, I don't want to chance you or your Beasts getting injured. That goes for you too Jaguar- Jaguar?"
Jaguar and Goldar were gone, Optimus heard the doors opening.
"The fool." Violet Horn muttered. "He's gone to face them."
"Well that's just prime! Cheetor, Silverbolt, come on!"
The Maximals sprinted from the base only to find that Jaguar and Goldar had already engaged the Predacons.
"Glad you could make the party Optimus!" Jaguar shouted as he battled Iguanus. Iguanus fired his rifle repeatedly, but Jaguar deflected the shots with his spear, ducking as Silverbolt hit the pred from behind.
Goldar dodged Scarem's claws as they whizzed past.
"Hold still animal!" Scarem swung three more times, missing with each attempt. Goldar spun and kicked him between the eyes, leaving a sharp crack in the Predacon's head. Scarem reeled while Goldar gave Cheetor the go ahead. With five well placed shots, Cheetor sent Scarem to the ground. Goldar walked over to the downed robot and ripped one of his claw off. Cheetor looked horrified.
"W-what did you do that for?!"
Goldar held the appendage up for inspection. "A souvenir. Want one?"
"Uh, I'll pass."
Jetstorm flew overheard, firing upon them.
"Take cover!" Cheetor grabbed Goldar and leapt behind a small boulder.
"Die Maximals!" Jetstorm swung around for another pass when he flew straight into Optimus.
"Not today." With that Optimus swatted Jetstorm and sent him flying, unconscious.
"Alright Optimus!" Cheetor and Goldar came out from their hiding spot. Jaguar and Silverbolt came over as well, having disposed of Iguanus.
"Well, that was easy."
"Too easy. If I know Megatron, he's got something else planned."
No sooner had Optimus spoken the words and explosion came from inside the base.
**********
Scavenger stood over Rhinox's unconscious form. "Weren't expecting that, weeeeere you?! Now to dispoooose of Optimus Prime!"
"I think not."
Scavenger turned to see Violet Horn and the rest of the beasts gathered behind him.
"Ooooo! You're new! But you're still gonna dieeeee!" With that the crazed Predacon charged forward, slamming into Violet Horn and sending him across the room.
"Violet Horn!" With a sneer Big Serow commanded the beasts "Beasts! Now!"
As a combined mass the Beasts overtook Scavenger, Yellow Giraffe and Dog Hunter held his arms pinned behind his back, driving him to his knees. Big Serow approached.
"So you like drills huh boy? Weapon!"
Big Serow's left hand immediately morphed into a serrated orange drill, it whirred as he raised it to Scavenger's chest.
**********
Primal and the Beasts heard a horrific scream as they re entered the Maximal base. Cheetor covered his ears.
"Primus, what was that?"
Primal ran into the control room and saw the Beasts standing over Scavenger, or what was left of him. His parts were everywhere, strewn about the floor like debris. Primal could barely identify his torso, which looked like it had been drilled through at numerous points and angles. The rest of the Fire beasts were tossing his disconnected head around while the Wood beasts helped Violet Horn to his feet.
"Rhinox, Violet Horn! Are you alright?"
"Fine as can be Optimus! 'Twas merely a minor skirmish."
Rhinox groaned and got to his feet. "Scavenger got the drop on me, but the Beastformers took care of him." he looked around at Scavenger's parts. "Real good care I see."
"Good to hear that. I should have known there would have been another Pred sneaking around. And as for you..." Optimus glowered down at Jaguar. "The next time I give you an order-"
"Before you make a big mistake Primal, let's get one thing straight. I do not take orders from you. If we're going to work together, you better understand that I'm your equal, I have my own soldiers to command. Don't expect me to let you run the whole show, especially since we're doing you a favor. You called us, remember?"
Optimus clearly didn't appreciate being spoken to like that in front of the other Maximals but realized Jaguar had a point.
"Alright, I won't presume to give you orders, but try to work together with us alright?"
"Yes," Violet Horn stood next to Optimus and crossed his arms. "Surely you don't wish our mission to fail because of your stubbornness."
"Give it a rest Violet Horn, Optimus doesn't need his butt kissed every hour on the hour."
Violet Horn took a step towards Jaguar "How dare you insinuate-"
"Stop it you two!" We have to make preparations in case the Predacons really have joined forces with the Lazerbeasts." Optimus looked from one beast to the other.
"Yeah, whatever." Jaguar sighed. "As long as ragin bull here stays out of my face."
"Tis more than a simple task. Besides, I prefer to stay aloof of anything that would give me fleas."
Optimus sighed and shook his head.
**********
The Predacons managed to salvage a small section of their main computer after Tigerhawk had struck their base like an errant asteroid. Sentinel had been all but destroyed, but Megatron had downloaded a small part of the program into himself as a precaution. He now downloaded that into the makeshift machine, hoping for minimal success at best. Ghost Aligatron looked on as the machine sparked to life, uploading the program from Megatron's inner database. A small hologram map appeared, displaying the area.
"Excellent." Megatron breathed. "Now," he pointed to an area close to the Maximal base "This is where I have positioned my first set of troops."
Aligatron looked unimpressed. "If so, they have failed by now."
Megatron started to say something but received a message from Jetstorm over his com link.
"Megatron... we were...overwhelmed....animal creatures with the maximals....mission failed...."
"Blast!" Megatron cut communication and stared at the map. He felt Aligatron's gaze upon him.
"Megatron, you look in the wrong places for victory."
"Is that so? You have a plan of action Aligatron?""
"I do."
Aligatron approached the scrap-pile of a computer and waved his hand through it. The map immediately changed, displaying the cosmos.
"You try to find weapons on this dismal planet, when you have forgotten that the greatest treasure, the greatest weapon, lies in the stars."
The map readjusted itself again, panning closer to the planet Earth, stopping just outside it's orbit. As it zoomed in, Megatron realized what Aligatron was talking about. A ring of small orbiting objects came into view.
Megatron smiled. "The stasis pods..."
Aligatron said nothing. Megatron almost seemed amused by the idea.
"Do you think I haven't thought of that? A new Predacon would certainly tip the scales, yes, but by the time the next one leaves it's orbit, the Beast Wars will be over."
"Why wait for what could happen, when we can make it happen now?"
"And you can make this happen?"
"My Lazerbeasts are more than capable of retrieving a number of stasis pods from their orbit, but it would not do to simply allow the new arrivals to adopt ordinary beast modes. We need your Transmetal 2 technology to make them stronger, more powerful."
"Hmmm.. I rather like the idea, yes... So be it, you retrieve the stasis pods, and I shall augment them with my Transmetal 2 technology. They would be unstoppable!"
"Indeed. All you must do is keep the Maximals and Beastformers occupied."
Megatron nodded in agreement as Aligatron addressed his Lazerbeasts.
"Skull Grotess, you and Slag King will the retrieve the pods. The rest of you will remain with the Predacons."
"Call me paranoid," Megatron pulled Inferno to his side and approached Aligatron, "But I would rather send Inferno on this stasis Pod gathering with your Lazerbeasts. Just in case they should run into any...problems."
"That really is not necessary."
"Nonsense!" Inferno shouted " You will obey the words of the royalty!" Before he could blink Skull Grotess had him by the throat, hoisting him into the air.
"Watch how you speak, robot."
"Release him Grotess, he does not know any better."
Skull Grotess looked from the robot to Aligatron, then tossed Inferno to the ground. Aligatron continued. "If you wish Megatron, Inferno will join Grotess and Slag King. My Lazerbeasts are ready to assist with the Maximals and Beastformers. Now I must go."
"To make preparations no doubt."
"Indeed."
Aligatron trailed away, disappearing from sight. Skull Grotess left with Slag King and Inferno, and Megatron decided it was time for a major strike against the Maximals.
"Ah, I love it when a plan comes together...yesss...."
*********
Aligatron allowed himself to walk along the ground. He had no reason to, as he could easily teleport to the Lazerbeast ship if he wished, but he wanted time to think. Things were going just as he planned, and no doubt Megatron had plans of his own. Soon the stasis pods would be in their possession. He wasn't worried about the pitiful bot Megatron had sent with Skull Grotess and Slag King. When the time came, they'd know what to do. As for his other Lazerbeasts, they too had their own special orders, and he had every confidence that they would carry them out flawlessly. He stopped walking and decided it was time to address a matter that had been grating on his nerves all day.
"How long do you intend to follow me?"
A flying creature leapt down from the trees. Aligatron regarded the creature a moment after it landed before him and saw that it resembled two creatures, an iguana with the the winds and tail of a dragonfly. Red and blue markings decorated its face, and it had barely landed before saying "I wondered when you'd notice."
"And you are?"
The iguana/dragonfly transformed, it's robot mode equally as confusing as its beast mode. "The name's Skyshadow, and I've been dying to talk to you."
"Very well, speak" Aligatron began to walk again, Skyshadow keeping up beside him.
"I couldn't help but overhear your little discussion with Megatron back there."
"I know."
"You knew?"
"Of course. One as paranoid as Megatron must always have a spy to protect him. Besides, I've felt your presence since my meeting with him."
Skyshadow looked insulted. "You think I'm a spy for him? Haha! Couldn't be more wrong."
"Am I?"
"Yeah, and I think you did a pretty good job of pulling the wool over his eyes."
Aligatron was becoming bored with this spy already. "Meaning?"
"Well for starters, you don't have a thing against Optimus Prime, it's Rodimus Prime you hate. From what I've found, you got a gripe against the Decepticons too."
Aligatron stopped. and Skyshadow smiled.
"I thought that might get your attention."
Aligatron turned to face the fuzor.
"Interesting. So you know of Beastformer history? Even Megatron claimed to be ignorant of it."
"I made it a point to learn about the Beastformers. Slag, they were the reason for Galvatron's death. Well, one of many."
"I'm impressed. tell me, how do you know of these things and not Megatron."
"You'd be surprised at the things you come across on a Golden Disk. Blackarachnia wasn't the only one who made a copy before it was destroyed."
""And you kept this from your master?"
Skyshadow visibly shook with anger. "He's NOT MY MASTER! Nobody is. Megatron's a fool, I hate him. We all do."
"We?"
With a smug grin Skyshadow crossed his arms. "The other fuzors. We hate having to run that maniac's errands like little servant boys. We want him dead, and I think you do too."
"That remains to be seen."
"What say you and I team up? I saw what your Lazerbeasts are capable of, you don't need Megatron, or the Predacons for that matter."
Aligatron's eyes began to glow a dull red, a smile touched his lips. "And what makes you think I would need you?"
"Uh, " the fuzor began to regret his choice of words. "I can be your informer! There's nothing better than a spy amongst the ranks of a common enemy."
"You realize if you betray me I'll enter your very cerebral core and make you tear your own inner workings out."
Skyshadow grimaced at the thought. "All the more reason not to betray you, though I had no intentions of doing so."
"Good. Then I can trust you to deliver a message to my Lazerbeasts."
"Of course."
Aligatron allowed Skyshadow to walk with him a little farther before sending him back to the Predacons. His orders were quite clear, all he had to do was pull them off. As Skyshadow flew back he couldn't hide the wicked smile etched into his face.
"Soon Megatron, oh yeah, real soon. I can't wait for the moment when you call me master..."
