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Goldar and Cheetor raced
towards the towering monster, Cheetor transforming in mid-stride
and firing. The shots bounced harmlessly off Creature King's thick
body like bb's. With one swift movement he raised his right arm,
which ended with Razorthorne's beast head, and fired a stream
of fire at them. The force of the blast alone sent Cheetor flying
and Goldar tumbles next to him.
"Plan two?"
"You got one?"
"No, but I'm open to suggestions!"
The familiar spatter of Rhinox's twin machine guns cut through
the air and pounded on Creature King's chest. The behemoth turned
his attention to Rhinox, unleashing a series of laser blasts from
his eyes. Creature King said nothing, he fired at an ything that
was not a Lazerbeast or Predacon, he rarely missed.
"Get back to the base!" Optimus ordered, but even he
wasn't surprised when no one responded. They were all in shock,
staring up at this abomination created of both Beast and Cybertron.
Creature King towered above them, his eyes blazing with a red
glow more intense than the lava that flowed around them. Jaguar
and Violet Horn neared Optimus.
"We can't fight him!" Jaguar pointed to Creature King,
who at this very moment had opened fire upon them. Huge crags
of volcanic rock and ash littered the air around them as the remaining
Beasts and Maximals engaged him to no avail.
"They're not giving us much choice!" Optimus threw his
hand in front of his face to block a flying piece of rock.
"Jaguar is correct." Violet Horn agreed, sharing an
uncomfortable glance at Jaguar "These are our comrades, we
cannot harm them!"
"Look, I understand your concern but-" Optimus was cut
short by a tremendous hailstorm of laserfire from Creature King.
The force of the explosions around them hurled Optimus back into
the base. The volcano shuddered as rocks slid in front of the
opening to the maximal lair.
"Crap!" Jaguar shouted and narrowly missed being shot
by one of creature King's lasers. Rhinox fell down in front of
them, a deep burn mark smoldering in his shoulder. Big Serow joined
him and pulled the Maximal to his feet. He stared at Violet Horn.
"Sir, get inside the base!"
"And leave my beasts to perish? Hardly!"
"A couple more shots and we'll join you!"
Violet Horn and Jaguar looked at one another, then called to their
remaining Beasts. "Fires, Woods! Retreat to the base! Back
to base!"
Jaguar saw Cheetor and Goldar running towards them and turned
to make his way back. Violet Horn backed towards the entrance
and hesitated, looking back at Big Serow.
"I'm coming!" the deer yelled, backing towards the base
as well. "Go!" Violet Horn ran into the base and saw
Jaguar, Cheetor, and Goldar, then looked back only to see Big
Serow lift one of Rhinox's guns and collapse the opening of the
Maximal base with a string of fire that cut over three dozen huge
boulders free from above. They landed with an omnious 'thoom'
as Violet Horn realised what happened. From outside her heard
Big Serow.
"You'll be safe in there!"
"Big Serow!" he screamed and raced towards the sealed
entrance, "NO! Damn you-"
The shockwave from a blast outside threw him to the floor. He
struggled to one knee and glared at the pile of immovable rocks
in his way. He whispered.
"Damn you..."
Optimus came to and realized it was pitch black save for the few
safety lights still active in the base. The final shockwave must
have shorted most of their systems out. He could still hear the
battle going on outside, but he knew what must be happerning.
Soon the firing died down to nothing. Optimus hung his head and
thought of those who might be lost in this grim battle. As hard
as it was, he tried to concentrate on the situation at hand.
"We-we have to keep them from reaching the Ark. If they do,
our timestream will be destroyed."
Goldar stared at the door, the small amount of light reflecting
in his eyes. "Do you think they're..."
"I don't know." Jaguar lowered his head, "I don't
know..." Jaguar furrowed his brow and turned to the others.
They could hear the thundering outside the base, it shook the
holding terribly. Soon Creature King would uncover them. Something
Optimus said made him light up.
"I've got an idea."
"Oh come now!" Violet Horn ossed his hands in the air.
"What are we to do? Our very friends now despise us! 'Tis
a sad day indeed that this should be the end. I propose we meet
them in one final battle! Truly make them earn their ill fated
victory!"
"I've got a better idea Violet Horn, how about you shut up,
and let me talk!" he looked at the others. "Alright,
we're pretty much screwed as far as firepower is concerned, but
we've got one thing in our favor that MAY turn the tables for
us."
Optimus folded his arms and thought a moment when it hit him.
Megatron didn't truat anybody, and he seriously doubted that Aligatron
trusted Megatron. That alone could put a chink in their armor,
but-
"Aligatron hates ALL Transformers." Jaguar said aloud,
finishing Optimus' thought without knowing it. "Do you think
he's going to just do in Optimus? I don't think so. If he's got
a beef with anyone, it'd be Megatron."
"What do you mean?" Optimus leaned closer, curious as
to the beast's reasoning. Jaguar held a finger in the air.
"One, Megatron is reborn as Galvatron." He held up a
second finger. "Two, Galvatron strikes a deal with Aligatron,
at that time known as Gruesome Gator." He held up a final
finger. "Three, Galvatron deserts Gruesome and his beasts.
In the following battle, Gruesome gets a trident through his back
thanks to Badshark. To make a long story short, if there's no
Megatron, there's no Galvatron, there's no death for ol' Gruesome."
Optimus stared at Jaguar in amazement. "What about his power?"
Jaguar looked at the doorway and saw beams of light passing through,
they would clear the rubble any minute. "What about it? You
think Aligatron wants to be dead?"
"True," Violet horn conceeded. "Tis better to be
alive and in pain than to be not of the land of the living."
Optimus nodded. "Alright Jaguar, I'm all ears."
Creature King reared back and holwed in the underground volcano,
then struck the rocks a final time. They crumbled beneath his
might and fell like a curtain, granting them access to the Maximal's
last stronghold.
"Knock knock Maximals!" Skyshadow flew into the entranceway
and looked around the dark room. "They're gone Megatron.
"I highly doubt that, yes." Megatron stepped inside
and surveyed the area, but he could find no trace of the Maximals
or those annoying beasts. He continued forward.
Aligatron stepped over Blackarachnia's body and turned to Creature
King. "Good job Transcreatures. Separate, and enter."
As quickly as they had combined, The Transcreatures separated
from their combined form and landed gracefully next to Aligatron,
entering the lair before him. Skull Grotess remained by Aligatron's
side, the only lazerbeast able to walk after the battle. Megatron
marched forward with Skyshadow at his side. Only he and his Fuzors
were not damaged during the battle. Skyshadow smiled with the
smug knowledge that it was he and the rest of the Fuzors who cleverly
fired shots at their fellow Predacons and put them out of the
fight. Skyshadow took exceptional pleasure in firing a laser at
Megatron himself, a shot the hot tempered Predacon simply assumed
was fired by Optimus. Skyshadow could see the noticable dent in
his soon to be former commander's shoulder. A smile touched his
lips.
They came upon the door leading to the Ark, sealed off to anyone
without the access codes. Megatron ran a single claw down the
center of the thick metal, then braced himself and put all his
might into prying it open. A deep growl escaped him as he felt
the door slowly start to give. Aligatron watched the dis[lay of
brute force with passing interest. He lowered his head and closed
his eyes. A green aura began to engulf him, his clear body pulsing
with concentrated power. Silently, the beast walked forward. Still
wrenching againt the door, Megatron watched out of the corner
of his eye as Aligatron stepped into the reinforced cybertronian
alloy, and passed straight through it. Aligatron exited on the
other side of the door and collapsed to his knees, feeling drained.
It had taken a lot out of him to phase through something as dense
as a Cybertronian ship, something he was sure he couldn't do again
in he next few hours. A panel of controls splayed before him,
large, a lot bigger than Maximal or Predacon fingers were meant
to handle. He stared at the panel and ran a hand over it, the
last person to touch it had been Blackarachnia. He sensed the
urgency with which she padded the buttons, probably performed
in the midst of an attack. No matter, in five seconds he knew
what she had done, and raced his own fingers across thekeyboard,
imputting the code manually with speed no maximal or Predacon
could have believed him capable of. The final didgits entered,
he heard a hiss as the code was excepted and the door slid open.
Megatron entered the room and regarded the Beast a moment.
"Impressive."
"Indeed."
Megatron turned his attention to the darkened forms of the Autobots
sprawled across the floor, locked in a silent battle with the
Decepticons, Megatron's ancestors. Megatron smiled as he looked
at the Decepticon leader, his namesake, tapping his chestplate.
"Ah, my dear Megatron, your spark has a good home now."
With a sudden movement Megatron whipped his head around to face
the very Autobot he wanted to see. Optimus Prime.
"So optimus," Megatron smiled, "We meet again."
"Yes Megatron! We meet again!"
From all sides came Optimal Optimus, Jaguar, Cheetor, Violet Horn,
and Cheetor, their intent obvious, their purpose clear. They would
make their final stand here in the Ar, or die trying. Megatron
sneered at them, he'd make sure they took the second option.
Cheetor found himself once again racing beside Goldar, the two
made a formidable team. Cheetor noticed a weapon in Goldar's hand.
"Hey, what's that?"
"It's that metal rod we broke out of Rhinox's lab with, remember?"
Cheetor looked at the sword shaped instrument, it really did look
familiar.
Jaguar collided with Skull Grotess, never giving an inch as he
bared his claws and slashed Grotess across the eyes.
"Arrg!" Grotess lashed out blindly at Jaguar and missed,
as his fist whizzed over the beast Violet Horn dropkicked him
in the face, sending him stumbling back.
"Have at thee dragon!" Violet Horn leapt upon Grotess,
capitaling on Jaguar's opening.
Optimus open fired upon the Fuzors and Megatron with everything
he had. Trying to be careful, he aimed at the door and tried to
herd the Predacons in that direction. He tried to be as careful
as one could in a firefight, not wanting a richocette to damage
any of the autobot or Decepticon bodies. The Fuzors scattered,
leaving Megatron to face the full wrath of Primal's artillery.
A stray shot hit Aligatron and passed through him, the bullet
slowed as it slid through the matter and dropped harmlessly to
the ground. His glare travelled across the room and focused on
Optimal Optimus. Slowly, Aligatron stalked towards Optimus, who
noticed him when he was only ten feet away. Caught by surprise,
the Maximal leader fired at the beast, and was even more shocked
when he saw his bullets travelling straight through Aligatron.
Each bullet reacted to the dead aligator's body as the first did,
sliding through his sickening being and exiting the other side,
cold, useless, and dead.
Aligatron could feel every piece of metal that tore through him.
Though it did not cause him physical pain, the mental strain was
almost unbearable. Every bullet, every piece of artillery had
to be noted and accounted for, a passage in his body made for
it, or he risked slipping into a coma and fading out existence
from the shock. Finally, he reached Optimus and with a satisfying
growl thrust his hand straight into the maximal's chest. Opitmus
screamed as Aligatron clenched his fist inside of him, solidifying
himself just enough to take hold of Optimus' inner workings. A
sneer twisted Aligatron's face as he wrenched his hand free, a
streaming explosion of wires and internal components from Optimus
falling to the floor. They clanged loudly as they hit the floor.
Optimus' eyes went blank as he fell face first into Megatron,
who threw him aside like a sack of scrap metal.
On the opposite side of the room Skull grotess battled both Jaguar
and Violet Horn. The two proved a worthy pair when they worked
together, and Grotess was driven back, forced to cover himself
with his wings as a sheild against their strikes. In a fit or
rage he spead his wings and growled. "You blasted beasts!
Come fight me, I'll show you why Dragons are the mythical wonders
of this world and ours!"
"Sounds like a challenge." Jaguar took after Grotess,
swinging his spear at him and missing. Grotess grabbed Jaguar
by his good arm and winged him against the wall. Jaguar hit with
a thud and instantly regained his footing, pouncing once again
at Grotess. Another slash across his eyes brought a screech from
the Lazerbeast, Grotess summoned the power within him, and caught
Jaguar in the chest with a burst of purple energy that sent him
into the air and into the same wall he'd been slammed into before.
As Jaguar tried to pull himself up Violet Horn attacked, slamming
Grotess repeatedly until the dragon spun behind him and clasp
a handful of Violet Horn's thick mane in his hands. With incredible
power Grotess slung the bison into the air by his dark brown hair
and slammed him into the ground. Blood poured from Violet Horn's
mouth but he still tried to get up, receiving a kick from Grotess
in the neck for his troubles. He slumped to the ground, and Grotess
placed a triumphan foot upon his chest.
"Stupid beast. You were never a match for me-"
Jaguar rocked Grotess with a savage right that sent Grotess off
his feet and sailing backwards. Jaguar clasp his hand in the other
and winced.
"Crap! I'll bet that's broke!" He ran after Grotess
and pulled out his spear a second before Grotess saw him. Summoniung
more power Grotess raised his hand, intent on blowing off jaguar's
head. Instead, he received Jaguar's spear through the appendage.
Grotess howled as blood cut through the air and hit the floor.
He ripped the weapon out of his hand and turned to face Jaguar,
his thoughts indescribable, the images of what he would do to
the beast too hideous to mention. Jaguar moved to continue his
fight with Grotess when a monstrous shadow loomed over him. Glancing
back, Jaguar found hiumself standing before Creature King, something
he never wished to see this close. A blast from the monstrocity's
eyes rendered the beast unconscious. Jaguar could see heetor and
Goldar laying on the ground, having suffered the same fate as
he. Grotess looked up at the thing. He didn't appreciate the interference.
"If I wanted your help, beast-thing, I'd have asked for it."
With that he turned and made to return to Aligatron. Creature
King followed.
Megatron saw the gestalt moving in his direction and motioned
for him to follow.
"Transcreatures, you are about to make history, or rather,
detroy it!" Megatron pointed a claw at Optimus Prime. "Destroy
him, NOW!"
Creature King raised his right arm and gathered energy at the
mouth of a hand he posessed. It lit the room, Megatron looking
on anxiously as Creature King prepared to fire.
"Creature King, stop."
Megatron spun and found himself face to face with Aligatron. He
stared at the beast, wide eyed and in disbelief.
"WHAT?" he screamed in his face. "Have you gone
mad?!"
Aligatron paid him no mind. "Ceature King, destroy Megatron."
A smile pulled on Aligatron's liops as Megatron backed away or
fear of his life, shocked to see Creature King ignore him and
step away.
"You see." Megatron glared at Aligatron. "He can't
harm me, it's not in his programming!"
Aligatron ignored the outburst and looked over the Predacon's
shoulder. Megatron, still in disbelief, looked over his own shoulder.
A look of horror washed over his already dark face as he finally
realized what Aligatron had meant when he uttered his command.
Creature King stood before them, the body of the Decepticon leader
Megatron in his hand.
"By the pit! NOOOO!" Megatron turned to Skyshadow, his
loyal follower, apparently they would have to dispose of the Beasts
together. He turned to aligatron and smiled.
"Clever, I admit Aligatron, but like my namesake, I always
cover my bets. Skyshadow, Fuzors! Destroy Aligatron!"
"Sure thing Megatron!" Skyshadow transformed to robot
mode and held his right hand towards Aligatron, then turned and
fired a shot from his mouth that caught Megatron flush in the
chest. Another shot to his legs, arms and head sent him to the
ground.
"I'm through taking orders from you, Decepticon spawn!"
Skyshadow signalled to the others and Instigator, Injector, and
Manterror readied their weapons and fired upon Megatron. His screams
echoed through the complex.
Skyshadow laughed with glee at Megatron's pain.
Quickstrike refrained from attacking, remaining where he was,
slightly backed away from the others. Skyshadow turned to him.
"Alright you pathetic loyalist, get over here, NOW!"
Quickstrike meagerly approached Skyshadow, who put a caring arm
around him.
"Quickstrike, let's make things right." He pointed to
Megatron, still being pummelled by a steady stream of fire by
the Fuzors. "You don't want to follow a pathetic loser like
megatron do you? NO, of course you don't. You want to be on the
winning team, don't you?" He smiled, revealing his double
rows of serrated teeth. "So say you'll join me, join your
fuzor brothers. Whatta ya say?"
Quickstrike looked from Skyshadow to Megatron, then back again.
He pushed himself free of the fuzor's grasp.
"This ain't right! Ah'm loyal to Megatron, an if you don't
like it-"
Skyshadow had Quickstrike by the throat before he could finish.
"Oh that's okay. It's nothing to lose you're head over."
With that Skyshadow snarled and ripped Quickstrike's head clear
off his body with a stomch churning screech of metal and the remains
of Quickstrike's voicebox. He uttered a single whimper and died.
"You FOOLS!" he screamed, "Don't you understand
what he's doing?! Aligatron will destroy us all! Have you forgotten
who your anscestors are?!"
"I know who I'm descended from!" skyshadow's snout wrinkled
as he spoke, his anger rising "And his HEAD is orbiting Cybertron!"
Megatron's eyes widened at the confession. It had never dawned
on him before. The thought registered a split second before the
searing pain gripped him, not the artillery from the Fuzors, but
the temperal storm that was beginning. He looked over at Aligatron,
who was now beside Creature King, the monster slowly squeezing
the original Megatron into nothing. Megatron could see himself
disappearing, feeling the pain of both his ancestor as well as
his own as he and his predacons began to vanish from existence.
Cheetor lay on his side and was awakened by the sound of the destruction
unfolding around him.. He saw Goldar trying to stand and noticed
the beast's weapon afar off. He stared at it a bit longer when
it hit him. "Now I remember!" He shouted. "That's
the anti virus we used on Optimus when he became super aggressive!"
"So?"
"So hit Creature King with it! That stuff makes you see more
clearly, calms your circuits, and those guys sounded like they
could really use it!"
Goldar picked up the anti virus in his hand and looked over at
Creature King. Cheetor transformed to beast mode and sped off,
Goldar leapt and landed on his back. Together they raced towards
the beast gestalt. Before Aligatron sensed them Cheetor launched
himself into the air, at his peak height Goldar leapt as well,
bringing himself up to Creature King's neck. Goldar allowed himself
to fall, weapon poised. With a howl he burried the spike of the
anti virus devis straight into the creature's neck, and watched
as the remaining antivirus drained into his system. Goldar fell
and landed atop Cheetor as Creature King dropped Megatron's body
and screamed in pain. The combined agony of their former friends
was in that scream, each a recognizable shade of its former self.
Creature King stumbled back, the light in his eye fading from
red to black, from black to green. He fell, seperating into his
five components as he did so. The Transcreatures hit the ground
with a clang and lay still. Aligatron growled and turned towards
the Decepticon leader.
"No!" he growled. "Transcreatures! Kill them!"
The Transcreatures ragained their footing, each looking at their
bodies as if for the first time. Torpedo looked to Nightmare.
"This is... not my body." She whispered. Nightmare turned
his hands in front of him, examining the claws. Cheetor and Goldar
soon found themselves joined by Jaguar and Violet Horn. Optimus
limped over to them, his chest a mess of torn wires and metal,
he could barely stand. The Transcreatures looked from Aligatron
to Optimus and the other beasts.
"Who-what happened to us?" Nightmare asked.
"You are MY creations!" Aligatron shouted, "I said
KILL THEM!" Skull Grotess stood behind his leader, ready
to fight. The Transcreatures faced the mad beast as one. Nightmare's
voice booming in the enclosed room.
"No." Together the Transcreatures fired upon Aligatron
and Grotess, sending Grotess sailing across the room and peircing
Aligatron countless times. Their power was greater than he expected.
Holding his hands before him, he could feel the beams passing
through, their sporatic nature made it almos impossible to allow
them passage. Soon Aligatron's mental stregnth began to fade,
he fell to the ground as a thin layer of mistformed around him.
"No." he growled weakly as he fell, caught in midair
by Grotess. The dragon shot the lot of them a wicked glare and
ascended into the air.
"This is NOT over beasts!" With that he took flight,
exting the Maximal Lair.
Skyshadow fired another shot at the fallen Megatron. "Who
ares if you defeated him!" he shouted at the Maximals. "I'M
your new concern now! I lead the Predacons now! Once we regroup,
the Maximals will be no more-" Skyshadow's tirade was cut
short by the taloned hand of dragon Megatron. He raised the fuzor
into the air, almost shaking with fury. "Et tu Skyshadow?"
he managed, readying a flame within his mouth as he spoke. "If
it isn't one traitor, it's another!" Before the predacon
could be rid of the traitor, the remaining Fuzors pulled Skyshadow
free, dragging him towards from the lair.
"You'r gonna die Megatron! I swear it!" They were gone.
Megatron found himself alone with the Maximals, beasts, and Transcreatures.
They stared at him, expecting the worse from him.
"This day is lost." He said, more to himself than anyone
else. Nightmare's eyes began to glow a deep shade of red. He growled
at Megatron.
"Get out."
Megatron looked about a final time, backing away as he did so,
thinking of everything he'd been through, everything he'd lost
in this deal with the beasts, and the new faction of fuzors just
waiting to kill him the next chance they got. A smile came to
him. Without a word Megatron spread his wings and flew from the
Maximal base. The beast wars would end one way or the other, but
there could be- would be, only one outcome. He, Megatron, would
triumph.
Jaguar was awakened the next morning by Goldar's frntic voice.
"Jaguar! They're gone! They're gone!"
"Whoa, get a grip Goldar, what?"
Goldar tried to compose himself. "The Transcreatures, they're,
they're gone!"
"What?!" Jaguar ran out of his room and into the CR
chamber holdings where the Transcreatures had agreed to stay that
night. They were not there. Violet Horn joined them in the doorway
and shook his head. "The meaning of this escapes me. Why
didst they leave...?"
Optimus approached them from behind. "I'm sorry."
Jaguar and Violet Horn turned to him, a mixture of emotions on
their faces. Optimus wasn't quite sure what to say.
"They probably need time to adjust. This is a hard thing
for them. You saw them after they got a dose of the antivirus,
it was like they went to sleep and awoke in these new bodies."
He paused. "It's a lot to take in."
"We could have helped them." Goldar said. His voice
was low.
"Yeah," Jaguar sighed, turning from Optimus and heading
back to his room. His voice was barely a whisper, verging on the
edge of anger and sorrow. "I guess so." About halfway
down the hallway he flexed his claws and swiped them across the
wall with an angered growl, bringing sparks as he did so.
Jaguar was silent on the ride back to the Fires' base. It was
only he, Death spider and Goldar this ride, and no one felt like
talking. Finally, Goldar piped up. "Hey Jaguar."
Jaguar didn't respond, he just looked at him.
"I, uh, I found this in the CR room right before we left."
He handed Jaguar a small piece of paper, thick black letters were
scribbled on it.
"What is this?"
"Read it."
Jaguar pulled the Tearing Tiger over and took the paper from Goldar.
His eyes ran over the page.
It read:
Friends,
Thank you for freeing us from Aligatron. Our wills were not our
own, and although we could see every terrible thing he made us
do, there was nothing we could do to stop it. We don't deserve
friends such as you, and don't want to put you in anymore danger.
We don't know what we've become, and until we do, we're a danger
to you and everyone we hold dear. We hope you can forgive us,
and with time, maybe we can forgive ourselves.
Thank you for being a friend,
Nightmare, Rabid, Informer, Torpedo, and Razorthorne.
Jaguar read the note repeatedly. He didn't move. Goldar placed
a hand on his shoulder. "You gonna be alright?"
"Yeah," he looked at the note again, "Yeah. But,
you better drive the rest of the way home, okay?" Goldar
switched seats with Jaguar and revved up the chariot.
"Sure thing." He whispered, and put it in drive.
It was a long ride home.
The end
