The fragile contact It had established disintegrated, and the Presence It had felt faded away into the stream of other Presences, muted once again. It felt a crushing wave of despair. Its children were dying! It *had* to get help.
"Jumpin' gyros, I gotta lay off the midnight snacks," he murmured, arching his back in a classic cat-stretch before settling back into place. If the Preds had anything to do with it, *none* of them would be getting much sleep in the near future; might as well take
advantage of the opportunity while they could.
Had anyone been around to see the group of animals that stalked through the forest that night, they would have been struck dumb with amazemnt, if not by the two dinosaurs alone, then by the strange spectacle of a giant fire ant lugging a cannon-like contraption behind it. The little group crashed through the withering underbrush, oblivious to all else but their own concerns.
"Ah, that was most satisfying, yes," Megatron said, exulted by their 'victory'. "Now all we have to do is wait."
"I *still* don't understand why we didn't attack, Megatron. They were *defensless*," Scorponok intoned for the umpteenth time since the Predacons had left the Maximal base. Megatron sighed heavily.
"Good help is *so* hard to find these days. I want the Maximals to suffer, to drive themselves to distraction trying to second-guess us. I want them to sit in their base and *think* about the fact that we could crush them at any time. And when they've exhausted themselves and their guard is down...we strike!" Behind and above him Terrorsaur flapped his wings angrily and soared up a little higher.
"Strike? Strike *out* you mean. Megatron is such a fool. We should have destroyed the Maximals when we had the chance!" He muttered to himself. Blackarachnia was an even bigger fool if she thought Megatron would defeat the Maximals for them. In fact, she was fool for waiting at all. Suddenly, an idea took hold. Had it been capable of doing so, Terrorsaur's beak would have curved into a crafty smile.
"Why not?" He whispered and dropped back behind Waspinator, until he was gliding just above Inferno and their new weapon. Stealthily he landed on the small platform before the controls and terrorized, waiting to see if Inferno would notice. Thankfully, the ant continued its single-minded march after his "royalty". Well, after a moment there would be a *new* royalty. Ahead of them, Blackarachnia was bickering loudly with Scorponok, effectively masking any sound he made. Luck was with him! Slowly, quietly, he readjusted the settings on the weapon, and brought its sights to bear right in the center of Megatron's head.
Help me, please help me. Look around you, young Seer. Already this scene is being painted. I can't stop it! I can't last much longer. A voice came out of nowhere, seeming to surround him. With a start he recognized it as the voice that had woken him earlier.
"This is too weird. Who are you?" He waited a few moments, but was offered no further answer. Abruptly, the blistered landscape melted away, and a new scene was laid before him.
"This is Pred territory." He said softly, noticing the many lava-formed rocks and volcanoes. Before him was a large rock formation, unusual in its utter eveness. With a start he realized it was an entrance to a cave, an archway...decorated with symbols he hadn't seen in months, had hoped never to see again. Alien symbols that had been all over the probe at the Standing Stones. Then, from deep inside the shadowy cave, a now familiar voice floated out.
Help me Without warning, the ground caved away from under him, and he plummeted down into the earth.
"So long, Megatron." He whispered and depressed the trigger. The weapon hummed to life, a deadly bolt of white hot energy forming at the mouth of its barrel.
"Inferno- Terrorize!" Terrorsaur had no time to react to the words as the red robot whipped around and hurled himself at the base of the weapon, and sending it crashing to its side. The bolt of energy spewed forth as expected, but went horribly wide of its intended target, cutting a wide swath of destruction in the terrain near it, leaving nothing but a few charred pieces of wood.
"It is as you said, my Queen; the flier sought to terminate you." Inferno growled, his flame-thrower trained on Terrorsaur. Megatron turned lazily towards the spectacle and smiled coldly at the would-be assasain.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk Terrorsaur, don't you know better by now? Inferno-"
"Death to all who oppose the Royalty!" Inferno shouted maniacally and fired point blank into Terrorsaur. The robot writhed in agony as tongues of flame washed over his prone body, until he finally shut down, and lay unmoving on the scorched earth. Inferno kicked the inert robot, an expression of contempt on his face.
"Any other takers?" Megatron asked pleasantly, staring right at Blackarachnia. He was greeted by silence. "Good. Now let us continue. Inferno, see to that traitor."
"Yes, my Queen." Megatron rolled his eyes and lumbered off, his tail lashing.
"Well, that went *spectacularly* well. Blackarachnia muttered sarcastically before following.
"Ow! Man, why me?" He growled ruefully, rubbing his head. Still muttering to himself, he exited his room and sauntered over to the lifts, suddenly needing a breath of fresh air. He strolled out and sat down in a patch of early morning sunlight and tried to make sense of what had happed last night. He'd never had dreams like that before they'd landed on this wacko planet. Lost in his musings, it took him a few minutes to notice the low drone that filled the air. Glancing up he saw a black cloud of flies hovering over a dead deer in a patch of grass. He shuddered, remembering the dead plain and hardened earth of his dream.
Look around you, young Seer. This scene is already being painted. The words drifted through his mind, and with a growing sense of dread he took a closer look at the plains. He gaped at what he saw. Overnight, it seemed, the grass had become dry and brown. The plantlife had withered into drooping husks.
"No way. It can't be." He whispered, trying to deny the truth of what his eyes told him.
This scene is already being painted.
"Vegetable blight. That's all it is, and frankly with all the dry weather we've had lately I'm not surprised." Rhinox said quietly, not quite understanding what Cheetor was so concerned about.
"Then how do you explain all the dead animals around here? How about all the birds I saw making for the jungle like their tails were on fire?"
"It's nature, Cheetor. Things die all the time. And as for the birds, it's migrating season." At the bigger Maximal's words, Cheetor growled in frustration. Why didn't they understand?
"But it's something else- I know it is!"
"And just how do ya' know, Kiddo?" Rattrap interjected, a bemused expression on his face.
"I just do! I had this dream last night, and there's a cave in Pred territory, we have to go there, there was this voice and-" He was interrupted by loud laughter.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa...you're sayin' you want us to waltz into Pred territory with 'dat new weapon of theirs because you're hearing voices in your head? Why don't we just shoot ourselves now and save the Preds the trouble?"
"No! Er..yes..uh, I don't know! Big Bot, ya' gotta believe me, something's *wrong* out there!"
Optimus regarded his youngest crew member thoughtfully, then shook his head. "I'm sorry Cheetor, but Rattrap's right. We can't just walk into the Predacon's backyard because you're having nightmares." Cheetor's shoulders slumped, and he gritted his teeth as he heard Rattrap snickering again. He whirled furiously on the rat.
"You think I don't know what I'm talking about?!" He shouted accusingly. "Fine! But just wait, you'll see!" With that, he stormed out of the helm, leaving three very shocked Maximals staring after him.
"I knew it'd happen sooner or later...'da kid's snapped." Rattrap said. Rhinox turned and glared at the small Maximal. "What? What'd I say?" Rhinox simply shook his head and went back to repairing the damage done by yesterday's attack.
"I hope you don't intend to play with them for *too* long." Blackarachnia said quietly. Megatron grinned ferally and turned towards her.
"Oh no, Miss Arachnia. By this time tomorrow, we will be decorating the ship with the heads of our enemies, yes."
No! No, no, no! It cried, feeling the wound widen. Soon there would be nothing left, and then It wouldn't matter if the Seer came to help.