New Cybertronia

IMPORTANT Author's Note: This story comes after the Agenda Part 2. The

battle between Ravage, the Maximals and the Preds has taken place.

Megatron has revealed the scecret about the original Megatron using the

fragment of the Golden Disk. Ravage's ship has been blown up by Rattrap

and taken out Tarantulus and Rampage with it. The Maximals are all

rushing towards the Arks, except Birch and Bouncealot, who are in the

base. Megs and a few Predacons that did not get immidiately damaged are

with him. Just thought I might want to clear up a few points. This is

what happens when you read too much John Wyndham:)

*******************

Terrorsaur looked at Megatron's form in the sinking light of the sun.

The giant robot seemed like an obelisk of triumph, of everything that

was Predacon glory. The Predacon leader looked almost ethereal, with the

golden color of the sky reflecting off his Transmetal body....Terrorsaur

shook his head. He must be more disoriented than he thought.

Terrorsaur was one of the few bots to survive the Maximals and Ravage's

attack on their base. The only reason he had survived was because he had

jetted off as quickly as possible. Being a turncoat did have some good

sides. Being able to breath again was one of them. Nexus had ran off

with him as well, so the two cowards had managed to survive.

Scorpinok, Tabitha and Jungura had stayed inside the ship to help

Megatron, and therefore had been captured by Ravage just as Megatron

had.

At first, Terrorsaur and Nexus had not known what to do. They wandered

aimlessly around, trying to find their other comrades or some Maximals.

They were too afraid to go back to the base, for some Maximals might be

posted there as sentries.

Nexus was not the best person to have as your traveling companion; he

was always humming Spice Girls songs and complaining. Terrorsaur was on

the verge of departing from Nexus' company, when Scorpinok

telepathically contacted him, the scorpion's Neanderthal voice wild with

excitement.

From what Terrorsaur had telepathically gathered from Scorpinok,

Megatron had convinced Ravage that he was just as powerful, if not

moreso, than the original Megatron. The t-rex had used a piece of the

supposedly destroyed Golden Disk to help prove his point. Ravage had

taken a shine to them, Scorpinok suggested that the lovely Tabitha and

Jungura had also helped with the deal, and Ravage had taken his ship to

destroy the Maximals. The Maximals, being as indestructible as they

were, managed to turn the tables and destroy Ravage's ship, along with

Tarantulus and Rampage.

Scorpinok had relayed everything to Terrorsaur, and then insisted that

he "join Megatron; our leader has a great plan in mind." Great plans

from evil leaders meant things that had to do with power, something that

Terrorsaur was obviously interested in. He and Nexus had flown on

Scorpinok's directions to find Megatron, Tabitha and Jungura flying to

some unknown destination, with Scorpinok walking below them. At first,

Megatron had looked so angry with them and he looked like he was going

to boot them out of the Predacons, but he had more important things on

his mind, and did not do anything to them.

So, that's where Terrorsaur was now. Flying to someplace only Megatron

knew about, in a scheme only Megatron and possibly Tabitha had created.

It was not the best of days.

"Where are we going, Megs?" Nexus asked, getting a bit restless.

"Silence fool" Megatron snapped. "Events shall unfold soon enough."

"Could they unfold a bit faster, please?" Nexus said, with a sigh.

"You looking for a few more scratches on that brown hide of yours?"

Jungura asked, in a tone Terrorsaur and Nexus knew all too well. It

meant Jungura was mad....and that cougar did not just get mad, she got

MAD in every sense of the word.

"No, no" Nexus said quickly.

"Patience, yess, we are almost there" Megatron said, scanning the ground

below him intently.

Terrorsaur ground his pointed teeth in frustration. What did Megatron

know? What was he doing? They should be trying to reclaim their base and

find lost Predacons, not looking at the scenery!

I hate being in the dark, like any stupid underling, Terrorsaur grumbled

mentally. If Megatron thinks he can treat me like just another stupid

bot he's got another thing coming. I'll destroy him soon....once Jungura

and Tabitha are out of the way of course. Those two cats can fight, no

question about it.

Terrorsaur looked down curiously. All he saw was brown dirt, a bit of

grass and a few trees. The land they were flying over had many

mountains, well, not mountains, for they were too small to be called

such. They were large rocky hills. He saw Scorpinok's gray body toddling

along below him. Terrorsaur sighed. What did Megatron see?

"There!" the leader cried. With one of his short metal arms, he pointed

at a very large hill. It was a lot taller and broader than the others,

and made out of large slabs of brown rock. It had a hole on top of it.

A hole on top of a mountain....a volcano? Terrorsaur mused.

One of the odd things about the mountain was there was a hole blasted

into it at it's base.

"It looks like someone's trying to crash our party" Tabitha observed.

"Blackarachnia? She's the only one smart enough to know-" she paused,

not giving away what she was going to say. "But the widow doesn't have

enough firepower to create a hole that big."

"You are correct," Megatron nodded curtly, obviously a bit disturbed.

"We shall have to interrupt her little plans then."

He dove down for a landing. Terrorsaur went into a dive as well the wind

rushing past his leathery wings, Tabitha, Jungura and Nexus along with

him. The five flyers landed on the hard ground, Terrorsaur's small claws

grasping at hard packed soil as his dactyl body sought to keep it's

balance. Up in the air pterodactyls were masters of flight, on the

ground they were just awkward and disproportionate.

Megatron walked towards the gaping hole. Terrorsaur was surprised to see

red light emitting from inside the mountain, and concluded that his

earlier hypothesis of a volcano was correct.

Megatron did not go inside yet, he turned around to face them. The

clicking and clacking of Scorpinok's legs could be heard behind him, and

Terrorsaur knew the scorpion had joined their presence.

"Now Predacons, we are about to embark on our finest journey ever"

Megatron said, his voice loud and booming as it carried the message of

his speech. It cut through the still air like a knife through

butter."You shall all look back on the Beast Wars and comment on how

foolish your lives had been then. You shall all achieve great things,

for we are changing the future. We are making our own destiny."

"In this volcano is the most prized possession of the Autobots; the

Ark."

Terrorsaur gasped, as well and Scorpinok and Nexus. The Ark! He

remembered all the history projects he had had to do on the Ark when he

had been in school. He remembered yawning as he read over boring history

books saying "the Ark carried many ancient Autobots, including Optimus

Prime..." and so on and so forth. He remembered doing a few computer

simulations on what the Ark had looked like, a huge golden ship with

huge towering Autobots inside.

Now it was here. Terrorsaur was living in the past. The enormity of the

situation hit Terrorsaur with the force of a two thousand pound weight.

Floodgates of thought and different levels of fear were opened up,

rushing through his body and mind.

Terrorsaur felt a shiver go down his metallic spine. What did Megatron

intend to do? And more importantly, would it succeed, or be tossed away

in with the pile of other failed schemes?

"Yes" Megatron continued "the great ship of legend is here with us on

ancient Earth. It is too much of an opportunity to pass up. In the Ark

are the bots that started and won the Great War, which our ancestors the

Decepticons rightfully should have won. Ever since that, we Predacons

have lain in wait, waiting for the time to strike, for the time to

control Cybertron."

Megatron gave a scornful laugh. "But, there was too much politics

involved. That peace treaty had just been made. Now was not the time.

The Predacon Elders were a bunch of old, rust-eating fools, always

sucking up to the Maximal Elders. Waiting and biding our time were the

only things we Predacons could do."

"But, while we waited, we lost our edge to fight. Our dream of

controlling Cybertron got dulled, most Predacons forgot about it. Our

true ambition faded, to be replaced by smaller, pettier ones. Forgetting

took place, and it was only a few who carried enough bravery and had

enough pride in the name Predacon to remember the old dream."

"Now, we have a chance to make our kind great again. To obtain what we

once lost. To feel forgotten power. And, we are going to take it."

That was a challenge, a dare. Megatron wanted to see if anyone would

refuse him. If anyone did so, they would most likely be destroyed.

No one spoke, a stunned silence reigned.

The t-rex smiled satisfactorily.

"Now" he commanded. The dramatic flair in his voice was replaced by a

crisp commanding one. "Transform into robot mode and come inside with

me. Keep your weapons ready. Tabitha, Jungura and I will head closest to

the Ark, the rest of you will stand farther away and wait for the

Maximals to come, which they undoubtedly will. When they do...well, I do

not think I need to give you further instructions. But" he said sternly

"at all costs you must protect Tabitha. She will provide transportation

to Cybertron with her magical abilities."

Tabitha nodded. Terrorsaur grumbled to himself. He was forced to guard

and blue and black winged kitty-cat, while Megatron enacted a crazy

scheme. He had definitely had better days.

The six Predacons terrorized and entered the volcano cautiously.

The first thing Terrorsaur felt was the heat, it came blasting at him.

The first thing he noticed was the blackness, lit only by snake-like

rivers of burning lava. And....a flash of golden metal.....Terrorsaur

gasped again. The Ark. Pure gold in color, and practically reaching the

roof of the volcano. Even as far away as he was Terrorsaur could see how

huge it was.

Despite the heat, the dactyl shivered with fear.

Megatron was right, he thought. Primus, was Megatron ever right. I'm

stuck in this scheme as a pawn. Maybe Scorpinok and Jung like stuff like

that, but I don't. Megatron's plan is insane, it's crazy. It'll never

work. I can't do anything about it, either. I'm stuck here.

If I run off again, what'll there be for me then? I'm one bot against a

heck of a lot of Maximals. The other Preds are probably dead right now.

The Maxies'll find me and destroy me. I'm stuck in a crazy scheme....and

it's the only thing I can do. I have nothing else to turn to. All I have

to go on is Megatron's planning.

"Wish me luck, Jung!" Tabitha said to her sister, interrupting

Terrorsaur's rapid thoughts.

"Good luck and then some, sis" Jungura replied with a nod.

The two felines and Megatron went towards the Ark. Terrorsaur followed

the three of them with his eyes, and realized that there were two other

bots near the Ark. Blackarachnia and Silverbolt.

Let Megatron get himself killed by the Maximal, or let the Maximal get

killed, Terrorsaur thought. Either way, it's no concern of mine. If

Megatron does die, this insane scheme can be over though.

And then I can lead the Predacons, came the thought. Oddly enough, it

did not comfort him so much as it might have.

Lead over what? Two cats with sappy attitudes who'd probably join the

Maximals once Megatron's dead? Am I supposed to lead over Nexus and

Scorpinok? A whining kid and a stupid moron? With no base, on a creepy

planet that's crawling with Maximals? If Megatron dies, I die to.

He had had much better days.

That thought made Terrorsaur grind his teeth together. He needed

Megatron to get him out of something. Terrorsaur, who had never needed

anybody in his life, because most bots were beneath him, was hoping for

Megatron's safety.

He hated being dependant on anybody. He hated looking to anyone for

guidance. He hated Megatron for getting him into this whole mess.

He looked through the hole of the Ark, and saw many figures approaching,

on the sky and on the ground.

Terrorsaur added another thing on his list of things to hate.

He hated the Maximals for trying to stop them.

********

Blackarachnia looked at the Ark before her. It was so huge, so

beautiful. And filled with so much power.

And, it would soon be hers.

Oh, I did strike gold when I downloaded those files on the Golden Disk,

didn't I? Blackarachnia thought with a chuckle.

The female spider did not know exactly what she was going to do now. Oh,

she knew she was going to use her powers to activate Teletran-1 and get

inside the Ark. After that, she would probably destroy all the Maximals

that came after her. Maybe she would destroy Silverbolt as well, maybe

she would not. Maybe she could even make the Ark her own little base and

be an independent agent, free from the rule of Megatron? Now that was

quite a juicy possibility.

Blackarachnia looked over at Silverbolt. The wolf/eagle Fuzor looked at

her with absolute trust in his yellow eyes. On his face was that

disgustingly loving look he always held whenever he looked at her.

"What shall happen now, m'lady?" Silverbolt asked. His comically noble

voice did not sound too odd to Blackarachnia now. She had heard it all

night as the two of them had chipped away at the landslide blocking the

way to the Ark.

I'm actually getting used to having Silverbolt around me, Blackarachnia

thought with a grimace of distaste. I gotta stop thinking these things.

No matter what, I'm a Pred. End of story.

"Anything I want to" the black widow responded.

Again Blackarachnia was using him. Again he was stupid enough to follow

her. Again, she got an annoying and definitely Maximal feeling whenever

she looked at him. She was about to turn her eyes from him to look back

at the Ark, when something caught her eye.

Predacons.

Most importantly, Megatron.

"No!" Blackarachnia shouted out loud, in spite of herself. How did

Megatron get here? That Cybertronian ship should have taken care of him!

Megatron had the nasty habit of ruining everything for her.

Well, I'm just going to have to break that habit, Blackarachnia thought,

dodging a shot from Tabitha's plasma cannon.

"I will protect you, Miss Arachnia!" Silverbolt said.

He fired on Megatron, who landed on the ground and dodged aside from the

wing missiles. Blackarachnia used her leg machine guns and fired on

Megatron, making many dents in his armor, but not seriously wounding

him.

If Blackarachnia had any thoughts on how Silverbolt was once again

protecting her from danger, they were wiped out of her mind as the fight

approached.

As Blackarachnia fired on Jungura with her crossbow, a glance at

Silverbolt told her he had taken wing. The silvery Fuzor was trying his

hardest not to harm Tabitha, but it was not making the outcome of the

battle any better. Megatron fired at Silverbolt twice, hitting the

winged robot once in the side and once on his left leg. Tabitha took

advantage of that opportunity and fired on him with her wing missiles,

one hitting Silverbolt in the wing. The Fuzor plummeted to the ground.

Blackarachia shot at Megatron some more, but it was having little

effect. Megatron's Transmetal armor was resisting almost everything she

was throwing at him. Megatron got hit by a wing missile Silverbolt,

which proved that though the bird dog was down he was by no means out of

action.

The female spider moved closer towards the Ark, firing on Tabitha and

Jungura as she did so. The two felines were tough and used to

cooperating together, so it would be hard to bring them down.

Jungura dived at Blackarachnia firing her wing missiles at her, the

spider was forced to duck towards the ground. As she did so, she was hit

by one of Tabitha's shoulder mounted cannons, and her duck turned into a

graceless topple as her metal body hit the volcano's stone.

Tabitha grasped Blackarachnia firmly by her shoulders, sticking her gun

to the spider's head. The spider tried to struggle at first, but then a

thought occurred to her.

They can't kill me. If they do that, they loose their access to the Ark!

Blackarachnia smiled, and stopped wriggling. She would get out of this

alive, and would survive as she had managed to survive many times

before.

That train of thought fell off it's tracks as she saw Silverbolt lying

on the ground, Jungura's gun and Megatron's arm cannon both pointed at

his head. The Fuzor still looked as noble as he ever did, even in such a

difficult position. His yellow eyes, like oval suns, stared back at

Blackarachnia compassionately.

"Well Blackarachnia" Megatron spoke. "Give me access to the Ark, or your

pet poodle dies." The grin on his face was so broad it made

Blackarachnia want to slap it off, but she could not act on her anger.

"M'lady" Silverbolt spoke. He paused. "Don't do it" he whispered. "My

life is not worth the lives of many others."

So noble...even faced with death, Blackarachnia thought, a pang in her

heart. He doesn't run away like I do. He accepts his fate, no matter how

awful it may be. He's so noble...and I might never see him

again....Matrix! Do I actually care about the big lug?

No, no. That can't be. I'm a Predacon to the core. Maybe not one that

trusts or likes Megatron, but I'm still a Pred. No soft-hearted Maximal

Fuzor can tell me otherwise.

Predacons and Maximals....they're just names. Predacons do not represent

all that is evil, Maximals do not represent all that is good. There have

been Maximal criminals. There have been Predacon saints.

Matrix, now I suppose I'm going to be one of them!

"All right, I'll do it" Blackarachnia said. "But only because the

Maximals will be coming soon." It was a thinly veiled lie; they all knew

it.

"Very good Blackarachnia" Megatron said with a sneer. "I just might let

you share in my power once this whole scheme is over. "

Scheme? A yes, how silly of me. He always has one. I only wish I knew

what this one is.

"As if I'd want anything you can give me, your gifts always have

funerals at the end" Blackarachnia said. She paused when Megatron shoved

his cannon even closer to Silverbolt's face.

"When we get back to Cybertron, the first thing I think you should learn

is respect, yesss" Megatron said, with a smile.

This only served to confuse Blackarachnia. How could they get back to

Cybertron? Blackarachnia was not an expert in the field of science, but

she did know a lot about the alien's technology and a bit about the

space/time continuum. If Megatron tried to destroy the ancient Autobots,

which he was probably thinking of, history would be changed, but they

would still be stuck on Earth, and they would still be in prehistory.

The time "currents" would not allow them to be shifted back to

Cybertron, they would still be stuck here.

Suddenly, there was a barrage of bullet fire from outside. The Maximals

had triumphantly arrived.

Maybe just a bit too late.

"Tabitha, Jungura, engage them" Megatron ordered. "Keep safe" he said

curtly to Tabitha. The two felines flew off, blasting their wing

missiles.

"Now, Blackarachnia!" Megatron growled urgently.

Blackarachnia paused just a bit, to let Megatron wriggle on a hook. She

delayed for a few quick seconds, enjoying the fire of impatience that

was mounting in Megatron's eyes. Her concern for Silverbolt pounded in

her head, but her longing to show her power to Megatron was even

greater. It was if she was telling him "you need me, Grapeface."

The t-rex obviously picked up that signal, and brought his arm cannon

closer to Silverbolt.

Blackarachnia turned to the Ark's doorway quickly. Out of her eyes she

shot all the precious data she had stored within her mind. The green

letters, not letters to anyone around them though, just symbols, were

tossed through the beam of blackness that Blackarachnia created. Her

knowledge, encoded in ancient Cybertronese, shot towards the doorway

with unimaginable force.

The door of the great ship shuddered slowly, and then opened with a hiss

that sounded like a venomous snake.

"I'm very grateful, Miss Arachnia" Megatron said, not meaning a word he

said. He walked inside the Ark, slowly, savouring his glory.

Savouring how he had seen her true emotions lie naked in her onyx eyes.

Savouring how he had mastered her with the one thing which she had no

defense against.

Compassion.

Blackarachnia looked at Silverbolt with disgust. He had caused all this!

It was his fault! If he had not been so noble and chivalrous....if he

had not chased after her every chance he had gotten, then she might not

have done that.

Now Megatron knew her great weakness, something she herself had not even

known until now. He had used it against her once and he would probably

do so again.

"M'lady...." Silverbolt began, his words falling flat with his

wonderment.

Even someone as thick as him could see the change, Blackarachnia

thought, her thoughts a mix of mortification and frustration.

Instead of answering him, Blackarachnia just walked away from him, going

to fight the Maximals.

Predacons can be saints and martyrs.

But they are still Predacons nonetheless. And Maximals were the enemy.

Blackarachnia fired at Marbelle, trying to take her mind off of what had

just happened, trying to forget she had ever been so soft.

Trying to forget the existence of the winged bot behind her.

***********

Tabitha saw Megatron enter the Ark. She knew what she had to do next of

course, Megatron's instructions had left no room for uncertainty. Still,

it was a pretty big task he had asked her to accomplish. And with her

only beginning to use her magical powers...who knew what could happen?

The blue and black feline felt kind of odd. She was in the same room as

the Ark, the great and powerful ship of legend. Inside were a bunch of

powerful heros, which were like the ancient Greek gods of myth. It was

kind of odd, learning that all the old tales from her history class were

true, and moreso, that she was living it live.

Maybe my actions will be recorded in the history books? Tabitha thought,

with a slow smile. Yeah, right. And young bots will be doing history

projects on "Tabitha the Magicusing Blue, Black and Purple Winged

Kitty-Cat." Well, a bot can dream, can't she?

Tabitha squinted, trying to see through the cavern's dark light. The

only glow came from the lava of the volcano and the Ark, which seemed to

glow with a golden light all it's own. And of course, the fired bullets.

The winged feline made out the shape of the Maximal leader, Optimus. She

fired her wing missiles at Optimus, but he managed to dodge aside.

Tabitha herself was forced to dodge aside as well, as Malice fired on

her.

"How you doing Jung?" Tabitha shouted to her sister, who was hammering

away at Rattrap and Cloud Runner with her bombs.

"Just peachy" Jungura replied. "I haven't had this much fun since I beat

up that bot at that bar. Remember that guy? He was such a loser, trying

to pick me up like that!"

"You gotta remember something, my gossiping girl: you're in a battle!"

Rattrap shouted, shooting Jungura in the torso plate. Tabitha fired her

plasma blaster at the rat, who got hit in the leg and stumbled to the

ground.

"If you're in a battle you should act like a fighter, rat!" Tabitha said

with a laugh. That laugh turned into a yelp of pain as a whip slapped

her in the back of her head. Tabitha saw stars for a minute, then turned

to face her attacker. The Maximal nightingale called Lotus hovered

before her, a smug smile on her face.

"Call me unhonorable, but I prefer hitting bots when their not expecting

it!" smirked Lotus.

Tabitha took out her tail whip, and Lotus took out her glowing blue

energon sword. Tabitha made her whip hard, like a staff, and the two of

them had a sword fight of sorts.

Lotus swiped at Tabitha's torso, but Tabitha managed to block the sabre

sword. Lotus then tried to thrust her sword pointblank at Tabitha's

head, but the feline ducked and the sword point missed her. The two

carried on for a few more minutes, Tabitha's arms, though strong,

getting more tired.

I'm not a fencer! Tabitha thought to herself, hoping she could end this

style of fighting somehow. She cast a split second glance at the Ark, to

see if anything was happening. There was nothing.

She felt a shot enter her back, and pain rip down her spine. Tabitha

quickly turned her head around and saw Jade behind her, reloading his

gun. Lotus took advantage of the opportunity, and stabbed Tabitha with

her sword, right in the gut. The electrical charge of the energon inside

Lotus's sabre sword shot through Tabitha, who screamed in pain.

Lotus would have thrust her sword in deeper, but she was caught off

guard as Jungura barreled into her. This gave Tabitha some time to spin

around and shoot Jade with her wing missiles. Unfortunately for him, one

hit him right in the shoulder. Jade dropped his gun in pain, but shot at

Tabitha with his shoulder mounted cannon. The shot was off because of

his pain, and it did not even hit Tabitha.

Tabitha quickly left Jade to be taken care of by the other Preds, and

flew towards where Dinobot was having a bit of trouble with

Blackarachnia.

If he thinks he's in trouble now, wait 'till he meets me! Tabitha

thought with a smile. She carefully took aim with her plasma blaster,

and fired three shots on the raptor. Dinobot got hit by each one,

because he had not been expecting anything.

"So much for the survival of the fittest theory" Tabitha said. She

suddenly felt the stabbing pain in her gut where Lotus had stabbed her,

and covered her hand over the wound.

I could heal myself with my magic....but no, Tabitha thought sadly.

Megatron told me to keep safe. I like to think that he said it because

he cared for me, but he needs my magical powers! Megatron is counting on

me, and I can't fail him! I need all my powers to do what he said! This

wound doesn't need my entire magical attention right now.

With that new inspired courage, Tabitha fired on Marbelle, who had been

trying to patch up Dinobot with her surgeon's kit. Marbelle dodged the

shot though, and took out a shield she had borrowed from the armory of

the Axalon. Tabitha decided against trying to hit a bot who had a shield

almost as big as herself for protection. She flapped over to where

Rhinox was, and was about to give him a pounding.

Suddenly, white light emitted from the Ark. Tabitha grinned. Megatron

had succeeded in his plan!

She suddenly felt the light reach out and touch her. It began to tug at

her, to pull at her, and finally, to rip at her. Tabitha screamed in

pain, as she heard all the other bots do as well. It was like a chorus

of pain filled voices, all wanting the tearing feeling to end......

Now is where I come in! Tabitha thought.

In her mind, she pictured a porthole. It was big and white. She felt

energy shoot out of her hands, and form the porthole she had created.

Her wings faltered as she tried to keep her balance in the ripping storm

of whiteness. Tabitha managed to open her eyes to see how her work was

progressing. She made the porthole bigger...and bigger....until it was

just the right size.

Tabitha now had the door, now all she needed was to make the hallway.

She made pushing movements with her hands. She pushed away that fabric

of time itself.....Matrix but it was hard work! She felt the walls of

time try to knit themselves back together again, but it was impossible.

The fabric of time was already so loose, she could easily create a hole

in that fabric. Tabitha pushed out some more power, and opened up a

gateway....a gateway to another place...a new place....a better

place....

Megatron got out of the Ark. He looked around him, and smiled to

himself. It was a smile of pure victory, the smile of a magnificent

scheme well unfolded, or a game of chess well played.

That was all Tabitha saw after that. Her power levels were dropping

severely. She already felt light headed and weak. Soon, she did not feel

anything, her world plunged into blackness.

****************

"All Predacons, to the porthole! Victory is ours, yesss!" Megatron

shouted.

Optimus watched with fear as Megatron entered the porthole Tabitha had

created. Megatron was up to something big. As if the fabric of time

disappearing was not a clue enough already. All that were left of his

troops, Terrorsaur, Scorpinok, Blackarachnia and Nexus, followed him.

Jungura stopped to pick up Tabitha, and joined them quickly.

"We can't let these Preds escape!" Lotus shouted. She pushed her jets to

maximum speed and, being as headstrong as always, rushed through the

porthole.

Usually Optimus would have advised against such a rash action, but not

now. This was a very desperate time, which called for desperate

measures. Even though Optimus did not fully comprehend what Megatron was

doing, he had to stop him from doing it. He knew it had something to do

with changing the future, and an evil tyrant who changes the future HAS

to be up to something bad!

"Maximals, follow the Predacons!" Optimus shouted. It would be hard

work, for the fabric of time was still ripping at them, and the porthole

was closing.

Silverbolt, who was the closest, managed to hurl himself inside the

porthole. Cheetor, living up to his claim of being the fastest cat, was

next. Rattrap crawled towards the porthole, which by now had shrunk to

the size of a horse, and got himself through.

Optimus struggled wildly to get through to the porthole. He could not

let his troops....no, not just his troops, his friends, go with Megatron

alone. The Transmetal leader gritted his teeth, and ploughed through the

white, screaming tornado.

Air Razor managed to get in front of him though, and got through the

porthole before him. The gateway had shrunk to the size of a pony now.

Optimus Primal decided to take his luck with his flight mode. He morphed

into his blue gorilla form, his silver hoverboard automatically

appearing at his feet.

"Prime jets, maximum burn!" Optimus shouted. He sped towards the

porthole, praying that he would make it. He got towards the rapidly

shrinking porthole, and shoved himself through.

Before he get all the way through, he looked back at his troops, the

ones that had not gotten in with him. He looked at the green and brown

form of Rhinox.

"Rhinox my friend, lead them well!" he shouted, hoping Rhinox could

catch his words.

He had no time to find out though, for at that minute the porthole

shrank entirely, and Optimus was sent flying through the porthole, and

out to where, or when, Megatron had brought himself.

***************

Megatron opened his eyes. He rubbed his hand over his optics, because

they were covered with dirt. What he saw was a grey, metallic ground.

Megatron smiled. Then he began to chuckle, and soon he was laughing out

loud. Where in all the galaxies was there a planet that had metal

ground? Cybertron! That was it!

My plan as succeeded! Megatron thought, laughing even more. I have

changed time!!! When I destroyed Optimus Prime's head, that changed the

events of history. Tabitha's porthole brought us back to Cybertron. Oh,

it was hard work, but it paid off. Did it ever!!! I had to do it at just

the right time, with the precision of the greatest surgeon. Back on

Cybertron those foolish Predacon Elders watched my every move. They

suspected something, but they never expected this! I have changed the

course of history...the course of time....those fools!!!!! They thought

I was a rogue, with no sense of pride in the name Predacon. Little did

they know that I have paved the way for the reign of Predacons

everywhere!!!!

Megatron felt an ecstatic joy flow through him. Never had he been so

happy!!! He and his consort power had finally been united at last.

He grinned. Oh, if only people could realize how long it had taken him

to master his scheme. Megatron had a devious mind, devious enough to

think up something like this. Megatron had planned every little detail.

He had maintained his own hidden agenda, and had kept it under lock and

key.

Megatron had not always gone through life with this world conquest in

mind. At first, his ambitions had merely been to make a few credits to

live off of. But how they had grown.....

In his school years he had been a very avid learner, picking up

information anywhere he could. This did not mean he was a model student,

though. He threatened classmates, stole from roommates, and made life

miserable for everyone around him. Of course, he did not do this

outwardly. Megatron was a master at playing mind games with bots. He

knew where and when to strike, to make sure the victim would not scream.

Megatron had even gone as far as blackmailing five of his teachers to

give him a good mark in an exam. The only reason Megatron had stayed in

school was because he knew that knowledge was power. Even if that power

was distributed by a lot of old cows.

Megatron had been particularly interested in his namesake, and had read

up all he could on the original Megatron, the ruthless leader of the

Decepticons. He had been awed at what the ancient leader had

accomplished, and tried to accomplish. Megatron started to revere the

dead leader. The ancient Decepticon had had many faults, of course, but

his lust for power and the way he tried to obtain it were worthy to be

worshipped.

A vague idea began to form in Megatron's mind. "What if I were to follow

in his footsteps?" he would think. "What if? A creator of wars, a

destroyer of nations. A bot important enough to be put in every history

book." Megatron kept these thoughts to himself of course.

Once he had gotten out of Chromedome Alternative School, Megatron had

signed up as a space explorer. He learned the tricks of space crafts,

and also earned his keep. He was never a truly respected member of

society, just a bot who wanted to do well.

Megatron had always wanted to get out of his space exploration job.

There were so many undesirable factors, the least of all the company of

foolish bots he was supposed to endure. Foolhardy teenagers, crusty

captains, navigators who could not find their way from sleeping quarters

to the bridge. Megatron had always wanted to break free of the shackles

he had been forced to enter for lack of money.

But, in retrospect, he was glad he had not. For staying as a space

explorer proved to be the best career move he ever could have made.

Megatron remembered the day well. He had been in a ship called the

"Dynasty" as one of the navigators. It was sent to check on a few of the

Maximals and Predacons that had decided to remain on Earth after the

War. The Dynasty was supposed to give them supplies of energon, to make

sure they did not go into stasis lock from lack of fuel.

Megatron happened to hear a Predacon bot by the name of White Doom

conversing with a fellow ship-mate. The two Predacons had cut themselves

off from the rest of the crew for a few minutes. That was enough to

arouse suspicion in Megatron's mind. He had listened in on their

conversation.

"What's this I hear about that Maximal disk?" the other Predacon had

whispered to White Doom.

White Doom had smiled back. "Just the little fact that I know a way to

steal it" he replied, smugly.

"Really?" the other Pred had asked, awe and power-lust in his eyes. That

look suddenly turned to one of fear.

Megatron had burst out of the shadows and charged at the bot with all

his strength. He did not know exactly what the golden disk was. But he

knew that if the Maximals wanted it guarded day and night by security,

as well as four high tech defense systems and three locks, it must be

powerful. And if it was powerful, then Megatron had to have it.

The Predacon fell down and was knocked out cold in an instant. Megatron

had then turned to White Doom and grasped him by the throat.

"Now, my dear White Doom" Megatron had said, keeping his voice stately.

"Will you possibly be able to tell me just HOW you will steal this

precious golden disk?" Megatron had known that there was a possibility

of the Predacon lying, and if so, then he would let him go. If he was

not.....he had other plans in mind.

White Doom had spilled the beans on everything he knew. Megatron had to

admire the research that had went into everything White Doom had

planned.

If one shut down the power to the Maximal Security Services HQ, where

the golden disk was located, there was an alternate power supply that

was instantly routed to the defense systems of the disk. That alternate

power supply came from power bars directly inside the area of the golden

disk, so no one could deactivate them unless they were inside the

immediate vicinity of the golden disk. A mere power failure would not

break the defenses entirely.

White Doom's plan was simple, but effective.

One would have to take out the three guard-bots that guarded the disk.

After that, one of the thief's accomplices would shut off the power

generator of the Security Services HQ. At that time, another accomplice

would deactivate the power at the Maximal police station down the

street, and therefore stop any immediate alarms from being noticed.

All the thief had to do was walk briskly through the alarm triggered

laserbeams.

After the alarm laserbeams would come the heavy duty guns. These were

easily avoided with the use of some illegal energon shields, an

expensive item on the black market, but easy to find.

After the guns would come two walls that compressed together. Defeating

them was simply a matter of stopping the mechanism that worked them,

which, a fact that very few knew, was located on the ceiling above.

Shooting at the ceiling would stop the walls from crushing you to bits.

Soon after came two ferocious attack drones. These were more

maneuverable than the auto-guns, and more dangerous. But, sheer

firepower would eventually oust them.

The real task was the locks that surrounded the room of the disk. The

disk was guarded by three mind-destroying locks, two computerized and

one a normal lock. The computerized locks could be broken only with the

most advanced hackers codes or viruses. The manual lock, though, was as

easy as cake to break open. After that, the disks would be theirs. Or,

more importantly, his.

One key phrase that White Doom had said had interested Megatron

considerably.

"Why do you want that golden disk so much, White Doom?" he had asked,

tightening his grip on the bot's throat.

"That disk shows the location to a major energon source" White Doom

replied. "And....I have a theory that it might to even more. Such

as......" he paused, unwilling to give away the information. Increased

pressure made him gasp out the words.

"Control of the future!" White Doom choked out.

Megatron had gathered all the information he had wanted out of White

Doom. After the space voyage on the Dynasty was over, he quietly slagged

the bot. White Doom had had ambitions but not the tactfulness to carry

them out quietly. Subtlety was Megatron's middle name.

This plan required many accomplices. One to take out the guards, one to

shut down the power in the Maximal Security Service HQ, another to take

out the power in the police station, one to supply the energon shields,

another to supply to viruses to disable the locks, others to fight

guards and attack drones, and to be used as cannon fodder. Megatron

realized this all too well.

At first, he did not know how he wanted to go about this. Was it a good

idea to do what White Doom had done, and ask just any bot on the street?

No, Megatron could not do that. Such a situation required finesse and

cunning.

Megatron began to look up files on Predacons. He had gone to police

stations, wondering about bots with criminal records. He had looked up

the names of former Decepticons, former warriors in the Great War. When

asked what he was doing, he merely answered that he was in University,

and doing a term paper, or that he was apprenticed to the local

historian or record keeper. Occasionally, if a bot got too nosy,

Megatron would just scrap him quietly, and shove his body somewhere in

the gutter.

Of course, the Predacon Elders had been suspicious. They had sent a few

of the Predacon Secret Police to keep tabs on him. But, Megatron had

always known when danger was lurking. He had all the time in the world,

never told anyone of his plans, and always covered his tracks. He could

act like a normal bot for a few days or weeks when the government spies

were watching him, then continue his work when they had tired of trying

to sniff out fumes of treachery from his carefully sterilized "normal"

life.

So, Megatron was able to look up the best and most promising soldiers to

help him in his ambitions. The one phrase White Doom had said "control

of the future" seemed to take over his core consciousness, and drive him

night and day. It was like holding a carrot before a mule.

Except Megatron was smarter than a mere mule, and he would get the

carrot.

Finally, Megatron chose some bots that sounded the best to suit his

purposes. He had tried to enlist them. Some he had failed, others he had

succeeded in claiming. He would get casually acquainted with the bots he

wanted, then move in for the kill. Megatron was not foolish enough to

tell everyone all his plans; all he made known was that he wanted to

steal the golden disk.

The troops Megatron had ended up with were less than his expectations,

but almost as good.

A bot named Strafe Fire, a dealer of illicit material, had supplied the

energon shields. Megatron would take this bot with him on his quest for

the disk because he was good as fodder. Strafe Fire had seemed like a

power hungry young bot, but a bit of a schemer and a coward.

Another bot, PoisonSlice, supplied the viruses to destroy the locks of

the golden disk. Megatron had put him in charge of shutting down the

power in the Maximal Security Systems HQ. PoisonSlice would then cover

Megatron's back to make sure no guards attacked came near the room the

Golden Disk was located in. PoisonSlice had been a respected ninja in

the Great War, and was now a scientist studying for cures to bot

diseases.

Grimslash was supposed to be the one to disable the guards, auto-guns

and the attack bots. Grimslash had been a renowned warrior in the War,

known for his bravery and tactics, as well as his battle strength.

Megatron would not have missed an opportunity like this for the world.

Actually, maybe for the world....but certainly not for this expedition.

The person to shut down the power of the Maximal police station was

Neon. Megatron had first wondered about bringing the bot. Neon was

almost newly created by Vector Sigma. He lived in the same building as

Strafe Fire, and hung around with him a lot, for lack of anyone better

to be with. Strafe Fire had opened his big mouth about the plan to steal

the disk and Neon had happened to hear. For safety's sake Megatron had

taken Neon with him on this mission. Neon had certainly not been his

first choice.

The last bot in Megatron's crew was Swordbane. Swordbane was well

renowned as a scientist, even though the average bot had forgotten his

name, he was favorably talked about by fellow scientists. Swordbane had,

according to rumor on the streets, also been involved heavily with the

Recktor scares, and possibly had been close to Recktor himself. If so,

that meant Swordbane had to be a good fighter. It was Swordbane's job to

accompany Megatron, Strafe Fire and Grimslash to get to the disk.

As soon as he had gathered his resources and troops, Megatron listened

to the local gossip, waiting for a chance to strike. He sent out all

five of his troops to scout for any rumors about him. There had been a

few, but it was doubtful that they had been told to anyone important, or

that anyone important would believe them. Maximals and Predacons alike

believed that the golden disk was to be forever locked up, and that no

robber could get into it.

The fact that no one counted on was that maybe that robber had more

ambitions than merely taking an artifact of great value from a society.

No one counted on the fact that this robber would have an ulterior

motive.....and certainly not one so awe inspiring as the one Megatron

had.

"Control of the future" White Doom had said. Control of the future meant

being able to control time. Time.....something no bot nor man could ever

change. Time, the immortal enemy, that makes all great things weak in

it's passing.

Control. Time. Future. Power. Glory. Godliness.

Megatron's plan had been successful. He had taken the golden disk. He

had then quickly rounded up his troops, then gotten them all inside a

battle ship. They had then zoomed off into space, escaping Cybertron

forever.

And the Beast Wars had begun. Neon had become Waspinator, Strafe Fire

had morphed into Terrorsaur, Swordbane had become Scorpinok, Grimslash

Dinobot, and PoisonSlice Tarantulus. Megatron had kept his old name. He

had never once forgotten his ambitions, merely gotten sidetracked for a

while fighting the Maximals. He knew that his chance would come for

greater glory.

And now it had.

Megatron chuckled evilly. He turned his thoughts back from the momentous

events of his past. It was a hard thing to do, but Megatron managed it.

Megatron knew, because of his beast mode, he might not be accepted into

the new society easily. In fact, given his extensive knowledge of

Predacons, he knew he would not. But, he would make a splash in this new

Cybertron. He knew that with his abilities he could easily rise up the

chain of command. He would probably meet some bots who were smarter, and

more powerful than him, but he would get rid of them one way or another.

Then, Megatron would sit at the head of his new Predacon world, as

sovereign and tyrant....as a ruler.

Megatron laughed some more. He was smart, all powerful, and a god!!!!

Primus himself would tremble before him, and quake at what he had done!

"A new age dawns!" Megatron said, slowly, savouring each and every

syllable, rolling the words across his tongue like they were some life

giving elixir.

"It is an age of Predacon glory I have created, for my kind and my race"

Megatron said with a sigh of pure rapture. "All who oppose me are

fools!"

It was then that Megatron pushed himself off the ground. He stretched

his metallic muscles, and looked at his glorious new empire of Predacon

dynasty.

Megatron had not known exactly what to expect. The look of Cybertron

could change drastically, depending on the tastes of it's ruler. But, he

had expected something like the Cybertron he had been used to: buildings

as far as the eye could see, bots walking on the silver streets,

warships flying in the sky, and many Maximals bound in chains. That was

what he had thought it to be, give or take a few buildings and

battleships.

Instead of the city he had envisioned, he saw something entirely

different.

Cybertron was still grey, yes. And there were still buildings. There

were even bots walking the streets. But the place he had landed in

looked like it should be on the cover of the Give To the Bots on the

Streets Fund.

The metal of the planet was dull and almost every inch of it covered

with rust, dust or cyber mold. Most of the buildings had fallen down,

only a few were standing upright. Those that were upright had no lights

on, and looked totally deserted. In fact, the whole area Megatron was in

looked deserted.

Wires, signs from old stores, scrap metal, glass, broken computers, and

even some Earthling cloth littered the ground around him.

There was no light from the sun at all, and almost the whole of place

was cast into blackness. Shadows ran rampant, and the only colors seemed

to be dark grey and black. The shadows were there not because there was

light somewhere else, but because there was no light to be seen at all.

Only the cold stars above twinkled and twittered. There was no sun in

the sky.

He could hear the pitter patter of bot feet, and confused and excited

whispers that seemed to be coming all around him, but they seemed more

like the noises of a quicksilver or a poltergeist than from any living

bot.

Megatron felt shock and a small bit of fear block his logic circuits for

a few minutes. He stood there dumbly, with his jaw hanging wide open.

"Um...Megs?" came a voice from behind him. Megatron turned around, and

saw Rattrap standing there, looking almost as lost as he was.

"What da hell did yah do?" Rattrap asked.

For a moment, the Maximal and Predacon stared at each other. Both felt

the same emotions, and both felt the same feeling of hopeless loss. It

was that brief symbiosis of feelings that made Megatron growl with

disgust, and shake his head.

"Bah!" he said "this is merely a low part of town, that's all. For you

see, I destroyed Optimus Prime. That Autobots never won the Great War!

And that meant that Cybertron fell into the hands of the Decepticons."

It seemed he was trying to reassure himself more than anything.

Rattrap did not seem convinced. "It seems de Decepticons ain't been

taking care of deir hands lately" he said, with a smirk.

"Insolent vermin!" Megatron snarled. He charged up his tail cannon, and

fired at him. Rattrap merely dodged aside, and the shot hit the prone

body of Terrorsaur, who squawked in pain. Megatron saw Terrorsaur's

optics light up. There was some more whispering from the shadows, and

nervous giggles.

"You're gonna have tah do better than that Meggy!" Rattrap said with a

laugh.

There was a noise behind the two of them. Megatron turned around, and

saw Optimus Primal, Silverbolt, and Lotus all fully awake, and Air Razor

getting revived.

For once, not one side spoke to each other. The Predacon leader stared

at Optimus for a few seconds, and Optimus stared right back. They were

both saying "I see you, and if you hurt me I can hurt you back, so butt

out!" Both respected each others wishes, for a time. Megatron grudgingly

admitted that he would probably not be able to withstand four Maximals

all attacking him at once. He needed to see to his own troops first. The

urge to destroy Maximals ran in his Predacon heritage, but right now he

would have to quell that longing. Optimus and his kind would be

destroyed soon enough, once the Decepticons figured out they were here.

Assuming there are any Decepticons around to see us, Megatron though.

Despite himself, he gave a small, almost unseen, shiver of fear. Had his

wonderful plan completely failed?

"Aw slag" Terrorsaur groaned. "What did Megatron screw up on this time?

Argh...." he squawked as he lifted himself up off of the ground, and

onto unsteady feet.

"It is not for you to question the doings of Megatron" Scorpinok said

weakly, shoving himself off the ground.

"Give it a rest, you moronic arachnid" Blackarachnia said.

"Mind if I help you up?" Nexus asked, holding out a hand to her, his

optics nearly bulging out of his head at the sight of her breasts.

"In your dreams" Blackarachnia responded, who pushed herself up off of

the ground. She was followed almost immediately by Jungura, who was

blinking her optics, and looking around worriedly.

"Where's Tabby?!" she nearly shrieked, her optics searching around

wildly for her sister. Megatron felt a momentary stab of panic.

Tabitha....gone? He growled to himself. If he was worried about Tabitha,

that meant he had to care about Tabitha. And Megatron cared about no

one.

"Here she is," Nexus said, pointing to a blue and black frame near an

alleyway. Jungura went over to Tabitha, and picked her sister up. She

listened to frantically for a heartbeat. Apparently there was one, and

Jungura smiled with relief.

"She's okay, but it'll take at least a week or two to get her power to

maximum" Jungura said, walking over to the rest of the Predacons.

"Unless-" Jungura suddenly stopped, and snapped her fingers as

inspiration came to her.

Jungura took out on of her energon charges, and hooked it up to

Tabitha's torso. She squeezed on the fibers that contained the energon,

and the energon entered Tabitha's system, and there fore "charged her

up" full of energon. Tabitha jerked and twitched, but she did not move,

nor did her optics get any brighter.

Jungura sighed. "I guess getting back it's power is something tat the

body has to do by itself" she said, with a concerned glance at her

sister. It was times like this that both Megatron and Jungura cursed

Tabitha's magical abilities.

Now it was time to face the Maximals.

The five Maximals stared at the six Predacons, their eyes narrowed. Each

one was wanting to strike, but was waiting for the other side to unleash

their power first. They continued in this frozen tableau for a few tense

minutes.

Should I attack them? Megatron thought, making quick battle plans.

Jungura could equally outmatch both Lotus and Air Razor, and Scorpinok's

missiles are no child's toy..... but all of these bots are mostly the

fastest ones on Optimus's team. Is it worth the risk of getting stranded

here in the village of the damned without a CR chamber in sight?

Silverbolt's wing missiles can easily take out Terrorsaur....he has very

thin body armor. On the other hand, Silverbolt's sentimentality would

not allow him to hurt a female....but Rattrap would have no compunction

about that. Rattrap, however, is the least powerful member of the

Maximals, and therefore no matter how dirty he fights he can never

overpower one of us. Nexus also has a lot of power... but he does not

know how to use it that well. Optimus does know how to use his weapons,

and Lotus usually never hesitates to destroy sexist men such as Nexus.

Is it worth the risk?

Megatron sighed. He had thought his plan perfect. Now look at where he

was. He was debating with himself whether or not to fire at Maximals, in

a rotted village, that for all he knew might be the whole of Cybertron!

Why did all the genius plans have to turn out so wrong?

************

When Dirkbane had heard the first blasts of laser fire, and had thought

nothing of it. It was probably some Outlander rebel trying to show off.

At the time, Dirkbane had been more concerned with finding a good drop

of beer than with laser-fire.

It was only when one of the Outlanders approached him that he started to

pay attention.

Outlanders were petrified of bots like him. He was a Soldier, who

commanded the Outlanders and struck fear into their hearts. All the

Outlanders, with the exception of a few saucy rebels, stayed away from

Soldiers, and never spoke unless spoken to.

The azure blue and black bot came up to him with utmost caution, fear

written al over it's demeanor, it's ruby red optics darting back and

forth in fear. This bot was clearly a female, and a young one at that.

Her build was slim, and her appearance timidly graceful. Her optics were

innocent looking, and her forehead was large and bare. She had no spikes

or frills on her, things all the Outlanders lacked. This fembot just had

a pure humanoid form, with a round head and small feet and fingers. As

with all the Outlanders again, she had a fine layer of dirt and

scratches which marred her metal skin. Dirkbane knew no dust or rust

could affect the Soldiers, because they had an extra layer of metal

armor over them, which was kind of like a second skin.

This young bot might only had been Built a few weeks ago. Still, as

young as she was, she still knew enough about how to speak to a Soldier.

She lowered her eyes, and made a long bow. Then she opened her mouth to

speak, but closed it again, staring at Dirkbane and standing as still as

if she were a statue.

"What is it, Outlander scum?" Dirkbane demanded.

"It's.....well...y-you might find this a bit hard to believe...oh great

Soldier sir..." the young female began, her dirty form trembling.

"Just tell me, bot!" Dirkbane said with a growl. He took out the sword

attached to his hip, just in case the bot was not ready to talk.

That sword seemed to loosen up her vocal circuits.

"Sir, some bots just appeared out of no where!" the female exclaimed

timidly. "They just fell out of the sky and landed on the ground.

They're very scary looking, they have guns on their bodies! Sir, it...it

is very scary to see such sights...if they are Soldiers such as

yourselves, then it was stupid of me to come here, since you are a Great

Grand-"

"Silence, fool!" Dirkbane snapped, and she held her tongue. Dirkbane

thought. Could the Ruler have concocted a new type of Soldier without

the knowledge of the normal Soldiers? But, the female said that they had

just dropped out of thin air....what could have caused them to do that?

"Where were these new bots? Were they sapient?" Dirkbane asked. The

young female responded with a puzzled look.

"Could they talk?" Dirkbane said, a bit more slowly, and with a lot more

anger.

"Y-yes they could, sir" the azure and black female said. "They're just

down this street, over the wall of rubble, and down the alleyway to the

right."

Dirkbane nodded. He tapped on his holo-com, which was attached to his

wrist. The first bot whose helmet he saw was that of his patrol partner

Javelin. The helmet of his comrade was somewhat messed up by the

interference of distance and static, but still, Javelin's battle helmet

shone through. The helmet was round and wide, to fit the shape of

Javelin's head. The helmet had one small spike on the center of it, and

a black visor that covered Javelin's face. The only way he looked even

remotely like a bot was because of the brown optics which shone through

on the other side of the battle helmet.

Every Soldier had, as well as the extra armor, a battle helmet. It was

somewhat foolish to call it a battle helmet though, for the only battles

a Soldier ever faced was the battle of gaining power from his own kind,

and that hardly ever required physical violence, just political

maneuvers. The helmet and armor were both hot and heavy things. The

interior of the armor had a self-regulated cooling system, but that

usually shut down after the first few days in the Outlands. Some of the

Soldiers wondered why they kept these things on, and did not shed their

protective shells.

Dirkbane knew why he kept his armor on him, though. Without the shell to

cover him, what was he? Nothing more than a tall Outlander with

sophisticated technology.

Soldiers were all expected to stay in the Outlands until they were

called back to the Center to be used for something else. Some Soldiers

were sent to the Center to bring back food and provisions, but, unless

they were ordered to by the Ruler, they could not stay. Only Soldiers

newly Built were allowed to stay in the Center for an extended period of

time, to learn training techniques from programmed teaching bots. During

the period of time they lived in the Outlands, all the Soldiers had to

maintain their dignity and pride.

What pride was there in socializing with an Outlander? None. What

dignity was there in taking off your armor? None. If you took of your

armor you would be subjected to all the mental and physical diseases

that the Outlands festered with. Take off your protection, and become

and Outlander yourself. Rumor has it that your cerebral circuits would

shrink until they were almost nothing. You would forget how to work a

holo-com, or even loose the ability to type.

That fact kept the Soldiers in their stuffy armor and helmets. Not one

of them would dare take either article of protection off.

"Javelin, we have thirteen unknown bots in sector 4532, near the rubble

wall" Dirkbane began, but Javelin interrupted him with a laugh.

"Which wall of rubble Dirk? There's thousands of them!" Javelin said.

Dirkbane smiled a rare smile, for some reason Javelin always made him a

bit more light hearted then he had been.

"Just trace my signal" Dirkbane ordered. "And call everyone else within

range. Tell them to keep their weapons and chains bared, and bring the

Battle K9s. This Outlander girl told me that these new bots have guns on

their body."

"An Outlander girl?" Javelin asked. "Oh Dirk....you sly bot you!"

"Shut up!" Dirkbane said good-naturedly. Javelin saluted, and Dirkbane

flicked off his holo-com.

He turned to the Outlander girl, who was staring at his holo-com in

amazement. Dirkbane allowed himself to smile at the awe in her eyes.

These foolish Outlanders did not even know what a holo-com was, and they

would never know. That was one of the Soldiers many technological

secrets, which kept them in the realm of gods.

"Well, lead me to these bots, you tramp!" Dirkbane ordered sternly, once

his amusement had passed.

"Y-yes sir!" the female bot said, with a salute made clumsy by fear.

She dashed off down one of the alleyways, and Dirkbane followed her. The

azure blue of her shoulder blades and inner legs were the only things

that kept her from completely blending in with the shadows.

Slag she's fast! Dirkbane thought with a grumble, as he dodged over some

fallen wires and scrap metal that littered the streets. That was one of

the things all the Soldiers seemed to lack; speed and the ability to

move over such dirty terrain with ease. Those were also the two things

that the Outlanders possessed, mostly because of their small size and

lack of extra armor that the Soldiers wore.

Finally, one he had struggled over he wall of rubble, which was a

particularly high one, and once he had ran south down one of the

streets, he got to the new bots.

Dirkbane gasped, seeming almost as stupid as an Outlander. These new

bots did have weapons attached to their bodies, such as shoulder mounted

cannons and wrist mounted missiles. They also looked......well, like

they were only half robot, and half something else. Three of them had

huge wings on their backs. One of them even looked like he had the

pointed muzzle and ears of a Battle K9 as well as spears on it's back,

which was quite shocking.

Despite their oddities, Dirkbane took out his bazooka in his right hand,

and kept his sword in his left. He glanced over and saw three dirty

Outlanders, including the young fembot, staring at him and the new bots

with complete amazement and fear on their faces. Their various colored

optics were so huge that they seemed to take up most of their faces.

Their optics speckled the shadows with circles and rectangles of bright

color, making the shadows seem almost a bit comforting.

Dirkbane heard heavy footsteps approaching. He turned and saw that

twelve Soldiers were now beside him, with chains, weapons and

exclamations of shock. A few of the bot's beneath the armor were

Dirkbane's companions, such as Javelin and MacheteWipe, but others he

knew only in passing. The only way he could identify them was by the

shape of their armor, and the number of spikes and frills they had on

their suits of amour.

Bots with the most fancy armor had the highest rank. Dirkbane was proud

to say that he had two spikes on his head, five on both of his arms, and

two on both of his legs. He was indeed a respected Soldier.

"What the-" Javelin began.

"Never mind that" Dirkbane ordered. "Attack these new bots, and bring

them to the Center for questioning. If they are a new line of Soldiers

such as us, then we shall let them go. If they are not, we will be able

to inform the Ruler of them, and h can question them. That purple and

bronze bot seems to be the strongest, I will take him. Everyone else,

try to chain them up as quickly as possible. We cannot let them escape!"

All the Soldiers nodded. They charged out of the alleyway, yelling and

firing their guns. Dirkbane did as he had promised, and ran straight at

the purple and bronze one. It was relatively easy to get in close. All

these new bots had been surprised at their attack, and had hardly any

time to react.

MacheteWipe tossed Dirkbane an electro-chain. It was hard to get it

around the purple and bronze bot, because now he was fighting back, and

shooing at Dirkbane with a cannon that seemed to be his entire arm.

Dirkbane got hit in the chest and staggered backwards, but soon he got

in close again. Before he could get the chain on the huge bot though, he

was shot at by the missiles of another bot. Dirkbane growled, and

ignored the stabbing pain.

The Soldier managed after a few minutes to wrap the electro-chain around

the purple and bronze bot. Dirkbane quickly destroyed the bot's arm

cannon with his sword. He ordered two other bots to look after him, and

went to help the rest of his troops.

"Assist me you fools!" said the huge purple and bronze bot.

"Yes Megatron!" said a grey bot with a...a tail on his behind? who

started running towards the purple bot. Dirkbane shrugged at the oddity

which was the aforementioned tail, and merely blasted the bot with his

bazooka. In his blind charge, the grey tailed bot had not time to react

to those shots, and was taken off guard. Dirkbane took out his last

electro-chain, and tied the grey bot up.

As Dirkbane turned away from the scene, he quickly saw a glimpse of a

red and black female bot being chained up, as well as a blue and black

female bot being chained up as well. The latter seemed to be

unconscious, possibly from a blow to the head.

Dirkbane ran over to where two bots and Javelin were having a hard time

bringing down a rather large tan and blackish bot, with thick feet and

pointed teeth.

It was hard work, and Dirkbane felt a bit of awe for these new bots.

Never had he encountered so much resistance in his life! Of course, that

might have stemmed from the fact that he had only had the opportunity to

fight rebel Outlanders, who had never had any good weapons, or fighting

skills. These bots did had both.

Whatever they have, I have more! Dirkbane thought with a smile, as he

jabbed his sword through the chest of the bot, who growled in pain.

Dirkbane smiled some more. He had not gone through three years of

training just to be beaten by a freak.

Javelin took advantage of this opportunity, and got the electro-chain

around the bot's waist, tying his hands to his sides.

"Maximals, run!" the black and tan bot shouted. "Save yourselves!"

"No way Big Bot!" came the voice of a young bot, whose voice sounded

young enough for him to be newly Built. The young bot cupped his hands

together, and formed a laser, which hit Dirkbane in the chest. Dirkbane

collapsed this time, and threw his sword, like a spear, at he young

green and yellow bot, who managed to dodge aside.

"I'm not leaving you either Optimus!" said an emerald and silver female.

To Dirkbane's surprise, he saw that she could fly. She did not even have

a jet pack on, her jets seemed to meld into her back.

"We can't abandon you!" said a brown and dark grey female, who also had

jets on her back.

Dirkbane stared at the two flyers. Were these people a new line of

Soldiers? he wondered with some fear. Was it right that he was attacking

them? What would the Ruler say if he found out? More importantly, what

would he DO?

All those questions were put out of Dirkbane's mind as he was hit by the

emerald and silver flyer, who carried a small blaster. Dirkbane cursed

his stupidity, and fired back with his bazooka.

"Optimus, you are the leader, I would die for you!" said a silver and

white bot, with a short, K9-like muzzle.

"Yah stupid idiots, do what de Boss Monkey says!" ordered a small bot,

who was also chained up by electro-chains, and had Javelin as a guard.

"But-" began the green and yellow bot.

"Cheetor, that's an order!" shouted the black and tan bot.

"Get them Soldiers!" Dirkbane shouted. He began to charge towards them,

but the silver and white bot fired a missile at him, which made him

fall. The green and yellow, dark grey and brown and the emerald and

silver bot had both began running down the alleyways. After a few more

wing missiles which prevented the Soldiers from running after his

comrades, the silver and white bot followed the three bots.

Dirkbane got off the ground, which was a very painful endeavor. He

looked around him at the bots that had been chained up: the tan and

black bot who seemed to be a leader of some sort, the short blue red and

silver bot, the huge purple and bronze bot, a leader as well, the grey

tailed bot, and the two females, who looked the same enough to be Built

together.

"Soldiers, forget about the other bots" he ordered. "We have enough for

today. We must take them to the Center for questioning. MacheteWipe, you

must call the Transportation K9s, and cancel the order for Battle K9s."

"Yessir!" MacheteWipe said with a salute.

Dirkbane looked at his prisoners and smiled. This indeed had been a very

interesting day.

***************

The lives of the Outlanders was monotonous and repetitive, at best. The

lives these bots lead could sometimes be paved with danger and fear,

when Soldiers attacked them, or took one of their kind to the Center.

But, it usually nothing out of the ordinary happened, and trivial events

such as Soldiers changing camp were the most interesting bit of news.

When big important new DID come however, it spread like wildfire.

And these new, odd looking bots were certainly big and important.

That was how Overdrive came to learn of them. Overdrive had been

patiently sitting on a fallen beam, just minding his own business, and

staring off into space. Staring and sitting were things he liked to do

regularly, and they were about the only things he was good at. He

enjoyed the feeling of his mind being completely empty and devoid of

thought. It was kind of fun.

Beside him was Scar Eyes and Gyp, who were eating some sort of food.

Overdrive was not concerned with what they were eating at the time.

Staring at nothingness was more important to him now.

If Overdrive had not been staring into nothingness, this was what he

would have seen.

He was sitting inside a ruined building, of which the landscape was

filled with. The right side of the building had crumbled down, leaving a

gaping hole as an exit and entrance. The inside of the building looked

like it had been a blueish color before it had collapsed, because

patches of blue still showed, but most of the inside of the wall was

covered up with rust and cyber mold. There were springs and coils from

some sort of huge machine that had lain untouched for centuries, and no

one bothered to touch them now.

There was a large counter that spanned from one end of the room to

another, which was what Gyp and Scar Eyes were leaning on. There was

also a lifeless mechanical screen on one side of the room. It had long

been in disuse, and the screen would not have been able to come to life,

even if anyone had thought of bringing it back on-line. It was cracked,

and most of the glass was missing.

Above it were rusted and barely comprehensible letters. All anyone could

make out of them was "En r C : A ew a to h futu ." Overdrive

never puzzled about those words, and hardly anyone else did either.

"Hey OD" Gyp said in his scratchy voice. "You want some?"

"Huh?" Overdrive asked, suddenly startled out of his mindlessness.

"Food, you want some?" Gyp asked again.

"No thanks" Overdrive replied. "I already eaten."

"Kay" Gyp replied with a shrug.

"That's the problem with you bots these days" Scar Eyes remarked. "You

never eat enough! You're belly's gonna turn on you, and start eating

your insides! Mark my words young'un, you better eat something soon, or

face the consequences. Actually" he added as an afterthought "forget

marking my words, you don't know how to write."

Scar Eyes smiled his trademark "I just insulted somebody and I'm proud

of it" smile, which made Overdrive get a bit angry.

"You don't neither, old timer" Overdrive replied, a bit defensively.

"There was a time when we all knew-" Scar Eyes began.

"-How to write, I know" Overdrive nodded.

He had heard Scar Eyes' stories of the olden days, for the old bot

repeated them endlessly. Even though Scar Eyes had not lived during

those old times, he seemed to know every single legend, myth or story

about them.

Overdrive was not sure if he believe those stories, but Scar Eyes

certainly did. To Overdrive those tales were just too odd and incredible

to be true. One of the old legends was that New Cybertronia used to be

all wonderful and grand, with everything in good repair and working

condition. Overdrive looked at the landscape around him, and the starry

sky, the broken and damaged buildings, and the rust that seemed to cover

everything. He just could not believe that New Cybertronia had ever

looked like anything else.

There was silence. Overdrive glared at Scar Eyes to make sure he did not

try to insult him again, and then proceeded to go back to sitting and

staring.

He was interrupted by Gyp.

"I'm gonna go talk to Klepta, you wanna come?" he asked, getting up off

of the metallic ground.

"Naw" Overdrive replied with a shrug.

"What are you gonna talk about anyway?" Scar Eyes said, with a similar

"go screw off" shrug.

Gyp replied with a shrug of his own, and walked off.

Soon Gyp's footstep's faded. All around them there was silence. Oddly

enough, even Scar Eyes seemed in a quiet mood today. The old bot broke

the silence with a question.

"Do you ever wonder what those words up there mean, boy?" he asked,

pointing to the words above the black screen.

"Nope" Overdrive replied. "Why do yah care so much about them old

timer?" he asked.

"There was a time when those words would have been clear to anybody"

Scar Eyes replied sadly. He shook his head. Overdrive looked at the old

bot.

"Y'okay?" he asked.

"Haven't felt better" Scar Eyes replied sarcastically. He seemed to have

gotten out of his nostalgic mood. He took another munch of his purple

nutrients, spilling more purple juice on his chin.

There was the pitter patter of approaching bot feet. Overdrive quickly

shot up on his feet. Was it a Soldier? If it was, there was no way he

was going to be around when it came. Soldiers were never nice to

Outlanders as a rule, and when they got really mean all hell broke

loose.

"Relax young'un" Scar Eyes said. "Those feet are too light to be Soldier

feet." The old bot had not even stirred from his spot, and still was

munching on some glowing food, letting purple juice drip down his chin.

Of course Overdrive did the exact opposite of what Scar Eyes said, and

did not relax. It was hard for him to stay calm once his fear was

aroused. The young bot started to head towards the crumbled right wall,

and the exit of the building. He was stopped by Trax, who ran to him so

breathless that she could hardly speak.

"Trax! What's wrong girl?" Overdrive asked, happy to see his pretty

friend.

"The....most a-amazing thing...has....happened!" Trax burst out.

"Calm down you ninny!" Scar Eyes ordered. "Take a breath, and tell it to

us slowly. By the Pitt, there's no accounting for young kids these

days!"

Trax took a few deep breaths, then started again. "I swear you wouldn't

believe me if I told you!" she exclaimed.

"Try me, I've seen enough in my day" Scar Eyes said with a snort. "And

you needn't worry about Overdrive....he'll believe yah if you said black

was white!"

"Shaddup old timer" Overdrive said with a snarl. "Just tell me what

happened Trax" he turned to the black and blue female.

"These bots just popped out of thin air!" Trax said. "And these weren't

regular Outlanders. They didn't even look like Soldiers! They looked

like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Heh?" Scar Eyes asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, there's lotsa things

you ain't seen, girl! Try your best to tell us what they looked like."

"Well...." Trax paused. "T-they had weapons attached to their bodies"

she said, after a bit of thinking. "There was this one that had spears

on his back, and the face of a K9. There was also another one who was

all grey and white. He had pointy toes. Another one had these weird

skinny orange legs on her arms. And a few of them could fly. They were

all these pretty colors! Oh...and one short bot had small wheels on his

back! There was lots of other stuff....I can't quite remember it now

though....they just looked really different. A few of them were taken by

the Soldiers, but most of them got away."

Scar Eyes got up, his joints squealing as he did so, interrupting the

confused silence. He wiped the purple juice off of his chin, and stared

at Trax, his cracked optics lighting up with peculiar interest.

"You sure you saw all this? You ain't been having nightmares, or eating

some of that dangerous juice? You know, the kind that grows on the edge

of the Black Lands?"

"No sir" Trax said. "I ain't touched that stuff for weeks now."

"Well, we best be checking this out then!" Scar Eyes said. Trax nodded.

"Dice and Scuzzmuzzle is keeping watch over them right now" she said.

"N-now hold on yous guys!" Overdrive said. "You don't think we should go

meet these fellahs, do yah?! That's stupid!!! If these guys've got

weapons all over themselves, think of what they can do to us!"

Overdrive already had a few pictures in his mind of what might happen,

and they did not look pretty. He shuddered, and whimpered with fear.

Those two were crazy if they wanted to look at these bots! It would be

better to leave them alone, from the description Trax had given him.

"Trax, how many were there?" Scar Eyes asked.

Trax looked down at her black fingers. "I don't quite know...." she

mumbled. After a few minute's pause, she went on.

"When they first appeared, these new bots were more than this" she held

up all her fingers on both hands.

"But now, they've gone down to this, give or take a bot or two" Trax

held up all her fingers on her left hand, and held up two on her right

hand.

Those symbols were completely meaningless to Overdrive, but Scar Eyes

nodded.

"Seven bots" the old bot said out loud. Overdrive looked at the him.

"Y'ain't supposed to swear in front of a lady!" he snapped, his frazzled

nerves making his voice sound squeaky.

"Never mind yah peabrained moron!" Scar Eyes snapped back. "Lets get

outta here!"

"You don't expect us to actually go up to these bots do you?" Overdrive

asked. His plea fell on Scar Eyes' deaf audio sensors.

Overdrive turned to Trax. "Come on girl!" he begged. "We ain't going to

go meet these nasty thingies, are we?" he asked.

Trax looked at him sympathetically. "I...I would like to talk to them"

she said, a bit hesitantly. "They look kinda....funny, but in a good

way. I think we should all go. It...it might be....nice to see them.

Yes, it might be nice!" she concluded. She turned to Scar Eyes with an

apologetic smile.

"That is, if you want to go-" she began.

"It'll be a bit of excitement in this one bot town!" Scar Eyes replied.

Trax responded with a puzzled look. Scar Eyes sighed and said "I'll go."

"Well....then I'm really going to go!" Trax said decisively. "I haven't

seen a new bot for a long time!"

"Listen to the lady Overdrive!" Scar Eyes cackled. Overdrive glared at

him. He really did not want to do this....but all his friends wanted him

to. Even Scuzzmuzzle was watching these new bots.

Overdrive sighed and nodded, a feeling of foreboding seeping into the

atmosphere.

"Well" Trax said, noticing how worried he looked, "just think of it as

an adventure!"

"An adventure....o' course...." Overdrive sighed, completely not

convinced.

But, unconvinced or not, he followed his friends out of the building,

and into the moonless day, or was it night? that bathed the world.

****************

Dice had been watching these bots for a little while now. When their

friends had been captured by the Soldiers they had run off as a group,

fearing for their lives. It had been hard for Dice, Trax and Scuzzmuzzle

to keep up with them, because a few of them were quite fast. But they

were far enough away from the Soldiers the new bots stopped. And Dice

could see them a bit more clearly.

As Trax had said, there seemed to be no words to describe them.

They looked so different and foreign that at first Dice had wanted to

seek safer pastures, well, as safe as any place in the Outlands could

be. But, it was their different way of looking, and acting that made

Dice want to hang around a little more.

She was not by nature a curious person, just an opportunistic one, and

since these new bots did carry big fancy weapons, she sensed some

opportunity in staying around them. Of course, there was the fact that

with these big fancy weapons could blow her to bits....but what these

new bots did not see, they could not shoot.

The new bots began to move away from some others, and bunch up with

others, forming two sides. On one side there was a red and white bot, as

well as a black and yellow female, and a brown and orange bot with

spears on his back. On the other side there was a brown and dark grey

female with jets on her back, an emerald and silver female also with

jets, a silver and white bot with two weird things sticking out of his

back, and a green and yellow bot.

At this point Dice had told Trax to go and "fetch some others to come

look." It seemed like there would be action, and she did not want only

herself and a drunk to see it.

"I still think we should have gone after Big Bot" said the yellow and

green one, with a depressed sigh.

Another bot, a silver and white one with two weird things sticking out

of his back knelt down beside the smaller bot.

"As do I, Cheetor" he said. "But, Optimus did give us an order, and we

followed it to the letter. We must keep up our faith. I am sure he will

be all right."

"You Maxies really milk this sentimental gig, don't you?" said another

bot, a red and white one. Someone had called him Terror, or something to

that extent. Dice had not heard the name properly.

"You Preds really milk that cowardice thing, don't you?" an emerald and

silver bot snapped.

"I'll show you cowardice!" snapped the black and yellow female, taking

out a kind of gun that Dice had never seen before, of which there were

many.

"Blackarachnia, please!" said the silver and white bot. He looked at her

pleadingly with yellow eyes.

"Don't try to interrupt Bowser!" the black and blue female. Dice looked

at the female..... Blackaradia? Was that her name? If so, that was very

odd...but then again, there was nothing normal about these bots.

The red and white bot, Terror, took out a gun and aimed it at the

emerald and green bot. This female, in turn, took out a very thin sword

and a long piece of rubber. The bot with the black spears on his head

took off a spear and held it in his hands, also taking out a rectangle

shaped object that had a button in the middle. The green and yellow bot

stood up and put his hands together, making some sort of animal face, as

Dice noticed with interest.

Then, they all started firing at each other. Dice ducked even further

into the alleyway, not wanting to get hurt by the flying bullets.

"Watsh all da fighting 'bout?" asked Scuzzmuzzle in his characteristic

drunken slur.

Dice looked over at Scuzzmuzzle, tearing her eyes off of the battle

around her. She could still hear the shouts and clanking of metal feet

upon metal on New Cybertronian ground. Scuzzmuzzle held a metallic

bottle filled with yellow liquid, which was commonly called Cisky, and

alcoholic drink.

"More....preddy Outshlander rebels....you thinkin' joining up...Dicey?"

the former Soldier asked with a foolish grin.

Dice slapped him on the face, not because she was offended by the

comment, but because he was drunk when he needed to be sober. Despite

Scuzzmuzzle's great size, Dice was not afraid of him like most other

Outlander's were. They saw him as a fearsome ex-Soldier, she just saw

him for what he really was, a drunk.

"Ouch" Scuzzmuzzle moaned, putting his hand to his face. Dice reached

over and took the bottle of Cisky from the ex-Soldier. Scuzzmuzzle tried

to make a grab for it, but his vision was impaired, and he completely

missed Dice's hand by a mile.

Sheesh, when IS he sober? Dice thought with a sigh. Hardly ever, damn

moron. I know Soldiers like drinking but this is pathetic!

Dice turned back to the battle, when a movement caught her eye behind

her. She turned fully around again, and saw that three bots were coming.

Dice smiled.

The shortest one there was Trax, she could tell by the azure outline on

her eyebrows and thighs, the only things that kept Trax from completely

blending in with the landscape. She was running, holding the hand of a

shaking bot.

That shaking bot, with the huge white optics, was Overdrive, an orange

and white bot. Dice had to wonder how Trax had managed to get Overdrive

to come view this spectacle, but she was happy that he had come anyway.

Dice always loved having people to look smart in front of.

The third bot that Trax had dragged with her Dice was not happy about.

This one was Scar Eyes. The maroon and silver bot was the oldest bot in

the world, or at least in Dice's opinion. The female had hoped he would

have gone off-line by now, but Scar Eyes kept on kicking. Dice grumbled

to herself. Scar Eyes would probably give her some lecture or big huge

talk about the "old days" which was something everyone in the Outlands

could live without.

The three bots met up with Scuzzmuzzle and Dice, out of breath because

of their running.

"I got here as fast as I could" Trax said. "I brought some folks like

you wanted me to, Dice."

"I wouldn't call either of these guys folks, Trax" Dice said with a

smile. "But, they'll have to do. Now, let's take a look at these new

people."

Dice moved out of the way, allowing Overdrive and Scar Eyes to look at

the new bots. Dice smiled at the look of complete surprise on their

faces. She was glad that she had witnessed these new bots when they had

first appeared, so she had no reason to look stupid.

"Speechless for once old timer?" Dice asked of Scar Eyes.

"Hrmph!" Scar Eyes grumbled. "No sense of respect for their elders,

these young'uns have! In the olden days things were better than this.

People would nod to you, and say hi wherever you went."

"Are you sure these bots are safe?!" Overdrive whined. "They look

downright scary to me! Do you see that one that has black spears on his

back?! Oh, why did I have to come here?! Look at all them weapons! Those

could blow us all to itty bitty pieces. Oh...why did I have to come?!?"

"Shh!" Dice ordered, tired of the talk. Now that she had presented the

spectators with these new marvels, and found some people to be her

bodyguards, she wanted to watch these new bots in action.

Terror, the red and white bot, shot at the emerald and silver bot with

cannons that came from his shoulders. The emerald and silver bot dodged

away though, and shot through the air, shooting at Blackaradia. The

green and yellow bot, Cheetor was his name? He shot out a laser at

Terror that came from his two hands that made the face of some kind of

creature. The silver and white bot was firing at the brown and orange

bot with the spears with missiles that came out of the two things on his

back. The bot with the spears on his head and the K9-ish face shot back

with an odd looking gun.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the din of the fighting.

"We don't need to shoot each other!" said the dark grey and brown bot,

exasperated. Dice had not seen her fire a weapon during the fight.

"Says you, Maximal chick!" the spear-headed bot snapped.

"Miss Air Razor, I take it you are suggesting a truce with these vile

Predacons?" Silverbolt asked.

Miss Air Razor nodded back.

"A truce?" Cheetor gasped. "Air Razor, remember what happened the last

time we had a truce with these Preds? They were having a field day."

"Stupid Maximals, you didn't even suspect anything" laughed Terror.

Blackaradia chuckled.

"You're the one who's being stupid!" Miss Air Razor, or Air Razor, for

Dice could not decide what her name was, snapped at them.

"Predacons, think about it!" she said. "We need to explore this new

Cybertron, not fight each other! Besides, our leaders are captured. How

will we function without the-"

"Easily, we function with my taking control!" Blackaradia said casually.

"You?!" burst out Terror. "If anything, I should be the one to lead!"

"Don't forget about me!" whined the bot with the K9ish face. "I'm cool

and I have a good taste in music! Who else is classy enough to like the

Spice Girls?"

"Shut up Nexus!" Terror and Blackaradia both snapped.

"Lead over WHAT?" the emerald and silver bot said, catching Miss Air

Razor's drift. "For all we know, you guys could be the last Preds on

Cybertron. We all need each other to help us reach our leaders and

comrades! If we go out alone who knows what we might find, or what

dangers we might face? But together, even though I hate to say it, we

might pull through. Only by working together can we get back to Earth."

"Earth?" Scar Eyes mumbled. "These new bots come from Earth? But

how....how can that be? It was destroyed!"

Dice shrugged. She did not know anything about Earth....or Cyberra, or

what ever it had been called. History was the department for Scar Eyes,

not her. But, if history was such an enigma amongst Outlanders, how did

these new bots know about Earth? It was quite odd.

The three bots one the one side were silent, looking at each other

skeptically. It was clear that they did not trust these other bots at

all.

"Even though I do not wish to do so" the silver and white bot said "I

will ask you this, Predacons. If there is any goodness in any of you,

and I suspect there must be, for no bot is without a heart." He was

looking straight at Blackaradia as he said this. The black and yellow

female purposefully avoided his gaze.

"Or, if you do not have hearts" he turned to the other two bots and

glared at them "then you must have brains. This is the only logical

thing to do, since we cannot fend for ourselves on our own in this

strange land. I ask you this: to make peace with us. Since you are all

concerned with your own safety" he said this with a disgusted glance at

Terror and Nexus "then with us your safety shall be assured. When we get

back our respective leaders and comrades, then we may split up and go to

our separate sides. But until that time comes, I ask for a truce. We

will not harm each other due to our differences in allegiance under any

circumstances. Will you accept?"

A silence insued, each of the three bots wondering whether or not to

accept the proposal so neatly laid out before them. Cheetor looked like

he was going to protest, but he kept his mouth shut. Dice noticed that,

unlike his three comrades had, Cheetor did not lower his weapon.

"What do you think they're going to do?" Trax whispered. "I hope they

choose to join!"

Finally, one of the three bots spoke.

"Well-" Blackaradia began, but she was cut of by Scuzzmuzzle, who had

started humming. The ex-Soldier's unknown tune bounced off the

surrounding buildings. All four of the Outlanders turned and glared at

Scuzzmuzzle, still under the influence of alcohol. The ex-Soldier did

not see the pressing gaze of his fellows, and continued to hum the song.

"Oh no!" Overdrive whimpered. "He's gonna give us away!"

"Too late" Scar Eyes said with a sigh. "He already did."

The new bots were all looking in their direction, their optics puzzled

and alarmed. Dice tried to swallow down her fear. She had survived worse

situations than this with the Soldiers, and she knew, or at least hoped,

that she would survive this one.

Except these bots don't look like Soldiers, Dice thought to herself.

Dice kicked Scuzzmuzzle, and then realized that that was not a good

thing to do either, for the sound of the metal hitting metal and the

ex-Soldier's loud "OUCH!" gave away their position even more.

"Smart Dice....really smart" Scar Eyes said, with a cackle.

"You wanna see your optics damaged even further old timer?!" Dice

demanded furiously. She was not usually one to get riled, but Scar Eyes

always seemed to bring out the worst in her.

"It might do me some good, not being able to see your face" Scar Eyes

said with a laugh. "At least that means you won't cast your spells on

me, like you do with all those Soldier boys!"

Trax and Overdrive gasped, and Dice felt her mech-fluid boiling.

Everyone knew what Dice did for a living, and they even talked about it

in front of her.

What Dice did was prostitute herself to Soldiers in order to give

herself, and others in her village if village it could be called,

protection from the Soldier's wrath, which could be deadly. Quite a

number of Outlanders had been killed by a drunken or angry Soldier.

It was a well known fact and she did not try to deny it. In fact, it was

something like a positive status symbol, since she would ward off

Soldier interference in the daily lives of the Outlanders.

All the Outlanders thought that the Soldiers were big and tough bots

with god-like powers. The Soldiers were creatures who they had to serve

and revere almost as much as the Ruler himself. Their armor was rumored

to be a gift of the Ruler's, something that gave the Soldiers such a

god-like reputation.

But, Dice had seen many Soldiers with their armor off. She held a secret

that she told very few: that Soldiers were just tall, clean bots. Not

gods, but bots. Technically, they could be considered Outlanders like

themselves, except for the fact that they had technology, and were a lot

bigger.

Of course, Dice did not know how to work the technology. Once her

services had been offered she was rarely kept around long enough to be

shown anything, and the Soldier who had used her was quite anxious to

keep her quiet and send her off. The Soldiers never wanted their

comrades to find out what they did during their spare time, lest they

should alert the Ruler of poor behavior.

Dice did not mind when people talked about her, as long as the people

were discreet, calm, or at least joking about it. She herself did not

see anything wrong with her line of work.

But Scar Eyes.....when he spoke about it, he made it seem like it was

something bad, and that she was worse than cyber mold. He was mocking

her, making fun of her for something she did for necessity, and pleasure

of course, and was not wrong in anyone's eyes but his. Dice hated him

for that. It made him look so superior, like he was a god, someone who

knew all the legends and the rules.

Dice punched Scar Eyes, and hit the old bot square in the jaw. Scar Eyes

fell down onto the metal ground with a thud. His cracked optics glared

up at her, but it was a glare of good humor, or more accurately, a glare

of his own good humor at seeing her loose her cool.

Overdrive, much to Dice's surprise, chuckled at the sight of the old bot

lying on the metallic ground. He glanced at Dice and smiled, looking

happy that Scar Eyes had gotten what he deserved. Trax rushed over

towards Scar Eyes, and helped him up. Scar Eyes accepted the offer with

a bit of grumbling about how he had to be rescued by a ninny.

Scar Eyes looked at Dice, and then behind her. He gave a short lived

smile, and then his face settled into seriousness.

"Don't waste your punches on me, girl" he said. "We're gonna have a lot

more things to worry about."

Dice turned around and saw that he was right. The new bots were

approaching them, all weapons raised.

All Dice could hear was Overdrive's childish whimpering in her ear.

**********

Optimus tried as he had many times before to peer through the blindfold

that covered his optics. Once again, it was no use.

The gorilla studied the blindfold once more, hoping to gain some clues

as to what had happened to the time-line. It was made of thick Earthling

cloth, which was kind of an odd thing seeing as they were on a

completely metallic planet.

On Cybertron, his Cybertron, longings for Earthling things such as

clothes, paper and other natural materials were non-exsistant, save for

a few eccentric bots who took an interest in human culture.

Cybertronians had been more interested in Earthling technology, though

such interest faded fast once it was noted how inferior their technology

was.

But, Optimus had seen wads of paper, cloth and other miscellaneous

Earthling objects littering the streets with wild abandon. That oddity

was nothing compared to the state of Cybertron itself.

He lay his back up against a metallic wall. Optimus and all the other

bots with him had been marched into a huge ship of some sort, the

electro-chains still attached around them. Their captors barked orders

to each other, and the heavy clank of their armor soon echoed throughout

the ship.

It was the phrase "Transportation K9" a phrase that had been repeated

endlessly, that perked Optimus' interest. He assumed that was what he

was in now, although to him it sounded exactly like a Cybertronian cargo

plane. The roaring of jets was heard outside, a muffled thundering

sound, which was what Earthlings jokingly called "Transportation Music,"

referring to Cybertronian's love of space travel. Optimus could tell

from the noise of the jets that he was in a pretty big ship.

Communication between the Maximals, and even the Maximals and Predacons,

was forbidden. There were at least five guards, who made sure that if

anyone said a word that their innards would be showing on their

outsides. It was quite cruel....like the whole situation was.

The Transmetal gorilla could hardly see through the dense darkness

surrounding him. It was almost as dark as his own thoughts.

Something told him the Megatron's plan had changed the future in a way

Megatron had not wanted it. Actually, it had been the shocked expression

on Megatron's face which had given him the tip.

Megatron tried to change the future....and he failed, Optimus thought,

with a grim smile. His failure might cost us many things, least of all

our lives. It might have affected the future more than we know. Our

future might be erased, and have ceased to exists. This future might be

all we have left, all we have to work with. And we might never get back

to our world.

I thought I faced homesickness when we landed on the Beast Wars planet.

I thought I might never see our home again. Now, we might never see

Prehistoric Earth again. We might never see our universe, our galaxy,

our lives again. All of that will be taken away from us. So many things

can happen now. Megatron can't control them, and I can't control them.

It is all up to fate now.

Fate....a fickle thing at best. Like trusting your life to a feather,

rising and falling on the winds of time.

The Maximals....what about them? Optimus thought, feeling the poison of

panic work into his system. What have I abandoned them to? If only I

could tell what was happening to them! Not just the ones on this new

Cybertron...the ones on Earth as well. The time storm is most likely

still raging there, what affects will it have on their welfare? A storm

like that could kill them, or worse.....

Optimus did not want to think about the other possibilities. He was too

worried about everything, that to contemplate death would only heap on

more worry. Besides, he was a Maximal leader, and it was a Maximal's

duty to have faith and hope. If not in your own abilities, then in

Primus.

"Maximals, children of the good and kind Autobots" Optimus thought, his

mind quoting some words from the Cybertronian Scriptures, a religious

book on Cybertron. "Like Autobots, they carry the torch of

righteousness, to defend goodness and truth against all darkness and

forces of evil. They light the way clouded in darkness, blazing in their

glory."

These thoughts brought him some comfort, but it was a small one. A small

spark in the darkness of the despair. One small ember against the cold

ice of fear. Soon, that small ember always fades away, for one ember

cannot melt a snowdrift. One spark cannot make the shadows flee.

The Transmetal Maximal had always had a firm faith in Primus, but he had

never been as devoutly religious as some of the Cybertronian cults were.

He believed that Primus could not do everything for him, a bot had to do

something for himself.

Optimus believed this was one of those times.

I don't know how I'm going to get out of here, but I know I have to, he

thought. His mind turned from thoughts of fear and desperation to those

of planning. Logic began to cut through the tornado of emotions in

Optimus' mind, which had held him in their grasp for so long, allowing

no conscious thought to pass through.

Such a whirl of fear and upset was more dangerous than any time storm.

It clouded judgment, and stopped thinking. It tore up every single worry

and added it into itself, making the storm growing bigger and all the

more powerful.

Getting out of here and back to the Maximals that are on this new

Cybertron is my first priority, Optimus thought. Or, I should bring the

Maximals to wherever I am. Wherever we're going, I have the sinking

feeling that it's going to be bad. But, maybe I can make this situation

turn in my favor. If we're going to the Predacon Elders, or whatever

their rulers are, maybe I can plead for our cause. Of course, I'd have

to know more about this world before I do.

How I learn about this world is another matter. The guards won't answer

any of my questions. All I know is that Cybertron now looks like a trash

heap.

But how can I figure anything out if I can't ask the guards?

Optimus sighed. His train of logic had run into a brick wall and fallen

of it's tracks. The hurricane of emotions came back, and Optimus

submitted to them.

What's going to happen to us? Where are we going to go? What are these

bots going to do to us? What about my friends, my troops, my comrades? I

care for them all. I can't let anything bad happen to them! They were

under my care and I let them down. Oh Primus! If only I knew what was

going to happen to us......

Optimus sighed. He might be a leader in strength and determination. But

inside, a small deep part of him inside, was scared. A little child

inside of him crying out it's fears. Always and forever it would be

there.

As it is in all of us.

*****

Cheetor looked at the bot before him, using his feline vision to peer

through the blackness of the alleyway.

There were two females and three males. Each of them were dirty, with

dust and smears of cyber mold all over them. They also looked quite

plain, without the spikes, frills or other add-ons that Cybertronians

usually had. Four of the five bots were short, about Rattrap or Lotus'

height. The fifth was as big as Dinobot, and bore a striking resemblance

to him as well.

The three Predacons all took out their guns. Cheetor looked at the bots,

knowing that they probably could not give them much trouble, and put his

hand gun down.

"Hello" Air Razor said. "Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you" she said

calmly, but with curiosity.

One of the bots turned to her comrades. This bot was a light brown and

navy blue female with a huge chest and golden optics. The fembot had a

round navy blue face, with a mouth that seemed always to be in an

attractive pout. Her nose was slightly upturned, and her optics were

normal sized. Her legs were long and sculpted beautifully, as were her

arms and navy blue hands. The fembot's navy blue feet looked almost too

small for her body, but they held her up notheless. If it were not for

the dirt that she was covered with, she could be considered quite an

attractive bot.

"I told yah, you wimps" she said, sneering at an orange and white bot.

"Shaddup!" the orange and white bot snapped. Or at least, Cheetor

assumed he was supposed to be white, for the dirt he was covered in

seemed to fade the white color of his metal to a dull yellow, and the

orange to an odd color of orangey-brown.

This bot was a bit smaller than the others, and he looked quite young.

His optics seemed to take up his face they were so wide with fear. His

mouth was very small, and his nose a mere circular bump on his face. His

arms and legs were shorter than average, and his feet were huge, making

him seem quite awkward. The only parts of him that were white were his

shoulders, the top of his feet, the top of his head and there was a

splotch of white on the abdominal muscles of his torso.

He trembled and shook all over, his white optics dancing fearfully

towards the guns the Predacons held. "Those guys STILL have guns!" he

said, finally.

"I think you guys should put your weapons away" Lotus said to the three

Preds. Nexus put his quasar away obediently, but Blackarachnia and

Terrorsaur did not.

"You can get more answers with a gun and a question than with just a

question alone" Blackarachnia said, with a sickly sweet smile on her

face.

The white and orange bot gave a shout of fear. He looked like he was

about to give another, but he was slapped on the head by the brown and

navy fembot.

"Who says we need to ask them questions?" Terrorsaur replied. "Why not

just shoot 'em up?"

"Yeah!" Nexus replied, taking out his weapon again. Cheetor noticed that

he always seemed to do what his comrades were doing.

"There's something called brains Terrorsaur" Blackarachnia sighed. "You

just don't have them."

"I'll show you what I don't have" Terrorsaur grumbled.

"Shut up!" Lotus snapped at them, giving them both an angry glare.

"Don't you Preds ever get tired of this?!"

"Bickering has it's time and place" Silverbolt said "this is not the

time. We must try to communicate with these fellow bots, and learn about

this strange world."

"Eh!" came the voice of a maroon and silver bot. "Sure, go on talkin'

about us like we ain't even here! In the olden days you addressed your

elders properly!"

The bot walked fully out of the shadows, and into what dim light the

stars had to offer, which gave Cheetor a better view of what he looked

like.

This bot had the same amount, if not more, dirt and dust than his

comrades. He was quite stocky, and he looked like he was compiled of

squares and rectangles. His maroon head was square shaped, as was his

nose. His red optics were rectangular. The bot's torso was square

shaped, his arms and legs no more than rectangles jutting out of them.

His maroon fingers were large, as were his feet. He had a shuffling

walk, and when he moved his joints creaked, signifying his age.

An odd thing, and certainly a disturbing thing, was that his optics were

cracked. Through the middle of one optic there was a crack in it, which

like flickered out from, like a beam. Through the side of another optic

there was a larger crack, which let more light out.

Bot eyes never make beams of light; they act just like Christmas lights,

giving off enough light to see by or be seen by others. But they never

made beams of light, like the cracked optics of this bot did.

It reminds me of something from a CyberComix book, Cheetor thought with

awe, and a bit of fear. A bot with cracked optics....an abnormality, a

mutant that lives in the streets. I swear, this whole place.....no, not

a place; Cybertron, looks like something from a CyberComix. What

happened to it?

Another thing that scared Cheetor was how a bot this old could have eyes

in such a condition. How could a bot let his optics be damaged so much?

Why did he not seek aid?

"I am sorry, sir" Silverbolt replied with a low bow, showing his respect

to the elder bot. "I was merely trying to persuade these Predacons to

lay down their weapons. I am sorry if I did offend."

The old bot gave surprised laugh at Silverbolt's courtesy. "Well, that's

more like it, eh?" He turned to the navy and brown fembot. "See Dice,

that's a thing called respect. You could learn something from this bot!"

"Yeah I could, couldn't I?" the bot, Dice, replied, stepping into the

clearing. "Like, I could get some answers to some of the questions I

have to ask. For one: would you mind putting those damn guns down?" she

snapped at the Preds. "What do we look like, Soldiers?"

Reluctantly, the Preds put their weapons away.

"Don't mind them, they have this thing about hating everyone they meet"

Cheetor said, nodding to the Preds, who grumbled back. "You can tell the

rest of your friends to come out too."

"We don't bite" Lotus chimed in.

"Yeah...you just shoot" mumbled the white and orange bot, hanging in the

back of the alleyway.

"Come on Overdrive" said a bot with a playful voice. "I'd like to meet

them. They look....so interesting...." The bot trailed off as she

stepped into the clearing. She was a azure blue and black fembot. The

azure blue of her was in her thighs and eyebrows. Her ruby red optics

were quite a charming sight to see. She was small, petite and very

pretty. She seemed the most human-like bot Cheetor had ever seen, with

no frills or anything fancy that adorned normal Cybertronians.

"I ain't going out there!" Overdrive replied stubbornly.

"Come out you moron!" Dice snapped at him.

Finally, Overdrive did come out of the alleyway. Well, he did not

actually come out, he was pushed out.

The huge bot behind him, while trying to stand up, lost his balanced and

lurched forward, out of the alleyway. Overdrive was caught in his path,

and the two tumbled into the clearing in a crumpled heap.

"Ow.....slag it....my head hurtsh" mumbled the huge bot.

Cheetor found this bot looked strikingly similar to Dinobot. His face

was just like Dinobot's face, except his chin was shorter and his face

just a bit rounder. This bot's nose also did not curve like Dinobot's

did, but sloped gentley downwards. This bot's face was neon green, and

his optics were a baby blue color. His torso, arms and legs looked the

same as Dinobot's, and they even had small spikes on the elbows and

knees. This bot's feet were rectangular, and his hands had all five

fingers on them, without claws on the ends. The bot was pure black, the

only splash of green on him was his face, and his baby blue optics.

"You're right it does, you big oaf!" Overdrive snapped. Then he stopped,

seeming to remember who he was talking to.

"I uh...didn't mean that, you know...sir...." he whimpered, shoving the

huge bot off him and bolting to his feet.

The old bot looked at them and chuckled. He walked over to the

Dinobot-like bot, and helped him up off the ground. The huge bot wavered

unsteadily, trying to get his balance.

"Well folks, you are in our land" the old bot said, turning to the seven

Transformers. "You mind telling us how you got here?"

"I think we need some answers a bit more than you do" Blackarachnia

began, but she was cut off by a glare from Air Razor.

"Of course, Mister...." the falcon began, searching for the name of the

old bot.

"Scar Eyes" the old bot replied, with a cackled. "Suiting, eh?" he

pointed to his optics with a bit of melancholy. "Don't look so shocked,

things like this are common 'round here!" He began to introduce his

fellows.

"The lady is Dice, the coward over to the left is Overdrive-" Scar Eyes

began.

"I ain't a coward!" Overdrive snapped, glaring at him.

Scar Eyes rolled his optics, and shook his head. "No, you're just a

genius" he grumbled.

"No I ain't!" Overdrive fumed. Cheetor could not tell if the young bot

was being sarcastic or not.

"The smallest one is Trax" Scar Eyes continued, pointing at the azure

and black bot. "The tall one behind me is Scuzzmuzzle."

Cheetor took a closer look at Scuzzmuzzle. His blue optics seemed

blurry, and he was leaning against the wall of an abandoned building for

support. Occasionally he began to hum something, or put his hand to his

aching head. This was indeed one weird bot.

"Is there...something wrong with that guy?" Lotus asked, trying to be

discreet.

"Nah, just alcohol" Scar Eyes said with a shrug. He seemed so

indifferent to the fact that his comrade was drunk, that Cheetor raised

his eyebrows.

Back on Cybertron, his Cybertron, people had always hated drunks and

druggies. Sure, Cheetor had seen many of them in his school days, and

actually been one more often than not, but they were always looked down

upon by everyone else. The Maximal Elders had even gone so far as to

abolish the use of some types of potent drugs, and had made a law

forcing bars to close early in cities where drunkards ran rampant.

Where are the Maximal Elders now? Cheetor thought. Who rules these

people? What's happened to Cybertron? I used to live here.....Primus,

what has happened?! If this is what the future holds, then....I don't

want to think about that!

But another thought popped into Cheetor's head unbidden: what if we can

never get back....?

The feline shook his head, trying to clear away his thoughts. Primus,

but it was hard to! An image of Cloud Runner flashed to mind which such

vivid clarity that he almost gasped out loud. If he could not get back,

what would happen to her? And Phantom? And Tigatron?

"And now, about your story?" Dice asked. "Also, some names can't hurt."

Air Razor nodded. "Okay. I don't quite know where to begin. There was an

exploration ship called the Axalon" she started off, but faltered, not

quite knowing the exact story, because she had been a protoform.

"It met up with a Pred ship" Terrorsaur continued. "And there was this

big fight. The Maximal and Predacon ships both crashed on a planet that

had lots of energon. It had so much energon that these Cybertronians had

to get alternate modes. So the Beast Wars began...and there's a lot of

stuff that happened after that....it's not that interesting. Well, the

Ark, a ship containing famous Autobots, yadda yadda, crashed on Earth as

well. The Pred leader killed Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots.

Tabitha, one of the Predacons, opened a porthole with her magicusing

abilities. And now, we're here" Terrorsaur stated finally.

"Thanks for helping me out" Air Razor said, a bit grudgingly.

"You probably would have screwed it up anyway" Terrorsaur retorted.

"Chicks do that a lot" he sneered at Air Razor.

"Do you want to continue this conversation with my blade to your throat,

you prehistoric buzzard?!" Lotus snapped. "No one disses females while

I'm around. Nobody!"

"Oh, I'm quivering!" Terrorsaur said sarcastically.

Nexus laughed, enjoying the scene. "Yeah!" he cheered. "Go Terror! Go

Terror!"

Cheetor was about to take out his tail whip, but the look on the faces

of the new bots made him stop.

The new bots had not understood a thing, it was clear from their

expressions. It was as if Terrorsaur had spoken in another language, for

all the good it had done them. Their optics were blank slates, all

uncomprehending.

Except for one. The optics of Scar Eyes glimmered for a brief moment. It

was a glimmer of understanding.....and hope? It was as if he had

searched for something all his life and had now found half of what he

wanted.

But, that look was gone so fast that Cheetor had to wonder if he had

imagined it or not. Indeed, the light around here was so poor that one

could imagine many things jumping out of the shadows.....Cheetor

shivered at that thought and sucked in a scared breath.

"What's the matter, too much cyber mold in your brains to store

information?" Blackarachnia asked, noticing their expressions.

"The legends of the olden days....." Scar Eyes muttered, staring at them

all intently. "The legends say that the Old Cybertronians had ships-"

"That could zoom around the stars in seconds-" Trax breathed, staring at

them with jewels in her optics.

"And had weapons that could melt a bot with one shot from their great

and almighty cannons" Dice said, with a contemptible sniff.

"What do you mean "Old Cybertronians?"" Lotus asked, the argument

between her and Terrorsaur having been quelled.

There was a pause. Scar Eyes moved towards some fallen wires. He began

to organize them into something like a cushion, then sat down on them.

Dice sighed.

"Now you've done it" she grumbled. "Sit down and make yourselves

comfortable, folks" the brown and navy blue bot said. "This is gonna

take a while."

Everyone did as they were bidden. Overdrive and Trax sat cross legged in

front of Scar Eyes, looking like eager school children. Dice sat behind

Overdrive and off to the left, staying away from both Scar Eyes and the

two young bots. Lotus went and sat beside Trax, who looked a bit timidly

at the new bot beside her. Air Razor sat beside Lotus, making Trax

squirm with all the company beside her. Cheetor sat beside Overdrive.

"Yipes!" Overdrive whimpered, his white optics staring at Cheetor's.

"It's okay bud, I'm not going tah hurt you" Cheetor replied.

"You could kill me...." Overdrive mumbled, staring at Cheetor's hands,

which combined to form his laser gun.

"I won't do that either" Cheetor said, with a friendly smile. The orange

and white bot was a bit paranoid, but Cheetor did not like to stay on

bad terms with any bot for long.

Blackarachnia was off to the right of the group, a few feet away from

the group of Maximals. Unfortunately for her, she ended up sitting

beside Silverbolt, much to her discomfort. Silverbolt, as honorable as

ever, kept some space between himself and the lady beside him, so as not

to be too close to make her any more uncomfortable. Nexus and Terrorsaur

sat beside Blackarachnia, and both eyed Silverbolt suspiciously.

Scuzzmuzzle continued to lounge against the wall of the building, too

drunk to come over.

Scar Eyes looked over his audience to see that all was prepared, then

took a deep breath.

"Long, long ago- as legend has it- there were two gods. One was Primus,

the God of All Good. The other was Smelter, the God of All Evil. There

were other, lesser gods that we shall not concern ourselves with, for

the sake of the story. But let it be known that all those lesser gods,

small though they were, each played a valuable role in the makings of

the cosmos."

"He never mentions those other gods" Overdrive whispered to Cheetor. "I

bet he doesn't know who they are" he smiled self satisfactorily. Then,

Overdrive realized who he had been talking to, and, with a whimper of

fear, shut his mouth. Cheetor sighed; making friends with this bot was

going to be difficult.

"A battle raged between Primus and Smelter from the beginning of time"

Scar Eyes continued, his old voice slow and comforting. "It was called

the War of the Gods. Each god chose sides; some joining Primus, others

joining Smelter. During that time each god felt that there was something

missing from his eternal life. But, the battle raged so long that no one

had time to figure out what it was that bothered them. Finally,

Ermandus, the God of Thought figured out what was missing from them."

"Last time the God of Thought was called Indasus" Overdrive whispered

again, with a chuckle. Cheetor snickered as well.

Scar Eyes interrupted his story and stared at the two of them.

"I know you're talking about me, and I want it to stop" Scar Eyes

snapped. His voice, instead of the soothing kind it had been, was now

the voice of a crotchety grandfather. "You should try to listen

sometimes....it might do yer head some good to get it filled with

knowledge! Now, in the olden days....but we haven't gotten to that part

of the story yet."

Scar Eyes went back to his story telling, his voice turning smooth again

as he related stories that seemed to bring an extra sparkle to his old

optics.

"What the gods were missing was something to rule over. Gods needed to

take care of things, to rule over them as they saw fit. Gods are, or

were, like that. They need to protect things, to comfort them, to lead.

With all their infinite power, what else was there for them to do? There

had to be other things than battling each other. One great day, Primus

finally persuaded Smelter to end the war. This was no easy feat, and

Smelter agreed to it with pure reluctance in his evil brain."

"The gods then began to organize the cosmos around them. So far, it had

been just a mass of dust and blackness. From this blackness, Primus

called forth the stars, to sparkle in the skies above. From the dust

that had collected in the multitude of galaxies, Primus formed thousands

of planets. The other gods helped as well, each moulding the planet into

what they wanted it to be. Soon, the universe was set up, as were many

of other universes."

"The gods created the Universal Laws. Each god would be given a specific

planet to rule over, to rule over only that one. They would not

interfere with each other, except in times of dire need, such as if

their planet were dying. Each god would have full control over their

planet, to create what they wished on it. They could create anything;

vegetation, animals and other creatures.... anything with their

limitless power. But, if the gods did create sapient beings on their

planet, creatures who could think and had minds like their own, then he

could not make them as powerful as himself or moreso. That god also

could not destroy his planet recklessly, if he had these sapient beings

on it."

"Each god agreed to these laws. All except one. Smelter."

Scar Eyes paused ominously, his cracked optics seeming far away. The

name Smelter seemed to echo of the surrounding buildings, trying to fill

every available space with it's essence of evil. Despite himself,

Cheetor felt a chill run down his metallic spine.

He had heard this story before, though a somewhat longer, more wordy

version. One of his courses at school had been on bot religion, and they

had had a guest speaker come in and recite the tale of the gods. But,

that guest speaker had had no sleep the night before, and it had showed

during his telling. Never had Cheetor heard it been told so powerfully

before. It was as if Scar Eyes were relating actual events, not just

mere stories.

"Smelter had not taken part in the creation of the planets" Scar Eyes

continued. "He had not created a planet for himself, nor had seemed to

have any interest in the proceedings of the other gods. He was a god

without a planet. All the gods were wary of him, and very suspicious.

They knew Smelter had something planned in his evil mind, but no one

could know what."

"But, Smelter aside now. Primus chose this planet, Cybertron, to be his

own. Primus was the God of All Good, and a Great God of All Good at

that, so he knew he would be needed to reinforce the Universal Laws.

Disputes among gods were not that uncommon, and Primus was the only god

pure enough to answer the questions his fellow gods had. So, Primus

chose someone to be his right hand man."

"He chose Ermandus, the God of Thought, to have such an honor. Ermandus

was happy with such a title. He was there when Primus first created

bots, to populate his planet. Primus loved each and every bot like a

son, and cared for them all. He watched them grow and flourish. They

spoke to him in their times of need, and he listened. Primus created

Vector Sigma, a bot making machine, grand and powerful in it's design,

and hid it in the core of Cybertron. He had hardly any need to hide it

though, for all bots on Cybertron were good and kind."

"But-" Lotus began, interrupting the story. "What about the

Quintessons?"

Cheetor sighed, and hoped no one would get into a religious debate.

Most Cybertronians believed that they were created by the Quintessons.

Some doubted whether the tale of the gods was even true. Cybertronian

religion was a very controversial thing.

The titles of a few books flashed in his mind: Quintessons or Primus? by

Redline, Which Came First, The Quintessons or the Egg? A Study Of Robot

Religion, by someone Cheetor had forgotten. Those were a few of the

books he had studied in school. Actually, when Cheetor had first saw

them he had merely glanced at the cover and shoved them under his bed

with all his other dusty schoolbooks; it was two years later when he

actually read those books fully.

"The what?" Scar Eyes asked. "No lady, there ain't no Quinty-whatevers

in this story."

Cheetor saw that Trax was looking at Lotus with wide, wonder filled

eyes.

"What are the Qui-" she began, but faltered on the name.

"Quinto.....Quinties....."

"Quintessons" Lotus said, with a helpful smile. "They created Cybertron,

because our ancestors, the Autobots and Decepticons, were consumer

products, in a way.The Quintessons created our ancestors. Autobots had

been appliances, Decepticons had been war machines. But the Quintessons

were overthrown by the Cybertronians, and left Cybertron. Vector Sigma

was created by the Quintessons as well. But the key to Vector Sigma was

lost, and to this day no one can find out where it is. That's how I

heard it explained by my teachers, at least."

"Oh" Dice said. "So, you're saying old Scar Eyes' stories aren't true?"

she asked, with a victorious grin.

Overdrive whimpered. Cheetor looked at the white optics of the small

bot. They were filled with fear and confusion. Obviously, no one had

tried to tell Scar Eyes that he was wrong. Probably because no one knew

the correct legends, or they did not know what to believe.

"Is she right?" Trax turned to Scar Eyes, almost fearfully. "You're

stories aren't true? Are these bots right?" Her ruby red optics widened

at the prospect.

"Slag it!" Scar Eyes swore, glaring at Dice, then Lotus. "My stories are

plenty true!!! I got them all from very respected old bots, and they got

it from other old bots. So on and so on it went. Bots have been tellin'

this story every since New Cybertronia was created! They're slagging

true! If not, then......then....." Scar Eyes faltered for a few seconds.

Then he snorted, and shook his head.

"Ha ha!" Terrorsaur laughed. "You've been telling the wrong story all

you're life, old timer!"

"What a moron!" Nexus chuckled. Blackarachnia smiled, making an unheard

comment.

"Shaddup!!!" Scar Eyes snapped, getting visibly angrier and angrier. His

scarred optics flash as he glared at Lotus. "And you, little Miss Ninny,

just keep yer mouth shut! Do you want tah hear the story or not?" he

demanded.

"Ninny!" Lotus snapped back, indignantly. "I am not!"

Air Razor waved a hand in front of Lotus' face, stopping her protest.

"I'd love to hear the story, sir. Please continue. We'll TRY not to

interrupt again" she glared at the two Predacons.

"You better do more than try, Miss Air Blade....or whatever yer name

is!" Scar Eyes grumbled.

The old bot took a few deep breaths, and his face went from angry to

sorrowful. Cheetor was startled by the change in atmosphere. It seemed

that the blackness around them seemed to reach out and try to grasp at

them with angry claws......Cheetor silently laughed to himself. Why was

he being so paranoid?

Because this place used to be my home, came the thought. And now look

what it is.

Fortunately, Scar Eyes' voice interrupted his inner monologue.

"Cybertronians were very good and kind" Scar Eyes repeated. "Everyone

loved one another as brothers and friends. There never was a more happy

planet. Life was good for all who dwelled in it. There was energon all

around, and lots of fuel to eat."

"But one day, Smelter changed all that."

"Primus had to leave Cybertron for a little while. He had gone to check

on the planet of Dridann, The God of Change. He was having a hard time

working on his planet. So, Primus had left to go help Dridann. Ermandus

took charge of Cybertron. He listened to the prayers of everyone, and

remembered them all, so that he could present them to Primus. He watched

the bots on Cybertron live and die, for who knew how long Primus had

been gone? What seems like seconds to gods can be millennia to us."

"Suddenly, Smelter came into the Matrix. Usually Primus rested in the

Matrix, but since he was gone it was now Ermandus who stayed in it.

Smelter did not look like he wanted to stay long in such a place of

unutterable goodness."

"Friend"said Smelter to Ermandus. "Why not rest from the weary task of

prayer keeping? I shall take watch for you, and you may go play amongst

the stars, free from any care."

"But Ermandus knew that Smelter would not keep his word. So he stayed

put, and said "the task is not that hard. And Primus will be back soon."

Upon hearing that, Smelter left."

"The next day, Smelter came back. "Are you sure you will not change your

mind?" he asked. "The stars sing sweetly tonight. Surely the wants and

needs of mere bots can wait, while to gods treat themselves?"

"Ermandus would not let Smelter take control. "No, Smelter" Ermandus

replied. "It is not for gods to pleasure ourselves. It is for gods to

pleasure the ones we serve. I serve the bots down there on Cybertron. I

also serve Primus. I will not let them both down." Upon hearing this,

Smelter left again."

"Yet, the next day he came back. "Ermandus, may I get a closer look at

Cybertron?" Smelter asked. "I would like to see how well you have taken

care of your 'bots.' I want to see them for myself, to honor the

greatness of what Primus has done."

"This time, Ermandus did not live up to his name. Smelter wants to honor

my master, he thought. Is it for real? It is probably a trick! But

surely it would not hurt if I just let him glimpse at the glory of

Primus? Very well, just one little peek."

"That peek proved to be fatal. Ermandus opened up the gateway to the

Matrix in which he rested, and let himself and Smelter look upon the

planet of Cybertron. Faster than the blink of an optic, Smelter

descended upon Cybertron, unleashing all the pent up evil he had ever

had."

"He brought about disease, hatred, suffering and fear. Ermandus could

not stop him, for he was not powerful enough, but he did try his

hardest. It was not enough though. Smelter implanted little parts of

himself into Cybertron, and those parts would never, and have never,

been erased. He sowed hatred into the hearts of bots, suffering into the

land of Cybertron, disease and fear into everything else. Smelter almost

demolished the world and the population of Cybertron. He turned to

Ermandus. "Now I see how well you rule Cybertron!" he mocked. "Now I

see, and so shall Primus see!" Then, he left."

"Now Ermandus, God of Thought, knew Smelter's strategy. Smelter would

implant bits of himself into bots and people. These pieces of Smelter

were malice, spite, hatred, jealousy, and many other evil things. Those

bits of Smelter would flourish and multiply from bot to bot, until all

the world could be Smelter's realm. Then, Smelter would come and take

Cybertron from Primus. Ermandus knew he could do nothing, for he was

merely a lesser god, but he tried to repair the damage he had done. He

whispered in bot's ears the goodness of Primus, but no one listened,

Smelter's power was so strong."

"Finally, Primus came back, as Ermandus had feared. The Great God of

Good was devastated when he saw what had happened to his world. He went

about trying to fix it. He tried what Smelter had done, implanting bits

of himself into everyone. Primus gave bots hope, love, prosperity and

peace. But, the spawn of Primus and the spawn of Smelter were constantly

at odds. Even Primus was not strong enough to completely wipe all evil

off the face of Cybertron."

"Primus turned to Ermandus."

"My friend" he said. "You have betrayed me. Not knowingly, but you have

hurt me and my people out of ignorance, which is almost as ruinous as

the darkest evil."

"Ermandus was exiled in the greatest shame from the Matrix and Cybertron

for a few millennia. He had been cast from the only world he had ever

cared for, and from the only master he had ever served. He was doomed to

wander the cosmos without a planet, occasionally meeting up with

Smelter, who would mock and torment him."

"How do you feel today, God Of Thought?" the dark god would jeer. "Do

you feel a weight on your conscience? Do you not feel emptiness inside

you? Do you long for a planet, Ermandus? To serve someone with all your

wonderful wisdom? Come God Of Though, join with me!"

"Never Smelter!" Ermandus would cry. "Never again shall I let you

manipulate me!"

"So be it!" Smelter would respond, laughing a laugh of pure evil. "I

shall see you some other time then, to see if you have changed your

mind."

"During the time Ermandus was gone, many bad things happened. Maybe

those Quinty thingies came and messed with Cybertron, I don't know."

"While Ermandus was away, two factions of bots sprung up. The Autobots,

champions of Primus, and the Decepticons, fighters for Smelter. They

were always fighting, and could never find any peace. Cybertron was

nearly devastated from lack of energon fuel, and many people were going

hungry. Cybertron looked then like it does now, in fact. So the Autobots

and Decepticons made two ships to go in search of energon. No one knows

their names, so we call them the Great Ships."

"Oh come on!" Blackarachnia snapped. "The Ark! The Autobot ship was

called the Ark! Sheesh!"

Scar Eyes glared at her, and Dice snickered. Scar Eyes went back to his

story, a bit haughty.

"Well, the Great Ships had many Autobot and Decepticon warriors in it.

There were great people in the Autobot ship, but none more greater than

Optimus Prime. He was a spectacular fighter, and a grand bot indeed. It

was said that he could freeze the fires of evil with his very gaze. In

the Decepticon ship there was a bot of pure evil named Megatron. He was

almost a reincarnation of Smelter himself. The bot was of pure darkness

and malevolence, and not a good thought had ever crossed through his

evil, scheming mind."

"The Decepticon and Autobot ships both got into a fight. They both crash

landed on a strange and mysterious planet. The robots in the ship lay

sleeping for many years, until they were awakened. When they awakened,

they found a great shock. Optimus Prime had been destroyed. His

magnificent head had been chopped off, never to rest on his strong

shoulders again."

Now, here's something different, Cheetor thought. So, this was how

history was affected by Megatron!

"The Autobots and Decepticons changed their forms to become

Transformers. Earth was a planet rich and loaded with energon, and that

was what made the Autobots and Decepticons transform. They could

transform into fantastic things, such as cars and planes, fantastical

things we can never see today. They fought, enlisting the aid of the

natives of the planet; the Earthlings."

"Aside from the fight. Earth was a wonderful planet. It was natural.

They had this stuff called water that flowed from rocks. Instead of a

metal ground, their ground was made out of stones and brown dirt. There

were green and brown trees, as well as other plants. They had a great

glowing ball of light, called the sun, that gave them warmth. They had

lots of animals, beautiful and fantastic kinds that were completely

indescribable! And the sapient beings that populated Earth were called

the humans. They weren't made out of metal either, they were made out of

flesh and bone. They looked like we did, except some were taller. And of

course non metallic. All natural!"

"I find things made out of flesh and bone - whatever THOSE are - a

little hard to believe" Dice interjected. "Whaddya going to tell us

next, old timer? That the sky was blue?"

"What is metal, Scar Eyes?" Trax asked.

Cheetor sat up straight, his mech-fluid frozen. Trax did not know what

METAL was?!

"The stuff that covers you, yah idgit!" Scar Eyes snapped.

"I think....I think it must be wonderful!" Trax said, in a breathy

voice. "I wonder what it would be like.....not to have this...this

metal...."

"I think it's darn scary!" Overdrive said, looking at the metal that

covered him, as if he feared it would disappear.

Cheetor suppressed a smile, trying to distill the feeling of shock he

had felt before. The bots were making such a big deal out of nothing

that it was funny. They were making legends about Earthlings, for slag's

sake!

"Well, no matter what you think" Scar Eyes continued "it was true."

"He's right" Cheetor said. He turned to Trax. "Be lucky you've got

metal" he said with a grin. "All that skin stuff is overrated."

"You've seen Earthlings?" said Scar Eyes in a hoarse whisper of

astonishment. Now the old bot was in awe. A silence decsended upon the

group of bots, as they stared at him with wide optics. Cheetor flinched

at their awe-filled gazes. Even the skeptical Dice seemed amazed at what

he had just said.

"Well......yeah" Cheetor said. "You guys haven't?" Cheetor realized the

stupidity of the question even before he had closed his mouth. No one

dared shake their heads. Overdrive began to whimper with fear and awe,

and scooted a few inches away from Cheetor.

"H-have you seen Earth?" Trax blurted out, unable to contain herself.

"Have you seen all those great things Scar Eyes told us about? Oh, have

you? Do you know any Autobots, or Decepti-whatevers? Oh do you?" The

bubbling excitement and awe in her voice was almost tangible.

To them, we must represent every single legend they've ever heard all

rolled into one, Cheetor thought. They even think Earth is a story!

Matrix! They must think we're gods or something. They're

so.....ignorant. Is this what the future holds for us? Ignorance,

stupidity, forgetting? Everything I ever knew in my life is now a story

to them! Everything I ever knew....a story...a legend. My old way of

life is now reduced to a few words that can be believed or can be

ignored.

"We'll explain everything later" Air Razor said quickly. "Please, just

continue with the sto-"

"Well, why are you in such a hurry to hear that tale Miss Priss?" Dice

snapped, her golden eyes glowing with suspicion. "It seems to me you're

hiding something."

Cheetor looked at Air Razor. He did not clearly understand why she did

not want to show these new bots their beast modes, but he would trust

her judgment. She was like his older sister in a way, seeing as they had

shared the same circuitry. Cheetor trusted her the same way he trusted

Tigatron; absolutely.

"D-D-Dice!" Overdrive whimpered. His white eyes flew from Maximal to

Predacon, fear as visible on his face as the stars in the sky.

"Guns 'n stuff, remember?" he said, in a carrying whisper.

"We won't hurt you, Overdrive" Lotus said. The green and silver bot

turned to Dice and glared at her.

"In fact, we are hiding something, Dice" Lotus said. "It's this! Beast

mode!"

"Lotus no!" Air Razor started, but it was too late, for Lotus' body had

already shifted and twisted into it's beast mode.

The small bird hopped around on thin bird legs, and glared at Dice with

black eyes coming from a brown face. "Other than these beast modes we

have no other secrets" Lotus explained.

She was about to say more, but it was as if Smelter had suddenly burst

out from out of the sky and started to rain fire from the heavens, for

the bots of New Cybertronia each did something at once.

Trax fell to the feet of Lotus and kneeled before her, her hands

clenched over her head in a submissive gesture. Trax put her face down

to the Cybertronian dirt. The small fembot began fervently repeating

prayers and praises to Lotus.

"Oh Great Ruler on High I worship you and your servant the Soldiers with

all my might and soul. I follow what they teach and never disobey them."

Here she coughed, the cyber mold and dust in her face interfering with

her speech and breathing. But, she continued doggedly on with her

prayer, pausing every few words to remember what she was supposed to

say.

"I do as I am told for the good of you and for the good of New

Cybertronia. The ones who I follow, the Great Soldiers, are temples to

your splendor and servants of you and your Great and All Powerful kind,

who have made and created my lowly self...."

Dice jumped to her feet and stood up. She reached her hand into subspace

and pulled out a worn, rusted old cooking knife. It was little more than

three inches long at the handle with a two inch blade, a blade rusted

and dulled by years of misuse. Yet, Dice held it high as if it were a

five foot long sword, and looked at both the Maximals and the Predacons

with suspicion, and animalistic fear. She slowly moved towards an

alleyway, making preparations to leave if she had to.

Overdrive bolted to his feet, faster than a rabbit. His eyes widened for

a moment, then began to searched panickedly around for an exit. Cheetor

heaved himself off of the ground and was going to calm the orange and

white bot down. But that just made matters worse. Overdrive stared at

him, let out a hoarse scream of utter terror, and bolted down an

alleyway. Cheetor could hear his light footsteps skimming over the

metallic ground.

Scuzzmuzzle, who had for so long lain dormant, suddenly lurched into the

scene, next to Terrorsaur and Nexus, who both quickly moved aside to let

the drunk pass. Scuzzmuzzle staggered, as an intoxicated person is wont

to do. But, he managed to keep his balance enough to stumble towards

Lotus, confusion and distrust in his eyes. Cheetor noticed he kept on

groping for a sword or a weapon of some sort, but found none. Finally,

the tall bot tripped over his own feet, and fell right on Trax who

squeaked in both pain and fear, perhaps feeling like Lotus was giving

her divine retribution of some kind.

Only Scar Eyes seemed to stay still. His face was alight with interest

and curiosity, as well as a bit of satisfaction.

Cheetor looked at these bots in amazement. Had they never seen a

Transformer before? He glanced quizzically at Lotus, who was glancing

around sheepishly at all the fuss she had caused.

"I'm sorry...." the nightingale mumbled. "Umm....Scuzz, can I call you

that? Could you please get off Trax? Or Trax, could you get Scuzzmuzzle

off you? I really didn't mean to do this....you can stop worshiping me

now as well. Come on, please?"

"Very well m'am" Trax mumbled. The black and azure bot struggled, but

could not lift the taller bot off of her back. Air Razor and Silverbolt

both stood up and pushed Scuzzmuzzle off of Trax, who stood up and took

a grateful breath of fresh air.

"Thank you very much, Great Soldiers" she said, bowing to Silverbolt and

Air Razor, keeping her body posture submissive.

"Soldiers?" Silverbolt queried. "I do not understand, fair child. We do

not wish to fight you-"

"But we could if we really wanted to!" Terrorsaur interjected. "In fact,

we could do ANYTHING to you...." he ended that thought with a chuckle

and a devious glimmer in his optics.

He sprung to his feet and walked over to Trax, who cowered before him.

Terrorsaur laughed out loud at the expression of fear on her face, and

took a step closer to Trax. Trax took a step backwards. Terrorsaur did

the same thing again, obviously enjoying how things were going.

"Mrrow!" Cheetor growled to himself. He hated the look of pure evil that

was on Terrorsaur's face right now; a grin of exerting power.

Silverbolt stepped between Trax and Terrorsaur.

"I insist you stop this immediately Predacon" he announced. "Torturing a

lady is an unhonorable and cowardly act!"

"Touch her again and you're scrap metal" Dice shouted, still near the

corner of the alleyway. She brandished the knife, waving it around like

it was the most important thing in the world.

"That's all you've got?" Nexus asked, getting to his feet. "Sheesh! I'll

show you a knife, Dice!" He took one of his quill spears, and twirled it

between his talons.

"I've seen a newly Built Soldier with bigger knives than that!" Dice

retorted.

"Well....." Nexus paused, unsure of how to respond. "Have you ever seen

a Soldier with as handsome a face as this?" he smiled a debonair smile.

"I've never seen one with as ugly a face as yours!" came the response.

"You look like a K9!"

"Hey!" Nexus growled angrily.

Dice and the Fuzor got into a verbal spat, and Cheetor immediately

tuned out to it. He was mostly worried about what had happened to

Overdrive. For some reason he liked the small bot, even though he was a

bit quick to freak out. Cheetor was just a naturally friendly person,

and he was somewhat amused by Overdrive's attitude.

Cheetor ran over and looked down the alleyway Overdrive had ran down. It

was dark and shadowy, with hardly any light. Cheetor could barely make

out the forms of heaps of scrap metal and junk littering it's floor. The

feline glanced behind him at the ensuing arguments.

Nexus and Dice were still sparing with each other. Neither looked

terribly angry, both seemed a bit happy to be sparring wits with each

other, almost the way Dinobot and Rattrap did. Cheetor sighed; he would

never understand that.

Silverbolt and Terrorsaur were snapping at each other about how and how

not to treat a lady, with Terrorsaur making some rather colorful remarks

about Silverbolt's parentage. Silverbolt bore the insults with the

gravest nobility. Blackarachnia was standing beside Silverbolt, watching

the fight.

Lotus had reverted back into robot mode. She and Air Razor were trying

to get Dice to stop talking about them like they were gods. Scuzzmuzzle

was still lying on the ground, too dazed to get up. Only Scar Eyes was

sitting still.

Cheetor walked up to the old bot. "I'm going to go look for Overdrive,

so please, don't start the story without me" he said hesitantly,

wondering what the old bot would say.

"Good for you" Scar Eyes mumbled. "Someone needs to talk some sense into

that kid. I gotta say though, his outburst was actually appropriate this

time. You bots have sure created a big fuss. You just be careful about

doing something so stupid again, yah hear? In the Outlands, you pull a

stunt like this and Soldiers'll flock from miles around! We're lucky

they haven't come yet." The old bot stroked his chin thoughtfully. He

seemed to forget where he was for a few seconds, until Cheetor coughed

loudly.

"Heh?" Scar Eyes grumbled. "Oh yeah. You go look for Overdrive. Just

follow the screams of terror. But don't take too long. My stories wait

for no bot."

Cheetor smiled politely, and walked off. It was funny, in an odd way;

Scar Eyes reminded him of an older, more crotchety version of Phantom.

Cheetor snickered at the thought, wondering what Phantom would say if he

could have heard that thought.

Cheetor walked slowly down the alleyway, stumbling over loose wires and

other miscellaneous objects littering the dank blackness. There seemed

to be a lot of alleyways like this, each one identical. In fact, the

only reasons they could be called alleyways was that they were merely

paths through mounds of scrap metal and garbage.

After a few minutes of searching, Cheetor found nothing. A bot as small

as Overdrive would be quite easy to miss in the shadows. Each time

Cheetor walked by an intersection, of which there were many, he wondered

if Overdrive had gone down it, and if he should get off the path he was

on and follow the new path.

"Overdrive!" he shouted, getting a little bit worried about how far away

the small bot was.

There was no answer. Not even a whimper betrayed the presence of the

orange and white bot.

"Beast mode" Cheetor whispered to himself. He converted into his

metallic cheetah form and smiled. Now with his enhanced senses he would

have a better chance of finding Overdrive than if he had just been in

bot mode.

Cheetor sniffed the air. The scent of dust, dirt and decay seemed the

most prominent scents in the landscape. But he quickly found the scent

of bot feet and followed it. Even with all four feet on the ground it

was still hard dodging and jumping over rubble. He would have flown, but

then he would have lost the scent of Overdrive, and the roaring of his

jets would have made things hard to hear.

Cheetor looked around him. Even with his feline eyes it was still hard

to see. No cat can see in complete blackness.

The feline rounded the corner quickly. Overdrive's scent was getting

more powerful. Cheetor flicked his metallic ears forward. He could

vaguely make out the pounding of bot feet upon metal, even though

Overdrive's feet were so light.

Rather than call out to him, Cheetor decided to keep following him at

the fastest pace he could. He was a cheetah, and if he could not out run

Overdrive then no bot could. A Transmetal cheetah, but his Transmetal

form, though heavier and bulkier, gave him much more power than his old

form had.

Cheetor went down another path, almost tripping on a fallen beam. He was

still amazed at how much disrepair had fallen over Cybertron.

It's not Cybertron now, Cheetor thought with a chill of dread. It's

something a lot different.

Finally, Cheetor could see a flash of orangy white metal up ahead of

him. He increased his speed as much as he could, breathing in and out

quickly. Overdrive was not screaming in terror now; he was just

whimpering under his breath.

"Overdrive!" Cheetor shouted.

The bot jumped and spun around. He saw Cheetor and screamed like a

scared rabbit.

But, he had stopped running.

Cheetor knew this and tried to stop himself, but it was too late. The

momentum of his run slammed him right into Overdrive, causing the small

bot to topple and Cheetor to have a big headache. The two of them landed

on the ground with a crash. Cheetor felt his paw smash into some broken

glass, and felt a piece get wedged into his paw. He growled in pain.

"Don't hurt me" whispered Overdrive, so scared he was having a hard time

speaking.

"Ow..." Cheetor mumbled. He turned his attention away from his paw and

looked at Overdrive. "I won't. Lotus told you before we wouldn't hurt

you, and we're gonna live up to that promise. I'm a Maximal, and

Maximals don't hurt people unless they hurt them first."

"M-Maximals?" the orange and white bot asked. "You guys are

M-m-m-maximals?"

"Well, there are lots of other Maximals back on the Cybertron we used to

come from but-" Cheetor paused, reading on Overdrive's face that the

small bot did not understand a word of what he was saying.

"Yeah, I'm a Maximal" Cheetor said.

"That....that ain't a fancy name for new type of Soldier....or..." he

lowered his voice "or Ruler, is it?"

"No" Cheetor said, shaking his head. "I'm not a Soldier or a Ruler."

"How can I trust you?" Overdrive asked suspiciously. "You could be a

really mean Soldier or somethin' that's trying tah trick me. How am I

supposed tah trust you?"

"If I had wanted to hurt you I could have done so all ready" the

Transmetal replied. "Come on Overdrive, I won't hurt you. Please, you

have to trust me. I'm not a Soldier or anything. I don't even know what

a Soldier is. I'm new here, just like all my other friends are. We don't

know how or why we got here."

"You...you're not a Soldier?" Overdrive asked, amazed. "And...and you've

never even BEEN here before?"

"Nope" Cheetor replied, shaking his head.

He was going to tell Overdrive about how they all needed to get Optimus

back, but quickly decided not to. It was clear that Overdrive, and

possibly all these bots with the exception of Scar Eyes, could not focus

on more than one thought at a time.

"So, you're saying you don't know anything about New Cybertronia?"

Overdrive asked, the suspicion leaving his eyes to be replaced by awe.

"Not a thing" Cheetor replied.

Overdrive smiled, seeming to banish most of his fear. "Well...I guess

were kinda the same. I don't know too much about this world either. I

just kinda always stayed in one place and never moved. Scar Eyes tells

tons o' stories, but I never really listen. His words are always too big

'n stuff. I catch parts of what he tells us though, but not a lot. So,

you an' me really don't know a whole lot about this big world now do

we?"

"No, we don't" Cheetor said, with a smile on his feline face. Overdrive

obviously felt like the two of them were kindred spirits, and Cheetor

was happy enough to let him feel that way. He liked the small bot even

more now for his friendliness.

"Come on, let's go back and listen to the rest of the story, okay?"

Cheetor asked.

"Sure" Overdrive said, getting up. His good mood seemed to vanish as he

glanced at Cheetor's beast mode nervously. "Ah...urmm....do

you....well..." he stumbled over his words.

"Go into robot mode? Sure" Cheetor replied. "Cheetor, maximize!" he

said, converting into his robot mode. Overdrive seemed visibly more

relieved, and nodded his thanks.

Cheetor looked around. His warm fuzzy feeling of friendship vanished,

and with a sinking feeling realizing he was completely lost.

"Overdrive, do you know the way back?" Cheetor asked.

"S-sure" Overdrive nodded, with a stunned but happy smile on his face.

He walked in front of Cheetor, giving the Maximal wide berth, and began

to lead the way back.

*****

Lotus still felt very guilty about all the fuss she had caused. Air

Razor had been right all along! Showing these new bots their beast modes

would only create chaos. Air Razor had been wise enough to see that.

Didn't Metallana always say to be polite and courteous to strangers?

Lotus thought, remembering her past as a Cybertronian Royal. She told me

to never show too much of myself on the first introduction. I guess that

doesn't apply just to Royals, but to normal bots as well. Maybe I should

have actually listened to that lesson...

Fortunately, all the new bots had calmed down, although there were many

uneasy looks that passed between them. They were all sitting down again,

waiting for Scar Eyes to finish his story. Scar Eyes was sitting down

where he had been sitting before, waiting for Cheetor and Overdrive to

come back. The old bot had an impatient look on his face, something

which the nightingale did not like to look at much, on account of his

eyes.

Trax huddled next to Dice, and Lotus felt a bit guilty at the way the

blue and black bot stared at her. The awe Trax held in her eyes was

enough to drown in.

Dice still held her knife, which was such a pathetic thing that Lotus

wondered if it should be called a knife. The navy blue and light brown

female stared at the Beast Warriors with suspicious and fearful eyes.

Her arm was around Trax's shoulder, although for whose comfort Lotus

could not say.

Silverbolt sat five feet away from Dice and Trax, presumably keeping

Terrorsaur and Nexus at bay with sharp looks. The two male Predacons

were inching closer to the two ladies, probably to mock them.

Blackarachnia sat near the dactyl and the triple Fuzor, purposefully not

looking in Silverbolt's direction.

Lotus sat next to Air Razor, off a bit from the clump of Transformers,

but closer to Scuzzmuzzle, who was half sitting half lying on the

ground, peering around him with unfocused blue eyes. Every once in a

while he would mumble something angrily, and put his hand to his head

with a groan. Lotus had never before been exposed to drunks, because of

her royal upbringing. But, she supposed that was how they acted. She did

not want to get close to Scuzzmuzzle; he was too weird for her tastes.

"I'm sorry Air Razor" Lotus whispered to the falcon.

Air Razor smiled back at her. "It's okay Lotus, I'm sure these new bots

would have found out anyway" the brown bot looked at Scar Eyes. "But you

shouldn't take so many chances in this new land. We need to learn all

that we can of it, so that we can get to Optimus and the others. We have

to be cautious."

"Gotcha Razor" Lotus said with a nod and a wink.

Suddenly, Overdrive appeared out of one of the numerous alleyways, with

Cheetor in tow. His white optics darted around nervously, but he looked

like he was trying to keep his fear in check. Overdrive and Cheetor sat

down next to Lotus and Air Razor. They were closer to Scuzzmuzzle than

the two birds were, for which Lotus was secretly grateful.

"So you finally found him?" Scar Eyes said, glancing at Cheetor with

those infamous eyes. "Congratulations, young 'un. Takes a lot to catch

this bot when he's in a panic."

"I ain't in a panick!" Overdrive snapped. He looked at his body. "See

old timer, I ain't even IN anythin'. Maybe those eyes ain't working

right. About time too."

"Of course" Scar Eyes mumbled. He turned to everyone else, his eyes

passing over them all, making Lotus shiver. Scar Eyes, old though he

was, had accumulated enough wisdom to know what freaked people out.

"Now, where was I?" the old bot asked.

"No one knows 'cause no one was listening!" Dice shouted out.

"I never get any respect around here!" Scar Eyes grumbled.

The old bot glanced at Dice. "You make such a habit of hating me, Dice"

he said, with a sigh of false pain. "Why don't you spend your energy on

making enemies of Soldiers, instead of getting all friendly with them?"

Dice glared back at him, her eyes sparkling with malice. Lotus wondered

what had passed between them. She saw Trax shift uncomfortably when the

word "Soldiers" was spoken, and heard Overdrive's uncontained whimper.

Soldiers = not nice guys, Lotus thought. That much is obvious. From the

what I've seen so far it looks like maybe the Soldiers control these

bots. I'm going to have to wait and see if my theory is right. I have to

remember what Air Razor said about being hasty, or I might say something

to offend these people.

A flashback of Metallanna popped into her head, as she remembered her

"mother" lecturing her on how to be proper.

"Never offend, be as gracious as possible" she had said. "Never offend

those you have not met. If you must show someone how you feel about

them, do so discreetly, under a mask of pleasantry, but striking with

the skill of a surgeon. Subtlety, discreetness, masks. Such is the way

of the Royals. Normal bots get into brawls in the streets; they are too

tactless. Only Cybertronian Royals know the true art of tastefulness,

the true way of dealing with other people."

If I'm supposed to know the true way of dealing with other people, than

how hard can this be? Lotus thought with a sigh.

Pretty hard indeed.

"I think you were talking about Earth" Air Razor said after a moment's

hesitation. "You were speaking about the Decepticons and Autobots, then

you mentioned Earth."

Scar Eyes thought about it for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.

"So I was, Miss Air Blade" he said. "Good for you fer remembering! I can

see some people value education around here" he glanced at Dice.

"Other people value their audio-sensors a lot more" Dice snapped back.

"ANYWAY" Scar Eyes said loudly, restraining from fighting with Dice

"yes, I was talking about the ancient Autobots and Decepticons of old."

"The two sides were able to transform, as I said. This gave them

fantastical powers, things we cannot even imagine. Things, which I

think, our new friends have." He pointed to Silverbolt's wing missiles

and to Terrorsaur's shoulder mounted cannons.

"The two sides fought many great battles, with the humans to help them.

Megatron was the Decepticon leader, but the Autobots had no one to lead

them. They were confused and afraid, for with the death of Prime not one

of them felt safe. They began to break down and crumble; the Decepticons

managed to pick them off one by one. Sometimes Megatron would not just

kill bots, he would maim and torture, for he was truly evil. Some

Autobot's tried to live up to Prime's old ways, they tried to get the

remaining Autobots to stand with them and fight the Decepticons, but it

was too late. The Decepticons had taken too many of their numbers, and

now they were useless. Soon, the Transforming Autobots were no more, and

the Decepticons had no more foes to fight. So, they turned to

Earthlings."

"They began to slowly take control of Earth. The Earthlings were made of

soft flesh, not of metal like the Decepticons. The Decepticons also had

superior weapons and the like. They managed to take out most of the

Earthling's major cities. Megatron sent his warriors all over Earth, to

pillage plunder and destroy. They did as they were commanded."

"Soon, Earth fell into the clutches of the terrible Megatron, whose

grasp of power was infinite. He made the passive Earthling's worship

him, and destroyed those who rose against him. Megatron destroyed most

of the land around him. He put garbage and things into the lakes, and

ploughed up the Earthling soil. He made the Earthlings build another

empire for him. He made hem create Cyberra, a new empire, much like

Cybertron except more natural. Here, robots would have natural beings,

humans included as well as animals, to kill at their leisure. It had

inferior Earthling technology, true, but it was under the Decepticon

control, which was all Megatron really cared about.

"No one could do anything to stop him. Some brave humans tried. One of

them was a man named John Jackson, who lead the Revolt Against Cyberra.

John Jackson was a brave human, it was said that he heard the words of

Primus whispered to him in a dream. Mr. Jackson organized a revolt,

where every worker and slave rose up against one huge Decepticon named

Soundwave. His revolt did not work, but they managed to wound Soundwave,

though not fatally."

"Throughout his whole entire reign on Earth, Megatron knew he needed

more Decepticons. The Revolt Against Cyberra had given humans renewed

hope, and a few other smaller revolts had taken place. None were

serious, but it was disheartening to the Decepticons. Humans were now

destroying their own creations, awe inspiring things called computers,

and other creations, in an attempt that the Decepticons would not get

them. Megatron did not have enough bots to cover all the Earthling

territory he wanted to cover. He would have to get to Cybertron."

"Now, at the time, Cybertron and Earth were in the same galaxy, and not

too far away from each other. Megatron managed to get the humans to

build a ship. With it, he went all the way back to Cybertron. The ship

he had created was a warship, it had greats guns and shields, things no

one of our kind has seen for many ages, and only the Soldiers use."

Scuzzmuzzle grunted at the word Soldiers, and his baby blue optics lit

up with an odd intensity. Lotus wondered what his connection with that

word was.

"Megatron came to Cybertron, and told the Decepticons of his victory"

Scar Eyes continued, ignoring Scuzzmuzzle. "He said "fellow Decepticons,

as I have conquered Earth, so shall we conquer Cybertron! But, we cannot

do it alone. We shall get the humans to help us. Pitiful though they

are, humans are wonderful cannon fodder, and good gambling pieces, for

the Autobots shall not want to hurt them!" All the Decepticons believed

Megatron of course. They all went on his ship, and flew off of

Cybertron, back to Cyberra."

"Now Cyberra, or Earth, could be fully controlled. Megatron could now

concentrate fully on mining for the energon Cybertron so desperately

needed. The found many great concentrations of energon, each one he

claimed for the glory of the Decepticons. The humans were put back into

their places; there were no more revolts. More warships were made, and

each one brought energon back to Cybertron. Megatron had sent a bot

named Starscream to rule part time in Cybertron. Starscream received the

energon and ordered the Decepticons to attack the remaining Autobots on

Cybertron. The Decepticons had energon powered weapons, and so they were

able to easily force the Autobots, who had no weapons whatsoever, into

surrender. The final battle ever between the Autobots and the

Decepticons was called the Battle of Termination. So many good Autobots

and humans were slaughtered mercilessly, and Primus wept to behold all

his beloved subjects die such torturous deaths. When the Battle of

Termination was over, Megatron went back to Cybertron, and left

Starscream in charge of Cyberra."

"Megatron made Cybertron rich and good again. He brought energon to

hungry Decepticons. He built beautiful towers to himself. Megatron

created buissinesses and industries. Megatron made Cybertron great, with

many great buildings, and many great things. It is said he had made

better types of Earthling computers, and better versions of everything

we have today. He was great, with great people following him, and great

things happening in Cybertron. He even changed the name of the planet to

suit his new role as leader: Megatronia."

"But, with his reign on Megatronia came a most disastrous event.

Megatron brought with him longing for power, greed, and all the bad

things Smelter had released, except magnified many times. All the

Decepticons that served under him were as evil as he was. They kept

Autobots as slaves and serving bots, killing and torturing them as they

pleased. There were no laws or rules, just every bot for himself, evil

running rampant."

"Smelter had taken control of Primus' planet. Evil had triumphed over

good. Primus and Ermandus tried to stop Smelter's villainy, but

Smelter's power over the Megatronians was too strong. The Autobots, and

some times Decepticons, that Primus tried to touch were killed quickly

by Smelter, and with them went all hope. Primus and Ermandus began to

weaken because no one was believing in them any more. No one prayed to

them anymore, no one put their faith in them. The Megatronians only put

their faith into Smelter, and with it he grew more and more powerful.

Soon, Smelter did what he had always longed to do. He got rid of Primus

and Ermandus."

Lotus and everyone else gasped. They had been so involved in the story,

that such a plot twist was quite scary. The only one who remained

unaffected was Dice and Scuzzmuzzle, both because they probably had not

been listening.

The nightingale looked around her with a shiver. Evil triumphing over

good...the exact contradiction to every Disney movie she had ever

watched. Yet here, it seemed that such events had actually occurred. The

land around her was little more than a metal slagheap, put lightly.

"Smelter did not exterminate Primus and Ermandus" Scar Eyes continued,

after a dramatic pause. If there was one thing about him it was that he

knew how to hook his audience. "Primus and Ermandus were gods, gods

could not die. Instead, Smelter inflicted a curse on the two of them.

"You shall go and walk the world I have created" Smelter said. "You

shall be born as mortals, to live as mortals, to die as mortals. When

you die once, you will be reborn again as a different bot, so on after

that bot dies, never dying, living forever with your guilt. Your powers

shall be stripped from you. As much power as a mortal has, so have you.

You two shall see all my power, no place shall be free from my touch.

You shall see my power; you shall fear it."

"Primus, you shall be born a mortal, and shall be like a blind and

helpless bot. You shall not remember anything of your past as a god, or

anything about your infinite powers. You shall not remember a thing

about me. But, as you get older, bits and pieces will creep into your

subconscious, plaguing your dreams and thoughts. You shall not know

enough to figure out your true identity, your mind shall forever be kept

in the shadows. So shall it be with each time you are born; remembering

few things only to die and forget them all over again."

"Ermandus....you shall see what I have done to your beloved Cybertron.

You shall remember everything of your past life as a god, for I do not

want you to forget how you could have stopped me. I want you to remember

all your faults and suffer. I want you to remember your lost powers and

suffer. Most of all, I want you to remember the fate of your master and

suffer. You shall not be able to communicate anyone about your past life

as the God of Thought, for I inflict upon you a vow of silence upon that

matter."

"Here Smelter paused."

"I will not let you communicate to anyone of your past as a god or get

your power back, unless something I cannot control happens to this

world" Smelter said, reconsidering his words. "I am not being cocky by

any means, Ermandus. Such a thing shall never happen, I control

everything here. As I have said, so shall it be done!"

"With those words, Primus and Ermandus were cast into mortal form. They

became normal bots, just like you and I. Everything Smelter said holds

true. Primus only remembers bits and pieces of his old life, too little

to tell anybody about, but enough to drive him insane. Primus dies

before he can remember everything though, and is born anew. Ermandus

remembers his past, but cannot communicate it to anyone else. He

remembers his infinite and godly powers, but cannot use them to heal the

world around him."

"No one knows who Primus and Ermandus are, what they are doing, what

their purpose is. Even though many have claimed to be Primus or

Ermandus, it is probably not true. Primus or Ermandus could be any one

of us...."

Scar Eyes paused, looking at everyone in around him, as if suspecting

whether they were Primus or not. Lotus felt a shiver of fear go up her

metallic spine.

Scar Eyes continued. "As soon as Primus and Ermandus was vanquished, a

terrible, colossal thing happened. Vector Sigma crashed; it stopped

producing bots."

"That's impossible!" gasped Cheetor. He was clearly having a hard time

believing this."This whole part of the story is impossible! Vector Sigma

can't crash! It's always been there! It's-"

"-A machine like any regular computer" Scar Eyes interrupted. "Except

this machine fed on the energy and life of Primus. Now that Primus was a

weak mortal stripped of his powers, Vector Sigma could not function; it

crashed. Megatron did not know what to do. No more bots were coming into

the world. Soon, Megatronia would be no more."

"The Decepticons got mad at Megatron. They thought he had caused the

crash of Vector Sigma. There was a great civil war waged between the

Decepticons. Some defended Megatron, some didn't. The Decepticons

abandoned Cyberra, and went up the Cybertron to fight for their chosen

side."

"The Decepticon's civil war destroyed everything Megatron had worked so

hard to rebuild. Buildings collapsed, entire cities were completely

destroyed, everything was wrecked. There was no place left untouched

from the destruction and chaos. No one had any sense of reason, they

attacked each other without provocation. Bots were at each others

throats for the littlest of reasons. Comrades in arms turned around and

slew their comrades, until they themselves died."

"No one knows who Megatron was killed by, but Megatron died. Evil still

was not over yet, and would not be for centuries to come. People still

killed each other uselessly, and fought for no reason other than to see

mech-fluid on the ground. They made bombs and many wonderful weapons,

but soon forgot how to use them. Most machinery was destroyed, so bots

had no actual proof that things ever existed. Soon, there were less than

two thousand Decepticons left, and a few Autobot slaves that had not

died."

"Finally, out of chaos came order. Bots realized what they had been

doing to their planet. They decided to stop fighting, and to create a

new and better land. The pact was made; the planet was renamed again:

New Cybertronia."

"Energon and knowledge were sorely lacking from bots. Few knew how to

make ships, even less knew how to pilot them. There was not a lot of

energon, so bots made energon substitutes. They were not as filling as

energon, but they provided enough sustenance for a bot to live off of.

Bots managed to pillage things from Cyberra, which had become and

abandoned planet. Once a beautiful planet called Earth, Cyberra was now

little more than metal buildings overgrown with plants. Very few humans

still lived and were civilized, most humans had gone back to barbarism.

Bots managed to find some very useful things on Cyberra, which helped

make New Cybertronia...new."

"One day, some bots came up with a wonderful thing: they found out how

to make other robots without the use of Vector Sigma. Now, I don't know

how they do it, but I know they must be pretty smart to figure that out.

The Decepticons created bots a lot shorter than they were, Decepticons

were almost as big as the buildings around us. Shorter bots would reduce

energon consumption. It was not to long before the old Decepticons were

wiped out entirely, for most of the Decepticons were very, very old."

"These new bots went around and created the most beautiful place on New

Cybertronia today: the Center." Lotus could hear the awe in Scar Eyes'

voice, she saw all the New Cybertronians nod.

"Could you tell us what the Center is?" Air Razor asked.

"It sounds like a shopping mall" Nexus chuckled, and Terrorsaur

snickered. Lotus looked around her to see if the New Cybertronians were

offended but obviously they were not; it seemed they did not know what a

shopping mall was.

Ignorance is bliss, Lotus thought.

"The Center is a grand, and wonderful place" Scar Eyes said. "It is

rumored that there are streets with beautiful colors, so much that it

hurts the eyes to look at them. There are wonderful flashing signs. In

the Center, every bot feels like a god. Or I should say, every Soldier

feels like a god."

"You're embellishing again, you old screw-brain" Scuzzmuzzle spoke.

Lotus flinched. She had not heard the drunk speak before, at least not

without a drunken slur. He spoke almost as if something was causing him

pain, and Lotus surmised it was a hangover.

"Center's not that great" Scuzzmuzzle said. He chuckled a bit. "Lots of

food stores, training schools and their training rooms, arenas, a few

gambling halls...that's about it."

"You shut your muzzle, Scuzz boy!" Scar Eyes snapped quickly. Lotus

noticed Scar Eyes was using his normal, crotchety old voice. His

stroytelling voice was a lot more magnificent and dramatic. "If a bot

gives you a name you don't talk back to him! I never get any respect

from you, after I took you into my arms and showed you the dos and

don'ts. Just once I want tah get the respect I deserve, you ingrate!"

"If you would have given me a good name, maybe I'd return the favor,

Scar Brain" Scuzzmuzzle replied. His eyes flashed with wounded pride.

"Ain't you supposed to be sucking on a Cisky, Scuzz?" Dice shouted.

"Aren't you supposed to be chatting with Smelter, Dice?" Scuzzmuzzle

replied.

"Hey!" Lotus shouted, getting peeved by all the fights. "Air Razor asked

a question, and I think you should answer it!"

Honestly, these guys are worse than Predacons, Lotus thought.

"The Center is a great and wonderful place, as I said" Scar Eyes said,

glaring at Scuzzmuzzle. "It's where the Ruler creates bots."

"It's where the SCIENTISTS create bots" Scuzzmuzzle interjected. "The

Ruler just says "do it" but it's the Scientists that do the real work.

And of course the Computoids help as well-"

"You just can't shut your mouth, can you?!" Scar Eyes demanded. The old

bot reached into subspace with a sigh, and took out a small bottle of

white, bubbly liquid. Scar Eyes tossed it to Scuzzmuzzle. The huge bot

next to Lotus caught it in mid-air, uncorked it and took a sip out of

it. He dimmed his optics and sighed contentedly.

"Beautiful" the black and green bot mumbled.

"I hope someday you'll remember that" Scuzzmuzzle grumbled.

"Maybe" Scuzzmuzzle said, taking another sip.

"Anyway, the Ruler creates bots" Scar Eyes repeated, making sure

Scuzzmuzzle did not interrupt him the time. He need not have worried,

the huge bot was to busy with his favorite activity, getting drunk.

"The tall bots are Soldiers, and the small bots are Outlanders, like us"

Scar Eyes said. "Outlanders are blindfolded and taken out of the Center,

and stuck out in the Outlands." The old bot gestured around him.

"Everything you see here is the Outlands. It's where we live, grow up,

and die."

"What do the Soldiers do? More importantly, what are they?" Cheetor

asked.

Scar Eyes glanced at Scuzzmuzzle for a fleeting instant, with a tight

smile playing about his mouth. "The Soldiers are bots that don't live in

the Outlands like we do, they just work out here. And a bunch of cranky

boozebots they are as well. Soldiers are three times the size of us,

sometimes even more. Soldiers are the ones that boss us around, tell us

what to do, and make sure we don't cause trouble."

"And bring you food and drink zat you need tah survive" Scuzzmuzzle

spoke up, his voice already getting sloppy. Lotus noted he had almost

finished his drink.

"And they do that too" Scar Eyes grumbled. "Bunch o' lousy, cheap, screw

headed phonies...."

"P-please Scar Eyes" Trax spoke up timidly. "Don't say those things. You

never know....who might be listening."

"Them Soldiers can be anywheres" Overdrive said, his teeth chattering.

Dice rolled her golden optics. "We would have heard them by now, little

girl" she spoke to Trax, giving the black and azure fembot a pat on the

head.

"By Primus Dice!" Scar Eyes said, false amazement in his old voice.

"You've finally put that brain to use!"

"Shut up old timer" Dice snorted. "Finish your pretty little story."

Scar Eyes turned to the seven Cybertronians. "The Soldiers do bring us

food and drink, yes. They also have access to the Center. They know

their way around here, and they've got fancy names for everything. They

got patrols. They have extra armor and weapons and technology and all

that stuff."

"The bots who attacked us and captured Optimus!" Silverbolt said, a

sudden realization hitting him.

"No, you think?" Blackarachnia said with a sarcastic sneer.

"I've no doubt that's what they did" Scar Eyes said. "Another thing

about the Soldiers is this; they control the K9s." Overdrive whimpered,

and Trax tensed at the name.

"K9s? But those are cute little robo-dogs!" Terrorsaur said with a

laugh.

Lotus had to agree with the dactyl. On Cybertron, K9s had been robotic

pets, a Cybertronian version of Earthling dogs. K9s did not have sparks,

but they were semi-sapient. They were created by Cybronicus, a company

specializing in artificial intelligence. Lots of Cybertronians had

complained that K9s were a waste of money and technology, but the

general populace had fallen in love with the little robo-dogs at first

sight. Lotus remembered having one as a Cybertronian Royal. It had been

a robotic version of a pug dog, with a really tinny robotic yap. Lotus

had always wanted to strangle the thing.

"Cute and little?!" Scar Eyes burst out with a laugh. Dice chuckled with

him.

"You got your wires crossed, boy" Scar Eyes said to Terrorsaur. "K9s are

fifteen times the size of an Outlander, and five times the size of a

Soldier. Some of them can be even bigger than that! They've got huge and

powerful guns that can tear yah limb from limb!"

"Only the Battle 'n Guard K9s though" Scuzzmuzzle said, by now done his

alcohol and holding an empty bottle. "Transperation K9s aren't that

tough....got lotsa jets and stuff, but not a lot of weapons. A group of

stupid Outlanders could take it down if it was on the ground."

Everyone was quiet at the remark, as if they were letting Scuzzmuzzle

realize who he had just insulted. Either the drunken bot had already

figured out his slip up and did not show it, or he was too drunk to

realize it, for his expression remained the same.

"Of course Scuzzmuzzle" Scar Eyes said, rolling his red optics. "The

bot's a former Soldier, in case you didn't know" he said, to the

Cybertronians.

"If the Soldiers are all that, why would someone want to leave them?"

Nexus asked.

The tactlessness of the question was quickly confirmed by the way

Scuzzmuzzle seemed to freeze up, his green face darkening, and the way

Trax and Overdrive shifted uncomfortably.

"Scuzz here's just a bot that can't keep a bottle out of his hand" Scar

Eyes said with a shrug. Oddly enough, Scuzzmuzzle relaxed at what Scar

Eyes had said, making it seem like he was afraid that Scar Eyes was

going to say something else.

"Sir, does anyone know where the Center is?" Silverbolt asked of the old

bot.

"Outlanders? No" Scar Eyes said. "No Outlander has ever been to the

Center. They blindfold us and dump us in the Outlands; we couldn't find

our way back if we wanted to. Many have tried, but they've never

succeeded. You can only get to the Center by following the Soldiers when

they go to the Center, and even then they use them funny Transportation

K9s, and no bot can keep up with a Transportation K9."

"Do you think the Soldiers that capture our friends took them to the

Center?" Cheetor asked.

"Probably" Scar Eyes said with a shrug. "I'm not quite sure on the

specifics of Soldier duty, that ain't my department."

"I heard them order for Transportation K9s" Dice said.

Scar Eyes nodded. "They're going to the Center."

We have to go with them then, Lotus thought. Optimus could probably

think of a way back, even though he's no Rhinox. Much as I hate to admit

it, Optimus has a brain on his shoulders. Then, we could get Air Razor

back to her child, Birch. I could get back to my friends, Rhinox,

Marbelle, Nightshade and Killshandra. We could all get back home.

"If they are going to the Center" Lotus said, her voice firm with

determination "then so are we."

Everyone was shocked into silence. Even Overdrive seemed to frightened

by the prospect to give one of his famous whimpers. The only thing

breaking the silence was Trax's barely contained breath of awe. Lotus

could feel Trax's ruby red optics burning through her body, the gaze

they held was so intense.

Obviously nobody's every said something this daring before, Lotus

thought. I hope they don't all freak out again. That's the last thing we

need.

"Our friends were taken by the Soldiers to the Center, so we have to go

rescue them" Lotus explained the situation. "We have a former Soldier

with us, how hard can it be to sneak in and out?"

"Well....I....." Scar Eyes faltered, at a loss for words. "I'll be

Smelted" he finally croaked out.

There was an odd look in his eyes as he said that. It was like the look

of an excited child; like he was finally going to do something he had

always wanted to do....but, there was another aspect about that look. It

was a look of hope, one of love, one of so many emotions it was

practically indescribable.

"No, no, no, no!" Overdrive finally got his voice back to shout out. "No

Outlander can go to the Center! If we go there, the Soldiers'll kill us!

I remember once I said somethin' 'bout the Center, and this Soldier

comes behind me an' says "you can't get there you little runt. I'll kill

yah before you can!" An' then he hit me with his gun, and I got hit

twice. Hurt so much, like this burnin' feelin' all over me! And it

didn't stop for a long while too! I don't wanna even speak 'bout that

place again!"

"It's okay OD, because I'm never going back there" Scuzzmuzzle shouted

to the frantic bot. He shut his mouth when he realized that everyone was

looking at him.

"I'm never going back there" he repeated, his voice lower. "I won't." He

glared at Scar Eyes like a petulant teenager, daring the old bot to

challenge him.

It was a challenge Scar Eyes accepted readily.

"Oh come on!" the old bot spat. "You're not gonna save the life of some

bots, just 'cause you're afraid? That doesn't sound like you,

Scuzz....or should I say WK?"

Those initials seemed to fill Scuzzmuzzle with a deep and unquenchable

rage. The half drunk bot gave a low snarl that sounded just a bit like

Dinobot's. There seemed to be a blue fire that swirled in his optics.

He thrust himself to his feet, lunging at Scar Eyes at the same time.

The old bot had no time to duck the larger bot's attack, and he fell

like a wooden barn in the face of a tornado. Scuzzmuzzle had his hands

around Scar Eyes' throat, and the old bot was gasping for breath.

"Stop it you two, please!" Trax said. She, Dice and Overdrive were

already on their feet. Their quickness to react amazed Lotus.

"Come on, Trax, just let 'em fight, you know how it is" Overdrive

pleaded, standing the farthest away from the fighting. Trax tried to

approach the two bots, but Dice held her back.

"Don't try it, girl" Dice said.

"But...but..." Trax sputtered.

Silverbolt walked up to the two bots. "Sir!" he said to Scuzzmuzzle

sternly. The ex-Soldier looked up at him, the fire in his eyes not quite

quelled.

"Intoxicated though you may be, I would suggest you let the man go and

listen to our appeal" Silverbolt said.

"Boy, does this stiff have a way with words" Terrorsaur said to Nexus,

who chuckled.

"Hey! Don't insult my friend!" Lotus said, glancing sharply at the two

of them.

"Wanna come make me?" Terrorsaur challenged.

"I'd love to, but now is not the time, unfortunately" Lotus replied. She

turned back to Scuzzmuzzle, who had let go of Scar Eyes who was now in

the process of standing up.

"I'm not going back" Scuzzmuzzle said sternly.

"We desire your help, why turn it down?" Silverbolt asked.

"I'm not going back" the drunkard replied, even more stubbornly.

Air Razor got up and spoke this time. "Please, I know the memories at

the Center must be painful for you, but this is of great importance to

us. We have to save our friends. Plea-"

"I don't have any painful memories!!!" Scuzzmuzzle screamed at them, now

getting visibly angry. He looked like he was going to try to harm Air

Razor he was so mad.

He turned around and stomped off with a growl. Lotus stepped towards him

angrily, intending to give him a piece of her mind. How could

Scuzzmuzzle do something like that?! But the look the ex-Soldier shot at

her clearly stated that to talk to him now would mean serious pain; and

there did not seem to be any CR chambers handy. Scuzzmuzzle's heavy

footsteps faded away.

"I....I'm sorry about that" Trax whispered, her voice barely audible.

"We really would like....to help you. He....he's not a bad bot,

really....."

"Yes he is" Dice said with a snort. "Pure evil that guy is. Don't worry"

she turned to the rest of them. "He'll be back in a little while. If

not....well, with footsteps like his, he won't be too hard to find."

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm tired" Cheetor

said, after a few seconds of silence. Silence was odd, with characters

like Dice and Scar Eyes, there hardly seemed to be any of it.

"Me too" Nexus said.

"Me three" Lotus agreed. The story had been interesting; but her inner

clock told her it was very late at night. It was odd, there did not seem

to be a sun around here to judge the time of day.

"Well, if there's one thing you can't do it's sleep out in the open"

Scar Eyes said. "You never know when a Soldier gang might sneak up on

yah. They're pretty easy to hear, but sometimes you just ain't quick

enough to run. I'll take you to a nice little resting spot along here."

"After one of Scar Eyes' stories, you always feel like sleeping" Dice

said, with a smirk in the old bot's direction.

"With you around, I'm surprised some of the men won't do more than

sleep" Scar Eyes replied.

Dice growled, losing another verbal spat. Lotus did not know what those

innuendos meant, but they seemed to have some dark meaning that Lotus

wanted to figure out. The nightingale was a pretty curious bot.

The seven Transformers and four Outlanders walked off, drooping and

tired, to face whatever challenges the knew day, or night? might offer.

*******

"Move out of the storm!" Rhinox shouted, praying that everyone else

could hear him. It was hard to think of anything else besides the pain,

but Rhinox, while not exactly used to thinking quick on his feet, was

used to thinking under pressure.

The whiteness still whipped around him, threatening to pull him every

which way. The rhino kept feeling like any minute he would loose some

vital circuit, or something irreplaceable would rip off his body and go

flying into the white light. It hissed by him angrily, snarling like

some rabid beast.

Except this beast was not snarling over the carcass of a dead deer.

It was chewing up time itself.

But, Rhinox set his teeth and pushed onwards. He would have to bear the

tearing feeling, if he was to get out of here alive.

Still, a few questions flittered through his mind, challenging his

decision.

Maybe we should stay here and look after the Autobots inside the Ark, he

thought. Maybe getting out of this storm will only make matters worse?

The space time continuum is ripping itself apart....maybe it's ripping

up the whole entire planet along with it.

It's up to me to lead them now, Rhinox thought with renewed

determination. I have to stand by my decision.

"Out!" he shouted again. He turned, and began making his way towards the

hole in the volcano's base. Rhinox was a pretty solid bot, he would be

able to stand the tempest and have somewhat of a hope of reaching the

door. But others would not.

Rhinox looked back. He saw Marbelle struggling, the smallish bot having

the most trouble following orders. Right now she was clinging to a

pointed rock, her back dangerously close to a lava pit. She was being

helped by Dinobot, but he looked unstable and had obviously taken a few

hard hits in battle.

Nightshade, Jade and Satin were next to them. The small raptor was

having a hard time staying up, as was Satin, for one of the vixen's legs

was practically crushed. Jade was having his talons full helping the

both of them. While the dragon was a semi-strong bot, his strength

seemed to be deserting him fast.

Malice was trying to cut through the pulling white force as quickly as

possible. He was faring quite well, but he was also clinging on to

Tigatron and Firecat. Firecat was not very wounded, but she looked

extremely worried, a bit spaced-out even, her grey eyes filling with

desperation. Tigatron was limping badly, and was no doubt concerned over

the loss of Air Razor. Cloud Runner was also with them, being guided by

Firecat. Her white eyes and face almost blended in with the white

streams of light that whipped around her face.

Killshandra was off on her own, trying to fend for herself. Survival of

the fittest usually works, but this situation was not recorded anywhere

in the law of the jungle. Killshandra was always at the peak of physical

awareness, her slim black and red body always ready to duck bullets or

out-maneuver enemies. But here, Killshandra's slim physique was

hindering her, and she was literally crawling on the ground to keep from

being swept up in the tide.

When a spark is extinguished the universe weeps. Rhinox's words came

back at him mockingly. If some divine intervention doesn't happen soon,

the universe will be balling it's eyes out.

Rhinox rolled his eyes at the irony of that thought.

Once I told those words to Cheetor, when Air Razor came on-line. Now,

I'm thinking the exact same thing when Air Razor, Lotus, Cheetor,

Silverbolt and Optimus might be off-line. What if they're never coming

back? What if time slowly deteriorates, and we never see them again?

I'm no slagging expert on time, I don't think anyone is. It's always

been a mystery. No one has ever had the need to figure it out. Well, now

that need has come, and we're all naked with ignorance. As a Maximal

scientist and energon miner I never had a need for it. Even as an

Autobot scientist, the realm of time was something only a few dreamers

dreamed about. I don't have any tools to get us out of this mess. All I

have are guesses and speculations that could make or break us.

Make or break us....the words slowly echoed in his mind. They filled

Rhinox with an emotion as close to despair as he would allow himself to

feel. Optimus had passed on the mantle of leadership to him, and Rhinox

was not quite ready to accept the strain of it.

That's the difference between Optimus and I, Rhinox thought. Optimus is

more impulsive, in a way. He tries his best to learn the full

implications of what his actions will do, and acts accordingly. He's a

good leader, and always tries to uphold Maximal values. But, sometimes

he lets chance intervene, and Primus knows luck sure has been with

Optimus. "Sometimes crazy works." That's one of his sayings. I'm too old

and wise a bot to trust myself to take chances like that, to do crazy

things. For me it doesn't work, rolling the dice. Only calculated,

logical paths are the ones I follow.

I only hope that this path is one of those ones. If not....if not....

Rhinox shook his head. Such thoughts were not making the going any

easier.

The green and tan bot ploughed onwards, feeling the piranha filled

streams of light close in behind him. The exit seemed even farther away

now then it had before. It was sitting there grinning at him...moving

backwards for every step he took towards it. It was a frustrating

procession that fuelled the ever growing sense of futility Rhinox felt.

Rhinox looked behind him again. It seemed like hardly anyone had moved

from their positions. Rhinox numbly realized it was going to be tough

going. Marbelle already looked like she was about to collapse, and

Dinobot was a crumbling pillar of support.

We need to do something fast! Rhinox thought, desperation fluttering

through his mind like a bat through a cave of despair.

Fast....that's something I'm not, was the following thought.

For their sake, I'm going to have to be.

"Firecat!" Rhinox shouted, over the howling storm. He called her name

again to make sure she had heard him.

The red, yellow and orange fembot looked towards him. The rhino vaguely

heard the word "what?" greet his audio sensors, and even then it could

have been the storm.

"Can you use your magic to create a shield?" he shouted. "A shield!" he

repeated, to make his message clear.

Rhinox was aware of Firecat's magical limitations, or at least somewhat

aware. The two of them had still preformed tests of her magical

abilities, for they both knew it was important for the feline to

recognize her limits. Rhinox knew her magic was strong enough to create

immaterial objects such a swords appear in her hand. He knew she could

reach into a bot's subconscious with an odd form of telepathy. Firecat

had not created a magical shield before, because such things usually

sputtered out and died quickly. Once Firecat's power levels got too low

her magic faded out of existence.

Can I do this to Firecat? Rhinox thought. It would probably kill her,

keeping a shield against such a powerful storm open for so long. She

could die....I would have the mech-fluid of an innocent bot on my hands.

What right have I to ask her to preform such a task?

The right of a leader, came the thought. It resonated in his head,

filling him with a power he had dreaded feeling. A power called

leadership.

"I'm sorry Rhinox, there is no other way" came Optimus' voice. Rhinox

almost turned around, expecting to see the face of his old friend,

determination knitted into the gorilla's robotic brow, his red optics

filled with the clear light of hope. But, he knew Optimus was not there.

Optimus was not there, but Rhinox was.

Only Optimus could say those words with such certainty, Rhinox thought.

Optimus has enough bravery and charisma to say things like that and to

have people believe him. My voice....it's always twinged with an endless

doubt. Doubting my own abilities, doubting the outcome of the situation.

I might be a bit slow, but that's because I take lots of time to analyze

every bit of the problem. Optimus values me for that strength; it helps

him. I take too much time looking down all the paths life has in store

for our fleet instead of just choosing one.

Rhinox's mind snapped back to the present as he saw Firecat raise her

hands. Suddenly, a bright green light was thrown into the mix of white.

The white light, interested in such opposition, seemed to howl about

with more ferocity than before. The white light seemed to rip right

through his body, cutting into him with invincible knives. The green bot

ground his teeth in pain.

Rhinox gasped as he saw Marbelle get thrown up into the air. Dinobot

tried to make a grab for her, but he was thrown off balance and pushed

violently to the ground. Cloud Runner was whipped down to the hard

ground as well, having lost her balance just like her father.

Killshandra was the next to get lifted off. She tried to battle against

the white light with her wings, but it was useless against such a foe.

The green light of Firecat's shield seemed to be faltering. It tried

slowly but surely to cover the whole Maximal fleet in a protective

cocoon. But, the white light always ripped away at it, chewing holes in

it like a rat chews holes in cloth. The green light began to get dimmer.

Rhinox looked intently at Firecat. Her arms, still raised, were shaking

visibly.

She's playing a deadly game, Rhinox thought with a pang. If she keeps

spending her powers like this, a few more cycles and she's gone.

Suddenly, Firecat changed tactics. Her shield light reached out for both

Marbelle and Killshandra, anchoring the two of them to the ground. She

wrapped the shielding light around Nightshade, because she was the next

smallest bot. The green light began to weave around the group of

Maximals. Rhinox smiled a bit. Since Firecat could not create a full

shield she would do the next best thing; tie them all together.

Smart girl, Rhinox thought. The green light wrapped around his

midsection, tugging at him tightly, but with more gentleness than the

white light had.

Rhinox looked behind him. Everyone else was safely secured by the green

light. The white light still tried to whip at it, but now the green

light was like a thick and solid chain, which was much harder to

destroy.

"Lead the way!" Firecat shouted back to Rhinox, giving him a weak thumbs

up signal and a happy, but rapidly tiring, smile.

The rhino did as he was commanded. He pushed himself forward with all

his might, taking step after steady step.

"Try to keep in pace with me!" he shouted back to his troops. "It'll go

faster."

Apparently, Malice, Tigatron, Firecat and Cloud Runner caught his words.

Whenever he stepped, they stepped also. Dinobot soon caught on to what

they were doing, so did Jade, Nightshade and Satin. Killshandra and

Marbelle tried their best, but since they were floating up in the air

any action they did was useless, except when Killshandra flapped her

wings occasionally.

Soon, like a slow and steady train, they reached the outside of the

volcano. And, with it came a rising of all hopes, like the rising of a

phoenix from the ashes of fear.

The time storm was not raging outside. The landscape was as calm and

quiet as it ever was. The rocks around them stood like silent sentinels,

soundlessly watching the quest of the group of bots. The moon hung heavy

in the sky, another wordless sentinel, floating in the sky, casting it's

light and illuminating the clouds around it. There were few stars out

tonight, because ghostly black wisps of cloud decorated the sky, light

strands of grey yarn decorate a children's collage. Oddly enough, the

moon was quite bright, and curious moonbeams came down to peak upon the

adventures happening on the world below, casting their meager light on

the darkness around them.

"Thank the Matrix" Rhinox mumbled, hearing similar exclamations of

divine praise around him. The chain of green light disappeared on his

midsection. That reminded him of Firecat, and he turned worriedly

towards her.

The winged feline had collapsed and gone into beast mode. Her brown fur

and the orange flame-like pattern down her back shone eerily in the

moonlight with a yellow sheen. Her smokey grey eyes were closed. Her

breathing was somewhat shallow, but it was steady. Rhinox picked her up

in his arms, noting how fragile she looked.

You did your best Firecat, Rhinox thought. Thank you. Now we have to do

our best to make sure you stay alive.

Rhinox now saw the time storm at a much safer position; outside of it.

It looked like a white tornado whipping around the volcano which

contained the Ark. It did not start from the clouds though, it seemed to

stretched up past the clouds, and even up to space itself. To go back in

there would be hard work and a waste of time. His plan to get inside and

help the Autobots would have to be put on hold, much as he hated to do

so.

He looked at the Maximals. Except for the wounds they had gotten in

battle, they seemed okay. Dinobot was a bit groggy, and Satin's leg was

still smashed.

"Marbelle, can you tend to everyone's wounds as quickly as possible?"

Rhinox asked. The opossum nodded, took her medical backpack out of

subspace and walked towards Satin.

"We'd better get to the base" Rhinox stated.

"Rhinox...I don't mean to sound completely out of it, but what

happened?" Cloud Runner asked, worriedly. "Where's Cheetor?" She looked

around her, waiting to hear his voice.

"Tabitha created a magical porthole" Rhinox said. "I'm not exactly sure

what it did. All the remaining Predacons went in it. They were

Terrorsaur, Nexus, Blackarachnia, Scorpinok, Megatron, Tabitha and

Jungura. Some Maximals managed to make it in as well. Those were

Cheetor, Rattrap, Silverbolt, Lotus, Air Razor and Optimus" he said, a

lump in his throat.

"Are...are they coming back?" Cloud Runner asked, her blind optics wide.

Rhinox felt the happiness and relief in the air dissipate faster then he

could blink his optics. Everyone turned to him, asking him a silent

question.

He's Rhinox, they were thinking, Rhinox knew that for a fact. Rhinox

knows everything about this stuff. He knows everything about everything.

He's Rhinox.

My name always brings them comfort, Rhinox thought. It's no brag. I'm

the smart one, I've got all the answers. I'm hardly ever wrong. If

something's wrong, they know I can fix it, most of the time anyway. I'm

Rhinox. Trusted and true. I have to tell them the truth, though. I can't

lie to them.

"I...." Rhinox said, faltering. "I really don't know."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. The rhino could read the

panic in their eyes. If Rhinox did not know something, then they were

doomed. He felt like he was betraying them, but there was nothing he

could do.

"So..." Jade began. "Since Optimus won't be coming back..."

"I never said he wouldn't come back" Rhinox interrupted. "There's a

possibility for anything to happen. Nobody knows a lot about the

space/time continuum. They might come back, or they might not."

"What about that storm behind us?" Malice asked. "How'd that happen?"

"My guess is that Megatron destroyed either Teletran 1 or one of the

ancient Autobots" Rhinox said. "Actually, considering who Megatron was

named after, I bet he'd go for Prime." There was an abrupt silence

following those words. Rhinox let them register that fact, then hurried

on.

"That porthole Tabitha made....either it was a way of changing time the

way Megatron wanted it to be..." Rhinox paused, a hypothesis forming in

his mind. "Or, it was a porthole that linked back to Cybertron."

"But...but how could Tabitha do that with her magic?" Nightshade asked.

"Isn't Firecat more powerful?"

"In answer to the first question, I think it's because since time was

already getting messed up, everything else got a bit messed up as well"

Rhinox said. "The universe is pretty finicky. If time got all screwed up

maybe it screwed up space and distance as well." Rhinox knew that there

were a lot fancier ways of saying that, but right now he just did not

feel like using big words. He wanted to figure out the facts as soon as

possible in hopes to deal with the situation.

"In answer to the second question, we don't know Tabitha's magical

abilities" the rhino continued. "She could be more or less powerful, it

depends."

"Is there anyway we can get Optimus and the others back, through magic

or science?" Tigatron asked, his voice cracking with worry and pain. His

mech-fluid colored eyes held a look of pure fear. Rhinox looked at him

sympathetically, he knew Tigatron missed Air Razor.

"Well, time is still pretty messed up" Rhinox motioned to the time storm

behind him. "If we could copy the porthole Tabitha made, we might be

able to get them back. Of course, then we'd have to go back and face the

time storm. And of course...there is the possibility that the Ark might

deteriorate because of the time storm, or something like that." Everyone

gasped. "I don't know that for a fact of course" he said quickly. "I

just have some guesses. Marbelle, have you gotten everyone bandaged up?"

he asked.

"All I need to do are Nightshade, yourself and Cloud Runner" Marbelle

replied. Rhinox nodded, and looked around at all the other Maximals.

Satin's banged up leg was stuck in a brace. Tigatron's left side was

bandaged up with splints and metal braces. Everyone else had stretches

of Earthling cloth over their wounds. Apparently Marbelle did not want

to waste time by stitching up everyone's wounds.

"You don't need to help me, I'll be fine" Rhinox said.

"Are you sure?" Marbelle asked.

"Yep" Rhinox replied with a nod. Marbelle smiled at him gently, and

walked over to Nightshade.

Rhinox bent down, put Firecat on his back and transformed into beast

mode.

"It'll be faster if we go in beast mode" he said to the others. "Those

who can, transform."

Malice, Dinobot, Jade and Cloud Runner transformed. Jade by flapping

wings. Malice and Dinobot began to walk along the ground. Cloud Runner

walked with them; ever since she had become blind she had not trusted

her jet mode as much, since it was harder to retrace your steps when you

were flying in the air. And, Rhinox speculated, Cloud Runner might not

feel like flying now, with the loss of Cheetor weighing down her heart.

It's amazing how well everyone's functioning, Rhinox thought. They're

all so subdued, getting right to business without stalling. That's what

grief does to people. And, it's also because Rattrap's not here to make

a smart comment.

Rhinox imagined Rattrap's stubborn face with a sliver of sadness getting

pushed even further into his heart.

I never said they wouldn't be coming back, but I never said they would

be, Rhinox thought with a sigh as he began to walk towards the Axalon.

*******

Bouncealot had always loved his beast mode.

Being a hare/sparrow Fuzor was quite interesting. Other of course than

the fact that he got to bounce a lot, he had also discovered that, since

his eyes were on the side of his head, he could see behind him as well

as in front of him.

The hare's senses were very sharp. His ears swiveled automatically at

the slightest sound, and watching his nose amused him. It kept on

wiggling like it had a life of it's own. Bouncealot's whiskers were also

a constant source of fascination. They were like small radar, and could

sense things his other senses could not.

His ability to jump was unquestioned by anyone. He could leap over

Optimus, which was quite a big feat considering Bouncealot's size was

foot and a half and the Maximal leader was at least four times his size.

The hare/sparrow Fuzor's big snowshoe feet also made wonderful drums.

You just started thumping on any surface and you had your own miniature

rock band.

Bouncealot also carried a set of weapons. His front claws were sharp,

and mainly used for digging. They were usually used by his species as

small knives, although, since Bouncealot was never allowed out to fight,

he had never gotten a chance to use them that way. He also had a set of

buck teeth, that could be quite painful if he bit down on a tender part

of someone, such as their hand.

Bouncealot also noted that he could emit a loud, piercing scream when

frightened or upset, which did not happen often though. He occasionally

did it for fun, but after he had been shouted at to shut up by Dinobot

and Malice, he had decided his miraculous vocal talent would be left

untrained.

Bouncealot loved everything about his beast mode, which was why he never

went into robot mode. The hare/sparrow Fuzor really did not like his

robot mode, now that he had an alternate mode. He had been a robot all

his life, why not spend the rest of his time being a beast?

But, right now, Bouncealot was almost wishing he had transformed.

It had all started after the Maximals had left the Axalon. He of course

had been ordered to stay at the base, a fact which frequently annoyed

him. Bouncealot was allowed out on scouting duty, but scouting duty

only. He was not allowed to fight in battles. Rhinox had told him it was

to protect himself....but Bouncealot had a hard time believing that. He

had served in the Great War for slag's sake...one would think serving in

the Beast Wars would be easy in comparison.

But, he had had little Birch to keep him company. While the baby did not

provide much in the way of conversation, she was a great listener. The

way she looked at him with her beautiful blue eyes made Bouncealot feel

quite important. No body else listened to him as much as Birch did,

except for Nightshade, and he was terribly grateful to the baby for

that.

The real trouble had began fifteen minutes before the present.

Bouncealot had been nicely chatting to Birch about how baby's were

really much smarter than adult bots. She had seemed to be accepting his

arguments without complaint.

But, suddenly, a howling wind had come upon them. Whiteness suddenly

began to form inside the Axalon, and whip around them with growling

ferocity. Birch and Bouncealot had both been thrown from their positions

and whipped around the Axalon. Faster and faster they twirled, and they

had been doing that ever since for what seemed like forever.

At first, Bouncealot had been too stunned to do anything. But soon, he

realized what he had to do. He had to save Birch. The baby was a

Maximal, as was Bouncealot, and Maximals never let each other down.

That was what he was trying to do right now. The hare/sparrow Fuzor

flapped his sparrow wings. He had never really used his wings, because

his rabbit body was more suited to the ground than to flying. So, right

now, he was learning how to fly, in certainly the worst of

circumstances. He grumbled to himself.

Maybe transforming might have stopped him from being whipped around

like a rag doll. He dared not transform now; he was afraid of what might

happen. Maybe the white tornado would rip him up as he transformed,

piece by piece? Bouncealot did not know, but he did not want to find

out.

Bouncealot flapped his wings towards Birch. The tiger/falcon Fuzor was

mewing in fear and confusion. Those cried for help tore at Bouncealot's

heart, and he tried with even more determination to get to her.

Sometimes determination is not enough.

******

Birch mewed in fear. She could see her Giver Me Warmth coming closer to

her, but he was not close enough. She longed for her Deeply Special to

Mes to come and comfort her. Her mother had the most soothing

voice....and her father was always standing over her like a protective

guardian. She wanted them there with her.

She could sense her father's presence. He was coming closer and closer

to her. Even with her childish brain, Birch could still sense her father

was far away. She did not know when he would get to her and she did not

care, as long as he was here. Birch tried to reach out to him, with not

just her little baby legs, but with every other fibre of her being.

But, the white light would not let her get to him.

Birch could also sense her mother, but her mother was very far away. Her

presence was very faint. She could only feel little bits of her mother's

presence. That worried Birch....what was her mother doing?

The white light buffeted her and tugged at her with a savage ferocity

she had never felt before. It was very painful, and she wanted to get

far away from it. She wanted to find a way to stop herself from being

pulled apart. Her babyish brain wanted nothing but a release from

pain....comfort and love....the longing for them was so strong and

fierce.

Birch meowed in pain, her eyes brimming over with tears, which were

ripped off her face by the white light. She felt like the pain would rip

her up into little shreds....she did not want that to happen. Her body

strained against the light, trying to pull every bit of her together.

She did not want anything to fly off of her. If only the pain would go

away! If only she were stronger, then she could endure this.

Suddenly, Birch felt something odd happen to her. A crystalline blue

light surrounded her. Little did she know it, but it looked like the

glow of energon. Birch looked around her, her fear being replaced by

curiosity. She mewed in wonderment. It was so beautiful. It must be here

to help her.

The mew turned to a meow of pain.

Instead of helping her, the blue light hurt her.

Birch felt like the blue light was pushing and tugging at her. The blue

light went inside her. She felt this horrible ripping sensation. Her

skin and fur began to stretch out. Birch looked at herself, awed at what

was happening, even despite the searing pain. Birch felt her wings get

larger. She saw her body expand and fill out. Everything about her got

bigger and more proportionate.

The ripping sensation got more and more painful. Every part of her was

pulled, stretched and tugged. No part of her was free from this pain.

The blue light was even tugging at her eyeballs, making them bigger.

Muscles, fibres and sinews lengthened and expanded. Birch could feel the

blue light go through every vein of her body, leaving no part untouched.

Teeth erupted from her gums, fur became thicker and more luxurious.

Feathers sprouted on the back part of her body, poking their way out of

her skin like little worms. Legs got longer, talons got sharper.

Feathers replaced the down on her wings.

If Birch could understand what was happening to herself, she might have

smiled.

But, the baby could not.

Finally, the blue light did the last thing it could. It slipped inside

Birch's mind. She could feel the light pulsing inside her brain. It

seared, it burned, it hurt. She shook her head, but it did not go away.

It covered every crevice and niche within her skull, pushing, poking and

prodding. It expanded something inside her head.

Knowledge, things once unknown slipped into her mind. Words, things and

phrases all crashed over her like a tidal wave. Faces and people now had

names and words attached to them. Actions now had reasons. Past

conversations she had heard fluttered through her mind....words made so

much more sense now. She could understand almost everything everyone had

said to her, with a few exceptions. Feelings and emotions....things of

her past replayed themselves, and now the tiger/falcon could better

understand them.

Birch was caught up in the whirlpool of thoughts all sapient beings

have. She was almost drowned in the amount of data her brain was

receiving.

Tigatron....a tiger...my father. Air Razor...a meat eating bird....my

mother. They are half of me. The two of them together makes me. They

love me. Phantom, a metal dog thingy, my friend. Cheetor, a metal cat,

my friend. Lotus, another bird....she saved me from the bad bots....the

Predacons.

It was as if she was seeing for the first time, with new and better

eyes. With a larger and smarter brain. With a premature clarity that was

brought on so soon. One which could have unknown consequences.

But Birch was not concerned with that. Birch no longer felt fear or

longing for her parents, not yet. All she felt was curiosity. What was

happening to her? What was the strange light doing to her?

I am not afraid any more, came the thought in Birch's head.

Birch blinked. There was a voice inside her head. It was saying the

exact same thing that she was feeling. It was not loud, it was a quiet

voice. It was speaking inside her head, to no one else but her.

The voice is a thought, came another thought, following the first one.

I am thinking, came the thought's conclusion.

The blue light slipped away from Birch's mind, but she was so interested

in the process of thinking that she barely noticed it leave.

Thinking.....words....actions. Thinking of words usually made people say

words. Words resulted in actions. Sometimes people even skipped words

and translated thoughts right into actions. The pattern came together

with a distorted feeling. Birch felt odd with this new sense of

awareness.

Birch looked down at herself, studying her body with newfound wonder.

The child was amazed at how much stronger she felt. She wiggled her

front paw. It was amazing. She had never known what a paw was before,

and now she did.

"Baby?!" came a voice from in front of her.

This voice dose not come from my head, Birch realized. It's not a

thought. It's someone speaking to me. Speaking is how other people show

each other what they want.

I need to speak back to the one who's speaking to me, Birch thought with

her newly acquired wisdom.

"Yes?" Birch asked.

Bouncealot- Birch had realized that was his name - started to say

something, but snapped his mouth shut, unsure of just what to say.

"Me name's Bouncealot" the rabbit/bird said limply.

"My name's Birch" the tiger/falcon replied.

"Well...." Bouncealot mumbled in amazement. "Well...."

Birch was not exactly sure what he meant by that. But, she smiled at him

anyway. The tearing feeling of the white light had now dulled, and it

felt only like a mere tugging. Birch used her new wings and flapped

towards Bouncealot.

It was hard work, and Birch was struggling very much to get to him. But,

her weight placed her closer to the ground. She grabbed Bouncealot's

foot in her mouth, and yanked him down towards the ground with a

powerful twist of her neck.

"Ow!" Bouncealot yelped.

"Sorry, friend!" Birch said. She covered him with her tiger front paws,

to make sure he did not get ripped away again.

The two of them still had to wait out the storm.