BW fanfic, first of a series.
Posted: 2003-06-09 03:51pm
I wrote this a couple of years ago, meaning to write a whole slew of fanfics to go along with a storyline I had. I'm actually starting to write the rest of them now, so here is the first story, in it's entirety, with no editing since being completed before. Alright, enough details, go read it.
Notes:
Some of the characters in this story are from the Japanese series “Beast Wars Neo”. For pictures of many of them, visit http://www.bwtf.com.
This story takes place almost immediately after the episode "Bad Spark".
Beast Wars:
Snake in the Grass
"... and a warrior came, from another world, falling through the sky..."
- Code of Primus
Rhinox sat in the control chair of the Axalon, sleeping. It had been a long few days, what with making sure that Protoform X was gone, or, at least buried under all that rock. The whole base seemed to tingle with the fear that the experiment had somehow survived. Rhinox had gotten the late watch, but with all his research going on, it was hard to find time to sleep.
*Breep! Breep! Stasis pods detected. Coordinates for pods are: Gamma, Treata; Selenia, Daemo and Celesti, Premar.*
Rhinox sat up suddenly, hitting his head on the celing montior. "Ow! Slag that hurt..."
*Stasis pods falling at-*
"I know that!"
Rhinox paused. He wasn't usually this snappish. Must be the lack of sleep. "Computer, display pods trajectories!"
A large holographic display popped into existence from the projector. Rhinox scanned the display quickly, his mind whirring at a feverish pace. "Hmmm, one of the pods is falling in deep Pred territory. I hope that one's a blank." He looked at the holo again, then depressed his chest comlink. "Optimus, there's two pods falling in neutral territory. We have to get to them before the Preds do!"
He leapt up, running off to wake Rattrap, the only other Maximal who could reprogram a pod. "Maybe our luck is going to change, for the better."
__________
Tarantulas looked up from mixing chemicals, alerted by his computer. "Hmmmm, a new stasis pod. Could be useful." He cackled to himself as he transformed and sped off towards the falling pod.
___________
Another time, another place.
Corada sat, looking up at the stars. One of those was Cybertron, his home. On it was the Maximal Training Base, where he was stationed. "Cybertron," he whispered. "Will I ever be able to set foot on there again?"
"BOO!" Corada jumped, and came down facing behind him, blaster out. "Yer going to aim lower if ye wanna hit me!"
Corada blinked. He looked down at Stampy. "Dammit Stampy, I almost scrapped you!"
"Hey, well some job yer doing, stargazing when we're supposed to be scoutin' the area for Predacons!"
"You have no business telling me what to do, Coward! I was only assigned to this slag missions with you as punishment!"
"Yeah, fer almost killing Saberback!"
" And I would have too, if it weren’t for you and Break stopping me. He's the enemy, for Primus sake! You’re supposed to kill the enemy!"
*Pfft* Stampy snorted.
Corada leaned down to the rabbit, his expression like ice water. "You have something to say, Coward?"
"Ummmmmmm, yeah. I, I-"
"Do continue."
"-I realllly think we should be heading home right about now," said Stampy, spinning on his heel.
Corada stood up, turning to face the stars once again. "Yes, home." He transformed back to his beast mode, a king cobra.
Stampy turned to face Corada. "Ya know, for such a stuck-up warrior like yerself......" He trailed off. Corada wasn't there.
End part 1
______
Rhinox ran as fast as his short beast mode legs could go. Still, all things considered, he was making good time. He could only hope that the pod wasn't a blank... or a Pred.
_______
Tarantulas slowed to a halt and transformed into robot mode.
"Hmmmmmm," he said, fiddling with a small radar/tracker device. "The pod should be around here somewhere...” He glanced at his instrument again.
"Oh no!" Tarantulas slapped his forehead in frustration. "The protoform is in the middle of this swamp!"
He transformed to beast mode, muttering about muck getting into his gears.
_______
Rattrap sped towards the coordinates given to him by Rhinox. "Oh man, there betta not be any Preds snoopin' around the pod!"
He was his usual pessimistic self. Then he saw it.
Too bad was going too fast to stop in time.
"WHOA!" He slammed on the brakes and transformed into robot mode, having to somersault to avoid hitting the pod.
"Heh, it's a good thing Ol' Uncle Rattrap still gots his moves!" He chuckled.
"Yessss, you would find something such as careening into a stasis pod and killing it's inhabitant humorous." hissed Dinobot.
"Oh, go mate with an iguana." Rattrap waved Dinobot’s insult away with a toss of his hand.
You'd think they'd get used to each other by now, but NOOOO...
"I believe I'll take that as a threat, Vermin." Dinobot snarled.
"Hooollllld on there, Dinobutt. You scrap me an' this pod's good as gone!"
"Hmm, true. Perhaps I'll wait until after the pod has been programmed."
A missile blast threw the two Maximals off their feet.
"Or, perhaps you'll both end up getting slagged!" cried Blackarachnia. Standing beside her were Quickstrike and Waspinator.
Rattrap looked up. "Oh no."
_______
Tarantulas giggled with glee as he opened the controls on the stasis pod. Soon, the protoform inside would be a Predacon, loyal to him, of course.
"Computer!" he hissed. "Begin DNA scan!"
*Scanning.* An amber beam shot out of the pod and began to rotate.
*Suitable life-form found, beginning replication.."
"YES! It's working! MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!"
The pod hissed open, discharging life-sustaining fluids in a flash of vapor.
A gigantic head of a snapping turtle whipped out of the pod.
GRRROOOWLLRRRRR!!!" The turtle lunged forward, trying to bite Tarantulas, who quickly somersaulted backwards and shot a containment web out.
The momentum of the turtle caused it to shoot forward, even after becoming tangled in Tarry's web. It came to a stop, mighty jaws clicking inches away from Tarantulas' face.
It was HUGE!
Tarantulas took a mental note, deciding that a bite from those powerful jaws would quite easily sever a 'bot in half. He stepped back. The size of the creature was enormous. Interesting.
He turned, flipping his comlink on. "This is Tarantulas. I have a new Predacon for us!"
"This is Megatron. Very good Tarantulas, yessssss. I'll be there shortly."
"Understood. Tarantulas out."
He paced, thinking about this new opportunity. An undamaged stasis pod, and a new Predacon. If he could convince the Predacon to swear allegiance to him.... Oh, the possibilities!
He spun around on his "heel".
"Well, my friend, I-" he gasped.
The containment web was laying on the ground in tatters. Where was the new Predacon?!
End Part 2
"Gone?! What d'you mean 'gone'?!" yelled Longrack.
"Just that." said Stampy, arms akimbo. "Alls I say was that it was time to 'head back to the base' and he just got this far-off look in his eyes. Next thing I know, BAM!" Stampy snapped his "fingers". "He was gone!"
"Stampy, are you sure you said that it was time to 'head back to base'?" asked Big Convoy.
"Weeeelllll, no. Not exactly. More like I kindamaybesortasaid'letsheadhome'."
BC slapped his forehead and groaned. "Stampy, you know that Corada doesn't consider the ship his home. You also know that he wants to get back to Cybertron more than any of us."
"Er, oops?"
"Stampy, I want you to go organize a search party."
Stampy stood rigid in mock salute.
"Sir, yes sir!"
He goose-stepped away from the bridge.
Big Convoy shook his head and sighed. "Why do I think that he never takes me seriously?"
_________
Corada sat, meditating in a huge cavern filled with gaia energy. He would tell his comrades about the place if need arose, but for now, this was where he cleared his mind of the haze of time. To look back at memories of the past. Of his childhood. Of his graduation from the academy. Of his first military platoon, his to command. But mostly, his training at the Military Academy, where he met his first, last, and only love. Amethyst.
________
It had been during Weapons Ops and Defense. Some of the male instructors had had a few too many energon beers, and had made a bet with the female instructors about seniority. The squads were scheduled to duel during close-combat training, one-on-one. It was a female cadet versus a male one. Rules were simple: pick a weapon and obey the rules. Winner take all
Corada had completed eight duels, all without much difficulty. His specialty was an energy rapier (turned down to non-lethal levels, of course). His opponent was much like himself. She had also been in eight duels, winning easily. Her choice armament was a titanium whip, the strongest alloy allowed in training.
They lined up, two out of hundreds, all competing for victory for their squads. BANG! The signal! Corada thrust at his opponent. She dodged gracefully. He swung at her legs, making a quick sweep. She jumped into the air, avoiding the blow. She somersaulted over him, landing behind him. Exactly what he wanted. As she landed, off-balance, she let off a clumsy lash of her whip, avoided with ease. He parried another blow, moving in for the point, when she wrapped the whip around the handle of the sword, pulling it out of his hands! He stumbled past her, overextending himself for the thrust. He quickly whirled around, in a ready battle stance, only to come face to face with his own rapier.
He relaxed, knowing the duel was over, her favor.
"Nice match." he said.
"You had some good moves yourself." she said, matter-of-factly.
"Uh, my name is Corada!" He thrust out his hand.
"Amethyst." she said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"Huh, you know, I think-"
"-that you've heard my name somewhere before. Yes, I know." She walked off to the lockers.
Corada stood there, thinking. "Yeah, I've heard it somewhere." BAM! He had a sudden memory of why it sounded so familiar. Amethyst was the name of the first person to beat the record score in the combat simulator for over twenty cycles! Wow! What a women!
No, he corrected himself. What a warrior!
________
Corada smiled at that memory, before frowning at it. He never did figure out why he loved her so. She was attractive, yes, but it wasn't that. Was it her talent as a soldier? It had to be, there was no other explanation, was there? Dammit! Why couldn't he figure this out!
________
The next time he saw her was seven cycles from then, and almost ten cycles from now. He was boarding Big Convoy's ship as a decorated and respected officer of the Maximal Elite. He had been handpicked by the Council of Convoys to be Big Convoy's personal battlefield commander.
He had seen Amethyst boarding another ship, a research vessel, like BC's. She probably didn't even recognize him, but he knew her the instant he saw her. Why hadn't he tried to talk to her? Why didn't he-
*Warning. Unknown energy signature detected.*
Corada was shaken from his thoughts by his internal computer.
"Computer, compare with all known Transformers."
*Complying. Signature does not match any known Transformer.*
Now this was interesting! An unknown energy source. Perhaps it could be used as a weapon against the Predacons. Or, was it a sentient creature? Perhaps a hostile one? Better safe than sorry. "Computer, current distance from energy signature."
*Energy signature is three point seventy-nine meters in front of you.*
Interesting still. What sort of power could this be, to be able to generate such a signature but stay hidden from plain sight. Unless...there! Nestled among the gaia crystals was a strange looking mineral. Corada snagged out his snake-tail arm to reach it, also picking up a crystal of gaia.
Hmmmm, stranger and stranger. While the gaia energy had rounded edges, with a warm pinkish glow, this new crystal was very angular, like quartz, and emitted an eerie blue light. Strange, and, at the same time, frightening. Where could such a mineral come from? There certainly wasn't anything like this at the Academy. Which could mean...
ZHOOOOOM!!!!! A crackling bolt of energy shot out of the new rock, hitting the gaia energy and creating a strong electric current throughout both crystals, with Corada likened to an engine, and the rocks acting like spark plugs. Wave after wave of pain rocked Corada's body, causing him to slump down onto the floor.
"So," he said, as his vision faded.
"So, this is what it is like, to join the Matrix."
End Part 3
SNAP!
Tarantulas whirled around, looking for the source.
SNAP!
Tarantulas turned again. He was starting to get dizzy.
SNAP!
He turned, gun drawn. This time, he would be ready.
There was a tap at his shoulder.
Tarantulas turned, slowly this time. He looked up. And up, and up and up.
"Hello, little man." the huge bot bent down to look at Tarry.
"Mind puttin' the pizza cutter away?" he asked, jabbing an enormous finger at the gun in Tarantulas' hand.
"Oh, um, sure." He was surprised, to say the least. This new bot was HUGE, even taller than Inferno. Tarantulas swallowed.
"So, er, what's your name?" he said, trying to be casual.
"Hm?" the mumble from the giant's baritone mouth seemed to make the earth shake.
"My name? Huh, I dunno." the bot paused, thinking. "Hey, little man, what's yours?"
"Er, my name?"
"No, your favorite board game. Of course your name!"
Tarantulas was almost glad for the shockwave from the giant bot's shout. It gave him time to think.
"Um, well, yes, I *ahem*..." he looked up. "Well, I'd really prefer it if you would introduce yourself first."
"Really? Oh, well, I'm alright with that." The bot paused again.
"The names.... Trouble."
"Oh, hello, er, Trouble. I am Tarantulas, and I have saved your life."
"Is that a fact?"
"Oh, yes indeed. I reprogrammed your stasis pod so that you would survive, and help the Pre- er, that is to say, help me."
"Oh, I get now. You save my live, and in return, I'm your faithful lackey, huh?"
"Well, no," Tarantulas fumbled for the right words. If he didn't phrase this correctly, well, not many would miss him.
"More like... partners." he finished.
"Partners."
"Yes! Equal halves of a much greater whole!"
"And this greater whole would be"
"Well, mysel-" Tarantulas was cut off by the sudden roar of afterburners.
Megatron had arrived.
"The greater whole. That would be the Predacons, of course." The tyrant spoke while transforming to robot mode and landing.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Megatron, leader of the Predacons." he gestured with his hand.
"And you are?"
"Trouble."
"Trouble, eh? Oh, I like the sound of that, yesssss."
________
"Rattrap! Hurry up and get the pod programmed!"
"Keep yer scales on, Dinobutt, I'm workin' on it!"
SKOW!! A laser blast splashed near Dinobot's feet.
"Work faster! I do not think I can hold them for much longer!"
"Hold on Dinoboob, I think I got it... there!"
*Beginning DNA scan. DNA scan complete. Suitable life form found. Replicating."
"C'mon, c'mon." Rattrap urged the stasis pod's computer.
*Error.*
"Oh, fer bootin' up cold!" Rattrap hit the pod with his fist.
*Replication complete.*
"AHHHH!!" Dinobot yelled out in pain. Blackarachnia had pegged him in the arm with a cyber-venom missile.
"YEEEHAH! This is more fun 'n shootin' fish in a barrel!" Quickstrike whooped again.
Suddenly, a brown blur shot out of the stasis pod, barreling towards the Predacons.
"What'in tarnation-" Quickstrike got knocked off his feet by the bounding animal.
Blackarachnia and Waspinator turned to face the Maximal. They found a cowering raccoon behind them.
"Huh? Is that the best the stupid rat could come up with? Another worthless rodent." Blackarachnia laughed, turning back to Rattrap and the incapacitated Dinobot.
"Waspinator doesn't know. Thinks new mask-bot cute."
"Then I'm sure that this'll make you think of me as something else!" the raccoon stood up on its hind legs. "Grendal, Maximize!"
The raccoon folded and twisted to reveal an imposing looking bot. Although measuring only a little bit taller than Rattrap, the new Maximal had muscles of tempered steel (literally), and it showed. The scrappy fighter was a male bot, with mostly dark blue covering his body. He had brown boots, gloves, and a bandolier stylized on. His face was also dark metallic blue, with a fearsome looking black mask covering his red optics.
"Come get some, bug boy."
Waspinator's eyes bulged out of his head as he saw Grendal pull out a bazooka that was his beast mode's tail, and was almost as big as he was.
BLAM!!!
A giant missile the size of a milk bottle his Waspy square in the chest.
As his pieces rained down, Waspinator's head mumbled "No like mask-bot any more."
Blackarachnia turned, her smile twisting into a fearful gasp. "What! Oh well, that always happens." She fired her machine-gun legs at Grendal, who leapt aside behind a tree.
"You can't hide forever, you know. Sooner or later, I'll- AHH!"
She collapsed, revealing Rattrap standing behind her, gun smoking and wearing a smirk.
"That'll teach ya to turn yer back on 'ol Rattrap!"
Grendal stepped out from behind his cover. "Thank you, Rattrap. My name is-"
"Yeah yeah, I heard. Grendal, right?" Grendal nodded. "Thought so."
Dinobot walked up behind Rattrap, nursing his hurt arm. "Yes, impressive indeed. Perhaps there is some hope for your kind after all, Ratface."
"Hey, Dinoboob, why don't yo- oh, you were complementing him, weren’t you?"
"As it were."
Grendal nodded to DB. "Greetings, Dinobot. I hope we can get to know each other better."
"I would be happy to challenge you to a duel, if you'd like.
"Sure, whenever you're ready to lose."
"Ya know kid," Rattrap said as the trio began walking back to the Axalon. "Yer all right."
End Part 4
"AHH!"
Rhinox shielded his eyes from the blinding light that was suddenly bursting from the stasis pod.
"The pod was a blank, so what'n..." his voice trailed off as he saw what was in the pod. A male 'bot lay inside, curled up in a semi-fetal position, as if he was in pain.
Corada lay there, silent. What had happened?
He cracked an optic (eye) open. Was he dead?
He sat up, wincing from the shooting pain from his body. It was as if his entire insides had been scoured with steel wool, then put in backwards.
He was still holding the gaia energy.
Huh, where's the other crystal, he thought dully, the gaia slipping from his hand, falling to the ground.
He turned and looked at Rhinox, who was standing rigid, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Am I... dead?" Corada rasped.
"Far from it." Rhinox said, coming out of his trance. His curiosity took over, making him bend down and scoop up the gaia energy laying at the pod's side.
"What is this?"
"You don't know?" Corada laughed, the first time in a long while.
"Are you sure I'm not dead?" he said, tilting his head to the side.
"Everyone uses gaia energy."
"Gaia energy? I've never heard of such a thing."
"Really? How do you survive? What do you use to stay alive?"
"Energon." Rhinox blinked. A 'bot appears out of nowhere, carrying a mineral of unknown origin and make-up, and he didn't know what energon was?
Not an everyday occurrence.
Even for the Beast Wars.
"What's your name?"
"Corada." He climbed out of the pod, suddenly remembering that he was a soldier, not some civilian, chatting along with a friend.
"Commander Corada, War Officer of the Convoy's Pride."
"I am Rhinox, Science Officer of the Axalon."
"You're a Maximal, aren’t you?"
Rhinox chuckled. "You'll have to excuse me for being so rude, but, where the slag did you come from?!"
"It's a long story."
"Well, you can tell me on the way back to base."
________
"WHAT!!!"
"Be quiet Vermin!"
"Go shed yer skin, lizard-lips. Now we gotta deal with TWO scalebellys?!?!"
"Rattrap, I'm sorry if my beast mode offends you, but-"
"Offends me? Offends me? Hohoho, offend doesn't even begin to describe what I'm feeling!"
"How can he offend you? You haven't even known the guy for half a cycle!"
"WHAT!! Great, now even your turnin' on me? Some raccoon you are!"
"If it makes you feel any better, Corada has assured me that he was created a Maximal, and will stay a Maximal."
"Oh, easy for him ta say! He's 'from anotha' world' huh? How convenient that none of his friends are here to back up his story!"
"Is he always like this?"
"Yes."
"You can just go and shut yer pie-hole, snake-boy! I'm not gonna trust ya any farther than I can throw ya! An' don't even START callin' me 'vermin'!"
"Oh, don't worry, I won't."
"Why you-Wha? You won't?"
"Nope. Although I do have a better name for you."
"What's dat?"
Corada got a vicious look in his eyes.
"Lunch."
"Uh-oh."
Rattrap ran as fast as he could away from the main deck, with Corada not far behind.
"Ha! A military strategist, with the stomach to handle even the toughest soldier!" Dinobot smiled.
"Indeed, he is quite interesting."
The others just shook their heads and laughed as the sounds of Corada taunting Rattrap echoed through the ship.
________
Meanwhile, in space...
A large rift appeared in the fabric of space and time. A stasis pod drifted out, it’s beacon seeming to flash ominously...
Notes:
Some of the characters in this story are from the Japanese series “Beast Wars Neo”. For pictures of many of them, visit http://www.bwtf.com.
This story takes place almost immediately after the episode "Bad Spark".
Beast Wars:
Snake in the Grass
"... and a warrior came, from another world, falling through the sky..."
- Code of Primus
Rhinox sat in the control chair of the Axalon, sleeping. It had been a long few days, what with making sure that Protoform X was gone, or, at least buried under all that rock. The whole base seemed to tingle with the fear that the experiment had somehow survived. Rhinox had gotten the late watch, but with all his research going on, it was hard to find time to sleep.
*Breep! Breep! Stasis pods detected. Coordinates for pods are: Gamma, Treata; Selenia, Daemo and Celesti, Premar.*
Rhinox sat up suddenly, hitting his head on the celing montior. "Ow! Slag that hurt..."
*Stasis pods falling at-*
"I know that!"
Rhinox paused. He wasn't usually this snappish. Must be the lack of sleep. "Computer, display pods trajectories!"
A large holographic display popped into existence from the projector. Rhinox scanned the display quickly, his mind whirring at a feverish pace. "Hmmm, one of the pods is falling in deep Pred territory. I hope that one's a blank." He looked at the holo again, then depressed his chest comlink. "Optimus, there's two pods falling in neutral territory. We have to get to them before the Preds do!"
He leapt up, running off to wake Rattrap, the only other Maximal who could reprogram a pod. "Maybe our luck is going to change, for the better."
__________
Tarantulas looked up from mixing chemicals, alerted by his computer. "Hmmmm, a new stasis pod. Could be useful." He cackled to himself as he transformed and sped off towards the falling pod.
___________
Another time, another place.
Corada sat, looking up at the stars. One of those was Cybertron, his home. On it was the Maximal Training Base, where he was stationed. "Cybertron," he whispered. "Will I ever be able to set foot on there again?"
"BOO!" Corada jumped, and came down facing behind him, blaster out. "Yer going to aim lower if ye wanna hit me!"
Corada blinked. He looked down at Stampy. "Dammit Stampy, I almost scrapped you!"
"Hey, well some job yer doing, stargazing when we're supposed to be scoutin' the area for Predacons!"
"You have no business telling me what to do, Coward! I was only assigned to this slag missions with you as punishment!"
"Yeah, fer almost killing Saberback!"
" And I would have too, if it weren’t for you and Break stopping me. He's the enemy, for Primus sake! You’re supposed to kill the enemy!"
*Pfft* Stampy snorted.
Corada leaned down to the rabbit, his expression like ice water. "You have something to say, Coward?"
"Ummmmmmm, yeah. I, I-"
"Do continue."
"-I realllly think we should be heading home right about now," said Stampy, spinning on his heel.
Corada stood up, turning to face the stars once again. "Yes, home." He transformed back to his beast mode, a king cobra.
Stampy turned to face Corada. "Ya know, for such a stuck-up warrior like yerself......" He trailed off. Corada wasn't there.
End part 1
______
Rhinox ran as fast as his short beast mode legs could go. Still, all things considered, he was making good time. He could only hope that the pod wasn't a blank... or a Pred.
_______
Tarantulas slowed to a halt and transformed into robot mode.
"Hmmmmmm," he said, fiddling with a small radar/tracker device. "The pod should be around here somewhere...” He glanced at his instrument again.
"Oh no!" Tarantulas slapped his forehead in frustration. "The protoform is in the middle of this swamp!"
He transformed to beast mode, muttering about muck getting into his gears.
_______
Rattrap sped towards the coordinates given to him by Rhinox. "Oh man, there betta not be any Preds snoopin' around the pod!"
He was his usual pessimistic self. Then he saw it.
Too bad was going too fast to stop in time.
"WHOA!" He slammed on the brakes and transformed into robot mode, having to somersault to avoid hitting the pod.
"Heh, it's a good thing Ol' Uncle Rattrap still gots his moves!" He chuckled.
"Yessss, you would find something such as careening into a stasis pod and killing it's inhabitant humorous." hissed Dinobot.
"Oh, go mate with an iguana." Rattrap waved Dinobot’s insult away with a toss of his hand.
You'd think they'd get used to each other by now, but NOOOO...
"I believe I'll take that as a threat, Vermin." Dinobot snarled.
"Hooollllld on there, Dinobutt. You scrap me an' this pod's good as gone!"
"Hmm, true. Perhaps I'll wait until after the pod has been programmed."
A missile blast threw the two Maximals off their feet.
"Or, perhaps you'll both end up getting slagged!" cried Blackarachnia. Standing beside her were Quickstrike and Waspinator.
Rattrap looked up. "Oh no."
_______
Tarantulas giggled with glee as he opened the controls on the stasis pod. Soon, the protoform inside would be a Predacon, loyal to him, of course.
"Computer!" he hissed. "Begin DNA scan!"
*Scanning.* An amber beam shot out of the pod and began to rotate.
*Suitable life-form found, beginning replication.."
"YES! It's working! MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!"
The pod hissed open, discharging life-sustaining fluids in a flash of vapor.
A gigantic head of a snapping turtle whipped out of the pod.
GRRROOOWLLRRRRR!!!" The turtle lunged forward, trying to bite Tarantulas, who quickly somersaulted backwards and shot a containment web out.
The momentum of the turtle caused it to shoot forward, even after becoming tangled in Tarry's web. It came to a stop, mighty jaws clicking inches away from Tarantulas' face.
It was HUGE!
Tarantulas took a mental note, deciding that a bite from those powerful jaws would quite easily sever a 'bot in half. He stepped back. The size of the creature was enormous. Interesting.
He turned, flipping his comlink on. "This is Tarantulas. I have a new Predacon for us!"
"This is Megatron. Very good Tarantulas, yessssss. I'll be there shortly."
"Understood. Tarantulas out."
He paced, thinking about this new opportunity. An undamaged stasis pod, and a new Predacon. If he could convince the Predacon to swear allegiance to him.... Oh, the possibilities!
He spun around on his "heel".
"Well, my friend, I-" he gasped.
The containment web was laying on the ground in tatters. Where was the new Predacon?!
End Part 2
"Gone?! What d'you mean 'gone'?!" yelled Longrack.
"Just that." said Stampy, arms akimbo. "Alls I say was that it was time to 'head back to the base' and he just got this far-off look in his eyes. Next thing I know, BAM!" Stampy snapped his "fingers". "He was gone!"
"Stampy, are you sure you said that it was time to 'head back to base'?" asked Big Convoy.
"Weeeelllll, no. Not exactly. More like I kindamaybesortasaid'letsheadhome'."
BC slapped his forehead and groaned. "Stampy, you know that Corada doesn't consider the ship his home. You also know that he wants to get back to Cybertron more than any of us."
"Er, oops?"
"Stampy, I want you to go organize a search party."
Stampy stood rigid in mock salute.
"Sir, yes sir!"
He goose-stepped away from the bridge.
Big Convoy shook his head and sighed. "Why do I think that he never takes me seriously?"
_________
Corada sat, meditating in a huge cavern filled with gaia energy. He would tell his comrades about the place if need arose, but for now, this was where he cleared his mind of the haze of time. To look back at memories of the past. Of his childhood. Of his graduation from the academy. Of his first military platoon, his to command. But mostly, his training at the Military Academy, where he met his first, last, and only love. Amethyst.
________
It had been during Weapons Ops and Defense. Some of the male instructors had had a few too many energon beers, and had made a bet with the female instructors about seniority. The squads were scheduled to duel during close-combat training, one-on-one. It was a female cadet versus a male one. Rules were simple: pick a weapon and obey the rules. Winner take all
Corada had completed eight duels, all without much difficulty. His specialty was an energy rapier (turned down to non-lethal levels, of course). His opponent was much like himself. She had also been in eight duels, winning easily. Her choice armament was a titanium whip, the strongest alloy allowed in training.
They lined up, two out of hundreds, all competing for victory for their squads. BANG! The signal! Corada thrust at his opponent. She dodged gracefully. He swung at her legs, making a quick sweep. She jumped into the air, avoiding the blow. She somersaulted over him, landing behind him. Exactly what he wanted. As she landed, off-balance, she let off a clumsy lash of her whip, avoided with ease. He parried another blow, moving in for the point, when she wrapped the whip around the handle of the sword, pulling it out of his hands! He stumbled past her, overextending himself for the thrust. He quickly whirled around, in a ready battle stance, only to come face to face with his own rapier.
He relaxed, knowing the duel was over, her favor.
"Nice match." he said.
"You had some good moves yourself." she said, matter-of-factly.
"Uh, my name is Corada!" He thrust out his hand.
"Amethyst." she said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"Huh, you know, I think-"
"-that you've heard my name somewhere before. Yes, I know." She walked off to the lockers.
Corada stood there, thinking. "Yeah, I've heard it somewhere." BAM! He had a sudden memory of why it sounded so familiar. Amethyst was the name of the first person to beat the record score in the combat simulator for over twenty cycles! Wow! What a women!
No, he corrected himself. What a warrior!
________
Corada smiled at that memory, before frowning at it. He never did figure out why he loved her so. She was attractive, yes, but it wasn't that. Was it her talent as a soldier? It had to be, there was no other explanation, was there? Dammit! Why couldn't he figure this out!
________
The next time he saw her was seven cycles from then, and almost ten cycles from now. He was boarding Big Convoy's ship as a decorated and respected officer of the Maximal Elite. He had been handpicked by the Council of Convoys to be Big Convoy's personal battlefield commander.
He had seen Amethyst boarding another ship, a research vessel, like BC's. She probably didn't even recognize him, but he knew her the instant he saw her. Why hadn't he tried to talk to her? Why didn't he-
*Warning. Unknown energy signature detected.*
Corada was shaken from his thoughts by his internal computer.
"Computer, compare with all known Transformers."
*Complying. Signature does not match any known Transformer.*
Now this was interesting! An unknown energy source. Perhaps it could be used as a weapon against the Predacons. Or, was it a sentient creature? Perhaps a hostile one? Better safe than sorry. "Computer, current distance from energy signature."
*Energy signature is three point seventy-nine meters in front of you.*
Interesting still. What sort of power could this be, to be able to generate such a signature but stay hidden from plain sight. Unless...there! Nestled among the gaia crystals was a strange looking mineral. Corada snagged out his snake-tail arm to reach it, also picking up a crystal of gaia.
Hmmmm, stranger and stranger. While the gaia energy had rounded edges, with a warm pinkish glow, this new crystal was very angular, like quartz, and emitted an eerie blue light. Strange, and, at the same time, frightening. Where could such a mineral come from? There certainly wasn't anything like this at the Academy. Which could mean...
ZHOOOOOM!!!!! A crackling bolt of energy shot out of the new rock, hitting the gaia energy and creating a strong electric current throughout both crystals, with Corada likened to an engine, and the rocks acting like spark plugs. Wave after wave of pain rocked Corada's body, causing him to slump down onto the floor.
"So," he said, as his vision faded.
"So, this is what it is like, to join the Matrix."
End Part 3
SNAP!
Tarantulas whirled around, looking for the source.
SNAP!
Tarantulas turned again. He was starting to get dizzy.
SNAP!
He turned, gun drawn. This time, he would be ready.
There was a tap at his shoulder.
Tarantulas turned, slowly this time. He looked up. And up, and up and up.
"Hello, little man." the huge bot bent down to look at Tarry.
"Mind puttin' the pizza cutter away?" he asked, jabbing an enormous finger at the gun in Tarantulas' hand.
"Oh, um, sure." He was surprised, to say the least. This new bot was HUGE, even taller than Inferno. Tarantulas swallowed.
"So, er, what's your name?" he said, trying to be casual.
"Hm?" the mumble from the giant's baritone mouth seemed to make the earth shake.
"My name? Huh, I dunno." the bot paused, thinking. "Hey, little man, what's yours?"
"Er, my name?"
"No, your favorite board game. Of course your name!"
Tarantulas was almost glad for the shockwave from the giant bot's shout. It gave him time to think.
"Um, well, yes, I *ahem*..." he looked up. "Well, I'd really prefer it if you would introduce yourself first."
"Really? Oh, well, I'm alright with that." The bot paused again.
"The names.... Trouble."
"Oh, hello, er, Trouble. I am Tarantulas, and I have saved your life."
"Is that a fact?"
"Oh, yes indeed. I reprogrammed your stasis pod so that you would survive, and help the Pre- er, that is to say, help me."
"Oh, I get now. You save my live, and in return, I'm your faithful lackey, huh?"
"Well, no," Tarantulas fumbled for the right words. If he didn't phrase this correctly, well, not many would miss him.
"More like... partners." he finished.
"Partners."
"Yes! Equal halves of a much greater whole!"
"And this greater whole would be"
"Well, mysel-" Tarantulas was cut off by the sudden roar of afterburners.
Megatron had arrived.
"The greater whole. That would be the Predacons, of course." The tyrant spoke while transforming to robot mode and landing.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Megatron, leader of the Predacons." he gestured with his hand.
"And you are?"
"Trouble."
"Trouble, eh? Oh, I like the sound of that, yesssss."
________
"Rattrap! Hurry up and get the pod programmed!"
"Keep yer scales on, Dinobutt, I'm workin' on it!"
SKOW!! A laser blast splashed near Dinobot's feet.
"Work faster! I do not think I can hold them for much longer!"
"Hold on Dinoboob, I think I got it... there!"
*Beginning DNA scan. DNA scan complete. Suitable life form found. Replicating."
"C'mon, c'mon." Rattrap urged the stasis pod's computer.
*Error.*
"Oh, fer bootin' up cold!" Rattrap hit the pod with his fist.
*Replication complete.*
"AHHHH!!" Dinobot yelled out in pain. Blackarachnia had pegged him in the arm with a cyber-venom missile.
"YEEEHAH! This is more fun 'n shootin' fish in a barrel!" Quickstrike whooped again.
Suddenly, a brown blur shot out of the stasis pod, barreling towards the Predacons.
"What'in tarnation-" Quickstrike got knocked off his feet by the bounding animal.
Blackarachnia and Waspinator turned to face the Maximal. They found a cowering raccoon behind them.
"Huh? Is that the best the stupid rat could come up with? Another worthless rodent." Blackarachnia laughed, turning back to Rattrap and the incapacitated Dinobot.
"Waspinator doesn't know. Thinks new mask-bot cute."
"Then I'm sure that this'll make you think of me as something else!" the raccoon stood up on its hind legs. "Grendal, Maximize!"
The raccoon folded and twisted to reveal an imposing looking bot. Although measuring only a little bit taller than Rattrap, the new Maximal had muscles of tempered steel (literally), and it showed. The scrappy fighter was a male bot, with mostly dark blue covering his body. He had brown boots, gloves, and a bandolier stylized on. His face was also dark metallic blue, with a fearsome looking black mask covering his red optics.
"Come get some, bug boy."
Waspinator's eyes bulged out of his head as he saw Grendal pull out a bazooka that was his beast mode's tail, and was almost as big as he was.
BLAM!!!
A giant missile the size of a milk bottle his Waspy square in the chest.
As his pieces rained down, Waspinator's head mumbled "No like mask-bot any more."
Blackarachnia turned, her smile twisting into a fearful gasp. "What! Oh well, that always happens." She fired her machine-gun legs at Grendal, who leapt aside behind a tree.
"You can't hide forever, you know. Sooner or later, I'll- AHH!"
She collapsed, revealing Rattrap standing behind her, gun smoking and wearing a smirk.
"That'll teach ya to turn yer back on 'ol Rattrap!"
Grendal stepped out from behind his cover. "Thank you, Rattrap. My name is-"
"Yeah yeah, I heard. Grendal, right?" Grendal nodded. "Thought so."
Dinobot walked up behind Rattrap, nursing his hurt arm. "Yes, impressive indeed. Perhaps there is some hope for your kind after all, Ratface."
"Hey, Dinoboob, why don't yo- oh, you were complementing him, weren’t you?"
"As it were."
Grendal nodded to DB. "Greetings, Dinobot. I hope we can get to know each other better."
"I would be happy to challenge you to a duel, if you'd like.
"Sure, whenever you're ready to lose."
"Ya know kid," Rattrap said as the trio began walking back to the Axalon. "Yer all right."
End Part 4
"AHH!"
Rhinox shielded his eyes from the blinding light that was suddenly bursting from the stasis pod.
"The pod was a blank, so what'n..." his voice trailed off as he saw what was in the pod. A male 'bot lay inside, curled up in a semi-fetal position, as if he was in pain.
Corada lay there, silent. What had happened?
He cracked an optic (eye) open. Was he dead?
He sat up, wincing from the shooting pain from his body. It was as if his entire insides had been scoured with steel wool, then put in backwards.
He was still holding the gaia energy.
Huh, where's the other crystal, he thought dully, the gaia slipping from his hand, falling to the ground.
He turned and looked at Rhinox, who was standing rigid, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Am I... dead?" Corada rasped.
"Far from it." Rhinox said, coming out of his trance. His curiosity took over, making him bend down and scoop up the gaia energy laying at the pod's side.
"What is this?"
"You don't know?" Corada laughed, the first time in a long while.
"Are you sure I'm not dead?" he said, tilting his head to the side.
"Everyone uses gaia energy."
"Gaia energy? I've never heard of such a thing."
"Really? How do you survive? What do you use to stay alive?"
"Energon." Rhinox blinked. A 'bot appears out of nowhere, carrying a mineral of unknown origin and make-up, and he didn't know what energon was?
Not an everyday occurrence.
Even for the Beast Wars.
"What's your name?"
"Corada." He climbed out of the pod, suddenly remembering that he was a soldier, not some civilian, chatting along with a friend.
"Commander Corada, War Officer of the Convoy's Pride."
"I am Rhinox, Science Officer of the Axalon."
"You're a Maximal, aren’t you?"
Rhinox chuckled. "You'll have to excuse me for being so rude, but, where the slag did you come from?!"
"It's a long story."
"Well, you can tell me on the way back to base."
________
"WHAT!!!"
"Be quiet Vermin!"
"Go shed yer skin, lizard-lips. Now we gotta deal with TWO scalebellys?!?!"
"Rattrap, I'm sorry if my beast mode offends you, but-"
"Offends me? Offends me? Hohoho, offend doesn't even begin to describe what I'm feeling!"
"How can he offend you? You haven't even known the guy for half a cycle!"
"WHAT!! Great, now even your turnin' on me? Some raccoon you are!"
"If it makes you feel any better, Corada has assured me that he was created a Maximal, and will stay a Maximal."
"Oh, easy for him ta say! He's 'from anotha' world' huh? How convenient that none of his friends are here to back up his story!"
"Is he always like this?"
"Yes."
"You can just go and shut yer pie-hole, snake-boy! I'm not gonna trust ya any farther than I can throw ya! An' don't even START callin' me 'vermin'!"
"Oh, don't worry, I won't."
"Why you-Wha? You won't?"
"Nope. Although I do have a better name for you."
"What's dat?"
Corada got a vicious look in his eyes.
"Lunch."
"Uh-oh."
Rattrap ran as fast as he could away from the main deck, with Corada not far behind.
"Ha! A military strategist, with the stomach to handle even the toughest soldier!" Dinobot smiled.
"Indeed, he is quite interesting."
The others just shook their heads and laughed as the sounds of Corada taunting Rattrap echoed through the ship.
________
Meanwhile, in space...
A large rift appeared in the fabric of space and time. A stasis pod drifted out, it’s beacon seeming to flash ominously...
