"OC Episode #5.5 Side Saga"

[starshadow]

"URRRRGHHH!! Just speak aloud your activation code! Like..whatever your name is...Maximize!" Starshadow slowly moved her position to the side of the Starhopper and peeped from there, checking on the furbag maniac then turned her gaze to the badger.

"Look I know you won't trust me for I kinda mistaken you as one of the local creatures in this planet and attacked you and wanted the ship. I'm sorry about it, okay? but we need to kill that bunny-eared freak. He's been torturing me and my friend for months!" she took a deep breath and put a hand on her face, "Name's Nightstar.."

She didn't like the idea of using her maximal name but it should get him to trust her.

[New Moon]

"Another ship? We should start keeping score of ships to stasis pods if this keeps up, they're dropping quicker then flies."Frilla said as she sat down. Frilla glanced at Rattrap frowning a bit,"Doubt that Rattrap besides it will be up to Icebreaker whether or not this new femme will be his daughter, for all we know he could consider her a sibling." She pointed out then turned to a monitor and turned it on, slipping in the dic she got from Glowstick before. Waiting a bit until the information popped onto the screen the frilled lizard added extra information to the disc and shook her head.

There was still no change yet an added information for updates on the aliens, only thing she could conclude was they wanted them gone. "I'm beginning to wonder if landing on this planet has been our death trap for months. Down in the tunnels it seemed they were out to either one test us and kill us or just kill us all together." She said looking at the two,"Heck we may have fallen into something of am experiment and we're the added element not needed."

[Phoenix]

Aurora tagged along with Icebreaker as he started to make his way out of the lab, but she would slow down a bit every few feet as some new piece of equipment in the room caught her attention. This base was wonderous to her, with so many trinkets to explore when the time was right. Her mind had rather swiftly drifted away from those feelings of despair she felt only a few moments before, feelings Aurora was unable to explain and unwilling to explore at the moment. Icebreaker's story seemed plausible enough, so the femme chose to let it go. She had a vast new world to explore and new comrades to meet.

As they proceeded into the hallways, Aurora kept looking around. The ship Icebreaker had described, which she assumed was identical to this base, was larger than she had anticipated. Then again Aurora stood at 5 ft, so everything seemed a tad bigger to her.

Meanwhile at the Predacon base, Nemesis was enjoying some time alone in her quarters. The other Predacons had long since made it back to base, telling stories of clones, caves and what not. Some had been seriously injured upon return, and with limited restoration chambers available, Nemesis too had been forced to help with the repairs.

By the time she had heeded Megatron's call and come to search them out, the battle was already over. So Nem had merely assisted with bringing home the wounded, and resisted the urge to get artistic on those she performed minor repairs on.

She had been tempted to leave the Predacons to their fate, but unfortunately they had been as badly wounded as the Maximals, and although she was not intimidated by the maxi fools, the former Decepticon was well aware she'd be better off with the aid of the preds against the Maximals.

It was a pity, indeed.

Overhearing the commotion caused by the falling pod, Nemesis exited her quarters and set out to the coordinates provided by the computer.

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: I'm here! Got home late last night. Sorry for the wait.

BIC:

Protoform Z sat silently in her transport pod reflecting on the events that lead up to this particular situation....

The scientists called her Protoform Z because there had been 25 test subjects before her. All failures...like her. Protoform Z. The name made her shake with rage. As any good Predacon would, she hated being last. She hated even more the fact that she was going to be considered a failure.

Usually she tried harder to quell the rage that was building in her circuits, but today was different. She was desperate to feel something other than the indifference she forced herself to feel.

The rage was a side effect of the gene manipulation that had been done to her since she was a young bot abducted from the Predacon orphanage on Cybertron. It was a result of mixed emotions that swelled through her like a poison; emotions she neither understood nor had a name for. Some were familiar Predacon feelings like lust and greed and others were foreign: Love, loss, grief, happiness, sadness, fear. All of them seemed to race through her at the same time competing with each other until they melded into a blinding rage that sent her into destructive fits.

The other test subjects experienced this too. She knew because, unbeknownst to her captors, she thoroughly read all 25 files. Most of the first protoforms self-destructed while the others had been melted to slag after the brutal and excruciating extraction of their spark. This was not going to happen to Z. She was going to be sure of it.

The experiment had been to enhance the qualities of the Predacon troops by combining Maximal and Predacon genetic coding together. But in all of the test subjects, the genetic manipulation caused the new hybrid to be mentally unstable. Protoform Z was the first protoform who showed an ability to cope with the instabilities...at least until recently.

She wasn't sure why all of a sudden her fits of rage became uncontrollable. She had always had them, but had been able to suppress them. But lately, she awoke from her episodes to find herself surrounded by the scientists diligently taking notes on the level of destruction she had caused. She knew that her time would soon be up.

So that is why tonight instead of her usual calming rituals, she was about to succumb to the feelings that had destroyed so many before her. She inhaled deeply as the menagerie of emotions began to mix beneath her chestplate. The emotions seemed to dance through her body. Her arms and legs began to feel as though they were on fire. The multitude of unnamed feelings were slowly blending into one, anger, as it raced through her legs, arms, fingers, feet....it boiled and then shorted all of her logic circuits. She began to convulse, shiver, and scream in agony...or was in pleasure? For right now this was welcome and she realized that she had been hungering for it for the past several days. Suddenly she lifted her head to the ceiling, her hands against the wall, she shouted one last time as the rage took hold and turned her bright green optics to a brilliant, blinding white....

When the rage finally subsided, "Z" had no memory of what happened. She stood amongst what had once been the research facility, but it was now engulfed in flames. The bodies of a dozen or so badly damaged scientists littered the walkway in front of her. She knew she had little time to get away....

A short time later, she was in the air escaping from Cybertron in an abandoned transport pod she was able to fly. But then an asteroid hit it and sent it careering to the ground beneath her while it leaked fuel throughout the atmosphere. At least the pod's computer was working long enough to do one last thing for her. It clicked off for good after finding her a suitable beast form to protect her robotic form from the elements of this new, uncharted planet. She sighed inwardly. She could finally rid herself of her hideous name...Protoform Z. She would call herself Arachnitron and the black widow spider form she had possessed seemed a perfect fit for her unstable personality.

So that's how to got to where she was now, completely buried in an abandoned escape pod, still breathing heavily after her fit of terrible fury.....

[una]

((OOC: Oh boy The only thing she knows is something is going to happen. XD But she doesn't know what. ))

Optimus heard the bird's flapping when it flew in and landed somewhere very close to the group. He couldn't discern where it was exactly until it began chirping. It sounded like... but Whitegrazer had grown awfully quiet so suddenly. Curiosity over the odd situation broke his concentration and Primal opened his eyes to find the bird sitting on Whitegrazer, but the mare seemed distracted in her own thoughts, like something had suddenly torn her away from reality. As her facial expressions changed a bit dramatically, Optimus thought it best to reach out to her. "Whitegrazer?" he asked softly. "Are you all right?"

As her breathing finally slowed down, she sat down and took a deep breath and smiled reassuringly at Optimus and Wintersong, "I'm all right."

In her mind, though, her thoughts were swirling with what she had heard, trying to figure out why she heard and what was it's purpose. Was it a warning? Was something going to happen? A little part in her wanted to wave it away as stress or as something else. A little part. The rest? Oh, she knew she couldn't ignore this and this wasn't no stress she felt or anything else. Someone was trying to tell her something. Of course, it was all vague and she didn't know what the conversations were about. She remembered the words and voices but she only recognized Optimus and thought one of them sounded like Megatron. There wasn't much to go on from there except the feelings of dread that rushed upon her quickly.

Well, there is nothing she could do but wait to see if more info will arise from her mind or reality.

I just hope I won't turn crazy. From being able to speak to my dead master and hearing things... She just chuckled at herself for a moment, People already think that back home.

"All right, who wants to learn some moves?" She grinned as she stood up, ready to show Optimus and Wintersong. AS she was about to start, she saw something in the sky.

Was that an escape pod?

"Guys, look." She pointed to descending pod until it disappeared. It was within walking distance.

[Night-Hunter]

"I'm not stupid. I'm just getting warmed up."

Sonar quickly fired a sonic blast to counter Starshadow's plasma ball. He growled as she got on top of the ship.

"AND...you still owe me a gun. Now I know why Saber dumped you.."

I don't owe you any thing. Sonar thought, keeping his mouth shut at her last comment.

"Why are you hiding like a scared sissy? Help me slag the enemy! That guy is a predacon! Transform now!"

The bat narrowed his optics wondering what she was playing at. Oh you want this game? Alright, I'll kill you both then! He thought with a snarl.

"What? Transform? how?"

"Wow, this just got sad." Sonar said quietly.

"URRRRGHHH!! Just speak aloud your activation code! Like..whatever your name is...Maximize!"

Sonar shook his head.

"Look I know you won't trust me for I kinda mistaken you as one of the local creatures in this planet and attacked you and wanted the ship. I'm sorry about it, okay? but we need to kill that bunny-eared freak. He's been torturing me and my friend for months!"

Sonar chuckled that was the truth, he messed with Starshadow and her buddy any chance he got. "It's what I do best." He said aloud.

"Name's Nightstar.."

That must be her Maximal name, interesting.... He thought, crossing his arms.

[Mystrea]

Ironclaw heard what she said and thought he would give it a go. He closed his eyes and screwed up his face.
He opened his eyes and said, "Maximize".

He felt it straight away, his body moved and shifted. Twists and turns as badger parts were replaced with robotic parts. He could no longer feel his paws but hands with fingers and pair of long legs. Finally, Ironclaw's head fits into place. Cannons role in to fit perfectly over his lower arm's. His robot form is white and black to match the badger's colours. Ironclaw's eyes were yellow.

He looked at his tall, muscular robot form then looked down at Nightstar. He moved his attention to the other bot. Without even knowing it one of his cannons unfolded from his wrist and charged making a whirring sound.
This was the only moment of bravery, he acted on it. He raised his arm and fired at the bot.

[starshadow]

"YOU BROKE MY GUN!" the catbot shouted

"That's the way! Blow him into bits!" Starshadow cannot believe she was cheering on a maximal who has just transformed and attacked. Right now, they needed to destroy Sonar.

"So Sonar Bunny, since we're going to slag each other til one of us is dead, I'm just wanted to say thank you for making my life so miserable. By the way, you're a bad kisser..." she smirked, and fired more plasma balls at the bat.

[Night-Hunter]

Sonar wasn't ready for the new Maximal's sudden attack, the impact knocked him into a tree, knocking the air out of him.

"YOU BROKE MY GUN!"

"I didn't break anything." He growled, teeth bared.

"That's the way! Blow him into bits!"

She is going to suffer for this! He thought.

"So Sonar Bunny, since we're going to slag each other til one of us is dead, I'm just wanted to say thank you for making my life so miserable. By the way, you're a bad kisser..."

I'm not going to die like this! He told himself, as Starshadow blasted him again.

"AGH!!" He fired his own blast at her then quickly stood up and took to the air.

If I die, it's going to be on my terms, Beast mode! The bat thought then used a termal wind to carrying him higher into the air.

[Blazemane]

Uh yeah, if there are any weapons or parts off that thing to take.. well.. considering our strongest for this party is a cute little girl.. I think I'd rather use the Leviathan's manipulators and cargo hold.. And though Cecaelia can pilot.. Maybe it's about time you learned to fly our skyfish hm?

"Well, if you're confident I'm not going to crash- yeah, let's go." Steelclaw followed the other two Predacons. Along the way, he saw Nemesis for a brief moment.

"Hey, Nemesis, did you ever-" he shouted after her, but she left the hangar before he could finish. He shrugged and climbed aboard the ship, eventually reaching the bridge.

All passengers fasten your seat belts!

Steelclaw made his way to the pilot's chair and sat down. Suddenly made curious by the comment, he looked around for a seat belt, but he couldn't find any. Oh well. He wasn't technically going to be a passenger this time.

"Alright, so... powering the thing up should just... there we go," Steelclaw pushed a button to the right and a collection of interior lights came on. "Well, part of the ship's on now. How about this?"

The next attempt got the monitors turned on. He was about to try something else when he noticed something interesting.

"Hey, something else is falling through the atmosphere," he mentioned to the other two Predacons even as he looked down to the controls. "Looks like an escape pod. Oh, this has got to be it."

The next moment, the ship's engines roared to life loudly. "Uh... sorry if I hit something too hard there. But we're ready."

* * *

((OOC: I want to give Ironclaw and Starshadow one or two more posts before Cheetor shows up. He'll still have caught up to them really fast, but, hey.))

[starshadow]

((OOC: Ohhhh...))

Starshadow's optics widened and took cover before the blast gets her. The next second, Sonar was in the air. The next predicted move he would probably do is dive bombing. Things were getting out of hand quickly, and she and the badger bot had to get rid of Sonar before he uses them as spare parts or worse, Glowstick and his small party to collect the ship for some purposes like upgading or repairing the Leviathan.

Starshadow jumped into the cockpit of the Starhopper to check if the ship is still able fly after that nasty crash, hopefully it could. If not, the ship is as good as free spare parts for all bots. "Keep him busy and beware, he's a dive bomber.." trying her best to get the computers working, her fingers were all over the controls. (It's Mystrea's decision if he wants the ship to be able to fly, ummm...enough to fly back to her lair which is not far from where they are now)

[Mystrea]

Iron watched what Nightstar was doing. "The ship doesn't function" he said crouching behind the ship for cover. He saw the predacon was moving off . He powered down his cannons and they folded back into place.

"The ship is useless, its only use is the spare parts it has" Ironclaw said, tilting his head as he looked at it.
"Nightstar, you said you are a maximal. Does that mean there are other maximals here?" He asked with hope.

[Night-Hunter]

"Keep him busy and beware, he's a dive bomber.."

You have no idea. Sonar thought as he transformed into his robot form.

"I'm really going to enjoy this." Folds him wings tightly against him then goes into a free fall.

He spread his wings the second he was in range and fired a sonic blast at Ironclaw then another at Starshadow before slamming on top of the ship and slamming his fist into hull of the ship and pulling some thing out.

"This looks important!" Slams his other fist into it again and pulls out another part of the ship. "This looks useful!"

Takes to the air again, placing both parts in his subspace. He then turned and smiled down at them. "You are a fool Maximal, to trust a Predacon!"

Flies higher into the sky before heading toward his lair, with his prize.

[Phoenix]

Nemesis soared through the skies while scanning the environment below. She passed over what appeared to be Starshadow and Sonar squabbling over a badger, quickly deciding to leave the two 'love birds' alone. It was hardly a well kept secret among the Predacons that the two of them got drunk together and started smooching.. a fact Nemesis found revolting at best.

She altered her course as her sensors intercepted what appeared to be the faint signals emitted from an escape pod.

Interesting..

The Decepticon-turned-Predacon increased her speed to intercept the pod. Hopefully it as well as its content remained undamaged..

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Who's pod is Whitegrazer pointing out? Arachnitron's? I thought her's was going to be farther away from the Axalon, though. ...Unless Wintersong, Whitegrazer and Optimus are all far away from the base. XD I'm going to assume it's her's since the others have fallen already and work from there. If I'm wrong, then I'll edit my post. Sorry, I'm just trying to get my bearings on who's chasing whose pods and star hoppers and vessels and meteors. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! ))

"Another ship? We should start keeping score of ships to stasis pods if this keeps up, they're dropping quicker then flies."

Rattrap shook his head, unable to understand how this little planet attracted so much trouble and doomed lives.

"Doubt that Rattrap besides it will be up to Icebreaker whether or not this new femme will be his daughter, for all we know he could consider her a sibling."

"Hey, relax, would ya?" the rat in robot mode told Frilla. "I was just kiddin'. I ain't gonna ruin her life by revealin' that kind of information," he smirked again.

"I'm beginning to wonder if landing on this planet has been our death trap for months. Down in the tunnels it seemed they were out to either one test us and kill us or just kill us all together." "Heck we may have fallen into something of am experiment and we're the added element not needed."

"Teh! I'm beginnin' ta wonder if us chasin' Megatron and crashin' on this Primus-forsaken planet was an accident at all! If we're all gonna die, might as well send us here with aliens we can't touch and who can probably blow this whole joint to pieces!" Perhaps a farfetched conspiracy, even for Rattrap, but there had been far too many coincidences now. Maybe, just maybe, the aliens were Cybertronian, and somebody wanted Megajerk, Optimus, and the rest of them out of the picture for their own agenda! Just think of it!

-----

"I'm all right."

Hm. Studying Whitegrazer, Optimus wasn't quite convinced. But he let her relax.

"All right, who wants to learn some moves?" "Guys, look."

As quickly as Primal's interested smile appeared with the mare's question, it vanished when she pointed to the sky. Jumping to his feet, Optimus watched the pod fall, trying to zoom in with his eyes as fast as he could before it disappeared behind the tree tops. The pod didn't look like their stasis pods. Odd. "Go," the Maximal commander told Wintersong and Whitegrazer. "Hurry. I'll catch up," he assured them. He would report their findings to the Axalon and find out what was happening back inside the base before flying out after them. With his flight, he'd catch up to the females in no time.

"Axalon Command Center, this is Optimus," he called over his communication link. "We've just spotted an unknown pod land nearby. What's your status?" Primal asked. Why hadn't he been informed long before the escape pod appeared through the planet's atmosphere?