Beast Wars : The Price

by Wayne Sung

Cheetor breathed in the salty sea air, reveling in a moment of peaceful meditation, which in all honesty, he rarely ever allowed himself or cared to take. But considering the recent events and changes, Cheetor didn't mind taking a breather from the tradition of shredding Pred. Rocketing across the bay, booster jets at a easy cruise, Cheetor scanned the coastline and the blue mass, looking for fallen comrades. So as to honor fallen comrades.

It's been six weeks since the alien abduction of Tigatron and AirRazor and the near victory of Megatron. The alien disc had proved more useful than either Maximal or Predacon had thought, almost costing the fate of Cybertron to be seized by Megatron's hand. Though the ship which Megatron commandeered with the disc had been destroyed, Cheetor could only think of how Tigatron and AirRazor were lost to the cosmos they were sucked into and how alone Cheetor felt without them.

The pair's last mission had been to find the fallen stasis pods jarred loose by the transwarp explosion that resulted in Cheetor, Rattrap, and Optimus's new Transmetal bodies and the Fuzors of which only Silverbolt had stayed Maximal. The stasis pods still needed to be found and Cheetor felt he was the one to do it. Tigatron would have liked that.

"Take care of yourself, Big Cat."
"Always, Little Cat."

An agitated splashing sound brought Cheetor back to the matter at hand and the rocket cat glanced down at the waters of the recently serene cove. A giant red creature was struggling to remain afloat and get to shore. Its flat, armored form helped the balance but the spindly legs and large pincers hardly helped with propulsion.

Cheetor dove down towards the multi-legged montrosity and clamped down with all four legs onto the hard-shelled body and boosted the creature towards safety, its many legs still scrabbling for leverage.

"Stop struggling. I'll get you OW! What the...?! Yipes! This package is hot!" A long tail with a wicked-looking stinger had embedded itself in Cheetor's metallic haunches.

"You won't take me that easily, predator," challenged the scorpion.

"What preda- Hey! You can talk?"

"Surprise, surprise. And you're the weirdest looking kitty I've ever laid eyes on. But no matter." Pincers wrapped themselves around Cheetor's neck and squeezed.

"Eerk!"

"All cats hate water."

With a pull, cat and scorpion crashed back down into the cove. And a ripple later, the waters were calm once more.

---

All was calm and quiet on the Axalon and the serenity was driving Rattrap crazy.

"Aw man! When are we going to see some action around here?"

"Don't be hasty on that wish, my dear Rattrap. Primus has been kind to us lately and we should not be ungrateful for the moment of calm given to us."

"Wings, you have a serious language problem, you know that? Speak Basic for crying out loud!"

Rhinox turned around from his console and eyed Rattrap with amusement. "Though not accustomed to his language patterns either, I agree with Silverbolt that the quiet time was very much needed. It has given us time to make the necessary repairs of the damage we sustained during that transwarp wave." He turned back to his datascreen. "And I've been able to do some more readings on the planet and the remaining alien structures."

"Well, grrr I for one am tired of waiting for Megatron's next hand. We should carry out a pre-emptive strike at the Predacons while they are still licking their wounds."

"And," Silverbolt observed, "is striking an enemy while he's down an honorable course of action?"

"One must do what must be done to achieve victory." Dinobot's clenched claw emphasized his point.

But Silverbolt was unfazed. "And yet, I read in the records that you did not strike down Optimus in your first encounter with him on that precarious bridge. Was that not due to honor, which would also be true here?"

Dinobot growled, "Megatron deserves no honor."

Optimus shook his head. "No, Dinobot. Silverbolt's right. To strike an enemy while he's down is not the Maximal way."

"Hmph. Speak for yourself."

With a glare towards the ratbot, Optimus continued, "But I don't see why we can't send an advance party to scout out Predacon territory. Megatron is up to something. Ever since X disappeared, Megatron's been too quiet. And I have a sneaking suspicion I know why."

"What," snorted Rattrap, "you think ol' Megs is trying to tame the savage beastie? I say let them both get scrapped and save us the trouble. Why bother?"

"What if Megatron succeeds?" countered Rhinox. "X was already a menace as a Maximal protoform. What do you think he will become as a Predacon?"

"That's why we can't afford to have X under Megatron's command. Rattrap, I want you and Silverbolt to get as near to the Predacon base as you can and set up an observation post. Call in with any suspicious activities."

"You can count on us, sir," Silverbolt saluted.

"And would you want fries with that as well, your Majesty?"

-----------------

"Poison Bite's gone, Icebird. He's not anywhere to be found on this island."

"Then for want of anyplace else, Soundwave, he must be off this island and in terrible danger. I regret to say we must leave our paradise to search for him."

"Paradise, hmph. If you call stuck on a tiny island with almost no memory of your past life a paradise. We barely know anything about this world and have never been on the mainland. How do you expect us to 'search' for ol' fish breath when we'll likely get lost ourselves?"

"I understand, Razorclaw, but we have no choice. Maximals do not abandon their own. And we, though of unnatural shape, are still Maximal."

"And who died and made you leader, Icebird?" retorted Razorclaw, snout wrinkled and lips pulled back in a growl. "You, who just drifted down from the north one day and took command. You and your Maximal code of honor. Guess what? There are no Maximals here! We are not who we once were. And there are none who still are."

Soundwave folded his leathery wings and stayed quiet, equally leathery tail twitching.

Icebird just stared at Razorclaw with his large yellow saucer-shaped eyes, stare never wavering. "Don't think you're mammalian anger and your reptilian ruthlessness would ever scare me, Razorclaw, unless you want a cavity for a new stomach, which I'm sure your wolverine side would love."

Icebird ruffled his head feathers, shook his paws, and transformed. "And besides, we do not know for sure whether there are any other Maximals here. As you said, we have not been off this island since our strange awakening 20 megacycles ago. The best we can do is send ourselves out once more to the mercies of this strange world and find our friend."

--------------

"Where are your friends, kittycat? You don't look like a loner to me."

"I'm a Maximal, which is more than I can say for you."

"Maximal. I believe I knew the meaning of that word before..."

Cheetor studied his new companion. It hadn't been easy, but the two of them managed to get out of the water to shore. The red talking scorpion who Cheetor now suspects is more than meets the eye, stared off into space as if trying to remember a distant past long forgotten. Cheetor coughed uncomfortably, feeling embarrassed at witnessing the scorpion's pain.

"Heh," laughed the scorpion. "I guess all I have to is remember old Frostbite's words and Maximalness will come back to me."

"Huh? So you were a Maximal?"

The scorpion glanced at Cheetor, crabstepped to face him, and raised a claw in salute. "Name's Poison Bite, leader of infantry of some military group. Sorry, cat, if I had all my memories I would be a bit more forthcoming."

"No problem, I'm Cheetor, Maximal scout bot to Optimus Primal." Poison Bite cupped his chin in his right claw in thought. "Primal. Very familiar..."

"What *were* you doing in the water? I never heard of scorpion mode to be very water-friendly."

"Hmph. No, it's not, but I wasn't a scorpion before. More like a mix of one and a type of predatorial fish."

"Shark?"

"No, barracuda, I think. But hey, it was powerful, that's all that matters. I could hunt ocean game easily and the scorpion claws were a big help in prey capture."

"Yeah," Cheetor agreed, rubbing his neck. "I know."

"Heh, sorry about that. As I was saying, my beast mode was actually semi-aquatic so I was going about my business when I felt this woozy sensation that left me reeling. You caught me just as I was breaking to the surface. Surprised me, caused me to go into automatic defense mode." Poison Bite lifted his lowered head, "So, think you can fly us off this rock?"

A quick weak burst of his boosters told Cheetor all he needed to know. "Sorry, PB, my jets are 'logged. I don't think we'll be flying out anytime soon.

"Then you'll have plenty enough time to die, Maximal scum!"

--------------

"See anything, Wings?"

"No, Rattrap, the compound is silent. But from my brief stay with the Predacons, I recall that their activity is not all on the surface."

"You've got that right. Especially ol' Legs Taratulas here. He's got a underground lair and everything a mad scientist could hope for."

"Then we should check the lab."

"Are you nuts, 'Bolt?! Just because you've been to the Preds and back, you have to go all suicidal? That is Tarantulas's lair! As in goodbye to your energon? Hey!"

Rattrap's protests fell on deaf ears as Silverbolt scanned the skies, noticing a shape that he didn't think he'd see."

"Friend Rattrap, isn't that Terrorsaur skirting the opposite range of mountains there? Should we investigate further?"

"Ah, let the two Pred factions go at it. Saves us work. B-u-u-ut, just in case... Optimus, come in, Optimus. Hey, Boss-Monkey! You may want to take a peek at this bogey."

#Terrorsaur. Keep an eye on him, you two, but Megatron is now top priority. Don't stray far from your post.#

"Got it."