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KOOKA          LIVES

Beyond The Beast Wars:
The Battle Never Ends
Part 2: Life, Death and Change

by
Ian Brazee-Cannon

     On the bridge of the Maximal Transport ship, Star Skimmer, Pride sat nervously a the communications console.
     "Magnaboss, we have a problem here," he said into his built in communication panel.
     A moment later Magnaboss entered the bridge.
     "What is it?"
     "Ever since we left Hexical, I have been trying to send in our regular reports.  The problem is there is no answer from Cybertron."
     "What?"
     "It seems like there is no one manning the Communications Center."
     "Could it be static, or transwarp interference?"
     "I've check.  The signal should be getting through to home, but no one is picking it up.  Something big would have had to happen for the Comm Center to be unmanned."
     "I hope your wrong this time," Magnaboss said, showing the a rare feeling of worry. "But, there is nothing we can do about that right now.  Has there been any word from Nightglider and Prowl?"
     "Nothing yet.  They still have a mega-cycle before their first report is due."
     "Contact me as soon as you get the report."
     Magnaboss looked at the communications readout one last item before leaving the bridge.  He had a feeling that Pride was right and that something horrible had happened back home.  Yet he knew there was nothing he could do about it right now.  As leader of the group, he had to keep calm and get them off Earth before he could worry about problems back home.

     Outside the Star Skimmer Wolfang stood and watched as two stasis pods were lowered to the ground.  The warrior's gray exterior seemed to reflect his inner mode.  He showed no emotion, unlike the young Powerglide who was humming as she adjusted several power cables that were attached to the ships under belly.
     "This should be the quickest way to recharge the pods' revival cells," Powerglide explained as she attached the first cable to one of the stasis pods.
     "How long before we will be able to wake or comrades?" Wolfang asked calmly.
     "It shouldn't be more than a few Mega-Cycles.  It would have taken nearly four times as long on the chargers in my cargo bay.  Using the ships direct chargers will make a big difference."
     The large elephant beast mode of Ironhide came around the ship as Powerglide finished hooking up the second pod. "I think Silverstreak likes it here," he commented as he transformed into his robot mode.  "He's been circling over the ocean for several hours now."
     "What is his story?" Powerglide asked.
     "Don't know.  He does keep to himself though. And I have never heard him talk to anyone except Magnaboss."
     A shadow fell upon the group.  They looked up to find the eagle form of Silverstreak coming in for a landing.  He hit the ground and changed into his robot mode.  He barely gave the group glance before disappearing into the ship.

    Sea Clamp stood on the bridge of his flagship, clearly not happy with the three Predacons standing in front of him.  Spittor, Iguanus and Firecracker remained motionless as Sea Clamp paced around them.
     "You allowed the Maximals to land after damaging our patrol ship.  Then you crash land the ship, leaving a trail of debris to our hiding place," Sea Clamp paused for effect. "The only reason you are still functioning is that we have use of the Maximals.  Ram Horn is enjoying himself with his new found test subjects.
     "I do however have a more fitting assignment for you three now."
     The three Predacons exchanged brief glances while Sea Clamp's back was turned. Muffled screams of pain could be heard coming from below them.
     "Don't worry.  It has nothing to do with Ram Horn's experiments."

     Ram Horn had a huge grin on his face. "It is working. Their mechanical and organic components are reforming and merging.  I can see why they called them Transmetals."
     Transquito and Cicadacon watched the experiments with a slight horror in their face.  Having watched the transformation of the two Maximal test subjects had gotten to the two warriors. They had been asked to stay after they had brought Ram Horn Megatron's data tracks, which held a record of the experiments that he had done with the Transmetal Driver.
     "Is it not amazing?"
     Transquito and Cicadacon nodded silently.
     "Now if I can just get a few more test subjects to learn how Megatron was able to merge sparks."
     "I have already begun work on that," Sea Clamp said as he entered the lab. "I will need Transquito and Cicadacon to help with the plans."
     Ram Horn's smile grew as Sea Clamp led the warriors away.

    "They still haven't reported in," Pride said as he crossed from the computer console.  "I'm going to check it out."
     "Wait a moment and let me get Ironhide and Wolfang to back you up," Magnaboss said as he turned to try and slow Pride down.
     "Don't worry.  It's most likely some interference, or maybe Prowl has just gotten to wrapped up in gathering information again.  Besides, I'll stay under cover until I am sure it's safe.  I've been in combat before."
     Pride transformed into his Lion mode and left before Magnaboss could make a reply.
     "Silverstreak, follow him."
     Silverstreak took to his Eagle form and flew after Pride.
     "I don't like this at all," Magnaboss mumbled to himself.

     Pride came sprinting from the landing ramp.  His energy showing.
     "What's up pussy cat," Powerglide remarked casually.
     "Just getting some exercise," Pride said as he took off into the woods.
     Moments later Silverstreak came flying out of the hatch way and headed in the same direction.
     Powerglide, Ironhide and Wolfang exchanged glances and then went back to work.

     Spittor looked around the wreckage of Megatron's base one last time.  He was sure that there was nothing left to salvage.  The other Predacons were waiting for him.  He wanted to spend just a few more minutes searching, to be sure that they hadn't missed anything, or at least that is what he wanted whoever was hiding in the trees to think.
     Spittor casually leaped away from the wreckage and headed into the hills.
     "Pride to base," Pride said quietly into his comm unit. "No sign of our teammates, but I did find a Pred here.  I am going to follow. Home in on tracer frequency gamma-28.7 to track me. Out."
     Pride gave no time for Magnaboss to reply as he cautiously followed Spittor.  Pride was unaware of his shadowing following in the air.

     "Primus help us," Magnaboss cursed to himself.  The Maximal leader ran out of the bridge and down the landing ramp. "Ironhide, come with me."
     "Where are you guys going?" Powerglide said turning from the work on the stasis pods.
     "Pride may have gotten himself in to some trouble."
     "I'll come as well," Wolfang volunteered.
     "No, I want the two of you to stay with the ship.  I can't risk losing the whole team on one mission."
     Ironhide transformed to his elephant form. Magnaboss switched to his old hovercraft mode, since he had not taken on a beast mode. The two of them headed off into the woods.
     "I don't like this," Powerglide said to no one.

     Spittor paused to relax for a moment.  He looked around casually at the trees, scratched his ear then yawned.  He was obviously in no hurry.
     Pride had grown tired.  Spittor had taken a lot of time to walk such a short distance.
     "Hello kitty," Sea Clamp's voice echoed through the trees. "We were hoping for a larger catch, but you are a start."
     "Pride, Maximize," Pride said as he transformed into robot mode. He held his tail gun in front of him and looked for a target. "Come and get it Preds."
     Overhead Waspinator and Inferno moved in.
     "Waspinator has fuzzy kitty-bot in his sites.  Waspinator will take care of him."
     Before Waspinator could make a move, a white blade flew through his chest cutting him in half.
     "What?" Waspinator said as he crashed to the ground, exploding into dozens of pieces.
     Inferno turned to find Silverstreak right on top of him.  With on swift swing, Inferno joined Waspinator on the ground.
     Cicadacon and Transquito emerged from the trees.
     "Stand back," Cicadacon said to his teammate. "I think I may have just found a worthy adversary."
     Transquito nodded his head in understanding and took a perch on one of the larger trees.
     "Terrorize." Cicadacon transformed to robot mode and drew forth his twin wing blades. "This will be fun."
     Silverstreak turned to face his new adversary.  He said nothing as he headed for Cicadacon.
     " I will give you a chance to prove you deserve passage through my skies Maximal."
     The swords of the two fliers met in a loud clasp of thunder.
     Meanwhile down bellow Pride had found cover behind some boulders and was trying to hold his ground.
     Sea Clamp, Spittor, Iguanas and Quickstirke were sending a steady barrage of fire down on him.
     "This is not good," Pride remarked to himself as he returned fire as best he could.
     Several energy blasts from above caused Pride to turn his attention for a moment to where Transquito hovered trying to get a clear shot.  The few seconds were all that the other Predacons needed.
     A scream of pain from Pride reminded Silverstreak that there was another battle going on bellow him.  His need to help his teammate caused him to lose focus on the combat at hand.
     Cicadacon took advantage of Silverstreak's mistake.  With two quick swipes of his blades, Cicadacon had disarmed Silverstreak.  As Silverstreak backed away preparing to refocus his efforts, a blast hit him from behind. He turned to see his attacker and another blast hit him, sending him falling to the ground.  Several more hits from the other gathered Predacons quickly put Silverstreak into stasis lock.
     "Why'd you do that?" Cicadacon asked Transquito. "I was about to finish him myself."
     "There are other Maximals coming and we needed to get ready for them.  Sea Clamp wants us to return to our hiding places."
     Cicadacon reluctantly returned to hiding, not satisfied with the outcome of his battle.

     "I heard laser fire," Ironhide announced.
     "So did I.  It came from the direction of Pride's tracer unit." Magnaboss looked at his scanner, hoping he was wrong.  the dot that represented Pride remained still. "This is not good."
     The two of them soon came the scorched area. Spittor and Quickstrike were pulling the unconscious forms of Pride and Silverstreak through of a group of burnt trees.
     Ironhide gave a growl of anger. The two Predacons stop and drop the stasis locked Maximals.
     As the Predacons ran for it Ironhide charged after them.
     "NO! Ironhide wait," Magnaboss tried to warn as Ironhide went off in an uncontrolled attack.
     A moment later several trees exploded as Ironhide ran between them.  The childish laughter could be heard from beyond the smoke.
     "I got the stupid one," Firecracker announced. "The big one's all your's boys."
     As the smoke cleared Magnaboss got a good look at the now prone body of Ironhide.  He shifted his glance to Pride and then to Silverstreak.  He finally looked up and saw Sea Clamp standing triumphantly only the fallen Maximals.
     "The celebrated Magnaboss," Sea Clamp remarked with a sinister smile. "We do have a prize here."
     The other Predacons emerged from their hiding place, surrounding the lone Maximal.
     Magnaboss drew forth his sword.  He knew these were impossible odds.  He took an extra charge from his core to get his reflexes quicker then charged into the Predacons.
     Swinging with determination and power, Magnaboss was able to keep the Predacons at bay longer than and lone warrior should have been able to.
     "Let's end this," Sea Clamp said as he drew forth his personal blaster and took a shot.
     Magnaboss deflected the blaster and fired back.
     The other Predacons closed in around Magnaboss. With his attention diverted, Sea Clamp was able to fire a precise shot.  The silent pop of Magnaboss' body being pierced went unnoticed.  the mighty warrior fought on.
     Sea Clamp fired again and again, yet Magnaboss would not fall.
     Several of the other Predacons were able to get in good clean shots.   Magnaboss took blast after blast, but would not show any weakness.
     Quickstrike was thrown through the trees.  Iguanas lost his left arm when he got to close.  Cicadacon lost one of his wings.  All of the Predacons were taking a beating.  There seemed to be no stopping Magnaboss.
     "Pull back," Sea Clamp commanded.
     The Predacons pulled back.  Magnaboss made eye contact with each of his enemies.  His outer casing had been almost completely shot off.  His inner working revealed for all to see.
     "Had enough?" Magnaboss said showing his anger.
     "Predacons, fire as one," Sea Clamp said quietly.
     In one loud blast all the gathered Predacons fired their weapons.
     "Let's make sure he's dead."
     Another explosions of weapons followed.
     After a few minutes the smoke cleared.  A melted hunk of machinery lay where Magnaboss had stood.  Scattered pieces of debris that had given Magnaboss form, lay throughout the area.  It was an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle.
     "We'll take the remains back to base as a trophy," Sea Clamp said with a smile.
 
 

To be continued

Part 3: Rebirths

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