The loudness of this planet startled the creature. It shook its head to clear the constant chattering of the animals out of his head. He cleared some green foilage out of the way with its claws- and saw a small stasis pod in the jungle clearing.

 The pod is here, the creature thought. Just like Tarad- no. I must not even think to refer to him as his given name. I must think like these metalloid creatures if I am to become one soon. Just like UNICRON said it would be. Let’s see. What beast form has this damged pod selected?  A toucan? No, this just won’t do.

 The creature pressed a few buttons and changed the selected form to a half mantis, half lizard creature. He then held his hand out and a Predacon chip materialized in his palm seemingly out of nowhere. He took out the Maximal programming chip and threw it on the ground. He then inserted the Predacon chip into the pod, and it suddenly clicked and whirred.

 I must now insert myself into the pod if I am to include myself on the back of this transformer.

 The creature morphed into a small flying creature with large pincers and no legs, with only a small piece of flesh connecting his appendages. He then disappeared out of thin air.

 “Megatron, a pod has landed in Sector Pi! Should I go after it?” Dinobot Transmetal 2 turned around to his leader as he waited for an answer.

 “Yes, of course! And remember to bring a Predacon reprogramming chip with you. Waspinator, Quickstrike, go with him.”

 “Wazzpinator get him first!”

 “I don’t care who gets him first, as long as there’s some Maximal keister to kick when I get there!” said Quickstrike, as the trio transformed to Beast Mode as ran out of the base.

 “Hey, eh, Optimus, got a pod signature here in Sector Pi. You want me ta- what the slag!? It’s already got a Pred energy signature on it!” Rattrap stammered.

 Optimal Optimus trudged over the the main viewing screen. “Is there any other Predacon signatures nearby?”

 “About five klicks away, but they’re heading toward it, not away from it!”

 “Hmmm.... that can’t be. There must be energon interference or something. It is about eight klicks away.”

 “Eh, according to this, it ain’t.”

 “Well, you, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia go and check it out. Keep in touch with us in case more Predacons come.”

 “Whatever you say, feahless leader.”

 Rattrap swung out of his seat and ran to get Cheetor and Blackarachnia.

 The oranges and purples of the sunset shone over the lush tropical jungle, making it seem very odd and alien. The trio of Predacons did not seem to notice this, however, as they ran or flew through the habitat toward the stasis pod about half a klick away.

 Waspinator, about five meters above, was the first to see it. “Wazzpinator seez it firzt! Wazzpinator will make bot new hornet!”

 As Waspinator sped ahead, Quickstike shook his head and looked up at Dinobot, who was in hot pursuit of the bug. “Flyers. Why’der theys think theys so special?!”

 Dinobot merely seemed annoyed by the question, and did not answer.

 As they neared the stasis pod, they saw Waspinator in robot mode, scratching his head.

 Dinobot and Quickstrike stopped as soon as they got near the pod, and transformed also.

 “What is wrong?” Dinobot asked sarcastically. “Can you not even figure out how to insert a Predacon chip?!”

 Waspinator turned to look at the Transmetal II. “Wazzpinator confuzed. Already Predacon chip in pod!”

 Dinobot sighed and look at the stasis pod closer. To his surprise, Waspinator was right!

 “But this is impossible!” Dinobot cried. “How could-”

 Waspinator heard a sound of a distant rocket jet, and turned toward the noise just in time to see a missle blast his head several meters away. The rest of his body fell limp to the ground.

 “We’re under attack!” DInobot yelled as he dove behind nearby rock.

 “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHA!” screamed Quickstrike as he stood beside the pod and shot several blasts at the incoming three Maximals.

 “Dis pod is ours, slag bag!” said Rattrap, transforming into robot mode from his rat rover and firing a few more blasts at the rock which Dinobot was hiding behind. Blackarachnia and Cheetor made it toward the clearing a few moments later, and transformed into robot mode as well.

 “Not...if I can help it!” yelled Dinobot as he fired a pulse laser from his eye at Rattrap, striking him right in his optics and incinerating them.
 “MY OPTICS! I CAN”T SEE!” screamed Rattrap as he stumbled over a tree stump and went into unconsciousness.

 The remaining two Predacons and two Maximals started a firefight, neither one seeming to get an advantage on the other.
 A stray laser beam struck the stasis pod, and knocked the pod into operation.

 Moments later, a small mantis with reptilian feet emerged from the pod amist all the laser battle. The two sides stopped firing briefly to see whether the new transformer was a Predacon or Maximal.

 “Buzzclaw, terrorize!” said the mantis. Gears and hydraulic pumps clicked and whirred as he transformed into his robot mode. He did look insectoid, alright, but he had a huge “backpack” on his pack that looked odd. It looked like his wings and mantis pincers connected by a small piece of flesh.

 Blackarachnia sighed. “Just what we need, another enemy.” She then opened fire on the small creature. Buzzclaw noticed the shot ahead of time and dove behind a rock, just missing the blast. The firefight then almost immediately resumed.

 “Yer kind...of a small...bot.” said Quickstrike to Buzzclaw, pausing as he fired shots. Quickstrike quickly noted the light oranges and purples that covered most of his body, with the exception of his mantis pincers and feet. He thought briefly for a moment that maybe the computer purposely gave him the same colors as the sunset, the same time of day the small bot was made.

 “Yeah, I know...hey, why are you firing on these guys?” asked Buzzclaw.

 “‘Cause it’s fun....why don’t you...get out yer...weapons and... start firin’ on them?”

 “Weapons?”

 “Yeah, weapons... ya cowpoke. What...are they?”

 Buzzclaw looked down at the ground. “I..I don’t have any.”

 “WHAT?” Quickstrike screamed, looking as if he was going to shoot Buzzclaw himself. “How can yer not have weapons?”

 “I don’t know..I just don’t.”

 To Quickstrike’s, and well as Buzzclaw’s, surprise, the “backpack” on his back detached itself and hovered next to Buzzclaw. I then spoke, although Quickstrike was certain he couldn’t see any mouth. He has a slight echo in his menacing voice. “Yes,” the small backpack said, “but he does have me.”

 “WHAT THE...?” said Buzzclaw and Quickstrike, both at the same time.

 “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I forget to introduce myself? My name is Prometheus,” said the creature in a slightly echoing voice.

 Quickstrike just stared at the flying creature, too shocked to say anything. After about five seconds, he regained his composure. “What the slag? You don’t look like no bot to m-”

 “FOOOOORR THHHE ROOOYALLLLTTYYYYY!”

 Before Quickstrike could finish his sentence, Inferno came hovering in, shooting both his fireball guns while laughing maniacally.

 One of the fireballs hit Cheetor in the chest.

 “Ugh-” the Maximal grunted. “Man, not another one. Let’s get outta here, they already got the protoform!”

 He picked up Rattrap’s limp body as he and Blackarachnia beat a hasty retreat.

 The Predacons fired for a while until the Maximals were out of sight.

 Quickstrike then stood up. “What’re you doin’ heer?” he asked.

 “The Royalty sent me to check on how you were doing,” Inferno replied as he landed on the ground. “Have you found the stasis pod?” Inferno had not noticed the new bot, since he was not even waist-high to the giant ant-bot.

 Quickstrike pointed toward Buzzclaw.

 Inferno looked down at the small bot, then frowned. He quickly straightened the expression of his face to neutral. “Come, I must bring you back to the colony!”

 As Inferno flew off, Buzzclaw looked at Quickstrike. “Who’s the Royalty?”

 “Never mind that.” said Dinobot, cutting in. “What is that THING that is flying beside you?”

 Buzzclaw looked toward Prometheus again, hovering above the rock. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know I had it.”

 Quickstrike transformed to beast mode before Buzzclaw could say anymore. “Whatever it is, we better shew it ta’ bossbot.”

 Dinobot, as well as Buzzclaw, who beckoned Prometheus back onto his back, transformed into beast mode, gathered Waspinator’s body and charred head, and headed back toward the Predacon base.

 “And you’re saying that creature just flew off of Buzzclaw’s back, naming itself Prometheus?”  asked Megatron, running a scan on the creature he mentioned while talking to Quickstrike.

 “You got et, bossbot.”

 The computer cut in before Megatron could respond. “Scan complete. Printing out results.”

 Megatron took the pieces of paper in hand and spent a few seconds glancing at them. “Hmm...allegiance..Predacon..yes....uh-huh.....okay.....Skeletal structure? He’s organic?”

 Prometheus flew out of the scanning area toward Megatron. “I guess so...my past in blurry. I can’t remember much before I came out of the pod.”
 Megatron nodded, preoccupied with the printout.

 He’s falling for it, Prometheus thought to himself. Perfect.

 Megatron continued scanning through the document. “This is interesting..yes...it says here you have the structure of a parasite.....parasite?” Megatron looked back at the last part. “You can infest other Cybertronians? Interesting..”

 “Wait..” Prometheus said hesitantly. “It’s sort of coming back now...yes..I can...only if there’s a hole in their armor, though.”

 Megatron smiled. “Hmm....there could be a use for that...yes..I do not know where you came from or what species you are, Prometheus, but I would like to see more of your kind...”

 If Prometheus could, he would of smirked. Sooner than you think, Megatron. Sooner than you think.

 Tarantulas was striding past on the hallway when he passed in front of Buzzclaw’s new quarters and found him lying on his bed, staring down at the ground.

 Hmmm....our friend doesn’t seem to like it here, Tarantulas thought. I could use this to my advantage.

 Tarantulas strode on into the room. “Is there something wrong, Buzzclaw?” Tarantulas said in an uncharacteristically gentle voice.

 “Yeah, there’s something wrong.” Buzzclaw replied, snorting. “That thing called Prometheus is getting all the attention. I was the Cybertronian that came out of the stasis pod, not him. I don’t even know how the slag he got in there.”

 Tarantulas shook his head and tsk-tsked. “Sounds to me like you’re not getting much appreciation here. I heard you don’t have any weapons, but that you are genius when it comes to technical work.” Tarantulas stopped and looked toward the door. “Do you mind if I close that door before I say anymore?  I want to say something to you in private.”

 “Yeah, whatever.” Buzzclaw replied, sighing.

 Tarantulas quickly closed the door and continued.

 “You see here, Buzzclaw, the truth is, Megatron only cares about brawn and not brains. I, however, have a secret lair a few klicks from here. I care about intelligence. I appreciate your abilites. If you only pledge allegiance to me, I’m sure I could make you my second-in-command.”

 Buzzclaw’s face brightened at the last few words. “Do you mean it? Really?”

 “Why, certainly. All I ask is that you keep this a secret, and still act that you are loyal to Megatron whenever you are near him.”

 Buzzclaw almost shouted with joy. “Sure! I never liked Barney anyway.”

 “Excellent,” Tarantulas chuckled. “I have lots of plans for us, Buzzclaw....lots of plans.”

 Rattrap waddled through the hallway in his beast mode into the main room on the Ark, only to see Cheetor lying in a chair near a console, his large cyber-organic tail drooping.

 Rattrap walked up to Cheetor and jumped up on the panel. “Eh, what’s wrong, kid?” asked Rattrap with a concerned look on his rodent face. “If it’s about me, don’t worry, kid. My robot eyes will heal in a few days, and I’ll be able to see fine. Until then, I’m only stuck in my beast mode.”

 Cheetor shrugged. “No, it’s not that,” he said sadly. “It’s just-” -here he smirked a little- “-if we had another two of you, we’d have three blind mice.” Cheetor laughed at his joke as Rattrap scowled.

 “Why you little...” Rattrap screamed. “...if I wasn’t in beast mode I’d-”

 He was interrupted by a couple of loud explosions rocking the base and the alarm system going off.

 “What the slag-”

 All the other Maximals besides Silverbolt came running in.

 “What happened?” They all asked once.

 As if on cue, Silverbolt, who was on guard duty at the time, came limping into the base, badly damaged, with his right wing and arm missing.

 “The Predacons-” he gasped, “they’re attacking the base again.”

 Optimal Optimus quickly put Silverbolt in the CR chamber and turned toward the other Maximals.

 “Looks we got another fight on our hands, Maximals.” he said. “Rhinox, you stay in here and keep the defense systems going. Rattrap- you stay in here for obvious reasons. Everybody else, let’s go.”

 Megatron turned toward Inferno. “They should be coming out soon,” he said as he fired another blast at the entrance. “Get out of here. I don’t want them to see you. You know what to do.”

 Inferno saluted Megatron. “Certainly, Royalty.” He put Buzzclaw on his back and beckoned Prometheus to follow him. “For the Royalty!” he shouted as he engaged his turbo engines and landed behind a large rock near the entrance of the base.

 He had just ducked behind the rock when all the Maximals besides Silverbolt, Rattrap, and Rhinox ran out and started toward the Predacons, engaging them in battle. Inferno then waited a couple of seconds and tiptoed into the base, without the Maximals even noticing him, followed by Buzzclaw and Prometheus.

 He crept into the main room, with Rhinox and Rattrap both with their backs to him, paying attention to the defense system status on the screen.

 Inferno then suddenly shot a fireball out of his gun and made a hole through Rhinox’s chest, making him slump against the control panel.

 Rattrap turned around. “What the slag? You-” Before he could say anymore, another fireball nailed him against the wall, knocking him into stasis lock.

 Inferno turned around to Buzzclaw and Prometheus. “Remember the Royalty’s plans. Do what you were told.”

 Buzzclaw then went to the control panel and punched a few buttons.  “I’ve tuned the autoguns to shoot at the Maximals.” he said. “They shouldn’t be able to easily get in the base now.”

 Prometheus then flew towards Rhinox and flew into his chest, clawing his way through the Maximals’ insides until he found his spark. He quickly yelled, “I’m starting now, so i’ll be semi-conscious for a few cycles.” He started to feast on Rhinox’s spark, giggling to himself as he started. then he went into a kind of stasis lock as his body soaked up the sparks’ energy.

 Inferno quickly picked up Rhinox’s body and Buzzclaw and flew toward the base entrance.

 Cheetor and Optimus were firing at the Predacons when Cheetor suddenly stopped shooting his launcher.

 Optimus turned around while still firing. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

 Cheetor turned to Optimus, shaking slightly. “Bigbot- where’s Inferno and that new Predacon?”

 Optimus’ face twisted into horror as realization dawned on him. “Oh no.”

 Just then, Inferno flew out of the base, laughing hysterically, carrying Buzzclaw and Rhinox’s body.

 Optimus’ face turned to one of anger. “Fire at him, but don’t hit Rhinox!” he commanded the other Maximals.”

 Many shots did hit him and damaged Inferno, but not seriously. As he flew out of the valley, Megatron yelled for the other Predacons to retreat.

 Optimus slumped down as soon as the Predacons were out of sight. “Rhinox...I don’t understand. What did they want with him?”

 “Computer, how long until Prometheus has taken over Rhinox’s body?” Megatron asked when the Predacons were back at the base.
 “0.2 decacycles.”

 “Blast!” Megatron slammed his chair. “That’s almost three earth days! Prometheus didn’t tell me it would take that long!” He then calmed down almost as quickly as he had gotten angry. “But no matter. Quickstrike, put him in Terrorsaur’s old quarters. The power torch has already been passed... it just will take a little longer to take hold of it....”

To be continued...

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