0.29 decacycles after Quickstrike had carelessly thrown Rhinox’s body into the belated Terrorsaur’s quarters, Rhinox’s eyes blinked and he stood up. He looked fine, except that the body’s optics were no longer glowing red, they were midnight black. The hole made in his body by Inferno’s gun was repaired. He slowly came to realization where he was, and looked at his hands, moving them slightly. Rhinox’s head looked up and smirked.

 “Yes! Infestation was successful!” He whispered in an excited tone.  A small fleshy pink tentacle poked its way around inside his head before coming out of his left optic. A small device materialized on the tentacle, and Rhinox, now Prometheus, used one of his robot hands to press a button on the device.

 A screen materialized on the left wall of the room, and Unicron’s face appeared on the screen.

 “It seems you have done well so far. You have called me to tell us it is time to start the Procedure, I hope?” The image of Unicron’s face asked.

 “‘Right on the money,’ as the Earthlings say,” replied Prometheus.

 Unicron then suddenly became suspicious. “You have searched the room for bugs and cameras?”

 “Used a CT scan on it. It’s safe.”

 “Excellent. We will proceed.”

 With that, the screen disappeared, with out even a good-bye. The tentacle went back into Prometheus’ optics, and he walked out of the quarters, smirking to himself.

 The Maximals were all in the command center, doing their duties, but mourning over the loss of yet another Maximal. All of a sudden, almost fifty dots appeared and started to blink on the radar, indicating stasis pods.

 Rattrap, who was on duty there at the time, ran over to the screen. His mouth almost dropped to the ground.

 “Optimus!” he shrieked. “Almost fifty stasis pods located in Secta Gamma!”

 Optimus lumbered in and over to the viewing screen almost immediately.

 “But- that’s impossible!” he said. “All the stasis pods were knocked out of orbit after the explosion of the alien destruction device! Even then, they couldn’t have all landed in the same spot! It must be a malfunction in the scanners.” Optimus then suddenly calmed down, reassuring himself in his mind that that was all it was. “I’ll send Silverbolt to check it out, just in case. I highly doubt the scanners are right, though.”

 “Hey, Tarantulas, what does this do?” Buzzclaw asked, about to push a large blue button on a control panel in Tarantulas’ secret lair.

 “No! Don’t touch that!” shouted Tarantulas, running over to where Buzzclaw was and pulling Buzzclaw’s hand away from the control panel. Accepting Buzzclaw into his secret ranks had proved to be more trouble than he originally thought. Although the new Predacon was smart, he was curious about everything. Tarantulas couldn’t keep his fuzor hands off of the control buttons.

 “This button is very important, and should not be touched!” scolded Tarantulas. “It warns me of any incoming-”

 Buzzclaw had already started to shift his feet uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I just wanted to help out.”

 Tarantulas was starting to get annoyed by this wimp, but didn’t show it. “Look- I’m sorry. I just want you to be careful. These are very delicate instruments, and I don’t want my plan to be messed up- not now.”

 Buzzclaw looked up. “What is your plan, by the way?”

 “I have discovered a large stasis pod cache- almost fifty of them, in fact- in Sector Gamma. To make sure that Megatron couldn’t find it, I secretly disconnected his pod signature detector. He shouldn’t find out for at least a few more megacycles. However, when I went to Sector Gamma to activate the stasis pods- with an army of Predacons at my command, I could easily overtake Megatron- I found a large yellow force field surrounding the stasis pods. Someone has obviously tampered with these stasis pods and doesn’t want us to get to them- yet. My guess is that it’s the aliens. They’re the only ones capable of doing this.”

 Buzzclaw pondered for a moment over what Tarantulas had just told him, then looked up.

 “Yellow, huh? Did you throw something at the force field to see what happened?”

 Tarantulas then suddenly brightened. He had never thought of that. This fuzor definitely had his advantages.

 Tarantulas transformed into vehicle mode and beckoned Buzzclaw onto his back.

 “Excellent idea, Buzzclaw. Let’s go before anyone else discovers this stasis pod cache.”

 About thirty cycles later, Tarantulas and Buzzclaw arrived at the small valley in Sector Gamma where the force field was.

 Tarantulas was right, Buzzclaw thought. There must be fifty pods here! How are we going to get to them, though?

 Tarantulas transformed to robot mode and both of the Predacons just stood there for a cycle, just staring at the pure number of stasis pods there and the force field surrounding them. Some large, some small, some badly damaged, some in almost perfect shape. If only these stasis pods could talk, what secrets would they tell?

 Then, Tarantulas suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do. He picked up a medium-sized rock nearby and placed a small transmitter device on it. He then threw the rock at the force field. What happened next surprised both of the Predacons.

 The rock turned white and then just disappeared. It didn’t vaporize, didn’t explode. It just disappeared.

 Just as Tarantulas was about to walk near the force field and find out what happened, he heard the beating of wings in the distance. He and Buzzclaw quickly ran and hid a couple nanoklicks away under some rocks.

 Silverbolt found the large yellow force field and the cache of stasis pods. To his amazement, the scanners were right. He clicked on his commlink.

 “Optimus, this is Silverbolt.”

 *Yes, Silverbolt?*

 “Our scanners are right. There really are almost fifty stasis pods here. There seems to be some kind of force field around it, though.”

 The commlink was silent for a few moments.

 *Well, that’s just prime. See if you can find out more about it,then contact me again. I’ll be waiting. Optimus out.*

 Silverbolt then landed and transformed to robot mode. He stared at the force field for a while, as if trying to read an encrypted code.

 He then took out one of his wing missles and threw it at the force field. It did the same thing as the rock; it turned white and disappeared.

 Silverbolt slowly crept toward the force field, looking at and studying it.

 Megatron slammed the arm of his chair again, making a small panel of metal slide off of a control nearby.

 “Yet again you have failed me! You can not even take care of a Maximal on a patrol! A lone Maximal!”

 Waspinator and Quickstrike sat cowering a few feet away as Megatron addressed them.

 “Wazzpinator sorry. Cat-bot tougher than he looks.”

 “Yeah, boss-bot. Besides, he was in a better tactical position than we wer.”

 “Shut up! Just SHUT UP! Get out of my sight!”

 Waspinator and Quickstrike hurriedly went away, leaving their leader with a pounding headache.

 Megatron then turned around to put the metal panel back on, but he noticed something. A small wire was broken inside the control panel.

 “What the..?”

 Megatron quickly connected the wires back together, and the computer suddenly started beeping.

 He looked up at the main view screen and saw about fifty purple dots, indicating stasis pods, in Sector Gamma.

 “Hmm....it seems someone did not want me to find this stasis pod cache. And I’ll give myself three guesses as to who that would be...”

 Megatron turned on his commlink.

 “Inferno.”

 *Yes, Royalty?*

 “Go to Sector Gamma, Coordinates 4, 5, 9. I have found a large amount of stasis pods there and I want you to tell me if what my scanners are telling me is indeed true.”

 *As you command, Royalty. Inferno out.”

 Megatron turned off his commlink and started to massage his chin with his index finger.

 “This will be interesting, yes...”

 Silverbolt was still investigating the force field when he heard the roar of a turbine engine.

 He turned around just in time to see Inferno launch a fireball at his head. He quickly ducked at threw one of his wing missles at Inferno, who quickly dodged it and landed on the ground a few meters away from Silverbolt.

 Inferno laughed and pointed his gun at Silverbolt.

 “By the Royalty’s command, these colonies are claimed for the Predacons!”

 Silverbolt took out one of his wing missles in his hand and clenched his fists.

 “I don’t think so, Predacon!”

 Just as the two were about to fire at each other, two lightning bolts came out of the ground nearby without warning, and, before they could react, knocked them both into the force field, causing them both to turn white and disappear.

 Tarantulas poked his head out from under some rocks and watched as the two disappeared.

 “Hmm..even I did not suspect that..”

 Silverbolt woke up to find himself in a large chamber that looked exactly like the one Optimus had been in right before the alien destruction device was activated.

 As his vision cleared some more, he found he was held up in the air by the same robotic tentacles as Optimus was held up by earlier. About five meters away, Inferno was still unconscious held up by more robotic tentacles. A giant gold image of Unicron’s head was floating above them. It spoke to Silverbolt, its voice hinting that it was surprised he was online already.

 “So far everything has gone according to plan. You must be put back into stasis lock if everything will continue to go that way. You will remember none of this.”

 As quickly as he woke up, Silverbolt got an electric jolt and was knocked into stasis lock again.

 Silverbolt woke up again with a pounding headache. He looked around and saw that he was next to the yellow force field and stasis pod cache. He remembered he was knocked into the force field by something and then...he couldn’t remember anymore.

 He tried hard to remember what had happened, but was distracted when he saw his hands. They were white and feathery! He looked at his feet- they looked almost the same, but they were brown from his waist to his knees, and white from his knees to his feet! He looked at his new body  some more, and found that he had an entire new structure! A large eagle head was perched on top of his robot head, and large bird wings extended from his stomach and folded back. The ends of the wings were folded back yet again to reveal large missle launchers.

 Wait a minute... he thought. Where’s my wolf fur or wolf body parts?

 “Silverbolt, beast mode!”

 The new Silverbolt’s gears folded in and twisted around to form a bald eagle beast mode. There was no wolf parts anywhere...

 YES!  he thought, I’m no longer deformed! I’m no longer some freak with mismatched parts! Well, sure, I once told Optimus it’s the inside that counts, but that was just so they wouldn’t regard me as a freak!

 Silverbolt transformed back into robot mode and was so happy he almost danced. He looked around on the ground for his weapons and found his wing missle, but it was shaped somewhat differently... it was sharper, like a sword. He also found a small rock with a transmitter on it, but was distracted when he heard a loud voice.

 “FOR THE ROYALTY!”

 Silverbolt turned around to see a large metallic fire ant staring at him.

 “Inferno, terrorize!”

 Inferno transformed into a completely new robot as well. His face looked the same, but its color was purple and he had two large horns sticking out of it. His blue chest carapace connected his long arms with drills on their ends to his skinny purple and red legs. His back was covered by a large hard shell. It looked like Inferno has just become a transmetal.

 Inferno laughed as he shot a drill from his arm. Silverbolt dodged it as it exploded behind him, and another drill popped up from the Predacon’s arm to replace it.

 Inferno’s back shell then folded into his sides to reveal four small spiky turbines, which then started rotating, propelling him into the air. His horns then started to emit a high screeching sound, building up electricity in themselves and launching it in a huge ball at Silverbolt.

 Silverbolt just barely dodged it, and got blown away a few feet because of the force of the impact. He launched some missles from his wings at Inferno, but only one hit him, barely denting him. Silverbolt ran away as fast as he could as Inferno, still laughing, launched electricity balls and exploding drills at Silverbolt.

 Primus, the Maximal thought, how much firepower can Inferno throw at me?

 A few cycles later, after much dodging and running, Inferno reloaded one of his drill missles with a purple-colored, instead of a red-colored, drill. He shot it at Silverbolt, and in midair, it split to reveal a long metal needle. Unable to dodge it in time, it plunged into Silverbolt, sending a cybervirus running through his circuits. He gasped for air before he collapsed in a heap.

 Just as Inferno was about to finish off Silverbolt, he got hit in the back by a energy ball. He was flung onto the ground, and looked up in the sky to see Optimal Optimus in flight mode.

 “Oh, no...the Royalty will not be pleased! Vehicle mode!”

 Inferno transformed into his metallic fire ant mode, and then his six robotic legs lifted up to reveal wheels, and his head lifted up to reveal two large drills. He immediately drilled underground, collapsing the tunnel behind him.

 Optimus landed on the ground soon afterwards, transforming to robot mode, and ran over to Silverbolt.

 “S..Silverbolt? Is that you? Silverbolt?!”

 After Inferno, who had found his way back to base, had told Megatron his ncomplete story about how he became a transmetal, Megatron sat thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

 “And this is all you know?”

 “Yes, Royalty.”

 “I wonder....do you have any fire weapons?”

 “Well, no, Royalty, but..”

 “Then why would you need a name like Inferno?”

 “Well, Royalty, I..”

 “Change it. What kind of impression would we make on the Maximals if we had a Predacon named Inferno without any fire weapons?”

 “Royalty, I..”

 “How about Scavenger? Yes, that sounds like a suiting name. Scavenger it is.”

 “As you command, Royalty.”

 Inferno, newly named Scavenger, quickly shut down for a few seconds as his internal computers inputed his new name.

 A short while later, he came online again.

 “Scavenger at your service, Royalty,” he said, taking a deep bow.

 Silverbolt stood looking at his face in the mirror in his personal quarters, running his hands over it.

 After Optimus had put Silverbolt in the CR chamber and repaired him, he wanted an explanation. Silverbolt told him as much as he could, but Optimus still thought he was hiding something. Trouble was, Silverbolt honestly couldn’t remember anything else, but he knew somehow that something had happened. He was sure of it...

 His attention turned to his new face. It had changed competely, now almost completely white except for his black eyes. He had no wolf ears anymore, and his wolf mouth was replaced by a small cover, like Optimus Prime’s mouth.

 He then looked at his body and wings. He was confused. When he had examined his wings closer, he had found a lot of levers and buttons that didn’t appear to do anything in either of his modes.

 It was as if he was part of something....bigger....

   THE END
 

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