Animorphs Enter the Beast Wars

[Gaz]

NOTE: Finally! After like, what, a month? There is at long last an update! Enjoy peeps! I'll try not to take so long with the next part.

28) The Rescue

   **JAKE:

Since I had chosen not to answer Megatron’s questions of my own free will, he was sending one of his goons to persuade me a little more.

Scorpanok clicked his claws together like a flamenco dancer as he approached the cage where I was still standing. There was a look on his face that I can’t say I was too fond of.

“You better tell Megatron what he wants to know,” he said. “Then we won’t have to scrap you!”

I didn’t want to be scrapped, but I sure wasn’t going to tell them anything. These Predicons didn’t seem any better than the Yeerks. I had managed to overhear Megatron talking about using the Time Machine to destroy the Maximals and take over the galaxy. Who were these Maximals I kept hearing them talk about? Whoever they were, they had to be better than the Predicons. Otherwise why would Megatron want them destroyed?

Jake! A voice said in my head. Don’t worry, buddy, we’re coming!

Marco! That guy’s timing could not have been better. I swear, if it weren’t totally awkward I would kiss him.

You probably aren’t in morph, he continued, so I’m not expecting an answer. But be ready, things are gonna get loud soon.

He wasn’t kidding when he said that. About half a minute later there was a huge explosion and suddenly there was a large hole in the far wall. With that done, alarms were going off and suddenly Scorpanok wasn’t so concerned about me anymore. With all attention off myself, I decided then would be a good time to morph.

“Okay,” I thought as I focused, “time to see if I can break Cassie’s morphing speed record.”

I focused on the tiger and felt my bones beginning to shift. A tail emerged where previously there hadn’t been one, fingers merged to become paws and my spine bent until I was on all fours. As fur began to sprout, my ears migrated to the top of my head and my face pushed out into a muzzle with sharp killing teeth.

I’m in morph, I announced, It would be great it someone could get me out of here.

I’m coming! I heard Rachel yell.

In the time it had taken me to morph, a few more of the Predicons had shown up. Megatron came racing back into the room as soon as he realized that something was wrong. But he didn’t give me a second glance; he was too busy glaring at the robots that had blown a hole in his wall. Those could only be the Maximals. He seemed to be glaring extra hard at one in particular.

“I was wondering when you would show up, Optimus Primal,” Megatron said.

My attention was pulled away from whatever Optimus had to say to what Rachel was doing. She barreled right through Scorpanok like he wasn’t even there. I guess not even robots can stand up to an angry grizzly bear. Especially if that bear is Rachel on a rampage.

Rachel smashed the cage for all she was worth and the bars gave away like melted butter. I lept through the broken bars and snarled at Scorpanok as he started to get up. He looked at me, and he looked at the cage, but for some reason he didn’t seem able to put two and two together.

“Megatron!” he yelled, “The human is gone!”

“What?!” Megatron bellowed. He whipped around in shock to look at the broken cage. He saw me, but like Scorpanok he couldn’t quite seem to figure it out.

“So,” he said after a moment, “you came for the human.”

I snarled at him for good measure.

Suddenly, Terrosaur appeared and made the mistake of swooping too close to Marco. He swung one of his ham-sized fists and suddenly Terrosaur was bouncing off the wall.

I got Jake out! Rachel yelled.

“Time to fade, heroes!” I heard a voice yelled. It came from a lanky robot that, I swear, had freckles.

Come on, Jake, said Marco. Let’s get out of here!

A couple of the new robots stood by the hole as us Animorphs made our way out. Ax, naturally, was the last of us to leave. The Maximals were right behind us; a few were already outside waiting to lead the way.

I didn’t look back, but as far as I could tell, none of the Predicons were following us. I guess as far as they were concerned, I wasn’t that big a deal anymore. They still had the Time Machine, so why bother chasing after an escaped human?

There were no ecstatic greetings from anyone. I imagine that was being saved until we returned to a safer location than right outside the Predicon base. And there could still have been Yeerks around. Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.

Glad to see you’re all right, Tobias said to me.

I was surprised. Tobias? What you doing here, man?

I’m not sure how I got here, he replied, but it’s a good thing I was here. Needed to cool off Rachel a while ago.

I can imagine, I said. What have I missed?

Too much to tell you about now, Tobias said. We’ll fill you in when we get to the Maximal’s base.

How much farther? I asked.

It’s right up ahead.

I looked into the horizon. Not too far away was a large ship that looked in slightly better shape than the Predicon one. I was judging that purely on what I saw of the inside, I never got a good look at the outside. I was too busy getting the heck out of there.

Once we got inside, everyone started demorphing. There were a few minor injuries among us, but it was nothing serious. None of the robots, from what I could tell, had been damaged either. The rescue had been a quick in and out. I had to admit, but it was swifter than one of our missions against the Yeerks.

Once I was demorphed, the gray and blue robot came up to me and said, “I’m Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals.”

“My name is Jake.”

[estrid]

that was awesome. u better hurry up and put a next chapter up soon! i hate having to wait, i am impatient!

[Gaz]

29) Getting Caught Up

The Maximals watched as the Animorphs greeted their returned friend. It appeared now that the group was truly complete and things might go a bit smoother than before.

It is good to see that you are well, Prince Jake, Ax said when the others had finished.

“Ax,” said Jake with an exasperated sigh. “Don’t call me Prince.”

Yes, Prince Jake.   

“Jake, do you know what happened?” Cassie asked.

Jake shook his head and shrugged. “I’m not sure. One moment I was in the lab and the machine was shot by the dracon beam. Then I was in that ship on my own. Where did you guys end up?”

“We ended up in some field with a handful of Controllers,” Marco replied. “After the initial shock wore off we sort of picked up where we had left off.”

“Those things have the—“ Jake started to say.

“We know,” Rachel interrupted. “We were there when they took it. Two of them dove in while we were fighting the Yeerks.”

“We couldn’t go after them because we were pretty badly hurt,” Cassie said. “These guys showed up shortly after the Controllers ran off.”

Optimus listened to the discussion and decided to interrupt with a question. “Were you a prisoner the entire time?”

“No,” Jake said as he shook his head. “I appeared in an empty room. From there I went up into the vents. When I overheard the…Predicons talking about the machine I decided to see if I could find it. A couple hours later I got caught. Must have triggered a sensor or something.”

Did you find out where the Time Machine was? Tobias asked.

“I heard them say it was being worked on in some lab,” Jake replied.

“Tarantulas,” Rhinox said. He had stepped out of the CR Chamber shortly after the group returned with Jake. He had been filled in on how the rescue went and was glad to know things had gone so smoothly.

“That was it.”

Optimus crossed his arms. “We might as well plan out our next move.”

“I would advise against any strikes so soon after the last one,” Dinobot said. “Megatron will be on heightened alert and expecting another attack.”

“I agree with Dinobot,” said Optimus. “Besides, I think we all need to rest up from that last mission.”

The Animorphs all sat down and attempted to tell Jake what had happened to them since they arrived. Every now and then Jake would ask questions to clarify things or comment on a choice that was made. All between them they still knew next to nothing about the actual Time Machine. The only thing that was known was that the Predicons had it and they did not. On the positive side, the Yeerks did not have it either. It was then that they told about their encounter with Visser Three.

Jake groaned and put his face in his hand. “Tell me they didn’t,” he groaned.

The silence from his friend spoke louder than words. They had, the Maximals had helped Visser Three when the Animorphs could have been rid of him. Jake couldn’t believe it, it was one thing after another around this place.

“So what’s the story with the Hork-Bajir?” Jake asked, trying to keep Visser Three off his mind.

“The Yeerks must be getting close to the end of their three days,” Cassie said. “His Yeerk died.”

The whole time the freed Hork-Bajir had been standing in a corner. The Maximals had asked a lot of questions when the strange alien had entered the ship. The Hork-Bajir had remained silent while the Animorphs reassured the Maximals that he was harmless.

“What’s his name?” Jake asked.

He hasn’t told us, Tobias said. And we haven’t had the time to ask.

“What’s your name?” Jake asked the Hork-Bajir.

The Hork-Bajir hesitated for a moment. “Name Dak.”

“I thought Hork-Bajir had two names,” said Marco. “Like our boy Jara Hamee. Don’t you have one?”

“Mother and father die when Dak small,” Dak said.

“You don’t know what your second name is,” Cassie said.

Dak nodded his head silently. “Will help humans.”

“When this is all over,” Jake said, “We’ll take you to some friends. They’re free Hork-Bajir.”

Dak bobbed his head gratefully and said, “Fellana.”

Marco came and sat next to Jake. Now that everyone was all caught up with what the others had been up to, it was time to decide on the next move and what should be done about getting the Time Machine back.

“What do we do next, fearless leader?” Marco asked.

Jake wasn’t sure what to say. Things weren’t the way they usually were. They weren’t up against just the Yeerks this time. And it wasn’t just him making the decisions this time. For the first time, Jake would have to consult with the leader of another group. He began to wonder how Optimus ran things.

[estrid]

awesome! hurry up w/ another chapter!

[Gaz]

NOTE: Apologies that this once again took nearly a month to get up. Homework has been keeping me really busy lately. In this part, we check in with Tarantulas! Enjoy!

PART 30: Tarantulas Thinks Things Through

During the whole ordeal, Tarantulas and Black Arachnia remained hard at work in the lab. It had taken some time, but the computer had finally finished analyzing the energon crystal from the machine.

“What does the computer say about the crystal?” Tarantulas asked.

Black Arachnia studied the screen for a moment, confused. “I don’t understand,” she said, “its not just energon. Somehow, something else has been fused into this piece.”

Tarantulas rushed over to the screen and looked over Black Arachnia’s shoulder. “How is that even possible?” he asked. “What is it?”

Black Arachnia shrugged. “Unknown,” she growled. “The computer can’t identify it. It’s an alien substance, that much is certain.”

The whole situation was frustrating. Just when it seemed they were getting somewhere, something came appeared and messed everything up. It was becoming more apparent to Tarantulas that this device was never truly meant for time travel. Certain circumstances and a freak accident had lead to the time distortion that brought the aliens.

While Black Arachnia had been analyzing the crystal, Tarantulas had been trying to open files that were hidden from him. Not only could he not access the files, but also they were on a computer in his own lab! That was the most infuriating part about it. As Tarantulas pressed buttons he clicked and hissed in frustration.

In his mind, there were only three real possibilities of who could have done this. Megatron could have done it if he thought about it long enough. Black Arachnia could have done it, but then why would she be helping him? The amusement of watching him struggle, perhaps? And then the final possibility was himself. If that was the case then someone must have wiped his memory circuits because he had no knowledge of anything related.

In his mind he could still hear the squawking voice saying, “It’s perfect! It would be just like a time machine because it would blow him into next cycle!”

The voice sounded like Terrosaur, but he sounded like he was just as confused about the machine as everyone else. Could his memory circuits have been wiped as well?

If memory circuits had really been wiped to hide this information that brought up a whole new round of questions. Who would do that and why? To Tarantulas it seemed far too complicated a plan for Megatron to think up on his own. And it wasn’t his style, if he had any.

Waspinator was out of the question. There were few things he could be trusted to handle on his own. The chances that he could have thought up a plan that complex was about the same as Terrosaur going for a month without trying to overthrow Megatron.

Black Arachnia was a slim possibility, though this didn’t seem to be the way she operated. Usually she was subtle about it as she tried to gain your confidence. She would use you to her advantage and once you were no longer useful or if things didn’t go her way then she was done.

Scorpanok was too close to Megatron. He was the kiss up second in command and did nothing without Megatron’s approval. It was enough to make Tarantulas ill. How could he grovel to that purple, tyrannical fool? The point was, this plan seemed above his intelligence level.

“Tarantulas!” a voice barked.

Tarantulas jumped as he whipped around to face the source of the voice. Megatron’s face was on a screen on one side of the room.

“What is your progress?” Megatron demanded. “You have had plenty of time thanks to various distractions.”
Knowing Megatron, there were cameras hidden in the lab. So he had been observing their progress and had a notion of what was going on. There was really no point in holding back any information. At least, none of the information they had learned so far.

“I believe,” said Tarantulas, “that the device was never really intended to be a time machine.”

“What?!” Megatron thundered. It was apparent that many of the new plans swirling in his head were dependant on that device being a working time machine. Now that was all over and done with.

“The components aren’t correct,” Tarantulas continued.

“You said you had a schematic in your database,” Megatron pointed out.

“So I do,” replied Tarantulas, “however, not all of the pieces are accounted for. This may have been planted in the computer as a false trail.”

“Elaborate!” Megatron snapped.

“Whenever this device was made,” Tarantulas explained. “Something must have gone wrong and the one responsible must have been trying to cover their tracks. There are files on my computer that I cannot access.”

During the explanation, Megatron was silently fuming. Though this could still be used to his advantage. The Maximals did not know this was not really a time machine. He could still trap them as they tried to retrieve it.

“Report immediately when you unlock the files,” Megatron said firmly. And then he was gone.

“You didn’t tell him about the modified energon crystal,” Black Arachnia stated.

Tarantulas chuckled. “And he didn’t ask about it. There is no need to tell him. I am sure that is something I can use once I learn more about it.”


NEXT: Rachel is getting anxious again. Jake's back, but that's not enough. What happens when she convinces one of the Maximals help her with a plan of her own?

[estrid]

that was awesome. hurry up with the next chapter already!

[Gaz]

Due to much persistence on Estrid's part I have managed to crank out the next part! You may begin the rejoicing now. *crickets* Well...anyway...rea d on!

PART 31 – Rachel Gets Anxious

I was glad to see Jake back safe and sound. I’m almost positive that if we hadn’t gotten there when we did, bad things would have happened. Jake could have been seriously hurt because those Predicons wanted information and thought Jake had it.

That was when I started getting angry again. We could have been there a lot sooner if that Optimus guy hadn’t decided to stop and play Good Samaritan to Visser Three! He knew about what the Visser was like, we had told him. Did he think that by helping Visser Three, he would change his mind? Get all soft and fuzzy? Maybe Optimus was a little too optimistic.

It wasn’t his place to judge the situation. Visser Three was ours to handle, not his. We could have been rid of Visser Three once and for all, but no. He’s still around and after the Time Machine, but at least the number of Controllers with him was decreased. Had the Predicons to thank for that one.

I nearly laughed out loud at that thought. The Predicons had been trying to kill us like the Yeerks, but they were unknowingly helping us by finishing off Controllers. Were we with the right talking robots? These Maximals spent a little too much time talking things out before they acted. Even we did things faster than that.

There wasn’t time to sit around for hours talking about how to handle the situation with the Time Machine. We knew where it was. It was in that Tarantulas’ laboratory. So why weren’t we blazing in there? Or we Animorphs could have gone small and snuck in. We were practically experts at doing that.

Then I remembered about Dinobot. Marco had told me that he thought Dinobot was like me, a fighter. Of all the robots, he had to understand that we needed to take action. It was ridiculous to sit around and talk; talking would get us nowhere fast.

“You used to be one of those other guys, right?” I asked Dinobot quietly.

He was quiet for a moment; like he couldn’t believe one of us lowly humans was daring to speak to him. I could tell neither him nor that Rattrap thought very highly of us. It was like we were a nuisance to them and they were helping us out of the goodness of their…whatever they had that resembled hearts.

“Yes,” he replied in that growling voice of his.

“Then you must know how those guys operate,” I said. “Tell it to me straight. How long do you really think we have?”

There was most silence before he spoke. “No doubt Tarantulas has been working on it since they took it back to their base.”

“So pretty much he’s had a little over five hours to tinker with it,” I concluded. “We need to do something now! You know that.”

“We cannot blunder into battle without a strategy,” Dinobot snarled back.

“Well how long does it take?!” I replied, my voice starting to rise. “You yourself said they’ve had nearly all day to work on it. What if they’re close to figuring it out? We know exactly where it is and who has it!”

“Megatron will be expecting another strike,” Dinobot countered. “If you wish your comrades to suffer a fool’s death—“

“Stop talking to me like I’m an idiot!” I exploded. “I’ve been fighting the Yeerks a long time. I know plenty about battles and strategy—“

“You like to think of yourself as a warrior,” Dinobot said, “but you know nothing of being a true warrior. Even your comrades refer to you as a warrior. You seem like nothing more than a berserker to me.”

That was it. Dinobot had crossed the line. I could feel my face contorting with rage, and if I didn’t control myself I would explode. What did he know? Well, the one thing he would never know was how deeply his words had burned me.

All I could do was glare at him in silence. If looks could kill, I was certain mine would have disintegrated Dinobot in a second. Taking a deep breath, I managed to tell Dinobot exactly what I thought of his opinion.

“Screw you,” I snarled quietly before I stormed away. I didn’t look back to see his reaction, I didn’t care. I thought of all the Maximals that he would understand. That he would be able to help me rally the others to action. Guess I was wrong, but how do you judge a robot’s character?

“What happened over there?” Marco asked as I walked by.

“Nothing!” I snapped.

As I slumped against the far wall, I could tell that Marco would be talking to Jake. Soon Jake would be coming over to talk to me about what had happened between Dinobot and me. I didn’t need that. Yes, I was glad that my cousin was alive, but I didn’t need his lecture about me keeping my temper.

“I heard you talking to Dinobot over there,” a voice said.

I looked up and saw the yellow and blue robot. What had his name been? I think it was Cheetor. If he were a human, I think he would have been about our age. The one thing that surprised me was it looked like he had freckles on his face never thought a robot could have those.

“What do you want?” I grumbled. Last thing I needed was some obnoxious…

“Optimus is just talking about stuff,” Cheetor said. “We need to get out there and stop the Preds!”
I looked at him again. On second thought…maybe he wouldn’t be so obnoxious after all.

After thought: Well...Rachel is getting cranky again. And don't worry, this certainly won't be the last time Rachel and Dinobot butt heads. *heh*

[estrid]

yay good chapter! now hurry up and get another chapter out!!!

[Gaz]

*Sorry this part is so short. Getting tired and I should go to bed. I promised estrid a new part tonight and here it is! Will get more up tomorrow evening.

PART 32 – Trouble

*Rachel

Cheetor, at that point, seemed more like my sort of robot. He understood that action had to be taken. It was not a time to sit around and talk. We found a quiet corner to work out a plan. While the others were wasting time, we would creep out and do some recon. It seemed that Cheetor was something of an expert on sneaking out of the base; he had done it a few times before.

“So how are we going to do this?” Cheetor asked me. I could tell he was getting excited about this covert mission of ours.

“I’ll morph something small and hide out on you until we get outside,” I replied. “Then I’ll morph something larger.”

It should have been a simple mission, right? Sneak out, do some spying and then report back triumphant with information about how far along they were. Though, you would think I’d know that things never go the way they’re planned.

“Keep an eye out,” I instructed Cheetor, “I’m going to go small.”

I decided then that a fly would be the best route to go. Small enough to be undetected and bit enough so at least Cheetor could tell where I was.

At that moment I felt myself starting to shrink. My eyes went compound and extra arms began to sprout from my ribs. At the same time my skeleton became non-existent as an exoskeleton began to harden on the outside. Wings popped out of my shoulders as I finally shrank down to fly size.

Ok, I told Cheetor. I’m on. Let’s do this!

Cheetor didn’t respond, but I knew he heard me because suddenly we were moving. I couldn’t tell what was going on, so I just had to trust that Cheetor really knew what he was doing. And that he could get us out undetected by the others. If Optimus and Jake found out they would certainly flip out, at least I knew Jake would.

I’m going to assume things are going smoothly, I said after a few minutes. You’re going to have to give me some sort of sign when we’re all clear.

Once again, I got no response and it was starting to bug me. Sitting on Cheetor’s back I couldn’t tell where we were or what was going on. It was really frustrating. Pretty soon the others would notice I was missing and it wouldn’t take them long to figure out what had happened.

“Ok, we’re clear!” I heard. At least, I think that’s what it was. Fly hearing isn’t exactly high quality. I certainly hoped that Cheetor wasn’t really telling me there was trouble. There was only one way to find out.

I flew off Cheetor’s back and flew what I assumed was a few feet away. I didn’t want to demorph on top of him. I felt all the fly features that didn’t belong being sucked back into nothing. My normal human features slowly replaced certain fly ones. When I finished, I took a moment to look around at where we were.

Cheetor was right, we were indeed some distance away from the base. That was good. Before I re-morphed, I glanced around to make sure that no one else was around. I wasn’t too concerned about Controllers. Well, I was concerned about the Visser since he was still out and about. No thanks to Optimus.
I decided that, once again, bear morph was the way to go. It had worked out well enough in the past. And just in case we ran into trouble on the way I wouldn’t have to change from something small. The plan was that once we got up to the Predicon Base, but weren’t in sight range, I would go small again for infiltration purposes.

My mind was focused on my powerful grizzly morph once again. I had been using that morph a lot the past couple of days. But it was my favorite and the best for any fights that might come up.

Fur began to sprout on my body as my limbs changed size, location and shape. My face molded into the snout of the grizzly bear as I dropped to all fours. Soon the change was complete and I was all grizzly bear.

All right, I said, let’s do this! You have to let me know before we’re too close to the other base. I need to be able to morph without being noticed.

Cheetor and myself hadn’t gotten very far when trouble appeared. Two of the Predicons that I had seen earlier were coming towards us fast. Suddenly, my bear morph wasn’t looking like such a good idea because both of those robots could fly. There was a red pterodactyl and a really large wasp. We were in trouble.

“Cheetor, Maximize!”

In response I roared loudly and began charging towards one of the robots. I just hoped it stayed low and waited to transform.

[estrid]

good! now hurry up with the next chapter

[Gaz]

NOTE: I stayed up to finish this just for you, Estrid! 

PART 33 – A Close Call

*Tobias

For a while, Jake had been talking to Optimus about how he thought we should approach getting the time machine back. As usual, he suggested the method we lived by. Which was to go small to get in, find a place to re-morph into something more battle friendly and then get in there.

It appeared that Optimus wasn’t a big fan of Jake’s usual method. After months of fighting the Yeerks on our own, we were suddenly pathetic little humans that needed to be protected. Optimus didn’t like putting our lives on the line like that.

“Don’t you get it?” Jake asked. “This isn’t new for us. We put our lives on the line just about every day.”

“Be that as it may—“ Optimus began.

Jake threw up his arms. “Now I see why Rachel was getting so frustrated.”

The debate with Optimus continued. Once Jake brought up her name, I had noticed how quiet things had been suddenly. Speaking of Rachel, where was she?

“Optimus,” Dinobot suddenly said. “I believe I should go patrol the perimeter.”

“If that’s what you think you need to do, Dinobot,” Optimus said.

“Wait a second,” Marco began.

I didn’t listen to the rest, but I could tell Marco was going to start on how Dinobot could come and go at will but we were practically being grounded. But there was something behind why Dinobot wanted to go out, I didn’t think it had anything to do with suddenly wanting to patrol the perimeter. He suspected something.

I’m coming with you, I told Dinobot privately. You suspect something, I can tell. Don’t say anything.

Dinobot was hesitated a moment, but didn’t say anything. As he walked by I quietly fluttered onto his back. Everyone else was so engrossed in their conversation that no one noticed us leaving.

Once we were outside I said more to Dinobot. I noticed Rachel and Cheetor were missing too. I didn’t see them leave, but like you I can guess what they’re up to.

“You sound as if this happens often,” Dinobot said as he walked.

Rachel can be pretty gung-ho sometimes, I replied. If things are going too slow for her taste, she needs to move them along.

“Cheetor has a talent for getting himself into trouble,” Dinobot replied.

I could tell what Dinobot was getting at. From what I could tell Cheetor was eager to prove himself and wanted to do anything he could to help. Even if that meant sneaking off to help an impatient teen warrior.

That brought to mind the heated discussion Dinobot and Rachel had been having. It was quiet enough that no one else paid attention to it, but I was close enough to hear. Rachel considered herself a warrior in our fight against the Yeerks and Dinobot had pretty much shattered that. What Dinobot had said cut Rachel more than he would ever know.

Part of me was mad that he had talked to Rachel that way, but he wouldn’t understand if I tried to chew him out over it. So what was the point?

I think I’m going to take to the air, I said.

With a couple of strong flaps, I was off Dinobot’s back and flying above him. It cut off conversation possibilities, but that wasn’t on my mind. We had nearly lost Jake; there was no way I was going to let anything happen to Rachel.

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind then I looked ahead. There was trouble; two of the Predicons were in the air.

Dinobot, I said, there’s trouble up ahead!

“Dinobot, Maximize!” I heard the Maximal shout.

In less than a minute, Dinobot was in his humanoid form racing towards the area of trouble with what looked like a spinning sword drawn. This was his enemy, his fight. He knew these two and had probably been fighting them a while.

We respected that fact. They knew the Predicons and understood how they fought. That was the only reason Cassie had said she agreed to join up with the Maximals. But they didn’t seem to show the same regards to us in our fight against the Yeerks. We were human children and, in their minds, had to be protected.

Oh God, I said. Dinobot, get a move on! Rachel’s down!

On the ground was a large grizzly bear. It was bleeding from multiple wounds, but was trying to get up. It wasn’t succeeding. Meanwhile, a red and white robot was coming back around in the air cackling manically.
Before it could do anything, the robot was hit with a bright green laser blast. It must have come from Dinobot.

“Face me, Terrosaur!” he snarled.

“Waspinator, leave the cat,” Terrosaur shrieked. “It’s the traitor!”

“Oooh!” Waspinator buzzed. “Megatron would reward for destroying traitor-bot!”

While Dinobot was handling the two robots, I was landing near the bear. I had to get Rachel’s attention before she lost consciousness. It was coming too, I could tell. It was getting harder and harder for her to even try to get up.

Rachel, I said, Rachel its Tobias. Listen to me; you’re hurt really bad. You need to demorph!

Tobias? I heard. Even in thought speak it was getting weak. What are you doing here?

Never mind that! I snapped, starting to get anxious. Demorph! Come on, Rachel!

There was no answer. For a moment I was afraid of the worst, but then I saw the change starting to take place. Fur was disappearing and limbs were shrinking.

At the same time, Dinobot had taken care of the two robots. He had heavily damaged the Terrosaur who declared a retreat. Waspinator had already been buzzing away in fright.

While I waited for Rachel to demorph, Dinobot walked over to check on Cheetor.

Cheetor went back to his cheetah form. He had appeared to be damaged, but not badly.

“How’d you find us so fast, Dinobot?” he asked.

“You should be grateful I did,” Dinobot replied. “You should get back to base, you are damaged.”

Cheetor was sulking back to base by the time Rachel finished demorphing. She sat on the ground for a moment while she waited for her head to clear.

“Tobias,” she said. “Is it just you?”

Before I could answer she saw Dinobot approach. She opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. I could guess why. After the argument she probably wasn’t too thrilled to see him.

When you’re ready, I said, morph bird and we’ll fly back to the Maximal Base.

[estrid]

yay!!! now when is the next chapter?

[Gaz]

NOTE: Here it is! Yeah, it's kinda short. But hopefully one that will grab your attention. Enjoy!

*PART 34: Discovery

When the group returned, all attention turned to them. Cheetor had arrived slightly before Tobias, Rachel and Dinobot. He had been explaining sullenly to Optimus what had happened.

Optimus’ face was stern as his arms had been crossed as he listened. He was tired of Cheetor getting trying stupid stunts. It nearly always placed him in danger, and this time he had placed someone else in danger.

Jake approached Rachel as soon as she had demorphed.

“What did you think you were doing, Rachel?” Jake asked. “Going off on your own like that? And putting Cheetor in danger like that because you had to be Xena!”

Jake’s temper was rising, and Cassie could tell. She put a hand on Jake’s shoulder and quietly asked Rachel,  “What’s wrong, Rachel? Ever since we got here, you haven’t been yourself.”

“You sure about that?” Marco muttered.

“How can you not know what’s wrong?” Rachel said. “You should all be feeling the same thing. While we’re standing around, those other robots are getting closer to figuring out the Time Machine. And if they do then we’ll…”

When Rachel broke off, Cassie finally understood. “You’re afraid if we don’t act now….we won’t get home.”

Jake sighed. He should have known that was the problem. Rachel was worried about her sisters and her parents. Jake was pretty sure everyone was worried about that, but they were trying to think about other things otherwise they would be tense like Rachel.

The only one this wouldn’t seemingly affect would be Tobias and Ax. Ax was millions of miles away from home on a regular basis; so a little time travel didn’t change much. He was with his friends anyway. It was the same with Tobias, he was with his friends. He didn’t have much to miss from their normal time.

*******

Meanwhile, in another location, Visser Three and the remaining Controllers were making plans of their own. Their numbers were too few to lead any attacks against either the robots or the bandits. Especially since the bandits had teamed up with one of the robot factions.

We must get that machine back, Visser Three was saying. It would do much for the future of the Yeerk Empire.

“But how do we get it back, Visser?” asked a human controller.

Before Visser Three could answer, one of the other human controllers had glimpsed something shining out of the ground. “Visser! More of those purple crystals! This must be where the one from the machine came from.”

Gather some! The Visser exclaimed. When we return to our own time we can use them like the other one.

While the other controllers scrambled to do what the Visser had commanded, Visser Three fell into thought. They would need that modified crystal back soon; they were running out of time. Within another day and a half, the Yeerks that remained to him here would be on the verge of death.

***

In the lab, Tarantulas was finally making a breakthrough with the locked files. He had come across something that required a password to access it. At first, Tarantulas had tried possibilities off the top of his head. When none of those worked, he had a code breaker program on his computer run through more possibilities. The list was nearly endless so Tarantulas knew that it would not be a speedy process. While he waited, he helped Black Arachnia study the crystal.

The substance that had been fused into the energon crystal was indeed an alien substance. But somehow, the two were compatible. The energon was holding it well and somehow still functioned as it should. But why go through the trouble of fusing something else into the energon? What was the point?

The computer interrupted the examination of the crystal with two simple words. “Access granted.”

In a flash Tarantulas was at his computer as the files opened up. Something had worked, one of the passwords the program generated worked. It had taken nearly three hours, what had the password turned out to be?

“What?!” Tarantulas sputtered. “That’s…that’s impossible!”

“What?” Black Arachnia asked, a little calmer than Tarantulas.

“The password that unlocked the files was Starscream!”

[estrid]

noooooooooooooooooo o! gaz are u TRYING to kill me? like really are u? didnt u know curiosity killed the cat, and im curious as hell, i wana know more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! finish the story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but so far so good

[Gaz]

NOTE: The new part, as promised! To anyone else reading, you have Estrid to thank for the slightly speedier updates. I don't think she's gonna let me slip into the "update once a month" mode again. *aheh* Anyways, hope you enjoy this part!

PART 35: The Device’s Original Purpose Unveiled

Tarantulas scanned the files that he had been trying so hard to access the past few megacycles. A lot of things were making a lot more sense now. He had been right, the machine was never designed to be a time travel device. But if it wasn’t that, then what was it? And who had designed it?

The one thing Tarantulas was focused on, however, was the meaning behind the password. It was “Starscream” that had opened up the files, and Tarantulas needed to know why. It could be the meaning behind all of this somehow.

Starscream had been a treacherous traitor in the time of the Decepticons. And somehow, his spark had managed to survive the millennia in space and wound up in the location of the Maximals and Predicons. Starscream had found his way to the Predicon base and, through the computer, had possessed Waspinator. He had shown his traitorous nature by playing both sides.

Naturally he had come up with a plan to overthrow Megatron and destroy the Maximals. For a short time, he had taken Black Arachnia as his apprentice. But when Starscream had betrayed her, Black Arachnia had paid him back in kind. A shot at a deposit of energon had sent Starscream’s spark plunging back into the coldness of space.

“I’ve found something!” Tarantulas couldn’t help but exclaim. He was getting so absorbed in uncovering the mystery behind all of this, he couldn’t’ help but get excited.

“What did you find?” Black Arachnia asked, coming to stand behind Tarantulas.

“I’ve found a video recording,” Tarantulas said. He quickly had the computer access the file.

“Waspinator?!” Black Arachnia exclaimed. “That’s impossible. There’s no way he possesses that sort of intelligence.”

“No…I do not believe Waspinator was really the one behind all this,” Tarantulas replied.

“This is Air Commander Starscream,” Waspinator said. Though, it didn’t sound like Waspinator’s voice. Somehow, his voice had become more high pitched and scratchy.

“Starscream?!” Black Arachnia exclaimed.

“While the others are divided between here and the Maximal base, I shall be working on a project of my own,” Starscream said. “Because I may not have the amount of time necessary I won’t be working on this alone. Tarantulas is lending his services…”

“You helped him?” Black Arachnia asked. “I thought you didn’t trust him.”

Tarantulas was stunned and it took him a moment to gather himself. “I…I have no memory of this!”

“Granted,” Starscream continued, “if things go wrong, he won’t remember anything. If something should happen, the memories of all involved will be erased and the files contained here will be encoded so not even Tarantulas will be able to access them.”

Black Arachnia snorted. “He didn’t do a very good job did he? You found them.”

“Actually, he did do a good job hiding them,” Tarantulas said. “If the device had not turned up, then I never would have gone searching for the files.”

All of a sudden the video fizzled out and, despite his efforts, Tarantulas was not able to recover it.

“What’s happening?” Black Arachnia asked.

Tarantulas hissed and clicked. “Starscream rigged the files to deteriorate in case anyone other than himself opened them! The files are slowly disappearing!”

It was a race against time. Tarantulas had to find the information he needed before the files were permanently deleted. He didn’t have the time to attempt to back them up or stop the process of deletion.

Not long afterwards, Tarantulas found the answer he had been looking for. The machine that was currently in his lab was never meant to be a time machine; he knew that, it was in fact meant to be…

“A bomb?” Black Arachnia questioned. She was still looking over his shoulder, which was quickly becoming annoying. “Why was Starscream trying to make a bomb? And why go through such trouble?”

“I can only guess that the bomb was meant to wipe out Megatron and possibly the Maximals,” Tarantulas theorized. “A malfunction probably caused it to end up in the hands of those aliens.”

Black Arachnia suddenly had a revelation of her own. “Right before I shot that energon…he must have sent the signal that erased your memory circuits and encoded the files!”

“Nooo!” Tarantulas suddenly screamed. His time was up apparently. The more he had tried to access files, the faster the deletion process had gone. Now all the files on the machine were gone. Not that it mattered much anymore because the aliens had fused some of their own technology onto the device and that changed things. Though what was the purpose of the device for them?

The one thing that still bothered Tarantulas was why he had agreed to help Starscream at all. And how had Starscream erased those memory circuits? Those files, if they existed, were gone for good. Starscream’s spark was somewhere out in space again so that mystery would remain unsolved.