17.Dec.06

BEAST WARS REKINDLED

By: Spectre the Hechidnat

Chapter 11: Aftermath

Rotor looked sadly at Twinbrush as she lay motionless across several hospital beds. Sent into stasis by the Dark Legion Chaos Emerald bomb, she had yet to wake up. However, Rotor's analysis indicated that she would soon recover, and then would come the most painful part of the process: telling her of Knucklehead's death. Not for the first time, Rotor wondered if she wasn't better off remaining unconscious.

The room's remaining beds were arranged to accommodate a similarly stasis-locked Speedbat. The female Predacon was recovering at the same rate as Twinbrush. The Freedom Fighters and their allies were not quite sure what to do with her; they only knew that it was their responsibility to help someone who would not be helped by anyone else.

Rotor continued to stare at Twinbrush sadly. He knew the pain of loss; his father and older brother had disappeared during Robotnik's initial reign of terror, and were presumed dead. But it would be even more agonizing for Twinbrush; Knucklehead was dead, and at least Rotor had a chance of seeing his loved ones again. With a sad sigh, he continued to watch over the sleeping Maximal.


Sonic, Knuckles, Sally, Julie-Su, Bunnie, Mighty, Espio, and Vector followed Dinobot as he led them deep into the Great Forest. The ancient Transformer was taking them somewhere, and though it had been millennia since he had last seen it, he knew the location perfectly. As they walked, they wondered about his words. Before he had taken them this way, Dinobot had said that he was taking them to a place where Knucklehead would be honored. However, they had no idea what he meant.

Finally, they came to the waterfall that had been Knucklehead and Twinbrush's favorite sight. To the surprise of his comrades, Dinobot walked right through the curtain of water. They paused a moment, unsure of what to do. Then, Dinobot's hand came out, and a finger that looked more like a curved sword blade than a claw beckoned them after.

They passed through the fall to find themselves inside a tunnel. The Freedom Fighters were amazed, having never known this was here. Quickly, they followed after Dinobot. They emerged from the tunnel into a cavern of medium size.

As they entered, the Mobians were greeted by a wondrous sight. Four statues were lined up around the walls of the cavern. Three were close together, the other facing them from the other side. Of the three, one depicted a female Transformer with bird-like features. Another was of a taller, male Cybertronian who was shown to have armor covered in tiger stripes. The third was of a majestic, winged Transformer, his carved body shown to be composed of multiple parts so lifelike that the Mobians could have sworn that they were real. The fourth statue showed a tall male Cybertronian, large wing-like appendages extending from his back, and an expression of cynicism on his face.

"Dinobot...what are they?" Knuckles said, recovering his voice.

Dinobot looked at him and smiled bitterly. "These, Echidna, are statues carved in memorial to the fallen Maximals of the Beast Wars."

The Mobians started, remembering Dinobot's stories. They looked again at the Transformer statues, and Dinobot's words came back to them. "This is Airazor," Sally said, pointing at the female.

As Dinobot nodded, Sonic piped up. "That's Tigatron," he said, indicating the striped male.

"That makes this guy Tigerhawk," Espio breathed, extending his hand towards the intricately carved figure.

"How come you have a statue for Tigatron, Airazor, and Tigerhawk, when they were all the same person?" Vector asked.

"Tigatron and Airazor were not the same being; they were individuals," Dinobot growled. "And Tigerhawk was a separate entity in his own right."

Seeking to turn Dinobot's anger away from the idiotic Crocodile, Julie-Su pointed to the last carving. "Is this Depth Charge?"

Dinobot looked over, a faint smile curving his mouth as he nodded. "Yes, Depth Charge, a being I remember well, though I never knew him as a comrade. He was cold, aloof, and prone to anger."

"Kind of like you," Mighty said.

Dinobot chuckled. "Indeed."

Bunnie spoke up at this point. "What's all this got to do with Knucklehead?"

Dinobot's mirth faded at the mention of the fallen warrior. "It is time for my fallen leader to take his place of honor among these champions. Leave me now, for this is something I must do without distraction."

The Mobians, seeing the determination in his eyes, quickly left. Turning, Dinobot walked toward an empty section of the wall, halfway between the sculptures of Depth Charge and Tigerhawk. Steeling himself, he set to work.


At Dark Legion headquarters, Dimitri was in a foul mood. His Chaos Emerald bomb had destroyed Deathstreak and Knucklehead, but the other three Transformers had escaped. Worse, such tactics would prove useless in the future, as Dinobot was immune to the power of such explosions for some reason. Now, Dimitri was facing three Cybertronians with none to back him up.

"This is very distressing, Xenin," he said to his warrior elite. "Without Deathstreak or Speedbat to aid me, my battle against the Maximals has just gotten harder."

"And why do you say you don't have me to aid you?"

Xenin stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice. Slowly, he turned to face the entrance. Dimitri joined him, staring at the sight that greeted them. There, his fur golden with power to make him look like a Super Mobian, stood Deathstreak.

The Predacon leader smiled at the two. "Did you really think I could be so easily destroyed? When the bomb went off, I teleported out of there. I wasn't quite fast enough, and received quite a bombardment. However, as I was deconstituted at the time, instead of killing me, the energy mutated me, giving me more power than ever before, hence my new appearance."

"And what will you do with this power?" Xenin enquired fearfully.

Deathstreak's eyes were glowing with insanity as he laughed. "Destroy the Maximals, what else?"


Dinobot worked tirelessly, deploying every tool he had into his efforts. His claws and eye laser worked in harmony, shaping the stone into the desired form. As he labored, Dinobot struggled to recall every detail he could about Knucklehead, each little nuance of the Echidna Maximal's form.

Finally, he stood back, looking over his creation. The Maximal leader stood shorter than any other statue in the cavern except Airazor. However, Dinobot's efforts had given it an air of importance, a sign that this small Transformer was of equal importance to the others. With a sad sigh, Dinobot raised his right hand to his brow in salute, then turned and walked out the cavern.


Dinobot walked into the medical ward as the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix were clustered around Twinbrush's beds. Monitors showed that the female Maximal was close to waking up. As he looked at her, Dinobot saw the truth of it, her eyelids twitching as they prepared to open. Finally, she opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light after so long being offline. After a few seconds, she looked around her bed, smiling as she saw her friends gathered. "Hello, everyone. What happened to me?"

Rotor, being the technical expert, cleared his throat and spoke. "The Dark Legion detonated a Chaos Emerald bomb that sent both you and Speedbat into stasis lock. Due to his Transmetal 2 nature, Dinobot was unaffected, and he brought you two back here."

Twinbrush nodded in understanding, then posed a question that made them all wince. "Where's Knucklehead? Is he in stasis lock too? What about Deathstreak?"

Tails stepped forward, not making eye contact with Twinbrush as he tried to put things gently. "Twinbrush...when the bomb went off...Knucklehead and Deathstreak were fighting on it. The explosion...vaporized them entirely. There weren't even remains left...I'm sorry."

Twinbrush stared at them all in shock, disbelieving what she had just heard. Then, the full weight of the news came down on her, and she began to cry uncontrollably. "Knucklehead...no! Not now, not like this!"

As she sobbed, Dinobot walked up and put his arm around her, careful to avoid touching her with his claws. "Don't hold back at all, Twinbrush. Let the grief flow out of you. Cry this once, then never again. Knucklehead would want to see you happy."

The others were deeply touched by Dinobot's caring words. However, before they could begin to console Twinbrush, a voice spoke out timidly. "I am so sorry."

Whirling around, the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix found Speedbat looking over at them from where she was sitting up on her arrangement of beds. However, the fact that her hands were at her sides caused them to relax slightly, seeing that she had no intention to reply. Charmy, curious, inquired, "What do you mean?"

Speedbat's face showed a look of deep guilt and regret. "I am sorry for working with the people who took Knucklehead from you, for trying to harm you, and for all that I have done as a Predacon."

Ray was quite perplexed. This gentle, nervous Speedbat was far removed from the seductive Predacon they had previously known. "Why are you talking differently?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. When I woke up, I felt different from before. And when I heard you talking, and thought about my past, I felt terrible."

Antoine scratched his head in confusion. "What haz happened to her?"

Dinobot walked over. Using his scope eye, he did a scan of her. To his surprise, her energy signature was now reading as Maximal. Then, a thought came to him, and he realized what had happened. "When the explosion sent her into stasis lock, it must have reset her programming. It didn't do anything to Twinbrush since her programming has not been altered. However, it erased Speedbat's Predacon personality and replaced it with that of the Maximal she'd been born."

Speedbat, upon hearing this, set her face in determination. "I want to make up for what I did fighting for the Dark Legion. Let me be the Maximal I was intended to be, and I will help you bring them to justice."

Twinbrush, seeing the innocent repentance in her old rival's eyes, nodded her approval. "Welcome aboard, Speedbat," she said in a voice that was still cracked from her sorrow.

Speedbat, overjoyed, quickly adjusted her activation code. However, before she could begin to express her gratitude, an explosion rang out. The group rushed outside to find themselves confronted by a most shocking sight.

A large portion of Knothole had been ravaged. Standing in the center of the damage, a predatory smile on his face, was Deathstreak. The Mobians and the Maximals instantly realized how he had survived, and Twinbrush felt pain as she realized that her love's sacrifice had been in vain.

With a roar of vengeful fury, Twinbrush transformed and charged at Deathstreak, her saw spinning. Dinobot and Speedbat followed, their weapons deployed. However, before they even got within striking distance, Deathstreak teleported in, delivering a kick to Twinbrush's belly. The new Maximal leader doubled over in pain.

Shifting his attention, he shook his head at Speedbat. "So the seductress has turned traitor? More wreckage to decorate my walls!" He went into a spin dash, sending her flying. Finally, he turned his attention to Dinobot. The two circled warily, each waiting for the other to make a move. Bored, Deathstreak stretched out his hands. A massive beam of energy shot out, slamming into Dinobot and driving him to his knees.

"Nice trick, huh? Thanks to that explosion, I now wield the power of Chaos!"

"But so do I!"

Deathstreak turned to find himself facing Knuckles. As he watched in astonishment, the Guardian began to glow with energy. Sonic and Tails stepped up next to him, and the corona of power around Knuckles expanded to cover them as well. Before Deathstreak could react, Sonic's fur had turned a glowing yellow, Tails' a shining red orange, and Knuckles' a luminescent green. Levitating slightly off the ground, the three bellowed.

"Super Sonic!"

"Turbo Tails!"

"Chaos Knuckles!"

With that, the three launched a triple barrage of Chaos Spears, driving Deathstreak backward. Realizing that he could not defeat the power of all three of the Mobians at once, he began to teleport. However, as he slowly faded, he made a final threat. "This isn't over! I'll be back, and you'll suffer the same fate as Knucklehead!"

Once he was gone, the Maximals looked around at their Mobian allies. All of them felt deep remorse. Knucklehead was gone, and Deathstreak had returned more powerful. Without the aid of the three Chosen Ones, they would have been defeated. And now, as they looked at the spot where Deathstreak had disappeared, they couldn't help but wonder if the tide had turned against them.

To be continued...