2.Sept.06
BEAST WARS REKINDLED
Chapter Four: Third Time's a Charmer
In Rotor and Tails' workshop,
a deep space transmission device was slowly taking shape. In the center of the
shop was Knucklehead's stasis pod. This piece was crucial, as they needed it to
transmit on the right frequency and in the right language. Also hooked in was
Vector's walkman. The high-powered sound emitter was needed to boost the
transmission power. Finally, Sally's handheld computer Nicole fed the message
they wanted to send into the pod, allowing for translation.
Sonic, Knuckles, Knucklehead,
Julie-Su, and those not working on the device-that is, everyone except Rotor,
Tails, Sally, and Vector-sat in silence, hoping that the efforts of their
friends would help get Knucklehead home. The large Maximal was currently in
Beast Mode, given that everyone seemed more comfortable with an enormous Echidna
than a robot.
After a while, Sally came
over, leaving Tails and Rotor to work with Nicole. She sat down tired, and Sonic
put an arm around her reassuringly. The two looked at each other and smiled.
Knucklehead noticed this, and also looked at Knuckles and Julie-Su. The pair
were sitting quietly, but it was clear that they were itching for action. They
held each other's hands, smiling and taking comfort in the fact that both of
them were bored. Finally, he turned to look at Bunnie and Antoine. The pair were
sitting together, whispering and looking at each other affectionately.
Knucklehead leaned back and
sighed. Love. It was an emotion he knew nothing of, having never experienced it
himself. These beings were his friends, but he had not known them long enough or
gotten to know them enough to consider his feelings for them to be love. He
thought briefly about his race, about how little he truly knew.
Knucklehead's memories of
Cybertronian culture were vague, since he only had the most basic knowledge
programmed into him while he was a protoform before he had been loaded into a
stasis pod and sent into space. He had no idea about the nature of his kin. Were
they divided into genders, as the people of this world were? Did they experience
such emotions as love?
He was snapped out of his
reverie as an excited shout came from over by the transmitter.
"We
did it!" Rotor crowed.
Standing, the tall Echidna
walked over, peering over their shoulders. "The transmitter's
working?"
Tails looked slightly
crestfallen. "Well, yes and no."
Sonic was confused.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"While we've got it
transmitting, it's only going as far as the outskirts of the solar system. Any
further is beyond what power we can generate."
Knucklehead's head lowered in
defeat. Knuckles, dismayed, spoke up. "Maybe we'll get lucky!"
Julie-Su encouraged the
downcast Maximal. "Even if we don't, we'll find some way for you to get
home."
Knucklehead smiled down at the
female Echidna. Julie-Su was slightly taken aback by how odd the innocent
expression looked on his face, which looked just like Knuckles'. The Guardian's smiles were usually cocky.
Suddenly, a nearby computer
beeped. Tails walked over to it, and began typing furiously. His eyes widened,
and a grin lit up his face. Sally, catching this, enquired, "What's
up?"
Tails took a moment to
respond. "I've got good and bad news. Good news: I've located another
intact stasis pod."
Knucklehead's eyes widened.
"And the bad news?"
Mighty asked.
"I found it by piggy
backing a Dark Legion scan."
Espio started. "That
means the hoods know where it is!"
Knucklehead was quick to take
charge. "We need to organize. Rotor, Vector, and Sally, you three stay here
and keep an eye on the transmitter. Charmy, Ray, Antoine, Bunnie, and Mighty,
you patrol the perimeter of Knothole. The rest of you, with me; we're going
after that pod."
Deathstreak ran a final
diagnostic as the Dark Legion transport got closer to the pod. Roughly 50 Legion
soldiers, led by the cyborg Xenin, were also in the ship. Dimitri did not want
to lose another pod, and the hoods were along to ensure it.
Xenin came up to Deathstreak.
"We're approaching the landing site."
Deathstreak nodded, smiling.
"Good. Dimitri thinks that someone hacked his scanner, so we may have
company. I, for one, hope so."
Xenin nodded, backing away.
Once Deathstreak's back was turned to him, he shivered. The Predacon scared
Xenin even more than the Grand Masters, for Xenin knew that they were just
Echidnas like himself. Deathstreak, though...that one was different. At some
times he was an enormous Hedgehog, at others he was a lethal robot. His strength
far surpassed Xenin's, and Xenin knew that if Deathstreak should get
treacherous, he was the first to go.
Knucklehead walked silently,
with Sonic, Knuckles, Julie-Su, Tails, and Espio at his back. Luckily for them,
the crash site was not far from Knothole, close enough for all of them to make
it on foot. Knucklehead's scanners were on full alert, searching for any signs
of his nemesis, Deathstreak.
Finally, a handheld scanner
carried by Tails went off. Standing in the middle of a clearing, Tails pointed
at the ground. "It's buried in there."
Knucklehead and Knuckles
nodded before going to work. Using their spurs and super strength, the pair
began digging furiously. Finally, after digging 100 meters down into the crust,
they encountered the pod. Strapping it to his back, Knucklehead carried it out
while Knuckles climbed ahead.
They emerged from the hole to
find themselves faced by their friends' backs. Surrounding them were 50 Dark
Legionnaires. Closest were Deathstreak and Xenin.
Deathstreak
smiled. "We'll take that."
Knucklehead wasn't having any
of it. Placing the pod carefully on the ground, he leaped over his friends to
slam into Deathstreak. The two used their abilities to exit the circle of
Legionnaires, taking their fight deeper into the trees. With that, the Dark
Legion soldiers opened fire with lasers.
The first volley suddenly
changed direction, the red energy flowing into a device held in Tails' hand.
Before they could fire again, the others were among them.
Sonic moved at super speed,
disarming Legionnaires and knocking them over. Knuckles used his strength to
send them flying, while Espio attacked them from concealment. Julie-Su stood
back-to-back with Tails, defending the pod. Whenever a Legionnaire would fire a
laser, Tails would absorb the energy with his device, and Julie-Su would return
fire.
Xenin found himself pitted
against the Guardian. With an unpleasant smile, Knuckles threw his opponent into
a tree. Xenin leaped back out, slamming into Knuckles with enough force to
topple an elephant. Knuckles didn't even budge, and spun Xenin around, flinging
him away. Realizing that the battle was lost, the elite Legionnaire ran off into
the trees, followed closely by his humiliated troops.
All the good guys turned to
watch as Knucklehead did battle with Deathstreak. The pair moved incredibly
fast, though Deathstreak had the advantage. By contrast, Knucklehead was
stronger, but Deathstreak was no light weight. Knucklehead also had refined
gliding abilities, allowing him to fly. Deathstreak, for his part, appeared to
have absorbed DNA affected by Chaos Control, allowing him to instantaneously
teleport from one place to another.
Finally, Deathstreak realized
that he was alone. Knowing that even he couldn't defeat Knucklehead and the
others alone, he teleported back to the transport.
Dusting himself off,
Knucklehead walked back to the pod. As they gathered around, the large monotreme
pointed at Tails' device. "What is that?"
"Energy siphon. It lets
me absorb the energy from the Legionnaires' weapons. With it, maybe I can charge
up this pod."
With that, Tails plugged his
device into the built-in computer. The device lit up, and the familiar rod like
scanner expanded from the pod. However, instead of generating a field, it fired
a beam onto Tails' device. Before the others could comprehend what was going on,
a computerized voice spoke. "Beast Mode found. Beginning scanning and
replication."
As the pod pulsed, Knucklehead
turned to Tails. "Has anyone touched that thing besides you?"
"No, why?"
"If I'm not mistaken, the
protoform is duplicating your DNA."
"Cool!"
Knucklehead chuckled before
turning his attention back to the pod. The light faded, and the lid creased open
slightly. Two violet eyes peered out from the black gap at them, then resolved
into a large head resembling Tails'. It looked about shyly, as if afraid, and
caught sight of Knucklehead. Its eyes widened in recognition, clearly seeing the
Maximal for what he was.
Knucklehead smiled warmly and
extended a hand to the pod. "It's alright, you can come out, you're safe.
My name is Knucklehead; I'm a Maximal like you."
The Maximal remained
motionless for a moment, then opened the pod all the way and stood up straight.
Everyone's mouths dropped. Due to the fact that Cybertronians don't have
children, all protoforms came out mature, as do whatever Beast Form they assume.
Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Julie-Su, Espio, and Knucklehead stared dumbfounded at
the adult Mobian Fox, with gentle feminine curves and delicate features.
Then Tails spoke out.
"The Maximal who scanned me is a girl?" he complained.
That caused everyone to laugh,
and the Maximal to cock her head nervously. However, when she saw Knucklehead's
smile, she relaxed. "Twinbrush, Maximize!"
Her body transformed. The
torso retained its shape, but became metallic. The two tails disappeared, and
her head changed, the mouth opening to reveal a metallic face like that of a
human, the fox head becoming like a helmet.
Knucklehead transformed as
well, then they both turned back. As introductions were made and stories told,
Knucklehead could not help staring at Twinbrush. For some reason, she looked to
him to be incredibly attractive, and he found her to be quite friendly. Putting
these thoughts aside, he took her hand, gesturing towards Knothole.
At first she hesitated, then
nodded, smiling at his friendly attitude. The two walked off, leaving the others
to stare after them. Finally, Knuckles shrugged and picked up the pod, carrying
it as he marched after them. The others followed, and Sonic smirked as he heard
Tails mutter under his breath: "My DNA got turned into a chick!"
Back at Knothole, Bunnie
watched the surrounding forest, bored out of her mind at the inaction. Suddenly,
she spotted a flash of red, smiling as she recognized Knucklehead. Her eyes
widened and she gaped as she saw him come out of the trees, leading Twinbrush,
who appeared to Bunnie to be a large, female version of Tails. She would have
fainted had Antoine, also on duty, not leaned against her, allowing them to
support each other in their astonishment.
Seeking to avoid attracting
attention, Knucklehead and Twinbrush flew into the trees, then descended
inconspicuously down to the lab. The other Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix soon
joined them, and they entered.
Rotor turned and beamed as
they came in. "Back so soon?" Then he saw Twinbrush. "Uh,
Sally?" he said shakily.
"Yes?" she queried,
not looking up.
"They're back."
"Oh," she said
happily, lifting her head and smiling. "Oh!"
She practically fell over,
saved just in time by Sonic. She looked up at Twinbrush, who was getting quite
confused as to why people fell over when they saw her. "I think you guys
have some explaining to do," she said slowly.
To be continued...