Stalking Shadow

3.Dec.2005

Stalking Shadow

Chapter 1: The new comer

Author's note: I don’t own beast wars. Hasbro does, they’re so lucky. I own Akira, and I own the plot. I would like to thank LDC and Sphinx for helping me out with this story, and for putting up with me asking them so many questions.

The clouds slowly grew darker as the tear-drops of

rain quickly started pouring down on the dark

savanna. Most of the roaming creatures ran to get

out of the rain. A large metal object crashed in the

middle of the savanna. One brave hyena walked towards

the metal object with caution, whilst six other hyenas

stayed behind their leader. The brave one finally stood in

front of the object, and looking down at it, saw some

sort of light, which caused him to turn and run back to the other six,

then whipping around again, he observed a half circle of light scanning

the terrain.

***************************************

In the Ark Rhinox hovers over the communicator, calling

Rattrap and Depth Charge back to the base as Optimus looks on. “By the

looks of things, the weather will only gets worse.”

The maximal leader said to his old friend. Rhinox

nodded.

Outside of the Ark, meanwhile, Cheetor’s waiting for the two

Maximals to come back, and whereupon the youngest maximal saw his

comrades approach him he turned around and headed

for the inside of the Ark. Depth Charge and Rattrap slowly

followed.

”That’s some weather we got out there. The wind is

blowing nonstop, and the rain is coming down

pretty hard, too” Rattrap said to Optimus.

”It looks to be that way. Anyway I don’t think there

is much to do here. I don’t think the Predacons are

stupid enough to attack, especially in this kind of

weather.” Optimus looked at his comrades and continued,

“Why don’t you all rest. Cheetor, It’s your monitor

shift.”

The younger maximal complained for a few seconds but then

went to sit in a chair, enviously watching the others head off

to their own quarters.

****************************************

At the Predacon base, Megatron is seated in his

floating chair, trying to get all of his

troops in the base. “Megatron to Dinobot”

”Dinobot here, what is it Megatron?”

”I want you, Waspinator, and Tarantulas to head back to

base right away. Is that understood?”

”Yes, Megatron. Dinobot out”

Megatron turned to his loyal sub commander, and addressed him. “Inferno,

you may leave”

”As you command, my Queen!” Inferno saluted Megatron,

then strode off to his quarters.

Rampage could be heard snickering to himself, before asking his commander: “Am I still needed?"

”No, you may go.” Megatron said, hardly having a chance to finish as, just then, three

other predacons entered the base. “Tarantulas, you’re

on monitor duty...” Everyone but Tarantulas decided to

retire to their quarters and get some rest.

****************************************

The light passed through the hyenas as a voice rose; “Scanning

for compatible life forms…” The metal object’s computer

announced. The half circle kept going for another ten

seconds and then disappeared. “Compatible life form

found.” The metal object’s top slowly began to open.

When it opened all the way, a shadowy object stepped

out of it, and walked towards the seven creatures. The

hyenas stayed still, a tense quiver running through the air

as they watched the figure move. The rain slowly started to

fade away. The clouds parted a little and the moon

slid into view.

The shadow looked directly into the creatures’ eyes as it once again walked towards the

seven dogs, then stopped abruptly. The leader of the hyenas

charged the creature, but the shadow opened its mouth

and bit the leader as hard as it could, jaws circling around the hyena’s

face.

The leader was thrown to the ground and started

whimpering right away. Two younger hyenas went to

comfort the injured one as two others charged the shadow. The

shadow caught one by its foot, then threw it

into the other hyena that had charged.

All three of the injured hyenas looked at the creature

with fear, and pain. The seven slowly

got to their feet and retreated into the tall savanna

grass.

The creature found a tree and climbed up on and then

shut its eyes and drifted off to sleep.

***********************************

In the Ark all of the Maximals were wide

awake. “I’m glad it stopped raining, it was getting

pretty bad outside, for a while.” Cheetor said to

Rattrap.

”Yeah, me to. I couldn’t get ta sleep.” Rattrap

replied.

Optimus looked at the screens and said “A stasis pod?

Silverbolt, Cheetor, I want you two to try and find this

Pod.”

“Wait a nanosecond, wouldn’t da computer have announced it if

der was a pod, last night?” Rattrap asked Optimus.

“I bet it did… Someone must have fallen asleep.”

Optimus turned to the cheetah, and Cheetor smiled sheepishly. The

leader then turned to Silverbolt, saying “Go to sector 138. I

want you to report when you get the pod. Is that

understood?”

Silverbolt nodded. “Yes Sir!” He vowed, follwed by Cheetor:

”You got it Big-Bot, I won’t let you down again!”

The young cat happily told his leader.

***********************************

Silverbolt transformed into beast mode and took off flying; Cheetor likewise transformed, and started running as fast as his legs would permit.

It was pretty quiet, Cheetor and Silverbolt didn’t

talk overmuch. They had to focus on getting that pod

before the Predacons did.

***********************************

The Predacons awoke almost in unison and reported to the

control room, as they did everyday. Megatron walked

over to the monitor and saw that Tarantulas had his feet on

the desk; the spider was laid back in his chair, snoring.

“Wake up you fool!!” Megatron yelled. The

spider jolted up right away and stood to attention.

“Oh, Megatron, I di-didn’t know you were awake yet…”

“Looks like a stasis pod landed last night. Did

you know about this, Tarantulas?” Megatron slowly

turned to the spider, “Well?”

“Why no I didn’t, my dear Megatron.”

Megatron grinned, then looked at the monitor, wondering who to

send out. “Rampage, I want you and Waspinator to go to

sector 138.”

”Why must Wazzzpinator go? Why not zzend ant-bot or

zpider-bot?”

“Do you dare challenge my orders, you pathetic

insect? You will go because I told you too! …Or you

could spend the rest of the day in the CR chamber,

it’s your choice!” The tyrant yelled at the wasp.

Waspinator gulped and said “Wazzzpinator go.”

The two predacons walked out of the Darkside and

headed off to find the pod. Rampage transformed to

robot-mode and Waspinator to his beast mode. Within

seven cycles the predacons were almost there.

”Wazzzpinator zeez the pod and no Maximalzz.”

Waspinator was kind enough to announce.

”Perfect, you go to the pod and switch the chips.”

The crazed crab ordered.

Waspinator transformed and went to the pod and

opened it. He was stunned to see that nothing was inside.

”Oh, no! Nothing in here!” The wasp began to panic.

Rampage sighed, and walked to the pod to see that

Waspinator was indeed accurate. He gazed into the

pod, it still contained a maximal chip.

All of a sudden a medium sized cat jumped on the large

Predacon. Rampage turned around and caught the cat by

the throat in mid-jump and said “Ah-ah! Now that isn't

very nice, now, is it?"

Cheetor and Silverbolt appeared. “Unhand the cat,

Monster!”

Rampage turned around and looked at Silverbolt. He

tossed the cat to the ground. The psychotic crab

switched to tank mode and started firing at the fuzor

right away. Silverbolt was damaged a little bit, but

transformed and readied his missiles, firing them back

at the crab. Cheetor shot Waspinator and, as usual, the

wasp was scrapped with little resistance.

Cheetor looked at the leopard and ran to help it up.

Rampage shot one last missile at the bird-dog and

watched him fly, then land hard only a few feet away; with that Rampage turned

to the cheetah and was ready to fire. The tank let out a blast

and hit Cheetor right in the chest, causing the Maximal to fall into

stasis lock right away.

The leopard tried to move but it was no use. All she

heard before she likewise went to stasis lock was

“Ignore the pain, it’s only going to get worse,

HohohohohoHAHAHooooaa”

******************************************

When the cat woke up she found herself strapped to a

table. "Wha...What am I doing here, Where am I?"

Megatron walked in with Tarantulas by his side. "Oh,

You’re awake, greetings. I am Megatron, leader of the

Predacons, and this is Tarantulas, one of my minions.

He's going to switch you from a Maximal to a Predacon,

like the rest of us!"

Megatron left the room, and let Tarantulas get to

work. "This wouldn't hurt one bit...Tehehehe!" Cackled

the scientist.

******************************************

Optimal Optimus flew to sector 138, knowing that it shouldn't take

his crew so long to get a stasis pod. When he arrived there,

he saw both Silverbolt and Cheetor were badly damaged;

he grabbed them both and headed back to the Ark.

When he reached the base he immediately put the two

flyers into the CR chamber, then walked over to Rhinox

and said "I guess the predacons got to the pod first.

This means they have a slight advantage."

The rhino nodded. "Do you want me to call in all field

units?"

"Yes, right away, we need to warn them about the new

Predacon and tell them to keep their guard up... Especially since

we don't what it looks like." Optimus went to go and

see how his crew’s repairs were progressing. The CR chamber that

had Cheetor in it opened, the cat’s repairs were done but

Silverbolt had a long ways to go.

"Hey, Big-bot, did you get the pod?" The transmetal

two cheetah asked, slightly confused.

"No..."

Rhinox interrupted; "All field units are back, didn't

you want to talk to them about something?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a cycle."

"What did you want to talk to everybody about,

Big-bot?" Cheetor asked curiously.

"About the new Predacon. I'll need you to come too, so that you can

describe what happened." The leader walked to the

control room, followed by Cheetor.

"Why,did you call me here, Primal!? I was busy hunting for

X!" Depth Charge yelled angrily.

"I'm sure you were. Ahem. The reason I called all of

you back to base is because there's a new Predacon to

be on the alert for."

"Well, what does this new Predacon look like?"

Blackarachnia asked.

"We’re not totally sure, yet. I only got a slight glance…

When Silverbolt and I got called to sector

138, Rampage and Waspinator had beat us by just a few

cycles…. The last thing I remember is shooting Waspinator,

then Rampage caught me off guard and I was in

stasis lock before I knew what hit me. "

******************************************

When Tarantulas was finally done with switching the chips

he unstrapped the leopard and showed her to the

control room where everyone awaited their arrival.

‘…Looks like our new Predacon is here.’ Megatron

thought, smirking triumphantly.

The new Predacon was female; her beast form was a

Leopard, with sky blue optics and a long blood-red

scratch-mark under her right eye. She

looked long and hard at her comrades.

"Akira, Terrorize!" The leopard ordered. Akira was a

little taller than Waspinator; her leopard front paws

were folded up on her back, and her metal had a golden

tint to it. The cat's legs had little spikes on the

side of them, her tail stuck out. Her weapons consisted of

a plasma cannon and a rocket launcher.

"Excellent, yesss! Ahem, like I said before I am

Megatron, that is Quickstrike, Rampage, Inferno,

Dinobot, Waspinator, and Tarantulas."

"Hmm... That’s nice. Well, what are your orders?" Akira

replied in a sarcastic, impatient tone of voice.

"It looks that this bot has an attitude on ‘er!"

Quickstrike whispered to Waspinator.

"I would like you, Tarantulas, and Inferno to look for

energon in Grid Zepa." Megatron said, grinning at the three

Predacons.

"As you command, my Queen" Inferno bowed to his

leader.

"Oh, how cute! Can I call you that?" Akira chuckled,

awaiting Megatron's answer with feigned enthusiasm.

"Only if you have a death wish, my dear Akira!" Megatron

roared, angrily. "Now get going!"

Tarantulas transformed to vehicle mode and zoomed out

of the base, Akira transformed to her leopard mode and

ran to catch up.

"Watch her, carefully!" Megatron told the fire ant.

Inferno nodded and transformed to his flight mode, proceeding to

fly out of the base. He passed both Tarantulas and

Akira in no time.

*****************************************

"So, Akira... what do you think of our leader?"

"Well, from what I can tell he may perhaps be a good

commander, but he needs to work on those mood swings. Why

do you ask, Tarantulas?"

"I want you to side with me, against both the Maximals and the

Predacons. You and I would make a great team! What do

you say, my dear?"

Just as the cat was about to open her mouth, Inferno

yelled that they were now at their destination, Grid Zepa,

a large field of energon cubes.

"Inferno, Terrorize!" The large red Predacon went on

his comm. link in order to report back to his Queen.

"Akira, Terrorize!" Ordered the young cat.

"Tarantulas, Terrorize!" The spider pulled the femme-bot

to the side and emitted an exasperated sigh.

“I’ll make this a simple choice for you." He grabbed

his blaster and shoved it at Akira’s face. "Join me

or die!"

**********************************************

"I'm picking up pred activity in Grid Zepa. Should we

send anyone?" Rhinox looked up from the computers as he spoke.

"I'll go!" Cheetor kindly offered.

"Negative, you take it easy. Rattrap, Blackarachnia?"

"Whoa, I'm not riskin’ myself, no thanks, the kid

already said he'd go." The oversized rat complained.

"Yes, I know that, but he was already out once today

fighting predacons, and you two haven't been." Optimus

was slowly losing his patience with the rat.

"...Fine." Rattrap gave in, it was no use. He

transformed to vehicle mode, and stormed out of the

Ark. The transmetal two spider slowly followed.

"What if they need more help, Optimus?" Asked the

cheetah.

Optimus chuckled for a brief moment. "I am more then

happy that you want to help, but they are both very

strong. They'll be fine. Silverbolt should be done

with repairs, now, too."

************************************************

Inferno ended his connection with Megatron, then yelled

at Tarantulas and Akira. "Spider, cat, I need your

assistance with the energon cubes."

Akira was more than happy to help, as long as she

would be away from Tarantulas. The arachnid walked

over to the energon cubes and glanced at them for a

second.

Rattrap transformed and took out his fusion pistol, proceeding to

shoot down Tarantulas. Blackarachnia, who had also just arrived,

transformed and took out her dart launcher.

Akira grabbed her plasma cannon and took a few shots

at the rat, but he moved out of the way, just in time.

Inferno took out his flamethrower and burned the

terrain around Blackarachnia. "BURN, in the fires of

Inferno!!"

Tarantulas got up and took out a cylindrical tool

used to reduce the size of the energon cubes. Rattrap saw

what the spider was up to and shot a few of the cubes around him.

"Err... Can't you take down a simple vermin? You

pathetic Feline!!" Tarantulas growled in anger.

Akira turned around to face the arachnid "Well I'm

still new to the battle field, and I don't see you doing

anything Import-" Rattrap smirked as he shot the

leopard down, into stasis lock. Tarantulas stood up

and grabbed his razor wheel gun, firing shots at the

vermin.

Blackarachnia flipped over the flames, and found herself

face to face with the insect. Her left foot kicked,

striking him in the upper chest. Inferno groaned for a moment,

but by then Blackaracnia was gone. The fire-ant turned

around and looked for the she-spider, then he

swiveled back and saw Rattrap, who waved to him.

Rattrap took a few steps back, retrieving one of

his bombs and throwing it. The bomb landed next to

Inferno and exploded.

The female spider snuck up behind Tarantulas with her dart

Launcher ready. The he-spider wheeled to face her, smacking the gun out of her

hand. “Blackarachnia, get back!" Rattrap yelled as he threw one last bomb.

"Aaahhh!" The

spider shouted just as the bomb went off.

"Mission accomplished!" Rattrap declared, returning to vehicle

mode and getting a little head start. Blackarachnia smiled

as she glanced at all three of the predacons now safely in stasis lock, then

she transformed and caught up with Rattrap.

***************************************

Back at the Darkside Megatron was impatiently waiting

for the trio to return. The remaining predacons stayed

in the control room with him. "Dinobot, Rampage, take

Waspinator and Quickstrike, and go see what is taking

the others so long!"

Outside of the base Dinobot transformed to raptor

mode and rushed off, not waiting for anyone. "What's up

with the tin horn? Why is he in such a hurry?"

Quickstrike asked Rampage as he transformed.

"Probably needs to suck up more. He must be slipping!"

The crab laughed as he transformed to beast mode.

Rampage, Quickstrike, and Waspinator headed to Grid

Zepa.

***************************************

Outside of the Ark Optimus was talking to Depth

Charge and Silverbolt, when he saw Rattrap and Blackarachnia heading towards the base.

"Well. Looks like you two didn't get damaged too badly. Did you see the

new Predacon?"

"Yeah, it's a femme. I think her beast mode is a

leopard." Rattrap reported.

"She's not bad in the battlefield, even though it was

her first time… But she did get yelled at by

Tarantulas. I almost forgot how demanding the

predacons were." Blackarachnia explained to Optimus.

*****************************************

Dinobot had already reached Grid Zepa, and he found all three

of the Predacons offline. The transmetal two

transformed to his robotic form. Waspinator flew over

the raptor’s head and transformed, then landed on the rough

terrain.

"Looks like the spider isn't as tough as he thought he

was." laughed the psychotic crab, as he too transformed.

"Quickstrike, Terrorize. Well, how do we get them back

to base?"

"Simple. I'll carry the spider, Rampage you carry the

feline and you two..." Dinobot pointed to Waspinator and

Quickstrike, “Will take the ant."

Dinobot grabbed Tarantulas and shot off into a head start,

leaving the other three looking at each other. Rampage

picked up Akira and put her over his shoulder;

Waspinator and Quickstrike dragged Inferno, since he

was too heavy to carry.

*****************************************

"Let’s get inside the base, Cheetor's on scout patrol near

the Predacon ship. He was going to report if he saw

anything unusual." Optimus said.

The five maximals walked back to the ark, waiting for

the transmetal cheetah to report.

******************************************

Dinobot was the first to get to the Darkside; he went

over to the CR tank, settling Tarantulas in it, then

he reported to the control room. Megatron looked up from

the monitors, "Where's everyone else?"

"They should be coming any minute, Tarantulas is in

the CR tank."

"Well, what about the Inferno and Akira?" The tyrant

asked, trying to control his anger.

"Rampage is bringing the cat back; she isn’t damaged

as much as Inferno and Tarantulas. The insect and the

Fuzor are bringing Inferno, I think he took a

grenade, the ant looks to be seriously damaged."

Dinobot transformed to beast mode and walked towards

his leader.

A few cycles later the immortal Predacon came in with

a semi-damaged Akira. He walked to the CR tank and

half-heartedly tossed her inside. Not too long after,

Quickstrike and Waspinator returned to the Darkside,

dragging the huge fire ant along with them.

"Fuzor, put ant-bot in CR tank!" Whined the worn-out

wasp.

“I can’t lift him, you’re gonna hafta help me, partner."

The two bots continued to haul the scrapped Inferno to

a CR tank. They found out that Akira's damages were

repaired, so they brought Inferno to the freed CR tank.

Akira transformed to beast mode and walked into the

control room, ready to face Megatron and tell him how

the three predacons had failed during their mission. When she

reached the control room, before she could say

anything Megatron started yelling.

"Where are the ENERGON CUBES?"

"Whoa, there you go with those mood swings again...

We didn't get them; we kind of had… Other

problems."

"Two Maximals? There were three of you!!"

"You can't blame this whole thing on me, what about

Tarantulas and Inferno?" Akira yelled back at her

leader.

"You incompetent feline, don't talk back to me!"

Akira looked somewhat frightened. Megatron glowered.

Maybe she’d pushed him too far? Well, he’d

deserved it, in her opinion. Inferno and Tarantulas walked out of

their CR tank and headed towards the control room.

End of Chapter 1!