CHAPTER ELEVEN
"Hey, Grimlock?"
"Not now, Sludge!" Grimlock snapped as he bashed his tail into Darksteel's face.
"I just thought I'd-"
"I said not now, Sludge!" Grimlock yelled as he transformed into robot mode, grabbed the Predacon called Lazerback, and threw him into his lookalike Vertebreak.
"It's pretty import-"
"What part of 'not now, Sludge' do you not understand, Sludge?!" Grimlock roared as he pummeled his fist into Ripclaw.
"When did we get two more members?"
Confused, Grimlock turned to see two mechs standing by the entrance to Ripclaw's lab. Judging by their appearance, the two transformed into dinosaurs as well. One of them carried a pair of two daggers, while the other had a saw blade attacked to their arm.
Narrowing his visor at them, Grimlock growled, "If you're here to help us, then we'd gladly appreciate it."
The one with the daggers grinned wickedly. "Good thing we are, then."
With that, the two new Dinobots charged in and the battle resumed.
* * *
"Come on, come on," Sky Lynx muttered to himself as he turned around another corner in the dungeon. "The space bridge has gotta be around here somewhere. It wouldn't be a colony word if it didn't!"
Opening a door- the dozenth one in as many minutes- Sky Lynx hoped to find the space bridge in there but instead found a "fellow" Predacon, whom he did not recognize. Colored in purple and green, and wearing the same body type Sky Lynx bore, the Predacon turned to face him and glared.
"What are you doing here?"
"Huh?" Sky Lynx said. "Oh, I was just looking for the space bridge."
"This rusted ol' thing?" the Predacon said, pointing a thumb at the pronged device placed behind him. "It hasn't been used in ages. Probably doesn't even work anymore. Why do you need it?"
"Razorclaw ordered me to activate it," Sky Lynx lied. "The Maximals are attacking us and our defenses are faltering. Haven't you felt the fortress shuddering?"
The Predacon frowned. "Well, yeah, but I had assumed it Councilor Tantrum having one of his... fits."
Sky Lynx shook his head. "It's worse than that. Now stand aside while I set in the coordinates."
The Predacon nodded and stepped aside, allowing Sky Lynx to work. After typing in the coordinates for Cybertron, he pulled the lever to activate the space bridge... and nothing happened.
"Oh, come on!" he snapped, pulling the lever again, only to have the same results.
"I told you it probably wouldn't work," the Predacon said glumly. "Maybe if you released the Beast, it would change the tide-"
"Frag!" Sky Lynx exclaimed, kicking the space bridge... only to regret it instantly.
With a loud hum, a blue orb materialized between the two prongs, growing each second. Sky Lynx and the Predacon backed away from the device only for an invisible force to seize the former and pull him into the portal....
* * *
Having been rushing through the jungle for a while, in search of Primal Major and his group, Fangwolf came to an abrupt stop when the ground violently rumbled. Morphing from his wolf form, he continued his trek until he reached the Predacon fortress, finding his fellow Maximals in mid-combat with Cryotek and other Predacons.
"By the Triptych Mask, what is going on?" Primal cried as the ground shook again.
"Face it," Rattrap muttered. "We're all gonna die."
"Not now, Rattrap," Rhinox grunted. "There's gotta be a reasonable explanation for this."
"Oh, but there is," Cryotek chuckled. "Our great ancestor has returned in our final hour. The Great Beast King will show no mercy to-"
"You shut up, too," Cheetor snapped, shooting the warlord down. Turning to Primal, he said, "What do we do, Boss-bot?"
"We wait," Primal replied. "Wait for whatever is in store for us."
* * *
It had happened all too fast.
One moment, Ripclaw and her fellow Predacons had been fighting Grimlock and the Dinobots. The next, an invisible force had begun dragging the Dinobots out of her lab and towards the dungeon, along with the brainwashed Swoop.
"After them!" Ripclaw shrieked as she and the others took pursuit.
The chase took them throughout the fortress, sending them down into the dungeon. Upon reaching an open chamber, Darksteel charged forward, intending to intercept the Dinobots' trajectory, but was knocked aside when their bodies collided into his.
Inside the chamber was an ancient, rusted device with two long prongs. Between the prongs was a large, blue portal, which the seven Dinobots were being dragged into. Swoop, Scorn, Slash, and Snarl were the first to go into it, while Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge used their larger weights to impede themselves.
Finding her fellow Predacon Fangblade cowering against the wall, Ripclaw growled, "What in Onyx's name is going on?"
"I don't know!" Fangblade cried. "Sky Lynx was trying to activate it and it sucked him in!"
Ripclaw was about to question him further when Slag let out a wail and flew into the portal. Sludge quickly followed, leaving only Grimlock behind.
"Someone shut off that accursed thing!" Ripclaw screeched.
Lazerback moved in to do just that, but the malfunctioning space bridge made the ground shake again, causing Grimlock to lose his grip and hurl himself into the portal. Once he was through, the blue orb vanished and the entire dungeon went still. Silence reigned for a very long time....
EPILOGUE
"Welp, looks like she's ready for take off!" Wreck-Gar said, patting the Ark's newly-installed engine. "If you have any further technical difficulties, you can count on the Junkions to fix them!"
Jazz- now in command of the Ark in Optimus Prime's absence- smiled. "Thanks, Wreck-Gar. The others had their doubts- even me- but we are now forever in your debt."
Wreck-Gar grinned. "Don't mention it! Oh, and here's that glowing blue thing your boss-bot wanted."
Jazz held out his hand, which the Junkion dropped the second AllSpark shard into. The Autobot lieutenant almost smiled until he remembered that Optimus Prime, who had the other shard, was still missing.
Noticing his visible distraught, Wreck-Gar patted Jazz on the shoulder. "Don't worry, mate. I'm sure you'll find your leader, somewhere out there."
"I hope you're right," Jazz murmured, turning to had back for the Ark. "Thanks again for your help."
On the ship's bridge, the Autobots were already prepping it for launch. As Jazz reluctantly took a seat in the command chair, Sideswipe said, "Where to now? Do we search for Optimus?"
"We don't have anything to go off of," Perceptor said. "Lockdown could have taken him anywhere."
"But we can't just forget about Prime!" Ironhide protested. "What kind of Autobots would we be if we did?"
Jazz considered their options for a moment before saying, "Set a course for Gigantion."
Ironhide whirled around to face him. "But-"
"That's what Optimus would have wanted us to do: continue the mission rather than fretting over him."
"And at least we know where Gigantion is," Perceptor pointed out.
Ironhide frowned but merely sighed. Jazz walked over to the veteran and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, I dislike it as much as you do, but like Perceptor said: we have no idea where Optimus is. Besides, we have an AllSpark to find and Cybertron is counting on us."
Ironhide solemnly nodded before smirking grimly. "You hang out way too much with Prime, 'cause he would have said the exact same thing."
Jazz smiled. "Hope that's a good thing." To Sideswipe, he said, "For Gigantion."
* * *
Axer awoke from stasis lock to find a large, white and blue mech looming over him. With a yell, the bounty hunter scurried for cover only to be pinned down by the mech's peg leg.
"You're not going anywhere," Thundertron snarled. "We have use for you."
Axer cowered in his presence. "What... kind of use?"
The Star Seeker grinned savagely. "You're a bounty hunter, are you not?"
Axer nodded meekly.
"Then you no doubt have exceptional tracking abilities, correct?"
"I... suppose."
Thundertron laughed heartily as he dragged the ex-Decepticon to his feet. "Then you just might be good for a Cybertronian!"
"Wh-what do you want me to track down?" Axer asked. "The Autobots' Ark?"
"Bah!" Thundertron snapped. "Why waste your talents on them? No, I require your skills for something far more worth my time."
Slapping Axer on the back, he hissed into his audio receptor, "Welcome to the Star Seekers."
* * *
A storm tore the jungle asunder. Leo Prime watched as it did, secluded within the cave he and the other Maximals resided in.
It had been nearly a week since the Dinobots had vanished. Primal, his fellow former Autobots, and Fangwolf had recently returned from their attempts to aid them, battered and bruised. Leo had refrained from scolding them so that they could heal and soon found it best that they simply all forget about the Dinobots' visit to Animatron.
In spite of himself, Leo Prime could not help but wonder what it was that caused Grimlock and his comrades to disappear. Was it a weapon that the Predacons were developing to eradicate the Maximals? Or was it something even they did not understand?
The Maximal leader sighed. Whatever it was, it could no doubt decide the fate of the Beast Wars... and perhaps the rest of the galaxy.
TO BE CONTINUED
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