Chapter Twenty-Five: Wake-Up Call
Published October 26th, 2013
Chapter Twenty-Five: Wake-Up Call
Bunker's hooves pounded against the ground in steady rhythm as he followed the dot on his internal map that marked the landing point. Above him, Firefall was watching all around them, making sure they would not be ambushed by anyone or anything hiding in the sparse plant life that dotted the area. They came over a hill, and they could both see in the distance a large dust cloud. The landing point. Bunker pushed his body to go even faster as Firefall took the lead and moved ahead of him. On top of the next rise, Bunker could see the pod itself as Firefall worked the controls in her robot mode. Her body was originally designed to handle the higher temperatures that came with pushing her body's limits for extended periods of time, so the still-hot surface barely bothered her. Bunker came up behind her, and watched for a moment to make sure she was proceeding smoothly. Satisfied that she was, he turned around and started pacing around the pod to make sure they wouldn't be attacked without warning. As he scanned the surroundings, Firefall spoke.
"Hey, what if there aren't any usable beast modes close enough for the protoform to use? Will it just turn into a tree, or something?" Bunker grinned a little at the idea of having a tree alt-mode.
"No, there will be something. The scanner goes through the ground as well, so worst-case scenario, it turns him into a diamond dog." Firefall nodded, then something occurred to her.
"Wait. So, if that phoenix hadn't been there when I woke up, what would I have turned into?" Bunker gave his best imitation of a shrug as he looked over a particularly large patch of shrubbery.
"I don't know. If there hadn't been any other animals nearby appropriate for your function, it might have even turned you into a bug." Firefall shuddered at the idea.
"Yeah, well, I'm glad it didn't."
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In the southern part of the Everfree forest, Wingshift stood guard over the stasis pod that held the protoform. Although he had gotten there some time ago, he had found his claws too large for use with the small space the keyboard was in. Deciding that it was probably better to wait for one of the others to arrive, he had hidden himself, and now watched the small clearing with perfect stillness, waiting for any Decepticon to appear. The sound of movement coming from a ways off in the brush set his nerves on edge. He readied himself to strike, but relaxed when a manticore walked out into the clearing. With Crosswire safely held in the Star Runner, he didn't need to worry about this one being a Decepticon. The creature took a few steps in, looking around as it approached the pod. As Wingshift watched, the beast suddenly snapped its attention to another part of the forest, backing away as a dragon revealed itself from the foliage.
^Fireburst. Seems he didn't trust the Hive to get the job done themselves. Smart move, but not helpful to me.^ The manticore snarled at Fireburst as he approached, but a single jet of flame was enough to send it running. Fireburst walked calmly towards the pod, but stopped when he heard the buzzing of wings. He turned just in time to get a mouthful of hoof, and stumbled slightly from the hit. He spun back around to face the new threat.
"Well, well, well. Looks like I'm not the only one out hunting." He sneered.
"I'm not hunting, I'm guarding. From you." The mutant transformed, spreading his claws wide in a combat stance. The Decpticon grinned at the challenge, and followed suit.
"Then let's see how well you play the part of a shield." Fireburst lunged forward, locking his claws with Wingshift, and shoving him back a few feet in the dirt. "Not bad, freak. But I'm just getting warmed up!" He dropped one knee, allowing the Autobot to throw himself off-balance, and then flung his foe across the clearing, quickly giving chase and following up with a solid kick to Wingshift's side, making him gasp as his organic internal parts were suddenly slammed together with his metallic ones. Fireburst rolled his neck and shoulders, stretching himself back out as his opponent got up. Wingshift wiped some stray Energon away from his faceplate, and reset his stance.
"If you're just getting started, then how about I kick it up a notch?" With a flourish, several copies of himself spread out to either side. Fireburst rolled his eyes.
"Again? I already figured out how to keep track of you, you know. It's just like that stupid cup game that every species seems to come up with. You can't fool me." One of the copies charged him, and he brought up his guard. A clang rang out at the point of impact, and Fireburst turned as Wingshift blew past him. "You see? Now that I know which one is the real you, I have nothing to worry ab-AGH!" He stumbled forward from a strike from behind, and turned in bewilderment to see another Wingshift, grinning confidently. "What in the Inferno!?"
"Hard-light holograms. It doesn't really matter if you can tell which one is me. All of them can hurt you. What's more, you can't single me out with your Cybertronian detectors, thanks to my partially-organic body." The rest of the copies spread further out, surrounding the Decepticon. "Now might be a good time to surrender."
"Not a chance." Fireburst whipped his swords out, and dashed toward the Wingshift that had first attacked him. The first strike was blocked by his arm, but the follow-up stab pierced his chest, disassembling the illusion. The twin blades spun again as their wielder turned back to the rest. "Show me what you've got."
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In the west of the forest, two Changelings shuffled forward out of the trees, into the area that had been cleared of foliage by the stasis pod. Seeing and hearing nothing else in the vicinity, they galloped down the landing trench to the pod.
"C'mon, Carapace, move it! This place gives me the creeps, and it won't be long before the predators decide to investigate!" Carapace wheezed as he ran, short on energy and unused to traveling such long distances by hoof.
"You have the chip, Glasswing! Just go ahead of me, and I'll catch up." The first one glared at her companion.
"And let you slink off while my back is turned? Not a chance. Now hurry up!" A minute later, they reached the end of the path, and were standing next to the pod. Glasswing pulled the chip she had acquired from Fireburst out from her wing-cover, and after a few moments of fumbling with the control panel, had managed to insert it. She stepped back as the scanner started, but her good mood at having completed the task was spoiled by a hoof tapping her shoulder.
"What, Carapace?" She turned to glare at him, noting how quickly he looked around them, as though he saw beasts in the shadows.
"Didn't you hear that? I think we have company, and I think it's hungry." He was visibly shaking, now, but the female Changeling just rolled her eyes as she turned back to the pod.
"Your imagination is running away with you. It's probably just the machine mak-"
"Hssssssssssssssss..." She froze, only moving her eyes to look at her companion again.
"Did that just come from behind us?" Carapace nodded. Glasswing shuddered, then swallowed the lump in her throat in preparation to turn around and face whatever monster had snuck up on them. When she did, Carapace turned with her.
Their screams of terror were cut off as quickly as they started.
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To the south, Chrysalis felt the disappearance of the two from the hive mind, and growled in frustration. Reaching out to a pair of Changelings still in the tunnels, she called them to her. Within minutes, they were standing in the throne room, awaiting her orders.
"Frill, Buzz, I have something very important for you to do." They both saluted, and she quickly briefed them on their mission. Soon, they were flying out of the caves, on their way north.
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Dark Lance had put his mask down to protect his optics as he flew, Skybreaker right behind him. They were mere minutes away from the nearest stasis pod, but Dark Lance knew that if Fireburst had planned out his operation as thoroughly as he seemed to have, they wouldn't make it. He transformed mid-flight as his sensors alerted him to the building radiation in his circuits.
"Skybreaker! At my pace, we aren't going to get there in time! Go as fast as you can, and try to keep the protoform safe until I get there. We can't take any further risks. Get going, and I'll catch up." The scout saluted, and beat his wings harder, quickly pulling ahead of his superior.
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Back in the gem fields, Firefall had finished going through the pod's scanner sequence. All that was left was to wait for the protoform to wake up. She stepped away, and transformed as Bunker came up.
"Looks like we're in the clear. I'm going to head for the next pod, stay here and get the new protoform briefed, then follow. I'll probably need help to keep any Changelings that Fireburst sent away from the site." Firefall nodded, and he galloped off. She turned back, watching as the scanner refolded and the sounds of the protoform formatting began to emanate from the pod.
"C'mon you hunk of scrap! We need him out here *now*!"
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Fireburst growled as another flurry of Energon pellets sped past the tree he had taken cover behind. He knew he was close to victory, but he didn't have the speed necessary to get close enough to his opponent to finish the fight. He peeked out again from his shelter.
Wingshift was panting, covered in cuts and lacerations. None were particularly serious on their own, but the collective toll was being taken. Fireburst's own arms had blocked most of the mutant's attacks, but now they had been scratched and shot enough to be almost useless, although his main cannon was still functional. All he needed was a chance to charge it. His opponent, however, was aware of this single weak point, and the machine guns were doing a grand job of keeping the Decepticon on the defensive.
"You know," Fireburst called, "You aren't going to win this. Your wounds are much more severe than mine. You'll fall first."
"Irrelevant. All I have to do is keep you away from the pod long enough for the others to get here, and you lose." Fireburst laughed.
"Maybe, but what if my associates get here first?" Wingshift's optics widened, and he spun around. Sure enough, there were two Changelings next to the pod. He took one step, and his knee buckled, sending him to the ground. He tried to rise to a sitting position, but was immediately pressed back into the dirt.
"You see?" Fireburst sneered as he pressed his foot harder into his foe's back, "I planned this out far more than you thought. What made you think I would come here alone? You and Bunker are both able to match me. Had I arrived by myself, I obviously wouldn't have succeeded." He returned his attention to the Changelings. "Finish it up. I want to see the birth of this new Decepticon myself." He grinned in anticipation, until he felt a grip on his leg. Wingshift had grabbed him, and he could feel the same draining sensation as before. He snatched his foot away, and Wingshift took the opportunity to transform and fly back to the Star Runner. Fireburst watched him go, then turned back to the pod. "No matter. He won't be online much longer, anyway."
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To the northeast of the forest, two more Changelings snuck out of their latest hiding place, moving quickly toward their target. Once they were next to the pod, they turned toward each other, speaking simultaneously.
"Put the chip in." Their eyes widened in unison. "I thought you had it!" They covered their faces with their hooves. "Now what? We're dead meat!" They started panicking, until one suddenly grabbed the other by the shoulders.
"Aqua! We have to run! Chrysalis will know, and then she'll tell the dragon, and then he'll kill us! We need to leave!" The other nodded vigorously.
"I agree, Marine, but where can we go? We'd have to go across the ocean to get far enough from the hive mind." Marine took a step back, and put his hoof to his chin in thought. He perked up, and opened his mouth to speak, but Aqua suddenly found himself looking at a yellow fist where his twin used to be. He had enough time to wonder "What is that?" before he was similarly launched across the clearing by a pain in his stomach. He slammed into a nearby tree, and fell to the ground unconscious.
Skybreaker spun off the momentum from his kick, and zoomed his optics to make sure his victims weren't dead. Satisfied that was not the case, he turned back to the pod.
"That was too close. Now, let's get you up and about." He started typing in commands. "Ooh, you're a triple-changer. Let's see.... Designed for hazardous area operations, huh? In that case, I'm going straight to the databanks for you. The Star Runner's cannon should be a good alt-mode, but you still need a beast mode. Let's see what the scanner picks up." He finished putting in the commands, and scooted back in his crouch to let the scanner unfold. "And now we wait." He started settling in, when he heard a gasp behind him. He spun around, ready to fight, but became horrified by what was in front of him.
A green unicorn with a huge, ecstatic smile on her face.
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In the easternmost part of the forest, another pair of Changelings were busy shuffling around as the pod they had been sent to finished. Around them, they could see, hear, and smell the timberwolves that had found them, and they were debating whether or not they should leave the pod's inhabitant to fend for itself. One of the wolves finally showed itself, stepping out from the trees and signaling the others to do so as well. The two Changelings flared their wings in preparation for takeoff, but before anything could make another move, the pod emitted a loud hiss as the lid opened. The timberwolves growled as the Changelings stared in anticipation. Through the cloud of pressurized, super-cooled gas that billowed from the vessel, they could all see a large form, and two yellow eyes, which growled right back at the predators.
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Mythology Gag to Beast Wars and that crazy Inferno. FOR THE ROYALTY!!!
That Lyra and her fascination with hands!
So Bunker and Firefall didn't have any trouble with their stasis pod, but Wingshift, due to not being able to operate the controls for his stasis pod, decided to guard it instead. Too bad Fireburst chose to personally oversee the capture of that stasis pod. Wingshift put up a good fight, but he was no match for the power of Fireburst, and was forced to abandon the mission. I'm sure Dark Lance will say that it's better that they only lose one ally to reprogramming then to also lose another ally in battle.
Glasswing and Carapace didn't have any trouble reprogramming the stasis pod they were sent to capture for the Cons, but they were killed by a creature. And Chrysalis is responding by sending out Frill and Buzz, who are going in that direction.
Skybreaker flew at top speed to the stasis pod that he and Dark Lance were headed for, and managed to incapacitate Aqua and Marine, who each thought the other one had the chip. Now he has activated the stasis pod, but is now face to face with the most terrible entity in existence: Lyra Heartstrings, who has seen that he has HANDS!!!
And another pair of Changelings had managed to reprogram their stasis pod, but were debating if they should leave it to fend for itself when some Timberwolves showed up. Then the scanners on the pod scanned the timberwolves, so they have activated a Con who might be feral now that he's been activated.
So the final tally for the stasis pods in this chapter is as follows: The Autobots managed to get two of them, but the Decepticons got three of them. Time for me to make a prediction: One of the newly reprogrammed and activated Cons will be like Beast Wars Silverbolt, simply too honorable to stay on the bad guys side.
3402918
Frill and Buzz just got sent north. The hive is way down in the south, remember?
3425412 Edited. Thanks.