u/mcqtom

I'm sorry. I had a wild hare up my ass this morning. I couldn't really think about anything else today but rewriting the ending of "Victory" to lead the second half of Beast Wars Season 1 in a different direction. Part of me wishes they had the guts and the budget to do something like this for real. If you would be so kind, give it a read. I'm curious to know if the concept, or my ability to write whatsoever, is appealing to anybody but me.

Also, forgive me, but it's a bit of a hike to get to the part where much of anything changes.

==========

Rattrap put his puny rat arm over Tigatron's shoulders. "Man... Hee-hee! When we get back to Cybertron, I am gonna take you to this SWEET little hole in the wall, where I GUARANTEE-"

"Dinobot!" blurted Rhinox.

"Nah, he ain't gonna be there..." Rattrap didn't really understand why Rhinox would even guess that.

"Optimus!" Rhinox continued. He was pointing at the perimeter security feed.

Optimus was well aware of what Rhinox meant. Dinobot had just begun to appear over the ridge at what appeared to be a speed he couldn't maintain. This wasn't just because he forgot his toothbrush. Something was driving him to run. "I see him!"

Rattrap was still a little behind. "Aw, man! That just shorts my circuits! What's HE want?!"

Cheetor couldn't believe it! "ALRIGHT! He's comin' back!"

"Problem is..." Rhinox clarified, "he's not alone!"

Just then, Megatron's head and shoulders had appeared behind his former minion, matching his pace. And next, his much shorter followers popped up as well. Scorponok, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia were in hot pursuit.

The Predacons were alive!

Before anyone could even move to help, Scorponok launched a missile directly into Dinobot's back. And he went down hard. His sonic sword clattered away, and he crashed down face first into the gravel. Charred, twisted metal stuck out where his strong back used to be.

"No!" Optimus yelled, "Dinobot!"

==========

Dinobot pushed hard off the ground, but his torso just bent and screeched. Fortunately, the servos in his neck weren't damaged, and he could turn his head to look at his attackers.

He rapid-fired his eye lasers in a sweep across all four Predacons. Some were hit, others dodged, but he did halt their advance, if only momentarily.

Megatron took shelter behind a large boulder. The other Predacons regrouped around him.

==========

"I'm going for Dinobot!" declared Optimus Primal.

"We have less than two cycles to liftoff!" Rhinox protested. "This thing's barely hanging together as it is! I can't shut it down!"

"I don't want you to! If we're not back in time, liftoff without us!"

"No slaggin' WAY!"

Optimus was losing patience. "That's a priority order! Understood?!"

Rhinox slumped in his chair. "Optimus Primal. Maximize!"

He clanked his metal foot against the wall and a huge rack of blast shields slid out in front of him. He strapped one to his left arm.

With one step backward onto the lift, he deployed his battle mask and began his descent. But suddenly the emergency brake slammed and he was stuck part way down.

He looked up to find the usual yellow face peering down the shaft at him. "I'll help! Wait for me! Cheetor, Maximize!" Cheetor growled as he stood up on two feet.

"Cheetor, NO!" called Rhinox.

"Cheetor, get back to your post. That's an order!" Optimus did not have time for this.

"You'll never get to Dinobot without backup!" Cheetor couldn't take no for an answer. "Besides, Cybertron wouldn't be the same without you!"

Suddenly, the noisy launch sequence seemed quiet. Like the ship itself was waiting for Optimus' decision.

Cheetor was right. For once. Optimus relented. "All right. Let's hit 'em hard and fast!"

Cheetor beamed. "I'm your bot."

He grabbed a blast shield for himself and pencil-dived in after Optimus. It was a cramped space and they were both holding huge shields. His landing was inelegant.

Tigatron had remained silent long enough. "I cannot sit idle while my comrades battle the enemy! TIGATRON, MAXIMIZE!"

Rhinox wasn't having it. "Back in your seat! You heard the orders."

"But--"

"I. SAID. SIT!" Tigatron had never heard Rhinox speak this way before. He sat.

"We're taking this bird to Cybertron, and I need all of you to do it. Rattrap! Astro-navigation. Tigatron! Get ship's guns online. Optimus is gonna need some firepower. MOVE!"

Tigatron was still new to this "command centre" atmosphere. He felt out-of-place. But the job was simple. "YES, SIR!" he saluted, and activated the nearest console.

==========

Megatron was in cover behind a boulder. Dinobot's emerald blasts we're taking chunks out of the side.

He peeked around the corner and took a well-placed shot toward Dinobot's position. He was a small target, laying supine on the ground. But at least he wasn't a moving target.

The powerful laser whipped Dinobot around 180°, and with that attack, Dinobot was finished. He tried to get up, but quickly fell into stasis lock.

Optimus and Cheetor were on the ground. But the Predacons had spotted them and there was a hailstorm of missiles and bullets. Megatron had three out of five Preds as support. No flyers. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"Give me cover fire. I've GOT to get to Dinobot." commanded Optimus.

"My pleasure!" Cheetor cheered. His enthusiasm was inappropriate, but hopefully it would give them some advantage.

"Prime jets, on!" Optimus recited. As his feet left the ground, Cheetor let out a great battle cry and fired a dozen rounds from his quasar rifle.

"SUPPRESSING FIRE!!!"

Optimus flew sideways to keep his blast shield between himself and the Predacons. Good thing they hadn't thought to spread out. But the ammunition ricocheting and exploding on his shield was intense. Dinobot lay dangerously close to the Predacons' "clump" formation.

Even with such a narrow field of fire, it seemed a miracle that Optimus touched down next to Dinobot unscathed.

Dinobot was awake. Optimus lifted him up with his available arm. "This... is strategically un-sound." Dinobot spluttered, in no position to be critical.

Optimus heaved Dinobot up over his shoulder. His large blast shield kept feeling smaller and smaller. He reactivated his jets and replied, "Tell me about it back on Cybertron."

He looked back over his shoulder for the return flight, needing to keep deflecting shots the whole way. But four Predacons in a clump wasn't his only problem. Terrorsaur had recovered from Dinobot's ingenious trap. And he was right behind Optimus and Dinobot.

Two quick shots from Terrorsaur's shoulder cannons, and Optimus and Dinobot went down. He let out his usual insufferable cackle.

Cheetor hadn't seen Terrorsaur in time. Anger took control and he opened fire upon the red menace, forgetting all about his blast shield. He didn't even get to find out if his shots landed before Megatron's main battle laser smashed into him, knocking him back toward the Axalon.

Megatron emerged. "They're finished! Head for the ship!"

==========

Tigatron's computer screen showed four ground units closing in on the starboard bow. The auto-guns were locked and loaded. The computer emitted four beeps as all targets were acquired.

"Ship's guns: FIRE!" cried Tigatron.

==========

Megatron and his followers were at full sprint toward the lift, which was still deployed for the three Maximals. But the auto-cannons were about to change that.

First Scorponok fell. Then Blackarachnia. Tarantulas didn't make it either. Megatron was only a few short steps away from the platform, but he was blown back farthest of all, smashing his head on the rock that had previously protected him.

==========

The battlefield was suddenly still. Almost tranquil. But Optimus' ears were ringing. He regained his feet, but he was damaged to the point that his energon field dampers had failed. His body was crackling and numb. He converted to beast mode and realized he had a splitting headache. But as the ringing went away, he heard the Axalon's transwarp drive reaching the final launch stage. The system was completely energized.

==========

Just below the Axalon, Cheetor was crawling up to the lift. He could hardly see straight. He got just enough of his body onto the platform that when it started lifting off the ground, it took him up with it. His optics were in standby, but he felt his fingers lose contact with the rocky ground.

He woke with a start. Where were Optimus and Dinobot?

"The train's pulling out!" He looked around and saw a silverback gorilla carrying Dinobot's limp body slowly towards him. "OPTIMUS!!!” he screamed over the noise of the ship.

Rhinox was watching from the bridge. Optimus was moving much too slowly. "Come on... C'mon!" he said only to himself.

Optimus reached the spot where the lift used to be. But the fully-extended platform was already five meters in the air.

He let out a primal roar as he catapulted Dinobot up to the lift. The Predacon landed securely with a bang at Cheetor's feet.

And now for himself. He took a deep breath and jumped with all his might.

He's one tough monkey.

Cheetor had him by the hand. "Gotcha, Big Bot!"

Optimus took another breath. This time with relief. It wasn't the launch he'd been expecting, but he got all his people out of there safely.

They could no longer just leave with their stasis pods and come back at their leisure to recover the Golden Disk, or what was left of it. They had to come back quickly, with more ships, to bring Megatron to justice. But that should be easy. Especially with transwarp technology.

Actually, they still needed to figure out when and where they were, before they could even plot a course for home. Optimus wondered how long it would take Rhinox to perform the calculations...

==========

Scorponok was used to hitting his head. He was the first Predacon to regain consciousness. He looked up, and to his surprise, the Maximal ship was still taking off. He must've only been out for about 30 nano-kliks.

There were pieces falling off the hull of the badly damaged vessel. Is that Optimus dangling from the bottom? Maybe I can't bring down the whole thing before it gets away, but I can sure bring down their slagging leader!

Scorponok smacked his right claw down onto a rock for stability and cranked it open to fire a mega missile right at Optimus.

The RPG streaked up toward the Axalon and rather than blowing up and knocking everyone off the lift, it simply smacked Optimus and Cheetor's hands on its way by.

With a sudden clank, their hands were forced apart. Time seemed to slow down. Cheetor was horrified by Optimus' disappointed face growing smaller and smaller as it fell straight down away from him back to the crashsite they'd called home for almost a planetary cycle.

Optimus was similarly shocked. Cheetor had become like a son to him. Everything he had just been planning was Rhinox' problem now. Or Rattrap's. The two of them can take care of everything. The next steps don't require my involvement. I have a new objective now. Stay alive. Hide from the Predacons, if necessary. It's just a waiting game until they come back. Whether I'm alive or not, Megatron will be stopped. Our mission will be accomplished. I just might not be there to witness it.

Hurry back, Rhinox. I can't run from them forever.

Cheetor closed his eyes. This had to be another dream. It HAD to be.

He opened them again just in time to see Optimus splat into the ground. It was real.

"NOOO!!!” Cheetor cried.

The tiny figure became smaller and smaller on the distant ground. Cheetor's optics kept zooming and tracking trying to keep him in view. But within a few moments, he was gone.

"OPTIMUS!!!”

==========

The Axalon banked left, dodging between landmarks as the ship painstakingly gained altitude. Megatron had rushed to the top of a hill to intercept the flight path as the old bucket glided past. He launched himself out into the valley and caught hold of a dangling support strut, and held there for a moment, admiring his own greatness.

==========

Cheetor and Dinobot rode the lift back up to the bridge. Dinobot hung his head. He was the one who brought the Predacons back with him. He had deserted his allies out of fear for the repercussions of his crimes. And then came crawling back for help. He was without honour.

Cheetor was in shock. His mouth hung open, and he couldn't really tell if the elevator was going up, or down, or spinning like a gyro.

The two bots arrived at the command centre with a swish and a kachunk.

"You... should've left me be-..." Dinobot looked up. Sprawled across the deckplates of the command centre were the motionless forms of Rhinox and Tigatron. Rattrap was nowhere to be seen.

"What the-?" Cheetor began.

Megatron stood before them. Tall and proud and pleased with himself. "Would you excuse me for one moment?" he oozed, as he smashed the button for the elevator.

Cheetor and Dinobot were ejected from the ship. They tumbled a hundred meters to the ground, the sound of clattering metal echoing around the mesa as Optimus witnessed their not-so-triumphant return to the surface.

Megatron smiled. "Well. I'd say I owe them a get-well hologram. Yesss..."

He turned. Scratching his central processing unit, he wondered which station was the helm.

He stepped over Tigatron's undignified carcass. Much like the workstations on the Darksyde, these all appeared to be multi-purpose. "Megatron to Terrorsaur and Waspinator, come in at once!"

[ "..." ]

"Blast... Sometimes I wish I had two hands." He set his tail-claw down against a workstation.

It became obvious that the last monitor on the right was currently in flight mode. He leaned over the controls and set the auto-pilot to steadily climb into orbit.

"There! That will do, while I jettison the rest of this SCRAP."

Beep!

"Eh! Let me take care o' that for ya, boss!"

Rattrap's demolition charge exploded.

==========

Optimus' head hurt. As he approached his allies' crashsite, he noticed Blackarachnia and Tarantulas laying unconscious in the battlefield. But Megatron, Scorponok and Terrorsaur were all missing. And he hadn't even seen Waspinator yet.

"Destroyed afterall..?" he wondered. Cheetor and Dinobot were groaning and regaining consciousness. "Optimus Primal, Maximize."

He tried his jets. No good.

"That's-..." He paused. "...prime."

==========

Megatron's tyrannosaur head was obliterated. "ARRRGH!!!" he bellowed.

Beep! Beep!

Next to go were his hip-blasters. Megatron fell to his knees. "YOU!"

Rattrap laughed and unholstered his stasis pistol. "Let me show ya where the scrap goes."

Megatron rose to his feet. All his weapon systems were disabled. He gazed longingly at his tail-claw.

"Well, rodent? You're going to have to make me."

Rattrap squeezed the trigger. The shot landed somewhere around Megatron's collar.

If the blast had any effect on the Predacon tyrant, he didn't show it.

Megatron reached out with his bare hand and lifted Rattrap off the deck. He used his teeth to grab the gun out of the small Maximal's stunned grasp. He spat it on the floor. "None of that, vermin. No..."

"For now, I shall crush you like a rat..." he threatened, lifting Rattrap higher into the air, "...IN A TRAP!"

Rattrap began to squeal.

Rhinox' audio sensors were finely tuned to the sound of Rattrap's wails. He started coming around. "Not... a..." He exploded onto his feet. "CHANCE!"

Priorities quickly shifted. Megatron discarded Rattrap like an empty oil can. He moved to engage Rhinox. He considered himself to be relatively immovable, as objects go, but once again the rhinoceros' force proved to be unstoppable.

In no time at all, Rhinox had Megatron lifted up over his head and was looking around for the nearest inch of water to drown him in.

But it wasn't that kind of bridge, so he gently set Megatron down, head first, on elevator #2 and showed him his size 58 stomper.

The great lizard fired out the bottom of the ship like a meteor and bellowed unhappily all the way to the ground.

==========

Rhinox checked the flight controls. And then the system readouts. Everything seemed to be functioning within normal parameters. Rattrap and Tigatron came to his side.

"We can't..." Rattrap swallowed, "jus' leave them here."

"We can't just go back and pick 'em up either. We're lucky to be in the air, and we can't draw any more weapons fire." Rhinox explained. "She WON'T fly again."

"So... So, we go sound the alarm on Cybertron, and come back with a decent ship. A... A slaggin' hundred decent ships, with enough power bonds to hold a combiner team!" Rattrap pleaded.

"Hopefully." considered Rhinox, "But we can't do any of that until we figure out where we have to go."

"You don't know where Cybertron is?" Tigatron couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Where will be the easy part, right after we figure out when. We never plotted a course to come here, we only followed in Megatron's wake. Not even Dinobot knew what coordinates Megatron used to get here. And apparently, this isn't even where he meant to go. Navigation through time is... annoying."

"I'll get the abacus." joked Rattrap.

Tigatron went over to the window and took one last look out at the vista of the only planet he ever called home.

"May the Matrix protect your sparks for all eternity..." he prayed.

==========

Optimus looked around. He could now account for Megatron and the two spiders, but the others could be anywhere.

"We have to move." he told his comrades.

Dinobot still couldn't stand up. They didn't have a C/R chamber anymore. The only repairs they were going to be getting were courtesy of their beast modes. "Everyone transform. Maybe your dinosaur spine is in better shape."

It was. Optimus, Cheetor and Dinobot were on their feet and facing no immediate threats.

"Them!" demanded Dinobot, "We must take the spiders hostage."

"Won't that slow us down?" Cheetor realized. "They'll find us in no time!"

"Yes... but we should press any advantage we get." Optimus thought aloud.

He walked over to the Predacons laying unconscious. He's no murderer, but he could delay their reactivation...

He picked up Blackarachnia in one hand and grasped her head with the other. "Sorry about this." he said, rather authentically. His gorilla arms effortlessly popped her head off. Dinobot hesitated. This seemed somehow more perverse than just extinguishing their sparks.

"Give him to me." Optimus dropped one body and received the other from Dinobot. He popped that one too. He took the heads and walked thoughtfully to the outcropping overlooking the waterfall.

"I kinda like this spot." he lamented. Cheetor and Dinobot squinted at him. They expected him to say almost anything else.

He dropped one head and watched as it fell at a slight angle away from them. The wind was picking up. He counted 14 nano-kliks before it made a tiny splash into the pool.

He did the same with the other one. They splashed in almost the same spot. Not ideal, but the Maximals only needed enough time to disappear.

"Alright. Let's move out." Optimus said. The others had nothing to say.

Like shooting fish in a barrel + a school of fish

Plus some spicy implication.