"HOW? HOW? Could I not appear again to torment the Maximals?! After the Predacon's success?"
"Sadly, no. But that will not be considered relevant. We must move on."
"And yet, for every attempt that could destroy Starscream... he appears that he cannot even die."
The audience was silent, acknowledging on the fact that Starscream is unkillable.
"That aside, while we can't deactivate him permanently, we can certainly enjoy beating the scrap outta him." Sideswipe suggested.
"Count me in!" Grimlock said.
"Me too!" said Bulkhead.
"Hear hear." added Wheeljack.
Starscream gulped.
"Are you ready to view the next?"
"We are, Omega Scion." answered Prime.
Everyone took their seats down the count of three when the Orb of the Future began to reveal another viewing.
Around the Axalon, vegetation began to grow and prosper in a seemingly lifeless barren area where the Maximals stationed their base in. However, this not considered welcome at first as Rattrap cleaved through the vines with a machete looking like amongst many of Primal's swords.
"NO, my garden! My beautiful garden! You monster!" Cliffjumper dramatically hammed.
Arcee smirked at his joke.
"Aw, man! I signed up as an explorer, an adventurer, ya know...your basic galactic hero." Rattrap moaned while hacking through every of the vines. "Since when does that include gardening duty?"
"You signed up to follow Primal's orders, you whiny scrapheap!" Ultra Magnus reminded sternly.
"These wild bean vines could provide cover for a Predacon ambush, rodent." Dinobot corrected as he carved a swathe through the vegetations with relative ease with his tail rotor shield. "One must always be on the alert for sneak attacks." He placed his shield down to pick up something from the ground.
Everyone was glad to have memory wipes in their faces upon seeing the "chrome dome cake" Dinobot had when he bent down.
"Funny... That's just what I was thinking." Rattrap replied with a thought. "Foooore!" and swatted a wild bean at Dinobot's rear.
Knockout elicted a "ha!" at the attempt.
"I gotcha!" he taunted.
Incensed, Dinobot insulted "Insolent vermin!" and tackled Rattrap in a wild brawl.
The Autobots facepalmed, except their venerable leadership.
"Damn, I know you don't like Preds, Rattrap, but can't you even for once get along with Dinobot?" asked Bulkhead.
"Don't think he would, Bulk." Grimlock said.
In the interior, Rhinox detected multiple signatures coming in fast in their base.
"Predacons signature is detected around base perimeter." Rhinox notified.
"Bringing Sentinel on line." Cheetor tried to do via defense computer, but Primal overruled that order "No! Dinobot and Rattrap are still outside!".
Rhinox then hailed the rat Maximal. "Rattrap, code 1 emergency, return to base!"
Although the latter was struggling against Dinobot as the latter was trying to kill him.
"Aw, no can do that, Big Green. I've got problems of my own!" Rattrap refused.
"I'm going outside." Rhinox announced, armed.
"...you big mook..." Rattrap spat out struggling against Dinobot, but before long, an aerial wing of Waspinator, Inferno and Terrorsaur soared in Maximal airspace, firing into the midst. Interrupting their brawl.
"We are under attack!" Dinobot spat out obviously.
"Oh, really? Got any other astute observation you'd like to make, Lizard-lips?" Rattrap spat out derisively.
"Get inside you two!" Rhinox came down guns blazing at the attacking Predacon flyers. "MOVE!"
"You heard 'im! Move it!" Rattrap said, pushing Dinobot, but this prompted the latter to grab Rattrap by the head.
"Unlike you, cheese-eater, I do not run from battle!" Dinobot argued and fired his laser eyes at the Predacon flyers.
"Hey! Are you calling me chicken, Chopperface?" Rattrap challenged. He tried to deal a blow on Dinobot which had his body spin around like a toy.
"You bet your aft he is." Arcee spat out.
Cliffjumper and Smokescreen laughed.
"Will you save it?" Rhinox cuts them off firing his chainguns of doom still. "I can't hold them off forever!"
"Tarantulas- Terrorize!" Tarantulas came out of cover and fired a mysterious bolt of strange origin at Rhinox, knocking down the rhino Maximal a peg as it grabbed onto his face.
"Rhinox!"
The mysterious device shoved some kind of mysterious liquid down Rhinox's throat, even if he resisted. He passed out afterwards.
"Hehehe, I've seen this in the movies in Earth before. Humans never fail to entertain me." Knockout commented.
"Yo, hang on there, BigGuy!" Rattrap called to Dinobot after he blasted Tarantulas away. "Oy, give me a hand here!"
"They're in!" Cheetor announced.
"Sentinel, online!" Primal ordered.
Complying, Sentinel's cannons roar ablaze at the Predacons. But their job was already done by then.
"Mission accomplished, retreat!" Terrorsaur order, fleeing.
"Now what do you mean by that, Terrorsaur? Was it your job to attack the Maximal base or something else?" Starscream asked.
Dinobot and Rattrap carried the ailing Rhinox back on deck. Where he was placed in the R-Chamber for analysis.
"Status report." Primal ordered.
[Unit has been infected with an energon discharge virus of unknown type. If unchecked, his system will begin to spontaneously discharge Energon reserves until depleted.] stated the computer.
"Can you cure it?" Primal asked but it was cut off by a huge sneeze that blew off a portion of the chamber, dismantling the chamber itself.
"Oh, nevermind." Primal groaned.
"Worry not, Primal. At least it could not get much worse." Ratchet assured.
But Rhinox was repeatingly sneezing Energon all over the place, prompting his comrades to take cover or dodge his wildly erratic sneezes. Heck, one pierced through the hull of the Axalon and sent Terrorsaur's hide smoking.
"I stand corrected." Ratchet face-palmed.
Yet Rhinox could not stop it. For his sneezes even broke the cover his comrades and leader were hiding in. "Quick, go to Beast Mode!" Cheetor ordered Rhinox. The latter complied, turning back to Beast Mode.
"Hehehe, just like Bee here, Cheetor would make a great leader one day." Smokescreen pointed out.
"That's better." Just as it all alright, it seems.
"Yeah! Good thinking, Spots." Rattrap praised Cheetor's quick-thinking. But shortly after, Rhinox began sneezing Energon again.
"Gesundheit!" Dinobot commented.
"Aw, now you're the comedy type, Dino-boy." Grimlock teased.
"I would suggest we move him to a less...vulnerable location." Dinobot suggested.
Primal took an analysis on him and revealed "His power cells are fading fast If we don't find a counter-virus soon..... he'll not only destroy the base, but himself as well."
Soon both Dinobot and Rattrap set out of the Axalon.
"You sure about this, Chopperface?" Rattrap asked.
"I inflicted considerable damage on Tarantulas. He could not have gone far And he will no doubt have the counter-virus." he replied.
"Yeah? Well, you better hope so....for your sake!" Rattrap spat out.
"oooh boy, there they go like children again." Ultra Magnus facepalmed.
"Excuse me... Are you implying that the current situation is somehow my responsibility?" Dinobot asked offended.
"Well, you did start it, Gear-head!"
"I beg to differ, Cheese-lips!" Dinobot spat out.
"Pre-evolved bird-brain!" Rattrap said back.
"Eater of garbage!"
"Children." Megatron commented.
"Sheesh! And they call ME the immature one." Cheetor stressed out, unimpressed with Dinobot and Rattrap's infantile arguing as he was hearing them from the comms. Then he turned to Primal "Hey, Optimus. Are you sure it was a good idea sending those two out together?"
"To be honest, no." Primal replied "But their squabbling has caused problems before. They'll either learn to work together or they'll destroy each other." as Rhinox sneezed again, damaging the Axalon's ceiling. "Right now, I don't really care which-" then took cover once Rhinox sneezed again, destroying a significant portion of the Axalon.
Warpath and Grimlock cringed. They once had a similar situation like that before when Prime ordered them to eliminate a prominent Decepticon officer who had infected Ratchet with a virus that caused him to act irrationally at EVERY time. They may have argued and brawled, but they got along as friends in the end.
"Wait!" Dinobot cuts off his fight with Rattrap."I detect a scent. Vile corruption,a whiff of a ...festering putrification." Dinobot says while sniffing.
"So, I ate a limburger sandwich for lunch. I'm a rat. Give me a break."
"He wasn't referring to you, pest-bringer." Barricade derided.
"I have been uncomfortably aware of your stench for the past hour, vermin. This is something else." Dinobot felt the stench getting closer "Something... over... THERE!" and both spotted Tarantulas attempting to run.
"Yeah! He's mine!" Rattrap rushed first.
"Leave battle to the warriors, mouse!" Dinobot spat out as they gave chase.
Tarantulas saw them and leaped off, where both Dinobot and Rattrap caught up transforming to their Robot Modes, but Tarantuals seemed nowhere in sight.
"Hey, eh... Where 'd he go?" The ground beneath both Maximals began to shake as it revealed a hole where they stand.
"Oh no..."
"Oh no... indeed." quipped the young Autobots.
As both Dinobot and Rattrap screamed as they fell into the chasm below, stumbling down the slide screaming and hollering. Rattrap rode on top of Dinobot, dodging stalactites that could have smacked his head off. Once he saw a larger stalactite, he shielded himself from the incoming impact. Of course, the crash caused a giant boulder to fall on the slide as well. Once they slid down, they were caught off-guard by Tarantulas.
"Well, this is the pits." Rattrap commented.
"Playground's closed, Maximals." The tarantula Predacon taunted, but once the boulder fell their way, Dinobot and Rattrap dodged while Tarantulas was caught in the boulder's path until it crashed to a wall.
Laughter amongst most of the audience roared. Only the hardened and the humorless were spared.
"That's gotta hurt." Rattrap quipped, seeing Tarantulas out cold.
Back in the Axalon, Rhinox's condition was worsening. Even as they used the Axalon's power reserves to maintain his power level, he still sneezed Energon around, causing substancial damage to the Maximal base.
"Using the ship's batteries for life support? That's not Prime of you, Primal." Megatron commented.
"Base power down 20%, BigBot! Those sinus torpedoes of Rhinox's are draining us dry!" Cheetor announced.
"They're not doing much for the decor, either. But we've got to keep him on-line until Rattrap and Dinobot get that counter-virus." Primal replied.
But Cheetor was skeptical. "Eh... like... I know you don't need any more bummer news, but, er... Those two are showing a decided absence from my scanner screens..." he said while running the scanners.
Facepalming, Primus ordered "Better call Tigatron and Airazor. We may have to take our complaints to Megatron himself."
Another sneeze bursts through the Axalon's hull and into the sky, where Megatron witnessed.
"So... The energon discharge virus actually worked." Megatron surmised.
"Take it from me... I've got a toasted tail to prove it." Terrorsaur fumed showing his roasted rear.
"You deserved it. Pulling off a cowardly plan." Vortex spat out.
"Excellent, yess." Megatron then ordered next "Prepare more of the virus immediately. We must infect the rest of the Maximals."
"How can you do that when your genius has not reported back to your base, fool?" asked Predaking.
"There is a problem, Megatron." Scorponok reported. "Tarantulas has not yet returned."
"And, as always, he's encoded his datatrax. I can't access them." reported Blackarachnia.
"Then FIND HIM!" Megatron roared. "Start with his lab, search everywhere! I-want-that-virus!" he pantomimed the last four words dramatically.
Underground, Tarantulas was roughly dragged by Dinobot and Rattrap.
"This day just keeps getting better and better." Rattrap sarcastically commented.
"Yes. There is little I enjoy more than hauling an unconscious arachnid through underground tunnels." Then Dinobot stopped "OH, this is absurd!" and released Tarantulas.
"OH COME ON! Now's not the time, Rhinox needs that anti-virus, Dinobot!" shouted Warpath.
"Gonna agree with the kid with this." agreed Ironhide.
"We need spider-boy there to get the counter-virus, Hard-Head! And you know this caverns gotta lead to his lab." Rattrap reminded.
"I know nothing of the sort. Unlike you, I do not spend my time scurrying through sewers!" Dinobot derided Rattrap.
"Yeah? Well, a sewer smells better than your breath, Bronto-Brain!" Rattrap spat back.
"Then you'll get used to it, when I bite your useless head off!" Dinobot threatened. Butting heads once again.
"Seriously, when will they ever learn to get along?" Megatron sarcastically commented.
Tarantulas rose up from unconsciousness and brandished his weapon at both of them "Diiiieeee, Maximals!" he screeched.
But they looked at him, not in the mood for his antics and yelled simultaneously "SHUT UP!!!" smashing both their fists at his face, knocking out the Predacon once again.
Laughter. For minutes on end. Laughter rose up from most of the audience, Warpath and Grimlock most of all, joined in by Bulkhead and Wheeljack.
"Oh man! This viewing is beat on Tarantulas day, eh? That was hilarious!" laughed Jazz.
"Oh Primus! I never laughed this hard since Wonko's last comedy troupe. I'm gonna deactivate!" joined Bumblebee.
"You and me both, kid!" said Ironhide.
Only Prime, Soundwave, Shockwave, Onslaught, and Predaking were not affected, they were amused, but none of them could even laugh.
The majority had stopped after 5 minutes and composed themselves to get back to the viewing.
In Tarantulas' lab, they were pushing his materials aside to search for his cure of the virus, well Scorponok was doing that, while Blackarachnia was looking around for Tarantulas' formula of the Energon bursting virus.
"Wha-?" Blackarachnia snapped when Tarantulas' computer detected two intruders passing by. Rattrap and Dinobot continued dragging Tarantulas further into the lab.
"So... you got a better plan?" asked Rattrap.
"No. But I still dislike the idea of expiring underground. It lacks...a warrior's nobility." Dinobot replied.
"Ah quit your whining! We've went worse than underground!" snapped Ironhide.
"Oh! Hey, no sweat! Cause I ain't lettin' nobody waste you down here! That's a pleasure I'm reserving for myself!" Rattrap replied.
"Ooh, I appreciate your concern, but let me assure you, being shot in the back by a malodorous mouse would not exactly earn me a seat in Silicon Valhalla!" Dinobot shot back.
"Oh yes, because you prefer to die standing up to your enemy than get hit by a coward. That is bravado speaking, Dinobot. Commendable, but foolish." commented Predaking.
"Better to die a fool than live like a coward, Predaking." Megatron pointed out.
"Poor baby!" Blackarachnia quipped once she saw Tarantulas being carried by the Maximal tresspassers. Then she hailed her leader "Blackarachnia to Megatron. I would suggest all Predacons report to Tarantulas's lab, immediately! We're about to have company."
Outside, when Airazor flew back to base on Primal's command, she witnessed a burst of Energon sneezed out through the damaged Axalon. "Now that's a wicked cold." she commented.
Primal assessed to Cheetor and Tigatron, who were later regrouped with Airazor.
"We can't wait any longer! For Rhinox's sake,we'll have to launch a frontal attack." ordered Primal.
"Wait... I'm coming too..." Rhinox said catching up with his leader and comrades.
"Hey, hang on, brute buddy." Cheetor spoke out of concern for Rhinox "You are little under the weather, aren't you?"
"Ey, if I'm going to wreck the wallpaper! I might as well do it on Pred turf!" retorted Rhinox. He stumbled towards them like a drunk, but was caught by Primal.
"Brave. But you'll be a liability for their failure if you catch up with them!" spat out Knockout.
"I do not believe so Knockout. Rhinox may have a plan for joining the Maximals despite his illness." said Prime.
"Your power cells are dangerously low, Rhinox. Better convert to Beast Mode and eat something." Primal suggested. "It will keep your energy up."
"Good idea." Rhinox turned to Beast Mode and turned to the wild beans for nutrition and sustainment.
"Airazor and I will take the point. The rest of you converge on the Pred base as fast as you can. Prime Jets, on!" Primal boosted forth to Predacon territory as they followed, leaving Rhinox behind to eat wild beans.
"Boy, if our forms can accept Earth fuel as alternatives for Energon, I'm sure we'll be eating like real Earth creatures when we get organic forms." said Jazz.
"That's if you can use it to protect yourself from excessive Energon, Jazz." pointed out Jetfire.
In Tarantulas' laboratory...
"Here it is!" said Blackarachnia as she presented forth to them a strange green vial locked in a orb and supported by two metallic ends to reassemble a hourglass.
"The virus?" Megatron asked.
"No. The counter-virus. That's probably what they're after. I'll destroy it!" Blackarachnia said attempting to smash the vial. But Megatron caught it from her hands.
"No! A bargaining chip should remain in play until the game is over, yess." Megatron spout out dramatically.
"Oh yes, the drama phrase." Megaton rolled his optics.
"Why do you always talk to yourself?" Blackarachnia asked out of irritation.
"I simply have a penchant for intelligent conversation." Megatron replied merely.
"Here they come." Scorponok announced once the intruders closed into the entrance of the lab, prompting the Predacons to let loose all their guns, but they've not managed to hit either Maximal. In short, they were firing at thin air.
"Hold your fire, you fools!" Megatron ordered. "Wait for the target!"
"Cover me, vermin." Dinobot barked to Rattrap and came out of cover holding Tarantulas hostage. Rattrap complied, readying his weapon, but upon seeing that there is a grating leading towards the base, he began to think.
"Something tells me that's not working." commented Cliffjumper.
"At least Rattrap's got a plan to get around the Preds, Cliff." replied Arcee.
"Do not fire, Megatron! I have a hostage!" barked Dinobot, waving Tarantulas for emphasis.
"Why, so you do." Megatron replied sardonically and fired, blasting Tarantulas to pieces.
"Called it. You'd think that Megs there would care about his minions? They're fodder to him." Cliffjumper spoke out.
Megatron shuddered. He had treated everything as fodder before. Nowadays, he became reclusive.
"Now, are there any other stupid Maximal ploys you wish to try?" challenged Megatron.
"Well, how's this, Scale-belly?" as Rattrap came down behind them and fired, bereaving the Predacons of their weapons, except Megatron's.
"Gotcha!" quipped Rattrap as he laughed. Megatron glared daggers.
"Good plan. Except you forgot Predatron's cannon, rat." Wheeljack pointed out.
"Wha-?" Megatron heard a rumbling in the distance as the rest of the Maximals arrived in force, bursting through Tarantula's lab.
"No-one move!" threatened Primal.
The Combaticons cackled seeing Airazor clutching towards Primal's leg.
Megatron glared, but notices Rattrap walking under him.
"Pffft!" blurbed Air Raid.
"Hey, Scrap-ape! Nice of you to show, but, we've already been here and... done that." Rattrap said.
"Situation under control." Dinobot reported.
"No, it isn't." commented Bulkhead.
"I think not, no." Megatron spat out. "For I still have...the counter-virus." holding the vial. "And unless you immediately convert to beast mode, and surrender, your green comrade will soon go off-line... permanently!" he threatened.
Primal glared, but Rhinox told him "Don't..."
"No choice. Right now our first priority is your survival. Beast Mode." The Maximals followed, seemingly capitulated to Megatron.
"There are times when I would prefer to be a Predacon." Dinobot followed as well.
Megatron gloated. "You see? A bargaining chip is always useful. But now the game is over." he turned to the Maximals.
"I could have told you that overconfidence is one's undoing when I had a message or something." spat out Megatron.
But Rhinox sat down as if he had an upset stomach.
"What's wrong?" Primal asked.
"Wild bean vines...Hard to digest..." the rhino Maximal then turned around.
"Do not turn your back on me, Maximal scum!" Megatron spat out, angered that one of them would dare turn back on him.
"On the contrary, it will be you whose back will be turned!" jeered Starscream
"Oh, no." Megatron realized. "Not that!" he began to scream once Rhinox let loose quite a flatulence that bursted a barrier of Energon out from outer space and rocked the Earth as if a nuclear strike had bursted out of the planet.
Having ducked, the Maximals poked their heads out on the devastated ruins of Tarantulas' laboratory.
"Oh, that did it!" Primal spoke out, revolted at the cloud of flatulence that remained and ordered "Let's go!"
"Not without the counter-virus!" Rattrap overturned the table and grabbed the vial "Gotcha!"
In the Axalon, Rhinox was making a recovery by drinking the counter-virus like a drinking hat.
Knockout laughed. "Ah memories. Back when humans wore such attire so that they would not bother carrying their assortments across their courts."
"Oh man, sounds like them days in the Slaughterball courts, eh Cliff?"
"You said it, Jazz!"
"A little welding, a little paint, and hey...and the joint will look like home again!" Rattrap complimented as he was welding the damages in the Axalon.
"Well, that's because you're used to rat-holes." Dinobot spat out.
"Never ends, does it?" asked Primal, as Cheetor shook his head. Together they rearranged the command table. They hear Rhinox was about to sneeze, but instead of bursting Energon out from his chassis, he sneezed three times that spun him around, knocking him off his chair.
"Sorry..." Rhinox apologized. "It could have been worse, right?"
"That aside, I'm glad to see the counter-virus had done it's work curing Rhinox of the virus." commented Ratchet. "I wonder if we would suffer such afflictions, though such a case would be extremely rare."
"Clarify, Ratchet." Prime ordered.
"Well, to be fair, a virus that causes Energon shortages by sneezing similar to those humans do when they're ill would not likely be found anywhere, so such a chance a Cybertronian had to be afflicted would be much less than common. I will consult with Knockout with remedies for such a disease."
"You've made the right choice." said the aforementioned doctor gleefully.
In the Predacon side, they woke up, Megatron groused embarassingly "This is certainly the most humiliating defeat of my entire career...yesss......" as he and his minions were clinged on to a tree, that Waspinator fell over.
The Predacons could not have known defeat in any other than the likes of Rhinox. Because he had use the virus against them.
Laughter would likely be heard for cycles on end in the end of the viewing, prompting Omega Scion to stop and wait for his audience, halting the Orb in the process.