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| - The Maximals stare up at the giant floating head of Megatron. Rattrap despairs, waiting for the hammer to drop, then is shocked when nothing happens. Primal suspects that, for some reason, Megatron can't do anything. Nightscream hauls Blackarachnia up for a closer look; both are repelled by an energy field. But Primal again suspects it's purely automated. Optimus sends the others to find Jetstorm and Thrust, while he attempts to contact Megatron's Spark. Nightscream leads the group to one of his old hangouts, a big generator-filled room with a waterfall. Blast-marks on the walls show that the Vehicon Generals were fighting someone or something recently. The Vehicons themselves attack just then, with Thrust vowing vengeance for the ambush. The two teams exchange words, with Blackarachnia still trying to reach Silverbolt within Jetstorm. A fight is about to break out, when an eerie howling distracts the group, and finally convinces the Vehicons that the Maximals didn't attack them. Cheetor leads the others off in a hasty retreat. The Vehicons follow, as something massive, spikey, scaley, and two-legged lumbers in the shadows behind them. The group pauses a moment later to observe the beast, a dragon-like creature with spike-covered wings, lips, nose, claws, legs, torso, you name it. They retreat as it begins a firebolt-spewing advance. Elsewhere, Optimus goes on a spiritual hunt. He enters the Spark/astral/whatever plane, calling out to his old foe. He's answered by Megatron's bellowing voice; insubstantial visions of Megatron's head surround him, laughing, mocking, screaming.... and the vision ends. Primal suspects that whatever he just contacted wasn't a sentient mind. Cheetor, meanwhile, orders the group to stand down, not wanting to destroy the creature before they can figure out what it is. Jetstorm isn't happy about taking orders from Cheets, but the creature easily repels his and Thrust's attacks, knocking them out. A random shot buries the Maximals long enough for the creature to escape. The Maximals track the creature to higher levels in the generator plant, and there discover a wolf-like creature hiding shyly in the shadows. Nightscream suspects the beast is another survivor, like him. The Maximals offer friendship, and the creature introduces himself as Noble, and recounts (in a very familiar fashion) the story of the Vehicon invasion. Noble fell into a pit, and awoke in his current form. Further pleasantries are interrupted by a strafing attack by Jetstorm and Thrust, hunting for the dragon, Savage. But before the Maximals can even worry about defending their new friend, he disappears while their backs are turned. Cheetor contacts Optimus, who still hasn't found any trace of Megatron. The group goes hunting for Noble. They find the dragon creature, growling ferociously. Nightscream is convinced the beast has done away with Noble, and leaps to attack; only Blackarachnia's quick thinking keeps him from getting blasted with fire-breath. The group follows as the creature flies off; they can't leave it loose in Cybertropolis. Primal arrives, and orders the group to split up to cover more ground. Rattrap eventually finds the beast, which has him cornered and petrified. To his relief, it chooses to ignore him. Cheetor hems the beast in by chopping down a bridge, and the others stop it from the other direction. Primal begins to approach the beast, offering understanding and compassion. The Vehicon generals arrive and find the beast surrounded, but the dragon bats them away with a tail-slash, sending them over the horizon. After a long moment of carefully approaching the beast, Nightscream touches Savage and calms him enough for him to transform... into Noble. The two creatures are one, a beast-to-beast Transformer. Primal vows to help Noble, even as Noble warns that he can't control his other half. Nightscream reassures him, and Noble smiles to himself -- just a bit ominously, yesss...
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)