A Night to Think by WickedWoman
Summary: Chapter 8 of Beast Wars AU. A Maximal contemplates why she's fighting while helping a baby bird.
Categories: Beast Wars Characters: None
Genre: Drama
Location: Library
Challenges:
Series: Beast Wars: AU
Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Word count: 1656 Read: 2541 Published: 20/10/04 Updated: 20/10/04

1. A Night to Think by WickedWoman

A Night to Think by WickedWoman

                       A little bird was hiding in a nest that was made on one of the branches on a tree. It became frightened as the light faded and became got darker. The young bird would've shrunk even lower if it could. The breeze of the wind blew hard by the poor little creature and it fell helplessly to the ground only to be caught by a metal hand. The red and yellow bird looked up and found a pair of red optics staring back at it. The bird cheeped in panic. 

            "It ok, don't worry. I'm a good guy-er bot."

            Caterina sat down with her back leaning on the tree next to her. 
   
    
       "You lost huh?"

            The bird cheeped once.

            "Don't worry." She said. "Me and my friends are lost too." 
            There was some serious construction happening at the Maximal base for the next few days. The Maximals were able to get the two stasis pods after their recent fight for them. The bad news was that the Predacons now had 9 comrades while they only had 6. However, there was good news: the pods computer system was still functional. Taurus was able to increase the security system and other programs by 20% as well as most of the pods as attachments to the base for protection. 

            Taurus, Wolf Fang, and their newest comrade, Silverbolt, were working on the outside of the base to get the new and improved auto guns up to defend the base from intruders. 

           
"There, auto gun number 3's installed." Taurus had just finished pushing in another auto gun when it suddenly went off and nearly hit Wolf Fang, catching him off guard and causing him to fall. Silverbolt placed down a tool and flew down to catch him.

            
"Hey!" Wolf Fang said sarcastically. "Ya wanna watch it? You could've hurt somebody." 

            
Taurus couldn't help but laugh. It was great that they had time to breathe, since the Preds hadn't attacked for a while, which gave them a chance to add things to the base, but it also worried him. Megatron would've never given them all a chance to relax like this. 

             
"He's up to something.' He thought.


             "Aw, you look like little baby." Caterina gently stroked the bird's stomach with her index finger. "You must be little baby." The bird chirped in response. Caterina thought for a second before she spoke again.

            "That means you lost from mommy and daddy." The young Maximal feline could relate. In Earth years she was only about 13 years old. She could understand how a child could feel being separated from the ones she cared about the most, even if it never happened to her.

            "Your home must be nearby." She said. Caterina then looked up and noticed a small nest far near the top. The turned to her new feathered friend. "See, told you."

            Terrorsaur's optics glanced around the table, as did Waspinator's, Scorpinok's and Mantorr's. Five cards each in their hands and a huge pile of energon in the middle. One of them wasn't backing down. 

            "Read it and weep folks." Terrorsaur lowered his hands to reveal five Aces. The other three lowered their hands and heads in shame as the red Predacon grabbed the pile of energon. "Better luck next time bots." 

            Scorpinok then noticed something underneath one of the cards that Terrorsaur had laid down. He lifted it up and another card laid fell down. It was the three of clubs. He knew what had happened. 

            "You cheating Bastard." He yelled.

            "What?"

            "You cheated! You don't cheat in a poker game for energon." 

           "Ah you're just jealous cuz I won." 

            That was enough. Scorpinok leaped onto Terrorsaur and began trying to pummel him. Waspinator watched in awe while Mantorr took a look at the cards and found what Scorpinok found. 

            "Shell's right." He yelled. "He did cheat!" With that, Waspinator and Mantorr attacked Terrorsaur. 

            Claw Jaw and Bone Crusher had come to help the others with the repairs two megacycles ago. The job was getting done faster than it would have without them. All they had to do now was test it. 

            "Are you all positive that this will work?" Silverbolt asked. 

           "Relax Hombre. Taurus had done this several times. There's nothin' ta worry about." 

            Just as Claw Jaw finished his sentence, Taurus activated the autoguns and they fired right at them. By the time the autoguns were deactivated everyone was behind either a rock, a tree or a bush. 

            "Nothing to worry about?" Silverbolt asked while raising an eye ridge. 

            "Ok- maybe there are some miscalculations." Claw Jaw said meekly. 

            "Even I say that this is a death tr...." Bone Crusher started. 

           
"Will you guys just shut up?!" Taurus snapped. 

            One step on the branch, a hand on another branch. Caterina slowly climbed up the tree while holding onto the bird in her free hand. "Don't look down' was the only thing on her mind as she proceeded up towards her destination. After a while, she decided to take a break and sat on one of the branches. When she was sure she was balanced, she looked back at the bird.

           
"You lucky. You lucky you don't need get in fight to survive. All you do is try flapping your wings." She sighed as she looked up and saw the moon. It had been megacycles since the wind had died down and the clouds had moved away from each other. She had been away from the others for megacycles and hadn't reported back. She was ok with it. It wasn't like she screamed "OOOH! I WANNA BE LEADER' in fact, she had been the only one against it since she pulled out the longest shard after they settled into their hand made base. She didn't even thing her leadership could help the Maximals find this Optimus Primal bot-if he still even existed. 

            The baby bird's chirp snapped the young Maximal leader out of her thoughts. "Well, break time over." She picked up the bird. "Time to get you home." She then began to climb up again until she found the nest. She placed her hand with the bird on it next to the nest and waited until it walked back onto it's home. Caterina then slowly climbed back down until she felt the leaves on the ground. As soon as her hands were off the tree, energon build up became the issue. After transforming to beast mode, the young Jaguar looked back up and smiled at her new little friend. 

            This made her remember what she was fighting for in the war. A chance to save her friends and comrades from the Predacon's threat. This was her goal, this was her reason to fight, this was the only reason why she would be leader, at least until someone better came along. The took one last glance at nest above before rushing off into the light and speeding off. 

            The sun was beginning to rise and the golden raise hit the forest making everything brighter than it had been that night. The baby bird chirped happily as its mother returned glad to see that her baby had survived the night. A night that gave at least one person something to think about.


            The sky turned orange and red as the sun began to lower on the horizon. The clouds in the sky began to darken as they moved closely together. Wind flew through the trees in the forest as the temperature got lowered and the air got colder. 


This story archived at http://www.transformersfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=3397