The anklyosaurus listened to Scanner as he chewed on the vegetation in his mouth. Upon hearing his name, Krunch spoke.
"KRUNCH, Maximize!!!" he said as the green and brown dinosaur transformed into his full Ultra-size form, a tall hulking robot covered in armor plating, sporting a large missile launcher on his shoulder and holstering an even larger plasma cannon on his hip. While still chewing, Krunch began pacing up and down in front of the Maximals in front of him. The ground shook as he walked.
"Alright, listen up, you slack-jawed skid plates!! My name is Sargent Krunch!! I've been commissioned to whip you wind-up toys into shape before your mission! I don't take excuses and I don't play favorites!! So if you're not ready for this mission by the time I'm through with you, then you'll be nothing but a slag-pile! Any questions before we start??"
Velocity was arguably the most slack-jawed of all the skidplates in the area. A Very Big Transformer was yelling at him. Sure, there were other people in the area, but the dog could tell that this Krunch was really targeting all his fury at the poor ex-criminal who had a horrible record at any type of combat whatsoever. Though he was in robot mode, he still carried many beast mode traits—his ears slicked backwards and his tail tucked between his legs.
Snarler was initially taken back by this quite openly insulting approach to training; he knew it just didn't work. He had found that giving support by offering kind words was normally enough to get an individual to finish a task, and those kind words were a lot more effective than all this shouting. When Krunch started picking on the small chihuahua, he felt like saying something, but lucky for him—and possibly Krunch—he turned his attention to Goldstreak.
Goldstreak looked up and down the line of the assembled Maximals that were to be his companions for a while. "Only one question. When do we get on with this? Goldstreak is bored."
Leaning down slightly, Krunch got in Goldstreak's face and rose his voice several decibels.
"BORED?!?! BORED?!?! Alright, Goldilocks, if you're so bored, then why don't you demonstrate the obstacle course for the rest of these rubber band skid plates!!" he shouts. Standing up to his full height again, Krunch turned towards the obstacle course, pointing to the different areas as he described them.
"First, you're gonna scale this wall..." Krunch looked back at Goldstreak and realized from the feathers of his possible beast mode. "...Without Flying!!!! You'll use the rope like everyone else! When you get to the top, you'll cross to the other side going hand over hand on the suspended cable! Then, you'll jump down to ground level and belly crawl under that length powercharged wire! After that, you'll disable the 'Con dummy using your weapons, then cross the finish line!!" Krunch turned back to Goldstreak.
"Any questions, Yellow-Streak?" he taunted.
Snarler turned to Goldstreak. "Good luck! I know you can do it!" he said to him, loud enough so that Goldstreak could hear him but hopefully not loud enough for Krunch.
"Seems easy enough." Goldstreak charged for the wall. He climbed it quickly using his talons to grip and aid his climb. Then while he was scurrying along the suspension cable he took a look at the last two obstacles. He realized he may get slightly singed crawling under the power charge wire, but he'd make it.
He took a look at the 'Con bot and realized that it was lightly armored, but was armed and would probably shoot back. As Goldstreak got to the end of the cable he devised a tactic against it: he would use his speed and agility, and all his weapons to make sure he disabled it.
He scurried under the power charge wire with little difficulty. As he cleared the wire he noticed the Con bot tracking in on his position. He drew his blades and started unleashing missiles on it as he took to the air, charging at it at full speed. He knew there was only two possibilities: either it would fire on him and the four missiles he had unleashed at it would take it out, or it would concentrate on taking out the missiles and he would be on it to take it out before it was done. The drone opted for the defensive maneuver, and though the missiles were destroyed by counterfire from the 'Con bot's machine guns, Goldstreak cut it to ribbons with his blades soon after.
Task complete, he rocketed past the thoroughly disabled 'Con bot and across the finish line. He smiled at completing the task. But inside he was disappointed it had not been a true test of his abilities. He thought it had been far too easy.
Digit broke loose from the group and ran towards Goldstreak.
"That was incredible!" she cheered, giving the lion the big hug. She looked at the training course momentarily, then back at Goldstreak, smiling proudly. Orb flew past Krunch and made a taunting sound at him before speeding on to the victorious lion. The flying droid circled around him chirping loudly.
The femmebot addressed the other Maximals. "That was great wasn't it? I for one am really glad you're on our team, Goldstreak!"
Goldstreak gingerly returned the hug from Digit, then put her down on her feet. He couldn't help but smile; he liked this fem bot, and she reminded him so much of the one from his dreams. "Well shucks, 'twas nothing, ma'am. Not realy a test of Goldstreak's abilities."
—John Aitken, LA, MC, DT
In the room where he was filling out requisition forms, Silverquick had a monitor tuned to the training room, so he could be aware of his comrades and their progress. He expected he'd have to run that obstacle course soon enough. "You'd think they didn't want us to have any equipment," he said to himself, "with all these forms."
He glanced at the monitor, to see Digit wrap herself around Goldstreak. "That was great, wasn't it?" she said onscreen. Silverquick rolled his optics and turned back to his mountain of paperwork.
—LB
Jynx laughed to himself. These bots are getting the full drill from that big guy. That weird bird handled the obstacle pretty well for such a big fella!
Hiding undetectably in a crevice by the VR simulators, Jynx was able to monitor everything that was going on at the obstacle course. He only had one problem: How on Cybertron was he ever going to get close enough to the poodle to get the info Starcream requested him to get?
And where was Starscream? He knew he could just run away and forget the whole thing, but the fox must've planted some tracking device, or worse, somewhere, as he had a feeling he wasn't really able to escape him. Clever fellow, that Kitfox/Starscream.
Jynx then noticed that the Maximal Agents were no longer monitoring the course. Maybe the diversion Starscream had promised had begun after all.
Hmmmmmmm...that big guy is lining them all up. I don't think I'll be able to get close to the poodle. He saw the female run up to the bird thing, and her hugging him. Cute he thought.
Suddenly, the big guy chewed her out, and told her to take the obstacle course herself. Jynx noticed this, and suddenly had an idea...
—MdJ
Krunch swatted at Orb, but missed... the little bugger was too fast for him. He then realized that Digit had broken ranks and ran over to Goldstreak. The large soldier put his hand over his face and shook his head.
By Primus, they told me there'd be days like this! he thought. He then addressed the hugging couple.
"ALL RIGHT!! ALL RIGHT!! Break it up, you two!! That was pretty good, Goldstreak, but remember that the 'Cons have much better aim than that dummy!! And they shoot to slag!!" he said, then turning his attention to Digit.
"Now, if you don't mind, I want to see how your cheerleader friend here handles the course!! You heard me, Femme!!! Get your skid plate in gear and run!! MOVE IT!! MOVE IT!! MOVE IT!!" he yelled at Digit.
The slender female Cybertron seemed to shake a little at Krunch's yelling. Orb wanted to protest, but Digit stepped forward determinedly. She looked at the enormous Sergeant waiting for her to begin.
Fine, she thought. I'll show you...
With that, Digit transformed into her beast mode. Immediately, the small white ermine skidded over the floor towards the wall. There, her claws found their grip easily, and in no time she was on top. As if it were nothing, she raced across the rope, only to notice the new practice droid moving into place. She worried about that final part of the course, and her mind was assessing numerous options to deal with the situation.
Momentarily, she let herself drop from the rope and landed on the floor. Her small size was especially advantageous in low places such as under the power cables, and she quickly crawled on. So far so good.
As soon as she reached the end she transformed back into robot, but immediately she was hit by a shot from the practice droid! Grasping her shoulder and even letting out a scream, she fell to the ground. She fired her twin laser cannons on her hips, but from her akward position on the floor she only managed to shoot the robot in the leg. The droid, although hurt, readied all it's weapon systems and targeted Digit's chest...
Acting impulsively, Digit retracted her right hand and from her arm a grappling hook appeared. She aimed and launched it at the threat some fifteen meters in front of her... but missed. As if the practice droid had found her failure humorous, he paused for a second to enjoy the moment of his own victory. At that moment, the grappling hook hit the wall far behind him, and Digit began pulling herself in automatically, sliding over the floor at great speed.
The droid was confused as to why the femmebot would want to present herself so vulnerable. The next instant, Digit had reached him, and threw a grenade she had readied in her left hand at the robot.
In a big explosion, the practice droid was blown to pieces. Meanwhile, Digit had reached the wall, and retreived her grappling hook. Then, she sank to the ground.
When Digit had finally finished, Snarler ran over to her. "Hey Digit, are you okay?" he asked, looking at the wound on her shoulder. "I think you need some help." He picked her up and carried her back to the group.
Putting her down, he asked he if she wanted to go to an R Chamber, before turning to Krunch.
"She could have been seriously hurt out there!" he said, with a hint of anger that he very rarley showed, startling a few of his teammates. "And for what?! So Mr. Ego here could laugh at our lack of military training? We are Maximals; we try to avoid fighting! I thought that only the Predacons practiced such futile practices such as this!"
Krunch leaned down to reply to Snarler.
"Do you think you're here for my amusement?? This isn't about EGO, you loose cog, THIS IS ABOUT SURVIVAL!!!! How do you think we Maximals got those stupid 'Cons to stop fighting us?? We didn't talk to them!!! We had to fight them!! And if we meet up with any 'Cons where we're going, I doubt they'll be willing to talk!!! Now leave the Femme alone, and take your mark!! I'll take care of her!! I want to see how your spunk can handle that 'Con dummy!! GO ON, MOVE YOUR CHASSIS!!!" barked the Maximal soldier.
Krunch went over to Digit to assess her damage.
Viracide raised his hand, "Uhhh, can I go next?"
Krunch looked over to Viracide and yelled at him.
"NOT ON YOUR SPARK, PUP!! You're going last!! And I got a special treat in store for you!!" he spouted, then turning back to Digit.
"You did fine, ma'am! You'll be fine after ol' Krunch patches you up!" he said quietly.
Snarler looked at Krunch and then prepared to do the obstacle course. As he turned around he said to Krunch, "Violence never achieved anything except more violence," before he headed to the wall.
As he approached the wall he raised his left arm, and his front plate extended to become his axe. Then, using it as a pick, he pulled himself up. Being one of the taller maximals it only took him three pulls to reach the top before he got over, though he had already taken longer than the others. His size was also a disadvantage on the rope, and as he stumbled across he could hear laughing coming from the crowd, probably Krunch.
He finally got to the other side, though a lot slower than the others, and was now face to face with the dummy. When it started firing at him, the difficulty level must have been altered for him, as when he returned fire, the dummy dodged out of the way easily. As the dummy continued to fire at him he started deflecting each of the shots with his arm-sheilds as he advanced upon it.
When he finally got close enough, he reached out his left arm and pulled the weapon off the dummy. "See? I have succesfully neutralized the target without resorting to violence in any way," he said, targeting the sentence primarily at Krunch. He raised a smile as he saw a touch of anger on Krunch's face.
Suddenly, a large blast erupted from the practice drone reserve chamber, pouring broken parts out into the arena.
Viracide swung over and was greatly surprised by the noise. He shouted at his team mates, "It wasn't me; I swear!" knowing that they would think he used his powers, though it didn't look like he was suspected.
As Jynx sped from the shadows to the course and the Maximal group, he thought, If that doesn't distract them, nothing will! Shame about my blaster though, but I'll find a new one!
When approaching the group, he indeed saw them confused, and better yet, no one near the female bot. This was the kind of oppurtunity he was waiting for. He transformed into his robot mode and put his hand over her vocal apparatus. "Make a noise and you're dead," he whispered as he whisked her away into the back.
Luckily no mind readers here, he thought, as he carried the ermine Maximal toward a safe 'interrogation' corner.
Digit made no sound. Still recovering from the laser shot in her shoulder, and very much surprised by the current situation to say the least, she couldn't bring herself to speak. Was this a Predacon? It that were true he sure was a small Predacon...
Unfortunately for Jynx, he was followed. Jynx heard a growl, looked behind him and saw somebody he hardly recognized, since last time they met, the dog had a lot more fur. He stood eye to eye with Velocity.
—JA, DN, DT, BB, MdJ