"I could have sworn we don't have those 'programming blocks' that tiger said, but it's the future anyways, so we might have had that when we're born in the future." Shockwave commented.

"Neither would your second eye, Shockwave." Soundwave jabbed.

He scowled at Soundwave, earning laughter from his Decepticon comrades.

The Autobot younglings joined in.

"Are you done? Omega Scion is preparing the viewing."

"In three... two... one..."

In a Maximal mining operation in the cliff edges before the falls, a certain rat Maximal was busy drilling until he stopped and called...

"Ey, pussy-cat! Over here!"

Cheetor arrived, wearing a strange pack on his back. Just as Rattrap was picking up an Energon shard.

"Wow, way to go, RT!" Cheetor praised, as Rattrap placed the raw Energon shard in his pack.

"Few more chunks like that and we'll have enough to power the quantum scanners!" the young Maximal cheered.

"Yeah, I got a nose for energon, kid. Used to be the best miner in the Vespa System." Rattrap reminded.

The former Cons and basically any Autobot who's had a mining background raised their eyebrows a bit.

"Interesting... so he was a miner as I was before..." Megatron said. "You impress me so, Rattrap."

Perceptor silently agreed. He spent his pre-war life as a mineralogist in the Vespa System, where he picked off samples of each planet to best determine which had a higher Energon output in each. It was an accomplishment for him that the Vespa System (which Vespa IX was the capitol as it had the highest Energon output he discovered by far) was colonized shortly after his discovery, but he had not made any contact with the Vespa colonists ever since.

"Not to mention that this whole area is reading large Energon deposits." Rhinox clarified straightly from a position above Rattrap and Cheetor.

"Yeah, yeah, you're so funny..." Rattrap replied in a set aside tone.

Meanwhile, Dinobot with a scanner in hand positioned around where possible Energon deposits may be found via a scanner.

"So... Now I'm nothing more than an Energon miner!" Dinobot whined. "What a waste of my talents!" he spat out.

"Ah, don't whine. There should be more to the Beast Wars than just fighting!" Grimlock assured.

"I found some! Here!" as Dinobot found the Energon signature to a medium-sized Energon deposit sticking out in a ground pit slightly below them.

"Nice find, Dino-miner." Cheetor complimented once he and Rattrap caught up with him after hearing his call.

Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Sideswipe chuckled.

"You're even better at this than Rattrap!" the cheetor Maximal continued.

"I'm better at everything than Rattrap!" Dinobot boasted.

"Too early to make empty boasts, Dinobot." Bulkhead sternly reminded.

"Yeah?!" Rattrap challenged, but Rhinox hears the sound of flyers coming their way and yelled "Heads up! Incoming!"

A missile struck on the Energon deposit instead of them, as Waspinator and Scorponok appeared before and above them. 

"You missed!" Dinobot taunted.

"Did I? Look again, you fool!" Scorponok replied back.

Dinobot looked and saw that the missile was beeping erratically, prompting that it was about to count down until detonation.

"Uh oh." Bulkhead said.

"Get your afts outta there Maxies!" Warpath shouted, not feeling as good as his gut feels something was wrong.

"No way Scorponok would purposefully miss unless he was planning something..." Wheeljack surmised.

"Rhinox- Maximize!" he transformed to Robot Mode and jumped into the deposit, where he rolled and threw the missile away as far as he can. But this didn't impress the Predacons.

"Nice try, but you're too late! Goodbye, stupid Maximals!" Scorponok taunted.

Confused at what the scorpion Predacon was saying upon their transformations to Robot Mode, the missile Rhinox threw far exploded, but this created a chain reaction around the Energon deposits that it seemingly wiped out the Maximals in the process. The Predacons took cover of the incoming explosion that obliterated the Energon deposits caught in the explosion.

"NO!" Prime shouted.

"I swear... you're too tough that it'd take more than Energon blowing up in your face to kill you." Grimlock spoke; being fond of Dinobot much.

They popped out of cover, which Scorponok comments "Wow! Nothing could have survived that blast!"

"No, Waspinator thinks Megatron will be pleased with us!" the aforementioned Predacon agrees.

"Yes! We must report to him at once! Beast mode!" Scorponok replies they transformed to their said modes and departed.

However, they may be proven wrong, as in the ground zero, Rhinox got up, dazed from the explosion.

"YES! SUCK IT TO YOUR MASTER, YOU STING-TAIL AFT-KISSER!" Warpath said.

"They're functional, Autobots, but I believe they may not have survived that unscathed." Predaking reminded.

"I feel like I got hit by a whole Pred fleet..." Rhinox moaned and ordered. "Diagnostic."

But all the response Rhinox had from his internal computer was no response. Even still, his optics glare white, as if he could not even see an inch from where he was.

"The explosion must have knocked out my internal systems. Including my optic sensors!"

"I'm blind! My eyes! My eyes!" Dinobot screamed, as his optics had gone white as well.

"Oh dear. That attack did not destroy them, but it had rendered their optics non-operational. They're vulnerable that way." Perceptor deduced.

"Let's hope Rhinox can pull the group back together to make due of this disaster that fell upon them." Ultra Magnus replied.

"Dinobot?"

"Rhinox?" Both Maximals could not see each other. Even Rattrap was affected.

"Where are you, buddy?"

"It's darker than the Inferno out here..." Dinobot whined.

"Rhinox, Rattrap, help me, I can't see!" Cheetor moaned, unable to sense anything as well.

"What have they done to my eyes?!!!" Rhinox asked angrily.

The Maximal team was effectively blind as bats.

"Darn. How in Primus' name are they gonna go back to Maximal base if they can't see a single inch?" Jazz asked.

"They would have to repair themselves, right?" Cliffjumper suggested.

"How? That explosion knocked their internal systems down a dial. There's no way they can make repairs like that." Ironhide replied.

"Rhinox, help me!"

"What happened?! Where are we?!"

"Listen to me!" Rhinox tries to mediate to the panicking Maximals who are as blind as he is. "You've all got to calm down."

"Calm down? WE CAN'T SEE!!!" Dinobot angrily shouted.

"We know that, Dinobot, we just hope Rhinox can make due of the situation you're in as of now." Ratchet spoke.

"The Energon explosion contaminated our systems. Our optical sensors....and just about everything else... are off-line." Rhinox clarified.

"Brilliant. They're dead cans walking in that state." Blast Off sardonically commented.

Shockwave scratched his chin. In his eons of research and experiment, never has he heard of Energon contamination effectively terminating a Cybertronian's internal system.

"Would the kind doctor enlighten us with what he shares that I don't?" Knockout suggests to Ratchet.

"Normally, Energon contamination is rare. Raw, uncontrolled Energon is the common cause, as amongst the symptoms of excessive Energon oversaturation beyond repair. Such a case would take around 6 deca-cycles just 3 ultra-cycles prior to Energon oversaturation. It explained why Homicide had lost about 300 workers that day."

Prime felt pity for Homicide, because his mining business had shut down after that spark-threatening incident that turned to a controversy. He ultimately had not known of the old miner's fate before the war.

"So, a...So, what do we do?" Rattrap asked.

"We've got to transform. It will slow down the contamination and possibly regenerate our systems. Beast Mode." Despite suffering from several shocks in his circuitry, Rhinox transformed. Dinobot, Cheetor and Rattrap followed.

"Slag! That was weird. And I still can't see..." Rattrap whined even if he felt his circuits shorting around his chassis.

"Oh shut your whining, you cheese-eating piece of sl-"

"Arcee! Language!" Smokescreen had a clout in the head for that by his grump of a teammate.

"Me neither." Cheetor agreed.

"I'll tear Scorponok's processor out for this!" Dinobot shouted. "And Waspinator's too!"

"It's worse than I thought." Rhinox then suggested "Our only chance is to make it back to the base."

"Are you insane?" Dinobot asked, baffled. "How can we get to the base when we can't see?"

"There's more than one way to see, Dinobot." Rhinox reasoned. "Besides, we don't have a choice. If we don't reach an R-Chamber in about 60 cycles the contamination will put our sparks out for good!"

Ratchet was gobsmacked. "That much excessive Energon contamination could kill them in an hour?"

"Why?" Prime asked.

"I've never seen such a case before Optimus! Not even before the war. The miners- Homicide's workers likely had a deactivation period of about 4 to 5 solar turns before their sparks were passed to the Well of the Allsparks, but not such a case where they would die in one hour!"

"You probably forgot to take your memory from your medicine cabinet." Knockout joked.

"Shut it, you!" Ratchet angrily silenced the young aspirant surgeon.

In the Darksyde, Megatron was NOT pleased as both Scorponok and Waspinator had believed via comms.

"You didn't salvage the remains?" When they did not reply, Megatron angrily pounded on the gantry that made a sound discomforting to Scorponok's audio receptors, he asked "Then how can you be sure you destroyed them?! Go back there now and make certain!" he ordered.

"Yes, yes, of course, Megatron. I TOLD Waspinator we should have done that!" yet the wasp Predacon chattered and shivered in fear.

"Incompetents. How can you be certain that your enemy is dead when you do not have proof of their demise?" Megatron asked, unpleased.

In the jungles, forming a line where the Maximals held onto each other by their tails just to walk back to the Axalon.

"Ah yes, if I've seen this in the history archives, that would be about 100 years when humans waged war on each other just for an assassination attempt in a region called the Balkans. Humans who had suffered similar predicaments as the Maxies there had to form a line and walk slowly so that they would reach their base safely without risking further casualities."

"Yes, because you're a patron of Earth, Knockout." Smokescreen sardonically replied to the doctor under his protection.

Prime could not hope but feel sorry for the humans suffering a century before their arrival. Why must they suffer themselves over the most petty of differences?

"What a lovely smell! We can only be on a swamp!" Dinobot commented, holding onto Rhinox's tail.

"You're catching on, Dinobot We just follow our noses, and..."

The blind Maximals stopped when their leader halted his march.

"Why are you stopping?" Dinobot asked.

"Ey, look out, will you, that's my foot, moron!" Rattrap moaned once he felt something that Dinobot inadverently stepped on.

"Quiet! Something's near us." Rhinox heard something silthering in the midst.

Their ears began to feel erractic as the silthering nears and draws near them, but unbeknownst to Cheetor... it had his eyes on him.

"Scrap. A snake and it's heading for Cheetor there!"

"How did you know?" Asked Sideswipe to Knockout.

"I've had a moment like that before, Sideswipe."

"There!" Rhinox shouted.

A giant anaconda fell onto Cheetor and wrapped around it's entire length on him, constricting the young Maximal.

"GIANT SNAKE!" Warpath shouted frightened.

"Primus... kid's got quite the vocal cords." Ironhide moaned.

"Help me..." Cheetor moaned softly, unable to retaliate due to his blinded optics.

"Hey, Cheetor! Cheetor! Where are you, kiddo?" Rattrap asked panickingly.

"What's happening? Are we under attack?" Dinobot asked as well.

"Don't panic!" Rhinox mediated.

"You won't get me!" Dinobot tried to run, but because he cannot see, he fell flat as a pancake into a tree.

The Dinobots had quite a laugh seeing the bot named after them fall flat trying to flee like a coward. But he was blind, so who were they to blame him for the irony?

"Rhinox... Rattrap..." Cheetor gasped for air as the constriction began to tighen around him further. "....can't breathe...."

"What are they gonna do? They're blind, they're under attack by a giant snake, and-"

"Easy Bumblebee. They have to do something if it can save Cheetor from this predicament."

"Of course, Prime."

"I hear you, pussy-cat! Hang on!" Rattrap shouted running for the source as it smacked him in the face with it's tail. "Yeah? well, right back at ya, pal!" He retailiated by biting the snake's hide.

This agitated the anaconda as it grabbed Rattrap and tossed him away through the jungle.

Rattrap screamed while being tossed about, but he got up and eagerly piped up "Where is it? Where is it?!!!" as the anaconda silthered towards him, but just as it was about to bite Rattrap, it felt it's tail caught by Rhinox.

"Got you now." Rhinox then grabbed it by his mouth and tossed it away raising his head up high enough to throw the scaly predator away from his friend.

"HA! SO LONG YA HISSING SCRAP COAT!" Warpath shouted.

The Maximals regrouped to check on Cheetor.

"Cheetor, you alright?" Rhinox asked.

"My shoulder's been torn up...and I feel kinda cold." Cheetor moaned.

"Leave him! He'll only slow us down." Dinobot suggested.

Now the Dinobots frowned. Never did they leave any of their fellow Autobots behind to die.

Megatron felt the same, since Starscream had dared leave him to Arcee.

"Maximals don't abandon their own kind." Rhinox argued against it and looked upon his wounded comrade "On my back, Cheetor."

The weakened cheetah Maximal tried to climb up, with Rattrap helping "Yeah, lets go, kiddo." him to climb up to Rhinox's back.

Meanwhile, Tigatron had been dispatched by Primal to find the missing Maximal team. He was investigating where they were last seen until he was hailed by the latter...

"Optimus to Tigatron. Tigatron, do you copy?"

"Tigatron here." The snow tiger Maximal replied to his leader positioned inside the Axalon.

"Any sign of Rhinox and the others yet?" Primal asked.

"Negative. They're not in grid Oraya." Tigatron replied.

"Move to grid Alpha. I'm going to put Sentinel on automatic and search from the air. If you spot them, relay a message to Airazor. I've sent her to scout grid Delta." Primal ordered.

"This doesn't seem good. With fewer units in Primal's command, finding all four wounded Maximals will be difficult." Ultra Magnus replied.

"I suspect the Preds will use this to their advantage to weaken Maximal presence and guarantee a greater chance of victory in their favor." Onslaught deduced.

"Will do. Good hunting. Tigatron out." then moved out in Beast Mode to find his brothers in arms.

Scorponok and Waspinator were investigating for Maximal remains that they swore were amongst the Energon deposit that they destroyed.

"Waspinators thinks Maximals were vaporized." Waspinator moaned.

"Your fault. You didn't check if they were deactivated as you think they were before you reported to your boss." Swindle taunted.

Onslaught agreed. His Combaticons were as thorough as they are in missions. Seeing his 'descendants' make a foolhardy mistake

"Well, there should be some wreckage. Fly higher, scan for Energon traces." Scorponok commanded. Waspinator complied and activated his sensors. He saw Energon-traced footprints on the cliff overlooking the jungle ahead.

"Waspinator sees trail of energon. Maybe Maximals DID survive."

"Well, follow it! We have to find them and finish'em or Megatron will scrap us!" Scorponok barked, prompting Waspinator to track the surviving Maximals by following the trail.

"This isn't good. The Maxies are stretched thin, their patrols can't find them and comms are down because their internal systems are down, just how can this get worse for them?" Air Raid asked.

"Something MUCH worse, Air Raid." Jetfire clarified.

As the Maximals kept on walking in a line, Rhinox hears something...

"I smell water. Fresh water. And I can hear it falling."

"Is it the base, Rhinox?"

"No. But it should be one of the falls which feeds the base. If we get to it, we can follow it. Hang on, Cheetor... We're gonna make it."

"Yeah, yeah sure I'm gonna, gonna make it... just... so... tired..." Cheetor passes out trying to rest in Rhinox's thick hide.

In the Darksyde, Tarantulas was tracking four energon signatures.

"Megatron!" the aforementioned leader approached as Tarantulas reported "I'm getting an odd reading at coordinates 9-0-3. It looks like... walking Energon."

"Obviously one or more of the Maximals survived Scorponok's inept ambush and is now contaminated." Megatron relayed his next order "Send Terrorsaur to those coordinates. Seek and DESTROY!"

Across the waterfall came a log that can be used as a bridge. The four Maximals made it there, but an impasse falls upon them due to Rhinox.

"We made it."

"What did you say?" Dinobot asked unable to hear Rhinox due to the heavy water activity the waterfall had caused.

"He said they made it to the waterfall, Grandma Dinobot." Smokescreen joked.

"I said, we made it to the waterfall!" Rhinox repeated loudly.

"What a startling revelation!" Dinobot chortled enthusiastically.

"Ey, guys! Over here!" Rattrap called nearing the log.

"What is it?" Rhinox asked.

"I think we can cross. Just give me a cycle, I'm gonna check it out." Rattrap climbed in top of the log and traversed across cautiously. Until he reached the opposite end of the log he proclaimed "It's good! Come on!"

Once they managed to get across, Cheetor had to remain holding at Dinobot's tail because the added weight sitting on Rhinox would break the log in half. But while they walked, Waspinator spotted them, muttering...

"Oh no." Wheeljack deflated.

"Here you are! Something wrong with Maximals..." Waspinator scanned them closely. "They can't see... This will be easy!" and brandished his signature weapon.

"Wait a minute.. I hear someth..." which was cut off when an explosion destroys a portion of the cliff face on the starting end of the log, causing the latter to fall and with it, the blinded Maximals.

Waspinator gleefully mumbled "Waspinator must find a wreckage of Maximals to take back to Megatron-"

but he was cut off by a screech from his certain comrade "Waspinator!" Terrorsaur arrived meeting the wasp Predacon and said "Megatron sent me to aid your search.

"Not necessary! Waspinator has already found and destroyed Maximals!" Waspinator proclaimed.

"Fool. You did not bother to check if they were destroyed as you say!" Megatron spat out.

"Show me." Terrorsaur asked.

The Maximals, though literally soaked, managed to reach to a clearing on the waterfall. Washed ashore, they regained their bearings, save for their internal systems and their optics.

"I've had enough water to last me a stellar life-time." Cheetor quipped.

"You and me both, pussy-cat." Rattrap agreed.

"What irony... for a warrior like me to go out blind... wet, and helpless..." Dinobot poetically reflected.

"Yeah, the irony is apparent as it seems." Grimlock commented with a smirk.

"We're... we're not finished yet!" Rhinox shouted. 

"Spare me your eternal optimism! Waspinator will be back this time." Dinobot reminded.

After flying by and seeing the Maximals still intact, Terrorsaur taunted "Destroyed them did you?"

Irate, Waspinator replies "Waspinator is sick of stupid Maximals! This time we'll make sure of their destruction!" and prepared his weapon as does his pterodactyl comrade.

But as the clearing did not provide a clearable path, it was clear the blinded party was trapped. Dinobot could not climb up even.

"What do we do, Rhinox?" Cheetor asked.

Without an option, Rhinox then suggested "We can't run..so we fight!"

"Fight? But you can't see!" Smokescreen shouted.

"It seems Rhinox would use this predicament to utilize the other senses they would need for the battle to come. Important of these is their hearing." Prime deduced.

"Well, let us see if he is capable for that." Megatron spouted cynically.

"Transform, now!" he ordered.

"Are you insane? We can't-"

"For once just do what Rhinox says will you, Chopperface?" Rattrap cuts off Dinobot mid-sentence. They all transformed.

But as the Predacons began their strafing run, the Maximals were firing their weapons inaccurately owing to their blindness.

"Where are they?" Cheetor asked.

"Oh, we're scrapped, man, we're scrapped!" Rattrap squeaked fearfully.

"How can we hit what we can not see?!" Dinobot complained.

"This is preposterous, Prime. You expect the Maximals to fight back when they are devoid of their sight? You frighten me with your insanity."

"Perhaps, but there is more to a warrior than mere sight, Megatron. Rhinox will adapt to this the best he knows how. You will see." Prime assured.

"I'd better, because I don't see how this will end well for the Maximals." Megatron replied, though skeptical of Prime's assurances.

"Maximals, listen to me!" Rhinox commanded. "Picture a targeting grid in your head..."

"Like the one we use in practice simulations." Cheetor said, reminded of the times he trained in the simulations.

"Do you see it?" Rhinox asked.

"This is absurd!" Dinobot complained, unsure of what Rhinox was trying to do.

"Concentrate, you can do it!" Rhinox mediated.

While the Maximals may not have their sight, per Rhinox's order, they concentrated, imagining themselves back in the training simulations. 

"I... I can see it, yeah!"

"Yeah, me too! But..."

"They're coming in!" Rhinox cut off both Rattrap and Cheetor upon hearing the Predacon flyers closing in for the next strafing run.

Megatron looked startled.

"They may not have their optics restored, but with concentration, they may see innately." Ratchet replied. "This should serve as inextricable training for recruits who cannot see, old friend."

"That may be so, Ratchet, but that is not the least of the Maximals' worries, as of yet." Prime replied.

"Stand your ground and listen for my instructions." Rhinox stood up as if he was meditating.

"Well, at least he didn't cross his legs." Bulkhead commented.

They all complied, preparing for Rhinox's next set of orders and their weapons at the ready.

"Get ready." Waspinator suggested, preparing for their next attack run with Terrorsaur.

"Cheetor, vector 5-3-7, Rattrap, vector 5-4-2, Dinobot, vector 5-5-4." Rhinox listed out coordinates which they all readied their weapons. "On my mark... Fire!" On his command, they fired intermittently, taking Terrorsaur out first "Not possible!" shouted Waspinator as he circles around for another run.

"KA-BLAM! EAT HOT SCRAP YOU YELLOW-PLATED COWARD! DON'T LET DINOBOT BLAST YOUR LEGS OFF ON THE WAY OUT!" Warpath shouted.

Hearing the gunfire from above, Tigatron transformed "Tigatron- Maximize!" and hailed "Tigatron to Optimus Primal, can you read me?"

"Rattrap, vector 1-3-9, quick!" Rhinox ordered, Rattrap complied and fired on the angle, which brought Waspinator down and sent him skipping across the river and plunge him in the water.

The young Autobots cheered.

"Alright! They got 'em!" Bulkhead cheered.

The former Decepticons smirked and the Predacons looked proud.

"You've proven me wrong, Rhinox, I will give you that." Megatron blurted. Prime smiled; Megatron rarely admitted he was wrong at times.

"Alright, we..." he was cut off by a brief cut of Energon oversaturation which rendered him unconscious.

"Cheetor!"

"What's happen-"

"Hey, what's going-" Soon Rattrap and Dinobot followed, unable to respond, Rhinox realizes "Transforming speeded the contamination! They're all in stasis-lock!" now alone and only able, he transformed "Rhinox- Maximize!" into Robot Mode, readying his chainguns of doom. 

"Rhinox!" Primal called out, where Rhinox took aim, he realized it's his leader calling out to him. "Optimus...I knew you'd..." but he soon fell into unconsciousness as well.

"Optimus to Tigatron! Code X!" Primal ordered.

Soon enough, in the Axalon, Rhinox was the last to step out of the R-Chamber, and fully restored at last.

"Ha, that R-Chamber does wonders restoring what even our medical staff could not. Shockwave, approve of my plans for a restoration chamber. We may need it for those too wounded to fight." Megatron suggested.

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Shockwave nodded.

Before Prime can do the same, he saw Ratchet and Knockout discussing plans for a possible Restoration Chamber.

"Hey, buddy! Good to... SEE you."

Arcee chuckled at the little pun.

"And, thanks." Rattrap finished.

"Goes double from me, Big Guy." Cheetor joined in the praise.

"I suppose you did do a...commendable job out there." Dinobot replied earnestly.

"Commendable's an understatement. Rhinox plunged through the Well of the Allsparks to save you three!" Grimlock pointed out.

"If Rhinox hadn't got you as far as he did, we'd have never got you back to the R-Chamber in time." Primal reminded Dinobot who merely lowered his head in acknowledgment.

"We're just lucky you arrived when you did. But all in all, I'd say it was a good experience for us." Rhinox commented.

"Good?" Dinobot pressed his interrogative "What, in the Inferno, was good about it?"

"We never really appreciated what we're capable of in Beast Form." Rhinox then realizes "Now we know. I'm gonna go smell some flowers." Rhinox departed in Beast Mode.

"Ya know... You gotta love the big lug nut." Rattrap commented.

"You can say that again, Rattrap." Arcee replied lastly.

Of course there were other matters that the Autobots and the Decepticons had to discuss. So Omega Scion had to halt the Orb for a while now.

But before long, a certain Air Commander crash-landed on top of the viewing theater. And he was not a pleasant sight to see.

"Starscream?" asked everyone.