Final Fantasy 7 1/2: Magic Planet
A Final Fantasy 7/Beast Wars crossover fanfic written by Stella 
Quetzacotl
First created: Jul 14, 2002
Last modified: Jul 14, 2002

~~~~~Legal Stuff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes only.  All
FFVII characters are the sole property of Squaresoft.  All Beast Wars
characters are the sole property of Hasbro.  All other characters are 
the sole property of the author.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~Setting~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a TOTAL rehash of the Beast Wars saga, in which the group lands
on the FF7 planet (what would you call it, anyway?) instead of Earth.  
They'll take different beast modes, but I'll keep the same names for 
convenience.  The time is twelve years after the FF7 saga; Marlene is 
sixteen years old.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~Text Conventions~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[This is a character thought]
*This is emphasized text*

Chapter 7

	"Stasis pod now entering the atmosphere," reported Traveller, 
her voice as businesslike as she could make it.
	"Send me those coordinates," Rhinox ordered, shaking off a 
little chill of doubt.  The penetration time was just a little off...
	The coordinate information, along with estimated speed and 
vector calculations, popped onto his main screen in a little subwindow.
"Traveller, what's the error margin on these calculations?"
	"Propogated error is..." Traveller tapped at her station's 
control panel restlessly.  "Seven point three three percent," she 
reported.  "No, wait.  Point seven three three percent."  She scowled 
at her unoffending monitor.  "Sorry 'bout that."
	Rhinox gave her an indulgent smile.  Traveller, besides not 
being wired for number crunching, disliked being kept indoors - only 
partially a result of her beast instincts.  "Check your numbers again,"
he prompted anyway.  "Something seems off about them."
	Obediently if a bit impatiently, Traveller did as ordered.  
"They seem fine to me," she reported.  "And the data's all right."
	Rhinox nodded - he'd been surreptiously re-checking her numbers
too.  "Open a communication to Optimus.  It seems there's been a slight
miscalculation of the stasis pod's landing point."
	"Sure."  Traveller flicked open a comm channel.  "Base to 
Optimus."  Static answered.  "Come in, Optimus.  You read?"  No answer.
"Stupid - Mako's jamming up the comlinks again."
	"Hmph.  That's odd.  We weren't having trouble talking to him 
half a megacycle ago."  Rhinox checked the readout of the Mako 
interference level around the ship.  "Slag - Mako's too high for the 
signal to get ten klicks, much less to the human village."
	"Hey," Traveller said suddenly.  "You think the Preds know 
about the stasis pod's real landing coordinates?"
	Rhinox stared at the younger Maximal, two electronic synapses 
finally forming a connection.  "Slag," he said slowly.  "Traveller, how
fast can you run to the human settlement?"
	Traveller leaped up.  "I'll be there before you can process the
Axalon's instruction manual," she swore.
	Rhinox laughed.  The Axalon's instruction manual was a ten-bit 
file consisting of two words: 'Don't crash.'  Evidently it was a bit 
lacking in effectiveness.  "Get going, then," the Behemoth said gently.
"Tell Optimus that the stasis pod will land at sector Diva, coordinates
twelve-seven-zero."  He started to add, 'Be careful,' but the 
bird-Maximal was already gone.

	One-third of the way to the settlement, Traveller fell in with 
a band of wild Chocobos, yellow-feathered birds that sang as they ran. 
As they didn't seem to object, Traveller added her voice to theirs, 
warbling in their oddly beautiful language as the klicks flew by.  She 
continued singing as she and the wild band parted ways - somehow it 
made running easier.
	Traveller loved running - couldn't remember how she'd lived 
without it on Cybertron.  Speed was certainly part of it, the challenge
of running faster and ever faster - but just being able to run, to feel
the wind in her flightless wings... Traveller shook off those thoughts.
[Have to concentrate.  Have to get to Optimus before the pod lands. 
Maybe we can get to the landing point before the Preds do.]  She 
checked her internal clock - fifteen cycles had passed, and only half 
the way traveled.  Traveller ran harder.

	"Optimus!  H-hey, Optimus!"
	Optimus glanced over his shoulder.  "Traveller?"  His rather 
poor Doorbull vision had no trouble picking out the bounding white 
shape of Traveller's Maximal form rolling over the hillcrests.
	Behind him, Barret shielded his eyes, incredulous.  "That 
another Maximal o' yours?"
	"She is," Optimus answered politely as a panting-for-breath 
Traveller reached his side.  "Barret, meet Traveller.  Traveller, this 
is Barret Wallace, the security chief of North Corel, and Marli's 
father."
	"Pleased - to meet - you - sir," Traveller gasped out.  
"Optimus - there's - a slight - correction - of the - pod's - landing -
point."
	"What?  You mean it's not going to land on top of us?" demanded
James.
	"No," Traveller answered, beginning to get her breathing under 
control.  "It'll land - a few klicks north - of here."
	"The Predacons," Dinobot pointed out, "are undoubtedly aware of
the stasis pod's true landing coordinates."
	"Just what're ya sayin', Dino-boob?" Rattrap demanded.
	Optimus intervened before Dinobot could reply.  "Enough.  We've
got bigger problems.  Traveller," he turned to the Chocobo - "run ahead
to the new coordinates, and we'll follow your tracking frequency.  
Dinobot, Rattrap, you two follow, and report to me if you need backup. 
Whatever you do, don't let the pod fall into Megatron's hands."
	"Count on us," Traveller said bluntly, and was off like a shot,
tail feathers bouncing like a rising moon.  After a few moments' 
hesitation - and a warning glare from Optimus - Rattrap clambered onto 
Dinobot's back and the two followed Traveller's footsteps.
	Optimus watched them go.  "So, I guess we can call off the 
evacuation now," Hensen ventured cheerfully.
	"Shu'up, Hensen," Barret growled.
	"No, not yet," Optimus answered Hensen, musingly.  "Megatron 
may try something here to salve his ego, if he doesn't get the stasis 
pod.  Continue the evacuation - and keep your eyes open."
	No words were ever more poetically timed, for just as the words
left Optimus's lips a blazing silver streak lanced across the sky, 
screaming in protest of atmospheric friction.  "The stasis pod!" 
Optimus breathed, watching it.  And just as Traveller had said, the pod
landed with a soft boom and a cloud of dust, in a stretch of 
mountainous forest just a few klicks away.
	Maximals and humans alike stood frozen, staring at the landing 
point.
	Then Optimus jerked himself.  "What are we standing around for?
Let's get to work!"

	It was glaringly obvious that the smoking oblong lying in a 
furrow of earth several tens of yards long was, in fact, a stasis pod, 
but all the same Laz felt the need to say, "You think that's what they 
were talking about?"
	"You mean the stasis pod?" Marli queried back, also 
unnecessarily.  "What else could it be?"
	She shifted her grip on her staff, long since unsheathed, and 
skirted the tree the two kids had hidden behind to approach the smoking
space wreck.  "You think he's still alive?"
	"Who?" Laz was resolutely staying put, clinging to the shelter 
tree.
	"The guy inside."  Marli gestured with her staff.  "Optimus 
said he put his crew in these things, right?"
	"Oh."  Laz squinted at the pod.  "I guess he's alive.  Maybe. 
I don't know."
	"Only one way to find out."  Marli continued her cautious tread
forward.  
	The stasis pod had cut quite a gash in the landscape, making 
planetfall as it had on a shallow angle from the Planet's surface.  It 
was lying on its back in a pile of dirt and half-melted sand and tiny 
shards of Mythril, sediments mostly originating from the freshly-dug 
trench the pod had created on arrival.  Broken trees lined the gorge, 
oozing pine-scented sap and pollen.  Marli had to stop her progress 
forward in order to sneeze twice before continuing.
	She barely got two steps before Laz's tight voice stopped her 
again.  "Marli.  Don't move.  Look to your left."
	She froze, refrained from pointing out the inherent oxymoron in
Laz's commands, and very slowly, very smoothly turned her head to the 
left.
	Standing on a freshly-fallen tree, head tentacle tousling the 
fading sunlight, a Guard Hound stood in a nimbus of wild pride.  The 
name was a misnomer, for the creature was more panther-like in 
appearance, with a short, cropped tail and a long, whiplike tentacle 
firmly rooted in its forehead.  Its fur was glossy black, its eyes so 
dark a blue as to be nearly lost in the shadows of its face.  And it 
was staring straight at Marli.
	"L-Laz?" Marli forced past a throat suddenly dry as sandpaper.
	"Just don't move," came the answer.  "They don't attack 
humans - usually.  Just - keep very still."  Laz's voice was strained, 
and Marli knew the boy was trying very hard to follow his own advice.
	Marli did the same.  She took a long, shallow breath and held 
it, willing her body to become as still as her lungs; no twitch, no 
matter how minute, would betray her.  Not even a blink.
	Everything receded - nothing but Marli and the Guard Hound 
existed anymore, as lack of oxygen tunneled her vision.  Insects buzzed
tensely, and their predators the birds twittered on, oblivious.  In the
distance a twig snapped.
	The sharp sound made Marli blink involuntarily, and when she 
did the spell was broken.  The Guard Hound disappeared, as wild things 
are wont to do, and Marli leaned on her staff to keep from collapsing 
as a white Chocobo skittered into the gorged clearing.
	Traveller's beak moved back and forth uncertainly, from Marli 
to the pod to Laz and back to Marli again, as Dinobot and Rattrap 
finally caught up with her.  "Humans?  M-marli - and Laz?" she queried 
over the harsh panting of her comrades.  "What - what are you doing 
here?"
	"Looking for the pod," Marli answered promptly, just as Laz put
in "Evacuating."
	They shot each other warning glares.  "Great," Rattrap sneered.
"On top of ev'rythin' else, we gotta look after a couple o' - "
	"Don't bother," Marli snapped.  "Laz and I can take care of 
ourselves."  She glanced at her blonde companion.  "Right, Laz?"
	"R-right," Laz gulped.
	Dinobot threaded the air with a low snarl.  "You take your 
lives into your own hands then."  His tail tip whizzed at the air.  
"There is no sign of the Predacons," the Vlakorados commented, lifting 
his head to scent the wind.  "Odd."
	"They're probably a ways behind us," Traveller conjectured.  
"We were going pretty fast."
	"Speak fer yerself," Rattrap muttered.  He bounded toward the 
pod, in the kind of rolling, flowing gait characteristic of his 
species, and tapped it experimentally.  A small section of the hull 
opened, revealing a control panel.  "Don't look like it was damaged in 
the crash," he reported.  "Rattrap, maximize!"  He morphed into his 
robot mode and spread his fingers over the controls.  "But it shoulda 
initiated its scannin' sequence by now.  Weird..."  His hands moved, 
pressing button after button in a practiced blur.
	Dinobot cocked his head.  "We have... guests," he hissed, 
lashing his tail.  A moment later Marli and Laz could hear it too - a 
low droning noise.
	"A Bizarre Bug," Laz said authoratively.
	"No," Traveller corrected tersely, "a Predacon."  She 
transformed, not bothering with the spoken command.  "And he's not 
alone, I'll bet."
	Marli slipped her staff from its sheath and gripped it in both 
hands.  "You're the expert," she shrugged.  Laz looked put out, but 
retrieved his tonfas from his belt.
	Rattrap fixed the two humans with a red-eyed glare.  "Run 
home," he ordered, shutting the stasis pod's panel with an 
authoritative bang.  "This ain't kids' work."
	"We didn't run before, why should we do it now?" Marli shot 
back.
	"They'll be ready for your - your magic," Traveller argued.  
She was about to press the issue, but then a giant orange-and-green 
Bizarre Bug cleared the last of the treetops and was in the clearing.
	"Wazzzpinator, terrorizzze!" he announced, and his body obeyed,
contorting him into a vaguely humanoid form with Bizarre Bug wings 
sprouting from his back like a noisy cape.  He added, "Mzzz-stazzzizzz 
pod belong to Predaconzzz!" just as a blue-and-magenta Formula joined 
him in the clearing's airspace.
	"Cower in fear, Maximals!  Terrorsaur, terrorize!" The 
Formula's body also twisted and convulsed in midair, claiming a more 
humanoid shape.  "That stasis pod is as good as ours!"
	"You always were," Dinobot snarled, "an incurable idiot."  He 
stretched, almost languidly.  "Dinobot, maximize."  Tail and spines and
claws flew in all directions, rearranging themselves into Dinobot's 
sword-toting robot mode.
	"And you always were good target practice, *traitor,*" 
Terrorsaur shot back.  He leveled an arm, fingers splayed and palm 
forward, at the once-Predacon.  Marli caught a flash of a black spot in
the center of  his hand just before he fired.  Three yellow bolts of 
energy drilled through the air with a hoarse scream; Dinobot leaped 
aside with an agility that seemed odd for a creature of his mass.  His 
answering volley, smallish red lasers issuing from forward-facing ports
on his temples, forced Terrorsaur to wheel away into the trees.  His 
joints caught on some of the smaller branches, and he ripped himself 
free with a swear word that nearly made the tree burst into flames.
	Meanwhile, Waspinator swooped around the outer edge of the 
clearing, attempting with jerky motions to break the laser lock 
Traveller had on him.  Focusing on the Chocobo-Maximal, he didn't 
notice Rattrap drawing a bead on him until the Trickplay-Maximal had 
planted a photon blast into his shoulder just below the wing.  He 
dropped with a cry.
	[Maybe we're not needed,] Marli thought with grim good humor as
she constructed Barrier on herself and Laz.  As she didn't have any All
Materia, the double casting cut into her magic by nearly half.  "Laz, 
how's your magic?"
	"It's full.  I haven't used any since we fought the Predacons 
last."
	"Good."  She nodded.  "Still have Enemy Skill?"
	"Never leave home without it," Laz said seriously.
	"Good."  She took her attention away from Traveller and 
Rattrap, who were advancing on the downed Waspinator, and watched 
Dinobot and Terrorsaur as they traded insults and laser shots.  [It's 
even,] she thought, remembering the combat and strategy training she'd
received at the hands of her father and Eli Samuels.  [It shouldn't 
be - Dinobot's leagues ahead of Terrorsaur, fighting-wise - but it is. 
It's because Terrorsaur can *fly*,] Marli realized suddenly.  [That 
gives him the advantage.  Take that away and he'd be helpless.]  She 
watched as Terrorsaur wheeled, setting up for another shot.  Dinobot 
ducked into the trees to give himself better cover.  From under their 
branches he snarled a challenge.  Terrorsaur screamed his reply and 
stooped, and was lost to Marli's sight.
	Behind her, Waspinator fired three stinger missiles in quick 
succession.  The first one grazed Rattrap's side, the second one 
exploded into the dirt in front of him.  The third passed over his head
to hit the stasis pod square in the middle.
	"No!" Traveller shrieked as the pod bucked and flipped over.  
It landed, bounced, and came to rest as something shorted explosively 
within it.  Blue lightning played over one side, followed by smoke 
rising from sudden cracks in the hull.
	Waspinator lowered his gun.  "Ooopzz."
	"Waspinator, you *idiot*!" Terrorsaur shrieked from the trees. 
"Megatron's going to have your hide!"
	"Not if I get it first," Traveller snarled, slipping her laser 
rifle into its brackets on her back.  Her hands free, she leaped for 
the bug-Predacon with a Chocobo war cry.  Rattrap left Traveller to do 
as she pleased with her foe and went to the stasis pod.
	Marli came forward, Laz in tow, as the Trickplay-Maximal 
muscled the metal coffin over onto its back.  "Fat lotta good you're 
doin'," he muttered at the humans as he tried to open the control 
panel.  It seemed to be fused shut.
	"You're the one who told us to go home," Marli retorted.  "Laz,
do you have any curing spells on your Enemy Skill?"
	Laz nodded.  "I have White Wind.  I got it when we took that 
trip to Fort Condor last year."
	"Would you use it, please?"
	The blonde boy nodded.  Holding out his left-hand tonfa - the 
only one with Materia slots - he closed his eyes and relaxed his 
shoulders.  "White Wind," he breathed.  With a sound like a flock of 
birds startled into flight, a small vortex of flitting white light 
swirled into being over the stasis pod - and over Marli, Laz, and the 
Maximals.  Blue rays of Mako light followed the white, then both 
vanished.
	Rattrap flexed his arms, surprised.  "I - I'm cured?" he 
squeaked.  "Coulda sworn I got hit - "
	"Healing magic," Laz croaked.  "I need to sit."
	Marli helped him sit down.  "It was too much for you, wasn't 
it?  You used your life force."
	Face pale, Laz nodded.
	"You should have told me it took too much," Marli said sternly.
	"I didn't know.  I've never used it before."  Laz glanced up at
her.  "Besides, your magic's drained, isn't it, from the two Barriers? 
It woulda hurt you more than it did me."
	Marli scowled, then looked up at Rattrap.  "Did it help?" she 
asked.
	"Hang on."  Rattrap finally managed to get the control panel 
open.  He tapped a few buttons, then slumped.  "No," he answered 
morosely.  "All systems're offline.  This guy ain't walkin' away from 
this."
	Marli looked away.  "I'm sorry."
	"Ye're not the one who should be sorry."  Rattrap's voice had a
steel edge to it.  "Bugboy over there is payin' for it."  He nodded to 
where Traveller and Waspinator brawled.  It was anything but a fair 
fight - the Predacon had long since lost his weapon and was 
unsuccessfully trying to shield himself from Traveller's blows.  
Traveller was rewarding each of his pained cries with another vicious 
punch.
	Meanwhile, Terrorsaur had finagled a moment's respite from 
Dinobot's assault by reverting to beast mode and hiding in a 
particularly thick tree.  His former comrade was also in beast mode, 
the better to stalk the Formula-Pred.  As a Vlakorados, Dinobot's 
senses were keen enough and his jumping ability great enough that 
Terrorsaur would be a sitting duck if he stayed where he was.  
Conversely, his fixed-outspread wings were all but stuck on the 
branches of his shelter tree, so he couldn't take off easily.  
Transforming would solve that problem, but Terrorsaur had already taken
too much damage from Mako energy and Dinobot's attacks alike and didn't
want to risk any more.  So there was really only one course left to 
him.
	It was a dangerous course - risking life and limb at Megatron's
hands.  Then again, he faced the same from Dinobot, so that wasn't 
really a turnoff.
	"Terrorsaur to Megatron," he hissed into his comlink, urgently.
"Do you copy?"
	It was a few nerve-rattling seconds before the answer returned 
- garbled by Mako interference, but understandable.  "Megatr... here.  
Rep..rt."
	"The mission has failed.  The Maximals were at the stasis pod 
before we arrived.  During the ensuing altercation, Waspinator 
attempted to shoot one of the Maximals and missed."  He hesitated.  
"The blast destroyed the stasis pod."
	Terrorsaur's audials were blasted by an explosion of static.  
Enough of Megatron's angry tones got through to leave no doubt of the 
content of the Predacon leader's message.  "The fight continues," 
Terrorsaur pressed on hurriedly, "in the hopes that we can carry away 
the stasis pod for salvage.  But - "  A snarl sliced the air, followed 
by a solid thump on Terrorsaur's tree.  Startled, the Formula took 
flight just ahead of Dinobot's snapping jaws.  Dinobot jumped again, 
this time landing solidly in the crown of the tree, and Terrorsaur 
banked away.  One of the humans shouted, gesturing at Terrorsaur with 
its metal stick-weapon, and a black sphere sent him spinning end over 
end just as he remembered the humans' strange energy abilities.
	"One more thing," Terrorsaur squawked angrily as he righted 
himself.  "There are two humans here - the same ones who stood against 
us before.  One assumes that they are in some sort of permanent 
agreement with the Maximals."
	Another blast of static, this one not quite as vehement.  "
F..rget th... ...sis pod.  Rep..rt to ... h...man sett...ment ... 
prepare f... strafing runs.  ... teach th...se hum...ns to d...fy me!  
Y..esss..."
	Terrorsaur shivered with delight.  "Waspinator, let's go!  New 
orders!"  He gained in altitude, cawing in laughter as Dinobot leaped 
again for him.  "Farewell, fleshlings," he taunted, "and when you 
return to your little nests and find them razed to the ground, know 
that I was there and laughed at their destruction!"  Waspinator joined 
him in the sky and the two Predacons winged away, heading south.
	Marli stood frozen for a few minutes, watching the two figures 
rapidly dwindle to nothing in the dusky sky.  Then with a cry she 
exploded into motion.  "North *Corel*," she gasped, "come *on*, Laz, 
they're going after our *town*!"  She grabbed the boy's arm.
	Laz let himself be towed in the direction of North Corel.  
"We'll never make it - " he gasped.
	"Think that matters?" Marli demanded.  She broke into a run and
Laz followed suit - with the older girl's death grip on her arm, he 
didn't really have a choice.  "They're gonna *attack*, Laz, they're 
gonna attack everything we know!  We have to go back!"
	Rattrap took three long strides and interposed himself between 
the two kids and their path.  "They'll slaughter ya!" he said angrily. 
"Let the Boss Hoss take care of it - protectin' the helpless is his 
department."
	Marli glared.  "It's my home.  I'd appreciate any help you 
could spare - " this came out sarcastically, although she didn't mean 
it that way - "but if you can't help, then get out of my way."
	Tenseness crackled the air between them.  Marli's grip on Laz's
elbow grew tight enough to hurt - Laz grimaced but didn't say anything.
Rattrap's hand dropped to his side where his photon pistol was 
holstered, a kind of tight relaxation in his arm that facilitated 
quick-as-thought movement.  In that moment, if even a twig had cracked 
girl and Maximal would have been at each other's throats.
	It was Traveller who broke free of the spell of fearful 
stillness to diffuse the situation.  "We'll all go," she announced.  
"It's our duty as Maximals to defend this world, right?  And these two 
have just as much right to stand against the Predacons as we do."  She 
trotted to Laz, stretched her neck and spread her wings, and Laz stared
at this strange behavior until he realized that it was an invitation to
ride.  Blushing, he straddled the bird, who took off with no apparent 
loss of speed.  Rattrap claimed his beast mode and followed as fast as 
his little legs could carry him.
	Now it was just Marli and Dinobot in the clearing.  Marli 
glanced at the Vlakorados, who was sliding down the tree trunk with his
claws gouging deep furrows in the wood, and then turned away to follow 
Rattrap's rapidly disappearing form.  Dinobot blew past her, black eyes
narrow with purpose, and as he pulled forward his tail caught Marli's 
legs and lifted her up, depositing her squarely on his shoulders 
between two spine blades.  Marli gasped, then grimaced and held on as 
Dinobot followed Rattrap in his bouncing gait.


Next chapter...
The Predacons learn not to mess with humans, thanks to the return of 
some familiar faces.