[[Fractyl]] escaped Cybertron as some''thing'' named [[Thunder Mayhem]] sacked the place, and lucked out in getting into a [[stasis pod]] when the ship he was on got hit. When he comes to, the pod is severely damaged and reporting the [[Chicxulania|planet]] he's landed on is seething with energon—''far too much'' energon, and he's forced to initiate stasis lock so his body can compensate for the local radiation. But the last thing he sees before stasis lock is a group of shapes outside the pod and when he wakes up he's restrained by alien insect creatures, who are carrying out some bizarre ritual on him! These creatures, the [[Vespoid]]s, clearly know what a Transformer is and hate them so much they're gonna kill 'im bad!
On a [[Chicxulania|distant planet]], [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] geochemist [[Fractyl]] wakes up inside a [[stasis pod]] to the damaged capsule's computer screaming in his auditory circuits, warning him about the build-up of [[energon]] radiation. As he comes to, Fractyl remembers what happened: when something or some''one'' named [[Thunder Mayhem]] attacked [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], annihilating. Fractyl scrambled onboard one of the evacuating ships, sealing himself inside the stasis pod, but it must have been destroyed at some point, which jettisoned Fractyl's stasis pod and any others onboard. The Predacon reads out the information on the planet's surroundings given to him by the pod; with the presence of energon, he figures it must have had some contact with Cybertronians. Unfortunately, there readout doesn't give him much aside from warning him about the dangerous amounts of energon, and all his own scanners can tell him is that there's a massive presence of organic life. As energon radiation begins to seep through the damaged pod, Fractyl has the pod activate stasis lock so he can compensate his circuits for energon radiation. And as he goes under, he watches as dark, unfamiliar shapes gather around the pod...
Luckily for the geochemist, a second group of creatures attack the site and drive the Vespoids off, wounding foes but killing none. The insect's shaman is left standing alone and wordlessly threatens to kill Fractyl if the feathery lizards don't back off. Someone from afar fires a laser beam to drive the shaman off. To Fractyl's amazement, these 'raptors' are Cybertronians like him: the Raptoricons! Little [[Shred]] babbles to him, 'silent' [[Gnash]] snarls at Fractyl because his talk annoys her, and the sniper, [[Slice (G1)|Slice]], assumes Gnash has pegged the newcomer as a Decepticon and thus untrustworthy. Fractyl assumes he's a prisoner now and is willing to put up with that for safety, but the leader, [[Thrashclaw]], decides they should head out before the Vespoids return. (On their way out, Fractyl takes an odd green shard the shama was going to use on him, wanting to analyse it later)
En route to the Raptoricon base, the raptors exposit that Shred used to be an Autobot with a fangirl interest in two Decepticon mercenaries with robotic animal alt-forms and started hanging around the Decepticon secret forums to find them; once she'd run into Slice and Thrashclaw, she'd begged to join up. The three girls had found a strange alien lab when they'd first arrived on this planet and inside it was the technology needed to make [[Technorganic|organic-looking]] "[[beast mode]]s". This both disguises them as local predators and stops the energon affecting them! Gnash, they'll later reveal, they found in the lab and assume she came via a stasis pod. Fractyl is pestered for info (like what ''does'' make a Predacon different to a Decepticon?) and tries to make sure he doesn't let slip that their homeworld is kinda dead now. And what did they ''really'' save him for? Why, later, do they not want to explain why mercenaries ended up in an exploration vessel?
As the local 'herd'—big three-horned reptiles with bony crests—stomp by, Thrashclaw and Shred explain that a lot of the local animals don't seem native and that this planet may be a biological preserve set up by aliens. They keep finding old fence infrastructure around the place, like this was a park... sort of a... Bird-Lizard Park...
At the base, a crashed ship, Fractyl is told they stick to beast mode as they quite like it—back home they'd been taught organics are icky and alien, but actually it's great! Thrashclaw then drops her laid-back demeanour and starts to interrogate the Predacon for what's really going on, but luckily (sorta?) the ship computer alerts them that the Vespoids are attacking! Everyone wonders just ''what'' Fractyl ''did'' that's pissed them off. Dragged into battle with them, he sees them finally transform (and Gnash is giving off ''weird'' energy readings) and is ordered to take to the sky and clear bombardiers off the roof. To his dismay, the Vespoids seem nigh-impossible to kill even if you vape their heads!
The battle actually relaxes Fractyl: he never revelled in destruction and just likes following orders, and Trash's commands and the methodical nature of shooting bombs out of the sky is making him happy.
Gnash falls, energy levels dropping harshly, and Fractyl flies down to save her... and gets knocked to the ground by flying Vespoids! The fliers bug out with Gnash and the rest of the insects follow suit, making it clear this was their plan all along. Thrash orders a wounded Shred to the restoration chamber while she, Slice, and Fractyl get their sister back. The geochemist, to their confusion and dismay, wants to stay behind and analyse the shaman's shard, believing this is the key to working out exactly what's up with Gnash. In order to explain why he needs their trust, he tells them Cybertron is gone: that means they could be the ''only'' Cybertronians for light years and they ''have'' to stick together. The Raptoricons agree, with Shred declaring him their new brother.
Working at the lab, Fractyl learns from Shred that Gnash—who is prone to sharp mood swings due to her mental condition but unflinchingly loyal—is constantly suffering those energy drains and uses the restoration chamber more than anyone. He also learns that the women went to this planet looking for an energy source for, ah, a ''legitimate business'' called Kolkular Powerbase, and after finding Gnash, who they knew shouldn't be shown to the Powerbase, they decided to just stay on the planet. And to Shred's surprise, his geochemistry reveals that crystal shard is a variety of energon and the Vespoids have that energon ''as part of their DNA!''
At the Vespoid 'city', Thrashclaw and Slice are plotting their attack plans. This isn't the first time they've had to fight the creatures, who have refused any negotiation before, but what's waiting in that city? The Vespoids end up attacking first and the ex-Decepticons gleefully join the battle! But the numbers are too great and, even though the Vespoids are acting like their heart isn't in this, they may be overrun...
...until Fractyl arrives in his ''own'' brand spanking new beast mode, leading a dozen other flying lizards, carrying a big net of green energon shards and Shred to boot! Fractyl had discovered that the Raptoricon's ship had landed on the biggest energon seam in the area and so, as a peace offering, he's brought a whole load of tasty energon. (The 'swoopers' he bribed into helping them by saying the Raptoricons will owe them a week's worth of fish) He also has theorised that Gnash could run on energon herself and was an experiment of the lost aliens, and that means the Vespoids' believe she's kin to them; they abducted her to find out exactly what was going on. Indeed, the Vespoids fed her shards and now she's feeling better and quite chatty!
Without firing a shot himself, Fractyl has pretty much saved the day and ended this war of beasts. For the first time in a long time, he feels pride in a job well done.
Shortly thereafter, a ship arrives at the planet carrying [[Impactor (G1)|Impactor]] and [[Punch (G1)|Counterpunch]]! After handing over Paradronian translation devices to help the Raptoricons better talk with the Vespoids, they ask Fractyl to join them in searching for survivors of Cybertron; the raptors decline to come, sticking with their new home. Fractyl reluctantly goes back to his old jet form, as his new comrades tell him that'll be better for their work.
Because they're looking for survivors to help ''take down Thunder Mayhem''.
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==Featured characters==
Revision as of 18:18, 13 June 2020
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Marooned on a planet with hostile inhabitants, Fractyl falls in with a strange group of Transformers, who might be the only other Cybertronians left...
On a distant planet, Predacon geochemist Fractyl wakes up inside a stasis pod to the damaged capsule's computer screaming in his auditory circuits, warning him about the build-up of energon radiation. As he comes to, Fractyl remembers what happened: when something or someone named Thunder Mayhem attacked Cybertron, annihilating. Fractyl scrambled onboard one of the evacuating ships, sealing himself inside the stasis pod, but it must have been destroyed at some point, which jettisoned Fractyl's stasis pod and any others onboard. The Predacon reads out the information on the planet's surroundings given to him by the pod; with the presence of energon, he figures it must have had some contact with Cybertronians. Unfortunately, there readout doesn't give him much aside from warning him about the dangerous amounts of energon, and all his own scanners can tell him is that there's a massive presence of organic life. As energon radiation begins to seep through the damaged pod, Fractyl has the pod activate stasis lock so he can compensate his circuits for energon radiation. And as he goes under, he watches as dark, unfamiliar shapes gather around the pod...
Fractyl hopes Vice Grip made it to safety, the two being friends in the 3H BotCon stories.
In this continuity, the Predacons have arisen as a subset of the Decepticons, though it is not specified what distinguishes a Predacon from any other Decepticon.
The story's title, is, of course, a reference to the Jurassic Park franchise. Fractyl compares the presence of dinosaurs on the planet, and the theory that the planet was once some kind of nature preserve, to "a zoo that got overrun".
The fact the team consists of four female Velociraptors is a probable reference to the "Raptor Squad" of Jurassic World.
On seeing the Raptoricons transform, Fractyl thinks the situation is "about to get wild", the tagline of the latest series of Power Rangers, Dino Charge.
At the climax, Thrash tells Slice to "hold on to your butt". Samuel L. Jackson's character in the first Jurassic Park movie used that line as a catchphrase.
Errors
On page 1, Fractyl's name is mispelt as "Fractyll" ("Fractyll struggled to recall what had happened before he went into stasis").
On page 15, Shred is accidentally referred to as a "former Maximal" instead of a former Autobot, as she is consistently referred to throughout the rest of the story.
On page 21, the third-person narration of Thrashclaw's thoughts mentions that the dinosaurs on the mysterious planet came from Earth; Earth doesn't have a name in this continuity, since it was never inhabited by humans, but evidently, Matt Frank didn't know that. Otherwise, the dinosaurs are noted to be non-native to the planet.
