Through Ash and Dust (ROTB)

Chapter 52

As they continue to the proceed down the river, Saphira was growing more curious about where they were going. She glanced up as Stratosphere flew over them, and both she and the autobots had to tell the maximals who it was. As Primal almost took the large autobot as a threat. Nonetheless, they continued along the river, and Saphira found a few more flowers along the way. She picked a few of them and braided the stems into a floral necklace and placed the flowers around her neck. It was endearing to Optimus, as he was enjoying the nature around them as well.

Saphira looked at Rhinox and Cheetor ahead of them and she became curious. She wondered how many different types of maximals there were. She doubted they refer to themselves as species, as she was not sure how their race reproduced and such to create the different maximals that she was seeing now. She even wondered if there were insect-like maximals, as she could picture a preying mantis type maximal and it would be pretty cool to see.

Saphira hummed softly and looked at Primal curiously. "I hope this isn't going to be a weird question..." Primal turned his head as his yellow optics look at her. "But...how do you maximals...identify each other, aside from name?" Primal raised an eyebrow as he was not sure what she meant. "Um...sorry, I know it is weird. But considering you look like a gorilla, Airazor a falcon, Rhinox as a rhinoceros and Cheetor a cheetah..."

"Ah, I see." Primal chuckled lightly as he realized Saphira's question. "You want to know if we refer to each other as species." She nodded, even though it was a strange question. "I understand your curiosity. When we first arrived on this world, it was we who were surprised to find animals that look like us. Not the other way around." She could imagine that very easily. "No, we do not differentiate each other like that. It is a little more complicated."

"I guess. Are there any maximals that look like insects?" Primal widened his optics slightly before shaking his head. "Ah...a preying mantis maximal would look pretty cool."

"Insecticons are not maximals. They're a Cybertron species." Now that surprised Saphira as she looked at Optimus as he spoke up. She looked at Primal who nodded in agreement. "Though even if maximals did have something similar to the insects and spiders on your planet, it could have been possible."

"It is true that it could have been possible. But there are no maximals who are in the form of insects. But as for your question regarding the different maximals, while I understand using the word species can help to differentiate between us, it is not exactly correct." Primal chuckled as it was amusing to him. "It is hard to explain to someone who is not informed of our genetic anatomy. And it would be too long to talk about." Saphira was still curious, even if it was hard to understand. "There were others like me, Cheetor, Rhinox and Airazor. Apelinq was our leader before me. He too had the appearance of a gorilla. Though he was larger than I was...though his wisdom and skill was not enough to defeat Scourge when he remained to give us time to escape."

"Oh, I am sorry." Saphira had assumed Primal had been the leader of the maximals for a long time, but she had not expected him to say there was another leader before him. "Though...there are maximals that look like other animals, right?"

Primal nodded. "Yes. Old friends, such as Rattrap and Tigatron, both had different appearances than the rest of us. Though I can imagine you can guess what they looked like based upon their names." Saphira nodded as she pictured a tiger maximal and a rat maximal...though she was certain that Rattrap would be quite intimidating to see. "Unfortunately...we are unsure of what has happened to them. Airazor has already implied that we are all that is left. Though I would like to hope that is not the case." He sighed deeply as he gazed ahead and he smiled. "We do not have much further to go. We will be there before the night falls."

"Good to know." Saphira was starting to feel quite tired, as the adrenaline she felt before was going, and she was now left with feeling exhausted. She couldn't wait to put her feet up and eat some food. She hummed softly before she smiled and ran over to Cheetor. "So..." Cheetor turned his head slightly upon hearing the human. "How fast are you?"