Two Maximal guards bring Megatron in the courtroom. He allowed himself to be led to his place by his appointed lawyer, an Earthling who chose to be called Festus3, but nevertheless looked ready to kill. Megatron sat down by his lawyer, and the guards left to their places. The Earthling appeared to be young, and looked as if he could be crushed with one blow of a TM2's fist.

The lawyer sticks his hand out. "Hi, I'm your appointed lawyer. My name is Festus3."

"Yes, I know," Megatron said. He did not take Festus3's hand.

After a moment, Festus3 became nervous and pulled his hand back. "Okay, then."

"How do you plan on getting me out of this unscathed?" Megatron asked suspiciously, looking down on his lawyer.

Festus3 chuckled, "Sorry, old pal, but you CAN'T get out of this unscathed. I can't do anything for you there."

Fury built up inside of Megatron. "WHAT?!" he roared, getting the attention of the plaintiff's lawyer, some young Earth female named Cheyenne. She looked over at Megatron curiously, but he ignored her.

Looking nervous again, Festus3 explained to his client, "Well, you see, the High Council of your people have already decided that you're guilty. This trial is too decide what you're guilty of and what the punishment is to be."

Attempting to calm down, Megatron said in a deadly whisper, "What are the charges?"

Festus3 shrugged. "I'm not sure. There's a LOT of them though." He looked around on the desk. "I have them on a flashcard somewhere...."

"All rise for the honorable judge, Anarchy," the bailiff announced. All rose, even Megatron, however reluctantly, as Anarchy entered wearing an Earth black judge's robe. Anarchy tried to look dignified as he walked to the judge's bench, but unfortunately tripped over a loose metal floor panel. He managed to keep from falling, but only barely as he stumbled to the his seat. From her desk, Cheyenne snickered. The nominal plaintiff, Optimus Primal, frowned at her. She shut up.

Anarchy sat down. The others in the courtroom followed his example.

Besides Optimus and the other assorted court officials, the only non-humans were Rattrap, Cheetor, Rhinox, Silverbolt, and Blackarachnia, who were on the plaintiff's side. No one was on the defendant's side.

Anarchy looked over the jurors, all Earthlings, that he had suggested be picked to fill the juror box. After the High Council had met and discussed things, it was decided that having a court room full of Predacons would not be fair to the plaintiff, which in essence, was the Maximals, but it would not be fair to the defendant if the court was full of Maximals. So a few Cybertronians were sent to Earth and came across Anarchy, who told them who to get to be the lawyers and the jurors. Of course, he was not REALLY a judge, and Festus3 and Cheyenne were not REALLY lawyers, but hey, what Cybertron didn't know wouldn't hurt it.

In the juror box, in the back row (from left to right) sat Black Cat, Mako, Moon Kitty, Opal Cat, and Scaleblade. In the front row, sat JEDI, Nicky, Sky Cat, Pun, and Yuna. They noticed Anarchy looking at them and all, excluding Black Cat, smiled at him cheerfully. Anarchy waved. Cheyenne shook her head slowly, as if disapproving. Anarchy ignored her.

"Okay," Anarchy said cheerfully, "let's begin shall we?" He looked at the lawyers. "You may start with your opening sentences." Festus3 and Cheyenne stared at him blankly. Anarchy glared at them. Cheyenne clamored up, almost knocking over her chair in her haste.

"Megatron is guilty," she said simply. She sat down.

Now it was Festus3's turn. He stood up. "Megatron is innocent of the crimes he has been accused of." He sat down and smiled smugly at Cheyenne. She ignored him.

"Is that all you got?" Anarchy quipped. They nodded. Megatron glowered.

"Okay, well, then tell me, what exactly are the accused crimes?"

Both lawyers mumbled something about a flashcard and began searching their desks. Cheyenne found hers first. She brought it to Anarchy, then sat back down.

Anarchy read, "Theft of the Golden Disk, destruction to Earth, attempt to destroy mankind, repeated attempts to kill Maximals and keep them from returning to Cybertron, theft and reprogramming of Maximal stasis pods, harboring two criminals, Tarantulas and Rampage, illegal cloning of a Transformer," Anarchy raised his eyebrows at the last one, "and cruelty to Predacon troops." He looked over at Megatron. Megatron glared at him.

Festus3 thought to add, "Don't forget he killed Dinobot."

"Guilty! Guilty!" Moon Kitty cried from her seat. Black Cat looked over at her and told her to shut up.

"Oh, yeah, that's a good one," Anarchy complimented, jotting Festus3's suggestion to the flashcard.

"Fool!" Megatron growled at Festus3, "You're suppose to be on my side!"

Festus3 shrugged. He had been paid in advance and cared little whether Megatron was given five years in prison or death.

"Okay, then," Anarchy went on, putting the flashcard down, "I guess you can call your witnesses."

Optimus leaned over a bit and whispered to Cheyenne, "He doesn't seem to know what he's doing."

"Oh, he does," Cheyenne replied hastily, "He's just nervous because he's never worked for inorganic life forms before." She grinned at Optimus, who gave her a funny look, but said nothing else.

Standing up, Cheyenne said to Anarchy in a business-like matter, "Okay, your honor, I'd like to call-"

"Wait a minute!" Festus3 interrupted, making Cheyenne frown, "How come you get to get a witness first?"

"Because I say so," Cheyenne hissed, clenching her fists.

"But it's not fair!" Festus3 protested, standing up.

Cheyenne faced him, her hands on her hips. "Well, what exactly are you gonna do about it?"

Hesitating, Festus3 thought that one over. The Maximals leaned forward in their seats, wondering what he was going to say. Their trials were never like this. THIS was interesting. Finally, Festus3 looked Cheyenne in the eyes and declared, "I challenge you to a Poke-Battle." He pulled out a little red and white ball.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Cheyenne said. She turned to the juror box. "Hey, Scaleblade! Can I borrow your Mew?"

Scaleblade nodded her head, but Black Cat barked, "Can't you just flip a coin? A Poke-Battle will take forever and I want this trial to be over with." Besides Black Cat, Mako rolled his eyes. In front of BC,

JEDI muttered bad thoughts under her breath.

From her desk, Cheyenne sighed and dug in her pocket. She pulled out a quarter and declared, "I'm tails," as she tossed it into the air. She caught it, flipped it, then looked at it. "It's tails," she said smugly, "I go first."

"Let me see that," Festus3 said suspiciously. Cheyenne shrugged and flipped the coin to him. He caught it and examined it. It was a quarter with tails on both sides. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Sit down!" Megatron growled. Festus3 sat down obediently.

"Now that that's settled," Cheyenne said, facing Anarchy, putting her hands behind her back, "I'd like to call Moon Kitty to the stand."

"Objection, your honor!" Festus3 exclaimed, standing up, "She can't call a juror to the stand!"

"Objection, your honor!" Cheyenne shouted, glaring at Festus3.

"To what?" Anarchy wondered, raising his eyebrows.

"To his objection!" Cheyenne answered loudly, "MK has every right to be on the witness stand, whether she's a juror or not!"

"Sustained then," Anarchy said, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Which one?" Festus3 quipped.

"To Cheyenne's," Anarchy replied, "She has a good point. Besides, I want to hear what MK has to say."

Festus3 sat down, muttering under his breath about Cheyenne being "the judge's pet".

Moon Kitty stood up from her seat and exited the jurors' box. she sat down in the witness stand. Anarchy looked down at her and proclaimed, "Do you solemnly swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"

Optimus whispered to Cheyenne, "I didn't think the judge was suppose to be the one to do that."

"Well, are you a judge?" Cheyenne whispered back. Optimus shook his head. "Well, then how would you know?" Optimus kept quiet and looked back towards the stand.

"Yes," MK said in answer to Anarchy's question.

"Good," Anarchy said with a smile, "because if we ever find out you were lying, we'll cut off your toes and make you EAT them."

"Oh. Okay." MK looked away from him, her eyes wide, and focused her attention on Cheyenne.

"Now, MK," Cheyenne started, standing in front of the stand, "What is your opinion of Megatron?"

MK considered the question, then remarked, "Actually, I'm not sure. I never paid attention to him. I only watched Dinobot."

"Now what does she mean by that?" Megatron asked Festus3 quietly, "She makes it sound as if she'd been watching us."

"She always talks like that," Festus3 assured him, "Now, be quiet."

Her eyes dancing, MK commented to Cheyenne, "Dinobot is real handsome, don't you think?"

"WAS handsome," Black Cat corrected snottily, and the same time that Rattrap exclaimed, "What?!"

"Yes," Cheyenne said, a dreamy look on her face, "He is." Then the look disappeared and Cheyenne shook herself. "No! We're not talking about Dinobot now. EITHER of them." She frowned at MK. "What is your opinion of Megatron?!"

"He was involved with Dinobot's death.... BOTH times," MK scoffed, "So I think he is a scheming menace, and I think he should die a horrible, horrible death."

"No further questions, your honor," Cheyenne declared, smiling. She went back to her desk, and sat down.

From his seat, Festus3 said, "No questions for the witness, your honor."

"Very well, then," Cheyenne announced, "I'd like to call-"

"Wait a minute!" Festus3 squawked, "It's my turn! I am going to call the next witness and I am going to question the witness first! Got it?!" If looks could kill, than Cheyenne's glare would have surely made Festus3 keel over. However, she said nothing, so Festus3 took it upon himself to continue. "Your honor," he said, standing up, "I'd like to call Blackarachnia to the stand."

"Objection, your honor!" Cheyenne shouted, jumping up.

"What for?" Anarchy asked.

"Nothing, really," Cheyenne admitted, sitting down, "But he objected to my witness so I felt that I should do the same to him."

"THAT is a stupid reason," Anarchy barked, "Overruled." He nodded to Festus3 to continue.

"Blackarachnia," he said to the spider, who had made her way to the witness stand during Cheyenne's outburst, "did you-"

"Wait," she interrupted, "Shouldn't I be swore in?"

"Do you plan on lying?" Festus3 questioned crossly.

"No."

"Then what does it matter if you're sworn in or not?" Festus3 shook his head as if he was dealing with an idiot, then continued with the questioning. "While you were under Megatron's command, did he seem at all a bad person?"

"Well, I don't know," BA said at last, "Predacons have a very low opinion of each other and I was no exception. I guess he wasn't THAT bad, for a Predacon, at least, but he WAS a little strange. I mean, he had a rubber ducky for Primus' sake."

"Yes, yes," Festus3 said absentmindedly, "Behind every great man there floats a rubber ducky. But does his being strange come from stress or possible insanity?"

"I beg your pardon!" Megatron roared, as Cheyenne shouted, "Objection!"

"What is it this time?!" Anarchy asked Cheyenne, ignoring Megatron.

"He interrupted her description of the rubber ducky just as she was getting into it," Cheyenne pointed out, "A full description of the relationship between Megatron and his duck could be relevant to the case."

"I doubt it," Anarchy said dryly, "Overruled." He smiled sweetly at Cheyenne, who was frowning angrily at him.

"Thank-you, your honor," Festus3 said, then added, "And as long as you're on my side, could you please order Cheyenne to stop glaring? I find it very trying, and a little scary."

"Agreed," Anarchy said. To Cheyenne, he ordered, "Cheyenne, from now on you cannot glare or frown, no matter what. Your frowning is scaring Festus3." Cheyenne smiled and nodded her head, but her eyes were angry.

Festus3 turned back to BA. "Now, answer my question. Did Megatron appear stressed when you were working under him?"

"Well, yes," BA admitted, "but I suppose he had good reason to be. Stranded on a barren world with his enemies and all."

Festus3's eyes brightened. "And so this 'stress' could've been caused by his environment?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"And do you think that this 'stress' could have influenced Megatron's decisions?"

"I guess it's a possibility," BA said, doubtfully, "but-"

"No further questions, your honor," Festus3 said, walking away from the stand.

Anarchy looked over to Cheyenne. "Do you have any questions for the witness?" Cheyenne nodded, and started to stand up but Anarchy stopped her. "No, don't get up. I'm calling a five minute recess for myself."

"Yourself?" Cheyenne squawked, looking puzzled.

"Yes, I need to use the Men's Room," Anarchy said, "But if I let everyone go then it'd take forever to get everyone back in here." He stood up and left his high seat. "It'll only take a minute. Unless," he looked around at everybody, "anyone else has some, uh, business to attend to?"

Everyone shook their heads, but Black Cat said, "I have to go."

Anarchy smiled at BC. "Go where?"

BC squirmed. "To the bathroom." BC squirmed some more. "I have to go really, really bad."

His smile widening, Anarchy remarked, "Well, if you've held it this long, I'm sure you can hold it a little while longer. Ta, ta." He left the courtroom. BC squeaked in frustration and fear.

Hoping to pass the time, MK turned to Mako and asked, "So, how do you think the trial's going so far?"

Mako turned to her, an eerie smile on his face, and said spookily, "I am the Dark One."

With wide eyes, MK stammered, "Oh... goody. I, uh, always wanted to meet the, uh, Dark One. I'm just going to... talk to this person on my other side now." MK turned away to talk to Opal Cat. Opal Cat was asleep. So much for conversation.

Anarchy returns to the courtroom and everyone stands. He is trailing a piece of toilet paper on his boots. Cheyenne giggles and he looks down.

"Oh slag. Stupid toilet paper, and after I told everyone I wasn't a klutz." He mumbles much to Pun's delight. Pun laughs and points only to be silenced by an evil glare as Anarchy removes the stray tissue. He steps up to the podium and sits down.

"Alright, lets get on with this, call your next witness." He says.

Cheyenne shuffled her papers nervously and finally spoke up, "Um, I wasn't given a chance to cross examine Blackarachnia."

Anarchy looks up from his podium and says "Oh, yes, of course. Well, um, get at it." He finishes lamely with a wave to Blackarachnia.

"Um, Thanks," Cheyenne says and redirects her attention to Blackarachnia. "Blackarachnia, why did you become a Maximal?"

Silverbolt stands bolt upright and proclaims, "The lady's love for me and my love for her brought us together on the side of the righteous!"

"Objection!" Shouts Festus3.

"Sustained. Silverbolt, sit down and shut up or I'll get the bailiffs to remove you." Says Anarchy looking to his bailiffs Scavenger, and RazorClamp who were standing at the back of the room. "Now if you would be so kind as to continue Miss Arachnia?" Blackarachnia glared at Silverbolt.

"Well the reason I joined the Maximals was that Megatron tried to kill me and..."

"Objection!" Festus3 shouted yet again. "She hasn't established that he was trying to kill her..."

"He shot me in the head! If the Maximals hadn't been there I would have been dead." She screamed, glaring at Festus3.

"But he could have finished you off with one more shot, and he didn't!" Shot back Festus3 "He was trying to disable you wasn't he? Not kill!"

Anarchy finally found his gavel which had fallen on the floor beneath the flap of his robe and began to pound his podium. "Objection over ruled! Festus3 you had your turn, sit down. Jury disregard that!" Cheyenne looked over to Festus3 with a sneer. She returned her attention to Blackarachnia. "Not only did he try to kill you..." She started.

"Objection! Leading." Festus3 said.

"Sustained, stop that Cheyenne!" Said Anarchy.

"Ok, what happened before he tried to kill you?" She asked as Festus3 considered whether or not to object again.

"He had just blown Optimus Prime's head off and tried to destroy the entire timeline so that none of us had existed at all. He would have wiped out all of Cybertron." The Transmetal 2 spider said as the Jury gasped.

"That's all I have right now." said Cheyenne, "She may need to be recalled though for later testimony."

Anarchy groaned. "Can't you get it all done with now? Oh forget it. Blackarachnia, you may stand down subject to recall." The spider stepped down from the witness box and took her seat. "Ok, call your next witness, um, Cheyenne I guess." Anarchy said. Optimus rolled his eyes and Cheetor looked over to the Jury box and winked at Yuna.

Festus3 screamed "Hey! Do you two know each other? This is jury tampering!"

"Call your next witness Cheyenne. Festus3, it's not jury tampering, nothing happened. It's a fair and impartial trail. If you question my choice of jurors again I will hold you in contempt." Scavenger and RazorClamp clenched their fists in anticipation.

Festus3 looked over at Scavenger and RazorClamp. They looked like they could eat him for lunch and use his bones to pick their teeth. "I'll be good," he assured meekly, looking straight ahead at Anarchy.

"Good. Cheyenne? You may continue."

Cheyenne picked up a pad of paper off her desk and began reading a bit off it. "Well, then, I guess my next witness will be Rattrap."

"All right!" Rattrap exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and sprinting to the witness stand. Once seated, he held his hand up and declared, "I promise to tell the truth about that stinkin' purple dinosaur."

"Purple dinosaur?" Cheyenne looked over at the defendant. Even in robot mode it was clear that he was a red dragon. Then she remembered. "Oh, yeah, well, I hope so. Uh, first question-"

"Objection!" Festus3 shouted.

"I haven't even asked anything yet!" Cheyenne protested.

"Yes, but you were talking in a dark tone of voice," Festus3 said. He looked at Anarchy. "I think she means to do my client harm, your honor."

"She's the plaintiff's lawyer," Anarchy snorted, "She's SUPPOSE to mean your client harm."

"Well, it just doesn't seem right," Festus3 muttered, crossing his arms.

Pun started singing under his breath, "Come on, people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together and try to love one another right now...."

Festus3 heard it. "Objection to that song, your honor! It was sung at an inopportune time and hints that me and Cheyenne are squabbling children!"

"You can't object to a juror!" Anarchy exclaimed, "And as far as I'm concerned, you ARE squabbling children!"

"I beg your pardon!" Cheyenne hissed, frowning at Anarchy.

The judge glared right back. "I thought I told you to stop frowning!"

A large, fake smile that showed all her teeth appeared on Cheyenne's face she looked away and turned to Rattrap. He winced. The smile was scarier than her glares. Cheyenne asked Rattrap, "When you pretended defecting to the Predacon side, Megatron was currently not in charge due to the late Terrorsaur's take-over. Why do you think Terrorsaur did this?"

Rattrap shrugged. "I don't know. Might have something to do with him bein' a bully and havin' a thirst for power or somethin'."

Cheyenne narrowed her eyes at the vermin. She hissed to him quietly, "If you want Megatron to be put away for a very, very long time, then you need to give us a little more than that."

"Oh, that's right," Rattrap chuckled. "In that case," he said loudly, "I think Terrorsaur did it out of fear of Megatron and his crazy, murderous schemes that he made when he was of sound mind."

Cheyenne smiled a real smile, but Festus3 protested, "She said something to him, your honor! She was telling him what to say!"

"Well, I don't know about that," Anarchy commented, not wanting to admit that he hadn't been paying attention enough to notice if Cheyenne had whispered something to Rattrap or not, "But just the same, I think Cheyenne's questioning is done. Sit down, Cheyenne." Cheyenne muttered bad things under her breath, but she sat down. Anarchy motioned to Festus3. "Your turn, Festus3."

Festus3 stood up, and paced slowly back and forth. He looked up to Rattrap. "You think of yourself as a good guy don't you Rattrap?"

"Yes, well more 'er less I suppose. Actually now that you mention it everyone thinks I'm kinda annoyin' but I still say..." Said the rat until being cut off by Festus3.

"If you consider yourself a good guy, why did you, on many separate occasions break into the Predacon base and steal equipment vital to it's everyday operation!"

"Hey I had ta' do that to save our lives y'know?" Rattrap said angrily.

"The ends do not justify the means Rattrap! You committed numerous crimes against the Predacons! Any action on Megatron's part was merely retribution! And that makes it legal." Festus said slamming his fist on the table to make his point.

"Objection! Not only is he putting words in the witnesses mouth, but retribution is NOT legal!" Cheyenne screamed.

"Retribution? Oh I meant self-defense. Yeah that's it. My apologies to the court." Said Festus3 in a sickenly sweet tone of voice.

Megatron rubbed his temples and groaned.

"Eh, well whatever, I've heard enough from Rattrap," said Anarchy "He has a very annoying voice."

"Hey! Why I ought to..." Rattrap said indignantly.

"He's right, Rattrap, I'm done anyway." Festus3 said.

"What about my objection?" asked Cheyenne.

"Oh, um, good objection, yeah." said Anarchy disjointedly.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Screamed Black Cat from the jury box.

"Objection!" Yelled Cheyenne and Festus3 in unison.

"Sustained." Said Anarchy with an evil grin.

Black Cat turned to Mako and said "He won't let me go to the bathroom!"

Mako turned, looked her up and down and growled, "I am Death. All will fall Before me."

Black Cat turned and stared straight ahead, trying to ignore Mako.