Tales of the Intermezzo - Scale
                       A Transformers Universe Story
                     copyright 2007 by Dave Van Domelen
                     based on properties owned by Hasbro
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     "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play."
          - American Heritage Dictionary

     Terrorsaur's green scales glistened in the dappled sunlight of the
forested border around the human settlement, shimmering alongside his more
obvious mechanical parts.  His sensitive nose sampled the air, sifting the
vast array of new aromatic compounds native to this world.  
     Every planet had its own smells, its own life, even mechanical worlds
like his native Cybertron.  On Cybertron, he and other Mini-Cons were the
smallest of the small, but Grimlock had told him about the "puny humans" and
he couldn't wait to meet someone who would be intimidated by his presence.
He'd even chosen his "disguise" based on the terrifying Tyrannosaurus rex
from the reference materials Swoop had provided the Dinobots.  He wasn't as
large as Grimlock, of course, but Grimlock was a Bulk, you had to expect
that.
     A brown-furred quadruped hissed at Terrorsaur, then fled when he opened
his gaping maw full of razor-sharp metal teeth.  He didn't know what the
creature was called yet, as Swoop's infodump had been fairly sparse.  But he
knew its smell now, and would put a name to it later.  It was the smell that
was important.  If the creature was potentially dangerous, he needed to be
able to pick up its spoor long before it could become a threat.  Hard
experience had taught him that even seemingly harmless organics could be
problems, if only as vermin that got into the machinery and chewed on wires.
And that creature he had driven off certainly seemed to have impressive teeth
of its own.
     Continuing to stalk through the woods, he started to pick up the
distinctive smells of machinery.  Not Cybertronian life, but definitely the
tang of metal and the funk of oil.  Carefully filtering his audio sensors, he
managed to pick up the sound of moving wheeled vehicles in the distance.
     And...footfalls.  Faint, but fast.  Someone was running in his general
direction.  Someone bipedal, so it was probably human.
     An evil grin spread across Terrorsaur's already horrifying visage.
Sure, he and the other Dinobots were supposed to protect these humans, but
that didn't mean he couldn't give one a bit of a scare!  He quickly hid
himself behind a mass of plant growth and waited as the footsteps came
closer.
     And closer.
     And...NOW!
     "RAAAAAAAR!" he exclaimed, leaping out of concealment and leaning down
to present his open jaws to...
     ...a foot.
     "COOOOOOOL!" the adolescent human exclaimed.  "Someone left a robosaur
out here!  Gank!"
     As the teenager carried Terrorsaur in his arms back to the human
settlement, Terrorsaur thought of ways to get back at Swoop for what had
almost definitely been the deliberate omission of a VERY important piece of
information about the scale of things on this planet.

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Author's Note:

     Just a little vignette.  In-story, I know that the Mini-Cons probably
aren't to proper scale with the Deluxes, although that can go both ways.
Armada Mini-Cons were, even in altmode, like big toy vehicles.  But in
Cybertron, the vehicle modes of Jolt, Reverb and Sixspeed were normal sized
and could accomodate passengers.  The Classic Mini-Cons are probably more in
the Cybertron style, but I thought it'd be amusing to make Terrorsaur in the
Armada size for this piece.
     By the way, the "brown-furred quadruped" that Terrorsaur scares off is a
squirrel.

     As a bonus, here's the bio note I wrote for Terrorsaur when I reviewed
him (as the Dinobots set just has a group bio).

AUTOBOT: TERRORSAUR
Altmode: T.rex
Previous Name Use: BW, Armada
Function: Cleanup

     Despite his fearsome appearance and mighty jaws, TERRORSAUR's preferred
place is not the front lines, it's in the reserves.  It's not that he lacks
bravery...he just has a talent for finding survivors late in a battle and
either rescuing or dispatching them as appropriate.  Advanced olfactory
sensors let TERRORSAUR sift out a single aromatic molecule out of billions.

STR 7  INT 6  SPD 5  END 8  RNK 4  COUR 6  FRB 5  SKL 5  Avg 5.75


     Update: http://www.dvandom.com/images/scalefic.JPG  Heh.