The Transformers (G1): History Retold

Discussion in 'Transformers Fan Fiction' started by Kickback, Aug 11, 2006.

  1. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    The Transformers
    “History Retold”

    The classic tale of good versus evil, Autobots versus Decepticons, Optimus Prime versus Megatron retold in Kickback’s vision, giving an “Ultimates” twist to the characters you love and hold dear to your heart.

    Before this story begins, I have always wanted to write a pure G1 story. Truth is, I never once dared to touch it because of the established mythos and history given by both Simon Furman and the writers of the original cartoon. But, seeing how even Hasbro is venturing away from the original stories, original tales, I’ve decided to give my take on everything too. I think my biggest inspiration, as sappy as this sounds, is the brilliant work that peteynorth has done in his Version 2.0 story of the Transformers. It started many many months ago when I figured I’d just read a chapter to see what all the fuss was about. One pissed off girlfriend later and no sleep, I caught up with the story and am totally blown away. Such a brilliant imagination and amazing storytelling – it’s no wonder his story is probably one of the most popular to ever grace the TFW2005 Boards.

    As for my story? Totally throw away the mythos you know. Sure, the characters are still there, they may even take in some of the personalities you know and love, but the story will be different. The outcomes will be different. I’m trying to take a different approach to it all and focus on a small group of characters and their battles, struggles, and overall lives. Some background before we begin?

    The Transformers begin in this story in their War Within forms. So please enjoy my first real attempt at retelling the original tale of the Transformers.



    -Kickback
     
  2. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    Prelude





    The blue and white racer vehicle barreled down the narrow corridors of Iacon’s downtown district. He weaved in and out of other Cybertronians as laser blasts showered down from above him, smashing in to the walls of buildings, the street in front and behind him – basically everything BUT him. His name is Mirage, and he’s a wanted criminal.

    But what is the definition of a criminal? It’s someone who breaks the laws and the rules, who puts their own priorities above those of others. But what if the ones in charge of the laws, the ones making the rules, were corrupt? What if their laws and rules actually did more harm than good? Would he still be a criminal, or would he be a hero fighting against a tyranny that has suppressed his homeland for as long as he could remember?

    Those are the questions that were placed in his cranium by the one who recruited him, took him away from the Cybertron Races, away from being a spectator at the Gladiator Pits. Now, as he sped off at nearly 150mph through the twisting roadways of Iacon, the capital of the entire planet Cybertron, Mirage was wondering just how dearly he held those ideals to his spark. It’s one thing to sneak in to some factory and steal a weapon or schematics, it’s another to be chased down by three seekers and shot at repeatedly.

    “Stop the fugitive!” ordered the red and white Cybertronian jet. It was triangular in shape, but still sported nullray cannons and enough firepower to take down half the city of Iacon if he chose to. His name was Starscream, and he was fighting against his comrades for a promotion in the aerial ranks. “None may escape mighty Megatron’s justice!”

    “Can the dramatics Starscream!” shouted back another Cybertronian jet, same in design but its colors were black and purple. He was called Skywarp, given his name for his ability to phase his body from location to location in an instant, teleporting, and is uncanny ability to track down rebels on the run. “Our orders are to capture the fugitive and bring him back for interrogation. Megatron is beginning to think these rebel strikes are coordinated, and his information may prove vital to the destruction of this rebel group.”

    The third jet, blue and red in color and once more same in design, called Thundercracker, chose to increase his speed by dropping closer to the surface of the planet in hopes of coming in closer to the fugitive Mirage. “See you suckers later,” he chuckled as he began to dip down. “Tell you what Starscream, I’ll let you polish my wings after I bring the fugitive to Megatron personally!”

    “No!” shouted Starscream, also dropping his altitude right behind Thundercracker. “I’ll see you melt in the plasma baths of the Inferno before I polish ANYTHING of yours!” Thundercracker and Starscream flew side-by-side through the narrow streets of Iacon, barely missing building after building as they tracked Mirage.

    “You idiots,” Skywarp mumbled to himself, raising altitude and pulling away from the chase. “Chase him all you want, it’s just a waste of energy. See you fools back at the command center!” With that, Skywarp ignited his booster rockets and soared off towards headquarters to await further command.

    Mirage checked his mirrors and noticed his two assailants were closing in. Panic beginning to set in, Mirage decided to give himself the one advantage he could think of – doing exactly what his namesake dictated, becoming invisible! But before he could activate his unique talent, he needed to get out of sight completely. If they saw him cloak himself from their sensors, they would be able to activate secondary sensors to detect his energy signature, thus destroying the entire point of his abilities. Noticing an upcoming overpass, Mirage accelerated up to nearly 200 miles per hour.

    “He’s picking up speed!” Thundercracker shouted to Starscream. “What say we throw a couple of cluster bombs in front of him and see how well he out-maneuvers that?”

    Starscream laughed with an evil glee in his tone. “Thundercracker, you’re not so bad after all,” he giggled. With that, a missile ejected from Starscream and broke open, revealing about five separate cluster bombs.

    A cluster bomb, in Transformers science, is a shell filled with numerous single-charge explosives. A single explosive isn’t enough to even dent most Transformers, but a cluster bomb contained up to fifty separate charges. The sheer force of all of them detonated together would collapse most buildings of Transformers science and technology.

    As the bomb shot past Mirage to the overpass, Starscream and Thundercracker pulled up, scaling up the sides of buildings before crossing paths and circling above the roadway, like vultures waiting for their prey. Mirage slammed the brakes but his speed was too great, so he did the only thing he could think of now – he transformed and leapt, landing on top of the overpass instead of going in to it, where the cluster bombs were placed. He looked up and realized he had to be target-locked by the two seekers.

    “Prepare to zero in for the kill,” Starscream announced, nose-diving towards Mirage’s exact location. Thundercracker was right behind him. Mirage found himself without an answer to his situation. It seemed helpless…until he heard a familiar voice call out from in front of him.

    “My trailer is about to open!” shouted the orange-yellow and blue truck. “Go invisible and get your slaggin’ metal hide inside!” It was Huffer, one of the individuals involved in the rebel activities that recruited Mirage in the first place. Mirage waited for one truck to pass and activated his cloaking device, then jumped inside Huffer’s trailer as he drove by, slamming it shut before it would be noticed. He deactivated his invisibility shield and let out a large sigh as a hand patted him on the shoulder.

    “Good job kid,” said the raspy voice of a robot two to three different shades of blue. “Back in my day, I probably would have just blasted the slag out of those two, but you’re way was pretty good too.”

    It was Kup, the commander of the unit Mirage had been assigned to. Mirage quickly reached in to his storage compartment and pulled out what looked to be a compact disc. Kup quickly grabbed it and moved it to the light in Huffer’s trailer. His optic sensors quickly shot out laser beams that seemed to read the information on the disc. Kup smiled as the laser deactivated and he put the disc in to his own storage compartment.

    “You may not realize it yet kid,” Kup said with his trademark smile. “But the information you just gave us may finally paint Megatron and his false government as the villains we’ve always known them to be.”

    “So did I earn my rank?” Mirage asked, a slight smile on his face. Kup nodded and reached in his storage compartment again, pulling out what appeared to be just a metal block. He pressed it up to Mirage’s chest, and the cube began to glow and seemed to melt straight in to his chest. The light was bright but quickly subsided, and when it did, a red emblem was all that was there.

    “Congratulations kid,” Kup said, standing back. “You’re an official Autobot now.”
     
  3. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    Chapter One





    Mirage waited for Huffer to stop moving before he and Kup pushed up the back hatch and walked out to survey their surroundings. They were in an underground chamber, but not at the location they had originally planned to arrive at.

    “Huffer?” Kup asked as his transport transformed to his surprisingly small robot mode, pushing the empty trailer aside. Kup looked around some more, then back to Huffer. “Not to be a pain in the exhaust pipe, but this isn’t the correct drop point.”

    “I know,” Huffer said, moving over to a seal on the ground. He pulled with all his might, moving the seal off the ground and tossing it aside. “But the boss figured we’d be tracked somehow. We go by foot the rest of the way.”

    “Great,” Kup groaned as he took Mirage by the arm and pulled him towards the entrance to the underground piping. “Okay kid,” he began to explain to Mirage. “When you get down there, you move and you move fast. Wait for no one. If those stinkin’ ‘bots discover we’ve gone in to the piping, all it will take is one firebomb to have three roasted Autobots. You understand me kid?”

    “Yeah,” Mirage replied, slightly taken aback by the tone of Kup’s voice. Kup wasn’t the one to recruit Mirage in to the Autobots, that honor belonged to a warrior named Ironhide. He had mentioned something about a prophecy that foretold the end of the tyranny and oppression. Mirage didn’t really believe that Megatron, the successor to Sentinel Prime, was oppressing anybody. Everything seemed to be okay, there were no news reports, no reports of violence anywhere in Iacon, let alone Cybertron itself.

    “Move!” Kup finally said, literally pushing Mirage through the hole in the ground. The young Autobot landed with a thud, quickly activating shoulder-lights to light up the area. There was a trickle of what appeared to be a hydrogen and oxygen compound – water. Mirage took a few steps forward, unsure of which direction to go, when Kup and Huffer both quickly jumped in to the hole, Huffer sealing the hole with the rust covered seal. Kup grabbed Mirage by the arm and pulled him in the opposite direction.

    “But we just came from that direction?” Mirage asked, going from a crisp walk to a sprint. He was faster than Huffer, but Kup still managed to out-run him.

    “When you’re being tracked by one of Megatron’s personal goons,” Huffer began, trying to catch his breath between strides, “You never go straight to your location, you throw ‘em off as much as you can.”

    Soaring high above the suburbs of Iacon was Skywarp, who instead of chasing after his target like his partners Starscream and Thundercracker, chose to re-evaluate the situation from a distance, quickly zeroing in on the target and discovering that the criminal was not working alone as first thought.

    He had tracked the three suspects in to an underground chamber, but had lost their energy signatures, so he assumed they had managed to go even further underground, possibly in to the tunnels beneath Iacon. The cluster bomb that Starscream had unleashed never went off, which Skywarp thought was probably for the best as it would be difficult to cover up the death of innocent lives. But he knew exactly what the story spun would be – that a rebel faction from within Iacon had set the bombs to ensnare a convoy of Megatron’s personal brigade, and public support would continue to grow for his commander.

    But there was a secret to Megatron’s rise to power, a secret that Skywarp was never to know about but learned by accident. He was there the day Sentinel Prime and his entourage ‘passed away’. He was there the day the Council of Elders wound up assassinated by a rogue group of criminals that Megatron apprehended single-handedly in the name of Sentinel Prime. His service to Megatron was bound by his own life – if he ever disobeyed Megatron, ever turned against him, ever revealed the secret he knew, Skywarp’s spark would be tortured and slowly destroyed by Megatron personally.

    Skywarp shook off these thoughts as he focused back on the mission – tracking and disposing of the criminals at hand. He switched his tracking from energy to heat, and managed to pick up three separate signatures moving at a fast pace in the tunnels below the main freeway. Firing would cause collateral damage at a very high percentage, so he chose to report in before making that choice.

    “Skywarp to central command, do you copy?” he asked through his radio transmitter.

    “Acknowledged, Skywarp,” replied a monotone voice. Skywarp immediately recognized the voice belonging to Soundwave, one of Megatron’s most trusted and most loyal soldiers. There wasn’t a radio transmission on Cybertron that Soundwave couldn’t pick up.

    “I’ve located three signatures by heat index moving rapidly through the underground tunnels of Iacon,” Skywarp replied to Soundwave. “I have target lock but the tunnel runs underneath the central freeway of Iacon. Collateral damage would be off the charts. Seeking instructions.”

    There was silence for what felt like minutes on the other end of Skywarp’s radio transmitter. Finally, there came a reply.

    “Permission authorized,” Soundwave replied. The reply caused Skywarp to freeze. There was only one individual who could permit authorization to basically slaughter hundreds of individual Transformers on neutral ground. At that point, Skywarp realized how serious the situation was, how serious Megatron was when he mentioned retrieving what was stolen ‘at any cost’. Skywarp swallowed his pride and followed instruction.

    “Executing initiative, standby,” Skywarp stated, turning in to a nosedive towards the freeway. Cybertronians walking along the streets pointed up at the military jet coming in an alarming rate of speed. Some of the Transformers on the roads quickly transformed to robot form and pointed up to the sky, while others continued on, completely unaware. Skywarp checked his heat signature reading, initiated target lock, and prepared to fire.

    Below the surface were Mirage, Kup, and Huffer. All three were running at full sprint when Huffer stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at his wrist, then to Mirage and Kup, who stopped to turn back to their smaller friend.

    “Huffer?” Kup asked, perplexed at why Huffer had stopped. He took a step forward when Mirage grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

    “We need to move,” Mirage said, his tone chillingly serious. “NOW!” Kup hesitated only a moment, and turned from Huffer and started running. Mirage transformed to his speeder mode and wasted no time gaining speed. Kup turned back one last time to see Huffer bracing himself against the sides of the walls. Realizing what was happening, Kup transformed and sped up to Mirage.

    Skywarp opened fire, his photon blasts cutting through steel like a hot knife through butter. They cut through the walls of the tunnels, erupting the area around Huffer in numerous explosions. Not satisfied with only a few shots, Skywarp continued to fire, his aim getting worse with each shot. Cybertronians minding their own business on the freeway were cut down as screams quickly filled the area. Robots began running for cover as Skywarp continued to fire blast after blast, destroying the portion of the freeway Huffer was at, as well as the section of the tunnel Huffer was standing at.

    From across the city, atop the large spire where the commander of Cybertron sat, the tyrannical Megatron stood at the window’s edge as the smoke from the fires Skywarp caused began to penetrate Iacon’s skyline. In a way, he knew his ruse was over, that all that he had worked so hard to create was about to cave in on itself and he and his followers would be branded traitors to Cybertron. But he had planned on someone bringing to light the truth, the real fate of Sentinel Prime and the Council of Elders. It was just a matter of time before it happened and all he had wanted was that time to create his ultimate weapon.

    Megatron turned and walked back to his throne but he did not sit on it – no, the time for sitting atop a spire and awaiting an inevitable war was over, it was time to act! He quickly walked towards the communication control center and hit a single switch. Within moments, the image of a large purple robot with only one optic sensor appeared on the screen.

    “Shockwave,” Megatron said calmly. “Our situation has grown dire. The weapon must be completed soon or time may run out.”

    The optic sensor of Shockwave flashed with acknowledgement. Shockwave was the only Transformer known to be as strong as Megatron, and probably more intelligent. But what Shockwave lacked in leadership and military strategy, Megatron strongly made up for in all regards. Truth is, Shockwave is one individual that Megatron could not have succeeded without – his intelligence and logic proved useful on more than one occasion. If not for the deal they struck, Megatron fears Shockwave would turn on him and take command for himself, exposing Megatron for the fraud he is, and gaining support of nearly every single faction on Cybertron.

    “The weapon is complete,” Shockwave replied to Megatron. “But we lack the ability to test the weapon without announcing its existence to the whole universe.”

    “Then it best be ready on its first try!” Megatron snarled back at Shockwave, his temper running thin as the communications terminal shut off. Megatron walked back to the spire window and observed the emergency crews arriving on the scene of Skywarp’s destruction.

    A blue and white emergency vehicle pulled up to one of the blazes and released a foam-like material to snuff out the flames. It transformed to a blue and white robot complete with a faceplate. He turned to one of the injured civilians on the side of the roadway.

    “First Aid!” he shouted, turning to look past his shoulder. “I have another civilian in need of immediate repairs!”

    An emergency vehicle pulled up and transformed in to a white and red robot with a faceplate as well. He pushed the white and blue Transformer out of the way.

    “Move it Hot Spot,” First Aid said as he began to check the civilian’s damages. “You put out the fires and leave the injured ‘bots to me.”

    “We’re going to need some back up,” Hot Spot admitted. “There’s too many injured here to take care of them all on the spot! We’re going to need Doctor Ratchet and his repair bay to handle this mess!”

    A white and black robot shouted over to Hot Spot and First Aid. It was Streetwise, one of the patrol officers of Iacon. He had been within a block of the first explosion and caught a clear glimpse of Skywarp as the assailant. But that didn’t stop Skywarp for trying to intervene.

    “Hot Spot!” shouted Streetwise, moving some of the rubble. “I’ve got a live one here, buried under the rubble!”

    “Move aside officer,” stated Skywarp as he transformed and landed next to Streetwise. “Your survivor is a fugitive of the law, a wanted criminal by Megatron himself.”

    “Slag off,” Streetwise said, ignoring Skywarp. “Under what charge?”

    “Theft,” Skywarp replied coldly.

    “Do you think I’m a scraplet?” Streetwise asked, insulted by Skywarp’s answer. Skywarp himself seemed confuse as the insubordination. “I was monitoring your radio frequency, flier, and the only Transformer charged with theft is a white and blue racer who doesn’t appear to be anywhere in the vicinity.”

    “We believe this one to be an accomplice,” Skywarp protested, still standing beside the kneeled Streetwise, who was trying his best to dig out the survivor. “Besides, he was also in restricted area inside the tunnels beneath Iacon.”

    “Still doesn’t excuse the lives you’ve cost today!” Streetwise snapped back at Skywarp, rising to his feet. “I don’t give a slag who you took your orders from, you just killed a good twenty civilians and the damage here is going to take weeks to fix!” Streetwise pulled Skywarp by his chest closer to his face, gritting his teeth. “I should throw you, and all like you, in the slaggin’ pits and let Primus decide the fate of your spark.”

    “May I remind you?” Skywarp asked, gritting his own teeth now as the officer had struck a nerve. “I am an officer of Megatron, the commanding officer in charge of Cybertron. I outrank you in so many different levels that I can have you stripped of your badge and doing detail duty on star cruisers for the next millennia!” he snapped in a whispered tone. “Now step aside so I may take this criminal in to custody of YOUR commanding officer, the mighty Megatron!”

    Streetwise, knowing he had been outranked and not wanting to lose his badge, stepped back as Skywarp shoved his fist through the rubble, grabbing on to the back of the survivor, and pulling him out of the wreckage. Sure enough, it was the Autobot Huffer, his body severely damaged but his circuits still generating a current that kept him online. Huffer raised his head and managed a quirky smile.

    “Y-you…can do…wh…wha-whatever you…want,” he struggled to say, chuckling in between breaths. “But..th…th-the disc…not….with…me…” and with that, Huffer’s optics went dark as his body went in to stasis lock.

    Skywarp looked up towards the direction of the spire, and Megatron continued to look out over the horizon. It was only a matter of time now, before the world Megatron had created came crashing down upon him.
     
  4. icanfly

    icanfly Well-Known Member

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    so far so good. really looking forward to how you introduce old favourites like Grimlock Bumblebee Skyfire & Hotrod
     
  5. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    My new puppy has distracted me from writing. I should be in full form later in the week. Got like 3 chapters to update too, along with getting to what you all want -- some good old fashioned G1 free for all.
     
  6. Throwback

    Throwback Well-Known Member

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    great beginning Kickback. Stop it with the puppy love and put the pen to the paper and give us some more of the good stuff.

    p.s. Didn't you just love the end of Petey's season 3.
     
  7. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    I'd hug petey.
     
  8. Gears

    Gears buh-buh-body ya Veteran

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    Great set-up, I can't wait to see what happens next. It's cool seeing a character like Skywarp (who's normally kept in the background) in the lime-light...