DMK: ... this is a first... okay, ever wonder WHY Red's left arm is the way it is? I read his bio on the Hasbro site and it mentioned him getting 'severely wounded'... so, I'm sorta filling in that explanation. And, be warned, this is WAY before the series, just as the Minicons are beginning to be used as weapons, meaning... Red-Alert is young. Like, Sideswipe young. And probably just as much a juvie delinquient. But hey! At the end of this he's gonna be the Red you know and love! ^___^ And on another note, I apologize if some of the language isn't to your liking... but you have to remember that here, they're all young, and in summer school we've been reading 'Black Hawk Down'... so I got a bit of the war elements from that. ^^''

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Chapter One

Knock knock knock!

"Yo Red, get up!" A youthful voice called from the other side of the door. "Time for some Decepticon bashing!"

The sleeping mech inside groaned and turned onto his side, his back facing the door. The knocking persisted, and in response, he shifted onto his stomach and buried his head into his arms. That's when the door opened. Another male Transformer walked into the room and grabbed Red by his shoulder, giving him a shake.

"Slag off," Red muttered, ignoring the other one's goading and shrugging off his hand.

"Man, come on! We have a mission in about an hour!"

"Just lemme sleep..."

The one who was awake looked about the room. Empty containers of High-Grade Energon were strewn about, and nothing was in order. Shifting his gaze back on his brother, he snorted. "Up drinking again? And the night before a mission..."

"Shut it, Ratchet." Red mumbled again, not lifting his head. "You were up drinking too."

"But dude, not half as much as you. Here," The slightly older mech said, taking a container of the Transformer equivalent to human coffee. "This'll get you up."

The young mech known as Red-Alert rolled slowly onto his back, keeping a hand on his head, his optics still a bit dim. "That stuff's nasty though..."

"You want a hangover on the battlefield? Drink it." His older brother, Ratchet, ordered. "Now."

"Fine," The younger one conceded, sitting up just as sluggishly. He took one swig, and grimaced. "Slagging nasty..."

"But it sure as hell takes the edge off of that hangover," Ratchet pointed out flatly.

Red reluctantly took another gulp, scowling at the taste. "But this stuff still tastes like crap."

Ratchet rolled his optics. "Well if you watched your Energon intake you wouldn't be in this mess. Getting this juiced on a regular basis ain't good for ya, you know."

"What are you, a doctor?" The still slightly hung-over Red mocked.

"I'm gonna be, just as soon as this Minicon War blows over. Like you should be."

"Me? A doc? Bull slag. Trashin' Decepticons is so much more fun," Red stated as he swung his legs over the side of his recharge bed. "That medicine stuff is so pointless."

"'Pointless'? We'd all be dead if not for the medics."

Red-Alert snorted. "Anyone that badly damaged should be deactivated. What's the point if they can't battle?"

Ratchet stared at his brother's lack of compassion and nonexistent value for life. "You still must have a circuit lose. I can't believe you can say something like that! We all need maintenance from time to time."

"I can patch myself up just fine on my own." Red told him matter-of-factly as he stood up, his equilibrium systems wavering, causing the hung-over mech to stumble. Taking one last swig of the Energon Coffee, he tossed the container to the floor and headed to the door.

"One of these days, Red-Alert. Your life's gonna be in the hands of one of those medics.... maybe then you'll come to your senses."

Red turned back to look into the sky-blue optics of his elder brother. They stood there, bristling for a moment, and then Red turned towards the door again.

"Lets jet. We have a mission, right?"

Ratchet nodded. "Let's move."

TBC

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DMK: So? How wuzzat? Darn... I keep making my chapters shorter and shorter, don't I? Well, I'll try my hardest to make 'em longer, but you can consider this as a bit of a prologue. And yes, I KNOW that I used a G1 Bot's name for Red-Alert's brother!!! (actually, 'Ratchet' was Red-Alert's name in the Japanese verion of Armada..) Sorry to anyone that doesn't like that, but I was drawing a blank when it came to names. Anyway... yeah. I think that's it. Eh, its week three at Grand Island Summer school, two more to go after that... and my sister is back from Florida sooooo.... I won't be on the computer as much. Aside from that, look for ch. 2 as soon as I can get back on. One more note: REVIEW!!!!!!