Author's Notes: Well folks, time for a new fic! This one is a story I've had in the back of my mind for a few months now, and rewatching the TF Prime episode "Evolution" made me want to do this story all over again. This is more or less a sparkling story, but with the twist of the sparkling being a vicious Predacon. Admittedly this chapter is short, but it's just a taste of the fic yet to come. I tried something a little different with the first half and wrote a good chunk of it from the newspark's POV. Ultra Magnus is a difficult character for me to write, so I think this will be an interesting challenge. Anyway, enough of me rambling. Please review if you like this idea, and thank you for taking the time to read Young Predator :)
Chapter 1
An Unwelcome Visitor
Pain. Pain. Everything smells bad. Arms in pain. Helm in pain. Wet. Cold. More pain. Smells like acid. Sparks overhead. Watch out. Alone. No, not alone. Others. Dead. Everything dead. Everyone dead. Hurts to move. Don't move. Have to move. Hurts. Why? Where is life? Everything dead. Alone. So alone. Who did this? Why does it hurt? Why am I alone?
The thoughts of the newly sparked beast were erratic, which seemed to be a fitting complement to its surroundings. There was glass, spilled chemicals, and the bodies of stillborn Predacons littering the ground. Overhead hung sparking wires and in the corner of the room was a computer terminal with a hole blasted through it. Most of this stuff didn't register with the newborn Predacon, however. All it knew was that it was in pain and its brethren were dead. It came into the world surrounded by death and devoid of anyone living to tell it why.
Have to keep moving. Get away from the death. Ow. Hurts. Don't want to move. Have to move. Must find other. Get away from dead others. Killer might come back. Don't want to die. Want to find life. Must search for life. Keep moving. Stop hurting. Must make body stop hurting. Move!
Instinct was the only thing driving the Predacon at this point. It was barely sparked and had nothing else to go on. It didn't know its designation, it didn't know where it was, and it didn't understand why it was in constant pain. The pain came from the explosion that killed its fellow newsparks, but it didn't know that. All it knew was move or die. Its driving force was to find someone. Another being could tell it what it needed to know, and if the killer showed up the Predacon would kill it. Something deep inside told it that this was proper behavior for a Predacon.
Dark place. Lots of rocks. Not like death place. Just hollow place. Ow! Hurts in tank. Tank is empty. Must fill tank. Make hurting stop. Lost. Can't go back. No fuel. Lost and hungry. Keep moving. Wait! New smell. Getting closer. Something. Smell the ground. Yes, something. Keep going! Something! Something! Hurry! Something! Don't let it get away!
The Predacon smelled something that wasn't like the scents of its dead brethren. This smell was unlike anything the Predacon had ever encountered in its few hours of life. It ran as it sniffed the ground of the cave it was traveling through. It stopped in its tracks when it came across a severed hand. The hand was flattened and metallic in structure, but it didn't look Predacon.
Life. Recent. Found it! Follow. Track. Pursue life. Find something more. Keep moving.
The Predacon followed the scent outside and looked up at the starry night sky and the crescent moon. The scent trail ended there, but the Predacon would not be deterred. He had the scent of the other, and he would follow it to the ends of the universe if he had to.
The Autobot base was quiet after their latest mission. It had been a week since Ultra Magnus had been forced to get his severed hand replaced with a new servo. The new one was so basic it barely qualified as a servo at all, and the claws made him think of Decepticon digits. Needless to say, Ultra Magnus was not happy with this new arrangement.
Ultra Magnus flexed his new clawed servo in and out to ensure Ratchet that it was still functioning properly. He still felt put-off that he couldn't have a real servo to replace the one he had lost in the fight with the Predacon, but he knew Ratchet was doing the best he could with their inferior materials.
"Hm, I need to loosen that bolt near your index digit," Ratchet muttered as he continued to work on the appendage.
Ultra Magnus nodded curtly and sat up straight while Ratchet worked. The past week had been an odd one for the Autobot SIC. They had uncovered a Predacon cloning facility and destroyed it, Ultra Magnus had lost his servo and the Forge of Solus Prime in the fight with Shockwave's Predacon after finding out it could speak and transform, and strangest of all Wheeljack was actually nice to him.
Ultra Magnus tried to get along with the rest of Team Prime, but try as he might he just didn't understand how their group dynamic worked. Optimus Prime had told Ultra Magnus that they were no longer an army, but instead a family. That didn't make sense to the uptight commander. He tried looking up what family meant in a non-CNA related sense, but the reports he received were often conflicting.
In one article he read that non-traditional family units revolved around love, but love didn't seem like the most efficient way to run a military unit. Another said that families honored their elders above the rest of the clan. Did that make Ratchet the Prime? That hardly made sense either. Others said families involved sparklings. Did that mean they were only a family because of the human children? No, that couldn't be it. It wasn't like they had actually adopted the native sparklings. If so Ultra Magnus never would allow the one called Miko to be a Wrecker. That was not only neglectful but utterly stupid. No, none of these explanations made any sense to him.
Still, part of Ultra Magnus truly wanted to understand. Whenever Optimus entered the room there was no standing at attention or giving him the respect he deserved for his position as Prime. No, instead they flocked to him and greeted him with a warmth and familiarity that Ultra Magnus almost envied. Ultra Magnus was lucky to even get respect from his subordinates, and he certainly never received the warm greetings the Prime did. What was he missing?
His musings were interrupted when a proximity alarm rang out throughout Hangar E and the Autobots and humans rushed to see what was going on.
"What's happening, Ratchet?" Arcee asked tensely.
"Is it Decepticons?" Raf inquired as he nervously watched Ratchet scan the Cybertronian text.
"By the Allspark!" Ratchet exclaimed in alarm, "It's the Predacon! The beast is only minutes away from our location!"
"Then we need to mobilize," Optimus decided, "Hopefully it doesn't actually know the location of our base. If it doesn't, then we can lead it away. If it does, then we do not want to be here when it arrives. Beast hunters, move out!"
The Autobots and their human allies wasted no time in preparing to leave. Ultra Magnus caught Wheeljack staring at him with a grim expression on his scarred face plate. They both understood that this situation would be more complicated now that they knew the Predacon was sentient. They weren't just fighting a beast anymore; they were fighting an intelligent and extremely powerful predator.
Wheeljack transformed into car mode and sped off, and Ultra Magnus followed suit in his semi truck form. They followed behind the other Autobots as they drove away from the base in hopes of heading off the deadly hunter.
They were barely outside the military base when they saw the large black silhouette of the Predacon flying overhead in the clear blue sky. The Autobots heard the unmistakable roar of the Predacon, and they knew this would be a fight for their lives.
The human kids stepped aside while the Autobots prepared to fight. Sure enough, the Predacon swooped down toward them, but they noticed that something seemed off about the beast. Its body seemed...longer.
"Hey guys, is that the same dragon from before?" Miko asked in slight trepidation, "Because I'm pretty sure the last one didn't look like a giant snake!"
Miko's questions was soon answered when the beast touched down and they got a good look at it. It was black red and yellow just like the Predacon Shockwave had, but this one had a different body structure. Whereas the known Predacon had a body like a European dragon, this one looked like a cross between a Chinese dragon and a centipede! It had a large helm with razor sharp teeth, calculating yellow optics, many small limbs with large claws attached to them, and a long black body with yellow indicator lights on its sides to show when it was going to breathe fire.
The large beast roared loudly once again, and the Autobots immediately opened fire! The plasma bursts did nothing to the beast due to its tough metallic hide, and it slowly lurched closer to the group with its small legs.
"Children, fall back!" Optimus ordered over the sound of gunfire.
Jack and Raf ran right away, with Miko trailing behind. She stayed long enough to snap a picture of the new Predacon and then took off after the boys. The Predacon turned to the sound of the cellphone's camera, but the quickly turned its attention back to its target: Ultra Magnus.
Ultra Magnus noticed the beast's unwavering attention toward him, and decided to use this as an opportunity to create a distraction while the others regrouped. He started running out toward the desert surrounding the base, and sure enough the Predacon followed him. The Autobots shot at its back, but it didn't even seem to notice them.
Ultra Magnus ran for several meters before the Predacon decided to fly up and swoop down to tackle the blue and orange Autobot. The Predacon pounced on his back, and Ultra Magnus fell down hard enough to shake the ground! He knew this was probably the end, but he would go down fighting. He struggled to turn himself around so that he could aim his cannon at the creature. He managed to flip himself over onto his back with the long serpentine creature still on top of him, and when he did the Predacon moved to the side of him.
Ultra Magnus thought it was going to attack again when he stood up, but instead it did something completely unexpected...it nuzzled him!
The face of this beast was half the size of Ultra Magnus himself, so its pushing itself against him nearly caused the SIC to topple over. He regained his footing, and saw that the Predacon was bowing its helm at him in submission.
The other Autobots looked at this display in shock. No one opened fire again, for what little effect it had. It no longer seemed necessary. The Predacon didn't see Ultra Magnus as an enemy at all. It saw him as its leader.