A World of Secrets
Author's Note: Yes, I'm a TF crossover addict. Was the Autobots, Assemble series not proof enough for you lot? Oh well. Here's more proof, then.
I've been very into the Transformers fandom lately, and I know that crossovers with other Hasbro cartoon franchises such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic have been tried and tested before, but I decided to be a first-goer on a new crossover – specifically one with Kaijudo: Rise/Clash of the Duel Masters. That series was phenomenal in my opinion, and I think it deserved some love.
*This is one in a series of one-shots, the final number of which have yet to be determined, but I think four super long ones is a good finish, maybe five. Think of this as a foray into new territory, giving you a glimpse of what is to come. This first one takes place around some of the beginning episodes of Kaijudo and beginning of the second season of Transformers Prime (after the conclusion of Orion Pax; I decided to involve Smokescreen in the second-one shot for some added comedic reasons) during a "gap" which will allow me some workroom. Note that these one shots are going to be VERY long compared to my other one shots, quite easily going over 10,000 words.
*I decided this takes place like right after the episodes (Into the Fire Parts One and Two) in which Allison gains her primary creature Squeaky (a young Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow, who by the way, is totally adorable and scary!).
Enjoy what wonderful concoctions my bored brain has cooked up! This took me months to write!
*All kudos go to Kenya for helping me (indirectly) get a good introduction. Her writing skills are incredibly good. I sort of mimicked her introduction to "Four's a Crowd", but it would be more accurate to say "worked off of the example." Thanks, girlfriend! Love you! Keep up the awesome work! :3
AMBER'S 5TH AVENUE CAFÉ
SAN CAMPION, CALIFORNIA
It was a crisp, clear morning in San Campion, California, the kind of clear morning that enticed outdoorsman and recluse alike out into the shinning, warming rays of the sun. People hustled up and down the sidewalks of the city's busy downtown, enjoying the fresh wind coming in from the bay. White, puffy clouds scuttled along in the blue skies above, offering cooling shade every few minutes to those pedestrians who needed it the most. A good majority of Campions milled about in parks or reclined on some of the thoughtfully supplied benches dotting the main thoroughfares, while others relaxed on the open patios of cafés.
In one of these little cafés sat three teenagers, each wildly different from one another, but the way they sat and conversed with one another showed they were close friends. Two boys and a girl, they seemed an odd pair at first sight.
One, whose eyes were riveted on a pale blue smartphone in his hands, was dark skinned and plump, his dark blue eyes shaded from the sun's noonday radiance by a light beige beret. His pale blue polo shirt and dark navy khakis helped protect him from the occasional brisk bay breezes, not that he ever noticed them. The world might as well have been non-existent to Gabriel Wallace, so focused was he on his smartphone's screen.
"Gabe, come on! It's a nice day! Just kick back and relax! Enjoy the sunshine!"
This comment came from the second boy, Raiden Pierce-Okamoto, known to his friends simply as "Ray". With his rich dark hair accented by a few rebelliously red streaks, olive skin, and dark brown eyes, he was the oddest looking of the bunch. The hood of his red and military green hoodie hung over the back of the chair, the teen himself leaning back with his arms folded behind his head, his lips upturned in a smile. Around his neck hung an unusual green pendant that every so often caught the light of the sun.
Without looking up, Gabe replied: "Ray, studies have down that due to the degradation of the ozone layer thanks to global warming and increasing carbon emissions, harmful ultraviolet rays are reaching the Earth's surface with increased frequency and raising the prevalence of –"
A groan of aggravation came from the sole girl at the table, her vibrant green eyes rolling exaggeratedly, swinging her legs up onto the table's top and precariously balancing her chair on its back two legs, all in one fluid movement, her golden hair flowing in a sudden, sharp breeze. One quick, deft movement of her mulberry combat boots and the smartphone was kicked out of Gabriel's hands and into those of Ray, the other boy quickly shoving it into his jacket pocket.
Gabriel looked up, annoyance and a decent amount of shock in his expression. A slight frown worked its way into existence as his eyes locked onto the girl's. "Hey! Allie! What was that for?!"
Allison "Allie" Underhill's green eyes glittered as a smirk formed on her lips. "For being such a nerd. Duh. Only a nerd would find a way to make a gorgeous day like this seem dangerous!"
"But it is dangerous in the long term! Too much solar radiation causes skin cancer and other maladies like premature aging of the skin, actinic keratosis, and solar elastosis! It can cause eye problems, weaken the immune system –"
"Yeah, and it also gives a girl an awesome tan. So quit being a techno-geek for five minutes and just enjoy the peace of no creature issues so far. Master K and Master C said we could have the day off, and I sure as heck am gonna make the most of it."
With that statement the girl rolled up her arm sleeves, enabling her pale skin to catch more incoming sunlight, and kicked back in an even more casual posture, casting a sly wink and smile at Ray who was still holding the other boy's smartphone hostage in his pocket. Ray cast a sideways glance at her, returning the wink in good fun, chuckling softly to himself.
Gabriel's frown deepened. "I was making the most of it! I was researching old texts and documents to see if there were any possible references to creatures that may have been passed over as mythological monsters! Think of how much we could learn of human/creature interactions and history! A lot of Greek monsters seem to be based off actual Kaiju, like Beast Kin and Armored Dragons!"
Allison rolled her green eyes again with another aggravated groan. "Ugh. Booooring!"
"Gabe, come on buddy. I'll give your phone back in five minutes, okay? Deal?" Ray offered smilingly.
Gabriel sighed in defeat upon reaching the conclusion that there was no getting around this issue. Ray's deal wasn't half bad he had to admit. Five minutes was quite a short span of time. His creature friend Gargle often stole and kept his phone for far longer periods, the little Reef Prince endlessly intrigued by the electronic device so alien and different from the advanced Water Civilization technology he was accustomed to. He'd recently stolen it from him for about half a day, but fortunately he'd returned it once he had satisfied his natural curiosity. Even still, he often snitched it from him just to keep updated as to the data on it. Perhaps he could afford to not research this particularly fascinating topic for just a few short minutes and enjoy his drink. And the company of his friends.
He managed a smile, wrapping a hand around the condensation-covered glass of lemonade in front of him. He took a long sip and eyed his friend with an indulgent, friendly smile. Ray always meant well. He couldn't fault him.
"Only for you, Ray..."
Privately he had to admit that it really was a nice day, possible long-term medical maladies aside. Inwardly he sighed. If only Gargle were there to enjoy this brief respite with him, the day would be made just that much better. From the looks in his friends' eyes he could tell his opinion was shared. They wanted their creatures there with them too, but they belonged on the other side of the Veil. That was their home, and this was theirs.
AUTOBOT OUTPOST OMEGA ONE
TWENTY MILES OUTSIDE JASPER, NEVADA
The hot desert sun beat down on the burnt amber sand of Jasper's expansive, mesa-dotted outer limits. A cracked road of black asphalt covered in a fresh coating of sand led out into this solar-heated landscape spotted with dry shrubs, heavy boulders, and of course the numerous massive mesas and buttes that stood like towers throughout the desert as far as the eye could see. Out in the distance, glittering in the afternoon sunlight, was the small town of Jasper, Nevada.
One of these mesas, located far outside the town and off the beaten track of cracked black asphalt rarely traveled, was not all it seemed to be at first glance. Sticking out of the mesa's flat top were various instruments such as a radar dish, satellite antennae, and a large blast door that took up most of the mesa's top. This particular mesa once functioned as a missile silo during the Cold War, but it had since been effectively abandoned by the human owners once the nuclear arms race had slowed to a safer pace.
Now it had new owners, ones who protected it, this watery planet, and its inhabitants fiercely – Cybertronians, towering mechanical aliens from another world capable of shifting their bodies to mimic the appearance of terrestrial vehicles in order to stay hidden, armed with powerful and dangerous energy weapons. Yet the ones living in this hidden silo, known as Autobots, were not dangerous. While massive, powerful, and armed, such armaments were never used to harm humans, but their enemies, known as Decepticons.
But as these two warring factions were kept secret by the world's government, so too were secrets kept from them. They knew not of the Veil, of the Kaiju, of the secret order of Kaijudo Duel Masters whose lives were dedicated to preserving peace between the two dimensions, and they knew not of the Choten or his evil schemes, his desire to enslave the Kaiju and use them to conquer both sides of the Veil.
That, however, was soon to change.
Click, click, clickity-click, click, click.
"Hmm..."
Rafael "Raf" Esquivel, busily worked away on his laptop in the little lounge area up on the catwalks within Omega One's open command center, searching all the well-known and frequented (and lesser known) conspiracy sites dotting the web like dewdrops on a spider's web, the tween's red-spectacled brown eyes effectively glued to the screen, scrolling along with the pages he was investigating and tampering with. It wasn't something one would normally see the average twelve-year-old boy doing.
Raf was anything but average, though. Due to his skills with hacking and his all-around deep knowledge of computers, it had unofficially fallen to him to keep the Cybertronians, whether they were Autobot or Decepticon, off the internet. It was his task to keep the aliens hidden from the public via the digital realm. Most images were stuff easily dismissed as hoaxes or fakes and he left them alone, but occasionally he would come across images of a yellow and black Urbana 500, the vehicle's windows heavily tinted. These images, unlike the others, were quickly scrubbed.
While scrolling through a site labeled as "Weird San Campion", a site he'd never been on before but in recent months was receiving a decent amount of online traffic, he came across a rather strange image that was faintly disturbing to him. It showed a random male civilian of Asiatic origin, ranging at a guess anywhere from forty-five to fifty-five years of age. On the man's forehead were six strange, circular marks, three on each side of his forehead, vaguely resembling the sucker marks of an octopus. And what was more, this image was only one of many. Apparently this wasn't just an isolated thing. There were over two dozen photos of random people with sucker marks on their foreheads. The dates on the photos were weird, too. They were all taken at random intervals – one had been taken just two days ago, which was the one he was looking at, while another had been snapped and uploaded to the site five weeks ago. One or two were months, even years old.
"What the...?"
He read the short article beneath the photo:
"My husband went to work Tuesday morning like he always does. He arrived back home later that evening with these marks on his head, and he was showing signs of short term memory loss – couldn't remember what he'd had for lunch, couldn't remember the meeting schedule his boss had given him around one o'clock. That sort of thing. He's got an amazing memory normally, never forgets anything. What the hell is going on?"
The posts beneath the other photos were all of the same nature – confused friends and family members wondering at the marks and the associated symptoms of short term memory loss. Unconsciously the tween shivered slightly. "Weird San Campion" suddenly seemed a fitting name for the site, rather than the site maker's attempt at being melodramatic and overly theatrical in his naming conventions. Something was going on in this seemingly normal city on the California coast, something very weird. And yet he knew, sheerly through instinct, that this wasn't at all related to the Cybertronians. This, whatever it was, was something different, unrelated to the Autobots and Decepticons. This was something Earth based. If anything, that made it even weirder than if there had been Cybertronians involved.
Without looking away, he asked: "Hey Jack? Come here and look at this."
The lanky black haired, blue eyed teen, who had been sitting on a worn chair across from him reading a book, marked the page he was on, dropped the book onto the chair, and came over to his friend's side whilst emitting an inquisitive sounding "Hmm?"
Raf spun the laptop around and handed it to him. "Read this."
Taking a seat next to the tween, Jack adjusted the screen angle to where he could see it and began quickly skimming through the odd photos and posts with a keen, interested eye. Once or twice his eyes narrowed, but other than that he showed no outward response.
"What do you think?" asked Rafael curiously.
Jack considered the photos and posts for a moment before replying: "Well, if this is some sort of mass hoax then these people are really giving it everything they've got. Crazy as it seems I think this is all real, not faked. But what's causing these sucker marks and memory loss cases," he shrugged, "beats me completely."
Almost against their will the boys' heads turned in the direction of the amber and white medic at work beneath his console, running basic maintenance as well as performing basic repairs to the old wires and circuit boards. Ratchet seemed entirely unaware of such scrutiny, tinkering away busily, muttering to himself all sorts of colorful descriptions of "blasted Earth tech". Obviously the old but powerful and upgraded computer was giving him attitude, and he wasn't enjoying it.
"Hey Ratchet?" Rafael hazarded shyly, raising his voice to ensure he could be heard
Taken unawares by the question, the medic jolted, banging his helm against the computer's underbelly. The boy braced himself for an annoyed tirade, but he was startled (and frankly relieved) that it never came. Ratchet merely uttered a sigh and extricated himself from beneath the machine, massaging the slight, shallow ding caused by the impact. He looked slightly irritated, but he seemed to be endeavoring to hide it. Ratchet thus forced himself to his trods and focused his attention on the youngest of the team's human charges. If nothing else it provided a respite from working on that confounded, temperamental machine.
"Yes, Rafael? What is it?"
He was honestly puzzled when the boy motioned for him to come over and look at something on his laptop's screen, but he came over nonetheless, his interest now roused. He took note of the strange, perplexed expression both on Rafael's face and Jack's. Something was confusing them greatly, that much he could tell for certain. But what?
Rafael got up to his knees, placed the laptop on the back ridge of the sofa, and angled the screen to where the Cybertronian medic could see the displayed images and posts.
"Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
Ratchet leaned closer, optics narrowing a bit as they focused on the images and small text commentaries beneath them. They were photographs of random civilians who, oddly, had bizarre circular markings on their foreheads, three on each side. The word posts told of equally bizarre symptoms of short-term memory loss, and that the circular markings vanished after just a few hours, the affected person's amnesiac behavior vanishing along with them, though the missing memories never returned. Eventually he shook his helm.
"No. I've never seen anything like this. I have no theories as to what could possibly be causing this. I am thinking this is something that might need to be investigated more in-depth, however. Such cases clearly are not isolated, but at the same time these cases seem to be confined to this city for one reason or another."
At that, he raised a hand to the side of his helm and opened a comm. link to his friend and leader: "Optimus? Rafael found something unusual on a conspiracy site labeled 'Weird San Campion'. You need to come and see this for yourself, now. I think it's something we need to look into."
A deep baritone voice replied: [Of course. I will be there momentarily.]
Ratchet nodded to himself and then cut the line, informing the two boys that the Prime would arrive shortly to examine the accounts and photographs for himself. He would determine whether or not they would investigate the cases of memory loss brought on by the strange markings. If the Decepticons were experimenting some sort of mind-wipe device on human subjects...
"But that's just it. I don't think the 'Cons are the ones responsible," argued Rafael quickly. "I don't know how to explain it, but I just feel they aren't the ones doing this. It's something else. I think...Ratchet, this is going to sound completely crazy to you, but I think it might be Earth based."
The medic stared at him in no small amount of surprise. He sounded so certain, but such a suggestion seemed to be utterly absurd to him. And yet – was it so very absurd? He knew that many things on this planet had no solid explanations, at least not ones grounded in hard science and reasoning. He had to grudgingly admit to himself perhaps it was at the very least possible these bizarre cases of sucker-mark induced memory loss were in fact Earth based...But who or what was causing them? He knew of no creature on the face of this world capable of wiping a person's brain of specific memories with such terrifying precision.
On hearing tell-tale heavy pedefalls, he turned to see Optimus striding in, his blue optics showing concern and also a spark of interest, his helm tilted a few degrees to one side as he regarded the small gathering in the command center. Rafael seemed greatly disturbed yet excited, Jack appeared confused, and Ratchet was clearly perplexed about something. He could only assume it was the same thing the youngest of their human charges was upset about.
"There is something you wanted to show me, old friend?"
Ratchet nodded, beckoning him towards the elevated lounge on the catwalks where the two boys were located. "Show him what you found, Rafael. And tell him what you told me."
The spectacled tween re-positioned the laptop's screen a little to one side and up a bit so the taller mech could see what was on it easier. Optimus took a half-step closer to better view the smaller screen, his optics behaving like camera shutter lenses as they zoomed in to examine the sucker marks shown on the images. Then he focused on the smaller text of the posts, one brow ridge rising curiously as he read and re-read the bizarre accounts of the victim's loved ones concerning their peculiarly forgetful behavior. Rafael, on noting this intrigued expression, repeated his lingering suspicion that these sucker markings and resulting amnesia were Earth based, not Cybertronian related. Optimus eyed the tween curiously, nodding slowly to himself as he listened to the boy's arguments. He seemed quite open to the possibility, even more so than Ratchet had been.
"Ratchet, call back Bulkhead and Miko from their drive and have them report in here. Contact Arcee and Bumblebee as well. This mystery Rafael uncovered merits investigation, though I fear we may not discover much in the way of information. Whoever or whatever is responsible is remarkably elusive. I find it most unusual that not one unaffected person has reported seeing the culprit. That could mean all witnesses, no matter how indirect, have been mind-wiped, or they are simply too afraid to step forward and speak lest they become victims as well. In either case, this must be looked into."
All three nodded grimly, and Ratchet quickly set about gathering the absent members of Team Prime for a trip to the California coast. In a matter of minutes the alien warriors were rounded up, informed of their investigative mission, permitted to bring their human companions with them to act as interference should their covers be blown, and told to be wary of anything with suckers on them as the owner used them to drain information from the victim's mind. Ratchet would accompany them in his capacity as a field medic.
Needless to say, a few odd looks were tossed in the medic's direction, mainly over the "be wary of anything outfitted with suckers because they can mind wipe you" warning. They'd dealt with strange before, but that sounded downright weird.
Little did they suspect things would only become weirder the instant they stepped through the waiting groundbridge.
Unseen by passerby on the streets, a swirling green portal yawned open in an abandoned side street on the southern side of the city. A stray cat rummaging through a rusted garbage bin yowled at the bizarre sight of six colorful vehicles slinking out of it, scampering off into it's hiding place. The shadows in the cramped side street looked oddly accentuated despite it being the middle of the day, giving it an eerie appearance. Already the Cybertronians could sense something was not quite right with the city, with this particular region. There was a strange sort of...energy in the air, one they had never before noticed. Yet, while they could sense it, their powerful scanners, strangely enough, could not detect anything amiss. There was also the peculiar sense of being watched, watched very closely, but again their scanners detected nothing. It made their sensitive metal hides tingle unpleasantly.
"So what's the plan here, boss?" the dark green off-roader, Bulkhead, asked, engine growling.
"Yeah! Who's getting the pounding of a lifetime? Where's the sucker monster you're so worked up about Raf?" Miko added, a wicked grin splitting across her face, her eyes glittering almost maniacally. Eagerly she looked out of her guardian's windows in search of anything resembling a mind-wiping freakshow of a creature, only to huff in petulant annoyance at seeing nothing of the sort. Even still, she didn't stop looking around.
The yellow and black Urbana 500 loosed a string of beeps, whistles, and clicks. Bumblebee's young passenger was quick to translate for his friends:
"Miko, we don't know if it's a monster. For all we know it might be a machine or something. All we know for certain is that it leaves sucker marks after wiping a person's mind of select memories. We don't even know why this thing, whatever it is, is doing this to these random people. And it's not exactly going to be flaunting attention. I mean, the thing is either doing this to keep itself hidden from people, or to keep something else hidden. That's as far as I'll go."
"Indeed," rumbled the red and blue semi in the lead, "This is merely a reconnaissance mission Miko, not a battle. All we will be searching for is evidence of the device or being responsible for these acts. We will avoid fighting if we can, especially since this is city is heavily populated. Dropping our disguises here would be most unwise."
"Autobots," Optimus said, his voice becoming slightly more commanding but no less civil, "fan out and search the city, but stay within a few miles of each other, so that should one of you should require assistance, you will be within close proximity. Understood?"
On that command, the posse of colorful vehicles, plus their human charges, exited the side street and pulled out onto the main thoroughfare running north-south through the bustling city. Each then split off individually down different roads and streets. Soon they were lost to the city's maze of roadways, melding into the decently thick flow of traffic. They firmly believed that their arrival and their subsequent work here would be perfectly covert. Ratchet and Rafael had ensured that. This side street was completely abandoned, not counting the poor stray feline of course, and it wasn't like the cat would give them away. No one human or capable of reporting them had seen the groundbridge open up, no one had seen them exit it, and no one had seen them leave and scatter into the city's maze of roadways to begin their mission.
But unknown to them, their arrival had been seen and noted by a small, hidden watcher stationed in that abandoned side street...
TEMPLE OF THE KAIJUDO DUEL MASTERS
BENEATH FIVE PATHS MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO
"Masters? Your presence is requested in the council chamber. Come at once. One of Argus's Stalker Spheres has seen something most...unusual."
The hologram of Light Master Brightmore, projected by four of the numerous Temple Lanterns, promptly flickered out after the message had been relayed, and the little Light creatures then floated off to attend to their myriad other day-to-day tasks accompanied by fluctuating beeping sounds, each joining a trio or quartet of other Lanterns as it went.
It only took a few minutes for the other Masters to gather in the council chamber that overlooked the entire temple. Waiting patiently for them was Light Master Nigel Brightmore and a large golden sphere of a creature – a Battle Sphere named Argus, Vigilant Seer – with countless display screens circulating around it's frame like an alien security monitor in the middle of the room. Every second or so it would emit a small noise as it recieved constant updates to the incoming stream of visual data from the literally hundreds of Stalker Spheres it held control over.
"What is it, Nigel? Another Veil breach?" demanded a tall, dark skinned man, plainly Hispanic by nationality, and clothed in a dark burgundy hooded sweatshirt and black jeans accented with crimson. Around his neck hung a peculiar red pendant that flashed and flared as though it would burst out fire at any moment. His dark brown eyes burned with vitality and fiery energy.
"I...am not entirely certain, Master Chavez. That is why I called all of you here," Brightmore admitted slowly, hesitation swimming in his eyes. Despite all of that his poise and air was quite collected and calm, as crisp and precise as his finely made white and gold robes, though perhaps a bit understandably curious.
He then turned to the great glistering Battle Sphere in the center of the room. "Argus, please display data from Stalker Sphere 136, time 1230, location 4597. Still the image. Only play when I order you to."
Argus emitted a low drone and obeyed, isolating the requested data feed from the particular Stalker Sphere while also shoving all other feeds round to the back of its body to reduce the risk of other unnecessary, quite possibly distracting, feeds. The silent Battle Sphere then enlarged the stilled image and enhanced the quality after Master Brightmore waved his gauntleted hand at it. It appeared to be an empty, abandoned looking side street on the outskirts of downtown San Campion, occupied by a scrawny, solitary stray cat.
"I do not see anything wrong..." noted Nadia Lobachevsky curiously, a beautiful Russian woman in a tight-fitting blue bodysuit, leggings, and sturdy high heels. Her short but well-done and styled hair, startlingly pink in hue, provided a nice clash of brightness to her darker clothes, and her lavender lips blended perfectly to her pale face. Her look well befitted a Master of the Water Civilization – functional, stylish, and streamlined.
"Play the recording," Master Brightmore ordered of the Battle Sphere, giving a short wave of his gauntleted hand in a command gesture.
Argus dutifully set the stilled recording in motion, and his controller took up a position at the creature's side to allow for an unobstructed view.
At first, nothing really seemed to happen. The solitary stray feline continued to rummage through the garbage without interruption for about half a minute, every so often pulling up a scrap of rotting meat or other such stomach-curdling food scraps. But then...something happened. Something none of the Masters could have anticipated, something they had never seen before. There was a bright flash of pale ocean green light that startled the feline into yowling and running, and this same flash soon evolved into a swirling tunnel-like opening that emitted a strange rushing noise. It sat there swirling and softly roaring for a second or two, and then, to the astonishment of those observing, out of the opening came a tiny squadron of colorful vehicles, each vastly different from each other. Their windows were so heavily tinted that nothing could be seen within. And then, as though obeying an order, the colorful vehicles pulled out of the abandoned side street and into the maze of roadways that comprised the outer portions of downtown San Campion.
Master Brightmore ordered Argus to rewind the recording to the point when the strange vortex had appeared and pause it there so they could analyze it. Argus let out another low droning sound and did as told.
Master Kimora, a heavy-set oriental man in thick green robes and with a perpetually cheerful face, pointed at the strange captured image with one thick finger, brows puckered in confusion.
"What is that? I have never seen anything like that before. Is it a Veil breach?"
"That is not like any Veil breach I have ever seen," Master Nadia said dryly. "That looks more like...like an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, or at least some variety of one. How is that even possible though? Wormholes are but a theory, and one that has never been proven, not even by the Water Civilization's brightest minds." She mused in silence for a moment. "But perhaps they have made a breakthrough?"
"Those vehicles are far too primitive to belong to the Water Civilization! Dismiss that notion from your mind at once!" Master Brightmore observed haughtily, nose wrinkling in distaste.
"What other explanation can there be?" Master Chavez wondered pointedly.
Master Kimora hemmed, massaging his chin: "I hesitate to go the line of conspiracy theories, but perhaps an explanation lies with our nation's government-funded science divisions? Maybe what we are seeing here is an experiment? That might explain why ordinary, man-made vehicles are emerging from it."
During this debate between the others as to what this strange portal could possibly be, one Master, much older than the others and adorned in dark purple and black robes, one wrinkled hand holding a peculiar looking cane, had remained silent, her pale violet eyes narrowed as they scrutinized the frozen image. To her, something was unusual about these seemingly ordinary vehicles. She sensed, purely through instinct, that something about them wasn't quite right. For one, none of them had brand logos anywhere on their frames. Instead, each had an odd face-like crest in place of such branding, located at different points such as on their grills, hoods, or other such places where one might find a brand logo. Another curious thing was their heavily tinted windows. Even the manner in which they had driven out of the side street struck her as odd – they had behaved almost like a military unit, driving in crisp formation behind the blue and red Peterbilt semi. Also striking to her was the variety of the vehicles: an off-roader, a motorcycle, a muscle car, and an ambulance, all seemingly headed by the heavy-duty eighteen-wheeler.
Decidedly not the standard group of vehicles one would see roving a city together.
"Master Jaha? You have abstained an opinion thus far. What do you think we should do?" Master Brightmore wondered, towering nearby like a stoic, white sentinel.
"Hm. I think this might be something our three acolytes could investigate. They are already out in the field, and you know how eager each of them is to satisfy their curiosity. This seems like something Gabriel personally would enjoy. Technology is his strong suite, as we all well know by now."
Master Brightmore sighed and pressed a long-enduring hand to his forehead in silent argument to such a course of action. However, the other Masters did not seem in any way opposed to this plan. Chavez and Kimora personally seemed quite happy about it, the two being more open minded about the three teens and their rather unorthodox methods than their compatriots. Their methods went against their age-old traditions...but they were ludicrously effective.
"I will contact Raiden, Allison, and Gabriel," said Kimora. "Perhaps they have already seen one of these vehicles."
"Have we seen any weird vehicles? I mean, not that I know of. A few kinda sketchy cars have gone by, but none you could call really 'weird'. Could you give me a list of descriptions maybe?...No, we haven't seen any of those cars around Amber's...Do we all have our gauntlets with us? Yeah. Why?...Alright. Yeah. We'll get on it, Master Kimora. Call me if you get any updates from the Stalker Spheres."
Ray readied to hang up the phone on the Nature Master, but even as he said this last parting sentence, a bright yellow and black muscle car with tinted windows and a strange crest on the front portion of the car's hood drove by, one that matched perfectly to Kimora's provided list. His eyes followed the vehicle, locking onto it like a missile guidance system, refusing to let it slip into the traffic flow and vanish from his sights. There was something...something about it. An energy he could sense.
Gulping down the last few dregs of his drink, Ray snatched his small backpack, slapped a few dollars on the table as a tip, and then took off running.
Gabriel sighed: "Guess this means our break's been cut short."
"Gee, what was your first hint?" joked Allie sarcastically, smirking, quickly grabbing her own things before bolting after her sprinting friend, backpack bouncing and light coppery hair streaming behind her as she went.
In a flash her hand went up and began waving down a taxi that was going by, gesturing first to herself and then to the sprinting form of Ray ahead of her. Thankfully the taxi's driver heeded her and her request, pulling up to Ray and stopping to wait for the girl and her other friend to catch up while the boy happily hopped into the back seats. Allie and Gabriel soon joined him, Allie handing him a stray one hundred from her pocket.
"Follow that muscle car!" demanded the girl. "Find out where it's going! But don't let 'em know we're tailing!"
The young driver, quickly eyeing the offered money, nodded sharply: "You got it!"
With a squealing of tires the driver slammed on the accelerator and surged after the yellow and black vehicle.
Unable to find anything within the city limits, Bumblebee decided to take a road that led into the mountainous forests lining the San Campion coastline. During the drive in the city, the scout took curious note of a taxi persistently following him around like a lost puppy, but staying a good ways behind him as though shy. At first he thought nothing of it, as taxis sometimes took people outside of heavily urbanized areas, and it taking the same roads as he was might just say the passenger's destination was in the same general direction, but when it followed the scout onto the coastal, tree-lined road that ran beside the cliffs he began to idly wonder.
Was it just coincidence it was taking every road, every turn he took? Or...did the driver have an ulterior motive? Did he maybe suspect...?
"Uh, 'Bee? I think we're being followed..." Rafael noted, eyeing the rear-view mirrors warily, sighting the white and blue taxi car intently tailing them.
Bumblebee buzzed in auditory binary: *I'll try and lose 'em. Hang on, Raf! Time for some off-roading!*
Jerking the wheel sharply to the left, the scout hurdled off the road into the forest, at the same time sending out a distress beacon to his squad mates, requesting their help. Almost right away, Optimus responded back saying he would gather the others, who were all within a few dozen blocks of him, and rendezvous with him as soon as possible. In the meantime, he was to try to shake his civilian pursuer. He was not to drop his cover unless he believed it was absolutely unavoidable. They were here to investigate, not to cause trouble, not to harm anyone, and certainly not to create a debacle with the local and possibly federal government.
Rafael gripped onto the seats as the sentient vehicle bounced around on the uneven terrain, thankful that he had never suffered from motion sickness. A glance into the scout's rear-views showed the taxi in hot pursuit and not faring any better in terms of steadiness, but Bumblebee was nothing if not adaptable and agile. He wove around and between trees, jumped small creeks and fallen logs, and spun around a few times and headed in the opposite direction to baffle his pursuers.
Eventually this plan of pursuit-baffling seemed to bear fruit when he pulled into a wide clearing, skidding to a stop on the far edge. A cursory visual scan around the place showed no sign of the taxi.
"Did we lose them?" wondered Rafael.
Bumblebee let out a soft trill of a sigh: *I think so...I'm not picking up engine noise from the taxi anymore. Doesn't mean he's not still following, though. He could've just shut the engine off and followed my tire tracks on foot.*
Rafael's eyes widened on realizing his friend's words were true: "Shouldn't we keep moving then?"
*No. Best we stay here and wait for the others to regroup with us. Optimus said they wouldn't be long. We just gotta stay low until then. Besides, I keep driving, then I keep on making tracks. And dropping my cover to walk would not be a good idea. I'd stand out like a flare. Bright yellow and all. My kingdom for some camo paint.*
"So we just...sit here and wait?"
Bumblebee emitted an odd noise from his vocalizer that the young boy couldn't translate. Frankly, to him, it sounded like the scout was verbally shrugging by saying the Cybertronian word equivalent for "Meh" that just didn't happen to have an English translation. This was an alien, he reminded himself, who had a language and culture all his own. Not all things could be translated or compared because some things were just unique to certain cultures, like henna was to Indian society, or tamales were to Hispanics.
And so, seasoned Cybertronian scout and digitally gifted human partner both fell silent as they began the wait for the arrival of their friends.
The young taxi driver sat gripping the wheel tight enough for his knuckles to whiten. Trying to follow the muscle car's erratic movements had very nearly resulted in a fatal crash into a downed tree. Knowing that continuing in the taxi would not be the smartest decision, Allie, Gabriel, and Ray all three thanked the driver sincerely for getting them as far as he had and bailed out into the woods, the girl tossing another twenty from her pocket as an apology for nearly getting him killed.
"Get on back to the city! We'll take it from here!" Ray called back to the driver, offering a friendly wave in the direction of the skyline in the near distance.
Their driver nodded a bit shakily. "Alright. Dunno how you plan to catch a car on foot, but good luck, guys! Stay safe!"
Carefully the blue and white taxi pulled away from the fallen tree trunk, spun around, and made for the smooth road he had left behind. It didn't take long for it and the vehicle's driver to vanish from sight. That had been more adventure than he'd bargained for, but at least all those hours of playing GTA V with some of his college buddies had finally paid off. He'd actually have an interesting story to share with them over a beer this evening.
As soon as he was gone the three teens either whipped off their backpacks or rummaged in their pockets for something, each then pulling out a strange, grey, finger-less glove with an odd symbol on the upper palm and quickly slipped them on their left or right hands. All three then performed a series of fluidly abrupt motions, and like magic, the gloves changed from grey and ordinary to vibrant, colorful, and unique – Allison's was purple and rather spooky; Gabriel's was blue and tech-y in appearance; and Ray's was brightly flamboyant, resembling as though a fire had been trapped within the gauntlet's cloth.
"I'll get Bob to help us. He's a better tracker than a bloodhound." Ray decided.
If anyone could track the muscle car, the hybrid dragon-beast could. Never once had his keen sense of smell failed him. He was also a fast means of transport, and was more than happy to offer rides to his duelist and said duelist's two friends – so long as a strip of raw bacon was offered at some point thereafter. Bob was still getting the hang of the whole friendship system. He didn't believe in working completely for free.
"Tatsurion the Unchained!"
A bright flash of pale golden light appeared in front of the teen, accented with an ornate fire crest. Out of this portal stepped a great horned beast, one set of fused horns forming a heavy, plated crest of bone-like material, the other tipping the sides and top of his snout, his rusty orange body covered in bronze and gold armor, and chains wrapped around his wrists like harsh bracelets. Little golden dots adorned his dark brown, stubtled face like aboriginal tattoos. A long tail tipped with pale green, crystalline spikes swished about idly.
"Hey Bob!" Ray greeted cheerfully, smiling.
"Ray. You have need of me?" growled the creature in a low voice as he stood to his full ten foot height. He didn't sound annoyed, but he did sound curious.
Ray nodded: "Yeah. Look, it's kind of a long story, but we're trying to find a bright yellow muscle car out here, and our driver understandably bailed on us. Think you can lend a claw and help us find it, buddy?"
Tatsurion lifted his head and sniffed the air with his snout, drinking in all of the strange scents that pervaded this side of the Veil. Right now the scents of the forest were overwhelmingly powerful, but he very quickly picked up a scent he deemed foreign – and it wasn't one he recognized either, which puzzled him. The scent faintly reminded him of ozone, but it was also mingled with scents like motor oil and coolant and, even stranger, the powerful, dry smell of the desert and other, less plain scents like tundra, forest, and other such drastically different climates.
Confirming the scent with one last snuff, he hunched over onto all fours and helped the three teens onto his back, Ray sitting up front where a thick chain link on his dorsal armor acted as a useful hand grip, Allie holding onto Ray's waist and Gabe holding onto Allie's waist.
"Hold on!"
Emitting a rumbling growl, Tatsurion bounded off deeper into the woodlands, the dragon-beast determinedly following the strange scent of mingled faint ozone and automotive fluids that seemed so out of place and unaccountable to him. Something was going on in these woods, something, dare he say, not of this world. And with true dragon stubbornness, he would find out. Curiosity was a trait he shared with Ray, along with surefire determination to find the truth.
And find the truth he would. Few things could stop the Kaiju and his Duelist when they had a set goal in mind.
Riding on Bob's back was something Ray normally found oddly relaxing, the motions of the dragon-beast's body rhythmic and unwavering, his large heart producing a steady, pounding beat in his chest. But Bob's body was tense now, as was his own, and Ray's hands gripped the chain link on his dorsal armor tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. Two sets of eyes, one yellow, one dark brown, constantly scanned the forested regions all around them.
It wasn't that he was afraid of the muscle car, but he was anxious to find it, more to satisfy his own curiosity rather than feeling the car was dangerous.
Tatsurion slowed his pace after a few miles had gone by (the erratic path he followed showing the muscle car had been trying to lose them), lifting his horned head to sniff a few more times. The scent was strong here, but there was another scent now, one that had been fainter earlier but was now as strong as the strange ozone/automobile fluid smell he was focusing on, and it was distinctly human. Normally he wouldn't have found this curious, but from Ray had told him en route the car didn't seem to have had a driver. Granted the windows had been so heavily tinted as to hide anything within, but Ray had sensed that no one had been in the driver's seat, and the boy's instincts had often proven right.
"We're close now." Tatsurion informed his three riders in his low growl of a voice.
He then crouched down to let Allie and Gabe off. Having them on his back if he needed to fight would slow him down, not to mention it would be dangerous for them. Nonetheless, he requested they stay close to him for protection. Gabriel didn't seem completely thrilled about giving up his ride, but he understood the reasoning behind it. He offered Gabriel a toothy, sarcastically sympathetic grin before plodding ahead, keeping low to the ground to stay hidden.
On reaching a low rise that led up into a clearing, the scent spiked. He slowed, crouching down as far as he could, and just barely let one yellow eye peer up and over, hoping his horns didn't give away his position too readily.
Sitting there, front end just peeking out from behind a large boulder, was a bright yellow and black muscle car. This was what Ray had been so anxious to find? Odd. It was far too colorful to belong to the Choten. He enjoyed keeping his vehicles under the radar, and while the car had attempted evading Ray and his friends and was sitting in the middle of a forest, it wasn't exactly "low profile" either. He also took curious note of the human scent no longer being attached to the car. It seemed to have moved away from it, towards a low clustering of boulders and fallen logs. Was the driver hiding? If so, why? They couldn't have known before hand they were coming.
"Is it just me or is that the weirdest brand logo I've ever seen? I know fancy cars, and that logo? Not ringin' any bells..." Allie noted in a whisper.
And just like that, the car's horn started blaring. High beams glared in their general direction, temporarily blinding Tatsurion and Ray for half a second. Knowing their cover was blown, the dragon-beast leapt out, unleashing a snarl of challenge to the car. That snarl was cut short when something incredible happened:
The car...changed. There was no other way to describe it. It seemed to fold in and out on itself, gears and mechanisms hissing and clanking as they rearranged. In less than a second the "car" was replaced with a towering metal being that looked strangely humanoid in appearance. One giant metal hand swiftly reverted into a gun-like weapon that was promptly pointed at Bob. Odder still was the strange serious of beeps, trills, whistles, and clicks it emitted that sounded very much like it was ordering something. From the ways its vibrant blue eyes flicked between the humans and Bob, it was obvious the order revolved around them.
"What the heck?!" Ray cried, not even needing to pull on the dorsal chain to convince Bob to draw back. What was this thing? The Masters hadn't mentioned the car could do this!
"Ray, I think this would be a very good time to call in the Masters! This thing's size makes it distinctly possible we could all get squashed like bugs!" Gabriel advised nervously, his normally deep voice rising to a near shriek.
"I think we all know who's getting squashed here!" Bob declared. That transforming gig and its mechanical nature reeked of Water technology, and Water and Fire were eternal enemies with each other – not counting Gargle, of course. The Reef Prince was sensible as Water creatures went, even if he was just a walking, talking puddle in his opinion.
Roaring up a storm, the dragon-beast charged head-first at the robot, jumping up and ramming his horn-plated head into its left knee joint. He was pleased to hear something in the limb joint snap and the robot emit a high-pitched whine of pain. He pulled back on feeling a tug from Ray, rearing up on his hind feet, and flung his chains around its legs and then yanking them, forcing the robot to fall with a ground-shaking thud. Its eyes flickered as it struggled to its knees, emitting a low trill of mingled effort and pain.
The creature was down. Now he just had to banish back it where belonged. Activating his shoulder mounted mortars, Tatsurion took aim and fired off one low-powered round into its shoulder, forcing it to the ground, but he hesitated to fire the banishing shot when:
"'Bee! Get up! Look out!" shouted a young voice in a panic.
Out of hiding rushed a young spectacled boy with spiky blond hair, an expression of outright panic on his face, but that panic was not directed at the fearsome horned creature about to shoot, but towards the yellow robot the creature had downed. Tatsurion, not knowing what else to do, kept the mortar aimed at the robot. He didn't know what was going on. Was the boy a captive? It didn't seem so. So what in the Fire King's name was going on here?
Bob took one lumbering step forward.
The boy rushed in front of the robot protectively. "No! Don't hurt him! He's my friend! He was just trying to protect me!"
Bob stopped, but the mortar still remained aimed. A gentle tug from Ray convinced him to lower it. He doubled over and plodded towards the robot's injured leg, snuffing at the strange, glowing blue fluid that was seeping out of some nasty cracks in the armor. It had the same smell as the scent he'd been tracking, but far more concentrated. The same fluid was coming out of the open wound on its shoulder, and in much greater quantities. What was it though – fuel, blood, both? He'd never seen anything like it before.
His examination was drawn to an abrupt halt when the loud roar of multiple engines met the ears of the gathered. Bob spun around to view the oddest group of vehicles he'd ever seen screaming in his direction. Just as had happened with the yellow muscle car, these vehicles shifted in shape to tower over him like the mighty Earthstomp Giant. All shifted one or both hands into guns, trailing them at him. Even if Allie and Gabe each summoned creatures they were still outnumbered, and Ray wasn't entirely certain summoning Squeaky and Gargle would be the best idea. That might just makes the situation more complicated.
Ray's eyes widened at the sight while both of his friends stared slack-jawed at the awesome sight. "Oh boy..."
The two parties faced off for a whole minute in silence, eyeing each other to see who would make the first move. Ray noted that the new robots' attention seemed to be riveted on Bob, matching blue eyes wide in disbelief. He also noted that Bob was obviously picking up more scents judging from the way his nostrils were dilating, yet he couldn't seem to find those scents. All the while the yellow robot tried to stay as still as possible on the ground, one hand over its leaking shoulder, its human friend keeping worried guard over it.
The bulky green robot stared wide-eyed at the horned creature: "Uh, okay. Anyone mind telling me what the scrap that thing is?"
Tatsurion didn't appreciate the robot's tone and growled: "I am Tatsurion the Unchained! You would do well to remember it, Water filth!"
Rather than look insulted, the robot's head merely tilted to one side as its expression became one of curious confusion. Bob took note of it, but his aggression didn't simmer down. Perhaps this was some new type of Water battle machine recently built and unaware of the Fire/Water rivalry? But then why wouldn't the Council of Logos put that information into its CPU?
Ray, Allie, Gabe, and Bob all started in surprise when the giant red and blue robot seemed to consider everything going on around it, and then it disengaged its guns, the action earning the stunned looks of its companions.
"Optimus, what are you doing?" demanded the amber and white robot with the emergency symbols on its arms.
"This is not a battle, Ratchet. This is nothing more than a misunderstanding. The creature is obviously intelligent and means the humans no harm. Clearly it attacked Bumblebee because it felt threatened. Perhaps it can be reasoned with."
That said, the giant red and blue robot stomped forward. It stopped when Bob snorted, dragging a front paw across the dirt much like a bull about to charge, embers dancing around his bony plated head-crest as the mana imbued in it readied to ignite. Sprouting on his back, barely noticeable, were little needle sharp thorns. But before he could thunder forward and attack, he felt a hand laid on his side. He looked down to see Ray there, gently shaking his head at him. Thus, he backed down and let the robot resume its approach.
The amber and white one, sensing some sort of silent permission had been given, made its way over to its downed yellow and black friend and began tending to its leaking shoulder wound, one surgical blade hand emitting a powerful ion flame from the very tip. Nonetheless, it kept casting wary glances towards the horned dragon-beast nearby.
Everyone was about to breath a sigh of relief when a wall of fire suddenly erupted between the approaching red and blue robot and Tatsurion, the former titan quickly stepping back as its blue eyes traced the line of fire. Then, before it could react, something slammed into its head faster than the eye could blink, leaving a burning gash that began to ooze the same blue fluid the yellow robot had. Just like a human would, it put a hand over the bleeding wound to stem the flow as its blue eyes darted around in search of whatever had harmed it.
Ray put two and two together in a flash: one or more of the Masters had arrived, and Gilaflame had just attacked. They must've read the situation wrong.
"Master Chavez! Wait! Don't hurt them!" he cried out.
The blue and pink-accented female robot whipped around, blades retracting from her arms, but was knocked to the ground by a powerful gust of mana-infused wind, signaling the arrival of Master Brightmore and Ravu, and the heavy-set green robot was floored by a powerful tail-whip from Rusalka and a heavy bash of the club from Shouter. The red and blue one was attacked once again, not by the fast-moving Fire attacker, but by a beam of purple energy that struck it square in the chest that seemed to make its strength wither, its firer nowhere to be seen.
And thus, the once peaceful scene devolved into chaos as the metal titans tried and failed to defend from the magical attacks.
"Alright, that's enough!" Allie decided angrily. "I know just who can fix this!"
"Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow!"
Out of the skull-emblazoned portal jumped a large, furry, koala-like creature with big eyes and two horns that curved inwards from the sides of its head. As soon as it saw Allie it came forward and gave her a gently crushing hug coupled with soft squeaking noises that sounded quite gleeful. Anyone might be excused for cooing over the Darkness creature's criminal cuteness, and Allie was no exception.
Allie, much as she wanted to return the hug, had to gently push the friendly creature aside. "Hugs later, Squeaky. Think you can settle this rodeo down?"
Squeaky took one look at the one-sided brawl going on, turned back to Allie and nodded determinedly. She waddled forward. The yellow pupils of her eyes grew to encompass the black "whites" that surrounded them. One by one the fighting Masters, their creatures, and the titanic robots stopped and turned to look, all fight going out of them as they all stared at the hypnotically cute gaze of what seemed like, thanks to the trance-like state they were being held in, the most adorable thing they'd ever seen.
"Right. Now that I've got everyone's attention, please put the swords, guns, and gauntlets away, and let's talk this over like civilized human beings, creatures, and freaky shape-shifting robots. Okay? Can we all agree on that?"
And just like that, Squeaky's "cutey gaze" broke, leaving the two sides suddenly passive and faintly confused. With nods at one another, the Masters dismissed their creatures (though Bob and Squeaky remained) and removed their gauntlets while the robots disengaged their weapons. Glances were exchanged, glances that held a desire for answers.
Questions had fired back and forth between the three parties like bullets in a shooting range as the amber and white robot had gone around tending to the injuries of its friends. First and foremost, names had been established to better this process, and needless to say the names of the robots were found to be quite unusual by the unaffiliated humans – names like Arcee, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Optimus Prime. While not as unusual as many creature names, they were still a bit on the odd side.
Two more humans had then appeared on the scene, having come out of hiding, thus explaining Bob's smelling of other humans: Jack and Miko. Both had rushed over to the third boy, named Rafael, grateful that he wasn't hurt. Ray, Allie, and Gabe introduced themselves first to them, then to the robots. While reluctant, the Masters then introduced themselves as well.
The robots explained had themselves first. They were extraterrestrial automatons from another planet – Cybertron. They were here because they were effectively stranded, unable to return home due to lack of resources and their home being essentially "dead." They did not mean the planet nor its inhabitants any harm, however. In fact, they helped to defend it from their enemies, called Decepticons. Both sides, both factions more accurately, were embroiled in a bitter civil war that had already lasted for millenia.
"Sooo lemme get this straight. You guys're aliens, but you don't wanna hurt us, but these Decepti-what's-it's do?" Allie asked.
The towering red and blue alien, Optimus, who was at the moment crouched down to better address the smaller beings, nodded. He did clarify that the Decepticons didn't necessarily want to hurt humans. More often than not they overlooked them in favor of his Autobots or their allies. What they wanted was the Energon the planet had buried beneath its surface – the lifeblood of their race, stored here millenia ago, and they would go to any lengths to get it. Whoever had the most Energon would end up winning the war. It was a war of clashing ideals to begin with but now, light-years from home and outnumbered, it had now devolved to a war of resources.
"Okay. Now you guys explain your, erm, friends here." Bulkhead said, motioning towards the two creatures.
Bob, not appreciative of what he considered to be an insolent tone, bared his fangs and snarled, making the bulky alien jump back. Such a reaction to him made the dragon-beast's snarl turn into a smug and very toothy smile. Squeaky merely appeared mildly insulted at the description, frowning cutely and emitting a tiny, squeaking growl that sounded more like it belonged to a kitten.
"Well, traditionally they're called Kaiju (that's the Japanese word for 'monster' or 'strange beast' according to Ray; trust me, he'd know – he's half Japanese himself), but we just call them creatures for simplicity's sake. Squeaky is a Scaradorable from the Darkness Civilization and Bob is a hybrid between an Armored Dragon from the Fire Civilization and a Beast Kin from the Nature Civilization." Gabriel explained.
All the aliens stared, expressions showing varying degrees of being totally lost. Allie smacked a hand to her face, casting an infinitely sarcastic look at the intelligent teen.
Ray had to put a hand over his mouth to hide his smile. This just cemented to him that they weren't Water creatures, but something far more human. Just because they were alien machines didn't make them super geniuses or all knowing. And it wasn't like the Kaiju presence was flaunted on billboards or anything. Only a select few even knew of them, and the cyberviruses prevented random civilians from remembering any encounters with them for their own safety. Why would the refugee alien warriors know about the different Civilizations, the Kaiju, and the Veil? They were complete and total strangers here – strangers in a strange land.
"Might I suggest we take this conversation somewhere less exposed? The Temple would be a much safer place to converse on these matters than out here in the woods." Master Brightmore advised, glancing the other Masters out of the corners of his eyes. Out here in the open, they were vulnerable to attack from their enemies, alien and human.
Eyes both mechanical and organic cast wary looks up at the deceptively calm, clear skies, each pair looking for something they could not see. Such a suggestion seemed quite reasonable. Each alien then folded down into their vehicle disguises and opened their doors to admit their passengers, Ray and Allie dismissing their creatures before joining the others – Allie joining Miko and Bulkhead, Gabriel joining Rafael and Bumblebee, and Ray joining Jack and Arcee. The Masters however did not join them, instead heading down the gentle slopes and towards their inconspicuous looking van hidden further down the mountainside.
However, they all got the sense of something being held back. Something dark.
On arrival at the Five Paths Martial Arts Studio, the Masters drove the van around to the back of the building and thus led the bizarre convoy of alien vehicles with them. Revealed at the back was what seemed to be a simple storage bay, but when Master Brightmore exited the van and waved a now re-gauntleted hand, the floor beneath them shimmered to reveal a steep ramp that lead into a dimly lit passageway that appeared to go down into nothingness. The passageway looked ancient, far older than the building which hid it.
"Come," he said simply.
The convoy, plus the van, obediently trailed after him down the tunnel. Master Chavez had to stifle his snickers at how constricted the massive red and blue Peterbilt known as Optimus was in such a tight space. He was barely even able to fit into this back tunnel entrance, which was much larger than the one inside the studio, and his smokestack just barely brushed the top of the tunnel.
"Where are we going?" Miko wondered, head poking out of Bulkhead's passenger window.
"The Temple."
Master Brightmore's words succeeded in putting the spunky Asian's back up. However, her question had prompted Rafael to also stick his head out of Bumblebee's passenger window as well. Jack's head swiveled around as they continued deeper and deeper beneath the studio, Ray uncertain of whether or not to speak and offer a little more insight as to where they were all headed. It wasn't every day people, aliens no less, were invited into the secret, subterranean base of the Kaijudo Duel Masters.
At last the constricted tunnel widened, opening up to reveal a gargantuan underground cavern of carved stone that looked unspeakably old. All around the ancient cavern were building-like structures, and far below was what looked like a miniature battle arena surrounded by carved stone seats. Everywhere they looked, odd little golden machines ranging in size from baseballs to small TVs flitted around like beautiful insects and birds, each emitting a soft golden light from their bodies. A few even resembled floating trees.
One of the little creatures zipped forward to investigate Bumblebee's young passenger. A light targeted the smartphone in his hand, and it let out a rather stern sounding noise. Though Rafael didn't understand what it was saying, at least not in the way he could with Bumblebee, he still got the message and quickly hid the device in his pocket. Obviously cell phones were a no-no here but were okay so long as they weren't actively being used – probably had to do with all those tracking programs phones had in them.
"Temple Lanterns from the Light Civilization. Part of the creature-based security system the Temple uses," Gabriel explained quietly. "Think floating motion detectors and burglar alarms. That shoot lasers."
Raf's eyes widened as they followed the retreating creature. "Cool."
The convoy took a turn down a long, winding path that led towards one of the carved stone buildings. They passed through the main entrance of the structure and then stopped in their tracks rather abruptly when Master Brightmore held up a hand. The Light Master then explained this sudden halt before Miko could start spouting questions:
"You wanted explanations as to the Kaiju and our order. This is where you will receive it. Consider yourselves fortunate to be privy to such sensitive information. Normally we do not allow such knowledge to fall into the hands of...strangers. Master Chavez, Master Nadia, if you would take things from here. I must tend to our Stalker Sphere network. The Choten must not be allowed to secure a victory due to negligence on our parts – or entertaining house guests."
Master Chavez and Master Nadia nodded in acceptance. Satisfied, the stiff-lipped Light Master made his adieu from the chamber. As soon as he was out of sight, the Masters began their explanations by gesturing up at the ceiling where an elaborate mural-like painting lay sprawled across the smooth stone. Strange images of dragon-like beasts, sea monsters, furry titans, ghastly specters, ethereal winged humanoids, and odd symbols wove themselves into what looked like an artistic timeline.
"Now, to begin." said Master Nadia. "What you see above you is the detailed history of our Order, and the secret history of our world. Listen closely. I hope I don't need to warn that you would do well not to repeat it outside these caverns."
Unless it was her imagination it seemed that the growl of the aliens' engines seemed to quiet. Seemed she had an appreciative audience. The muscle car and the ambulance were acting put off and slightly offended, though she had the sense that offense was not directed at her. She felt it was directed at Nigel. Honestly, that man needed to learn to be a bit more accommodating. Even Water knew when to "go with the flow." And Light eventually had to bend thanks to the laws of physics.
"Ah, I am sorry about Nigel. He's...well, he doesn't like strangers in his house so to speak. Light can always be a bit stubborn to work with. They do not like change." Master Kimora apologized.
"But let's forget about him for the moment and get on with the history lesson, shall we?" Chavez prompted. "A trip to the Archives afterwards should help clarify anything. Plus, it'll give you a chance to see some Water creatures for yourself. I think you'll find them...interesting. We'll even pay Toji a visit afterwards. Actually, we should probably do that first."
And so the aliens listened as the Masters explained the hidden history of their foster home.
The Kaijudo Archives were the strangest library the new arrivals had ever seen in their lives. Unlike most terrestrial libraries, none of the shelves held books. Instead, they held heavy blocks of different materials – ranging from metal to wood to stone – that were engraved with information about the creature it detailed and how to summon it. And to top it off, they were given free reign to explore while Master Nadia and the other Kaijudo Duel Masters roamed between isles, keeping an eye on their guests and ensuring nothing was tampered with due to unrestrained curiosity. Idly the alien noted the strange pools in the reception areas, but saw not what swam within. They were more interested in the tablets.
Miko darted over to a stone-rimmed pool near the reception desk the very instant they had entered, ignoring the shelves of tablets. Ever since she could remember she always loved to look at indoor ponds and the different colorful fish that swam in them. Did the Masters keep some koi maybe? Their order was technically Japanese in origin, and the Japanese loved their koi ponds; and Master Nadia, the Water Master, was in charge of the Archives, so having some water life in her place made sense. Master Chavez had mentioned "water creatures" were in the Archives. Was that just a funny way for Duel Masters to describe fish?
But what she saw swimming about in the pool was about as far from a koi as possible. Her eyes widened. Her brain was telling her what she was looking at couldn't be real, and yet her eyes were looking right at them. She pulled out her phone and rang up her guardian despite the buzzing protests of a nearby Razorpine Tree.
"Bulk? Get the others. You guys missed something real important back here at the reception desk. I think I found our mind-wiping monster."
It didn't take long for the Autobots to gather at her location. When they saw what was swimming in the clear waters, their blue optics went round. They were little blue squid-like creatures with two long tentacles, each tipped with three eerily familiar suckers. Dotted along their translucent, faintly glowing bodies were what looked like computer chips. When the creatures accidentally bumped into each other, a small electrical discharge occurred, and they would quickly draw apart.
*What. The. Scrap? What're those things?* Bumblebee trilled, pointing.
"Those suckers...they match what we saw on the website! They must be the ones responsible for the amnesia cases!" Jack realized. "Master Chavez said there were Water creatures here – these must be them!"
"Yeah, but what are they?" repeated Arcee confusedly, "They look like...glowing...mutant...squids."
Optimus let his own curiosity get the better of him. These creatures looked relatively harmless and docile, so perhaps the memory wiping only occurred when they were under the control of a Duelist. That they were here in the Kaijudo Temple hinted that they were under the Masters control, so they were not using them for foul purposes – merely to keep themselves and the presence of the Kaiju a secret. Perhaps the civilians on the website had seen something that might endanger them, and thus that memory and those linking to it had been removed. Remarkable in itself that such a tiny creature could perform something so complicated. It took an entire cortical psychic patch to perform the same deed on a Cybertronian.
Kneeling down, he gingerly extended one large black digit into the water. Almost instantly the strange creatures reacted, swarming it like a school of fish. Jack, Miko, Raf, and his own squadron watched him carefully, almost nervously. He knew their fear – if these creatures had the capacity to mind-wipe a human being, there was no doubt the same act could be performed on him. But the creatures didn't seem aggressive. They seemed quite curious about the digit, poking at it with their tentacles. At each contact he felt a tiny electrical zap, but not enough to stimulate his pain receptors.
"Optimus Prime! Get your finger out the cybervirus's pool this instant! You do not touch something that has the capacity to kill you!"
Quickly he withdrew at the sound of Master Nadia's shout, expression confused and somehow consciously guilty at once. The Water Master herself peered down at them from the second story, her pale lavender lips frowning down at the red and blue guilty party below. But as they watched, the frown lifted somewhat and she loosed a sigh.
"I thought an intelligent mechanical race would know better than to touch a strange creature. That just goes to show what little I know about aliens. I suppose I should have given the standard warning: touching creatures is forbidden. They are dangerous and even a tiny cybervirus has the capacity to kill. You are lucky Water creatures are intellectuals and naturally curious. If that had been an Armored Dragon you would most likely be missing that finger, possibly your entire hand."
Ray and his friends popped in from around a corner then.
"Yeah. Um. How 'bout you come with us? We'll finish our little tour up and get you guys home. You might be starting to overstay your welcome a little. Rules are kind of a big deal with them. We'll do the whole creature picking thing later. Ray's gonna need some time to find one that fits each of you." Allie suggested quickly, casting a nervous eye up at the judge on the second floor. "C'mon. Off to Toji!"
"Maybe we can hide there for a while..." Gabriel muttered.
Apologizing to the Water Master for the breach of conduct, Optimus let himself and his allies be led back into the Archives. He cast one last confused glance at the dark blue trench coat of Nadia Lobachevsky.
'She says they are dangerous...but then why have the ones we have met thus far been far from that? If they assist, are partners to these humans, why the intense fear? Why do they fear and the children do not?'
"Ha! I was always told that aliens just fairy tales – stories for de children! Stories always told of 'little green men' and 'flying saucers' – never, never did they describe metal giants! And yet, here you are! Ha-ha!"
This friendly welcome was given amidst the loud clanging of a smith's hammer and hisses of steam in a room that resembled an old forge. To say that the Autobots were a bit startled by this warm welcome would be telling the truth. Compared to the somewhat brutal reception of the Masters in the forest and Master Brightmore's cold demeanor towards them, this gruff, burly man in blacksmith's attire and a German accent was welcoming as could be. He didn't even seem to mind Miko bouncing around investigating the forge fire or Bumblebee, Jack, and Rafael checking out the carved shelves that held the weird gloves that the Masters, Ray, and Allie had used.
"This is so cool!" Miko shouted, twirling around. The whole place gave her a World of Warcraft vibe.
When she leaned a little too close to the fire the man grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt, lifted her with ease with one muscled arm, and plonked her down away from it.
"Don't toy with forge fire. This is no normal fire, girl. Fueled by special flame from Fire Civilization."
She looked at it again, eyes round. "Whoa...So it's like magic fire or something? Awesome!"
Allie stifled a giggle. She liked Miko already. That girl never seemed to run out of energy. Oh, if only they could take them to the creature pens...but after the incident in the Archives, that was probably a no-go.
"Autobots, this is our Gauntlet Master, Toji. He is the one who creates our gauntlets – these," Chavez held up his own glove to show them. A strange series of motions the Fire Master had done in the woods had resulted in it loosing its rich black, flame-accented look and changing to resemble the dozens of grey gloves lining the shelves. That still hadn't been explained to them.
"No easy feat, either. Gauntlets not just gloves. They are more like, eh, manna conductors. Help us channel mana from our own bodies and control the mana the creatures have. Connects us to them."
Optimus frowned. That sounded too much like the cerebro chips Megatron had used to turn his troops into obedient puppets, and the forceful manipulation of the body that Unicron was reviled for.
Ray noticed the look and hastened to explain in a bit of a stumbling manner:
"No, no. It's not like that. I know it sounds like mind control but it's not. Mind control implies you have total physical and mental control over the target, like a puppet on strings. Only the Choten goes that far. We don't, not really. When a Duelist takes control of a creature it still has free will and is able to resist if it wants to. I'm the one who barely ever uses the gauntlet. Bob and I use verbal commands most of the time. We don't use the creatures. They're not weapons. We understand they're living, thinking entities – well, most of us do. Master Brightmore...doesn't see things the same way. Gabe, Allie, and I actually try to befriend them."
Allie snorted. But soon a rebellious smirk formed. "And boy does he hate us for that."
The frown lifted somewhat.
"Who is the Choten?" Ratchet asked. "One of your enemies?"
"A former Duel Master of Water. He turned on the Order years ago and began enslaving creatures, thinking them mindless beasts useful only as weapons," little Master Jaha clarified darkly, "At the moment he is performing experiments on them with a strange serum. We do not know what it is, but it makes any creature injected with it immeasurably more powerful. Why he is doing so we do not yet know. Master Nadia is currently busy analyzing the only sample we have."
The old medic hemmed for a moment. "Hm. I do have a bit of a background in chemistry. Perhaps if you acquired another sample I could analyze it?"
Master Kimora's eyes widened. "Are you suggesting...an alliance, medic?"
"Please say you are!" both sets of human teens begged.
[Optimus? Should we really be getting into this?] Arcee hissed softly over her comm. link. [We don't know how to deal with magic or mana or any of this. Remember how that purple blast almost crippled you with one hit. And Tatsurion would've shot 'Bee into his grave if Raf hadn't stopped him. We're not designed to fight magic. If you ask me, this sounds like a one way ticket to the scrapyard.]
[I see no reason why we should refuse to offer assistance. If the Choten succeeds with his goal, the issue could very well involve us in the future. It is better to have a grasp on a threat than to walk in blind. And in any event, we would be acquiring powerful allies if we agree. We need every advantage if we are to succeed here.]
Arcee's faint growl indicated she was still wary of such an alliance. The Prime did note that no one else seemed opposed to the notion. He could not fault her wariness however. She had every right to be cautious of such a large, powerful unknown. These creatures were strong, almost unbelievably so, and in control of powers that fell well outside the realm of science.
Optimus turned to Kimora. Out of the Masters, he had seemed the most level-headed about their presence in the Temple and their knowledge of the Kaiju.
"We will assist you in your battles if you can assist us in ours. Since you shared your history with us, we now fall under your jurisdiction and protection. We will deal with our respective threats together. Our aims coincide, and we stand a better chance at victory in our conflicts if we combine our strengths."
"Alright! Whoo!" Miko hooted. "And that totally means we gotta get Wheeljack involved with this! I bet he'll love this!"
"Ha! That means you will be needing gauntlets. Cannot summon or control creatures without them!" Toji laughed, grinning from ear to ear.
"But...they're not even from Earth, Master Toji," Gabriel argued, "We don't even know if they can manipulate mana. All we know is that they're very vulnerable to creature attacks. Blackfeather nearly took down Optimus with just one Soul Blast. That evidence seems to point that they have a weakness to magic. They don't have any sort of inbuilt defenses."
"He's got a point," Raf said. "Kaijudo's been around for a long time. And that purple beam – Soul Blast, right? – the effects on Optimus seemed to mimic exposure to a ton of Dark Energon. That stuff is really bad for them. It can kill them just being exposed to too much. I mean, he almost collapsed just from one shot. Is it really smart to be exposing them to that sort of thing?"
"Yeah, but Gabe, Raf – they didn't have gauntlets to shield them from those attacks, remember?" Ray retorted smartly, "And we have those same weaknesses and can control mana. If we got hit by one of Blackfeather's Soul Blasts, we'd probably react the same way, but we have shields to protect us. Call me an optimist, but I think they might be able to. It just takes a little practice to get the hang of it."
"Besides, only one way to find out, eh?" Toji chuckled. "But...will take time to forge them."
"How long?" Jack asked.
"Eh, you and your friends gauntlets done by later this week if all goes well. Alien gloves..." Toji looked up at the large metal hands of the aliens, expression thoughtful. He let out a low rumble of a hum before continuing: "Will take longer. Mana becomes finicky and fiery at such large scale, much like wild creature. I would guess a few weeks and they will be done. Rough estimate, though. No promises. Never made gauntlets so large. May take a few tries."
From a vantage point high in another tower, a tall white-robed man observed. Slowly but surely a frown formed. Nigel Brightmore was not pleased with the newcomers. They were not from Earth. In his mind they had no right to know of the Kaiju and the Veil. But their leader, Optimus...something about him spoke of hidden power. His skin had tingled in the woods, and his gauntlet had flared. There was power within him, yes – power enough to rival a Monarch perhaps. So why did he not use it to end this civil war of theirs?
'What powers do you hide beneath that metal armor, machine? And why do you not use them?'
And as for these Decepticons they spoken of – he shuddered to think what would happen if they learned of the Kaiju. He was intelligent (and pessimistic) enough to know such an outcome was inevitable now. The Autobots had pledged their aid to help end the Choten's threat whenever and however they could, and that would eventually lead to their enemy knowing of the creatures, and the Choten knowing of them. No, what he dreaded most was an alliance between August and these murdering savages – these Decepticons. They both held frightfully similar opinions on so called "lesser beings" – i.e. "if you could not control it...kill it." It was nothing short of miraculous the two parties hadn't met before now. Then again, Optimus had mentioned that Decepticons tended to avoid human allies, and August himself despised anything that was not human.
But that alliance, too, he knew was inevitable. Like two continents they would eventually collide. And each respective conflict would be made infinitely more violent and dangerous.
That was why he didn't like these Autobots learning of secrets only a few humans ever got to learn. They were a liability unto themselves. Not even their wise and powerful leader seemed to understand the ramifications of their alliance. They didn't belong here, this was not their world, and judging by their many, many questions during the history lesson (and the Prime's Raiden-like curiosity and penchant for touching creatures) he had the feeling they would be just as irritating as the children were. Aliens were unlikely to appreciate the traditions of Kaijudo by default – alien machines no less. There was no way they, a race of science, could understand the underlying magic involved in the ancient art. Traditions were meant to be preserved, and they had served their Order for thousands of years.
The others were determined to show these star-walking, shape-shifting machines their ways though – not only their history, but the battle techniques and creature lore as well; even the spells if possible. Contrary to what the others thought, every so often even the sharp, straight path of Light was forced to bend to the wills and wishes of others. Much as he disliked this, he was outvoted.
And so he contented himself to watch the group of humans and aliens leave the Archives from afar, growing more and more displeased.
It was late afternoon by the time the aliens were released from the Temple, Ray, Allie, and Gabe leading them back above ground. To their surprise, the Autobots and their charges offered them a ride to their residences – to which they gladly accepted, saying that they'd all stay at Allie's for the night and go over everything that happened. Besides, it was a Friday – no school tomorrow! – so why the heck not? Bulkhead laughed and offered them all a ride in his roomy off-roader form, but Jack had declined, saying he'd ride with Arcee and Allie. Beautiful day, and he didn't want the Wrecker getting crowded.
Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Optimus bade them farewell and drove off, headed for the same alley they had arrived in. The Stalker Sphere stationed there would help them home, hijacking the residual energy (and the coordinates in Raf's computer) and opening a groundbridge – an unusually nice action stemming from Master Brightmore that left them a bit wary. When the two chauffeurs were done with their drop-offs, they would rendezvous here and be bridged back by the more trustworthy Ratchet.
"Thanks for the ride, you two. I appreciate it."
The blonde-haired acolyte nimbly hopped off the back of Arcee's vehicle form. Jack smiled and said it was no biggie. Arcee chose not to speak, instead silently hacking the girl's cell phone and leaving a text message of a similar nature. Allie heard the device buzz, pulled it out, and smiled, laying a hand on the alien motorcycle's handles. She liked this alien. She sensed an odd duality – lightness and darkness, and a certain streamlined ruthlessness that fit with Water. Jack perked the light half, while something else, a loss, fueled the dark half. Maybe Ray would pick a Light/Darkness or a Light/Water hybrid? While rare, Gabe said they did exist.
"Right. Well. See you two again soon!" She started off up the drive but paused abruptly and ran back. "Oh! Wait, wait, wait! Guys, can I get your numbers? I wanna be able to text you and tell you the instant Ray has a creature picked for all of you and when your gauntlets are ready. Maybe I could add you, Miko, and the cute squirt to a group and text all of you at once? Y'know, to be more efficient."
Jack grinned and recited his contact details for her. Miko and Raf gave their numbers next.
"Got 'em. Thanks! Don't worry – I'm sure your creatures are gonna be awesome!"
Shouldering her backpack and sheathing her phone in her pocket, she ran up the drive a second time. Jack and his partner waited until she was safely indoors before pulling away. Unless Jack was seeing things, he swore the girl's shadow was longer and darker than normal. Allie hadn't mentioned what Civilization was her specialty, but now he had a guess: Darkness. Odd considering how lively she was. Darkness seemed more befitting of someone like Megatron. But maybe there was a reason for that?
Inside, Allie's father greeted her warmly from the luxurious sofa with the usual "Hey, pumpkin! How was your day?" Then he noticed his daughter's friends. "Oh! Hello, Ray. Gabriel. Staying the night, I guess?"
"If it's okay with you Mr. Underhill." Ray said politely. To which the wealthy banker had said it was fine.
Her reply took him by surprise but made the man smile:
"Totally awesome! Met some cool new friends at school, got their numbers. We're like besties already. We're gonna network over something we're all interested in. Like, a, uh, science fiction club. Sort of. I'm in charge of sending out updates and group texts." Allie lied calmly with only the faintest stutter to betray her uncertainty. Her dad was kind of the oblivious sort, but there was the slightest chance he'd figure out something.
"Oh! Well, t-that's great, sweetheart! And, uh, dinner's on the way. I ordered pizza. Your favorite."
Allie quickly hugged her dad while thanking him. Then she rushed up to her room with Ray and Gabe to begin with the texts.
This day had started out crazy but was honestly the best, most amazing, most incredible day she'd ever had. It even overshadowed her second successful trying of controlling Steam Star!
She recapped: Calming a group of giant metal aliens with Squeaky's adorable cuteness after engaging in a high-speed pursuit through the city and then the wilderness? Awesome. Showing said aliens the secrets of Kaijudo and giving them the grand tour of the Temple hidden under Five Paths? Watching the aliens' leader break the rules almost right off the bat? Even more awesome. Getting to teach them to duel with creatures picked by the Chosen One known as Ray and possibly laugh herself into her grave if they fumbled as much as she and Gabe had at first? Awesome-est!
Oh, she couldn't wait for Ray to pick the creature for each of them, and Toji's gauntlets couldn't be forged fast enough!
Author's Note: Phew! 14,000 words plus! The pacing is a teeny bit bad, but that's because this is my first go at such a long one-shot. There's so much more I wanted to put but I didn't want to do too much exposition. And there's three more of these behemoths coming. Next one will be much more action and many more laughs and revelations. In short, it's gonna be much more exciting and much better paced. I'll leave you with this little excerpt as a hint:
"Uh, Gabe?"
"Yeah?"
"I think Ray's got some competition."
Both acolytes stared at the gargantuan, shining creature in the practice ring, cringed as it unleashed another thundering, three-toned roar that shook the stones themselves.
"Gee, you think?" Gabriel managed.
Note: I will be continuing this foray, Guest. But since they're such long one-shots, and I'm busy with many other stories at the moment PLUS college, they may be a while in coming. Also, I edited the forward: I decided to add Smokescreen in the next one-shot for some even more hilarious moments with him. :)