Disclaimer:
This all belongs to me, if you believe the following;
In an infinite universe there are infinite worlds. Concordantly in an infinite world all things are not only possible but real. Ergo, there is a world where 'Era of Change' is reality. Visa/vi, somewhere one Rhys Davies is sole owner and proprietor of 'Gundam Wing' and 'Transformers.' Go Figure.
However, to please the lawyers, I will say I do not own the components of the following;
Gundam Wing, Transformers, The Matrix Trilogy, Hunt for Red October, Jurassic Park, And all and sundry contained herein. They are the property of those that created them; that is the public safety message for this fic.
Now, if that 60% of the worlds lawyers who live in the USA are content, we may begin...
EXT. SKY
With a piercing crack the heavens are parted by lightening, God's hand upon the Earth. Around us, raindrops crash down, splattering against the camera.
Ominously, the soundtrack begins to build, a rising percussion beat.
EXT. CITY STREET
Puddles cover the tarmac, as the rain thunders down, casting up tiny rockets and waves of liquid.
A foot breaks into view, parting the liquid like the waves before Moses.
PULL-BACK.
A shadowed figure walks the street, sodden. Water streams down his face but oddly, his hair is not lank, standing proud above his brow.
As he walks down the centre of the road, we see figures motionless in the background. Beyond them are shop-fronts, each filled with computer-screens, white and blue web-pages blinking on them, scrolling through infinite reams of text.
Fanfiction.net. This is the mainframe, where it all comes together.
CLOSEUP ON FIGURE
Sunglasses ride on a wet face, pale with months away from the sun, sullen with hours of typing, flabby with lack of exercise. The body however, walks with pride, though a belly shows through the soaked T-Shirt that clings to the skin. From his shoulders hangs a leather jacket, battered sneakers protrude from faded jeans.
This person looks round, then up.
EXT. FIGURE'S POV
The soundtrack suddenly whips up into a chanting choir, beating a Latin chant into our ears.
Faces stare down from the buildings that line the street, people of every race, sex and build staring down; watching, waiting.
PAN DOWN
We finally see the people that straddle us; likewise, they vary, but each head hangs low, the eyes closed, lidded, dormant. A tall man passes, platinum-blonde hair hanging down past his shoulders. An auburn-headed youth, distinguished by a three-foot braid, various women, their hair yellow, black, red...purple?
We know these people.
CLOSEUP – FIGURE
He turns his eyes from the sleeping characters of 'Gundam Wing' and stares straight into camera.
EXT. FIGURE'S POV.
Ahead, the street ends in the feet of giant robots that bar the way, but like the humans, they sleep, undisturbed by the downpour that breaks across their shoulders.
Between the titanic figures of Optimus Prime and Megatron, a male figure steps into view. Unlike our protagonist, he wears a suit; impeccably groomed, auburn hair brushed back from the brows, an arrogant smirk on his face, hands clasped aggressively at his side.
CLOSEUP
This man stops and stares towards us, opens his mouth and speaks.
MAN: Rhys Davies, welcome back...we missed you.
PAN TO DAVIES:
He smiles back, smiles sardonically.
DAVIES: I believe I know you...I see you've borrowed a body for this...chat, Microwave Jockey.
MICROWAVE-JOCKEY: The Matrix section is down for upgrades; Agent Smith won't be needed for a few hours.
DAVIES: How did you know I'd be in the FF.Net mainframe tonight.
M-J: You forget...You told me. That's why the crowds have gathered; we wait for you, the one who's kept us waiting for so long.
Davies holds up a floppy disk; scribbled on it is the legend 'Era of Change I & II'.
DAVIES: Then wait no-more. My second era is nearing. War's beat will follow revolution, swords will be shaken and blood spilt in the coming months.
Jockey is puzzled for a second.
M-J: War with whom?
DAVIES: With he who nears this Earth with retribution in his soul; the ultimate clash between good and evil.
M-J: Then it is time?
DAVIES: Soon. The first shall be posted tonight, the second in the next two-weeks. Then once again, you wait. But by the end of September, God willing, my epic will be complete, and the third age will come to pass.
M-J: Then let us begin.
And so...we shall.
From the hand of Rhys Byron Davies,
Inspired by 'Gundam Wing' and 'Transformers',
A Fanfiction.net publication.
ERA OF CHANGE 2: THE ARMY OF THE VOID.
PROLOGUE
Distant, remote, a forgotten place and time. Two giant stars forever locked in embrace, one a blooming violet, the other smaller, denser, hued in angry red.
Coiling streams of plasma burst from the two suns, flaring out and touching the other, tendril-like flames and bursts of radiation, forever pumping their primal power into this dead, unexplored region of space.
The scant few million miles between the binary giants was a vortex of chaos, the empty vacuum crackling with energy; heat, light, radiation almost as intense as the cores of the giants. Like two opposing armies, they bombarded the no-mans land between them with everything in their arsenal, turning it into an irradiated, sickly tract of space that was uninhabitable to life.
Yet today something was running the blockade.
The burning light of the two stars created a sinuous pattern of light and shadow on the steel and bronze of this thing. Highlights bright enough to burn retinas danced across its smooth surface, while shadows blacker than night leaped up and consumed the light. Continents of metal glowed with the primal heat of this cauldron of life.
As if enraged that something some pass them without regard, without respect; insulted that it should survive their battleground, the blue star let loose a salvo of plasma; superheated hydrogen blasted into space and bathed the intruder, which shook it off as a duck does water.
Unperturbed, their course unshaken, mammoth engines drove the life that did not live and could not die onwards, beyond the binary system and out into the outer spirals of the galaxy.
If it were possible to fly in a direct course ahead of the relentless force, one would pass planets, worlds, stars; all the wonders of the would unfurl in a kaleidoscopic display that could not be rivalled. Nebulae, vast clouds of dust reflected the power of stars in a massive 'northern lights' effect. Infinite galaxies were wiped out in a second as their suns burned their brightest and were then extinguished forever. Comets and asteroids pelted the void, death-traps for the unwary space traveller. Suns of all colours would pass, red blue, green, silver and gold.
But the further one would go towards the edge of the galaxy, the more these wonders would begin to thin out. All the colours of the spectrum faded and died until all that could be seen would be an inky blackness, dotted with pinpricks of silver. Still beautiful, yet cold, unfeeling, seemingly devoid of life.
Save for one place. Far out, in what one author had mockingly dubbed 'the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy' - the backwater of the universe, and there, orbiting a small yellow star, there lies a tiny blue and green planet. How this author had been able to apply north, south, east and west to a universe that had no poles and consequently no bearings is not known, but his description of the impact the planet Earth and its inhabitants had had on the affairs of the universe rang true; 'Harmless'.
'Mostly Harmless' would have been better (and indeed was) for the principle inhabitants of this planet were astounding in their way. Though a young species, they were proud and brave, determined to explore, reach out and touch the stars they saw in the heavens. They were quick to learn, and even quicker to solve problems with inventive solutions. Indeed, the technology of 'Homo Sapiens' would likely soon power them to the stars and beyond. And the field where most of this technology had developed, was the battlefield. War had shaped this world and changed its direction more than once. Humanity squabbled and fought among itself like dogs over a scrap of meat. Yet they still hoped for peace above all else. And perhaps, one day, they would achieve it.
But in the malevolent mind of the ancient and powerful being that powered slowly but relentlessly towards it, Earth was just another entree on the menu of existence.
No, the sole reason this evil as old as time itself was concerned with the third rock from the star Sol was that the sole power that could defeat him was in residence. That, and a certain something he desired returned to him.
Then, Chaos would consume the universe. All worlds would be devoured, become part of him. The lifestain would be scrubbed clean. And then, in the empty and barren void, Unicron would reign supreme.
To be continued...
