D vs G : Decepticons vs Gremlins
"Fortune does not come twice. Misfortune does not come alone." –Old Chinese Proverb.
Chapter One: A pig in a poke
"What are you doing with that…..thing?" Megatron asked his chief medical officer Knock-Out.
Knock-out was busying lost in his neuron microscope when he heard his Lord Megatron speak. Lifting his head from his work he looked back to see Megatron eyeing the creature he had trapped in a plasteel lined chamber. Inside the plastic box was a tiny peculiar creature, from outward looks it was perfectly harmless or so it seemed. It was tiny, metallic grey, with large blue eyes. It also happened to be one of the worst vermin known to Cybertron.
"Ah you're wondering why I have a Scraplet?" Knock out asked as he approached his leader. "I have been conducting experiment in my off time about these vermin. There is a tale about a mysterious element that can kill one in an instant. I thought such knowledge would help our cause."
"Dutifully so Knock-out, But if I feel you are wasting yours and my time, know the punishment will be swift!" Megatron threatened. Megatron turned to walk away before Knock-out halted him.
"My lord!, I am at a testing phase if you wish to see.." He called out as Megatron stopped and looked back.
"Very well, you have 60 seconds of my attention, Do not waste them." He said as he watched carefully.
Knock-out gulped as he dropped everything to start his experiment." As you know Scraplets have long plagued us on Cybertron, I read once about a mythical element that could stop them. "
"I know the legend Knock-out and I believe it is just that…..a legend." Megatron said coldly.
"My lord I believe it is not and I believe I have found this element. For this element is abundant on Earth. He said as he pulled out a canister filled to the brim with water.
"Water?", Megatron asked
"Yes my lord, It is the element key to the survival of humans, Without it they would surely die, and I believe it is the mythical element that can stop the scraplets."
Megatron paused ever so ominously before finally speaking, "Go on…"
Knock-out grinned as he hooked the canister to the side of the chamber, from with him the Scraplet woke up from its power down mode and blinked with it looked with its large blue eyes to its surroundings. It stood up on its little prongs and hopped around before finally seeing the two large Decepticons on the other side of the plasteel glass. As soon as it saw it's breakfast, it flashed a toothy smile of three rows of sharp teeth, the sound of it's motors revving could be heard as it charged at Megatron and Knock out. It failed when it bounced back against the glass, time and time again it tried to break through to no avail.
"Spunky little vermin, But I have a cure for that!" Knockout said as he pressed a button that started to spray the water inside the chamber. The effect was almost immediate. Water covered the tiny Scraplet at sparks began to fly from its body. It squeaked and screeched as if it were in immense pain. It struggled to escape the box as the water began to permeate through its outer shell and leak into its insides. Its mouth hung open into a death cry, as it shook and trembled as the water began to choke the life out of it. At the ten minuet mark of this agonizing experiment did it finally keel over, It was dark grey and lifeless as it stopped moving.
Knock out stopped the flow of water and he reached in and held the tiny lifeless husk before Megatron. "And so Megatron, this is what water can do to our greatest vermin…"
Megatron gave an approving grin, "Good work Knock-out, I'm sure this knowledge will come in handy in the future. It's good to know the scraplets will no longer plague us."
Soon an alarm rang out over the ship, Soon a call came for Megatron over the intercoms. "My Lord Megatron!, We have come across a odd signal from one of the Human's cities!, we believe it may be that of a lost Cybertronian relic."
Soon a map of California appeared on the holo-viewscreen in Knock-out's lab. A tiny red blip blinked one and off. "Knock-out, take a detachment down to the surface and find me that relic!" Megatron ordered.
"As you command my lord!, "Knock-out bowed as he looked up to the city that beckoned him.
Chinatown, San Francisco, California.
"Are you gonna answer that or what!?" Jenny lin shouted out over her pot of steaming dumplings. "
At City Wok, if a phone rang more than three times it was considered a unsightly and visceral betrayal to the owner, Shin and Tammy Wong. City Wok had it's ups and downs as a Chinese and Pizza restaurant in beautiful Chinatown, San Francisco. Opened in 1977 by Shin's dad, Xi Jan Wong, City Wok had flourished in the ever present economy of California. Through hard work and determinations, the restaurant survived three fires, and earthquake and the 49'er's five Super Bowl wins. It was a pleasant little family bisnuess, and after 15 years Shins and Tammy Wong finally had time for a vacation. It wasn't an easy task but it was one that their niece Tammy Lin finally got them to do. Even then it was done under the strict promise that the restaurant would be left in capable hands of Jenny, and she wasn't about to fail her aunt and uncle. She was going to manage the restaurant for the two weeks given to their or kill her cousins in doing so.
After the 8 ring Jenny's 17 year old cousin Pahn finally answered," Hello Sheety Wok , how can I take your order?" Pahn looked oddly at the receiver at the person who was now giggling uncontrollably. Pahn was originally born in Mainland China. She came from Shin's side of the family. Where they sent most of their kids to a life in America, they would start out in San Francisco. Shin was happy to help out relatives by giving them a place to work while they went to school. Some kids were successful, while other became successful after much ass kicking by relatives. Pahn was a troubled sort.
Lazy was a kind word to describe her, She always did her own thing growing up, wanting to find herself. It wasn't until she came to America and got a taste of the American life did she start to wane on her studies and her chores. This was evident as her English was startling to falter and her accent came back with a force. It wasn't her fault the family restaurant was named "City Wok" it had the name well before the creators of South Park poked fun at it. Still once you answer the phone "Sheety Wok" it made her the target of ridicule.
Jenny rolled her eyes, as she heard her cousin take the order, " Ok you want the Sheety Beef, Two order of da Sheety Chicken and a Sheety Shrimp!, Are you at the Presidio? Yeah we deliver there, Ok we be there in 45 minuets!"
"Did they saw Presidio?" Jenny asked coming out of the kitchen
"Yeah, why?" Pahn said going back to her K-Pop magazine.
"We don't deliver out to the Presidio! We haven't since last year!"" Jenny shouted
"Ok Ok no need to shout!" Pahn said plugging her ears with her fingers "I'll call them back!
"No don't call them back! "Jenny said "Going back on the order just makes us look bad!" Jenny flared her nostrils before thinking of a solution.
"No, you know what. You're going to make the delivery!" Jenny pointed at her cousin.
Pahn's eyes went wide, " Uh uh! I no do it!, It's Greg's turn to deliver!"
"I don't care! You made the bed you lay in it!" Jenny said going back into the kitchen.
Pahn looked at the map of San Francisco, "But it's an hour away!, there's no way I'll make it in time."
"If you don't make the delivery it comes out of your pocket! , maybe next time you'll pay attention!" Jenny said while preparing the order. "Go down and take down grandpa's soup while I make this order!"
Pahn rolled her eyes and grunted as she took down the tray of egg dumpling soup downstairs. It was here that the next part of the City Wok restaurant lay; it was the Herbal shop ran by Pahn and Jenny's grandfather Xi Jan.
"Gran pa! I brought you your soup!" Pahn called out in Mandarin Chinese. "Grandpa?"
Pahn stepped into the large basement that was made out into a comfortable den. All around red lanterns hung about the ceiling as a smell of Jasmine and various herbs filled the air of the room. From the far part of the room was the den where Xi Jan sat in his recliner watching the baseball game, only his head was cocked to the side as his mouth hung open. She could hear his snoring from the far part of the room, as she set his tray down. She was about to leave her grandfather in his peaceful slumber when she heard a cooing come from the box to his right.
She lifted the lid and smiled at the small furry creature that lived within.
"Ni hao, Mogwai!" She sang "Ni hao!" She placed three fortune cookies in his little box as he took the cookies and devoured them wrappers and all, He stood up and cooed his thank you.
Pahn loved the little Mogwai, He was an ancient Chinese creature, in what the western world would call a "Gremlin" He was found by Xi Jan when he was a little boy growing up in the Shunyi District of Bejing ,China. Caring for the little Mogwai proved to bring good fortune on to Xi Jan's family. But with such a task brought on great responsibility, for there were three key rules to caring for a Mogwi. The first and basic was to never get it wet, doing so would cause the creature to multiply. The Second rule was to keep them out of bright lights, especially sunlight, for the sunlight would kill them. The third and most vital was to never feed it after midnight, Doing so would unleash a terrible curse.
Pahn patted the little Mogwai when she had a brilliant idea, "Mogwai, do you want to come with me to make a delivery?" She asked it in Madnarin Chinese. The little Mogwai thought for a bit, before finally nodding yes. Pahn then looked to see that her grandfather was far from waking up, and seeing it was almost sundown she knew she would be back way before he would wake up and there would be no danger in the little guy getting caught by any sunlight. Scooping up the Mogwai, she placed him in her backpack and went upstairs.
Gathering the large order and final instructions from her cousin, Pahn loaded up her moped and placed the helmet of her multicolored locks and drove off with little Mogwai peering from her backpack. The journey was long but not harrowing; Still she made it to the Presidio Observatory in record time. She made the delivery and even got a nice tip, she thanked the little Mogwai for bringing her good luck in the delivery. She couldn't wait until she got back to gloat in her cousin's face; She wasn't the screw up jenny made out to be! She made it out to the driveway of the Presidio and waited for the traffic to clear; She waited and waited as car after car zoomed by. There were times she hated to ride a moped because other drivers were so inconsiderate, like the driver who was coming now that had a kid leaning out of the window. Pahn stared at the kid hanging out the window for what seemed like an eternity, she was so enthralled by this act of recklessness that she failed to see the kid throw out a soda cup. The cup sailed in the air, she barely had time to duck as it slammed against her helmet and broke apart, sending liquid spraying everywhere!
"Gah!" She gasped and she yelled out some choice Chinese curse words, She checked herself to see that her blouse and blue jean jacket were now soaked. She then remembered little Mogwai who was in her backpack, she took off the back pack and hoped and prayed he didn't get wet. She could hear a tiny "uh oh" as the backpack began to shake and tremble like he was in a fight with another Mogwai, As soon as she unzipped the bag and tiny black and white furball went flying out of the bag and sailed for a good 30 feet before landing in the bushes. Even though the zipper was fastened securely, some of the leftover soda spilled through the crevasses of the zipper and leaked into the backpack and on to Mogwai.
"Oh no!" Pahn shouted and she ran to the bush to find the rouge Mogwai, She looked and looked and finally saw the little furball grow into another Mogwai with black and white spots all over it. It opened its huge amber eyes as it saw its new surroundings.
"Yahhh!" He cooed approvingly.
"Ohh! Little Mogwai!" Pahn grunted as she got on all fours and reached into the bush, "Why don't you come home with me?" Pahn pleaded in Chinese to it. She then heard it growl and felt it's tiny little teeth clamp down hard on her fingers.
"OW!" she yelped as it giggled and scurried off toward the Observatory, Pahn blinked as she was out of options. She felt that she could do no worse here as she whistled innocently and then tore out of the parking lot on her moped. Whatever it was going to now, was their problem!
The rouge Mogwai knew what it had to do, it felt the calling, the raw instinct to let loose the inner trickster it was. Chewing through the venting grate it traveled through the air vent system until it found what it was looking for, the Laboratory inside the Observatory. It peered as it saw the large telescope at it stuck out of the roof, and behind it were four scientists who were stopping to take a dinner break. He watch as they talked about their findings and using some sort of new "Doohicky" to power the telescope. The Mogwai licked his lips as he saw the cartons of Chinese food being discarded; he had to wait for the right time.
He waited and waited in the air vent, the people inside the room were busy with their work moving about looking into the Telescope and talking about objects in the sky. The Mogwai chewed through the metal grilling and crawled out into the open. Moving quickly as to not be seen he hopped up on to one of the chairs and pulled the Styrofoam container with the leftover Beef Lo Mein. Looking at the clock in the lab it saw the big hand was past the 12, grinning madly the little creature began to devour the leftover Chinese food.
(USCF) University of Southern California at San Francisco Medical Center
10:59 am.
"In summation, the merits of a nanotechnology can and will be further explored through the use Nanobots. Though still in the early testing phases, we at John Hopkins are confident that we will have working prototype well into the next two years. I thank you esteemed colleagues for your time and generosity." The auditorium filled with Doctors and professors applauded loudly for Dr. April Sullivan-Makarov as she stepped from the stage and returned to her seat.
Soon after the medical conference ended, April found herself face to face with the dean of the school, Dr. Mark Walty.
"April I just want thank you again for agreeing to come out here to present your findings with us!" He said as he shook her hand.
April smiled" It's no problem Dr. Walty, Thank you again for your continued support of our project, Once we have a working prototype , we know it will revolutionize the way care for the sick and injured. "
"What you say though, I'm sorry but it just seems like it's out of a kids sci fi cartoon, Are you that confident in your work?" He said stoically.
April breathed in and out through her nose and remembered that day five years ago, when she lay dying on an Autobot medical table, and Perceptor filling her body full of Nanobot that healed her body at an astonishing rate. She looked at Dr. Walty square in his eyes, "We live in exciting times , I can assure you the best is yet to come!"
Dr. Sullivan-Makarov made her way past the crowd, dodging several inquiries from various professors until she found a measure of privacy in one of the foyers on the campus. She took out her cell phone and dialed her husband, Yuri Makarov.
"Hey sweetie, "She greeted " The conference went amazingly well!, I just got out and I'm going to meet my sister for lunch, How are you and Kataya? "
Her gazed softened as her husband told her about his frustrations concerning his granddaughter. "Give her time, she's only 17. She has to find her own way in the world, No I'm not surprised Perceptor got on her nerves that much!"
She then heard a beeping emanate from her purse; she pulled out her Energon sensor as it was now going off intently. "Honey I have to call you back, the Energon sensor is picking up something big in the area; I'll call you back in a minute!"
April raced outside and saw the readings were coming from the Northwest. She pulled out a set of specialized binoculars that could see energy readings, ever since Megatron had discovered cloaking technology it was harder and harder to find the Nemesis. She looked and saw the Nemesis hovering over the Observatory in the Presidio. She saw the beam lower from the bottom side of the ship and she knew right away the Decepticons were deploying an away team.
Immediately she called the Autobot base in Japser, "Optimus this is April, Decepticons are attacking an Observatory here in San Francisco! I'm sending you coordinates now!"
Taking off her heels she raced to her rental car, "I'll meet you all there!, We'll you better hope you beat me there then Optimus!" She yelled as she started the car and drove off.
The Observatory
"Quick and easy!, that's how I like it!" Knock out gloated as he loaded up the Cybertronian engine part on the lift that lead up to the Nemesis, he and three Eradicons tore open the roof of the Observatory, causing the humans inside to scatter. It took him only a matter of seconds to lock on to the power source and hijack it from the humans' possession.
As he saw the engine part lift into the ship, something caught his attention from the far corner of the room, he focused his optics to see it was an organic bio-mass of sorts. What drew his attention was it was giving off an energy reading unlike anything he had ever noticed on the planet. He walked over and lifted a large desk off the ground to find a green limy bulbous pod. He analyzed it to see that there was a living organism inside, and whatever it was generating an enormous amount of energy. He didn't know what it was but it definitely had his curiosity. Picking up the slimy mass, he rolled his eyes as he knew a decontamination bath or five was in order.
Just as he got to the lift a ground bridge portal appeared in the room as Optimus and Arcee emerged from it with their guns draw.
"Hold it right there knock out!" Arcee yelled.
"Buff this!" Knock out scoffed as he tossed a Red Enrgon grenade at them and headed inside the lift. He felt and heard the grenade go off as he was brought on board the Nemesis.
With the spoils in hand, The Nemesis climbed into the upper atmosphere of the Earth, The Decepticons had earned a little downtime as Knock out continued his research, He placed the pod in one of his plasteel chambers and started his research on refining some ore that was collected from the moon. Rubbing his temples he realized he needed a power down session along with an Energon refueling. Leaving his lab he failed to realize the pod in the plasteel container had now doubled in size as it broke through the top of the container, and from within the pod cracked open as a green mist began to pour out and suddenly a green scaly hand burst through the pod, soon a second hand popped out as the creature from within pulled itself out of the slime and the green fog. It had two large scaly ears, and a toothy mouth that was warped into a evil grin, It opened its amber reptilian eyes as the Gremlin began to insanely cackle through the lab.
NEXT TIME: Scrapletts?, Hate Virus?, Cosmic Rust?They are all in the Nursery compared to the hell that is about to be released on the Decepticon warship. The Decpeticons start to expericne various malfunctions and glitches until they realize too late what they are dealing with. What kind of hell breaks out when Knock-out decides to deploy his new "cure". It's all-out war as it's the Decepticons vs an army of Gremlins!