Rated M
Notes at the bottom
Prologue
A Tainted History
Milleniums ago, before humans evolved from their ancestors, there was a war raging on the young Earth's surface. Alongside the dinosaurs, two ancient breeds of warriors recently delivered from their homeworlds battled for domain over the bountiful resources the planet offered. These enemies were the Gladiators and Titans. Nearly equal in strength and in numbers, war raged for centuries.
It was the meteor that subsequently wiped out most organic life that turned the tides of the ferocious war. The Gladiators were defensive creatures with armor capable of withstanding such a blast. The Titans were not. In the aftermath of the planetary hit, the Gladiators moved to finish eliminating their enemy. The elder Gladiators, capable of welding the Universe's magic to their will, decided to seal the Royal Titans in the crust of the Earth as punishment for their crimes. They built rocks around the burial site to remind future generations and enemies what they had done. The burial ground is referred to by humans as Stone Henge.
For centuries the Gladiators lived in peace alongside Earth's creatures, including the newly evolved homo sapiens. A tribe residing in what would eventually be called Africa was particularly involved with the humans. The Gladiators saw promise in them and took the primitive creatures in. They taught them how to use tools, how to build homes, how to survive. Eventually, there was even cross-breeding between the two species.
They created a beautiful utopia, filled with love and peace. There was no conflict, no wars. The turn of the millennium brought civilized cities that were built by Gladiator and human alike.
Under the cover of darkness, the world began to change and no one noticed. By Victorian times, only a few traditional Gladiator tribes were left. But it wasn't because they had completely integrated with humans. The truth was much more heinous.
Unbeknownst to most, in the early 1500s, the Decepticons touched down on the planet. There was immediate conflict between the elder Gladiators and the Cybertronians. The elders saw darkness in the mechanical creatures and refused to form an alliance. In response, the Decepticons recruited a new alley. With the promise of absolute power and control, the Deceptions convinced the humans to turn their back on their oldest friend.
Together, they launched an overnight assault on the Gladiator monarch. The humans coordinated the opportunity and the Decepticons attacked. Commoners were slaughtered and the monarch family was taken prisoner. The family was used to keep the remaining Gladiators at bay. They were told if they didn't fight, the family would be kept alive. It had been a lie.
The humans and Deceptions created a game. They called it the Battle Cry. It was really nothing more than an excuse to torture and torment the Gladiators. They were pinned against each other. Forced to fight to the death in an arena full of thousands of screaming fans. The monarch family was forced to watch as their people slaughtered each other.
When they got bored of holding them hostage, the King and Queen were forced into the ring. Pinned against each other. In a pivotal moment in Gladiator history, the pair stood together and regarded any Gladiators listening. They called for resistance, they begged their people to fight back. Then, they killed themselves.
The youngest of the monarch family was the only one spared from the ring. And this was only because she had been carrying at the time of the invasion. After she gave birth, the woman suffered the same fate as her family. The young child she mothered was raised by the ringmaster himself as his own child. He groomed her to hate her own kind and to one day reign as his heir.
As time went on, the Games became more and more sophisticated. Guilds were created where Gladiators would be housed and trained. Said Guilds would be given money and power each time a Gladiator from their league would win. The 1800s brought a huge spectacle of people to the annual games. Everyone wanted their favorite Gladiator to win. The Gladiator with the most fans and donations would get the best weapons and therefore had the best chance of survival.
Desperate Guildmasters would auction their Gladiator's time off to the highest bidder. They would be forced to perform sexual acts to earn donations so they could survive the Games. Their efforts were mostly fruitless. Fifty Gladiators went into the ring and only one came out.
It wasn't until the 19th century that the rules were rewritten. They were running out of Gladiators. The Decepticons and humans running the Games turned on their own people. Banished Cybertronians and human prisoners were forced to compete against the surviving Gladiators.
If a human or Decepticon won, they were given riches beyond their wildest dreams and dubbed a Gladiator. Those who were victorious never had to compete again and were free to live a life of leisure. Most succumbed to drug and alcohol abuse or killed themselves.
The ringmaster paid no mind to them. The only fighters he cared about were the ones in the ring, making him money.
Into the 20th century, the Battle Cry Games still raged on in underground arenas each year. Politicians from almost every country would show up to represent their country and show their support.
The biggest year for the games came in 1907 when the ringmaster's own daughter was forced to participate. No one knows exactly what she had done, but for her crimes, her father declared her punishment death. Or it was supposed to be. She was given no weapons and no armour and was forced to fight. It had been so many years, the humans and Decepticons had forgotten how powerful the Gladiators were.
She won the Battle Cry and quickly became one of the most popular victors to ever compete.
Despite the rules clearly stating no victor could compete more than once. The ringmaster threw her into the ring again, by popular demand. As expected she rose victorious once again and became the first Gladiator to ever win two Battle Crys. The humans decided to not put her back into the ring afterward; instead, they decided to study her. Find out what made her so powerful and use that information to create super soldiers.
She was taken to a facility in Antarctica. The enormous compound was run by American and German scientists during the great world wars and she was the prized experiment. The researchers died off and were replaced, but she never did. And so the testing never stopped. Even after her father succumbed to old age, she stayed strong.
She was still there when the Autobots landed. Little did she knew they would be the key to he freedom.
This infomation will eventually be important!
This story has been bumping around in my head for a long time and I finally decided to write it down!
I hope you liked it!
Please review and let me know what you think?