Author's Notes: Well, this story is coming along quickly so far. I hope I can keep this pace up all the way through! Thanks to everyone who has read so far, and please leave a review if you feel like it! I love hearing from my readers :)

Chapter 3

The Pits

Over the next vorn Warpath and Air Warrior noticed that tensions between war-makes and civilians were escalating. There was a mighty gladiator in Kaon named Megatron (formerly Megatronus) that was stirring up feelings of protest in the lower class mechs of Cybertron. War-makes and laborers listened hungrily as he spoke of glory and peace for them and an end to the reign of the oppressive council!

Others had spoken these things before, but Megatron came at a time in Cybertronian history when mechs were finally willing to listen. Energon reserves were running low, and the number of energy producing planets was diminishing. The lower castes were given lower and lower rations and many were starving. To make matters worse, many employers were switching from sentient workers to drones; leaving thousands to starve without work and without a way to get the energon they needed to survive.

The Polyhex Military Academy was no exception. Energon was hard to come by, and many students were dropping out or dropping dead! Warpath and Air Warrior were still at the academy, but only because they had nowhere else to go. They knew if they stayed much longer they would die too, but they had no options.

Warpath had wanted to return home to his creator, and had even invited Air Warrior to stay with him, but no matter how many times he comm'ed his creator there was no answer. He tried calling the neighbors, and they said he had disappeared 4 orns ago. The older tank-former had spoken out against Sentinel Prime and the council in Helex, and many suspected that was why he was now missing.

Things weren't any better for the war-makes in Polyhex either. Civilians had always been wary of Warpath, and on some level he understood why. His cannon was on the front of his chassis, so whoever or whatever he was facing was in his line of fire. He could see why staring down his gun barrel would be frightening. He was just grateful Air Warrior didn't mind. Still, things were worse now. Last time he was in alt mode an entire crowded street pointed at him and ran away! That never happened before even on his worse days! That day had been a little disheartening.

Warpath and Air Warrior were sitting outside the barracks where Warpath still shared a room with 4 of his roomies. There had been 9, but 4 had left and Treadfoot had succumbed to a virus that his system was too depleted to fight off. The two friends looked out at the dismal grey sky and the nearly empty obstacle courses and bunkers lining the barren landscape that was once their bustling academy.

Air Warrior's beautiful lavender paint had lost most of its shine when he stopped buying wax and polish for it. Warpath never would've thought he'd give up his wax, but times were desperate and Air Warrior couldn't afford to be vain anymore. He had also had to sell several of his bound books that he had collected over the years from other worlds. Warpath had sold off his ammo. He didn't really have anything else of value to sell or trade, so Air Warrior shared his rations with his friend.

The dreary silence was broken when Warpath exclaimed "Well, this BLAM stinks!"

"No kidding," Air Warrior replied in a snarky tone of voice, but Warpath ignored it, "We should've left long ago. If we're going to be empties we might as well be empties on a crowded street as opposed to this regimented prison."

Warpath didn't have an answer for that, so he just worked his stress reliever toy and tried to think of something pleasant to say. For once he was having trouble coming up with something positive to point out.

Their melancholy moping was interrupted when Luster left the barracks and slammed the door. He was holding a box and walking toward where the sergeant's office was located. Warpath knew the look on Luster's face. He'd seen that look a lot lately.

"So Luster...Are you BANG leaving?" Warpath asked sullenly.

"Yeah," Luster replied with a shrug, "There's nothing here for me now. The council has failed us, and they are perfectly willing to let us die. I'm not gonna stand around here and wait for that to happen! I'm joining the Decepticons, and if you two had any processors in your heads you'd do the same."

"The Decepticons would never take us," Air Warrior replied pessimistically, "We're losers. They want experienced warriors, not a bunch of younglings like us."

"You'd be surprised," Luster said with a smirk, "War-makes get special consideration from Megatron, and apparently his second in command is a seeker."

"Second in command?" Warpath asked skeptically, "That makes it sound like a ZAM real army!"

"It is a real army, bolt brain!" Luster snapped, "The Decepticons are as real as it gets! Megatron is talking about more than just energon! He's talking about Cybertron being the dominant force in the universe! He's talking about taking our rightful place in history as glorious conquerors! Look, I don't like you guys, but there's safety in numbers, so if you come with me we can build each other up. Then Megatron's forces will have to accept us!"

"Well, that does sound like a good plan…" Air Warrior replied hesitantly, "What do you think, Warpath? Should we join the Decepticons? Megatron survived the pits of Kaon! Surely he knows how to plan battle strategies and teach mechs to fight! Right?"

Warpath was conflicted. He had always wanted to escape the life of a military tank, and overthrowing the council sounded like a good way to change the law for future generations. Then again, if he joined the Decepticons he would become a member of their army. Perhaps forever. For the rest of his life he would be a soldier, and it was a fate he had wanted so badly to avoid.

His sensor read-outs picked that moment to pop up again in his field of vision, and they indicated he was down to 23% energon. Philosophy would have to wait. His tanks were empty, and at the moment that was the most pressing matter.

"We'll starve here," Warpath said to Air Warrior, "We might get energon there. Let's POWEE go with Luster. We'll join the Decepticons."

The Decepticon recruiter had been surprisingly blasé in his job. He took one look at them, saw they were war-makes, and ushered them into a room to await an officer to induct them into the Decepticon ranks. After that it had been paperwork, oaths of loyalty, and a purple sigil slapped onto their chassis. It felt incredibly rushed, and Warpath felt like his helm was spinning from the suddenness of the transition.

The atmosphere was chilling as mechs and femmes stared down at them with bright red optics and scowls of distrust. Warpath had never seen so many red optics in his life! He knew that soon he Air Warrior and Luster would also have those optics, but it didn't make him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel worse.

Since the three of them came in together they were assigned the same quarters. That wasn't a problem for Warpath though. He was used to rooming with Luster and knew to just give the red tank his space and leave him alone. It would be cool to room with Air Warrior though. He knew enough about the seeker's habits that he figured it shouldn't be a problem.

Their quarters was dark and small. The walls were purple, and the berths looked like they had never been cleaned before. Air Warrior immediately pulled a scrub brush out of subspace and began to work on the berth nearest to the door.

"Is he always like this?" Luster asked Warpath.

"Pretty much," Warpath replied with a nod.

Life was starting to get strange. When Warpath woke up that morning he had been a starving cadet in a failing military academy. Now he was a college dropout and a Decepticon soldier. Hopefully his new position came with energon.