This is an "origin" fic for my Beast Wars OC Moonhunter. A friend expressed interest in reading more about this period in his life, which gave me the idea to write this story. A few things to note:
-Since this IS a fanfic, I'm squeezing in cameos by as many canon characters as possible. Cybershark was the first one (yes, he IS technically a canon character). See if you can spot the others! (Hint: the main villain is one of them. Wiki him.)
-On Optimus Protean: Like the Japanese had their Convoys, I've always liked the idea of the Maximal generals wanting to homage Optimus Prime somehow, but not wanting to sacrilege the "Prime" thing they went with "Optimus" instead and refitted their faces to resemble his. So, Optimus Primal, Optimus "Pride" (Leo Convoy), and this guy, Optimus Protean. The IDW Sourcebooks books keeping the "Convoy" names was just a lazy cop out, like most of the content in there.
-"Castle Walls" lyrics are copywrite Styx.
-Yes, the Eastwood is named after Clint. Moohunter's a big western fan even to this day.
-"Fight Fire with Fire" lyrics are copywrite Kansas. It's his theme song.