Title: Gladiator

Timeline: Before the war starts.

Main characters: Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp

Summary: Starscream and his Trine are very low on credits, and it will not be long before they will end up in the streets. As the Trineleader, Starscream choose to abandon his dream in order to protect his Trinemates.

Klik – Second

Breem – Minute

Joor – Hour

Orn – Day

Cycle - Week

Orbital cycle – Month

Vorn – Year

Skywarp's POV

- One vorn larer -

.:Skywarp, what's taking you so long?:. Thundercracker asked over the comm. link. I huffed in answer as I tried to boost more power into my thrusters.

.:Well, excuse me, but do you even know how hard it was to convince the seller to sell it to me? He thought I was a youngling! A youngling!:. I whined as I avoided another flier and flew past it.

.:Can't blame the seller. You know he is not the first one to think so.:. Thundercracker said and I felt his amusement over the bond.

.:TC!:. I whined and dodged a tower. Thundercracker chuckled over the comm. link and I would have pouted if I wasn't in my vehicle mode.

.:Sorry Warp. So, how long is it until you get here?:. he asked as I finally saw our home.

.:A klik.:. I answered before I teleported the final stretch and landed outside. I transformed and Thundercracker came out to meet me.

"Did you find everything?" he asked, his wings nervously moving. I huffed once again.

"Of course TC! Do you really think I'm that useless?" I said and made my best to sound wounded. I let my wings fall down in fake rejection and had to force myself from smiling at Thundercracker's reaction.

"What? No!" he said and then we locked optics. I couldn't hold it in anymore and I began to laugh. Thundercracker sent me a glare before he chuckled a little.

"Sorry TC." I said as I calmed down and my wings perked up.

"One would think I would be used to that display." he said as he shook his head. I smiled innocently at him.

"Anyway. Come on, let's get it ready before Star returns home." Thundercracker then said and I nodded. We both hurried inside and I picked out the package from my subspace.

"Put it on the table and let's unwrap it." Thundercracker said and I nodded. I put it on the table and began to take off the cover. In the package was different parts that could be assembled to a stun gun that was unique for seekers.

"Do you think he will like it?" I asked as I looked up at Thundercracker.

"Yes. You know he dislikes to kill his opponents, so this is perfect for him. Especially for his upcoming fight next cycle." Thundercracker said with a smile and I hummed a little in thought.

"But this one aren't strong enough to stun an opponent of Screamer's caliber. Almost everyone of them have reenforced armor and this one is set for everyday use and bots with normal armor." I said as I let slight worry fill my part of the bond.

"I mean, Screamer's missiles are better in a fight because they can actually hurt his opponents. This stun gun will only tickle them!" I said and my wings twitched. I paused as I felt Starscream push questioningly against my side of the bond. I shook the worry off me and answered him with happiness and Starscream drew back.

"Maybe, but Star is a scientist. He have tinkered with his missiles so I'm quite sure he will tinker with this one too. Come on, let's prepare the energon! He should be on the way back now!" Thundercracker said and I nodded and we hurried to prepare for Starscream's arrival.

…

I listened closely as the jet engines stopped outside our home and I heard the sound of transformation. I smiled big and tried to force my wings stop twitching from happiness and anticipation but it was no use. They still twitched. The door opened and Starscream took a step in and I attacked.

"Starscream!" I said happily as he quickly turned towards me and caught me when I tried to tackle hug him.

"Hello to you too Skywarp." Starscream said and chuckled at my pout.

"You are no fun Screamer! I can never tackle hug you anymore." I said with my pout and a drop of my wings.

"I guess I can let you surprise me time to time." Starscream hummed and my wings perked up once again. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"So... Where is TC?" he asked and looked around. I let go of Starscream and he let go of me.

"In the living room!" I chirped before I bounced over to said room. I heard how Starscream followed me and I couldn't help but to feel giddy at the thought of what he would say of the surprise.

"Alright, where is he? I don't see TC anywhere." Starscream questioned and I turned around and rocked back and forth on my feet with my servos behind my back. My wings weren't still for a moment. Giddiness. Starscream raised an optic ridge at me and crossed his arms. His wings slowly lowered themselves. Suspicion.

"Out with it Warp." he said and I bit my lip before I spoke.

"Do you know what orn it is today?" I asked innocently. Starscream blinked in surprise before he frowned.

"It's not my creation day, I'm sure of that. Nor is it any of yours. Other than that, it's just a normal orn." he said and eyed me. I pouted.

"TC, Screamer doesn't remember!" I whined as I turned towards the door leading to the kitchen.

"What should I remember?" Starscream asked behind me as Thundercracker walked in through the door with a tray with three cubes of fine high grade on it along with different energon goodies.

"That exactly one vorn ago you earned your name in the arena and that you are an unstoppable force." Thundercracker said as he put the tray on the table.

"Is that really something to celebrate?" Starscream said and I spun around to face him.

"Yup! And that's not all!" I said with a giggle.

"We also got to celebrate that you are in the final of the tournament." Thundercracker said as he approached us and held out two of the cubes to us. I took one of the cubes and smiled at Starscream.

"We celebrated that two orns ago." Starscream said but took the other cube anyway.

"That was with our friends. This is more of a private celebration." Thundercracker said and raised his own cube a little to indicate that he would speak.

"You may have ended up in the pits, but you have fought and have ended up in the top. Now there is only one left before you have beaten the whole gladiator world!" he said with a big grin and me and Thundercracker lifted our cubes into the air.

"For Starscream! The gladiator who have defeated thousands of foes and who will defeat many more! The coming champion!" I cheered as we toasted. Starscream shook his head but he had a big smile on his lips and his wings were relaxed. Content.

"For my Trine." Starscream said as he raised his cube too. We smiled at each other before I took a mouthful of high grade from my cube and Thundercracker took a sip from his.

"So what are you planning for this night then?" Starscream said as he sipped on his high grade.

"Well, we basically take it easy and we'll serve you the food. Nothing big really." Thundercracker said and Starscream nodded.

"But before we get to the food, we have something to show you! Come!" I said as I grabbed Starscream's servo and began to drag him with me. I walked over to a table in the corner of the living room. I put down my cube on the dinner table as we passed it. I stopped in front of the small table and stepped aside. Starscream looked at the package that was on it before he looked up at me.

"Open it!" I chirped and waited with glee as Starscream started to open the package. My wings couldn't stop moving. Thundercracker came up beside me and we watched together as Starscream opened it. Starscream paused when he had opened the package fully and stared at the partsthat was in it.

"This is-" he began but Thundercracker interrupted him.

"Parts for the new stun gun for seekers. I know that it probably are too weak to have any effect on your opponent next cycle, but we know that you hate to kill so we thought it could become a project of yours. You like to modify things, so we thought you would do it to this one too." Thundercracker said as he gestured towards the parts with his free servo. Starscream looked at us as Thundercracker talked.

"Do you have any ideas of how expensive this is?" Starscream said slowly, I could see the gears in his head slowly turn.

"Of course! We had to buy them." I said as I huffed.

"How-" Starscream began before he shook his head. I could feel the astonishment over the bond.

"We have been saving the credits we have earned for several orbital cycles." I said with a gentle smile and before I could react, Starscream had closed in on us and gave us a hug. He held us closely and I gave Thundercracker a worried glance when I noticed that Starscream's frame shook. Thundercracker simply smiled and hugged back. Then I felt the gratitude over the bond and I smiled as I too hugged back.

"Thank you..." Starscream mumbled and my wings fluttered.

"It took us a while to save up enough credits and to find a weapon that suited you but we found it. Sorry for the long wait." Thundercracker said and Starscream chuckled.

"Don't apologize. I'm happy enough that you even took the time to search a weapon that suited me other than my missiles and swords." he said and stood straight up. He smiled at us and I smiled back.

"If anything, I will have a lot of fun tinkering with it." he then said with a smirk and I giggled as Thundercracker chuckled.

"Maybe I can even get it working in time for my upcoming battle." Starscream said as he turned back to the parts and began to hum as he thought.

"Do you think you can beat him?" I asked as I curiously looked at Starscream.

"He will be tough to beat but I'm quite sure I have a good chance to do so." he said as he sipped on his high grade.

"What was his name again?" I asked with a tilt of my head. Starscream looked away from the parts to look at me.

"Megatronus." he said with a determined glint in his optics.

AN: And here you have Skywarp's POV. I hope you like it :) Besides from that, I don't have that much to say this time. So enjoy :)

And can anyone guess what the gun will become? ;)

Ah, a small warning. I'm not sure if I will be able to update next time. The next chapter is actually not finished. It haven't co-operated with me though it's soon finished. I will try my hardest to be able to update without much delay :)

Maybe I can stop saying that you are welcome to point out my mistakes xD

IMPORTANT:

Before Earth is a serie of stories in my Shattered Glass version of the Prime series. They will not follow in line so keep an eye on the timeline in the first chapter of each story. I'm writing Before Earth so I can get a feeling for the characters and then I might be able to continue to write on my other story, Something Wrong. Megatrouns from that story comes from this universe.

If you have something you want to see/read about, say it. I might or might not write about it. We'll see, no promises.