Note: Now we cut to years later with the five kids from before.

I'll admit, this whole thing is a big experiment for me. Granted, that means I want to have it generally understood, but I'll be touching on some out-there stuff. It's all fiction, so don't take it seriously, it's just for story purposes. I don't actually believe a lot of it myself. What is it? Well, it'll become more apparent later on, but I want to at least be somewhat vague about it, as the characters are just as in the dark.

This fic also aims to discuss and go into the fandom of Transformers as a whole, the reaction to the movies, nostalgia, and personal ties that can be had with specific series, characters, etc. The opinions and stances of the characters don't reflect my own in cases, sometimes they do, but I aim to give a unique perspective from each of them.

Just a little heads up for what I'm sort of doing with this thing, as well as its purpose. But it's also my test at doing more friendship-based stuff. Albeit with said friends sometimes being asses to each other. But it's good fun.

That said, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Movie Night

July 3rd, 2007

Abbotsford, British Columbia

He sat in front of the TV, the trailer for the movie had ended but moments ago. He had already seen it several times, so he wasn't in awe or excited about what was shown before him.

"Transformers: in theaters today." The announcer proclaimed, another commercial playing right after. A Calgary commercial to be exact, this one being the one where it seemed the woman had an unnatural attraction to the carpet.

Weird, he thought.

"Inu?" he heard a voice call, a woman with skin and hair similar to his own entered the living room. "You're still here? I thought you were going to hang out with Harry and Mike."

The young man looked at the woman, clearly not exactly caring for much at the moment. "Harry's off to California and Mike's out camping with his folks," he responded. It wasn't meant to be against his mother, yet since graduation, ironically enough, it seemed that no one was free to do anything. Suffice to say, he was quite bored.

His mother then looked at the screen, then back to him, brushing her hair off her shoulder. "Well…" she was trying to think. While she didn't pry, ever since graduation, her son had seemed somewhat…despondent as of late. He wasn't what she would call depressed or unhappy. He just seemed…conflicted. "Have you looked over the courses for the Fall? Best to sign up early and all." She said, "Then again, you DO have to take those tests to see whether or not you take those core essentials classes."

Ah yes, those. Inu knew well what those were, and frankly, he didn't really understand why they existed. He had to go through twelve years of learning the basics of language and mathematics, so to start off again in college seemed rather pointless. Still, he saw how his mother looked at him, and he sighed. "Sorry." He apologized. "I didn't mean to be so…inactive lately. And it's not like I'm bored either. It's just…I don't know."

His mother bit her lip, pondering on something to say. Just then, something came to her. "Hey, isn't there a movie on right now? Trans…morphers or something?"

"Transformers." Inu corrected. "And yeah. I think it just came out today."

"You used to watch some shows like that, didn't you?" His mother asked. "Wasn't there one about them turning into animals?"

Wait…animals? "Uh…maybe?" Inu answered, but he was unsure. Had he seen something like that before? "But this is based on an old cartoon from the eighties."

"Oh yeah! There WAS something like that!" His mother proclaimed. "I remember seeing that one a few times! Your uncle loved it. Practically worshiped this one guy, I think he was some sort of truck." She thought a little bit more, and after a few moments, she had come up with a suggestion. "Hey, why don't you go see it?"

Inu was puzzled. "See what? The movie?"

"Why not?" His mother asked. "You're friends are away, it'll get you out of the house for a bit, and, from what I've seen, the movie looks cool at least."

"Well, it WAS done by Michael Bay." Inu remarked. Truthfully, he knew next to nothing about Bay aside from the one time he had watched Pearl Harbor when his History class was studying World War II in the eleventh grade. And it didn't take much to guess that, no, there weren't as many explosions or some bullshit love story going on. And Mr. Statler made it clear that the Japanese never shot at any hospitals.

Ultimately though, that was his only experience with Bay. He knew that the guy made some other film about an asteroid that needed to be blown up, but aside from those two, Inu had nothing to go off of. "I don't know." The young man said. "It looks kinda…weird."

His mother folded her arms. "Yeah, well, I'll admit, the cartoon WAS a product of the eighties." She giggled. "I still remember the hundreds of dollars I wasted on Aqua Net!"

Even if his decision was undecided, Inu grew curious. "What was the cartoon like?"

"It was ok." She answered. "I only watched it because I was stuck watching your uncle when your grandparents went out." She tried to recall what she had seen in the passing moments she caught what was going on, her brother fully engaged in what was being shown. "I know there's somebody that's a truck. And then there's another guy that's a gun. There were robot dinosaurs and giant bugs…oh! And there was this one other guy that was a plane or something. I don't know, something that can fly. He always tried to kill the main villain…for some reason…I don't know. That's all I can remember right now." She looked back at her son, who seemed quite baffled at what he had just heard. "Hey, it WAS the eighties."

"Yeah…" Inu said, not sure whether to find what he heard funny or bizarre.

"Oh, and the stuff you watched as a kid wasn't weird either." She chuckled. "Anyway, I'd go check it out. If anything, it looks like fun."

Later,

Cineplex Cinema

12:45

Yeah, mindless fun. God, why had he even come here?

Timothy exited his small car and made his way towards the entrance, surprised at the crowd that had gathered. While he wasn't exactly wanting to see this particular movie, he had been going over scholarships all day and needed to give his brain a break. And this movie looked to be just what he needed.

Getting in line, the dark-skinned young man checked the time on his flip phone, then looked at just how many people were there. He couldn't help but be slightly amused. All this hype over a movie with a talking truck? Sure, he KNEW of some of the characters, but not that much. He had heard the name "Optimus Prime" before, yet upon seeing an image of the character himself, Tim found someone different coming to mind.

Optimus…Optimus something. But the character WAS named Optimus. But there wasn't a "Prime" afterward. It was similar though. But what was it?

Well, whatever. He'd probably think of it later. He went up to the ticket booth. "One for Transformers, please."

Inside

"Thanks!" Mathis said, taking the bag of popcorn slathered in butter. Oh, he was going to enjoy this! Sure, he was only going to this movie because Harry Potter was sold out, but from what he had seen from the trailers, Transformers looked pretty cool! And hey, movies like these totally get sequels, so this movie's probably going to explain everything so they had something to build up from.

Still, even as he sat down in one of the cushioned seats, surrounded by what he assumed to be an ecstatic crowd of fans, he couldn't help but feel somewhat out of place. He knew he was into Transfomers-something back in the day, it just wasn't what this movie was. Sure they "transformed", but it wasn't into vehicles or war machines. But what was it?

It was then that the lights died down, signaling that the previews were going to begin. Mathis adjusted himself in his seat, finally allowing himself to dig into his popcorn. Though given how fast he usually went through it, he could only hope he wouldn't have to pay for a refill. Or two. Maybe three? Who knew, only time would tell. The previews ended, the film officially began, nothing but a black projector in front of him.

"Before time began, there was the Cube."

A Few Rows Back

So, THESE are Transformers. Mikaela thought, the apparent leader of the small troop before the two human characters. Ironically enough, Megan Fox's character shared her name.

The machine that had transformed from a truck began speaking, a low baritone echoing throughout the theater. "My name is Optimus Prime," the truck introduced himself, the red-haired young woman quite taken aback by the voice. Even if she knew next to nothing about him or the other "Transformers", this particular character commanded a presence just with that voice alone.

She continued listening to the conversation Optimus was having with the two humans, not exactly paying attention to the said conversation, but she had to admit that Optimus' voice actor was a treat to listen to. She'd have to look him up later. The movie went on, more explosions, more bad jokes, and, oh look, more toilet humor. Granted, it wasn't a terrible film so far, but she found herself enjoying it for what it was: a fun time waster. Sometime later, the characters had come to a city (she forgot that detail, this movie had kept cutting back to these human characters she frankly had little interest in). She liked Shia LaBouf and Megan Fox fine, yet the one she found herself caring about most was the soldier from the beginning whose child had just been born. Going in, she thought he'd be the one to meet the Autobots.

Then, the robot that had been frozen in the ice, Megatron, was seen speaking with his fellow Decepticons, demanding to know where the cube was.

"The humans have taken it!" one of the other machines answered, Megatron appearing rather displeased.

"You fail me yet again, Starscream. Get them!"

At the Back

"By the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall!" Lulu folded her arms as she watched the battle between Optimus and Megatron commence, and frankly, it was what she expected.

More massive destruction of everything around them, explosions, Megan Fox's ass, but everyone in the theater seemed to be in awe of what they were seeing, cheering as the two metallic titans fought each other. "Geez, talk about super fans," she whispered to herself, somewhat amused.

The movie played on, Megatron was killed, the Autobots won, and the movie ended. Her mind was essentially on autopilot, having the urge to get back home. Sure, the movie was…well, ok. But she had mainly come here because there was nothing else to do. Rising from her seat, Lulu exited the theater, immediately making her way to the entrance. Completely unaware of the blonde boy getting another refill of popcorn.

Having lagged a bit behind to see if there was anything after the credits, the red-haired young woman made her way to the lobby, brushing some hair out of her face. It was upon doing so, however, that she noticed him. At first, she thought that she was mistaken, yet upon observing him further, there was no mistake, she found. It WAS indeed someone she had seen before. Pondering whether or not she should, she eventually gathered up the courage to approach him, albeit slowly.

Unfortunately, this managed to catch his attention, he was somewhat weirded out by the sudden appearance of this strange young woman. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She apologized. "I just...thought that you were-"

"Wait." the young man interrupted, he now being the one observing her. He looked her up and down, yet paid particular attention to her red hair. Red hair...she had red hair. But what was her name? Michelle? Maria? Melissa? In a last-ditch effort, he found the name of Mega Fox's character coming to mind. "Mikaela?"

The young woman's eyes widened. "Yes, that is indeed my name," she answered. "Have we...met before?"

He looked, his eyes constantly being drawn back to her red hair. "And…your last name wouldn't happen to be Robinson, would it?"

Her eyes widened. "Yes, it is. How do you-" she paused. A name now came to her. Something that started with M. Mathew…Mark… "Mathis?"

"Yeah. You know my…" it was then that things began to piece together. Connections that had been made long ago, yet, for one reason or another, were forgotten. "Oh my God." He said. "Oh my God, it's you!"

"It's me?" She questioned.

"Yeah! Abbotsford Elementary!" He proclaimed. "You always sat in the corner of the room reading the science books at the back of the class!"

He remembered her in a far smaller body, yet her hair remained the same. Though her attire hadn't changed that much. She wore a pink summer dress that came to her mid-thighs and a pair of pink flip-flops with daisies on the straps. A small, sleeveless vest of brown rested atop of the dress, and her ears were pierced with pearl studs. Atop her head was a pink headband, her hair long and draped over her shoulders, bangs cut and at an even length, barely touching her eyebrows. Her eyes were blue in contrast to the image of a 'green-eyed redhead', yet the young man observing her could've sworn that there was a green tint to them.

"And…" she began. "And you were always complaining about how the library never got in any new Goosebumps books." It was her turn to be overcome with realization. "M-Mathis!" She cried out.

Mathis was garbed in a grey, striped shirt, the greys varying in shades, a simple pair of khakis on his legs with black tennis shoes with ankle-cut socks. His hair was short but wild, a light blonde that complimented his dark but warm eyes of brown.

"It IS you!" The blonde rushed over and hugged the redhead, completely forgetting about the dozens of popcorn pieces that fell to the floor, the bag still in his hands. "Mikaela!"

She had some air forced out of her from the embrace, yet thankfully, it ended soon enough. "Oh goodness, I can't believe it!" she said, equally excited.

"Where have you been? How long has it been? What are you doing here?" questions such as these fell freely from Mathis' lips, Mikaela trying to keep track of them all. Yet before she could even answer one of them, both of them heard another voice.

"Mathis? Mikaela?" Both of them turned to see an African young man approaching them, he was wearing a green Ed Hardy t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and white sneakers. "No. It can't be…"

"Tim?!" Mathis and Mikaela said in unison, going over to the other young man. "Well, I'll be damned!" the blonde shouted, rushing up to give Tim a hug.

"Whoa, hey!" Tim exclaimed, not exactly prepared for such a...touchy reunion. "Nice...to see you too!" He was quite thankful when Mathis let him go.

"How long has it been?" Mikaela asked. "Ten...no. It's been longer than that."

"I think it's been since...3rd...4th grade?" Tim suggested, blanking out on the exact details.

"Actually," another voice said, everyone turning to see the one that had invaded their conversation. "It was around the 5th." This young man was Innuit with short, black hair with a collared, plaid, short-sleeved overshirt with a white top. His pants were grey and somewhat torn at the knees, his shoes black with white laces and soles. "Of course, it's been a long time for me too."

Outside

She put her helmet on and got onto her bike, revving up the engine to get it going. While it was far from the best she had seen, the movie in itself was a decent enough romp. The Even Stevens kid (she had forgotten the actor's name and the name of his character) was sort of annoying and Megan Fox was there just because the director wanted to get a shot of that ass (not that she had any problem with that, Fox was a looker), but seeing robots beating the shit out of each other DID pass for entertaining. Though that could've been because this was all she had to go on when it came to Transformers. She had heard there was a cartoon from the eighties that the movie was based off of, yet she had only heard of it in passing. And frankly, she doubted that it would've affected her opinion much, if at all.

But that wasn't what dwelt at the forefront of Lulu's mind. When she had exited the theater, she could've sworn that she had seen glimpses of people passing by. People that had…while they didn't look too familiar, there was a sense of deja vu that came over her. Small details she had managed to catch such as hair and eye color, along with shapes and angles of faces were coming to her. She had seen them before, she recognized these features, but from where?

And the feeling that came with them…she didn't quite understand it, but it was something she hadn't felt in a long while.

Well, whatever. It could be dwelt on later. For now, she needed to head back home and hope that there was still some of last night's dinner left in the fridge, as she wasn't going to risk getting a to-go bag at the speed she traveled. Assuming that her stomach wouldn't begin acting up from the jalapeños she had on her nachos.

Inside

The four looked around at each other, pondering on what to say. True, the fact they were all here to see the same movie was shocking in of itself, but to then meet right after in the lobby was something else. After Mathis gave his obligatory hug to everyone else, he found himself with not much else to say. He had just met the same people he went to school with around twelve years ago. Now what?

"So…" the blonde began, words slowly pouring out from his mouth. "What'd you think of the movie?"

"Oh, it was...ok." Inu answered. "I guess. I don't really have much to go off of when it comes to Transformers."

"It was sort of dumb." Tim said. "And that Shia Labouf kid...didn't take long for him to grate on your nerves."

"At least Megan Fox was hot." Mathis added.

"It's clear why she was in the movie at all." Tim huffed.

"But the robot stuff was awesome!" the blonde exclaimed. "Who was the guy that played the truck?" Even if the name escaped him, he couldn't deny that he would be remembering that voice for a long time.

"I heard that it's the same guy from the cartoon," Inu answered. "I didn't get his name though."

"There was a cartoon?" Mikaela asked.

"Yeah, from the 80s. Mom said my uncle was obsessed with it." the Inuit young man explained. It was then that what he had been trying to remember came back to him. It was there at first, but only now, after seeing the film, did he finally manage to bring forth more buried memories from a decade ago. "But...wasn't there something like that we all watched? Something from the 90s."

"Yeah. There WAS an Optimus in it. But it wasn't the same character as the truck." Tim remembered.

"And instead of cars, they transformed into a bunch of animals," Mikaela added.

"Oh yeah! One of them was a cheetah!" Mathis recalled. "There was a rhino and a giant gopher too! Or…was that a mouse?"

"I think it was a rat," Mikaela said. "Wait…ah, I remember! Rattrap!"

"Yeah, Rattrap! And the cheetah was…Chester?"

"Cheetor." Tim corrected. "And the rhino was called Rhinox."

"And," Inu thought for a moment. "It WAS Optimus! But it wasn't Prime." It WAS something similar though. Prime…Primate? Yeah, he was a gorilla, but the name sounded a little too goofy. But it began with a p. Prime…similar, but with a distinguishing feature to the name. To separate the two characters. Then, it hit him. "Primal. His name was Primal." Everyone looked at him, memories steadily coming back to them.

And let it be called, the Beast Wars!

Deep Underground

He looked at the massive machine behind the dense glass, taking a moment to adjust his glasses. "Accelerators are ready to go." Another colleague of his said, calling up to him from down below, an expansive control panel being handed by several others.

"All right. You may proceed." He said, standing atop a high platform. "Start slowly though. We need to perform this as delicately as possible." Obeying his command, one large dial was steadily turned, a low hum beginning to resonate throughout the large chamber.

Behind the glass barrier rested a massive, circular ring of steel and cables, long tubes extending outward from both sides. Several smaller rings rested within the big one, and from the particles being sent through the accelerators, the rings had begun to steadily turn and move. Everyone was silent as the machine seemed to come to life, the rings beginning to spin and move at an increasing speed. He adjusted his glasses again and ran an unsteady hand through his brown hair, wincing as he felt where his bald spot was located.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've got one too." The scientist turned to see a more stout man smiling at him. He then motioned to his shaved head. "Buzz cuts always make a man look spiffy though."

"Thanks, but no thanks." The other man chuckled. "The Missus is getting me something for this already." Truth be told, he had little faith that the supposed growth formula would work. What good were any of those products you could order online?

Should someone from the outside look in and see, they probably wouldn't have realized that every man and woman present was one of science. True, the standard image of people in lab coats had perhaps long since died out, but everyone here was dressed casually and far from fit the image of a serious scientist. In truth though, this was reality. Contrary to what the rest of the world saw them as from articles detailing their exploits and successes/failures, these few were just the same as everyone else. The balding man wore a simple, blue shirt and jeans while the one beside him had on a green shirt and beige pants, each man wearing a pair of worn out tennis shoes.

"DiTillo!" A woman with long, wavy brown hair called out from below. "We're still not getting anything!"

"Increase the pressure being applied!" DiTillo answered. "But slowly! We're not repeating that disaster with the prototype!"

No one needed to be reminded of that event, the entire fiasco nearly ending the project altogether. It was only the fact that anyone went to survey the damage done by the machine's explosion that something was found. It was for a brief second, but DiTillo saw it. Everyone did. Something had emerged from a hole in the wall. Not a crack or indention, but a hole. A hole that was perfectly circular in shape, an inky blackness inside. Then, an image began to manifest. Some sort of strange mountain landscape with what appeared to be glowing blue crystals, electrical surges going through them. Just then, a massive force was felt, the entire chamber shaking as if it had been struck by an earthquake! Several of the crystals flew forward from the hole, explosions being heard from inside the hole. Thankfully, just as everyone felt the heat emanating from it, the hole began to somehow swallow itself, disappearing and leaving no mark of its existence.

The crystals were immediately sent in for study, yet they appeared to be constructed of very rare minerals, many of which were only found in abundance in deep space. While no one was especially thrilled with what transpired following the prototype's destruction, the results were just what they had been looking for.

A wormhole. They had just created a wormhole.

And now with a larger and more stable machine, they would hopefully be able to create the same phenomenon again.

DiTillo looked on, the same surges of energy that had been created would hopefully be appearing soon.

"Hey, how's Sabine doing?" the man beside him questioned.

"Oh, she's doing fine," he answered. "She's getting out more. Though she's still not exactly talkative." While he had promised his daughter that he wouldn't discuss too much of what exactly went on regarding her issues, yet he felt obligated to let his friend know she was ok.

"And how have you been? Since...well, you know."

DiTillo sighed. "Gretchen is in a better place," he said. "That's what I have to keep telling myself. Though trying to get Sabine to see that is another story."

Before anything further could be asked, a sudden vibration struck everyone, it felt as if a wave of static electricity had passed through them all.

"The hell?" A woman pondered aloud, observing the ever-spinning rings of the machine. It was then that another phenomenon began to develop. "Hey, DiTillo! We've got something!"

The scientist leaned over the platform, looking to see, as before, a "hole" of sorts was forming, only this time it formed from within the spinning rings. Everyone was caught in between fear and anticipation, the hole growing bigger and bigger, seemingly swallowing the space around it. DiTillo looked on at the space, seeing a clear, night sky and what appeared to be a moon of sorts. A second moon. Where did this hole go? Was it the same location they had seen before? It couldn't be Earth with the presence of the second moon.

Everyone observed what was seen in the open space, yet it was then that an object of some kind was seen flying towards the second moon. It was far off and difficult to see, yet it was present. DiTillo was left awestruck. The crystals that had come from the previous test, this new moon, and now what appeared to be some sort of flying machine heading towards it.

An alien planet. They had just been given a view of an entirely new world.

Yet the excitement wasn't to last.

The rings, having already been moving fast, now traveled at a speed where one couldn't keep track of them individually. The hole grew larger and larger, the object drawing closer and closer to the moon.

Then came the impact. Suddenly, everyone felt a pull of some kind, a force that had taken them all. "What the-" someone from below said. "Hey! You feel that?!"

Indeed, he did. There was a draw towards the hole, almost as if he had suddenly become magnetic and was being pressured into coming closer. DiTillo tried to step back, but he found his feet stuck, his body wouldn't move! Then, he saw his fingers begin to come apart. Not in the same fashion as decomposition, but as if his flesh had turned into sand, small particles detaching themselves and flying towards the hole. Looking down and to the side, the scientist saw the same thing happening to everyone else. Yet before anything could be done, whether that be to shut off the machine or scream in terror, it never came.

The entire chamber was enveloped in silence, the unfortunate individuals caught in the pull were broken down into little more than atoms and drawn forward, being dragged through the hole. Then, the machine could take no more and finally gave way. A fiery explosion rocked the chamber, breaking the glass barrier and essentially rendering everything behind the glass beyond repair.

Then everything went silent again. The hole was still present.

Note: I'm no scientist, so if anything sounds too implausible, please let me know. While this story IS a lot of fluff, there ARE risks and stakes in it. And dimensional jargon, but that's already sort of fantastical, so hopefully suspension of disbelief isn't stressed too much.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to hear your input!

Thank you!