Chapter 2: Round 1, Week 1
Author's note: The Beast Warriors are the same size as a normal Transformer. Just to make things a bit more even.
Belated Disclaimer: Starbug is mine. Everything else is not. (starts to sob) Excuse me…I've got something in my eye!
Focus on Cybertron, in particular the Iaconian Super Bowl where thousands of spectators (Transformers and the people who reviewed and voted for this story) are chanting and cheering, waiting for the tournament to begin. Zoom up to the commentator's box and focus on a tall, handsome and probably well-endowed Autobot is sitting at a desk. He smiles at the camera, which he needn't have bothered doing as he's wearing a facemask.
Kingdom of Deke: Welcome fight fans to the first King of Iron Fist tournament! I'm your commentator Kingdom of Deke (laughing can be heard from the filming crew) CUT THAT OUT! I'll have you know that it's a fine and noble Autobot name for the past year of two!
Silence.
Kingdom of Deke: ANYWAY, allow me to introduce my co-commentator, the ever-lovely Starbug!
The camera moves off K.O.D. and focus on a dark green female Transformer with a Decepticon symbol on both shoulders.
Starbug: Thank you Autobot scum. Well, it's a glorious day for a battle and the Super Bowl is packed to the rafters with some of the most illustrious of Transformers, as well as a few humans.
K.O.D.: Indeed. From here we can see the likes of Jazz, Shockwave, Prowl, Onslaught…and I think…yes! I can also see the famed Decepticon Albedo in Row D12, back from her little sojourn in prehistoric Earth!
Camera focuses on a blue and white Decepticon waving a flag with the words "Go Ratchet!" written on it. She waves at the commentary box, whereupon K.O.D. and Starbug wave back.
Starbug: Good to see her again…oh! I see that the Autobot LunarFormer has also made it to the event as have his Misfits!
Camera cuts to a large Autobot trying to keep several smaller Transformers quiet.
K.O.D.: Well, the stadium is packed, the atmosphere is electric and I've just gotten word that the first match is about to commence! Let's take you now to the tournament's referee Emirate Xaaron!
Match 1: Optimus Prime vs. QuickstrikeAn eerie silence descends on the stadium as a gold Autobot wearing a black and white striped shirt walks to the center of the large fighting arena and proceeds to speak into a microphone.
Xaaron: In the red corner: OPTIMUS PRIME!
Optimus Prime rolls into the arena in his truck mode to an almost deafening cheer. He transforms and strides to the center of the arena waving to various sections of the crowd.
Xaaron: In the blue corner: QUICKSTRIKE!
A bizarre orange scorpion emerges onto the battlefield, it's cobra head tail hissing at the crowd. He transforms into an even more bizarre two-headed Predacon with a strangely Southern accent.
Quickstrike: YEEHAW!
Xaaron: BEGIN!
Prime turns to Quickstrike to wish him luck when the Fuzor responds by blasting him with a shot from his cobra head. The blast is powerful enough to send Prime crashing into the far wall. As he tries to get up he is waylaid by a kick to the head.
Quickstrike: Well howdy Prahme! Heh, don't bother getting' up. I'll just kick ya while yer down if it's all the same to ya!
Sniggering to himself he pulls back his cobra head and drives toward Prime's head, meaning to execute a killing blow. Unfortunately for the deranged Predacon Prime grabs the cobra head just inches from his face.
Prime: Enough of this.
Tugging sharply on the arm Prime sends Quickstrike flying into the wall behind him, leaving a massive dent in the metal. Leaping acrobatically to his feet he picks up the stunned Predacon and hefts him into the night sky with a mighty toss before whipping his pulse rifle from its subspace pocket and taking aim.
Prime: Game over.
With that Prime unleashes a barrage of shots at Quickstrike which results with the Predacon exploding in a brilliant flare of red and yellow pyrotechnics. As bits of Quickstrike rain down on the arena Xaaron walks over to Prime and lifts his arm.
Xaaron: The winner: OPTIMUS PRIME!
Match 2: Blitzwing vs. Longtooth
Xaaron: In the red corner: LONGTOOTH!
An odd walrus Autobot Pretender hobbles to the center circle. His red eye patch and gold peg leg draw a few snickers from the crowd.
Xaaron: And in the blue corner: BLITZWING!
Blitzwing, rather than emerge from the blue gateway, chooses to instead dive down in his jet mode and transform into his robot mode just inches from the ground.
Xaaron: BEGIN! (runs to safety)
Longtooth: Arr, matey! Let's get this battle over with! I needs to be getting back to me mission!
Blitzwing: Huh? What mission?
Longtooth: Arr lad! Be ye blind? I'm after the slag suckin' klud what did this to me leg!
Blitzwing stares at Longtooth for a long time before leaping at him and attacking him in a rage.
Blitzwing: WILL YOU STOP GOING ON ABOUT THAT SLAGGING KLUD!!!
Blitzing starts to punch Longtooth in the face.
Blitzwing: FOR PRIMUS' SAKE YOU CAN GET THAT STUPID LEG OF YOURS FIXED!! THAT PEG LEG IS JUST RIDICULOUS, AS IS THAT ACCENT!
Grabbing Longtooth around the waist he suplexs the punch drunk Pretender into the hard metal ground. Snapping himself to something approaching aware Longtooth drove his peg leg forward, where it connected sharply with Blitzwing's groin. Taking advantage of the Decepticon assuming the fetal position, Longtooth delivered an almighty punch which sent Blitzwing skimming a far enough distance away to give him some breathing space. Then he made his biggest error.
He stepped out of his Pretender shell.
Longtooth had forgotten that the peg leg had only been fitted to the shell and not to his robot body. His intended forward motion caused him to fall the ground, which in turn caused him to drop his laser blaster. Seeing the opportunity in front of him Blitzwing overrode his pain and transformed into his tank mode. Longtooth was just about to reach his blaster when he looked up at a low approaching rumbling. The last thing he saw before his head was crushed into a fine paste was Blitzwing's treads an inch from his face. After a quick examination of Longtooth's body Xaaron reached out and held the transformed Blitzwing's arm aloft.
Xaaron: The winner: BLITZWING!
Match 3: Dinobot vs. Soundwave
Xaaron: In the red corner: DINOBOT!
A velociraptor emerges from the red gateway and transforms into his robot form as he reaches the center. His face is set in a grim snarl of anticipation.
Xaaron: And in the blue corner: SOUNDWAVE!!
The indigo blue Communication Officer strode to the center, barley making a sound as he arrived and stared Dinobot in the eye.
Silence.
Xaaron: Um…BEGIN!
Quick as a flash Dinobot unsheathed his segmented sword and leapt at Soundwave, aiming for his head. Demonstrating a speed that couldn't have been guessed at the Decepticon sidestepped the downwards slash and delivered a mighty roundhouse kick to the Maximal's back, sending him sprawling. He then pressed his eject button.
Soundwave: Rumble, Frenzy, Ratbat, Laserbeak, Slugfest, Overkill, Squawkbox, Buzzsaw, Ravage, eject. Operation: Destruction.
One by one the cassettes leapt out of Soundwave's chest and transformed, until Dinobot found himself fighting nine Decepticons instead of one.
Dinobot (to Soundwave): Coward! Have you no honor?
Soundwave: Honor is irrelevant. Victory is all.
With that the cassettes swarmed forward. Enraged, Dinobot transformed into his raptor mode and struck back. Frenzy and Ravage were sliced in half by his foot talons while Laserbeak was crunched between his teeth. The other cassettes reacted with fury to the destruction of their brothers as Buzzsaw pelted Dinobot with laser fire as Overkill simultaneously clamped down on his shoulder with his powerful jaws. Roaring in pain Dinobot transformed back into robot mode and produced his Rotor Blade. Holding it out in front of him he shredded the remaining cassettes into pieces. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Soundwave creep up on him with his Plasma Cannon. Dropping the Rotor Blade he waited until Soundwave was at exactly the right distance and then struck. Whipping out his segmented sword Dinobot brought it down on the Decepticon's torso and smiled sadistically as the blade sliced through the dense metal like butter. As befitted the stoic Transformer he didn't make a sound as Dinobot's sword stopped just where a human's stomach would be and he was whacked in the face by a punch of incredible power. Sensing victory was his for the taking, Dinobot transformed back into raptor mode and leapt at the grounded Soundwave. Just as he was about to make contact with his prey he saw, too late, Soundwave's shoulder cannon charge up. It fired an almighty blast when the duo were about a foot from each other, resulting in Soundwave getting badly scorched. Dinobot cam off much the worst however, the blast shearing his head clean off his shoulders and causing his body to fly back quite a few feet. As the smoke clears Xaaron runs over to Soundwave. After checking that he was still alive he raised his arm in victory.
Xaaron: The winner: SOUNDWAVE!
Match 4: Rampage vs. Ratchet
Xaaron: In the red corner: RATCHET!
A white ambulance drove out into the center circle and transformed into the Trendy Helmeted One himself. He gave the crowd a nervous wave.
Xaaron: And in the blue corner: RAMPAGE!
Suddenly the entire stadium starts to shake.
Ratchet: What the? Where'd this cyberquake come from?
A brief glance at the blue gateway gave him his answer. The ground shook more and more as the giant crab-tank made its way to the center circle. Once he reached it Rampage transformed first into his crab mode and from there to his robot mode, which towered over Ratchet's. Xaaron takes a moment to marvel at this complete mismatch.
Xaaron: BEGIN!
Ratchet (thinking): OK, OK, don't panic. You've managed to beat much stronger Transformers before. After all, look how you managed to beat Megatron! (Ratchet's face falls as he remembers how that led to the whole fusion fiasco) Maybe it's best if I don't look at that example…
Rampage (whipping out his Tri-Barreled Blaster): DIE AUTOBOT!
Ratchet: WOAH!
Ratchet manages to duck the first volley of shots before trying to run for some sort of cover. Seeing the medic flee Rampage transforms into his crab-tank mode and start to chase him, firing off plasma rounds all the while.
Rampage: Hey Autobot! Stand still and I'll hurt ya less!
Ratchet: No you won't!
Rampage (thinking): Damn he's a crafty one! Looks like I'll have to do this the old fashioned way…
Rampage quickly takes aim at Ratchet's leg and fires a low level blast. It's not enough to cause serious damage but it is enough to bring him down face first. With a chuckle Rampage transforms into his robot mode and strides over to Ratchet. Just as he's reaching down to turn him over the medic quickly wills his heat and cold guns to pop out of his wrists and fires them at Rampage. The Predacon looks bemused as the guns unleash their sad little spray on him.
Ratchet: Note to self: must equip better weapons.
Laughing once more Rampage punches Ratchet in the face, causing him to fly into the well-dented arena wall. He steps over to the downed Autobots and aims his blaster at his face.
Rampage: And so it ends…
Ratchet: Oh yes! But not in the way you thought it would!
Ratchet whips out a small controller and presses a button. Instantaneously a trans-time dimensional portal opens up and disgorges a set of red cylindrical bombs into the arena. Rampage stares in disbelief.
Xaaron: BOMB! RAISE THE BLAST SHIELDS!
A set of reinforced titanium alloy shields rose from the ground and isolated the battlefield from the rest of the stadium.
Rampage: You idiot! You've doomed us both!
Ratchet: Yes well, as you demonstrated earlier in this fight, in the final…HEY!
Ratchet is interrupted in his ramblings by Rampage making a break for the still open portal.
Rampage: The portal! It's my only chance!
Ratchet: Oh no you don't!
Ratchet runs forward and tackles Rampage on the brink of the portal.
Ratchet: This time…YOU STAY DEAD!
Rampage: NOOOOOOOOOO…wait a minute, 'stay dead'?
KABOOOOOOM!
Xaaron: Raise Blast shields!
The shields rose to uncover a scorched battlefield but no sign of either Transformer.
Xaaron: Hmm…they must have been atomized. Looks like this fight is a d-
Xaaron is interrupted by the portal reopening and disgorging a bizarre fusion of Rampage and Ratchet.
Rampage/Ratchet: SNARL! BLAAARGH!
Xaaron: …Um…
Suddenly Ratchet separates his head from Rampage's and smiles at the crowd.
Ratchet: I'm all right folks!
As the stunned crowd watches on Ratchet's body separates itself from Rampage's lifeless husk until it looks better than new.
Xaaron: How…?
Ratchet: I'm not sure…but I think when we were merged together…(smiles evilly)…his indestructible spark was passed on to me!
Ratchet starts to do a Jig of Joy.
Ratchet: I'M INVINCIBLE! GO ME! WOO!
Xaaron: Yes, well… the winner is: RATCHET!
Ratchet: WOO!
Back to the commentary box…
K.O.D.: Well…that was interesting…
Starbug: To say the least.
K.O.D.: Well, that's all for this week! Tune in again next time for more fighting goodness!
Starbug: See you then!
*****
The Voting
The voters: Albedo, firewalkr21, FusionBlaster, Bladewing, MeRlin, Scizordramon, LunarFormer, Cyberfrost, DarkStorm, aotrs.commander.
Match 1: Optimus Prime vs. Quickstrike
Optimus Prime: Votes: 9
Quickstrike: Votes: 1
Match 2: Blitzwing vs. Longtooth
Blitzwing: Votes: 9
Longtooth: Votes: 1
Match 3: Dinobot vs. Soundwave
Dinobot: Votes: 3
Soundwave: Votes: 7
Match 4: Rampage vs. Ratchet
Rampage: Votes: 5
Ratchet: Votes: 5
Votes tied at five each; winner decided by coin toss. (Ratchet)
And now, this week's matches:
Match 5: Inferno (Autobot) vs. Waspinator
Match 6: Devastator vs. Cheetor
Match 7: Grimlock vs. Megatron (Predacon)
Match 8: Goldbug vs. Bludgeon
Happy voting and see you next week!