Disclaimer:
Please read before the story!
This is a fan made story that has a connection to G1 and an altered version of the TFP continuity. Taking place post-canon in TFP and post-movie/pre-season 3 for G1. All cannon characters belong to Hasbro. I apologize for any spelling errors I did my best. And this story is in no way a teaser to a possible future story
Shadows drenched the empty streets, lined with hollow alleyways. Metallic pedes clacked heavily against the hard steely sidewalk, with the rim of a black cloak slowly dragging behind them. The hood was pulled low over the owner's helm; hiding burning deep rose optics. Not entirely blood red, but in the dark, no one could really tell the difference. Even though the Decepticon and Autobot civil war had long ended, the prejudices against the former were still present and one could never really be too careful.
A swift turn right made the cloak flail, open and for a moment, reveal scared silver armor, with black and purple detailing. The door to the tavern was already open, allowing her to enter underneath the rust orange lights of the establishment's front sign silently. Inside was a warmly lit room. Booths sat along right and left walls, all of them filled chatting patrons. While in the back was the bar which only had a few customers sitting there.
She took a seat on one of the round stools. Carefully not sitting on the cloak and letting the cape flow loosely to the floor, not wanting the rotors on her back to be shown. Keeping a strait posture, she turned to the bar tender in front of her. An older, bulky, brown and gold mech with large sparkling blue optics.
The bar tender turned to her, a large smile on his faceplate, and a glass of energon in his servo, "Well, don't think I've seen you here before? First time in Iacon?" he offered the glass.
"Yes, I suppose it is," spoke a low and metallic voice that was entrapped in a strangely English sounding accent, as she accepted the glass, "Though, I think you already knew that. As well as who I am."
"Aye, you're one of my niece's friends."
"Correct. I guess that also means you know why I'm here."
"Aye," he nodded.
"She wasn't lying when she told me you knew everything."
"My family knows better than
to lie about my…gifts. I would see their false hoods before they even spoke them."
"I suppose you would. So, can you help us?"
He bellowed a laugh, "Of course I can, I had been waiting for you to come here and ask that for a week now. Go, back to your friends, lassie, and bring them back here. Anyone who is a friend of my niece is a friend to me."
Rodimus Prime leaned his helm on the servo that was propped up on his chair's armrest. His optics fixated on the floor, and his processor deep in thought. Contemplating the events of the not so smooth visit to Volicitron was not helping his confidence as a leader.
Springer looked over to Rodimus, complete recognizing that face, "Ok, Rod what's on your processor?" Even though Rodimus was now one of the most important autobots in the galaxy, he was still Springer's friend, by such the triple changer didn't have to be that proper with the young prime in private, and to be honest he didn't really want to, "You're not still thinking about what happened at the launch are you?"
"What do you think? Of course, I'm still thinking about it, Springer. It was a disaster," Rodimus answered.
"It wasn't that bad," Springer reassured.
"The ship caught fire," Rodimus said, flatly.
"Everyone messes up their first yacht launch you don't need to worry about it. Besides it not like your entire primehood is going be defined by your screwups."
"Springer," Arcee interjected, "That's not helping," She turned to Rodimus, "The important thing is that no one was hurt."
"Little missy over there is right, mistakes are part of any job. You can just hope they don't cost lives," Kup said.
"This isn't war Kup, it's politics," said Rodimus.
"So, it's worse?" Said Springer.
"Springer," Said Arcee.
"Much worse," Kup confirmed.
"Wow, you guys are so helpful," said Rodimus.
"Oh, no! Don't send us to the stockage! Oh, Great Rodimus Prime!" said Springer, greatly overdramatized.
"Springer," Arcee said trying to get his attention.
"Stop talking like that and I'll stop thinking about it," Said Rodimus.
"SPRINGER! LOOK OUT!" Arcee shouted.
Springer imminently turned back to the controls. Just outside of the ship was a large asteroid field, and they were heading towards the space rocks fast. Springer gripped the controls, trying to maneuver away from the asteroids. However, he wasn't fast enough. The small yellow shuttle flew into the field at an angle, being struck from all sides along the way. The four passengers, were raddled inside of the craft.
All of the monitors began to go haywires. Lights flashed and sirens rang. Infront of the ship, the delicate fabric of space and time began to unfurl and rip at their seams. Becoming a bright angry festering storm of swirling colors, with pitch black darkness and bursting bright light.
"HOLD ON!" Rodimus, shouted before they were all blinded by a sudden flash, as they entered the unstable space.
His helm hurt. It really hurt, but if something hurt that meant he wasn't dead and that was a win in Rodimus' datapad. He was lying on his front, with something hard and smooth pressed against his faceplate. A sudden breeze blew over him. Alright, he was somewhere with an atmosphere present. A planet maybe? Slowly pushing himself in a sitting position, he online his optics only to be greeted with a very low-definition version of his surroundings. Shuttering them a few more times seemed to fixed said problem.
Though now that his optics were clear, he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. He could see his travel companions, all of them lifting themselves off of the ground, though that's not what had dumbfounded the young prime. Stretched out before him was a large wild land that looked very cybertronian. Minty and blue metallic plates puzzled the hard metal surface together. Small turbofoxes could be seen in the distance, wrestling among themselves. The sunlight that shown down was warm, comforting and familiar. Was he home?
"What, the scrap, happened?!" Springer said, rubbing his helm.
"Springer," Arcee said not happy with his choice of language.
"I wish I could tell you exactly what, but I think that the rift might have teleported us somewhere," Rodimus said getting to his pedes.
"Like a naturally occurring space bridge?" Arcee suggested, standing up.
"Maybe," Rodimus contemplated.
"So, if it was a type of space bridge, then where in the universe did it send us?!" Springer shouted.
"Look around you Springer, does nothing seem familiar?" Rodimus nearly deadpanned.
The lime colored mech swiveled his helm around, "It does kind of look like home."
"Don't let that fool you kid," Kup stated slowly rising from the ground.
"What do you mean Kup?" Rodimus asked.
"Just because something looks like something else doesn't mean it is," the older model pointed behind the young prime, "Besides we might want to get information from the locals."
Rodimus quickly turned his helm, and his optics widened. In the distance was clearly some kind of capital city. Tall gleaming metal skyscrapers stood in a wild and random pattern, like unorganized troops. They appeared to be of cybertronian origin but from this far off he couldn't be sure. Though now staring at them for a moment, he could tell there was something different about them. How did he miss that?
"Well, I guess there's nowhere else to start," Rodimus stated, before folding into his vehicular mode. The trek to the strange city began.
Rodimus couldn't believe his optics, the city around him was beautiful. Tall metal buildings interlocking in ways that only the finest of engineering minds could design. Shades from royal navy to shy violet decorated the towers and bridges, that gleamed in the pale sun light. Cyan lights etched patterns into the structures and lined the roads. Large holo-screens served as billboards or other kinds of signs. It was truly a sight to behold.
But the most bizarre detail of the city was that it was completely empty.
No matter where Rodimus looked he couldn't find another being. The roads seemed deserted and all the shops looked closed. Though with all the lights and holo-screens it was clear this place had access to some kind of power. So, if it was a ghost town then it was a relatively new one.
"Anyone else getting creepy vibes from this place?" Springer asked.
"I think we should be careful with what we say about this place kiddo," Kup spoke up, "We're the invaders here, and we don't need to give the locals a reason to think we're hostile."
"Not really difficult to. It's beautiful!" Arcee exclaimed.
The pink femme slowed walked over to a small patch by the road that seem to hold…flowers? Sure, many different planets had certain similarities that they shared, but Arcee had found that flowers were something almost entirely unique to earth. Her digits gently traced the soft purple metallic petals. His optic ridges creased. A cybertron like planet that had flowers? Just where were they?
Rodimus and Springer looked over to Arcee, seemingly just as surprise by the flowers as her. Springer went to get a closer look, as Rodimus decided continue a little further into the city to get his thoughts straight.
*Vroom Screech! *
Rodimus barely had time to look towards the sudden sound when his legs were forcefully shoved out from under him. He tumbled to the ground, his helm hitting the hard metal road with a thump.
"Oh primus! I'm so sorry! I guess I wasn't looking where I was driving," spoke an unknown voice.
"It's alright," Rodimus groaned as he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.
He onlined his optics, only to have them widen with shock. Standing before him holding out a servo, was a cybertronian. At least he thought it was a cybertronian. Their frame rather than a normal blocky one, was rounded out, like a femme's. Though it was clear by their speech patterns that they were a mech. Their armor was much more complex, with metallic plates and crests that appeared like a medieval knight. What looked like doors hung off their back like a pair of wings. All of this was painted in a pale indigo, stripped with red and yellow, and finally adorned with…an elite guard insignia.
"Oh, that's good, I'd hate to have to hurt someone with all that's going on," the strange bot offered his servo.
"Uh…" Rodimus had a hard time finding his voice box, still shell-shocked by the sight before him, but he took the offered servo anyway.
"Have we met before? You look familiar," the strange bot asked.
"Uhm…No, I'd remember meeting you," Rodimus sputtered.
The strange bot looked a little closer before his face plate was struck with sudden, seemingly saddening realization, "Oh, sorry. It's just…you kind of look like someone I went to bootcamp with. He uh, he offlined recently."
"Oh…" Rodimus nodded sympathetic, although still starstruck.
"Rodimus!" Springer said, as he ran up with the others close behind.
"I'm alright, Springer. I just had a little bit of a run-in with…Uhm," Rodimus said.
"Oh, right! I never told you, my designation. Hi! I'm Prancer," the strange bot apparently named Prancer spoke, offering a servo for a shake.
Kup titled his helm at the sight of Prancer. The bot was clearly young, judging by the cocky grin, and lack of damage to his armor. Though, that wasn't all that Kup could see. The old bot may have had a few older parts but he knew that the youngster didn't look like anything he had ever seen. Not even the bots from the colonies looked this strange. Though the elite guard symbol would suggest that he had spent some time on Cybertron.
Deciding that he was tired of thinking about possible answers and wanting to get real ones, the older model spoke up, "Hey, Kid!"
"Yes, sir?" Prancer asked turning towards Kup.
"We're a little lost here, and it seems like everyone here has forgotten that. Could you tell us where we are?"
A looked of sudden understanding came over Prancer, "Ooh, don't worry you're in the right place. This is Iacon."
The entire group suddenly froze upon hearing the name of the autobot capital. They were in Iacon? That couldn't be possible. Iacon was a city built of golden metals that to had a very industrial feel, while the city they were in was purple and felt more like a futuristic utopia.
"Iacon? As in the autobot capital of Cybertron?" Arcee asked.
"Uh yeah, don't worry like I said you're in the right place," Prancer answered.
"I'm sorry but we're on Cybertron?" Rodimus asked.
Prancer eyed them confusedly, "Yeah…are you guys from like one of the colonies?"
"No," Rodimus said.
"But we were just coming back from Volicitron," Arcee said.
"Oh, I guess that's makes sense. We've been getting a lot of tourists recently," Prancer said.
Tourists? Now, that didn't make any sense, there wasn't any of important event that would warrant for anyone to travel to Cybertron at the moment. Not that Rodimus knew of, at least. Though as prime if there were any he should probably know.
"Tourists?" Rodimus asked.
"Yeah, for the first Cybertronian Olympic Games…" Prancer trailed off and a look of horror came upon his faceplate, "Oh, Scrap! I'm supposed to be at the colosseum right now! Uhm, it was nice talking to you all but I gotta drive," Prancer folded into his vehicle mode and began to speed off.
"Wait!" Rodimus shouted after the speeder, "Colosseum?"
Prancer jerked to a halt and turned back to the others, "Oh, right! Directions! Uhm… Okay you want to go down this street, take two rights, and then a left. It's a really large round building, like a Cube Arena. You can't miss it!" and with that Prancer swerved off, leaving them in silence.
"What. Just. Happened." Springer spoke, after a few moments.
"Don't ask me," Rodimus sighed, "Alright, that guy just said we were Iacon. But this is clearly not the Iacon we know."
"What are you saying?" Arcee said.
"Do you think that we time traveled?" Springer suggested.
"Now is not the time for earth movie trope," Arcee said.
"Actually, the kid might be on to something," Kup said.
"You must be kidding," Arcee said.
"I wish I was, but like Rodimus said, this isn't our Iacon. It might be an alternate version of it," Kup theorized, "That or the vortex killed us, and we're all now one with the Matrix."
"Okay, so if Kup is right, and we're in another universe, how are we going to prove it?" Arcee said.
"Well, alternate universe, alternate selves, right?" Springer chimed in, "All we got to do is find other us, or the other of someone we know."
"That would prove it," Rodimus nodded.
"Great, so we just have to search the entire planet for one of a hand full of autobots. Not to mention, possibly off world. Prancer mentioned colonies, who to say our doubles aren't in space," Arcee said.
"Prancer did," Rodimus said.
"What?" Arcee said.
"Prancer was going to an event, that is apparently big enough to attract colonists. That means that right now is the best time to locate any of our doubles," Rodimus explained.
"He's right," Springer chimed in, "And, you know who has to be there?" he walked up to Rodimus.
"Who?" The prime asked.
"You, boltbrain!" he hit Rodimus on the arm, "If there's something big going on, the leader of cybertron has to be there."
"Springer's right," Arcee said, "If the colonies are here, surely their leaders are as well. The prime would have to meet with them."
"Besides Cybertronian Olympics? That sounds like something you'd come up with," Springer said.
"Thanks, Springer, I think," Rodimus said, before looking in the direction in that Prancer had dashed off too, "Guess were going to the games."
The stadium wasn't all that hard to find. It was large round building: at least ten times larger than any other buildings in purple Iacon. Finding their way through the millions of halls inside that was another story. The number of empty tunnels twisted in ways that honestly didn't make sense. Until the quiet sound of a crowd cheering echoing through the halls gave them something to follow.
They all folded into their vehicle modes, and drove towards the sound. Eventually finding a light at the end of the tunnel. Outside was a large playing field, a roaring crowd above it. Millions and millions of cybertronians of all makes.
"Wow," Springer said.
"Peace at its finest," Kup grumbled.
"Predaking leader of the Predacons and partial ruler of Eukaris!"
Rodimus looked up, "What was that?"
Up at the head of the stadium, was a large clearly VIB box. There were spaced out seats, bots of many sparkling frames, clearly of high stature; rulers maybe. To the right was podium, with a bot who looked vaguely like Ultra Magnus.
"Winglord Starscream leader of Vos city state!" The Ultra Magnus look alike spoke out to the crowd.
"Starscream?" Kup mumbled, "There's your evidence. He was offlined in our world."
"And finally, I am elated to present to you, the successor of Optimus Prime, the leader of cybertron…"
"Here comes you," Springer said to Rodimus.
"Princess Nebula!"
What?!
A/N:
Well, everybody here's the next story! May I proudly present Matrix Forged Destiny Chosen!
As you can see not everything is what it seems on this new cybertron. Just what secrects are hiding around the corner!
See everyone in the next Chapter!