BA-BA-BA-BOOM!
Kicker: What the heck?
Heehee, I love making random noises.
Cooper: I make another appearance!
Nobody cares! (Throws him at Demolisher)
Demolisher: Hey!What is it with people throwing things at me?
It's fun.
CHAPTAH!
STARTO!
On Mars, above a large cliff over-looking the Autobot base, a giant bubble of light appeared, and four large figures came hurtling out of it, flying through the air towards the ground below. Ion hopped off of Optimus, turning around and jabbering so fast Ironhide was worried she'd bite her tongue.
"Transform!" The bots changed back into their bipedal modes, and landed with loud clangs on the surface. Ion floated down and flew after them as they approached the edge of the cliff. Ion touched down, wincing at the feel of alien sand on the pads of her feet as they looked out at a crater that still billowed black smoke into the air.
"Well men, here we are. Mars." Ironhide gaped at the size of the crater. Jetfire leaned forward, staring at the remains of the base.
"Is that OUR Cybertron City?" The visor-ed mech asked.
Ironhide cupped his servos together and yelled. "HELLO! Can anyone hear me?" Ion rolled her eyes. Inferno walked up to Optimus.
"I'm not detecting any signs of life, sir." Jetfire turned around in shock.
"But I thought there were supposed to be loads of transformers working down there." Inferno shook his head.
"Me too." Ion frowned, biting her thumb.
Ironhide had a worried look on his face. "You think they were wiped out?" All five went silent, trying not to think too hard on that. Optimus turned towards the space-bridge.
"We've got to get to Earth." Ion flew up, once again grabbing onto the Prime as they transformed and took off into the portal.
[A[B[C[D]E]F]G]
Back on Earth, in Ocean City, Kicker had found his mother and sister. They all watched as two Constructicons refined Energon in front of them. Sally, Kicker's younger sibling, peered across the console to where the room over-looked the bots. She had orange hair, a pink jacket, and a short yellow skirt.
"Is that Energon?" She asked, eyes fixed on the glowing material. Their mother, a blond professional-looking woman, answered her.
"Yes. It's the energy source that all life form need to survive, Sally." The red-head continued to watch.
"I'm not sure I get it, Mom." Sally turned to Kicker, who stood a few feet behind her, pointed not looking at the energon-process. "Do you, Kicker?"
He huffed and started to walk away. "Ya think I care?" Sally glared at his retreating back. "What is with that boy?" Miranda shrugged, smiling. "He's just going through a phase, that's all." Sally crossed her arms and looked away. "Well!" Miranda looked over her shoulder at her son.
Outside in the hallway, Kicker walked up to a painted emblem of the Autobot symbol next to the Earth symbol. He banged his fist against the red face. "Humans don't need to rely on transformers." He growled. All he could think about was the first time he'd gone to Cybertron. He'd been so scared by the Autobots, their huge metal bodies, their odd glowing eyes, their loud voices... He hated them, with a passion.
"I don't need anyone to protect me." Kicker muttered, holding his hand palm up, watching as a spark of energy ran in circles on the skin. He was mesmerized by the action, but was startled out of it when his sensory went off. Hard. He turned around and stared down the hall, feeling shockwaves of energy rushing past him.
He broke into a run, nearly plowing into several mechs who yelled after him, down into the control room where HotShot was, talking to Carlos about the attack on Mars.
"HotShot!" The mech turned to him. "You have to submerge the city! And make it quick!" Kicker leaned against the railing trying to catch his breath. HotShot rolled his optics.
"No can do, Kicker. We're right in the middle of an Energon mining op." HotShot narrowed his optics. "And besides, it was you who raised the city in the first place."
Kicker almost jumped from the balcony, just to kick the yellow mech in the head out of frustration. "I told you, it wasn't me! The city rising was what woke me up to begin with! And secondly, we're about to be attacked!" HotShot was taken aback by the fierceness in the boy's eyes.
"We're what!" Kicker growled, only slightly glad that HotShot was taking him seriously.
"Come one! Let's go!" He shouted, turning and darting down the hallway. HotShot turned several times before remembering where the bot-sized exit was, following after the teenager.
[H[I[J[K]L]M]N]
"Wow, so this is Ocean City..." Cooper breathed quietly as he gazed about the room, admiring the mechs and workers. Alexis smirked.
"Yup, Every single bot or person here works to get Energon ore from the mines, refine it, and send it to the cities fuel drives to be used as energy later on." The red-head looked estatic, before taking out a paper notepad and a pen.
Alexis frowned. "What's that for?" Cooper blushed.
"Well, recording devices can be tampered with, and I like writing short-hand. I'm getting the scoop on everything about Ocean City, see." Alexis blinked in confusion, and Cooper hastened to explain properly. "I'm training to be a reporter, Ma'am, and as such, I must be able to get every detail right. Otherwise, I'm a paparazzi, and who wants to be called that?" Alexis smiled.
"Well, you sure picked an interesting time for that." Cooper blinked, beginning to write in his journal.
"Why do you say that, Ma'am?" Alexis turned and pointed to a screen, displaying a mining cart full of glowing green stuff being hauled by two large bots.
"We just found a deposit of Energon, and have started the process of mining and refining." Cooper muttered her words as he wrote them down. He paused, looking back up at her. "I can quote you on that, Ma'am?" Alexis laughed.
"Sure kid. You can quote me on that."
[O[P[Q[R]S]T]U]
Kicker found HighWire outside, washing the liason's car of all things. "Come on!" The minicon beeped and transformed, Kicker hopping on with ease, and they took off with HotShot following closely. They approached the gate, where Demolisher stod in a soccer goalie stance.
"Not this time kid!" The Con cat-called. Kicker would've cursed if he wasn't sure HotShot would bump him if he did so.
"Outta the way Demolisher! We don't time for this! NOW MOVE!" The Con gave him the same look reserved for Autobots. "We're under attack!" That made the Con look upwards, giving Kicker the oppertunity to slide under him. Demolisher stared after the human.
"What? Hey, no, WAIT!" HotShot revved his engine in warning, and Demolisher swung his leg out of the path of the mech, causing the Con to fall over. He growled in extreme agitation.
HotShot was scanning the sky. "I don't see anything, Kicker!" The human glowered at the road.
"I'm not joking around this time!" HotShot gunned his engine, trying to keep pace with the minicon.
"Well for your sake you better not! I'm sick of your stupid pranks! You understand Kicker? Now step on it!" They zoomed off, but the memory from before came rushing back to Kicker. When he was so scared that Rad wasn't protecting him, he'd taken off, leading Optimus to chase him. It had ended badly, with him getting zapped by Primus, a being of energy that was the source of all life on Cybertron.
'That's where it all started. When I realized I had these strange powers, like Ion told me later. Precognition, the ability to sense Energon, all of it. And according to her, that isn't even half of what I'm capable of!' Kicker came to a halt, eyes scanning the sky. His sensory went off again, and he caught sight of several blurry objects coming towards them. He pointed up.
"Up there! HotShot, can you see it?" HotShot gave a low groan.
The bot responded irritably. "I don't see a thing! Transform!" The mech got up and tried to look at the same point as Kicker was, but to no luck. He stared down at the human still pointing. "This better not be a joke."
Kicker screamed at him. "It's NOT! NOW FIRE!"
The mech complied. "Yeah, whatever." He fired off a shot, high in the direction Kicker gave him, and it slowly faded. "There's nothing!" Kicker put his arm downing, shaking slightly. That was when HotShot realized Kicker was actually nervous.
"Well, you missed." The human said quietly, as two dark shapes flew into view. "Look! There they are!" It was not the same creatures seen on Mars; instead, these creatures were shaped like eagles, large and terrifying.
"You're right." HotShot stared in blank fascination at them. "But what are those things?"
Kicker frowned. "They look like some kind of recon bots. And there's lots of them!" HotShot spared a moment to look at him.
"How'd you know?" Thousands more of the bots began to appear, and HotShot became nervous.
"Take a look for yourself!" The human replied, his sensory going wild as the screeches of the bots reached his ears; like enraged wild birds ready to attack.
HotShot readied his gun. "Kicker. Why would Transformers be attacking us?" The human twisted his head, staring up at HotShot with a face that made HotShot feel stupid.
"Because they're after our Energon!" Kicker got back onto the bike, "Come on, we have to evacuate the city!" He took off towards the incoming swarm. They opened fire on him, Kicker swerving and weaving to avoid being hit. He began to laugh as he dodged the blasts. Meanwhile, HotShot was cursing every entity he knew for being stuck with Kicker.
"This is crazy!" He shouted as he blasted away several more of the bots. Kicker was still zooming around the bridge. "Kicker! Don't be an idiot!" He froze in his firing as hundreds of the cat-creatures descended behind him, latching onto the towers and buildings. "We're in trouble."
Demolisher, meanwhile, watched as a cat-bot growled, hanging onto the top of the gate. "What's going on?" Hearing more growls behind him, the Con turned to see that he was surrounded by more than a dozen of the cats. "What do you want?" He asked haughtily. One cat roared, twisting its head, before pouncing at him. Demolisher powered up his cannon. "Oh no you don't!" He fired on the cat, knocking it away. The victory was short-lived, as another cat leapt onto him and began to scratch up his chest plating. "You're not getting past me!" He yelled, firing right into the cat's stomach, watching as its lifeless body fell.
Back with Kicker, who still dodging the birds attacks, until he was halted by several cats. The birds transformed and blocked off his only means to escape, and he cursed as he realized they boxed him in. 'Don't let yourself be cornered.' That was rule one that Ion had taught him. 'There's no telling what your powers will do.' He was about to find out...
"KICKER! RUN FOR IT!" HotShot called, running as fast as he could towards them. Before Kicker could reply with, 'Where do I run, moron?' the cats and birds pounced. Kicker shut his eyes, feeling his sensory act up again-
Just as a volley of energy blasts slammed down around him, axing every single one of the bots.
Kicker's mouth dropped open in shock as several figures landed in front of him. "Somebody call for help? It's Optimus and his boys to the rescue!" A mech asked, his jet form firing into the swarm. A truck transformed and the mech began firing at the cats currently trying to claw through the building walls. A small figure was zipping through the air, round-housing the birds, before she touched down in front of Kicker.
"Hey there, baby-IVA. Don't you know? It's impolite to throw a mosh-pit party and NOT invite me!" He stared, watching as she brush her hair from her face.
"Ion." A large firetruck touched down behind him, and he stared in numb shock as Optimus, leader of the Autobots, transformed to greet him.
"Remember me, Kicker?" The human stood, watching the large bot that had plagued his memory since he'd woken up.
"Optimus...Prime..." He stared even as explosions erupted around the space above Ocean City. Ion smirked at him.
[V[W[X[Y]Z]
Inside the city, the humans freaked out as the buildings rumbled and shook. The bots paid little heed to the rocking motions under their feet. In the room over-looking the Energon processor, Miranda wrapped her arms around Sally as they tumbled up against the wall. Sally peered out from where her face had been pressing into her mother's neck for comfort.
"Oh no! Where's my brother?" Miranda gave her a horrified look as she realized Kicker must've been outside. 'Where are you, Kicker?'
Inside the main building, Cooper shrieked as he topled to the floor, his pad and pen lying beside him. "WHAT THE FRICK?" Aleixs held fast to a console, watching as everything around her shook violently. Cooper grabbed his things and crawled towards the door, going down the hallway to get outside and see what was going on. He got out and was thrown to the ground by a bird dive-bombing him, swoopng away as a huge shadow passed over-head. Cooper looked up and felt his jaw drop as he stared at a red Autbot who fired on the bird, blowing it to pieces.
[a[b[c[d[e]f]
Jetfire continued to blast the birds, whooping in delight as he did. "They're swarmin' like flies!" He transformed and gunned them down. "Now they're in trouble!" He said, and if he had a regular face he would've been grinning like Ion was.
Optimus stood protectively in front of Kicker and Ion, watching his men take out the enemies. "We'll hold them off, while you get out of here Kicker!"
The human scowled. "Yeah, like I stand a chance if I run." He said, pointing to where the battle lay: between them and the gate. Optimus turned to him.
"I promised your father I'd look out for you!" That was not the right thing to say, as Kicker's fist began to spark angrily.
"I'm not a kid." He looked away when Optimus stared at him, feeling his face warm up. "Anymore!" He took off underneath Optimus, who twisted around in alarm.
"KICKER!" The boy swiveled his head to call back to the bot. "I can look after myself!" Optimus faltered, before turning and addressing Ironhide.
"Ironhide! Stop him!" The bot transformed and took off in pursuit. "Yessir!" Ion flew up, watching the battle, when her eyes glowed.
"It happens today." Optimus gave her an alarmed look.
"What does, Ion? What do you mean?" She craned her neck to look him in the optic.
"The beginning of the new IVA." He spared a moment to look horrified, before hardening his gaze and giving a command to the storage car beside him.
"Prime Force! TRANSFORM!"
[g[h[i[j]k]l]m]
Ironhide was busy trying to catch up to the human he was sent after, understanding why Optimus had compared him to Ion. They were both nuts, being out in dangerous territory. He heard Optimus shout something to HotShot, and turned his head in time to see his idol, lit up with an ethereal white glow. "Aw man, is that HotShot up there?"
He watched as HotShot and Inferno took off into the sky, and an explosion of light later they had combined into one giant mech. They then began to fire everywhere: at the cats both on the bridge and buildings, and at the birds. Then Optimus linked up with the Prime Force, and let off an attack that took out every last bird and cat nearby. He turned to his men.
"Are there any left?" Inferno pointed to the bridge.
"Yeah, they're heading for the bridge!" Optimus swung around with terror, watching as Ironhide and Kicker tried to outrun the bots still after them.
"Alright kid, pull over!" Ironhide shouted, wanting to rejoin the fight with Optimus and HotShot. Kicker would've lived up to his namesake, if it weren't for the swarm following them.
"Hey, would ya get lost, ya freak? Can't you see I'm trying to create a diversion for Optimus?" Ironhide's eyes went wide. He's only trying to help...
"Sorry, kid, but I've got my orders!" Kicker ignored him in favor of jumping HighWire onto the bridge wall, going up the pipe that held the bridge at level, and jumped onto Ironhide. The mech's face turned in surprise at the close proximity of the human, and Ironhide stared for a moment at the intensity of the boy's eyes. "HEY! What're ya doing?" Kicker gave no response, except kicking at his cannon hard enough to turn the weapon towards the swarm.
"NINE O'CLOCK!" Ironhide began firing, taking out a bird that had been flying right next to them. He proceeded to take out the next one, and managed to beat them back a little. "Come and get it, ya freaks!" Kicker shouted with a sneer, and Ironhide grinned slightly as he realized the teen was enjoying seeing the birds go down. The joy was short-lived as a bird flew at them suicide-style and made an explosion that sent Kicker flying. His helmet flew off in the blast, and he screamed as he went tumbling through the air.
Ion screeched and blasted a bird nearby. "BABY-IVA!" Optimus turned around at her scream, and felt his spark stopped as he watched Kicker get blown from his perch on Ironhide, who had crashed into the safety wall. The Prime ejected the pack Dr. Jones had given him, and threw it as hard as he could. "Kicker! I'll save you!" The pack began to glow, and Ion gasped as she felt power rip past her in a wave, sending the pack straight to Kicker. It encased him in light, and became a bubble around him. Black crawled over his skin, white, red, and blue armor attaching to his limbs and joints. A red Autobot insignia appeared over the right side of the chest plate.
'It's time, young one. It's time...to AWAKEN!' The light disappeared, and Kicker landed hard on his back, his body covered in a suit of what seemed to be space armor.
"What...What is this?" A loud clang behind him made Kicker turn to stare at Optimus, who held his hand out to the boy.
"A gift from your father." Kicker felt his heart drop into his stomach.
"Huh? Him again?" He hadn't even seen his father the last two times he'd fallen asleep. It was impossible that the man was even aware that he was awake now. Optimus heard the anger in Kicker's voice.
"He realized you wouldn't listen to anyone, and he wanted to protect you. You're not a warrior, Kicker." The boy stood, albeit shakily, and turned away from Optimus.
"Where are those bots?" HotShot came up behind them.
"We took care of them." Ion watched the scene below, then glanced over at the tower, where a boy younger than Kicker with spiky orange hair and wide green eyes was watching her. She winked and turned invisible, laughing when the boy seemed to freak out and begin scribbling wildly into a paper notepad. Then, her sensory went off.
"GUYS! LOOK OUT!" She screamed. Kicker and Optimus looked over to her, just as HotShot was blasted in the back. A few birds had taken refuge underneath the bridge, and took the chance to blast both bots away. "Those slaggers are smart! That ain't good!" Inferno growled, flying up next to Ion.
Kicker went tumbling across the ground, his back slamming into the safety wall and his helmet came off again. His hair blew in the surprisingly gentle breeze, even as the birds approached him.
'Boy...AWAKEN!' The voice from before shouted, and Kicker woke up in time to see a bird dive at him. He screamed, holding his hands in front of his face- and a huge ball of energy blasted from his hand, spreading into a giant net of sparks that short-circuited the birds. Optimus watched as Kicker slumped, while HotShot stared at the bots the human had taken out. Ion flew down next to the boy, and shook him.
"Oy! Kicker!" He moaned, opening his eyes slowly. He looked at her, eyes unfocused. "What just...happened?" Ion smirked, though her eyes expressed clearly how concerned she had been.
"You just became a realized IVA. Congrats." His eyes rolled up into his head, and then darkness consumed him.
READ AND REVIEW! Okay, now that the battle's over, we're finally done with episode one! Like in my Cothica story, I'll try to make the chapters longer from this point, okay?