"Unbecoming Soundwave"

I never planned on becoming a gladiator. It kind of just… happened.

Our career in the music industry was dwindling. Triple Beat was slowly going out of style. I wasn't as disappointed as Vi and Mel. I knew that, eventually, we would become a thing of the past. But there was still a problem.

A job.

For too long, I had had to defend Vi and Mel from the occasional deviant. Because of this, I decided to take a martial training course. I trusted only myself to protect the twins, no one else. I did well in training. So well, in fact, that many people began urging me to go into the Combat Entertainment industry.

"Just try it, please, Waves!" Vi begged. She had taken to watching gladiators battle on the net. She was sure I could crush any one of them. I refused. I didn't like fighting, and if I could avoid it, I would.

But there came a time that I could no longer hide from it.

I had to decide.

Triple Beat had its last performance. With less than a hundred in the audience. It was time.

"Please, Waves…"

The season had come for new gladiators to enter the sport. I became one of them.

xxx

I had only been a gladiator for a quarter cycle. I was ready to withdraw after my first battle.

I won.

Though, because I won my first battle, I became suddenly popular. It was a different kind of popularity than what I had received in the music industry. I had loved being recognized for my work in music. This, however, was fame for slaughter. And it made me sick.

I was required to fight three more times before being allowed to quit. But after three battles, I was forced to stay. The public raved about me as a fighter, which I hated. My new manager, however, loved it. My success was valuable, and he wasn't going to let me go anytime soon.

I rose higher and higher in the ranks, while my morality fell lower and lower. The twins could tell I was depressed, and did their best to support me. They tried multiple times to convince my manager to let me take leave, but he stubbornly refused. Vibes was in a depression of her own, thinking she had been the cause of it all by nagging me to try the sport. I assured her it wasn't. In the end, it was my own decision.

And now, I was doomed to witness my own bloody victories. Every battle of every season, every cycle of my career. With a terrible weight on my spark, I was forced to abandon the music industry altogether. My hopes of finding another job were gone.

Blazer, being the gracious mech that he was, continued to manage Vi and Mel. He set them up with jobs as performers in their own duo, using other artist's works. It only provided so much, though. I was pained to admit that my new career as a gladiator was the only thing keeping us from bankruptcy.

My spark was empty now, but who would care? The twins slowly gave up on trying to comfort me. Once again, I became cold and distant. Without music to fill the emptiness, I was worse than before I had met the twins. I wasn't just isolated, I was hateful. I hated my manager, for caging me into this violent career I hated the public for influencing him. I hated myself, because I began taking out my rage on my opponents. The battles became more bloody, some resulting in near death. It was those moments that drove blades through my dead spark, only worsening the pain that came with the realization of the monster I've become.

xxx

His name was Megatronus. Ranked as one of the best gladiators known to Cybertron. And I was scheduled to fight him today.

Vi and Mel never came to the fights. They never watched them on the net. The one kindness that they could offer me. To turn away when I was forced to turn this savage creature loose. Soundwave, the Gladiator. The nightmare that devoured me.

Soundwave the brother, Soundwave the musician.

That Soundwave was dead.

xxx

The battle was interesting. And ended in a draw. I had lost before, multiple times. But Megatronus could have killed me. He spared my life, though. He was curious.

Apparently, I was the first real challenge for him. He was a true gladiator. He had his spark in it. I was merely driven by the tension that stored up inside me, exploding every time I was put in the ring. He loved his job, I hated mine.

He met with me after the battle. I don't remember what he said. But after that, his battles were scheduled closer to mine. We talked, and slowly, built an odd sort of friendship. It was only neutral, but it made all the difference when the war began…