Spider Messiah
Tarantula
After Tula had finished his upgrades, he opened his clinic back up, and his patients were thrown by the changes. Mostly, because the changes weren't to clinic, but to the doctor. The colors were the same, but the body sure as scrap wasn't.
Now, instead of being short and bulky, Tula was tall and slender. He had six long appendages on his back that he used as extra hands when doing surgery and as legs when trying to get to a patient. The legs allowed Tula to maneuver over traffic and were actually faster than his bulky vehicle mode. Most bots thought Tula looked strange when he used the appendages as legs and his regular legs would just hang down until they saw him at full speed. Something about it looked pretty bad aft, if not menacing, when Tula was in a hurry and getting irritated trying to get through.
Instead of blue optics, Tula had six yellow optics on his face. Two were in the normal optic position, two were directly above on his forehead, and two were directly below on his cheeks. Tula got a good laugh when the neighborhood proto forms tried throwing an exploding oil ball at his back, but the pair of yellow optics on his lower back saved him and the proto forms were in awe when he dodged with grace and agility.
Overall, everyone in the area was alright with his new look. They were all shocked, and some thought he was someone else at first, but there was no hatred. If only that had been the case among his medical peers.
The first time Tula went to the medical headquarters to request supplies after his transformation, security tried to throw him out. He had to go through an energy signature test to prove he was who he claimed to be. All the medical staff looked at him like he was an organic alien or something. Tula was unnerved when everyone backed away from him as he approached even bots that knew who he was.
"What is all the ruckus," One of the doctors on the medical council shouted as he entered. He took one look at Tula and recoiled. "What in the name of Primus?"
"Sir," a security guard that had been following Tula since Tula arrived spoke up, "This bot claimed to be a medic and was here to order supplies. Upon checking his energon signature, it has been confirmed that he is Dr. Tula."
"Tula," the medical counsel bot turned back to Tula with wide shocked optics. This also happened to be the bot that had wanted to take Tula as an apprentice to join the medical counsel after Tula had run a clinic on his own for an eon or two.
Tula offered a small smile, but it quickly faded as his mentor backed further away.
"What have you done to yourself," the older medic shouted.
Tula cringed a bit, but replied, "I wanted and needed a change. It was so hard to perform any medical procedure with that big bulky body in the small examination rooms my clinic has; and since I am needed in that area and there are no bigger buildings available, I changed myself. I never did feel quite right in my old mold anyway."
"So you performed some mad science experiment on yourself," Tula's mentor began to accuse, "Did you experiment on others? Are you going to offer this abomination of a body to others? I knew I shouldn't have let you open your clinic in such a disgusting place!"
Tula was speechless. He simply couldn't believe his long time teacher and mentor could accuse him and the neighborhood he now called home of all these things. A part of Tula's spark hurt as such cruel words, but another part flared with anger.
"I never have and never will perform an experimental surgery on someone else. I worked on the designs and methods of the procedure for vorns," Tula lashed back, "And have you ever even been down to the place I call home? True, there are questionable bots down there, but that's true of every place you go. As for everyone else, they're just bots who can't seem to get ahead and need whatever help someone is willing to give them, but I guess that's more than any of you can seem to comprehend."
Everyone was silent. No one knew how to respond to this. Some began to applaud, while others remained disgusted.
"Well, if you insist on living a reckless life, perhaps you're not ready to be an apprentice to the Medical Counsel," Tula's mentor spoke with an air of disappointment.
Tula laughed and everyone was shocked by such a strange reaction. No one had ever had their apprenticeship taken away before. One would think Tula would be ashamed or angry.
Tula smiled, "Like I would never want to work with someone so narrow minded."
And with that Tula left. He knew after all this that his official medical license would be stripped away, and he would no longer have access to medical supplies. So Tula may have found a form he was more comfortably, but it was now costing him all his hard work and studying.
Plus, the neighborhood he lived would no longer have a clinic. Thinking about that, Tula felt bad. He began to realize he acted selfishly. Now, he almost wanted to cry. He had forgotten about the bots that needed him.
When he started locking up his clinic for good, bots from all over the neighborhood gathered to find out what was going on. They were angry and distraught over what had happened, and they begged him not to close his clinic. Tula told them he would stay open, but without an official license and access to medical supplies, he couldn't treat them.
"Why can't you," one femme asked, "I heard that the doctors in Kaon practice medicine privately, and we would be more than willing to help you find a way to get the supplies you need."
The rest of them hooped and hollered in support. Tula had forgotten about private practice. If he traveled to Kaon and took their medical exam for a license, he could practice privately and maybe through this he could get a new supplier.
Tula smiled at the people he had befriended, "Thank you everyone. I will journey to Kaon, get a new license and supplier, and be back as soon as I can."
"You can do it, Tula," everyone cheered.
Tula had a thoughtful expression before stating, "No, I'm not Tula anymore. Call me Tarantula."
