Chapter 1: The Great Arrival
Cybertron… My home. For many years since I went online, it had been ravaged with war and destruction. Desolation loomed around the corner, and every soldier built had no right for mercy nor for weakness. I was told it was a peaceful planet, until it finally succumbed to war and death. I was one of those soldiers, merciless and brutal in battle, for those were the qualities needed in order to survive. The war ravaged on, until the All-Spark was launched into space. Lost in the cosmos, the ruthless leader of the Decepticons decided to chase it down.
A few eons later, I, along with the others, crash landed on a planet called Earth. There I found something… new. Something odd. There, I finally found the one thing I thought I could never find in my lifetime… The one thing I thought I could never experience. Peace. The tranquil and serene nature around me brought down the hard truth that I was never willing to swallow, that the war had torn me to shreds. The years I have fought left me distraught and yearning for something new.
Something I thought I could never achieve, yet here it was.
I had hidden in plain sight, transformed into what the native species call a tank, as I learned more about the beings around me. Humans, they called themselves. They're a young species, and from the data I had gathered, merely thousands of years old. They have not yet achieved the necessary tech levels in order to fully traverse the galaxy, yet they have such vivid imagination. I had glimpsed upon their own entertainment, and, despite my own thoughts, they were interesting.
I had then spent my time in dormancy, learning and exploring not just about their entertainment, but also their traditions, their history, their music, and their art.
I had yearned to communicate with them, to learn more about their ways, to understand more, but orders were orders. It was relatively peaceful, being in plain sight, yet absurdly baffling at times. The only interactions I often had were for military practices and maintenance. It wasn't until an attack at a military base that I finally got out of my stasis.
My communications network picked up different conversations, from the discovery of LadiesMan217, the location of the All Spark hidden by a group known as Sector 7, to the initial release of the Decepticon warlord, along with the battle in a nearby city. My colleagues were already enroute to the battle, meanwhile I was slowly trudging along the road.
"Come on, Decepticon punk!" I managed to pick up over the communication network as I realized that the battle was starting, yet there I was, nowhere near the designated area. After a few minutes of traversing the roads, I finally reached the city, only to see broken rubble and shattered glass. I looked at the damage brought forth by the battle, and the citizens who were terrified to their bones, only to realize that this was not what should've happened. They were merely living, doing their everyday routines. They did not deserve such fate! I was never there to witness the battle, but I knew that there were a lot of human casualties.
And with the battle over before I even got there, I simply looked on with remorse. There was nothing for me to do, nowhere to go.
And in that moment, I decided to leave this planet, for I no longer wish to partake in such a cruel war. No more.
With the passing of the leader of the Decepticons, and the destruction of the All Spark, it seemed all hope was lost in rebuilding my home. And as I traversed the emptiness of space, something pulled upon my thrusters as I spun out of control. The last thing I saw was the shallow emptiness of a white void. A pulling sensation, I realized too late that I was burning in the atmosphere of a planet. Slowly, the fire ebbed away parts of my protoform as I crash landed on this mysterious planet. I was surrounded by forests, the one thing that made me relax. Perhaps it wasn't all that bad… If this was a new planet, however, then perhaps there would be a different native species.
Looking around, I decided to shed my protoform and transformed once more into my tank mode. Alas, that crash drained not only my Energon reserves, but also damaged my communications network along with my navigation systems. Perhaps… Perhaps it is best to simply stay in stasis as I prepare to repair myself slowly.
? 9:42 am
"I'm telling you sis; you really need to learn how to fight without Crescent Rose." The blonde girl said as she flicked her mane to the side.
"And I'm telling you, all I need is Crescent Rose!" The raven head countered, annoyed at her sister.
The two teenagers continued to bicker among themselves, with the tall blonde grinning over the pouting raven head. They were walking towards the dense forest right outside their home as a means to relax after a good spar between the two. Although… it would appear that it wasn't a fair spar at all. Perhaps training would have been a better word… if training meant getting beaten without a way to fight back, that is.
"Curse it all," the raven head thought, "I don't need to fight with my fists! There's a reason long range weapons were made!" She continued to pout as she stomped and trudged through the dirt path. "Stupid Yang, I'm not built for that kind of training!"
"Aww, come on Rubes, it can't be that bad." The blonde, Yang, shrugged as she continued down the path. "It CaN'T Be ThAt BaD," the raven head, Ruby, mocked as she crossed her arms. "It's easy for you to say, you're stronger than me!"
The two siblings continued to bicker once more, with Yang finally locking her arms around Ruby's neck. Yang was a tall girl, with long, blonde hair. She had lilac eyes, vivid with life and energy. Upon her wrists were her powerful gauntlets, golden in color and loaded with shotgun shells, Ember Celica. Underneath her arms, however, was her younger sister, Ruby. Pale in comparison, she had black hair ending in crimson tips. Her silver eyes, mesmerizing and mysterious, hidden underneath a face full of curiosity and child-like enthusiasm. She wore black all over, from her shirt to her frilly skirt, unlike her sister who wore some sort of a short-sleeved leather jacket and black shorts. The most distinguishing feature, however, was her long crimson cloak.
As they continued to bicker (as siblings do) about the way Ruby dismisses combat training, Ruby noticed something shiny. Something odd. Something boxy yet angular in design.
"Yang, stop! Wait a minute…" The sudden shift in Ruby's tone garnered Yang's attention. "Ruby?" She asked, getting no reply. Ruby simply walked towards the foliage, as Yang followed.
What they saw was… completely baffling. It was, for the most part, a box-like car. But it was not a car. It had treads, like a tractor, yet it does not look like a tractor. It was rusty and by the looks of it, old. Yang was stumped as to who made this, or why they weaponized a tractor. Ruby, on the other hand, bounced in place as she squealed in delight.
"Yang look! Look at the size of that gun barrel! It's probably over 120 millimeters! That's probably the main armament! And those mounted machine guns! Do you think they are fully mechashift compatible?!"
There she goes. What Ruby lacked in hand-to-hand combat, she made up for with her knowledge of weapons, from the old to the new. Though, this thing right in front of them was something else. It was beige in color, with bits of brown leaking on certain parts. It was probably the rust due to the weather conditions. It had a license plate on its lower plate, a turret with the gun attached, some hatches, and strange decals. "Sharp Shot," Yang read as she stared at the gun barrel. There was a weird cylinder in the middle of the gun, with another more prominent box at the start of the turret, vines dangling on some parts of the gun. Finally, she noticed another decal at the turret itself. It was angular in design, with two horns on the side, with some sort of sharp helmet in the middle. It looked to be a logo of some sort, or maybe it was something else.
She glanced at her sister, who was nowhere in sight. Panicked, she looked around, almost calling her name until she heard a muffled "Yang!" inside the turret.
She brought her hand upon her chest as she sighed. "Don't scare me like that!" She climbed onto the turret and saw the inner machinations of the weird vehicle. Loads of ammo perched on the side, buttons and switches connected to weird and unknown machinery. There were headphones neatly hung by her side. What got Ruby's attention though was the gun itself. Or rather, the breach of the gun.
"Probably something that Ruby can manage," Yang thought to herself. She looked at her sister who was gushing about the gun controls. There seemed to be a switch where it depicted three options: off, main, and coax, something both don't know about. There was also a handle right beside the "controller". In fact, there were two controllers, one in the gun, and one underneath the hatch. It looks cool, but it's honestly weird.
With how the modified tractor looked inside, it's a wonder that it could fit people. Ruby looked around, counting the seats. There were three, and judging by how heavy some of the shells were, there would be another person inside to load it into the breach. "A maximum of 4 people can fit in here," Ruby thought to herself. "Perfect fit for a team!"
She clutched onto her sister's arm. "Yang! Let's keep it!" Confusion ran at the elder sister's head. Here was her younger sister, wanting to keep a vehicle of her own. Granted, the vehicle itself had a gun on it. A big gun, one that could destroy a house if need be. Really, she shouldn't even be surprised. Perhaps it was because it was a vehicle in the first place that made her confused.
"Don't you think you want to see if it can run first?" Yang said, chuckling at her younger sister. With a gasp, Ruby ran towards the back of the vehicle, where she struggled to yank open, in what she hopes, the engine deck.
"Yang, come quick!" Rolling her eyes, Yang followed through her sister's command. Figuring that the vehicle did not have an engine, (after all, this was a very old vehicle) Yang became very flabbergasted the moment she saw the engine. It was beautiful, it was sleek, and most importantly, it was almost as if it was brand new.
Given that she owns her own motorcycle along with helping her dad out with the maintenance of their family vehicle, she can conclude that this engine was definitely not of this world. Where were the dust cartridges? The cylinder processors? Hell, even the most basic dust cartridge pistons found in every single engine weren't there! She couldn't identify a single thing, and that was saying something. It was a very bizarre engine, and yet, it looks so brand new. No rust, no weathering, just an engine, as if it wasn't even used.
"Can we keep it? CAN WE KEEP IT?!" Ruby said, gushing over the vehicle. Yang had to agree, it did look awesome, but…
"No, Rubes, we can't," Yang said.
"WHAT?! But why?! No one is using it, and it's abandoned!" Ruby all but shouted, miffed at her sister's decision.
"Ruby, look at the engine and tell me what you see." Yang said, sighing at her younger sister's antics. Ruby furrowed her brows, observing the engines. "It has no dust?"
"Well, there's that," Yang said as she placed a hand underneath her chin. "There's also the fact that the engine is brand new."
Ruby, confused, looked at Yang irately. "Ruby, if the engine is brand new, doesn't that mean SOMEONE has been coming here to fix it?"
Thinking hard, Ruby finally got what her sister was saying. Disappointed, she let out a sigh. "Aww, but- hmph, why are they even fixing it here? Don't they realize that they will damage the gun and the internal wirings? This sucks!" Ruby pouted, kicking a pebble off the ground.
"Aww, cheer up Ruby. Hey, when this thing pops up in a vehicle auction, we'll buy it. It doesn't have the fanciest engine plus it's a bit beaten up, so we can probably buy it at a cheap cost…" Yang said, trying to cheer Ruby up. "… only if dad agrees to it," she muttered.
"Yeah, I guess…" Ruby said, dissatisfied. "It's just… look at it, it needs a bit of repairs, and it would be so cool to have. Blasting Grimm off with a bang with that kind of gun, it's gonna be so awesome!"
"Don't you mean with a 'Yang'?" Yang quipped. Ruby groaned at the bad pun, but that was just how her sister was. "Come on, let's go back home before dad grounds us." Yang said, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"Okay…" With one last look at the vehicle, Ruby walked alongside her sister, muttering how the world was cruel and that whoever was fixing the vehicle should've just taken it to their garage or something.
Unbeknownst to them, however, the vehicle whirred to life.
? 9:57 am
- - Engaging Systems Reboot: - -
- Checking Internal Systems:
- Optics_1: Normal
- Optics_2: Normal
- Cooling Systems: Normal
- Navigational Systems: Requires Update
- Communications Network: Requires Update
- Equilibrium: Destabilized [Performing StabilizationProcedure_1.1]
- Stabilization complete
- TCog: Normal
- Shield Integrity: 23%
- Energon_Status: 47%
- - Accessing Spark_Drives: - -
- Performing Data Restoration:
- Data Restoration complete
- - Systems Normal/Starting Reboot: - -
My optics started to boot online as I scanned my surroundings. Sometime must have passed as there was now a dirt path near my location. What made me curious, however, was the footprints near me.
Humans. They were here. Using my offline motion perimeter feed, I was glad to find that my theory was indeed correct. Humans were there. Younglings, barely the same age as the military men handling my maintenance on Earth, but humans, nonetheless. When I first crash landed on this planet, I wasn't confident of human life.
I was wrong on that account. Although, I was a bit confused as to how my offline motion perimeter feed only managed to capture those two humans. There's a dirt road, why didn't it notify me of its creation? Perhaps I was a bit too far from its construction. Regardless, humans!
Turning my turret around, I decided to do a 360 check around the perimeter to see if I had missed something as well as to test out my turret traversal, to check if there are damages to the turret ring.
So far, so good. For someone to crash land so suddenly, it is a miracle not to have any major damages. Apart from my damaged and rusty appearance, there was no other damage required for automatic repairs. I'm especially glad that my communications network and my navigational systems were online and running. I am always thankful for automatic repairs, so long as no other injury befall upon me, I think I can manage in this world.
Updating my communications network and navigational systems was a bit taxing. Luckily, all I had to do was wait it out. Surprising me the most, however, was that I was still connected to one of the Earth satellites. This means that, should I need it, I can communicate with the others. The most important thing for me, however, was the ability to save newer entertainment from the humans of Earth. That should come in handy when interacting with this planet's species.
While waiting, I decided to test out my track suspension. All systems were normal, my suspension was good, albeit a bit noisy due to the rust. A simple shed of my outermost casing can help that, though I may need to communicate with those humans to help with removing all the grime and mud. Rotating was a bit slow due to the mud and mosses.
Now that I thought about it, the humans stated that they had never seen anything like me before. Perhaps they are a bit more primitive than the humans on Earth? I'd need a bit more information to draw a conclusion on that.
Regardless, it would seem the blonde, Yang I believe, knew more about machinery. Though, one thing bothered me. What was this "dust" that the younger one, Ruby, mentioned? Interactions with humans, something I had always thought about. Now that I have a chance to do such a thing, why do I feel terrible about it? I do not wish to scare them, especially the little one.
Deciding to take it slow, I decided to drive myself out of that mud and traverse carefully right next to the dirt path. If the children of this world did not know what I was, then there would be a major problem should I decide to drive in the dirt path where more people were bound to see me.
Shrubbery, twigs, and roots greeted my tracks. I realize that I was leaving a trail behind me but knowing that only two children were able to see me for the whole period of stasis that I had done, I doubt anyone would find it. Nature would run its course and hide it should it rain later on.
Slowly, however, I decided to stop as I could hear gunshots from different caliber rounds. Were the humans at war? If so, what a cruel joke to be placed in a such a world.
Slowly, I inched closer to the field where I could see the two siblings gunning down what appeared to be black, oil-based lifeforms. I had not sensed any life within those creatures, only nothingness. Only hatred.
The younger one wasn't armed and was merely running in… were those petals? She was circling the oil-based lifeforms, gathering their attention while the older one was punching whilst shooting on the distracted being.
The younger one seemed to have tripped, with a rather massive looking bear-like creature about to pounce on her. Her older sister decided to rush forth, only to be smacked by said bear-like creature. Having seen enough, I decided to take the initiative.
? 10:27 am
How did this happen? One moment they were walking down the road, playfully jabbing at each other and talking about that weird tractor, the next, a pack of Beowolves and a lone Ursa Minor decided to attack them.
"Ruby, cover fire!" Yang said, cocking her gauntlets as she punched an approaching Beowolf, shooting it on its head mid punch.
"I can't! I don't have Crescent Rose!" Right, the one time her sister DIDN'T bring her baby and they were swamped with Grimm. The universe had a funny way of playing tricks on some people.
Regardless, Yang steadied herself and shot round after round, punching those that got near her. Ruby, for her part, decided to take away most of the Grimm by causing a distraction, dodging and weaving with the use of semblance. "Hey, over here!" Ruby said, flinging herself to the right, making some of the Beowolves bump into each other.
Seeing this, Yang grinned as she dashed towards the unsuspecting Beowolves using her momentum from firing behind. She dodged one slash, dodged another, and proceeded to pummel both with her fists. Grinning as she did so, she shot both of them on their heads, killing them instantly.
However, that grin slowly faded as she saw her sister tumble and fall, as the roar of the Ursa garnered her utmost attention. It was about to strike at her sister.
"RUBY!" She yelled out, focusing on her gauntlets as she tried to fire both onto the ground. Unfortunately, the Beowolves struck her on her back. Not wanting to miss a beat, she decked the Beowolves and tried to reach her sister. Ruby, dazed from her tumble, looked up, only to see the lone visage of the towering Ursa. She squeaked as she tried to get up, trying her hardest to run away, only for her to stumble back once more. Yang, thrusting forward with all her might, got smacked away by the Ursa.
Crawling away while she was staring at the beast, she feared for the worst as she closed her eyes, hearing her sister call her name, when a sudden loud crack filled their ears.
A wide, gaping hole in the side of the head of the Ursa greeted her vision. What was once a towering threat lay dead, dissipating into nothingness as the other Beowolves turned to see who their challenger was.
Yang, taking this chance, decided to rush towards her sister, holding her tightly as she checked for injuries.
"Ruby?! Ruby! Are you okay?!" Yang said with such fervor in her voice, with a few tears trickling down her cheeks. Ruby smiled weakly, hugging her sister for a brief moment before she screamed.
"Look out!"
Yang saw the claws about to strike her. She braced herself, holding her sister closely. She can take the hit, and she will dish it back. She waited… only for yet another loud crack to greet them. The two, curious and cautious as to what was going on, finally saw what had helped them.
Hearing a loud whistling noise, they saw a giant vehicle driving off the foliage and into the clearing. The weaponized tractor came to their rescue.
It rotated its turret as it took a turn, its frontal plate in front of the Grimm, almost as if defending them. It whirred, like the roar of a lion, and shot round after round, pelting the Beowolves with its bullets. When one Beowolf got lucky and tried to rush the vehicle, it merely turned its whole hull, the turret steady as it rotated, and shot a rather large shell at the Beowolf.
Suffice to say, that Beowolf no longer had a body, or a head, or anything really apart from its legs. It whirled around once more, using the gun barrel like a bat and whacking the rest away. When the Beowolves were tossed far away, it began pelting them once more with a hailstorm of bullets, until there was nothing left.
Sighing as the fight was over, Yang slumped down as her body gave out. It was not because of the fight itself, but more so on the possibility that she could've lost her sister then and there.
Ruby, however, was in awe, as if the fight didn't exist at all. She, unlike her sister, was a ball of continuous energy. Whether it was because of the cookies she always consumed or because of her semblance, she didn't know.
Ruby bounced up and down, looking at their hero vehicle. "That… was… AWESOME! How did you manage to get this here with an engine like that? Or was the engine not reliant on dust?! That would be so amazing! Did you get the engines working or was it just turned off?! Oh, I should've checked if there was a power button somewhere! Oh, is that an autoloader as well? CAN THE MOUNTED GUNS MECHASHIFT?!"
Ruby was… very excited. Needless to say, Yang steeled herself as she walked, albeit a bit shakily, towards their heroes… whoever they were.
"So, you gonna introduce yourselves, hotshots?" Yang jokingly said as she tapped the front plate of the vehicle, expecting someone to come out. After all, she did see a hatch on the front, so maybe it was someone inside. Judging by the way it fought, there were probably four people inside.
There was a moment of silence before the vehicle whirred again. "Huh, you turning it off or something?" She asked the driver, only to stop suddenly when she heard a bit more of those whirring noises. Slowly, the vehicle backed away, and to their surprise, the side skirts of the vehicle began flipping outwards and folding in on itself. The tracks were then exposed, the front plates began shifting inward as the main gun did the same, with the turret opening up, revealing the inner breach of the gun. The tracks and the wheels began to collapse, as arms began to fold outside, pushing it slightly upwards.
It then began to grow legs, with some of the wheels combining to make the knees and the thighs. It then began to stand, the tracks going inside, with some parts exposed, as if to make a chest. The engine whirred noisily, with the sprockets becoming its shoulders. Finally, with a bit of motion, the head popped up, its eyes red in color, the front turret becoming part of its chest; the license plate bent inwards, transforming into its clavicles.
This was not something she expected. She glanced at Ruby, her mouth agape, the shock ever present in her face. It was a giant robot. A gods-damned giant robot!
It then knelt in front of them, its glowing red eyes staring at their very souls. It didn't help that it had an insect-like face.
"Greetings," it said in a booming voice. And that was all it took to make Yang faint.
