So, remember when I had that story that's taking place in the War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron games? Well, I've decided to bring it back. After some careful consideration, I felt like doing another Transformers story with my OC, Bladewolf, but this time by making a pureborn Cybertronian rather than a buman from another world who is changed into a Cybertronian. I intend to do the same in a future Transformers Prime story, with Bladewolf as a Cybertronian and member of Team Prime by the beginning of the show.
Also, big thanks to DFM23 who is helping me write this story. His touch is probably what is needed for this to succeed better, given the work he did on his own Transformers story which was a retelling of the 2007 Bayverse Transformers film. So once again, big thanks to him.
Anyway, not sure if there will be a pairing, but if there is then it will most likely be with Arcee, even though she wasn't in the plot of the games, but I think DFM23 and I can figure out a way to include her if we go that route.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: War for Cybertron. I only own the OC Bladewolf.
The roar of the crowd was almost deafening to audio receptors as they called for limbs to be torn off, Energon spilled onto the ground. Truly, the crowd were as bloodthirsty as the managers who orchestrated these fights.
Such is the case in the Gladiatorial pits of Kaon.
The pits were truly what several Cybertronians of the upper caste system make it out to be. A filthy waste of Cybertron where the lower-class are placed, but those of the upper-class were short-sighted, lived their lives of luxury, basking in the corruption of Cybertron's system. Those who were put into the gladiator arenas, to fight, they struggled at first. They saw it as if Unicron himself had created their own personal hell.
But over time, they fought to survive and grew to enjoy the fighting, to enjoy having another day of being online.
And the same could be said for one certain Cybertronian who fought tactfully, with calculating skill, on par with Megatronus himself. And every Cybertronian spectator knew that if this Cybertronian and Megatronus were to fight, it would be one great fight worthy of the Shanix it would earn.
The Cybertronian who was fighting sported a black chassis, blue optics as all Cybertronians had. The diffuse light of the arena made his combat scars seem silvery, almost luminous. He was armed with a pair of vibroweapons, the blades clearly customized from a scrapyard, that dripped with Energon as he grunted when his opponent tried shoulder bashing him but he flipped over, slashing his fellow Cybertronian's back.
His name was Bladewolf. Rumored to be a descendant of Megatronus Prime and Solus Prime, thrown into the lower castes because the High Council did not want a Prime upending their firmly-entrenched system.
Bladewolf fought like the Primes of old, yet filled with the aggression needed to survive in these hellish pits. But he did not allow the glory to get to his processor, to be arrogant in his skill and be entertained by the crowd. He fought for one reason and one reason alone; to survive another day.
The true prize was to survive and fight another day, the Shanix he earned from each fight was just a small bonus in his opinion.
Sliding across the ground on his pedes, Bladewolf narrowed his optics as he twirled one of his vibroweapons to hold in reverse grip, watching his opponent grip his weapon before charging with a roar. Bladewolf remained still as his opponent drifted closer, face set in a neutral expression while his optics remained narrowed.
Bonesaw was an adequate fighter. He had won five fights so far, but he was not ready for the other gladiators. So far, he had faced those that were… too soft for this kind of life. Bladewolf didn't know why those bots were sent in, but he knew that they didn't have a choice in the matter. Blackmail was a common thing higher-class Cybertronians used to put even non-fighters into the pits just to earn shanix from a fight, win or lose.
Nevertheless, Bonesaw was used to weaker opponents. He was not used to fighting someone who had won thirty straight bouts in this very arena, as evidenced in how he was leaking from dozens of wounds.
Bonesaw was close, rearing back to swing his weapon; a collapsible mace, one of dozen standard-issue gladiator weapons. Bladewolf whirled his reversed blade to block, then swung the other upwards. Sparks flew as Bonesaw's sword arm was sliced off his body, Energon spilling out as the Cybertronian howled in pain, stumbling back. The savage glee of the crowd reverberated in Bladewolf's sensors. If they want bloodsport, he supposed, they should get their shanix worth.
He struck Bonesaw. Lubricants and bits of plating spattered him. He struck again, and again, butchering Bonesaw to his knees until he could not fight back. Energon pooled on the welded-steel floor of the arena, a mighty puddle formed as the bludgeoned and beaten Bonesaw stared immobile from the floor. Bladewolf kicked apart his remains and flung pieces of it into the crowd for trophies, his blade wrenching Bonesaw's head from his support brace as one final exaltation of his victory.
He held the severed head up for all to see. The crowd's adulation rained down on him like Energon, like life itself. They chanted his designation, affirming his legacy in these Primus-forsaken pits. BLADEWOLF! BLADEWOLF! BLADEWOLF!
Bladewolf kept his expression blank and cold as he flicked Energon off his blades. Tossing Bonesaw's head aside, he sheathed his blades and made for the exit back to where the other Gladiators watched or waited for their fight.
He passed by them in rows, some of them murmuring their approval of his fight, others looking upon him scornfully with an eager desire to meet him in the arena for themselves. Bladewolf never met their gazes.
One voice called out above the rest. "I see you've met some of the indigenous semi-intelligent life Kaon has to offer." Bladewolf turned. Pushing through the crowds, a mech in silver, tall and broad in the shoulder struts, emerged from between the gladiators. He was flanked by a shorter thinner mech, wiry in his composition by stark comparison. But the silver one captured Bladewolf's attention. "It is good to see you fight in person."
"Megatronus?" He whispered. "Am I speaking to the Master of Kaon? The Scourge of Underworld?" Megatronus loosed a bellowing laugh.
"The same. The same as I am speaking to the Butcher of the Kali-Con Pits and the Black Knight of Vos." Megatronus answered. Far off in the dimness, Bladewolf heard the skitter of tiny servos he always associated with Minicons. "I'd invite you to walk with me, Bladewolf. There is much I wish to discuss." Surprised by the invitation, but curious that one so famous would seek an audience with him, Bladewolf followed. Soundwave kept a watchful optic from behind, his Minicons scattered throughout to be his optics and audials elsewhere.
They passed through a training facility where ranks of Cybertronians performed martial exercises under the direction of a drillmaster. Not far from there, a level down, was a vast machine shop in which armor and weapons were coming together under the skilled and watchful optics of war smiths. It seemed fitting that mechs forced into industry could now converse about anything but within such an environment.
"I've heard your rhetoric on the grid channels." Bladewolf started. "Your address at Tarn was… inspiring."
"Thank you. I'm no councilor but I have learned how to speak so that others may hear." Megatronus replied. "You have heard me, Bladewolf, as I have watched you. I've seen what you can do in the pits and I want you to join us."
"Who is us?" Bladewolf questioned.
"Whoever wants to join me," Megatron answered with a laugh. "When taking on the world, you can't be choosy about who wants to be on your side."
"So you have followers in Kaon… where else?" The black mech questioned.
"That's the kind of question a spy would ask."
"Do I honestly look like a spy to you?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Soundwave says I should worry that you will betray me." Megatron laughed. "I tell him that if I thought you might betray me, I would meet you in the arena and settle things like warriors. Would you fight me in the ring for your principles, Bladewolf? Can you tell your principles from mine?"
"I can and I would fight for any one of them." As he said it, Bladewolf realized it was true. Hearing Megatron speak had lit a fire inside of him that was not Megatron's fire but his own. It was as if his spark had never come to its full brightness until it had struck against the revolutionary ideas he presented.
"Then I will tell you. I have followers in Blaster City and across the Badlands in Slaughter City. I could make the spaceport at Hydrax mine tomorrow," Megatron said, "and across Cybertron, there are pockets of Cybertronians who hear me. They will follow should I call them into action when the time is right."
Bladewolf paced, his frame illuminated by sparks from the warsmiths. "That could be costly. No matter how many followers you have, the High Council has its reach across Cybertron. They could amass a great army and end you before you make an impact."
"A grim but true understanding." Megatronus agreed. "But to avoid a civil war and remain a crusade, I need mechs like you by my side. Are you ready to be more than a gladiator?" Bladewolf paused to think about that. He never had the ambition to go beyond his station. In truth, the notion of it terrified him.
"I try not to ask myself questions that don't have answers I can do anything about." He said simply.
"Who has told you that you can't do anything about the answers? I never even had a name. I went out to die for the pleasure of strangers. Now I am Megatronus, and I will fight when and where and for what reasons I please."
"Fight who?"
"Those who would tell me, like they tell you, that we do not have the right to determine our own fates."
Bladewolf paused to think again. He weighed the words of Megatronus for himself. "If you have goals beyond Kaon you should tailor your message so it will resonate beyond the castes who smelt ore and die in the pits." He decided, attempting to be as tactical as he was in the arena.
Megatronus' response was firm but fair. "Or the rest of Cybertron should learn to understand those castes. Even you do not, and you are one of us."
In response, in a move of acceptance, the gladiator spread his arms. "Then show me what I do not understand." Bladewolf asked.
Megatronus smiled, all too willing to oblige him.
One thing that was missing from the original cut of this story, was HOW Bladewolf met Megatron and became a Decepticon. In this, you are shown that he was a gladiator in the pits of Kaon, where he met Megatron and Soundwave. Let me know what you think in the reviews. And once again, huge thanks to DFM23 for helping me with this.