A/N - So I am finally making a series in the Transformers universe! And the Animated one at that. Turns out a lot of my writer's block was due to being bombarded with plot bunnies for this story. All because I indulged in nostalgia from my childhood. I was eight when the first episode of Animated aired, and I was excited to see a new Transformers show (at the time Armada had not been on any channels my family had access to, so I didn't see that until I got my first iPhone and had YouTube). At that point I had only watched reruns of G1, so I was stoked to see it. At first I was confused, then over time I realized this was a different telling of the story.
My Mom always got a kick out of me yelling at Sentinel and calling him a "big chinned bully". I often pretended to be in the show, wielding a fake sword I had made of LEGO and 'attacking' a Decepticon or Sentinel whenever they appeared. One time I yelled at the tv "snitch on Sent OP! SNITCH ON HIM!". That was for the second episode of season two. Poor Mom nearly lost it.
Dad wasn't impressed when I labeled him as 'Megat'on' and valiantly tried to defend the 'base' from him whenever he came home. Mom thought it was hilarious.
Recently I came upon the show again, now an adult with much more understanding of all the lore and that of the different series'. I was rewatching episodes while writing my other series, and suddenly I was just hit with inspiration based on a character I had come up with when I was a kid (and would later find out the name had already been taken. But at that point I was too invested in it so hmph!). Now I'm writing my take on Animated with my OC and posting it here! I'm posting the prologue and chapter 1 together… if only because I finished writing chapter 1 before the prologue! Oh well.
Also I will post an OC sheet with a drawing of my character and some information about her. The rest you will find during the story as it unfolds. Though drawing in the Animated style was interesting, given it's looser and not as accurate style of drawing. I will admit I had to reference a base to work with, but after that it was fairly simple to finish designing her.
I also know that not everyone will like my take. Some will outright hate it. And that's fine. I mean, I don't like every story posted or that I start reading. And some I originally read when I reread I just can't find the same joy in anymore. Tastes change, and everyone enjoys different takes. So long as we are polite about it (i.e. not calling me an 'insolent cur' *cough* dumb man child *cough*), such as simply walking away, then things are good.
Anyways, onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, only my OC and the plot. No stealy.
She was floating, embraced in warmth. She felt content, happy, and felt her spark fill with love. The love came from the warm light she was essentially cradled in, and she snuggled close, never wanting to leave this warm embrace.
Unfortunately, she soon found herself being tugged away from the warmth. Panic took over, and she reached out desperately to the warmth.
Sorrow not her own filled her, followed by more love and what could only be described as encouragement…
"…you online! Hey!"
The femmeling jolted online with a yelp, nearly colliding with the form leaning over her. Said form yelped, jerking back, only to overbalance and hit the floor with a resounding metallic crash.
Rebooting her optics, the now-online bot looked over the edge of her bunk. "…P-321?"
"Oi…" said yellow and purple femmeling rubbed her rounded helm. "P-306 you don't need to online like that!"
"Sorry." The white and blue femmling with gold accents climbed down, extending a servo to her friend. "I guess it was just a strong flux."
P-321 accepted the offered servo, letting herself be pulled to her peds. "I'll say. You recharged through the early cycle alarm."
P-306 rebooted her optics, which then widened. "Wait, what?!" The femmeling took off. "Why didn't you say that?!"
P-321 scrambled after her. "You knocked me over before I got the chance!"
"Agh! We're so late!"
"At least I didn't leave you behind!"
The two slid around a corner in the hallway, pedes scraping along the metal floor.
"Thank you! But Madame Ariel is still going to offline us!"
"Then shut your vocalizer and run faster!"
The two kept running, eventually seeing their destination ahead of them…
Only for both to skid to a stop as a taller pink femme stepped into the hall, arms crossed. Her blue optics narrowed as she looked down at the two femmelings, left ped tapping against the floor with faint clinking sounds. Both younger bots made their species equivalent of gulping, giving twin weak smiles.
"G-Good cycle Madame A-Ariel!"
"W-We're not late a-are we?"
The older femme just raised an optic ridge, before letting out a long ex-vent. "Please make your way to your desks."
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
The two femmelings scurried inside the room, quickly sitting at their designated desks. Some of the other younglings in the room either rolled their optics or snickered, before all sat at attention as their teacher entered.
Ariel looked over her students, before beginning her lecture. "Today we will cover the basics of The Rebuilding. This name is used to describe the time after the Great War ended…"
P-321 sucked in a long vent, the Cybertronian equivalent of a yawn. "Mech, class was so boring." She groaned, stretching her arms above her helm as she walked beside her friend. "I kept dozing into light recharge!"
"I don't know." P-306 disagreed, scrolling through the notes on her datapad. "The Age of Re-Exploration is quite fascinating. The rediscovery of long-lost colonies and cultures is so fascinating!"
P-321 scoffed, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulder struts. "I swear, you're a pre-programmed archive bot! You'll fit right in with all of those stiffs!"
P-306 rolled her optics. "Well unlike you, I actually enjoy learning about our history. The achievements of not just Autobots but our entire race." She lightly shoved her friend. "You were pretty into the history of the Elite Guard."
The other femmeling snorted. "Of course! They're the greatest army in the universe!" She puffed her chest armour out. "And one day, I'll be working in the Science Sector, working with big designations like Preceptor!"
P-306 shook her helm. "But only if you have the programming." She said, going back to scrolling through her notes. "You know that not just any bot can join them."
P-321 grinned. "That's why I'm gonna ace the science exam!"
She was lightly punched in the shoulder armour. "And the history exam!" P-306 added. "You need both to get in, and to get into Autoboot Camp," the only way to get into the Science Caste was to go through the military training camp due to the strict controls over the Caste, "you need to do well on the science and history exams! Acing both of those gives you a straight shot in!" She poked her friend in the chest. "Otherwise, you're on the waitlist forever."
"Yeah yeah…" P-321 waved her friend off, only to squeak as she felt P-306 spin her around. "I'm serious P-321!" The femmeling snapped, optics filled with worry. "You need to get extremely high grades otherwise you could be waiting for vorns!" P-306 dragged her friend down the hall. "The history exam is in a megacycle, the science one is in an orn after that, and you need to ace both exams!" Not to mention having to study for the math, politics, biotechnology, and philosophy exams!
"B-But-!"
"No buts! We're gonna spend all our free time studying until you know Cyberton's history inside and out!"
"-Fraggit! Why do you have to be right all the time?!"
"Because I'm the 'stiff' who gives a frag about you!"
Other younglings watched as the one femme dragged the other down the halls, before going back to what they had been doing. Both femmes ignored them, one from determination and the other from exasperation.
"-and we'll start with the part you recharged through!"
An over exaggerated cry of "Nooooooo!" filled the hallway.
P-306 scowled, optic ridges drawn tight as she looked at the question on the holo-screen before her. After a few kliks she started typing, going over the different formulas she had memorized and downloaded to work to the answer. Eventually she was satisfied with her answer, and quickly did some editing to clean it before moving onto the next question.
It has been an orn and one megacycle since she had a lucid flux and had spent that time studying with P-321. Now it was time for the final placement exams, which encompassed this next megacycle. Depending on what she learned, how she answered, along with other factors, would determine her future. Hopefully, she would get into the History Caste, and then work her way to an archivist. The mere thought of having all of Cybertron's history at her digit tips for her perusal and care made her spark skip a beat.
Giving her helm a shake she refocused on the maths exam, digits flying across the keyboard panel as she inputted her answers. Eventually she finished, and quickly scrolled through to double then triple check her answers. A few error corrections later and she pressed the 'submit' button, watching as the screen blinked off. Ex-venting, she leaned back, letting her frame sag in her seat. Optics looked around the small test cubby; each student was placed in one to isolate them, a way to prevent cheating.
Glancing at her internal chromonitor, P-306 ex-vented again, letting her optics close. She still had a few breems until time was up and she'd be let out, so the femmeling decided to give herself a moment to recharge.
She was later jolted online when the end time alarm went off, nearly sending her toppling out of her seat. Groaning and rubbing her optics, she got up and went to the door, waiting to exit the room. As she waited, the femmeling tried to recall her flux. A feeling of warmth washed over her, but she just couldn't grasp it.
The door soon slid open, and P-306 joined the other younglings in filing down the hallway back to their dorms. I wonder how P-321 did…
"Any news yet?" P-321 asked for the fifth time in a joor, getting a groan out of the other femmling.
"No. And you would know, given they deliver the data pads to our dorm." P-306 answered, not looking away from her datapad. The Histories of the First Magnus was quite a fascinating biography, detailing the rise of Prima Magnus, and how he led their race to victory against the 'Invaders from Beyond the Sky'. Unfortunately, since the actual event had taken place over seventy-one million vorns ago, and the biography was written many centivorns later, possibly up to millivorns later, it was more of a recollection of different versions of the events passed down over time. But it was still a fascinating read. This latest edition included new archaeological discoveries from ruins out in the Sea of Rust!
P-321 gave an overdramatic ex-vent, flopping back onto her own berth. "Mech, why do we have to wait so long?!" She complained, throwing her servos up.
Realizing that she wasn't going to be able to finish reading in peace, P-306 sat up, turning off the datapad. "Because they have hundreds of tests to grade and scores to tally." The blue and white femmeling reminded her friend, sliding down off her berth to place the datapad on her desk. Each dorm room had two raised berths, with each berth being situated over top of a desk space. "We are only the third batch of the recent protoforms." She answered. "Given how the Allspark was lost during the Great War, the only way for new life to come about is from the limited power of Vector Sigma or the sparks harvested before the Allspark vanished." The femmeling recited what she had learned from history class. "As such, the birth of new younglings must be regulated in order to ensure that in the far future there will still be new bots sparked so that our species does not age out."
P-321 went limp on her berth, whining. "P-306…"
"Sorry." The femmling rubbed the back of her helm, before climbing up to sit on the end of her friend's berth. "I know you're worried. But I have faith in you." She smiled, reaching over and resting her servo on her friend's leg armour. "You aced all the practice tests! Once you get the green light, you'll go to Autoboot Camp and work your way to the Science Caste!"
"Yeah… you're right." P-321 sat up, smiling. "Mech… I'm going to miss you at Autoboot Camp."
P-306 smiled. "Hey, we can still contact each other over the data net. Or our comm. links when we finally get them." She giggled. "And we can meet up with each other out in the city!"
The thought of being out in the city made the two femmelings perk up. Despite a few guided tours through Iacon, the Capital, and Praxus, where their home in the Youth Sectors were located, neither had actually been out in the city in their first few vorns of life. Instead, they were spent learning about their bodies, their culture, different castes, and their history. And soon they were going to move on to the next stage of their lives; their careers and futures. How they could contribute to their people.
And the ability to go out and see their homeworld in full.
"I want to go and see a holopic." P-321 said after a klik. "Something like what we watched as first vorns."
"I'd like that to." P-306 leaned against her friend, who reciprocated the action. "And to see the exhibits in Crystal City. They're unlike anything else on Cybertron!"
Both friends looked at each other, then shared a grin. "And Six Lasers Over Cybertron!" The two dissolved into giggles, though they were giddy at the thought. What youngling wouldn't at the thought of the biggest amusement park on Cybertron?!
Suddenly, the door buzzed. The femmelings shot off P-321's berth and scrambled to the door, excitement coursing through their circuits. The door slid open as both stood there, eager.
One of their teacherbots, Beta, stood there. Their biotechnology teacher smiled at them, a pair of data pads in servo. "Here." She servoed a datapad to each of them, optics bright. "And congratulations to you both."
Both femmelings were left standing there, intakes agape as the old femme left, before they shared an eager squeal and rushed back into their dorm. The two jumped into their respective desk chairs, impatiently turning on the data pads and reading.
The first section detailed their scores. P-306 grinned widely at hers. My application to work in the Hall of Records is certain to be approved! She thought back to the cycles before their exams, when they had each applied to the castes, they wanted to be a part of. Her dream of wanting to be an archivist was so close, especially with her perfect score in history!
P-321 was vibrating in excitement. High scores across the board, especially in the sciences! A perfect score! And she got a 90% in history!
Both femmes then winced seeing their lowest grades. "I'm definitely glad I'm not going into the Politics Caste." P-321 muttered, grimacing at her low grade.
"Same." P-306 nodded, wincing seeing another low grade. "Or the Philosophy Caste."
P-321 nodded, scrolling… and then squealed. "I got in!"
P-306 jumped up; optics wide. "You did?!" She asked, excited.
Her friend grinned, showing her the screen. Your application to Autoboot Camp has been approved. Welcome to the Autobots!
Squealing herself, P-306 set her datapad down and hugged her best friend. "That's awesome! I'm so proud of you!"
P-321 hugged back, giddy. "Thank you! I wouldn't have made it without you!"
The two pulled apart, and P-306 lightly punched her friend in the shoulder. "I told you!"
Laughing, P-321 punched her back. "Hey! You promised no 'I told you so's!"
"Who says I didn't cross my digits?"
P-321 gaped at her friend, who grinned, before pouncing with a mock war cry. The two femmelings started wrestling, laughing, before they lay on the floor of their dorm, cooling fans whirring.
"Oh! You should check your application!" P-321 said, sitting up and looking down at her friend. "C'mon!"
P-306 grinned as her friend helped her up, also excited. If her friend got into Autoboot Camp, then she likely got into the History Caste!
Almost vibrating with eagerness, P-306 picked up the datapad from her desk and kept scrolling. The femmeling soon froze, her processor stalling. Rebooting her optics, she read it again, then double checked that she was given the right datapad.
It had her designation on it.
She stared at the screen; optics huge. Her knee joints suddenly felt weak, and she forgot how to vent.
Then, she threw the datapad at the wall and ran off, sparks flying from her optics even as her best friend worriedly chased after her. "P-306 wait!" She shouted as her friend raced from the room.
On the floor, the datapad remained lit.
Congratulations youngling! Your exceptional skills have led to you being conscripted into the service of the Elite Guard! We can't wait to see you at Autoboot Camp! Welcome to the Autobots!
A/N - Aaaaand that's the prologue! The next chapter jumps straight into the plot, so be prepared!
Also, the heat outside it killing me! Stupid heat dome stupid adults not believing in climate change… T-T
Next Chapter: Arrival I: Transwarped