The Monster of Kaon (Transformers Si): Interlude: History and Shock

"That tears it!!"

The humans and the Autobots looked at Agent Fowler as he started heading for the elevator.

Ratchet frowned, having some idea as to what the agent was going to do thanks to his experience with handling hot-blooded Autobots for countless years.

"And where do you think you are going?"

The agent turned back to June Darby.

"I can't just sit on my hands while the world spins out of control!"

Ratchet's frown deepened as his guess turned out to be right, again, much to his disappointment. He could not stand by and let someone that he has come to care about make a stupid mistake. So, he decided to speak up.

"And what exactly, is it that you intend to do?"

"Anything! Hook up with my boys at the Pentagon. Figure out a way to bury that monster for good!"

Bury him? Unicron? Who is already, technically, buried deeper than humanity's reach, at the core of their very planet?

'Now, this is hilarious. Although I can't exactly blame him for his thoughts, Primus knows how desperate we were when Megatron unintentionally poisoned the core of Cybertron back in the day.'

"In the event that Optimus can't?"

Fowler glared right back at Ratchet, letting out the reason for his ire."

"Don't you mean, Optimus and Megatron??"

Ratchet was taken aback by those words, but replied with a little heat in his voice, unable to accept that this organic being that could not even comprehend the sheer scale of Ratchet's or any other Cybertronians lifespan had just insulted someone that he cared for, either intentionally or unintentionally.

"No one here is thrilled about this arrangement, Agent Fowler, myself included. But, with Optimus and Megatron together again-"

"Whoa! Wait! 'Again'??"

Jack's shocked voice brought Ratchet out of his rant, instantly realizing that he had let slip something that he should not have without Optimus's consent.

Raf followed Jack's words, just as shocked.

"Megatron was an Autobot??"

"Optimus was a Con??"

Miko's surprised shriek rang in Ratchet's audio receptors, but he put aside his discomfort for now, thinking about how to answer the question.

However, he was spared from having to make the decision to break his friend's privacy when another voice rang out in the base.

"Neither. Once upon a time, we all, both Autobots and Decepticons, were one faction, called the Ascenticons."

Ratchet felt alarmed as Elita-1 walked into the room, looking tired but determined.

Ever since Glitch, or Tarn as he is calling himself now, revealed himself and Thunder, Elita had been truly distraught and became incapable of combat thanks to her emotional turmoil. She locked herself up in the base, refusing to take any Energon or talk to anyone save for Optimus and her team. As a result, she grew so weak that Optimus forbade her from joining the operation that they were on currently, to silence Unicron for good.

Ratchet understood where Elita was coming from. He had felt the same anguish and despair when his closest friend, Pharma, killed his assistant, a young Autobot by the name of Ambulon, and even destroyed Ratchet's original body, reducing him to just his spark and head thanks to how twisted he became after having dealings with a psychopath known as Sunder.

However, that did not mean she should waste away like she was doing. But, in the end, she was still one of his dear friends and he would not allow anything to happen to her, so he took to forcefully injecting Energon into her to keep her stable and forbade her from leaving her room.

"Elita? What are you doing out here?"

"I may be unfit to fight right now, Ratchet. But, I wish to at least watch my Spark-Mate and my former friend fight against the Chaos Bringer. Making sure that Megatron does not try to pull anything."

"Can someone explain to me what this 'Ascenticon' faction is??"

Agent Fowler's shout drew Ratchet and Elita's attention, causing Elita to sit down and look at the humans with a forlorn expression.

"Do you recall when Ratchet mentioned that Optimus was not always a Prime?"

The humans nodded at Elita's question, prompting her to continue.

"Well, he wasn't always Optimus either. He was once, a humble data clerk. One of the lower casts of our people, by the name of Orion Pax."

Raf's eyebrows rose in shock alongside Agent Fowlers who understood the implications of Elita's words.

"Hold on! Are you saying that your people, who are far more advanced than humanity can even imagine, practiced something so stupid as a Caste System??"

Elita gave Fowler a wry smile.

"Indeed. Not so different now from you people, are we? But, anyways. The Caste System, was just as oppressive, if not even more, than what you humans used to have. In our world, the Caste System was first implemented as a means of protection from a deadly plague, known as the Rust Plague, which suddenly appeared out of nowhere. However, over time, the system became extremely tyrannical, taking away the freedom of choice and oppressing the bots across the world while the chosen few who were born into a higher cast, would hog all the riches of the world for themselves. I personally saw the oppression firsthand, since I was born into the lowest class possible, that of a worker class."

The look of wonder and disgust on the humans' faces was something that Ratchet had expected, but still, he did not like how they were judging his race like that when they too, had their own problems to deal with. But, he did not interrupt Elita as she continued her story.

"By that point, Cybertron was on the verge of becoming a world of mindless drones, that just carried out their tasks without knowing how or why they were doing what they were doing under the oppression of the elite. However, one bot rose up against this oppression, and rallied those that would support him in this endeavor."

"Let me guess, Optimus?"

"Haha! Surprisingly, no, Agent Fowler."

At this point, Ratchet looked away from the humans, hiding his pain from showing on his face. But Elita did no such thing, allowing her despair to show on her face, much to the concern of the humans. June hesitated before calling out.

"Elita? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it just hurts, thinking back to those days."

With a shake of her head, Elita continued the story.

"The one who stood against the Council and the Prime before Optimus, Sentinel, was called Armorbite, although, he later changed his name to Maximus. He was Megatron and Optimus's mentor. Megatron privately called him his sire, in human terms, his father."

"What??"

"Surprising, isn't it?"

"No kidding!"

"Miko! Let her finish."

Elita nodded gratefully to June and continued talking.

"Maximus was the head of the Programming caste, one of the highest castes that existed on Cybertron, making him one of the privileged few that could lead their lives as they wanted. However, he was never arrogant, nor did he ever look down on those of the lower castes. In fact, he had many friends in lower places that he did his best to look after."

"Sounds like a really good person, but how did Megatron turn out like he did if he was raised by someone like that?"

At Jack's question, Elita's expression once again became downcast.

"Megatron was not always like he is now. However, his past is something that is personal to him and Optimus so I will not speak about it. Anyways, Maximus, being as privileged as he was, saw the rampant corruption within his fellow high caste members, the council, and the Prime of that time. He saw how those who were born into the lower class, and those who were born different, like the Beast Formers, the Insecticons, the Minicons, and the Outliers, were being treated by the government, and decided to take a stand against it. He opposed Sentinel Prime and his actions. The result was his expulsion from the Programming Caste and being turned into a gladiator in the pits of Kaon."

"Yikes! That must not have been a fun time for him."

Elita smiled with amusement at Miko's words.

"On the contrary, he became quite infamous in those pits. Back when I was still a lower caste member who recently joined the Security Forces, he had already earned a name for himself in the pits thanks to his various exploits."

"The Monster of Kaon."

Ratchet's words immediately put the adults on edge as the children listened in awe.

"Yeah, not a flattering name by any means, but one that he deserved nonetheless. Back in those days, he was still struggling against controlling his emotions, and as a result, he had a very hard time controlling his god-like strength and skill, leading to the particular incident that made him infamous and gained him that nickname."

"How 'godlike' are we talking?"

Elita looked at Fowler seriously.

"If Maximus fought with his original body, even Optimus and Megatron's combined strength and skill would not be enough to face him in a direct confrontation."

"Wow! That sounds awesome."

"It is not as surprising as you think, Miko. He was hardly an exceptional bot. In fact, most of the bots from his generation are capable of such feats thanks to the many wars and conflicts that they fought ever since they were born. Even Ratchet here would have been just as capable if he still had his original body since he is of the same generation."

"Hold on, what do you mean 'original bodies'? can you guys swap your bodies as you see fit?"

"Theoretically, yes. There exist procedures that allow us to swap bodies if we so wish. But the circumstances around Maximus and Ratchet losing their bodies are personal so I won't speak about them."

June nodded at Elita's words.

"After his exile, Maximus was not discouraged. He gained a following alongside Megatron, who called himself Megatronus in those days. A following, that consisted of Soundwave, Breakdown, Knockout, Jetfire, Dreadwing, Skyquake, My Team, Ratchet, Optimus, Jetfire, and every original Autobot and Decepticon in existence. We called ourselves, Ascenticons. Those who have ascended past the lies of the government."

Silence fell in the room as the humans tried to comprehend the bombshell of information that Elita just dropped on them.

In the end, it was Fowler who found his voice first.

"If all of you guys were, at one point, a single group, how did the Autobots and Decepticons come about? And why?"

"Because a certain bastard of a Prime decided the fate of our whole race by himself and killed Maximus."

Ratchet's venom-filled voice caused the humans to be taken aback. They had never heard the grumpy old medic talk with such hatred, even when he talked about Megatron and the Decepticons.

Elita walked over to Ratchet's hunched form and placed her palm on his shoulder, attempting to comfort the old bot.

She turned back to the humans and continued her story.

"Alpha Trion, one of the original thirteen Primes, was alive by that point in our history. He had the unique ability to look into the future thanks to his artifact, the Covenant of Primus. With that damned book of his. He could look into all possible futures of any bot that he wanted. However, for some reason, he was not able to look into the future of Maximus no matter how he tried. From what we learned. It had been like that ever since Maximus's spark was born. So, in his infinite wisdom, the old bastard killed Maximus, considering him a 'threat' towards Cybertron simply because the pervert was incapable of peeking into his future. Sentinel, took advantage of Alpha Trion's plan to try and annihilate the Ascenticons with the help of a traitor and attacked our base at just the moment Alpha Trion killed Maximus."

"Sounds like a real asshole."

"Fowler! There are children here!"

The agent looked apologetically towards June who glared at him for using such foul language. But, he got back on track and looked concerned.

"Wait, if this 'Alpha Trion' is capable of seeing the future, what is to say that he is not watching things happening right now and already knows the outcome of this fight? Why not ask him for his help in fighting Unicron?"

Elta looked awkwardly to the side while Ratchet snorted and glared at the human.

"First of all, I would rather die at the hands of Unicron than ask that monster for help. Second of all, even if someone managed to forgive him, we cannot ask for his help since he is already dead."

"Huh? He can see the future right? How did he die if he can already see how he died in the first place and can escape it."

"Simple, Miko. You just have to push the odds against him to such an extent, that no matter how powerful or how tricky, he would not have any chance to escape. Just like we did."

The glee in Ratchet's words was starting to seriously rub Agent Fowler the wrong way.

"….So, how did he die?"

Elita looked ashamed at Jack's question, but she answered nonetheless.

"Once we learned the truth after 'Interrogating' Sentinel Prime, The Ascenticons set up a perimeter around Vector Sigma, the location where Alpha Trion was holed up. Then, We sent in everyone. All of our forces. Surprisingly, he did not resist our attempt at his capture. He claimed that he was sorry for what he did, but he still insisted that what he did was for the good of Cybertron. By this point, we were too far gone in our rage and relinquished him to Shockwave, one of Maximus's closest friends and later on, a powerful and formidable Decepticon that was second only to Megatron. I was among those that captured Alpha Trion., along with our team. Shockwave performed horrific torture and experimentation on the Prime until he died in agony. Even then, Shockwave's rage was not extinguished as he made sure to continue experimenting on the body of the dead Prime until there was nothing left on him."

"This act, among others, including the public execution of Sentinel Prime and his council without any trial, was what caused the demise of the Ascenticons. Those who were against the brutality that our comrades were descending into, turned against them in the hopes of stopping them from desecrating what we stood for. That was how the Autobots were formed. And those that were too far gone in their ways became the Decepticons."

"What a mess."

Ratchet once again snorted at Fowler's words.

"You can say that again."

His words were interrupted when the sensors suddenly started to go haywire.

"What? What's going on?"

"I don't know. Elita! These readings, they should not be possible!"

"What readings?"

"I am picking up a significant disturbance in the space-time continuum, deep within the Earth's core. It is similar to what you would find in a Space Bridge, and to a lesser extent, in a Ground Bridge. But, these readings are off the charts!! I have not seen readings like these since-"

Ratchet fell silent, causing the humans to become antsy as Elita's concern grew even more.

"Since what??"

"Since our exodus from Cybertron. Using the original Space Bridge in the Rust Sea."

"Impossible! The Dinobots destroyed that space bridge. Arcee, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead confirmed as much when they got here. It was precisely because the original was destroyed beyond repair that Shockwave and Starscream created a lesser version through which the younger bots came to Earth."

"I am telling you what I am seeing, Elita. And-Hold On! I am picking up another one, this one is in high orbit. Oh, Primus!"

"What? What is it Ratchet??"

"…The one in high orbit. Someone came through it. It's Shockwave."

Horror filled Elita's face as she immediately panicked at the mention of her old friend and fellow teacher in the Ascenticons.

"Open a bridge to the team! Now!!"

"I can't! the magnetic field around Unicron's core is still up! If they try to use a ground bridge in such a situation, they will be shredded to nothing by the event horizon of the wormhole!"

"They cannot Handle Shockwave and Megatron together on their own, especially if he has backup in those other Space Bridge that opened at the core. What if Megatron and Shockwave rip apart Optimus and take the Matrix for themselves??"

"Elita! Calm down! We'll think of something-"

He stopped talking as the Space Bridge at the core spat out two Energon signatures before disappearing. One of the signatures was unfamiliar. But the other one, held a spark signature that was extremely familiar to the old medic, even if it was much, much stronger than he had ever seen before.

Unable to handle the intensity of the events, Ratchet directly fainted, causing everyone to panic while Elita ran to the console and watched the display.

In the next moment, she followed Ratchet's example and fainted as well, causing the humans to freak out.