Transformers

A World Without Danger

Optimus Prime: Before the loss of the Allspark…

Alpha Trion: Before the fall of The Fallen…

Optimus Prime: And before the fires of war, there were the Monstercons.

Alpha Trion: Four beings who came to Cybertron from the stars and began to ravage our beloved planet.

Optimus Prime: Beings different to Cybertronians yet more powerful and also more unstable.

Alpha Trion: Their power, tremendous…

Optimus Prime: Their forms, horrific…

Alpha Trion: And their hunger, insatiable.

Optimus Prime: Finally, one day, several great Transformers captured the Monstercons and sealed them inside of a crystal tomb, using the Allspark as a key to lock them away for eternity.

Alpha Trion: For ages, the terror of the Monstercons had diminished, dismissed as nightmares for the youth of young protoforms.

Optimus Prime: And now, with the Cube sent into space at the beginning of the war, we had hoped that its secrets as well as the Monstercons would vanish with it. And yet even with the Cube's destruction, our fears still remain.

Alpha Trion: The fate of Earth and now Cybertron rests in the hands of one tiny girl.

Optimus Prime: But her fate is now in the hands of others. This is the story…

Book 1: Earth

Chapter 1: Awakening of Swords

Earth was never quite the same after the revelation that there beings from another planet living besides them on Earth. And not just any kind of space aliens, not the expected Grays or BEMs, but giant robots capable of disguising themselves as Earth vehicles or other pieces of technology.

And to make matters even more confusing, there were two factions to them, one side was supposedly the benevolent peace-wishing ones who wish to co-exist with the humans and the other side seeks the destruction/conquest of the other sides and the human race. Not to mention the fact that the 'bad guys', known as the Decepticons, had nearly twice taken over the planet, the last time revealing themselves to the public and almost destroying the sun. However, the 'good guys', known as the Autobots, managed to counter their attempts and managed to kill several Decepticons, including their apparent leader, The Fallen.

Now that these aliens, known colloquially as the Transformers for the ability to transform into vehicle modes, are now common knowledge, the people of Earth have been somewhat unnerved by the thought that a machine they could be looking at could really be a being from a distant planet, possibly with the intention of the extermination of humanity. Of course, there was one small group who more used to hostile machines than you would expect.

A few years before the main Autobot force arrive on Earth in search of the Allspark, the Earth had already been threatened by mechanical domination, but not from the Decepticons. An artificial intelligence named XANA had plotted to rule over humanity from its virtual world. However, a group of teenagers was able to foil its plans and destroy him. The supercomputer which allowed it access to the real world had been shut down to make sure no more trouble came from it. That was six years ago and the group had moved in different ways since then, but not totally separated.

The whole thing started so innocently, with a simple flier. There were several taped to the walls at the university telling of how the Museum of French History was having a special exhibit opening this weekend. They were going to show its collection of WWII era artifacts, from propaganda on both sides, preserved uniforms of French soldiers and officers, but the biggest exhibit would a collection of tanks that were used during the war. The fliers certainly attracted the attention from the students, including a young woman who somehow had naturally pink hair. She took one flier from the wall and studied it closely. "Hmm… this looks interesting. I should show this to Jeremie," said Aelita.

Aelita carried the paper with her over to the dorms. Going to the boys' section, she quickly found her way to her boyfriend's dorm. After knocking, she came in. Jeremie, as usual, was working on his computer. Aelita rolled her eyes. It's virtually the same as back when they were at Kadic Academy. The only difference is that the sizeable amount of scholarships that Jeremie got had allowed to get a far more sophisticated computer, state-of-the-art and almost-unlimited access to the school's databases. Although, he kept his old Lyoko monitoring program, 'for old time's sake', he claimed.

"You know, most college kids put a bit more thought into their dorms' decorations," said Aelita, eyeing the Albert Einstein poster and the few photos taped on the walls.

"Well, most kids don't work so hard on their essays," said Jeremie, "Besides, you do know that most guys would have posters of barely-dressed girls on their walls and you don't want me having those, do you?"

"Not unless they're of me," said Aelita, giggling at the sight of Jeremie's face going bright pink. The two of them have been dating for about three years and Jeremie still bugged out at the thought of anything intimate regarding Aelita. Aelita found it cute, if somewhat frustrating. You'd think that Jeremie would have grown into it by now.

It's been six years since the supercomputer was shut down for good and Jeremie remained pretty much static in change. Ok, so he grew a head or two taller and was broader-shouldered, but his personality's pretty much the same since then: intellectual, quiet, and irritatingly nervous. His taste in clothing didn't change much either. He was currently wearing a white t-shirt with thin blue vertical stripes, cargo pants, and sneakers. He still wore round glasses even though he could have afforded to have correction surgery with some of the scholarship money he gained. He refused to do so because of the potential hazard of surgery and 'the glasses make me look wiser'. Not to mention contacts irritated his eyes.

Aelita, on the other hand, was more outgoing. Without XANA to worry about, she was able to move on with her life. Her reputation as a DJ had grown to the point where she was now being booked to provide music for several parties, particularly college parties. However, she still had enough intelligence to stay in the same league of Jeremie, which gave nearly as many scholarships as he had plus some money saved from her DJ bookings. Her choice of clothing had changed to reflect this. She was wearing a pink tank top, a short jeans skirt, and white shoes with matching socks that went all the way up to her knees. Her clothing did well to show off her well-proportioned body that she developed over the years. She wasn't true supermodel material (that'd be Yumi's territory), but it was enough to make guys turn heads if she weren't attached to Jeremie.

"Anyhow," said Aelita, "You hear about the exhibit going on at the Museum of French History?"

"Some of it," said Jeremie, "Sounds kind of interesting."

"Don't you want to go check it out?" asked Aelita.

"I would, but I've got that paper I need to do for Computer Programming," said Jeremie, "Then I have to get to work on the homework for Biology III and-"

"Jeremie, you could do that paper on computer programs in your sleep," said Aelita, "and that biology homework's not due until next week. You need to slow down before you burn yourself out."

Jeremie straightened his glasses and said, "Aelita, the chances of me 'burning myself out' are 342.6601…"

"Yes, yes, I heard you give the statistics before, but numbers don't cover everything," said Aelita, "C'mon, it'll be a great chance to meet up with the others. You know Yumi would want to see those tanks and Odd will probably want to look at the propaganda art. C'mon, do it for little old me." She rubbed Jeremie's shoulders as she spoke, effectively making him putty in her hands.

"Oh, alright," said Jeremie, "I suppose no harm can come from it."

"Great, I'll call the others and tell them to meet us there in 2 hours," said Aelita.

"What? 2 hours? But Aelita, I-" started Jeremie before the door closed on him. Jeremie sighed and said to himself, "How do I always get into these things?"

The Museum of French History has always been a popular tourist attraction. The current exhibit on WWII artifacts proved to attract even more patrons. It wasn't too hard for Jeremie and Aelita to get there, seeing how their university was in the same city. They were currently waiting for the others to arrive, which should be any minute now.

"We could have come another day," said Jeremie, "It was a bit last moment."

"Oh, Jeremie, relax," said Aelita, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Jeremie would have automatically brought up XANA until he reminded himself that the AI had been deleted for years now. Aelita was right, he need to learn to relax. He didn't want to have grey hairs before he finished college.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Einstein!" Jeremie and Aelita turned to see their old friend Odd coming towards them. Odd had been attending the art academy, a position he was able to get through his artistic skills attracting a talent agent. Odd's metabolism was still the same, which accounted for his still 'svelte' build and relative shortness, but it was hard to pick out with the clothes he wore. He claimed to 'model' in his spare time, which was why his clothes were always in the latest fashion, all keeping with his 'purple theme' of course.

"Odd, I thought you wouldn't be able to make it," said Aelita.

"Fortunately, I was able to convince my teacher to allow me to skip his lecture if I did a paper on the propaganda art on display here," said Odd, "Not that it's any great loss to me. Who could have thought that art could be so boring?"

"You'd do well to try to listen," said Jeremie, "High art is more complicated than those doodles you do of Kiwi."

"Oh, ha, ha," said Odd sarcastically, "I'm a squire among knights now. You'll so regret that joke when I'm a world famous master."

"Master of what? All-you-can-eat-buffets?" asked Jeremie.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the funny one, you're the brainy computer guy," said Odd.

"Oh don't worry about me taking your title," said Jeremie, "I always leave the clowning to the professionals."

"That's right, and I'm a professional at- HEY!"

This small debacle was put to a halt by the last members of the group arriving. "You just can't your foot out of your mouth, can you?" said Ulrich as he and Yumi walked up to them.

"Finally, the lovebirds are here," said Odd, "What did you two do? Flap your way here?"

"There aren't that many parking spaces left," said Yumi, "We had to drive around for 10 minutes before we can find a place to stop."

"Yeah, yeah," said Odd, "Just keep the smooching to a minimum around me, ok? A digestive system can only hold so much mush."

Odd's remark may have been an exaggeration, but it had a rather strong point. Ulrich and Yumi had started going out a few days after the supercomputer's shutdown and have been together ever since. The two of them were currently attending the same college outside of town. Everyone considered the two of them a perfect match, particularly since they were the most attractive couple in school. Puberty had done them both great justice, with Ulrich becoming muscular, ruggedly handsome and now a few inches taller than Yumi. Yumi had easily blossomed into one of the sexiest girls around and had to cover it up to keep the boys at bay sometimes. Her current outfit was a black t-shirt with kanji across the chest, a pair of dark jeans and boots. Ulrich was wearing a green muscle shirt along with dark jeans and tennis shoes.

"Must you exaggerate everything, Ladiesman217?" asked Ulrich.

"You know that's not my username online," said Odd, "Frankly, I don't know where you got that silly idea in the first place."

"Can we go inside now?" asked Aelita.

"Sure," said Yumi, "I've wanted to check out the tank exhibit ever since I've heard about it."

Just as they were about to head inside, Odd pointed and said, "Cool, look at that." The others turned to see a white sports car of some kind zoom down the street. It had some kind of red inscription on the side, but it was already gone before they saw what it was.

"What kind of car was that?" asked Aelita.

"Looks like a drifting car of some type," said Yumi.
"Drift?" asked Jeremie.

"It's a kind of racing they do in Japan," said Yumi, "The main gimmick is to have the tires skid as often as possible for sharp turns. Hiroki's gotten hooked on it lately. But what's one doing here?"

"Maybe someone just got a fancy foreign car and they're showing it off," said Odd, "It's long gone, anyways. Let's head on in."

As the group walked into the building and paid for admission, they looked around to see other exhibits listed on banners, such as the Napoleon Bonaparte exhibit or the Hall of Famous French Scientists that included famous figures in science such as Louis Pasteur. Of course, there were quite few banners regarding the WWII exhibits.

"Ok, we're going to go check out the tanks now," said Ulrich, wrapping his arm around Yumi's shoulder.

"Kay, I'm gonna go to the propaganda stuff," said Odd.

"We'll look at the uniforms," said Aelita, holding Jeremie's hand.

"Ok, we'll meet back in half an hour," said Yumi.

The group separated to see the different museum exhibits. As Ulrich and Yumi were heading towards the courtyard were the tanks were kept, they thought they heard familiar voices up ahead.

"Trust me kid, you haven't seen anything thing as bad as 'Nam. If that shrapnel mines don't get ya, the spiky booby traps were. Lost a fair few comrades that way."

"Whoa, I didn't know you saw that much action."

"Well, it's not something I talk about much. Battle scars in the mind last longer than on the body. You need to think twice before charging out into a fight."

"I'm well aware of the lesson now. Had to learn that the hard way. Er, with my training, that is. Kept messing up before I go before hearing all the instructions."

Yumi and Ulrich turned the corner to see a rather surprising sight. Just near the door leading to the courtyard was a pair that they haven't seen for a long time. First was their old gym teacher, Jim Morales, rather unchanged after their graduating Kadic. The other was a bigger shock. William took his enslavement to XANA pretty hard. After being permanently rid of him, William decided to straighten up and learn real discipline, joining the armed service after graduating. Which would explain his short-trimmed hair, his dark combat fatigues shirt, and cargo pants with matching army boots. William was the same height as Ulrich and his muscle build was slightly bigger.

The two of them looked up as Yumi and Ulrich came towards them. "Stern, Ishiyama, fancy running into you here," said Jim.

"Same could be said for you two, what are you doing here?" asked Ulrich.

"Paying my respects," said Jim, "Had a couple of family members who did some service in WWII. It helped motivate me to go to 'Nam."

"You were in Vietnam?" asked Yumi.

"I'd rather not talk about it, twice," said Jim.

"Well, me, I, uh, wanted to see what fighting was like back then," said William nervously. The gang had ultimately forgave William for what he did as XANA's puppet, seeing as he wasn't controlling himself at the time, but the atmosphere always got awkward whenever he was near them.

"Well, I kinda wanted to see the tanks that were used back then as well," said Yumi.

"Ah, those old clunkers, not nearly as bad as the death machines used now. Particularly the ones that fire at all sides," said Jim.

"Jim, there can't be that many Decepticon tanks," said Ulrich.

"That's what they want you to think," said Jim, "But then again, no telling what those things could look like when they're hiding."

"Well, we'll keep an eye out for them," said Yumi as they headed on to the courtyard.

The collection of WWII Japanese tanks was rather impressive. There were about two dozen different types there, several with battle scars caused by bullets or small explosives. Jim did have a point about the tanks. They were a lot clunkier than the German tanks. Of course, the Japanese were mainly doing aerial and naval combat with the Allied forces. The old tanks were somewhat ungainly, though still deadly on the battlefield.

"How do they bring them all over here?" asked William.
"Cargo ships and trucks, I bet," said Ulrich, "I'm frankly surprised that there's some tanks left to show in museums."

However, one tank had caught Yumi's interest. Its design was a lot more elegant than the other tanks, with a more-more centered turret as well as a machine and missile launchers mounted on it. It was still Japanese style, but looked more advanced than the others. "You know, this one looks really familiar for some reason," said Yumi.

William looked at it and said, "That's a Type 90, they're the ones being used in Japan right now."

"That's odd," said Ulrich, "Why would they have a modern tank among these antique ones."

"Maybe to compare the past and the present," said William.

"I'm gonna see if there's a plaque about it," said Yumi. She walked to the tank and looked around it. The other tanks had small plaques that described their built, armaments, and use. However, the Type 90 didn't have anything around it and was noticeably set farther away from the others. Yumi also noticed how the tank seemed to be built so smoothly. There were only a few rivets on the panels to keep them on, which seemed really unusual. Yumi got closer to find any plague being hung on the tank. The sides of it were bare until she stopped at the front right side. There was no plague hanging on the tank there, but she did see a symbol branded on the tank, one that looked like an angular robotic face that ganged a large amount of notoriousness recently.

"Oh crap," she muttered and ran back towards the two guys. As she was running, the tank's turret moved to follow her. The machine gun focused angled itself until it had a clear shot on her back. Fortunately for Yumi, she had already reached Ulrich and William before that. "GET DOWN!" she yelled before throwing herself forwards onto them, knocking them both down as a small hail of machine gunfire shot over them.

"What was that?" asked Ulrich.

"Machine gun, from the Type 90," said William, "Somebody's setting off the tank's weapons."

"No, not just somebody," said Yumi.

Ulrich's face paled a little, "You don't mean XANA, do you?"

"No, the tank shot at us," said Yumi.

"The tank? How?" asked William.

"It's not really a tank, it's a Decepticon!" said Yumi.

"Decepticon?" asked Ulrich.

Before he could inquire further, a grinding sound caught their attention. They turned to see the Type 90 rolling towards them, its missile launchers aiming right at them. "Run for the streets!" cried William, "It'll just blast through the walls if we go back inside!" The three of them got up and ran for it as the tank started firing missiles at them, fortunately missing.

The gunfire and explosions was easily heard by the museum patrons who were quickly evacuating the building. The only ones not caught up in the stampede were Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd, who were looking for Ulrich and Yumi.

"Where could they be?" asked Aelita.

"Hopefully nowhere near those explosions," said Odd.

"The tank courtyard's on the other side of the building," said Jeremie, "Let's check over there."

The trio ran to the corner and started around it. However, they were abruptly met by the duo they were looking for. "Guys, we need to move!" said Ulrich.

"What happened over there?" asked Aelita.

"And what's he doing here?" asked Odd, looking at William.

"No time to explain," said William, "There's a Decepticon-" William's sentence finished itself as the Type 90 tank burst through the fence and onto the street.

"Ok, this is a problem," said Jeremie.

The tank rolled towards them before stopping a few feet away. The six of them were about to relax when a clicking noise was heard from the tank. The panels on the base of the tank started folding apart and onto themselves. The treads unwound and bent as the wheels holding them segmented. Everything but the front part of the tank's base unfolded out into a pair of legs which stood up while the front part separated to form arms and shoulders. In mere moments, the tank had transformed into a 25 foot robot that looked like it was wearing orange and black samurai armor. The outer hull of the tank formed part of the armor while the treads hanged like small banners. The unnerving part about this robot was that some of the 'gaps' of its armor showed paler, thinner metal, almost like bone. Its head wasn't much better, looking like a skull with red eyes and wearing a samurai's helmet.

"You know, I really hate tattletales," said the Decepticon, "You've completely blown the cover I was trying to maintain, which wasn't easy in the first place. Now I'm going to have to relocate. But first, I'll have the pleasure of exterminating you." The samurai tank lifted up a foot and brought it down towards them. The gang immediately scattered before it could land. This didn't deter the Decepticon as it continued to try to smash the teens into messy puddles on the concrete.

Aelita managed to get away from the Decepticon and started running down the street. This wasn't a XANA attack so there wasn't much they could do and going to the factory wouldn't help. She needed to go find the proper authorities before it manages to kill anyone.

However, a roaring engine got her attention. She looked ahead to see the Japanese sports car from before driving up the road towards them. It wasn't slowing down in the slightest. She would have thought that the driver didn't notice the Decepticon, which was extremely unlikely, if it wasn't barreling right towards it. But then she noticed that the driver was flickering like a bad image before completely disappearing. There was no one driving the car.

As the car was getting closer to the Decepticon, it somehow jumped up into the air. It looked like it was about to ram it when it started to change. The back part flipped into legs, doors swung to the sides, the hood split to form arms, leaving a mostly white robot to deliver a flying kick to the Decepticon's chest. The Decepticon was knocked back onto its backside as the Autobot, as identified by the insignias on his shoulders, landed neatly on his feet. The Autobot also looked a bit like a samurai, only he was less scary than the Decepticon and smaller, but he still looked like a skilled opponent.

"Stomping on Earthlings now, Bludgeon?" said the Autobot, "I thought you had more honor than that."

The samurai tank got to his feet and said, "You're not one to talk about honor, Deadlock."

The Autobot glared and said, "My name is Drift now."

"Deadlock or Drift, it makes no difference," said Bludgeon as he pulled out a short sword from his side, "It only changes the look on your gravestone." With that, Bludgeon charged at Drift, crying some Cybertronian battle cry. Drift pulled out a pair of short swords from the doors hanging from his waist and brought them to block Bludgeon's blow. The two samurai bots then started fighting, sparks flying from where their blades struck each other. They were both masters at their craft, few strikes on either side managing to get home.

The gang managed to get off the street and was now watching the two giant samurai robots fight each other. "If wasn't just in danger right now, this would totally awesome," said Odd.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Ulrich, "So do we just watch now?"

"Not much we can do, is there?" said Yumi, who was particularly interested in the bots that were fighting. They both seemed to be employing styles of Japanese sword-fighting, not to mention their Japanese vehicle modes and samurai armor was extremely fascinating to her.

The two Transformers paused for a few moments in their fight. "Your skill has not grown dull, Deadlock," said Bludgeon.

"Nor has yours," said Drift.

"Of course, you have the advantage of your two swords to my one. How about we fight like real warriors?" said Bludgeon. The turret on his back, which was left unchanged by his transformation, suddenly split partially and opened up. Bludgeon sheathed his short sword in a socket before rotating the turret out to the side. He grabbed the end of his cannon and pulled, drawing out a long sword which he gripped both hands around.

"I was wondering when you'd move up to that," said Drift before sheathing his short swords and pulling out the long sword that had been fastened to his back. The two of them let out war-cries before charging at each other again. The two swords clanged against each other, casting sparks everywhere.

"Cool, alien katanas," said Odd.

"Bludgeon's not using a katana, he's using an odachi," said Yumi. The other stared at her. "It's too long to be a katana," explained Yumi.

"I just hope that Drift wins," said William, "I'd hate to have Bludgeon came after us again."

The two Transformers kept banging at each other, their swords causing cuts and dents in each other's armor. Just then, Bludgeon managed to score a deep gash in Drift's right shoulder, causing Drift to wince and lose strength in his right arm. With another blow, Bludgeon knocked the sword out of Drift's hands. "You won't be needing that anymore," said Bludgeon.

"You wouldn't cut down a disarmed opponent," said Drift, "Even you wouldn't sink that low."

"Maybe," said Bludgeon as he flipped his sword around so that the cannon hilt pointed at Drift, "But my high-voltage electric cannon can get rid of you far more efficiently." The cannon hilt started to hum as it warmed up and the end started to glow.

"A high-voltage electric cannon? Isn't that dishonorable for a 'master' of Metallikato?" asked Drift.

"I'm a Decepticon," reminded Bludgeon before he got ready to fire.

However, as Bludgeon prepared to finish off his opponent, something stirred inside Aelita. It was like some sort of thunderstorm was forming inside her, lightning crackling within. The lightning seemed to crackle up her arms as she involuntarily lifted them forwards. When Bludgeon fired a bolt of lightning from his cannon, Aelita felt a ball of light in her chest flare as her hands glowed pink. The lightning bolt abruptly stopped inches from Drift, suspended in midair.

The two Transformers started in disbelief at this defiance of the laws of normal science. "What in the name of the Allspark…" started Bludgeon. But then Aelita's fingers twitched and the lightning bolt was thrown back from where it came. It struck Bludgeon in the chest, near his spark chamber. The Decepticon jittered and shook as his body was overloaded with electricity, crackling all over with surplus energy. Eventually, the sparks died down and Bludgeon fell over onto his back, his optics dimmed.

Drift cautiously approached Bludgeon. He pulled out one of his smaller swords and prodded the Decepticon. When he made no response, Bludgeon sheathed his sword before walking around him. The gang slowly approached the fallen tank. "Is he dead?" asked Jeremie.

"No, but he's been knocked into stasis lock," said Drift, "That should keep him quiet until we transport him to the Decepticon Detention Center. But there are two things that puzzle me."

"How his shot turned back on him? We don't know either," said Jeremie, who was lying a bit. The others had seen Aelita turn it back on Bludgeon, but they had no idea how she could have done that.

"I wouldn't expect you to know," said Drift, "But there's the question of what Bludgeon was doing here in the first place. I know Bludgeon too well. He wouldn't risk exposing himself by hiding himself in a museum exhibit for little reason besides hiding from NEST. He was here for a reason, but what?" Drift shook his head and said, "Well, you civilians better leave now. There will be a cleanup operation here soon now and you don't want to get involved. Besides, there's no telling if there's another 'Con around here."

"Right, uh, sir," said Jeremie, "We'll be going right away." The six of them started walking away from the small battlefield. Once they were sure they were out of hearing range, Jeremie turned to Aelita and said, "How did you do that?"

"I don't know," said Aelita, "I just saw that Decepticon trying to blast the Autobot and… I went by instinct I guess."

"Most humans would have 'instinctually' ran away rather than watch," pointed out Yumi.

"Not to mention it's not normal for humans to be bending electricity with their minds," said Ulrich.

"Unless, you're not a psychic by any chance, are you?" asked Odd.

"Hardly," said Aelita, "I have strange dreams, but they're more flashbacks than anything else. That was the first time anything like that's ever happened to me in the real world, at least when I'm not teleported to Earth."

"We're gonna have to keep a sharp eye out then," said William, "Drift may be right. There could be more than one Decepticon hiding in the city."

"Don't you have to report back to your colonel or whatever?" said Ulrich.

"Not really, I'm off-duty," said William, "I've got the next month off and I'm not in any rush to get into anymore mechanical trouble more complex than a malfunctioning printer."

"I wish it could just stay that way," said Jeremie. Of course, he knew better than that. Whatever was going on had only just begun.

However, while Drift was waiting for NEST to arrive to pick up Bludgeon, he activated his comlink. "Sideswipe, I need some help."

The other side of the comlink immediately responded, "You need help taking down that Decepticon?"

"No, Bludgeon's been dealt with," said Drift, "But I encountered some human adolescents that were rather intriguing. I want you to run a background check on them."

The voice on the other end sounded visibly annoyed, "I'm a warrior, not a data filer, ask one of the intelligence agents for looking up your new friends."

"It's not that," said Drift, "There was something unusual about them. For one thing, they weren't nearly as scared as most humans would be in the presence of Decepticons, particularly since Bludgeon was chasing them specifically. That tells that they've had encounters with Cybertronians before or something similar. Another is that one of the females had pink hair, which is apparently an oddity among their species."

Sideswipe scoffed and said, "Some humans just don't know what to fear properly. And they probably indulge in changing paint jobs like some of us. Not much to be worth looking up."

"No? Well here's something that is," said Drift, "Bludgeon fired his electric cannon at me."

"What? I thought he wouldn't stoop to that. Do you require repairs?"

"No, I'm fine, and that's the strange part. The charge just stopped in midair and turned back on Bludgeon for no apparent reason. I don't know if those humans were involved, but we need to make double-sure. One of them was apparently in the military. Look through the enlisted soldiers who live around here first and see if you can find anyone. I'll confirm for any matches and we can search for links from there."

"Hmm… well, when you put It that way," said Sideswipe, "I'll see what I can do, wait for NEST to arrive and pick up Bludgeon first."

"That's what I'm doing, Drift out," said Drift before closing his comlink. He glanced down at Bludgeon's paralyzed body and said, "What were you after here?" Bludgeon probably wouldn't have told Drift, even if he could move.

Meanwhile, high above Paris, a black flying wing drone was soaring among the clouds. Of course, some people would find this rather out of place since there wasn't anything of particular military significance to observe about the city. But if one were to see the twin insignias on the 'drone's' wings, they'd be able to understand what it was doing. As the drone scanned over the area near the Museum of French History, it sent out a transmission:

"Location scanned, Bludgeon defeated, female organic possible carrier. Conclusion: report to Mindwipe."

With that, the drone quickly took up altitude as it soared far away from the city, or even the whole continent.

At the same time, though hardly by coincidence, a pair of men in black suits was watching from their parked black Jaguar. They had observed the fight between the two Cybertronians as well as the strange conclusion. Though the fallen Decepticon was worth investigating, their attention was focused on the pink-haired young woman seen leaving with her friends. The man in the driver's seat turned to his partner and said, "Could it be her?"

The other man in the passenger's seat flipped over a manila folder on his lap and looked through its contents, particularly that of a photo of a man with grey hair, beard, and glasses, a woman with long pink hair, and the little girl who also had pink hair. The picture was apparently taken during the winter near a rustic house out in the middle of the woods. "It could be," said the man in the passenger's seat, "She ought to be older, but we know people can be held in stasis."

The man in the driver's seat nodded and pulled out his cell phone. He hit the speed-dial button and waited for a few seconds before saying into it, "Sir, we believe we've found the daughter." A couple of seconds later, the man said, "Understood, we'll keep constant vigilance. We're not letting her slip away again." He then hung and started up the car. The black Jaguar drove down the street and away from the site of the Cybertronian duel.

Here's the first chapter of my new Transformers story, which is also a crossover of Code Lyoko. As you can tell, it takes place a few years after the end of Code Lyoko so the kids have grown older. It also takes place after Revenge of the Fallen.

This chapter was a little dry at first, mainly with having to re-introduce the gang as college kids, or, in the case of William, as soldiers. Anyhow, as you can clearly tell, this story is only beginning and it's going to get a lot more complex before it ends.

As for the Transformers who appeared in this chapter, you of course know Bludgeon, based off his ROTF-line toy. If you kept tabs on the same toyline, you'd know who the flying wing drone was too. Drift is a different case. He's supposed to be from G1 and is actually part of the Generations toyline. I nearly had Jolt take his place, but then I decided that Drift was a better opponent for Bludgeon, what with him also having a Japanese vehicle mode, a samurai motif, and swords. Another reason for this is that Lockdown has recently appeared in the Drift miniseries comic. And since variations of Lockdown have appeared in the Animated, movieverse, and G1 continuities, I don't see why it shouldn't also apply to Drift.

I hope to get the next chapter up soon, but until then, please review.