- Runner-up for Silly and Sweet '04

Changing Channels

By: Starath (chliebeg@juno.com)  

Author’s Note: This is what happens when I get too much sleep, eat too much sugar and watch any Transformer series. In this case, I wrote this after watching “Transformers Energon: Megatron’s Resurrection.” If you don’t think I’m insane yet, you will now! In case you haven’t seen “Transformers Energon”, just know that David Kaye does the voice of that Megatron too. There are some inside jokes in here as well, because this was originally written for the people at BWTF’s message boards. If you want me to explain a joke, go ahead and email me. Also, big huge companies with more money than I have own all respective Megatrons and other ‘bots used in this fic. Please don’t sue me, I’m a college student! I don’t have money!  

“Heeheehee! Woo! Go Megs go! Woo!” cheered Starath, nearly leaping off the couch to do a little dance. On television, a newly revived and reformatted Megatron delivered another blow to Scorponok. She laughed insanely.

“That’ll teach you to mess with him, Scorponok! HA! Ooo…” she immediately became quiet as she witnessed Megatron taking his sword back from the other Transformer, whipping it out with a dramatic flair. Bouncing excitedly, she watched as Megatron continued to beat the slag out of Scorponok, then press a glowing purple hand to his chest. When he removed it, a Decepticon symbol appeared. Starath hooted victory.

“MwaHAHAHA! You gotta listen to HIM now, you big jerk!!”

There was another surprise, though. The Terrorcons were now under Megatron’s control too!

“YES! WOO! Go Megs go! It’s so cool to have you back!”

About that time the animated Transformer said, “It’s good to be back.”

Blinking a moment, Starath murmured, “Whoa, nifty….” She stayed on the edge of her seat as Megatron led his troops to visit Alpha Q. She yelled in outrage as the four-faced robot thingy took off as the revived leader approached him.

“Yeah, go an’ run, you COWARD! You’re in trouble now! Get ‘im Megs! Woo!”

When Alpha-Q escaped with Unicron’s head into space, she stomped her foot.

“Come back and fight, you dorkbot!”

A low growl from the other side of the room took her attention from the television for a moment.

“For Pit’s sake Starath, will you stop yelling??”

Glancing at the screen, she frowned in disappointment when she saw commercials playing. She turned back to the figure standing in the corner.

“I can’t help it Megs, I’m just excited! And happy! Heeheehee!”

Beast Wars Transmetal Megatron shook his head with his face in a palm.

“Yess, I understand that, but MUST you always be so loud?”

“Yeah.”

Shaking his head, he peered at her with an optic. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think of you sometimes.”

“Aw come on Megs, how can you NOT be happy?? Finally this Megatron came back! Even YOU gotta be happy about that. He shares your great name!”

“Correction— my ancestor’s great name,” he told her, shaking a finger.

“Yeah, him too. But you know what I mean… Heh heh, it’d be fun to meet this Megs.”

“He’d squish you.” Megatron said simply.

“The G1 Megs didn’t.”

“That’s because you only talked to him for a moment, when you “borrowed” his fusion cannon that one time. Which, may I remind you, you have not yet returned.”

Scratching her head, Starath grinned with embarrassment. “Oh yeah, I gotta do that one of these days now that Pieman is gone…. Luckily my parents haven’t found it yet though.”

The Transmetal snorted. “I cannot see HOW, since it lies here in plain SIGHT!"” He motioned to the large black fusion cannon standing upright next to the closet.

“Yeah, I know. Parents are just weird that way. Not enough imagination, I guess.”

“Perhaps… However, I suggest you return the cannon soon before its rightful owner comes looking for it.”

“I will. But knowing him, he probably has a few spares.” 

*** In the Generation 1 Transformer world*** 

Starscream watched with amusement as various objects came flying out of the closet his leader was digging in. He ducked as a blender, green scouring pad, a bucket of nails, black light bulbs, a fish, and a… life size Gumby doll…? Sailed through the air. Not exactly what one would expect to find in the tyrant leader’s belongings. He started to cackle in laughter, but stopped abruptly when an alarm clock bounced off his head. Rubbing at a dent, Starscream mumbled something about pathetic leaders quietly. Megatron withdrew from the closet too quickly to glare at him, smashing his head on a lower shelf. Clutching his head with both hands, he snapped out,

“Haven’t you something to do besides stand around and watch me?? Go plot some devious scheme to overthrow me or something!”

“I was merely curious over why you were rooting through your storage closet,” answered the Seeker with a smirk. “Are you searching for your lost marbles?”

“The likes of which you will never see again if you don’t LEAVE!” He raised his arm automatically, “I’ll blow your head—oh wait…. Slaggit…”

Starscream’s smirk grew wider. “Oh, you’re still searching for your fusion cannon! Heh, you’re pretty much useless without it, you know.”

Megatron grumbled some curses under his breath, very much aware of that fact.

“I can STILL turn you into scrap with my bare hands if you continue blabbing nonsense,” he warned.

“Well, you’re lucky, I’m in a good mood today,” Starscream said, becoming serious. “I’ll help you. When did you last see it?”

 “When that human girl came and took it away from me a few weeks ago…. Said something about borrowing it… I haven’t seen her since, so I’ve been looking for a spare, because I KNOW I have one around here somewhere…”

“Did you check your sub-space pockets?”

“You’re an idiot Starscream, of COURSE I did.”

He frowned. “No need to be nasty Megatron,”

“I will if I want to, because I’m the leader and YOU’RE not, so keep your mouth shut.”

“Why don’t you hunt down that girl?”

“Because she doesn’t live in this dimension…. I have Shockwave looking into that at the moment. Until then, I have to find my spare cannon.”

Turning back to the closet, Megatron began to search its shelves once more. Behind him, Starscream made faces at his leader. “Have fun in your quest, Mighty Mega—“

*click click* *

*Zooopp—BLAM!*

“Found it!” 

 

“Ha ha ha ha! Whheeeee!” Starath bounced around the house in joy after the “Transformers Energon” episode ended, giggling in glee. “WOO! What an ep! Yay! Megatron’s back, Megatron’s back!” She emerged from her room with a black plastic sword scabbard hooked on her belt. Coming upon Megatron, she drew her gray plastic sword by its silver handle, taking a ridiculous stance.

“En Guard, Megs! WA HA! I challenge you to a match, as *I* wield the great Megatron’s sword!”

“It’s green.” He said flatly, “Not gray.”

“So’s mine!”

“And bigger than that. Much bigger.”

“Mine’s the junior version, silly.”

“Well then it’s not Megatron’s sword, now is it?”

The Predacon reveled in the brief silence that followed as Starath blinked in bafflement. There were times when it was easy to forget she was an eighteen-year-old and not a little kid. But luckily during those times of goofiness it wasn’t hard to derail her train of thought. He took the opportunity to move way from the unthreatening point of her sword to sit down in his favorite chair. Megatron visited Starath to get away from the craziness of the Predacon base and the Beast Wars, although sometimes he wondered why… At times it was just as crazy here.

“It Is TOO, Megs!” she cried, snapping from her confusion. “And I shall defeat—hey, where’d you go?”

Maybe if I sit here really still she won’t see me…. he thought wishfully. She spun around to face him.

“AW HA! Thought you could sneak up on me, eh?”

“No, not really…” Megatron replied, “And I think this is the last time you have three sodas in a row before watching “Transformers”, yess.”

 “It’s not ALL cuz of that,” Starath paused to cut loose a burp, “I’m happy cuz Megatron came back!”

“Yess, you’ve said that at least ten times now.”

“And it’d be so much fun to meet him!”

“I’m sure it would, if you look forward to being squished…”

“How do you know he will?”

Megatron sat up straighter, counting off on his fingers. “One, he’s bigger than you. Two, you are small and annoying. That’s a winning combination right there. And three, he’s a Decepticon. OF COURSE he’d squish you, just for the fun of it.”

“Not if I make friends with him!”

He slapped his face. “Oh, now THERE’S a possibility.”

“Hey, I made friends with you, didn’t I?”

His optics widened for a moment, and he sputtered. “Yess, well, that’s different… You are a Predacon and one of my crew, well liked by the others. If I squished you they’d have my head.”

“Sure Megs, I know…” grinning, she sheathed the plastic sword back into its case on her belt. “I think it’d be worth a shot. Wanna come?”

“WHAAAT?” Megatron jumped out of his chair. “You aren’t serious….”

Concentrating, Starath summoned a dimensional rift and poked her head in.

“This is the right place!” she called back. “You comin’ or staying?”

Shaking his head, he stared in disbelief. “I don’t even want to KNOW how you did that….”

She giggled, looking up at him. “It’s all in the imagination!”  

 

Standing before his assembled troops, Megatron explained maneuvers for his first battle strategy. Cyclonus shifted nervously beside Tidalwave, still expecting some punishment for kicking his leader earlier. Leaning against the wall, Scorponok’s sorry form sagged into sitting position. A Terrorcon growled at him, and he quickly scrambled upright. Glaring at the drone, he tried to kick it, nearly falling over in the process. Cyclonus saw this and chuckled. As Megatron droned on, he stared into space, paying him little attention, but still managing to look alert. He didn’t like being here one bit, inside the vast corpse of Unicron. He longed for the open skies of outer space and Earth’s atmosphere…. A bright light from a far off corner of the room caught his optic. Two small figures tumbled out of a blue rift before it disappeared. He watched with interest as they stood up, whispering to each other.

“CYCLONUS!”

“ACK!” The black and white Decepticon jumped, startled. He turned back to see Megatron glaring furiously at him. He gulped.

“Y-yes, Megatron sir?”

“Is there something important in your little head that you’d like to share with the rest of us?” he demanded sharply.

Thinking quickly, he said, “N-no sir, I was just watching some suspicious activity!”

“Autobots??” Megatron cried, drawing his sword in a flash.

Cyclonus leaned warily away from the deadly green blade. “M-Maybe! I’ll go check!” 

Nearly tripping over his own feet in attempt to escape his leader’s wrath, Cyclonus hurried to the place where he had seen the blue light. Despite the darkness, he could still see with his robot eyes. However he didn’t see anything until a small voice cried out,

“Hey, watch where you’re stepping!!”

“Huh?” Bewildered, he lowered his gaze closer to the ground, where he saw a girl. Stooping down, he easily picked her up between two fingers. “A Human! Where’d you come from?”

Flailing she answered shrilly, “I’ll tell you as soon as you put me down! Meeeeeggs!”

“Have you found anything, Cyclonus?” called Megatron impatiently.

Nodding, he turned back to the center of the room. “Sure did! And I think she knows you, too!”

He carried the girl as he made his way back to his leader, holding her up for him to see. Megatron frowned with disgust. “I know no such Human.”

To his surprise, she turned to him and glared in annoyance. It didn’t have much of an effect though, because glaring while upside-down doesn’t work.

“I didn’t mean YOU, Megs. The other one!”

“Other one?” The two Decepticons repeated. A cough came from the ground.

“She means me.”

Looking down, they saw Beast Wars Transmetal Megatron standing beside Cyclonus.

“You?” He asked.

“Yeeeess, me. Do you see any OTHER ‘bots standing here?”

“HEEEEEEEY!” cried the girl, kicking and squirming to get their attention, “Could you please put me DOWN, if it’s not too much trouble?! I’m getting sick hanging like this!”

Her captor chuckled. “That’s fine with me!”

“No it isn’t, not if I puke on you!”

“What’s that mean?”

“You don’t want to know,” BW Megatron told him.

Cyclonus glanced at his leader, who nodded. “Put her down.”

Although disappointed, he did as commanded. She collapsed on the ground, holding her head.

“Oooohhh…”

Quickly, BW Megatron drew the large Decepticons’ attention from her while she recovered, activating his rockets so he could be at the same optic-level as they were.

“It is an honor to meet you, Megatron.” He said with a partial bow.

“And you as well, I suppose…” the other answered, fighting confusion. He grinned. “Nice voice, by the way.”

“Heh, yess, I was about to say the same thing to you,” BW Megatron replied with a similar smile.

Cyclonus backed off for a moment, holding up a hand in the “stop” motion. “Whoa, hold the slagging cyber-phone! Are you two brothers or something?”

“Tidalwave confused,” echoed the giant robot from behind them.

“We are not brothers, just merely two leaders of the same name,” explained BW Megatron, “I am from the Beast Wars, which, I believe in this timeline, never happened. It’s a long story….” He added when both Megatron and Cyclonus stared at him, even more confused. “My companion and I are from another dimension, where no Transformers exist. Sad to say, you are part of a new television show, just as I was a few years ago… Again, a long story…. My friend, Starath, wanted to meet you, Megatron, for reasons I am not sure of yet….” He leaned to the larger robot and whispered, “She’s very, um, enthusiastic… try not to let that frighten you.”

“Okay…” the Decepticon nodded slowly. “I’ll remember that.”

Satisfied, BW Megatron flew to the ground. “Now… Starath? Where did you go?” 

“Who’s the nice kitty? Hmmmm? Hmmmm? You are! Yes you are!” Scratching behind the Terrorcon’s ear, she giggled when it rolled over and meowed. “Aaaaww! Do you want you tummy scratched too??”

But before she could do that, she heard her name being called. Glancing up, she saw the Decepticons and BW Megatron staring at her in shock.

“What?”

“Starath…. Get away from the ferocious killer robot….”

“But he’s cute!”

“He won’t be if he rips your arm off.”

Cyclonus burst out laughing. “That’d be hilarious! Hahahahaha!”

“Oh alright… maybe later, okay?” she told the purring Terrorcon, walking over to the gathered ‘bots. She waved at the Decepticons. “Hiya! What’s up?”

“Nothing much…. “ answered TFE Megatron carefully, “You.. wanted to meet me?”

“Oh yes!” Starath bounced in place, pulling out her plastic sword. “You were AWESOME today! Beat the stuffing outta Scorponok like he was nothing!”

From his place by the wall, the beaten Transformer called out, “He got lucky!”

“That is what YOU will be if you manage stay alive today!” thundered his new leader.

“And lookit lookit! I have a sword like you!” She waved the plastic blade around dramatically. “See?”

With one quick and delicate sweep, TFE Megatron brushed his sword by hers, leaving her holding a burnt melted stump.

“Not anymore.” He said with an evil grin.

Unphased, Starath murmured, “Dorkbot.”

Cyclonus nearly fell over as he laughed again. His leader didn’t mind this time, although he winced when his laughter reached a certain pitch.

“Enough!”

Blinking wide green optics, Cyclonus clamped his mouth shut. “Y-yes sir… hee hee...”

Sheathing what was left of her sword, Starath grinned. “Oh well. I’ll just have to get another one. So are you going to go attack the Autobots now? Go look for Energon? What’s your first plan as leader, Megs?”

He let his jaw hang loose in disbelief for a moment before snapping it shut. She was talking to him as if she’d been his friend for years! Why wasn’t she afraid of a thirty-foot robot who could destroy her at any moment? This Human was either very brave…. Or very stupid….

“Ooo! Ooo! I know! Since I’m human, I could infiltrate the Autobot base and break through their defenses! Then you could attack them without any trouble! They’ll never know what hit ‘em! What do you say?”

“I have a better idea, how about I tie you up and use you for target practice? Or a kick ball?” he replied with equal enthusiasm.

Cyclonus hooted in laughter again. “Great idea, boss!”

BW Megatron nervously stepped closer to Starath. “Told you they’d squish you,” he hissed.

“Aw come on!” she continued, ignoring him, “What’re you gunna do about the Autobots?”

“I will defeat them in due time, as soon as I rid the universe of an annoying pest,” TFE Megatron drew his sword again. He looked to the other Megatron. “Care to join me?”

Clearing his throat, he shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s a Predacon. Part of my crew back in the Beast Wars…. Yet another long, long story, I assure you.”

“What?!” cried Cyclonus. “How can a Human be a Predacon?” he blinked. “What’s a Predacon, anyway?”

“Indeed,” his leader said, puzzled.

Starath was more than happy to show them, transforming into her robot form. “See?”

“Predacons are descendents of the Decepticons,” explained BW Megatron, “We are simply smaller Cybertronians. In the Beast Wars, our enemies are the Maximals— descendents of the Autobots.”

“Okay, I’m REALLY confused now,” Cyclonus mumbled, sitting down to get a better look at her. “How’d you do that?”

“I can become a bot. Simple as that.” she answered, “I’ve been a Pred for a few years now. The Beast Wars are taking forever,” she changed back to her normal human self, looking to TFE Megatron. “Still wanna squish me?” 

He sighed, aware that all optics were on him. Needless to say, he’d had an interesting day so far… coming back from the dead, beating up Scorponok, chasing Alpha-Q, regaining leadership… then this Human and another Megatron showed up from a different dimension and talked about there being even MORE dimensions… and he was part of a television show? Since when? He felt real enough, and had been for millions of years…and what was a television anyway? They spoke of a war he’d never even heard of…. Maximals, Predacons…. And somehow the Human could turn into a robot, claiming to be part of that war… had he missed anything? His CPU throbbed as a headache started to form. By the Pit, he wanted a vacation already….

“Boss?” Cyclonus said cautiously, waving a hand in front of his leader’s face, “You okay in there?”

Growling, he batted the hand away and glared at the sitting bot. “Get off your lazy skidplate. We have work to do.”

As Cyclonus got up, he asked excitedly, “Are we going to squish her??”

“No you fool, I mean the Autobots. It is time to announce my return….” He grinned. “Optimus would be glad to see me.”

“Can I squish her really quick then?”

“No, Cyclonus. We have no time to waste on a Human.”

On the ground, Starath stuck her tongue out at him. BW Megatron hid his laughter with a cough. “We got lucky,” he told her.

“Can I come with?” she asked hopefully.

“NO, you may NOT,” TFE Megatron replied harshly, “Not unless you want to ‘accidentally’ become a splash of goo on the underside of my foot.”

 “Umm… I’ll stay here then.”

“No, you’ll go home— OUT of my sight.”

“Can I come visit you again?”

  “No.”

“Please?”

“I said NO!”

“Okay. Some other time then.”

BW Megatron tugged Starath away as the Decepticon leader started to raise his foot.

“We’ll be going now!”

She waved at them as they turned to go around the corner. “Bye Megs! Bye Cyclonus!”

A flash of blue light followed. They disappeared. 

Cyclonus turned to his leader, still waving. He quickly dropped his hand as Megatron gave him a death glare.

“She wasn’t THAT bad,” he admitted.

Shaking his head, Megatron grumbled, “Do me a favor, will you? Weld your mouth shut.” 

 

Exhausted, the Transmetal Predacon collapsed into his favorite chair, breathing hard. Starath sat on the floor at his feet, grinning like a loon.

“That was fun!”

“Oh yess, if you LIKE having a death wish!”

“Heh heh, the guys at BWTF and BWint are NEVER going to believe this….”

“I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.”

“Aw come on Megs, where’s your sense of imagination?”

“I’m afraid talking to a thirty-foot Decepticon involves a little more than simple imagination, not to mention the very REAL possibility of being killed! Well, you anyway.”

“I could have gotten out of there if I wanted to.”

“Yeeess, by annoying them to death.”

“Ha ha, very funny Megs.” Starath jumped up, laughing as a commercial played on television. “WOO! I can’t wait!”

“For what?” Megatron sat up slowly, eyeing her.

She pointed to the television’s screen, where scenes from “Transformers Energon” flashed.

“The next episode!”  

 

To be continued…..?