Cybertronian Civil War part 8: Earth effected by the War

[7Knight-Wolf]

Yo, it's 7K-W. If it seems like the story is dragging, I'll just go ahead and tell ya-all that CCW is kind of a long story and could have up to 20 chapters. 17 or 18 Chapters is more likely, but we'll see. Enjoy!
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Part 8: Earth Affected By the War

(Recap: Divisions of Cybertronians start a war, blaming each other for recent Terrorist attacks. Maximals Topazor and Springer and human Chris set out to Earth to enlist the aid of Cheetor in finding the real identity of the Terrorists. According to Cheetor, Rattrap is the only robot alive with the secrets of the Attacks. On Earth, the Maximals and human Chris introduced to Chris’ brother, Ben. Cheetor goes to Sydney to buy a spacecraft which Topazor and his friends will use to get back to Cybertron and find Rattrap.)

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It was early in the morning, and Topazor and Springer were still resting. Ben was brewing coffee in the café and preparing for the day. Meanwhile, Chris went out by himself. It had been so long since he visited his brother here in Australia. All the sights and sounds—lazy sheep, glorious sunrises, dry terrain and the hum of old tractors—sounded infinitely dear to him. And deep down Chris wondered if the small moments he enjoyed here, in the middle of nowhere, were really more memorable than running with the gangs on Cybertron.

Back inside, Topazor woke up. Ben said, “You’re up early.”

“Springer’s snores woke me up,” laughed Topazor. “So where’s Chris?”

Ben shrugged, and gulped down a drought of hot coffee. “Oh, Chris is probably causing trouble.”

Topazor was in a much better mood this morning. The bad relationship between Ben and Chris bothered him. “You know,” said Topazor, “my father was Silverbolt, a very wise knight. He believed that everybody should have a second chance. Maybe that’s what Chris needs—a second chance.”

“You speak your mind freely,” observed Ben, impassively.

“Like father, like son,” answered Topazor.
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It was about lunch time. As Chris was walking alone, he heard a voice say, “What are you doing here?”

Chris turned around and laid eyes on a familiar face—his old friend Jessica. A long time ago Jessica and Chris had been very close. A young woman with long brunette hair and distinctive lavender eyes, Jessica was a tall, slim beauty. She could be a little shy and awkward, but in the past, Chris remembered, she had risen to become the most infamous trouble-maker in Walden.
“Hey. It’s my partner in crime,” joked Chris.

Jessica stared at Chris, shocked, for a few seconds. There was something about her face that looked blank, like she was trying to hide her emotions from the world. But the blank look faded and Jessica gave her old friend a hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said. “I—I didn’t recognize you at first.”

“I’m a different man,” Chris replied. Then, surveying his friend, he added, “but you haven’t changed a bit, Jessica.” He felt like saying, “you’re still so pretty” but didn’t think that it was the right thing to say.

“Everybody thought you’d have died by now,” Jessica remarked, letting a bit of relief creep into her subtle tone. “We may have ships and energon guns, but Cybertron is still dangerous for humans. Then Cheetor told me that there might be some fighting up there…”

“So you all gave up on me?” asked Chris with a smile. “Well…it takes more than a civil war to take down the Pizza King.”

Jessica was puzzled. “Pizza King?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember,” said Chris. “All those old games we used to play! You and I used to sneak out on Friday nights, and raid old Ben’s pizza stash. We’d take it to the Game Stop parking lot with a beer or two and see who could eat the most.” He laughed. “You always got us into so much trouble!”

Jessica’s smile lit up her clever face. “Oh no, Pizza King,” she said, “it was YOU who got us into trouble, not me!”

“Are you kidding? You were a real vixen back then!”

“And you were never satisfied; you were always bored, Chris.” After this comment, a more serious look came into Jessica’s face. “I guess that’s why you left: because this place was boring. You’d rather fight a war on Cybertron, huh? I guess you’re not staying here for long.”

Chris shook his head. The crystal moment of childhood recollection was gone; they were adults again. “I’m sorry, Jess,” said Chris. “As soon as Cheetor comes back, I’m going back to Cybertron with Topazor and Springer.”

Jessica turned away and the blankness returned to her tone and expression. She didn’t want Chris to know how she was feeling. “So,” said Jessica as she walked away, “you’re leaving us again. You have no idea how worried Ben was about you. I thought you cared about other people’s feelings.”

“Jess, I’m only an embarrassment to Ben,” argued Chris. “It’s too painful to stay here. I care about Ben’s feelings—so that’s why I’m leaving.”

“What about MY feelings?” A flash of anger penetrated her flat aura.

Chris caught up with Jessica and grabbed her hand. “Your feelings? What—what do you feel?” he asked in a whisper. “Do you…want me to stay?”

Jessica could not answer. She started walking away, leaving Chris with a desperate longing to redeem himself in the eyes of his childhood companion.

Suddenly a noise like thunder filled the air. Black specks appeared in the vividly bright sky, and grew rapidly bigger as they approached. They soaring specks dropped flaming balls on the landscape, causing fires to spring up in the dry brush. The ground shook with the impact of landing explosives, and the sky shook with the sounds of those soaring specks—air-raiding ships.
Jessica fell flat on the ground. Chris kept his footing a moment longer, shading his eyes and trying to make out the details of the approaching futuristic aircrafts. Then he too was thrown on the ground beside Jessica. “What’s happening?!” Jessica shouted. “Stay down!” Chris called back gruffly. Laying beside her, he protectively put his arms over her body.

When the shaking had stopped, everything was dead silent. Chris craned his head up and saw that the sky was clear. He sat up asked, “Are you okay?” When Jessica nodded yes, Chris told her sharply, “Okay, stay here. And stay down!”

“Where are you going?” demanded Jessica.

“Just having a look around.” Chris ran up a nearby hill to survey the status of the ranch-houses. When he came back, he helped Jess to her feet. “It’s pretty bad. The Air-raiders didn’t strike the town, miraculously, but the power’s out in the all the houses. Some of the houses are broken down. I guess the impact of those dropped explosives had an earthquake effect.”
Jessica, shading her brow with her hand, was looking in the opposite direction. “We’ve got a bigger problem. Look—the fires.”

Chris saw the brush-fires approaching the town. If the fire hit the ranch-land, it would be unstoppable. “Do you have a cell phone?” asked Chris. “Let’s get the fire Department.”
Jessica shook her head. “Chris, the Fire Department was in the next county over—just where those ships dropped the fire.” Even now her voice was without emotion.

Chris gave an irritated sigh. “Ben was right—this planet is topsy-turvy. The same guys who attacked Cybertron also attacked down here. And they came within miles of MY home!” He clenched his fists angrily. “Come on, Jessica. Let’s go back and tell Ben what we saw. Then we’ll have to find a way to put out that fire.”

Jessica was staring, dazed, at the place where she knew the other town was. Now there was only fire. There could be no survivors of the air-raid in that town.

“Jess, come on!” shouted Chris. He grabbed Jessica’s hand and stared into her eyes. “Come on, Jess. What you see out there—it’s not going to happen to THIS county. We’re gonna stop it." The persistent encouragement seemed to awaken Jess from her amaze. She and Chris ran down to Ben’s café.

[Blazemane]

Ooh- nice way to end the chapter.

I hope Ben takes Topazor's advice too.

This is going to be interesting...

[7Knight-Wolf]

Ooh- nice way to end the chapter.

I hope Ben takes Topazor's advice too.

This is going to be interesting...

I'm glad you liked it. This chapter was short, but I wanted time for readers to get used to the new characters like Ben and Jessica. Both characters give Chris some backstory.