Chapter Text
2010
It was the middle of the night. A cool summertime breeze fluttered through the deep blue curtains as the pale moonlight dimly illuminated the framed space photographs. Lying beneath a solar system comforter was a little boy, no older than eight, fast asleep. Suddenly, the wind kicked up, and there was a flash of bright light. The boy's eyes snapped open, and as the wind died back down, he heard a crackling noise. He threw the blanket off of himself and tiptoed in the direction of the noise. When he found his way to the desk by the window, he knelt and looked underneath. Just under the chair, he saw a small object, no bigger than a baseball, sitting on the floor. It was shaped like a 20-sided die, and colored yellow, with silvery-blue lining along the edges. The boy reached under the chair and grabbed the object when suddenly an electric current began to flow through his body, causing him to scream before going limp.
"Hiro?" a man's voice said as the door opened, "Hiro?!"
2020
Hasui Hironori stepped through the large metal door into the large white room. Surrounding him were tables of half-built prototypes, testing equipment, and computers. At the opposite end of the room, an older man sat at a desk in front of a large array of monitors, slaving over some kind of strange machine.
"Good morning, Papa." Hironori said, waving at the man across the room.
"Hello." was all he heard back.
"Whatcha working on?"
"Classified."
"Well... are you coming to breakfast with us?"
"I already ate." Hironori sighed at his father's words.
"Okay then." he said, "I'm going out with some friends." Hironori grabbed a gray metal object from a wall rack to his left. The device consisted of a small metal plate on top of a pair of twin barrels, with a handgrip beneath the barrel ends. He also grabbed the yellow object, now with markings on the front reading "BB-11", off of one of the tables.
"And Bumble." Hironori added as he carried the two items out of the lab.
Hironori strolled down the street towards a small cafe, where three other people were already sitting outside, two boys and one girl. One of the boys saw Hironori approaching and waved.
"Hey there, Hiro!" he said, "We've been waiting five minutes for you."
"Sorry, Shou." Hiro said, "I tried to make it ten, but my father was busy with who-knows-what." Shou chuckled, and Hiro sat down across from Shou, and next to the girl.
"Hey Hana," the other boy said, "did you hear about what happened to Yuuka yesterday?"
"Oh yeah, I did." the girl said.
"Yuuka?" Hiro said, "From high school?"
"Yeah." the boy said.
"No, I didn't hear about it, Hideki."
"So, she was walking home last night," Hideki explained, "when suddenly she was attacked by a Destron."
"A Destron?!" Hiro asked.
"Yeah," Hana said, "it beat her practically to death. She's in the hospital right now, and hasn't woken up since it knocked her out."
"Is she going to be alright?"
"They're doing what they can," Hideki said, "but she's in pretty bad shape."
"Well, I hope she gets better." Hiro said, "What happened to the Destron?"
"The police managed to take it down," Hana said, "but it seemed stronger than before."
"I should probably let my father know about this. If they're getting stronger, he needs to step up his work."
"Yeah, you should." Hideki said.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, another small object, this one in dark blue with pale copper edging, pulsated with red energy. As people walked past, blissfully unaware of the small device, the same red glow began to appear in the wheel wells of a nearby police car.
"Hey, can we talk about something else?" Shou said, "Talking about Yuuka's making me a bit uncomfortable."
"Sure." Hideki said, "Hiro, anything new or exciting going on in the lab?"
"You know I can't tell you about that, Hideki." Hiro said, "Since the Coresparks started showing up, he's been totally secretive about all his research."
"Come on, he must've told you something." Hideki said.
"Even if he did tell me, I wouldn't tell you. I'm not a fan of the whole secrets thing, but if that's how he wants to work, I have to respect that."
"He's right, Hideki." Hana said, "That'd be pretty out of line for him." Hideki sighed.
"You're right, Hana. I'm sorry for bothering you, Hiro."
"It's okay." Hiro said. He opened his mouth to speak some more, but he saw a shadow move in the corner of his eye. A dark blue robot stepped out into the street, its body appearing to be made out of police car parts. People were running and screaming, which drew the other kids' attention to the robot.
"A Destron!" Hana shouted, and the four stood up and started to run away. The robot chased after them, however, deploying a rotary saw blade from its arm as it ran. Hiro stopped in his tracks.
"Hiro, what are you doing?" Shou asked.
"Keep going, I'll hold him off." Hiro replied.
"How will you-"
"Please, just trust me." Shou paused, and Hana grabbed his arm. The three ran away together, while Hiro strapped the metal device to his arm. He slid the top plate backward, revealing a space between the barrels. He grabbed the yellow object from his pocket and inserted it into the slot. He raised his arm at the robot, which was closing in quickly, and pressed a button on the device's handgrip with his thumb.
"Bumble!" a robotic voice said before two bursts of electricity shot out from the device's barrels. The blast struck the robot, stunning him for a moment, but before Hiro had a chance to run away, it started moving towards him again. He fired more shots at it, but none fazed it for long. The robot finally reached Hiro and punched him in the face. Hiro fell to the ground, now with a bruise on his face reading "SERVE", and the robot raised its saw blade over him. Hiro shut his eyes and turned his face away when he suddenly heard gunshots. He opened his eyes to see the robot being shot at by a nearby police squad. The robot turned away from Hiro, and he stood up and ran away.
Dr. Hasui sat at his desk, still hunched over the device when another man in a lab coat approached him.
"Dr. Hasui," he said, "you might want to see this." The man held a tablet out to the doctor, who turned to look at the screen. He saw a news video of the robot attacking Hironori and immediately jumped to his feet, snatching the tablet out of his assistant's hands. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, just unintelligible grunts. He handed the tablet back to his assistant, grabbed something off his desk, and ran for the lab door. He went up a flight of stairs and into the living room, where he saw Hiro sitting on a couch, holding an ice pack on his face, and his mother sitting next to him.
"Hironori, are you alright?" Dr. Hasui said as he approached his injured son.
"He'll be fine, Daichi." Hiro's mother said.
"Oh, Hiro, I'm so sorry." Daichi said.
"It's not your fault, Papa." Hiro groaned, pressing the ice harder onto his face.
"Hikari, could you leave us alone for a moment?" Hiro's mother nodded and stood up, walking out of the room.
"Listen, Hiro." Daichi continued, "The Destrons, they... they've gotten a lot stronger since they started showing up."
"You don't say?"
"I was afraid that something like this would happen. I knew someday they'd get too powerful for the Stunners to work on them. I know, I should have warned you about it, but... I think the solution is finally ready." Daichi reached into his lab coat pocket, and pulled out a large gold key, with a red button on the top. He handed it to Hironori, "If you ever encounter a Destron, press the red button. It isn't easy to explain, you're just going to have to trust me." Hiro took the key and put it into his pocket.
"Thanks, Papa."
The next day, Hiro returned to the coffee shop, now with a large bandage on his face. Shou, Hana, and Hideki were sitting at the same table as before, with a tray of coffees.
"Hey, Hiro!" Shou said, "Feeling better?"
"Yeah." Hiro said as he sat down in the empty seat.
"You must be really lucky to have survived something like that." Hana said.
"I suppose."
"You suppose?" Hideki said, "Yuuka's been unconscious for two days, and she was just attacked by a Refraktor! You survive that and you only suppose you're lucky?"
"You got a point there. Sorry, it's just... I have a hard time looking back at it positively."
"I totally understand." Hana said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for bothering you about it." Hideki said.
"It's okay." Hiro said as he picked up his coffee, only to see the surface rippling, accompanied by the growing sound of metal smashing tarmac. He looked up to see the same robot from before stomping through the streets.
"It's back?!" Shou said.
"Maybe it came to finish the job." Hideki said.
"Hiro, let's get out of here!" Hana said, and the four of them got up from their chairs and ran, but the robot jumped and landed directly in front of them. It growled at the teens and swung its sawblade down. Hiro dodged to the right, while the others dodged to the left.
"Damn!" Hiro said, "This again." Hiro ran towards an alleyway and looked back to see the robot encroaching on the other three. He ducked into the alley and dug around in his pockets. He found the strange gold key and held it up to his face for a moment.
"Papa, please let this work." he said before pressing the red button.
Back in the lab, Daichi sat at his computer, when he noticed an alert on his monitor.
"MACHINE ARK DEPLOYED" the text flashed red in the corner.
"Hiro, please be safe." the scientist said, as an engine roared in a distant part of the lab, accompanied by a flash of blue light.
Hiro stared at the blinking blue light on the key, waiting for something more, when he heard the saw rev up again.
"Somebody! Save us!" Hideki's voice cried. Hiro jumped at the sound but managed to keep his composure long enough for a blue vortex to appear in front of him. Hiro stared at the vortex, and soon a strange motorcycle, plated in the same gold-colored metal as the key, with glowing blue tires, came out of it. The portal closed, and Hiro ran up to the side of the bike. Strapped to the back was a black case, with a gold keyhole. Hiro looked from the lock to the key and inserted the key into the hole. It fit, and he turned it to open the case. Inside the case was an unusual-looking device. It consisted of a golden sphere, with a slot in the center not unlike the slot on the Stunner, and a pair of silver handles on either side. Printed on the inside of the lid was a set of instructions, consisting primarily of line-art with text captions. Hiro read over the instructions, and, hands shaking, took hold of the device's handles. He examined it for a moment, before switching the handles in his hands and, after another moment's hesitation, thrust the device onto his waist. With a mechanical whirr, a metallic strap extended from the device and around his waist. He reached back into his pocket and took out the yellow icosahedron. He pressed down on one of the rear faces of the object.
"Bumble!" it shouted, and a small burst of electricity came out from the front. Hiro inserted the object into the center of the device, and the edges began to pulsate with blue light. He took a deep breath and pulled on the handles. The gold center split in two, and the front of the yellow object opened up, revealing a blue glowing core, and the faint image of a yellow horned robot head. A suit of fluid-like, silver armor appeared around Hironori's body, with glowing blue nodes on his shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles, chest, and back. His entire face was covered by a mirror-like mask.
"Henkei! Henkei! Bumble!" the object in his belt shouted, and a yellow and black-striped muscle car materialized in front of him, did a donut, and split apart into another suit of armor, including a helmet resembling the robot face, which shrunk down and connected to the nodes on Hiro's body. Hironori looked around: his vision was now overlaid with a sort of heads-up display, with everything put through a blue color filter, and small text boxes in the corner.
"Hello, Hasui Hironori." it said, "I am Bumble. By inserting my Corespark into the Matrix Driver, you have created a link between us."
"O...okay. Hello, Bumble." Hiro said, "My friends are under attack from a Destron. Could you... help me out?"
"Of course. Just follow my lead." The text box disappeared, and Hiro ran out into the street, where he saw his friends badly bruised, and surrounded by saw marks in the pavement.
"Divert his attention." Bumble said. Hiro raised his head, squared his shoulders, and shouted at the Destron.
"Hey!" he said, causing the robot to turn away from the teens and toward Hiro, "If you want them, you have to go through me." Hiro's vision zoomed in on the Destron, and a small collection of data appeared next to its face.
"Barricade. Destron enforcer." Bumble said, "Nothing I haven't fought before."
"Bumble? Is that you?" Barricade said as he scanned Hiro, "No. Just a human. Shouldn't be a problem."
"You'd be surprised what a human can do." Hiro said.
"Die, human scum!" Barricade charged at Hiro and swung his saw at him. Hiro, however, turned to one side, and one of the car doors swung down and blocked the saw. He then swung his arm around and punched Barricade in the face, sending the Destron stumbling backward.
"Deploy Stinger Blade." Bumble said.
"Stinger Blade?" Hiro said, "How do I-" Hiro stopped when he heard a metallic gliding sound, and looked down to see a translucent blue blade jutting out from his wrist.
"Target joints." Bumble continued. Hiro looked back up at Barricade, who was just regaining his bearings from the first blow. Hiro charged at Barricade and struck him in the shoulder. A surge of electricity coursed through Barricade's body, causing his fingers to spasm, and eliciting a garbled scream from him. Hiro pulled the blade back, and Barricade collapsed to his knees. Hiro looked down at his arm.
"This is awesome!" he said. He thrust the blade at Barricade once again, but this time Barricade grabbed his arm, stopping the attack.
"You'll pay for that one." Barricade said before throwing Hiro away from him. Barricade approached Hiro, cracking his knuckles as he went. Hiro, however, jumped up and flipped over Barricade's head, landing behind him and landing another Sting to Barricade's spine. Barricade spun around and punched Hiro, but Hiro blocked the fist with his Stinger Blade, electrocuting Barricade again. Barricade deployed his saw again, but Hiro blocked it with his Stinger Blade, causing the motor to short out. Hiro punched Barricade repeatedly, each strike chipping away more and more of the dark blue paint, and eventually he stumbled into a wall.
"Barricade is now weakened." Bumble said, "Execute Cyberdrive technique." Hiro nodded, and he pushed the handles of the Matrix Driver back together. The blue light within the Corespark pulsated again, more quickly this time, as a large surge of electricity flowed into his right foot. When the energy started bursting from his leg as lightning, Hiro pulled the handles back out.
"Bumble! Cyberdrive!" the Corespark said as Hiro leaped into the sky. He did a flip in the air and extended his leg out in Barricade's direction. As he dove towards the worn-out Destron, Hiro's boot transformed into a translucent blue spike.
"Stinger Kick!" Hiro shouted as the electricity concentrated into the spike. The spike embedded itself into Barricade's chest, and the electric current flowed through his body, causing him to explode.
Shou, Hana, and Hideki all huddled together underneath a table, holding their breath as tightly as possible to avoid making a sound.
"Did... did you hear that, too?" Hideki asked.
"Yeah..." Shou replied, "It sounded like something blew up."
"Do... do you think it's safe now?" Hideki asked.
"I'll... I'll take a look." Hana poked her head out from under the table and saw Hiro standing in a cloud of smoke, surrounded by shattered glass and molten metal, on one knee with his right foot on the ground. Hiro pushed himself up and turned around to see a dark blue Corespark sitting at the center of the large scorch mark on the pavement. He picked the object up, and took the key off his belt, pressing the button. The gold bike drove itself right in front of him, and he threw his leg over it. As he grabbed hold of the handlebar, however, the three teens ran up to him.
"Wait, masked rider!" Hana said.
"You saved our lives!" Hideki said.
"Is Hiro safe?" Shou asked. Hiro took a breath to speak, but stopped himself, knowing that his friends would recognize his voice. Instead, he simply nodded.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Shou said.
"Thank you, masked rider!" Hana and Hideki said in succession. Hiro gave a quick salute and rode off.
Daichi stood next to a large metal ring and a motorcycle rack. A red light on the side of the ring flashed, and it made a beeping sound. A blue vortex opened within the ring, and Hironori rode out, the bike rack automatically clamping to the wheels. Hiro pushed the handles of the Matrix Driver in and removed the yellow Corespark. The suit of armor disappeared, and Hiro jumped off the bike.
"Got a new experiment for you." Hiro said as he handed Barricade's Corespark to Daichi.
"A Destron Corespark?" Daichi said, "Fascinating, I should definitely examine this." Daichi took a small device with a clear hinged panel out of his pocket. He opened up the panel and put the Corespark inside it. Once the lid was shut again, the container flooded itself with gas, and the faint red glow between the Corespark panels disappeared.
"Hiro," he continued, "the Destrons are getting stronger and hurting more people every day. I'd like to do more to fight them, but I'm needed here in this lab... more than I'd like. I know that, with how poor of a father I've been, I have no right to ask you this, but... if you'd be willing to fight them..."
"Of course, Papa." Hironori said, "I'd love to work with you, and if there are people who need me, of course, I'll help them."
"Great." Daichi and Hiro shook hands, "Welcome to Hasui Labs, Cybertron." Daichi pulled Hiro closer into a hug, "Glad to have you aboard, son."