[CYBERTRON - MILLIONS OF YEARS EARLIER - TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDEN AGE]
CITY: IACON
*KNOCK *KNOCK *KNOCK!!!
"Hello!!! Are you really going to make me wait out here!" Elita-1 complained, crossing her arms and pursing her lips.
The somewhat imperious pink Cybertronian was waiting impatiently at the door of the large archive hall of IACON, a public library that sometimes gets locked due to lack of attention from its owner. The locked automatic door opened, revealing an old Cybertronian, 12 meters tall, who looked at the small 4-meter female Cybertronian, causing her to instinctively retreat at the sight of him.
"Hi... Sir Alpha.... I didn't expect to see you here." Elita-1 said, a little intimidated by the old librarian's abnormal height.
"I live here, girl, I have nowhere else to go." Alpha said in a tired and slightly grumpy tone.
"I'm sorry... I forgot... Again! But it doesn't matter, is Orion immersed in books here?" Elita-1 asked, putting her hands behind her back and trying to change the subject.
"(Sigh) Teenagers... He's in the same place as always, just follow the hallway." Alpha stretched his arm toward the dark, slightly dusty hallway.
A legendary warrior, and now just a simple librarian, he walked alongside Elita-1 to make sure she didn't get lost, something she had done more than once, even though she was a frequent visitor, unfortunately she had no interest in the history of Cybertron, unlike Orion Pax who kept him company.
The legendary library contained hundreds of millions of data points of information that were freely accessible, but unfortunately the current generation of Cybertronians cared little for the great past that Cybertron once boasted in its heyday. So the library was only used by a few enthusiasts, some older Cybertronians or military personnel who wanted to learn about the past and understand military strategies through ancient accounts of other famous battles in the military field.
Of course, information is power! So this old librarian was someone who was careful about what he allowed to be made available for learning, hiding certain information from the past behind other information, only keeping the true history of Cybertron in his mind.
Alpha, a grumpy old librarian once known as Alpha Trion, one of the original Thirteen Primes, has dedicated the rest of his thousands of years to changing a certain point in Cybertronian history, hiding things to prevent certain repetitions of past mistakes, even though this has caused few to know who he really was, only a shadow of the man once known as one of the leaders of Cybertron.
It could be said that his decision was cruel and arrogant, but it was the wisest decision considering everything he saw and witnessed, Prima Prime's last request to him was to hide any information that would lead to legendary weapons and artifacts created in the first era of Cybertron, including the weapons of the Primes, which were now nothing more than myths.
"This place needs cleaning." Elita-1 commented, bothered by how poorly the place was cleaned.
"My back hurts just thinking about cleaning all this, if your boyfriend would help me it would be easier, but he spends hours diving into historical archives." Alpha commented, mentally agreeing that he needed to clean the place.
Elita-1 blushed for a moment and quickly corrected the old librarian and Orion Pax's mentor. "He's not my boyfriend... he's just a friend." Elita-1 said, slightly unsure.
"I'm too old to put up with this drama anymore." Alpha sighed wearily.
Elita-1 looked at Alpha with some doubt, wondering how old he was, since she didn't know many older Cybertronians, or those who looked old. "So how old are you, Alpha?"
"You wouldn't believe it." Alpha replied with sarcasm in his grumpy voice.
The two entered one of the large rooms in the library, specifically where the General Information Pillar was located, where all available information was concentrated, and saw several holographic screens around this silver pillar with Cybertronian symbols, where there was a six meter tall robot, with predominant colors of blue and red, completely immersed in learning, with a very serious and concentrated face.
"Pax! Have you forgotten what day it is?" Elita-1 said, putting her hands on her hips, waiting for Orion Pax's answer, but noticing that she was being incredibly ignored. "He ignored me?"
"He gets very lost in his studies, I often have to literally chase him with a metal bat to bring him back to reality." Alpha said with obvious fatigue, grabbing a metal stick out of nowhere to throw at Orion's head.
"No need for that, I have my own methods." Elita-1 stretched a little and puffed out her chest. "PAX!!!!!" She screamed, causing the future leader of the Autobots to startle and fall to the ground in a comical fashion.
"This is a library! Does the concept of silence not exist for you?!" Orion complained, getting up from the floor a little dizzy from his fall.
"Do you even know the concept of calendar and time? Have you forgotten what day it is?" Elita-1 crossed her arms in irritation when she saw how confused Orion was. "TODAY IS THE BIG DAY! YOU PROMISED TO SUPPORT HIM!"
Orion Pax's eyes quickly widened in horror as he finally realized what Elita-1 was saying. "Today is the day? I thought it was in 10 days!"
"It's been more than 10 days, you nerd!" Elita-1 pulled Orion Pax by the hand and led him towards the exit, leaving the old librarian confused by the situation.
"Where are you going?" Alpha couldn't contain his curiosity.
"WE'RE GOING TO THE ARENA TO SEE MEGATRONUS CHALLENGE THE GRAND CHAMPION!" Elita-1 shouted, leading Orion in the wrong direction, only to correct his course out of the library.
"Megatronus..." Alpha whispered, feeling a heavy sensation in his Spark as he remembered his past for a moment. But he quickly regained his composure and analyzed the situation. "Orion told me he doesn't like to see the gladiator arenas... Now I remember, D-16, this young gladiator, Orion and him are old friends, now it makes sense, this day is very important for both of them."
Alpha Trion decided to review the files his apprentice was studying, not wanting to think about the brutality of the Kaon arenas, which by their very existence completely violated Cybertronian laws. Not to mention that over 90% of the gladiators were slaves who were forced to fight each other to the death to entertain the people, a practice he despises.
Orion and D-16 are old friends, but unfortunately they cannot see each other often, as D-16 is one of the slaves in the arena, fighting every day for his freedom.