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Atlas Meridian stepped into the cave, his chocolate brown hair slicked back as usual and his deep brown eyes observing. He wore the usual garb for explorations like this: a two piece thick charcoal grey leathery outfit with black boots, gloves, and a clear visor that covered his face and part of his hair, along with a belt with many pockets. However, his left arm wasn’t covered by the outfit, stopping just after the shoulder due to the mechanical nature of his replaced arm. The cave was a strange slate color, standing out a bit from all the other rocks that lead up to it. Water seemed to puddle in the crevasses and low dents of the cave, filling them up yet never seeming to move or go beyond their confines. Every now and again was a strange bubbly gem of sorts, almost like Energon with blue food coloring packed into an 3D oval shape.
He didn’t know how the Decepticons– what a strange name– missed the Cybertronian signal from the cave. Even that Autobot they picked up– Orion? Optimist? One of the two– didn’t notice it. The scientist wondered before, even just for a few moments, if they were purposely avoiding the signal, but reasoned that it was a rather strange signal, hard to tell it was even Cybertronian to begin with. However, that didn’t sate his and the other scientists in GHOST’s ranks curiosity about the thing. Getting the superiors to go through with it was simpler than expected, but he supposed it wasn’t unusual. Anything Cybertronian in the wrong hands could cause disaster. His old… colleague, Alex Malto, sure was a good example of that.
Atlas continued further into the cave, his robotic arm already lifting up as his still flesh one flexed in excitement. His hand moved to the false arm and clicked a button, activating a holographic screen. Atlas looked at the screen to make sure he entered the right inputs, then stopped as the connection was finalized. He said into the hologram, “Doctor Meridian to Base Spike, do you read?”
A bit of static followed, then he read, [Doctor Charon to Doctor Meridian, can do! Anything interesting yet?]
“There’s a strange crystal that appears like a blue or teal version of Energon, but I haven’t gotten too far in,” Atlas replied.
He could almost feel his colleague vibrating in place. [Oh wow, Energon that isn’t only blue, but also crystalline? That sounds amazing! Make sure you collect samples!]
Atlas approached one of the strange orbs and grabbed it. He tugged at it for a few moments, then it broke free. He observed it as he replied, “Of course.”
[Here, I’ll mute so you don’t get distracted and we’ll still be able to see what’s going on!] Dr Charon said, then the noise of a mute signal going off and the hologram automatically deactivating. A brief notification appeared in the visor, but it quickly dismissed itself to the corner of his vision.
Atlas turned the orb in his hands around for a few more moments, only finding it to be the same on every side, save of the few pieces of stone that still clung to it. He put the strange orb into a pocket, making sure it was shut before going further into the cave.
It continued to be more of the same. Slate blue stones and the blue orbs. The only difference was that the cave was continuous lit with blue light, but it was unclear where the light was coming from.
After a few minutes, the cave opened up to a massive room. A pool of the same strange water nearly covered the entire room, the only dry bits being the center and the path up to it. Thirteen stalactites hung from the ceiling, though eight of them appeared to be forcibly broken by an overpowering force, the other five left alone to grow, nearly touching the pool. The stalactites, the ceiling, and the walls were all the same slate blue. However, the strange teal orbs seemed to have become no more bigger than specks, seemingly dragged of what they held. In the center of the room was a pedestal with an ocean colored stone covered with teal speckles sitting atop it.
Atlas approached the stone, a curiosity in his eyes. He lifted his gloved hand to touch the stone, then moving his hand across it. There was no reaction.
His robotic arm moved so he could pick up the strange stone with both hands. The moment his robotic palm touched the odd stone, the artifact went haywire. It suddenly glowed green, the pool quickly gaining the same glow. A tendril of light popped out of the stone, quickly wrapping around his robotic arm as behind him, two of the stalactites began to glow. Atlas barely had time to react, shock erupting over his face, then the two stalactites shattered with a head-splitting noise and he was forced to tuck his head into his metal shoulder and pressing his gloved palm against his other ear, squeezing his eyes shut.
A few moments passed and all the noise and simulation calmed down. Atlas opened his eyes, blinking slightly as he repositioned his upper body. The glowing had vanished, but the robotic arm seemed… changed. It didn’t change much, but there was a strange tugging feeling that now emanated from it, along with a purplish blue orb sitting on the back of the robotic palm. A quickly glance in the visor showed the connection was still up, and he moved his arm away from it.
He bumped into something and quickly snapped around.
Staring into his eyes was a Cybertronian of some sort, a strange scent coming off it and with oddly blank colors with bits of teal glow. After a moment, he recalled what the scientists of GHOST were told about young Cybertronians, better known as ‘sparklings’. This was some sort of sparkling. Its bright red eyes stared into him, its feminine shaped armor flared out somewhat.
“Curious,” the being said, its voice wispy, yet feminine and sounding like there was a growling undertone. “You’re not… scared. Unlike the wimp that dares call us a twin.” Its optics glanced to the side, causing Atlas to look over as well. As he did so, he took notice of the state of the shattered stalactites. They were reduced back down to the ceiling, now much smaller points. Those were unlike the other broken stalactites, where seemed battered and torn into.
On the other side of the pool, clinging to the wall, was another sparkling, though it seemed taller and on the masculine side, despite its plating squeezing onto itself. It didn’t speak, its blue optics, terrified with a field to match.
“So… why are you nOT TERRIFIED?!” the sparkling suddenly screeched, its plating flaring as its voice box crackled with the sudden change, the growl suddenly more prevalent.
Atlas didn’t move, instead muttering, “Fascinating.”
The sparkling seemed to doubletake at that reaction, causing the more male sparkling to attempt an approach. The femme glared at the mech, causing it to stop.
“Fascinating…? That’s what you see us as?” the femme sparkling questioned, a strange surprise in its wispy voice as the growl died back down to an undertone.
Atlas, under his breath, added, “Earth-born Cybertronians? Terran Cybertronians? Would they be any different from Cybertronians from Cybertron?”
The femme seemed to stare as the mech finally approached. Somewhat quietly, with a scared, shaky, terrified voice, the mech sparkling asked, “W-W-Who are you?”
Atlas snapped out of his mutterings, then looked at the mech sparkling and said, “My name is Doctor Meridian, but you can call me Atlas.”
Both of the sparklings stared.
A tug of full terror seemed to radiate from the strange feeling now in his robotic arm as the mech sparkling trembled and he said, “I-I-I’m Thrash.”
The femme sparkling lean forward, a bloodlust radiating out from the other strange tug (he just noticed, there were two ‘strings’) that matched in her optics, then she said, “We are Twitch.”