Scattered Across The Stars

Knife Training

  Idominous hesitated as he stood by the arena's entrance. He could hear the grunts and groans of the gladiators training inside but still couldn't enter. Memory flashes through his mind of murderous yells and Energon spilling over blades. His breathing quickened as he felt the thrill of the fight and he clenched a fist tightly when-

  "Big brother! I did it! I hit the target!" a familiar happy voice calls followed by cheers of encouragement. The memories dispersed as he slowly walked into the arena to see Husk laughing as Megatronous swung him around in a hug.

  "I'm so proud of you! Oh, man. I wish Dad could have seen that. He would be so proud too," the older brother grins, setting his brother down on the ground.

  "Oh? And what would I be proud of?" Idominous smiles as he leans against a wall. He couldn't believe his optics when he saw that Husk had gotten a small growth spurt after the past few weeks of not seeing each other.

  "Dad!" Husk cheers as he runs over and grabs his father's hand before dragging him over to a line of targets with knives scattered around the ground between each one. Only a single target had a knife sticking out from an outer ring.

  "You did that? Your big brother is right. I am so proud of you," Idominous rubs his youngest son's helm, pleased to see him learning a new skill. But a thought itched at the back of his mind and he had to wonder why both his sons had to fight in this cruel fighting ring.

  "Yeah! Soundwave has been teaching me how to use a knife properly!" Husk bounces on his feet excitedly. He glances around to make sure no one is using the knife targets and runs forward to start collecting the knives on the ground. As he was collecting his knives, Husk accidentally bumped into a gladiator who was walking past the targets.

  "Watch where you're going, brat," the gladiator hisses as he straightens up from stumbling over Husk. He brushes his side off and glares at the smaller mech beside him. "You shouldn't play with pretty little knives. Otherwise, you'll lose a limb."

  "Thanks for the warning. I'm getting trained on how to properly use them," Husk takes a step back as the gladiator takes a step forward. His step back caught the attention of Soundwave who came over and stood behind Husk, arms folded and glaring at the gladiator in front of them.

  "I would advise not going against this young gladiator," Soundwave warns as other gladiators catch notice and begin to walk over.

  "Oh? And why would I listen to a trash musician like you?" the gladiator in front of them hisses, cracking his knuckles. He smirks as he notices Husk jumping at the cruel sound.

  "Seeing how he's training my son to be better at knife fighting, he's a musician with knives," Indominous spoke darkly. He watches the gladiator flip around in surprise, folding his arms, as his face fixed into a dark glare at the gladiator who flinches under his gaze.

  "Oh, he's new. Must be from another gladiator ring," Megatronous goes over to Idominous' side and glares at the now-frightened gladiator.

  "I, uh, right. I'm being transferred here and I figured it's...... best to.... uh.... establish dominance quickly?" the gladiator holds his hands up, trying to find a way out of the dark glares.

  "So you picked the smallest one to assert yourself?" Megatronous laughs, cracking his knuckles, "Big mistake, buddy. Now you can either apologize to Husk for your rude behavior towards him or we get to show you how gladiators get punished?"

  Idominous frowns, looking over at his eldest son. He didn't like how dark his threat was, but his glare didn't seem to help since the gladiator started apologizing to Husk. He sighs softly as he regrets letting Megatronous come here in the first place since it was turning him more dangerous.

  "Please don't worry about it," Husk blushes as he tries to wave off the apology. He wasn't sure how to take the apology but he was grateful that he had his family and friends to come protect him when he needed them.

  "C'mon, Husk. Let's go take a break," Idominous holds his hand out to his youngest son. He smiles gently as Husk takes his hand and they walk over to the stands. He helps his son into the stands then follows behind him, sitting beside him.

    "You go after him again, pray to Primus that you survive what I'm gonna do to you," Megatronous leans close to the gladiator and whispers in his audio receptor. He smirks and walks over to his family and the gladiator starts to panic as he stares after him.

  "Well, there's a fight tomorrow if you guys want to come watch in person," Megatronous leans against the railing, folding his arms atop it. He wanted Husk to see him in action in person but didn't want him too close in case something bad happened.

  "Oh I don't know about that, Megatronous," Idominous rubs the back of his helm. He was worried that there was going to be another gladiator killed in the fight and he was hoping desperately that Megatronous wasn't going to kill or be killed.

  "Can we go, Dad? In person? Pleeeeaaase?" Husk holds his hands together as he pouts pleadingly up at Idominous. He gives his best version of puppy dog optics to his dad since he wants to see his older brother in action personally and hopefully learn a few things while watching him fight.

  "Oh alright. But you have to behave okay? No running off or getting into trouble," Idominous smiles as he rubs Husk's helm. He couldn't resist those sweet pouting optics for the life of him and he was such a big softie for his sons.

  "Yes!! You're the best, Dad!!" Husk cheers, jumping up and doing a small victory dance. He laughs with his family as Megatronous joins him in the little dance.

  If only simple days like these kept going for Idominous as he watches his sons talk about the fight tomorrow and not worry about anything else.