Little Gladiator

Chapter 3: I Have To Keep You

Note: I OWN NOTHING!

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Beep! Beep! Beep!

As usual, Megatron woke to the sound of the internal alarm going off in his processor. As usual, he stretched to straighten any kinks in his protoform that might have formed during recharge. And as usual, he got up and fixed his berth. (Cleanliness was next to godliness, after all. Even in this Primus forsaken pit.) It was then he realized that something was off about his berth; it was missing a blanket.

'Where did I put that blanket?' he thought to himself as he walked around the foot his berth...

Only to trip over a pet carrier on the floor.

Now he remembered last orn's events. He had a match, he talked to his boss, and he got a newspark to tutor.

Megatron placed the crate on his berth and took off the lock. Looking inside, he found Bumblebee wide awake and shivering. The yellow bitlet tentatively crawled to the gladiator and mewled quietly.
"Is that whining I hear, Megatron?"

Megatron turned around to see Pitbull standing in his doorway. The mech looked smug for reasons he couldn't dream of as he stared at the pet carrier and Bumblebee.

"Is it your business as to whether or not my trainee cries?" Megatron asked.

"Everything that goes on in this pit is my business. But I'll let last night's trip to the medbay pass so long as you carry it in the crate from now on."

The gray mech's optics widened a fraction in surprise, but quickly narrowed in anger. "Just how do you expect me to raise this scraplet? He needs line-fed energon, waste tanks, more time than I care to waste on him!"

The pit master just waved a dismissive servo at him and said, "There are bottles of low grade in the rec room for it and I'll have the stuff for changing it placed in your room while you're out today."

Running out of excuses, Megatron stopped arguing. "Fine. When do you want me to train him?"

"Let it watch you for a while, force it to stand as soon as possible, make it work through the motions, etcetera."

"And what did you mean by 'beat it up for the smallest things'?" Megatron asked.

"You know. Crying, mewling, whining, yelping, making too much noise, signs of weakness, the list goes on and on. I want him tough, merciless, cruel, ruthless, deadly, the works! The next Megatron, really!" Pitbull received a cold glare at that comparison. "Ha ha. Not that you'll need replacing! I mean, you're the Megatron! The undefeated champion gladiator of the Pits of Kaon! Everyone loves you!"

The gladiator exvented heavily and looked back at Bumblebee. The tiny ball of metal looked at him through coolant-filled optics. Megatron sneaked a glance at Pitbull before sneaking a wink at Bumblebee and shaking him by his doorwings once again.

"Crying is for weaklings! Dry those tears!" he shouted.

Bumblebee lowered his helm and wiped the coolant off his face with his tiny servos. Then he rubbed his abdomen and pointed at his intake.

"You're hungry?" Megatron asked. Bumblebee's nodded. "At least you're smart. Back in the crate, Bumblebee."

"'Bumblebee' is a weak name," Pitbull said, walking forward to pick up the newspark. "I get where you're coming from, but my newest killer needs a better name than that."

"I named him after the cyberbees in the Crystal Gardens."

The boss held the bitlet by his scruffbar."Wasp? No. Stinger? No nickname. Hornet. No way. Why is this so hard?"

Megatron raised an optic ridge. "You do realize that there are full grown mechs who will run away from cyberbees, correct?"

"Yeah, but 'Bumblebee' is so... cute!"

"Then I will make sure his opponent's fear him. 50 vorns from now, his actions will speak louder than his appearance. Cybertronians from all corners of the planet will flock to see his fights. You have my word."

The pit master looked long and hard at Megatron, his prize gladiator, and Bumblebee, the odd newspark. Finally he said, "I suppose it's good enough for now. You should introduce him to the others. You only have half a joor left for your early orn ration." He then left the room.

Bumblebee, now back in his crate peeked up at Megatron. Chirp?

"I suppose I have to keep you now."

Purr

Megatron sighed. "Come on, little Bee. We have a lot of work to do."