Ground Hog’s Day
Part two of the story starting in All Hallows Eve. It’s a terrible reoccurring day for Ground Hog.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Noel Butterworth
2/2/20264 min read
He runs...
...but the monster is behind him.
He hides...
...but the monster can find him.
He transforms...
...but the monster can catch him.
Ground Hog has lived this day before. In fact his internal chronometer calculates he’s done it 3,141,592 times.
Every time he dies.
Somehow he’s distracted as he hurtles along the Cybertronian speedways in vehicle form, he misses the sharp turn, he misses the cliff-edge, and he goes over. Transforming to robot mode he tries to grab the cliff, but he tumbles and falls. The distance too great for even a mechanical form to survive.
Then he comes back to life. Face down, in robot mode on a Cybertronian road. The speedtrack. That’s when he hears a sound, a voice on the wind. A voice that scares him and makes him react in panic.
The monster is behind him. The monsters are behind him.
The beast made up of numerous component forms, crying out on the wind, “You will be hollowed!”
No, it’s the energon sucking demon, with blazing red optics. “I vant your Energon!”
He runs...
He hides...
He transforms...
But always there’s the distraction. A vague memory. A bar. An Engex bar, a place to socialise and reload with a quart of Energon-fuelled oil. Maccadam’s old, what was it called.. ?
Good ol’ Maccadam, rumour has it that he’s an old Prime. Ground Hog can’t see it.
But then he can. He sees it. He sees Maccadam as the ancient Prime, Alchemist. How could he have not noticed?
But Ground Hog’s distracted. Again. He hits the barrier at such a speed that it’s not protection. He transforms in the faint hope he can grab the barrier, but he fails. He tumbles and falls.
He wakes on the road. He hears the demons.
He runs..
Why does he run? He’s a Transformer with a vehicle mode with a speed far faster than his running legs.
He transforms..
He left the bar! He had his Engex fill and he left the bar. He hears a voice, “I need someone to vent some Energon”.
He smashes the barrier.
The road is back, the voice is back.
He runs...
The road has a siding with some storage boxes nearby. A hiding place!
He hides...
The voice is familiar. It needs someone to vent Energon. He’s stood outside Maccadam’s, waving goodbye to his friends, Cordon, Jackpot. He hears the voice again. It’s anguished, in pain. ”I feel hollowed” he turns to look...
... cartwheels over the barrier, transforms and flails at the jagged piece of metal that remains.
He runs...
He hides...
He transforms...
The demon is coming. The demon seems familiar.
The voice is familiar.
The second voice that replies is also familiar. The miner! The one in the news! “You need to calm down, we will find you Energon”.
“No!” says the first voice. “I need Energon now. I thirst. I’m hollowed. Maccadam’s would not serve me.”
“What will you do? Steal it?”
There’s a pause. “Leave me,” the first voice replies and afterwards all is quiet. But Ground Hog knows. He knows the voice, He knows his demon. He applies the brakes and screeches to a halt at the bend, right next to the barrier. He does not crash into the barrier. He does not tumble to his termination.
Because he remembers.
He sees his demon - not the monstrous dark figure that threatens to suck his energon, not the abomination made up of various component parts, but a figure he knows and respects. A figure that caught him after his Energon refill from Maccadam’s and invasively stole it.
His nightmare is over. His nightmare has begun, as his memories coallesce and clarify in imagery. The figure that infiltrated his form, that stole Ground Hog’s Energon…
Impactor.
This is the second of a three part mini-story, following on from Halloween’s All Hollows Eve (which is a strongly recommended pre-read or re-read). It’s a terrible day for Ground Hog. I’ve been such a fan of the original Bill Murray film and when I realised there was Ground Hog as a character, that sparked the idea for this story, which originally would have been followed by part two and the Halloween story as part three.
But I changed my mind and order and I actually think it works better this way. Part three will have the full explanation of this shocking revelation- what did Impactor do? And why?
As always, Transformers franchise is ownership of Hasbro / Takara Tomy. This is purely a non profit fan fiction. All images and text are my own. Some images created using AI technology to create the backgrounds only, then manipulated to include photos of my models.