The New Year’s Revelation

Jun Bao was hungry. It was the end of the final day before the Lunar New Year festival. It had been a long day and the end of a hard year. Jun Bao had spent a lot of time at the factory, machining metallic parts. It paid well but the time away from his family was difficult especially with the 2 hour commutes each day, each way. Plus any commute where the queue for the toll both went quickly was a good day. Today hadn’t been a good day, likely because everyone was travelling before the festival.

He’d set off earlier too, anticipating the traffic but still it had taken longer and he needed to finish 10 parts, arranging shipment to Europe, before he had finished. He’d managed to do it. Just. But now it was dark, the shops were starting to close and he was hungry. He would get some food and hope the traffic was reduced by the time he set off back home.

He headed to the main shopping mall at the end of Nanjing Road. He knew that it would be open later and the food court would have plenty of options. The street was packed with hundreds of people crowding Shanghai’s famous road looking for last minute gifts and food for the festival.

Jun Bao took the escalators to the top of the mall to the food court and looked around. Hanging below the round glass ceiling was a large ornate dragon coloured in the red and orange of the festival. Prominent as a decoration amongst the numerous red hanging lanterns, it symbolised the upcoming Year of the Dragon. Some cables, almost like a net, held it in place attached to the ceiling. Jun Bao looked carefully and he thought he could see wings, though folded close to the dragon’s body. Not exactly a traditional Chinese dragon he thought, but he didn’t dwell on it.

He looked around the food court at the various options. Knowing he would have days of the traditional festival food, some Tang Yuan rice balls, some Jiaozi dumplings, he decided to have something different and opted for the food area with Japanese style cuisine. On the counter were various articles to show the food options. There were some noodle dishes- ramen as the Japanese called them, but in China they preferred to call them lamian. The bowls looked as if they could be eaten but in fact all the food displays were fake, as is typical in Japan’s restaurants. He noticed a bowl of steam dumplings and one that seemed golden coloured. He’d heard of a special competition for the festival to find golden dumplings in food, similar to a story he’d heard from the west about chocolate bars. Jun Bao found it amusing.

Once sat at a free table, he soon got served his noodles and a bowl of fortune cookies, a gift for the festival. He reached for the plastic soy sauce bottle and squeezed it but it was empty.

He heard a noise like a frustrated yelp and looked to see where it came from. Seeing nothing, he reached for another bottle from another table. Eventually, he paid his bill, flashing his QR code on the WeChat app on his phone to the server. He stood up, took a moment to admire the hanging dragon at the ceiling and started to leave. The Year of the Dragon, he thought and smiled. It should be a good year.

——————

As the shopping mall started to close, the food court was meticulously cleared and cleaned. With the festival, it would be a few days before it would open again so it didn’t do well to have any leftover foods lying around the floor where they could start to rot. Some lights remained on, but there was a serene hush that washed through the food court.

One of the ramen noodle bowls in the restaurant’s display started to shake. Gentle, minor movements, like the subtle start of a small earthquake, but enough to be noticeable. If anyone had been around to notice, that is. The bowl was not alone to shake. So did a sauce bottle on the counter next to it, the golden steam dumpling and a fortune cookie that had been left in the cookie display bowl. Suddenly all four leapt into the air, growing and changing before they landed with feet as 1 meter humanoid shaped robots on the floor of the restaurant. Humanoid except for the elements around their heads, arms, torso and legs that had been their hiding forms they had had.

They moved through the food court and stood below the dragon hanging from the ceiling. “Is that the dragon we’re meant to find?” said the robot formed from a fortune cookie, going by the name of The Breaker of Fortunes.

There was a quiet pause for a few seconds.

“Do you <slurp> see any other <slurp> red and orange dragon around here <slurp>?” the robot that came from the bowl of noodles asked sarcastically, making slurping noises as he spoke as if he was actually eating, or slurping his noodles.“No,” uttered The Breaker of Fortunes frustrated with the pedantry and rudeness of his robot friend Slurp-a-Derp.

“Let’s get started then. We won’t have much time,” shouted the sauce bottle that was now in a robotic form and having an air of the melodramatic about her.

“The mall’s shut tomorrow. And <slurp> the day after. And the day <slurp> after,” replied Slurp-a-Derp.

“I mean he expects us to get this done. Do you want to be late for him?” there was great emphasis on the mysterious ‘him’ that the sauce bottle, known as Drama Sauce, referred to and it was enough to stop any discussion on the length of available time they had.

“Ok come on,” added The Breaker of Fortunes.

“Wait!” shouted the golden robot styled in the form of a steamed dumpling.

“What??” replied Slurp-a-Derp, irritated.

“See those”, replied Goldim Sum the golden dumpling, “energon reducers,” he said matter-of-factly and seemingly with a degree of excitement. He was happy to be in a team and this was fun.

“And what are energon reducers?” asked The Breaker of Fortunes, a little perplexed.

“Special cables that if you touch them -ZAPP!- and they suck out all your energon leaving you immobile. It’s why our dragon friend here is trapped,” responded Drama Sauce waving her arms and gesticulating as she spoke, putting great emphasis on her “zapp” noise.

“So how are we <slurp> going to free him without <slurp> touching them?” asked Slurp-a-Derp.

“We need to get them at sauce!” laughed Drama Sauce. “At sauce, at source,” she tried to explain. Nobody laughed.

“Dislodge the cables where they connect to the ceiling,” added Goldim Sum.

“But how <slurp> are we going to get up there?” queried Slurp-a-Derp and in his annoyance of the situation was starting to spit noodles over the others.

There was silence as the four looked at the dragon attached to the ceiling.

The Breaker of Fortunes finally broke the silence. “Can you throw?” he asked to Slurp-a-Derp.

“Yes <slurp> I think so”

“Ok, catch me”

“Catch you? But you said thr-“ but before he could finish, The Breaker of Fortunes transformed back to his Fortune Cookie mode. Slurp-a-Derp caught him instinctively, drew his arm back and gave The Breaker of Fortunes an almighty throw towards the ceiling.

“Wish me luck!” he cried.

“You’re <slurp> a fortune cookie!!” Slurp-a-Derp shouted back.

The little fortune cookie started to grow and change as it flew through the air to the ceiling kicking his legs out in front of him and smashing into the ceiling causing the cable to dislodge and fall. There was a chain reaction as the other cables started to fall and the dragon started to shake and extend his wings. There was a massive roar from its mouth followed by a huge burst of flame. A deep voice shouted, “FREE!”

The dragon started to fly around the food court area, below the glass ceiling. “Free at last, yeeess! Nobody traps Megatron! I will have my revenge on all for this! Yes!”

“Who’s he talking to? And why does he keep saying ‘yes’? ” whispered Goldim Sum.

“He’s a bit angry. He needs to tame his anger, it’s a sign of weakness,” The Breaker of Fortune calmly stated.

“I think <slurp> he’s pissed”

“Mind your language!” admonished Drama Sauce waving a finger at Slurp-a-Derp.

Megatron blew a large flame towards the glass ceiling causing it to shatter all around the food court. The four mini-bots ducked out of the way of the falling shards of glass. “Oh my!” exclaimed Drama Sauce.

Megatron flew through the gap and out into the night air above Nanjing Road.

“That’s a problem,” Goldim Sum said to his companions.

Megatron flew around the rooftops of the buildings on Nanjing Road, spitting fire indiscriminately around him. Suddenly, another burst of flame came across his path almost hitting his dragon face.

“STAND DOWN MEGATRON!” said a voice so loud and deep that it reverberated off all the nearby buildings. A second dragon flew below Megatron. This dragon was also red with edges of gold, though smaller and slimmer in form than Megatron’s rather grand dragon alternative mode. The second dragon notably didn’t have wings. Jun Bao would have recognised it as a more traditional form of Chinese dragon.

Megatron snorted in disgust and smoke came from his dragon nostrils. “Oh no!” chuckled Megatron, “I shall not be captured and trapped again”. He flew high into the night sky then swooped down, flying along the Nanjing Road, heading east towards the Huangpu River in the distance. The second dragon similarly circled high in the air, before swooshing down to follow Megatron’s disappearing shape.

The four mini-bots exited the shopping mall. “See? There is another dragon!” said Goldim Sum excitedly.

“How do we know that wasn’t the one we were supposed to find?” added The Breaker of Fortunes.

“Oh come on!” shouted Drama Sauce as she started to run down the shopping street after the two dragons.

——————

The two dragons reached the river and started to circle each other in the air. On the far side of the river were the bright lights of the buildings in the Pudong region. Normally they would be switched off in the late evening, but for tonight they were shining in readiness for the lunar new year. The Oriental Pearl TV tower shined purple whilst the building which had become known for looking like a beer bottle-opener shone blue. On the Huangpu River was a tourist boat, lit up brightly and full of revellers enjoying the evening before the new year. In the Bund area, the pedestrian quay by the side of the river, a few people started to gather. They watched the two dragons with interest and assumed it was some form of sophisticated drone show.

The dragons spat fire at each other and a flame from Megatron nearly hit the tourist boat. “STAND DOWN MEGATRON” ordered the second dragon once more. As a dragon, he was clearly more nimble, more agile than Megatron’s larger form. Flying as a dragon seemed more natural to him. He dodged a flame from Megatron and then blew out a large flame himself right into Megatron’s dragon face. Disoriented, Megatron started to fall and as he did so his legs extended back, his wings folded in and the dragon neck and head rotated around his torso revealing a robotic head. In his robot mode, Megatron landed on the pedestrian quayside area of the Bund.

The second dragon similarly descended towards the Bund and changed his form, landing firmly with his feet abreast on the walkway. The robot had a distinct form of a Chinese warrior from the Ming Dynasty. In his right arm he had a type of lance with an upper section that resembled three cannons combined together. Had Jun Bao been there, he would have recognised it immediately as a ‘San Yan Chong’ weapon of the Ming era. The lower section of the lance shone brightly with some unearthly yellow glow as if holding within a source of immense power.

The warrior expertly swung the lance twice and brought Megatron to his knees. Megatron tried to angle his dragon arm up to fire a blast of flame, but a swing of the lance and a burst of flame from the San Yan Chong directed towards Megatron’s head immediately stopped any attack.

“FOR THE THIRD AND FINAL TIME, STAND DOWN MEGATRON!” the warrior bellowed. Megatron’s form relaxed, he knew for now he was beaten and there was no point to struggle further. “Who are you?” he spat back in disgust.

“I AM 赤紅火焰 (pronounced Chìhóng huo yàn) YOU MAY CALL ME CRIMSONFLAME. I AM DEFENDER OF THE PEOPLE OF CHINA. THIS IS A TIME OF FESTIVITIES FOR THE PEOPLE OF CHINA. A CELEBRATION OF PEACE AND RENEWAL. YOU WILL NOT BRING YOUR VIOLENCE TO THESE PEOPLE AT THIS TIME”

“Yessss,” resigned Megatron. “I concede”. He slowly got to his feet and CrimsonFlame allowed it recognising the calm in Megatron’s posture.

The four mini-bots finally arrived at the Bund having run down Nanjing Road. “Meg- <slurp, pant> -a- <slurp, pant> -tron <pant>” struggled Slurp-a-Derp out of breath.

“Why are you panting? You’re a robot!” queried The Breaker of Fortunes.

“I have <slurp, pant> indigestion” Slurp-a-Derp replied. The Breaker of Fortunes rolled his robotic eyes with incomprehension.

“Megatron! We bring you a message. You must fly from here. Fly far away. To a far off land. The land of Switzerland!” announced Drama Sauce with such flourish and performance she was almost singing her words.

“Who? Who sends this message?”

The mini-bots looked at each other nervously. Except for Slurp-a-Derp who was doubled-over still pretending he was out of breath.

The Breaker of Fortunes stepped forward. “I believe it is you Megatron! It is Megatron that sends this message.” He then paused as he doubted himself and added quietly, “or is it Galvatron. I think it’s Galvatron.” Drama Sauce placed her hand on her face to hide her embarrassment.

“Interesting, yesss. Then I will go to this Megatron or Galvatron and see what he needs from me. To Switzerland. Yes!” He transformed back to his dragon form and flew directly upwards into the night sky where soon he was just a red spot amongst the white stars.

“COME!” said CrimsonFlame, shaking the mini-bots from their hypnotic watching of Megatron disappear. “TO THE MALL. TRANSFORM, I SHALL CARRY YOU”. And with that, CrimsonFlame folded his form inwards such that a dragon’s head, arms and legs once again appeared. In the claws of one of his arms, he collected a fortune cookie, a bottle of soy sauce, a golden steam dumpling and a bowl of noodles (half empty). With a sleekness of form, with his dragon body pointed like an arrow, he headed directly back up the Nanjing Road back to the shopping mall.

Flying through the gap in the glass dome, he released the four food items that then transformed and reached the floor in robot mode. He also transformed and landed in the centre of the broken glass of the food court. He rotated his lance around so that this time the side with the brightly coloured energy was uppermost. He swung it around in a circle and the glass started to rebuild and reform back to the dome of the ceiling.

“How did he do that?” asked Goldim Sum jumping up and down and clapping his hands.

“He is manipulating particles at the subatomic level to reform their structure” replied Drama Sauce.

“<slurp> What?”

“He’s doing magic!” Drama Sauce whispered in response.

CrimsonFlame transformed once more into his dragon form. “GO. I SHALL REMAIN HERE AND TAKE THE PLACE OF MEGATRON. I CAN WATCH AND OBSERVE MY PEOPLE FROM HERE.”

After the holidays, Jun Bao returning to the mall with his family for shopping and to have dinner, he would notice that the dragon had changed. He would assume that the mall had been told to change it to be more representative of a Chinese dragon. He’ll quietly approve of the correction. He would also notice that the cables holding the dragon were no longer required, but wouldn’t dwell on it too much as he unconsciously picks up a golden steam dumpling with his chopsticks.

Meantime, this lunar New Year’s Eve, the dragon CrimsonFlame stayed conscious and peaceful in his new home. He would simply rest and he would observe. He would wait for the Year of the Dragon.

(Note: Originally posted January 2024 in celebration of the Chinese / Lunar New Year: Year of the Dragon.)

Dedicated to all my good friends and colleagues in China celebrating the Lunar New Year, Year of the Dragon. Especially my good friend Jason.

This is the second of my prequel stories for my planned Transformers Alternates story and I’m having such pleasure in making them, there will be a few more in the coming weeks and months with special events. At some point, I’ll work on the main story….

I’ve noted elsewhere how much I like to use the BotBots as part of the Transformers storyline. I believe they encompass some of the original excitement of the Transformers back in 1984- being truly everyday objects that are hiding robot forms. With 100s of characters in the BotBots range alone, they are a writers dream. I’m indebted to the TFWiki website where they’ve listed all the character profiles of the BotBots, which the characters above are based upon.

All characters are Hasbro’s / Takara Tomy’s Transformers Franchise. All text and imagery are my own. In the interest of transparency, some of the backgrounds to the images have been made using AI photo creating technology.

Happy Lunar New Year!