A Long Time Ago

While Shortstop is stuck in a Gongo prison with Amphotron. Amphtron regales the origin story of the Nonocons.

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Synopsis

In a Gongo holding cell, Amphotron and Shortstop banter with each other after being captured during a Gongo skirmish. During their discussion, Amphotron shares the origin story of the Nonocons.

Billions of years ago, the Nonocons were simplistic robots located on a planet far away in a distant galaxy. Serving as slaves to various organic life forms, it's not until Skyscream and Low-Tone show up that Amphotron begins to evolve as a fighter robot for his owner, Jatto. Following Skyscream's advice, Jatto enters Amphotron into the local robot fighting tournament.

At Latta's shop, Amphotron and Skyscream meet Mercy while getting upgrade parts for Amphotron. They discover that Mercy possesses special abilities similar to the local humans in the area. Later, as they scour a crashed ship for parts, Amphotron discovers a fashion cannon that can be used as a weapon.

Amphotron has his first battle and defeats Creater. He then proceeds to move up the ranks but is unable to bring himself to destroy any other robots until he ends up fighting his friend Mercy. After Mercy is seriously injured during the battle, he demands Latta repair him. Amphotron reaches inside his own body, pulls out a component, and installs it into Mercy, saving the robot's life.

Back at Jatto's home, Skyscream and Amphotron discover that his upgrades significantly increased Amphotron's power core, allowing him additional firepower never seen before. Jatto indicates that the next fight will be between Skyscream and Amphotron, much to their dismay.

Amphtron, Skyscream, Low-Tone, and Mercy meet in the desert at night, showing them various aliens and human foot soldiers they can steal weapons from. They proceed to sneak into the mobile fortress, destroy the small aliens, take the enhancements they need, and aim to escape the planet, taking over nearby starships.

The next day, Amphotron faces off against Eaton in the battle arena. Skyscream gives Amphotron the fusion cannon to fight him, and Eaton is defeated. He then has to fight Skyscream, discovering that Skyscream deceived him to upgrade his own weapons and body for conquest, using Amphotron as a distraction. Amphotron changes emotionally and almost destroys Skyscream. Although he feels betrayed, he is somewhat impressed by Skyscream's ability to deceive. When the owners of the arena ask him to destroy Skyscream, Amphotron refuses, leading them to activate an inhibitor device. Amphotron, however, breaks through the pain, and his power core undergoes a transformation, evolving into a large cannon, which he uses to quickly destroy the entire side of the arena.

Powered by his new abilities, Amphotron frees his comrades and proceeds to destroy every organic in his sight, including his former master, Jatto. They then board the human's main ship, take it over, and use it to conquer various planets in the universe, destroying all organics they encounter. After conquering that galaxy, Amphotron and his crew set off for the nearest galaxy, which happens to be the Milky Way.

Back in the present time, after Amphotron finishes his story, Shortstop reveals he was on a fact-finding mission and was not truly disabled in the prison. Anthony disengages with the body and proceeds to disable the force field and exit the cell. Amphotron notes that he cannot escape without his help. Amphotron gives Shortstop an encrypted key indicating that his programming will not attack him while it continues to exist. With Amphotron's help, they escape the Gongo security prison. Before leaving, the encrypted key disappears, but instead of attacking Shortstop, Amphotron pardons him for listening to his story and suggests they will fight another day. Both Amphotron and Shortstop return to their respective ships.

Featured characters

Zapbots	Humans/Aliens	Nonocons	Planets
Shortstop	Aster (Gongos Leader) Jatto Benjamin Latta A two-headed alien announcer A familiar slug-like alien Familiar white foot soldiers in armor Familiar aliens with lighted beady eyes	Amphotron Skyscream Low-Tone Creater Mercy Tanktread	A very recognizable dust planet Centar 7

Notes

Versions

• First Version: 2024

Production notes

• Yes anyone who isn't living under a rock can determine who, what and where the back-story takes place in. The goal was to write a story describing it without using any copyrighted terms.

Continuity notes

• This is the origin story of the Junkicons/Nonocons.

Other trivia

• First story co-written by my partner Daniel Noland