Prequel:Hunter at Night 6

PREQUEL TO HUNTER IN THE NIGHT PART 6

After the performance in the forbidden cave, the two cubs never did go inside there again.  Scourge was stubborn but he respected his father and obeyed him without question.  Cyclonus didn't want to go inside in the first place, so there was no further problem.

Galvatron returned with a rather large amount of energon cubes.  Cyclonus was hungry, so Galvatron gave him one.  Scourge was curious, since he'd never even seen energon before.  He came up to Cyclonus and sniffed at the cube.

Slash chuckled.  "This is the first time Scourge has come in contact with energon," he stated.

A full cube was far too much for Cyclonus alone, so when he had his fill he offered the cube to Scourge.  "Want to try some?" he asked.

Scourge pawed at the cube, and quickly figured out how to drink from it.  It didn't take much to fill him up, and when he had all he wanted he sat there licking his chops.  It was obvious that he liked this tasty new treat.  He'd never tasted anything like it before.  And from then on, Cyclonus regularly shared his energon with Scourge, although the Sweep cub still liked to hunt.  It kept his skills sharp.

For some reason, Cyclonus wasn't growing as quickly as Scourge was.  In almost no time at all, Scourge was almost twice as big, even though he was still unable to speak.  It was at this time that Cyclonus made a near-fatal mistake.  He had no idea that he was not supposed to stare Scourge directly in the eyes when their optics were level with each other's--although Scourge was on all fours while Cyclonus was upright.  The Sweep cub interpreted the stare as a challenge and pounced on Cyclonus, seizing his neck in his jaws and clamping down.  For his part, Cyclonus was completely overwhelmed by this sudden attack and thrashed around for a moment.  He was too surprised to even cry out.  The more he resisted, the tighter Scourge's jaws closed around his throat.  He suddenly realized this and held perfectly still.  Slowly, Scourge released his grip the minute he noticed that Cyclonus was no longer resisting.  Fortunately, the young Sweep hadn't applied enough pressure to pierce Cyclonus' neck armor, which was pliable enough to bounce back into shape slowly afterwards.  

It was after this that Galvatron and Slash started to notice a change in how Scourge was behaving around Cyclonus.  While they were still friends and played together eagerly, it appeared almost as if Scourge was bullying the smaller cub in certain situations.  When Cyclonus got an energon cube, Scourge would growl and Cyclonus would hand him the cube and let him drink first.  He'd also strangely learned quite quickly several submissive postures--including dropping his gaze if Scourge looked him directly in the face at eye level.  This didn't actually result in Scourge getting more energon, nor Cyclonus any less, but it did seem odd to Galvatron.  Slash, on the other hand, understood exactly what was going on.  He knew from watching them that Scourge was behaving like he was dominant, although neither he nor Galvatron actually witnessed the event that precipitated this behavior.

Galvatron was starting to grow concerned and spoke to Slash about it.

"This is something Cyclonus will have to work out for himself," Slash replied, "If I interfere, it will not change the fact that Scourge believes that he is dominant.  Only Cyclonus successfully challenging Scourge for dominance will alter the situation in his favor.  Give him time.  Who knows, perhaps some day he will be more powerful than Scourge.  But in the meantime, Scourge may be acting dominant but he won't do anything to deliberately harm Cyclonus."

Galvatron sighed.  "I suppose you're right," he said.

****
Cyclonus had a sudden growth spurt several months later.  Pretty soon he was equal in size with Scourge, although he wasn't happy with the ongoing situation that had the Sweep cub basically controlling him in some way.  While Scourge was asleep one day, Cyclonus went up to Slash and asked him for advice on how to deal with Scourge.  

Slash was a bit surprised that he'd ask.  "Think back.  How did Scourge come to think that he's dominant over you?"

Cyclonus paused.  "Everything changed after I stared him in the eyes one time.  He jumped on me and bit down on my neck."

"But he only bit hard enough to hold you securely, correct?" Slash wanted to know.

"Yeah.  If I moved, he bit down harder, but when I lay still, he let go."

"Well, then that is what you must do.  When you think you are strong enough, challenge him by staring into his eyes directly at eye level, then you must clamp down on his neck as he did on yours--and don't let go unless he submits."

Cyclonus wasn't sure he could do this, since his jaws were not nearly as powerful as Scourge's and his fangs were tiny and somewhat dull in comparison.

In all honesty, it made little difference to Slash who was dominant over whom--Cyclonus, or Scourge.  In his way of thinking, the strongest were naturally dominant.  He never acted dominant towards Galvatron, because he sensed the power of the other and was not interested in risking serious injury to himself just to prove who was stronger.  Scourge and Cyclonus were still growing, however, and they were learning valuable lessons.  This was one of the main reasons why Slash did not interfere directly in the dominance question between the two young Decepticons.  The two sorting it out on their own was the only way they'd learn.

Cyclonus waited until he had finally surpassed Scourge in size, which was only a few more months.  Scourge was still nonverbal and communicated mostly with growls.  He chose a time when he and the Sweep cub were alone, and deliberately stared Scourge directly in the optics.  This provoked an immediate attack response from Scourge, but Cyclonus was ready for him.  He leaped forward as well, knocking Scourge down.  After a brief struggle, he managed to get his jaws around Scourge's neck and bit down.  Scourge whined and tried to struggle, but it was no use.  Remembering that Scourge had bit down harder on him, Cyclonus did the same, clamping down with all his strength.  A whimper escaped from the restrained Sweep cub, and he relaxed completely.  Only then did Cyclonus release him and let him get up.  When he looked at Scourge, the Sweep cub immediately dropped his gaze.  It had worked.  Now Cyclonus was the dominant one.

Galvatron took immediate notice when Cyclonus didn't immediately hand over his energon cube to Scourge.  In fact, Scourge waited patiently until Cyclonus was finished.

"See?  It all worked out," Slash said to Galvatron.

"Indeed," Galvatron replied.

TO BE CONTINUED!