Back during their Academy days, Chase and Steeljaw were both bullied for being nerds in their regarded fields of study (Chase for police work like Strongarm, and Steeljaw in subsonics) but they and other bullied recruits kinda started to form their own little support club- led by Steeljaw, of course.
Steeljaw noticed Chase had a natural gift when it came to aiming at targets, and pushed him to get better at it... Like really good at it. Chase thought his "Friend" genuinely wanted to see him succeed, and put a lot of practice into that part of his police training. He wound up hitting records and even caught the eye of some military bots for possible transfer from rescue work, but it never came to pass.
Ultimately, Chase found out that Steeljaw and a lot of the other kids were planning on staging a massive revenge deal on their bullies (Like a Team Star sort of thing) and Steeljaw had made him get so good at firearms to act as a sniper on his team, and was horrified. Not only did he report the bots and get Steeljaw arrested for this plot, but Chase swore he'd never pick up a dangerous firearm ever again...
While he would never admit it, Steeljaw is terrified of Chase, because he often used himself as a target for Chase to practice his stealth shots on, and thus he created (in his opinion) a monster that could snipe him from a mile away and he'd never know-
There are multiple ways for new bots to come about in the GOTP AU, so today, we will be going into the frequency and (G-rated) details regarding them...
The Well of Allsparks
The Well of Allsparks in the most common method from which new cybertronians are born, about 70% of new bots entering registration come from this method. The frequency ebbs and flows week to week, but since Cybertron's revival, there hasn't been a full 7 days passing that some activity is seen. Guards are stationed at the well at all times, preventing vandalism, decepticons taking newborns immediately to be trained, and also to aid any newborns struggling to reach the surface.
Bots born from this method are typically born in the "mature" phase, their frames being the equivalent of their mid-teens to young adult. They are rounded up from the Well onto trains and then transported into the city for registration. It is also during registration that they are assigned a "guardian," an older bot that they live with and who takes the responsibility of teaching them all of the important skills of navigating life. (Keeping splitsparks/twins together under the same guardian is maintained as much as possible)
During this training period, the newborns receive their first alt mode and might start looking into potential occupations. They will often follow the occupation of their guardian, though this isn't always the case. This training period typically lasts about a year before they leave their guardian's home and start off on their own, though the bond between mentor and student tends to remain.
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Cold Construction
While still an active method of new cybertronians being born, "Cold Constructions" or CCs, are far less common and the practice is often frowned upon in post-revival Cybertron. It is often seen as a remnant of the caste system- the method of building a physical body and putting a spark in it- to make more workers in a certain workforce rather than letting the bot choose their path themselves.
It is mostly still practiced by lone sects and Decepticons looking to increase their ranks, and it can be hard for those bots to enter society should they choose to break away and forge their own path.
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Budding
Budding is another less common method of reproduction, which occurs instead in the frame of another living, active bot. All cybertronians, even those constructed cold, have the programming and capability to undergo this method, though CCs have been known to have a significantly harder time carrying the sparkling to term.
The process is asexual, requiring no mate or partner to engage. The exact details of how the programming is triggered is still under study, but it has been found that the Well of Allsparks sends out an energy signal that limits its activation on Cybertron's surface; why is unknown, but it does allow greater numbers of this method outside of its gravitational pull, especially on colonies lacking a sparking well of their own. (The planet of Telen is a great example)
The process begins with the parental bot's spark splitting off a tiny fragment of itself, called "The Ember" or "Starspark" by some. This triggers the parent's form to begin forming additional protomatter in preparation for forming the sparkling's frame. During this time, the parent will experience increased pressure under their armor, aches and limited range of motion, and will go through their normal rations of energon much quicker than normal. If the parent has a beast-mode, budding can also lead to them becoming stuck in their beast mode for the duration of the process, and the sparkling has a higher likelihood to inherit that beast-mode-capable frame.
The entire process usually lasts between 1-3 weeks, after which the tiny fragment will have formed a spark of its own and be enveloped by the additional protomatter, which the parent then expels. Within a few minutes, the protomatter will take on the physical form of the sparkling, and within an hour, the sparkling's processor will be developed enough to activate and the sparkling will begin to act on their own.
Budded sparklings (and the sparklings of our next method) represent the infant forms of their parent's form, and their level of development will vary depending on that form. (bot-mode sparklings will be like a newborn human, very dependent on their parent and will need constant watching after, while say, a deer-mode parent, will be able to stand and walk after their parent almost immediately)
Over time, the sparkling will forge their own protomatter as they grow, and most will be in their "mature" stage within 4 earth years.
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Spark-Trading
Spark-Trading starts off like Budding, but is typically seen in romantic couples. Because all bots possess the ability to carry, the "Passing" of the new spark is possible between partners.
One partner begins the process, but once the spark is stabilized, they are able to then pass the spark onto their partner's frame, allowing them to carry the sparkling the rest of the term (much like seahorses) The process of this requires the two parents' sparks to be in close proximity which requires them to be exposed, so it is typically a private affair, allowing their sparks' own gravitational pulls to mingle and allow one to pull the new spark into their own, before the process is triggered in the carrying partner. With the new spark's energy being fueled by two different sparks, this allows both parents to possess the inherited empathic link to the sparkling.
This process can also be performed with care to a surrogate, should neither parent be able to safely carry to term. However, the new spark's development must be slightly further to prevent the surrogate's own spark signature to bleed into the new spark.
