Summary
The war of AI has been going on for almost a decade already. Animals and plants were hurt, and some has left Earth forever, though a few still had hope. Two young cheetahs face the war together, each having their own obstacles along the way. Will they save the world, and return it to the old and traditional way of living, or will Earth lose the little life it has left in it.
Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/368579168-thundershock
Generation 1: War of the Future, Cheetah vs. AI
I was running through the dirt that used to be grass, Swift hissed and growled at the gigantic robot. It grabbed her up and threw her into a tank. “Swift! NOO!” I screamed. I woke up from the nightmare, sweating in my shady grass nest.
My name is Thunder, and I’m a cheetah. I have this dream almost every week. “Bad sleep again, my little Thundershock?” My mom woke up next to me. She named me Thunder because of my glistening yellow fur, but she likes to call me Thundershock. Lightning came and started stroking my fur gently. I nodded. In my family, the Strikers, my mother, Lightning is the only cheetah who really cares about me. When I’m hungry, she gives me her part of the meal, and when I’m sad or scared, she always comes and talks to me. My father, Flare, is also nice, but he is our family’s leader, so he is always super busy. I am four years old and the runt and only girl in the litter. My brothers always tease me and show off to me. “Thunder, you must be so jealous of my muscles!”, “Thunder, can you hunt yourself, or do you need me to protect you?” They are strong and have great talent. But I don’t care. I may not be the fastest or the most skillful, but my friend Swift and Lightning always tell me I am the hardest worker, and that’s the real quality of a leader. I trust them way more than my brothers, but I still doubt them.
A year after I was born (2083), humans invented robots. Lightning always told me, “Remember Thundershock, never underestimate the robot’s strength, but they don’t have a brain.” The humans were so greedy that they made many robots that overfilled the world. The huge robots outnumbered all animals, including humans themselves. Some bad humans made evil robots that are programmed to catch all humans and animals to be slaves and kill habitats to make them into cities full of factories. Most animals and humans were captured. Cheetahs and some other big cats were too fast for the robots. Some of our prey escaped, but like many other habitats, our Savannah was dominated by factories and robots. These days, we spend most of our time hunting to keep the family from starving. When there are large shortages of prey, different predators share with each other what they saved. They called the 2080s the Iron Decade.
After my terrifying dream, everyone got up and went hunting, including my mom. I stayed home with my oldest and meanest brother, Shadow. “Blunder Thunder, I guess they made you stay home today cause you can’t hunt, you only get in their way. Sadly for me, you need someone to protect you, so they made a future leader stay home.” mocked Shadow. I just ignored him. Shadow is the strongest cheetah in the family, except for Flare, and everybody says that he’ll be the leader one day. I’ve never believed them, and I never will. I know my dad would never.
Flare’s group of tired hunters came home with a small, stale, and half-eaten antelope. My father told the family how they didn’t find any food, and the lions felt bad for us and gave us their leftovers. “We don’t need those slow, greedy lions to feed us! If I were there, we would’ve had so much prey the lions would be the ones begging,” Shadow growled. Some of my older brothers agreed with him, nodding their heads ungratefully.
“Don’t be an arrogant yellow rat. This is why you’re not ready to be the leader. Being a leader is not all about strength. Be grateful, the lions gave us what we needed, if you don’t want to eat, that’s fine, there will be more for the others.” Flare said wisely. We started eating. My father eats first because he’s the leader. Then, the elders would eat. After that are the grown cheetahs, like my mom and aunts and uncles. My brothers eat after (but this time, most didn’t eat). After a long wait, I would eat. Sometimes, none would be left for me, but my mom would sometimes share her part with me. This time since my cocky brothers didn’t eat any, I got a full belly. We spent the rest of the afternoon hunting for dinner (since there is so little food, two having a two meal day is really lucky. Many times we only eat dinner, or even none at all). We had better luck in the afternoon and caught a fat male gazelle, this is a really rare catch these days, unlike in the past. In the past, there was A LOT more prey. And now most prey that are free are poisoned. Only Flare and some of my aunts and uncles can tell which prey are poisoned and which are not.
There was a day when I was really little, and I was starving. In winter, there is almost no food at all. Everyone needed to help hunt, even the elders and cubs. I was the youngest cub. I couldn’t hunt, and I got lost in the snow. I thought I was going to die. Snow blinded my eyes and ears. I was unable to call for help. My legs were frozen, and my body was so cold that it was burning. But another cheetah came, hunted a rabbit for me, and led me back to my family. That cheetah was Swift, and we have been best friends ever since.
Swift is more popular in her family, the Leapers, because she is strong and fast, which makes her great at hunting. Swift would often hunt alone with me, so on the days my family left no food for me, I got a chance to eat. Nobody knows Swift and I are friends. I love her with my heart and trust her with my life. I tell her all my secrets, and she does too. Flare made a rule that Strikers cannot be friends with other families, but nothing will ever separate me and Swift. Every few days, we meet in a cave, hidden behind a big, broken down robot. We usually meet in the morning. When I came home late, my mom had an excuse ready anytime, even though she didn’t know where I went. In the Leapers family, they are allowed to leave whenever they want and can always come back.
Strikers support family and teamwork, Leapers support freedom and independence. Sometimes, I wish I was a Leaper. “You are so lucky you’re a Leaper. Having so much freedom must feel great!” I purred. “Being a Leaper is not at all what you think it’s like. If you don’t go hunting one day, you don’t get to eat. If you are too weak to contribute to the family, they will kick you out. I almost did.” Swift growled. That was when I learned that each family had their weakness.
The next day, I woke up before sunrise and went down to Swift’s and my secret cave. We call it The Secret Cave because not even Lightning knows about it. The Secret Cave is one of the only spots left filled with baobab trees and dark green grass. It’s my favorite place in the world. I got to the cave early to see Swift already waiting for me. She is never late. I told Swift about what happened with Shadow and my brothers the other day. Swift says that it’s great that I got more food and that my brothers are just arrogant and mean. I think that if Swift was part of my family, Flare would probably choose her to be the leader. Swift says I have just the same chance, but my father doesn’t see how great I am. “You’re being too nice!” I purred. We laughed together. I love this feeling, and feeling it at the best place in the world with my best friend is just awesome. You can most likely see now why we’re best friends.
It’s a few days after the catch of the fat gazelle, and we’re out again. To make things even worse, a new army of robots has already been tearing down half of our grass, our prey, and some small families. One of my uncles heard from another family that they are extremely strong and fast. I can tell by her look that Lightning is scared. Because of this, I’m also scared. My mother is usually NEVER scared, or at least she doesn’t show it. Shadow and my cousin Claw suggested to warn the other families, but I felt something suspicious was going on. That day, I asked Swift if Shadow and Claw had sent the message to the Leapers. “What message? Isn’t Shadow that really smug brother of yours, and Claw’s your cousin right?” Swift asked confusingly. I was even more confused. “They didn’t come?” I asked back. “No,” Swift replied. I was going to tell Flare, but why should he believe me? “Shadow and Claw are probably still out there. If they didn’t tell you guys, and we’re practically neighbors, why would they tell any other families? Let’s try to track them down, and on the way, we can warn the other groups.” I meowed. Swift agreed, and we went off.
Shadow and Claw were smart enough to cover their footsteps but not their scent. Cheetahs have a great sense of smell. That is another reason we didn’t get caught. We always know when robots are coming, and when they come, we fight them well-prepared. The scent led us to the Scratchers first. Suddenly, I caught the scent of a cheetah, which was definitely a Scratcher. “What are you guys doing?! You should know you’re not allowed here!” the Scratcher hissed. “We mean no harm. We just came to warn you about a large and dangerous group of robots.” meowed Swift calmly. “We already know.” The cheetah said, but in a lot nicer tone. “So Shadow and Claw came here?” I asked. “Who are they? Our elders heard from other families about the robots. Anyways, I gotta go, my parents are gonna get worried.”He rushed.
We thanked him, and then we started to ponder. Then where would they be? Suddenly, we heard a noise. It started becoming louder. BOOM! BOOM! Swift hissed, “The robot army is here.” We leaped into the bushes, and we saw the robots. They were gigantic, and there were hundreds of them. My face paled, and my paws trembled. A robot snuck behind us. “SWIFT!!” I screamed, and the robot grabbed her with its heavy metal arms and threw her into the air. Then, with the other hand, the robot pinned her into a cage. “Thunder, run and get help, please!” She gasped in the cage. I hesitated. “I can’t leave you!” I choked down. Meanwhile, a robot was planning an attack on me. So I ran back to the camp crying for help. “Mom, mom!” I cried. “Take a deep breath, and tell me what happened, Thundershock.” she meowed. I did as I was told. I told her about how my friend, Swift, got caught by the robots and how Shadow and Claw weren’t warning the cheetahs, they were doing something else. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her. She is strong. Do you think Swift will give up and be a slave? I don’t think so. I’m sure she is ok. Shadow and Claw have not returned yet, but let’s focus on saving Swift first. Now tell me where Swift got captured.” She said in a more urgent tone.
I led my mom to the place Swift was taken. We followed the robot’s deep rustic scent into a factory. I’ve never seen a factory that big. “I’m scared. What if they capture us too? I don’t want to go into the factory!” I cried. Lightning touched my paw. “I understand Swift means a lot to you, so she means a lot to me. If you were the one caught, I think Swift would’ve stood up for you. “We will save your friend.” She said in a deep voice. She was right. We went into the factory together.
We were extremely surprised to see no robot guards. They probably didn’t think any animal would dare to come. At first, it was dark and black. There were dead robots scattered everywhere. Then, we tiptoed into another room. This room was the exact opposite. There were bright lights on the roof. Robots were extremely busy making and fixing other robots. There was a metal wall surrounding it for us to hide under. Some humans were helping. A robot was fighting another robot without one arm. For the first time, I felt bad for it. My heart pushed me to fight the big robot. I knew it was wrong, but I leaped on the bully and hissed. An alarm went off. Instead of the bright yellow light in the room, it was red. My mom shot out, “Thundershock! Get back!” But I couldn’t hear her. My brain was focused on the giant robot. The robot was just about to point a large black thing at me, but my mom threw me off just in time. We ran into the next room, and we couldn’t believe what we saw.
“C-Claw?” I hissed. Claw was typing on a computer that had a huge transparent screen. He wore glasses with a tiny screen. My mother gasped “How could you?” Next to him was Swift, asleep and tied with chains. Claw suddenly pointed another shiny black thing at me “Thunder, Lightning! If you let me tie you up, I won’t hurt you.” He growled slowly. Swift suddenly woke up. “Thunder! You came back! Do as he says.” She whispered, and then winked. Lightning understood, and we let Claw tie us up. Claw pressed a red button to close the alarm. “I can’t believe Claw would do that!” my mother growled. “Well, the good news is that when Claw wasn’t looking, I stole the keys to these chains. However, I’ve gathered lots of information on their plan.” Shadow is the boss and controls everything.” Swift exclaimed. “First Claw and now Shadow! I am so disappointed in my nephew and son.”she wailed quietly. Swift and I comforted Lightning, and after she felt better, Swift kept on going. “The big robot army was just a sample. He is working on one HUMONGOUS robot that is extremely powerful. That robot is in the next room. If you disconnect the power of the robot, They will at least need a day to get it back on again, which will save more time.”, “Thud, thud, thud.” That was definitely Claw’s loud walking. Claw was easily the clumsiest cheetah in our family.
When the factory finally shut down at midnight, Swift unlocked me and told me what to do, and I went down to the other room. It was the largest and most terrifying room I’ve been to. In the middle, there was a giant robot. The hands had holes in them, probably with all sorts of dangerous weapons. There were jetpacks behind its shoes. “It must be so fast, and dangerous.” I thought. On the right arm, there were letters in bold that wrote THE MONSTER. Next to The Monster, there was a large seat with a computer and the same type of glasses Claw wore was laying on them.. The hands had holes in them, probably with all sorts of dangerous weapons. There were jetpacks behind its shoes. “It must be so fast, and dangerous.” I thought. On the right arm, there were letters in bold that wrote THE MONSTER. Next to The Monster, there was a large seat with a computer and the same type of glasses Claw wore was laying on them.Those must be Shadow’s! We could find out so much more if I take those glasses with me.” I thought. I chewed off the wire connected to the robot, and then I grabbed the glasses off the computer.
“Thunder! I was getting worried, what took you so long?” Lightning meowed. “Look what I got! I showed her the blue glasses. “Shadow’s glasses!” she and Swift exclaimed. “Whatever you’re thinking, save it till morning. We have to get some sleep.” I meowed and yawned. The chains are not the most uncomfortable thing I’ve slept on.
“Thunder! Wake up!” my mother called. I looked up, and saw Shadow sneering angrily with his glasses on. “Mother, you dumb yellow rat. I know it was you guys that disconnected The Monster. I always have a backup battery though. You should know that you can’t do anything to stop me.” Shadow flared. Once he left, we decided it was time to escape. That afternoon, when the robots were recharging, we snuck out as quietly and fast as we could. On the way, we met with Claw. “Claw? I thought you were in the factory. You know that we outnumber you.” I said confidently. “Shadow kicked me out because you guys almost destroyed his plan. I need some time to think, but I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” He cried, and then took off. I felt sorry for him and I trusted him. “That stupid cat was just pretending, don’t believe him!” Swift growled. I shook my head. My heart told me to trust him, and I will. Then Swift decided to return to her family and warn them. We decided to do the same.
“Swift, Lightning! Follow me, and come quick, we’re being attacked!” Spike, my older brother panicked and ran. We hurried to the den. All around, robots were throwing cheetahs into a cage and fighting them. I hurdled myself onto a robot that was attacking my cousin, Rock. I scratched its arms and swiped at the wire. The robot shut down and smashed onto the floor.A robot pinned me down, but it shut down right after. “Father!” I screamed with joy. “Keep fighting, Thunder.” He meowed bravely, and went to help my uncle. After an hour or so, all the robots were shut down, and we were tired out. I told everyone about Shadow and Claw and Swift. I told them how Lightning and I went into the factory, and most importantly, The Monster. There were murmurs of fear. Flare calmed everyone down, and tells us to start preparing and training for our battle against The Monster.
The next day, Flare sent each of my brothers to tell a family to gather outside our den. I’ve never seen so many cheetahs in one place. Lightning introduced me to the Sprinters, Swipers and Hunters, so that I wouldn’t be nervous when I do my speech. “Good luck Thunder!” an encouraging voice lifted behind me. “Swift!” I purred with joy. Suddenly, Flare started to speak, “Hello friends. Today I have an announcement to make. A few cheetahs have gone into the main factory, and found out that my own son and nephew have betrayed us and it is they, who control the robots. They made a very dangerous robot, called The Monster. However, we have also found out their plan, and after thought,we have found a way to counter-attack them, as long as we work together. My daughter is one of the few who went to the factory, and she will explain the plan to you.”
Sweat dripped down my forehead. What if I said something wrong? What if I faint? I nervously leaped onto the burnt tree stump. “Hi. My name is Thunder. I know some of you are nervous, but I have a plan. Some cheetahs will be at the dens, protecting them, and distracting the smaller robots. Some other cheetahs will help distract The Monster. The rest will attack the back, where the batteries are, and I will climb up the robot and take the batteries out. For this battle, we need to trust each other. We either win together or lose together, is every family-no, cheetah with me?” I took a deep breath, and looked up.“Thunder is right! We need to work together to win. I will make Thunder my leader, and fight with her till the very end!” a cheetah in the crowd shouted.“Thunder! Thunder!” The cheetahs chanted. Both Lightning and Swift were looking at me proudly. That was when I felt energy and power flowing through my body. Confidence striked me. We can win this battle, and I was ready to show Flare that I can be a leader, though I told myself to not get arrogant like Shadow.
All the cheetahs went back to their own dens, preparing for the great battle.
Three years later…