Taiyoo
Soshite Tsuki
(Sun
and Moon)
By:
Sinead
Chapter
Ten: Battle
Year
5877
Kelsi
looked out the window, at the troops going past. Sastujinhan’nin rested his
hand upon her shoulder, and whispered, “They’re decreeing that all humans
are to return to Earth.”
She
looked up at him, then hissed, “I’m not leaving here.”
“None
of the others are leaving, either.”
She
sighed, and looked at her hands. “I wish that I knew of a place we could
hide.”
Her
partner took her hand, and led her to their room, reaching under the bed, and
pulling out a holo-map, activating it. “Look.”
“What’s
that?”
“A
refuge. We’re all going.” He activated his comm-link. “Satsujinhan’nin
to Ai.”
“Ai.
What is it?”
“Everyone
ready?”
“Yes.
Supplies have all been stored down there. We’re all set to go. There’s an
encoded note for Tsuki when she gets back from her mission.”
“Good.
Thank you.”
“I
have to oversee some more supplies going down. Ai out.”
He
looked to her. “Get some changes packed, as well as any records of Taiyoo.
Wrangler’s doing the same with Tsuki’s records.”
“Why?”
“We
can’t let Megatron know that she left.”
Kelsi
was holding onto Satsujinhan’nin’s neck, her face buried against his
shoulder. It was a few months later, and Shizukesa had returned from a scout
mission, saying that there were no more Cybertronians left topside.
Satsujinhan’nin
sighed, and ran his hand over the tangled mess of curls Kelsi sported. Bits of
lighter colors, namely, grey, had been creeping into her hair over the past
two years, when no word of Tsuki or Taiyoo had been heard. He knew she was
aging, and was saddened to see the effects ageing had upon the humans.
The
father kissed her forehead gently, and held her, hoping for better times.
Hellcat
and Dinobot ran up to Cheetor, speaking their report in soft tones. Optimus
was still recovering from reformatting Nightscream. Rampage soon caught up
with them, his gargoyle beast mode still bulky. However, Hellcat and Dinobot
weren’t reformatted. Their unique lineage and systems didn’t react at all
to the virus, and they didn’t want to see what would have happened to them,
had they been reformatted.
Cheetor
blinked. “You found more survivors?”
“Yes,”
Dinobot replied. “But don’t let Nightscream know. Hellcat and I are taking
Rampage, Depth Charge, and Rattrap with us to speak with them.”
“Why?”
Dinobot
wasn’t prepared for this question. Tsuki smiled. “Because they’re our
family. They’ll most likely come back with us.”
“Okay.
Go.”
They
nodded, and left, with Rampage in tow. Hellcat stopped by the arguing Depth
Charge and Rattrap, telling them a portion of what they told Cheetor. The two
followed, as expected, with the Chinese dragon racing ahead to scout with
Rampage. Rattrap stayed upon Rampage’s back with some difficulty.
What
they didn’t expect, however, was for Ai and Kiran to hold a defensive line.
Rattrap
was watching the shadows, seeing four smaller shadows moving slightly. A
movement closer by caused him to turn his head sharply. He found himself
looking into quite a familiar face. Before he could say anything, Dinobot ran
into the room, bypassing Rattrap, and transforming in front of the bot who . .
. Rattrap blinked, not believing his eyes. He looked over at the Predacon
femme.
Hellcat
flew into her father’s arms, laughing and sobbing at the same time. Rattrap
looked back at Dinobot, to see him being roughly embraced by his . . . his
father, as Rattrap now saw.
A
dark-haired human came running out of the shadows, to push the two apart, only
to embrace the younger Predacon. He was smiling, and rubbing at his optics,
chuckling. He leaned over, and held the human back gently, looking years
younger than what he had made himself seem when in the early stages of the
Beast Wars. The other Predacons were circling around them, asking questions,
talking, laughing, and ignoring the three Maximals.
Dinobot
broke free, over to Rattrap, and smiled genuinely. “Come. I want you to meet
my parents.”
Rattrap
hopped down, then ambled next to the once-again Predacon, to the human and the
older Predacon. The human was currently embracing and scolding Tsuki at the
same time. She stopped, when the femme kissed her cheek, and whispered,
“Thank you.”
“Mom,”
Dinobot said gently, surprising Rattrap.
She
looked at him, then down at the rodent sitting up by him. Her smile widened.
“Come on, introduce me! He’s cute.”
“Kelsi,
remember who you belong to!” Tsuki’s father growled playfully.
The
human laughed, and reached up to touch Satsujinhan’nin’s nose. The
Predacon wrinkled it, then snorted. “Slaggit, Kelsi . . . fine. Taiyoo,
introduce the short one, then the other two.”
“Rattrap,
this is my mother, Kelsi, and my father, Satsujinhan’nin.”
The
rat looked up at the father of his best friend. “I think dat I’ll leave da
annoyin’ o’ of him up to you, Choppuhface.”
Dinobot
laughed, and then indicated the gargoyle. “There’s Rampage, back to his
original personality, and Depth Charge, his guard.” He grinned to two of the
Predacons. “Once-guard. Remember him?”
Uso
and Shinri laughed, then went over to Rampage, talking with him. Rattrap found
himself being picked up, and to look into a face that looked nearly like
Dinobot’s, but was also different. The voice was identical to Dinobot’s
own. “Hmph. And what might you have meant, by annoying? My son’s very
existence annoys me.”
Dinobot
was grinning. “Oh, but alas, I missed you more.”
“Mind
your sarcasm, son.”
Tsuki
walked up to them, and said, “Satsujinhan’nin, would you mind letting him
go for a moment? He has yet to meat my father.”
“Oh?
Hmph. I hope you survive, Maximal.”
As
soon as Rattrap was out of the tall Predacon’s grasp, Tsuki embraced her
life-partner’s father. “I missed you.”
“At
least.”
“A
lot?”
“Better.”
Satsujinhan’nin
chuckled, and said, “We have to plan that wedding. Make it small, so your
father can afford it easily.”
Tsuki
managed to get out of his grasp, and held Rattrap up to face her father, who
was watching the whole interaction, smiling. “Dad, this is Rattrap. Rattrap,
meet my father, Wrangler.”
“Great.
More people like Dino-butt. I’m gonna die.”
She
laughed, and Tatakai asked, “Who?”
Tsuki
laughed. “Taiyoo. They called him Dinobot in the Wars, and I was called
Hellcat.”
“Fitting
name,” Shi and Jinsei commented together.
Optimus
walked out into the main cavern of the Oracle wearily, just in time to see
Rattrap, Rampage, and Depth Charge walking back, in front of a group of
people. Nightscream was watching in wonder, as Dinobot and Hellcat came
running up, towards Optimus. Taiyoo Dinobot had a human actually riding
upon his back, next to a sightly-larger Velociraptor, in redder shades. Tsuki
Hellcat was keeping pace next to a pitch-black panther.
The
Maximal leader blinked, as they came to a stop in front of him and Nightscream.
Dinobot allowed the human female off, as the larger ’Raptor snarled, “I
take it that you are Optimus Primal, Maximal commander?”
Optimus
blinked, and nodded at the voice. Dinobot shook his head. “Primal, this is
my father, Satsujinhan’nin, and my mother, Kelsi.”
She
walked up to him, and said, “If you can’t tell who said what, call me or
Suu. We’ll help you out.”
“Matrix,”
Nightscream breathed. “That rumor was true.”
Wrangler
blinked, then asked, “What rumor, boy?”
“About
the Predacon half-humans. I . . . I didn’t even think
that . . . Primus.”
Tsuki
laughed, and reached up with a paw to tap his nose. “Watch.” She turned to
face the others, and yelled, “Who’s up for practice?”
There
was a roar of approval. Kiran belted out, “What form?”
“Human!”
They
all shifted, Tsuki and Taiyoo included, and the femme turned to face
Nightscream, white hair still flowing freely. “And if you think this is
rough, wait until you see us against an enemy.”
He
shook his head, as Shi and Jinsei started battling, preforming acrobatic
stunts easily. Each paired off, while the parents came over to introduce
themselves to the Maximal leader. Even Tsuki and Taiyoo couldn’t resist
themselves, and ran over to join into the now-brawl. Wrangler chuckled at his
daughter’s antics. “Optimus Primal . . . hm. I think I know why you and
your comrades were attached with the transformation virus, and he
weren’t.”
The
leader sat, then replied, “Then please tell me.”
“We
are Predacons and humans. Megatron most likely knew that you were coming back
sooner or later, and devised a virus that would specifically attack Maximal
signatures.”
Optimus
blinked. “But what about Dinobot? He had been Maximal for a while.”
“But
he was born with a Predaconian energy signature,” Stormsteel countered in
his deep voice.
“Born?”
Optimus asked. “Not created?”
Nari
smiled, and replied, “You see all those humans out there? They were all
created in a lab, but were ‘born’ when their embryo development was
complete. They were born as humans.”
Optimus
was lost for words. Cheetor, who had joined them, wasn’t. “But what about
their beast modes? Were they acquired, or . . .”
“Everything
was planned. They had inactive beast and robot modes up until the age of
eight,” Fola explained. “At eight, they discovered that they had beast
modes. At ten, their robot modes. Luckily, they were born at around the same
time, so we could proceed with training them quickly.”
Optimus
looked back at the group, seeing who he knew as Dinobot and Hellcat, acting
like complete children, rough-housing, tumbling, laughing . . . free. Kelsi
saw him watching her son, his emotions clear upon his face, and she asked,
“Where is your child, Optimus?”
He
looked up at her, surprised. “How . . . how did you know that I’m a
father?”
She
smiled, and indicated Satsujinhan’nin, who was watching Taiyoo with the same
look upon his face, only . . . happier, in a sense. The Predacon looked at his
life-partner, and smiled. “She forgave him. Completely.”
“I
know, Sats.”
“So
where’s your kid?” Wrangler asked.
Optimus
sighed, and shook his head. “I don’t know. He had been living here with
his mother, when Megatron got here. I don’t think that he knew who they
were. I hope he didn’t.”
Rampage
patted Optimus’ shoulder. “There are more bots in hiding than you know
about. Depth Charge and I have found more than a few compounds, but didn’t
know what to do about them, until now. We can go see if they’re among
them.”
Optimus
looked at the once-killer, still trying to adjust to who the younger bot
really was. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. Go. His name is Freefall.”
“The
mother’s name?” Depth Charge asked gently.
“Terra.”
The
dragon nodded, and took off with the gargoyle in tow. Optimus looked back at
the half-humans, and saw that they were all watching him. Kelsi chuckled.
“He’s fine, you lot. Enough of the emotion-sensing. Get back to
sparring.”
They
blinked to one another, then followed Taiyoo and Tsuki over. The male leader
asked, “Optimus, Suu and I have known you long enough to tell when you’re
fine, and when you’re not.”
He
shook his head. “My son and wife are out there somewhere, and I don’t know
if they’re even alive. Rampage and Depth Charge just left to look for
them.”
Tsuki
smiled, and replied, “Two of our warriors could catch up with them, if you
wanted us to do so.”
Optimus
chuckled. “No, I think that they’ll be fine.”
“Oh,
okay.”
Little
did they know, that their safety, and their salvation, was going to come upon
them the next day. None of the Predacons or Maximals remembered what happened,
yet the human mothers remembered it vividly.
The
Maximals battled . . . and lost.
The
Predacon fathers battled, defending their mates fiercely.
The
half-Predacon, half-humans lasted longer than the other two groups. And even
among them, Taiyoo and Tsuki lasted longer.
They
were with Optimus at the last moments, thinking of their parents, friends, and
each other.
“You
have to get away,” Optimus hissed worriedly.
“We’re
not leaving you!” Dinobot
replied, his voice hoarse from shouting orders to his warriors.
Tsuki
was binding a wound on her arm quickly, not wanting to waste precious energy
upon healing herself. She didn’t look up from her task. “Whatever you’re
planning to do, you’d better hurry. I don’t have much more energy left,
and neither does my life-partner.”
He
sighed, and bowed his head. “She speaks truth, Primal. I’m on reserve
energy.”
“We
haven’t used that in a while.”
The
Maximal looked to them, then up at where he knew Megatron was. “Please. Find
the humans, and get them off of this planet. What I’m planning . . . I
don’t know how it will effect them.”
The
pair nodded, and left silently. Optimus didn’t know, that they never reached
Kelsi, Aolani, Fola, and Nari. The Predaconian life-partners were captured not
a half-mile from where he stood.
One
small hope was all that was left.
One
candle, in a pitch-black void.
One
spark, that could light a fire.
But
would it?