Acolytes

*I'm dividing the training between the 'Bots and the humans, due to the simple fact that human gauntlets are a heck of a lot easier and faster to make for Toji than giant ones. Poor Toji! He gets so little screen time in the series. It's a crying shame because he's an interesting character! D':

Warning: Long

The moment he stepped through the doors, Jack groaned at what he saw outside: dark clouds like a funeral shroud and rain. It wasn't heavy rain thank God, more of a heavy mist interlaced with larger globules of water that smacked the ground, but this was the fourth or fifth day of almost non-stop storms. He was getting sick of it. Worse, Arcee was parked on the curb, slowly accumulating a watery suit along with Bulkhead. Sighing, he pulled back inside to rummage through his pack for the light riding jacket he'd managed to snag from the local Walmart – wasn't the best quality, but it had gotten the job done these past few days in keeping him (mostly) dry and warm. But he stayed back a moment before heading out into the mist, waiting. Raf and Miko's classes were further away from the door. Arcee always insisted that they stay together anyway, even if her enemies had never paid them a visit at the school. Honestly, he would've hitched a ride with Bulkhead, but he felt bad making her wait out in the rain and then kind of...ditching her. It wasn't polite.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling it out, he found a text from a ridiculously long number, one that the screen couldn't fully display, labeled "C," asking if he was coming. Just the letter. It kept his mother unsuspecting. Or it had anyway. He was grateful MECH and Airachnid hadn't tried to abduct his mother a second time.

He texted back his usual reply.

The lack of an answer was the answer. She always asked if he wasn't right on time or didn't come out instantly. One of her many protective habits that had grown more persistent ever since Megatron and Airachnid had shown an interest in him, and losing two partners before him just amped the protective instincts up further. Keeping tabs was just part of the job she'd signed on for as partner, but...hers was a more personal approach. He liked it that way. She needed to open up more. His thoughts went another direction when he heard a familiar voice shout at him from down the hall. Miko came bounding down the hall, backpack slung over one shoulder, leaving poor Raf to try to keep pace in a fast walk. He'd never been the most athletic kid in Jasper, and he probably wanted to keep his prized laptop from jostling around in there. Raf treasured that thing after what had happened to the last one, to the point it might as well be a puppy.

Miko dashed by with a cry of "See ya!" and burst into the mist outside, taking the steps two at a time before jumping into the safety of Bulkhead's interior. Raf, more hesitant, pulled his hoodie up and darted for the hulking off-roader. The door clicked shut as the Autobot's engine grumbled to life. He followed last, approaching Arcee in a quick run, blinking the mist out of his eyes as he went. He opened up one of her saddlebags and took out of a towel. Seat dry, he swung his leg over and hopped on, going through the miming routine of starting her engine.

"Let's get going before the rain picks up again."

Arcee let him steer her away from the curb. She was silent as she followed Bulkhead down the road that led out of Jasper. Once she got out of town, however, she loosened up.

"Anything interesting happen today?"

"I got a text from Ray about noon," he said. "Told me to call him first chance I got. Ended the message with a martial arts jacket emoji. That's the symbol we agreed on when talking about the studio."

When Miko and Raf chimed in over their own Bluetooths that they'd also gotten texts, he blinked. Ray had texted all three of them? Must be important.

"But...?"

"I'd feel safer using Raf's laptop to Skype him. Gabe and Gargle created a code to use with texts when talking about you-know-what, but it kinda breaks down when you start talking. Easier to type symbols than say them. Of course, we're still working on it. Besides," he smiled behind the helmet, "no bars in the base, remember? Couldn't call him there if I wanted to."

Arcee's engine rumbled in what might've been a laugh. That was the price that had to be paid to stay below the radar of the 'Cons, she said. But, on the bright side, the internet in the base (and Raf's laptop) had more security than most tight-lipped government servers. Trading one type of communication for the other wasn't all bad. At least with Skype they'd get video chat. Faces told a lot more than just voices. That was one thing she envied about humans she admitted – it was far easier to have a conversation with just expressions when your face wasn't made of metal and, unfortunately, not very mobile.

He smiled. Arcee, envious?

"On the other hand, it makes you guys a real pain to read. Do you have any idea how hard it is, trying to break down five or six different emotions from one expression?"

He laughed. Envious and annoyed. That sounded more like her.

Allie flopped backward onto her bed, phone held to one ear. School was the worst. Skull Cutter chirped, wriggled out of her backpack, and hopped up to join her. He chirp-growled a second time, looking confused as he nudged her arm. Smiling, she gave him the rub on his bony head he wanted. She so regretted not being at the Temple to see Master Brightmore's freak out at finding Skull Cutter missing for the tenth time in two weeks. She snorted. Worth it.

"Why haven't they called yet?"

"Give them time, Allie," Ray reassured her. "Remember, they have to get home, and it's a bit of a drive according to Rafael. I checked the weather and it's also raining there. Again. Roads will be slick."

"Why don't they just do the whole 'Beam me up, Scotty!" thing? It's faster than driving!"

"Yes, but using an Einstein-Rosen bridge creates a massive amount of energy even if only open for a few moments. That would be like a Blinder Beetle using a flash in the Darkness Realm. Even if you aren't there to witness the energy discharge, so long as you have the proper equipment you could detect it from thousands of miles away. The same concept applies to the portals. The Decepticons are hunting the Autobots, therefore it would only be sensible to have some type of powerful scanner to try and track their movements via bridge openings."

Her hands went to her temples to stop the pounding. She groaned, "Way to go, nerd. You just killed my brain better than any teacher. Ev-er. I'm only forgiving you for the creature comparison."

She sat up and grabbed her laptop from where it sat at the base of the bed, flipping it open. Her fingers drummed on the right side of the touch pad, only barely suppressing a manic grin. She couldn't wait to see their faces when they told them the news. Intrigued, Skull Cutter sniffed at the bright screen, poking it a few times with the very tip of his blade. A blooping ditty played on her laptop, at last, heralding an incoming Skype call, making the creature jump and assume a fighting stance. Convincing the Dread Mask the laptop was no threat, she opened the program before it had a chance to finish its echo effect. Her headphones enveloped her ears. Three faces grinned back at her, crowded into the other laptop's field of view.

"Took you guys long enough!"

"Impatient much?" Jack teased.

Curious at the faces, Skull Cutter abandoned her arm in favor of inspecting the screen. Raf and Jack were quick to jump back, but Miko?

"Cool! Is that a baby skeleton?!"

"...Excuse me?" came another voice from the background, gruff and disgruntled.

The towering form of Optimus passed by. He paused to loom behind the catwalk, locking onto the Dread Mask on her end of the call.

"Allison Underhill, did you smuggle a Kaiju out of the Temple again?"

She smirked at him, leaning back. "What are you gonna do about it, tough guy?" she challenged.

The disappointment in his giant old-timey camera lens eyes made guilt begin to constrict her stomach. Ugh! Screw this guy and his emotional string-pulling. He was worse than Ray. Sighing, she released and coaxed Skullcutter back into frame – and he went back to his growling. Optimus didn't do much other than raising a metal eyebrow at Skull Cutter, probably trying to understand why she'd smuggle a creature around when it had a sword for a hand and said creature was busy growling at him like an angry undead chihuahua.

Eyes rolling, she promised to take Skull Cutter back once they were done.

"I will hold you to your word. Please refrain from this in the future. You are wearing Master Brightmore's patience thin, Allison."

He left. She stuck her tongue at his retreating form. "It's not like he has any patience to start with..." she muttered. "You ask me, he could take some pointers from you..."

That earned some sympathetic snickers and smiles.

"So what's the deal, Ray?" Jack asked. "Is something going on at the studio?"

Ray grinned.

The arena seemed bigger the second time around despite the three adolescent faces joining him from the sidelines, just beneath the low stone guard walls. The Masters Chavez, Brightmore, and Nadia stood with them. Jack admitted himself intimidated and nervous when Master Brightmore entered into the arena, a golden tablet about the size of an iPad held in one hand and a practice gauntlet in the other. Even twenty feet away the man towered over him, his stoic face and thick eyebrows giving the impression of a particularly disappointed Vulcan, and he only felt smaller when the man drew up to him, holding the tablet and glove out to him while peering down at him in an expression somewhere between a frown and a sneer. He took both items as politely as possible, then slipped the glove on, wiggling his finger around. It didn't feel much different than the riding gloves he used when going off-road – a little heavier maybe. And tighter. The tablet itself was for a Light creature, a Storm Patrol class, that looked like a fighter jet mixed with a X-wing space-ship from Star Wars: a Thunder Cruiser.

"Raiden was...undecided about you, Jackson, as am I. You did not easily fit into one Civilization, " he said, "but he decided you would do best when working with Light creatures, or Light hybrids. Light is order, always piercing and cutting away at the chaos that pervades us. They weaponize photons and are masters of the winds and skies. In Light, each creature is built for a specific purpose and carries out that purpose until rendered non-functional. They are gears, and pistons, and cogs all serving the great machine that is Light."

He nodded, uncomfortable at the description. Building a machine for one purpose, and it doing that one thing until it died, sounded all too like the caste system that hard sparked the Cybertronian civil war.

"Now," he stated. "Activate your gauntlet."

He almost snorted. Brightmore either had complete faith in his memory by not telling him how to do or was trying to get him to screw up.

Remembering the motions Allie, Ray, and Chavez had used, he went through the motions slowly to get a feel for it. His skin tingled as an energy he'd never felt raced through his arm, the gauntlet shimmering but not changing. He performed the motions a few more times, earning the same tingling result, before finally performing the motions with real intent. In a faint flash the gauntlet went from dull grey and black cloth to looking more like an actual gauntlet. It didn't feel any heavier or tighter, but sections of it looked like they were made of metal now. The back of his hand was now covered in silver metal with a strange symbol in the center, glowing. Curiosity made him touch it, confirming it really was metal. How did that work exactly – cloth morphing to metal? That kind of broke physics.

A look up revealed Brightmore suddenly looking more like a slightly impressed Vulcan than a disappointed one.

"You certainly have more patience than other acolytes," he admitted with a slight nod. "Most leap headlong into the motions. You bother to study them."

Jack got the feeling he knew which acolytes he was talking about, judging by the angry scowl Allie was tossing him from behind his back.

"Ray did give us some tutorials over Skype..." he admitted.

Allie's scowl didn't disappear when Brightmore glanced back through that strange annoyed approval of his.

"Summon the Thunder Cruiser."

He held the tablet up again to read it. At the bottom were a series of stylized human figures detailing the series of motions – the kata – for Light. Sharp, pointed movements that struck out, limbs kept rigid. Simple enough. He handed the tablet back to Brightmore. He took a step back as Brightmore retreated further, till he was a solid fifteen feet from him. So he took a breath – a nice, long, and deep breath, and went through the motions of the kata once. The tingle of the gauntlet activation was stronger now. Sharper. Like an energy scalpel stabbing through this veins, bones, and muscle, minus the heat and pain. Frightened, he resumed a normal posture, waiting for the sharp tingle to fade. Another nice, long, deep breath dispelled it.

Then he tried it for real. Arms and legs shot out like arrows before drawing back, sharp, and going back out again.

"Thunder Cruiser!"

His gauntleted hand struck out, the words echoing around the cavern.

Nothing happened. Not even the sharp tingle.

He kept the final pose for almost a minute. But no Thunder Cruiser. The pose was dropped in disappointment. But Ray suggested he try again.

"Keep your form rigid throughout!" Gabriel told him. "Light Kaiju are mechanical beings! The Light kata is supposed to invoke their metal bodies!"

Jack nodded. He hadn't thought of that.

Steeling himself once more, he performed the kata a second time. This time, the sharp, painless tingle returned as limbs shot out, in, and out, more rigid than granite columns. Was this how a Cybertronian felt?

"Thunder Cruiser!"

A sound like a groundbridge, with a musical sound lurking somewhere in the background, rang behind him. Weird beeping like a haywire computer came from it, and the Cruiser soared out. The little fighter-jet-star-ship rounded on him in an instant, beeping and flashing its lights at him in a whirlwind pace. Guns deployed. He held his hands up as it came closer, backing away.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa there fella! I'm a friend!"

The beeping light show continued. Something in the way the lights flashed tugged at the very back of his brain now. The guns remained out. He didn't know if Energon shots could hurt a Kaiju, but Arcee would probably have fired anyway. If she were there. Brightmore, however, was instantly on edge. His gauntlet activated in a flash of pale blue-gold. The other Masters weren't far behind. But, he noted, Ray, Allie, and Gabe weren't so quick to jump in. Raf had the weirdest look on his face, too – that intense scrunching of the facial muscles in someone trying to study for a final. Then, a gunshot went off in his spectacled eyes.

"Master Brightmore, no!" Raf shouted, rushing forward with a hand out. "It doesn't wanna hurt him! It just wants to know his name, role, and rank!"

It wasn't just Master Brightmore who turned on the tween in curious perplexity. The charge stopped.

Stunned, Kimora demanded how he knew that. Raf went on to clarify that the Cruiser, though there was a pretty big difference, used a way of speaking that was not dissimilar from Bumblebee's auditory binary, and it had also switched to using visible Morse code, probably in an effort to talk to Jack once it realized its speech was untranslatable to him. The Cruiser wasn't a threat, and it wasn't aggressive. It was just asking him basic questions. That was all.

Jack gave it what it wanted in a tone as bewildered as he felt.

The Cruiser hovered for almost a straight minute, beeping softly and whirring like a laptop fan kicked into overdrive. Then, with a chirping noise, the Cruiser's lights, previously a half-aggressive bright orange-red, popped to a friendlier pale blue, and the guns on its wings and canopy folded back in. When it drew in nearer, a pale gold scanning light ran up and down his body, reminding him of the scanner Ratchet used. Hesitantly, he reached a gauntleted hand out. The scanner came out again to examine the limb and the gauntlet, and then the Cruiser came a little nearer, like a dangerous metal cat leaning forward to sniff. It had no face to read, and it wasn't speaking now, but something about it rang of curiosity. His fingers tips met the gold and silver metal. It was warm. Like a 'Bot was. It was alive.

Did the Cruiser have a name? Did any Cruiser? A living being couldn't be just a unit; it shouldn't be just a unit. Optimus would agree.

"Jackson!" barked Brightmore.

His hand jerked away, inadvertently causing the Cruiser to jerk back with it and whir. Something bubbled in his chest, a sense he couldn't immediately identify. He whirled on the Light Master, the Cruiser following his movements. A bizarre harmonic rumble came from it, making it sound like an angry cello.

"What is your problem?!" he snapped. "The Cruiser hasn't done a thing to me, and you're treating it like...like it's rabid!"

Brightmore didn't yield. His expression only became more stoic.

"Order it to attack the targets, Jackson," was all he said in edgewise. "That creature knows it's purpose."

Jack's face hardened. He changed the gauntlet back and threw it to the ground.

"If you can't treat a living being like it's anything more than a wild animal, or a drone, then I quit."

He turned and left, leaving the Cruiser in the middle of the arena to beep and whir in what sounded like confusion.

Ray stood in silence as he watched Jack leave, his lips twisted into an odd smiling frown. He wasn't quitting because he could grasp Kaijudo – for a beginner, he'd done great. Jack, like him, just couldn't stand treating a living being as a tool, not even if the being thought of itself as a tool. That, to him anyway, was a good sign. Brightmore just had a bad habit of not bending to change. Or caring about other people's viewpoints for that matter.

Under his breath he asked of his friends, "Can you help out with Miko and Raf?"

Allie and Gabe nodded, and he followed after the retreating form of Jack. Whether or not he heard Brightmore banish the Cruiser with the Spell of Banishment he couldn't tell – probably best though that he wasn't in the ring to witness it. He caught him on the stairs that led out of the arena. Even with his back turned he could see he was seriously nettled. He could almost feel it – a smog of hot emotion polluting the air around him. Ray called his name. Jack had the grace to turn back and scowl at him. His blue-grey eyes, angry and offended, said everything. His sense of right, the nature of Light Kaiju, and his experiences with their Cybertronian guests was warping how he saw Kaijudo and what, in Ray's mind, it really was. But it gave him an idea. Maybe it would give Jack more perspective.

"Come with me to the Archives," he suggested. "There's a few things in there that might change your mind.

Fire, Chavez was saying, was a Civilization of warfare and destruction. Every creature within the Fire realm knew how to fight, and were well known for picking fights even if it wasn't wise. But that was precisely why he and Ray had chosen her to train with a Fire creature – her notorious reputation for picking fights with beings three times her size. When working with Fire you had to understand that even the tiniest of creatures could harm you, far more so than most other creatures. Not were most Fire creatures carnivorous, they could just as easily burn a duelist with fiery breath or flammable feathers, and the larger of their kind were infamous for their love of mounted firearms.

"But," Chavez continued with a flamboyant twinkle in his brown eyes, "taming an ember is far easier than taming a raging wild fire. So, we will start small. You will be summoning and controlling this little creature."

He handed her the fiery red tablet trimmed with gold, the sooty black symbol of Fire etched into its base, and her training gauntlet. On it was an image of what she swore was an angry sparrow with two long feathery antennae and sporting some awesome metal armor on its wings and body. Embers flickered around it and pulsed with orange light. A "Blaze Darter" it was called, a type of Fire Bird. They were heralds of Monarchs (whatever that meant) so each Civilization had at least one type. The Blaze Darter was less prone to burning as some other Fire Birds were but a lot more prone to biting. Cool. She was basically summoning a fiery, armored sparrow with a bad case of Wheeljack syndrome. Beneath it all, the Fire kata was shown: strong, outward motions based on the flights of Dragons.

She handed the tablet back. The orange glow of the painted embers didn't fade; a screeching cry echoed in the back of her mind. Flames licked the edges of her sight.

"Don't get crazy, chili pepper," Allie warned her. "If we can't trust you with a Fire Bird there's no way we can trust you with an Attack Raptor."

She almost laughed in her face. If Allie thought that was gonna discourage her from having fun with the Blaze Darter, she really had no clue who she was dealing with.

"Blaze Darter!"

The portal opened, and out swooped the Fire Bird, not much bigger than one of those hawks that flew around the base, and way more adorable than the tablet gave credit. She held the gauntlet up, felt a tingle at the connection. Instead of coming after her, the Bird's wings tucked in and it spiraled down - to perch on her gauntlet. The Bird's squawk she thought sounded like a girl's. She grinned. A name. That's what she needed. Blaze Darter was awesome, a fighter name, but it didn't show her cute side.

"Fi-Fi," she decided. "I'm gonna call you Fi-Fi."

Fi-Fi, newly, named squawked her pleasure.

"Alright! Then let's get this party started!'

Hand jerking up, Fi-Fi took to the air, feathers erupting in flame. Another jerk, and she roared straight for the targets.

They didn't last very long.

"Do you get it now?"

Jack frowned at the alien looking gauntlet in his hand from which wires protruded. Everything about its appearance was harsh, unnatural. A dozen golden, oblong Light tablets littered the table at which they sat. A sigh escaped his nose as he put the harsh-looking gauntlet down. Much as he didn't like Light's caste system, the gauntlet, a tech gauntlet once used by some guy named Heller, was worse. It didn't just call creatures through the Veil – it yanked them out, Ray had said, tendrils digging into a creature's head to pull them through, branding them. Traditional Kaijudo was a partnership. The creature did not have to answer a summons. It could refuse if it wanted. Kaijudo had been developed as a means of defense against dangerous creatures, like Armored Dragons, but it could be used to grow nearer to them as well. Every creature had sentience, from tiny Essence Elves to towering Monarchs, but the Masters recognized that. The Choten didn't.

He didn't say anything. Brightmore certainly didn't seem to recognize sentience.

Ray slid a golden tablet from his side of the table over to him. He picked it up and read it. The image on the tablet, a strange melding of Diablo III angels and anime mechas, was beautiful and dangerous. The tablet shone with a light of its own. There was an odd harmonic ring in his ears while lightning crashed in his vision. A Citadel Knight, of the Skyforce Champions, named Radegast. Powerful on their own, in highly coordinated battalions they defended Light's many floating cities, fortresses, and keeps from invaders, and were one of many types of Light creature capable of independent thought – a necessity for strategic warfare. Ray was trusting him with something this powerful?

He kept staring at the tablet. He almost didn't hear him through the odd, harmonic ringing in his ears. But when he blinked and looked up, the ringing was gone, and the tablet had stopped glowing.

"I've also got a friend recently, a Thunder Guardian we named Shaw K'naw. He's got some anger issues towards the Choten's thug, Heller, but I think he'd like you. You wanna meet him?"

He shrugged, "Sure."

Ray activated his gauntlet and performed the jabbing, rigid kata of Light.

"Thunder Guardian Shaw K'naw!"

A portal ripped open high above. Out of it flew a mechanical bird, pure gold, with a tail like a Tibetan chime merged with a wedding veil, a head like an owl, and piercing pale blue eyes. It came right for Ray, without him even motioning, emitting a strange, hollow yet musical, electronic Ker-ker-ker-ker! before alighting atop the nearest shelf of tablet in a chinking of metal plates, peering down at them both. On recognizing Ray it let out the sound again, leaning over the edge.

Ray reached up, "Hey there, pal," he said gently. "How've you been? Enjoying being back home?"

Shaw K'naw's owl-like head bobbed up and down like an eager see-saw. "Ker-ker-kee!" he answered.

He hoped down onto his wrist. His veil-tail, Jack noted in shock, practically brushed the floor.

"This is a friend of mine. Jack, meet Shaw. Shaw, meet Jack."

The Thunder Guardian's head did a hilarious ninety-degree tilt to the right that, in his opinion, should not have been possible for a mechanical being. It was like its neck was on a rotating dial, not a hinge. "Kee-kee-ker?" His eyes narrowed and darkened in what looked like suspicion. Ray smiled and patted the agitated metal owl on his head, affirming that Jack wasn't going to make him rob banks or do anything he didn't want to. He could trust him.

"Hold your hand out."

He balked, "What?"

"Hold your hand out," repeated Ray. "Let him perch. I know the Masters say not to, but Shaw's harmless and it helps build trust. He had a...bad experience with people the last time we met."

He did so. Shaw K'naw considered for a moment, kerring and examining his limb, then hopped from Ray's hand onto his after Ray gently coaxed him off. He almost flinched as the tiny talons connected with his arm, then blinked. The owl was...lighter than he thought a metal creature would be. And warm. Just like the Cruiser. He could almost feel a steady pulse through his golden body. He lifted his other hand up and brought it near. Shaw K'naw kerred and leaned in to the open palm like a cat.

Ray smiled. "See? That's not so bad, is it?"

A smile of his own formed. For a "dangerous creature" he sure was sweet. Why would Brightmore and the Choten treat a creature like this as a tool instead of a partner, Light coding aside?

"You wanna give it another go?"

He was ready to say no. Commanding a being like Shaw was wrong. That was, until Shaw K'naw looked him square in the eyes. Trust gleamed back at him through those pale blue sensors. He met Ray's brown eyes and nodded.

Their newest potential initiates stood before them in the council chamber. Hector had nothing but praise for Miko's instant grasp on Fire's volatile nature and her mastery of the kata – no doubt both due to her Japanese heritage. Nadia was more hesitant, but confessed that Rafael well understood the ebb and flow of Water, and that, like Gabriel, he would come to appreciate what even the weakest of Water Kaiju could offer when used in the appropriate scenario. An adequate summation of the training. Though hesitant to laud any praise, considering Jackson's attitude and disrespect of his authority, he admitted himself duly impressed. Each had their misgivings: the older boy lacked the necessary understanding of Light's encoded caste system; the girl was a wild card and far too prone to bursts of temper, and the youngest boy was, like Gabriel, inherently meek and unwilling to fight. But each had their own advantages. He could not deny his own sight.

With time and practice, he agreed, they could make decent acolytes – so long as certain sharp edges were sanded down.

Jaha tossed him a glance. Personal ideology, she had said, did not have as much bearing on an initiate as it had on the one who bore it.

"Step forward, then, initiates," Kimora ordered. "Present your gauntlets."

Each did. And each gauntlet had changed. The girl's a fiery red and orange with black accents, flames swirling round the fingers while a reptilian motif reared from the top of the wrist, and the young boy's a gentle pale blue far more mobile and far less block-y than Gabriel's. Jackson's interested him – it bore the gold and silver of Light, but bore too the dark orange of fire at the finger tips. Raiden, it seemed, had been accurate in his belief. It was all too simple to believe that touch of Fire licking at the edges of his character accounted for his temper and strong sense of individuality, but Light kept it under control.

"I need not advise you to use Kaijudo with caution," Nadia warned. "Knowing the nature of your enemies, human and not, and the power they have displayed, it would be catastrophic if they learned of this ability. Should you use it, ensure your creature is never captured, and that you summon it out of sight, so none can extrapolate backwards."

"Yeah, yeah. We know the drill," Miko deadpanned in her usual flippant manner. "No one knows about robot fight club, no one knows about Kaiju fight club."

Hector could not suppress a snort.

"We'll be careful, Master Lobachevsky," Jackson assured. "And thank you, Master Brightmore, for giving me a second chance. I-I didn't know if you..would."

Some of his reserve folded. His fingers that had previously supported his chin fell to the table alongside his arms. Jackson had indeed improved when given control of a more powerful, and uniquely named, Citadel Knight on his second attempt. Perhaps, he ruminated, he had judged the boy unfairly, and too soon. Light functioned as one great machine, but when it came to those higher up the caste, individuality became more pronounced. Raiden had detected that in him, and had catered to that igneous sense of his when selecting Radegast for him.

"Dismissed," he said.

They removed their gauntlets, stored them in pocket or backpack each, and left. The moment they were out of earshot, a tension came over the chamber.

"Jaha?" he prompted. "Have you any updates on Raiden's vision?"

"Baeglor has not escaped, nor has the Choten or his associates attempted to free him or uncover his tablet," she reported, "but I have taken precautions nonetheless. That is far from the most interesting point of this occurrence. According to Raiden, Optimus had a similar vision close to the time he had his. He contacted the boy to see if he might be of help in interpreting it, but came away with little of substance."

"Did the vision mean anything to you?" Kimora inquired.

Jaha was reticent. She would not commit a comment on the subject other than the Prime's vision had been far less clear. Ironic, she murmured, that a vision of a Light creature could be so obscure.

A machine not of this world receiving visions as if it were attuned to the Veil's energy? Pure rubbish, he snorted.

"Rubbish to Light may be a new invention to Water," reminded Nadia. "Something never witnessed before does not mean it cannot be. Give him the benefit of the doubt, Nigel. We are dealing with an artificial intelligence, not a mere machine. Who are we to say he cannot experience something a human being can?"

His frown deepened.

He rose and left.

Arcee pulled into the garage that had turned into a fairly comfortable, if somewhat cramped at times, second home. Jack abandoned her saddle, placed the helmet on a hook holder on the wall, and left without a word. Thirty seconds later the motion detector that controlled the ceiling light deactivated, and the garage fell dark. Not even the warmth of the garage stopped her spark from feeling cold. Her front wheel twisted to aim her headlight at the closed door that led into the Darby residence. She rolled forward an inch.

The moment he'd stepped into the base she had detected whiffs of stress chemicals, which had set her suspicions off. He'd seemed suddenly uncomfortable to be around her team – he hadn't even given Optimus his usual passing greeting when he'd walked out of the groundbridge. His body had been noticeably tense for that matter. Worst of all, his face had been a riddle of too many emotions all contorted together. Only his eyes had been easy to read – they had burned with shame and had refused to meet her optics when he had asked her to take him home. The entire drive from Omega One to his residence her partner hadn't said a word in edgewise to her about what had happened in San Campion, either. She hadn't had the spark to tell him that she now hated silence – a reminder of her loss. So she had tried what Cliff would've wanted her to – strike up conversation – except her partner's responses had mostly been monosyllables and single-sentence answers that were not very helpful in determining what was wrong. She had debated pinging Optimus and informing him about this, only to abstain.

Maybe now in the safe familiarity of his home he might open up. His mother had yet to return from the hospital for the evening, so there was no danger of her overhearing about this new secret of theirs. But she kept an audial trained on the street outside regardless.

She transformed to crouch.

"Jack?"

*...Yeah?*

"Are you alright?"

There was a pause of one minute seven seconds. His answer did not alleviate her concern.

*In a word: no.*

Her slender brow ridges puckered, "What happened? Did something go wrong in California?"

*You mean other than Brightmore being an ass to everyone and everything?*

"I thought that was implied," she joked dryly. "Don't worry about him. I think he rubbed Optimus the wrong way, too. Take it from me – that isn't easy. So what happened? Did you not pass the entrance exam?"

He clarified that he had passed. But the pride in his voice whenever he achieved a passing grade in a subject he was not particularly gifted in wasn't there. She frowned. Wasn't passing a good thing though? She shook her helm, a soft hiss escaping her neck vents. Primus, humans adolescents made no sense. Nor did their education system.

She shifted her frame to lean onto one hand, legs extending out to balance her weight until she found an optimal position, "Please, partner. Talk to me. What happened?"

The pause was longer this time. Jack really had no ready desire to talk about this. Her spark tightened. Was she pushing him when she shouldn't be? Should she wait for him to open up – to come around like she had to him? Part of her said "yes," she should. He'd given her that courtesy from the start. But another part told her that she wasn't much a partner if she didn't do anything to help alleviate his distress. When almost three minutes went by, she resorted to something she normally didn't do beyond the the top of the butte-disguised base: she let every other thought filter out of her processor, and looked up.

"You guys must think me pretty ridiculous for asking about teenage humans," she murmured, "considering you never met one, Tailgate, but I don't know what el–"

She cut her words short on hearing the sound of footsteps from inside, coming her way. Jack appeared in the doorway, still clearly upset and haggard, but the stress chemicals weren't as powerful now, and his body wasn't so tense. The look on his face she knew well – he wanted out in the air, and wasn't sure whether or not she'd question him further. She nodded once at him, offering a hint of a smile, and swapped forms. At least the rain had finally cleared.

"Talk when you're ready," she promised. "I won't push."

He smiled back, grabbed his helmet, flipped the switch to raise the garage, and hopped onto her saddle.

"Text your mom," she reminded him.

He did.

She took him out onto the darkening road.

"Target spotted."

"Good. Follow him, but keep your distance. That energy signal is...intriguing."

June hummed abstractedly as she strode down the hallways. Staying after hours for overtime had once been a norm, but with Jack's new "friends" she had to keep a closer eye on him. Not that she didn't trust Arcee – she'd proven she could trust her. But working with alien robot-people who stood, at the least, thirteen feet tall, and who were embroiled in a fight with others of their kind, dozens of new risks cropped up. Risks that might entail a trained nurse being on site.

Her phone buzzed. A text from Jack. He'd gotten home, but needed some air after being cooped up so much.

B back soon.

Passing by an empty room, the lights flickered. A weary sigh escaped her. These storms had proved a nuisance to the electric equipment over the past few days.

"Thank God for backup generators..." she murmured.

But it had stopped raining around five this afternoon, the system having finally passed through the region for good. It was almost seven now. In the past she might've not have given it a second though. Electricity could still act funny if there was no storm. Now, almost against her will, she felt her body tense, her heart rate increase, and the strange light tingle of adrenaline begin to pump through her veins. She quickened her pace, making it into the open air. Her car sat there waiting. The sense didn't go away. Something wasn't right – and yet, nothing around her was wrong. It was dark out, she told herself. Ever since her "encounter" with the shadow group MECH and one of Arcee's enemies, she'd never felt safe in the dark.

And the car wouldn't start. The adrenaline pumped a little faster.

She took a deep breath.

Calm, her brain told her. Be calm. The car's old. It's done this before. If Jack was out riding, maybe Arcee could get her back home.

She called him.

"Mom?"

"Hey, sweetie," she said in a slightly shaky voice. "The car's doing it again."

"Again?" Jack repeated. "What is this, like, the fifth time this month?"

"You need a lift?" guessed his friend.

"Please and thank you. I'm not sure if you could give it a jump."

"We'll be there in a few. Just sit tight."

The van, a typical nondescript one, hadn't turned yet. He could see it in the rear views. It was pretty far back from them, but it was persistently keeping him in line of sight. He wasn't one to worry about human kidnappers when riding on a well-armed metal alien, but something about it made him uneasy. Maybe because he couldn't see who was driving, not at the distance it was staying, and the evening shadows weren't helping.

He made sure not to look down as he prompted, "Arcee?"

"I see it, too. Not a 'Con, and not MECH. Unless they're actually trying to be subtle for once."

He glanced back. Still there. They were being followed.

"Hang a left. Try to lose them."

She revved her engine in a growl and did just that, jerking sharply onto Mason Street at the last second.

"The boy suspects. Alter course, but keep that signal on scanners."

"But the kid?"

The strange, soft, well-enunciated voice snarled back over the radio, "It goes where the boy goes. Follow the signal, and you find the boy."

"Yes, sir."

She kept making turns through side streets and onto main roads. No pattern in it. And it seemed to work. When she finally pulled into the side lot of the hospital, she came to a stop and put her kickstand down. The van didn't appear again. But when he tried to get off, her engine growled. Wait, she told him. They had to be sure, now more than ever.

Without a word, he put his foot back onto the pedal.

And listened.

And listened.

Five minutes went by. No van. He let out a relieved sigh, only then realizing his breathing had been slow and faint.

"I think we lost 'em."

He felt her engine start up again. She rolled forward towards the lot where his mother's disobedient car was. He could see it, and she was inside. And okay. Good. Arcee pulled up to the driver's side window and let him off. His mother emerged from the vehicle. Her expression was one he'd started seeing more often lately: an odd compound of of stress, confusion, and relief. She embraced him, then turned her focus on his partner.

"You must have a different definition of 'in a few' where you come from."

He massaged his neck, "Uh, yeah. I, uh, I got some...bad luck...and hit a lot of lights."

His mother's arms folded. One eyebrow rose. "Jack..."

He looked to the side shyly, unable to meet her gaze. His eye caught something lurking around the corner opposite where they'd come in. Three individuals were coming towards them, each wearing a strange myrtle green suit plated with teal armor. Goggles hid their eyes, the lenses a sharp violet. He tensed. Three men judging by their looks. He didn't recognize them, but there was one thing he did recognize now the closer they got: they had tech gauntlets. His eyes enlarged.

"Mom. In the car."

"What?" his mother demanded. "But weren't you –?"

His voice was feverish, almost snapping, when he repeated, "In the car!"

The shocked look she gave him was replaced with fear once she spotted what he had.

"Jack?" she demanded. "Who are they?"

"Long story."

Using the telepathic upgrade Raf's creature had given his Bluetooth, he sent Arcee a warning for her to stay in disguise. He'd handle this.

"Are you crazy?!" she hissed. "There's three of them and one of you!"

Rather than answer, his dove into his pocket to pull out the gauntlet.

"Wrong," he growled. "There's two of me, and three of them."

He activated the gauntlet. The three strangers took that as provocation. Tendrils reached into the air to vanish into portals to drag out nightmares.

"Legionnaire Corpse!"

"Skeleton Soldier!"

"Darkwood Tribesman!"

Two undead warriors, vaguely humanoid, were tugged out, armed with blade and shield. From the third came some bizarre naja-like creature with a centipede body, a horse's head, and a trident in its clawed hands. He frowned. Darkness, Master Brightmore said, was strongest when dueling at night. Light, sadly, was weakened. And Radegast needed a lot more mana to summon than the Cruiser, so he only had one shot at this. But he had to try. His eyes narrowed. The creatures were being held back, like the controllers were...looking for something, unable to determine exactly where it was.

"Jack, what are tho –?" his mother demanded.

"Stay down!" he barked back.

He lifted the gauntlet. Focus stung him from the inside out. So he let it out through the kata.

"Citadel Knight Radegast!"

The Knight heeded his call, emerging in all his mechanized glory, a shining beacon in the dark. The moment his eyes caught sight of the enemy, blue sparks arced between his hovering wing blades, and his right blade-arm lifted to point them down. A high-pitched sound came from the Champion's frame that made his bones rattle and his skin tingle into goosebumps. He couldn't understand it the same way as the Cruiser, but he felt it – Radegast was enraged, and not at him.

The strangers suddenly acted wary. One's body language said they were ready to book it, but he didn't run.

The Soldier, in very non-zombie-like speed, rushed forward to swipe its blade. Radegast held his sword-arms up in an x-shape to block it with his shield-like lower arms, unshaken. Jack wrenched his gauntlet up, and the Knight's blade followed, cleaving the enemy blade in two. A thrust forward cut short the Soldier's shocked anger, Radegast's left blade-arm plunging into its chest as it lit up like a flare, and it gave a haunting wail as it disappeared in a cloud of foul-smelling purple smoke. An arcing swing of his hand made Radegast whirl about to face the remaining two, emitting another of his high-toned enraged noises that was five inches from sounding like an angry trumpet-flute hybrid.

The Soldier's controller decided to listen to his gut (and Radegast's terrifying angry trumpet-flute cry) and run.

"Shred him!" howled one of the two remaining strangers.

Together, the naja-horse thing and the Legionnaire charged him. The Legionnaire's blade managed to slice into Radegast's armor, opening a breach that began to leak what looked like liquid light, but Radegast swung his blade-arms in a two-tiered attack. But the noise he'd made – the Knight was hurt. He couldn't fight for much longer under these conditions, and the naja-horse thing had better reach than he did. Without thinking, he rushed forward as the naja-horse thing brought its trident up to plunge it into Radegast's torso, sliding beneath the Knight to hold his gauntlet hand low, and directing the pulsing symbol towards the trident.

"JACK!" he heard his mother scream.

The trident never hit. Not him. Not Radegast. It hit a domed field of pale blue. Each hit made the frail, mana-starved field shudder. Cracks appeared at each hit from the two creatures. He glanced up and behind at Radegast. The Knight's stoic face seemed...stunned at the intervention. He seemed to understand his quick nod, too. He brought both blade-arms up and extended his strange, hovering wing extensions out as far as they would go, their very tips growing brighter by the second while lightning spazzed all over the wings. At that, the flimsy shield shattered completely. He felt something ram him when it did, sending him tumbling back. He forced himself to his knees. He felt like a dead battery all of a sudden. The symbol on his gauntlet was flickering wildly, the once bright white light dim and greying.

Out of mana. Great.

A cry more choral song than hybrid instrument came from Radegast. The lightning and the light lit up the area around him like it was broad daylight. The Darkness creatures recoiled, squealing and whinnying.

He jerked the sputtering gauntlet forward. Radegast obeyed. The light and lightning in his wings shot forward in a dozen blinding beams that joined into a single on at some unseen focal point ahead of him. The Legionnaire fared no better than his undead friend: blasted into violet smog. Only the naja-horse thing was left, squirming until the light faded. The Tribesman slithered forward, spinning its tail at Radegast who managed to bring up his shields in time for the tail to pound him, sending him back a good five feet to hit the side of the car. His mother jolted, shrieking.

"Sorry!" he called.

Wait, he thought. The car. Cars had headlights, and Darkness creatures hated light. Radegast probably couldn't manage another...whatever that'd been, so maybe...

"Mom! The lights!" he said, using his other hand to hit the button on his Bluetooth. "Use your high beams!"

He was surprised she listened. Three headlights flared on just as the Tribesman was about to swing his trident, and the whinnying howl it gave proved his idea right way more than its hasty retreat. Any light hurt Darkness Kaiju, not just light from Light Kaiju – the brighter the better it seemed.

"Finish him!"

While the Tribesman writhed, Radegast lunged, plunging both of his blades deep into the Tribesman's chest. All that was left was a faint smell of rot and decaying leaves. The remaining two strangers backed away.

"Beat it!" he snarled. "Or you'll get worse than they did!"

He had no idea if they spotted his bluff. Even as they fled, the Knight fell to the ground, one blade-arm helping to prop him up. His once bright lights were dim, and his lightning was reduced to tiny blue sparks between his wings. Golden fluid was slowly pooling on the ground. He rushed up to him. Arcee was quick to join him. His mother, for once, contained her shock as she exited her car and came up to him. She spotted Radegast's wound and knelt. He put a hand to the Knight's armor, something Ray told him itching at the back of his mind. But the gauntlet flickered wildly. Not enough mana to heal him. Dammit.

"Lemme get you home, Rad," he murmured.

He cupped one hand and balled the other, gesturing out with the former. Radegast disappeared in a flare of sunlight.

"Jack, what –?" she started.

"It's a long story..." he said.

She arched an eyebrow at him, "You'll have plenty of time to tell me on the way home and over dinner."

Pale hazel eyes examined the screen, the corners of the owner's mouth canted a few degrees upward. Though prone to failure more often than not, his followers had their myriad uses, indeed. Like stalling for time for instance. They'd been defeated, but that had been inevitable – a Skyforce Champion was more than capable of handling two Zombies and a hybrid Rot Worm, and the boy had proven resourceful for that matter. Adaptive for a Light acolyte, he would grant him that much.

But the readings – the readings from the truck's equipment were fascinating. He had assumed for a time that the reading was coming from the boy's gauntlet – Light and Fire was a powerful hybrid, difficult to use and even harder to master – but the readings, and Seneschal's interpretation of them, were positive that the signal was not the gauntlet. If it had been, the signal would have fluctuated alongside the boy's mana. It could not be from the Knight – that creature had appeared after the Stalker Sphere had detected the readings outside the Temple. No, it was not a standard answer, and that made it all the more intriguing.

It was the motorcycle.

The power readings were incredible for such a tiny body. For something so strong, it was stabler than anything he had witnessed in Light. To harness it...

"What is it?"

"Unknown, sir," Seneschal droned. "However, preliminary analysis does show a similarity to the power cores of Light. The energy being used is admittedly much akin to Light, though there are differences. The energy is more...volatile for instance. Light is not known for this trait. Logically this could mean it is capable of responding to stimuli much the same way a heart might under different emotional stressors."

"Seneschal," he purred, "you're not suggesting a motorcycle has a soul, are you?"

The Aquan looked him down with his single eye, "I am suggesting nothing. Merely observing. You cannot deny the potential implications, master."

"Has Light been experimenting do you think?"

"This is not Light. The frame is far too...mundane. And ground-bound. This is something else entirely. Further investigation is advised."

"Very well. Find where the boy lives and deploy Stalker Spheres to observe."

He flopped onto his bed with a groan of exhaustion. Explaining to his mom might've been more exhausting than the fight in the parking lot, but at least she'd taken it okay. Knowing twenty foot tall robots from space probably gave her a more open mind in hindsight. At the very least she was happy he was learning martial arts and had that gauntlet as self-defense now. He pulled out his cell phone and linked it through the Bluetooth just in case. One number was rung up, then two more were added.

"Jack? You okay? Arcee said –"

"I'm fine, Raf. More importantly are you and Miko. I got attacked by rogue duelist whackos at my mom's hospital when I went to pick her up, and they were following me around town before that. Please tell me you're inside."

"What!?" Miko demanded. "Aw, come on! Wonder boy got a chance to fight IRL with a shiny Kartana?! Why didn't you call?! I could've come and blasted goon butt with Xu-Xu!"

"Miko, this is serious. Did either of you get attacked on the way home or outside or anything?"

Apparently, neither had. They weren't even at their homes. They'd decided to have a sleep-over at the base to celebrate passing the entrance exam. Ratchet wasn't too happy about it, but Optimus hadn't complained so they'd taken that as a go-ahead.

He glanced towards the door. "...You think my mom and I could join? I-I mean they haven't come knocking down the door or anything, but I really don't think being here on our own is a smart choice, even with the gauntlet as an added measure..."

"If you fear for you and your mother's safety, Jackson, by all means, you are welcome to stay the night here."

He sighed in relief, "Thanks, Optimus. I'll see you guys in a bit."

He ended the call.

Author's Note: WOEIGWKNB HKPRMGRKWEMFPW I'm so sorry this took forever, but I wanted to make it good.

Also, some side notes:

1.) Citadel Knights don't have individual names, but in my mind the higher ranking ones do. Radegast is the name of a Slavic solar deity and one associated with hospitality as well. That, and he gets the awesome nickname "Rad" in consequence. xD

2.) Miko's creature, Ballistic Sky Terror I nicknamed Xu-Xu a while back, but I totally forgot to write down the reason behind it. D: On the other hand, Fi-Fi the Blaze Darter is cute, yeah? :3 Also, owing to Miko's Japanese heritage, I assume she can pick up Kaijudo crazy quick because a.) Ray is half-Japanese and picked up instantly (I know most of that's because he was born in the creature realm, but that's beside my point here) and Kaijudo originated in Japan! All them connects man.

3.) Raf's creature didn't make an appearance, but she's an Aqua Initiate named Mur'el. Again, regular Initiates don't have names in the card game, in my mind because they have to earn them, but she's earned hers. I nicknamed her "Muriel" to give her some uniqueness. Same as Rad and Fi-Fi.

Note to Guest-Questionor: I never said they'd be using it, now did I? Think about this more as a diplomatic gesture on their parts, but also keep in mind this - we've got five 'bots fighting against a literal army of hundreds. They can manage, sure, but it's a real struggle even with those artifacts, especially since they can't seem to hold onto them for very long. A few extra numbers could be helpful, yeah?