Author's Note: Hello! Mah first RPG here, folks! Only part one. Did this with a new friend of mine on the International Howrse - Canyon_the_wolf. She gave me permission to post it here.

DISCLAIMER: Normally I wouldn't do this, but. . . Canyon_the_wolf owns Switchblade! As more OCs show up, I'll add to the disclaimer.

CAST

Switchblade RPed by Canyon_the_wolf

Nightshadow RPed by BraveS3

Braveheart RPed by BraveS3

Switchblade was standing near the ground bridge, waiting rather impatiently to leave. Already, she had her battle mask over her face, and she was holding the largest of her guns with both hands.

Ratchet had picked up an energon signal, a big one from the sound of it. But it was under a lake, why pick her? Everyone here knew she hated getting wet. According to Optimus, it was because she had the ability to achieve air superiority. Why not choose Aftershock? Because he was too big. Whatever, that was her opinion. As long as she got to shoot something, they'd been informed that the Decepticons had no doubt picked up the same signal.

Braveheart and Nightshadow were going with her. A friend and an enemy - wonderful. This would end well. She cocked her gun, already looking like she was ready to be in the heat of battle.

"Ratchet, open the ground bridge." Optimus told the medic.

"Let's go rearrange some little Decepticon grills." Switchblade announced, of course receiving the usual glare from the Prime for cursing. "I promise I won't kill Nightshadow," - she added, then said in a lower voice - "at least, not in front of Brave." Then, she gave them the signal that they were leaving. Two things she hated on one mission, water, and even more than that. . . Nightshadow's existence.

The catlike femme, by the name of Braveheart, shook her head at her friend's antics. Oh, 'Blade. . .

Shuffling from above heralded Nightshadow dropping to the floor in a graceful pose, and he nodded to both Optimus and Ratchet before padding softly - or as softly as a Cybertronian could, with their mass and the nature of their frames - to Braveheart's side. He was smart enough to stay away from the trigger-happy femme with the big gun who wanted nothing more than to extinguish his spark.

Switchblade did her best to keep Nightshadow to the right side of her line of sight as they headed through the GroundBridge. She wanted him where she could see him. Trust issues? Or course! In her mind, she saw a Decepticon. 'Bots and 'Cons don't mix.

Brave she was fine with, keeping her in line when she got just a bit too crazy about wanting to kill someone. Her sister had once been an Autobot, what had she done? Join the Decepticons, and permanently damaged 'Blade's eyesight, leaving scars to prove it. She felt she had every reason to hate him. "Why couldn't Optimus have gone instead? He can fly now. . ." she started complaining as they arrived. The GroundBridge closed behind them almost immediately after that. "Right... let's find that energon and get our collective afts out of here."

Nighttime. No one had informed them on that. It'd make them harder to spot in the event that Decepticons arrived. Acting like she was examining her weapon, she said in a rather rude tone to Nightshadow, "After y- "

The sound of another 'Bridge opening was the only thing that interrupted her. It obviously wasn't theirs. Cursing, she charged her weapon and aimed it at the GroundBridge portal.

The swirling portal of green-blue startled Braveheart for a fraction of a second. Blinking at the GroundBridge's light, she lit her dual Energy Swords in response to the distinctive shape of Vehicons.

Nightshadow ducked to avoid the red energon blasts, his servos changing into the standard melee weapon he'd had from even before the War. The twin blades had served him well throughout the vorns.

The largest and most powerful of Switchblade's guns was only a semi-automatic weapon, that sometimes came to be a bit of a disadvantage on her part. Standing out in the open, probably not the best idea, so she crouched down near the water. It was uncomfortable to do, forcing her to lift the helicopter blades on her back off the ground so they weren't damaged. The femme was quick to shoot down a Vehicon, he'd received a blast right to the head. Brave and Nightshadow were using melee weapons, she was using a longer range weapon. Close combat, not her thing. Though she was armed for either. Why was their bridge still open, was someone else coming? Call for backup? No, they could take them, easily. Flashes of energon lit up the night air, a few just missing her.

When a blast hit the lake, it sprayed water up, getting her and anything else in a near proximity wet. "That's it, now you've done it!" Switchblade yelled at the nearest Vehicon. She cocked her weapon to charge it again, it was jammed. "Frag come on..." She tried it again - the Vehicon was still coming closer. And this noise was going to attract unwanted attention, if it hadn't already. "Screw this." she muttered.
The Decepticon was now looming over the crouched down Autobot, like he was expecting her to surrender. If she were standing, she'd be bigger then him and have the fighting advantage. Time for some improvisation. Okay, her gun was big, but it couldn't shoot right now until she could fix it. It was heavy, it could double as a close combat weapon, just this once.

Problem was, she couldn't move. Not while the Vehicon had a gun aimed right at her spark chamber. Rely on quick thinking, not working. Calling for help, she'd be dead. If she could reach her thigh holster without him noticing, she could grab a pistol. Think Switchblade, you're quick thinking has never let you down, don't let it fail you now. Explosive? No, she'd blow herself up along with him.

Nightshadow, noticing Switchblade in trouble, quickly and quietly snuck up on the poor unsuspecting Vehicon, and slit his throat.

Without missing a beat, Nightshadow nodded at Switchblade briefly before returning to the battle that Braveheart was now struggling to handle by herself.

Switchblade glared after Nightshadow, despite the fact that she'd needed help, she'd never admit it. "I didn't need your slaggin' help!" A lie, but she couldn't stand being helped. Particularly not by the likes of him.

Did she even feel the slightest bit grateful? Maybe. Probably not, that she couldn't decide. The nod, she simply rolled her eyes. Her way of saying Whatever, I don't care that you might or might not have just saved my life. I still want to kill you. Ares had done the same thing when it came to saving other Autobots, where had that gotten him? Killed. It was a shame, he'd been a good friend. Almost Ratchet's age, and he'd still had a good sense of humor. A good friend, almost like the dad she'd never had, gone forever.

Why had she just thought of that, never mind. Thinking in battle got you killed. But being stupid, that could also get you killed.

Braveheart - she seemed to be having trouble now. One quick thing first, then she'd go help her friend. Grenade, she needed one.

Thankfully she hadn't left them at base this time. She pushed the button in the middle, activating it and preparing to throw it at the 'Cons' GroundBridge. But that was when another figure came through. A faceless figure - Soundwave. Switchblade threw the now beeping explosive, but with what seemed like a mere wave of his hand, the Decepticon sent it flying into the lake. As soon as it hit, it went off. A muffled explosion was heard, and a plume of water erupted. Thankfully it hadn't hit the energon deposit below the lake, or they'd all be dead right now.

Soundwave. A close 'companion' to Switchblade's Decepticon sister. That made him someone that she also wanted to snuff their spark. 'Blade looked into that visor with an unsaid threat, a warning. Why were they just waiting? There was blaster fire all around, it was almost as if one was waiting for the other to make a move. Then it came to her. . .

Where did Laserbeak go?

Amidst avoiding the lasers of the helicopter Vehicons and the tank Vehicons' massive energon blasts, Braveheart noticed her friend's predicament. With a brief glance at the remaining charge of her Energy Swords, she swiftly transformed into her ground beast mode - a tigerlike winged cat.

The femme slowly weaved towards the Mexican standoff between Soundwave and Switchblade, gradually drawing the Vehicons' fire closer to their superior.

When the brown-and-black femme noticed the dark silhouette of Laserbeak, she hardly had time to shout a warning before the Mini-Con struck.

For Switchblade in battle, it was always getting herself into one stupid problem after the next. Today it seemed to be worse than usual, she wasn't completely focused, and she'd completely forgotten to check if her weapons were all working like she usually did before going out on missions. That little mistake had resulted in the loss of one of her best rifles. Loosing her touch perhaps, or something was bothering her. Right now, she just didn't like the fact that Soundwave was just standing there. If he was actually looking at her like it felt like he was, she couldn't tell, because he had no face.

Too late - Laserbeak came in from the left. He'd completely blind-sided her, taken her by surprise. So, when the energon blasts were fired, she didn't have the time to move. That sudden searing pain in her back, hitting the ground, she forced herself not to cry out in pain. Don't show your opponent when an injury is affecting you, another rule of battle. Not that she could focus, Switchblade shook her head, dazed.

Don't let him win, don't let him win, she told herself silently, the only thing keeping her awake from where she now laid on the ground. How bad were the wounds? They'd been fired from a close range, that made the blows more powerful. When she tried to push herself back to her feet, her vision blurred, and she felt she couldn't move. Her senses weren't all there right now, she hadn't even realized Soundwave's approach until he placed a foot on her back, pinning her down. Laserbeak reattached to the faceless Decepticon, that was when Soundwave pushed his foot down even harder.

Finally, an ever so slight cry of pain did come before she could stop it, he was pushing down on one of the wounds. She'd taken a beating before, but this must've been worse than she realized. How many of those shots had hit her? Her focus was already fading, senses dulling. Even a hardy bot like her could only take so much before she was done. She could barely keep her consciousness. Switchblade blinked slowly and winced, she was trying to hide her pain, but it wasn't very convincing. "Well? If you're going to kill me, get it done with," she spat at him, her voice filled with hate.

Ripples, unseen or unnoticed by the clashing forces, moved across the still waters.

Beneath the lake, a creature growled softly - sensing the battle above.

Author's Note: Well, that's it for this chapter. See you. . . Whenever Canyon logs on to Howrse again and we continue this adventure!

See a mistake? Tell me about it! Just be nice. And honest.

PS: Longest chapter I've posted for anything yet! Accomplishment! Eeeee!