*NOTE TO READERS: IF YOU DON'T READ MY AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF MY CHAPTERS, PLEASE START DOING THAT. I HAVE THESE HERE FOR A REASON. THIS ONE IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT.*

Okay, guys, here it is. The first chapter of the sequel to 'Transformers Prime: The Hybrid Theory'! I'm going to try to post up the second chapter tomorrow (or later today, as my clock reads), but then after that I'm not sure when I'll post again. I only have about three chapters of this written now and I would like some more written or mostly written before I really begin diving into posting up this fic. Also, I still have college where I have to do quite a bit of writing and such so that takes up a lot of time and I want to get 'Transformers Diaries: Kindred Sparks' finished before I really dive in and commit to this story. So updating will come pretty slow for a while. Please bear with me. I have lots of other stuff going on in my life right now too and, honestly, I'm still trying to work some parts of this story out yet. I want it to be just as good, if not better, than its predecessor.

And also note, I have changed Hunter's robotic mode design a bit—most notably the "hair". Yes, I am well aware that Cybertronians do not have hair, but it didn't seem realistic to me how Hunter has such long hair in her organic form and all that hair transforms into this really short headset. So I decided to remedy this situation by giving her "Cyber hair" which is really just a whole bunch of really fine yet strong copper wires that look and move a lot like hair. She is the only Cybertronian—Hybrid or Purebred—to have this feature because I figured, as the Fuser, she probably would look a bit more exotic. Does that make her a Mary Sue? Probably, but I'm not changing my artistic integrity, so if you don't like it, you can just—to quote Hunter—"take it and shove it". Besides, she can use it as a weapon too by sending electrical pulses through it to shock people who are stupid enough to snag her by it. *snickers* Starscream is in for a surprise. I will go back and add these changes to her robot form in Hybrid Theory as I go back and re-edit it.

BTW, if you want to see what Hunter looks like in her Cyber. form I will put a link up on my profile to the picture that I uploaded on DeviantArt.

And all of the chapters (or mostly all of them) for this story I plan on being in Latin with English subtitles. Now hopefully the website that I found to translate English to Latin (NOT Google Translate!) is accurate. But in the case that it isn't and there's someone out there who actually does understand Latin please tell me if I get something wrong and correct me. I would greatly appreciate it.

Okay, onward!

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.

"So it don't matter what we look like, we look perfect to me. We got every kind of love—I feel so lucky indeed! They can keep on talking, it don't matter to me 'cuz we are, we are family…" Keke Palmer; We Are

1

Ω Mea Familia, Mea Fundatio Ω

(My Family, My Foundation)

"All right," Greasy said in a soft, calm voice, "breathe deep, clear your mind, and concentrate. Reach into your spark—try to feel Primus' presence there. Concentrate."

Taking a deep breath, Huntress Starstreaker James, the savior Cybertron and all her inhabitants—officially titled as the Fuser—attempted to do just that. Sitting in the middle of Greasy's basement—which, ironically, was in a lot better shape than the rest of his little shack up above—in human form, the sixteen-year-old Hybrid sat in the full lotus position, hands resting flat and relaxed on her knees. She couldn't help but feel like a meditating Buddhist monk in this position, though she wasn't meditating. At least not really. She was more reaching inside of herself to try and connect with the spark of Primus that currently resided within her own spark. If she achieved this, it would not only give her the ability to communicate with Primus whenever she desired, it would also help her to unlock and go into the Primus-state whenever she wished. The Primus-state was when she and Primus were united as one being and it gave her access to all of the cosmic energy in the universe as well as increasing her own powers—which were already more powerful than those of other Hybrids—by tenfold. The girl had only ever been in it once, and that was back when Primus had first merged into her spark several months ago. Since then it hadn't happened.

This was not her first attempt at this either. Over the past few months she had tried many, many, many, many times to try and achieve this feat, but she could never accomplish it. No matter how hard or often she tried to connect with Primus she came out with bubkis. She was getting frustrated. If she couldn't make a connection with Primus no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, what was the point of even trying? Greasy insisted that the more she kept at it, the closer she would become to Primus and the easier it would be for her to connect with him, but she didn't see it. Honestly, she felt further from Primus now than she had been when they'd started this exercise and the dude (was it respectful to call a god-like being 'dude'? Maybe that was why she couldn't connect with him) was literally living inside her spark. You couldn't get any closer than that!

"Concentrate," Greasy repeated.

Hunter tried to concentrate harder.

"Concentrate."

The girl's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Concentrate."

She quietly snarled. Did he seriously have to keep saying that every five seconds?!

"Concentrate."

"I am concentrating."

"No, you aren't."

"Well, I'm trying."

"Try not. Do or do not—there is no try."

Hunter's sapphire blue eyes snapped open and her head whipped around towards the little elderly Hybrid sitting in the lotus position beside her. She glared incredulously. "You little bunko artist, you stole that from Star Wars!" she accused.

Not even opening his eyes, Greasy calmly retorted, "It fit the principle then and it fits it now." Without even looking the man reached up and flicked the teen hard between the eyes causing her to yelp and rub her forehead. "Now concentrate."

Still rubbing the red spot on her head, Hunter growled, closed her eyes, and went back to "concentrating". "Well, I suppose it does fit," she remarked with a smirk after a moment. "You are about the same size and probably age as Yoda after all." Her eyes snapped wide open again as pain suddenly wracked her body. "Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ooowww!" she screeched as she was roughly pulled down by the ear by her Hybrid mentor. She rapidly smacked the floor with her palm. "Okay, okay, okay! I'm sorry! Let go of my ear now please!"

Smirking, eyes still closed, Greasy released her. "Good," he replied. "Now concentrate."

"Ugh…" Hunter groaned, rubbing the back of her neck as she entered the Autobot base through the ground-bridge.

The team's medic, Ratchet, who was standing by the ground-bridge controls turned to meet her. "How was your session?" he questioned, though, judging from her posture and moan, he was sure he already knew the answer. The mech knew all about Hunter's trouble with making a connection with Primus and, in all honesty, he was starting to become worried. He knew Hunter and her temperament all-too-well. From birth, her processor had been programmed to pick up on things quickly, whether they were battle tactics, weapons, or hand-to-hand combat (evidently it was so she would be ready to meet her destiny at any moment), and she could become very upset with herself when she didn't pick up on something right away.

That was part of the reason why Optimus was having such a trying time teaching her defensive tactics. Due to natural glitches in her processor, Hunter was not nearly as skilled in picking up anything defensive related as she was when it came to offense. She absolutely hated that limitation and, once she became frustrated enough, refused to—as the humans say—"keep on trucking" until she finally cooled down. However, she still picked up on those skills and mastered them faster than she did this Primus scenario. She hadn't made a fraction of progress since she started! Because of that, Ratchet could see the Hybrid's frustration mounting day by day. Hunter was one of the most determined and strong-willed femmes he had ever known, but everyone has an eventual breaking point, Hunter being no exception. If she didn't start to make some progress soon, the medic feared she'd give up.

Hunter stood in front of the mech, arms crossed over her chest, weight resting on her left leg. She looked out from beneath her fiery red locks, and met his optics, which were holding the rare softness that was meant just for her within them. "No change," she muttered gloomily. "In fact, I think I'm farther away from achieving the Primus-state and communicating with Primus that I ever was before." Hanging her head, the teen sighed shakily. A few tears of frustration pricked at her vision, but she quickly blinked them back, refusing to cry over something so stupid. "I just don't get it," she murmured, more to herself than to Ratchet. "Everything else comes so easily to me—even defensive combat is easier to pick up that this! Why is this so hard for me?"

Ratchet stroked his chin in contemplation, quietly humming. "From what I can gather," he replied after a moment, "both entering the Primus-state and communicating with Primus himself are goings-on that take place on a spiritual level. As such it would be difficult to accomplish them if one weren't…"

"Spiritual?" Hunter finished for him, meeting his eyes again before looking away. Sighing heavily, she placed one hand on her hip and reached up to scratch the back of her neck again. "Makes sense, I guess," she admitted, looking at the floor. Then she shrugged. "I'm about as far from spiritual as you can get; I mean I'm a warrior, not a priestess. Now if I could be a warrior priestess, like that one lady on the movie Priest that would be truly epic. Of course then I might have to battle those creepy vampire things, and that wouldn't be so hot. Then again, I'd have Primus' blessing…."

Ratchet simply stared at his adopted granddaughter and blinked in confusion at her rambling. "I literally didn't understand a word of what you said after "I'm a warrior, not a priestess", Hunter," he informed her.

Hunter sighed and waved a hand, dismissing the subject. "Don't mind me, Ratch," she responded. "I ramble when I'm confused."

Ratchet chuckled and smirked. "Yes, I am well aware of that," he teased.

The girl met his optics again and smirked back. Of course he did. Next to Optimus and Greasy, Ratchet probably knew her better than anyone. True, she wasn't exactly the hardest person in the world to read once she let her guard down around you and let you come into her circle, but still. Then her smile faded and she became distraught again. "But, Ratchet…" she began, "… what happens if I never pick up on this? What if I go my whole life—or lives—and I never accomplish communicating with Primus or mastering the Primus-state? What then? I'm the Fuser—the savior of Cybertron and my breed. If I can't make that Cosmic Connection—if I can't be as powerful as I can be and reach my full potential… I'll let everyone down. I don't think I could stand that." She hung her head again.

Ratchet sighed heavily, his spark going out to the child. It was times like this, when Hunter was inquiring these types of things and Optimus wasn't around, that he wished he was more like the Prime. Optimus had always had the natural ability of saying the right thing at the right time. Whether that was part of what came with being a Prime or if it was just something he'd always had, nobody knew, but it most certainly worked, especially with Hunter. Unfortunately for Ratchet, he didn't have that ability. Whereas his old friend spoke with skill and finesse, he spoke with tactlessness and bluntness… as well as an occasional wrench or two. That's what made these situations so hard. He knew Hunter needed his support and the reassurance that he believed in her, and she had both of those, but he just wasn't sure how to tell her that. These moments also made Ratchet wish he shared a spark-bond with the youngling as Optimus did so that he wouldn't have to verbally explain to her that he was fully behind her. But he didn't have that privilege either. These were the cards he'd been dealt so he had to lump it and make the best of them. Sighing, the white and amber medic wracked his processor to try and find the right words to say. "Don't you worry, Hunter," he settled for. "You'll get there. It'll just take time, but you'll get there."

Hunter looked up. "You really think so?"

Ratchet smiled warmly and nodded. "I know so."

Hunter returned his smile in thanks. Then the teen cleared her throat, picked herself up straight, and looked around the base. It was awfully quiet. "Where is everyone?" she questioned.

"Where do you think?"

Hunter looked up at the clock on the wall. "Evidently gone to pick up the kids from school."

Ratchet nodded. "And your father…"

"Is almost home!" Hunter cut him off excitedly, turning and sprinting off in the direction of the entrance of the base.

The medic stared after her in sheer bewilderment. "How on earth can you…" he began and then suddenly remembered, "… oh. That's right."

Transforming out of her organic form and into her Cybertronian one, the femmling jumped up, releasing jets of blue flames from her feet as she did to help give herself more vertical, and snagged onto one of the metal beams at the ceiling of the base. "Don't tell him I'm home!" she called down to Ratchet as she swung up into the framework and easily braced herself between two of the beams. She was high enough above the lights now so that the shadows could conceal her brilliant scarlet and black-and-silver striped armor. Being directly above Optimus' head would help too. In position, the sixteen-year-old smirked and waited for her spark-father to come through the doorway into the base. Through their spark-link she could sense him coming closer and closer to mesa. She heard the sound of the base doors opening, the strong roar of an engine as it drove through the opening, then the sound of the doors as they closed again. The sound of his tires and engine in the passageway grew louder as he drew closer. Hunter's muscle cables began to tense, getting ready to pounce.

All at once a handsome looking Peterbilt of rich red and deep blue drove through the doorway and into the main room of the base before coming to a stop and transforming into a large, majestic, regal looking robot: Optimus Prime. The mech saw Ratchet and smiled in a friendly way. "Good afternoon, Ratchet," he greeted him.

Ratchet smiled and nodded in turn. "And to you Optimus."

The Prime then became quiet and looked around the room. When he didn't see who he was looking for he turned back to his old friend and inquired, "Ratchet, have you seen my daughter by any chance?"

"Your daughter?" Ratchet questioned. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I sense her presence is near, yet I do not seem to see her about."

Ratchet shook his head. "Haven't seen her." As he said that he rolled his optics up to the ceiling, despite having been specifically ordered to not let the Prime know she was home.

Catching the eye-roll, Optimus cocked an optic ridge and began to look upwards, but it was too late. He was already being ambushed.

"Hrah!" Hunter let go of the beams and came half-pouncing, half-crashing down at her spark-father. She landed atop him with such force that she sent him crashing beneath her to the floor with a mighty WHAM! But of course, she meant to do that.

"Whoa! Oof!" Optimus smacked down to the floor on his chestplate, almost, but not quite face-planting into the cement. It only took a moment for the Prime to shake off his daze, then, laughing maniacally, he reached around back, grabbed his daughter by the tires on the back of her shoulders, pulled her down, and the two went rolling into a wrestling match, each trying to pin the other.

Ratchet snorted and rolled his eyes but couldn't keep the slight smile from claiming his lipplates. If he had been one of the other 'bots, he might have found this whole situation utterly fascinating, seeing as how Optimus wasn't normally seen guffawing and rolling about on the floor in front of his team, even if it was as he played with his child, but the old mech knew the Prime better than the others. Even though it was quite the sight to behold, he wasn't amazed by it. After all, what father could resist the urge to take on his young in a playful scuffle that said young had instigated in the first place? If he had been younger, and it was his little one, Ratchet didn't think he'd have the spark to say 'no' either. Still the mech had to scoff and shake his head. For a full grown mech who was usually resigned and dignified and a young femme on the cusp of adulthood who was normally mature and calm (okay—mostly mature and calm), these two could most certainly act like a pair of rowdy scalawags. Sighing, he turned and left the room. "If you two will excuse me, I have some things to attend to in the lab."

Of course the duo didn't hear him. In fact, once they'd started wrestling, they'd barely even been aware of Ratchet's presence at all, being so busy trying to pin each other.

"Ha!" Hunter finally cheered, pinning Optimus down. "Got'cha!"

Smirking, the large mech expertly broke away, grabbed her, flipped her around, and restrained her against the floor. "Ha-ha!" he chortled. "Now who has whom?"

Gritting her denta, his spark-daughter strained and fought and tried to break free of his hold, but she couldn't. Even though she was much, much stronger than he was, Optimus had a lot more experience than she did and, in his time, he'd had to learn how to take down opponents who were much bigger and/or stronger than he was. True, until recently, none of those opponents had been a Hybrid, much less the Fuser, but with a little bit of adjustment his tactics still worked and worked well. Finally Hunter quit fighting and laughed. "All right!" she panted after a moment. "Okay, I call uncle—you win."

"Of course I do," her spark-father responded smugly.

The femmling rolled her optics and smirked. "Can you let me up now?"

For a moment, the Prime looked as though he was deep in thought, considering her question carefully, then he smirked back down at her. "I suppose I can," he sighed. "If I must." He let her go and stood.

Still panting, Hunter rolled up into a sitting position. Looking up, she saw that her father was offering her a hand up and accepted it, allowing him to help her to her feet. Once she was standing she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the mech's middle. "Hey, Dad," she giggled, hugging him tightly.

Chuckling and smiling warmly, Optimus returned her hug. "Good afternoon, my shooting star," he purred lovingly, nuzzling the crown of her head and kissing her helm. "You are getting better."

Looking up and meeting his bright blue optics, Hunter cocked an optic-ridge and smirked. "At what?" she asked. "Ambushing or wrestling?"

Chuckling some more, the Prime simply kissed her forehead.

Optics drifting shut, the sixteen-year-old Hybrid snuggled closer to her spark-father's body, purring in utter contentment. In her mind, there was no better, warmer, or safer place in the universe than being right here in her best friend's/commander's/father's big, strong arms where his enduring, unyielding, uncompromising love for her was most strongly felt and reciprocated. Oh, Hunter could always feel his love for her, no matter how far apart they were, but there was just something about being wrapped in his arms and held close that made it all the more cozy and real.

Snuggling her back, Optimus carefully combed his digits through the many fine copper wires that made up her "Cyber hair". As the Fuser, she was the only Hybrid, let alone Cybertronian, to possess such a feature while in her robot mode. It really did make her look quite exotic and lovely. "How was training with Greasy?" he asked.

At that, Hunter almost immediately deflated. Slumping in the Prime's embrace, she met his optics again and gave him a flat, serious look. "Do not ask," she rumbled.

Optimus smiled sympathetically and caressed her head. "Apparently not so well," he concluded.

The femmling shook her head and then buried her face in his broad chest, closing her optics as she did. "You don't even know, Dad," she muttered. "I think I'm farther away from making the Cosmic Connection than before."

"What does Greasy say?"

At that, Hunter pulled away from her father's embrace and stood before him, hands perched on her hips and an aggravated expression on her face. "Oh, Grease-stain thinks I don't have good enough concentration," she informed him. "And maybe that wouldn't be such a problem if he wasn't saying "Concentrate, concentrate" every five seconds." She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her brilliant sapphire optics. "I swear he can be so annoying."

Optimus gave her a reprimanding look.

Noticing this, Hunter sighed and waved her hands in a defensive way. "I know, I know," she replied. "Respect my elders and all that. But still."

Her father's expression softened and he chuckled warmly. "Well, he is your Hybrid mentor, sweet-spark," he said, putting his hands on his hips, an act that seemed to make his already massive chest even more massive. "Like it or not, you are stuck with him, so I suggest you make the most of it."

His daughter sighed in defeat and hung her head. "Yeah, I know," she mumbled.

"However," Optimus went on after a moment, causing her to look up at him curiously, "if it is concentration that you are having trouble with, I believe I might be able to help."

"Really?" Hunter inquired, brightening up.

Smiling, Optimus nodded. "We can start right now, if you wish."

Hunter grinned a mile wide.

The mech laughed. "I will take that as a 'yes'."

"Okay, I'm confused," Hunter admitted. "How is this supposed to help my concentration exactly?" Both she and Optimus were now in the training room of the base. She was balancing in a handstand on the balance beam that Ratchet had made for her training by welding some large metal beams together. Optimus was walking around her, checking her posture and making sure that she wasn't threatening to fall over. Not that he needed to. She could do handstands in her sleep, she had such excellent balance—just another bonus to being the Fuser. Which is why she didn't understand how this was supposed to help her learn to concentrate.

"Oh, it isn't the handstand that is going to help you with that," Optimus replied, coming to a stop beside her.

Cocking an eyebrow the femmling looked over at him. It was weird seeing her father upside-down. "Then what is?" she asked.

At that, a wily gleam came to the Prime's optics and he smirked devilishly.

Hunter's own optics widened in fear. She knew that look all too well! But before the sixteen-year-old could protest or make a move to escape she was being attacked. "No! Dad! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" she squealed as his digits began to stroke and scratch the bottoms of her feet and dig into the backs of her knees. She nearly toppled over.

"Don't laugh, Hunter," Optimus ordered in a teasing way as he continued his merciless tickling. "If you laugh you will fall off the beam and that is not good. Concentrate on keeping your position, but don't laugh. Do not laugh. Don't laugh."

Squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lipplate, the scarlet and black-and-silver striped femmling tried as hard as she could to do just that. With all that was in her she tried to concentrate on staying in a perfect hand balance on the beam and push away the thoughts and sensations that were surging through her from her father's evil, tickling fingers, but it was so hard! They were just so… tickly! She managed to fight her way through his tickling of her pads and knee joints. When he started tickling her armpits and inside elbow joints it was harder, but she somehow survived. The same could be said for her sides, but when he finally zoned in on her mid-plate she came undone. She was just too ticklish there! Screaming with laughter, Hunter finally released the balance beam and would have fallen to the floor if Optimus hadn't had his hands on her and pulled her to him.

"What is this insubordination?!" the Prime playfully roared as he threw her over his shoulder and continued to tickle her. "I tell you not to laugh or fall off the beam and you do both?! You will know better here after! Rah!" Tossing her down on the floor Optimus dove down after her and pinned her before resuming his tickling. "You shall pay for your disobedience by being tickled senseless!" he bellowed. "Ha-ha-ha!" Without warning, he plunged his face into her stomach and blew a raspberry.

"AAAHHH!" Hunter wailed bucking, writhing, and wriggling frantically around to try and get away. It didn't work. "Da-ha-ha-ddy! Sto-ha-ha-ha-op! Plea-hee-hee-hee-ease! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Optimus relentlessly tickled her for several more minutes until he decided enough was enough and finally pulled away.

Hunter continued to lay there beside him on the floor, now curled up into a ball to try and protect herself from further tickling, heaving heavy vents as she cooled down and quietly giggling from the impulses that were still working their way out of her systems. Weird as it was, she actually enjoyed being tickled (though she'd never tell anyone. That'd just be asking for a death sentence!), and she absolutely loved when this kind of thing happened with her father. She was just happy they didn't happen all the time. The teen released a relieved and tired groan.

Chuckling warmly, her spark-father reached out and gently wiped away the few tears that remained on her cheekplates. "I dub you 'tickled senseless'," he lovingly joked, brushing some wires out of her face.

His daughter playfully glared up at him. "You're… a jerk," she panted.

A devious smirk curved Optimus mouth once again. In the blink of an optic he'd dug a single digit into the plating of her tummy once more. "Pardon me?"

Still highly sensitive from the previous tickling, Hunter shrieked and tried arching away from his touch, curling up into an even tighter ball as she did, but it didn't really help much. "Okay, okay, okay!" she squeaked. "I'm sorry!" Even when the mech pulled his finger away she continued to giggle.

Chuckling along with her, Optimus reached out and pulled his worn out but very much happy spark-daughter into lap and cuddled her close. "All right now, little one," he cooed rubbing her back in circular motions. "Calm down. Easy. Shh." He smiled gently as she began to unwind and relax against him. "That's my good girl." The mech kissed her forehead.

"I… I don't think…" Hunter broke off to giggle slightly as the last of the surges left her receptors, "… your "concentration exercise" worked." She draped her arms loosely around his neck before suddenly smirking and giving him a knowing look. "At least, not in the way you told me it would."

Optimus raised an optic-ridge and smirked back. "Are you insinuating that I supplied you with false information about what this exercise would do when I intended for it to take an entirely different route?" he questioned in a 'playing-along' way.

Hunter chuckled. "If the boot fits," she remarked. She kissed his cheekplate and nuzzled into it as she murmured, "You sly devil."

The Prime wiggled his optic-ridges. "As you earthlings say: It takes one to know one, you little imp."

"Technically, I'm not an earthling."

"You are more so than I am."

"Take it and shove it, big guy."

Optimus chuckled.

His daughter giggled along with him before tightening her arms around his neck, thus pulling herself closer, and resting her head on his chest directly over his spark-chamber. She closed her optics. The sound of his spark—part of which he had sacrificed to ignite hers so long ago—hummed stalwartly and steadily in her audio-receptor. She sighed contentedly, smiling. "I love you, Daddy," she purred.

The Prime held his sixteen-year-old closer and closed his optics, smiling at the sound of her purring. He rested his head atop hers and rocked her. He was the luckiest mech in the universe to be blessed with the privilege of having this miracle for a daughter—spark-, biological, or otherwise. "I love you too, my shooting star," he purred back. "And I always will."

The Hybrid smiled and snuggled closer. All at once her failure in connecting with Primus and achieving the Primus-state didn't seem like such a big deal. She had the faith and support of her family and friends and the unending love and protection of her amazing father as well as his wisdom and advice whenever she needed it. Of course, it wasn't quite the same as having access to the wisdom of an all-powerful, god-like being such as Primus but that really didn't matter to Hunter. In her eyes, Optimus was the wisest person ever. He was her hero, was always there for her, and nothing that happened would ever change that—they'd both been through hell enough times for that to be proven. Could life get any more perfect?

As she sat there, cradled in the strong, sheltering arms of her spark-father, Hunter was sure she was certain of one thing: absolutely nothing could tear her world apart.

Confession #1:

I did not come up with the term "Cosmic Connection". That was suggested by my faithful reader GabbyM and I liked it so much that I decided to use it. Thanks, Gabby!