AN: Sooooooooooooo…it's been a while. But I have finally returned with the anticipated sequel to A New Version of Reality :D

Of course, this is the direct sequel to both Pint Sized and A New Version of Reality, so new readers should definitely stop by those two stories first before beginning this one. Old readers are probably wondering why the heck it took so long to finally publish this story and for that there is a simple answer: life (and writer's block; but mostly life). I don't even know when the next chapter will be ready, but that's a worry for next time :D

QUICK AND IMPORTANT NOTE: To avoid any confusion the first section may inspire, the list of the original Thirteen Primes I'll be referring to throughout the story will be the ones of the Aligned Continuity. This list can be found at tfwiki . net(slash) wiki (slash) Thirteen_Primes (sans the spaces and replacing words with appropriate symbols) along with some information about them (some more than others). The only exceptions to this list will be Vector Prime and The Fallen, who will function more as their "multiverse" counterparts (i.e. The Fallen will still be the jerk from ROTF only with a mixture of Aligned background, and Vector will be…Vector). Any other confusion aside from the Primes I'll be using will have to be resolved as the story goes on ;P

Time Units

Solar Cycle: 1 day
Joor: 1 hour

Rise

Prologue

The Beginning Again

They sat at the top of the highest temple. The growing city glowed from this angle. Spears of shining metal reached towards the open sky while the expanse beyond it painted a beautiful backdrop. Rainbows formed when the light hit the crystal formations surrounding the base of the towers, and every so often, a tiny mechanical beast could be found ambling through the crystals.

Far below them wondered the creatures that made them throb with pride. Their children worked hard to create the first city on the newly formed planet. They watched Megatronus intently listen to Solus while she directed the formation of a new tower, her mighty Forge being used to its full potential. Quintus watched her work with unbridled eagerness, waiting for the creation of the fully functioning laboratory he had been promised, while Alpha Trion sat off to the side documenting everything that occurred with Vector watching over his shoulder.

From the crystals came Onyx, his bestial form gaining the trust of small, mechanical beasts that dwelled there, and upon his back sat the tiniest of their creations, Micronus. Both mechs jumped back, and a whirl of loud shouts sprung from Micronus when Amalgamous jumped out from behind one of the crystal formations. With a hearty laugh, Amalgamous transformed, and Micronus spurred an amused Onyx to give chase.

In their chase, they encountered the largest of their creations. Nexus watched the trio circle him, now distracted from the small crystal garden he had been tending. After Amalgamous had passed by him four times, his large hand abruptly shot out and smacked the back of the shifter's chosen form. Amalgamous spun out of control until he landed in the shallow pool of Energon that Nexus' crystal garden framed, and a booming laugh bounced off the crystals to echo through the city.

Another pulse of pride swept through them. This was their creations at work—their proudest accomplishment. Soon, Cybertron's first city would be complete, and Primus would grant them his consent to create more sparks. Their eldest creations would guide those new sparks into a flourishing new society, and the overwhelming thought made them want to create new life that very instant!

However, patience outweighed the eagerness. Vector Sigma had promised to tell them when it was opportune time to create life—when Primus had given his consent. They didn't want their new creations to suffer because they had acted too quickly.

"You must understand our reservations, Prima!"

They shifted their attention away from the city for a moment and focused on the rest of their creations stepping into the hall behind them. Prima led the small group, his pristine white armor reflecting the light as brilliantly as the city. The light was absorbed by the thick grey armor that protected Alchemist as he strode beside the leading Prime. They acknowledged Prima's revered bow to them but immediately focused on the two mechs that stood behind Prima and Alchemist.

"There is no need to worry, Alchemist," Prima said. He walked past their platform to watch the others from the window. A small smile flitted across his face before he turned back to the Prime he addressed. "The AllSpark is in no danger while it remains here in the citadel. Solus went to many lengths with her Forge to insure that."

"But the fact still remains that the citadel remains frighteningly open!" Alchemist moved to join Prima by the large window, his hand coming up to briefly rest on top of them. They warmed at the touch but remained focused on the dark mech that took Alchemist's place beside them. "We may have been able to banish Unicron, but that still does not lighten the potential threat of the other races that Quintus assures thrive beyond Cybertron!"

"You base your worries on the assumption that these races will come with nothing but ill intent."

"And you base your argument on the naïve assumption that they won't!"

A heavy hand landed on top of them. "Alchemist, please. You're worrying yourself on but a fool's assumption! Quintus has always had an overworked processor and assumes he knows more than all of us combined simply because he can identify the minerals that make up our Energon crystals. If anything, this is nothing but a ruse for him to be granted permission to gallivant into the stars and leave us here to do all the dirty work."

"But Alchemist's worries do hold merit." The deep and calm voice of their youngest caused the other three Primes to turn towards him with their undivided attention. The hand clenched before relaxing. "If I may offer a suggestion : Prima, perhaps we can ask Solus to add to the fortifications she has already provided, but allow the citadel to remain open at the wishes of the AllSpark. I trust our sister Prime would be happy to oblige and display her workmanship while Alchemist and any other with the same worry are reassured."

Prima smiled at the young Prime. "Are there any present who oppose this proposal?" The hand twitched but otherwise remained still. "Then so it shall be. I will approach Solus with the suggestion at the end of the solar cycle. If your worries become too much before then Alchemist, then you may remain here with the AllSpark to ensure its safety. Otherwise, Optimus and I have plans to explore the crystal gardens and insure that Nexus has not discovered a way to create an exploding crystal to aid in his pranks. Both of you are free to join us if you please."

With that said, Prima led the way out of the room. Alchemist and Optimus followed closely behind him, and the hand that rested on them clenched again before the final mech followed as well. They focused on the dark kibble that swayed after the Prime before their attention drifted once more to the thin glass that separated them from the glowing city.

It wouldn't be much longer…

~III~

"Pixel?"

Victoria jerked back at the light touch that accompanied the voice, unconsciously clutching the slender data-pad in her hand. The distant stars beyond the thick glass flickered, and space debris drifted closer to the ship. Her optics involuntarily adjusted to the image being reflected on the glass until she was able to clearly see the orange helm and silver faced femme frowning back at her.

Framed around the femme was a large white frame with red accents, and his dark blue optics stared down at her with a slight frown. The image shifted. "Are you all right?"

Victoria shook her head to clear her thoughts, ignoring the mimicking femme, and turned to look up at the massive mech. Skyfire continued to stare down at her, and he shifted the stack of data-pads he held to one arm and reached towards her with the other. He hesitated just short of touching her shoulder before pulling back. "I don't normally see you wondering around the ship without Mirage or Patronus."

Victoria took in a deep breath, noticing the deep throb centered in her chest. She loosened her grip on the data-pad and used one hand to rub the slopping armor of her upper chest. "I'm fine. Mirage just…sent me to get this data-pad for him."

She hated how the massive mech continued to frown at her, optics dimming. "You didn't respond the first few times I called your name."

Faint images of a glowing city flashed before her eyes, and her hand pressed harder against her chest. "Sorry. I was just…lost in thought."

Skyfire stared at her for a long moment—long enough to make her twitch—before he nodded. "If you're sure you're okay. Not to be abrupt or anything, but would you like to get a cube with me later? Maybe you can even meet a few of the other mechs on board."

Victoria started to shake her head before he had finished. She took one cautious step to the side. "Sorry, I've got…things to do. And me and Patronus usually share our evening cube together in our room. But thanks for the offer."

Skyfire didn't appear to be upset by her answer, but Victoria could see the slight drop in his wings before she hurried down the corridor. A part of her felt bad for shooting down the offer from the friendly mech; a part of her wanted to go back and accept it.

However, she couldn't bring herself to go back. Meeting the other mechs and becoming a part of the crew meant she had to finally acknowledge that the past week had really happened; that this was her life now. Despite her initial drive to push past the shock of her new position, a continued perseverance was harder. She still onlined every cycle with a little hope that she would wake up in her own bed and hearing that dreaded name Mirage had given her was driving her crazy!

If only the AllSpark would give her a moment's peace. No strange visions, no sharp pains in her chest, no weird whispers in her ear. Patronus was the only one who seemed to understand her need for isolation at the moment even when he contributed to her worries by getting fighting advice (because that made it sound less stressful than training) from the "co-captain" of the ship.

And here she was—grabbing data-pads from Mirage's room in his poor attempt to get her out of her hab-suite. At least she didn't trip on air with every step she took now.

The sight of her door caused her shoulders to sag, and she tried not to twitch at the unfamiliar sensation of her armor loosening after it had naturally clamped down in response to her stress. She took a moment to revel in typing the code to her door, which she had asked Mirage to change to her birthday. It was childish in a way, but it was one of the few ways she had learned to rebel against her forced fate. As much as she tried to submit to living as a Cybertronian now, she was still human on the inside. She felt that she needed to hold on to that old identity as much as she needed to accept the new one.

Mirage looked up the instant she entered the room. His golden optics swept up and down her form, and he frowned at the data-pad she held. "You found it that quickly?"

"Yes." Victoria held it out for him, and he hesitated before taking it. She dropped down into the chair across from him and threw her legs onto the top of the table. "It was exactly where you said it wouldn't be—the bottom left drawer of the desk."

Mirage's frown deepened at the sight of her feet on the table, but he said nothing about it as he turned on the Cybertronian tablet. "I was expecting you to be gone a little longer."

"Getting bored of playing teacher already?"

"Hardly." The former noble glanced up, and Victoria smiled at him. When he remained unmoved, she let the smile fall and stared back with an expression as flat as his. "I recently received a request to speak to Skyfire."

"What for?"

"Apparently, there is a crew member that has sparked his worry."

"I hope they're okay."

Mirage placed the data-pad on the edge of the table and leaned forward to balance his chin on the top of his hands. "How are you doing this cycle?"

"I'm fine."

Victoria stared back into Mirage's gaze, fighting the urge to rub her chest at the familiar spasm she endured. She had almost learned how to keep her body from responding to it, but a limb always reacted in some way. Victoria knew that Mirage had picked up on the tic—he jerked his chair back the moment her finger twitched and avoided a heel to the shin—but he only vented when she kept her mouth firmly shut and turned his attentions back to the data-pad. "Then on to today's history lesson. The line we are having you claim the heritage of arrived in the Towers at the turn of the Golden Age…"

Victoria could only feign slight interest in her "family history" as she leaned back in chair, holding a hand over her spark as the presence of the AllSpark finally abated for the day. She stared at the data-pad Mirage gave her and allowed her thoughts to wander to the real family she had snatched from.

~III~

"Buu-lue!"

Bluestreak laughed at the offended tone the sparkling at his feet possessed. He bent down and gently swept Recall into his hand. The mechling chirped and melted into sharpshooter's hand with purrs of comforting joy. Bluestreak's door-wings shifted in response to the reaction, and he leaned down when Recall gestured at him, smiling when the mechling reached up to tap their noses together in greeting.

Jazz, who had been the main Autobot put on sparkling sitting duty for the day, chuckled at Recall's actions. He swiftly reached down to keep Grimlock from escaping through the door slowly closing behind Bluestreak. "Bitlet's been standin' by the door a full joor now. What took ya so long, Baby Blue?"

Bluestreak's smile twitched downward for a moment at the subtle change in Jazz's voice. He pretended he hadn't heard the older mech and smiled down at the second sparkling that came to greet him. Topaz buzzed, concentrating on pulling herself up by Bluestreak's foot, and the Praxian watched without attempting to help her. Bulkhead had tried once, right when the femmeling Mini-Bot had started crawling, and Topaz had let them all know that she did not need anyone's help.

Topaz squealed the moment she was standing, and Recall cheered, clapping his hands and yelling, "Yay! Yay!" The cheers caught the attention of the other sparklings, and Swoop and Snarl began clapping as well while Grimlock only pouted at his failed escape. Ravage, who had been lying in the corner and keeping an optic on Laserbeak, merely yawned while his sparkling-fied Cassette sister chirped and did a dance of approval before him.

The loud cheers warmed Bluestreak's spark. It reminded him that amidst the struggles the Autobots were currently facing—from rounding up stray Decepticons to the political issues Optimus handled at the moment—there was still that tiny portion of joy the sparklings inspired. They were the last generation of Cybertronians now that the AllSpark, by Optimus' vague admission, was no longer with them. Bluestreak wanted to keep them safe and happy more than anything. Everyone currently stationed at Diego Garcia wanted that, but Bluestreak most of all.

That's why he endured Jazz's hard stare, a mixture of worry and disapproval. "Ya gonna answer my question, Bluestreak or keep pretendin' ya didn't hear?"

"I just got held up," Bluestreak answered. He lowered his hand for Recall to jump off and join his sister, giving her a big, crushing hug that made Topaz grunt in her usual annoyance. The femmeling smacked her brother, and Bluestreak chuckled. "You want me to show up after a mission splattered in Energon? Plus, I ran into Aid and Barricade over by the showers."

It took a moment for Jazz to hum in acknowledgement, watching Bluestreak with a dark visor. There was something insulting in the way the saboteur took so long to believe to him, but after six months of being on the wrong end of suspicion, Bluestreak had grown used to it. It was just harder to see Jazz so reluctant to trust him when he was actually telling the truth. "Ratch's been thinkin' it'd be good fo' 'Cade to hang out with the li'l sparks now. Ya know, once we see how he handles himself 'round 'em. Wouldn't want the guy squishin' Beaky 'cause he gets excited."

Bluestreak gave a short nod. Barricade had been playing in the puddles of water when Bluestreak had arrived at the showers, and First Aid had been having a hard time settling the former Decepticon down long enough wash his armor. It had taken a lot of complicated scans and words for Ratchet to convince everyone that the former Decepticon scout was all but a sparkling now. Too much damage had been done to Barricade by the human terrorist organization known as MECH: melted processor chips, fried neural wires, even chunks of missing hardware. Barricade needed a certified specialist to mend the damage, not to mention the hard-to-find materials that would be needed by said specialist. Until then, Barricade was left to function as a sparkling would in a mech's body.

"That'd be a great idea. First Aid told me they had been trying to teach Barricade how to handle small and fragile objects while he's been cooped up in the med-bay. He still has a hard time minding his own strength, but they're getting somewhere." Bluestreak bent down to where Recall now attempted to perform flips for Topaz's entertainment. "Wouldn't it be fun to have another playmate?"

Recall paused his flips to look up at Bluestreak with hopeful optics. "Starry? Starry come play?"

The air between the two mechs became tense, but it only lasted long enough for Swoop to drag Recall and Topaz into a sparkling game with him and his brothers. Bluestreak's door-wings fluttered, and he stood from his crouch, optics trained on the sparklings until he was satisfied with Swoop's successful diversion.

Jazz placed his hands on his hips. "We still ain tellin' 'em?"

"What can we say? 'Sorry, buddy, but Skywarp and Star hates your caretaker's guts, so they're punishing you guys too.' I don't really think that would go over well."

"That's a li'l harsh."

"But that's the truth." Recall and Snarl shrieked and ran from Grimlock, who snapped at them in his dino-mode and gave chase. Bluestreak smiled at the sparklings' antics and vented. "The only Seeker that's civil to anybody right now is Thundercracker, and if it wasn't for him, Star wouldn't even come to play."

Jazz hummed. "He aint got all the time in the world to be settin' up playdates though."

"Yeah, not with all this business with the humans. Did you hear how he demanded that Optimus let him stand in on every conversation the humans wanted to have about the 'Cons? And Optimus didn't even fight him on it."

"He should. He's got as much right as anybody else to tear apart our pinhead liaison's sorry arguments." Jazz turned to grin at Bluestreak while Ravage yowled when a Dino-sparkling snapped at his tail. "And TC's got some pent up anger he saves 'specially for that fragger. Helps him get a li'l creative fo' those meetings."

Bluestreak released a short laugh, and a stretch of silence between the two mechs followed. The sharpshooter shifted when Swoop won a round of the sparklings' game. "I've gotta—"

"Blue." Bluestreak tensed, and his spark twisted. All of Jazz's previous humor had vanished with that one word. "If there's anything ya wanna tell me…"

"It's nothing, Jazz."

"Prowler's startin' to worry 'bout you an' ya new…friend."

Bluestreak frowned at both the revelation of his former Guardian's worry and Jazz's hesitant wording. He flung his door-wings up to their full height. "If he's worried, then he can come and talk to me. Other than that, everything's fine. I'm fine."

"Blue—"

"Yo, babble-bot!"

Both Autobots jumped in surprise at the sound of the impatient voice. Frenzy chittered and began to teasingly block the open door from Grimlock, who had abandoned the game to rush at the door. Rumble didn't spare a second glance in their direction as he held the door open and glared at Bluestreak. "You're late, and boss bot's startin' to get impatient."

Bluestreak glanced over at Recall and Topaz, the former now utterly content with rolling on the floor with Snarl while the latter used the little doctor's kit Ratchet had given her to gravely listen to Laserbeak's forehead. He turned back to Jazz. There was a new glint in the silver mech's visor that Bluestreak ignored. "I'll see you guys later tonight when I come back to put Recall and Topaz to bed."

"It's been six months."

The Autobot sharpshooter stopped to stare at Jazz, noting the lack of playful slur the mech's accented voice usually carried. Periwinkle optics stared into an uncompromising strip of navy blue, and Bluestreak finally felt the distance that had come between him and the playful saboteur. The same distance stood between him and many of the mechs on the NEST base. The event six months ago that had begun unraveling their alliance with the humans had affected them in various ways, whether it had been a blow to stubborn pride, the guilt of allowing it to happen, or from the loss of close comrades and friends.

However, the others had moved on by now. There were other pressing matters that needed their attention and wallowing in the past would do them no good. It was a mentality that had been unwittingly picked up after centuries of war and death. They're the ones who got the short end of the deal: the dead got to rest, but the living had to keep moving forward.

Jazz's statement was meant to remind Bluestreak of that little fact, but the sharpshooter remained steadfast in his own facts. "I know, Jazz. Tell Recall I'll be back later."

Bluestreak walked out of the hangar with only a backwards glance at the sparklings to ensure they were safe. Victoria would have his head if she came back to a group of upset sparklings.

AN: If you can't tell by now, there's gonna be a lot going on in this story ;P Apologies in advance for having absolutely no idea when I'll be able to upload the next chapter. I've gotta clear plan of what I want to happen, but recent stress about my writing in general is making it difficult to execute D:

But I got some interesting things planned for this and some things I'll be experimenting with along the way. I know I said this at the beginning of the last story (and it didn't really pan out…), but I'll most definitely be going into the dramatic/maybe a little dark aspects of a story line. Don't know how that plan will morph along the way, but hopefully, this'll end up being an entertaining experience ;D

So, until I get time!