AN: I only own my OCs.

Marquis: Holy Primus we are still online.

Authoress: Yes I know. It's been ages. But, at least you aren't dead right?

Marquis: *scoffs* Speak for the story. Everyone in the story thinks that I'm offline! Primus knows what sort of juicy information these readers are going to get on me so I can prove myself to the readers.

Authoress: *smirks* Well, now that you mention it, there might be something funny revealed in this story. *walks off*

Marquis: *frowns* Well slag this isn't good.

Ch. 4: Insanity in Jasper

Optimus' 1st P.O.V.

I glanced at the children as they stood with Agent Fowler. Up until now, MECH hadn't attacked the children outside of Jasper. That was why we thought that it was safe for them to go on their trip to Carson City, the capital of this state. It would be a great experience and both teachers on this trip had excellent backgrounds, for we had Fowler check them out.

We had all been nervous to hear that the two newest teachers were going to be hosting this trip. They had just come in this year from Montana and that made me nervous. However, their backgrounds had been easy enough for Fowler to investigate and he had found nothing strange in them.

But, it turned out that we should have been worried. MECH had followed the children to Carson City and had attacked them. If it wasn't for that teacher helping the children, then I had no doubt in my processor that they would now be prisoners of MECH. We owed that teacher many thanks. Maybe one solar cycle we could repay him.

"So Miko, explain to me again what happened?" Fowler asked her slowly. He had missed a few things in his report and so he had to ask the children what happened again.

Miko sighed in annoyance before saying, "Dang Fowler, are you losing your memory? I went over this a million times yesterday when we got back." And she had. I'm sure most of us had memorized the story by now.

In return to her question, Fowler crossed his arms. "I have to make sure that you haven't remembered anything and the best way to do that is to have you recount exactly what happened yesterday at the museum and how you escaped."

"Fine." Miko gave up slightly. "The three of us had gone off to try and find Frenchy since he hadn't been with the tour at all and this was a history museum. I mean, what kind of history teacher isn't a part of a tour at a history museum?"

"You mean Mr. Lafayette correct?" Fowler asked, trying to keep this debriefing as professional as he could with Miko.

She tilted her head in confusion. "That's why I said. Frenchy. Anyways, so we went to the restricted access area just in case he got special privileges for being a history teacher and knowing the museum owner. Well, the lights started to flicker in a construction area and that was when that creep Silas showed up and said that he was going to take us. Of course, I said that he wouldn't get us alive and so he said that he only needed one of us."

"And that's when your teacher arrived?" Fowler pushed.

Now it was Miko's turn to cross her arms. "Hey, I'm the one telling the story!" She then paused. "But yeah, that's when he sort of showed up. But, he was hiding in the shadows and so we didn't know where he was. We just recognized his voice. Anyways, he shot in front of Silas and threatened not to miss next time if Silas didn't leave us alone. Silas tried to take out his gun and threaten us but Frenchy has to be some sort of super ninja assassin because he didn't just shoot the gun out of Silas' hands but he shot a hole in the barrel right after that! Then, Silas took out a knife and charged at us and that was when Frenchy came out of the shadows with a machete! I mean, how did he hide that thing?"

"A machete?! Why didn't the museum take it away from him? And the gun for that matter!?" Fowler yelled. This was something new that Miko had not told us about and now we were all listening carefully.

Rafael answered that for us. "They didn't have security checks for our group. Some sort of special VIP access that Mr. Lafayette set up with the museum director."

That made sense. If he had special accommodations with the director, then there wouldn't have been a need for that sort of scan. While I was interested in why a human would carry around such a primitive weapon, in their culture, I did not ask questions as Miko continued her story.

"Anyways, so Silas and Frenchy fought each other for a bit but Silas was really outmatched. Then, Mr. Lafayette pulled out some gun that you only see in pirate movies."

"It was a flintlock pistol." Jack added. We all then looked at him. "I…watch Pirates of the Caribbean when it's on TV."

"Whatever." Miko said to that point before continuing. "So, he told us to run as he shot the power box on the wall. The whole room went dark but, instead of taking us to the exit behind us, Frenchy led us behind MECH and took us out that exit." That was very clever thinking. That would make it less likely for MECH to follow them since they wouldn't check the exit behind them first. "So, Frenchy led us outside and I tried to ask him how he learned to shoot like that. I mean, if he fired all of those shots from that gun then he had to be pretty good."

Fowler had a worried look on his face as he spoke. "He would have to be more than pretty good. There was no history of weapon training in his file. Did he learn that naturally?"

I was curious about that answer as well but Miko continued her story. "Anyways, we ducked inside of a pirate bar to wait it out and I wanted to look around so I made my way toward the bar. Of course, I accidently bumped into some guy and he spilled his beer and got mad. Thankfully, Frenchy distracted the guy and then when the other guy tried to pick a fight Frenchy kicked his aft!"

"Miko where have you been hearing those words?!" Ratchet yelled at our ward.

Miko of course shrugged before she continued. "Anyway, once Frenchy beat him, he said something to him before he got us out. We made it to the bus after that and once we got back to school you know the rest."

The base went quiet as we processed her words. It seems like we were very lucky to have that teacher with the children or they would have been in serious danger. Glancing at Agent Fowler though, I had a feeling that he was not as relieved about the teacher. "Is something the matter Agent Fowler?"

In return, the agent nodded. "Teachers aren't supposed to carry any sort of weapons just in case they turn out to be bad apples. But, no one else seems to be questioning his having them on this trip. Even the school left out the weapons in their report and I know they had to have gotten the information. Plus, there aren't any records of his buying that sort of antique, and useable antique as well. With that sort of weapon there should have been paperwork. I'm wondering what his angle is in this. I'll have to have my superiors look into it."

I didn't see the need to worry about this teacher. While it seemed like he was a little unorthodox with carrying around those weapons, they had been used to save the children and so I didn't see if that was evidence enough for suspicion.

"Miko," Bulkhead started, "did you hear anything that your teacher said to that guy?"

Miko frowned and seemed to think. "Sort of. It didn't sound like English or any other language I know. Something about a Selanitra and Craselen. But, besides that, it was too low for me to hear."

Immediately I felt the same suspicion that Fowler did about the teacher, but for different reasons. When I was an extremely young mech, there had been a large revolution against the council made by a colony planet called Dragonia. Those words sounded like a part of their made-up language they used. I hadn't fought in the war against the colony but I had spoken to Ultra Magnus many times since he had fought in it as well as Ratchet, who had been on the colony planet and fought the rebels. Tonight, I would have to do some more research into this Mr. Lafayette and see if there was a connection between him and the Dragonian Revolution. I doubted it since the Dragonian Revolution ended long before the human species came into existence on this world.

But, as I watched Miko and Bulkhead go off dune bashing, I couldn't shake the feeling that something might not be right with this teacher of theirs after all.

Scallion's 1st P.O.V.

I sighed with a sense of relief as my team and I arrived, in soliform, riding in my soliform to our new home; Jasper, Nevada. We had never moved this suddenly before but this was a special case. There was a Dragonian general in this extremely small middle of nowhere town. My poor gold alt mode with forest green markings was going to stand out like a sore thumb. Even though I wasn't a pirate anymore, if any of these teenagers tried to mess with my alt mode I'd scalp them.

"If I see that scrawny teacher I'll give him a good aft kicking." Cutlass growled from the back seat. Since both he had Drakkar had flying alt modes, they had to ride with either myself or the twins. They both chose me. I was definitely the safer option. However, with Drakkar coming with me as well, Cutlass wasn't going to be getting the front seat. Of course, Cutlass wasn't too happy about that. "I was just holding back because I thought he was human. If we went bot to bot then,"

"He would probably still kick your aft." Drakkar commented with a laugh. That poor mech wouldn't be getting away from this teasing for a while. Once I figured out just who we were dealing with then I was going to see if I could their recording of the fight.

Cutlass seemed to be in disbelief. "What are you talking about? I could probably beat him no problem right boss?"

Well, Pandimala always did teach us to tell the absolute truth even when the other bot wouldn't like it. I had learned that when I had foolishly asked her if I could take on Vox and beat him in a one on one evenly.

…She had promptly laughed, said no, and proceeded to tell the other generals. Of course, she explained later that all of us were even and she doubted that any of us could take on each other and beat them. That even included air helmed Chorale. Admittedly it took me a few solar cycles to get over that blow to my ego. Seeing Chorale put some touchy-feely captains that were twice my size in their places made me feel a lot better about it.

"Not a chance Cutlass." I honestly and bluntly responded. His face fell so fast that I thought that I broke him. But, I figured I would get it over with like ripping off a band-aid…those things hurt. "You remember how your little attempted coup tried to go a few years after we met?"

I noticed him flinch at that. "In my defense, we were trying to figure out just what kind of bot you really were. The council had spread a galaxies wide decree making that area of space off limits to any and that they would be attacked without prejudice if any tried. So, finding out that you were supposedly from there caused us to doubt you."

"So, in other words it was bad." Galleon took over his answer over the comm, which we all heard through the radio of my alt mode. Of course, she was there to witness it along with the others. It was just him trying to take charge but I knew that would cause problems and the others trusted me. So, I had shown him that I was telling the truth by having a one on one fight. It didn't go so well for him.

Cutlass scoffed. "It wasn't that bad."

"No?" Drakkar asked from next to me. "I could have sworn I remember you surrendering to him after he thrashed you without taking a hit. That fight lasted a minute I believe?"

"Fine. Whatever. So, this General is just as strong as you were then?" Cutlass asked me.

Letting out a laugh, I nodded while I turned down the street that housed our new bar. The house we would be 'living' in right next door. "Of course. Since we were all under Chaom's lead, we knew that we would be targets so both Chief General Chaom and General Pandimala devised rigorous and almost torturous training exercises that pushed us well past out limits. I still do some of the workouts when I can."

With that thought, I realized that I hadn't done nearly the kind of training that I had on Dragonia with the others. Depending on when this general we were looking for had gotten here, then he might be even more capable than I am. I had allowed myself to become lax in my exercises since coming to this world. Once we found this general I was going to work with him and get back to training.

Drakkar then smirked and I had a feeling that I was not going to like whatever it was that he was about to say. "So, that means that, since I don't recollect any rigorous training sessions that you undertook since meeting us, then you might even be worse off than the general that we are looking for?"

I frowned at that as everyone laughed. Thankfully, we had just pulled up to the location of our new bar and home. Well, human home. Drakkar and the others would find a place where we could store our alt modes. I really didn't want some punk messing with my chassis. "Well, if you are all done poking fun at me, let's get this place set up and get to work. If we are going to find this teacher than we are going to have to be careful. If he becomes suspicious of us before we can get him alone, then he will go into hiding and we'll have to track him down again. Since I know that there is a Dragonian general here, then it is my duty and obligation to make sure that he knows that I am here as well and make sure that he knows that I have his back."

I then sighed and exited my alt mode. This was going to be a trying time, that I knew. Forces were gathering and I wasn't sure what the end game would be. Without the other generals with me, I felt so much pressure. I had troops to take care of and introduce into the Dragonian fold. Plus, if a Dragonian general had ended up on this planet besides myself, then I had a feeling that other Dragonians were here and I had to find them as quickly as possible. We worked best as a family unit and we had to stay together.

Marquis' 1st P.O.V.

I flinched as a car horn honked from next to me. Why wasn't I in school? Well, the school had felt that, given the severity of what happened, that everyone, even those not involved in the trip, would get a few days off to cope with what happened. Though only myself and the three kids were really in the middle of it, Sarah had to file the children into the school bus in a hurry once the director of the museum told her that shots had been fired in the museum. After we had left the pirate bar, she had texted me demanding where I was. I immediately told her that I had been with Jack, Miko, and Raf and they were safe. After telling her our location, she had the bus pick us up before we made a beeline back to Jasper

Thinking about the incident reminded me that I hadn't been able to get the information that I had wanted out of the kids. That information mainly consisted of wanting to know what they had to do with that man and his organization. Using fingerprints that I collected from my soliform, I found that his name was Leyland 'Silas' Bishop and he was the leader of a rogue organization that called itself MECH. It was a strange name to me but I had a feeling that they hadn't derived it from the gender denomination word that children of Primus used to identify their gender.

However, that didn't help ease my worry about how they knew the kids, and seemed to know them quite well if what I overheard was accurate. From how Miko had been backtalking Silas, they had to have had another interaction. But, I hadn't been able to find out when that interaction had been. Something wasn't adding up and I had been pouring all my time into researching as much as I could. However, I had hit a roadblock and so I was trying another theory that, honestly, had me worried.

From the information that I could find, MECH was very much into becoming the most weaponized and technologically advanced group in the world and their eventual aim was complete world domination. If, let's say, the children were involved with Crassen, then that would explain why MECH was after them. Crassen would have the most advanced technology and weaponry on the planet and if the children were involved with them, then they were targets for groups like MECH to get what they wanted. But, I couldn't be sure that the children were involved with Crassen. Well, at least not until I looked in this final place.

Walking up the cement steps, I looked around and, when I was sure that no one was around, I knocked on the glass pained door. Not long after, my inside contact arrived and unlocked the door from the inside. "Thank you for doing this for me Mr. Schindler."

The old janitor laughed and said, "No problem Mr. Lafayette. I owed you for getting those football punks off my back when you got here. So, letting you look around for your research project is no problem." Yeah, it wasn't completely the truth but it wasn't a lie either.

Also, "Come on, what have I said about calling me that? You're my elder and you have the right to just call me George."

He nodded as he led me down the hall to the confiscation room. It was a place where the teachers put anything that students had brought that was against school rules. I hadn't had to use it yet and I didn't have a key to this room. "Aye, you're right on that one. But, as your elder I also have the right to allow you to call me by my first name as well. I have already given you permission but you insist on calling me Mr. Schindler."

I sighed in defeat. This was one battle that I knew that I was not going to win no matter what. "Very well then. Moss, thank you for doing this for me."

He nodded and, as we stopped in front of the door, he took out his key. "Again, you are welcome George. Now, let's see what this room has to offer for your project." The door then unlocked with an audible click and, once he turned on the light, he stepped to the side as I walked in. "I'll just wait out here while you look so I won't get in your way."

"I won't be long Moss." I responded to him before continuing inside further.

There was a thick layer of dust on the shelves closest to me and I about gave the search up. This much dust wouldn't have accumulated on anything that would be relevant to my search. But, as I was about to turn and leave, I noticed three large and unusual shapes covered with tarps against the back wall. The tarps didn't have nearly the amount of dust as the other items in the room did and I felt my heart leap into my throat. This was it. The proof that I would need must be under one of those tarps.

I approached the smallest item and picked the tarp off it. My soliform's heart stopped as I stared at the engine in front of me. This was way to technologically advanced for humans. If humans alone had this sort of technology, then I would have had the capability to leave Earth and search for my comrades. But, they didn't yet. But, this alone wasn't proof that Crassen where on this planet. This just proved that there was a child of Primus here. Who knows? They might even be Dragonian and, if that was the case, then I was going to start my search immediately.

My curiosity peeked, I moved to the next largest object and took the tarp off. Not surprising, it was technology that humans were centuries away from being able to produce. However, what was surprising was that it was a laser cannon in the shape of…a volcano. I could tell that whoever was helping whoever did this project at least tried to make it somewhat human based. But, the child of Primus who helped with this project obviously took over the project too much. I could only imagine what sort of damage occurred after the kid tried to display what it could do.

However, as I moved to take off the third tarp, I hesitated. My hand was gripping the textured surface like it was my only lifeline. But, to be honest, I was scared. Due to the unusual shape of the item underneath, I had a feeling that this would be the proof that I needed that would tell me for certain what sort of child of Primus was here and interacting with the humans. Taking a slow breath, I steeled myself to prepare for anything and I pulled the tarp off.

My spark stopped for a second as I beheld what was before me. That second went by quickly though and it was immediately replaced with barely bound fury. Before me was a mocking symbol of the fragging Crassen that had betrayed us. I could feel the anger coursing through my lines in my actual body and I was sure that my engine was revving in my garage. But, I didn't care about my disguise right now. Instead, I was focused on what the blight in front of me proved. This proved that Crassen were, not only on this planet, but near Jasper and interacting with the humans.

For in front of me was a model of their despicable home-world; Cybertron and its two moons.

I must have been quiet for too long for I jumped when I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder. "Are you alright George? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Nodding my head, I put my anger aside, for now, before motioning to the three objects. "What's the story behind those, Moss?"

Moss looked around me and I saw his eyes show confusion for a moment before understanding. "That's right, you and Miss Anderson came after that incident. During the Fall Science Fair projects, three of our students brought those in and claimed that they made them. The motor over there went out of control and chopped one desk before it was turned off and the 'volcano' there blew a hole in the roof of the school. Plus, the made-up planet system was just a shocker…though admittedly it is very detailed for a make-believe system. All three students failed and we kept those here so they wouldn't do anymore damage."

"And what students where those?" I questioned, my eyes never leaving the model of Cybertron.

"Well," Moss stared and he pointed to each project as he identified the students. "Jackson Darby brought in the motor, Rafael Esquivel brought in that 'volcano', and Miko Nakadai brought in the planet system." He then walked in front of me, snapping me out of my stupor. "Have you gotten what you need for your project?"

That's right. I had told him that to get in here without raising too much suspicion myself. Nodding, I turned to leave. "Yes, thank you again for this Moss. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you to make up for this."

Moss caught up to me after turning off the light and locking the door before he said, "now see here George, I don't owe you anything. This was me repaying a favor to you. That's the end of the story."

Unfortunately, I knew I wasn't winning this battle no matter how much Moss didn't know just how much I owed him for this. So, I sighed. "You don't make this easy Moss, do you?"

The old man laughed as he escorted me out of the school. He still had work to do so he wanted to make sure that I got out of there. He let out his own sigh before saying, "You really want to do something for me? I'm planning a surprise dinner for my wife a week from today and I heard that you have some decent wines for around here. Could you perhaps get me a bottle?"

That was easy and it would make me feel better. Thinking back to my wine collection, which was probably larger than it should be, I remembered that I had a bottle of 1865 wine that I hadn't been thinking of using that he should like. "I think I have a bottle of 1865 wine I can let you have. And don't worry, I really didn't like the bottle of 1864 that I had from the same company so it's just wasting away."

He nodded with a grateful smile. "Oh, the wife will love that definitely." He then nodded. "Have a good day George."

"You too Moss." I returned with a nod as he shut the door and locked it from the inside before walking away. I then turned and started to walk back toward my house.

Well, with the confirmation of Crassen on Earth, I knew that I was going to have to keep my guard up. But, I would not be running. The time for running was long gone and I was going to make them pay for what they did to my Selanitra. We had been fighting for our rights and we had been squashed by those dictators on Cybertron who only cared about their reputations.

Well there's a principle of nature, that almost every creature knows

Called survival of the fittest

And check it this is how it goes

The animal that eats has got to scratch and fight

And claw and bite and punch

And the animal that doesn't well the animal that doesn't

Winds up someone else's l-l-lunch

I turned my head when I heard that strange song play in the air and I found myself staring at the strangest of men, though I really didn't have room to talk given how I dressed. He had on a pair of black pinstripe pants and a green pin-stripe suit with a white dress shirt on underneath and a black and green stripped tie tied around his neck. From his right coat pocket, I could see the gold chain of a pocket watch that attached to a loop on his pant waist. On top of his head was a black top hat with a green velvet ribbon fitted around the middle.

His medium length black hair moved as he played his double axe guitar and I could see that this man truly didn't care what anyone around him thought about him. He just played because he wanted to. Also, what was strange about the blue-eyed man was that he wore what must be green velvet gloves. That had to be uncomfortable in this desert like place. Plus, how did he keep that flower tucked in his right shoulder pocket…

As the man came closer to me, his words not reaching me even though he was still zoned out singing, I realized that this man, as crazy as this might be, seemed very familiar to me. A memory from my distant past and, with everything that was going on, I had to find out the truth. Glancing to my side, I saw that I was right outside of my house. This was perfect. I waited until the man came up to me before I 'accidentally' bumped into him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I apologized to him to draw him into a conversation.

The man in front of me let out a laugh before saying, "No big deal. Though something like that happening in such a small town can't be fate. The name's Oliver Lercone."

I held out my hand to him. "And I'm George Lafayette. Can I offer you something to drink at least to apologize?"

He took it and shook it before he smiled and said, "Sure, why not? Got any jasmine tea?"

So, this guy was a tea drinker. That was uncommon around here but, of course, I kept a wide variety of teas around since I picked up the habit of drinking it when I was with the British. Thankfully, I could answer truthfully. "Yes, you can just head on in. There's something I need to grab out here."

Once-Ler's 1st P.O.V.

This was a very nice way to end the day. For a few hours, I had been wondering around the town trying to see if there were any places available for me to buy. A couple of weeks ago, I had been traveling with General Aranzer and his group Circus. We had landed on this planet in 1910 and Aranzer had started up his circus, called Circus Cirkus, and he made sure to keep himself lowkey enough to not be in the limelight of the media but he made sure to keep himself known enough so we could keep our audios to the ground.

But, a couple weeks ago, I decided to leave Circus Cirkus to branch out on my own to see if I could find someone, anyone. We all knew that there was a high possibility that other Dragonians would eventually come to this world because, despite how far away this planet was, this planet, called Earth, gave off an energy signal that was almost identical to the one that Dragonia used to let off. It was strange that we had been gone from our world from so long. But, this new world that we called home was beautiful in its own way. Its people were diverse and you could always find a helping servo…hand. While Earth was no Dragonia, it was our new home.

And speaking of people willing to lend out a hand, here was a nice man from a small town who was allowing me to stay here for a few minutes to drink some tea. I really did love tea, and for that I blamed Aranzer. He picked up the habit of drinking tea when he had gone over to Europe after World War II. Actually, he got almost everyone who was travelling with Cirkus addicted to the simple drink. It was around 1939 that we figured out how to consume human food and transfer it to energon.

"Thanks. I'll head on in." I responded to George's offer and walked toward the man's door. He was a very nice person. I mean, not many people would let a stranger that they had just met into their home. Honestly, it reminded me of my first night as a Dragonian.

Flashback

I felt disoriented as I looked around the camp that was to be my new home for now. Everyone seemed to happy and I couldn't figure out just why that was. They were at war against one of the most powerful armies in many galaxies and, yet, here they were sipping mid-grade and laughing with their friends like they didn't have a care in the world. When I was vetted by Generals Pandimala and Marquis, they told me that I was in for a surprise when I got to camp. I had laughed and said that I had a very high doubt that there would be anything that surprised me about their camp.

Now I felt like a scraplet surrounded by organic material.

There was so much positive energy and excitement buzzing around my audios that I thought my circuits were going to fry…and that was saying a lot since that was what I tried to do to my opponents. Maybe I would start laying off on that tactic a little after this. If my opponents suffered even half this much then it was close to battlefield brutality. I mean…we were at war…weren't we? This didn't seem like any sort of war that I had heard about on Cybertron. To them, the Dragonians were rusting away in trenches of toxic organic material as the council demolished them. I had never believed them but I had assumed that something had to be true in all their babble. But, from what I had seen so far, nothing was farther from the truth. Maybe this was just a show to rattle me up.

"Don't flatter yourself."

I jumped and turned to see General Marquis standing there with a smile on his face. "Wh…what do you mean?" I asked him, still wondering how in the Pit he could sneak behind me.

He let out a laugh and motioned to the camp before saying, "If we were trying to impress you, then we would have had a training festival with a few of the generals. General Scallion still wants to get back at General Vox for the last fight they had."

"Was it a tie?" I asked, confused about where this was going.

General Marquis shook his helm before saying, "No. I don't think any of us Generals could beat the other. No, it was tied but Vox took out both of Scallion's headlights and the mech had to use cheap plastic until we could smuggle him actual replacements. Unfortunately, the only plastic available came from oil bottles that we get smuggled in and the words were in view for everyone to see."

A mental picture suddenly flashed in my head using the picture that General Pandimala had shown me of General Scallion when she showed me the higher command, so I would know who they were, and I couldn't stop the laughter from coming out. "I…I could see why he would want revenge." I finally got out through gasps of laughter.

Marquis was laughing along with me for a moment before he calmed down, though the smile was still on his face, and said, "So you see, this isn't set up. This is what being a Dragonian is. I will admit that even I was surprised by just how close we all were. This isn't an army…well, not only an army. More importantly, when you become a Dragonian, you become family. Many of the Dragonians here were only siblings or had small families before we declared our independence. However, with Chief General Chaom, and the determination of the resistance, we are one of the biggest families in the galaxies. Never feel like you can't come to any of us for help."

I nodded and stared forward at the mass of Dragonians in front of me. It felt nice being a part of this group…this family, and I was sure that I would never forget the lesson taught to me today. "Thank you, General Marquis."

Marquis nodded and stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Off this subject Once-Ler, I spoke with General Pandimala and Chief General Chaom last night. If you would accept, I would ask that you do me the honor of being my own aide-de-kamp? I feel like I can trust you and teach you so much, as I am sure you trust me and teach me. That thneed of yours is a one in a million weapon and the mech using it is just as impressive."

I stared at General Marquis, my jaw dangling by its bolts, before I snapped it shut and nodded with a smile. "It would be an honor to be your aide-de-kamp sir. When do I start General?"

"You start now with just addressing me as Marquis. You are my aide after all and that gives you some leeway with saying that General scrap. Second, let's go look over the plans for our attack at Pine Rush Gorge." He responded to me before leading me away toward his tent.

End of Flashback.

After that solar cycle, I had grown even closer to Marquis, though I kept calling him General Marquis to get under his plating a little, and I had learned to trust my fellow Dragonians due to his teaching. He was my inspiration and hope for the Dragonian future and I knew that we would win if he was involved in the effort. I actually took quite a few rounds to the chassis to make sure that he lived on.

But, they seemed for not when the report came out saying that he was declared offline. Most times, I would ignore such a report because most bots wouldn't be read into secret missions. But, this report had come from General Pandimala herself. I knew that General Pandimala would not lie about such an event to all of us for the sake of a mission. No, with her reporting his offlining, the chances of Marquis being offline were truly high.

However, I still held onto hope. Though it has been millions of stellar cycles since his declared offlining and he has not shown a sign of resurfacing, something told me that he was still alive. My top theory had been that he was stranded on a primitive world and his deep space communication equipment was destroyed. But, I didn't have enough proof to launch an expedition to find him and energon was scarce these days, thanks to the Crassen Civil War, and it would be reckless of me to leave my fellow Dragonians to search right now. But, once there was proof that he was alive, I would go out to find him, the resources be slagged.

Looking at the man's house, I noticed that he had a small museum in his foyer. I found my eyes drawn to an ancient knife with what looked like a few blood drop stains. It was a very ornate knife, like I had read human politicians used to carry in ancient times. But, the blood on it had me confused. Those knives that I had read about had usually been just for show. The only instance in human history that I remembered reading about one being used to kill someone was when Brutus killed Julius Caesar with the help of the Roman Senate.

Noticing how quiet it was, I straightened my back and went to turn around while saying, "Are you alright out…"

A grunt escaped me throat as something hard slammed into the back of my neck and, scarily enough, my programming was stuck in a hiccup that the hit had caused. I couldn't see out of my soliform, or even control it for that matter, but I could feel as someone picked up my soliform and dragged it across the ground. A few bumps hit my feet, which were dragging, and I realized that it was just one person who had attacked me. Whoever this was must have had experience attacking people because they seemed able to drag my soliform, which weighed the same amount as an average human adult male.

After a minute, I felt my attacker place me in a chair and rope soon bound me to said piece of furniture…effectively turning my attacker into a kidnapper. After another minute, I was finally able to break free of the knot the attack caused and my sight and mobility came back to me, though the mobility wouldn't be easy to use right now. Glancing in front of me, I was surprised to see the man that owned the house, George Lafayette I think his name was, sitting on a recliner with a loaded…crossbow?

"Don't worry." George started. Right, the guy with the loaded crossbow was telling me not to worry. Great. I got caught by a serial killer who was now going to dissect my poor soliform slowly…and I liked this one too! "If you answer my questions honestly I won't have to use this."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Right. You trick me inside your house, knock me out, tie me to a chair, and threaten me with a loaded crossbow and I'm not supposed to worry?"

To my surprise, he just shrugged before saying, "What's your name?"

Didn't we go over this outside? "My name is Oliver Lerc…" I stopped and flinched as George shot the crossbow and it barely missed the skin of my head, though it did cut off a good chunk of hair. "Hey what's the idea!? How can I answer honestly if you shoot me before I finish answering?" I yelled at him. Might not seem like a good idea but I was mad now. If he was going to set down guidelines, the least he should do is follow them.

Instead of yelling, like I thought this psycho would, he simply smirked darkly with anger in his eyes. "I told you not to lie to me. If it helps you tell the truth, I already know that you aren't human."

What?! That meant that this guy was a soliform. He had to be! That was the only way that he would know that I wasn't human. So, that meant that I had to give this guy my actual information. Unfortunately, I had parked my alt mode just down the street and, from how this guy was acting, it wouldn't take him long to find it and attack me in that form. "Once-Ler. Lieutenant General Once-Ler of the Dragonian army." If this guy was a Crassen, then he would not hesitate to reprimand me for speaking as if Dragonia had become independent of Cybertron.

However, to my surprise, his reaction was not anger at my response. From the way the tension left his shoulders, after I introduced myself, he was…relieved. "I had a feeling that it was you Once-Ler. But, I had to be sure." To my relief, he set down the crossbow. But, he made no move to untie me.

But, I didn't care at this second. Since he did not reprimand me, that meant that this guy was really a Dragonian! I was ecstatic to finally find another of our people, or be captured by one as the case would be now, and I wondered just who this was. George seemed to know me and, from how he spoke, he knew me quite well. "What about you? What is your name?" I questioned him back. Since I gave him my name, surely he would give me his.

But, that didn't seem to be true as he shook his head. "No, I still have some more questions for you before that. Plus, I doubt that you would believe me if I told you." Of course I would! He was a Dragonian and I trusted my fellow Dragonians…just like Marquis taught me to. "Which bots of the higher command do you have contact with? Which are still alive?"

Well, I could answer that to the best I could. "As far as I know, the only ones offline are Chief General Chaom and General Marquis. I haven't been in contact with General Pandimala, General Vox, General Chorale, General Comet Gale, or General Scallion. But, last I heard they were still online. However, I came to this planet in 1910 AD local time with General Aranzer and his organization, Cirkus, and with us was General Jabberwocky. I left them two weeks ago to search the planet for more of us. From the looks of the situation here, it seems I found one."

George looked even more relieved when I told him that information. "That's good news. They are all still online." He then stared at me more directly. "Do you have a place to stay now that you have left Cirkus?"

I shook my head. "No. I have just been living in caves as I move from town to town." I then stopped myself and stared at him. "Why?"

He let out a laugh that sounded vaguely familiar before saying, "I must welcome a fellow Dragonian, and such a good friend at that, into my home without a nano-click of hesitation. Please accept my offer."

At first, I stared at him in shock. He called me a good friend and yet wouldn't tell me his name? And yet without that information he wanted me to live with him? How could I live with him if I didn't even know my name? While General Marquis had taught me to trust he also taught me that it was polite to exchange names before any trust could begin, and remind someone of a name if it has been forgotten. This soliform knew my name and yet I still couldn't figure his out. "Only if you promise to reveal your name to me right now. If you do, then I give you my word on my honor as a Dragonian that I will stay here with you until you deem otherwise."

I expected him to hesitate. To try and worm his way out of it. But, to my surprise, he didn't hold back. "General Marquis."

My spark stopped as the name left his lips. No…it couldn't be. From all we knew, General Marquis was offline. Even if I believed he was still offline somewhere, I couldn't accept that the man in front of me just happened to be him. "General Marquis was declared offline by General Pandimala. If you are who you say you are, then prove it to me. Tell me something that only General Marquis would know." I felt my spark racing as the nano-clicks drifted by. This was it. If he truly was Marquis, which a part of me hopped he was, then this would be easy for him to do.

After about three seconds, George Lafayette answered me. "Very well. I believe it was the fifth solar cycle after you became my aide-de-kamp that this situation happened." My own mind raced back to that day and I realized what story he would have to tell if he was really Marquis. "You and I were resting in a small bar outside of Shenap before continuing to Pith's capital city of Silving. Of course, we were undercover due to a high amount of Crassen troops between us and Silving. We were both disguised as femmes and were blending in quite well surprisingly. Before we left though, two neutrals named Issimo and Kreigan came in and Issimo started to talk about their views of the Revolution. While we would agree with what was said, the Crassen troops around us weren't so. I'm I right so far?" He asked me.

So far so good. Issimo had been the one to talk. If compared to the languages of Earth, Issimo had an Italian accent while Kreigan had a German one. This was a strange event that we hadn't even reported everything about to the higher command. Of course, that was due to what occurred next…if this so called 'Marquis' answered correctly. "So far you are alright, but that is common knowledge among Dragonians." I knew he was at least a Dragonian but I couldn't believe that this man in front of me was Marquis. I just couldn't.

George nodded and continued. "So, you and I both knew we needed to interfere with what was going on. To do so, I took the initiative and grabbed Issimo around the waste before saying, and I quote, 'Come now sweet, you know you are for the Council but frag you know that bad talk gets my engine going', before I laid one on his lip-plates. Everyone in the bar stared at us for a click until I moved back and motioned upstairs. You and Kreigan followed Issimo and I and, once we were behind closed doors, you and I took off our disguises and explained the situation to them. Issimo and I immediately went about laughing what happened while Kreigan and you were blushing so bad they probably thought you were sending off flares. Once we stopped laughing, we decided to bunk together and, that night, Issimo crawled into the bunk you and I were sharing and asked if he and Kreigan could travel with us to Silving. Issimo told us that he and Kreigan were actually trying to get to Silving to join the Dragonian cause." George then let out a laugh. "Then Issimo kissed both of our cheeks before he left and crawled into Kreigan's berth."

My spark felt like it was growing so large that it would burst. This…no one else would know that many details about that mission, especially the part where Marquis full on kissed Issimo. That had been our little secret. Especially since, as we found out later, Kreigan was actually courting Issimo at that time and wanted to bash Marquis' helm in for that stunt…no matter if it saved their skid-plates.

That was all the proof that I needed that this soliform in front of me was and truly is, Marquis. I moved to embrace him to let him know that he was now not alone but, there was one small problem. "Um…Marquis?" I asked while flapping my hands.

He looked at the rope and looked surprised before he let out a laugh. "Sorry about that Once. You caught me at a bad time." Right. More like he caught me. He then stood up and went behind me. A few seconds later, I felt the rope fall lax and I wasted no time in throwing it off of me and embracing my friend. He was alive. I was elated and I couldn't think of anything that could ruin it. "Once, while I am ecstatic to see you, what are you doing here on Earth and not on Dragonia?"

…Well, nothing could ruin it except that question.

Once-Ler: *laughs* Well, it sure is good to see you alive Marquis! *stops fake bravado and tears form* I...I was so lonely without you! *hugs Marquis*

Marquis: *hugs Once-Ler* It's alright Once-Ler. But there are so many questions in my mind that I need answers for. First and foremost what are you doing here instead...

Authoress: Don't even ask Marquis. Guess who has a photo of you laying one on Issimo? *holds up photo so seeing back* You know what they say about Italians and romance...right? *smirks and runs*

Marquis: *panics* Don't you dare upload that photo! *runs after Authoress*

Once-Ler: *laughs* Well, this is going to be a party, and I have the best seat in the house! *sits and watches Marquis chase Authoress*

AN: And here it is! This is the long awaited for chapter where Marquis finally meets another Dragonian! But...what's so wrong about Marquis asking Once-Ler about Dragonia? Something foul is afoot and we will find out what that something is next chapter. Sorry I've been away for so long but my muse keeps bouncing me from story to story and I was finally able to update this one. For quite a while, please don't expect fast updates but, when I do get them updated, I hope you like them. Next chapter finishes up this interaction and then we meet move on to Scallion and his interaction with a child of Primus...though maybe not such a nice meeting. Also next chapter we get to meet Issimo and Kreigan! If anyone can tell me where I referenced Issimo and Kreigan from I'll give them a cookie. If you can't get it by the time I go to update next chapter then I'll post a hint next chapter (plus their being in the chapter will help with that slightly XD ) but if you guess after that then you just get a piece of a cookie. If you still haven't guessed by the time I post the chapter after that then I will reveal it and no one will get any amount of cookie! *hoards cookies*

Well, that's all I have to say for now. Please leave a review, even to say hello, and any flames will be given to the Crassen. They like to bathe in them right? Well, until next time, I guess this is farewell. *walks off singing about French Perfume*