Hey Everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying this story so far. Back to some normal length chapter's now. I need to go separate about ten thousand words worth of chapters which is today's job. Also hoping to write 5k for this story. Plan for tomorrow is another 5k for this story and a new chapter for Life of a Datsun as it has been quite neglected lately. Enjoy the chapter!

Mav

Chapter 14

Sunstreaker was back in the same cell. Slowly the bots were pulled out of the cage and taken away to get their new frames. Some returned and others didn't. The twin contemplated where they had gone if they didn't return. Maybe it was more likely than he had thought to offline when you were swapped between frames. None of the bots were any more responsive than they had been before. The few who came back just continued to stare off into space.

The mechs in the cage above Sunstreaker had also fallen into an oppressive silence. No longer were there whispers coming from cages, the atmosphere had infected everyone. They were all left alone for what Sunstreaker thought to be a couple of orns before the enforcers reappeared. They came along, pulling bots out of the cells one by one to take them away.

Sunstreaker glanced over at who was going, wondering how long it would be until his turn. Some nervousness filled the twin, was this the start of the fights? He hoped that Sideswipe would find it in him to fight, to the death if necessary. Sunstreaker knew he could do it. He certainly wouldn't like it but he would be able to do it. Sideswipe though, he was unsure if he would be able to do this.

The cages stayed silent, despite all of the movement going on. Either bots didn't care or they were so zoned out that they didn't notice. Sunstreaker seemed to be alone in his wonderings about what was ahead of him and how well he would get through it.

Eventually his time came. Two enforcers walked up to the door of his cell, forcefully pulling him to his pedes. No one even looked up from their points of focus as Sunstreaker as taken away. They followed the same route they had used to enter the cell in the first place.

The stairwell which had seemed so cramped now seemed fairly spacious, free of all the other mechs and femmes. There was no one else in sight as he was led up the stairs. Emerging from the darkness he was met with bright lights. Mechs were walking around everywhere, each with their own duties to attend to.

Everyone here had normal armour, not the heavily reinforced frames like Sunstreaker now possessed. No, these were normal mechs who had been allowed to go about doing relatively normal duties. these mechs wouldn't be pitted against each other in the rings, nor would they understand the sufferings of the Kaon bots.

The enforcers dragged Sunstreaker along as he hesitated slightly. He was pulled forwards to a bay on the side of the room. It was minimally different from the bay he had been in to swap frames. Here there was different weaponry lining the walls. Sunstreaker knew now that he was certainly going into the rings.

"Take a seat on the bench," growled a mech who entered the bay. This mech had a slighter frame than Sunstreaker but made an imposing picture with the large cannons in both arms. There was a conspicuous knife being held to his side by a magnetic force. There was no way that anyone would bother to mess with this mech.

The mech turned and seemed to search through his different weapons. Eventually he decided upon two swords. They were fairly nondescript, a simple blade that was extremely sharp and a plain hilt. It may not be fancy but it would certainly kill a mech. Alongside this the bot picked up a couple of small knives.

Sunstreaker watched on in horror. He had no clue how to use these weapons, much less how to store them on his new frame. This mech obviously had no idea about that whatsoever. It looked as though the bot was just out picking some flowers in a meadow for all the attention he was paying to the blades.

"Here you go. These are your weapons," the mech said grouchily.

Sunstreaker quickly took the two swords and three knives from the mech. He wasn't going to be getting any instruction on these different weapons before he got put into the ring. Hopefully he would be able to pick up the techniques as he went.

"Well hurry up and put them in the holding spots. I haven't got all joor!" the mech snarled, fed up with having to give out weaponry all day.

"I don't know how to," Sunstreaker protested. In return for this snide remark he was punched in the faceplates.

A punch that would have once completely crumpled his faceplates now just created a small dent. It seemed as though the mech's hand was actually more damaged than his faceplates. This new armour must be strong if it could stand up to such force.

"Incompetent fool," the mech mumbled before turning to Sunstreaker. The swords were ripped from Sunstreaker's servos while his left arm was snatched up from where it was lying against his side. The mech fiddled with the different compartments before shoving the sword into the right compartment. It hurt but Sunstreaker didn't make a sound. It would be stupid to anger this mech even more than he already had.

The twin took the initiative to quickly put the other sword in its compartment. In the meantime the mech picked up one of the knives and triggered open a compartment on his lower leg. Into this he placed one of the knives. Again, Sunstreaker followed the bot's lead and put the two other knives into the adjacent holding area. Now he was ready to go into the ring.

Nothing more was said as the enforcers dragged him off of the berth and pushed him across the room. There was the sloping roof that Sunstreaker had spotted on the way into the complex. Why were these mechs taking him straight towards the wall, there was no door there?

Where he had once thought there was a plain wall the metal split apart to show a small alleyway. He was shoved into this and the enforcers blocked the entrance. This was the entrance to the rings, right here in the view of everyone. What lay ahead of him, he had no clue only that it would push him to his limits.

The metal in front of him slid open as the doorway behind him closed. In front of Sunstreaker was a large open space. He couldn't see the ceiling from this specific viewpoint but that didn't particularly matter right now. What did matter was the mech standing opposite him in a similar corridor.

Suddenly there weren't any normal thought processes in Sunstreaker's mind. This was all on instinct, instincts he never knew he had. The mech he had spotted opposite him was huge. He had thought that his own frame was large but this mech's chassis was much larger. If he decided to inflict damage on Sunstreaker it wouldn't just make a small dent, it would absolutely ruin his armour.

Sprinting forward in an awkward run Sunstreaker darted to one side of the ring, thinking that agility would be one of his greatest allies. A mech of this size would have a lot of difficulty darting around to try and capture him. Alternatively if the twin stood and fought he would quickly become scrap metal, not the outcome Sunstreaker was looking for.

The mech didn't even move from where he was. Sunstreaker kept moving forward, beginning to circle around his opponent. The ground under his pedes wasn't smooth like he thought it would be, instead with each step he could feel something crunching. Sparing a quick glance down Sunstreaker was sickened. Beneath his pedes were the chassis of mech's who had offlined. All those mechs who had been taken from their cells earlier had offlined, here. It was quite possible that they had all faced the same opponent he now faced. What could he do differently now to not end up like them?

Sunstreaker kept moving forward. The twin shoved the thought of the other bots from his mind, focusing on the task at hand. He would need all of his wits about him if he was to take down this mech. There was no way he could rely on his strength, it would have to be his agility that saw him through.

The opponent starting moving. He had a rolling gait, one that was easily identifiable and showed that the mech wasn't all that agile. The mech had locked optics on Sunstreaker and was now moving in. Intimidation was probably one of his main tactics in the ring; most would be shocked by the large chassied mech bearing down on them. Sunstreaker however, just kept moving ensuring that he wouldn't be caught unawares.

The opponent got closer to Sunstreaker, despite his twisting and turning throughout the ring. Coming in close the mech struck out at the twin with a clenched servo. A quick reaction on Sunstreaker's behalf meant that the servo just missed his chassis. The mech was carried forward by his servo, obviously unused to not impacting with the target.

Sunstreaker used this in order to land a blow to the back of his opponent's neck. Necks were a sensitive area where there wasn't as much armour protecting vital energon lines and sensors. One energon line broke while others became bent from Sunstreaker's blow. The twin darted back, out of the way of the large mech.

The mech, Metalcrush, whirled around, ready to deliver a full blow to this pesky little mech daring to challenge him. It would be a simple feat to crush the mech's armour, force him to the ground and offline him agonisingly slowly. That was what the crowd wanted to see. High up on the bleachers were the first observers of the ring. They sat there drinking vintage energon and watching the mechs fight in front of them. It was just entertainment for them but it was life or death for those in the ring.

Sunstreaker saw the change in the mech's optics. No longer was this some fun little game, his opponent really wanted to crush him. Until this point the twin had fully forgotten about the weapons he now held upon his frame. What reminded him was the mech drawing a mallet from his subspace. There were no clean weapons like blasters here; it was all about the show. The energon spilt made such a good picture for all of the bots who came to watch the fights.

With an almighty yell Sunstreaker's opponent charged at him. The mallet was lifted high over his helm as the large chassis headed straight for the twin. Sunstreaker attempted to sidestep the incoming assault however the trick didn't work for a second time. Instead his opponent grabbed his waist and brought the mallet down on his helm, hard.

Sunstreaker's processor reeled as he collapsed onto the ground. He couldn't hold on to the function of his chassis while he had no cognitive function. The mech didn't deliver the offlining blow straight away; instead he straightened up and started slowly circling Sunstreaker.

The twin knew the exact moment that he was able to move his limbs again. He didn't move though, not while the mech was right behind him. He would wait until his opponent was on the right side of him before running off to the left. If he continued to fake the injury then the mech wouldn't be suspecting the movement from him. Hopefully that would give Sunstreaker the upper hand in the fight.

The twin would have to bring out his swords now and actually use them. There wasn't any way he was getting out of this ring online without using the weaponry. Although he had never used weapons of any sort his life now depended upon them. Sunstreaker would learn how to use these weapons while delivering the offlining blow to the mech.

Finally his opponent was in place. The second his pede came down Sunstreaker shot off like a turbo fox. The mech, unprepared for such a movement was slow to react. This meant that the twin got away from the immediate danger zone unscathed.

There was a small latch on the inside of Sunstreaker's wrist and he hoped it was for releasing the swords that he held in his arms. Triggering the button two swords emerged which the twin gripped on to. The weight of the two weapons felt odd in his servos. Never before had he used a blade and the feeling of the hilt in servo was very weird and unusual.

The mech charged at Sunstreaker again, not one for using any brilliant tactics. The twin sprinted away, not trying his sidestep trick. Twirling around and running back Sunstreaker took a flying leap and stuck one of the swords straight through his opponents back. If the move had gone wrong then Sunstreaker would have been lying in a heap on the ground, ready to be smashed up by this mech.

Instead the move had gone well and now his opponent was yelling out in pain. This was beneficial to Sunstreaker as it meant that the mech was distracted. Bringing his other sword around he pressed it into the back of the mech's neck. Shoving down with that arm he severed his opponent's helm from the body. The chassis wasn't still though; it started jerking as soon as the head came off. Stunned Sunstreaker didn't move, didn't bother to withdraw his other sword from the frame. So, the frame that was much heavier than his own brought Sunstreaker to the ground. The chassis was on top of his own, pinning him to the hard floor beneath him.

Although the chassis was about the same weight as Sunstreaker with the helm severed it was still too bulky for the twin to push off. His arm was being held at a weird angle due to his sword being inside the chassis of the mech. Sunstreaker knew he would have to wait for the spasms to subside before he moved the big frame.

A couple of seconds passed before the twin pushed the now greying frame off of himself. Now that the twin had come out of his fighting zone he could hear clapping coming from somewhere. Glancing up at the bleacher area he saw a group of mechs and femmes looking down on him. They must have been there since the start of the event and seen all of it.

Sunstreaker was unsure of whether he was meant to feel proud or utterly sick that he had killed this mech. It had been either the mech's life or his own and in the end his instinct had one out. You fight to keep yourself alive that was the rule of this ring. Any other rules were non-existent. You were here for yourself and to fight to the death.

Withdrawing his sword from his opponents fame Sunstreaker looked over to where he had entered the ring. All he wanted to do now was get out of here and back to his cell. The boring and oppressive atmosphere of the cage would suit his mood right now perfectly. The slight pain that he could now feel in his cheekplates didn't really register. He just wanted to go and hide away from the world.

What would Sideswipe think of him now? When they had been in that medical bay Sideswipe could barely stand to look at him, after killing a mech would his twin even be able to stand sharing a room with him? The depressing thoughts started to well up in the twin's processor but he squashed them down for the moment, determined to at least get back to the cell before he contemplated them.

Well there's the latest chapter. Two reviews and the next chapter will be up. :)