Okay, I got the next chapter! Maybe Liraz will stop chasing me with a sword now…

Trivia: the blue Seeker was Dirge. Apparently I forgot that there is more than one blue Seeker…Riella was so sure it was Thundercracker…

Disclaimer: I don't own Riella – she belongs to T'Reilani – and I don't own the canon characters. They belong to Hasbro. I've been trying to get Liraz to help me convince Hasbro to give me the TFs, but she's mad at me for letting Devastator crush her, so…yeah.

(Liraz's POV)

I started to roll over – the sun was in my eyes, and I didn't feel like waking up – and stopped. Everything hurt. Everything. What had happened?

Oh, yeah. Devastator took a nosedive onto me, I remembered. I'm dead now. Aren't I?

Even thinking hurt.

"Slag," I hissed. It hurt to talk, but for some reason talking seemed like a good thing, even if I was dead. "Molten, fragging, debris-ridden, slagging, slag."

"You're awake!" Ironhide's voice. What was Ironhide's voice doing talking to me? I was dead. Was he dead, too? I really hoped not…

"Ouch." Waitaminute. If everything hurt, and Ironhide was talking to me, and the sun was still in my eyes…and I was thinking…I couldn't be dead, could I?

"I was afraid the transformation would kill you, once it started. I thought you were dead when I dug you out from under Devastator's ugly corpse. Riella's the one who told me to bring you out here, away from the others," Ironhide said. I opened my eyes and managed not to wince. Except opening my eyes wasn't a gradual thing, like usual. Instead of my eyelids easing open, it was like someone had flipped a switch on.

"Transformation?" I repeated, staring up at the cold blue Earth sky.

"Yeah. Why don't you sit up and have a look at yourself?" the black mech suggested. I tried. My movement was accompanied by a screaming pain and the hum of new machinery. What the frag? I tilted my head – more faint mechanical humming – and looked down at myself.

My orange skin and metallic battlesuit were gone, replaced by orange and black cabling and plating. A Cybertronian body. Not even a Colonial body; a Factionist body. I could see the difference in the armor design, feel the difference in the pulsing in my chest where my heart had been.

"Impossible," I whispered.

"That's what I thought, too," Ironhide's voice agreed gruffly. "But it happened. I think Riella realized what was going on; that's why she told me to take you away. I was hoping you would have some idea how this happened." I started to say I had no clue, but then I remembered.

Time to become our child. The ancient voice.

You did this, I accused.

Yes, we changed you. You are truly our daughter, our atuda, now. And as our atuda, you shall have a new name. you are Sandflame, our daughter. As such, you should know: We are the Matrix. Then the voice went silent. I stared up at Ironhide, who was standing nearby. He wasn't nearly as far up as he had been the last time I'd seen him.

"The Matrix," I whispered. Sudden knowledge flowed over me. "It's housing was forged three Heraldic generations ago by Gypsanna A'Tovinia before it was stolen by Sentinel and ended up in the possession of your seven ancient Primes, who used it as a key to their star harvester instead of as a guide, like the Colonials designed it for. I can hear its voice in my head. Some Tovinias can. It is our heritage as descendants of Leora and Gypsanna. The Matrix said I'm its daughter now, and named me Sandflame." Ironhide stared down at me.

"What?" Disbelief widened his optics. "Liraz?"

"I'm Sandflame now, daughter of the Matrix," I said softly. Then I shook myself. "Help me up. I need to find an alternate form. Are there any deserts here on Earth?" my words seemed to draw Ironhide out of an almost trance-like state of shock and disbelief.

"Oh. Deserts. Yes, there are some on Earth. Why?" I started to roll my eyes – optics, now – and stopped. It felt different. Everything felt different. I inhaled, and tanks filled instead of lungs expanding. Instead of my heart beating, I could feel my spark pulsing.

"I need an alt mode," I repeated. Then it hit me. I was Cybertronian.

I can step on Hope and Cero myself now! I thought. Then I thought…Even if I could prove myself innocent of the crime my memory was wiped for – murdering Ironhide – I drained that Seeker's spark and overloaded Devastator. I can never return to Heer-olde. I can never go home. I remembered thinking I would stay with the Autobots, and being happy with that…but the idea that I had committed the very crime I was banished for made my spark twist. Heer-olde really isn't my home anymore.

So make yourself a new home. You already chose to stay with a certain detective, didn't you? the ancient voice – the Matrix – reminded me. I smiled to myself.

Nightbeat. My spark warmed. Was he all right? I remembered one of the Seekers had clawed his back open, and another had nearly shot him. And what about Prowl and Riella? Were they all right?

"How will a desert help you find an alt mode? A city or town would be better," he told me. "More vehicles, you know." I shook my head, distracted from wondering about the others for a moment.

"I want an animal form, a proper desert one like Colonials have. I might not be able to go back to Heer-olde, but I want to remember my old home," I said. Reluctantly, he nodded.

"There's a desert close by," he admitted. "Though on foot it will take a day or two to reach it." I grimaced.

What do I do?

Transform down, atuda, the Matrix ordered. For now, you still have your original form. But be aware that you can only hold one organic shape at a time.

I wanted to ask what that all meant, but the Matrix's presence in my mind faded. So I focused on the first thing it had told me: transform down.

I closed my eyes – again, like flipping a switch instead of actually closing my eyes – and focused. Something in me shifted. I opened my eyes – actual eyes, this time, not optics – and found myself much smaller. I looked down at myself. I looked like me again.

"Did I know I could do that?" I asked.

"I sure didn't," Ironhide muttered.

I realize that OCs becoming Cybertronian yet keeping their original form has been done quite a bit – T'Reilani's Riella and DaemonicKitten's Bella come to mind – but I hope everyone likes the way I've done Liraz's transformation into Sandflame. Please review – though flames will be used to make energon goodies for people who get trivia right!

Speaking of trivia…

Name as many canon Seekers as you can! Let's see how many people can remember!