Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Playback: SO, who wants to play a game?

Toxica: I'll play!

Caliber: Better then all of this boring slag that has been happening.

All OCs: CALIBER!

Caliber: Oops.

Authoress: *starts planning*

Ch. 19: A Spot of Sparring

Chala felt excited as she walked down her stairs. After Playback's announcement the other solar cycle, training was all that was on her processor. She had to be ready for the fight. But, first, she felt that she should tell her creators that she joined the rebels. They might not like it, but she didn't want them to worry if she wasn't home some nights.

"What are you doing Chala?" Pandium asked her.

Chala smiled at her older brother. "Playback said that he would give me some fighting lessons today. I'm going to head to the training area to meet him."

"Can we come?" Malium asked her as he walked up. "We've been wanting to see that bot fight ever since you told us about your fight at the coliseum."

Chala was sure that Playback wouldn't mind the extra help so she nodded. "Sure. But, I have to go talk to our creators first." Now, she felt nervous. She wasn't sure that she wanted her creators to know about her now. They wouldn't react very calmly, that she knew, but she had to do this.

"Can we come too?" Pandium asked.

Chala sighed. Well, they would find out eventually. "Yeah, but I don't want any comments from you two about what I say."

The both gained curious looks but nodded. "We promise." She hated it when the both talked at the same time. It was creepy. It also made her feel like they were planning something.

Shaking her helm, Chala walked down the stairs and to the living room. Luckily, both of her creators were there and sitting on the couch.

"Chala, what's wrong? You look troubled." Her carrier asked. Blitzkriea had a knack for seeing what she was feeling. It made it very hard to hide things.

"I...I did something that you won't too happy about." Chala started.

"Jou joined zhe rebels." Blitzwing stated.

How...had he known that? "Wait, how did you know?" Chala asked. Her creators looked like they had known for a bit and her brothers looked like their jaws would hit the floor from the shock. Well, at least she had surprised somebot.

Her carrier smiled. "Chala, while we don't get out as much as we used to, we still have contacts. We knew the nano-click that you joined that you did. While we might not completely agree with your decision, we are grateful that you felt it right to tell us of your decision."

Chala was glad that her creators weren't cross with her.

"Vhere are jou heading today?" Her sire asked with a smile.

"Playback said that he was going to help me train today. The twins asked to come and I said that they could." Chala answered.

"I still need to zhank zhat mech for what he has done for jou. Vould jou mind if ve came along?" Blitzwing asked.

But, before Chala could answer, her carrier came in. "You can go dear, but I have to go and meet with Malwing. She wanted to talk to me about something."

Blitzwing nodded. "Very vell sveetspark. I'll call later! Love you." He then stood up before saying. "Come on jou zhree. Ve cannot keep Playback vaiting."

Chala was excited. Not only were her creators not upset with her, but Blitzwing was even coming down to see her train. This talk couldn't have gone much better. Though, she wouldn't have minded if they had decided to join the rebels with her.

Nodding, Chala led her sire and brothers to the training area. She couldn't wait to get started.

"Blacklight, I'm worried about my brother." Nylia commented as she took a drink of energon. The two of them had just finished training together and were now taking a small break. This break allowed Nylia to think about everything that had happened over the past few solar cycles.

"What do you mean Nyl?" Blacklight asked.

Nylia sighed. "I'm worried that he is making the wrong kind of friend. I don't like that mech Playback, or his friends." She was worried that they were taking things too far. While she had been grateful to him for saving her brother, she was worried that he would not listen to authority. Her most prime example was when Playback spoke against Megatron and Ultra Magnus at the concert. He had invoked Alliance law that no bots nowadays would think about doing, given that Chaom never comes out of his room and somebot needed to take charge of the Scouters.

"Nylia, he saved your brother. He is also trying to help get the Alliance back on its pedes." Blacklight countered.

Nylia shook her helm and took another drink of her energon before saying, "At what cost Blacklight? How much of our lives must this Playback change to achieve this? How much should he risk of our security to bring us up? Honestly, I think I would rather stay the way we are. The Virons aren't attacking us and no one has offlined who left them alone." She then stood up before pacing the room. She was getting herself worked up and she had to calm down. It wouldn't do her any good to overwork her systems. What if somebot wanted help in their training? While it seemed improbable, Nylia never wanted to be unprepared for a fight.

The last time that she had gotten into a fight was when Chala had gotten upset with her for saying that the young femme took too much risk when she would sneak out to those warehouses in Viron territory. The femme had thrown a punch and then the two went at it. While Chala wasn't half bad, it took Nylia at most, five clicks to put her back in her place. That was another thing that bothered Nylia about Playback. Not only was he doing these things, but he was guiding others to do the same. He had to be shown that he was not helping.

"Hey Nylia, want to put in another round of training?" Blacklight asked.

Nylia was tempted but shook her helm. "Nah. But, let's go see if anybot is in there before we head off."

Blacklight smiled and nodded before following her. The two of them walked down the hall for a while until they arrived at the training room. "Hey, somebot is in there." Blacklight commented as they passed the simulation area. No bot had used that in stellar cycles because they all feared that they would end up fighting Pandimala, since her data was still in the system.

"Well, let's go to the viewing area and see whose in there." Nylia stated, motioning to the door next to the training simulator.

Blacklight nodded before they walked into the room. Nylia was surprised to see Blitzwing, Pandium, Malium, and Chala already standing in there. It was strange that Blitzwing was out. He almost was never seen without Blitzkriea.

Their entrance did not go unnoticed. "Hello Blacklight and Nylia." Blitzwing greeted them.

"Who are you bots watching?" Blacklight asked as they walked next to the family.

"Playback is fighting the simulator to start my session with him. He is showing me how to expect the unexpected." Chala answered.

Nylia looked into the room and saw that Playback, at this click, was fighting a soligram of Sentinel. It was strange to watch Playback fight a soligram of their enemy. The mech seemed to be able to know where the soligram was going to attack and was effortlessly dodging it. It seemed almost unnatural.

"How long has he been at this?" Nylia asked.

"Well, he kicked the cans of Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Tana, Chem, Hinge, and Prowl." Malium stated as an answer.

Nylia and Blacklight both frowned. They didn't like it how Playback had beaten their creators, especially as easily as Malium was insinuating.

"And, he just beat Sentinel." Pandium added.

They all then turned to Playback as he walked up to the viewing window. "Ah, Nylia, Blacklight; nice of you to join us. Now, what did you all learn from that, if you learned anything?"

Nylia just stared at the mech. This was how he was teaching combat? It was laughable at best. They wouldn't learn anything from just watching. They had to fight to learn. That was how it had been since the Fall and that was probably how it would be for quite some time.

"You don't believe that you can learn anything from watching?"

Nylia and Blacklight jumped. How had Playback known what she had been thinking? But, she didn't want to let the room stay quiet so she nodded. "What are we supposed to learn by listening to you? The best training is that of servo to servo or full out. This is pointless." She then stood to leave.

Playback shook his helm when Nylia said that. This was the kind of attitude that he was hear to change. While the type of training she suggested was necessary, he knew that they needed to learn how to observe and make notes on an enemy's attack patterns and habits.

"Fine. Then why don't you and Blacklight come in here and show me that your way is better? If you beat me, then I will admit that I was wrong." Playback challenged. He was interested in battling them and he was sure that they would rise to the bait.

"I accept." Blacklight answered.

"So do I." Nylia also responded.

The two of them then walked out of the viewing room and, a click later, they were standing in front of him. Playback saw that they were glaring at him but he didn't care. He knew that they were upset that he was calling them out but, deep in their optics, he could see the fire of battle rising. It wasn't very strong yet but, hopefully, that would change when the battle started.

"So, how would you two like to fight? Servo to servo or full out?" Playback asked them. He figured that he would give them the choice of the fight so they couldn't say that he rigged it.

The two glanced at each other and nodded. That told Playback that they had trained like this before and had a preplanned battle strategy. They had no idea that it would be that planning ahead that would be their downfall.

"Full." Blacklight answered while transforming his left servo into a cannon and his right into a morning star. Seemed that he inherited one mod from his carrier.

"Good luck, 'cause you're going to need it." Nylia added. She then pulled two rotor blades off of her back and did a test swing. So, she was a double sword fighter. This would definitely be interesting.

Playback simply transformed his right servo into a blade before saying. "Very well then, on the buzzer." He then activated the countdown for the buzzer to go off.

As he waited, Playback felt pre-battle senses flowing though his systems. Automatically, he was analyzing every aspect that he could see. Blacklight seemed to favor his right due to the fact that he was supporting more weight on that side. He was probably going to launch at him as a distraction. Nylia, since she was slowly shuffling toward Blacklight, would probably launch into attack right behind Blacklight and, while he was busy taking care of Blacklight, would try to put him in a position of defeat right off the buzzer. Not a bad plan, if they weren't being so obvious.

When the buzzer finally sounded, it happened exactly how Playback had predicted. So, instead of confronting Blacklight, Playback waited. As soon as Blacklight got withing striking distance, Playback jumped over Blacklight and landed behind Blacklight before grabbing underneath his arms and throwing him into Nylia. As soon as the two crashed into each other, Playback ran up to them, ready to strike.

But, Blacklight surprised him. The mech had transformed his right servo from a morning star to a flail. Playback knew this trick very well and knew that he had to jump. So, that is what he did. They both looked shocked when he jumped away from them and landed almost exactly where he had started. This was getting fun.

"Come on, you have to have more then that?" Playback asked, taunting them.

The growl that came from Nylia told Playback that she had inherited her sire's anger issues...actually, she had inherited both of her creators anger issues. That meant that, most likely, she would attack him in rage. Also, that meant that she would most likely not think about her moves.

"Freeze. A tag has been issued." The computer generated voice of the room stated.

Playback respectfully lowered his weapons and wondered who had tagged the two because he doubted that the tag was for himself.

"Who tagged us?" Nylia screamed at the viewing area. Playback figured that she wanted to rip his helm off.

"I did."

The anger seemed to leave the two young bots in front of him as Tana said that. The femme that Playback's other side had known as a youngling walked slowly in, Hinge walking behind her. Now this would be a very intense fight, if Nylia and Blacklight accepted the tag. If they didn't, well, he knew that the match would be over quickly.

"Fine." Blacklight stated, listening to his carrier. But, Playback could hear the disappointment in the mech's voice.

"You won't stand a chance." Nylia shot at him before she followed Blacklight out.

Playback shook his helm and turned his attention to the two bots in front of him. Fighting two Guardians was exactly the kind of excitement that he had been looking for.

Tana stared at the mech in front of her. When Blitzwing had contacted her saying that Playback had challenged Nylia and Blacklight to fight him at the same time, she knew that she had to get down to the training center and watch. Hinge had asked to come with when she had told him where she was going and she knew that this kind of fight had sparked his interest as well. It would show them how they should train the young ones when they came to them. She was expecting that she would be watching an intense fight, especially since Nylia and Blacklight had been training with them the longest.

But, when the two of them had arrived in the viewing room, she had been surprised to see that Playback was skillfully beating them. While, to most bots, it seemed that the fight was even, Tana knew better. Playback was playing with the two young bots. He countered effortlessly against their attacks. Tana had stepped in to save the two bots from suffering a humiliating defeat. She could tell that Playback had been about to end the fight so she called the tag. While Tana could see that her son was upset with her, she would explain the situation later.

"So, same agreement as I had with Nylia and Blacklight?" Playback asked, dragging her out of her thoughts. The mech's monotone voice still confused her.

Tana was about to say yes when, to her surprise, Hinge interrupted. "No. I wish to add a time limit. We are expected back at our headquarters in twenty clicks. So, I propose a ten click time limit." Scrap. She had forgotten that they were going to have a meeting to discuss the mech in front of them. But, Hinge couldn't tell Playback the reason why since it was, obviously, about him.

Playback nodded. "That is reasonable. I expect a wonderful fight. Well, on the buzzer."

The three of them then waited for the buzzer to sound. It was strange. Tana hadn't felt this excited for battle in a long time. The rush of it all was coursing through her systems. Yeah, she trained with bots every solar cycle but she fought them so often that it felt like routine. This bot was new and that meant new techniques to overcome and learn.

When the buzzer sounded, she and Hinge charged at Playback in the way that they had practiced. It was how the Guardians started most of their fights. It was a way to tell how your opponent would fight. When she glanced at Playback, she was surprised that he was just standing there. Why wasn't he moving? There was not a single tactical advantage to him. Oh well. If he wanted to make this easy, then she would let him.

Tana took the lead, like the two of them had practiced, but she was surprised when Playback deflected her morning star with his arm and almost rolled off of her. He then threw a punch of his own at her, which she barely blocked. What she wasn't ready for was Hinge's deflected punch at the mech hitting her.

"Tana, are you ok?" Hinge asked as he ran up to her.

Tana nodded and returned to a fighting position. "Yeah, this mech is good."

"He seems to know what we are planning." Hinge commented.

Tana realized that the leader of the Guardians was right. Playback had moved too smoothly with that attack to be just going along with it. He knew what they were up to. "Ok, wild card?"

Hinge nodded. "Good plan."

Tana smirked before launching at Playback. Playback, finally, seemed unprepared for the sudden move and actually took a few paces back. Those paces made Tana feel like she was as young and energetic as she was in boot camp all of those stellar cycles ago. It reminded her that there was a way to have fun and battle.

"Now the battle starts." Playback stated. Tana could have sworn that he smirked.

Wait...starts? What had the mech been doing for the last few clicks, writing his epitaph? Tana shook her helm and swiped at the mech with her morning star again but was surprised when he blocked it with his blade. Now Playback was fighting back, and it was scaring her slightly. She had heard about how good he was and wasn't quite ready to witness it.

Tana tried to back off as Playback jabbed his blade at her but she hadn't noticed the tentacle that had, somehow, wrapped itself around her waist while she fighting. Luckily, Hinge had her back plates and deflected the blade. The tentacle then lost its grip on her and Tana took a couple of paces back before taking out her flail. It was time to bring this mech down.

"Time's up!" The automated voice of the room yelled just as the three of them seemed to move in tandem.

No. Way. It was impossible. That mech had just matched two Guardians in combat. It hit her straight in the spark. Had they really sank so far since the Fall that they couldn't take on one mech when the odds were in their favor? Tana shook her helm and walked up to Playback before extending her servo. "It was an honor to battle you Playback."

But, she was surprised when Playback shook his helm. "No Tana, the honor was mine to fight you two. I had heard the tales of the fighting superiority of the Guardians and I have now experienced with my own servos that those tales are most certainly true. Thank you for this opportunity." He then nodded his helm to Hinge before, surprisingly, walking out.

Tana stared after him in shock. That mech was just full of surprises.

"Tana, we should get back to Headquarters." Hinge started. "We have much to report to the others."

Tana nodded before following Hinge out of the room. But, as she walked, she couldn't get the mech's demeanor out of her helm. There was more to him then he let on.

Authoress: *smirks* Oh the things that I have planned.

Playback: *looks at Caliber* You just HAD to say something...didn't you?

Caliber: I said I was sorry!

Toxica: It's too late now! Thanks a lot Caliber!

AN: And here is quite the interesting chapter. Next chapter will have some scrap go down and *whispers* something happens that will change everything. But don't tell the OCs that I have told you this. *back to normal* Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to bring you the next chapter of this series. Until next time though, drop a review in! =D