Author's Note: I'm a bit iffy on this, chapter, because filler and all, but it is a necessary evil unfortunately. I hope you all enjoy it anyway, and if you don't, I apologize.

Chapter 21

"We're just gonna try something, okay?" Blaster said calmly to Sam, who watched them apprehensively. "We aren't gonna hurt him bad, alright. Just a few dents and dings." The idea to beat Bumblebee up a bit had been Drift's, which Sam was still extremely against. But, after all of the mechs had discussed why and how he had not just automatically healed Ratchet when the medic had picked him up. Granted, Bee had not been healed until Sam rested his hand over his vocoder so that may have something to do with it. He had suggested just trying it on an injury someone else already had, but Drift had to suggest that there may have been a link to Bumblebee.

That was how he found himself seated on the dirt outside, back resting against the rock outcropping that hid their temporary base. Bumblebee and the others were standing several yards away, trying to decide how to go about this. "Let's just act like it is hand to hand training," Hound said. "No need to force it; most bots get injured in hand to hand training anyway."

"That was because Ironhide was a rough trainer," Drift pointed out, earning a sharp look from the others at the mention of their deceased friend. "Are swords a no go?" Drift was already taking out his sword, moving towards Bumblebee. The other's yelped in shock, Blaster, Hound, and the symbiotes moving to get in the way. Sam was up, charging towards the mech as well.

Ratchet set a hand in front of Sam, leaning down to whisper as the other mechs argued with each other. "Let them handle this. There are some types of tension that can only be resolved like this. They need this." Sam wanted to argue, but his attention was snatched back to the others by a sudden loud crash. Blaster had been shoved to the side, falling to the ground and as his symbiotes went to help him up, Hound stood between Drift and Bee.

"Drift, this is uncalled for, mech. Put the swords away and we can just go through with the original plan." Hound stood up a bit straighter. He looked a bit taken aback, as did they all, when Bumblebee set a hand on Hound's shoulder strut and pulled him aside. The scout had his battle mask in place and cannon at the ready.

"No, this was always the plan, wasn't it?" Bumblebee's optics were fixed on the ex-decepticon, circling around him cautiously. "You've had an issue with me since you joined the Autobots. Why not use now to hash those issues out, right?"

"Ratch, this is going too far," Sam whispered desperately.

The medic shook his helm, watching the two mechs get ready to fight. "No. They know better than that. And if they don't, then Hound and Blaster will step in."

. . .

Many mechs feared the twins, although not for the same reasons they once did. Back when the twins first enlisted, everyone feared them betraying the autobots; and by the twins, they usually meant Sunstreaker would desert and then Sideswipe would follow. They were right to fear them. The twins were ruthless in battle, a side effect of growing up in the gladiatorial rings and training under Megatron. They came to know the twins better over time, though, and realized that they were not evil and ruthless like their mentor off of the battlefield. They behaved like the mischievous younglings they should have been, pulling all sorts of pranks and such.

You could tell that their time in the rings had affected them, Sunstreaker more so than his twin. Neither ever spoke of their battles in the rings. Sideswipe would laugh it off, claiming that no one wanted to hear their "boring war stories", while Sunstreaker often just got up and left. And after hearing what he had from Jolt, Prowl could not blame them. He imagined their side of the story was just as bad, if not worse than Jolt's. It had put a lot of their quirks into perspective.

That only made Prowl want to know more. He remembered when the twins had joined the Autobots; it was originally just Sideswipe, although his brother followed his lead shortly after. While both had been offered promotions before, like Bumblebee they opted not to take them. It was a peculiar thing, but Optimus Prime had respected their wishes. So the twins remained as simple frontliners, although they were each more skilled than that. Prowl no longer believed their original story of not feeling ready for a promotion after the story he got out of Jolt. And he felt the only way to figure it out would be to get the other half of that story from them.

He was actually surprised by how easy it was to get the twins to come speak with him. Generally they would avoid him like the plague, yet when he requested their presence in his office, they actually showed up. Prowl had to do a double take, and if Sunstreaker was smirking, he did his best to ignore it. They both took a seat before Prowl even asked them to, which shocked him even more. Sideswipe said they knew already that this would take a while.

Sideswipe started telling the story, beginning it when they were mere sparklings. It all started there according to him. The twins were given life by the allspark (a sparking during which there were complication due to the fact that their sparks split unexpectedly), and then given to a wealthy couple of artists who had actually put in a rare request to be given a sparkling. The mechs had been kind to them and spoiled the twins immensely. They put up with every prank the two mischievous little sparklings tried to pull, finding it hard to scold them until they were youglings. It was a bit too late to start disciplining by then. Sunstreaker had gladly taken up art, slowly starting to build up a reputation. Sideswipe had not found a niche in the caste as easily, but he eventually took up sculpting although it never satisfied him.

Neither of them were able to get very far in their careers.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had heard about the gladiatorial rings that were cropping up all of Cybertron, and while they at first passed it off as just rumors and hearsay, it had planted an idea in the yellow twin's processor. Sunstreaker began sneaking out at night, worrying their caretakers when he would come back in the morning all banged up. He had started to shut out their caretakers, snapping at their pleading to know what was going on. Sideswipe tried to approach his twin about it, but received the same short replies and sarcasm. It had hurt the red twin deeply, but he did not give up. It was through his pestering and hanging around his twin that he found out what his twin had been up to: Sunstreaker had entered in the gladiatorial ring there in the artist district of Cybertron.

Sunstreaker had been livid that Sideswipe had followed him. He yelled at him for what seemed like forever and told him to god home. "You're too soft for this," He had said. The words stung, but Sideswipe did his best to not let them get to him. He refused to leave, saying that if Sunstreaker was going to be an idiot and get himself killed, Sideswipe would, too. That earned him even more yelling from his twin and a threat to contact their caretakers. But Sunstreaker could not call them without turning himself in as well. So, with a lot more pleading, he let Sideswipe stay with him and fight.

They became pretty well-known not too long after, earning the nickname, "The Twin Terrors." They were ruthless in the rings, never relenting in their onslaught. Yet, when they returned to their home, it was like none of that life existed. They went back to the painting and sculpting, ignoring their caretakers' questions and passing off their injuries as simple rough-housing, and when night came, they headed to the rings to fight.

Their success drew the attention of none other than Megatronus, especially given their age. He approached them after one battle, waiting for them with Soundwave in the infirmary. He praised their skill in battle, saying he had not seen such young skilled fighters since his own younglinghood. They had actually preened under the compliments, glad that someone was proud of their accomplishments. He extended an invitation to visit the main ring in Kaon to see how "real gladiators fight" instead of the weaklings they had been facing.

Of course they had gone along.

The Pits were horrifying. Neither of them had expected such poor conditions, flinching away from all of the grime and dust. They were not used to it, both having become slight neat freaks because of their upbringing. How could bots live in such filth? Sunstreaker had actually asked Megatronus this, earning a dark chuckle from the mech. "Not all of us come into such wealthy, respectable households. Some of have to work for what we have, and that often requires a little grime." Sunstreaker had immediately been put off by that, his twin feeling the same. He wanted to go back home, but honestly had no clue how they would. Their caretakers were likely worried out of their processors trying to find them. They had made a huge mistake in going there, and the further they got into the Pits, the more evident it was.

"As the humans might say, we fell pretty far down the rabbit hole after that," Sideswipe mumbled, not even looking up from his own servos as the story had progressed; Sunstreaker was acting much the same. "He offered us a permanent place in Kaon to fight in the Pits. We said no, so he killed out caretakers and beat us. The rest…" He waved his servo in the air. "Ancient history."

Prowl let it all soak in for a moment, nodding slightly. He had known of their involvement in the gladiatorial rings, as most mechs had, but he never knew how it had started. Two parts of this story were filled in now. And there were only two other mechs who could fill in the other blanks, one who he believed was dead, and the other who was on Earth with their leader. For now, Prowl would have to survive with what he had. It was enough to go on.