Author's note:

Hello! This is the sequel to A Tragedy on Griffin Rock. Each chapter in this story is inspired by the lyrics of a song by the band Skillet-so the chapter name will give you a hint as to the content of the story. (If you know the song)

Enjoy! ;)

"Just close your optics, Chase," Ratchet says, inserting an IV. "When you wake up, you'll have your limbs back."

Chase closes his eyes as Ratchet induces recharge. The prosthetics had finally arrived and the medics were going to fix him up.

A couple hours later, Chase wakes up from stasis. When he opens his eyes, everyone is staring at him. "How long have you all been watching me?"

"Come on, try out your limbs!" Heatwave exclaims, practically jumping up and down.

Chase looks at his forearm. It was as if he had never lost it in the first place. Heatwave wraps his arm around Chase's right side to support him as he takes his first step. After almost a year of limping on his right leg, Chase is not used to walking with both legs. He gingerly puts his weight on his left leg and tries to jump on his right.

"Forgot how to walk?" Chief laughs.

"Apparently it's not as easy as I remember," Chase huffs.

"It'll take some getting used to after walking with only one leg," Ratchet says.

Chase hobbles around, getting used to the idea of two legs. His team cheers him on, happy to have him back. After a few minutes, he can walk normally. "You're on the waiting list for a T-cog donor, but who knows how long that will be," Ratchet says. "Good news is, it's easier to transfer because it's one of the organs that can stay alive outside the body longer than most."

"What's a T-cog?" Hayley asks, confused.

"A T-cog is the organ in our body that allows us to transform into another shape," Boulder explains. "Without it, we're stuck in one mode. It's located on our left side, around where your kidneys would be. That's why it had to be removed when Chase crashed."

"I can finally walk!" Chase exclaims. "When's the next emergency?"

"Woah, there cowboy," Heatwave says. "Take it easy. You're still not used to walking."

"But I am so full of energy!" Chase whines. "I want to save lives! I'm ready to serve, save, and protect!"

"At least wait until tomorrow to do any big emergencies," Ratchet huffs. "Today, focus on walking and getting used to using your limbs again."

Chase sighs dramatically. "If you insist."

And use his limbs he did. Chase was more active that day than he had been before the accident. Chief likened him to a squirrel on Red Bull. Heatwave likened him to a chihuahua. The townsfolk were delighted to see their police bot back in action, although a few were miffed at his energeticness. He almost stepped on people multiple times.

"I've never seen you so bouncy," Chief chuckles as he watches his Cybertronian partner jumping around the yard. Chase was about two thousand years old, but in human ages, he was in his young twenties. Chief found it funny that he was mentally older than a two thousand year old alien.

"Receiving a limb will do that to you," Chase says, moonwalking.

"You can dance?" Graham gawks.

"I'm just warming up," Chase snickers.

"He can't sing, but he sure can dance," Boulder chuckles.

"That's news to me," Kade snickers. "Old rulebot can pop and lock."

Two days later, Kade and Hayley called a family meeting. "Whatever it is you've called us here to hear, make it long," Blades says. "I'm so tired of entertaining Chase!"
"I thought you enjoyed dance competitions," Chase frowns.

"Not for hours on end!" Blades says, miffed.

"Enough!" Kade shouts. "We've got good news to share."

"What is it, son?" Chief Burns asks.

Kade and Hayley grin at each other and hold up a small picture. It was a sonogram with a little baby in it. Everyone gasps. "You're pregnant?!" Dani squeaks.

Hayley nods vigorously. "That was what the doctor's appointment was yesterday."

"Noble!" Cody exclaims, tackling Kade with a hug. "I'm gonna be an uncle!"

"You beat me, Cody!" Chase laughs.

"Oh my gosh, this is so wonderful!" Dani says, as her and Hayley giggle in delight.

"Congratulations, son," Chief says, giving Kade a hug. He couldn't suppress his smile.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Kade grins.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Blades asks.

"It's too early to tell, Blades," Hayley says.

"Hopefully a girl," Heatwave says. "Don't want a little Kade running around the Bunker."

"Hey!" Kade protests, but he's grinning.

"When's the baby due?" Graham asks.

"April 8th," Hayley says, barely able to contain her grin.

"That's so far away," Quickshadow tilts her head.

"Well, I'm only about twelve weeks along," Hayley says.

"Human gestations are longer than Cybertronians," Heatwave says, snickering at his sparkmate's confusion. "We went through that same conversation when Professor Baranova got pregnant. They're pregnant for forty weeks."

"How long are Cybertronians?" Hayley asks.

"Twenty weeks," Quickshadow says.

"Lucky," Hayley sniffs.

Their happy news is cut short as the emergency alarms go off. Chief answers the call. "Cece fried Trex's circuits and now he's loose in the town. Let's head out team."

"Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue," Heatwave says as the bots transformer. "Or run to the rescue for some of us."

Chase grins with excitement.

The team arrives on the scene where the Greene's robotic dinosaur was creating chaos in the town. The bots corner him while the humans clear the area. "What does Doc want us to do?" Heatwave asks.

"Disable his circuitry," Chief says. "He'll fix it when we bring the robot back."

Disabling a giant robotic T-rex going insane was easier said than done. The bots struggle to corral Trex towards Boulder so that he could shut down the robot. After a quick struggle, the dinosaur grabs Heatwave by the arm and throws him into Boulder before trampling Chase and Quickshadow. Blades attempts to pull the dinosaur back by his team, but gets dragged around on the ground before being forced to let go. "Look out!" he shouts as the dinosaur heads straight for a group of humans.

The Rescue Bots aren't able to reach him in time. Suddenly, a green sports car skids around the corner and heads straight for Trex. The car transformers and kicks the T-rex back. Boulder and Heatwave grab the robot and Boulder disables the T-rex with a sigh of relief.

"Lynx?" Graham asks, addressing the green bot.

"You remember me?" she crosses her arms and pops her hip out.

"You're part of Quickshadow's spy team," Kade says. "Came to their wedding."

"Lynx, what a surprise," Quickshadow says, embracing her friend.

"Indeed," Chase says, getting up. "Those humans would've been flattened."

"Thank you for your help, Lynx," Chief Burns says.

"Oh, you don't have to use that name," the bot sputters. "That's a codename. My real name is Onca."

"Onca," Boulder says. "Like the Jaguar?"

"Exactly," Onca winks and the usual mechanical noise that signified a transformation alerted the humans to step back and give her room. Instead of becoming a car, though, she merely changes a couple characteristics of her bot mode. Now she had black jaguar rosettes, a tail, cat-like optics, and ears.

"Onca," Quickshadow hisses, facepalming.

"I ran it by Optimus," Onca shrugs. "You can tell them yours."

"Quickshadow isn't your real name?" Blades asks, offended.

"Our real names are kept a secret," Quickshadow frowns. "Only Optimus and a select few in the higher ranks know our identities. We all have multiple covers we've used on different missions. Then we have a designated family alias. Only family and trusted friends know that alias. Mine is Quickshadow, her's is Lynx."

"So what's your real name?" Cody asks, appearing on his bike.

Quickshadow rolls her eyes, uncomfortable. "Uncia."

"Uncia?" Graham frowns. "I'm sensing a pattern here."

"During the war, Optimus needed a covert group of individuals who could seek out information about the Decepticons," Quickshadow explains. "The five of us were chosen because of our skill sets. We trained hard and were upgraded. The project was called the Panthera Project. Each of our upgrades were based off of a particular cat from the Panthera family. Uncia is a snow leopard, Onca is a jaguar."

"Who were the others?" Kade asks.

"Flarestalk is Tigris," Onca says. "Stormdusk is Leo, a lion."

"You said five," the Chief says. "But you've only mentioned four."

"Pardus was the leopard," Quickshadow says. "But he's… dead."

"Oh," the team says in sympathy.

"So Uncia isn't your real name, either," Blades says. "A codename, too?"

"It wasn't my first name, but it's my new name," Quickshadow says. "You don't have to call me by it, though."

"Good, I'm used to Quickshadow," Kade grins.

"What are you doing here, Onca?" Chief Burns asks.

"Well, I don't have any missions," Onca sighs, "and I don't have a home. So I thought I'd come by and see if there was room for one more Rescue Bot recruit."

"You're always welcome," Heatwave says.

"Seems things changed around here," Onca says.

"Well, we were still repairing buildings after the tsunamis the last time you were here," Chase says.

"I was referring to you, hot stuff," Onca says, smiling flirtatiously. She daintily lifts his left arm with her fingers to explain before sashaying off.

Chase looks between Onca and Quickshadow as the team conceals their wheezing. The white femme stifles her giggles. "Onca, Tigris, and I are all flirtatious. Onca, just a little more outright."

"Clearly," Chase says, rolling his optics.

The next two days consisted of Dani and Hayley talking about babies, Onca flirting with Chase and Chase trying to stay away from her. "I've never had girls flirt with me before. I don't know what to do," Chase told Chief one day.

"You had girls flirting with you in the academy, you just never noticed," Heatwave says. "He's the A student in the group who happens to be a hottie."

"Shut up," Chase rolls his eyes, blushing.

"The two of us got very good genes," Heatwave snickers. "We're also… ripped in human terms. And Rescue Bots. Femmes were all into that on Cybertron."

"Personality comes into play, too," Chase says. "Boulder got many femmes swooning after him, too."

"Everyone loves Boulder," Heatwave says.

Boulder tackles him with a hug from behind. "Aww, that's sweet." Heatwave merely shakes his head, tolerating the hug.

Flarestalk—or Tigris as Onca called her—came to Griffin Rock later on. Unfortunately, she made her first appearance behind Blades and scared him. He took to hiding behind Boulder. She informs them that she was following an Energon signal that led her to Griffin Rock. The bots lead her around the mountain to where the signal was.

After digging in the caves, they discover an amazing find. "The signal is coming from this stone," Tigris says, gesturing to the large, Cybertronian sized stone.

"This stone isn't from Earth," Boulder says, examining it. "It's…It's not even a true stone. It's a stasis case!"

"That's a stasis cell?" Graham raises his eyebrows.

"An ancient one," Chase says. "Way before our time. Way before Blurr and Salvage's time! Before Cybertron was as high tech as it is now, bots used a special crystal to freeze their Energon and put them in stasis. Then a special stone would build around them to protect them."

"So that's a bot!" Cody exclaims.

"An ancient bot," Quickshadow says. She proceeds to speaks in Cybertronian. Then in English. "Perhaps whoever this is is from what humans would call the colonial days. Maybe even as far back as the medieval days."

"So this bot is really old," Kade quirks an eyebrow.

"We gotta wake him or her up," Blades says. "You guys should be in our cockpits. There's no telling what this bot will do when they wake up." The humans climb inside their bots. The bots reverse the stasis process and the stone disintegrates, revealing a sleeping bot. She starts to wake up and looks around in confusion. She begins to speak in rapid Cybertronian. The bots talk back to her. After she had calmed down, the bots explained the conversation to them. "She's very old," Heatwave says. "From the Viking days."

"Is that why she's wearing clothes?" Kade asks. Indeed, the foreign bot was clothed in what felt like metallic clothing. Not quite metal, not quite cloth. She had a blue apron-like dress over her pink chassis, and a colorful belt that had been braided out of the same threads at her apron. Over her hips was a long skirt that was slit on the sides. The skirt was red and had Viking-like writing on the hem, just as the apron did. On the straps of her apron were two metal pins that held a string of beads and she had a necklace around her neck. Accompanying her attire was a long, scarf-like blue shawl. Her only two possessions were a horn with old writing on it and a comb. Her dark blue wirelocks complimented her blue optics.

"Yeah," Heatwave says. "In our time, our everyday clothes were just metal armor. Most other species assume it's part of our body. But back in her day, they used cloth similar to kevlar."

"So the Vikings have wirelocks, too?" Dani asks.

"A select few races have wirelocks," Boulder says. "Onca's race, Galaxy's race."

"That's Galaxy?" Graham asks.

"Yep, this is Galaxy," Blades says, pointing to the Viking girl.

"We're bringing her back to the Firehouse," Heatwave says. "She needs catching up on what she missed and we need to know how she got here."

The bots lead Galaxy out of the cave. A rumbling occurs. "Kade," Heatwave says, looking into his cockpit. "What was that?"

"Rockslide!" Chase shouts, pointing up at the large boulders and mud headed straight for them.

"Look out!" Heatwave shouts.

The bots jump out of the way. Boulder grabs Galaxy and rolls her out of the way of the rockslide. Tigris pulls Blades back roughly and a rock just misses his rotors.

The rockslide subsides and the Cybertronians recover. "Everyone good?" Heatwave asks.

"We're good," Cody says.

"Thanks," Blades says shyly.

"You're welcome," Tigris says and walks off.

Boulder helps Galaxy up and she says something in Cybertronian shyly, playing with her wirelocks.

"I believe that was a thank you," Dani grins implyingly.

The bots bring Galaxy back and take a few hours to commerce. When they come out, Galaxy is speaking English. "When'd you learn?" Graham asks.

"Oh, I do not actually speak your language," Galaxy says. "Your friends have equipped me with a universal language translator device."

The humans are confused. "When we came to Earth, we didn't speak your language," Boulder explains. "We had a universal translator, which is a device that filters your words and writing into Cybertronian and our words into English."

"So you can't actually speak our language?" Kade asks, shocked.

"We couldn't when we first came," Heatwave sighs. "But now we've learned. We're not talking with a universal translator right now."

"How'd you get to Earth?" Chief asks Galaxy.
"My tribe and I were exiled from the planet," Galaxy says. "When we came into your atmosphere, our ship was hit by meteorites. We fled the ship and landed on your planet. I have no idea where the rest of my tribe is. I put myself in stasis after a week of no Cybertronian contact."

"I'm sure it was quite the shock for you," Chief Burns says.

The femme nods. "I thought your friends were naked." The humans thought that was funny.

About a week later, the team celebrates Cody's fifthteenth birthday. The Greene's came over for the celebration and Woody Burns surprised them with a visit. "Cody!" Woody exclaims as his nephew tackles him. "Oh my gosh, you've grown so big! I remember when you were first born!"

"It's hard to believe he's fifteen," Chief Burns says.

"You're youngest is growing up, Charlie," Woody says, clapping his older brother on the back.

"Don't remind me," Chief sighs.

Cody's birthday is a smashing hit and the team sits around the table after cake and presents. The bots formed a circle around the humans table outside in the driveway. "You guys added to your ranks while I was gone," Woodrow says.

"We didn't mean to," Boulder says, laughing. "They just sort of invited themselves in."

"Tell me stories about Cybertron!" Cody grins.

"It's your birthday," Blurr says.

"But I like to hear your stories and learn about your planet," Cody says. "We've told you a lot about Earth and our family stories. Tell us some of yours."
"What would you like to hear?" Heatwave asks.

"We've got more stories than we can count," Blades says. "Most of them end in some sort of disaster."

"How did you guys become Rescue Bots?" Cody grins.

"Oh, he picks that one," Heatwave says as the bots laugh. "Well, we went to the Rescue Bot Academy. It was known for being the top school for emergency responders. It's the only place Rescue forces can train."

"How does it work?" Frankie asks.

"Well, you need stellar grades in your field to get in," Boulder says. "Then you have an interview with one of the professors so you can get matched up with four other bots."

"You are teamed up with your Rescue force at the beginning of the year," Chase says, "and train throughout your time at the school with them. There are three Standard team members and one Variable. The three Standards are Firebot, Policebot, and Medic. They are essential to the team. The Variable can be any other field. Ultimately, the Variable's job decides what your missions are. They could be Detectives, Search and Rescue, Coastguard, Animal Control, Special Ops, or Military, for the bots that join in their older ages. Sometimes Engineers and Psychologists are allowed in."

"If you can convince them that your job could be useful, and survive your first year, you're in," Boulder says. "Because I'm an Engineer, we dealt with more structural-related disasters."

"In the Academy, your teammates call you by your name, your Professors by your last name, and the other students by your nickname," Blades says. "Your nickname can be based on your appearance, a characteristic, an ability, or just some wacky thing your teammates called you."

"What were your nicknames?" Cody asks.

"Well, ours were either a physical characteristic or a wacky nickname," Heatwave says.

"Ooh, so what were they?" Dani asks.

"Well, Chase was automatically called the Fuddy Duddy," Heatwave snickers. "Blades got spooked easily in class and we all know how high his voice goes so he was Squeaky. Occasionally I would call him the Whining Oven Mitt—don't ask. My nickname came about towards the end of the first year because I became so overprotective of my team, so I was Papa Bear." The group laughs. "Yeah, I resented it at first, but now I'm proud of it. Boulder was called Bull Twinkie."

"What?" Graham laughs.

"Heatwave and I had an argument in the cafeteria and he called me a Bull Twinkie," Boulder grins. "The name stuck from there. Turns out, it suits me more than we thought. I'm big like a bull and soft like a twinkie."

Everyone starts laughing. "You had no idea what Sigma 17 would do," Quickshadow laughs. "They were so unpredictable. You might say they were the Griffin Rock of the academy."

The team in question laughs. "Yeah, we were trouble makers," Heatwave nods. "Each in our own way."

"How did you know that?" Blades asks.

"I was part of Rho 18," Quickshadow says. "I was a year behind you."

"Captain Spangles!" Boulder exclaims. "Ah, I remember you. You've changed since then. I didn't recognize you."

"You guys knew each other?" Cody asks.

"Yep, we've changed so much that we didn't recognize each other," Heatwave says. "On her team they had Stinky No-Socks, Googly, and the Wannabe."

Cody wheezes with laughter. "You got to explain that! Captain Spangles? Stinky No-Socks? Wannabe!"

"Well, the class clown covered me with glittering paint on the first day, so I became Captain Spangles," Quickshadow explains. "Our team leader—who's peds always smelled like burnt oil—never wore ped protection so he smelled really bad."

"You guys wear socks?" Graham asks.

"No, but socks is more fun to say than 'ped protection,'" Heatwave snickers.

"Googly had the biggest optics and Wannabe was the biggest af—skid plate kisser," Quickshadow continues. "Heatwave called her Wannabe after she kept kissing up to our professor."

"That's hilarious," Kade laughs.

"Heatwave actually gave a lot of the nicknames," Quickshadow says, putting a figure to her chin. "He was the king of weird nicknames. He employed his nicknaming skills during fights, so Chase, Boulder, and Blades have a whole laundry list of nicknames."

"You guys fought a lot?" Dani asks.

"That's one way to put it," Heatwave laughs. "When we first became a team, we did not get along. There was constant bickering and fighting. The whole Academy knew of us because we made a ruckus."

"Our biggest fight—I can't even remember what it was about—ended with us tapping four squares around our dorm room," Boulder chuckles. "You couldn't go into anyone else's square unless allowed. If your stuff was inside their square, you couldn't get it. Chase and I made you pay with money to get it, Blades made you pay with candy, and Heatwave made you do something embarrassing."

"Oh gosh, like what?" Dani asks.

As the bots talk, Quickshadow hears rustling behind the Firehouse. While the others were distracted, she removed herself from the group to check out the noise. When she walks around the back, she sees a Cybertronian flower laying on top of a chip.

Quickshadow picks it up. It is a snow white lily from her planet. From the center spills out a couple drops of Energon, staining the lily blue. A shudder runs up her spine. Then she turns on the chip and reads the holoform message.

"Dear Uncia. I see that you've found quite the family here on Griffin Rock. You've developed your patience since the last time we met if you can deal with the speeder. Your sparkmate is handsome enough. I guess you're no longer pure and innocent. This lily is an apt representation of you. Innocence stained with Energon."

"I hope that young Cody had a good birthday party. Fifteen years old. At his age on Cybertron, he would be a full grown mech. Perhaps he should be treated as such. I would treat him like a mech."

"Perhaps you treat him like a child because he is still sweet and innocent. Innocence is such a fragile thing, don't you agree?"

"Enjoy this day with him. It's a pity that you can never know how much time is on someone's clock. Cody is as innocent as a white lily."

"Sincerely, Pardus."

Quickshadow starts shaking as violent images flash through her mind. Images associated with the white lily and that name. "He's here. He's here! He's after Cody!"

Next chapter: Circus For A Psycho