Note: Finally! Chapter 19! Slightly later in the day than usual, but I wanted to get my homework done first. Pre-AP Biology waits for no one. But now I can finally tell you all who the twins are.

Drumroll, please.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker!

Once again, a guest was the first person to guess whom I'm talking about. They also got the reason right. Congratulations, Guest OG! Yes, Sunny and Sides are from the Pits. Well, that's what I get from other fanfics out there. I don't know everything, but I do try. Of course, that doesn't mean you're the only smart cookie out there. 17 (Guest), childofgod80809, Cyber Alpha, and Moonview also got it right! And I'm sure the futuristic readers have also had their guesses. (I CAN SEE YOU! I SEE THE FUTURE!)

I understand why Dreadwing and Skyquake were an answer, but they're not here yet. They do exist in my story, but not yet. I have to get through 20, I think. I fell behind in writing again. I have a plan! Don't worry.

On the nature of comments:

17 (Guest): Bots and Cons won't exist until the second story. Yes, the second one. I want to try and go all the way. I'll fix it later in... part 4? No spoilers, but it's pre-War, War for Cybertron, space, Earth, and maybe RID. I'll take breaks to write other ideas (and catch up on the sleep I lost writing this) in between. I also agree that a blushing Megatron is adorable. I should whip up a pic for that someday.

17 (Guest) (The other review): Yes, Bee is my favorite. However, I will branch out in other fics. For example, my OCs need backstories! A story about Scythe can't have Bee because he doesn't exist yet. And I'm so glad this story makes him so cute! I like sparkling Bumblebee.

Huh. This got long. Unfortunately, I OWN NOTHING. Really, use my idea. Just don't copy this. That's called being lame. Plagiarism too.

Bon appetit!


"Megatron! Megatron! Megatron!"

Megatron could hear the crowd cheering from behind the thick metal walls separating him from the arena. Bumblebee leaned on his leg as he too mentally prepared himself for the fight to come. Megatron would go first, facing whatever supersoldier Shockwave cooked in his lab. The former senator had truly taken to science since the most fascinating thing to him since the Empurata.

The seasoned gladiator shook his limbs to loosen them while Bee vented deeply. His caretaker was the best in the business. He always came back in time for recharge. He would be just fine. Right?

As if he could hear his thoughts like Soundwave, Megatron, his deep, gravelly voice comforting as always, said, "Bumblebee, do not worry. I will return. I am not Kaon's champion gladiator for nothing."

Hearing his thoughts voiced out loud seemed to calm the sparkling, but there was still something on his processor. "Meggy, do you have to kill it?"

The gray mech knelt to be closer to his charge. "Death is part of the cycle of life. If we were to live forever, there would be no room for new life. It is a balance. It is natural. I wish you didn't have to grow up here. I wish your carrier were still alive to love you. But here we are. Br-"

"Brought together by fate's guiding servo. Free to choose our destiny from there," Bee finished, using a line from one of his caretaker's speeches.

Megatron smiled as the door began to open. He caressed his ward's cheek before turning to the arena. He steeled his expression to face his opponent and stepped into the harsh light. The stands were filled with mechs and femmes, mostly lazy aristocrats. The gladiator raised his arms at the crowd, acting as if he had already won. If his opponent had any sense of pride, he would abandon his hiding place to keep it.

And abandon it he did. An Insecticon about the same size as Megatron ran at him from behind one of the burning piles of scrap metal. It reared its ugly helm to sink its denta into him, but Megatron forced its jaws open, trying to rip it apart. A clawed servo scratched at Megatron's chassis. It managed to slice through the outermost later of armor, but it was a superficial cut.

Megaton twisted the bug's helm, forcing it to back up. The gray gladiator used this opportunity to punch and kick at its torso. One punch sent it flying into the (audience's) safety walls. The Insecticon screeched and transformed into a flying beetle. It charged Megatron, who jumped on top of it and rode it into the ground.

Transforming, it bucked him off and threw him into the air. It changed into its alt again and slashed at Megatron's shoulder. He yelled as energon steadily dripped from the wound. The bug then shot him down from above.

Megatron lay still. The crowd went silent. The Insecticon transformed and loomed over him to land the finishing blow. Suddenly, the gladiator rushed to his pedes and, with a flick of his wrist, extended his blade and thrusted it into the bug's chest. It shuddered slowly and stared at the sword impaling him.

Its orange optics flickered as it fell off the blade, dead.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Megatron raised his arms again. He yelled, "I am Megatron! AND I STILL FUNCTION!"

The crowd roared its approval. The sound was deafening in the most literal sense. Megatron hoped the walls blocked out most of the sound from Bumblebee. Having your audio receptors replaced was not a fun experience, he knew.

"Mechs and femmes in our audience this orn!" he yelled over the crowd's din. "You came to witness a match between a beast," he gestured to the dead Insecticon, "and Kaon's undefeated gladiator. But now, I have a surprise for you. This orn, you shall witness this young gladiator's first match. He has been trained by Kaon's too gladiators, myself included. And now, I introduce you to Bumblebee!"

The door opened and the sparkling strolled into the arena, careful to hide any sign of nervousness. When he reached his caretaker, the crowd was whispering madly. Someone called out, "That's a sparkling!"

"Do not let his age deceive you. Just last cycle, he singlehandedly forced Soundwave to yield in a mock fight," Megatron said.

The audience fell back into murmurs. The Soundwave defeated by a mere child? Why that faceless mech was Megatron's only draw!

Bumblebee reset his voicebox and said, "Last orn, a mech challenged me on the grounds that I was spoiled and weak because of my upbringing. This orn, I aim to prove him wrong."

"This shall be a fight until one opponent yields. After all, the arena is a dangerous place and I'd like to have my legacy live on in someone's spark rather than in the footnote of a history 'pad.

"So, on one side we have Bumblebee! A young gladiator-in-training looking to preserve his pride!" Bee walked to the corner opposite where his enemy would be emerging. "And in the other corner, we have Azrael! Angel of Death!"

Azrael strutted into the arena, his double-ended blade thrust above his helm. He was mainly white with red accents trailing down his frame like red energon leaking from a mauled mech. His crimson optics were lined with black. Angelic wings protruded from his back, a sign of his raptor-like alt mode.

"The match will start when the door closes behind me. May the best mech, or mechling, win." Megatron left through the door they had both used to enter the arena. When the opening returned to bring a solid wall, a loud buzz resonated through the arena, signaling the start of the match.

Azrael just chuckled and casually strolled over to where Bumblebee stood. "You might as well yield now, weakling. Otherwise, you'll come back to your mentor dressed in gunmetal gray." He raised his blade to strike Bee down.

Something in Bumblebee's processor seemed to click. He rolled out of the way and nimbly climbed the larger mech's frame until he reached Azrael's throat. He unsubspaced the dagger he had gotten on his sparkorn, sharpened in anticipation of this orn's match, and slashed at his jugular.

Unfortunately, the winged mech realized what Bee was doing and threw the sparkling off of him. Bee tucked into a neat roll and stopped at a kneel. Spinning his staff, Azrael charged the little mech and tried to slice him into tiny pieces. Bee nimbly dodged the blades, imagining them to be the fans of an old-fashioned energon mill using the wind to grind the crystals into powder. The yellow sparkling slashed at any exposed protoform, though his aim was for the back of Azrael's knees. If he could bring the larger mech down, it would be easier for Bee to get to his jugular.

Suddenly, the sound of sharp metal zinging through the air stopped. A white pede slammed into Bumblebee and sent him flying across the arena. He slammed into the wall and skid to the gravelly ground. There was an awful ringing in his helm and he felt like it was too heavy. Azrael laughed and held up a fist as if he already won while stalking over to the downed sparkling. As he lifted his blade to land the finishing blow, memories flashed through Bee's processor.

His carrier, sweet and kind. Her energon warm in his tanks. Her gentle servos cradling his tiny form.

The day a strange mech took her away. Bathed in the light of orange flames, a murderer thrusting his sword into his carrier's spark chamber. A spark deep pain that wouldn't end.

His caretaker, Megatron. The first time Megatron held him. All the times Megaton kissed him goodnight. His first taint session with him. One memory, in particular, stood out.

He was 28 in the memory. Megaton had been teaching him how to redirect blows when Bee asked, "Why do I have to learn to fight?" Megatron stilled his servos. Bee filled them with his little ones and walked closer.

"Do you know why I have to leave many times a week?" was Megatron's reply.

Bumblebee scrunched up his face adorably in thought. "You have to fight to survive. And so does everyone else." At his caretaker's nod, he continued, "But why?"

"It is simply the way things are. But I, along with others, am fighting to change. One day, things will not be 'the way things are.' They will be what we make them to be. We will be able to choose."

"Then what about fate?"

"Fate is a fickle thing," he said after a moment's pause. But I do believe that we have been brought together by fate's guiding servo. Free to choose our destiny from there. And I choose to spend my life with you, you little scraplet." He tickled Bee's midsection, cherishing the childish giggles. "Now, show me what you can do."

"I'll grow up in whatever world I need to, Meggy. And if I have to fight for it, I'll make you proud!"

A voice brought him back to the present. "Say goodbye, runt. I doubt you'll be seeing your mentor anytime soon if his winning streak continues."

At the moment that Azrael brought down his blade, Bee reacted. His senses sharpened and he became hyperaware of everything around him. His reflexes sharpened and he twisted to meet the blade head-on. A resounding clang rang throughout the arena. Sharpened because of the cried silence.

Bumblebee had caught the sword between his tiny servos. He threw the blade aside, making sure it sunk into the ground. He snatched up his dagger and leaped onto Azrael's spiked knee armor. Bee launched himself off of the metal and drove his knee armor into his opponent's chassis at a small crevice between two plates of armor. Meanwhile, he expertly stabbed his knife between the cables in Azrael's neck, stopping just before his main line.

Azrael released his staff and stumbled backward until he fell. "H-h... How?"

"Yield, Azrael. It matters not how. Not now. Yield, and you will be spared." The tone Bumblebee used was cold, foreign to the cheerful sparkling.

The white mech stared at Bee in shock. Bee nudged his knee deeper into his chassis, just tickling his spark. The gladiator's vents hitched and he gasped, "I yield to you, Bumblebee. You are the victor."

Bumblebee carefully pulled his knee armor out of Azrael's chest and did the same with his dagger before dashing away in case the winged mech went back on his words. He looked to the silent crowd as Megatron entered the arena. Everyone was speechless.

"My name is Bumblebee. I may be a sparkling, but I am a fighter. And I will fight for my future, my friends, and for Cybertron! I AM A FIGHTER!"

The crowd went wild. The little sparkling had defeated Kaon's "Angel of Death," who was currently being helped to the medbay by Hook. Slowly, but surely, their words became one word, one name, repeated over and over again.

"Bumblebee! Bumblebee! Bumblebee!"

Megatron came to Bumblebee and lifted him onto his shoulders. Bee stood and roared a battle cry as he pumped his fist into the air. For the first time in his short life-cycle, he had felt the rush of a fight. The natural high sharpening his senses and quickening his reflexes. He felt pride rush into his spark as the crowd kept chanting.

"Bumblebee! Bumblebee! Bumblebee"


Note: Azrael's such an idiot. I planned on having a fight like this when Bee turned 50. Oh well. I needed some action where Bee could be boss. Woo! This chapter is already long from the story itself. My notes are just making it longer. So just leave a review and I'll get back to you! Till next time.

I hope Bee's catchphrase is cool. I didn't want to rip too much off of what Meggy's got.