Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.


Authoress: *blows off dust* Well, this has been sitting here for a while.

Megatron: *angry* A while? It has been almost two years human!

Authoress: *huffs* Well, you aren't the only story that has been waiting for an update. Just be happy that I am getting up all an update.

Megatron: *glares*


Chapter 2: One Small Step…

Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

I stared at the monitors in front of me as they projected the scene now taking place in downtown Detroit. I had expected the Autobots to send reinforcements to Optimus Prime's team here on Earth, but I hadn't expected those reinforcements to arrive so quickly. I figured I had two, maybe three solars, to get my base settled and everything up and running the way that I wanted them to. But, with the Elite Guard ship landing here, my plans were going to have to be changed. That was especially so depending on the Cybertronians that they brought with them.

When the bay access doors came down from their ship, I watched as a light blue blur moved down and stood in front of Optimus' yellow scout, Bumblebee. That blue mech was Blurr and I knew that we were going to have to watch his speed during fights. After him came the two jet twins that the Autobots boasted; Jetfire and Jetstorm. While they could be a challenge on their own, we would have to be careful when they combined into their unified form. They would be able to tie up one of my soldiers on their own.

Then, the Prime of this group walked down. Although, it was with much disdain that I used the word 'Prime'. The little Autobot that I fought, and who defeated me before, was more worthy of the title than this one from what I had seen and heard of him. After this bot, came the one called Jazz. He was a participant of the last battle here on Earth that I had when I was defeated. I would have to keep an optic on him.

After that mech, a dark blue grounder called Setophis walked out of the ship. While I didn't have much information on this mech, the information that I did have told me that I had to be careful. He was proficient in circuit-su and other types of martial arts that pushed the Cybertronian chassis.

When the last bot appeared at the opening of the ship, I found myself curious for the first time in a long time. I thought I had seen the files of all the Autobots who traveled with the Elite Guard. I even had the one on Setophis and he had just joined them four solars ago. However, this last bot, who was black with red hips and red trim around his helm, had a nervous look on his white faceplate that translated into his blue optics. How he had this nervousness, though, I wasn't understanding. He was the tallest of the Autobot who exited the ship, and I could see from the sides of his helm that he had the ability to produce both a battle visor and a battle mask. He was built for battle and yet he looked nervous.

"Shockwave," I addressed one of the two other bots in the room with me. Both bots, Shockwave and Starscream turned toward me. "what information do you have on that mech?"

My information specialist and tactician looked up at the monitor showing the arrival of the Elite Guard's arrival. "That is a mech called Dunce. There isn't much information on him from the files. However, one item of interest, except that he was in their boot camp for only one solar, is that he is the first bot since the middle of the Golden Age to come from a carrier and sire and not the Well."

"Very good Shockwave." While it was interesting to note that the mech was not from the Well, the other piece of information caused me to brush thoughts of the mech to the side. A bot who could not even complete more than one solar of the Autobot boot camp was not worth his time. So, he moved to another piece of information he needed. "Have you received any information from our contact on Cybertron?

When Shockwave had returned to me, I was surprised to hear that he had been able to convince an Autobot to help us and, once we had all the information that our new informant could get, they would leave Cybertron and join us Decepticons.

"No my Lord," Shockwave answered my question. "Security will most likely be tight after our escape and he will most likely not be able to get the information to us until the commotion our leaving caused calms down."

I nodded at that. It made sense. I had two main goals for the Decepticons that I was aiming for right now. The first of these was to gather any and all forces that I could to Earth so we could swell our forces. Then, we could use the space bridge here on Earth to attack Cybertron. Of course, that swell would have to be slow enough to not upset the locals.

The second goal for the Decepticons was to try and convert as any Autobots to my side as I could. This would help with the first part, true. However, there was more to this goal. I had lost myself and my goals when I had gone mad with power. During this time, I lost much support to the Autobots. With my processor working in the right direction, thanks to my capture at the servos of Optimus Prime, I needed to regain my support. I needed to show the galaxies that the Autobots were the true enemy in our civil war.

And for this goal, I planned to start with the team of the Prime that captured me. I could tell, by fighting him, that this Prime and his team truly worked to live up to what the Autobots said their standard was, and what my own was at the beginning of my fight and now.

If I could accomplish both of these goals, then I could stand a high chance of being able to take down the Council and their corrupt ways. I just needed to push forward and gain as many allies as I could. that would allow me to take the fight to Cybertron and take out those corrupted bots who thought that they could rule as they were and get away with it.

Alright, this was enough talking. Our Autobot guests had just arrived and I would be a terrible host if I did not greet them personally. "Starscream," My second in command looked to me. "have Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Lockdown meet us by the entrance. Along with our other ally, we are going to give the Autobots a welcoming committee."

"Right away," Starscream responded to me before walking out of the room, already on the comm.

As he did, I rose from my throne and, once I was heading down the hall, I connected to the comm that my other soldier gave me. "My Lord, is it time?" The voice on the other side asked me.

I could hear the excitement in the vocals that answered me. So, I did not waste time in answering my soldier. "Yes, it is. We will strike the Autobots in the open. Wait for myself and the others to be in confrontation with them before you join us. Attack the area that looks like it is our weakest point."

"Of course my Lord. Until then." My soldier responded before the line disconnected.

With that taken care of, I moved to the entrance of the base. It was time to test these Autobots and see what Optimus Prime's team had learned since our last encounter as well as see just what this new Elite Guard team was capable of.

Jazz's 1st P.O.V.

This was going to be an okay trip. At least, that was what I was hoping. We had all just disembarked from the Steelhaven. When I locked optics with Prowl, I smiled before I walked over to him. "Hey Prowler, how have you been holding up?"

Prowl, in return, sighed. "My name is Prowl, Jazz. Who's that?" He then motioned over to Dunce. It wasn't too surprising that Prowl hadn't heard of the mech before. Dunce, since he was normally running around doing errands for S.P., didn't interact with many bots outside of the Elite guard. Frag, I had even heard of Setophis before, and he was a pretty obscure bot. But, I was pretty sure that, if I wasn't a part of the Elite Guard, then I would not have been able to recognize Dunce on sight.

Don't get me wrong, I was sure that just about every bot on Cybertron had heard of the bot before. He was the first bot since the middle of the Golden Age to come from two bots, a carrier and a sire, instead of coming from the Well. However, I was just as sure that many bots had never actually seen Dunce before.

So, I motioned for Dunce to come and join us. The nervous mech cast a quick glance at Sentinel before he walked over and stood next to me. "Prowl, this here is Dunce. Dunce, this is my good friend Prowl that I told you about."

To my relief, Dunce smiled at the mech and shook his servo. "It's nice to finally meet you Prowl. Jazz has told me a lot a about you."

Prowl nodded. "And it is nice to meet you as well Dunce. I think-"

"Dunce!" Prowl was interrupted by Sentinel's yell at my teammate.

As usual, Dunce seemed to sprint over to S.P. with that same nervous look that he normally had on his faceplate. "That was...unusual." Prowl commented.

"Dunce was only in boot camp for a solar before the Council took him out and placed him as S.P.'s personal errand bot," I responded to the hidden question that I was pretty sure Prowl was asking. I then shook my helm. "I don't know why, but I get the feeling that something is going on between S.P. and Dunce."

It had happened about two solars after I had returned to the team. I had been walking through the living quarters that our team shared and, when I had passed Dunce's room, I could hear sounds like the mech was struggling. So, I had opened the door and I had been surprised to see Dunce trying to fix a dent that was on his backplates. Our team hadn't had training, and even then Dunce usually didn't participate in the training given...well...his lack of boot camp experience.

However, when I had asked the mech about what he was doing, he claimed that S.P. was giving him private training to help him get to the point of maybe completing boot camp one solar. But, there had been some things wrong with that. First off, S.P. didn't just help bots like that. It wasn't like him at all. Secondly, the response he gave me sounded to automatic at the time. It sounded like he was just repeating a line that he had been coached to say just in case something like that happened.

Now that I was really looking at the mech, as Sentinel talked to him, I noticed that his faceplate seemed a little dented.

"Should I tell Optimus?" Prowl asked.

Shaking my helm, I motioned to Dunce. "No. I don't have nearly enough proof to say anything to anybot else besides you." I then looked around and remembered that this was Dunce's first time to Earth, and honestly, his first time traveling out of sight of Cybertron. "Hey Dunce, Prowl was just going to show me everything that's been changing since I was last here. Want to join us?"

Immediately, I could see the hesitation in Dunce's optics as he looked between Prowl and me, and Sentinel. "We need somebot to watch the ship and Dunce would be best at doing that."

I could see Dunce start to look defeated and so I pushed my offensive. "I think that might be up for debate S.P., but what isn't is the fact that a bot should get used to how a city is set up if they are going to help to the best of their abilities. You've been to Earth before, while Dunce has barely been away from Cybertron, let alone here on Earth."

Dunce almost looked panicky as Sentinel looked like he was being backed into a corner. Why was that? Wouldn't Dunce be relieved that he was going to be able to investigate the city with us if Sentinel lost right now? Before either Dunce or Sentinel could say anything Setophis stepped over to Prowl and me, to my surprise, before he spoke. "Do you mind adding one more to your group of three Jazz? While I've visited other organic planets, this Earth is unique among them. Plus, I could help defend you all if we do get attacked."

"Sure Set." I agreed to the mech, even though I was curious. What was Setophis up to? On our way here, when Sentinel and Dunce were out of the room, he had told me that he was really only interested in getting to the Autobot base here on Earth once we arrived to look up their past experiences in fighting here. Said that it was to prepare himself for what might show up in the future. So, why was he now suddenly saying that he wanted a tour of the city?

With the defeated look that was now on S.P.'s face, though, I wouldn't question it for now. Setophis' sentence helped get Sentinel to let Dunce come with us. "Fine. Go. But Dunce, you will be on the ship for the night to stand guard."

I noticed that Dunce looked extremely nervous at that before he nodded. "Y...yes Sentinel Prime sir." He then quickly moved over to us.

Since the four of us were now gathered, Prowl started to lead us through the streets of Detroit, pointing out different places that he thought would be notable. I was glad that my friend was able to pick up what I was trying to do. Getting Dunce away from Sentinel, and relaxed a little, might let the bot open up a little about his interactions with Sentinel. It was worth a shot at least.

Dunce, while for the first few minutes was silent, soon started to ask a lot of questions that centered around different things here on Earth. He asked what trees were, why the living plant life was green for the most part, what the different creatures that hung around humans were called, and a variety of other things that I figured he would ask since he was new to the planet and all.

Finally, though, he asked us if humans were dangerous to us. I let out a laugh at his question. "No way Dunce. Actually, most organics that you are bound to run into on this planet are not dangerous to us in the slightest."

Of course, Prowl had to rain in on my teasing. "Don't act like you've known that all along Jazz. I think I remember something the others told me about your first trip to Earth. Sari couldn't stop laughing about how you thought she was going to spew acid at you."

I frowned as Prowl revealed my little secret about the situation. Of course, the frown wasn't on my face for long as the other two started to laugh at that. That caused me to smile and laugh with them. Getting Dunce to laugh like that, even a little, was worth giving up the fact that I acted a lot worse on my first trip to Earth than Dunce was right now.

Eventually, the four of us made our way to the park and, while there weren't many humans in the park, a group of six young adult males came over to us and started to talk with us. I smiled as they answered more of Dunce's questions and when they finally asked Dunce a question about our sports, I was genuinely to learn that Dunce enjoyed lobbing. I hadn't even realized that Dunce knew how to lob, let alone that he liked to.

So, I agreed to call Bulkhead to see if he could bring his lobbing ball to the park so they could show the humans one of our sports. It would be interesting to see their reaction to it. Of course, I really didn't care as long as Dunce was happy and having fun. This was probably going to be the last time he was off-world for a long time and I wanted him to enjoy every nano click that he could.

Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

As I hovered outside of the range of the Autobot's sensors, but still close enough to observe them, I found myself curious. Both teams were out and most of them seemed to be enjoying watching a lobbing game that was going on, the annoying Prime looked to be begrudgingly tolerating this. And not just that, but even stranger was the upset look that the Prime was sending to the mech who couldn't get through boot camp.

And it wasn't just that. The bot that was receiving those looks seemed to be extremely worried about those very looks. Something wasn't settling right in me about those looks. They took me back to the conversation that I had on my way here with Shockwave over the comm. While the records showed that the bot had not completed more than a solar of boot camp, looking over scans of the bots that we were able to access showed that he should be just as capable as any other bot down there, if not more in a couple of cases. There was something not adding up about that mech and, while I told myself that I was not going to be wasting time on the mech that was useless on file, I was now finding myself becoming more interested in the mech.

However, while I would like to continue to watch the interaction between the Autobots below me, I did have to give them my own greeting to this planet. When I transformed, Starscream and Lugnut followed suit and, soon, we were all facing toward the Autobots, who along with their human viewers seemed startled by our sudden appearance. I smirked at that. Foolish Autobots. A large portion of them came here to chase me, surely they should be ready for an attack to come?

"Surrender Decepti-scum!" The obnoxious Prime yelled out.

….Ah, that was right. His designation was Sentinel. His name did not match him in the slightest. Sentinels were silent soldiers who kept watch. This mech just blabbered along and didn't take in his surroundings.

I let out a chuckle. "I do not see any of your Autobots that could make me, little Prime."

That caused a growl to come from the annoying Prime before he charged at me. While it was amusing to tease the Autobot, I did not want to waste time in fighting this bot. there were other Autobots that would give me a much more impressive fight. Thankfully, Lugnut took on the Prime along with a few of Optimus' team. The other Autobots and my Decepticons soon fell into battle, leaving me to fight Optimus. Out of all the Autobots that I had faced in battle, I respected Optimus here the most. While most Autobots only preached about equality and giving chances to all, Optimus and his team actually lived those qualities. They were the same qualities that I had fought for during the Great War and they were the qualities that I was once again fighting for.

Movement from the corner of my optics had me glancing to my side. I was surprised to see that Dunce was not taking part in the battle. Was that because he thought that the others could handle my Decepticons or was there another reason? While I wanted to test out that theory, I was locked in combat with Optimus.

Thankfully, I was not the only one who noticed, and my final troop arrived on the scene from the sky. "My apologies for my late arrive m'Lord. It won't happen again." Lightning Bug, the soldier who had contacted me the other night, spoke before he unfurled his wings. Unlike most of my Decepticons, Lightning Bug was a sub-sect of Cybertronian called an insecticon. And, he was unusual even for an insecticon. Instead of being like a beetle, like most of his kind were, Lightning bug transformed into a creature that matched very closely to Earth's butterflies. His wings were black with yellow spots in the four main corners of his wings that were just like a butterfly's.

But, he had a devastating power to them.

"Of course Lighting Bug." I acknowledged my soldier. Even though the red battle visor that he wore covered three-fourths of his white faceplate, the smirk that appeared on that faceplate conveyed his eagerness to join the battle.

And, as I fought the Prime in front of me, I observed as he launched at Dunce. Instead of looking afraid or nervous, as I thought I would, I watched as the before nervous mech set his pedes and took a defensive stance. As he stopped Lightning Bug from advancing too far, I noticed that the remaining humans were still trying to get away. So, was it because Lightning Bug attacked him or because the humans were still in danger that this Dunce fought?

Also, another thought appeared in my processor as I blocked the Prime I was fighting. The files on Dunce said that he had only gone through one solar of boot camp. But, the mech was fighting Lightning Bug, who was a very skilled fighter in his own right, like it was a battle exercise.

After Dunce parried against a blow from Lightning Bug, the insecticon took a few steps before his wings started to spark. And that spark was not from an injury. It was that devastating power that his wings could unleash. Lightning Bug was unusual from most Cybertronians due to the fact that his wings could draw in any form of electricity, including lightning, and store them in his wings. That stored lightning would either be converted into energon or…

"I don't think you'll block this one Autobot." Lightning Bug said with a smirk before the electricity that was sparking around both wings shot out toward Dunce.

My optic ridges raised in surprise. No, Dunce did not block the lightning. Instead, the Autobot ran at the lightning and, right before he connected with it, he jumped over the attack! Lightning Bug was so stunned that he must not have realized that Dunce was on him until the young mech's pedes were landing on him, throwing my soldier back a few paces. This was not the actions of a bot who was not able to pass the Autobot boot camp, let alone only one solar.

I knew my attention was now focused on this strange Autobot so I threw the Prime toward where Lightning Bug was standing. "Lightning Bug, switch me," I ordered my solder before taking out one of my blades and charging the Autobot. It was one thing to deal with an agile fighter like Lightning Bug was, but it was something entirely different...I was surprised that the young mech was able to pull me into a stalemate by blocking both of my blades, not losing much ground himself. "Impressive Autobot," I spoke to the mech before I broke the stalemate and took a swipe at the mech.

And I was still surprised that the mech was able to quickly and effectively deflect my blade to cause me to expose myself. When they young mech lashed out right away at the weakness, I had to quickly step back. However, the young mech seemed prepared for that as he followed it up by launching at me and kicking me away. While the kick did not cause me to fall to the ground, it did cause me to lose more ground. When I looked up again, the young mech had retreated to a point where I could not continue to follow him, not with the responsibility of my other troops on my shoulders.

However, now I was extremely curious about this mech. While I had not been fighting to the top of my ability, even the young Prime that I found myself enjoying to fight would not have been able to react as quickly as the young Dunce did to deflect my blade and then follow up with a slash and a charge. This told me that I was going to be doing a lot more research into this mech. Hopefully, our spy on the Autobot side would bring me more information on this strange mech.

"Don't let them escape!" The annoying Prime yelled as I looked over my troops, who were forming around me.

"Decepticons, return to base." Then, after jumping into the air, I hovered for a few nano-clicks as I let my optics study the tall Autobot who had just caught my curiosity. Then, I transformed before leading my troops back to our base. I had much research to do and every nano-click counted.


Megatron: *torn* I can't decide whether I want to thank you or offline you.

Authoress: *smiles* Aw, you like me.

Lightning Bug: *studies Megatron's look* I'm not sure about that Authoress.


AN: And here is the next chapter!...Yes I know it has been a while but at least it is getting updated! I don't abandon stories, but they might sit and collect dust...sometimes a lot. But, they will move forward! This chapter got us to Earth and Megatron is now curiuos about Dunce. Where will that go?

Oh, and I would be remiss to not mention the arrival of a new OC, Lightning Bug! He is going to be a lot of fun and I hope you all enjoy him more in chapters to come!

Like with my other stories, I'll give you the names of the next couple of chapters coming up.

Chapter 3: Recovery

Chapter 4: With a Touch of Planning

Chapter 5:...(find out next time!)

That's all for now. Please leave a review, and if you can't think of anything just say hi! I like the hello messages too. =) So, that is all for this solar. Until next time, TTYL! *listening to Roman History*