Optimusprimus001: Okay, so the last chapter ended on a depressing note... So this one has a few laughs in it to make everyone happy again! (smiles) And the chapter after this goes back to our mysterious mercenary and Starscream, so no worries here, Alright guys?

Shior: Just get it over with already... (sniffs)

Optimusprimus001: uhm.. yeah. What she said! (runs off as Shiori throws a chair at her) NOW what did I do?


11. Acceptance

She didn't know how long they'd been on the battleship, Mrrisst, since they'd arrived. She barely noticed the other six Autobots as they disembarked from the Klihari. Shiori hadn't stopped to look around in amazement at the huge hanger of the Mrrisst, nor did she take note of the numerous hallways that Optimus easily guided her through to a room for her to reside in while she was on board. Even as she sank down onto the recharge bed in the room, she didn't hear the door slide open and see the black droid, ZT-48, come in and stand by the doorway. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she never saw Hot Shot come in with some spare energon in his hands and stop in front of her.

"Am I... interrupting something?" He asked finally, tilting his head slightly to one side. Shiori looked up into his light-blue optics that gazed back at her questioningly. Shiori shook her head and Hot Shot nodded back. He hesitated before sitting down next to her, offering her the spare energon in his hand.

"Are you going to isolate yourself, Shiori?"

"I don't know, Hot Shot. If I'm don't now, I might later on," She answered softly, taking the energon he'd held out and took a small bite of of it. After swallowing it, she whispered, "I miss him already."

"I'm not suprised. Optimus said he'd catch up with us sooner or later, if it helps you feel any more sociable."

"Thanks for trying, Hot Shot," she said with a weak smile.

"Don't worry about it... Hey, have you been up to the viewport yet?"

"No, not yet..."

"Well, then how about you come look now? I bet you could see loads of stars that you can probably recognize. Optimus knew quite a few of them... But Optimus is Optimus, you know?" He grinned at her.

"Yeah, he is... I don't know, Hot Shot, I don't think I'm feeling well..."

"Come on! It'll help, and you'll have fun when you're with the rest of us!" he insisted, standing up and pulling her to her feet.

"Well..."

"Come on... You won't feel any better by yourself with a droid- No offense, ZT," he added, glancing at the black droid.

"Statement: None taken, Future Master," the droid replied as Shiori looked at him in wonder.

"Wait a sec.. 'Future Master'? What's that supposed to mean?" Hot Shot asked curiously. ZT-48 responded with a growl.

"Nevermind then..." Hot Shot said as he pulled away from the droid, coming up with a basic translation based off of Red Alert's usual "Go away" response when he started asking too many questions. He turned back to Shiori. "Come on, Shiori... Please? You can talk to Red Alert or First Aid if you think you're sick..."

"No, I think I'm feeling better. Thanks, Hot Shot," she said, managing a small smile, wondering at the persistance the younger bot had. He shot a wide grin back at her. "You're welcome. Now let's go up to the viewport!" he dashed out into the hallway, shouting, "I'll race you there!"

"You're on!" She called back with her first real smile since Starscream left, before transforming and racing after him. ZT-48 paused a moment before deciding that Shiori would be safe with Hot Shot, and continued to guard the room...


"Awesome! Look at that silver planet! The one with the white rings around it and the small red moon nearby? Do you know which planet that is?"

"That's Urnsat Major, and the red planet near it is Urnsat Minor. They're ruled by the same government. They're big in Energon-mining and trading. I used to live there a few cycles back..."

"Awesome! Reminds me of Velocitron from outerspace," Hot Shot commented.

"Reminds you of where?"

"Er... Forget I mentioned it."

"Alright...?"

"Oh! Look at that, Shiori! It's a comet!... I wonder which one it is..."

"It's probably Halley's Comet. It goes between Cybertron, past the Urnsat system, and turns back in a system that's called the 'Solar System'," she said, catching sight of the blue-white comet that Hot Shot had pointed out.

"Awesome..." He said, looking interested before a look of recognition flashed across his face. "Wait a minute... the Solar System? I've been there!"

"You have?" she asked, suprised.

"Yeah! Loads of times!" He smiled happily as Shiori laughed at his response. "It must be a nice place if you like it so much," she commented.

"Yeah... It's an awesome place."

"You like those two words a lot, don't you?"

"Which words?"

" 'Yeah' and 'Awesome'."

"Yeah!" he said with grin, hoping to make her laugh again.

"Are ya botherin' our newest guest already, Hot Shot?" Jetfire asked, coming into the room.

"Nah. She needed company."

"I don't know who gave you that idea, Hot Shot, but you're right- And thanks," Shiori smiled warmly at him. "I needed someone to get my mind off of what happened for awhile."

"Hey, I'm here whenever you need to talk. You can count on me!" he said with a brilliant smile of his own.

"I'll remember that," she told him, before turning to Jetfire. "Did you need me for something?"

"Nope, jus' checkin' up on ya to make sure yer alrigh'... Though it looks like Hot Shot's doin' a good job of takin' care of that," the Air Commander noted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hot Shot demanded. Jetfire and Shiori laughed.

"What does it sound like, Hot Shot?" Shiori joked.

"Now don' you go takin' that the wrong way, Kid," Jetfire teased, before being chased out of the room by a furious Hot Shot.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SAID IT, JETFIRE!" Hot Shot shouted after the jet, shaking his fist at him from the doorway. "Man!" he growled irritably, and looked back at Shiori to find her sitting on one of the chairs, laughing.

"What're you laughin' at?" He demanded, succeeding only in making her laugh even harder...


If anybody was watching the sky in the EnergonArmada dimension, they probably would have been astonished to see the huge silver-white battleship come out of warp next to the largest Autobot city, Iacon City, on Cybertron. The Mrrisst cast a huge shadow underneath it, reflecting the light from the city back at it, making the ship seem as if it was glowing. It's powerful hull was the shape of a curved triangle, with sharp, thin wings that pointed slightly downwards from the bridge and back towards the engines at the back of the ship. The viewport window was behind the bridge, in the center on top of the main hull. The upper hull was accented with a small, thinner lower hull below it that lead to the hangerbay. Dotting the hull were armed turrents that were unmoving, pointed straight ahead to the nose of the ship. Underneath each of the wings of the Mrrisst, near the main hull, was a longer barrel for long range fire.

It was this fierce, intimidating ship that slowly crawled towards a huge hanger, built specifically for it near the outskirts of Iacon City. As the ship settled into the anti-gravity beams that locked onto it and held it in place, a walkway from the spaceport extended out to the side of the ship, a level below the bridge. A door the size of the walkway hissed open in the hull of the Mrrisst, allowing access to the walkway to the spaceport. Moments later, Hot Shot, Shiori, Sideswipe, and Red Alert were stepping onto the walkway, and out into the Cybertronian air.

"Ah... Home at last," Red Alert sighed, starting down the walkway. Sideswipe cheered and ran down the walkway happily.

"Be careful, Side! You don't want to push Red off!" Hot Shot called after him.

"I know, bro!" The younger, blue-yellow bot called back before slowing to a near-stop beside Red Alert and hugged the medic. Red Alert yelped in suprise.

"When did you get there?" Red asked, looking down at the small bot. Sideswipe smiled up at him. "About five seconds ago..." he answered. Red Alert sighed, and hugged him back.

"Hehehehehehehe... Lookie who came back!" a slightly high-pitched voice giggled.

"Oh brother..." Hot Shot growled, looking around for the black-camo 'Con he now knew was hiding nearby. "You had better have stayed out of trouble while we were gone, Cyclonus!" he shouted, taking a step forward in front of Shiori. Cyclonus laughed, and jumped up from below the walkway and landed in front of him.

"Now why would I do that for you?" Cyclonus gave him an insane smile. "It's not like I can blow anything up since you guys took my weapon's power chips anyways."

"That's aside from the point..." Hot Shot said, glaring at the black, grey and white copter-bot in front of him. The 'Con giggled madly before dashing down the walkway.

"HEY REDDIE! Where did you guys go anywaysie?"

"... How many times have I told you NOT to call me that?"

"Uhm... Five hundred and eighty-six thousand, nine hundred and fourty-two times?"

"I'm amazed you can remember that number and not remember not to call me 'Reddie'."

"He has a weird thought process, Red. You know that," a different bot reminded him, walking down the walkway from the other direction. Cyclonus giggled again.

"Hiya, Demmy!"

"What? I didn't say anything wrong again, did I?" Cyclonus snickered, looking at the brown, red, and olive-green mech. Demolisher's mismatched optics stared back at him.

"I have no idea why I put up with you..." He sighed finally. Hot Shot and Shiori followed Cyclonus down the walk, listening to the conversation curiously.

"Do any of us?" Red asked sarcasticly, escaping Sideswipe's hug.

"True enough."

"Heeeeyyyy... I'm right here!" Cyclonus whined at them.

"Since when have you cared?" Demolisher asked him.

"That's true," The copter giggled before dashing around Red Alert and Demolisher, and headed down the walkway into the spaceport laughing wildly. Red Alert put his forehead in his hand and shook his head back and forth.

"Well... He always makes an interesting conversation," Hot Shot noted.

"I guess..." Shiori agreed. Seconds later a loud yelp issued from the hallway the 'Con had gone down.

"YOU DARE TO RUN INTO ME, CYCLONUS!" a deep, rumbling voice roared.

"I didn't mean it, sir! AH!" came Cyclonus's response. A moment later a black-grey camo helicopter flew out of the hallway and rushed off in a different direction. Heavy footsteps rattled the walls as the mech Cyclonus ran into followed him to the walkway. Shiori noticed that Demolisher was trembling, and that the Autobots with her suddenly looked uncertian. She looked back down the walkway and gasped as she saw a huge transformer standing furiously by the opening to the spaceport.

As he started down the walkway towards them, his blue optics flashed dangerously, making his scowling face seem dark with anger. His entire frame was mostly purple and silver-grey, though bits of black and teal-green armor was visible. On his chest was the Decepticon insignia, and a black 'V' stood out on his forhead, giving him the appearance of having horns. As he got closer, Shiori also discovered something that was rather rare- the mech was taller than her. Stunned, she realized that this Decepticon was probably a fearsome warrior on the battlefield. And by the look on his face, if he didn't get some answers to his questions fast, the walkway they were on would probably turn into a battlefield.

"WHERE IS STARSCREAM?" he roared furiously. Shiori froze. What does he want with Starscream?

"Uh... well.. you see, Megatron..." Red Alert began, only to be seized by the Decepticon.

"I don't want an explaination, Autobot," Megatron snarled, inches from Red Alert's face. "I want to know why he isn't here right now!"

"Hey! Put Red down!" Hot Shot demanded, stepping towards the Decepticon. Megatron dropped the medic and turned on him.

"Then perhaps YOU will give me the answer?" Megatron sneered, starting towards him.

"Starscream decided to stay behind for awhile, Megatron," another voice said from behind Hot Shot. "And if you're going to mess around with Autobots, you might as well start with me."

Megatron snapped his head around to look at the Autobot behind Hot Shot. Shiori turned to look at him as well, and nearly gasped with suprise. For there, standing behind her, was Optimus, only he looked different than when she last saw him. One thing she noticed was that he was shorter than he had been on the ship, though he was still taller than her now. Looking him over, she found several other differences from either Optimus that she remembered.

Optimus stood behind them, watching Megatron calmly with his gold optics as the Decepticon glared at him. He kept his white and black weapons up against his back, behind his red wings that stretched out impressively as he quickly took in the scene before him. His red, white, blue, and gold frame twisted ever so slightly at his waist as he glanced behind him to see Jetfire and the other Autobots leave the Mrrisst. Swiftly turning back to face Megatron, the glass in his chest panels reflecting the light from the city, he looked the Decepticon leader in the optics.

"You're outnumbered, Megatron."

"Petty numbers never stopped me, Prime," the Decepticon rumbled angrily.

"Fair enough. What do you want?"

"What I really want, is what I wanted twenty-nine million years ago. But for now, I'll settle with 'Where is STARSCREAM?' !" Megatron finished with a ground-shaking roar.

"Stasrcream will come when he decides to, Megatron. You may be waiting for quite awhile- and the longer you stand in the way, the longer it will take for Starscream to return."

"Fine," Megatron growled, whirling around and storming back into the spaceport. "Don't think we've finished here, Prime. I'll be talking with you about this later..."

"I'm sure," Optimus watched him go before letting out a soft sigh. "Even in a peaceful era, he still doesn't know when to quit..."

"Well, he has gotten better at controling that temper of his," Red Alert pointed out, rubbing his neck painfully. "Though the occasional outburst can hurt..."

"That was close," Hot Shot sighed, still looking uneasily after Megatron.

"Who was that?" Shiori asked.

"That's the Decepticon leader," Sideswipe said instantly. "You don't want to get on his bad side- like Optimus has."

"I've been on his bad side for twenty-nine million years, Side. I doubt another twenty-nine million years would change his opinion," Optimus commented. Twenty-nine million years? Didn't Optimus say fourty-five on the Mrrisst? Red Alert frowned thoughtfully.

"That's very true," Sideswipe agreed. Optimus turned to Shiori.

"Now, let's find you a place to stay, shall we?" he asked with a kind smile underneath his silver battlemask. Shiori nodded.

"You're going to have to introduce me to a lot of people, I think, Optimus. I won't know who's who if you don't."

"Well," he began, "There's Demolisher here, who's usually pretty truthful and... kinder than some of the other Decepticons..."

"Please don't tell Megatron that, sir. He's hard enough on us already," Demolisher requested, blushing slightly.

"Of course," Optimus laughed, before putting his hand on Shiori's shoulder, gently pushing her towards the spaceport and walking beside her. "There's also Override and Clocker from a planet called Velocitron. Hot Shot races with them quite a bit in his free time. Then there's Snarl, from a planet that we called 'Beast Planet'. He's usually in the park in the city, he loves to play with the younger bots. And there's also some other friends I'm sure you'll recognize..."

"Optimus!" someone shouted, and he looked up to see a white and light-green femmebot running towards him.

"Elita!" he called with a laugh, stepping around Shiori and catching the other femme in a hug, lifting her from the ground and swinging her around in a circle once before setting her down.

"You guys were gone so long... We were afraid something had happened to you all," she began, before noticing Shiori. "And who would you be? You must feel horrible to be dragged back like this- and without a good welcoming party to welcome you! How dare you not tell us you were bringing back friends, Optimus!" Elita laughed, and hugged Shiori. "How about I show you around, sweetheart?"

Shiori laughed as she saw the embarrassed look on Optimus's face. "Sure. Don't be too hard on Optimus, he didn't do too bad. Blame me for not warning him to warn you."

"I'll forgive him, then. Now let's show you around and introduce you to some of us," Elita smiled at her, and with a wink at Optimus, began to show Shiori around the city...


Shiori: (laughing so hard she's crying)

Optimusprimus001: (smug) I told you it would be funny.

Shiori: THAT WAS HALARIOUS! XD And poor Hot Shot doesn't know when to quit while he's ahead... And Cyclonus calling Red Alert names was funny too... And then Elita telling Optimus off at the end... (still laughing as she goes to her new room)

Hot Shot: Poor? Since when was I poor?

Red Alert: Don't I just feel -UN- loved.

Optimusprimus001: Its a figure of speech, Hot Shot. Red Alert, Get over it.

(both glare at the author)

Optimusprimus001: Uhm... What are you looking at, exactly?

Red Alert: On three?

Hot Shot: One and a half, I think...

Optimusprimus001: HOW ABOUT ZERO! (takes out a handgun and fires it at Red Alert)

Hot Shot: Holy Primus! SHE'S ARMED! RUN!

Red Alert: Now you tell me... (moans)