Lightning walked into the Med Bay calmly. "S - Ratchet?"

"Back room!" The old medic's voice called out.

He went to the back room, looking to the elder mech.

Ratchet glanced up from the tools and blank protoform. "Okay, so the first step is to design your new frame." He pulled out a data pad and held it out, stating, "Here, take this and choose the alt mode model you want."

Lightning took the pad, skimming through the alt modes. "... This one's nice." He tapped on the image, handing it back to Ratchet.

The white and red medic took it from him, looking it over. "Hm... It's big, but doable." He looked back up at the blue mech, "You'll be a little bigger than Bulkhead after the procedure."

"And how big of a Bot could I carry in my alt mode?"

"Optimus and smaller."

Lightning nodded at that, "So most of the Autobots, then. That's good."

"Very." Ratchet set down the datapad. "Next is the tricky part - the spark transfer and protoform remodel."

"How will this go?"

"I'll be putting your spark in the new protoform here," he patted it for emphasis, "then upload the new alt mode schematics into the T-Cog while you're unconscious. Since it'll be the protoform's first form reconfigurement, it's gonna take four joors at least."

"Why couldn't we just alter my current chassis?"

"You have a Connective T-Cog, meaning that it would only cooperate with alt modes of similar sizes to your default model."

"Ah."

"Before we start, I want you to know the risks we're running here."

Lightning looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"During the procedure, there's a nineteen point seven three percent chance your spark could flicker out in the unfamiliar protoform."

"Oh. That's... Bigger than I'd like.

Ratchet tapped his chin, "If you had some sort of recently renewed bond, however, the chances would drop to point zero three."

Lightning raised his head. "... Would a twin bond work?"

The elder medic nodded, "It would. Have you and Ember renewed yours recently?"

"We did, last night."

"Perfect. Call her in."

::Em?::

::Yeah Lightning?::

::Can you come to the Med Bay?::

::Sure thing, bro.::

"She's coming."

"Good."

The two medics waited in silence before Ember walked through the Med Bay doors, announcing, "I am here! The party may begin."

"Back here, Ember." Ratchet called from the back room, arms folded.

The red femme walked in, giving Lightning a fist bump as she stood next to him. "Eh, what's up Doc?"

"Ratchet says that my spark has an about nineteen percent chance of failing in the procedure. But if you stick around to watch, the twin bond would keep me stable."

"Oh. Well of course I'm gonna stick around for my bro!"

Lightning tensed as Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "Oh, uh, what she means, sir, is that-"

"I respect your choice."

"You - what?"

Ratchet went about double-checking everything as he spoke, "I respect your decision. You wish to be a mech?"

"I..." He let out a brief sigh of relief. "Yes. I do."

"Then I'll be sure to give you male pronouns."

"... Thank you, Ratchet. Really."

"No need to thank me. Now lay down." He patted an empty berth next to the blank protoform. Lighting complied, and laid himself down on the berth.

Ember sat next to her brother, "So how long will this take?"

"Four joors." Ratchet replied as he hooked the protoform up to monitors and life support mechanisms.

"Oh. Wow."

Lightning turned his helm to face her, "Hey, sis?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you... Tell the team? About this?"

She grinned, giving him a thumbs up, "Will do, bro."

"Thanks." He gave her a tiny smile behind his faceplates.

"Alright Lightning, time to go under."

He nodded, offlining his optics. Ratchet then opened a panel on his neck and plugged something into it, putting him into stasis.

Ember watched as she opened the team comm link. ::Hey, everybody?::

Rose was the first to reply, ::What's up, Em?::

::One sec. Is everybody online?::

One by one, she got replies of confirmation. That's good.

::Okay, so, Lightning's getting a new frame today.::

Jade replied this time, ::T-To carry bots off the field, right?::

::Partly, yeah.::

She could practically hear Arcee raise her optic ridge, ::Partly?::

::Yeah. So, uh... He also wanted a more... Masculine frame.::

The comm link went silent, and Ember got worried. ::... Guys?::

And suddenly, it practically blew up.

Luna shouted - loud enough for Ember to hear it without the comm link, ::OHMYPRIMUSHE'SAMECH::

::Luna, sweetspark, we're all surprised, but you don't need to blow out the audio receptors of everyone on Cybertron.::

::Seriously, Luna,:: Bulkhead added, ::ouch.:

::Sorry sorry, just... Primus. Lightning's a mech now.::

::Good for him.:: Arcee interjected.

::Yeah!:: Sonic stated. ::I'm glad he's comfortable enough to come out.::

Ember smiled a little at their positivity, ::He'd love to hear how greatly you guys are taking this.::

::Speaking of which,:: Blacklight spoke up, ::why isn't he in on this chat? Just curious.::

::Oh, he has to be offline for the frame update.::

::Ah.::

::Yeah. He'll be back in four joors.::

There was a round of confirmation from them.

::Alright, well! I'll let you guys know when he's done.:: And with that, Ember closed the comm link.

The group of mechs looked at Jade as she closed the comm, and she looked up innocently, "What?"

"What was with that?" Swoop asked her curiously, pointing to her audio receptor.

Slug looked down at her, "And why did we hear Lunar Blast from the other side of base?"

"Oh! Uh, well... Lightning's a mech now."

"Good for him." Grimlock stated earnestly.

Jade nodded, "And he's getting his new frame now."

John looked at her, "New frame?"

"Yeah." Jade replied, making note of his lack of a battle mask - she'd noticed all the Autotroopers keeping them down lately. "Apparently Ratchet has this thing where he can change the chassis and alt mode of a bot."

The Autotroopers traded glances among themselves.

Jade frowned, then looked up at Grimlock, "Why didn't he give you guys your old frames back if he could do that?"

"Our insides are too messed up." Snarl told her. "You know who remodelled our frames so our spark chambers couldn't be transferred and our T-Cogs couldn't be reconfigured."

"Oh..." She gently placed her hand on top of Grimlock's massive one, "I'm so sorry."

Grimlock turned his hand over slowly to hold hers, "It's okay, Jade."

Jade smiled gently, standing up on his lap to kiss the side of his battle mask.

John looked over at the two of them as Jade sat back down, "We've decided something."

"What?"

Steve leaned forward as he, "We're gonna ask Ratchet for new frames. Not for the same reason as Lightning, of course. Just for, I dunno..."

"Individuality." Mark interjected.

"Yeah." Steve nodded to him, "That."

"Oh!" Jade smiled a little at that. "That sounds great, you guys!"

"And I'm gonna be a tank!" John added in, his optics lighting up brightly.

"That's... A big change." Jade admitted.

"Eh, maybe. But the reinforced armor and giant gun would certainly come in handy!"

Mark tapped his chin, thinking, "... Do you guys think I could become an X-Wing?"

Jade put on her ever-so-rare devious grin, "Ooh, trying to woo a certain femme with a new alt mode, are we~?"

Mark could feel his faceplates heating up, "Oh, shut up..."

"I hear heating fans~!" John teased, grinning wide.

Mark shoved him in the shoulder, making everyone laugh.

Jade smiled wide - she loved these guys. And she was so glad they liked her back.

Wait, what's this? A new update? When it hasn't even been a month since the last one?

In all seriousness, though, here's Chapter Fourteen! Not much actually happened, I know, but exciting things are to come in the future I assure you!

So, until then, have some cute spark touching moments among friends.

Til All Are One,

- Alpha