It had taken them a long time to calm down after Ratchet's announcement. Prowl felt like his emotions still weren't under control completely, but he wasn't shaking in fear any longer.

"Alright," Optimus said quietly. "Sparklings. There hasn't been any sparklings since the Great War. Why would an Allspark shard turn us into sparklings?"

"I don't know," Ratchet growled. "But it did. I'm sure of it."

He seemed the calmest of them all. Prowl studied their medic. "It doesn't make sense, though. I'm actually older than Optimus, but I think I look younger," Prowl objected.

Ratchet studied him, then Optimus for a moment. He turned his attention to Bumblebee and Bulkhead next. "You're right. I'd say Bumblebee is the youngest in form, followed by Bulkhead, then you, then myself. Optimus is nearly ready for his first upgrade, I'd say. I'd have to scan everyone to be sure, though."

Sari was still staring at them. "Sparklings. That's like, kids, right?"

Optimus nodded. "Yes," he said. "We've… basically… been turned into kids. Ratchet. Is this going to affect us further?"

Ratchet scowled. "Why are you asking me, Prime? Do I look like I'm an expert on things like this?"

"You are a medic, and you know more about sparklings than any of the rest of us," Prowl pointed out.

"Well, I don't know. Sparklings aren't known for long memories, so we might have trouble putting things into long-term memory, or maybe we'll be fine, since we were all fully upgraded," Ratchet said. "Or maybe we'll all pop back to normal tomorrow."

"Let's… Let's hope that happens," Bumblebee said. Prowl turned to him. He was so young in form that his words were still in binary. Prowl heard Optimus repeat it to Sari, who didn't know binary.

Bulkhead wasn't too much better, his response was half binary, as if he was just learning to talk. "We just have to hope."

"Alright, everyone, let's get to the medbay," Optimus ordered. "Ratchet, if you can, get some scans. We'll camp out there tonight, and hope we wake up back to normal."

"And if we don't?"

Optimus turned to Prowl. "We'll make some plans then. Probably call for some help."

Prowl nodded. "We're too young, now. We can't fight the Decepticons."


Ratchet sighed as he went over the readings he was able to get. He'd been right- Bumblebee and Bulkhead were the youngest, and Optimus the oldest.

They'd put the shard into a shielded container, then Optimus had carried it to the storage room- he was the only one big enough to hold it- and locked it away.

Then they'd basically hunkered down in Ratchet's medbay. Really, it was just a room they'd put as much medical equipment as it could fit, but it had become the medbay. Sari, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead had fallen into recharge first, all in a pile and curled around each other. They were all close to the same size now, and their snoozing pile was unbearably cute.

Prowl had watched Ratchet work for a while, but he too had succumbed to exhaustion soon enough.

"Ratchet," Optimus said quietly. "Get some rest."

"I have to figure this out, Prime," Ratchet retorted.

"We're too young, your body will override you soon enough," Optimus said.

Ratchet sighed. He knew Optimus was telling the truth, but he didn't like it. Optimus came over and sat next to him as he turned around and sat, leaning against the table. "I'm worried, Prime. The scans I took said that we're all normal sparklings for our apparent ages."

Optimus sighed. "No sign this is unstable and we might revert back to normal?"

"No. Of course, I don't know what I'm looking for."

Optimus nodded. "Alright. I think we need to make some contingencies, but it can wait until tomorrow."

Ratchet sighed. "They're not going to keep us together," he said. "The Ministry of Science will want to study us, to find out how it happened."

Optimus sighed. "I know. But what can we do? We're sparklings, Ratchet. We can barely handle any of the equipment. And the Decepticons are here. We need help. Sari needs help. We're too small to protect her now."

That was the big thing, for Optimus. Some part of his programming had decided that Sari was an orphaned sparkling, and had decided that Optimus should become her caretaker. It wasn't entirely wrong, of course, but now he just worried about her, unable to protect her.

"We'll figure it out. The Council will want the Allspark shards here on Earth, if nothing else. We'll be able to get them to protect Sari, too."

"Do you really believe that?" Optimus asked bitterly.

"You're too young to be so cynical," Ratchet retorted without thinking.

They both froze, and then did their best to keep from waking the others with their laughter.

Once Optimus had calmed down, he sighed. "Get some rest, Ratchet. We'll figure it out in the morning, as a team."

Ratchet sighed and powered down his optics. Optimus was right. They'd figure it out. They always did. He felt himself lean against Optimus and let himself shut down for a few hours.


I really couldn't resist the "you're too young" joke. Also, I realized that I never specified, but the "interludes" part of this story takes place shortly after "A Fistful of Energon".

I have good news and bad news, folks. The good news: the chapters have caught up with AO3 and you'll get chapters at the same time they do. The bad news: the chapters have caught up with AO3 and you'll get chapters at the same time they do. It's a double edged sword, I'm afraid. Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying the story, and I'll see you next time!