Chapter 8: The First Meeting of Optimus Prime and Nightshade

The Ark G1verse- Present day

"Any sign of Nightshade at all?"

"Nothing, Prime! She's just vanished off the face of the earth!"

"This is nothing new, Prime! We all know Nightshade to be like a giant cat! Here one day gone the next! She may have been callled back to UNIT?"

Voices. They were all around him. Where was he? Was he still in the Nemesis? Was he a prisoner of the Decepticons of this dimension? His systems were already coming online. Checking them all he found that everything was functioning at top efficiency.

"But what about Galvatron? It's not like Nightshade to leave a teammate behind?" he heard Ironhide ask. Onlining his optics he found hinself in the med bay in the Ark. The golden walls of the Ark calmed him down as his optics adjusted on the golden lights of the med bay.

"There must be a reason for Nightshade's disappearance!" Optimus spoke as Galvatron slowly rose up from the med berth he was lying on.

"She was captured!" Galvatron spoke out. He shifted away from Ratchet as the white and red medic went about to seeing that his systems were working properly.

Ironhide growled and revved his engine towards him. "Why should we believe him? We made sure that no one was left behind!" he growled towards him. Ironhide stood between him and another med berth. The med berth that Spike was lying on. The young boy was in a deep sleep with life supports hooked up to him. His heartbeat was being monitored much like that of his Spark. "And I know Nightshade! She would not allow herself to be captured by Megatron or Shockwave!" he growled.

"Ironhide enough!" Optimus shouted. His blue optics moved from Ironhide to Galvatron. "Galvatron what happened after I left?" he asked. His baritone voice calmimg every Mech in the med bay.

Galvatron looked at his clawed servos. What did happen? He remembered Unicron appearing along with The Fallen Prime. He remembered him taking a curse from the Choas Bringer as Nightshade faced Seth and Leatherback. Her fight was a fight of wits until Jazz arrived and took Spike away from Leatherback allowing Nightshade the open that she needed to send the two away. He was then pushed to side by her and Nightshade had taken the full blast of Unicron's powers.

"She tried to get Spike away from Seth and Leatherback! Then Jazz arrived and brought him back to the Ark! I was being attacked by Unicron until Nightshade pushed me aside to take the full assult!" Galvatron explained looking at the Prime in front of him. He could see worry pass through Optimus's optics and the faceplate that was not covered by his battlemask. "The last thing I saw before going into stasis was Nightshade collapsing to the ground. Then I came to here!" he finished. The worry he could see within Optimus Prime had grown tenfold.

Optimus looked overt at Blaster. The red and yellow cassette player looked back at his prime. "Blaster I want you to get in touch with the Moonray as quickly as possible!" he ordered the Mech.

"On it Prime!" he replied before walking away from the gathered Mechs. His cassettes following behind him.

"What is Nightshade to you?" Galvatron asked. He had seen Optimus from his dimension take great care of his men before but he had not expected Nightshade to be one of those people. She seemed to distance herself as far as possible. A trait that he had seen Arcee from his dimension do.

Optimus looked at Galvatron as he stood across from the silver and black mech. His faceplates showed a calm facade that was not showed by his blue optics. His blue optics were filled with a past that he had seen himself get into when he remembered Orion Pax before he took the mantle of Prime.

"I have known Nightshade for a very long time! There is a lot of history between the two of us that I see her more as a sister than anything!" he began to explain. He ignored Ironhide snorting behind him. The older mech pretended to know a lot about Nightshade but to be fair not even Alpha Trion knew much about her. "I first met Nightshade just before I took the Matrix from the Core of Cybertron to become Optimus Prime! For you see I was originally a dock worker who had been attacked by Megatron for not standing aside for his troops. It was then that Alpha Trion and a Mech I had never seen before or after appeared. That was when I had meet Nightshade!"

The Senate Iacon, Cybertron G1verse- 6 million years ago

Orion Pax stood before the Council. The Mechs that made up the Council were from the highest elite families of Cybertron. Their optics locked onto the small red and blue dock worker. The dock worker who had been met by Enforcers as he had gone to work to take him to the Senate within Iacon.

"Orion Pax!" the oldest member of the Council greeted the young dock worker. "I am sorry for the fright that you no dealt had when we had Enforcer Kup escort you from your apartment to here!" the Council member spoke again as Orion Pax looked over his shoulder plates.

The doors behind him opened as someone gained entry into the council. He found himself watching Kup, the old Enforcer was followed by a much younger Mech as they walked up to the gathered Council Members. "Alpha Trion! She's arrived and is awaiting outside!" the old light green Mech said speaking to the oldest member of the Council.

"Let her in! Don't leave her outside as an acid storm is due to hit Iacon at any moment!" Alpha Trion spoke to the guards who stood at the door. The two mechs went about opening the door to allow someone else to walk into the Council Room.

Orion Pax watched as a creature that looked like a Predacon stalked into the Council. Its sharp metal claws scrapped against the metal floor of the Council as its tail swung side to side. Its wings were folded into the creatures side but even from that he could tell that the wings could put a Shuttles wing to shame. Red optics jumped from one Mech to another as if looking for the weakest one to attack. Those optics then jumped to him.

He found himself stepping back and into Kup. "Easy there, kid! That's no Predacon I can assure that it wont attack out of bloodthist!" the old Mech said before pushing the small dock worker into the creature's path.

Optic to optic he took another step back when the creature lifted up its paw. Sharp claws clinted in the light of the room that the council was meeting. Those claws were sharper than a gladiators blade and he had heard that many of the Decepticons had been in the Pits of Koan fighting for the entertainment of the Council Members and their families for centuries.

The creature lowered its paw back to the ground. "I am sorry if I offended you! Its just that I have learned that when you meet someone you shake their hands as a form of greeting!" the dark metallic coloured Predacon-creature spoke with an accent that Orion had never heard of.

Orion stared at the Predacon. Its red optics studied him with intrest. "I'm sorry! I just didn't expect you to speak!" he stuttered stepping aside to allow the Predacon to move about. "I thought you were a guard dog like the Insecticons are to Megatron!" he said. He knew he was digging a big hole for himself the more he spoke but he just couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nightshade my dear how was your flight?" Alpha Trion asked coming between the two and saving Orion Pax from embarrassing himself any further.

Nightshade looked up at the tall Mech. "It was quiet which is unusual for the Moonray as it likes to send me on misadventures!" she replied to the purple and red Mech. Her red optics then returned to Orion Pax before going back to Alpha Trion. "Why have I been called here, Alpha Trion? Not that I don't enjoy my visits to Cybertron but normally you call my teacher to these meetings!" she said to him.

Alpha Trion looked back at Orion Pax. The young Mech looked ready to pass into stasis lock at Nightshade's appearance. Her long claws and teeth could easily do series damage to Mechs no matter if they had done modifications to their plating. "Primus has chosen a new Prime, Nightshade as our world is on the verge of Civil War! That new Prime needs guidance that none of us can provide to him as he will need someone around the same age as him but with more experience in fighting in small fights and large fights!" Alpha Trion explained to the young Dragonoid. The young Dragonoid who he had heard had already defeated her families worst enemy, Kronos the leader of the Titans. She had even united her world against Kronos as she fought him claw to claw for their world. He had heard from Onyx Prime, her teacher that she had come close to not standing before him during that fight that she had gotten lucky with.

"Surely this new Prime could be trained by the former Prime in terms of the basics?" she asked sitting down like that of a large winged petrofox. Her wings snapped out for a brief second before being tucked back in. Alpha Trion shock his helm in response to her question and Nightshade titled her skull to the side. "What happened? I know that Sentinel Prime was not a good Mech in terms of how he looked down onto the population of Cybertron in the middle of his rule but surely he can teach this new Prime a thing or two about the job?" she asked Alpha Trion.

"Sentinel Prime can not help the new Prime, Nightshade!" Alpha Trion said gentle as another member of the Council jumped up from his seat.

"Because he was murdered by Megatron! Now you're going to help us or you can see us going to war against Imperia! And I don't think you want that, Your Majesty!" the Council member snarled as he stomped right up to Nightshade. He leaned down on her and it was taken all of her willpower not to swipe his faceplates off.

Alpha Trion nodded towads Kup who gentle pulled the Council Member back. "Please Senator Ratbat! We must treat Nightshade with kindness that her creator has shown us for many years that we have been allies!" Alpha Trion said to the massiveech who wore a cape.

Orion Pax watched Ratbat sit back on his chair. A grunt from kup alerted him to stop staring and he looked back at Nightshade.

"I will help you! But not because of that threat Ratbat! I will honour the peace that my creator had made with your world!" she said looking at Alpha Trion. Her skull then suddenly looked back at Ratbat at his chair. "And just to inform you, Ratbat! If our worlds did go to war, Imperia would win! Not that I am boasting anything! And you don't want to be known as the one who destroyed Cybertron by insulting a State Leader of Imperia?"

Ratbat snarled and slumped deeper into his chair. His red optics looking anywhere but at Nightshade who wore a smug look in her red optics.

"Now where is this new Prime?" Nightshade asked looking at Alpha Trion. The oldest member of the Council looked back at the other members of the Council. With a nod of his helm they all left including the guards. Nightshade stared after Ratbat as he stomped out of the Council room. She looked back at Alpha Trion to see that Orion Pax was still there. The small red and blue Mech looked awkward to be standing between her and Alpha Trion. She looked back at Alpha Trion to see that he was once again sitting in his chair. His old age showing in his joints. "What's going on?" she asked him. She stepped by Orion Pax who was just as confused as him.

She looked from Alpha Trion back to Orion Pax then back to Alpha Trion. "You must be pulling my wings?" she hissed at the old Mech.

"I am not, Nightshade! Please take Orion Pax back to your apartment so that he can begin with his journey!" Alpha Trion ordered the young Dragonoid. He showed no emotion as Nightshade looked at the ground. Defeated she looked at Orion and dragged him out of the Council Room. The young Mech stumbled after her as she dragged him with her clawed paw.

"I hope that he is the right Prime to bring our world together!" Alpha Trion muttered to himself. He knew that Orion Pax would need to go deep into the Core of Cybertron to receive the Matrix from Primus himself. Nightshade was to keep him alive until he became Prime.

The Ark, EarthPresent day

"That is how me and Nightshade meet! She became one of my closest friends before and after I became a Prime!" Optimus said.

Galvatron had remained silent as he was told how Optimus had meet Nightshade. It sounded political in trying to get two worlds together. He had to wonder what Nightshade was like when she was younger. From how they are had meet he could assume that she was not to thrilled to be playing babysitter to a future Prime. But if the war on Cybertron went the same for this dimension as it did for his, he could see Optimus and Nightshade's friendship growing to being that of kin. Something that he knew too well of.

"I learned a lot about Nightshade when we fought side by side! At first I thought she was just an old friend of Alpha Trion's who was returning a gesture of goodwill but it turns out that it was something much bigger than that !" Optimus spoke out again. Galvatron watched the leader of the Autobots. The wise leader who bore the Matrix of Leadership that guided him and his Autobots through the darkest and toughest of times.

Blue optics locked onto red optics. "Nightshade has never seen another Dragonoid before! When she says she's the last she means it!"

Galvatron stared at Optimus in silence. His processor was trying to catch up with everything that it had been told. "But surely she would have meet another Dragonoid?" he asked the large red abd blue Mech.

Optimus shock his helm. "No! Nightshade came into being six hundred years after the Dragonoids had been destroyed! What she tells people that her people died during the Time War is a lie! They were no longer around. But Nightshade did take part in that conflict! That part is true!" he explained to Galvatron.

Galvatron slunk deeper in his posture. He had thought Nightshade had been lile the Predacons. He had thought that there was an extinction that had whiped them all out and she had been lucky to escape. Unlucky if he looked at it in a different way.

"Don't ask me anymore about her past! There is a lot that I don't know and a lot that only she can tell us!"

Galvatron looked past Optimus and finally got of the med berth. Staggering slighlty he stared Optimus in the optic. "I will find her! And I promise to you I wont all Unicron to touch a horn on her head!" he growled. Walking past the Autobot leader he felt his Spark twicth. Nightshade's curse breaker was still working away at his Spark.

He was not going to turn his back on another friend. Unicron was his enemy and he had made a mistake by taking his friend. But first he needed to get help and find where Unicron was hiding.