Well I saw Predacon's Rising and apparently gryphon Predacon's are canon! It was actually kind of fun to see! Although I should take this moment to point out that Songbird does not entirely resemble the gryphon Predacon from the movie. She's a lot thinner and sleeker, and obviously her primary color scheme is black and blue… Just thought I'd point that out. I'd also like to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed the story so far it really makes me feel good about writing this!

As for Neon, go right ahead! I'd love to see some more Predaking OC stories! And gryphon Predacons are canon now so no need to ask! ^_^

Chapter 2

Encounters

The drive through the back roads of the Gryphon's Keep were turning out to be rather uneventful…

Upon arriving at their destination, the team had split into two groups. Miko, Wheeljack and Bulkhead had gone in one direction while Optimus, Bumblebee and Raf headed off in another. And although the area was nothing short of gorgeous, Miko was still hoping for something interesting or exciting to happen… preferably sooner rather than later.

"Just saw another Moose…" She commented dryly and continued to look out the window; inwardly admiring the beautiful landscape and the vast array of wildlife that didn't seem afraid of venturing into the road at a moment's notice. Clearly due to the lack of traffic through this area, the local animals had no fear of getting run over. Starting to feel a bit frustrated, Miko sighed loudly and began messing with Bulkhead's radio out of boredom… and yet after a moment or two Miko happened upon a song that both she and Bulky liked and quickly cranked up the volume… although amidst getting lost in the upbeat rhythm it was pure luck that Miko just so happened to glance out the window and out of habit she said whatever she saw. "Little girl…"

It took a full ten seconds for what Miko just said to really register in her own mind…

And Bulkhead's as well, seeing is how he had also been distracted by the loud music and had not noticed the tiny human child walking into the middle of the road. Let alone the fact that upon hearing the sounds of approaching vehicles she stopped like a deer in the headlights and watched them steadily get closer and closer… Bulkhead immediately slammed on the brakes as did Wheeljack who had been driving right alongside his friend and unsurprisingly both bots started to lose control and skid, causing Bulkhead to bump into Wheeljack and nearly flipped the smaller Wrecker. And yet through some bizarre and lucky twist of fate they both managed to come to a screeching halt less than a foot from the little girl.

"Ok, that… that was most definitely NOT cool." Miko grunted as she opened the door and fell out of Bulkhead, landing face first on the dirt road. But within seconds she was on her feet and brushing herself off… and then focused her attention on the girl who was currently looking at her and the two bots with large, innocent, curious and oddly fearless blue eyes. In one arm she held a few dozen freshly picked berries mostly blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and a few others that Miko couldn't immediately identify and every couple of seconds she'd pop another one into her mouth while never taking her eyes off of the group before her.

"Hey little girl, you know you shouldn't be out in the road! You could've gotten killed!" Miko said in an aggravated tone as she approached the child who merely blinked those large eyes up at her and ate another berry. Of course once she was close enough Miko was actually able to see what this kid really looked like and knew instantly that it was not normal... She looked like she had been raised out in the woods; but that just didn't happen… not nowadays anyway. And although her appearance was undeniably strange, what stood out even more was the handmade necklace of energon crystals currently around her neck. "Wait a minute… where did you come from? And where did you find this energon?"

"I'm not really supposed to talk to strangers, especially not humans." Moonrise commented innocently before eating yet another berry. Although after a moment a look of worry crossed her face and she cast her gaze back towards the forest she had just come out of. "Oopps… Freefall's gonna be mad."

"Who's Freefall? And… wait… what do you mean you don't talk to humans? You are human!" Miko asked more than a little confused at the child's words. Although at this remark Moonrise suddenly looked irritated… or at least as irritated as any five year old could look.

"I am not!" She growled up at Miko before shoving all of the remaining berries into her mouth. "Humans are stupid…" If there was ever one thing that Moonrise was truly naïve about, it was her species. Since she had no memories about her human mother she assumed that Songbird was her real biological mother and that she and her sister were just young gryphons... even though Freefall had told her a dozen times that wasn't the case the five year old was convinced otherwise and couldn't be reasoned with.

"Oh really?" Miko responded suddenly getting really irritated at this little girl, so naturally she was losing her focus on the primary task of locating the energon and now focusing on having this argument with this kid… an indignant fight… an indignant fight that Bulkhead and Wheeljack couldn't stop because the only way to do that would mean talking or transforming in front of this mysterious little kid. "If you're not human, what are you?"

Moonrise suddenly blinked up at Miko with those big eyes of hers shining with innocence and immediately losing all of her anger that she'd only had for a few seconds prior. "I'm a gryphon of course! You probably can't tell 'cause my metal skin hasn't grown in yet!"

Awkward…

Silence…

"Metal skin? Gryphon? Mental note, don't eat the berries around here…" Miko shook her head and then realized that she had gotten off topic. "Look little girl, can you please tell me where you found-"

"Miko! Watch out!" Bulkhead yelled just as something rushed out of the forest and went for Miko with some sort of weapon! She was barely able to duck underneath a spear that was now where her head just been only a second prior.

When Freefall had noted that Moonrise had wandered off naturally she had gone looking for her, only the second she saw that her little sister was now talking to an intruder on their land she'd nearly had a heart attack! Immediately Freefall was filled with anger and fear for Moonrise's safety and she launched herself at this newcomer, nearly taking her head off with her spear! Miko managed to dodge the first attack but was not so lucky when Freefall spun around and slashed at her again, this time cutting a deep gash into her left arm! She didn't even have time to cry out before Freefall proceeded to slam the hilt of her spear into her chest, successfully knocking the wind right out of her and forcing her to the ground!

"Sister!" Moonrise squeaked, suddenly afraid upon seeing her normally calm older sister become so incredibly violent and enraged, not to mention also seeing and smelling the fresh blood now seeping out of Miko's arm. Again, due to her upbringing Moonrise was considerably more aware of sights and smells than other children her age and instinctively she would become afraid when in a confrontation blood was drawn.

Freefall then stood over Miko, feral anger burning clearly behind her blue eyes and wordlessly she raised her spear with the full intent of driving it straight through the young woman's beating heart; but just before she could do that Bulkhead and Wheeljack had no choice but to intervene and they transformed in front of the two children!

"Don't you even think about it kid!" Bulkhead growled menacingly. Freefall immediately backed up allowing Miko to slip out of range of that spear and stand in front of the two Wrecker's. "You all right Miko?"

"I'm fine Bulk, it's just a flesh wound." She muttered coldly, definitely not about to say how bad it was really hurting... The downside was that Bulkhead could already tell just because of the sheer amount of blood pouring out of her arm. He and Wheeljack proceeded to glare down at the younger now obviously terrified kids.

"Freefall are they… are they like Mama?" Moonrise whispered to her sister equally afraid and confused at what it was she was seeing. Freefall didn't answer, she just looked between the two large mechs and Miko before turning on her heel, grabbing Moonrise with her free hand and then the two of them proceeding to run as fast as they possibly could back into the woods from whence they came. Which was perfectly fine with Bulkhead since his primary concern was Miko's wellbeing… but Miko clearly had other plans and she also took off into the forest, intent on finding out just where that girl had found the energon!

"Miko wait!" Bulkhead started but sighed in annoyance when he realized that the girl wasn't going to be stopping and with each passing second she was gaining more and more of a head-start.

"This is the beginning of one long day…" Wheeljack grumbled, although he wasn't quite able to hide all of the amusement in his voice. "Come on, let's go get her before she gets hurt."

And with that the two Wreckers followed their overzealous human into the forest…

Completely unaware of what other creature called this land home…

And who else was already within it…

Songbird effortlessly flew over the vast lands that she considered her domain; her blue optics silently scanning the area in search of suitable prey. Earlier on she had told her girls that she knew of something that would satisfy both of their tastes and it was this particular animal that she was currently looking for. And after some time she finally found what it was that she had been seeking…

Caribou…

Or more commonly known as reindeer to most, this creature's meat was one of Freefalls favorites and since a few days prior Moony had already enjoyed her own favorite food of seal, it was only fair that Freefall have one of her own favorites as well. Not to mention that there was still some leftover seal meat dried and stored in a section of the cave that was used for the storage of excess food… (Since it would have been foolish and wasteful to throw away whatever was not eaten in a single meal.) Moony could always eat some of that along with her caribou if she so desired. Songbird silently landed atop a nearby cliff that overlooked the verdant hillside where the Caribou grazed; she had a particular tactic for hunting these beasts one that had never failed. First off she remained eerily silent as she carefully picked out which individual within the herd that she would target… Once her optics settled on one of the medium-sized members the gryphon Predacon suddenly let loose a hellish screech so loud that it echoed for miles and then leapt off the cliff and dove straight down into the herd causing all of the Caribou to immediately panic began to flee the area, but in the confusion Songbird extended her talons and grabbed onto her prey! Lifting it clean off the ground and into the air; Songbird carried the squirming beast higher into the sky where she then proceeded to stab straight through its heart with one of her razor sharp claws. The creature's death was instantaneous and painless… well, mostly painless anyway. Now all that was left to do was butcher the meat. She had a certain area of her land that she did this in, since it more often than not was a rather disgusting task and she didn't want the mess or the smell in her cave. But no sooner did she change direction in midflight did something capture her attention for a mere second…

Before then proceeding to crash right into her with the force of a freight train…

For Songbird did not know that her screech had been heard by someone else…

The Decepticons had also picked up the energon signal in the area and had dispatched Starscream along with a team of Vehicons and Eradicons to secure it. However, Predaking had wished to go along as he was all too eager to extract revenge for his fallen comrades on any Autobot he could get his servos on. Unfortunately for him he still had to take orders from that annoying, smart mouthed flyer… and no sooner did they reach the basic vicinity of where the energon had been detected did Starscream order him to go and scout out the surrounding area. Of course Predaking saw this for what it really was, and excuse to get rid of him… Which was fine with him, the more time the dragon Predacon spent around the seeker the more he wanted to rip the second in command's spark out. Besides, this way he was sure to be the first to encounter any Autobots that decided to come snooping for energon. The need for vengeance surged through him like a bolt of wicked lightning, but the longer he quietly flew through the skies over this lush wilderness the more he found his rage leaving him, gradually being replaced by the overwhelming feeling of loss and loneliness.

It hurt more than any words could ever express, just the knowing that he was the only one of his kind and there was no one else like him out there in the entire universe… But for a brief moment he'd not been alone, there would have been others like him! He would have had subordinates to command and fight alongside, companions to share victories large and small alike with… a family… but alas all of that was gone now and he was alone. At least until Megatron was victorious in this seemingly never-ending war and the Autobot slime were eradicated… then the warlord could live up to his promise and restore his race. But that did not appear to be happening anytime soon; so there he was flying high in the air... alone… Completely and utterly alone…

But at that moment, just when he felt as though he couldn't possibly feel any worse, that was when he heard it. A screech so loud that the heavens themselves seem to shake rattled through his audios and caused him to halt midflight and look around for the source of this sound. He couldn't understand why, but his primal instinct told him to find whatever it was that that had made that screech. He twisted and turned several times before he noticed something flying in the air quite a ways away from him, something that reflected blue whenever the sunlight struck it. Although he wasn't sure just what he was looking at Predaking immediately headed off in that direction, his optics straining to get a better look whatever it was that flew only a little ways ahead of him. But as he got closer his optics widened in his powerful spark nearly stopped beating…

It was another Predacon…

Of course right around same time he fully registered what he was seeing he also realized that he was still flying at breakneck speed and before he could stop himself he slammed full force into it and they both crashed to the ground.

Well…

That was definitely NOT the best way to make a first impression…

And when he hit the ground it seemed so much harder when coupled with the overall embarrassment of having just done something as stupid as that. He could hear the pained groans of the other Predacon as it untangled itself from him and all the trees that they had flattened with their fall. After a moment or two of making sure that he hadn't broken anything in the crash he looked up from his position lying on his back to truly see the other for the first time. Unfortunately the first thing he saw however was a glaring, angry gryphon Predacon with a dead and now mangled reindeer bleeding out on top of its head. Saying that it looked pissed might have been the understatement of the year as it reached up and removed the dead animal from its head and dropped to the ground with a disgustingly loud squelching sound. Realizing that he must look completely ridiculous, Predaking rolled over onto his feet and was just about to transform when the gryphon Predacon lashed out and swatted him across his face nearly breaking off one of his mandibles.

"That…" It said in a cold and obviously female voice. "was for crashing into me! And this," again she swatted him hard in the face knocking him over and leaving three nasty scratches from her talons on the side of his head. "is for trespassing in my domain! Now leave before I tear you in half!" At this she reared up and snarled at him, producing that same horrible screech he'd heard earlier. While this little display would have undoubtedly sent any other mech or femme running for the hills, Predaking was not ordinary and once he had taken a second to actually regain himself he stood up and flared out his wings and roared right back at her! While he was still very much surprised and confused at meeting another member of his species, there was no way in The Pit that he was going to let her talk to him like that! Quickly he transformed since unlike Songbird he was currently unable to speak in his beast form.

"You will not talk to me in such a manner!" He roared back… of course the second he had transformed Songbird had lost most of her aggression and was now staring at him in complete bewilderment. This was definitely a new one… here she was thinking that getting crashed into by a dragon was the weirdest thing that was going to happen today, this just took it up to a whole different level. After taking a second to calm down Predaking sighed and decided to try this again. "My apologies for crashing into you, but I had not expected to see another Predacon here. I believed that I was the only one currently in existence."

…poke…

"How did you get here? What is your designation?"

…poke…

"Are you alone or are there others with you out here?"

…poke…

"And for the love of Primus would you Stop Poking Me!" He snapped, having finally been fed up with being poked by one of the gryphon's sharp talons as she circled him. As requested she did stop although she did continue to stare at him and did not answer any of his questions. Instead opting to ask one of her own.

"What… are you?"

"I am a Predacon just like you." He explained a little confused to the fact that she didn't seem to know what she herself was. He then pointed to the Predacon symbol on his chest then gestured to the same symbol on Songbirds chest as well, only hers was a deep blue in color rather than orange or gold. "I… am Predaking. Now tell me, who are you?"

Songbird remained oddly quiet for some time before finally answering him. "Nice to meet you Predaking; I think I'm hallucinating!" She stated bluntly as she was now starting to question her own sanity. "Ugh, that does it! I'm not eating any more of that red energon… stuff tastes like scrap anyway." And with that she turned, grabbed up what was left of her kill and started walking away. Of course Predaking wasn't going to just let her leave without getting any of his answers and he quickly transformed and got in her way.

"Move." Songbird growled in annoyance, only to receive an angry hiss from the dragon barring her way. But before she could do anything else Predaking lunged forward and head butted her! Knocking her onto her back and then pinning her down with one claw. She blinked a few times and then groaned loudly as a realization dawned on her. "You're not a hallucination are you?"

"No, I'm not." He muttered as he once again transformed and looked down at the femme before him. "Now answer my question... Who are you?"

"My name is Songbird." She said coldly as she righted herself and once again and ignoring his apparent disdain at her choice of a name, she picked up the Caribou's carcass and looked it over. "I'm going to have to rinse the meat off before it can be cooked."

"You're going to eat… that?" He asked clearly more than a little disgusted at the thought. Songbird merely rolled her optics.

"No you moron I'm not going to eat it… the last time I tried to eat an organic's flesh I purged my tank." She explained before tossing the animal's corpse into the air and letting it land on her back. "Now it's been nice meeting you and all that but I really do have to be going now."

"Did you completely miss what I said earlier?" Predaking said as he once again got in her way. "Up until now I believed that I was the only Predacon in existence! How did you come to be and are there others like you? Please answer me!" Perhaps it was due to a slight change in his tone of voice, a small glimpse at the loneliness he was trying to hide actually made Songbird pause in her hasty attempt to leave the area. She was… familiar… with loneliness and hearing it in his voice suddenly made her realize that she was being rather rude. That… and something in the back of her processor was telling her to speak with him even if it was only to answer some of his questions before she continued on her way; since her sparkling's were not expecting her back until sunset and that was still a long time off.

"I can't answer that. The question of where I came from… I do not know where I was born, all I know is where I was reborn and that is a story I'm not about to tell right now since you are a stranger to me." She explained calmly. "But as for your other question, if there are any others like either me or you… there are not. In fact you're the first individual somewhat 'Like Me' I have ever seen." After that a long and uncomfortable silence fell between the two. Since he had been doing most of the talking up till now it only seemed fair that Songbird input something at this point. "You called me a Predacon, somewhere in the back of my processor I knew that even though I've never heard the actual term before… are all Predacon's dragons and gryphons?"

"No... There is no set look for our kind, we may all look different but we are all still the same race." He muttered just as something clicked within his mind. "Why is it that you have not transformed?"

"You mean like what you did?" Songbird questioned, cocking her head to the side and looking at him strangely. "I can't do that."

"Yes you can; it really isn't hard I assure you. Transform and we can continue this conversation in a more civilized manner."

Songbird snorted and shook her head. "Sorry but I am not about to try something I severely doubt I can do. The last thing I need is to end up twisting my body into a knot that I can't get out of. As for talking in a civilized manner… does it really matter how I look? Last time I checked I'm acting quite civilized… because if I wasn't I'd have already ripped your head off."

"Fair enough." Predaking growled, again he wasn't pleased with the way Songbird was speaking to him but he'd let it go… for now. But that was when he suddenly recalled why he had even been out here in the first place. "You say this land is your territory? So you must know the location of the vein of energon that courses through one of the mountains?" It would be the crystalized icing on the energon cake if he was the one who located the energon for Megatron as well as bring Songbird with him back to the Nemesis… he could already imagine the look on Starscream's face.

"Of course I do, I have been living off of it for years." Her eyes suddenly flashed dangerously. "Is that why you are here? To steal my energon?"

"Admittedly the Decepticons and I were drawn to this area in search of this vein; but if this land is indeed your territory I'm sure that I can convince Lord Megatron to leave it be."

"Decepti- what? Wait… are you saying that there are more intruders in my domain?" Songbird growled.

"Um… well-"

"Frag!" She snapped, as all of the anger she had felt earlier on suddenly flooding through her with a newfound ferocity. As much as she wanted to shriek and rage and rip this Predaking to shreds she somehow managed to keep a hold of it… just as an uncomfortable and foreboding feeling started to creep its way into her spark. Suddenly forgetting all about her unwanted and now very unwelcome guest, Songbird reached inside of her satchel and pulled one of her tarot cards out. No sooner had she laid her optics upon the cards image did a thunderous explosion split through the air! The sound resounding with the same aura that she felt from the card and within an instant she spread her massive wings and took to the sky!

Her prophetic abilities screaming that her children were in danger…

That's it for now I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope I kept everyone in character! And I promise that all of the action really starts in the next one! And as always please remember to Read and Review! ^_^