Whales in the distance exhaled mist into the air, tiny flukes raising and dipping beneath the water as year-old calves swam next to their mothers. Polar bears watched them, a mother with two cubs tearing into a seal lifting her head and standing on her forelegs to see the whales before the sea swallowed them up again. Optimus put the last snow-covered rock in front of the entrance of the cave and the temperature steady began increasing with Windblade firing her engines to melt stubborn ice on her wings and core and Sideswipe and Drift's attempts at fire. The two mechs were bent over the brush that the minicons had pulled from the ground after stumbling upon tundra and caribou. Mostly smoke filled the cave, but it was a sign of fire to come.

Optimus settled in the snow, shivering still. He swept his servo over the snow, discovering rock and ice beneath it. He began sweeping the snow towards the entrance, packing it between the cracks in the ice and rocks he had salvaged. Polar Claw stirred, but his optics remained closed. For now.

Drift sat back when his hard work and patience paid off. The minicons tended to the fire, keeping it small by breaking off pieces of the brush and dropping them onto the hungry flame.

Sideswipe used the heat source to rub warmth back into his leg. He scooted as close to the fire as he could to nurse his leg. It bothered him, and according to him, the Energon still coursing through his veins felt like fire.

Meanwhile, Optimus felt like his old self.

Jetstorm started shivering badly and Drift swept him closer. Optimus watched the minicons, his optics narrowing. The minicons would need constant tending to due to their smaller size. They would get colder faster, but would need less time in front of the fire. Optimus tilted his helm. "How about a story?"

Windblade flicked melting ice off her wings. "How about you tell us where you learned to just take one characteristic from an alt mode?"

All optics fell on him and he smiled a little. "Amalgamous helped me with that one," he confessed...

Optimus was practicing hard on his own when Amalgamous crept out of the shadows, like he seemingly always did. He rested a servo on Optimus' shoulder, making the other Prime start.

"It's only me."

Optimus looked at the mech, who sported a different paint job. Just this morning, he knew, he had seen the mech grey with red highlights down his arms, around his legs, and under his optics. Now he was black and flecks of grey where they were once red. "How do you do that?"

"You can do it, too," he said. "All Amalgami can take a physical form, but everyone can take just one aspect of an alt mode and use it. Observe." His optics grew brighter as he scanned Optimus and Amalgamous shrunk to his height. "I can take height," he said as he scanned the other Prime's shoulders. His changed as well. "I can take your shoulders, and finally..." He closed his optics and exhaled, his paint fluttering and brightening to mirror Optimus' own accents. If Optimus had an exact twin, Optimus figured he would look how Amalgamous looked now. "I can take your accents." He laughed and shook off, the paint falling back to its previous colors and his shoulders shrunk the same time he grew.

"How can I do that?"

"It's a long lecture and takes years of practice, but I'll show you how to take another's color, okay? Then we'll talk about the rest in turn. Sounds good?"

"Excellent."

Optimus smiled as he finished the story, remembering how, after Optimus had taken the colors of the shifting mists in the Realm, both he and Amalgamous surprised their oldest brother, Prima, making the Prime chase them while screaming curses and throwing objects he randomly came across. Amalgamous had never had more fun. Optimus thought he was going to die at the servos of Prima.

"I bet the first thing you did was prank someone," Sideswipe said.

Optimus scoffed. "I had better things to do with my new-found talent."

Windblade hugged her knees to her chest. "Did the Primes teach you anything else?"

He smiled at her and nodded, launching into another story.

"Sparks change," Micronus said as he absently scratched behind Onyx's audio. The large Predacon's tail wagged lightly at the stimulation there and he huffed a pleasured puff of steam. Micronus snorted and grinned at Optimus, who was seated in front of him. "Bad mechs have specks of good in them, good mechs have shadows of evil."

"I knew this, Micronus," Optimus insisted.

"So you did," the smaller Prime sighed and he patted Onyx's snout. The Predacon pushed himself to his pedes and stretched. "But do you know how to get to the heart of a beast?"

Optimus had never fought with Onyx before then, and had never wanted to. He still didn't want to, but the large beast roared and rushed him. It looked like he had forgotten that Optimus was friend and only identified the mech as a foe. Optimus discarded his weapons, believing that Onyx wouldn't hurt him.

Onyx turned his helm to regard the forgotten sword and axe, then snapped his jaws shut inches from Optimus' audio. Before he could draw his helm back, Optimus' servos shut up and scratched behind his audios and under his jaw. The Predacon melted to the floor, purring and snuffling as he curled tighter and tighter around the littler mech.

Micronus chuckled. "All sparks can change."

"Even Onyx's," Optimus laughed and he rubbed the snout of his brother.

"Yeah. Even a stupid lug like him."

Onyx exhaled a warm puff and purred as if in agreement.

Sideswipe watched him. "You're related to a Predacon?"

"Fortunately, he does not need to eat while he is dead," Optimus said in a false sigh of relief. "Or I would not be here. I heard he could eat all of the Decepticons twice over and still hunger for more when he was alive."

Windblade shuddered. "Thank Primus everyone got smaller as time went on...could you imagine? Predacons would rule the galaxy."

Drift frowned a little. The minicons had moved into his lap and he didn't feel he should move them onto the cold stone yet. "Why have we all shrunk?"

Optimus had a simple explanation.

Solus forged the body of a sparkling, holding the spark to it in one servo, the handle of the Forge in the other. She watched Optimus. "It took too long to make frames. I used to make seventy frames daily, and we'd still be short, so we started making them smaller and smaller. Now I make up around a hundred and we have some left over that get recycled, but this little guy is special, and I couldn't just give them a random frame. No. This one has to be crafted."

Optimus saw the squirmy mechling when his sister had finished. "Amazing."

Sideswipe moved his leg, sighing. "Doesn't hurt as much," he declared and he moved away from the fire to prop himself up against the cave wall. His optics closed. Windblade moved closer to him "to monitor him", but Optimus saw more than a kind gesture. He smirked at them, then looked at Drift, who was watching him.

"I will wake you in hour intervals," he promised. "We cannot fall asleep for long, as Polar Claw might wake up and we will have to knock him back out."

Drift held his sword and watched the Decepticon mech curled up on his side. He had watched the Prime fuss over him, complaining often that it didn't look like he was comfortable, but when he was all curled up with his helm on his servos, Drift realized he did indeed look comfortable. "Very well. I will take the first watch."

"I'm afraid that the first watch is already taken."

"Are you sure that you are okay?"

Optimus nodded. "Rest now, Drift."

The mech was only reluctant for a moment.

Tada. So, maybe I should just turn this into a running thing about adventures the Bots have in the artic XD Have fun with this. This is post Overloaded part two. Enjoy~