Anonymous: n-n Second break for the minion...

Subi: As long as someone's reviewing...

Anonymous: X-x; Review please! Save me from detail work! (mutters "Cause I suck at it") >>;

Subi: I just want some reviews... ;-; You people are making me cry by reading and not reviewing... I know its summer and all, but seriously!... My dad killed the Internet last week and I'm still posting!

9. Leaving

I stood before the Decepticon, glaring at him, even though he was clearly too wounded from our attacks to even defend himself now. He was on both of his knees, and had his arms wrapped around his shoulders, shuddering. I was faintly aware of the taste of Energon in my mouth, but what kept me from attacking the 'Con was the incredible, stinging smell of it as it slowly drained out of him. Glaviin hesitated on the other side of me, seemingly uncertain of helping the 'con, leaving him there, or giving him the mercy of death.

Glaviin didn't get much of a choice, for the mech collapsed, Energon still flowing out of its many gashes right then. For a moment Glaviin and I looked at each other. Free... The irrational thought went through my mind. With little warning, I turned and ran for the joy of it, following a worn and surely used path, comparable to the other jagged trails strewn all over. I discovered that many led to dead ends on my previous herb picking ventures. I could hear Glaviin behind me, steadily following to my retreating form. Suddenly my core systems chimed, "Memory systems failing... Armament overheating... Systems shutting down...". A moment later, everything began to go dark...

Glaviin skidded to a stop as Karahrr jerked to a stop ahead of him. Karahrr? He wondered, tilting hishead. "...! Karahrr!" He cried as she suddenly collapsed sideways. Glaviin calmed slightly when he saw the black bits of electricity begin to dance around her, and she began to glow a light blue. He somehow picked her up and carried her back home...

I squinted at the bright rays that were filtering through the clouds and shining through my eyelids. The blood red sun was falling downwards, stars brightening and scattering among the opposite side where its light did not reach anymore. The sun's…setting already? But how? Weakly sitting up in a more comfortable position, I noticed I was slightly scraped. Even more unsettling, was that I was home How…Sudden flashes of memory assaulted me. Chased, two mechs…Cornered…It was vague…too vague for my liking. I tried remembering all else that I could, but that resulted was an empty void and splitting headache. Wincing, I resigned on that and slowly rose to my feet, shakily but surely moving to the repair room where I heard some noise.

There was Glaviin- or at least I think it was him-, as a large cat mech, picking up all the heavy machinery and putting it in the wheeled cart we used to reorganize the shop with often. "What are you doing?" I asked, still unfamiliar with how he looked.

"We must leave as soon as possible. Pack what you need and nothing else," He said. Of course all my items were of necessity, nothing frivolous, so I put them in a large canvas material bag. All I had were some clothes, the staff on the side, as well as my bag of herbs that I collected earlier Or later…I'm not sure. I shook the uncertainty from my head and quickly dashed into the kitchen to grab a few snacks to eat on the way. As soon as I finished packing, I came back to Glaviin, heaving the bag over my shoulders and holding the staff in my right hand like a hiking stick. I put it all aside in the corner of the room and started helping him lifting in the lighter equipment. The tools were easy enough, just tossed them in their case, figuring we could organize it later.

When the packing was completed, I gathered my bag and staff and we walked into the landscape masked in darkness, machines in the cart Glaviin had somehow attached to his front shoulders. I faintly remembered reading an old history book with pictures of horses or something pulling carts much like Glaviin was right now, and suppressed a small snicker. As we walked on, I began to wonder where we were going.

"Glaviin?"

"What, Karahrr?"

"Where are we going?"

"Autobot City," He grunted, straining to pull a wheel that'd just gotten caught on a rock.

"Oh..." I said. He pulled free of the rock and we continued on in silence. The bag I carried gradually got heavier as the night dragged on, but I didn't complain. Glaviin is hauling more than I am! I told myself. I kept with it, considering it a type of training. To entertain myself, I tried picturing what Autobot City would look like when we got there. Eventually, I saw a city even larger than Crystal City beginning to rise over the horizon ahead of us. The closer we got, the taller the buildings seemed, reaching up into the purple-blue and golden sky. As we approached even closer, I couldn't help a yawn. Not because of the city- that had my eyes wide in awe; but rather because of how long we'd been traveling.

"We're almost there, Karahrr. Hold on for a bit," Glaviin panted faintly, perhaps fatigued himself. I nodded slightly, tightening my slowly loosened grip on the staff. And then what he said suddenly hit me hard. I stopped with the realization, feeling my jaw drop slightly. I took in the sight of the city ahead even more, faintly noting the injustice my imagination and the customer's descriptions did the huge city. That is Autobot City...? I thought in shock and awe, and stumbled forward to catch up with Glaviin.

We reached a set of powerful-looking gates that were built into a huge wall that ran around the huge buildings beyond. I set my bag down, thankful for the excuse to get it off, even if only for a few minutes. I dug into the smaller bag and pulled out a small, dried piece of meat and gnawed on it, telling myself that we'd be eating soon. I watched as Glaviin pawed at the gates with one of his paws. There was a sharp shout from above, and I looked up to see a Autobot waving to someone on the other side of the wall.

"It's Glaviin!" I heard the bot shout, and I glanced over at the brown cat-mech in surprise.

"I didn't know they knew you," I said. He shrugged somewhat and pawed at the door again. This time the gates opened somewhat as he pawed at them, and he stuck his nose in the crack. My ears picked up on a laugh and the doors opened further. I followed Glaviin through the gates and looked nervously at the other bots nearby. He walked straight over to a tall, blue, red, and silver femmebot that stood somewhat in the semi-circle before us.

"Hello, Glaviin. It's been awhile since you've come to visit us," She said, sending both of us a warm smile. I edged closer to Glaviin somewhat, though I stayed far enough away to not be stepped on.

"Indeed, Shiori Pax," Glaviin growled softly. His gold-yellow optics glowed at her slightly as he continued to talk. "We've had to abandon where we were staying... May we live here in Autobot City instead?" He asked. I looked between them, wondering at how they knew each other. I looked up into her light-blue optics as she nodded. She knelt down and offered her hand for me to climb onto. I looked at it for a moment, before realizing the wisdom in such a move. I quickly scrambled onto her hand and let her carry me. Smart idea; if Autobot city lives up to its name, there's going to be a lot of transformers that could step on me... I reasoned as Shiori turned and took us to a relatively small building compared to the rest of the city where we could stay. There she set me down, and began to help Glaviin unpack the cart.

I found a corner out of the way and quickly spread out my things. No sooner had I had everything else, I curled up on my makeshift bed of piled cloth and bag and fell asleep... ... ...

Subi: n-n We'd like to thank Fk306 animelover for the P.o.V. note. We'll try to do such a thing better next time.

Anonymous: By the way, it was a PoV switch. oo; Started as Soundwave, switched to Ravage, then went back to Soundwave. Sorry about the confusion. X-x;