Thank you, for the support in this story so far. It really makes the work worthwhile. Ahem, anyways with further adieu:

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

Chapter 4

Academy Days Part 2:

Training

The next 3,000 years had gone by without many hitches. The four seekers had continued to prank their teacher from time to time and they were rarely caught. The pranks that they pulled helped them to become stealthier and function more as a group.

During this time Starscream seemed to distance himself from the others. He had even started began to openly admit to becoming the next leader of the Decepticons. Thundercracker and Skywarp still hung out with Silverstar, of course like every other student there they were starting to become more focused on the war, but surprisingly not as much as their brother. Unlike her companions, Silverstar still didn't like thinking about the war. If any 'Cons asked her how she felt about war and leading the Decepticons, she would lie about it. Nobody would ever know how she truly felt.

Her class had now progressed to second level students (the equivalent of a human pre-teen). There were many old faces from her third level class and a few new ones as well. The class was currently gathered in the courtyard, waiting for their new instructor, Trickshot. Nobody knew much about him, except that he was a trigger happy mech and a retired combat specialist. There were rumors that he had helped with overthrow of an Autobot base eons ago.

"Alright runts listen up!" A gruff voice boomed. The class saw an older Decepticon making his way towards them. He was a heavily armored mech. His armor was a dark shade of purple with a blue stripe along each side of his torso and black armor covered his forearms. A red visor hid his cold optics from sight. He stared down the new group of second class students and a hush fell over the class.

"For those of you who don't know, my name is Trickshot," he stated as he calmly paced in front of the class. "During the next few millennia here, I will pound combat and weapons knowledge into your cranial units. If you question me, there will be problems. Have I made myself clear?!"

"Sir yes sir!" The class chorused.

"Good." The purple mech pointed towards the training ground. "Alright femmes let's see what you got with hand-to-hand combat. Pair off and start sparring. This will count as a skill assessment test. The matches will last about ten minutes at most so hurry up and don't hold back!"

The young Decepticons separated into groups of two. Silverstar saw that Starscream would be her opponent.

'Now you'll all see who deserves to lead.' the red and silver seeker thought smugly. "Ready?" he asked, taking on a battle position.

"As I'll ever be," she replied as she slid into her own battle stance.

Starscream charged at her with his right fist ready to strike. As he came closer, Silverstar sidestepped the punch and grabbed his arm. Starscream, on instinct, grabbed her free arm with his. As their arms were locked in each other's grasps, Starscream used a head butt on the silver femme. Silverstar had to break her grasp on Starscream in order to readjust her visor.

Silverstar was once again on the defensive, ready for Starscream to attack. She didn't have long to wait, for the opposing seeker charged towards her again.

Starscream took a swing towards her, but the silver femme ducked and delivered an uppercut to his jaw. He faltered slightly but still stood his ground. He sent a blow to her midsection, which knocked the air intake out of her body.

As Silverstar collapsed on the ground clutching her midsection, Starscream towered over her. "Had enough?"

Silvestar smirked. "Hardly!" She swung her leg underneath him causing him to fall.

As the matches were about to continue, the instructor yelled, "Stop!"

All fighting had ceased and the students looked at Trickshot. "Go clean yourselves up. Weapons class will begin in exactly one hour. If you fail to arrive on time, you will be severely punished. Dismissed."

Silverstar offered her hand to her seeker friend. "Nice job 'Screamer."

He slapped her hand away. "I don't need anyone's help!" he exclaimed, his screechy voice making her flinch. The red and silver seeker stood abruptly and stomped off the training ground.

'What's his problem?' she thought as she headed for her own quarters.

Outside her quarters was a small metallic box with no sort of identification. The silver femme picked it up and examined it closely. 'Couldn't be from an admirer,' she thought. One of the 'perks' of being Megatron's creation was that any mech who so much as thought about her in a certain way would be scared senseless by her father.Skywarp, whose friendly gestures were just misinterpreted by her father, was a prime example of that. (Poor 'Warp!)

Silverstar typed in the code to her quarters and entered it with the box in tow. The standard academy quarters were small with very few furnishings. In one corner of her room was her recharge berth. On the other side of the room was a desk littered with several data pads. The walls were slate gray.

The silver femme cleared the desk and placed the box on it. She opened it hastily and inside she found a dagger and a data pad. The silver femme activated the data pad. It read:

Dear Silverstar,

I heard from your teachers that you were starting your weapons and ammunitions classes, which is why I gave you this dagger. It belonged to your mother, Nightengale. Not much longer until you're in the Decepticon army. Do not fail.

-Megatron

The dagger had a hand-crafted black hilt with an ornate design carved into it. The blade itself was silver and made of a rare Cybertronian metal. She activated it and the blade crackled to life with energy. "Mom, I wish I had a chance to know you." Her father had told her that Nightengale was killed when one of the Decepticon bases was raided by the opposition. Silverstar subspaced the dagger and left her quarters for her next class.

Weapons class took place inside of the academy gym. The gym itself was a spacious, all-white room. It was designed to produce the most realistic battle simulations. If you took a hit during those simulations, then you would feel everything and after the simulation the injury sustained would still be there.

The entire class stood in the middle of the room with Trickshot standing in front of them. He sent a hard glare their way. "All right younglings, listen up."

All optics turned to him and the students gave him their undivided attention. "This class is going to start off with a practice battle. You will all battle in groups of randomly selected younglings, four per group. Any questions?" he asked in a bored tone.

No hands went up.

"Good." His visored optics scanned the group of unruly students. "Thundercracker, Silverstar, Wildfire, and Road Flare you're up first."

Silverstar and Thundercracker groaned and headed to the front of the class, two other Decepticons followed.

The first one Wildfire was a femme just like Silverstar. Femmes were rare to find during this period and the odds of a femme staying in the academy was almost slim to none. She and Silverstar did not get along very well. She was considered to be one of the most obnoxious and vainest of the students. She was adorned in red armor and with yellow accents.

Her brother Road Flare was older than her by a few decades. He was an arrogant mech who thought he was the fastest thing on the road. His body was jet black with red accents on his arms and legs. He was the number one enemy of both Thundercracker and Skywarp.

"All right everybody file out of the room except for your four," Trickshot ordered.

"This'll be interesting," Skywarp muttered to his brother. "They're going to kill each other." Starscream only smirked and nodded.

The gym darkened and Trickshot's voice rang throughout the room on the loudspeakers. "Take out your weapons and get ready to fight."

The group unsubspaced their weapons as the gym darkened and took on a new appearance. The scenery looked like a battle was taking place inside of a Cybertronian city. The sound of gunshots and screams were heard everywhere. The city was in ruins, with flames and smoke everywhere they turned. The bodies of random Autobots and Decepticons lay in the streets.

Trickshot came over the PA system again. "Take out as many Autobots as you can. Begin!"

"Alright airheads," Road Flare began as he and his sister transformed, "follow us and try not to get shot."

"We'll take care of this," Wildfire chuckled. The two siblings transformed as he and his sister drove off, kicking up a load of dirt and dust.

"Slaggin' Pit spawns!" Thundercracker grumbled before taking flight with Silverstar following his lead. As they flew overhead they spotted their teammates surrounded by a small group of Autobot drones. "Well who could've seen that coming?" the blue seeker asked sarcastically.

"Looks like they'll be needing help," Silverstar commented, with slight amusement.

"Can't we just leave them?" Thundercracker asked with a slight hopeful tone in his voice.

She chuckled at the question. "They're a part of our team. We should help them."

Both seekers landed and transformed in front of the group with their guns drawn. Thundercracker immediately went for the easiest shots which would be the torso or head. Silverstar fired just as much as Thundercracker but was more focused on causing injuries than making a kill shot.

The Autobot drones broke away from the siblings and retreated.

"Are you two okay?" Silverstar asked.

Road Flare snorted, "We're fine! We can handle ourselves."

Thundercracker balled his fists and ground his dental plates. "We've could've just left you guys."

Wildfire glared at the two seekers. "Like my brother said we could've done this ourselves!"

"Why you--" Thundercracker was cut off when a laser grazed his wing.

Silverstar pointed past the group to see yet another squad of drones coming their way. "They're coming back!"

"Come on Silver. We'll have a better chance of attacking from the air."

"Right." Both seekers switched to their alt modes and headed for the drones, the siblings doing the same.

They continued to trade shots with the drones for about half an hour before a bell went off and the scenery switched back to normal. Their instructor walked into the room with a data pad in his hands. His visored optics scanned over the group of younglings.

"Let's see out of the 50 Autobots sent at you only 25 were permanently off-lined, about 15 were injured and the rest escaped."

Wildfire snorted. "We would've had more if those two airheads had paid more attention to the battle."

Silverstar glared at Wildfire behind her visor. Thundercracker was so tempted to use his blasters on those two siblings. If it weren't for the instructor being there, then he probably would have too.

Trickhshot decided to humor her. "I'm sure you would have," he replied, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Either way not too shabby but next time go for more kill shots."

"Yes sir," they chorused in unison.

"Dismissed; next team you're up!" the instructor ordered. The four younglings exited the room and went their separate ways.