Disclaimer - Transformers (c) Hasbro

/---------------/

Prowl groaned. There wasn't an inch of him that didn't hurt as he dragged his dented, aching body back to the quarters that he shared with Jazz. The only consolation he had was the fact that Starscream was just as sore as he was.

As it was, he wasn't looking forward to Jazz and the Twin's reactions when they saw him. They had something of an overprotective streak when it came to him, but hey, he had one when it came to them. Prowl typed in the code, and the door swished open, revealing the smiling faces of Jazz and the Twins. The smiles quickly faded as they saw the damage.

Jazz darted forward, catching the tired mech as he staggered. "Prowler? What the pit happened to you?!"

"Nothing. I was sparring, and my opponent got a little rough." Prowl said, waving them off as he sat down.

Sunstreaker eyed his uncle dubiously. "Right, I believe that."

"Good."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exchanged glances with Jazz, who tilted his head as he studied Prowl. He made a fist, and set it in one of the dents, not pressing hard enough to hurt Prowl. "Starscream?" he guessed.

Prowl almost blinked. "How - "

Jazz grinned, and turned his back to Prowl, showing him a dent identical to the ones all over Prowl. "I feel your pain." Jazz's grin faded, and he stared at Prowl seriously. "Why were you sparrin' Screamer?" He asked.

Prowl shrugged. "Sentinel wants me to have practice facing a Seeker."

Jazz shook his head. "Figures. Screamer always was a suck-up. Betcha he begged Sentinel ta be able ta face ya."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker glanced toward the door. "Ooh, we can't wait to see what Ratchet says." Sideswipe said, grinning.

"Ratchet isn't going to find out about this. Is he?" Prowl asked, a dangerous edge to his tone.

Jazz and the Twins let the topic drop, focusing instead on banging the dents out of Prowl, and joking about what they were going to do next to Sentinel Prime.

/-------------------------/

Prowl braced himself, and fired his rifle, hitting the target just below the bulls-eye. He sighed, then tried again, this time hitting the target dead center. The doors cycled open, and he didn't look over, assuming someone else was going to use the shooting range. He lined up his shot, and pulled the trigger, his shot going wide when he got hit behind the knee.

Prowl spun, bringing his rifle to bear on Sentinel. He immediately flicked the safety on, and pointed the muzzle at the ground, away from his teacher. "Sentinel."

"Prowl, Starscream is here, and would like to spar with you." Sentinel said, a small smile on his face.

Of course he was. Prowl sighed again, and set his rifle down. "Very well."

Sentinel led him to the sparring room, and sure enough, the red, blue and white Seeker was waiting, arms crossed. "About time, Autobrat."

Prowl rolled his optics. "Nice to see you too, Screamer." he said, emphasizing the nickname Starscream hated with a passion. His barb hit it's mark, Starscream's optics narrowing before he lunged, tackling Prowl to the ground. Prowl rolled, ignoring the pain raidiating from his doorwings in favor of pounding the slag out of the Seeker beneath him.

Starscream threw Prowl off, and leaped to his feet, Prowl quick to follow. Sometime during the fight, Sentinel Prime had vanished, presumably to go teach. Prowl tensed as Starscream charged, then jumped, grabbing onto the ventilation duct above him, and pulling himself out of Starscream's way.

Starscream looked up, and with a smirk, grabbed Prowl's legs, his jets propelling him across the room, Prowl being pulled behind him. Prowl scrabbled for purchase, and found it, pulling himself out of Starscream's grip, and swinging himself onto Starscream's back. He grabbed the edge of one wing, and pulled, bending it back, nearly tearing it off.

Starscream yelled, throwing Prowl off, Prowl landing hard on his doorwings. He staggered to his feet, trying to shake off the pain. He went for the door, and tried to open it. Sentinel had locked it from the outside, trapping Prowl inside.

Prowl spun, fists clenched as Starscream lunged. They crashed to the ground, both drawing weapons. Prowl squeezed off a few shots, as did Starscream. One of Starscream's shots hit his hand, forcing Prowl to drop the gun. Starscream began to advance, and Prowl reacted, grabbing the barrel of Starscream's gun, and forcing it into his mouth, pulling the trigger as he did. Before Starscream off-lined, he lashed out, clipping Prowl in the side of the head, knocking him offline at the same time Starscream went off line.

/--------------------------------/

Jazz and the Twins were spending their detention in the class room, scraping all kinds of gunk off the bottoms of the desks while they were supervised by Sentinel. The door slammed open, causing the four mechs to jump. Optimus Prime stalked into the room, followed by Ratchet, both of them radiating fury.

Sideswipe glanced over at Jazz and Sunstreaker. "Anyone else notice how slagged off Prime is?"

"I did. And I'm glad for once that it ain't directed toward me." Jazz remarked, while Sunstreaker nodded.

Optimus glanced over at where the three younger mechs were still working before turning the full force of his glare on Sentinel. "What the pit were you thinking, forcing Prowl to spar Starscream?" he demanded, looming over Sentinel.

Jazz and the Twins were now listening. Intently.

Sunstreaker looked over at hs father. "Is Prowl gonna be okay?" he asked, worry clear in his tone.

Ratchet flicked his gaze over the three tense mechs in the middle of the classroom. "He will be fine. He's stable."

Optimus's voice rose. "He almost killed Prowl, Sentinel! You're telling me that it was self-defense?!"

Sentinel straightened. "Yes. Prowl shoved the muzzle of his rifle down Starscream's throat and pulled the trigger."

Ratchet straigtened. "Starscream got lucky. If Prowl had been shooting to kill, Starscream would be dead. Prowl was acting on pure instinct."

Sentinel didn't back down. "Starscream acted in defense because Prowl was threatening to kill him."

That was the worst thing Sentinel could have said.

Jazz and the Twins ran from the room when Optimus roared and charged Sentinel. The loud crash of metal hitting metal followed them all the way down the hall to the medbay.

Sideswipe entered the room, sighing. Prowl was offline, and from the looks of it, very heavily drugged. He looked back at Jazz and Sunstreaker, and shook his head. They nodded, and turned around, heading toward their quarters, wishing Prowl was there with them.

/------------------------/

One week later

Prowl keyed the passcode for his quarters, looking forward to recharging in his own berth. A week in the medbay had given him an intense dislike for it. The doors slid open, and he stepped in, immediately noting that Jazz was out cold, visor dark. He smiled, and climbed onto his own berth. He jumped when he saw Jazz's visor bright and locked onto him. "I didn't mean to wake you, Jazz."

Jazz waved the apology away. "Eh. I don't care. How are ya?" he asked, scanning Prowl intently.

Prowl laughed. "I'm fine. Screamer just tried to offline me. Why?"

Jazz didn't smile. "Prowl, you nearly died." he said quietly, almost in a whisper. He looked away for a moment. "Ya scared Optimus an' Ratch, ya know."

Prowl blinked. "Really?"

Jazz looked back up, a small smile tugging on his mouth. "Yeah. OP beat the slag outta Sentinel for lettin' Screamer beat on ya. Gave him a taste o' his own medicine, I think. Me and the Twins didn' stick around."

"Can't imagine why." Prowl said dryly.

"Prime was absolutely fraggin' livid, Prowler. I don' think I've ever seen him that fragged off." Jazz said, a hint of admiration in his tone.

Prowl smiled. "Well, if it makes you feel better, Screamer won't be out of medbay for another two weeks."

Jazz grinned. "Yeah, apparen'ly ya made him eat bullets."

Prowl shrugged. "What did you expect me to do? Let him shoot me?"

"Nah, ya are too stubborn to stay still long enough." Jazz said with a smirk.

"I think I'm insulted, Jazz." Prowl said, laying a hand over his spark.

Jazz shook his helm. "Ah, c'mon, Prowler. Don' gimme that bull-slag. Yer proud of it."

"Yeah, I am."

/--------------------------/

A/N- Dang, this has to be the longest chapter yet. Sorry it took so long to update! Well, read, review, and lemme know what you think!