Chapter 29 ~ "New Package"

Optimus onlined his optics and shook his head in the washroom, golden optics blinking. He took a breath and turned off the water, grabbing a towel to dry himself off. He stepped out of the wash-rack and grabbed his armor while the room was still steaming with hot air. He was still coated with condensation when he left for his quarters.

When entering his quarters, he slapped the towel on his desk chair and went to sit on his recharge birth. He sighed heavily, his face burying itself in his hands, "Slagging hell," he whispered.

He looked up through his fingers, golden optics staring at the floor before shifting around his quarters. They landed on his closet, which sat with the door propped opened slightly. His expression turned from tired to scrutinizing, his face frowning at the closet door.

It was in there, the very thing that still linked him to Cybertron, to the Autobots…

Prime's frown deepened, golden optics glowing due to just sheer disgust. It ate at him every time, but he could not just get away from that damn thing.

With a heavy sigh, he looked back to his desk to see today's edition of the news playing on his monitor. Prime blinked, seeing something pop on the screen that proved interesting. There was a story about the young Autobot Commander having another meeting at a fancy hotel or banquet.

Golden optics blinked, widening when staring at the screen. Realization had hit him hard, considering the fact that he was now digging through his closet. He found an empty box and some fragile wrapping, perfect for the package he was going to sent…

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Prime arrived back at the ship, feeling content though restless. He had accomplished something he'd never be willing to do, and thanks to the magic of the postal system he made things a little easier for him. He felt like he could breathe, stretching his arms out over his head and smiled.

He suddenly felt a pair of eyes watching him, and found a certain yellow bot looking up at him when he looked down.

"You okay?" RaiRyu asked, a little worried.

Prime blinked, smiling down at his charge, "Yeah," he patted the yellow yuusha's head, "Yeah, I'm fine Rai…"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Scavenger spoke up from down the hallway, smoking his pipe.

Prime looked up, smirking, "Nah, you're not," he said, patting RaiRyu's head once more. He blinked up at the elder mech, "How is he?"

Scavenger took a puff of his pipe and frowned, "Might take a few days, maybe weeks..."

"Most likely," was the surprising agreement from Goldymarg. "I saw the look on his face... I'm not as dense as I appear. He was hurt badly by what happened. Healing is not going to be easy... but he does have support. Or didn't you notice how clingy his team has become."

Prime had jumped with RaiRyu clinging to him, "How long have you been there???"

Scavenger chuckled. "He's big, he's orange, and he's been sitting at the counter in the lounge drinking for the past hour Prime, where have YOU been?"

Prime glared back up at Scavenger and settled RaiRyu on the seat next to him. "He may have his teammates but it's going to take a lot more than that..." Prime knew from experience.

Goldymarg shook his head. "You're missing the point. What those two have is deeper than just the bonds of the team. Why do you think they hated it when VolFogg went to see the female?" He tilted his head, waiting to see if they were going to figure it out, or if he had to spell it out for them.

"I understand that..." Prime blinked sadly, and Scavenger nodded along in agreement, "We all do, but losing your first love is...its beyond all compare."

Scavenger shrugged, "You did just fine..." He felt the glare upon his helm from Prime, RaiRyu looked between them obviously confused.

"Well, he won't be alone," the huge orange robot with the hammer on his back, pointed out. "He has them, and they're not going to stray very far from him. What they have for him is love, and damn strong at that."

Scavenger nodded, puffing out a smoke, "Right..." then he stretched his arm, "Well... he better get better soon. We have training to start with ALL of you...." He looked up at the large orange bot, "That includes you cheese-puff...."

Goldymarg bristled. "What was that?!"

Scavenger smirked with the pipe between his teeth, "You heard me... cheese-puff..." he saw Prime snicker wildly, "We have a plan for all of you boys, you're going to be training under our supervision...."

Scavenger grinned, "You've been warned...."

Goldymarg's right optic rim twitched, and the hammer on his back seemed to glimmer ever so slightly. "I'll have you know I'm plenty strong! And if GaoGaiGar was here I'd show you just what I'm capable of!"

Scavenger had crossed his arms, sucking onto his pipe and blowing out a smoke ever so smoothly, "And I can show you..." he said with a smirk, "...what I am capable off..."

Prime was looking between the two, waving his arms at GoldyMarg with the sign, 'Don't do it! Don't to it!'

HyoRyu walked over to the orange mech, looking him right in the optics. Goldymarg looked at him for a long moment, and then subsided with an irritated hiss, turning back to his drink.

The blue twin turned to look at Scavenger and Prime. "Goldy, as you've noticed, is pretty easy to provoke... but he's not lying about his strength." He reached up to tap the hammer on Goldymarg's back.

Scavenger tapped his pipe, "Never said that he wasn't strong enough..." he took another smoke, "Just he needs to use it more stealthily, less noise and more silence kid..." Scavenger puffed a smoke, "You all need to work this, your sharpshooting skills, your attacks, everything. And now that you have sparks, its going to be much more interesting with what you can REALLY do."

"Goldymarg's most powerful attack is useless without GaoGaiGar," HyoRyu told him. "GaoGaiGar is the only one he can connect to, the only one who can use this." He tapped the hammer again. "Haven't you wondered at all what this is? Because it does come off."

"Besides the hammer blue boy, there is much more that all of you can do..." Scavenger looked down at the smaller bot, "You have the power of ice, before you can only do so much because you would have to achieve a certain energy level to do any attack. Now with your sparks, the power is endless, and there is so much more techniques that you all can do..." Scavenger pointed to GoldyMarg,

"Cheese Puff here can learn how to use his strength without having to pummel anything, without even damaging anything..." he grinned, "Trust me kiddies, once we get started you'll see what I'm talking about."

HyoRyu nodded. "And should GaoGaiGar ever find us here, you will see the Goldion Hammer... Hikari Ni Nare." He tilted his head. "I, personally, look forward to the training."

Scavenger nodded, "Good... and you might wanna learn how to make ice packs," he chuckled. "You and the others are going to be hurting after we get started. As soon as VolFogg and the wonder twins are up and ready for this, we start immediately."

HyoRyu nodded.