Woohoo! I got the second half of the chapter done before Christmas! We continue on to the race. The race is mostly from Bee's POV with some drama and mechs acting like afts. Please enjoy.

I want to thank everyone so far for reading. The next update probably won't be until January as I have another P&J challenge to attend to. So I hope everyone has a save Holiday season!

Springer

"How do I look?"

"For the umpteenth time, you look fine," I grumbled on the verge of pounding Hot Rod into the next galaxy. "Why'd you make such an asinine bet anyway?"

"I don't know. It seemed like a sure way to get a date," he chuckled.

"How many times have I told you to not get too cocky?"

"More times than I can count?" Hot Rod countered.

"Just remember, I won't be there to save your aft all the time, Rodimus," I smirked quietly, using his given name. I was one of a few mechs who knew Hot Rod's real name. And I liked to use it whenever he was being annoyingly stubborn and stupid like a lot of these young mechs seemed to enjoy doing whenever femmes are involved.

"Don't call me that," he growled, looking pissed off.

"I'll stop using it once you've fully matured," I teased.

"Pfft, like that's ever gonna happen," he counter. "I'm a free spirit!"

"You're an idiot who has been hanging out with Jetfire far too often."

"I had no one else to look up to coz you and Arcee…"

I instantly stiffened at the mention of Arcee. My spark still ached over our break up. It was even worse late last night when I over heard some of the femmes talking about Arcee's date with Orion. Apparently they'd seen him and described him as…well something the opposite of me. I knew I wasn't the best looking mech around. I had the battle scars to prove that. And just because he was the son of our Prime my spark didn't ache any less.

I still loved Arcee.

"Mech…I'm sorry."

"Just…stop. I don't want your pity. She's moved on," I grumbled.

"I don't know. She asked about you last night. I think she may start missing that Springer charm in the next day or so."

I snorted, trying not to smile.

"Yup. You're the only mech I know who could charm the nut off a bolt."

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around," I chuckled, rubbing his helm.

"Just don't ever call me Rodimus again."

Blaster suddenly whistled, "Would you look at that!"

"Is that her?" Blurr asked and I turned to see his optics were as wide as could be with his mouth hanging wide open. "She's hot!"

For once I had to agree with Blurr. Still, with as lovely as Blaze was, she wasn't Arcee.

"Yup, that's Blaze," Jazz answered.

"Wow," Hot Rod gasped and I rolled my optics. Typical young mech. On to the next thing. At least Hot Rod doesn't hold a grudge. "Blurr, you'd better win this race!"

"Oh, I'll win. She's a femme. She can't keep up with me," Blurr commented, making Jazz giggle.

"Do you know something we don't know?" I asked him.

"Yeah, don't ever challenge Blaze's femme prowess," he answered and trotted ahead.

As we followed, I glanced over at Hot Rod and noticed that slag eating grin of his only got bigger. I have to admit, my curiosity was peaked about this femme. I wonder if she was a fighter like I've heard this Kaceystar is.

"Hey guys!" Jazz cheerfully smiled.

"Hey Jazz!"

"Since I'm the senior officer, I'll do the introductions," Jazz grinned at us. "These two here are the twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. That mech there you all know is Nitro. And the femme is of course the one and only Blaze. This is Springer, Blaster, Hot Rod, and Blurr."

"You're seem like a typical femme…no power," Blurr commented rolling right up to the young femme. "You need power to have speed."

Primus he was just as idiotic as Hot Rod at times.

"Really, did it take all night for you to come up with that remark?" she countered, folding her arms across her chest, posturing herself. "Might want to divert some of that power to your processor next time instead of your mouth."

"What a silly femme!" Blurr laughed.

I could swear I heard a low growl from her. The twins and Nitro took a couple of steps back, chuckling and shaking their heads. I decided to do the same when Jazz pulled Blaster back a few steps with him. I had to drag Hot Rod. The idiot looked like he was in a daze and couldn't take his optics off the femme.

"Those don't look very combat efficient," Blaze commented, looking down at Blurr's feet. "Unless you're a mech who runs from a fight. Is that why you're so fast?"

"Hey!" Blurr snarled, poking a finger at Blaze.

That was the only word Blurr got out of his vocal processor because Blaze snatched Blurr by that finger and in the blink of an optic flipped him once and had him pinned on the ground with her knee hard against his chest.

"I told you not to challenger her," Jazz laughed. "Blaze, play nice now."

"Primus, I think I'm in love," Hot Rod whispered to me and then strode over offering the femme his hand. "I'm Hot Rod. I'm very much looking forward to our date. Let's say tonight at dusk?"

"What makes you think I'm going to lose?" she countered, getting back up on her own.

"Oh, I see," Hot Rod drawled out. "You like to play hard to get. Not a problem. I'll get you one way or another. I'm persistent."

Blaze laughed at him before turning away.

"What?" Hot Rod shrugged, when I gave him a look.

"You're an idiot," I flatly told him.

Jazz

Persistent was the right word for Hot Rod. He kept pestering Kacey until Sunny and Sides made him back off. But then Springer and Blurr took offense to their friend getting shoved around. It took Blaster and me a few minutes to get them all settled down just before more mechs and femmes started showing up for the race.

One look at Kacey and I knew she was upset about the minor altercation. Her visor was down but she had the frown I'd seen a few times too many of late.

"Don't mind us mechs when we do stupid stuff like that," I told her quietly with my arm around her shoulder. "We tend to resort to acts of idiocy when confronted with a beautiful femme or mech our spark desires."

"So I'm supposed to expect mechs fighting over me now?"

"Maybe. You never know. Don't tell Prowl this but I did get in a few fights with this Praxian Engineer tech who thought Prowl was going to be his because 'only Praxians should mate with other Praxians'. Don't let them fool you. Praxians can fight dirty."

"But not more so than special ops mechs," she smirked knowingly at me.

"You're far too clever femme," I laughed rubbing her helm. "Come on. It's time to get this race on before Prowl blows his circuits up in the command center."

"Wait…Prowl knows…that means…frag."

"Prowl talked to Optimus about why you probably chose to use Blaze as your name. He understands but I do suggest talking to him afterwards."

"Thanks Jazz. I will."

"Ok, time to take your positions so we can start this race!" I ordered, noticing a lot more mechs and femmes were now present and even more were arriving.

"Wait, don't you want a kiss for luck? Or should I just collect it after I've won the bet?" Hot Rod smirked, standing right in Kacey's personal space.

"Get back, Hot Rod," I chuckled shaking my head. I even gave him a good push in the chest to make him move back. "You're not going to win her spark that way, nimrod."

Primus, I can't believe I just said that. I'm still betting on Bumblebee to capture Kacey's spark!

"Hey Hot Rod!" Kacey called to my surprise, getting the mech's hope's up. Then she had this evil smirk. "Have a nice day!"

I laughed as music started blaring as she sauntered down the ramp towards the track.

/Ooh, if there's one thing I hang onto that gets me through the night. I ain't gonna do what I don't want to. I'm gonna live my life.\\

/Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice. Standing on the ledge, show the wind how to fly. When the world gets in my face. Have a nice day.\\

/When the world keeps trying to drag me down I've gotta raid my hands, gonna stand my ground. I say, hey, have a nice day.\\

"She's way out of your league, mech," I said, turning to Hot Rod.

"No mech or femme is unobtainable unless they're bonded," he countered seriously. "They could be the future Prime for all I care."

It was then that I realized this mech posed a serious challenge for Bumblebee. If the young scout didn't get his aft in gear Hot Rod may just win Kacey's spark. Judging from what I read of his profile and what Blaster told me he was the kind of mech that got what he wanted. And right now that looked like Kacey.

'No meddling Jazz. That was part of the bet,' my sparkmate suddenly said over our bond. 'If you meddle, I win.'

'Who's meddling?' I chuckled back, glancing up at the security camera.

'Just get this race going. I don't want us caught with our skid plates down in case the 'Cons attack.'

I saluted the camera and turned to address the crowd.

"Alright everyone! Quiet down!" I shouted and almost instantly the crowd grew silent. "Good. I just wanted to explain a few things before we get this race started. First off, I want to welcome the Axalon crew. It's been a long time since we've had so many Cybertronians in one location. It's truly spark warming to see how our race has flourished despite the war. Second as of this moment no more bets will be placed. All of you will be able to watch the race on the monitors we set up. As for the rules of the race…it's simple. First one across the finish line wins. There will be no trading paint during the race to get each other out of the way. Blaster has initiated a block on your comlinks. No receiving communications from anyone and you can transmit to only that one mechanism you designated. Nitro is Blaze's designated. And Hot Rod is Blurr's. Are we clear on the rules?"

Both Kacey and Blurr nodded. Both smirking confidently. Kup was right, nothing like a little competition for the spark. I could feel the energy out here. It was positively buzzing my frame!

"Ok, on you marks and transform."

Blurr was quick to transform into one of the fastest alt modes I've seen, a Citreon GT. Blaster said the mech did just about everything fast. Like Kacey's alt form, even parked Blurr looked fast. The pale silver only seemed to accentuate how fast he looked as well. His engine roared to life sounding very much like a high powered sports car.

Then Kacey folded down into her sleek alt form of her McClaren. Of course, I was being biased but she looked even faster with the immaculate shine. And her engine had a deeper rumble to it which she demonstrated over and over by revving her engine repeatedly which of course Hot Rod and the others immediately noticed.

I glanced to see the beginnings of doubt in the optics.

"You can feel her power from here!" Sideswipe shouted and many of the Earth bound Autobots cheered in agreement.

"You'd better get them started," Nitro whispered to me. "Kacey's name is starting to circulate through the crowd."

"Gotcha," I acknowledged and quickly moved into position in the front of the racers. "Good luck to you both. On my mark! Three…two…one…GO!"

Tires screamed loudly. The smell of burning rubber and smoke instantly surrounded me. I literally felt the whoosh of air and the heat from their engines as Kacey and Blurr simultaneously blasted by me.

Once the smoke cleared I saw two sets of tread marks on the track and the rear bumpers of both racers were already way in the distance.

"Primus, they're fast," I commented to myself.

Bumblebee

I heard there was a race between the Axalon and Earth Autobots. It just never dawned on me that Kacey was participating in it! Frag, Leo didn't even know that she was racing, not that he'd know his head from his aft right now. The love struck mech's processor has been in the clouds since yesterday.

Regardless, there was no denying that was Kacey's alt form rocketing side by side with another Autobot on the large monitor in the recreation room.

"So that's why they were acting odd," I commented.

"Who?"

"Sunny and Sides. The fraggers knew!"

"And they didn't tell us. Let's get them!"

I was in full agreement and right behind Leo as he ran through the hallways. Having tagged along for several of the inspections of Autobot city I knew of a different route to the flight deck. It opened on the raceway near the flight deck's ramp. As predicted, it wasn't crowded but there were a few mechanisms on the raceway looking up at one of the monitors.

My optics spotted both Sunny and Sides standing with Nitro and Jazz and a few mechs from the Axalon. I recognized Springer and Blaster. I wasn't sure who the third mech was but I'm sure Kacey probably had something to say about the flames on his armor.

"Oh slag!"

"Yeah, oh slag!" I growled, punching Sideswipe in the arm. "Why the frag didn't you guys tell me it was Kacey racing?"

"Well, we thought you might try to stop her," he replied.

"Yeah Bee, you can be a more overprotective uncle than Prowl when it comes to Kacey," Sunstreaker added.

"Wait a second, are you guys saying that Blaze is actually Kacey…as in Kaceystar, Optimus Prime's first born?" the mech with flames on his chest armored asked with this wild look in his optics.

"She is," Nitro jumped in. "Blaze was a name she used when she was hiding from the Decepticons. I thought it best to use it instead of her real name."

"Why would you want to mislead us?" Springer asked grumpily.

"Oh, come on Springer, Blurr even in his right mind would never give it his all if he knew he was racing Kaceystar. The mech would probably faint," the young mech grinned. "Wow. I can't believe I'm gonna get to date the Kaceystar!"

My doorwings and antenna shot right up, shocked. Kacey had a date with this mech? When the slag did that happen?

"That's if Blurr wins, Hot Rod," Jazz quickly chimed in.

"I don't know cousin, it's looking like she might lose," Blaster chuckled and my optics snapped up to the monitor.

I swallowed hard, my doorwing sagged and antenna twitched nervously. Kacey was falling behind the pale silver alt form of Blurr. I panicked. For a moment. Then a somewhat triumphant smirked grew on my face.

"Why are you smiling? Kacey's losing!"

"Sunny, relax and watch," I told him, smiling smuggling at this Hot Rod. "Your Blurr isn't gonna know what blew past him in a moment."

Cocky fragger just laughed at me.

I knew exactly why Kacey was slowing down. The hardest most difficult part of the race track – and her favorite part – was coming up. Nothing but hair pin turns with short straight a ways. It was obvious Blurr was not as skilled a racer as Kacey for he was going way too fast.

I laughed knowing what was about to happen having seen it and done it myself a few times.

Right on queue Blurr lost control in the first turn. He made the mistake of over compensating and started spinning out of control.

"Slag it!" Hot Rod exclaimed.

"Ouch!" Blaster winced when Blurr careened off the guard rail, still spinning wildly.

Meanwhile, Kacey expertly drifted through the first turn without losing any speed. As she came out of the turn she lurched forward rapidly approaching Blurr's spinning form.

"What's she doing? She's not allowed to hit him!" Hot Rod protested.

"Relax, she's not gonna hit him. Kacey doesn't race that way," Sunny said in earnest.

Honestly, I was a little worried because there was no way around him. My spark even started racing in my chest as I was really getting into this race now with the others. Only my motives were more selfish. I didn't want Kacey to lose because I didn't want her to go out on a date with this cocky fragger!

As usual, Kacey proved to be as ingenious and as entertaining as ever. The clever femme pushed off the ground, lifting her alt form up high enough from the ground that she cleared Blurr's alt form as she jumped over.

The crowd erupted into a thunderous roar when Kacey's tires touched down, me included! I even whistled loudly when her back end fishtailed slightly before she continued on sliding through turns and speeding up through the straight-aways.

"Holy frag! Did you see that?" Blaster exclaimed.

"That was fragging awesome!" Hot Rod said with that wild look in his optics still. "What's she doing now? How the frag can she drive that fast through all those tight turns?"

"It's called drifting and the best bot to learn it from…"

"Is her?" Hot Rod eagerly asked, interrupting Jazz.

"No, actually, Bumblebee here is the best," Jazz chuckled, patting me on the shoulder.

"I think I'd prefer a private lesson from her if you get my meaning," Hot Rod winked at me.

I stepped forward only to get cut off by a flash of midnight blue.

"Hey, that's my sister!" Leo angrily, tackling Hot Rod to the ground.

Never mind the fact that Hot Rod was taller than me by a head or that I was taller than Leo! The young mech took him down hard! I couldn't help but let a small smile slip briefly.

"Don't ever talk that way about my sister!" he growled, firmly pressing his forearm against Hot Rod's neck.

"Get off him runt!" Springer snarled reaching for the back of Leo's neck.

Only Sunny and Sides leapt over and knocked Springer back. Jazz and I immediately went after them before they didn't anymore more stupid, pulling them back.

"Settle down! All of you!" Jazz shouted with authority. "Leo, get up now!"

"He can't talk about Kacey that way!" Leo countered, getting to his feet.

"I know he can't," Jazz agreed. "Hot Rod is going to apologize right now. Aren't you, Hot Rod?"

"He'd better," I added, glaring at the mech as Springer helped him up to his feet.

"Like frag I will," he growled, glaring right back at me.

"Jeez, everyone needs to just chill out," Blaster commented. "And Hot Rod you need to keep your ego in check. You know better to go disrespecting Prime's daughter or any femme like that. So apologize before I tell the Axalon guys you just got your aft handed to you by a bot half your size. Damn Leo, I heard you were strong but…wow!"

"We all here to have fun, let's remember that," Nitro chimed in as the twins, Leo and myself were all posturing, holding our ground just like Hot Rod and Springer were.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" Jetfire cheerfully asked as he suddenly jumped in the middle of everyone. "We're not fighting are we? I'd hate to have the SIC come down here and break up the race on account of a few mechs being idiots. He's watching just so you know."

"It's nothing. I was about to apologize. Leo, I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect," Hot Rod finally said, relaxing and holding his hand out to Leo. "I'm a mech. I get stupid sometimes when a beautiful femme comes my way."

"Sometimes?" Springer questioned, raising an optic ridge.

"Shut it," Hot Rod glared back…somewhat playfully.

"Just don't ever let me hear that kind of talk again," Leo said, shaking Hot Rod's hand. "I'm not the only one protective of Kacey. She has half a dozen uncles who are all seasoned wreckers. Plus, she has our father and mother. You don't want mom's wrath coming down on you."

"Don't you mean your father's?"

"No, he means Elita," the twins said.

"I think he gets the general idea, Leo," Jazz chuckled. "And yeah, I'm one of her uncles, Hot Rod."

"Don't worry Leo. I'll make sure he understands," Jetfire chimed in patting the young bot on his shoulder and Leo finally relaxed.

"They're on the final stretch!" someone shouted.

We all looked up to see Kacey still in the lead but with Blurr rapidly closing the gap.

"Wow, Blaze is one fast femme!" Jetfire exclaimed.

"Where have you been? That's actually Kaceystar!" Hot Rod cried out.

"What? The Princess! No way!" he gasped.

"Seems Nitro mislead us," Springer grumbled.

"Good thing though. Blurr would never knowingly race Kacey. You know that Springer," Jetfire countered. "Frag, she's fast on wheels!"

"Come on Blurr!" Hot Rod cheered. "He says she's slowed down a bit and that he can pass her!"

A small section of the crowd cheered and my spark jumped up to my throat.

"Can we talk to her?" I asked Jazz quietly.

"Nope. One of the rules," Jazz said. "She can talk to Nitro only but not even he can talk to her. Blaster set up the comlinks. But a bot of your skill would have no problem tapping into Nitro's frequency and listen in."

"Does Prowl know how sneaky you are?" I smirked.

"Of course. It's one of the reasons why he loves me so much."

"Slag, he caught up with her!" Sides shouted.

"Looks like I'm gonna need a shine for tonight!" Hot Rod laughed.

I growled, balling my hands up. As quick as I could and as skilled as Jazz taught me to be I hacked Nitro's frequency. And then winced at the loud, long string of curse words flying off Kacey's vocal processor. I noticed Jazz winced too. He and I shared a look shaking our heads.

"Frag…I'm gonna try something! No way this fragger is gonna beat me!"

"Oh slag," Nitro gasped, looking horrified. "Please…don't say it."

"Nitro, get everyone clear and up the ramp. Just in case."

"Primus, Kacey no!" Nitro shouted.

"What?" several of us all asked at once, me included.

"She's insane! Everyone…up the ramp!" Nitro urgently shouted.

"Why?" Springer asked.

"Because Kacey doesn't want anyone to accidentally get hurt," Jazz answered. "Move up the ramp! That's an order! Hurry!"

"Do you know what she's doing?" I asked him.

"No clue."

"She tried it once before and it didn't turn out so well," Nitro commented as we moved with the crowd up the ramp.

"I know what I'm doing this time, Nitro. Trust me," Kacey said as if she knew her friend was worrying.

"It might be a good idea to call Ratchet…just in case," Nitro frowned as we all looked up at the monitor.

I frowned too. I was still confused as to what Nitro was talking about. But as I watched Blurr's alt form rapidly pulling away from Kacey it suddenly dawned on me. Kacey would do anything to win. It was in her nature to be so competitive that she had to give it her all to win. Meaning she'd use everything in her arsenal to do just that.

"No!" I gasped.

"What?" Jazz asked.

"Get Ratchet," I seriously said. "If Kacey's gonna try what I think she is…"

"She is," Nitro added. "She's fragging crazy too!"

Kacey and Blurr were fast approaching the finish. So close now I could hear the roar of their engines getting closer and closer. On the monitor I saw the rear of Kacey's alt form transform. My spark stilled and my intakes seized. I didn't want to watch but was compelled to see how this race ended.

A thunderous crackled boomed and Kacey's alt form lurched forward hard and fast. In the blink of an optic she'd already caught up with Blurr!

"No fragging way!" Hot Rod exclaimed, mouth open as Kacey pulled ahead.

It was only by half a car length as Blurr poured on the speed and was managing to keep up with her. But it just wasn't enough. The pair of them rocketed past the finish line. The crowd erupted into a deafening roar as we ran down the ramp. I was relieved Kacey won but I couldn't relax just yet.

Blurr had already turned sideways and slid to a hard, smoky, screeching stop. Kacey was losing control and fish tailing wildly. Smoke spewed up from her tires as she tried to break. Finally she lost complete control and slammed into the wall, bounced off, spinning wildly towards the barrier that kept us from falling off the edge and dropping into the ocean below.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Hot Rod asked, genuinely concerned.

I felt just as helpless.

"You guys obviously don't know the Princess that well," Jetfire remarked. "She's Optimus' kid. She's been in far worse from what I've read."

The barrier exploded from gunfire that shot from Kacey's front end. Of course, alarms instantly sounded. I heard Jazz talking to Prowl already about it.

"See, I told you," Jetfire smiled as Kacey's engine revved and she drove right over the edge.

"We have to help her!" Hot Rod exclaimed.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, Hot Rod," Jetfire smirked, holding Hot Rod back.

For the first time that morning, I finally relaxed when I heard the familiar thundering boom of Kacey's thrusters echoing over launch deck. A moment later her flight form shot up high into the morning sky.

"Show off!" Leo laughed.

"I'll be mechnorats aft," Jetfire said, shaking his head. "I had no idea she was like you Springer. She's a triple changer."

Springer snorted, looking displeased as ever. I briefly wondered if he's always like that.

"Hot Rod, I'm so sorry…I tried," Blurr panted, heat emanating of him in waves.

"It's ok," Hot Rod smiled. "You should know you almost beat Kaceystar in a race though."

Blurr gasped, pointing to the spiraling jet as it approached.

"Oh yeah. That's Blaze…aka the Kaceystar."

As I heard, Blurr promptly fainted on the spot. Blaster and Jazz quickly tending to the mech as we all cleared a circular area for Kacey to land.

And land she did with her usual flare and style.

Transforming in the air she performed her trademark flip and landed gracefully on her feet. Another thunderous applause erupted. Kacey was all smiles.

"Hmm, she loves being the center of attention, doesn't she?" I heard Springer comment.

"Kind of like me," Hot Rod replied, pushing past me and running to greet my femme!

The cocky mech leaned in for a kiss. Only Kacey wouldn't have anything to do with it and expertly handled him. Laughter sounded when Hot Rod landed hard on his back after Kacey flipped him.

"Kacey, you are as entertaining as ever," I smiled, approaching her and giving her a tender kiss on the cheek. I made sure to shoot a triumphant look at Hot Rod, who glared back at me. "Just don't scare me like that again."

"You know me, Bee," she beamed. "Whoa!"

The twins suddenly scooped her up and lifted her up onto their shoulders, parading around with her through the crowd. For once I didn't chastise them. I'll beat them up later for not telling me about the race. For now my thoughts were on Kacey.

"Yes, I do know you," I whispered. "But do you know me, Kaceystar?"

Up Next: Everyone's settling in and a few bots start pairing off. Is Kacey one of them?