Energy and Motion

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers

Ativii, Ricochet, Sixth Prime, and the place Infinite belong to me.

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"Words" Cybertronian.

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Chapter 7: The Jazzman's Drill

:You seeing this Ric'?:

:Yeah, I am. It's like going to be some giant cave… well below the Infinite. Golly, you could fit a whole airline plane hangar down here.:

:Or a group of stacked quadrupeds,: snickered Ativii.

Ricochet pushed past the last wall of stone that was blocking his way. His protoform armor left light-colored gouges in the rock as he squeezed past the tight space with a grunt. The gray mech stumbled out and he froze as the full view of the much larger cavern obscured his vision.

"Wow, this was under where we've been staying for the past cycles?" said Ricochet in awe as his optics took in the full sight.

Ativii squeezed past Ricochet, and she froze too.

The two protoforms had been traveling through a small maze of tunnels and crevices that eventually opened up into canyon-like walls. Jazz had given them the 'hint' that there were some spectacular places hidden in the mountain. When facing boredom Ativii and Ricochet decided they should go and find out what Jazz was talking about.

The cavern was much larger than the column supported ones above. It was flat and had a straight edged roof. The height of the cavern was close to thirty-five feet tall average but the training center probably reached sixty feet. The rock was dark and it had seams running all over it like slabs of marble. More of the Cyberglyphs were etched into the walls with what seemed like large chisels. Veins of metal and isolated ingots were imbedded in the walls and they caught the light that was dimly filtering in through the small vent-like holes, that where near the roof and where the walls of the cave met.

Platforms of stone were stacked near the edge of the cavern, looking much like training platforms, and the center of the cave was cleared and flat for hand-to-hand combat. It was the perfect training room for Cybertronians to a terrestrial standard.

"Woo-wee. You know what this means, right?" asked Ativii. Ricochet was examining the Cyberglyphs on the walls of the cave and he turned to glance at his friend.

He fingered a seam of metal in the wall and said almost absently. "No. I don't know what this means?"

Ativii chuckled dryly. "It means that Jazz's gunna train us now! We're finally going to learn how to fight!"

Ricochet turned to her as he picked up on her almost forced happy attitude. "And that's a bad thing, why?"

"Knowing Jazz, he's not going to make it easy," she quieted down. "Neither of them are. I bettcah that they're going to push us and grind our gears till we fall into forced recharge." Ativii grimaced at the thought of being pushed real hard like a real soldier.

"What? You don't have any faith in Jazz? He's a cool mech! He won't push us that hard Ativii. You've seen how he acts," said Ricochet as he tried to convince Ativii.

Ativii just shook her helm and placed her servos on her hip bolts. "I have faith in Jazz. It's just… he might have fun pushing us in his drills. Especially you Ricochet, since you've been beating him lately in your silly races. I'd just thought I'd make sure that you were prepared for what he'll throw at you."

Ricochet scoffed as Ativii jumped away to go examine the playing field. "'He might have fun pushing you Ricochet. Especially since you've been beating the Jazzman!'" he mocked. "Pah-lease. I've only won maybe three out of five races lately," Ricochet the paused and thought about it a little harder. "Okay maybe it was more like twelve out of fifteen."

The mech pried an ingot from the wall and held it between his digits. He carefully magnetized it to his palm and held said palm out. He watched the rock stick firmly to the underside of this hand palm-side down. 'Maybe I will be scraped?' he thought idly. Then he looked up at the footholds in the wall.

"I see you've found the training cavern," said a voice behind Ativii.

She spun around from her spot on a ledge and looked at the tall Prime before her. His armor was no longer dirty as it was before, but it had more of a refreshed look to it, like it had been recently cleaned. His amber slanted optics were pools of brilliant light in the dim cave. His shaft spear was nowhere to be seen on his persona as he stood in front and below her.

Ativii looked at the Prime that was so much larger than her. His high headdress was just a few feet short of the roof of the cavern. "It would appear so," she said. "Jazz gave us a 'hint' that there was something else here in the Infinite. Apparently he was right."

The Sixth Prime shifted his weight and looked around at their surrounds. The white-almost blue- light that was streaming through the small holes in the walls caught his headdress links as they wavered softly. "Yes. Jazz had intentionally told you that. He was moderating your progress as you proceeded to find this place."

"Why is that?" asked Ativii as she back-flipped down from her ledge to be at the Primes wide four-digited peds.

The Prime's helm tipped down as he looked at the femme near his peds. "It was my idea actually. We wanted to test your natural curiosity and your instinct to find answers to rumors or hints given to you. They are good qualities for spies. I'm thinking you may have the potential to be a scout or spy Ativii. The test was mainly for you to accomplish, but your friend did well also."

"Hm. I guess your right. I was mostly in the lead until that last part of the trek," Ativii hopped a few meters to the center of the cavern. The large Prime followed quietly with clicking and whirring steps. "One thing I don't get about this place is how the light sources work? You see, we're inside a mountain and light shouldn't be penetrating this far in."

"Not everything has to make sense Ativii. And not everything can be answered with science and explanations, but feelings and trust in what you believe."

Ativii stopped as she reached the center. The light sources were all directed to this point, so the center appeared to be lighted up with spotlights of various sizes and brightness. "You talk weird, you know that right?"

The Prime chuckled. His young, deep laugh rolled on his vocal processors and filled the cave. Ricochet just looked over from where he was perched on a wall ledge a ways away, then he returned to climbing when nothing interesting happened. "I am told that a lot. Especially by Jazz, he likes to make fun of that. A great deal of it probably has to deal with me being a Prime."

"See there! You just talked normally!" exclaimed Ativii.

"I honestly do not get what you are talking about Ativii," said the Prime with a blank face.

"Seriously? What does it take to get a rise out of you?" Ativii shook her servos above her helm and she hopped into the center of the training circle.

Her spark stilled as deep cycles of air flushed through her vents. A strong, fighting and protecting instinct filled her spark as she stepped into the center of the glyph runes on the floor. Ativii shuttered her optics and balanced delicately on her fused leg with her arms to her side.

"In the time of war, the need to protect and defend with pride and honor can win any battle. Feel the drive in your spark Ativii, harness it and direct it into your battle computers to construct the perfect fighting instinct," said the Prime as he slowly walked around the rune inscribed ring. Ricochet continued to scale the walls in the dim light. "Protoform stages are the foundations of constructing these instincts. That is why you do not have your alt-modes and amour engaged. Construct you instincts and fighting abilities now, and you battle computer will enhance them later on, improving yourself as a warrior. Every femme has strong protective instincts over the young and weak. We are going to harness these to make you a warrior and a defender to the Autobot cause."

"What is it that I need to do?" asked Ativii with closed optics.

"Survive and learn."

The Prime drove his shaft that he had just subspaced, into an impression in the ground. He twisted it and gears began to twist in the stone. Seven pedestals rose out of the ground, each had jagged metal structures producing from the tops of them. The Prime placed his servo on the one nearest to him and a hologram shot out in a circle of light. The beams from the six other holograms stuck the roof of the cavern and quick bolts of electricity sparked between them.

The mechanical training ring was activated.

Ativii's optics shuttered open as dark-blue figures appeared around her, their frames were outlined with a thread of brighter blue light. The unmarked, unnamed mechs appeared around her with white optics. She brought her servos up to her chassis and held them in a fighting stance.

"Simply evade Ativii. That will be your number one priority in a fight. When you get caught, your small frame will make it easier for your enemy to get the upper hand," instructed the Prime.

The black femme took a deep breath of cool cave air. Her protoform armor flared slightly in preparation for the fight. 'I got my balance down and my aerobatics. I can do this. It's not like I will get seriously hurt, these are images and our healing operations are supreme. I will be fine,' she thought. 'I will do fine.'

Ativii prepared herself, and she said, "I'm ready."

The first mech came at her at a slow pace. He acted quickly and tried to grab her when he got close. Ativii pulled taunt on her leg strut and she released, thrusting her in the air and out of the way of the mech's servos.

More and more of them continued to come at her in time. She jumped, twisted, back-flipped and slid to get out of the way. A few times she was caught by the arm or around the waist. Ativii would wiggle her way out or a sudden reflex would have her decking the mech in the faceplates with a sudden ferocity that was strange for her. Then he would fade out of existence as his holoform shattered.

Eventually Ativii got the tactics down, and she would dash out of the way like a rabbit on the run. She'd sometimes trip a few of the smaller mechs and send them shattering across the floor. The Prime instructed her and taught her poses in the oncoming weeks. The training courses were not hard, but very educational and they just felt right.

Ricochet would just sit back and watch from his favorite ledge near the training ring. He'd laugh and call out to Ativii as she 'danced around' with the imagery mechs, as he called it. Ricochet would sit amazed at Ativii's grace too. For a uniwheelier she was amazing on her feet and she looked like a snake as she twisted and turned in the light. Her black armor still glittered in the light as it gained scratches and dings from training.

The Sixth Prime eventually introduced a rod for her to fight with. It was a short shaft that could be broken into two rods that were held in her servos. Ricochet called them her 'drum sticks.' Ativii would come swinging around with the rods grasped in her servos and she'd knock out mechs by jabbing them in their joints or bashing their sensitive systems. Her training cycles quickly became more and more intensive.

Ativii became stronger and stronger. She was becoming quicker and was getting decked less and less. Ricochet on the other hand was being trained by Jazz… and to say the least, it was interesting.

The silver saboteur didn't go easy on Ricochet at all. Probably because Jazz had lost a few races and because he was a mech. He could take it. Jazz instructed Ricochet at hand-to-hand combat and soon they were performing mix martial arts Cybertronian style. The two grays mechs would swing punches and round house kicks as metal beat against metal and sparks flew. Jazz would never let Ricochet get the upper hand easily, so he made the mech work hard to get it.

Ricochet was good at hand-to-hand. His long limbs were no way weak and his wide servos made grasping much easier. Ricochet couldn't always take a direct hit that easily, but he could deliver them just as fast.

As the two fighters progressed past mix martial arts and other forms of Autobot standard fighting sequences, they moved onto Ricochet's ability: electromagnetics.

Ativii watched wide-eyed as her sensors went high wire and bopped around with static. The two mechs were training with their servos this time and a low humming could be heard from their digits and palm plates. Ricochet's blue seams in his arms flared and pulsed with electricity.

Jazz flexed his claws and opened them wide as he bent his arms and stooped low, looking like some feral animal. "Tha trick Ricochet is gettin' yer grip on a mech. Break tha grip and ya loose tha advan'age. Once ya grasp onta meh, try polarizing meh wris' joints togetha."

"What else can I do with this ability?" asked Ricochet as he stooped low too.

"Ya can take away ah weapon, ya can scramble systems, ya can glue ah bots aft ta the ceiling. Tha skills are unique," said Jazz as he shuffled to the side. "Think fast!"

Jazz lunged at Ricochet, his claws stretched out and ready to grasp. Ricochet moved to deflect Jazz's servos and throw the saboteur over his shoulder bolts. But when a giant weight pressed to his back, Ricochet stumbled in shock. Jazz hand magnetized his servos to his shoulder bolts and had swung around to hang on his back. The Jazzman wrapped his arms around Ricochet's neck and pressed against the Energon lines and communication relays there.

As Jazz continued to hold the head lock Ricochet stumbled a bit more as his vision and sensors began to have a fit as Energon was cut off and relays pinched. Ricochet reached up to pry loose the smaller mech but Jazz quickly shifted his hold and magnetized Ricochet's servos to the top of his helm.

Ricochet started pulling at his helm frantically; his servos were placed on the side of his helm near his audio receptors and his elbow joints pointed out in front of him. Jazz reached down and locked up Ricochet's knee joints with a pulse and they froze together. Ricochet threatened to tip over as his stability was being taken down. Jazz leapt up and performed a swift kick to his back plates and he sent the mech crashing to the sand floor.

The larger mech cried out in pain as his neck and arms were pressed uncomfortable against the floor. He tried wiggling out of his hold, but he could only roll over. Ricochet glared up at Jazz from between his arms.

Jazz just pulled up his visor to reveal his dark blue optics and he smiled. "Ah toldya ta think fast, mech. Ah guess tha Jazzman get's tha upp'r hand for this battle."

"For this round you do Jazz. But next time, I will get you!" seethed Ricochet from his venerable position.

"We'll see about tha promise mech."

Ricochet took a long time to get the upper hand on Jazz. A long time. But during the process Ricochet developed his unique skills to use his ability to paralyze a mech, to climb higher, and the throw off another's aim. It was hard work and fun and games all in one.

Surprisingly, with all of their training, Ricochet and Ativii's Energon levels never dipped low or decreased. Their natural healing systems were quite extraordinary also. Jazz took a guess at it and said that it was because they're in their protoforms and it just could be the Infinite.

One night, in the middle of the desert's plain winter, Ricochet finally got the upper hand on Jazz.

Jazz was a little off his peds for that night, he seemed almost dazed and water logged. Ricochet and him were clashing together when the much larger mech tripped to the ground. Jazz waltz over him but Ricochet flicked out a servo and tripped the smaller mech. They grabbled together and rolled off the small rise of stone and crashed to the ground.

After a twisting of alloys and grunt from Ricochet, he got back up. But Jazz was nowhere to be seen. Ativii shifted from side to side, trying to see if Jazz was anywhere when Ricochet got up.

"Ricochet! What in the slag did you do?!" yelled Jazz from… behind Ricochet?

Ricochet laughed full out and he glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, just a little trick I came up with," he purred.

Ativii just cocked an optic ridge at her friend.

"Well you better but me down mech! Or I will so tear you apart! This… this isn't dignified!" yelled Jazz; he was dead serious because he had dropped his accent.

"Hey Ativii. Check out my new backpack," smirked Ricochet. He turned around and showed her what was attached to his back.

Ativii took on look and then she burst out laughing so hard, she fell on her aft.

Jazz had been magnetized to Ricochet's back armor. His wrists and shoulders hanged up the smaller saboteur, leaving his peds dangling free. Jazz scowled heavily under his visor, a small sneer pulling at his lip plates. He was trying to pry himself away from Ricochet's armor and he really did look like a backpack or some silver attached monkey.

Ativii just kept laughing and laughing until her systems overheated and she was forced to stop to gasp for air. Then Ricochet started to strut around showing off Jazz to the whole cave. Ativii just rolled on the floor for ages as Jazz spewed out many unkind and colorful words. Along with a good servo full of threats, but Ricochet just ignored them for the time being.

Jazz did not like being in that position at all. He claimed it to be cheating, unfair, humiliating, and totally not cool. Especially when he was in the presence of a femme.

Jazz did get Ricochet back. The taller mech said it was very painful and humiliating in the end.

It was a few weeks later and 2009 would be there in a few days. The New Year was almost here. Ativii and Ricochet had started on their sharpshooting skills, which were fantastic thanks to past skills of their other life. The Prime was incorporating their shooting skills and their fighting skills into their training sessions. So now it was all full-blown soldier and survival mode.

Jazz walked up to where Ativii and Ricochet were sitting in one of the larger 'Y' crossing of the Infinite. They were talking amongst themselves softly as dim midnight light filtered through the light sources of the cave.

The two protoforms now fit much more easily into their protoform armor. Thanks to the bulking up of cables and their chance to enhance their programing. Ativii was balancing on her mended leg like a beautiful black pearl snake on the stone pillar. She was twirling her short swords from servo to servo like a professional high school color guard. Ativii had her rods switched out to an actual weapon a few weeks ago and she took her short swords as prized possessions.

Ricochet sat back on his aft and kicked his heel bolts in front of him. He crossed his wrist behind his helm and relaxed heavily against the stone pillar. The blue magnetic lines in his arms glowed dimly like veins as he rested.

Jazz's step was light and friendly as he approached them. He did a quick kick-flip and landed on the support bridge that the two bots were already on. He kicked back behind Ativii, much like how he did when he was alive on this planet and asked, "What's cracking little bots?" he asked in Cybertron. Ativii and Ricochet had been learning the dialect and Jazz and the Prime made sure they got in plenty of practice.

Ativii stilled her twirling of swords as her vents cycled air to cool down her core. Her partially activated battle coding stilled as she stopped what she was doing. "We were just discussing about what has happened to us."

"It might actually be good for you to hear Jazz. We were talking about what we remember as humans… which isn't much anymore," said Ricochet with offline optics.

"Ah neverah did experience this planet much befor Ah offlined," said Jazz as he retracted his visor and watched the two bots before him with deep blue optics.

Ativii smiled warmly as she clipped her short swords to her back struts. "You're missing out on a lot Jazz. Being human, or even just meeting new people, was so much fun!" she laughed as a fragment of a memory surfaced. "But I certainly don't miss the confusing emotions of being a female. Or even having to take care of myself like I used too."

"Being a robot does have its ups and downs," Ricochet said. "But I do miss the emotions of being human. The love, the hate, happiness, sorrow, laughter… it's just different with a spark more… sharp and robotic almost."

"Wha can ya tell meh abou' Earth?" asked Jazz.

The femme perked up. "Oh Jazz! There is so much that you would enjoy about Earth. The music, the games, the culture… the list goes on and on!"

"Ah was able ta find out a little bi' about Earth and hum'n culture. Wha kindov music genera are ya favorites?" asked Jazz.

For about two days, Ativii and Ricochet told Jazz about what they could remember about human culture in general. By now, all their memories were either gone or blurry like dreams, so they couldn't draw explanations from those experiences.

Jazz loved learning about human culture. Ricochet spewed all about the movies that were gong to come out, hopefully, and his favorite videogames. Ativii talked about the joy of outdoors and racing activities she knew about and had once participated in. They danced from topic to topic, from culture to history and to medicine.

The saboteur was amazed at all that the humans could think of and create. Their buildings, laws, fuel sources, and the ability to harness the planets resources were incredible. The ugly sides of humanity were much like Cybertron, the war, the hate, and the greed. There was certainly more than meets the eye with humans.

Humans were brilliant, they had progressed further much faster then Cybertronians had. What an amazing race Jazz thought. His sparked longed to be alive again and be able to experience this race for himself. He knew he'd fit well in with the humans.

Ricochet mentioned the satellite that would come around every tens days for thirty-seven minutes at a time. He told Jazz about what they had rounded together about what was happening on the outside world. Little was known about what the Autobots were doing, but they had grasped that NEST was initiated now. Jazz vowed that next time the military satellite came around; he'd try to access its link. It might not work since he was just an avatar, but he'd try.

As 2009 started, time was beginning to really crunch down. The Decepticons would begin their assault soon, and Ativii and Ricochet had to be ready for the attack. All they could do was prepare for the worst.

KTAB: Wow! That took a long time to get up! Over exaggerating here. I didn't have a rough draft for this one so it took a lot longer to do. I hope I got all my mistakes on this, but you can PM me if you notice any it was a little rushed in editing..

I loved writing this chapter! I felt like it was a lot of fun to do and you begin to see the bot's skills come forth more and more! Jazz is great to do, he's so much fun. The whole magnetized scene didn't exactly turn out how I thought it, but it's all grand and great right? Jazz wasn't to happy about it at all. In about two chapter's well begin ROTF! I've outlined (rough drafted) clear to the end of the battle and it'll be epic! *crosses fingers* The Prime teaches Ativii and Ricochet is taught by Jazz, seems legit to me. Golly I love these bots to much!

What do you think happened to Jazz to have him be dazed and groggy? I got a side story about that, and I'll post it as a one-shot if you guys want to hear what happened? One hint: Laurentain Abyss.

Shout Outs:

Thanks to: Erienyes0913 and MiniAjax for favorites

Thanks to: Haag and FreezingTime92 for the follows.

Question: Will Jazz and the Prime follow Ativii and Ricochet on their journey? If so, does Jazz have a chance at coming back to the world of the living?

I'd like to hear your theories and thoughts! Thanks for the support guys!

Ricochet: How much longer do we have to be buried beneath this mountain?

Ativii: We aren't exactly buried...

Ricochet: But still! I want to see the SUNLIGHT!

Jazz: Yer lookin' a little pale mech. Wanna gain back yer tan to impress tha littl' lady?

Ricochet: Har, har, very funny Jazz.

Ativii: Don't egg him on Jazz. It'll end badly for all of us, the Author is always watching. Who knows what she'll do next time?

Jazz: Right. Well Ah'm gunna go befor she makes meh go diving or waltzing with ya Ativii! See ya!