Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Seabreaker: *pokes at strange substance* What do you call this again?

Authoress: *laughs* It's homemade slime. It is something we make to entertain ourselves.

Lightbeam: *impressed* You make this? I can think of a few ways to use this.

Pandimala: *curious* Oh really? Do fill me in.

Chapter 6: Iussa

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

I was at a point where I wanted an average solar—just one. So far, my stay here had been filled with attacks, recovery, and trouble. This solar, I had to hope that I would be taken to a regular spot and nobot would cause a problem. That would be a lovely solar. Or maybe I would stay in recharge. Yeah, that sounded like a good solar too.

A knock at my door caused me to sit up. Checking my internal clock, I felt suspicious when I saw that there was still an hour left before Grinchain was supposed to come and pick me up. As far as I knew had no medical checkups scheduled until the evening. Given the past few solars, Physis figured it would be best for me to get checked after each solar. Get me at the end of the day instead of having me rest with any pain I may have acquired.

It was rather annoying just how easy it was for them to predict what might happen to me.

However, back to the situation at servo, I got out of berth as another rapture of knocks hit my door. "Give me a slagging click," I grumbled as I moved to the door. Whoever these slaggers were better have an excellent fragging excuse as to why they were waking me up. It didn't take me long to open the door and glare at the bots on the other side. "What?"

I was surprised when neither of them flinched. Either they had no fear or felt like whoever sent them here would protect them. "You have been summoned to Iussa's presence. You have one cycle to make yourself presentable."

Iussa? That was the name of their goddess. She was a servos-off goddess from the little research I had done into her. While that was something that I felt more gods needed to do, I wasn't much of a fan of gods in general. Wait…what did they just say? "Hold up; I'm not going anywhere. I don't want to!" I yelled after the bots, who had already left my entryway and made their way down the hall.

Instead of trying to convince me otherwise, the shorter of the two simply glanced back at me as they rounded the corner. "One cycle femme."

What. The. Frag?

Immediately, I hopped onto my comm and connected to Grinchain. "I want a fragging explanation about why I just got harassed by two mechs who wouldn't let me get a word in!"

"Slag, I was hoping to get there before they did. I told sire this was a fragging bad idea." I could hear the annoyance in his vocals. Plus, from how heavy his voice sounded, he was walking somewhere. Hopefully, that somewhere was toward me. "But when Iussa gets involved, sire and carrier get a little nervous. I'll be there soon to explain everything."

Of course, most bots would back down at the word of a god. Now that I had experienced as much as I did, I missed the obliviousness to gods I used to have before Paul came into my existence. Of course, he was the biggest god I had problems with, so that might explain some. However, with my experience between Paul and Unicron, I didn't have that same fear of gods. I was not their plaything, to be called to them on their whims.

Gods would not play me…not again.

I focused as I heard the sound of pedesteps running toward me from the right. After a few clicks, Grinchain raced around the corner. He was moving with so much abandon that he almost clipped his wing on the edge of the wall. "Whoa, slow down, Grin. I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere."

As he caught his intakes, he stared at me with surprised optics. "What…what do you mean? We have less than a cycle before Iussa expects to meet with you."

I let out a short vent. "If Iussa is so anxious to meet me, she can wait until I am fragging ready."

The surprised look stayed in his optics as I moved him into my room. He needed to sit down for a nano. "But…but she is a god."

"You're a mech; I'm a femme. You are a prince of Vestium Major, and I'm a Decepticon." I motioned between the two of us as I spoke. "Want to state more obvious things?"

I'd find his expression hilarious if I wasn't so angry about this situation. Fragging hilarious. But right now, I was two clicks away from finding out where this Iussa was and ripping her helm off. So, I settled for a smirk as he finally fumbled out an answer. "But she could take revenge if she wants."

"If a goddess feels the need to 'take revenge' because I don't show up to a meeting precisely when she wants me to, then I don't have much to worry about." I laughed before I motioned to the door. "Now, explain why I was threatened to meet with this goddess. Why would she want to see me?"

To my surprise, Grinchain shook his helm. "That's just it; we don't know. Sire received her message last night saying she wanted to meet you personally. I guess she heard about your arrival. Like I said, sire and carrier back down when Iussa gets involved. The note they got said she would send her emissaries to you before she wished to meet. None of us realized that she was going to send them so soon. I was supposed to tell you about it when I came to pick you up this solar…but you see how that went."

Yeah, those 'emissaries' disrupted my morning, and I wasn't happy with that. I needed more information on this goddess before deciding if I would attend this meeting. While I knew a tiny bit about her, I didn't know nearly enough to get through a meeting. "Tell me about her. What kind of goddess is she? What sort of powers does she have?"

"I mean, I know what we were taught growing up. Iussa is a goddess that is order-centric."

Wait, hold up. What was that about? "What do you mean 'order-centric'?"

Was this some common knowledge that I should know? From the vent that came out of the mech, I realized I might be in luck. "I keep forgetting that Cybertronians have the pinnacle gods, so they don't teach about the branching system." Branching system? "Galactic religion knows that in the beginning, there was one entity. From that entity split two powerful gods. One of Order, and then one of Chaos."

"Primus and Unicron." I filled in.

He nodded before continuing. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you about their history," No because I have lived it. "From the influence their energies spread, other gods and goddesses rose and fostered life on their own planets. All gods have a mix of order and chaos in their energies. Iussa is an order-centric goddess because she came into being through mostly energy from Primus. Murav is a chaos-centric god that watches over the labac."

Oh, that's what he meant. Slag.

I guess being on Earth and all of the gods we believed in, I didn't think in galactic terms of gods. The reality of them. That also meant there was a chance that the gods of Earth were real too. When I got to Pyrovar, I had to ask Michael about that. Humans thought of gods as beings that controlled things we didn't understand. Thinking of them as being in just two categories, order and chaos, was something I wasn't used to. I couldn't begin to understand that right now.

It would be easier to have him keep explaining Iussa to me. "Sorry for the interruption. Please continue."

He nodded. "So, Iussa is an order-centric goddess. She likes to let us use our inherent order to guide us. So, her having this summons came out of nowhere." A goddess that kept their servos out of their planet's affairs? That was something I wasn't used to. "From stories we learned growing up, Iussa could manipulate us if she wished, given that she derives her power from Primus."

My chassis tensed as he continued to answer me. I already had enough of Primus manipulating me; I didn't need his branch goddess messing with me too. But I wouldn't be afraid of her. If I could deal with Primus and Unicron, I could deal with her.

But I wouldn't be going alone. "I see." I studied the mech in front of me with a good feeling.

He immediately looked worried. "I don't like that look. Why do you have that look?"

Standing up, I motioned to the door. "This is your guide solar, isn't it? To be my guide, you would have to join me."

I could almost watch as the color faded from the mech. He thought I would do this alone? Fat fragging chance. "What? The summons was only for you, though. I don't think she will like it if I come with you."

"Does it look like I give a scrap if she likes it?" I shot back. "She sends her goons in here and starts making demands. If she wants me to see her that badly, she will have to meet a few of my own. And one of those is that you will be coming with me. I'll probably have more when we arrive, but that will do for now." I then held out a servo to him. "You did ask to be my guide as well."

His faceplate fell at that. "That's not nice." But, he took my servo. "But I did say I wanted to be your guide. And if that means facing down a goddess, then I guess I'm facing down a goddess."

The two of us then made our way out of my room and toward this meeting. As we walked, I felt guilty as I glanced toward Grinchain. While it wasn't entirely on the same level as my godly experiences, I was forcing him to meet with his goddess, and I would bet my bottom credit that he knew this wouldn't be a pleasant meeting. Or at least a pleasant start to one.

I should get his processor off of the matter. "So, how has training been going?"

He jumped and glanced at me before he smiled. "That first solar went well. Skylark and I sat down and figured out what my training schedule would be like. I told her I didn't want to train a full solar schedule like most bots. She was pretty understanding and said she liked having short solars as well. However, she did say that I should have at least one all-solar training session every seven solars to help keep up the work I'm doing. I agreed as long as I wouldn't feel like my chassis was breaking down on those solars."

"Looks like you got a good one," I commented back. While it was great for a bot to want to help train somebot at a pace they thought was best; they also needed to keep the bot's wishes in processor. At one point, the mechs on the Nemesis hadn't been letting me train as I wanted to, and it caused problems between us and made me unprepared for situations that I ended up in. I didn't blame the mechs back then, and I still didn't, but the facts were there. More training would have helped.

Grinchain nodded. "She is great. And she also understands that I can only come every other solar while I am your guide. Once you're all healed up and heading to Pyrovar, she said we could go back over our schedule to use the free time I will have. For now, we are starting with the basics to see areas I might have to focus on more."

"Sounds like you have a plan. That'll go a long way in training." I agreed as we continued to move through the streets.

The way the streets changed as we moved closer to our destination was strange. The hustle and bustle of the morning was quieting to the tense silence surrounding us. I would say reverence but the nervous way bots looked toward us made me take that back. If it were reverence, they wouldn't care what I was doing. I wasn't a super religious person before Primus came into my life, but I considered myself to believe in a certain faith. At the very least, I learned the lessons that it taught. But, I had seen the super religious, and they had two modes: super converter or super isolated. And that was without the god present on the world. You would think that one where the god was present would have more fanatics.

I would take that as a good sign for now.

As we approached the cathedral-esque building where I assumed Iussa resided, that good sign started to wane a little as I caught sight of the guards in front. Weapons already out, and a tense look. Slag. While I was expected, Grinchain was not. And, with the way they were already looking toward us, I knew it would only get worse from here.

"Halt," I stopped when told to by the guard, who seemed to transform into a semi-esque form. "Only the presence of the Decepticon called Pandimala was requested. Prince Grinchain will leave this sector immediately."

Oh, slag no they didn't just do that. "Then I'm leaving too. No Grinchain means no Pandimala. And I'm sure your goddess would be upset if I did not arrive."

"That was not a request, femme. Grinchain will leave whilst you meet with Iussa alone. That is her word, and her word shall be done." The other guard looked like he could turn into a T-28 tank if he were on Earth. In other words, he would be terrifying for the average bot to meet.

"I didn't realize this goddess hired guards who were hard of hearing." I started slowly to make sure he heard every single word. "Either Grinchain comes in with me, or we are both leaving, and Iussa can, with all due respect, go shove it. Make your choice."

Grinchain flinched next to me as that guard pulled a sword out of his subspace and held it against me. "You would defy the words of a goddess? I should put you down where you stand."

Taking out one of my blades, I held it so I could defend myself if needed. "If you try, I won't be the one being put down. As I said, make your choice, or I'll make it for you, and I am sure you won't like the results."

Before the mech could make a move, one way or the other, a smaller mech who looked like he had an alt mode similar to Soundwave's came outside. Of course, this mech had much brighter colors than Soundwave did. "The goddess has heard you, Pandimala, and agrees to have Grinchain accompany you."

I looked between the three of them and Grinchain, poor mech, before I nodded. "Then what are we waiting for?" As this new mech walked us past the guards, I noticed the tank mech glaring at me, so I smirked back. Fragger.

"Iussa is expecting you." The mech spoke up as we moved through the gilded halls. "She was quite upset when you did not arrive at your appointed time."

I was curious if she noticed. Guess she did. "I run on my own time and not on the whims of a goddess," I responded to the mech as he continued to move us forward.

I'd give it to the mech; at least he had more control than that guard at the door. Frag, he would be easy to rile up on the battlefield if needed. "I expect your attitude to improve when you speak to Iussa, for your sake. She does not take kindly to back-talk."

Well, she had better get used to it if this was how she acted. Of course, I wasn't going to tell the mech that yet. I was just curious enough about this goddess to want to see her. But like frag I would be kneeling. Honestly, with how her representatives have treated me, I wasn't sure if I would even bow to her.

After a few clicks, we arrived at a black and gold ornate door. If I had to guess, the images on it showed the story of Iussa and her creation of Vestium Major. Interesting. I'd have to look back on my memories of this later to study it more. Once the door was opened, I walked inside and immediately took stock of my surroundings.

Two doors on the back wall could serve as an exit if I needed one. Then, of course, I took stock of the bots in the room. Excluding our guide and the two of us, seven other bots were here. Three mechs and three femmes stood along the aisle, leading to a femme twice my size sitting on a throne. Her sky-blue optics seemed to be intently studying me. Of course, the other six bots were also looking toward me. However, they didn't look as nearly neutral as the bot, who I was assuming was Iussa, did. I guess I shuffled some plating with my demands.

When Iussa's servo motioned toward us, everybot else knelt to her. Um, did I look like some trained animal? I wasn't going to be kneeling to anybot but Lord Megatron. She was going to have to deal with it. "You refuse to give me reverence?" Her voice didn't sound angry, but it carried a tone of amusement. Almost like she was watching a misbehaving sparkling throw a fit.

"I kneel to one only, and you are not that one," I explained to her.

While I could see the anger my statement caused among the bots in here, I stayed focused on the goddess as she tilted her helm. "While I am not Primus, I am one that was mostly begotten from his energies, which should warrant some form of deference from one who worships the god."

I let out a scoff at that. That caused the goddess to raise an optic ridge at my reaction before I responded to her. "I say this with every intent behind the words; Primus can get fragged by a scraplet in the aft for all I slagging cared."

The reactions around the room were priceless.

Two of the mechs looked as if I had just cursed their sparks for all eternity, while the other looked ready to attack me at the word of the goddess. Of the three femmes, one gave me a glare that would make me even more vigilant in scanning my energon if she were around. Another looked like she was about two clicks from spark failure. The third one was glancing up at Iussa like she would curtail me.

Fat chance.

The mech who was our guide here finally seemed to crack, and I felt that as a small victory. His faceplate looked like he was frozen in shock. And then there was poor Grinchain. I'm sure even he couldn't have guessed how bad this would end up. They needed this wakeup if they couldn't treat the goddess as a regular being. Should somebot give a god or goddess respect? Only if they had earned it. While Unicron as a whole was my enemy, Michael had earned my respect, and so he had it. Conversely, while Primus as a whole had my respect so far, Paul was the main focus of that statement I just made.

Finally, I turned to the goddess and felt nervous as I saw her reaction. She looked furious. While I was sure I could deal with the goddess, I was still healing, and dealing with Physis was a much more harrowing future.

Medics scared me at times.

"You dare desecrate the designation of Primus before me?" Iussa practically snarled as she rose from her throne. "You will lower your helm femme and kneel!"

Grinchain's 1st P.O.V.

It was obvious when control of the room changed.

I was sure we all felt the pressure that hit us when Iussa demanded Pandimala to kneel. She used her godly powers to force the femme to follow her orders. I had expected to hear Pandimala's knee hit the floor immediately. However, the room instead seemed to grow cold. The force from Iussa prevented me from lifting my helm to watch, but my wings told me that this disturbance was coming from Pandimala.

A shiver traveled through my chassis as a growl came from Pandimala's vocals. "You are no different from him." To my amazement, the sound of pedesteps moving hit my audios. Pandimala was resisting Iussa? I knew the femme was powerful…but to resist a goddess? How had she stayed out of any reports from the Decepticons for so long? With that kind of strength and willpower, her designation should have littered the information we got. Yet, until we shot her down, we had never heard of her before. "Sitting there upon your tawdry pinnacle expecting the world to move along as you see fit. And when it doesn't, you throw a fit and lash out. Using your power for your selfish wants and desires."

When the power holding us down suddenly dropped dramatically, I glanced up and was shocked to see Pandimala standing above Iussa. While only half the size of the goddess, Pandimala seemed to tower over the deity in that click. It was honestly a terrifying sight. If I wondered how a femme as nice as Pandimala survived the Decepticons outside of her loyalty, I didn't anymore.

The room's atmosphere grew heavy as Pandimala leaned down toward the goddess. While I couldn't hear what was said, words passed between them. It was strange, though. At first, Iussa looked terrified, as if she was worried that her spark wouldn't continue beating after every nano. The longer they whispered, the more thoughtful her glance appeared. What was even stranger was that, after a few clicks, Iussa glanced over at me before glancing up at Pandimala. And again, the goddess' look remained as they both talked.

After a few tense clicks, the pressure around the room lifted, and the rest of us glanced toward the throne, and we were all shocked. Iussa was standing again, a smile on her faceplate, and she was glancing at Pandimala with an appraising look. What the frag had we missed during that? And it wasn't just Iussa that looked different.

Glancing at Pandimala, she seemed dramatically calmed down. She looked hesitant but relaxed. Yeah, we missed something big during Iussa's power trip. They don't happen often, but I had never heard of one this strong before this solar. And, judging from the looks of her guards, they hadn't either. And the few times I had heard of Iussa lashing out at others, they hadn't ended nearly as well. "I believe," Iussa started to speak, "That Pandimala and I need a few clicks alone to discuss certain things. Wait outside the doors until I summon you back inside," At a glance from Pandimala, Iussa cleared her vocals. "Please."

I think the shock of Iussa saying please, along with Pandimala nodding toward me, made me step outside with the others. Once we were out of the room, Halew, who had been our guide into the room, rounded on me. "Just what sort of femme did you bring to Iussa's presence?"

This mech did not just seriously accuse me of that? "First of all, I distinctly remember Pandimala calling me in a rage this morning about your goons, most likely Calral and Bajuit given their bluntness, showing up at her doorway demanding that Pandimala meet with Iussa in a set amount of time. You brought her here. She wasn't too thrilled about that, by the way."

"You are blaming Iussa?" Bealac, Iussa's head femme guard, hissed.

I shook my helm. "No, Iussa made her trouble with Pandimala. No, this was a collective effort of all of you. Do you all realize the trouble we are in right now? We are at risk of war with the Decepticons if we don't act right, and you all pull a fragging stunt like this?"

"Since when did you get a spinal strut?" Accium, Iussa's lead mech guard, huffed with a studying look.

I let out an amused huff at that. "Since I spent one solar with the femme currently with Iussa. You all just got a taste of her influence. Iussa already looks changed. And if Pandimala can help a goddess see sense, imagine what she could do to me in a solar."

"What do you think they are talking about in there?" I glanced over at Quips, one of the other femme guards, as she asked that question. "I've never seen Iussa look so shaken before."

"We don't question Iussa," Glista, the third femme, reprimanded Quips.

Surprisingly, Balash shook his helm. "Except for the fact that Iussa is meeting with Pandimala right now and is listening to the femme despite it being against her wishes as she made them known to us."

The third mech, Tibel, nodded. "Yeah, and it isn't questioning Iussa; it is just being curious about a situation. Iussa's teachings tell us to use our free will as she has given it to us. Simply wondering about their conversation is just using that free will."

Wow. They were questioning themselves. I never thought I would see the solar where the guards would disagree with each other. Pandimala was changing things. I figured her time spent with Seabreaker and me was what changed us. But we had barely been here fifteen clicks, and already I was seeing this change.

It made me think back to that meeting between our family and her. When she first brought up the guide program as punishment, she mentioned that Firebrand wouldn't be a part of it for now. That meant that, despite his slag-infested attitude, Pandimala thought that she could snap him out of the funk this whole mess had put him in. The anger that he had wasn't like my big brother. It wasn't. Given everything I had seen change in Pandimala's presence, maybe I would get my brother back.

Firebrand's 1st P.O.V.

"I feel like I'm watching the end of Vestium Major," I complained as I paced on the ground. On the ground, instead of being in the air training…preparing for the solar I took over leadership of Vestium Major from sire. I had worked so hard for this. And now I felt like this mistake was preparing me for my offlining. One fragging mistake, and I was on the chopping block.

Sharpstreak shook his helm. "Sounds like every other Decepticon scum that I've come across." He then spat on the ground before continuing. "Manipulative scum. They should be eradicated on sight. Instead, we are stuck with this one on the planet."

"Sire is bowing to each of her fragging whims," I growled. "She even went to meet with Iussa this solar."

That caused Sharpstreak to halt and turn toward me. "Your sire let a Decepticon near your goddess? Has he gone senile? If my sire allowed a Decepticon near Alaran, I'd have him deposed."

I shook my helm at that. "No. The weird thing was that Iussa demanded it. The Decepticon and Grinchain only left her about two cycles ago." I glanced up at the setting sun and shook my helm. "Perhaps Iussa will see the evil in her and convince sire to get rid of her."

He nodded at that. "I see Iussa being the only one to break through to your sire." We then started walking. "Speaking of your sire, do you know why he has brought in his subordinate planet leaders? I saw Lord Oryax looking around the Fair site and heard that Emperor Thav was in the city."

A vent escaped me before I could stop it. Why else would sire send out a call for them right now? "What do you think? It's this situation with the Decepticon. He's worried about what will happen as other planets hear about what happened. Like he needs to worry. No planet worth themselves will care what happened to a fragging Decepticon. But sire wants to gather our allies for when other planets start showing up."

This was a pile of slag, and I would ensure the Decepticon paid for this. That was especially given how she seemed to draw my siblings into her. Grinchain was a lost cause because of his toxic obsession with the Cybertronian Civil War. There was no hope for him. Seabreaker was one that I knew was weak, but he still folded to the femme faster than I thought. I winced as I moved my shoulder wrong. Of course, Seabreaker had moved to defend her rather quickly. I should have seen it coming.

But, the biggest surprise was that Lightbeam was already under the Decepticon's sway. My rebel sister, who rejected authority as if she was created to. I thought that she might become an ally against the femme with me. But somehow, that fragging Decepticon pulled my sister into her schemes. This Decepticon was more dangerous than even I thought. Lightbeam was even bringing her friends to meet sire and carrier under the Decepticon's suggestion.

"Where is the femme supposed to be tomorrow?" Sharpstreak asked as we stopped by one of the smaller lakes.

"She thinks she has a chance at the Eternia Embassy soliform challenge," I answered my friend. "I don't see her lasting more than a cycle. The way she demands everything go her way, the labac will find her in a spark beat." I couldn't begin to guess how this femme thought she could hide as a soliform. Decepticon pride, maybe. But, they weren't well known for lasting through the challenge. That one Decepticon, Skywarp, was a fluke. None had ever lasted a solar. The fact that this femme was taking the challenge wasn't even the worse part. "What's even more, she is having Physis and Sandstorm push back her training and recovery for seven solars. Like she would last that long."

"Probably not," Sharpstreak agreed. "And that will give us more time."

More time? More time for what? "Time?"

He motioned toward the lake, which happened to be in the castle's direction. "Time for us to plan the removal of the Decepticon parasite here on Vestium Major. I'll have access to her when she finally arrives for the triple-changer training, which will make our job easier. The last two Decepticon triple-changers who came through the training were removed from the program. Getting a third one removed should be simple enough."

He was right. I remembered hearing the news about those two Decepticons and how their snaps almost ended the training program here on Vestium Major. It would still be in the memories of the trainers and important bots of the time. Yes, that could work. "And any way we can hurt her reputation before that would just add fuel to the fire."

Sharpstreak smiled at that. "Now you're thinking! But, leave that to me. You just keep bringing me information so I can help you. That's what allies do, after all, and Pova is a close ally of Vestium Major, after all. We have to stick together."

He was right. We were allies, and we would help each other through this. "Yeah, we'll stick together." As I said that, though, something didn't feel right. For now, I pushed that aside. We needed to eliminate that Decepticon before she destroyed Vestium Major and everything we worked for.

Pandimala: *frowns* What the frag? Why do I have to interact with gods?

Authoress: *shrugs* I guess they have an unusual attraction to you.

Pandimala: *pouts* That's not funny.

AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you are all enjoying this latest chapter! I enjoyed writing this chapter more than I thought I would. That was mainly during the Iussa scenes. If Pandimala could hold off Primus and basically defeat Unicron, then Iussa wasn't going to scare her. But it seems like they connected there at the end of that point.

Meanwhile, poor Grinchain is trying to survive this chaos that Pandimala has brought him into. But at least the chaos gives him time to think about some things. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Firebrand at the end. Something is going down, and plans are being made. I wonder how this is going to go?

Here are the next chapters!

Chapter 7: The Eternia Embassy

Chapter 8: Triple Changer Training

Chapter 9:...(find out next time!)

That's all for now! Again, thank you so much for reading. If you wish to review or leave a review to say hi, then be my guest. Until next we meet, TTYL! (listening to 1,2,3,4, by Alan Doyle and Ed Robertson)