(Please see previous disclaimers)
Aquaformer sighed. She had now been on the mud ball known as earth for two weeks and still was in hiding from both the Autobots and the Decepticons. She knew in her spark she would never love a Con as she was a die-hard Autobot, but her inner protocols to find a mate were getting stronger. She knew why too, as she was getting close to her receptive cycle. They were always strongest then, but so far, she had managed to ride them out. She hoped this time was no different. She would have to wait and see. What she didn't know was that after this cycle, her drive to find the right mate would get even stronger.
Meanwhile, at the Decepticon base, Megatron was furious. Not only had he failed to gain more energy for his cons due to the Autobots showing up, but also, every time one of his minions found Aquaformer, she blew them to kingdom come and sent them back to the con base with nasty injuries, mostly to the groin plating. The latest casualty was Skywarp, who came with several burn marks on him, and a big blaster shot on his groin plating from the femme. For the cons, it had become a signature that one of the minions had met up with her and lost. It miffed Megatron every time. "You are a deadly seeker mech, and yet you failed to slaughter her" Megatron yelled at Skywarp.
"She is not as easy to catch as one would think, Lord Megatron" Skywarp got out, trying to hide his pain.
"Go get fixed before I completely scrap you for spare parts" Megatron stated, completely enraged that the femme was still on the loose. Skywarp quickly went to see hook to get fixed before Megatron could make Skywarp any more damaged.
Meanwhile, at the Autobot base, the bots were in the rec room, chatting about how it seemed the cons were becoming more easily stopped. "I tell ya, they must be planning something big" the paranoid Red Alert stated.
"Why do you say that?" Prowl asked.
"Because they have been too easy to defeat these last times" Red Alert replied.
"He's gotta point there, Prowl" Ironhide chipped in. "The only time things go this easy is when there is something big hiding in the works."
"Cheer up, you guys, we actually doing a good job is all" Jazz offered up, trying to be the ever optimist he always was.
"I still don't like how this is going" Red Alert stated.
"I agree with Red Alert, we must be ready for anything" Optimus Prime stated, having just come into the area but having overheard the conversation. "they may be planning for something big."
"Or maybe that femme is secretly helping us out" Jazz answered.
"You think she is still on earth?" Wheeljack asked.
"Unlikely that she left" Ratchet answered. He didn't want to tell the others, but he had picked up some data from the femme that the femme had unknowingly left behind. He had a good suspicion why she was here and it had nothing to do with the war.
"Why do you say that?" Spike asked, as he was curious just like the others.
"At each site where we had a battle, I have found interesting leavings at suspected sites where she may have secretly be helping us from" Ratchet stated, not wanting to have to say it aloud, but he was soon going to have to let the cat out of the bag.
"What are you trying to not tell us?" Hide asked, sensing more to the comment Ratchet made.
Ratchet sighed, as he hadn't wanted to reveal his findings, but he knew he had to reveal what he had found. "I have detected that Aquaformer, if that is who this is, is…in her receptive cycle. She most likely came here…looking for a spark mate" Ratchet revealed. He didn't like saying it and as soon as he said it, the others groaned a bit. That wasn't what they had expected. They figured she had gotten reassigned to earth.
"Receptive cycle? Sparkmate? What's that?" Spike asked, clueless to the ways of transformers and the sparks and sparklings so to speak.
Everyone turned to look at Ratchet. "Why do I have to explain this?" Ratchet asked, shooting a dirty look at all his fellow bots. They knew just as much as he did about it
"You're the medic" Jazz responded and the others nodded.
Ratchet groaned at that. At times, he wished someone else was the medic, but no dice. "Rare Femmes and certain rare mechs carry an inner protocol to help procreate our race. When activated, it causes the mech or femme to seek out another bot to love and link their spark to help create new transformer life" Ratchet tried to explain. "Sparkmates are bonded for life and when one goes, the other usually follows."
"So it is like our females having their monthly cycles? And then humans getting married?" Spike asked, vaguely aware of what a female cycle was.
Ratchet accesses the internet with his processor and read up on what Spike was talking about. Why not exactly the same, it was the most similar thing humans had. "Something similar to that, only you there is no way to break a chosen bond, so there is no 'divorce' so to speak" Ratchet replied.
Upon hearing that, Prowl grew worried, "You do realize that if she is found by the cons while these inner protocols are activated, she will be used as a breeder bot to propagate Con soldiers, right?" Prowl asked. "Well, if she isn't slaughtered first."
Optimus and the others nodded at that. "That means we have to find her first and help her get safely here and hope once she is here, we can help her further."
"I hope you're right, Optimus, I hope you're right" Ratchet stated. They had no idea if they would be able to find her and find her in time.