Optimus stared at the large tree as it towered over the plain. The black, charred tree with the purple mist around it seemed to still have fruit on the branches. But the fruit was sickly and unfit to eat, so this tree was a symbol much like the knights that were still by the river. They were still waiting for a chance to strike, but they could not cross the river, due to it being very deep. Optimus did not know what exactly the tree and these knights all meant to Azura, but he had to think very deeply about it, because even if this was Unicron's doing, this didn't seem like a heap of power over his daughter, but it was enough to hold her back.

"This is not good," Ratchet commented, as he was also watching intently. The children and the autobots were worried about this new development Azura was seeing in her dream, and it might hold the sparkling in her dream for longer. Ratchet glanced at the vitals and noticed Azura's spark pulse rate was increasing again, and Optimus's body was responding to try and calm the sparkling's stress. He huffed loudly and walked over to a shelf to grab a vial of liquid. "I'm going to have to try and manage both Optimus's and Azura's systems while they deal with this."

"Is it even possible while Azura is within Optimus?" Jack questioned in concern. Ratchet noddied affirmatively as he filled a syringe with the liquid. "Maybe a calm spark will help. But…" He looked at the screen with a deep frown. "That tree almost feels like a metaphor, and maybe a mockery."

"What do you mean by that, Jack?" Optimus questioned as he was listening while still thinking of what was happening. "I do not see this as a mockery…"

"It could be, Optimus. I only say this because, if Unicron really is at play here, or it could be an affect of the dark energon, this could really be just Azura's fear feeding into this dream and making it stronger. Or she is too focused on it, and making it harder for her to just break out of the dream." Jack was not so sure on that though, as he was only assuming. "And fear can be pretty strong in keeping someone in control. That could be what is happening here. And that tree might only be a metaphor for how deep that control currently is."

"But it wouldn't be here if it was a metaphor," Azura responded nervously. She stood close to Optimus as they both stare at the tree. "I don't get it."

Jack smiled as he knew she might not get it. "You forget that dreams are the place where anything can happen, Azura. A tree like that would not exist outside of a dream, but inside a dream, it definitely could exist."

Ratchet walked back to Optimus's body to inject the serum into his arm, knowing it should help to relax Azura's pulse rate. It will take time before Optimus's body would deliver that serum to Azura's body, so he had to make sure he was taking action about it now before it was too late. Otherwise, Azura's system could get overworked and Optimus's system could shut off connections to the sparkling and cause her to perish. Ratchet was not willing to allow that to happen.

"Jack is not wrong, Azura." Optimus looked down at his daughter and smiled at her as she looked back at him. "Anything can be imagined in a dream, even a tree like that. But if Jack is right, there is a lot of fear here. But we do not yet know if that is a hundred percent true."

"Maybe…" Azura looked at the tree and shuddered, looking away from it again with a whimper. "But…it seems like a giant weed to me…but I don't know how to destroy it. The knights and the tree…"

Miko hummed thoughtfully, and she seemed to be counting with her fingers. She was thinking deeply about it and she rubbed her chin. "War, Death, Pestilence, Famine, Decay, Hatred and a giant, sickly tree…" Jack and Raf look at Miko as the girl was speaking out loud while thinking on it. "It almost feels like that tree and those knights are kind of the same."

Raf was immediately confused. "How does that work in your mind, Miko?"

"Well…" Miko bit her lower lip thoughtfully, still tapping the fingers on her left hand with her right index finger. "The thing with weeds, they grow anywhere. We all know that. They find a crack in the cement and are able to put their roots down. Weeds also take the nutrients from other plants, and they are not beneficial to the soil."

"Not really sure how that is helpful to the situation Azura is in, Miko." Miko ignored Arcee as she was still thinking about it, and Arcee noticed Jack seemed to be thinking about what Miko had just said. Arcee looked back at the screen with worry, as it seemed that with Optimus's mind connected with Azura's to try and help has potentially made things worse. "But than again…I don't really have any good ideas either…"

"I think they actually might be onto something, Arcee. I am not fully understanding it, since we aren't from Earth…" Bulkhead smirked with a slight chuckle, while Arcee rolled her optics at him. "In this instance, that tree seems to be a little bit like a weed. It has poisonous fruit on it, the bark looks like it has been burned and it has deep roots that is taking all the nutrients in it. I could see it being a different form of what those knights are."

Optimus hummed softly as he was listening to the conversation, and he was believing that it was connected. Optimus looked at the tree thoughtfully as he rubbed his chin before looking down at Azura. "I think they could be right." Azura nodded, even though she was not sure. "The dry land, the dark clouds, this strange tree and six knights in front of us all appear to be representing something. Weeds spread easily, and they choke out the good plants, from what I understand. War generally spreads out, causing death and decay, and from that, famine and pestilence can also follow. For it is from war that can cut people off from necessary things, like medicine."

Azura tilted her head as she listened to him and she frowned. "And hatred…well…depending on the context, can spread as well. Through war and…" Azura blinked several times as she realized they were indeed connected. "Okay, that does seem to connect. But…" She frowned and shook her head. "It does not help me wake up from this dream, daddy. I am still recharging."

Optimus was still rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he did understand how this was quite confusing. What they were seeing definitely had connections to each other. But he just did not know what Azura needed to do to wake up. He had to think on how these things could be dealt with, and what Azura might be able to do. But the dots were definitely aligning, and they were getting closer to a solution, but Optimus did not know what exactly.

"If only we knew more about dragons, then maybe there is solution from their knowledge," Optimus said thoughtfully as he frowned. "I don't think there is anything Cybertronian that can help you in this instance. Right now, it definitely seems that this island you made with these plants is what those knights are targeting. As they are representations of things that destroy life. But…" Optimus glanced down at the water as he knew that the knights would not go through it. "Even though this river is very deep, I wonder how they react to water. I understand water is very powerful, given a unique circumstance."

"That's easy to answer. I've tried using my water breath and summoning rain from the clouds, but it only angers them. When the water touches them, it seems to was away the surface of their bodies, but that is it. Even boiling water." And that was the main thing that frustrated Azura. She wasn't able to get rid of the knights or the tree by means she was familiar with. And she worried she wouldn't get past that. "I am afraid we are still stuck on square one."

Optimus sighed as that was an option he thought might work. But it seemed that it would not. If water couldn't displace the knights, something else had to work. He couldn't think of anything right now, but now they knew what these knights and the tree represents. But to deal with them is something he was not sure what would work to allow Azura to wake up. They were at least getting closer to a solution, but Optimus did hope to figure it out very soon.

While he thought about it, War galloped away from the river suddenly and turned around to gallop towards them. Optimus was surprised and Azura was also alarmed, but she narrowed her optics in irritation as these knights were not scary to her anymore. She stepped forward as she watched the fiery, chestnut horse gallop towards the river, and Azura knew that the knight was going to try and jump over. They've never tried to do that before, but it seemed now that the tree had emerged, the knights were more ferocious. Especially as the other five turned to copy War.

Azura thought quickly on how she would deal with War, and she whimpered, knowing it the rider made it over, her work would be destroyed. She didn't have much time, and she was surprised when she heard Optimus arming himself, even though it was unlikely that he would do anything to the knight. Especially since this was her dream, and it was not his dream. But it was likely an instinctual reaction to try and protect her.

She shook her head and as the horse was about to jump over the river, Azura jumped forward and opened her mouth to unleash her petrify breath, which looked like a dark, grey mist with brown tones covering the entire knight. The horse's shrill neigh echoed as its hooves pushed from the bank of the river, but as it did so, there was a cracking sound as Azura stopped and she gasped, stepping back quickly in surprise as the mist faded. Leaving behind petrified skeletal remains of both horse and rider, and gravity pulled the knight into the water with a loud hiss and puff of dust, the knight had been completely disintegrated.

Azura stared at the water as the remnants of the dust was washed away as she did not expect that. "That was a last-minute decision…I didn't know what to use against War…"

Azura flinched as there was a loud groan from the tree, causing the ground to shake a little as though it was reacting to what happened to War. It was strange, because she didn't think petrification would even work. But petrification wasn't a bad thing though, so it didn't fall into the similar categories as what the knights and the tree represents. Even though petrified trees and animals are not alive during the process, the process wasn't bad.

"I am surprised that even worked," Jack stated as they were all staring st the screen after witnessing what Azura had done. "Use that breath on the other knights, Azura. I think you got rid of War for good."

Azura wasn't sure if that was true, but with Famine, Death, Pestilence, Decay and Hatred galloping towards the river to try and jump over the water as well, she couldn't really deny that her petrification breath had worked on War. But she didn't know if it would work on the other knights, and so she simply waited until the knights got close enough and she unleashed the breath again, moving her head around so she could get each of the knights with the breath. As soon as mist covered the five knights, the result was the same as what happened to War.

Their petrified skeletal remains fall into the water to be washed away. Azura wasn't sure how she really felt about that, because it was something she wished she could not do. But she didn't know if she could even do that outside of this dream. But she wouldn't even know that until after her rebirth. Azura stared at the water and looked at the tree as there was another loud groan and several branches snapped, falling to the ground and hissing into purple smoke upon hitting the ground.

"Maybe this is a test," Optimus said thoughtfully as he stared at the tree. Witnessing what Azura's petrification breath could do was startling even to him. But he knew that this unique breath would have a very different affect outside of this dream. It certainly did seem that the dark energon has unlocked new abilities, and he understood why Azura was afraid. "Even though petrification isn't bad, it isn't something you knew you could do. Now you know."

"Maybe…but I do not know if it is something from my dragon side or dark energon. Petrification is…it is a natural process. After all, it is a strange process where organic matter turns to stone…which kind of aligns with earthern abilities…maybe…" Azura was not sure if that was true, but the fact that the knights could be beaten, and the tree was showing signs of weakness seemed to suggest it might be a test. "But it still does not explain the cold, dark feeling of this dream. Even if it is a test, I could always wake up. This isn't the same."

"I am in agreement with you, Azura. I suspect that petrifying that tree is what you should try and do now, but whether it will help to wake you from this dream, I am unsure." Optimus was pleased that they had a major step forward, but what this dream even means is still uncertain. "I wish I could be of help with your dream on this, but I am not sure what more can be done after destroying that tree."

Ratchet looked at the vitals again and he was pleased to see that Azura's pulse rate had started to level out, and he sighed in relief. He was thinking deeply as he watched what happened and he took the liberty of scanning Azura's body curiously. He raised an eyebrow as he noted the dark energon in Azura's body was different again. And it was like it had completely become one with her own CNA. He sighed as he knew that was going to be contentious when Azura was rebirthed, but they will certainly not focus on that.

But if Unicron was in play here, it would be difficult to figure out. Especially if this was a telepathic connection. But Ratchet wouldn't even know if that was possible, since they had no idea where Unicron was, and Ratchet didn't necessarily believe his primordial life force was inflicting anything on Azura. Even though he knew that Unicron will want revenge on the dragon who assisted the Primes to defeat him. And the tree itself seemed to have dark energon coursing through it, so this might be a test. But a test for Unicron to see what Azura can do rather than a test for herself. That in itself was more concerning.

Azura was hesitant about petrifying the large tree, as she didn't know what doing that would mean. But if it worked on the knights, it would work on the tree. She was more concerned about not being able to be free from this dream. She intakes heavily and looked at Optimus. "Is it even worth it if I petrify the tree, daddy?"

Optimus nodded and crouched, opening his arms to her. She quickly ran over to him and jumped into his arms and hugged him. Optimus held her gently against him as she nuzzled him. "We can't know what will work until you try it, Azura. I do not know what this dream even means, Azura. Whether it is a test or Unicron, it does not matter. But I definitely feel as though as destroying that tree will be your way out. And then you might get the joy of kicking me awake."

Azura giggled and nuzzled his cheek gently. "I think I just want to know that I am not trapped here, daddy. Especially since it might be a few more weeks until you give birth. I don't want to be stuck here when that happens."

"I know. I do not wish for you to be stuck in this dream either. I am sure that this is the answer, and we found it by accident. But sometimes accidents are good." Optimus stood up and looked at the tree, narrowing his optics as he could see the fruit shrivelling up, and puffs of purple mist was expelled from gaps in the tree trunk. "If Jack is right, the roots of this thing is deep in your mind. I have no doubt facing this fear will free you from this dream. It might not have necessarily been a test you expected, but I think this is a test to push you to overcome something difficult, even if it you manage to overcome it by accident. There is no harm in trying, Azura."

"Yeah…you are right…" Azura kissed his cheek before looking back at the tree. "I won't know I try." She swallowed nervously and looked back at Optimus. "Well…hopefully this is it, and it won't happen again." Optimus nodded in agreement and Azura turned before jumping from Optimus's arms, surprising the bot, and her body moved in a slithering motion as she flew towards the tree. "Hmm…"

Optimus smiled as he watched her fly around the tree. He did not know if this was truly the conclusion to Azura's long dream, but he hoped that it would be. But as he now had seen Azura being able to destroy the knights the way she could seemed to suggest this was a test. But he did not know if it was something meant for her or not. His processor was uncertain if this was even about Azura learning something, but rather, someone learning about her. And that was very unsettling.

Azura flew to the roots of the tree and hovered over them for a moment before she unleashed her petrify breath at the roots. The tree groaned loudly as the petrification started, and Azura moved around the tree to cover all the roots, and watched as the petrification began to actually spread through the trunk of the tree. Azura didn't expect it to spread like that, and she could visibly see it. The black bark was turning a dark grey as it petrified, and she glanced at the ground as the soil seemed to visibly darken as nutrients almost appeared to return to the soil.

Azura smiled for a moment, only to yelp and dart to the right as a branch broke and fell from the tree. She watched it hit the ground and disperse into a puff of purple smoke. She intakes heavily and knew to avoid the last few branches of the tree and unleashed more of the petrify breath at the middle of the trunk. She circled around the trunk as the petrification spread up through the tree and began to spread to the branches, causing the last four to fall off. Azura was lucky to be agile enough to keep her distance.

She stopped unleashing the petrify breath as the top of the tree was finally petrified and she smiled for a moment before she glanced around to search for any sign that the dream was ending. As she did so, she looked at the tree as she heard it groaning again and was surprised to see it was starting the fall. The roots rip out of the ground as the tree fell to the left, and Azura was surprised to see the roots went extremely deep into the ground.

When the tree hit the ground, it to dispersed into purple mist, and Azura was startled as light began to filter through the clouds and she squints a moment before spotting multiple rainbows across the blue sky. She smiled immediately and flew around excitedly before flying back towards Optimus. Optimus was smiling with pride and he caught the sparkling before she could slam herself against his chassis like she had before.

"I think I did it!" She squealed happily. "Thank you, thank you, thank…" She gasped loudly as she began to feel the disconnection with the dream. "Accidents are definitely good sometimes…" She giggled softly and looked at Optimus. "I think I am starting to wake up, daddy. I can feel the sense of my processor bringing me out of this dream."

"Azura is right, Optimus. My scans of Azura's processor shows that she is starting to stir." Optimus was pleased to hear that from Ratchet and intakes heavily. "Seems like you being there helped to unlock what was happening, but we still don't know the answer as to why this happened. But hopefully it will not happen again." Optimus hoped for that too as he hugged his daughter tightly. "I am going to disconnect you from Azura's mind as well, Optimus. It is time you also woke up from the induced recharge."

"Thank you, Ratchet. I am glad that Azura will be okay now. It is good we did not wait for too long." Optimus looked at Azura and noticed the world around him was starting to fade away. He kissed the sparkling's forehead. "I am glad to help you, Azura. It will only be four to five weeks from now until it will be time for you to emerge. I cannot wait to hold you in my arms properly again."

"Me too, daddy. Me too." Azura gasped as Optimus's body began to fade, and she smiled at him. "At least you'll be around me during those weeks. I just hope this dream was not bad."

Optimus could not respond as he could feel the disconnection from Azura's mind. Azura realized this and his vision faded to darkness as he no longer needed to help Azura from this dream. It was still something that they might have to analysis just to figure out what the dream meant. Especially since the six knights and tree seemed to represent something. But Optimus was certain this dream was indeed some kind of test. But he didn't know if it was a good test yet.

Ratchet began to remove a few things from Optimus's body. They no longer need to see what Optimus would see in Azura's dream, so he removed that line first. He also removed the lines from Optimus's abdomen that were monitoring Azura's processor. It had calmed down, and there was no need for it. He did keep the vital lines connected though, as he wanted to be sure that Azura's spark pulse rate would remain stable. It currently was now, but he did not want to be too relaxed about it.

"That was very interesting," Jack commented as he watched Ratchet move around. "I've never seen a dream like that. Especially something so…strangely vague like that." Ratchet nodded in agreement, but he did not look to Jack as he remained focused on Optimus. "Now that Azura is waking…" Jack paused as they all heard a like tap from Optimus's abdomen, and they all smile knowing she was awake. "She's awake now, but what in the world did we see?"

"To be honest, I do not know." Ratchet walked over to a console and typed on it, and the bots and children were surprised that Ratchet had recorded what Optimus had seen and was starting to replay it. "I feel like a proper analysis might provide answers. But as Azura has been recharging with this dream for an entire week, we could be missing vital information."

"If it was a test, it was a strange one. I often assumed that tests or training Azura dreamed about wasn't just about her abilities, but often teaching wisdom and values. This seemed…odd…" Arcee stared at the screen as the recording played on the screen. "But we are on the right track…I just hope this wasn't something from Unicron."

"At this point, I am not sure. It is all so confusing. We've never had a Cybertronian with dragon DNA before, so…for all we know, that could be connected to dragons, but it is unlikely." Ratchet looked at Optimus's abdomen as there was another tap and he chuckled softly as he leaned down for a moment. "We heard you, Azura. Optimus is not awake yet. He should wake from the induced recharge in about ten to fifteen minutes. Be patient. I would also advise against kicking his internals to wake him up. They are quite sensitive at this time."

Bulkhead chuckled lightly as he was very happy that they were able to help. "Not sure how much we even helped, but at least we were here to do what we could if we had to. Azura pretty much figured it out by accident."

"It still only came about when Optimus stepped in and helped. Not sure if that was because the dream somehow sensed him or not, especially when the knights had seen Optimus when he first arrived in that dream." Ratchet removed the energon drip, as that was no longer needed. "And with the dark energon now being a literal part of Azura's system…it really is unsettling to think that the dream she had could have been a test of darker abilities."

"But she never used any of them. Petrification seems more earth based, rather than something from dark energon." Bulkhead shrugged as he was only assuming at this point. But that is what it seemed to him. "And besides, we never actually got to see Azura use any of those new abilities, and we don't know for a fact if they are even abilities she would have after being born. It could just be the dream."

"You might be right, Bulkhead. But we cannot overlook this. Unfortunately, I do believe Azura's life was set to be difficult from the moment she was created." Ratchet clenched his hands slightly with a deep intake. "Curse Megatron for ever creating such a device!"

"Even though Azura wouldn't be here if it weren't for that decision," Jack argued gently, even though he understood it was not pleasant to think about. Especially for Optimus. "But I guess you are probably right, Ratchet."

"It is a shame that Megatron seems to be too focused on becoming a powerful, ruler rather than ending this war. But I guess he just has been hungry for that power for so long, it is hard for him to just stop. Especially since we all lost Cybertron." Arcee sighed deeply, looking at Optimus for a moment before smiling and looking at Ratchet. "At least Azura will be okay. You did a good job, Ratchet."

"I feel stupid for not listening to Optimus sooner. His intuition was correct from the start. And Azura has had to endure something that felt like months to her." Ratchet knew that was something he could not give back to Azura, and he felt awful for it. "At least I have time to figure out a way to make it up to her."

"Considering you thought it would be okay, Ratchet, you cannot really blame yourself. None of us expected her to be in recharge this long." Bulkhead placed a hand on Ratchet's shoulder to reassure him it was okay. "Besides, I have no doubt that Optimus will be reasonable. Unless, of course, the stress his system is under makes his processor less understanding."

"We should not make fun of Optimus, Bulkhead. His system's not really made to carry sparklings, so it is unsurprising some of the things, like mood swings, are more noticeable. But I do think Optimus is handling it well." Bumblebee looked at Optimus's body before looking at Bulkhead. "Maybe you and I should go to the Arctic to gather some more of the energon. Unless you need to get your body buffed by the doctor."

Ratchet rolled his optics at the scout. "He is fine to go, Bumblebee. Unless the cavern has an opening and allowing the negative temperatures into the space, you both will be fine. Optimus should be awake soon, and I can deal with making sure both her and Azura are okay. But I do believe things will be fine."

Bulkhead chuckled as he walked over to Bee and placed his hand on the scout's shoulder as the bot turned around. "Alright, guess we had better make a start. The boss will likely ingest half the supply of the last harvest within a week or two…" Arcee giggled at Bulk's comment about Optimus. "But we have plenty to last a few months currently anyway."

"And as much as I am also curious about the dream, we can leave the analysis to Ratchet. Optimus will likely do the same too." Bulkhead nodded and Bumblebee chuckled a little in amusement. "At least we only have a short, several more weeks before this all ends."

That it was indeed. It felt strange, as the weeks seemed to have gone by rather quick. But they had been keeping busy, and Optimus had been enjoying the carrying of his daughter, and that would be ending soon. But while the dream Azura had will need to be analysed, Ratchet hoped that it would not be an additional concern that they might have. However, if there was a concern, it might be something that might not be of a concern until Azura is much, much older. After all, Azura has many years before she will be a fully grown Cybertronian.

Regardless, Ratchet now knew that he will take it seriously if Optimus came to him again in the future about Azura being deep in recharge. Right now, Azura was awake within Optimus, and she was patiently waiting for him to wake. They could all now relax for a while, as they all also knew that Starscream could have told Megatron about Optimus at this time. Or Soundwave had been observing the issue regarding Mech. Either way, the decepticons are not likely to give them much time to relax, but that would remain to be seen of course.