Until We Next Meet

Chapter 18

Author's Note: I was actually really surprised when I finished drawing Orchid. She looks so pretty, with her wings, her relaxed expression, but the staff in her servo leads to a hint that she is also quite dangerous, plus the fangs.
And I added Larkspur too. Because there's not enough of him in my pictures.
Please tell me what you think of this new picture of Orchid. And be honest. I don't mind if you think the art is a little scrappy.

I followed Optimus out the berth-room to see a very blue-face-plated Aura Dae standing there with her servos on her hips and a scowl on her face-plates.
"The frag were you doing in there this whole time? Interfacing?" she cried.
I blushed a little and pulled a hank of my hair over my face-plates so the femme couldn't see my bashful expression.
I heard Aura gasp,"Wait. Waaaaaaiiiiittt. Waitwaitwaitwait. You and Orchid actually...interfaced?"
I peeked through a few strands of my hair to see Optimus nod. His face-plates were tinged blue, but the color was more controlled than mine.
"Holy...ugh!" Aura cried, throwing her servos in the air exparatedly,"Why, Primus! Just...why? Why, of all the femmes in the universe, did I have to be born with the stupidest mech brother in the world?"
"Aura, you overreact," I heard Optimus say.
"I'm totally cool with you and Orchid getting together and all, but interface...before a battle? Come on, brother. Now you're gonna be all worried while we fight and get yourself killed again."
My face-plates were now a bright blue raspberry as I grew more and more embarrassed.
"Aura, can we talk about this...later?" I asked softly.
I heard Aura huff and stomp off. She usually got like this before a battle. All cranky and hot-helmed.
Optimus put an arm around my shoulder-plates and kissed the top of my helm,"You alright?"
I laughed nervously,"I just...didn't expect her to be that mad."
Optimus laughed, a true, spark-felt laugh. I felt so much better listening to it. With other Autobots around Optimus didn't laugh or smile much. Usually a smirk or a slight breathy chuckle.
But when he was around me, it was like he forgot about being a Prime. Forgot everything, but me.
"We should probably go," I said softly, even though I didn't really.
What the frag was I talking about?
I was definitely going to beat the scrap out of Quintessa.
******************************
We walked out onto the main deck of the ship. Outside we could see Cybertron, or at least, parts of it, being held together by many of the vines growing in the Knights' ship, which had started moving on its own to...somewhere.
Speaking of the Knights, they were all on the deck as well, looking big and intimidating.
Drift approached Optimus with a serious look in his optics.
"Sensei, it has come to me that Blue Moon may not be safe in the battlefield. If you will, I wish her to remain here, to take care of Seigin, where I know she will be safe," the blue samurai Autobot said, before bowing, Asian style.
"Blue Moon is your Sparkmate, Drift," Optimus replied,"If it makes you feel at ease, Blue Moon may remain here. The choice is really yours and hers to make."
Drift bowed again,"Thank you, Sensei."
"I'm going to see what the other femmes are up to," I told Optimus.
He nodded with a fond, but small smile.
I walked over to where Aura, Blue Moon, and Kamicazii were gathered, talking.
"So, we ready to kick some 'con tailpipe?" I asked with a smile.
Kamicazii pumped on fist in the air,"Pits yeah! And we get to kick a goddess' tailpipe to boot as well!"
I smiled at the femmes enthusiasm.
Blue Moon looked at me and smiled slightly. Her blue and gold hair was pulled back in a braid, so I could see both her optics now. Her left one was blue, but the other was a deep red, showing her Decepticon heritage. Not that it mattered. Blue Moon was one of us now, just like Kamicazii. Energon didn't matter. Friendship, loyalty, and...more friendship I guess were all that was required to be a true Autobot, and every one of these femmes had it in them.
"I saw Drift over there talking to you and Optimus," the blue and gold femme said now,"Did he tell you I was planning to stay?"
I nodded,"Can't blame you. Having a sparkling to care for plus a war must be stressful."
Blue Moon smiled, then glanced down at her now-awake sparkling.
Seigin's adorable blue and purple optics seemed to look around with wonder and curiosity. He squirmed slightly in his mother's arms, but seemed content there. He sucked on his one digit cutely and looked at all of us femmes.
"He does bear a very strong resemblence to Drift doesn't he?" Kamicazii commented,"I wonder what your sparkling will look like, Orchid. That is...if you and Optimus ever have one."
I exchanged glances with Aura Dae once the other two femmes were distracted by Seigin.
"Tell them?" Aura said through a quick telepathic link.
"No, only once I am certain it worked," I replied, then grabbed Aura's servo tightly in my own, "You'll help me won't you?"
Aura smiled and I could hear her laughing telepathically,"Always, Orchid."
"What're you two doing?" Kamicazii asked suddenly, breaking the telepathic link.
"Nothing. You?" Aura asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kamicazii gave the femme an odd look before cooing at Seigin again.
I heard the sound of transforming and turned just in time to see a huge Cybertronian dragon leap off the ship.
I ran over to where I had last seen Optimus. He was gone.
When I looked closely at the back of the now-flying dragon, he was riding it, his sword in one servo.
I smirked slightly,"Show-off."
"Femme-bots," I said, finally accepting my Prime-hood,"transform and fly out!"
Me, Kamicazii, and Aura Dae leapt off the ship and transformed into our dragon modes, which Optimus accidentally gave us permanently.
Kamicazii did a loop-de-loop,"Whoohoo!"
I angled my wings and dove towards a large Cybertronian ground building. That was where Quintessa was. I could sense her energy force from within it.
Decepticon fighter jets flew from that piece of Cybertron and headed straight for us.
I zoomed under one and then flipped in mid-air and shot acid from my mouth straight into one of it's engines.
The ship careened towards Earth and I spun back to see another ship shooting at us.
"Kamicazii, wreck that ship!" I cried.
"You don't have to tell me twice," the femme wrecker laughed and dove straight at it.
She dodged all the bullets and slammed hard into the side of the ship. Her dragon mode's enhanced upgrades created a force blast that completely shattered the ship and anything in it into pieces on impact.
Aura Dae's dragon mode gave her fire powers, like any typical dragon, but also gave her extra sharp spines that she could deploy along her body at any time to slice through a ship.
Me, I shot metal spikes from my tail and spat acid.
We were one unstoppable team.
Bee and Hotrod flew past us on one of our ships, then Drift and Hound on another. Crosshairs was setting traps and I had no clue what Optimus was even doing.
The humans had even pitched in. The TRF soldiers helped us. They landed their planes (rather badly if I say so myself) and brought in ground forces, as well as Cade and Viviane and...Izabella?
I blinked a couple of time to make sure. Yep. Black hair, tan skin, short. That was Izabella.
A bullet from a ship nearly hit me, sending me shooting off to one side in a quick panic.
I whirled on the ship with a growl and lashed my tail.
Twelve metal spikes shot out the pointed end and embedded themselves in the ship's window, killing the pilot and taking out some of it's systems as well.
I knocked the ship to one side so it wouldn't land on the humans.
"Femme-bots, on the ground!" I shouted and dove towards the groups of firing humans.
I transformed and landed easily on my peds. The sound of gun blasts, explosions, and screams pierced my audios, but I was used to it.
Across from where I landed, quite a ways away, was Megatron and his remaining escaped convicts, as well as at least fifty-eight Vehicons and a group of weird...Unicron...type...mechs. Whatever. They were going to die anyways.
I pulled out my bow and arrow and started firing arrows, picking off the advancing Vehicons with deadly accuracy and a lot of helm-shots.
I took a quick pause to press my coomlink and shout,"Optimus, where are you?"
No reply.
I swore and pulled out my staff. Now I really needed to kill something.
I charged at the Vehicons with my femme-team and roared loudly.
The first Vehicon swung his fist at my mid-section, but I blocked with my staff and flipped over it to break his spinal column with my peds hitting his back-plates hard.
He went down and I blocked two more swings from another Vehicon with my staff before lashing out with the pointed end and burying the tip deep into his helm.
Another Vehicon was charging me, so I whipped my staff around to block again, forgetting what it was stuck into.
There was a wet cracking sound and the previous Vehicon's helm went swinging into the charging one's servos.
The Vehicon took one look at the broken face-plates and dripping energon, dropped the helm, whirled around, and threw up.
I slammed the butt end of my staff into the back of his helm and knocked him unconscious.
Suddenly a shot knocked my weapon from my servos, stinging the smooth metal of my digits with the hard vibration.
I ducked under another shot and fired an arrow into the shooter's spark-chamber.
He fell over backwards, but there were still more.
The other two femmes were doing well. They hadn't gotten injured yet, so that was good. Optimus still hadn't showed up yet, which bothered me. The mechs had been shot down, but were fine with only scratched paint and a couple minor cuts. The humans were still pushing bravely for the 'ignition chamber' as they called it, but a large cannon was keeping them mostly at bay.
I leapt over a Vehicon's leg as he tried to trip me and punched him in the side on the helm.
The mech stumbled, but then stabbed at me with his long dagger (every Vehicon has one but rarely uses them).
I blocked with an arm and slammed a fist-full of acid into his exposed cabling on his side.
The mech screeched in pain and I shoved him away.
The Vehicon still tried to stab me, fatally injured as he was, so I put him out of his misery with my claws.
"Orchid, sharp left!" Aura suddenly shouted.
I ducked to my left just as the cannon shot at me. The blast hit the ground exactly where I had been standing just a second ago. The heat from the explosion singed my armor a little, but I barely noticed it. I had had much much worse. Besides, it would buff out later.
"We need to destroy that cannon!" I shouted to Aura pointing to the huge gun,"It's tearing our ranks apart!"
Aura nodded and decapitated a Vehicon,"How do we do that?"
I hadn't thought that far ahead, so I used the first thing that came into my processors.
"Shoot it?" I said uncertainly.
Aura looked at me, then shrugged and pulled out her gun and began firing rounds at the cannon.
I dodged another Vehicon's clumsy punch and spun my leg to connect with his mid-section.
All the air left the mech's respiratory in a whoosh and he doubled over, vomiting.
I flipped over the mech's back-plates to attack another Vehicon. There were less now, thanks to our fighting skills, but our main target right now was that cannon.
I grabbed the mech's neck-cables and squeezed as hard as I could.
The Vehicon managed to hit me, and pain exploded in my jaw where his fist connected.
I tripped over the still-vomiting mech and rolled into a crouch.
I wiped some energon off my bottom lip and smiled wickedly,"That all you got?"
The Vehicon jumped over his companion and growled,"Not even close, little kitty."
I smirked,"I'm not a kitty."
I pounced and lodged my sharp claws into his chest-plate. The mech shouted and flailed around wildly.
My fangs elongated and I bit into his neck-cables, my fangs easily penetrating the delicate wiring.
Warm energon gushed into my mouth. It tasted metallic and bitter, but I clamped down harder, searching for the vital spot.
The Vehicon was screaming in my audio receptor, causing it to glitch out.
I growled and dug my claws in deeper and bit down harder.
Finally, something snapped between my teeth and the mech's body went limp and collapsed on the ground.
I retracted my claws and pulled my helm back. Energon was dripping from my mouth and down my chin to splatter on my armor. I could taste the bitterly metallic flavour still.
But the Vehicon was dead.
I wiped the energon from my face-plates with an arm and picked up my staff.
I faced more Vehicons, and a huge cannon that was facing directly at me, seemingly immune to all the bullets Aura was firing directly at it.
I took a fighting stance and prepared for more battle.
Then the cannon blew up! The blast took out the Vehicons in front of me and shoved me backwards a little, but I was unharmed. I just threw up an arm to shield my optics from the bright explosion and the dirt thrown from it.
When I dropped my arm again, Squeeks was lying at my peds on his back-plates, unable to get up due to the fact he had a huge blaster strapped to his chassis.
I smiled kindly and helped the tiny Autobot up.
"Good job, little guy," I said.
"Chihuahua!" Squeeks said and rolled off somewhere to shoot someone else.
I pressed my commlink again,"Optimus, where in the Pits of Koan are you?!"

Author's Note: Long chapter, like I promised! Also, you should really listen to this song. I don't know why, but I feel like it fits perfectly with this fighting scene.
It's called 'Mantis Anubis'.
I personally think it's really good music.