Ruby (TFP)

Chapter 1

"Not that I can think of at the top of my head." Fowler made a right before he stopped in surprise. "What in the name of..." Optimus frowned and watched Fowler walk ahead as the bot walked around the corner. "Am I going crazy?"

Optimus looked ahead to see what the human was talking about and he was surprised to see there was a large hole in the rocky wall ahead of them. It appeared something had dug through, and Optimus glanced down to see the skeletal remains of a creature laying on the floor. Optimus was shocked and saddened at the same time, because he knew how fragile the creatures on this planet was. Even so, this creature could have died quite a long time ago.

Fowler approached it in shock to see that almost the entire flesh of this creature was gone. Either eaten by maggots, ants or something else, as there were visible teeth marks on some of the bones. Fowler stared at it in shock. "This definitely was not here when the boys left. This place has been abandoned for about ten years...and this..." Fowler stared at the skull of the creature, and he glanced up at the hole for a moment. "It must have dug in here...OH!"

Fowler walked over to a set of stairs while the bots look at the creature in confusion. The creature itself looked like it was a large creature. It seemed similar to some of the predacon fossils that had been found on Cybertron. But it was not a Cybertronian creature, it was an Earth creature. But they did not know what this was. And it would certainly need to be removed, and the bots had to fill the hole in so nothing else could sneak in.

"What exactly is this?" Ratchet scanned the skeleton out of curiosity. "Hmm...my equipment suggests this creature had died about eight months ago..." He looked over at Fowler and was surprised to see a dark, pink, cylinder shaped object that was reflecting the light of the sun as it was seated upon a bed of rocks that had been placed to hold it. Fowler reached the object and was looking at it in shock. "You are kind of acting like you are seeing a ghost, Agent Fowler."

"Technically, I am." Fowler looked at the creature's body and softened his expression before looking back at it. "That creature is something no one has seen for at two hundred years." The bots were surprised, but now understood Fowler's surprise. "It is a dragon."

"A dragon?" Arcee questioned and the man responded. "Hmm...but how would they be extinct if there's an eight-month-old skeleton on the floor here? And..." Arcee gestured to the hole with a frown. "It clearly dug in here. And for what purpose?"

Fowler knelt by the object and leaned down, placing his ear on the surface gently to listen. Arcee's frown deepened and folded her arms as she watched the human while waiting for a response. The man's sad expression deepened, and he sat up. "Well...because she was a mother..."

Optimus glanced down at the dragon's body and looked back at the man curiously. "And what makes you think this dragon was a female, and a mother?"

Fowler sighed as he stood up, brushing off his knees and looking at Optimus. "Because of this egg..." He gestured to the object behind him. "And it is still alive. I could hear a heartbeat inside. And it is warm." Optimus looked at the egg and softened his expression. "It is orphaned now." Fowler looked at the skeleton and sighed deeply. "I think she was killed. Not sure by what, but there are clear marks on some of the bones that indicate bite marks. I think she was eaten. Probably by another dragon."

Ratchet raised an eyebrow as he stared at the bones and huffed loudly. "Another dragon? But you just said dragons have not been seen for two hundred years. So why are you assuming another dragon would have killed this one?"

Fowler glanced down and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...no one was ever able to confirm they were extinct...but humans...uhh..." He grimaced as he took a deep breath. "A lot of humans took pleasure in hunting them down and killing them. They were treated a commodity for a long time."