Rise of the Predacons: The Legend of Bahamut

Chapter 11: Encounters

     Ratchet checked the Predacon sparkling they rescued from atrophy. They've given her the name Sandy, since she was found from the desert. She's gotten better and was quite lively as she sat upon the berth in his clinic here in Nevada. By his orders, they had Sandy brought in for treatment, purging her body of the dark energon. But some parts of her still needed careful medical attention though. He rubbed some energon salve on the brittle armor of her servos. It helped her that much.

     "There you go, Sandy!" he cheerfully said, giving her an energon bar. "Don't forget to clean your dentas after refueling."

     Sandy smiled, taking the energon bar as Ratchet carried her down from the berth. He noticed her weight has increased much for her age. Maybe the human technicians were pampering her too much. He made a mental note to speak with them about giving Sandy after-hour treats.

     Meridian joined him in his return to Earth due to her extensive medical experience on treating sparklings. Sandy doted on her, being perhaps the only femme who is closer to her race. The bulge on Meridian's belly, however, is quite showing now, and Ratchet is aware of her condition. The technicians often tease him of being the unborn sparkling's godsire or godfather.

     "I just can't seem to come into terms with some of these Earth customs," he mumbled.

     The ground-bridge activated and Megatron arrived with Bulkhead, Jazz, Blitzwing, and the Predacons. Airachnid was the last to come through before the ground-bridge closed.

     "Where are the rest of your team?" Megatron asked.

     "Out on Sector Beta," Ratchet replied. Fortunately, he was briefed on the presence of Airachnid in their team as contingency measures should things get out of hand. But that didn't diminish the fact that she was the one who expired Jumpstart.

     "Very well, doctor. Open a ground-bridge to that sector. I shall meet with them there."

     Just then, Sandy came running after a metal ball and it stopped at the ped of Predaking. The mech beast looked surprised, seeing a child of his race living with these humans and Autobots. Sandy stood there before him, staring with wide optics at the huge mech beast. Meridian came towards her, coaxing her back to her nursery room.

     "Wait," Predaking said before they could leave. He bent down to pick up the ball. He held it out to the sparkling, imploring her to take it.

     Sandy looked at Meridian. The femme smiled and gave her a nod. With reluctant steps, the sparkling stepped up to the frightening mech. Predaking gently took one of her tiny servos and placed the ball on it. Sandy looked up to see a faint smile upon his faceplate. She took the ball and hugged it to her chest.

     "Thank you, sir," she sweetly said, smiling to show crusted energon on her dentas. She quickly closed her lipplates and blushed a pale blue, still keeping her smile.

     The smile on Predaking's faceplate grew wider. He tapped her helm gently and stood up to leave. Darksteel and Sky Lynx were smirking stupidly as he turned to face them.

     "Aw, isn't that cute?" Sky Lynx said, batting his shutters. "He's got a soft spot after all."

     Predaking stared hard at the two, the smile he had on vanished as quickly as his anger rose. But a faint blush colored his faceplate though he didn't show it. He barged through the two, roughly shoving them aside. The two didn't stop with their antics, mimicking their leader and the sparkling until Predaking swatted them with the flat of his blade.

     While the technicians made preparations for the ground-bridge, Bulkhead took this time to speak with Meridian. He found her just stepping out of Sandy's room.