I let out a groan, slightly turning my head. That was until I jolted up, gasping for air. "Wh-Where am I?" I asked out loud, looking around the room, spotting a few... robots? "Who and what the fuck are you guys?" I asked, making eye contact with one, who sitting on a table with a missing arm. "You know what? Tell me when I regained my bearings." I stated before the robot could have a chance to reply, rubbing my head with my right hand, which felt... different. I looked over at it to see a pale white hand, with sharp fingers, connected to a San Marino colored, robotic arm.

I looked over my body to see that my upper body matched my arms, except for the big, white strip going up. My thighs where Pitch-Black with a white strip going up as well, the rest of my legs were white, and my feet were Free Speech Red. I quickly snatched a tray, that was on a desk next to my bed, and saw what reflected back. Where my nose would be is Pitch-black, my face was still Bone White, along with that permanent smile, I have the hole in my head again, and the part surrounding my face was Pattens Blue. And, of course, the red, glowing eye looking back at me through the tray.

The room was filled with silence as I looked up, feeling shocked, confused, distraught, all three, etc. "Um... are you ok-" The bot with the missing arm was interrupted by me screaming loudly.

(Time-skip)

I was sitting in front of the table, hands on my knees as my legs were close to my chest, and my face having a wide-eyed expression. "Now are you okay?" The bot with the missing arm asked. "I-I guess? Just confused... One moment, I'm on the verge of dying, then I'm in this swirling blue void, and now I wake up, only to find out that I'm some sort of metal-robot-alien thing." I said, leaning my head against the table, closing my eyes. "So, bot-with-missing-arm, what's your name?" I asked, opening my eyes back up, looking at him.

"My name is Rung. I'm a psychiatrist." He explained. "Figures. You seem like the kind of person to give good advice." I said, before the room was filled with silence. I can tell he was telling the truth, about both his name and job, because I checked is soul stats.

---

Rung

Ship's psychiatrist

Weak of body, sharp of mind. Always present, seldom noticed

---

"So, what's yours?" Rung asked. "Y/n. But many people have called me Horror." I said.

Then an orange-and-white bot walked in with an arm; must be Rung's. "You're lucky, Ring-" "Rung. It's Rung. As in ladder." Rung stated, interrupting the bot that must be some sort of medic. "-This is an extremely clean break. Your Energon conduits have cauterized and – see here? – Your subcutaneous circuitry has practically rerouted itself. Actually, you're in amazing shape. I've not repaired you before, have I?" The medic said, making me confused with words I barely understand.

"No, never – and it's a real privilege to be your patient. Many of my own patients have spoken in awe of your skills as a surgeon, your manual dexterity and your incredible lightness of touch. They say – and i don't mean to embarrass you – but they say you can rewire a Scraplet without tweezers. They say that when you tend to the sick and the broken your fingers move as fast as flame, and yet your hands are as gentle as sunlight on snow." Rung ranted.

"Well, I must say how nice it is for someone to- excuse me for a moment." The medic-bot said as he grabbed a hammer and smashed it against his own hand. 'What the...' I thought in confusion. "Sorry- Sometimes the old joints need loosening. Now, where were we?" The medic asked, like this was normal. "Maybe... Maybe I should be on my way. I mean this-this is just a scratch. There are others worse off than me." Rung said. "Don't worry, you weren't at the top of my to-do list... I've already patched up one of our new friends over there. And I can see that you've already met the other one." The medic said.

The both of us looked to right and saw that there was a small bot, that had white-and-light blue paintjob, laying on one of the other medical tables. "Who is he?" Rung asked, still looking at the bot. "No idea, but I've asked Swerve to carbon-date him." The medic-bot informed, wielding the arm back on Rung. "Really? Why?" Rung asked. "Because he's an antique. Seriously- open him up and he's all pulleys and levers and pendulums. He should be on display." He explained.

"What about Y/n?" Rung questioned. "Who?" The medic asked. "The one on the ground next to us. From what I've gathered, he's from another dimension where he wasn't a Cybertronian." Rung explained. "Well, that explains somethings when I opened 'em up. Some parts inside were either larger or smaller than they should have been." The medic stated.

That's when a hologram popped up. ":This is Drift calling Chief Medical Officer Ratchet – with some good news! We found all but two of the missing Autobots. We're bringing everyone in for repairs while we continue to search for Polaris and Hyperion. I want the med-bay buzzing with positive energy, so our fallen comrades are guaranteed a speedy recovery! Drift out.:" Then the hologram dissipated.

"'I want the med-bay buzzing with positive energy...' Idiot." Ratchet repeated in a mocking tone, before speaking in one that was filled with annoyance. Meanwhile, I check his stats.

---

Ratchet

Chief Medical Officer/prolific lifesaver

A world-weary super-medic with unreliable hands. Kind, but not as kind as he once was.

---

 "Ever since his brush with death he's been determined to 'embrace the transcendental'. It just makes me want to punch him. How'd he get to be Third-in-Command, anyway? I mean, apart from telling Rodimus exactly what he wants to hear all the time." Ratchet complained.

Then a Minibot with a white-and-red paintjob and a blue visor came in, most likely to have overheard Ratchet's ranting. "Have you heard his latest theory? He thinks the Knights of Cybertron have evolved into beams of light, and that they communicate via 'psychic refraction'." The Minibot said as I checked his stats.

---

Swerve

Metallurgist

Good to all, best friend to none. Weapon of choice: the mouth.

---

I held back my laugh when I read the last part, before I cleared my throat. "Psychic refraction? Oh, for-" "Ow!" Rung exclaimed. "Don't tell me things like that when I've got a scalpel in my hand." Ratchet stated, finishing the last bit of connecting Rung's arm back to his body.

"Thanks for the fix, Ratchet. I suppose it's Whirl's turn next..." Rung said as he moved his reattached arm around as he walked over to a deep-teal colored bot with a weird, shaped head, and the rest of us followed. When I stood up, Rung reached up to the middle of my waist. 'Heh, I'm still the tallest' I thought with a snicker. "Would I be betraying my profession if I said I was hoping for a series of distractions that would prevent me from fixing him for another, ooh, five hundred years?" Ratchet questioned, with his tray of tools in his hands. "I would believe... yes." I said.

That's when Whirl jolted up, grabbing Rung by the neck, choking him. "It's me – Rung – your- AKK! - Your psychiatrist! Why are you- AKK! - doing this?" Rung asked, barely even able to complete a sentence without gagging. "It's your eyebrows! He's jealous of your capacity for self-expression!" Swerve shouted out. "That's - AKK! - not helping, Swerve!" Rung exclaimed. "Whirl, listen! You're safe! You're among friends!" Ratchet stated. "I believe the word 'friends' is kinda stretching it." I muttered, holding back the urge to attack and possibly kill him, my fingers digging into my arms. "But, what the hell! Fresh start and all that. Welcome back online, buddy!" Swerve exclaimed.

I missed out on what Rung said as I check Whirl's stats.

---

Whirl

Warrior/practicing troublemaker

Ex-Wrecker. Twice voted "Autobot most likely to defect." Best avoided.

---

"What?" I heard Whirl questioned, dropping Whirl. "Ultra Magnus gave you a final warning, remember? After-After what you did to Springer." Rung stuttered, rubbing his throat as he got up with the medical bed's support. "I told you; I was trying to-" "I know what you were trying to do, but unless you stay in line – Unless you behave – you'll end up back inside. Back at square one after all this time." Rung informed.

Whirl scoffed as he walked out of the med-bay. "Whatever." The doors closed behind him as he finally left. "I didn't kill him, then." I heard a voice say behind us. "Who, Nut-Job? Nah." Swerve said to the white-and-blue Minibot from before, who is now awake. "But don't worry, we won't hold it against you. I'm Swerve by the way." He continued. "Tailgate. I- Wait a minute. Have we taken off? Does Nova Prime know I'm on board?" Tailgate asked. "Who?" I questioned, but I was ignored.

"Nova Prime?" Ratchet repeated, seeming to be shocked. "I had a bit of an accident. Have we reached Bensuli?" Tailgate continued to explain, pretty much oblivious to their shock and my confusion. "Hold on- You think this is the Ark? The original Ark? I don't quite know how to break this to you, but you've been out of action for-" Ratchet started before Swerve stopped him. "Wait! Stop! Stop!" Swerve said loudly.

"I'll give you half of my Energon rations forever if you let me tell him." I heard Swerve whisper. "Just do it nicely." Ratchet whispered back, putting emphasis on 'nicely'.

Swerve turned back to Tailgate, resting a hand on the oblivious Minibot's shoulder. "My dear, dear Tailgate. You know when you're hooked up to your recharge slab and you're in sleeper mode and you're relying on your chronometer to reactivate you a few hours later...? And you know- you know how sometimes the timer doesn't work and you wake up later than expected..." Swerve said, giving a hint of his predicament. '...Is he talking about a bed, nap, and an alarm clock; all in that order?' I rhetorically questioned in my thoughts. "Where is this going, Swerve?" Tailgate asked.

Swerve leaned close to the side of Tailgate's head and whispered something to him.

"SIX MILLION YEARS?!"

(Time-skip)

I was walking outside with Tailgate and Swerve, who is somehow a vehicle? Based on height difference, Tailgate reaches just a little bit over my knee. But in all honest speaking, I'm liking this planet and how the sky looks with the moons close by. It makes me feel like I'm in one of those science-fiction movies where the setting takes place in outer space, like Star Wars or Star Trek, even though I never watched either of them.

"You were right about going outside. I feel better already." Tailgate said. "You can say that again." I said with a hum of agreement. "So... How about showing me your alt-modes?" Swerve requested. "I don't think I have one, Swerve – considering that I'm from another world where there is no such thing as Cybertronians. If I do, I would like to be either a wolf or a monster truck. Anything that would fit my style, basically." I said, glancing down at Swerve. "And your doctor friend said I should take things easy. I barely moved for six million years – Full conversation is gonna hurt like hell." Tailgate reminded. "It didn't look good back there – your eyes were fizzing and there was a lot of twitching going on. It was like watching Ultra Magnus resist the urge to tidy his desk." Swerve stated.

"What do you do anyway? What does 'OSAL' stand for?" Swerve asked. "What? Oh, this!" Tailgate started, lifting his right arm, that says OSAL. "It should say BOMB DISPOSAL. I was with the Primal Vanguard – off-world peacekeeping stuff. you know, the usual silly heroics. You?" Tailgate explained. "I'm a metallurgist." Swerve informed. "A 'metallurgist'. In my day we called them Skin Specialist." Tailgate said with a slight chuckle as I scratched the itchy sensation that I was feeling in my empty eye socket.

"So, Y/n, right?" I heard Swerve start. "Huh? Yeah?" I responded, taking my fingers out of my eye socket. "Sorry for asking such a personal question, but... how did you get that hole in your head?" He hesitantly asked. "..." I said nothing, my smile slowly shifting into frown. "A-Again, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. It was just a question." Swerve quickly said, sounding nervous. "...It's fine." I said, looking back ahead of us.

"What's that on the horizon? I thought it was some kind of monument, but it looks more like a giant memory stick." Tailgate pointed out, seeing something in the distance. "That'll be Rewind giving his transformation cog a spin. Which means Chromedome can't be far behind. I'll tell you, they're closer than Rack 'n' Ruin. Come on... Let's go say hello." Swerve explained, transforming into robot-mode.

"Good to meet you properly, Tailgate. When we saw you yesterday, you were having a bit of an episode. And you must be Y/n. When you dropped out of the portal in the sky, we thought someone send us a lifeless husk of metal." The small, charcoal grey Minibot said, who I believe is Rewind walking towards us as he waved. "Thank you." I said, my frown turning back into a smile, taking it as a compliment. "Yeah, I thought I'd kill Nut-Job." Tailgate said.

"Where are you two headed, anyway?" Swerve asked the taller bot of the duo, who I think is Chromedome, but not tall enough to reach my height, not by a longshot because he was up to the top of my thighs. "Back to the Lost Light. Haven't you heard? Brainstorm's found the remains of Hyperion and Polaris. It looks like they were caught up in a piece of the ship when they-" He was interrupted when he was interrupted by a blue ro- I mean, Cybertronian hit the ground. "-crashed." He finished.

"This again?" Chromedome rhetorically asked. "I know. What are the chances?" Rewind questioned.

"Claw." The blue bot said. "It's Skids, right? What are you doing here? We all thought you were de-" "Just take of the damn claw!" Skids demanded, gesturing to his back. "Okay, okay! So fiddly..." Chromedome muttered under his breath as he went behind Skids and took of whatever this 'claw' thing was on his back. Once it was taken off, two pairs of guns were now over his shoulders. "Finally! Alright then, Mr. Persistent... Let's dance!" He exclaimed, fighting this big... thing?

After some time, he finally took down the giant. I clapped in enjoyment. "Wow. Times like this, I'm glad I have a camera bolted to me head..." Rewind said, making me pause and look down at him with a confused but concerned look with my smile falling. "I don't know if I should agree or be concerned." I muttered. "Nice moves! Who are you? An Ex-Wrecker? One of the Warriors Elite? An old Pit Fighter?" Swerve guessed. "I'm a Theoretician." Skids stated. I looked back up at him with a surprised expression. "I... wasn't expecting that." I said.

"Why didn't you use your handgun? Before I removed the claw. You were just holding it." Chromedome questioned. "What are you talking about?" Skids asked. "The gun. In your hand. The handgun." Chromedome stated. "Oh, that. I-I didn't realize that was there." Skids said, nonchalantly said. "Nevermind that – What was that thing chasing you?" Swerve asked.

"You mean you don't recognize it, either?" Skids questions. "C'mon. Rodimus is waiting for us. We can compare notes on the ship. You need a lift, Skids." Chromedome suggested. "Hey, has anyone seen Tailgate?" Rewind asked. "I'm over here! Just coming!" Tailgate shouted from over where he was, kneeling next to the head of whatever that thing was.

(Time-skip)

I was walking around the main room, where everyone else was. Until I ran into Swerve and Skids conversating. "I'm saying we should team up! Do you want to team up? 'Cos we definitely should. I'm planning on asking Y/n when I run into him again." Swerve insisted. "Too late. I'm in since I've got nothing better to do." I said, standing next to Skids with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Listen, Swerve, I thought this was gonna be a quick trip, but the guy over there with the eyebrows says we're going on some sort of quest...?" Skids stated. "Uh-huh. We've got to find the 12 fragments of the Primal Key, unlock the Infinity Gate, travel sideways in time, defeat the Agents of Chaos and restore order to the multiverse." Swerve explained. "...That sounds complicated." I said as I scratched at the opening at the top of my head while Skids had a 'are you serious?' expression.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you two. We're actually looking for the Knights of Cybertron, a mythical group of supremely powerful do-gooders who left our homeworld 10 million years ago to civilize the galaxy, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs in the form of a Star Map hidden inside a dead Matrix." Swerve informed. "Yeah... I kinda liked the first one better?" Skids said, crossing his arms. "I have to agree. The first one sounded fun – even though it sounded like a hard task – it would've been quite the adventure to experience and a great story to tell." I stated.

"Everyone – Your attention for a moment." A voice called out. We looked up to see a Cybertronian with a red-and-yellow paintjob, probably the leader of the crew. "Today was, er... Today was not a good day. Thanks to accidents beyond our control, three of our number – three of our friends – are no longer with us. Is it better or worse that they died during peacetime? I don't know. But I do know that I'll miss them, and that they'd want us to press on. 'Til all are one." He informed as I checked his stats.

---

Rodimus

Commander of the Lost Light Autobots

One-time Matrix holder. Brave, charismatic, reckless. Easily bored.

---

"Once we pinpointed our location of the matrix map, we'll set course for Crystal City, where we'll invite the Circle of Light – the first disciples of the Knights of Cybertron – to accompany us on our journey. In the meantime, does anybody have any pressing questions? I know that this is a time for mourning – for quiet reflection – but does anyone have anything important to ask that absolutely cannot wait?" 

"I do, yeah..." I heard a familiar voice said. I turned my head to see that it was Whirl. "...What are we gonna call ourselves? When I was with the Wreckers, we called ourselves... well, we called ourselves 'the Wreckers'. It was a good name. I look around me, and I'm embarrassed. I've never seen such a sorry bunch of has-beens and hangers-on, which makes the guy with the hole in his head look good, attractive even. Hell, I don't even know who half of you are. So yeah, we need a decent name if nothing else." Whirl stated.

"How about – everyone ready for this? – 'The Crusadercons'." Swerve suggested. "'The Crusadercons'." Rodimus repeated. "Yep." The Minibot confirmed. "As in Decepticons." Rodimus said. "Not necessarily. 'The Crusadercons' man. The more you say it, the cooler it sounds. "Someone hears that, they're gonna think we're Decepticons." Skids stated. "What, so it has to end in 'bot'?" Swerve questioned. "Well... yeah. Omnibots. Monsterbots. Duobots. It's kind of an unwritten rule, isn't it." Skids said, giving obvious examples. "Forget the rules! The war's over – it's time to reclaim the suffix!" Swerve stated with pride.

(Meanwhile)

"Red Alert for you. He sounds a bit agitated." Drift informs, passing Rodimus an object that looks similar to a flip phone. "Red. What the-? Slow down... I can't make out what you're saying. ...What? What's not your fault?" Rodimus questioned.

"It's not my fault this happened! I mean, I assumed this was a standard neutral ship! I didn't check all the rooms before we bought it! I didn't think-" Red Alert started, panicking. ":This is what I sound like when I'm losing patience, Red. What precisely is the matter?:" Rodimus asked.

"I think- I don't know how, but I think- I think there's a Sparkeater on board!" Red Alert stated, kneeling over the last Duobots corpse, that had a hole in his chest and laying in a pool of Energon.