The alarm on the table beside Ratchet's berth began to beep loudly and obnoxiously, drawing a groan and a lazy snooze button hitting wave of the arm from the tired medic. After a few seconds of just laying there, he sat up slowly, trying to blink the sleepiness from his optics, with no avail. Veeeery slowly, he rose from the berth and stumbled down the hall and into the main room of the housing unit, optics lidded heavily as he came into the kitchen, fumbled through a shelf until his servos met an energon cube. It wasn't until he ran into a wall while trying to leave the kitchen that he finally gained full consciousness, which woke him up quite effectively.

::Hey Ratch?:: A feminine voice said over his com link quite suddenly. Ratchet reconized her voice; the receptionist at the medical office.

Ratchet raised a digit to his audio receptor to reply. "Yes Nightdaze?"

::We have a lot of extra docs around right now, but we won't later. Take a few hours off, come around mid day. You've been working hard, you deserve it. See ya later.::

Primus, thank you.

"A-Alright, thank you." He said to the receptionist, hiding the excitement that he was currently going through. It had been a while since he got time off, as one of the head medics. Praise the Allspark, this is just what he needed.

Nightdaze cut the line. Smiling, Ratchet grabbed the key to his housing unit and was out the door (after completely demolishing the energon cube) with one thought in his processor: Iacon. Well, two, actually: Iacon, and Orion. It's been a while since he's had a friend quite like that archivist... and it felt great to have one.

Ratchet was almost to Iacon when he heard a familiar voice call his name. He turned around only for his gaze to meet Orion's.

"Alpha Trion gave me the day off!" He said, beaming. "He said we did such a good job cleaning up the mess, that I deserved it."

"I have about until mid day." Ratchet smiled. "Then I have to go to the medical office."

Orion nodded. "Great! We can hang out!" The archivist beamed even bigger, his optics shining with a playful glint.

"Alright, we can hang out. Just no calling me 'Princess', alright?" Ratchet crossed his arms, wearing a teasing smile.

The archivist waved a servo dismissively. "You've got it." He looked around, before changing the subject. "So...... what do you want to do?"

"I was hoping you'd have something in mind." Ratchet raised an optic ridge.

Orion thought for a second, before lighting up and grabbing Ratchet's arm. "Oh! I have a friend that I want you to meet!"

"Is he some crazy energon-thirsty power addicted battle hungry killer?" The medic asked jokingly.

"Nope!"

"Alright then, I'm in."

Orion practically dragged him down the road, towards the train station. Ratchet had no say in it, apparently, and just went with it and allowed his friend to do so. The excited archivist led Ratchet to the train station and onto the train to Kaon, which they had to pay to board, much to their dismay.

"His name is Megatronus," Orion said excitedly as they took seats on the train, "and he's a gladiator in the Pits of Kaon. He's a great mech, and a great leader. You'll love him."

"Whatever you say." Ratchet just smiled at him, unsure of what to think.

"He's been planning on making a trip to the council, and he's going to convince them to change some things. Everybot will be equal, and there won't be any more corruption!" The archivist babbled on. "Megatronus is such an inspiration. He'll be a great leader one day, you know."

"Oh, from the sounds of it, I'm sure he will." Ratchet replied, listening as Orion continued to ramble about the gladiator.

Once they reached Kaon, they got off the train, and Orion led the way to the Pits. Ratchet's optics widened at the very sight of the arena, it looked... nerve-racking. When they got inside, however, Ratchet felt even more intimidated.

Rows of loud mechs and femmes, hundreds, all crowded the way in and the bleachers of the arena. As Orion led Ratchet through the mass of Cybertronians, the medic's optics couldn't help but drift to the large built grey mech that was fighting a huge gold mech that towered over his opponent in the pits, but the smaller one seemed to he winning.

After weaving through all the bots, they made it to the metal barred gates into the pits, where they watched as the grey mech battled and fought his spark out against his opponent, with a certain fierceness Ratchet found a little frightening.

"The grey one's Megatronus." Orion pointed, his optics shining with admiration.

"...Is he winning?" Ratchet asked, wincing as Megatronus was struck down.

"He's undefeated." The archivist shrugged.

Ratchet lost his doubt as Megatronus got right back up and delivered a damaging strike to the golden mech's helm, kicked him in the chassis, and slashed a deep gash in his abdomen.

The golden mech fell to his knees, energon now bleeding severely from his abdomen, and a horrified look in his optics. Ratchet had to look away, as did Orion, as Megatronus delivered the final blow. The match was over, and Megatronus had won.

The crowd went absolutely ballistic. Screaming, yelling, cheering.. at least Orion and Ratchet were away from the bleachers at the moment. Megatronus exited the pit, coming to the gates. Orion opened the gates for the large mech with a huge smile.

"Hello Megatronus!"

"Hello, Orion." Megatronus smiled, his dented and scuffed armor making Ratchet want to treat him very badly. As a medic, it's instinct. "Haven't seen you in a while. How are you."

"Good, thanks. Good job on the match." The archivist said excitedly. "I brought a friend to meet you."

Megatronus's bright blue optics came to look down into Ratchet's. "Is that so?"

"This is Ratchet, he's a medic. He helped me when I got smashed by a shelf." Orion explained.

"You... got smashed by a shelf?" Megatronus raised an optic ridge.

"He's not the most graceful." Ratchet crossed his arms and rolled his optics.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." The large grey mech smiled. "And thank you for helping him out from under a shelf... however that happened."

Orion suddenly got serious. "Wait.. when are you leaving for the high council? Is it soon? Will I be able to say goodbye?"

"In two days." Megatronus replied, a fierce glint coming into his blue optics. "I'm going to solve all this corruption... then, everyone will be treated equal!" His gaze met Ratchet's. "I'm going to change Cybertron, for the better."

Ambitious one, aren't you? Ratchet felt danger in this mech's spark. He cursed himself, but he knew it was there, and couldn't help but feel intimidated.

"W-With that talk, I'm sure you are." He played along, smiling.

"He sure is." Orion beamed.

"Well, I hate to leave you two, but I should probably go." Megatronus's gaze shifted to the exit. "I need to get rid of these dents, and get ready for my meeting." He smiled at Orion. "Make sure we meet before I leave, so we can say goodbye."

"I will!" The archivist nodded happily.

~~

"Uh... and... how did this happen?" Ratchet stared at the two young mechs, one of which had his digits deeply embedded in the other's arm.

"Well we were playing tag, and... this happened." The one with his digits stuck said, while the other one whimpered, on the verge of tears.

Ratchet sighed. "Don't worry, I can separate the two of you. Now," he looked at the one that had tears in his optics, "this will cause a little discomfort.." Slowly, he reached in, and wrapped one servo around the one whose digits were stuck's wrist, and the other on the other's shoulder. Then, as quickly as he could, he yanked them appart, earning a yelp from the one that now had four puncture wounds in his shoulder.

"There, all better." Ratchet grabbed a cloth and dabbed the wound, before cleaning it and bandaging it. "Now, you two be careful."

The two mechs hurried out, as Ratchet collapsed in a chair near his desk. The last couple hours at the medical office had been exhilarating and stressful. Patient after patient...

There came a knock on the door.

"Ugh... Come in!" The medic called, and a familiar bot limped through the door and into Ratchet's office.

Ratchet jumped up, his optics wide at the sight of the huge gash in the mech's shin. "Orion?! What the pits happened?"

The archivist sat down on the medical berth, wincing, but still wearing a goofy grin. "I tripped and cut my leg on a really big and sharp rock." He winked at Ratchet. "I requested you."

The medic grabbed a cloth and some wound cleaning substances and took Orion's leg into his servos, cleaning it thoroughly and effectively, as Orion watched with interest. After he had cleaned it, he wrapped it in a bandage, securing it tight.

"Crazy coincidence, right?" Orion asked, smiling playfully.

"Yep..." Ratchet finished and came to sit beside Orion on the edge of the berth. "Just... don't get hurt like that again, alright? You get yourself into the biggest off messes..."

"Is this about the shelf?"

"Yes, Orion, it's about the shelf."

The archivist laughed warmly, his optics shining brightly. Ratchet felt his spark warm for the clerk, as he gave a small laugh as well. Orion turned his helm to look at the medic, smiling, his optics suddenly softening a great deal. Ratchet looked right back at him, feeling his sparkbeat speed up, as the archivist moved a little closer.

Orion slowly reached out and cupped the medic's cheek ever so gently, a soft shine in his optics. Ratchet was blushing like mad, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from Orion's. The archivist smiled at Ratchet, before bringing his lips to touch the medic's, in an innocent kiss.

The medic was more than surprised, but fell into it when Orion's other arm wrapped around his waist. Ratchet's arms wrapped around the archivist's torso, and closed his optics.

After about ten seconds, they both pulled away, slowly, Orion's arm still around Ratchet's waist as he beamed. "Well, my fine Princess, when does your shift end?"