A/N: I'd suggest reading my little one-shot Project Predling to understand the other choice made by Shockwave, but it's not necessary. This story will be drastically more light-hearted, at least for the first few chapters... Enjoy!

-Triscribe

Chapter 1

"Well will they be ready to hatch?" Drakonis asked eagerly, leaning down to beam at one of the developing Predacon protoforms in its container. Over by the console that displayed how each of the sparklings was developing, Shockwave chuckled at his oldest creation's antics.

"Soon enough, Predaking." The scientist replied with humor. The use of the other designation, though, sent the massive being into a pout.

"That's not my name," he grumbled. "I don't like that others want me to use it. You were the one to name me Drakonis."

"True." Shockwave acknowledged. "But it is your proper title, since you will be the lord of your revitalized race." Within the secured bunker, six cylindrical tanks were lined up in a neat row, glowing with a concoction of energon and nutrients for the growing sparklings to absorb. Since Megatron had seen the result of Shockwave's initial attempt to clone a living Predacon, the Decepticon leader was willing to put forth the time and effort to create more. If they continued to grow as scheduled, the sparklings would be released from their containers in two Earth weeks, fully grown. At the moment, they'd achieved their initial stage of development without any difficulties, and only required the additional time to expand their frames far faster than could be done out in the open.

"I just want them to be my friends," Drakonis muttered to himself, not noticing his guardian hearing the soft words and suffering a wave of guilt for it. The massive, winged mech had been created back on Cybertron, the only one of his kind thanks to Shockwave not having the materials to form any more Predacons. Though, the scientist continued to view that as something of a positive, for he'd had his servos full training the winged being - especially upon the discovery of his creation's intelligence and transformation abilities.

Now, with Drakonis' dream of companions - family - so close to becoming reality, Shockwave was feeling an equal mix of anticipation and remorse. Unlike his first creation, these Predacons would be thrust immediately into an atmosphere of war, with very little time for a learning curve. Their exceptionally tough beastial frames would help the sparklings survive until they got their pedes under them, but it would be such a shame to see newspark innocence lost so quickly. Drakonis himself, despite also having been born immediately into his adult farm, was still such a child at spark himself, though the last few skirmishes with the Autobot forces had done much to curb his carefree attitude.

Sighing, Shockwave left the console to stand beside his eldest creation and lay a reassuring hand on his arm.

"They will be." He assured Drakonis. "You're too much of a soft-sparked nest brooder for them to be otherwise."

The large Predacon started to smile and nod, but then gave his guardian a mock scowl. "Hey..." Shockwave exvented in amusement, before returning to his work. Drakonis just rolled his optics and began to look over his future friends once more.

In the lead tank was a female Predacon who looked very much like a bird, complete with metal feathers reaching down from her head to the tip of her long tail. It was a bit hard to tell through the green liquid, but Drakonis thought she might be a blend of red and gold. Shockwave had mentioned a few days ago that their designations would be determined by their King, setting the grown Predacon to considering. He decided that this one would be called Moltenwing.

The next tank held a small mechling with equal parts feline and avian in appearance. Even in the stasis of the container, this one's paws and wings would twitch, making Drakonis think he must be dreaming - probably of joyous flight or sure-footed racing. The name he received was Skylynx, a mighty hunter.

After that was a more serpentine Predacon, a femme with a mix of scales and feathers. Just looking at the gleaming, razor sharp edges of her folded wings, Drakonis dubbed her Airazor. The design of that thin frame alone would make her a force to be reckoned with in the sky.

In the tank after her was a mech with similar features to Drakonis himself, though the sparkling's frame was of a slightly different shape and design. The way that his protoform armor absorbed rather than reflected light earned him the name Darksteel.

Next down the line was another mech, this one the only Predacon without wings. Instead, he had three heads, all of which bobbed in the liquid solution alongside one another, occasionally bumping or nudging the others. Though otherwise indistinguishable, each of the heads had a differently shaped jaw, which Shockwave had noted indicated what their respective breath weapons would be. Studying them for a while, Drakonis finally came up with the individual names of Flame, Frost, and Acid. The three minds could collectively be called Triple, he also decided.

And then came the last of the sparklings, a femme smaller than all her hatchmates. Drakonis new she would be the biggest of them all, though; after all, the tiny being was the same frame type as himself, and nearly identical. Her horns were a slightly different shape, and the wings were a tad more elegant, but other than that the youngest sparkling was just the same as her future King. That, though, presented something of a problem to naming her.

Drakonis wanted to make sure this Predacon, of his same breed, had a suitably intimidating name for herself. Her diminutive size and cuteness (as could be seen through the container) made coming up with such a name nigh impossible. He supposed that something could be thought off closer to the day Shockwave released his friends from their growing tanks, but with all of the others named already, Drakonis didn't want to leave the femme without, whether she was aware of it or not.

While he was still considering the problem, Shockwave was distracted from his work by an alert from the security units. Grumbling to himself for the distraction, the scientist went and answered the incoming call from their liaison to the United States government.

"Yes, Agent Darby?"

"We've got a problem on our hands," the woman told him in a blunt tone, underlaid by something he was coming to recognize as her version of nervousness expressed through aggression. "Some of your 'Bot pals just entered our territory, and are heading straight for your lab."

Shockwave felt his spark casing grow cold. "I see. I will contact Trypticon for reinforcements-"

"Better tell them to send everybody, because this is looking like a full-out Autobot invasion."

"They brought the Eradibots and Insectibots?"

"In spades. I've got what defenses I can to mobilize, but you know as well as I do that even with the modifications you've made to our tanks and guns, we won't be able to hold this lot back for very long. My superiors are in the process of evacuating all non-combat personnel, and suggest that you do the same."

"There is only myself and Predaking- and the sparklings..." A feeling of horror stole over the mech, as he turned to observe the developing Predacons sealed within their containers. Drakonis had recognized something was wrong, and was watching his guardian in turn, one clawed hand set against the glass of the last tank in the row.

Agent Darby seemed to realize what was at stake within the Decepticon lab. "...I'm sorry. Do what you can, Shockwave. We'll give these bastards hell, but at the end of the day, you and the dragon are what's important, what's irreplaceable."

"Understood. Shockwave out," he managed to emit from his choked vocalizer. Darby responded in kind, ending the call so that she could go start shooting Autobot forces. Prime didn't often mobilize his insectoid and drone contingents, preferring to save them until he had less than a handful of Decepticons trapped and in a position to be swarmed and obliterated.

Drakonis' expression of wariness had turned to outright panic, his claws more firmly grasping at the smooth surface of the growing tank. "No."

"Drak-"

"No! I won't abandon them to die!" The massive Predacon was close to transforming, so great was his instinct to defend the sparklings.

"We- we can't just abandon them, Drakonis. If we left them here, the Autobots could take them and turn your brethren against us."

If anything, his creation was growing even more horrified and unstable. "So- what? You want us to murder them? Still in the containers?!"

"I can simply trigger the release of a chemical in too potent a quantity for their frames to handle. Death will be painless and near instantaneous." Drakonis was looking frantically from the tanks to his guardian and back.

"We can't!" He cried. "We- what if we just- you said yourself they're fully developed! Just small! We can take them out of the containers and raise them, let them grow naturally!"

Shockwave paused.

To release the sparklings from their containers at this point would cause them to begin growing at a normal rate, meaning that they would not be the soldiers Megatron was expecting; rather, even with growth stimulants and frame enhancements, it would be at least a full huma decade before the sparklings were anywhere near large enough to enter battle. On the other servo, giving them that time to develop would give the group a much greater maturity than if they'd been released already full grown with infant mentalities.

...Perhaps the loss of resources could be justified with this. If nothing else, Shockwave would argue to his leader that to destroy the sparklings would send Predaking into an emotionally and mentally unstable position, compromising his worth to the Decepticons, possibly even making him a danger to the other members of their small gathering.

The one-opticed scientist made his choice.

"Alright. Help me get them out."

-PP-SC-

Megatron stared at his head scientist. Then at said scientist's fully grown creation. Then at the half a dozen newest creations.

The first looked as abashed as he ever could. The second was grinning widely to try and hide his nervousness. The last... The six of them were exploring about the bridge of the Decepticon flagship, sniffing at various pedes and chirping adorably up at whoever would pay attention to them - which happened to include every Cybertronian present.

"As I was not present at the time, I will not question your decision, Shockwave." Megatron finally said. "But, in the interest of maintaining the efficiency of this ship, is there no other place to raise these sparklings?"

"Any other base we take them to will run the risk of enemy attack and a repeat of this morning's near loss, sir. Here, there is at least minimal danger to the little ones, and greater opportunities for hiding or escaping should the Autobot forces attempt to fight us on our own ground, so to speak." Shockwave informed him, desperately hoping in the back of his processor that Megatron wouldn't order the sparklings taken someplace else anyway, for the eldest Predacon's sake if nothing else.

"If you're concerned about them getting in the way, sir, we can ask the human children to watch them when all of our forces are otherwise occupied." Drakonis spoke up eagerly. He'd become quite an admirer the young natives who'd already put themselves in harm's way quite often in order to assist the Decepticons over the last six months.

Mulling it over, Megatron eventually sighed and gave his consent. "The sparklings are to be monitored at all times, and one or the both you should be prepared at all times to deal with any of their problems. Actually... Instead, let us have a specific Decepticon assigned to be a main watcher for each of the little ones. A secondary guardian, if you will."

"An excellent idea, sir." Shockwave said, beyond relieved. "Perhaps we should give the sparklings a day or two, in order to see who they are naturally inclined to trust?"

"Agreed. In the meantime, it would be best to begin introducing them to the crew-" Megatron fell silent as the bird-like femme, Moltenwing, managed to take to the air with a triumphant squawk. Every Decepticon in the room watched with both fascination and shock as the small Predacon fluttered over to perch upon their leader's curved shoulder plate. Preening with self-satisfaction, Moltenwing turned to look directly in the silver mech's bemused faceplate and gave him an inquisitive chirp.

"Ah, I'll just-" Drakonis started to step forward, reaching out to scoop up the errant sparkling, but aborted the gesture as Megatron waved him off.

"She is doing no harm just yet." He said amiably, even chuckling a tad as the little Predacon nodded and settled herself more securely on her new perch. "Do they have names yet?"

"Yes sir! That's Moltenwing, she's the oldest of them." Drakonis cast his gaze about to see where the rest of the sparklings had ended up, introducing each one as his keen eyes spotted them. "The one coiled around Soundwave's arm is Airazor, Darksteel is sitting by Skyquake's pedes, Skylynx by Dreadwing's. That's Triple, behind Airachnid, and there's Snicktooth next to Starscream."

"Excellent designations," Megatron approved, as he and all the Decepticons throughout the name took note of each of the small newcomers in turn. "Should I assume that you chose them, Drakonis?"

The grown Predacon lowered his helm bashfully. "Er, yes sir. Just this morning, actually."

Megatron just nodded, gently removing Moltenwing from her perch and transferring the drowsy femme to Shockwave's outstretched servo. "I shall ask you to round up your charges, then, and I'll ask the Constructicons to begin work on proper living arrangements for them."

"Thank you, sir." The scientist nodded, as he and his leader alike watched with amusement as Drakonis attempted to start extraditing the smaller Predacons from the various resting places they'd chosen for themselves. "Megatron?"

"Hm?"

"You are... Not upset I brought them back?"

"As I said before, old friend, I was not there and so will make no judgements." He clapped a servo on the shorter mech's shoulder. "I will say, though, that while these six will most likely be an added drain upon our resources with no return benefits for the immediate future, it would have been a great tragedy indeed to have terminated them before their lives could truly begin."

"I came to much the same conclusion myself. I believe, though, that sparing them will give us one short-term benefit at the least."

"Oh?"

Shockwave pointed to grin his eldest creation wore. "Drakonis will be happier with them around, and redouble his efforts in battle in order to ensure their safety and survival. I could not have said what his mental state would have been should the little ones not have left that bunker alive."

Megatron slowly nodded, understanding where his head scientist's words were coming from. "Then, we shall be doubly glad that life was not needlessly lost this day."

"Indeed, sir."