Chapter Nine: Education and Amendment

Natalie looked around the barren darkness of the war torn world and shivered. Yes, Primus spoke in her mind. My children have brought me pain and war, but I never desired that fate for them. The Creator of Cybertronians said sadly. Natalie's vision became white for a moment. Then, in place of the dark world, a gleaming metropolis arose around her. After I created the Thirteen, Primus continued. They settled into peace until Megatronus betrayed his siblings and plunged Cybertron into war. Natalie blinked as she thought she heard sadness in the tone of this übermecha. The scene around her changed again. After the Fallen was banished, peace reigned again…for a time.

Natalie walked by a large statue In the city square of Kaon. When she looked up and saw the terrible visage stare back at her, Natalie yelped and jumped back in panicked fear at the sight. Megatron… Primus spoke again, identifying the statue for the human. Noble as she claimed, the femme never was. Natalie looked around once more and saw Megatron fighting. Lean and quick was not something Natalie would normally attribute to machines, but there was no denying the proof here. Megatron moved with deadly speed and vanquished her enemies easily with her agility.

She rose in prestige, catching the optic of a young clerk named Orion Pax. Natalie's view changed again and saw the two bots courting one another. The first thought was to laugh at the sight, but something in Orion's optics told her it was real. She saw that same look in Frank's eyes when she looked at him. Unhappy with the Castes, Orion and Megatron worked together on a way to reshape their government. Natalie sensed a great sadness in Primus' next words and shivered. Clashing ideals brought the romance to a halt… Natalie watched the pair argue and felt a general sense of pain in the situation. …and destroyed it completely when I chose Orion over Megatron to lead. The scene shifted again. Megatron kept her name but had Knockout, a trusted medic in the Pits, build her a mech chassis. Primus stopped. Thus, the War began.

Natalie's vision returned to the dismal world of Cybertron. With new eyes, she looked around the landscape. "All of this destruction from a broken heart?" Natalie whispered softly as doors slid open to her left. Natalie looked behind her to see the same statue of Megatron on its face, broken into pieces. Natalie wanted to examine the statue further but stopped when a single word rand through her mind. Walk. The gentle command surprised the sorceress, but she didn't hesitate to obey it. Walking down the corridor, Natalie felt a sense of dread. Knowing one is on a deity's home turf when said person wants to contest a decision of that deity can do that to a person.

When Natalie came to the end of the hall, her breath caught. A large ball of blue energy encased in metal with two large crossing rings of spinning runes greeted her. "Why did you bring me here?" She asked as she looked at the mechanism before her. "You wish to talk about what I did to young Blaster and his Sparkmate." Primus spoke with concern, his voice coming from the mechanism. "Why does their relationship trouble you?" Natalie looked at the mechanism because she didn't like the idea of talking to the air. "I don't know how things work with Bonding here, but on Earth, their relationship is out of the norm." Primus seemed confused. "Is love not the core of Bonding on Earth?" Natalie sighed. "They are related. Their…" Natalie had to think of the right Cybertronian equivalence. "…Sires are brothers." Primus' laugher echoed through the chamber at Natalie's complaint. Natalie got up and glared at the mechanism. "I DON'T WANT FREAKS FOR GRANDCHILDREN!"

The cool blue in the mechanism shifted to red. "Do you think me a fool, mortal?!" Natalie was sent crashing to the metallic ground by the force in Primus' voice. Once Natalie composed herself, Primus spoke again. "Blaster and his Sparkmate are no longer entirely human for that very reason." Primus explained. "Cybertronian reproduction involves a temporary fusion of the Sparks of the Sire and Carrier. Once the Sparks separate, a new Spark formed from the fusion and gestates in the Carrier's chassis for a time, building a chassis around itself from her Energon stores. Then, the Sparkling is gently ejected from the Carrier to grow and be raised similarly to a human child." Natalie shivered at this, but more her foolishness than anything.

"I was scared for my daughter and didn't want her to be an outsider." Natalie shook her head and laughed lightly. "My people are not from Earth either," She explained. "We came from a realm called Ledgerdomain. Manipulating forces with words of our old Language, we almost destroyed our home. A few of us escaped its destruction and became known among the humans as Magic Users." Natalie sighed. "I had hoped my daughter's human side would keep her from Magic. Then, Frank's father had to take her and Ben on that trip! I knew the moment her heritage awakened, yet I could do nothing without revealing myself." Primus spoke gently. "Blaster will protect her to the last pulse of his Spark. You do not need to fear their relationship." Natalie nodded at the mechanism and vanished.

Ben and Gwen were startled when Natalie appeared in front of the pair without warning. Ben glared at the woman and stood in front of Gwen protectively. "Relax, Ben." Natalie said before she explained her audience with Primus. The Bots were stunned. They did not expect Primus to be willing to talk to the woman who thought of he and his children as machines and nothing more. "I was wrong." Natalie admitted as she looked at Ben and Gwen. "The main reason I wasn't happy with your dating each other was…" She paused and blushed. "Gwen, you were only half human before this whole thing." Natalie said. "Haven't you wondered why Hex and Charmcaster are the only other magicians you know or have seen?" Gwen's mother asked the redhead. "True Magic can only be used by citizens of Legerdomain and their children." Natalie said as she smiled. "I may look like it, but I am far from Human." She said gently.

Gwen walked up and slapped her Mom…hard. "You are not even human?!" Gwen's glare intensified. "Why wasn't I told?!" Natalie shook her head. "I didn't know where to begin." The elder sorceress admitted. "Grandpa Max knew, but that's because the only reason Earth would agree to sheltering us was if we made a deal with the Plumbers and kept in tight contact with them." Max shot Natalie a glare that said that was beyond her to divulge. Sensing the tension between her mother and Grandpa Max, Gwen's eyes sparkled with tears as she looked at her mother. Ben gently squeezed her hand and said, "Come on, Dweeb. Let's go see if we can get something to eat." All Gwen did was nod as the pair headed outside.

Once outside, Ben and Gwen looked at each other. Ben scratched the back of his head. "Why do I have the feeling things are about to get worse?" Ben asked as he felt a faint fear from an unknown source. Gwen looked at Ben. "It usually works that way." She said somberly. Ben smiled. "Come on, Gwen." The boy said with a plea to his voice. "I'll even let you beat me silly in a sparring match." Ben breathed a sigh of relief when that brought a smile to Gwen's face, but the relief vanished when Gwen smiled mischievously at him. I've created a monster. Ben thought as he and Gwen stared each other down. At an unknown signal, Ben and Gwen charged each other.

Grappling and holds were the main focus of the match until Ben triggered his blade. Gwen nodded and cast a spell to dull their blades for the duel. Unlike with the grappling and holds, Gwen didn't have a clear advantage over Ben because neither had that much experience with their close-combat weapons and had to adjust with practice strikes and testing different techniques. Once Ben and Gwen were comfortable with the blades, they nodded to each other with determination in their green optics.

Then, the pair went into a fury. As it turned out, Ben had a slight advantage in the swordplay duel because he tried his best to copy lightsaber dueling moves from "Star Wars". They were largely effective with the exception of a few things that behaved differently because the blade was an extension of himself. Soon, Ben and Gwen overcame these difficulties, augmented by their weapon use subroutines and proved themselves effective fighters and duelists.

However, there was one factor they did not account for in their desert duel, and that factor watched them with keen interest thanks to his pet Laserbeak's live feed. As Soundwave watched the pair duel, he heard Megatron's peds approaching and put the duel on the larger video screen to be seen by Megatron. "Interesting, Soundwave…" The Lord of Decepticons noted as he watched the two hybrids duel. It was intense fighting. Optics could barely track their movements and was exactly what Megatron hoped. "Soundwave, Groundbridge me to their location."

Completely focused on each other as the match wore on, Ben and Gwen did not hear the portal come to life behind them. Ben and Gwen were locked in a standstill when they were plucked from the ground. "You will serve me well, younglings." Ben shook his head at the tyrant's demand. "I don't take orders too well, Bucket Head!" Ben growled as he hit the Omnitrix and became Diamondhead. Diamondhead formed his arm into a blade and sliced free of Megatron's grip. Falling to the desert below, Ben rolled and glared at Megatron. "Give me back my Sparkmate now, Megatron!" Ben ordered. Megatron activated his blade. "You can try." With a growl, metal and crystal clashed. The shockwave from force of impact was impressive.

Ben glared at Megatron with hate in his eyes and charged. Megatron intercepted with an uppercut that knocked Ben back and sprayed splinters of crystal all over the battlefield. Gwen held her breath and shivered in Megatron's grasp as Ben lay motionless for a few seconds. Then, Ben got up and cracked his neck. "You hit pretty hard…for a femme!" Megatron saw red and rushed Ben before Megatron attempted to crush the Petrosapien under a fist. Ben rolled out of the way before the fist could connect.

"Seriously, what is it with huge bad guys and brute force?" Ben asked as he dodged another fist. "My past is no concern of yours! You will die just like all others who defy me!" Megatron roared. "Talk, talk, talk; do you guys ever shut up?" Ben asked as he attacked Megatron again. "…or is that you are lonely, and the only one's you're able to talk with are foes." Megatron's optics widened for a fraction of a second. Then, they narrowed dangerously. "Talking solves nothing…" A massive fist slammed Ben to the dirt. "…Orion!"

Ben glared up at Megatron through hazy vision and fired crystal shards into the servo. Then, Ben commanded the shards to grow. Once Megatron's servo split open into sparking wires and fell apart, a crystal tube raced down to the ground. When Gwen saw Ben after she slid down the crystal emergency exit, she ran to him. Megatron seemed to smile sadly at the pair and retreated without another word. As Megatron left, the Omnitrix timed out. Returned to his normal form, Gwen hugged Ben tightly, but Ben stared at where Megatron had been in thought. Who's Orion? At that thought, Gwen twitched and her optics flashed red for a moment with an evil grin to match.

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