“I’m hurrying as fast as I can!” Pantha called up to her friend as she tried fasten the locket her father had given her around her neck. She huffed and tried to get past the thick, strait black hair that was stopping her from tying her necklace. Once that was done, the sparkling ran over to her friend and took her books from her. “See? I just had to put on my locket. Thanks for carrying my books for me until I got it done, Chee.” She smiled.

“No problem, P.” Cheetara shrugged, smiling, as her wavy dirty blond hair blew in the wind. She looked up upon hearing the warning bell and twitched her tail. “C’mon! We’d better haul tail so we’re not late again!” The cheetah said, running as fast as she could towards the academy.

“Hey, wait up! I can’t run that fast! I’m a panther!” The panther sparkling yelled as she tried to follow her friend. Once the other had slowed down, she smirked and ran ahead of her, “Too slow!”

“…Cheater!”

The two laughed as they ran into the school and then towards their classes. Once they were on the third floor, the friends separated and hurried into their separate classes. Pantha panted as she finally, after a long run, collapsed into her desk and waited for class to start. She saw her classmates glaring at her and shrugged it off. They hated her. So what? No one, save Cheetara, liked her because of who her father was. That was their choice, Pantha thought, no one realizes that I’m not my father; though I love him, I won’t follow in his footsteps…I’m not a traitor…

“Pantha.” The teacher, a bull mech by the name of Diablo, called out.

Pantha glanced up. “Here.” She said, putting up her books. She pulled out her data-notepad and then waited for class to start. She smiled. Today they were going to learn about the Autobots after they had crashed on Earth. She glanced over and saw a new kid, a human boy, had joined the class. She snorted.

“Alright.” Diablo said, clearing his throat. He looked at the sparklings, and humans, and snapped his fingers. A large holographic image of the crashed Ark appeared. “Today we’re going to learn about the Autobots after the crashed on Earth.” An image of Optimus Prime and the other Autobots appeared on the screen behind the teacher. “Who wants to give me the name of their favorite Autobot?”

Everyone’s hand shot up. The teacher called on a young bear mech and he beamed, “Ironhide. He’s awesome!” The boy beamed. He received a pat on the back from the femme behind him.

“I think so too! He’s cool!” The butterfly smiled, blue optics twinkling.

The teacher smiled. “Ironhide. One of the eldest Autobots at the time of the crash on Earth. His alternate mode was a red van, which had helped the Autobots out a few times when they needed it. Anyone else?”

Three fourths of the students’ hands went up. Pantha’s ex-friend, a wolf femme named Torve, was called on. She smirked and put her folded hands on her desks, “Optimus Prime, of course.” She replied, smiling.

“Optimus Prime!” The teacher nodded, “My favorite as well. Leader of the Autobots since before the crash and until his death during the battle for Autobot City on Earth. After his revival, he regained his leadership and the Matrix. Alternate mode was that of a eighteen wheeler. His speeches and accomplishments went down in history. Some people consider him the greatest of all Autobot leaders.”

“I do.”

“Of course you do.” Pantha snarked under her breath, “Ya little suck-up.”

“What was that, Pantha?” The teacher asked, raising an optic ridge.

“Uh…I was just…um…Wheeljack…he’s my favorite…” Pantha tried weakly, emerald optics showing faked innocence. She laughed nervously.

“…” Diablo raised an optic ridge, but sighed and went along with it. “Wheeljack. Engineer to the Autobots and one of the bots that crashed on Earth with the other three we have talked about in the Ark. He was a great inventor and one willing to take risks. His inventions blew up on him a number of times. Died in 2005 in the battle for Autobot City next to Windcharger.”

Pantha smiled. Wheeljack and Jazz were her favorite Autobots. Wheeljack because he, like her, built stuff for fun and to help his friends and Jazz because he reminded her of her friend, Tridrac. The femme opened her book to the table of contents and found where it showed the members of the Autobots. As someone requested Jazz, she halfway listened, paging through her book until she found Wheeljack’s page.

“-Lover of music and everything Earth had to offer entertainment wise. Alternate mode was that of a black and white Porsche-” The teacher kept going.

Pantha glanced around to make sure no one noticed she wasn’t listening to him, after all, she knew almost everything there was to know about her favorite Autobots, and then went back to rereading Wheeljack’s story for the umpteenth time. Once she was done, she glanced up and saw that they had moved onto Ratchet, Autobot medic. The panther sparkling put her book away and looked at the teacher. She smiled as a picture of the medic trying to wack one of the Lambo twins with his wrench appeared up on the screen.

The entire class went like that, sparklings and human kids naming their favorite Autobots and the teacher telling the entire class about the Autobots, until the bell for second period rang. Everyone grabbed their stuff and then rushed out of the class. Pantha grabbed up her books and then headed to her combat class. She dreaded that class so badly. She was the runt of, not only her family, but the entire school. She wasn’t strong or smart, but she was quick. However, quickness was nothing when it came to battle, as her mother said.

“Pantha.” The teacher coughed as the femme tried to leave the room. “Come here, please.”

Pantha froze and then did one of those slow turns. She looked at the teacher and swallowed, emerald optics showing her nervousness. “Yes sir?” She managed out.

“Pantha, your report?” He motioned for her to hand it over. “The one I assigned you a month ago? And it’s three weeks over due?”

“Oh…that…” Pantha swallowed. “We-Well, you see, I kinda left-left it at home. We-we were out training last night and-and I forgot to pack it…I had finished it, I promise! Please give me one more day! I promise I’ll turn it in tomorrow!” She begged.

The teacher sighed and looked the femme over. She was small and scared by his big size, but he knew that she wasn’t lying. He nodded. “Tomorrow. I want it on my desk by then or you fail that assignment.” He told her, “No later.”

“Yes sir!” Pantha nodded, smiling. She bowed to him and then hurried out of the room to her second class. The sparkling managed to make it downstairs and out of the school to the training yard before the late bell rang. She was panting widely by the time she stopped, but she had made it.

The bell rang and Pantha sighed.

“Barely.”

“Barely.” The teacher, a large liger mech, repeated.

Pantha yelped and turned around, holding her books and laptop to her chest tightly. She saw her teacher, a burley and brawly mech by the name of Lonefang, standing behind her with his arms folded over his chest. She smiled softly, but it didn’t faze the big teacher. He didn’t like her because, in his golden optics, she was weak. He hated weak sparklings.

“H-Hey, sir.” Pantha stuttered out, smiling weakly. She met his stony blue optics with her soft emerald ones and then swallowed. “I’m-I’m gonna go…put my stuff up and get ready for class.” The sparkling managed, turning away.

Once she had reached where she was going to put her stuff, she let out a sigh of relief and put her laptop, books, and other school stuff in her combat locker. She gently pulled off her locket and tucked it into her locket tenderly, smiling at it. Pantha heard the teacher bark out her name and slammed her locker. Turning, the femme ran over to him and then glanced at the student she was going to face. Her spark sank with hopelessness. She knew that her teacher hated her, but did he have to pair her up to spar with Blackfang, his son and the strongest fighter? Pantha glanced at her teacher for some sign that he was joking, but saw none. The sparkling groaned and got in the middle of the ring.

Blackfang, a black furred liger, looked at the panther femme across the sparring arena from him and smirked. He glanced at his father. “Father, I can beat her in less than two cycles. I thought you said I was moving up a class.”

“Fight now. Talk later.” The teacher grunted out.

Blackfang nodded and got in his fighting position. Once Pantha was in hers, he smirked, flashing his fangs, and lunged at her. The femme squealed with fright and moved out of the way, but the liger managed to kick her chin using a swift leg kick. As she stumbled back, Blackfang grabbed her and flipped her over his shoulder before pinning her to the ground. Pantha struggled to get out from under him, but couldn’t budge an inch. She glared at him and then let out a low, threatening growl, but, instead of threatening Blackfang, she ended up making him laugh. Pantha hissed and bit down on the liger’s wrist. Hard.

Blackfang howled and ripped his wrist away from the femme, making the cut deeper. He glared at the femme and kicked her in the side. Pantha let out a yelp and transformed into beast mode, allowing her cat side to take over. She circled the mech, green eyes watching him carefully, as the fur on her back stood up strait. When he lunged, she moved out of the way. He transformed. The two big cats glared at each other across the arena as they circled each other. Deep, red eyes met emerald and they froze. Eye locking was, in the animal world, a challenge of strength. The first to break eye contact was the weakest.

After a long moment of silence from everyone, Blackfang decided he was not going to beaten by a femme who couldn’t even defeat a human. He lashed out, keeping eye contact, and smirked when Pantha jumped back, breaking the contact. Pantha instantly regretted breaking the contact because, as soon as she had, all her courage and strength she had been feeling just moments ago left her. She backed away from the coming liger and tried to dodge him lunge.

She failed. Blackfang got her hind legs and bit in, digging his claws in as well. Pantha let out a satisfying screech and tried to get away, but failed. As she struggled, the mech’s claws and teeth went deeper into her legs and back, cutting her and making her bleed badly. After a moment of pure pain, Pantha felt the mech get off of her and she saw that, because she was unable to break the hold he had on her, the teacher had given the match to Blackfang. The femme got to her feet, ignoring Lonefang’s smoldering look, and transformed.

She glanced at the ground and limped over to the back of the classroom, allowing the others to fight. Once she had drifted back into being a wallflower, Pantha transformed into beast mode and licked her wounds tenderly like a real cat would. She watched the matches half heartedly, wishing she was able to fight like them, and wrapped her tail around herself after her wounds were clean. Her black ears drooped as she watched Cheetara punch another cheetah femme, her sister, and flip her over her head. The sparkling couldn’t wait until the academy day was over so she could go home and get away from these people.

The rest of the day went just like that, couple classes Pantha enjoyed then one or two she absolutely hated, until it was finally time to go home. Transforming into robot mode, the panther grabbed her stuff and held them close as she walked towards her house. Once Cheetara had caught up with her, the two started to talk about the school day.

“You were great at the races!” Cheetara panted, smiling at her friend.

“I was okay. You and your sis rule at the races!” Pantha panted out as she smiled, talking about the last class they had to go to. They raced in robot mode, then in beast mode and then the humans raced each other.

“Eh, we were okay.” The cheetah shrugged.

“Okay? You guys are the fastest! I can’t even bet you and I’m one of the fastest here!” Pantha smiled at her. She looked up and saw that she was already at her street. “Oops! We’re already here! I gotta go. Bro wants me home early today for some reason.” She shrugged. “Anywho, see ya later, Chee!”

“See ya, P!” Cheetara smiled as Pantha walked away from the femme and towards the huge, two story house her brothers, sisters and she shared. “See ya tomorrow at school!”

“Yeah!”

Pantha ran into her house and locked the door behind her before hurrying up the stairs to her room. She shut the door once she was in and then put her junk, save her laptop, away and then jumped onto her bed, which, instead of a recharge berth, was a bunch of rabbit pelts thrown together to make a warm bed. She got out her laptop and logged into her documents. After a moment of searching, she found where she had downloaded her father’s journals and started to reach the last entry of the first month on primitive Earth.

By the time she was halfway through with the second paragraph, the sparkling really felt like she was there, on Earth, and watching everything her father went through as he did went through it. She could feel her father’s emotions as he saw his old friend, Optimus Primal, be killed by the alien’s craft and feel his shock when he awoke to seeing most of his friends had changed…into Transmetals.

“Pantha!” A mech’s voice called as knocking, or rather pounding, was heard on the femme’s door. Pantha snapped her laptop shut and tucked it away under her bed. “Get out here, sis!”

“Comin’, bro!” Pantha yelled as she got to her feet. She winced and had to limp over to the door. All that running had made her forget about the wounds she had received in combat class, but now that she had sat down and relaxed, they started to sting again. She opened the door and saw her eldest brother, a large tiger mech, looking at her. “Hey, Tigre.” She smiled.

“Heyas, P.” Tigre greeted his sister. He put an arm around her and led her downstairs. As he did so, he noticed his little sister’s limping. He sighed and didn’t bother to ask her. He knew where it came from. He glanced at her. “How’d combat class go?” He asked casually as they entered the main room, where an old lion mech was waiting for them.

“…” Pantha paused and looked at the ground. She knew her brothers, and sisters, wanted her to be stronger and to be more like their parents, but she had gotten the worse part of them. Their temper and their mother’s size. “It went…okay…I guess…I lasted more then two cycles against Blackfang…however…” She touched the side of her leg and winced, “I did get bitten…and clawed…a lot…”

Tigre sighed. He glanced at the lion mech. “What do you think?” He asked the older.

The lion stood up; he had many stellar-cycles on both Pantha and her brother combined, he was old. He was strong, Pantha could tell by the muscles, and either fast or a really good kicker because of the way his legs were shaped. He had a warrior’s pony tail of thick, brownish-blond colored hair on his head and his optics were a beautiful emerald color. The mech had two sword handles sticking over his shoulders so, if needed, he could grab them quickly and fight. It was obvious he was a warrior, built and ready for a furious battle.

He glanced her over. “She’s tiny.” He stated bluntly. “Not good for a fighter.” He glanced her over, “However, she’s fast, that much I know. I can train her. Teach her to use that quickness. To ignore the pain.” The lion crossed his arms and looked at her, “I’m Leeu.”

“P-Pantha.” The femme swallowed. She looked at him, completely frightened by the huge mech. “P-Pleased to meetcha.”

The lion grunted and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come with me. We’ll begin out training now.” He ordered her. “Training’ll last two mega-cycles and’ll be every day.”

Pantha whimpered softly and looked at her brother, who nodded. Her ears went limp and she followed the mech. After walking for quite some time, the two stopped walking and Pantha looked around to see where they were. They were outside the city and in a huge, almost empty field. The only building in sight was Leeu’s house, a small cabin. The femme raised an optic ridge and glanced at her trainer, who threw his swords away and got in an attack position.

“Attack me.” He ordered her.

“Wha’?” Pantha asked. She backed away. “S-Sir, I can’t…”

“Attack me now!” Leeu yelled at the femme.

Pantha was hesitant, but lunged at Leeu. She felt him grab her across the waist and flip her over him. Once she was pinned to the ground, she glanced at her mentor and saw the disgust and disappointment in his optics. She flinched.

“Pathetic. Just pathetic.” Leeu grunted, getting off of her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. “Get your sword. Now. We’re gonna practice swordsmanship.”

Pantha grabbed her sword and held it in front of her, hoping that Leeu didn’t use both of his swords. He did. Her spark sank, but she got in a position to attack him. However, instead of attacking him, he attacked her. The mech slashed at her and she blocked it, but he took his other to her arm, slashing it. Pantha yelled and slashed at him, getting his stomach. She thought she heard a faint grunt of satisfaction, but it could have been a grunt of pain. The sparkling leapt back and managed to block another slash from his swords.

After a moment, Leeu grinned and hit the ground, doing a quick spin so as to knock Pantha’s feet out from under her. Once she was on the ground, Leeu pinned the sparkling’s hands above her head using his swords and bent down so he was in her face. He narrowed his optics dangerously. “You’re weak.” He spat. “I’ve seen Younglings stronger then you.”

Pantha whimpered slightly and tried to get her hands out from where they were pinned, but only succeeded in cutting her wrists. She yelped in pain and tried not to meet his smoldering hot glare, but failed utterly. The panther waited until he had released her hands to get to her feet. She looked at the ground.

“C’mon.” Leeu grabbed her wrist, ignoring her cry of pain, and hauled her towards his home, “We’re going to get those bandaged and then we’re going to get back to training, go it?”

“Yes sir.” Pantha nodded, whimpering slightly. Once he had dragged her into his living room, which was covered wall-to-wall with more swords than Pantha knew even existed.

Leeu walked off and Pantha started to explore the room. She saw a workbench with an unfinished machine of some sorts on it and her optics lit up. She glanced over the tools and saw the holo-picture of a young black sparkling with red optics and a larger, yellow mech hugging each other. Pantha smiled slightly. Father and daughter moments…oh how she missed them. The panther touched her necklace and then looked at the machine, then at the door. Leeu wasn’t back yet, so she decided to take a look at it. If there was one thing, besides the locket around her neck, Pantha loved, it was machines. She was like her father in that way. She pulled out a screwdriver and started to fix it when a hand clamped down on her injured wrist.

“Ow!” Pantha yelped. She turned her head and saw Leeu glaring at her with the same smoldering optics he had before.

“Don’t you dare touch that, you hear me?!” Leeu growled, letting go of his wrists. He saw the fear in Pantha’s optics and the energon mixed with blood on his hands from her wrists and sighed, lightening up slightly. “Just…don’t touch that. Give me your wrists.”

Not wanting to make her mentor any madder than he already was, Pantha stuck out her wrists and allowed the mech to wrap them. She swallowed and whimpered softly as the wrappings stung her cuts, but said nothing and didn’t flinch. Once Leeu was done, the panther put her arms behind her back. She looked at the lion as he tightened his warrior’s ponytail and realized something. That machine wasn’t his…it had been his daughter’s.

“C’mon.” Leeu said roughly. “Time to train.”

“Coming,” Pantha said softly, following him out of the house. She glanced over at the picture one last time before being yanked out of house by her mentor.

“I said now.”

“Coming, sir!” Pantha said in a squeaky voice, following him.

Two mega-cycles later, Pantha was completely exhausted and injured. She has scratches, dents and bruises all over her body and was about ready to pass out, but Leeu looked like he hadn’t even broken a sweat. She panted and held her sword out in front of her, watching Leeu intently like he had told her to. After a moment, the lion put his swords away.

“Sit. Take a rest. I’m going to get some energon and then you can go home.” Leeu grunted out. He walked inside in his house as Pantha put her sword away and collapsed into the tall grass in beast mode. By the time he had come out of his house with a thing of energon in his hand, Pantha was fast asleep in the grass.

The lion grunted, smiling slightly, and drank down the femme’s energon. He picked the small, Black Panther cub up and scratched her ears, making her purr. Leeu transformed into beast mode and carried her back to her home in his mouth by the scruff of her neck like a real male lion would carry his cub. He felt the small sparkling curl up slightly and rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"Kids."