A/N: Whew! This is a long one! 20+ pages this took! And I didn't even notice until I finished it. But don't let that discourage you because it's a good long one. Here you go and enjoy.

The Blacksmith and the Alchemist

The sun was starting its journey downward in the afternoon, while shadows of sparse trees lengthened on the ground. A circle of craggy rocks could be seen for miles, but closer come to those rocks, a dark fear tingles the spine as high squeals and laughter are heard from the center. Shadows dart in and out of the center, their reds eyes glow with excitement as they view the far off village, but a sharp cry called and they quieted. Another shadow flew over their heads to perch on one of the rocks and looks to the village as well with a snide leer. A raven comes to perch next to him and awaits orders.

"Scout ahead Lazerbeak," commanded the velvet graveled voice. "Locate the human who aided our enemy! Find the dagger! Alert us once you do!"

The raven cawed harshly and took wing. The shadows in the rocks went to follow, but were stopped but their leader's harsh call.

"Not you, idiots! Once Lazerbeak has located our quarry then I shall give the command, and you can go about the hunt how you wish!"

They grumbled at the order and slinked back, one of the shadows came forward. "Commander Star-"

"Lord! It is Lord Starscream, when the master isn't present! Lord!"

"Apologies Lord Starscream, but what of the Guardian Knights? The master doesn't want to have them to become involved."

"That's why I sent Lazerbeak, he will await until the fool creature is alone and away from the village. At his signal we will track and hunt it down, away from the eyes of those armored weaklings."

"But, this was the human who kill-"

"A fluke of luck! It used a magic-infused arrow, no human can truly face a dragon and kill them!"

"What of the Autogons?" His question was met with a hard slap of a large feathered wing.

"Enough questions! Just keep silent and await my commands, and that goes for all of you!"

"Yes, Lord Starscream."

"Oooh, I love the sound of that. Say it again!"

"…Yes Lord Starscream!"

Starscream's glee increased as his sinister red eyes returned to their visual of the unsuspecting village.

Jack looked keenly at the dagger blade, frowning at it. It was late in the afternoon, and at this time he had finished all his repair and crafting and settled into the house to clean it up a bit then work on some miscellaneous project. Now he looked at the dagger he found yesterday, taking in all the intricate work in the dagger sheath, the handle, and the jewel on the end. But it was the blade metal that got him thinking in loops, he couldn't figure out what sort of metal it was made of; steel, lead, silver even, but he didn't see any in it.

The small strange runes at the base of blade were also a mystery to him, as he used his bandaged finger to trace them. They looked like a mixture of lines, curved rectangles, and squares in a complex pattern. He had some knowledge of basic runes, but this was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

Raf would probably have an idea.

Suddenly he heard soft calling and whinnies from out the kitchen window. Putting the dagger in its sheath and into his pack to stand and walk to the window. His breath caught a bit, then he started for the door covering, stopped, brushed any crumbs from lunch off his cotton dark shirt and dust, fussed his hair to look neat, took a breath, and then finally raised the covering to walk out.

His eyes looked at the head of braided and curled red locks of Sierra Page. She was leaning on the fence door to the boarding stall trying to coax the dark blue mare closer, but the mare looked annoyed with her ears fully back.

Jack had known Sierra since they were little, however the merchants daughter rarely ever spoke a word to him, oh sure she did speak to him, but only when her father came to the shop with her when Uncle Cullen had worked and then when Jack took over, to be polite and when they encountered each other when shopping. Yet despite the small number of times they saw each other, it never stopped Jack heart from going bonkers at the sight of her.

When he saw Arcee about ready to lash out he cleared his throat to get the girls attention.

"Ahem, hello Sierra."

Green eyes looked back at him in surprise.

"Oh, hi Jack," she turned to him, straightening her dark pink and mauve cotton dress. "I heard what happened with you, Vince and his group and wanted to see if you were alright."

"…Really?" The dark haired teen had a small blush on his face.

"It's just that I know how Vince can get a bit violent when he needs something."

His shoulders sagged a bit. Oh.

He should have known Vince's actions worried her more than for Vince's actions on him. She had always awed at Vince's rise to knighthood apprentice and whatever charm he used to impress all the teenagers of the village.

Even the dark mare snorted in distaste.

But seeing her genuine worried smile he gave a small smile to reassure her.

"Well, Vince did give me some dents but nothing too damaging."

She frowned worriedly at him. "Are you sure?"

"Believe me Sierra, I get more damage from my own workshop than from Vince."

For a moment Jack wondered if the mare was rolling her eyes, but even though he felt disappointed about where Sierra's true concerns lie he felt better seeing the relived smile on her face.

"That's good. I am really sorry for what happened, but I'm sure Sir Richards will set him straight."

I doubt that, especially when you keep apologizing for him.

His dark thoughts dimmed when she turned back to the stable stall to look at the mare. He noticed Arcee raise her head high and appeared uninterested.

"I've never seen a horse this beautiful before," sighed the girl. "Does she have a name? Is she really from the city?"

"Yeah, her name's Arcee and her rider left her here and may stay the night."

"I bet she's an amazing riding horse. Do you think I can have a ride?"

Jack frowned at that. "That's not my place to say Sierra, and besides stable rules prohibit riding with boarders."

"Well, good thing you own the stable. And if she does stay overnight, you can always ask the rider right?"

Now he was in a pickle, looking uncertain in her pleading green eyes, then he glanced into the stall of said boarder. Her ears twitched, it was the look she gave him with her cold blue eyes as if she was saying 'don't even think about it'. Choosing the lesser chance of getting bucked he turned to Sierra.

"Sorry, even though I own the stable, I don't own the horse. But I do own Sue here," he walked to the mule's stall and pats Sue's neck as she enjoys his petting. "You know she's great for riding, it's no different."

Yet, clearly on the braided redhead's face, there was a big difference. She looked forlornly at the dark blue horse, who replied with having its tail facing her, then Sierra looked back at Jack with a polite smile.

"That's okay Jack, thanks for the offer but I need to get back home. See you around."

With a nod of goodbye, Jack answered with his own soft 'goodbye' as he watched the girl walk back to the main road and continued watching as she disappeared around a shop corner.

The young teen took a deep breath and let it out harshly as he turned to lean on Sue's stall door and lay his head on the wood rail. He felt Sue breathe in his hair and looked up at her brown eyes.

"Don't know why I even bother anymore Sue."

The mule just blinked at him then moved off to grab a bite of hay. He chuckled at her then turned his attention to the neighboring stall and found the mare looking back at him. He moved to pat her muzzle, but paused, remembering her responses to Sierra. Yet, the mare looked calmer and stayed in place as he gently rubbed her grey cheek and muzzle. He smiled at her.

"How 'bout you Arcee, any city girls in the capital that might be worth a chance?"

"They are of less worth in my opinion."

The boy nearly jumped two feet before whirling around and choked seeing the veiled face of the horse's owner. He blushed faintly when he heard not only her chuckle, but also the mare's laugh-like snort. Straightening his back he addressed the traveler.

"Miss Sadie, I'm sorry I didn't even hear you come up…" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head to flatten the bristling hairs at a sudden thought; his voice had a nervous strain. "…Uh, how long have you been here?"

"Just long enough to see that despite your mature stature, you're still a normal human teenager." He could practically hear the smirk behind the lace veil.

He turned red when he realized she must have been here to witness him turning down Sierra's wanting to ride her horse. He lowered his head to the lady.

"I apologize for what you may have witnessed Miss Sadie. Are you here to pick up Arcee?"

"Actually it seems I'll be keeping her here overnight, I have… important matters to see to on my stay here," she calmly stated, and then posed with a hand on her hip and tilt her head. This made Jack frown slightly, normally woman from the capital never poise in a casual manner. "Though from what I've seen, can I really trust you for my horse to stay in your care?"

"I… I understand of your concerns, Miss Sadie, but…" The woman had the aura of someone amused at his sheepish look. "But you can trust me to take care of her as if she was my own partner."

For a moment she doesn't answer, her body tense, and her head lowered a bit. Jack felt he may have said something wrong but then she just gives one chuckle.

"Hn, don't worry, I… trust you. Should I pay now or later for overnight?"

"Now, if you prefer?" He felt a weight lifted from his shoulder as he accepted the pouch with the rest of the payment.

"Everything is here, would you like me to walk her in our corral?"

"…Yes, she likes to entertain herself so just leave her alone in there. If that is all, I'll be back tomorrow."

"Have a good night… Sadie."

With that the fancy dressed woman left with a calm flair. Putting the pouch in his dark cotton pant pocket, Jack grabbed the bridle and opened the stall door.

"Want to stretch your legs a bit Arcee?"

He turned to smirk at the nonchalant mule chewing on her hay.

"Want to come too, Sue?"

Said mule promptly turned her head away and continued chewing. Jack chuckled at her, before turning back to Arcee, who let him put the bridle on and walked her out to the corral on the other side of the workshop. A large circle corral that faced the outside perimeter of the village toward the far off small forests and canyons, then the surrounding shops, and the main square. He lead her in, closed the gate, then unbridled her and stepped back to let the mare move away.

"I'll come to check on you later."

Arcee watched the human boy as he cleaned his workshop, downing the fire of the forge, hung the tarp flaps around the entrance to signal that he was closed for the day, and then walked back into the house. For a few moments she hears him shuffle within, then reemerges with a pack, a small shield, and his bow and quiver of arrows, then goes around the corral and heads towards the forested canyons. She watches his go, almost wishing she could too, but she remembered her mission. The horse head moved up back to the street, with a now perfect view of the town square, noting every detail and kept a sharp eye on anyone with any indication of owning a blade. For a few moments she does this until she just chances looking up when her ears caught the sound of a flock of black birds flying overhead toward perhaps the town's refuse pile in the outskirts.

One of the birds breaks off from the flock, flapping its wings in the direction the young boy took.

Its red eyes solely focused on him.

Arcee neighed to quiet her growl and opened her link to her pack mates.

"~Bulk, Bee! Trouble heading your way!~"

Jack walked briskly through the growth of the small grove of trees and bushes, heading toward the faint light glowing off a canyon wall. The small creatures of the approaching twilight sunset were just starting their calls to one another as if warning their kin of the human intruder. But Jack kept forward until he made it to the sandy clearing by the red sandstone wall and paused when he saw another boy too focused on his work to notice him.

The other boy was much younger than him, despite him sitting by his low campfire holding a quillbrush and writing rune scriptures on one side of a small wooden toy wagon. The boy was fair skinned, paler to Jack's slight tan, with a rounded face that framed the glass spectacles he wore on his nose, with dark brown eyes focused on his writing, and sandy brown hair that stood up like his small fire. Finally, he stood up, his slightly oversized dark gray apprentices robe covered most of his body with dark yellow embroideries of vined leaves around the hems of the neck, sleeves and hood.

After placing the brush down by his large satchel, the boy then walked over to what looked like a small dirt path for going around the campfire. He lowered the wagon onto the path then stepped back, then he raised his hands and started to chant then move his hands in a push and pull rhythm.

The small wagon suddenly glows from the painted runes over it and started to shiver and twitch, crackling of wood was heard, and the toy finally moved forward with slow squeaky wheels. Continuing his chant, the young boy smiled excitedly and motioned his hands and the wagon moved further.

Jack's jaw dropped at the sight and he couldn't keep quiet.

"Wow! That's amazing Raf!"

However his excited shout surprised the younger boy to jump and cry out and the little wagon suddenly shot off the track and topple in the canyon dirt. The two boys were still for a few moments, before the smaller boy whirled at the blacksmith with a frustrated look.

"Jack! You startled me! I nearly had it too."

"Sorry," Jack spoke softly as he walked closer to the fire while Raf went to pick up the wooden wagon. Placing his pack down, but keeping his bow and quiver on, the dark haired teen sat on the ground and looked back up at his smaller friend. "But that was incredible for it to move by itself. What's the purpose?"

"I heard Papa complaining about how expensive it is to buy horses and mules these days," Raf walked back to sit beside the older boy and inspect the runes on the wagon for any smudged scratches. "So I thought I could make a way to move wagons with motion runes."

Jack was greatly impressed, actually ever since he and the little alchemist became true friends, he had always been amazed by Raf's talents. Rafael Esquivel was the youngest son of a retired traveling troupe of alchemy/healer gypsies that settled in Jasperton when Jack was much younger. At first there were protests against having gypsies living close by, but during that time, a terrible disease plagued the village, one that none of their healers could diagnose; his mother would say that even she was in hopeless frustration. However, Mr. Esquivel, his father and wife were able to assist the healers and find the cure that thankfully combined curtain herbs from both the village's and the gypsies stock. Since then the Esquivels had integrated into the village's community, and set up a shop that provided healers with herbs and new equipment for easing pain for patients and council for any miscellaneous requests the village council couldn't answer.

Yet, Jack and Raf weren't immediate friends, since Raf himself was a one year old baby at the time, their friendship became more recent to the present. Growing up the two boys had only acknowledged each other in passing, but the teen had heard that the younger boy had greater intellect than most children his age, and his potential in alchemy far surpassed those of his father and brothers. Yet, he was always very polite and helpful to the elders, mostly timid when he spoke with the village children and modest at the praises he was given by Sir Richards and the village council.

Unfortunately, these traits made him a prime target to Vince's taunts and bullying.

These actions were brought up in some severe cases to help protect the young sandy blonde, but Raf would try to hide it behind his study books and rune writings to overcome it. Yet, a few months ago Jack had happened to come across Raf just witnessing Vince rip up this rare book his grandfather had given him, and the smaller boy finally retaliated by pushing the squire back and into a mud puddle. While the squire's posse was in shock and the ginger haired teen was trying to get back up, Raf gathered the ripped up book pages and ran off. Jack waited behind a shop stand until the boy was close enough to grab him and they both hid in the shadows while Vince and his posse ran by. Later Raf was invited to dinner at the workshop, which June was happy to serve and help repair the book. The younger boy calmed and relaxed as he and Jack talked with each other, with his mother scolding off the squire posse when she escorted Raf home, and the two boy's friendship came to be.

Since then, when Jack had free time he meets with Raf as he practiced his alchemy, at times the inner workings of runes and potions would blow over the teens head, but he was thankful for Raf's explanation and amazed when they were demonstrated. Some of the boy's ideas for helping the village were ingenious, but the blonde was too modest to show others, even to his own family.

"It's a nice idea, I'm sure Sue would love the lesser workload, but I don't think people would like the extra exercise with that funny dance you were doing."

"Actually, that was just the practice run to see if the runes would work," Raf sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I'm really going to make a special device that the riders could use to remotely control the wagon's direction and even speed, but the speed part is something I'm still working on."

"Remote control, great idea. Your alchemy is phenomenal."

"Mama may disagree with you on that," the sudden somber tone surprised Jack.

"Sir Richards himself praised your skills, how can she be against it? I bet you could work for the king when you're older."

"Pot meet kettle," the spectacled smirk retorted.

The teen's mouth opened to protest, then closed when he thought it out and smirked back.

"Touché."

"And I'm twelve and a quarter you know…" Raf folded his legs up to his chest and looked in to his campfire. "It's not really my skills she's worried about. She's been having these strange visions lately."

"What about?"

"She couldn't remember all the details, but she would remember seeing me writing runes, hear a wolf's howl, then green clad figures surrounding me, and terrible red eyes and pillars of fire," the boy was silent for a moment. "She's worried that something bad is going to happen, with me, my alchemy... and you too."

"Me?"

"She sees you in some of the dreams, but it's very foggy. But something is going to happen, Jack," brown eyes bore into the teens. "And very soon too."

Silent, tense moments passed between the two boys, with only the crackling fire breaking the silence and the knocking cries for a far off crow and raven.

"Something did happen yesterday," Jack's voice echoed out that made Raf look at him. "But it was something amazing."

"What?" asked Raf, a little happy to detour from scary visions.

"I was returning home from picking up metal for the shop with Sue that morning when I heard a great roar…"

Jack told his tale to the young alchemist, unknowing he was also being heard by another audience.

A feathered head suddenly perked up when a loud cry of a raven echoed from a canyon.

"Ah, Lazerbeak has finally found the human… and with extra baggage too," he snarled when another harsh call came again. "Grr, but no sign of the dagger! Not yet anyway, but I think we should take a closer look. Don't you think boys?"

A hooked beak smirked at the excited laughing and calling as he took flight toward the canyon, his dark shadowed elite following him from the ground.

A black wet nose sniffed the air then growled and alerted his companion.

"Grrr! Grrowlll!"

"That many huh? And the boy?"

"Grr! Arrrgh! Whine!"

"Not good." His blue eyes looked to the canyon and spotted the fire glow and the flying dot in the distance.

"~Optimus, this is Bulkhead. Starscream has just made his move and is heading for the human's position, but Bee smelled there could be another boy that'll be in the cross-hairs.~"

"~This is grim news. Head there immediately and provide protection for the humans to escape. Arcee is making her way to the area as well. If you find yourself in a position to truly transform in front of the boys, you have permission to engage, but only when it is dire.~"

"~Understood, Prime.~" He turned to his partner. "Let's move- Hey! Wait for me!"

Thundering hooves followed the swift paws.

The sandy blonde boy's mouth dropped.

"Wow, Jack! You used one of my arrows to save an Autogon from Draqs!?"

"Yeah, whatever you put on those arrows worked great, I thought I destroyed the whole canyon."

"Well I just used a campfire starter rune, combined with a combustion rune, when the arrowhead leaves the bow it actually ignites the runes and once it hits something it explodes. But be careful, the protection seals used for traveling with them are only good enough unless you really hit them on something hard, and make sure when you don't fire an arrow still notched, loosen the taut of the string and just unhook the arrow notch, that should defuse the rune."

Jack look warily at his quiver, being extra gentle when he moved it around his shoulder, the younger boy giggled at his action. "Right, not something I'm going to forget anytime soon, but after firing the arrow I led Sue away from the area as fast as I could. I wasn't taking any chances, getting eaten or facing more punishment from my mom. I stopped to take a breath and then I caught a glint of light from under a bush and found something."

"What?" the spectacled boy watched as his friend went to his pack and pulled out the sheathed dagger and gasped when the teen brought it out of its scabbard.

"This."

"Woah! This looks deadly!" He gingerly took the dagger into his hands, making sure he used his large robe sleeves to protect them. "This is nothing like you or Uncle Cullen would make."

"Yeah, the blade is made from a metal that I'm not familiar with," the teen points to the runes on the blade's base. "And I've never seen any runes like these, from what you've shown me. Can you read them?"

"I've never seen runes like these before too, but…I think…I can."

"Really?" an incredulous eyebrow rose.

"It's strange, but -"

Suddenly the boys were surprised when a black shape flew in between them and tried to rake Raf's hands to drop the dagger, but Jack took the dagger back and Raf's hands went into his satchel. They looked up to see a large raven fly off to land on far off cliff root branch and call out that echoed harshly in the canyon walls.

Jack pointed the dagger at the black bird, then was surprised that it squawked when a well-aimed rock hit just where its claws held the branch. The teen turned to see Raf aiming another rock with his slingshot, and fired, narrowly missing the bird's head. The raven took the hint and took off cawing and crying as it went.

"You've been practicing more than moving wooden wagons."

"Ravens are mostly seen as bad luck, Jack. Abuelito always says 'never let a raven stay long, or bad omens will stay too.' So he gave me this slingshot if I happen to see one." Raf then puts his slingshot back in his satchel then brought out a magnifying glass. After a few moments of silence Raf looked back at the dagger. "Um, do you still want me to…"

Jack looked at the blade then gave it to Raf. "Might as well."

Raf turned the handle to look at the scripture with the magnifying glass, bringing his framed glasses closer to his eyes.

"Okay…:

'Two bloods have shed on this blade to fell the dark,

Remade from old and in scale, let now help find the hearts of ARK.

Humble heart shall now mend the trend of chaos undone,

Until all are one.'

Hmm…"

Jack shakes his head. "It's an interesting poem. Blows over my head though."

"I think it's more of a prophecy than a poem. 'ARK', where have I heard that before? I can't quite place it." Raf then reached into his satchel and rummaged through it, putting the glass back in.

"What about the blade metal?"

"Let's see." Raf pulls out a small pouch and a small iron block. The pouch held some powder that Raf sprinkled on the blade, then scraped the edge on the block. Putting the dagger back down on his lap, he brought out a drip vial from his satchel and carefully let two drops cover the filings on the block and closely looked at the fizzing reaction.

"Huh."

"Well?"

"Well, you're right that this isn't metal any person would be familiar with, but that was the overall reaction, not the isolated one."

"Isolated?"

"I can tell different reactions to certain metals at once. The blade was actually reformed from a steel dagger from a long time ago, but then it was melted down and mixed with some kind of different material or metal. Something unknown to humans."

"But is it a functional weapon or just a wall decoration?"

"Maybe both, look here, at the cross guard." Raf lifts the dagger up for the kneeling Jack to closely look at the pointed area and saw that the connection to the blade base to the guard was circled by a piece of metal that and very small hooks, for a trophy hanger.

"How could I have missed that? So it was used as a weapon but then perhaps with age someone remade it to be some sort of trophy…" He paused to look up at the darkening sky with thought. "But then why would someone just dump it… in a … bush…?"

"I don't know, it looks very well taken care of." Raf goes to but his testing equipment away and rummaged through the satchel again, not minding the teen taking the blade back into his hands and stiffly stand. "Maybe if you let me hold onto it and I can ask Abuelito and Pa-"

He looks up at Jack, noticing his stony look staring over his head. "Jack?"

A low growl caused the young boy to freeze, and he slowly turned to follow Jack's gaze with wide eyes and shaky breaths.

Reds eyes seemed to multiply into ten pairs in the dark bushes of the tree line. Then they moved closer, the cackling becoming louder, and low hung gray heads of huge purplish black hyenas broke from the shadows and into view of the campfire glow. Bright teeth gleamed as the laughs echoed the canyon wall behind the boys, along with the cackling caws of a raven on the shoulder of one of the hyenas.

Without taking his eyes off them, Raf slowly picked up his satchel and wooden wagon and pressed closely to Jack's side. The older boy had picked up his shield and defensively brandished the dagger, his mind focusing on protecting Raf to notice the hyenas looking pointedly at it. With their backs to the canyon wall they were surrounded by the semi-circle of predators, the circle tightening as they prowled closer.

Jack kept the dagger at ready to slash, and the shield brought up to their front, his eyes franticly looking around them for any opening for escape. Then he feels a tug on his shirt hem.

"Jack," the tight whispered voice of Raf, but the teen never lowered his eyes to him. "Close your eyes."

"What?!" He asked through his teeth.

"Please."

Casting one last look at the hyenas, Jack reluctantly closed his eyes tight.

Raf then reached into a pocket in his satchel and brought out a handful of powder, eyed his dying campfire, tossed the powder at it and he too closed his eyes.

The raven noticed the action too late to call a warning.

A great plume of light engulfed the clearing, as bright as a sudden sunrise, blinding the hyenas that had them cry out and try to block it.

Raf squinted his eyes enough to grab Jack, and the two boys ran the their right, through the blinded blockade, and along the canyon wall. The older teen let him lead him toward a narrow crevice where he shuffled side to side into it first, and then Jack followed behind, one recovered hyena narrowly took a bite of his arm and snarled when it realized it couldn't follow.

The boys shuffled down the fissure, until Raf cautiously slowed to the other end, he peeked out to check if the close was clear. He came out and then sped walked after Jack when the teen came out.

"This way," Jack softly directed. "I can see the village's lights just out of the tree line."

"W-what are hyena's doing this far n-north?" the young sandy blonde question came out as staccatos. "And I've never read they could be as big as a pony?"

"Right now we need to get back to the village, before-"

A shadow from the waning moonlight came over them and a harsh high cry had them look up at the flying figure.

Evil red eyes looked back down to them.

"Not good." Jack grabbed Raf closer and they jogged faster.

But just as they reached the tree line three hyenas ran out from the bushes and smiled/snarled and cackled at them. Jack cursed, as Raf cried out in fright, and brought up the dagger and shield again.

The leading hyena crept closer and made ready to pounce at-

"HOOOOWWWLLLL!"

They all looked in time to see a large golden furred wolf erupt from the left, clench its jaws on the lead hyena's neck and tackle and tumble with it into the brush. The boys and the two hyenas looked on in shock when suddenly a great bellow boomed out from the previous direction again and a giant dark green-brownish bull Bison erupted out and with its thick horns and hard head, it butted the two hyenas and launched them into the air and away. It bellowed and snorted again and chased after more that were being led by the raven.

A few hyenas leaped at the bigger animal, and tried to surround it but they were knocked back with swings of its horned head, and hard kicks. Each of them cried out in pain and landed in heaps to the ground. One got a hold onto the thick hump back, but couldn't keep its grip as the bison bucked, swerved and thrashed about and was thrown off and landed in a thorny bush. Snorting at the felled animals, the bison turned back to the pack and swung its head around, daring them the come at him as they backed away. Of the original twenty only eight remained, including the still struggling leader.

For a few moments, the boys just stared in shock at the sudden scene, but then Jack saw that the wolf was being tumbled back with the hyena still in its jaw hold on the neck. He grabbed Raf by his arm and they ran off into the open plain towards the village.

"What was that?!" cried Raf, he tried to not trip over his oversized robe.

"I don't know! Keep running!"

The lead hyena saw the boys escaping from its struggles with the sharp neck clamp, growled in anger, and started its transformation.

Raf looked back at a strange sound of harsh shifting air, and gasped when he saw in place of the hyena was a giant black purple reptile with arm wings and gray head, which shook the wolf off and slammed it with its barbed tail. The wolf yelped and crashed into the bushes, then the lizard head turned toward the running boys.

"DR-DR-DRAGON!" Raf's cry had Jack turn back as well.

Grey blues widened in fright and recognition. The Wyvercon roared out and galloped after them. The bison and the remaining hyenas looked up and the sound, then they looked at each other and the hyenas smirked then turned to their true forms. Four came to surround him, while the rest went to follow the leader.

"Uh oh," groaned the bison, and changed into his great true form. "Hope this is considered 'dire'."

He charged with a roar and swinging clubbed tail.

The sound of the galloping claws had Jack run faster, keeping his iron grip on Raf, and feeling that the village lights were still too far.

But Raf's bottom robe hem caught his foot and he tumbled and out of the tight grip, his satchel and wooden wagon fell from his hands. Jack struggled to stop and get back to the boy again when he saw the coming maw of fangs.

"RAF!"

Raf turned and screamed when the Wyvercon was nearly on him, then it cried out in pain as Jack attacked across its face with a slash of the dagger. As it thrashed its head to dull the pain Jack moved to stand in front of the fallen boy, and tensed again when it looked back at him, blue fluid glowed from its wound. It snarled in fury and leaped at him.

"GRROWLL!"

Suddenly a flash of black and yellow knocked the Draq to the ground. The boys were shocked to see the form of another dragon, this one however was yellow and black, putting itself between them and its enemy. It gave a warble growl, flaring its small wings on its back, Raf was shocked to see wings of a dragon so small, but then a light sheen encased the wings and they grew wide and grand of striped gold and ebony as a show of size and strength. The Wyvercon scrambled up and met the challenge and the two clashed again with claw and tooth.

Jack came to Raf's side to try to bring the boy back up to his feet, and they backed away from the fight.

Bites and slashes went back to back between the great creatures, as the yellow dragon whirled and swerved around the less agile Draq and latched onto the back of its neck and land on its back and clawing it. Then with much momentum, the yellow dragon lunged backwards, landing on its back, and using it legs to toss the Draq in to the air. It landed with a great thump, and didn't move from its place.

The boys were still eying it for a moment then looked back at the dragon as it rolled back to its four clawed paws and stood up.

It snorted and shook itself of dirt and sand from its body and wings, and prowled closer to the fallen Draq.

CRUNCH!

Suddenly the dragon and the boys froze and slowly they turned to look at its right back paw, it lifting the paw to reveal the remains of the crumpled wooden wagon, pieces falling from its paw pad. For a moment it just stares, then turns its head and neck to them, causing the boys to flinch. But the look on the dragon surprised them as it looked at them with apologetic blue eyes, and lowered head in shame.

"Whine!"

Jack's jaw dropped and Raf noticed it was looked directly at him when it made its sad sound. He looked at it then to the still raised back leg and the wooden pieces. He blinked and warily smiled at the creature.

"Uh, th-that's okay. I… could always make another one."

Jack thought his jaw would reach underground.

The leg lowered and a sort of smile bloomed on the great muzzle and it purred, actually purred!, at them.

"Prrrrr, kik, kik, ki-"

SLAM!

The Draq tackled the dragon, causing the boys to jump, and both snarled savagely as their fight resumed. The yellow dragon head-butted the Draq's chest after it got hit in the leg by the barbed tail.

Raf gasped in concern but Jack moved the boy to his side when he saw the three Draqs coming toward them.

"Come On!"

"But-"

They took off, the village was close but still looked far. We may not make it, came a dark thought. Jack looked back to just seeing the Draqs coming too close, and from their snarled smiles they knew it too. With little options, Jack quickly unhooked his stringed bow from his shoulder and brought out an arrow, notching it and pulled back to give one desperate chance to stall them.

Suddenly a pillar of blue fire and lightning came from the sky, blocking the Wyvercons from their advancement on the boys.

Jack looked up and gasped as he saw the familiar form of the slender blue, black, and pink form of the Autogon.

As if like a guardian angel, it flew down low and over the boy's heads to land where its attack was still in a fiery wall, blocking the Draqs. Tendrils of lightning and blue fire came from its roaring gray muzzle, and it stood on its hind legs and spread out and flapped the hybrid bird/bat wings and lashed out its claws to make itself look bigger.

Jack could not stop his heart from pounding as he looked on, to see the Autogon was something he'd never thought he would ever encounter again. He took in the defensive display and the full might of the fire it erupted from his muzzle forming a bigger fire wall, forcing the Draqs to move back further. It seemed he stared for an eternity, before feeling the harsh tug on his arm by a scared Raf.

"Jack, we need to go!"

The teen shook his head, making sure to loosen the bow string before taking the arrow off, casted one last look as the Autogon then went to run again with Raf, when they looked up ahead at the sound of a loud whinny.

Galloping hooves thundered toward them and in the light of the dragon fire came the form of a dark colored horse with no rider or saddle, but looking closer Jack was shocked to recognize it.

"Arcee!?"

She trotted to a stop before them, moved one side close and kneeled down to lower her back. When the boys didn't move she snorted and neighed at them. Finally understanding, Jack sheathed the dagger and arrow, looped his bow and shield over his shoulders and lifted Raf by his waist and helped him mount the mare.

"Get on, Raf!"

"How do you know this one isn't-?!" called Raf as he grabbed the mane tightly, the mare not minding.

"I'll explain later, just hold on!"

He quickly mounted behind Raf, and Arcee stood up then galloped off toward the village.

Then a harsh cry echoed over them and Jack looked up to see a great gray and dark falcon, with a red head plume feather jetting out of its forehead, swooping directly at them with talons out.

"Head down!"

Raf and Jack pressed against Arcee's neck and the falcons claws just missed raking across the teen's back and it took to the sky again. They looked back at it as Arcee continued her galloped pace.

"I've never seen a falcon that big!" Raf held a tighter grip on the dark pink tipped mane. "Do you think-"

Jack kept looking at the bird of prey as it looked back at them with a furious sneer.

"I would count on it."

Arcee galloped faster.

Starscream looked at them with a snarl then turned toward the cowering Wyvercons, they were still backing away from the Autogon and the growing wall of fire.

He snarled again then dived at the blue dragon.

"You Fools! It's a trick!"

He swooped right through it and the fire.

The small blue form shifted in pixels and the Autogon and the blue fire wall disintegrated and faded away. The Wyvercons looked on for a moment then cringed at their commander's voice.

"It was an illusion, made by the Autogon!" he flapped over their heads and pointed a talon at the fleeing forms. "The real one is escaping with your prey! After them!"

Their angered growls echoed out as they galloped after them again, when one was suddenly hit by a ball of fire, it cried out as the fire spread across its body; more landed around them.

Starscream looked down in surprise then squawked when another ball of fire nearly hit him forcing him to back off with a few flaps. It looked to be made of a stone with burning blankets around it.

"Next volley, fire!"

He looked up to see more fireballs catapulted into the air and landing either around or on his troop. Some met their marks while others landed right where they could have gotten if they advance further; their cries of pain and surprise sounded in the air. A roar from behind alerted him of the giant green Autogon charging at them; obvious he was victorious of his bout.

Starscream snarled again, his prey escaped into the village, he was losing his elite, and has made the knights aware of their presence.

What should have been an easy snatch was now turning into a disaster.

He gave a sheer angered cry to his remaining elite.

"Deceptidraqs, disengage and fall back! Take fight and retreat!"

Dodging more fireballs the Draqs spread their arm wings and took off into the night sky. The leading Wyvercon was just tossed again by the yellow Autogon, heard the order, then after roaring one last challenge at it he took flight and followed his commander who looked back at the two dragons on the ground and called out.

"This isn't over, Autogons! You're only delaying the inevitable!"

Bumblebee and the arrived Bulkhead looked on at the retreating group as a swirl of green light appeared in the sky and the falcon and Draqs went through it, then it disappeared leaving nothing behind.

"Good riddance," rumbled the green giant. "Did 'Cee and the boys make it back okay?"

"Chrrip, arr, kik, kik, kik! Arrr, growl, chrr, churr! ("Yeah they made it okay. But I think the knights still don't want us here.")

"Woah!" Bulkhead exclaimed as a fireball land too close, the knights were still arming their catapults. "Oh, you're right. Better get of here, before we're barbequed lizards."

Bumblebee shifted his wings back to their smaller forms and the two dragons galloped back to the forested canyons.

"Hold fire!" ordered Sir Richards as he watched the last two dragons run off. "They've gone! Keep all the ammo at the ready though, there's no telling what those Draqs will come up with later. I want double patrols around all perimeters and no one must leave their homes!"

As his men checked their catapults he got off his viewing platform and marched toward the crowd. Some of the armored knights were directing and forcing them back from the horse and its riders as it trotted down back toward the blacksmith shop.

"Jackson!" he called in concern when he got a closer look.

The dark haired teen still seemed to be in shock, but was able to look at the familiar red mustached face of the head knight. He pulled Arcee's mane to have her stop and he carefully dismounted, Raf was less reluctant to follow.

"Are you boys alright?"

"Yes, sir… We… We're fine."

"Praise the heavens, you should be after running from that horror," he untied his belt and looped around the horses neck, she made a little protest but stayed still. "When we saw a bright light from the canyon beyond, we thought something was amiss. Imagine our surprise seeing you boys running with those wretched Wyvercons chasing you. Who would have thought Deceptidraqs would come around here, they've never bothered to before. Wonder how long they were here without us knowing."

Jack was silent with a far off look.

"RAFAEL!"

A woman of tanned skin, wavy brown hair wearing a colored dress of a gypsy came running through the crowd and up toward the boy on the dark horse. The boy reached out to her in relief, and they hugged each other tightly.

"Mama!"

"You are under curfew and never leaving the house for your practices again, you hear me!" Her voice carried anger, but mostly great relief flowed out.

"Yes, Mama," Raf sounded too tired to argue. "Jack saved me."

His mother looked to the teen and she too took him into a hug while still hold the younger boy.

"Bless you, Jack!" She pulled back with tears in her eyes. "Thank you for protecting my son."

Jack smiled tiredly and nodded at her. "We kind of saved each other, Mrs. Esquival."

Alma Esquival rivaled his mother in their children's protection temperaments, she however had to deal with five children to June's one.

She smiled at him then she looked to Raf, muttering softly. "I knew something was coming, even before when those men came…"

The boys and the head knight looked at her curiously.

"Mama?"

She just shook her head and scowled softly as Raf. "Never you mind for now hijo, you're coming home now. Thank you again Jack, I'll tell the family of your curfew Sir Richards, good evening."

"See you later Jack," Raf was able to wave goodbye as his mother turned and walked off, carrying her son with surprising strength and ignoring the dissipating crowd that were lead to their homes.

The teen, knight and horse were left alone on the street, before Sir Richards turned to Jack and motioned him back to the shop stable.

"This mare must've sensed you were in danger, one of my men saw her jump your corral fence and ran off with speed I've never seen on any other animal," commented Richards as he helped open the stable stall door and Jack led Arcee in. "Though with only being around you for a day, it's surprising she came to you and not her owner."

Jack loosened the belt from the horse's neck and gave her a thankful pat, and walked out the stall giving back the belt to the knight. "I'm just as surprised, hope said owner doesn't get angry."

"I'll be sure to assure her myself, perhaps I'll finally meet her tomorrow when I come back for the report about tonight."

"I thought you came with to get my statement for it?"

"Jack," the knight's voice was incredulous. "You were just attacked, chased, and even fought against Deceptidraqs. You should still be in shock, and nearly collapsing by now. These are the signs of a young squire just in his first fight for his life, and you had another life to protect with you. I saw from the platform of your attack against that one Wyvercon to defend Rafael. Not even Vince has had that experience nor any squire has had to use his blade to protect someone in their training yet. I think that whatever statement you need to give me about tonight can wait until you are fully rested and your mind clear. And I'm sure your mother will kick me to next year if I pressured about it now."

Jack gave a soft chuckle at the mustached smirk and sighed. "Thanks Sir Richards."

"Rest for now lad, you've had a long day."

The teen nodded after the knight as he left for the street and back to his platoon. The boy rubbed his face, and harshly sighed, knowing his mother will at any moment come running home. Before he made his way back to the house, he looked back at the dark coated horse, who stared directly back with her intense blue eyes. He frowned, remembering first of the blue Autogon, then of the Yellow dragon, who he knew could've been an Autogon too since it saved him and Raf.

The intenseness of those blue eyes were the same.

They both stared at each other for a moment, then Jack just snorted at the thought and turned back as he gave his savoir one last word.

"Thanks for the save, Arcee."

He jumped back and cried out when a shadow fell from the roof and landed before him. He instinctly went for the dagger when a familiar voice scolded at him.

"It's not fair Jack! Yesterday I can take, but now you were being chased by Deceptidraqs! You know I've always wanted to see dragons and you go and see some within a day of each other! You should have taken me with you! I could have finally gotten to sketch one and make a painting of a real live dragon! But I'm wasn't there! It's so NOT FAIR!"

Jack just stared at the harlequin clothed girl as she bent toward him with fists on her hips and a fierce scowl on her face.

Miko blinked at his stare, even the horse's face had a dry look.

"What?"

Back at their cavern behind the waterfall, the green and yellow Autogons were treated by Ratchet while they gave their report to their Alpha Prime. Bumblebee was already treated with moss bandages and healing lotion and sat close by while Bulkhead stayed on the healing berth rock as the red and white dragon did the same with him.

"Sorry, Optimus. When the Wyvercon Bee fought transformed to chase the boys we had little choice," reported Bulkhead fidgeting as the healer dragon cleaned his wounds. "If we hadn't they would have been Draq food."

"Bulkhead hold still!" grumbled Ratchet. "I can't reach this one laceration with you moving."

"Sorry, Ratch. Anyway, Arcee was able to keep her cover and got them to safety. And Bee saw the dagger too, the blacksmith has it, even attacked with it."

"… Did you happen to notice anything… unique when the human held the blade?" the red and blue Alpha Prime dragon addressed Bumblebee.

"Chrrr, arr, chirrup, chirrup! Arck! Kik, kik, kik, arr, chrrr, Arr, kik, kik, kik, kik. ("Only saw him give that Wyvercon a good future scar! Ha! But nothing too special though, just like anyone can use a weapon.")"

For a moment the Prime looked to the floor in deep thought. So this Jack could not be the wielder.

"You two still should've been more discreet," scolded Ratchet as he placed a lotion vial on the stone floor by the berth rock. "Now we have not only the Draqs know of our knowledge of the dagger's location but now the knights are aware of us. And they even attacked you as well."

"Hey, it was dark out, they couldn't tell the difference, and the Draqs changed first, I just said we had little choice, Doc!" The green Autogon enforced this is a great thump of his tail.

Crash!

Destroying the glass vial.

"BULKEAD! I NEEDED THAT!"

The armored tail curled limply as the Autogon cringed and smiled sheepishly at the furious blue eyes of the healer.

"Heh, heh, sorry."

Optimus put a calm paw on the red huffing shoulder. "Easy, old friend. I know our new situation has become complicated now. But Arcee is still undercover and Bumblebee alerted her that she was correct about the dagger's current position."

He looked to the happily nodding dome horned head of the yellow dragon.

"Despite the knight's offensive towards our pack mates, once they know of our true colors," here he pointed at Ratchet's faction symbol on his chest. "They will see and act differently. For now Starscream will be licking his own troop's wounds and must reassess his plan of attack. Once he does, we will be ready and waiting, and will help defend the village and obtain the dagger."

"Why must we protect the humans, Optimus?" questioned Ratchet. "We have been in hiding from the main population for a millennia, by now no one before the other day has seen an Autogon, or know if we are not the enemy. They've only known of the cruelty and malice of the Deceptidraqs, what will make them not see a Draq than an Autogon?"

Optimus stood on his four legs and walked to the entrance of the cavern then stopped and seemed to stare at nothing but the tunnel. The silence after was only broken by the sound of the waterfall just outside, then the Primes voice came with a quiet echo.

"There will always be fear, hate, and mistrust of dragons, we are the great creatures of legend and fairytale. The Deceptidraqs show, by their actions, that they are what a dragon in those tales should be like. Raider, hoarder, cruel kidnapper and enslaver. A creature the knights fight against and must slay to save a kingdom and/or princess. There are those stories, but then… there are other stories of dragons," he looked back at his pack. "Dragons that weren't like the Deceptidraqs, ones that fought with the knights in the Great War against a terrible foe, ones that showed kindness and knowledge as they helped the knights found their code as peace keepers and alchemists of magic runes. The stories of these dragons lived on to today by people whose ancestors fought with them and were taught by them and they carried them on and shared with others throughout generations, and there is proof of what they truly believe from all those stories today… The other day, a human saved a dragon."

The three Dragon just looked at him in silence, each with their own thoughts of the speech.

"That action has proven to me that while humans will have the fear of the strangeness and power of the dragon, a young human knew he saw an Autogon in trouble with two Deceptidraqs and acted upon it with whatever thoughts he had. Overriding all normal description of what a terrible dragon should be and fired that arrow to save our pack mate. That is proof to me there is a chance, a small one, but a great start in returning coexistence between humans and dragons."

They all sat while the waterfall continued sounding in the background when Ratchet gave a weary huff.

"There's still many obstacles and other greater challenges and discriminations to overcome, Optimus. It won't be easy."

The larger dragon just smirked softly.

"Did I ever say that it would be?"

A/N: Holy, this was long! And I did wrote that fight after I got a good grade on a major test in collage! I'm beat. Anyway, we got action of Raf using his alchemy, (It won't be like Full Metal Alchemist, I should say right now), and animal and dragon fights! Those were tough to write and review.

A few notes:

1. Someone asked me why I didn't call the deceptidraq's, 'Dracons'. Beleive it or not 'dracon' was my first name for them but then when I said Autogon and Dracon back and forth I found they sounded too close to the same. And I wanted to stay with Autogon, because the dragons are more oraginic dragons than bots. So I had to think differently so that I or my readers didn't get confused with the names. And Draq sounds like a good 'con nickname to me.

2. Bee as a wolf, that was easy for me, Starscream as a falcon, I thought a profound looking falcon
with a long red forehead plume feather would look funny, the Wyvercons (Vehicons) were a challenge, but then I thought about the Lion King Hyenas (c) Disney (I DO LOVE HYEYAS, I SHOULD ALSO MENTION! They're awesome), and Bulkhead, even before thinking about what Bee and Arcee should be I thought he would look great as an American Bison, I mean come on they're big, their shoulder height is a few inches taller than Shequille O'Neal!, strong, and hits like bulldowzer. Watch footage of them, you'll see.

3. I hope my Spanish was decent in here, had to re-remember (heh) my Spanish classes and look on 'Google translate'.

4. About Bee's wings, I had it in my mind that Bee is more of a ground runner than a flier, so I thought why not have him have the power to shorten his wings when he needs to run at great speeds and fly when he needs too.

5. Bulkhead's tail looks more like an Ankylosaur's tail club, that would look neat.

6. "Arcee took Hound's specialty!" some might cry. "That should be copyrighted!"... Yeah, well that kind of hologram isn't really a hologram. Its maaaagggiiccc... No, its just an illusion Arcee can do in my story, but really I wish they could've done something like that in Prime.

7. There are picture art of Arcee and Optimus in my Deviant Art Page! Even what the faction symbols look like, and what Arcee's horses form looks like too.

Anyway hoped you had a great time reading, see you next time!

Transformers Prime characters (c) Hasbro, Sir Richards and Alma's name (c) me.