Pyrrha Nikos, Mistral Champion and student of Beacon Academy, frowned as she stood on the hovering platform at the center of Amity Arena—located in the skies above the kingdom of Vale on the planet Remnant—in the midst of the finals of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Her opponent, bubbly little Penny Polendina from the northern Atlas Academy, beamed and saluted her.

"Sal-u-tations, Pyrrha Nikos!" The orange-haired girl greeted cheerily as she lowered her hand and placed both of her hands on her hips, nodding. "It's an honor to finally meet you!" Pyrrha looked up at the girl, seeming forlorn. "This is going to be so much fun!"

:Three, two, one…: A man, Beacon Academy's history teacher Doctor Oobleck, did the countdown. :BEGIN!: Just like that, the fight began.

From the start, it was clear that Penny held the advantage. Her blades, suspended by wires from a place in her back, were great—there were twelve of them in total, though she did not always use all of them at once. Pyrrha just had a single blade and shield, and as the fight went on, Penny could tell that her opponent was beginning to feel overwhelmed. She kept staring at her weapons, and something about how she was behaving conveyed distress.

Not wanting to draw it out for the Mistral Champion, Penny soon disarmed her and aimed eight blades at the red-haired girl. Pyrrha looked so panicked, Penny's smile faltered as she sent her blades flying forward. This was not what she had in mind when she imagined facing one of the most famous fighters in the world, that fear in the girl's emerald-green eyes.

'After this, I'll tell Ruby that we should take her out for a treat,' Penny thought, and her smile returned. 'That should make everything better.'

Penny's smile fell and stayed away as her blades suddenly came flying back and she felt the wires wrap around her body. Her pale green eyes widened as she hunched over, praying that her aura would protect her…

Everything went black, after that.

/\/\/\/\

When Penny opened her eyes, everything was dark. She quickly sat up, those pale-green eyes widening as she hugged herself. She was dressed in her usual clothes, which seemed to have been torn and sloppily stitched back together in odd places—the places where the wires had hit her—, and she was alone.

"H… Hello?" The orange-haired girl asked softly. A few moments passed in silence, then a massive door opened. Penny's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked up at two massive robots, and she quickly scrambled back—realizing that she was sitting on a massive lab-table. "W-what?!"

"Well, well, well…" One of the robots smirked, his red optics narrowing as he raised an eye-brow- err, optic-brow. "You've finally emerged from stasis. I was beginning to have my doubts…" He looked over at his faceless companion. "You did well, Soundwave, in putting her back together. It's fortunate that we managed to retrieve her before she was... Extinguished."

"Where am I?!" Penny found herself shouting, and she made herself stand up. "Where is my father?! Where is Mr. Ironwood, my team?! Where is Pyrrha?! Ruby?!" The first robot held up what looked like a giant cattle-prod, and Penny's eyes narrowed. She tried to will her weapons out, but they did not come. Penny blinked, then she reached back and felt something—there was a thick metal band wrapped around her body beneath her clothes, keeping her weapons compartment from opening. "... Who are you? What do you want?"

"Now, those are questions I can answer," the first mech told her. "My name is Starscream, and at the moment, I am the leader of the Decepticons in the stead of our Lord Megatron." He folded his hands- err, servos behind his back. "He has been away for some time, and we have been asked to wait for him and collect Energon—the lifeblood of our kind. However, I have been observing our enemies—the Autobots—and I believe that they have been rendered vulnerable, as they may have even become lazy and even careless in our absence. Now is the time to strike, but the question was… How do we get them all out in the open, with their guards lowered, so that we may defeat them all—even the mighty Optimus Prime—in one fell swoop?"

"... What do you want from me?" Penny asked quietly. Starscream grinned with malice.

"It's simple, little one," he stated confidently. "We surveyed hundreds of worlds for the right elements, and we ended up picking up a broadcast of you in battle." The other mech, Soundwave, remained silent as his visor lit up and displayed some footage from the fight. "You were defeated, but only because your opponent possessed a power which we know Optimus Prime lacks…" Penny gasped as she saw herself being torn apart in Soundwave's visor, and she caught sight of a red haze and a black chess-piece just before the screen went dark again. "When you were torn to pieces, I knew you were the right thing for the job. Using our space-bridge, our greatest means of interstellar transport, we collected you from that arena and brought you aboard our ship." Starscream leaned over to look at Penny more-carefully. "You are not a prisoner, Penny Polendina. You are a being akin to our own kind due to you possessing a soul, and as you are are quite the warrior, we would like to ally ourselves with you… If you cooperate, you will be treated well and honored amongst Decepticons when we achieve victory."

"Cooperate with what?"

"... We intend to employ you in setting a trap for the Autobots, and eliminating Optimus Prime first and foremost," Starscream looked away. "Your human appearance will be crucial in this. He will lower his guard."

"So…" Penny's eyes narrowed. "Optimus Prime will not harm humans. You intend to use me, a being devoted to the protection of mankind, to destroy him… Why am I starting to believe that you are the last entity I should align myself with?"

"Miss Polendina," Starscream was visibly annoyed when he looked back at her. "I believe I need to inform you… If you ever wish to return to your world, your Remnant, and fulfill your purpose there, you will have to be within the ranks of the Decepticons. We are the only side of this war in possession of a means of intergalactic transport, so if you do not join-"

"Are you… Blackmailing me?" Penny's fists clenched at her sides. "Blackmail, trickery, plotting the murder of a human-friendly entity, and kidnapping me… I will not be cooperating with the Decepticons, even if it means that I shall never return home. I am meant to protect people from evil, and you are evil."

"... How unfortunate," Starscream scowled, then he lashed out with his claws. Penny leapt back, dodging the attack, then she gasped and looked up as Soundwave reached out with two tendrils. The girl dodged the tendrils and leapt off of the lab-table, landing on the floor far below in a crouch before running for the door as fast as she could. "Stop her!"

Penny arrived at the door and looked back as the Decepticons began to give chase, her eyes narrowed, then she turned and began running through the halls as the two sounded the alarm. The orange-haired girl wondered if she stood even a small chance of escaping these massive enemies, but she knew that she had to try regardless.

She had to warn Optimus Prime.

Penny made her way through the ship, dodging attacks from mechs in the halls, and she finally found herself outside. The girl opened the door and ran across the upper deck… Only to look on in amazement.

The Decepticon ship was floating above the atmosphere of a planet. It was massive, covered in water and enormous land masses, and Penny took a deep 'breath' and stepped back… A human should have been dead and floating away, in the vacuum of space…

"There you are!" A voice snapped, and Penny looked back with wide eyes and an expression of dismay. Starscream, Soundwave, and the other Decepticons had finally caught up, and Starscream glared down at the girl as he readied one of the missiles mounted on his arm. "It's over! You will come with us, now!" Penny blinked, then she turned to face Starscream before she looked back at the planet. "There's no escape for you, girl. You will either submit or be destroyed."

"Hm," Penny hummed quietly, then she looked up at Starscream as she took several steps back and arrived at the edge of the ship. "You will not use me as long as I live, and I refuse to let you use my father's technology against Optimus Prime… I will not stay on this ship, Starscream."

"... You'll burn up, in Earth's atmosphere," the mech gave a small smirk as he lowered his missile. "Are you brave enough to die, Miss Polendina?"

"... I'll take my chances," Penny announced, and Starscream blinked. Then, his optics widened as the little android stepped back and let herself fall over the edge of the ship and down towards the foreign planet's atmosphere.

/\

The call to Autobot Outpost Omega One came out late in the night. The Autobots—Arcee, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Optimus Prime—were roused from stasis and they came out into the main room of their base. Optimus answered the call with a frown on his face.

"Agent Fowler?"

:Prime! We have the Nemesis showing up on thermals!:

"What?" Ratchet asked, flabbergasted. "There has been no Decepticon activity in three years, and regardless: the Nemesis should be hidden from all means of detection!"

:Sort of hard to hide from thermals when it's on fire! It's coming in hot from the atmosphere, and it it appears to be chasing some sort of comet! They're both heading straight for the middle of Lake Michigan! Whatever that comet is, the 'Cons want it bad and I'm thinking we shouldn't let them get it!:

"Understood, Agent Fowler," Optimus' optics narrowed. "Please, send us the coordinates to the island nearest to the comet's perceived landing site. We will do all that we can to ensure that it does not fall into Decepticon hands."

/\

Optimus Prime, Arcee, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Bulkhead stepped out of a swirling green portal and onto the shore of small island. Optimus looked up, his battle-mask sliding into place, to see two objects rapidly descending towards the lake. One was massive, the Nemesis, and the other was so tiny… And it suddenly hit the water and vanished beneath the surface.

"Bulkhead, Arcee!" Optimus spoke, and the two quickly ran to the water and soon vanished beneath the waves as well as the Nemesis pulled out of its nosedive several thousand feet above. After a few moments, Bulkhead and Arcee returned from the lake, the large mech cradling something in his servos as Arcee watched him in confusion. "What did you find?"

"It's a…" Bulkhead gazed at the object in his servos, stunned. "Kid." The other Autobots blinked, then Optimus' optics widened as he walked over and looked down at the figure.

"What?" He asked, but he needed no reply as he saw what Bulkhead was holding—it was indeed what appeared to be a human adolescent, a girl. She seemed battered and her clothes were somewhat scorched, but as Optimus watched, she shifted slightly and her fingers twitched—she was just unconscious. "That's… Not possible."

"What do we do?" Bulkhead looked up at Optimus worriedly. "We can't leave her here, Prime. The 'Cons-"

"Do not worry, Bulkhead," Optimus' optics narrowed in anger, and he looked up at the Nemesis as several Vehicons transformed into planes and soared into the air. "We will not allow the Decepticons to harm her." The Prime activated his comm-link. "Ratchet, bridge us back."

A portal opened, and Arcee, Bumblebee, Optimus, and Cliffjumper activated their cannons and began to fire at the Vehicons in order to cover Bulkhead's escape with the girl before disappearing into the portal behind him.

/\/\/\/\

When Penny woke up for the second time, she found a fluorescent light above and a cool metal table beneath. She sat up, her eyes widening, then she sighed in relief and closed her eyes—the table, and the small room she was in, were both human-sized. No more Decepticons…

Penny opened her eyes again and stood up, and to her surprise, she found herself stumbling and she barely managed to grab the table in time to stop herself from completely toppling over. There she was, on her knees and in shabbily-repaired clothes, looking around the small room in fear. The band was still around her body, and she was hurt—vulnerable…

Penny's eyes went to a corner of the room, and they found a security camera with a glowing light—it was active, Penny was being watched by something or someone. They had seen her fall, they knew she was in trouble. The question was… Would they help her, or take advantage of her weakness?

"... H-help me!" Penny begged, her gaze pleading with the camera. "Please, I'm scared—I just want to go home! I have a father, a-and a friend—and my home, it's counting on me! I have to save it!" There was no response, so Penny slowly slid down from her kneel to sit on her legs and hung her head, closing her eyes. "Ruby… Where are you?"

Time passed, then the door finally opened. Penny looked up, her eyes wide, as a man in a blue suit entered. He was on the larger side with dark skin and brown eyes, and his face was set in what appeared to be a permanent frown.

"Thank the gods, you're a person!" Penny sighed, relieved, then she managed to stand and faced the man, folding her hands. "Please, I-"

"Sit down," he pointed to the metal table. Penny's face fell, then she sat down on the table, gazing up at the man forlornly. "... You listened." Penny blinked, surprised. "I left the door open. You could have escaped."

"I-… Where would I go?" Penny asked quietly, and the man blinked. "Please, I want to go home. Can you help me?"

"Where is 'home'?" The man replied, and Penny looked down. "Well, where is it? I need to figure out what country out ther thinks it's funny to b-"

"They told me you wouldn't know," Penny admitted, looking up at the man. "They said that, if I didn't help them, I would never go home. But I couldn't…They wanted me to hurt someone."

"They?"

"The giant robots, on the big ship," Penny told him, and he blinked. "One of them didn't have a face and didn't speak, but he had a visor and he showed me things while the other one talked. That one had red eyes, and wings."

"Who did they want you to hurt?"

"They said-…" Penny looked down again. "They said that Optimus Prime would never do harm to a human, he will lower his guard… When they said that, I knew that they had to be enemies." Penny looked up at the man, her expression forlorn. "I'm supposed to protect people. If this Optimus Prime sees that as his duty, too—I had to make sure he was warned. Those two, I think that they were called Starscream and Soundwave—and they have an army of warriors. They wanted to have me, too—but I-…" The man sighed quietly.

"You jumped, didn't you?" He asked, and Penny did not reply. "... Where are you from?" Penny shifted, uncomfortable. "What planet?" Penny blinked, then she folded her hands in her lap.

"Remnant," the girl answered honestly. "My planet's name is Remnant, and I come from the kingdom of Atlas."

"Do you have a name?"

"My name is Penny Polendina. I'm the daughter of a scientist who teaches at Atlas Academy, Professor Geppetto Polendina."

"Daughter?" The man asked, then he held up a file and retrieved something—an image, a scan. "Is everyone on Remnant like you, then?" Penny went silent for a moment, then she sighed and closed her eyes.

"No… Everyone else on Remnant is real," she admitted, then the little android opened her optics looked at the man again as her pupils briefly shifted to resemble camera shutters before going back to normal. "I'm the first of my kind."

"And what are you? The energy you're giving off, it's like nothing anyone I've consulted has ever seen."

"I'm the first synthetic being capable of generating an aura."

"Aura?"

"Aura, the manifestation of the soul," Penny explained, seeming perplexed. "Do you not use it, here?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"Use it? A lot of people don't even think souls exist."

"They exist!" Penny protested quickly, then she slowly held her hand out. "I can show you, if you want." The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "It doesn't hurt, and I don't have to unlock it to show you it's there."

"Show me yours, first."

"Alright," Penny agreed, then she closed her optics. The man's eyes widened as a pale green light surrounded her body, then she opened her optics and looked at him again as the light faded. "Mine is unlocked. I can summon it at will."

"... Show me," the man held his hand out, and Penny took it. She gave a small smile, and his eyes widened as a blue light surrounded his body.

"See? Aura."

"I-I think I need to start going to church more often," the man pulled his hand away, stunned as the light faded. "And you… You've got a soul, too?" Penny nodded in response. "How is that possible?"

"Only my father and Mr. Ironwood know that, mister. It was classified, they couldn't tell me," Penny folded her hands again. "I had a lot of questions for them, but I did not ask. I just knew they expected a lot from me… That's why I have to go home. They need me."

"... My name is Special Agent William Fowler," the man's eyes and expression softened. Penny quickly saluted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Special Agent William Fowler - sir!"

"At ease," Fowler sighed as Penny lowered her hand. "So, were you made for military purposes?"

"Yes, sir. I was supposed to be the first of a new type of soldier that would help remove real people from the battlefield."

"Why are you a child, then?"

"My father wanted me to be," Penny gave a small smile. "He said he would help Mr. Ironwood, but only if I could be made first. Mr. Ironwood agreed, but he said I would have to be able to fight."

"Mr. Ironwood?"

"General James Ironwood, leader of the army of Atlas and headmaster of Atlas Academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"Huntsmen and Huntresses?"

"The mightiest warriors on Remnant," Penny told him. "They fight the battles that few others can with their specialized weapons, aura, and semblances. Unfortunately, their mortality rate is very high and those who manage to survive do not tend to take orders well, so they are only rarely incorporated into the world's militaries and an army cannot be formed. Even if there were many of them, they would not be good in the form of an army due to their unique fighting-styles and abilities… I was a student at Atlas Academy."

"They treated you just like everyone else, then?"

"Yes," Penny nodded, frowning. "But only because no one was allowed to know about what I really am… I was trained as a Huntress, not a proper soldier. I was expected to work alongside the military following my graduation, to assist them in battling the Creatures of Grimm, the terrorist organization known as the White Fang, and any other threats that our kingdom could have faced." Fowler blinked, surprised, then he frowned.

"Uh… Creatures of Grimm?"

"Monsters," Penny's optics narrowed. "They come in many shapes and sizes, and they are drawn to negativity. Hunters and the armies are charged with protecting the people of Remnant from them."

"So… You're an evil-fighting robot with a soul."

"Yep!" Penny's smile returned, then it faltered. "Can you really not get me home?" The agent gazed at her for a long moment.

"Yes, and no," he finally decided, and Penny blinked. "I can't get you home, Miss Polendina, but I think I know a way… You really want to help people?" Penny nodded earnestly.

"Yes."

"The Decepticons, those robots you met, they've got enemies that I'm allied with. Optimus Prime is their leader, and he led the group of fighters that rescued you from your fall," Fowler explained, and Penny's optics widened. "The 'Cons, they have the tech to get you home… If Optimus Prime wins the war they're fighting, that tech goes to him."

"And he can send me home," Penny stared at Fowler. "You think he'll help me?" The man nodded in response.

"Without a doubt. He has a home he wants to get back to, too… Thing is, this war could go on for a long time. Prime's only got himself and five others with him, and one's a medic."

"... He needs help," Penny's expression became serious. "If I fight and help him end this war, I can go home sooner?" Agency Fowler nodded, and Penny looked down, seeming to contemplate the idea. "... The Decepticons, they placed a band around my body. My weapons-"

"We can help, with that… Can you help us?" Fowler asked, and Penny looked up at him. "You saw the Decepticons, up close and personal. Can you fight them?" Penny blinked, remembering tearing one of the robots' heads off with her bare hands, then she slowly nodded.

"Yes, I can… I will."

A promise is a promise. Let's give this another try.

I own nothing. Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks! :)