"Today is the 18th anniversary of the child's birth." Primus mused. He allowed himself think of the years past. So many changes had taken place since then. He remembered the first day he had met the human.

The only part of him still active at the time was the very core of his spark, which was still recovering from the dark energon corruption that Megatron had tried to inflict on him to gain control of the entire planet. Primus frowned at the thought. Then he remembered how he had met the boy. At the time, he had only been 10 years old and was much more fearful than he is now. His family had been amongst the first humans invited to visit Cybertron.

His father, Dr. Brian Jones, was a scientist that had been creating new armor, transportation, and rarely, weapons with the newly discovered energon deposits found on earth. The man was kind-hearted, but understood the mindset of war, military life does that to a person. He had been in the Navy as a nuclear engineer at the bottom of the ocean, but he knew that if they were called on at any time someone could lose their life. His wife, Dr. Miranda Jones, was a trauma surgeon, she had the wit and proficiency of 20 battlefield medics. She was also considered to be quite beautiful as well, with a caring and compassionate heart to match her profession. The boy also had a younger sister, who at the time of their meeting, was only just a toddler.

Optimus Prime, Primus's favored Cybertronin, and leader of the Autobots was supervising the family when the young boy had gone missing. While hiding from the massive transformers that he had been so abruptly forced to trust, he had fallen through an exhaust shaft that had rusted over decades of neglect. Miraculously, the boy fell, untouched, straight to the core of Primus. Primus had caught him and calmed the boy using energon controlled binds to pacify the terrified child. Primus remembered the sense of familiarity he felt once he was holding the child in his figurative arms.

"A human child, how interesting. I wonder if he has a name." Primus spoke to himself not expecting the child in his binds to understand.

"I do, and it's Kicker. What's yours? Where am I? What is this place?" Kicker responded without missing a beat. The uncertainty evident in his fluttering voice and

Primus was stunned for a moment when he realized the child was talking to him, not simply to himself, but to Primus!

"I am Primus, the life giver of Cybertron. You are within my core, the part of me that survived the recent war. Do not worry, you are safe here." Primus's voice was deep and boomed throughout the chamber that housed his spark, but Kicker was unfazed.

The boy's eyes flashed with a golden-brown hue as he watched the glow of Primus's spark. Primus was fascinated with the boy; he had never met someone so young yet so strong. True he had been crying earlier as he fell, but Kicker recovered instantly from his distress.

"I fell pretty far." Kicker said as he looked up to the shaft he had fallen through. Primus had righted him so that he was no longer hanging upside down.

"You were lucky, this area is not a stable as it used to be.

Suddenly Kicker spoke again," I don't like this planet." he looked down as if this was something bad to say.

It did take Primus by surprise, but he wanted to hear what the human had to say, it had been a long while since he had talked to anyone. Then again, there was hardly anyone left who could actually hear his voice. "Why?" It was a simple enough question, but it made Kicker cross his arms and turn his head away.

Primus waited for Kicker to speak again," This place is too big, and the robots that live here are huge too. If you're not careful they could step on you without even noticing. It's scary. My dad is obsessed with helping them, but he has no time for me or my little sister. It's not fair."

Kicker's eyebrows furrowed in frustration, then he looked back to Primus. "That dummy, Optimus, was looking for me this time."

This description of Primus's favored champion amused him. Laughing heartily, he replied, "You think he is a fool?" Primus laughed again at the thought, which cause Kicker to pout just a bit. "I'm sorry little one, I don't mean to make light of your fears." At this Kicker perked up, no one had ever really listened to him the way Primus was. Not his mom, sister, and certainly not his dad.

Kicker looked up the shaft he had fallen from, "How am I going to get back?" The calls from Optimus could be heard faintly, even all the way down there.

"Leaving already?" Primus allowed his voice to sound the way he felt for the first time in centuries. Sad. Primus really had enjoyed the young human's company.

Kicker thought for a moment then said, "I have to go back because my mom worries, but I can come back and visit just like I do with the friends I made at school." Kicker's optimism was palpable.

Primus chuckled, "I would like that very much. Would you allow me to give you a gift to mark the start of our friendship?" Primus wanted to create a way for the child to be able to speak to him whenever he wanted.

"I don't have anything for you though," Then Kicker suddenly jolted and started digging in his pockets for something. "Wait, yes I do, here," Kicker produced a small toy motorcycle with red and blue colored panels. He held it in his outstretched hand and said, "You're the only friend I've made in this place, so I want to give you something special, it's my favorite one." Kicker smiled for the first time since his dad had started working with the Autobots.

Primus was touched, he had never been truly given anything precious before. It had always been his duty to give to the bots who inhabited him, never to receive anything. The energon binds that held Kicker so faithfully carefully wrapped around the toy.

"Thank you," Primus's voice was rippling with gladness. "Now for my gift." The energon tendrils that held Kicker suddenly started to glow brightly. As a result, Kicker's hair and eyes began to glow furiously with the same golden and almost holy light.

"Whoa." Kicker gasped in surprise. His whole body suddenly felt really good, he couldn't feel the scrap on his knee from the day before when he had tripped and fallen. He suddenly realized the power he was in the presence of. Kicker understood just how important his new friend was to this planet. He was the planet. The realization hit Kicker hard, fear crept into his heart, but then a soft and warm feeling replaced it. Primus was his friend. It was that simple thought that drove the fear away. Primus slowly allowed Kicker to descend to the platform below them and as his feet touched the metal Kicker stood on his own. His eyes were still glowing gold faintly, but he had returned to normal otherwise.

"Wait here for Optimus to get you, I will call for him." Primus told him. He made note of the boy's face turning sour, but he did as he was told. If Primus were able to show his face a small smile would've appeared on it.

Optimus Prime had been looking for almost an hour to find Kicker. The Dr.'s son was always either hiding behind his father or in a room with his mother and sister. Optimus sighed, he was afraid that he would never find such a small being in such a big place as Iacon, but then his senses began to vaguely direct him lower towards the core of Iacon's bowels. It was as if Primus himself were summoning him. Optimus continued to follow the odd sense of direction and finally, after a time, he found himself in a large open space. It was lite with a soft glow from above which he turned his optics to. The core! Optimus thought he would never see it active again. The last time he saw it resembling sentience was from when he received the Matrix of Leadership. Primus lives! Joy bound itself in Optimus's spark, but then he was brought back to reality as something pinged off of his outer shell. He looked down to see Kicker, who had just thrown a small piece of metal scrap at him.

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't step on me." The boy said and turned his head away to look up at the core itself. Young as he is, Optimus had forgotten what a sharp tongue Kicker had developed, and the large bot kneeled down closer to Kicker. Careful not to let his knee hit the ground too hard.

"I am glad you are safe Kicker, but you should know better than to run off on your own, especially in a restricted area like this." Optimus chastised him. Kicker made eye contact with him for a moment before turning away, huffing, and folding his arms. The boy did not like cybertronins that was made clear. Optimus sighed then looked back up to the core of Primus. It glowed in rhythmic intervals just as he imagined his own spark chamber did.

Kicker suddenly spoke upward, "I don't like any of them, why do I have to be nice to the guy who almost squashed me?"

Prime was taken aback by Kickers sudden and odd words. Then was shocked even more so when the rhythm of the glowing core picked up slightly as if to respond. Optimus watched Kicker as he turned fully towards the enormous spark chamber and grumbled to himself, "Just because you chose him to be leader doesn't mean I have to like him." Kicker folded his arms and turn his head away.

Understanding sparked in Optimus's eyes, "Kicker, you can hear the words of Primus?"

Kicker looked up to the kneeling Autobot leader questioningly, "I can hear him, even if what he is saying is dumb."

Optimus stared at him for a moment, in total disbelief that a human child had the capability to communicate with Primus, something that even Optimus struggled with at times. Then, as Optimus let his sensors focus on the human child, the change became impossible to ignore. The boy had been altered, but what could have changed him so? Optimus glanced back at the core of their planet, and he realized what had happened.

In somewhat of a hurry he said, "We should get back to the surface Kicker, your parents are worried about you." Optimus said as he set his hand to the ground palm up so that he could carry Kicker back the way he came. Kicker looked at his hand dismissively then flinched a bit as the glow from Primus grew brighter for a moment then subsided. Kicker crawled into Optimus's hand and sat in the center of it.

"What did he say?" Optimus had come to know how rebellious Kicker could be and seeing him actually listen to someone was impressive. Although, he supposed the life force of all Cybertron could command the discipline of any lifeform.

Kicker looked at Optimus and said, "He told me to go with you and to stop being difficult." Then he instantly looked down at his crossed legs, embarrassed.

Optimus laughed heartily and he was right to do so. Kicker had been a difficult addition to their otherwise tranquil base on Cybertron. Kicker had never heard Optimus laugh before, he was always too busy giving orders or held up in meetings for the alliances they have made with their once mortal enemies, the Decepticons.

Kicker stood in his hand, and, to the credit of his namesake, he kicked Optimus's hand. It had no effect, of course, but it got his attention. "It's not that funny!" Kicker half shouted. Optimus's baritone laugh quieted as he began walk out of the large chamber and back to the surface. The humor still shown in his eyes as Kicker settled into his huge hand again and tried to enjoy being so high up from the ground.