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Rung found himself staring out of the window of the facility, trying not to think too hard about Nova Prime now being off-world. They had spent so long working together; the Prime having been the main catalyst that had helped Rung remember his ability to produce photonic crystals. Now, as he had practically since Nova Prime had declared his intention to build the Ark, Rung worried if the lack of continued reminders would cause him to forget that ability again—and something kept nagging at the back of his mind, like the photonic crystals were linked to something else about him that he had also managed to forget... Something that had been in his very nature, something that had shaped and formed him, something related to who he was...
His musings was interrupted by the pitter-patter of small feet and then a small hand slipping into his. Surprised, Rung looked down, and saw a minibot of a completely new design standing next to him, looking up at him with a sky-blue visor and a yellow facemask. Large, blue pauldrons, white arms, white legs, blue shins. No wheels, lenses, or exhausts visible at all; no excess kibble on the back or legs.
The minibot chattered at him the moment it realised it had his attention—rapid clicks and beeps that took him several seconds to recognise: Klikspeak! One that he had not heard in... well, quite a while. Something dim at the very depths of his memory pinged him and told him that it was the same as the first Cybertonians had spoken, before the later development of Cybertronian and the various forms of Cybex that allowed for more precise and elaborate language, albeit without the speed that klikspeak offered.
"Sorry, could you repeat that?" Rung asked with an apologetic smile.
[Statement rapid-extraction-from-inside likes pretty liquid-armor yours], the minibot cheerfully repeated, gently poking at Rung's clothing with its free hand.
"Oh!" Rung could not help his own smile as he ran a hand down the simple, golden toga he wore. "Thank you. It was a gift from Nova Prime."
The minibot tilted its head slightly.
[inquiry enjoy-you run round-object kick. inquiry alternate enjoy-you round-object hand-strike], the minibot beeped, lightly swinging their linked hands back and forth.
Rung paused for a moment, trying to make sense of what the minibot was asking, but never managed to translate it to proper Cybex before one of the facility's blacksmiths came running down the hallway to interrupt them.
"There you are, Eject! I am so sorry, Rung, the little rascal slipped out without any of us noticing!" Muon said, gently taking the unrepentant minibot's other hand and tugging it away from Rung. "Come on, Eject, go on, back to the nursery with you. I think one of your sparkmates found a whole cache of sports information while you were gone."
The minibot's optics sparked with joy and it took off at a run down the way Muon had come from.
"One of Nova's newly constructed ones?" Rung asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nope. Brand new forged spark," Muon replied, grinning like a proud cybercat with kittens at the departing minibot. "Dunno if you heard, but, a giant hotspot emerged near Lower Petrohex. Millions of sparks. And all of them so far appear to be the same, completely new type! Come on, I'll introduce you to some of them."
He led the way to one of the blacksmiths' many nurseries, and Rung could not help a delighted gasp when the door opened and revealed the dozens of new minibots inside. All of them nigh-identical in appearance, if not for how they were every single colour imaginable—and a few more that Rung was pretty certain had once been solely theoretical—and every single one seeming to occupy themselves with something. A quartet, led by a softly pink minibot, were dancing and singing, judging by the melodic clicking that had no meaning. Several of the minibots were hanging off the medics and scientists' shoulders, eagerly watching procedures and datapads. One had appropriated a box of screws and was methodically examining each and every one of them, and others yet were darting around, pulling at cables and legs and clothes to examine everything until they got shooed away.
"We keep pulling out more sparks, and they all keep turning into these," Muon said, gesturing at the colourful minibots—several of which had noticed Rung's arrival and had scampered over to examine him with the innocent joy of freshly forged sparks, chittering and beeping far too rapidly for coherence. "And every single one of them's absolutely bristling with curiosity about whatever thing they fixate on! One of the first ones fixated on history, and we had to stick it in the archives to get a bit of peace and quiet! We're working out how to get their vocalisers working properly, but at least they seem happy enough with what they got for now."
On the floor, several of the minibots had gathered, rapidly transforming with the glee and ease of freshly forged sparks that had just discovered their alt-modes. Surprisingly rectangular, and oddly immobile, but happily piling together and connecting to each other, almost like...
"... Data sticks?" Rung asked when he finally recognised the alt-mode, gently dislodging the minibot that had climbed onto his shoulders and was trying to pull off his glasses to get a closer look at them.
"Data sticks!" Muon laughed and slapped him on the back. "Millions of datasticks! It's almost like Primus is telling is to get better at remembering stuff, eh?"