Disclaimer: Don't own; wish I did.
A/N: This is my very first attempt at a Transformers fic. I've been a lover of the fandom for a very long time and finally decided to try my hand at TF-related fanfiction. Hope I did a decent job!
Inspiration for this fic came from Koi Lungfish's Lost in Transmission. Give it a read - it's well worth it.
I'd also like to thank Acteon Carolsfeld for reading over this chapter and giving me the courage to post this. :)
Slag it all to the pits! How did he get himself into these messes?
Sideswipe groaned as he sat up and onlined his optics. His vision was static and it took a moment for his optics to cycle through their start up before he was seeing anything.
A sudden urge to purge his tanks overcame him and he fought the feeling down. Cursing inwardly, he brought a hand up and immediately realized why he felt sick- his depth perception was off. He couldn't see anything out of his left optic.
Well, that's not good.
Frowning, he poked at the glass covering the sensor and realized there was a large crack running down the center. Normally that wouldn't prevent the optic from cycling on, meaning he must have ruptured something internal.
Slag.
Utilizing his one good optic, he looked himself over to survey the damage he'd taken. He was covered in dents and scuff marks and the worst of the damage seemed to be contained on his left leg. The appendage was sparking a little at the knee joint, signaling that some wires had definitely been severed. That, he could thankfully patch. His optic, on the other hand, was another story entirely. He'd need Ratchet to fix that up when he got back to base.
He looked around him.
Scratch that. If he got back to base. He was surrounded on all sides by nothing but trees that climbed so high they nearly blot out the sun. He was in a slagging forest. Still, his olfactory senses picked up the scent of ocean and sand coming from all sides. He knew exactly what that meant. He was in a slagging forest on a slagging island.
He couldn't recall how he'd gotten there right off the top of his processor as he found his thoughts addled. Judging by the damage to his optic casing, he'd definitely landed on his head.
His day just kept getting better and better.
Unable to access his most current memory logs, he decided to delve just a little further back. He sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to go back too far, because the further back he went, the less likely he was going to find the answer he was looking for. With a forceful exhalation of his intakes, he accessed his memory banks, attempting to lift the fog from his processor.
The last thing he remembered was jumping on Skywarp's back for a round of jet judo during their most recent battle with the Decepticons. He'd broken into his cockpit and started pulling on wires, which the purple jet decided he did not like in the slightest. Skywarp had barrel-rolled in an attempt to knock the red Lamborghini off, but the stubborn warrior had held fast and refused to be dropped. He hooped and hollered and had a general good time, until Skywarp flew up so high that they nearly broke the atmosphere. That was when Sideswipe decided he wanted the jet to go back down.
He reached in and tugged on another handful of wires and Skywarp decided he'd had enough. With an indignant screech that one would have expected to hear from Starscream, Skywarp rocketed downward at an alarming speed and it was all Sideswipe could do to get down on his front and wrap his limbs around the enraged seeker in a death grip. Before the jet could impact with the ground, he shot back up, before leveling a couple thousand feet over the battlefield. He performed another barrel-roll, but when that failed to dislodge the red twin, he picked up speed, performing a wide array of stunts that threatened to have Sideswipe purge his tanks all over the clueless bots down below. He was vaguely aware of Sunstreaker shooting at the con from down on the ground – anything to keep him from slagging his twin. Though, in hindsight, shooting Skywarp out of the sky definitely wasn't going to make him any safer.
Bluestreak took that moment to shoot out one of Skywarp's wings with a truly well-timed shot. Black smoke billowed from the mark, but the wing remained intact, allowing the jet to stay in the air, although he did seem a little unstable. Skywarp must have decided at that point that enough was enough because at that point he engaged his warp drive and the battle below them disappeared into a chaotic snowstorm.
Sideswipe really didn't have time to register the weather change, though, as Skywarp once more changed locations and they found themselves flying over the ocean in the middle of nowhere.
It was then that everything went to the pit.
A wave of pressure pressed in on him from all sides and he was sure Skywarp was feeling the same as the jet's thrusters sputtered and struggled to stay on. They began losing altitude quickly and Sideswipe was only somewhat aware that the two of them were screaming. Electricity crackled around their frames as the ocean rushed up to meet them.
In sheer panic, Skywarp engaged his warp drive once more, only to find it was malfunctioning and he could only move a few hundred feet in any direction. Sideswipe offlined his optics, terror seizing his spark as Skywarp teleported aimlessly as they fell, try desperately to regain some height. He dared online them a few moments later and was disturbed to find that he couldn't make heads or tails of which way was up or down.
He would have panicked, had he the time, but Skywarp teleported one last time, propelling the two of them into the ground.
Sideswipe growled to himself as he shut down his memory banks. Thankfully, he was only missing the data from the time of the impact to the time he'd come to. He briefly wondered how long that was as he cast another glance around.
He was lucky enough to have landed on an island instead of in the middle of the ocean, but that didn't change the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was. He tried to access his navigation system, but it didn't respond to his commands. Irritated, he tried to open his chronometer, to figure out how long he'd been out, but that failed to respond as well.
A second desire to purge overcame him and he hunched over while he waited for it to pass. He felt like slag and he wasn't entirely sure he could attribute it to his malfunctioning optic anymore. On top of that, the crash landing had damaged him, but not badly enough for his systems to not be responding. Truth be told, the lack of reason for his current condition made him a little uneasy. This wasn't the worst situation he'd ever found himself in, though, so it was hard to get too worked up over it.
Fraggin' Skywarp! This is all his fault.
With a groan, Sideswipe climbed to his peds, wobbling slightly on his injured leg. It held his weight fine, so the damage clearly wasn't all that bad. It still hurt, though.
He lifted two fingers to his helm. A switch on the side connected him to the Autobot communications link when pressed.
"Sideswipe to base. Do you read?"
He was met with audio-shattering feedback and with a small shout, he disengaged his comm link.
Frowning, he gave it another try, but when he was yielded the same result, he broke into a colorful string of curses.
Why he had thought his comm link would work when none of his other systems were operational was beyond him.
This is definitely not good.
He fell back to the earth, landing with a thud on his aft and he slouched over sullenly. He was stuck Primus-knew-where and had no access to his comm link or to any of the systems that might offer him any explanations as to where and when he was. And because of Skywarp's stupid teleportation schtick, none of the Autobots had any clue where he was, either.
Speaking of Skywarp...a quick look around the area showed that Sideswipe had crashed alone. It was more than likely that Skywarp was somewhere else on the island and having just as much difficulty as Sideswipe was. It was also just as likely that Skywarp had come to and teleported the pit out of there. Sideswipe lashed out with his right leg, kicking at the ground like an angry sparkling. It wasn't helpful in the slightest, but at least it made him feel just a little bit better.
He was by no means a smart bot, but he was crafty. Surely he'd find some way out of this mess.
Even if I do make it out of this, Ratchet's gunna slag me. And if Ratchet doesn't finish the job, Sunny sure w-
He paused in his thoughts and slapped a servo to his faceplate.
Primus, I'm a moron. Of course! Sunny!
In his dazed state he'd nearly forgotten about the bond he'd shared with Sunstreaker. Much like spark-bonded mechs shared a bond, the two of them shared something similar, but much more advanced. They were two halves of the same spark. What one felt, the other did, too. What one knew, so did the other. And they ALWAYS knew where their other half was. The bond was like a homing beacon. Grinning like an idiot, Sideswipe immediately probed for his brother, sending a pulse along the bond in a form of greeting.
He got no reply and chalked it up to Sunstreaker being an afthat. He sent a second pulse and ground his dentas together when that went unanswered, too. Sunstreaker was notorious for ignoring him and it was possible he didn't realize he was missing just yet. If he had, then there was no way in the pit that Sunstreaker would currently be ignoring him. He could act like a complete slagger, but Sideswipe knew his brother cared for him.
"Damnit, Sunny!" Sideswipe shouted into the air. He sent another pulse.
There was again no reply and Sideswipe drove his fist into the ground in his frustration. With a look of disgust, he pulled his servo free, shaking the dirt from his joints. Obviously, trying to contact his brother wasn't working, so he'd have to try something different.
In an uncharacteristic display of pure focus, Sideswipe honed in on their bond, trying to find where Sunstreaker was. If he had to make some sort of raft and sail off in that direction, then Primus-damnit, that's what he was going to do.
A feeling of dread slowly overtook him as he continued to feel out for his brother and continued to find nothing. He frantically sent a wave of pulses, one right after the other, frantic in their need to reach him. With each unanswered pulse, Sideswipe wanted to scream.
It was only when he felt the emptiness on the other side of the bond that he truly started to panic.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Review please? :)