First crossover story, and while I know there are some contradictions between the movie and cartoon, this fic will offer its own answers which will be revealed in time. Important note, this story takes place in 2019. All characters from cartoon series are same age as they are in fic. For purposes to the story, I'm basically making Transformers: Prime take place in 2019. The timeline will eventually be revealed, and besides Bee's new Camaro form is way too awesome and advanced for today's technology. Anyway enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own cartoon, movie, or songs used
"words" - Bee speaking using electronic sound effects as he does in cartoon
"words" - Bee using music or dialogue from radio
"words" - normal dialogue
words - thoughts
Ratchet screwed in the last screws of Bumblebee's voice capacitor. Then he prepared to wield the outer metal shut, protecting the voice capacitor from the outside world. When Ratchet was finished, he said, "There. Now you can use your radio to communicate again. I reinstalled the link between your radio and your voice capacitor. Try it."
All this time, Bee used beeps, chirps, and whirling sounds to communicate. Only the Autobots and Raf could understand him. It would be nice to use his radio again so everyone could understand him. It's the next best thing to having his voice back. Bee selected a lyric from "Singin' In The Rain". "I'm singin' in the rain/Just singin' in the rain/What a glorious feelin'/I'm happy again."
"Seems to work fine," Ratchet said, "I'm sorry I couldn't repair your voice capacitor completely. This time it was truly destroyed beyond repair. Your voice capacitor was already damaged beforehand in which only minimal repairs could be done, but when Shockwave delivered that blast five years ago, it further damaged your voice capacitor, destroying your voice beyond repair and severing the link between your voice capacitor and your radio. Luckily, that link was repairable. I just didn't have the time or parts then. Plus, I was severely damaged, needing major repairs myself."
"…thanks for the gift," Bee played on his radio.
"You're welcome, but I'm curious as to why you want your voice capacitor fixed now."
Bumblebee didn't say anything or played anything. His face said it all.
"Oh yeah," Ratchet said solemnly and sympathetically, "It's in a few days, is it? The Fifth Anniversary of the day Sam Witwicky was killed."
Bee only nodded his head. "I miss him."
"I know you do," Ratchet said sympathetically. "We all do."After a minute of solemn silence passed, Ratchet asked, "Are you going to visit his grave?"
Bee nodded his head. "I just need to ask Optimus Prime for permission."
"I'm sure he'll allow you to go. I'll even watch Raf for you while you're gone." Normally, Ratchet wouldn't be the one to volunteer himself to watch any of the human children, but knowing how upset Bumblebee was over Sam, Ratchet volunteered if it would make Bumblebee's long lasting burden of grief a little easier.
"I thank you…I didn't think…that Shockwave would…come alive. Optimus killed him … years ago."
"Me neither. The damage Shockwave received from Optimus plus the death blow Optimus delivered should have permanently offlined him, but Shockwave, being the mad scientist he is, probably found a way to make himself pretty much immortal, allowing him to wake up from death. Once Shockwave was resurrected, he probably upgraded Soundwave's, Starscream's, and Megatron's bodies and resurrected them somehow," Ratchet hypothesized.
Just then, the two mechs heard someone enter the base. "Hey, guys!"
It was Raf.
Bee lightened up when he saw his human charge. He was happy to show Raf his new ability to speak, but Bumblebee still felt burdened with grief over his best friend's death.
"Hey, Raf," Ratchet greeted. "Where are the others?"
"Oh, Jack is working, and Miko is serving detention. I think Arcee and Bulkhead are with them. It's just me."
Ratchet sighed in relief. At least there will still be peace and quiet with only one – the quietest one – around base rather than just all three kids. If only for awhile.
"Hello/I've waited here for you/Everlong," Bee played on his radio.
Raf was surprised at what Bee just said, er sung. "Bee! Is that your voice? Can you really talk now?"
"No, that's just his radio," Ratchet replied. "I fixed Bumblebee's link between his radio and voice capacitor so he can now talk through his radio."
"That's great, Bee! Now everyone can understand you!"
"Uh-huh."
"Come on! We should celebrate. How about playing video games? Does that sound good to you?"
"Sounds great!"
"I'd ask you to do some karaoke to really try out your new ability but with all those good singers to pick from, I'm afraid you'd beat me."
Bee played a clip of an audience laughing to a comedian's joke on Sirius XM Laugh USA. Bumblebee got out of the sick berth and followed Raf to the base of the stairs where Bee transformed into a 2017 Camaro which based on the technology of a Mercedes SLS AMG. Bee opened the door, and Raf climbed right in. Inside, the two played a racecar video game. Raf pretened that his controller was a steering wheel to a racecar. He pictured himself racing in Daytona. He's coming up the final lap, Raf mentally narrated to himself in third person. Three Time Champion racecar driver Rafael Esquivel speeds around the first corner. He's in the lead. But what's this? His longtime rival Bumblebee catches up to him. Is this is for Rafael? Rafael picks up more speed. Looks like he's not about to give up, folks. Now the two are neck and neck. Who's gonna come out the victor? It's only halfway to the finish line! Whoever wins becomes the next racecar champion. Will it be Bumblebee or Rafael?
Bumblebee's virtual racecar falls behind three fourths of the way. Raf's virtual race car crosses the finish line. Raf throws the controller and gleefully shouts, "Alright! I won!" Rafael Esquivel is the champion! "I can't believe it. Usually, you always win, Bee."
"Congratulations!" Bee chirped. It was enthusiastic, but Raf noticed a hint of disappointment.
No, Raf thought, not disappointment, but something else. That was an advanced level, and Bee always beats me on every level. Did he let me win? But why? And if so, why does Bee seem a little sad?
"He's going the distance/He's going for speed." Bumblebee played in which the "he" was directed at Raf.
Raf decided to mask his suspicions. "You bet I am, Bee. Soon, I'll be a faster driver than you are."
"We'll see about that!" Bee teased. However, Raf still noticed the underlining sadness in Bee's enthusiastic taunt.
The two played another game, and this time Bee won but barely. They played five more rounds in which Raf won all of them.
"Wow, Bee. You're not doing so hot. Are you okay or something?" Raf asked. The question was simple on the outside, but it was meant to figure out why Bee is a little bit down today.
"And I am fine, I'm fine, I'm fine I am fine,/ I'm fine, I'm fine," Bee played.
"Well, if you say so, or sing so," Raf said, but he was still concerned. That is just how strong Raf's bond is with Bumblebee and vice versa. Raf didn't need to words to know what Bee was feeling. He just knew, and Raf knew there was something wrong, but he couldn't figure it out nor was Bee telling him.
After a long and tiring round of videogames, Raf got out of Bee, and Bee transformed back into his bipedal form. Bumblebee and Raf watched a racecar movie. While Raf was absorbed in every adrenaline pumped racing scene and laughed at the movie's humor, Bumblebee seemed uninterested. Not bored uninterested, but like Bumblebee's mind was somewhere else far away. Raf took notice of this, and Raf was a little confused. Bumblebee loved racecar movies and comedy. The two combined were like the ultimate movie genre for Bee so why was Bee so uninterested?
"A penny for your thoughts, Bee?" Raf asked.
As much as it hurt to keep the grief and pain bottled inside, Bumblebee didn't want to talk about Sam to Raf. Part of it was that as soon Bumblebee would describe Sam to his new charge, Bumblebee would break down in uncontrollable sorrow. He couldn't have Raf see him so vulnerable when Bumblebee was suppose to be the tough one to protect Raf. But the real reason was that Sam was special to Bumblebee. By keeping Sam's memory to himself, it was like having Sam back and all too himself. He loved Sam and deeply missed him. Not only that but he felt so guilty for not protecting Sam. Bumblebee spark ached for Sam, and he couldn't let Raf see the pain Bumblebee bottled up inside so pretending everything was alright, Bee responded, "Oh, sweet nuthin'."
Raf recognized that particular lyric of being part of some seventies song that his parents played around the house figured Bee would talk to him about what's going on when he's ready so Raf said, "Okay. Whatever you say."
About a half hour later, the movie finished, and Arcee and Jack returned followed by Bulkhead and Miko. Not long after Optimus returned from his recon mission. Bumblebee was excited to show his human friends and Autobot teammates that he can now somewhat talk.
Choosing a clip from a song, Bumblebee played, "Hello, hello, hello…"
Miko, Jack, and his teammates were shocked at what just came out of Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, is that your voice?" Jack asked.
Arcee understood that it wasn't Bee's voice. She smiled and remarked, "Seems like you can speak through your radio again, huh Bumblebee?"
"Uh-huh, this my shit…" Bee played.
Optimus smiled. "It seems that Ratchet was successful in repairing your voice capacitor."
"Not even close," Ratchet corrected, "Unfortunately, Bumblebee's voice capacitor is too far damaged for him to even utter a single word, but I was able to fix the link between his voice capacitor to his radio."
"Either way, you have done well, old friend."
Jack, Miko, and Bulkhead, who had never heard Bumblebee speak through his radio before or even knew Bumblebee before he lost his ability to speak at Tyger Pax, where too excited over Bumblebee's new ability.
"Come on, Bee, play something hardcore!" Miko begged.
Bumblebee complied and played the refrain of Bullet for My Valentine's "Waking the Demon":
"Waking The Demon,
Where'd you run to?
Walk in the shadows,
Watch the blood flow,
There's not much longer, so don't try and fight,
Your body's weakening, Walk to the light,
Those painful times so alone so ashamed,
I'm not coming back there's nothing to gain"
"Awesome!" Miko shouted. Apparently, Bumblebee's sound quality as a 2017 Camaro was so much better than his sound quality as a 2007 Camaro and even better than when Bee was a 1976 Camaro. Of course, Miko didn't know about his previous form. None of them did except Ratchet, Arcee, and Optimus.
Raf observed the excitement over Bee's new ability and noticed something: despite Bumblebee being happy about being the center of attention, sadness of some sort showed in Bumblebee's optics. Usually, Bumblebee would be thrilled at the prospect of being the center of attention and having the next best thing to having his voice back. When the excitement faded away, Bulkhead, Arcee, Jack, and Miko relaxed, watching TV. Bumblebee and Raf joined them. However, Raf wasn't watching TV, but observing Bee's strange behavior. Raf noted that Miko and Jack were clueless to the feeling of sadness Bumblebee kept hidden in himself, but Raf noticed that Arcee and Bulkhead were aware. More specifically, Arcee was aware and seemed to understand why as she spoke gentler and kindlier to Bumblebee than usual as if she could understand exactly where Bumblebee was coming from. Bulkhead, on the other hand, was only aware as he once in a while said something funny that was meant to cheer up Bumblebee, but when Bumblebee didn't laugh or mimic laughter as would have normally done, Bulkhead just sort of gave up. He acted as though he didn't know what was wrong but understood something was wrong and tried to fix it but didn't know how.
Raf also noticed similar behavior in Ratchet and Optimus Prime. They both seemed to understand why Bumblebee was feeling down. It was especially obvious when Ratchet asked Arcee and Bulkhead, whom he rarely asked because of his clumsiness, for help when Bumblebee was perfectly available or when Optimus allowed Bumblebee to skip training even though it was mandatory. Something was up, and everyone knew about it except him, Jack, and Miko. And Raf was determined to find out.
Raf excused himself from the couch and went to Ratchet who was working in his usual spot. "Hey, Ratchet!" Raf called out.
Ratchet almost jumped out of his metal, almost dropping his wrench. He turned around and annoyed, asked, "What is it, Raf? Can't you see I'm working?"
"Sorry, but I was just wondering if you noticed anything wrong with Bee? I mean, he seems kind of down today, but he's hiding it."
Ratchet knew what Raf was talking about, but if Bumblebee didn't want to talk about it, then Ratchet wasn't going to violate Bumblebee's personal decision. "No, Bumblebee seems like his usual self today minus his new preference of communicating. Now can you please leave me alone? I'm busy here."
Disappointed, Raf said, "Well, okay. Thanks anyway."
But Raf wasn't about to give up, while Jack was using the bathroom, Raf asked Arcee the same question. Arcee replied, "He's probably disappointed that he couldn't get his voice back." Somehow, Raf knew that wasn't the case, but he left it at that.
Later, Raf decided to ask Optimus, figuring he was the best source of information, but when he did, Optimus only relpied, "I'm sure Bumblebee is fine, but if there is anything bothering him, then Bumblebee will come to you when he's ready to talk."
Disappointed over the lack of answers, Raf contemplated turning to Bulkhead as a last resort, but seeing that Bulkhead is in the same position as Raf – has no clue but knows something is up – decided against it. After Bumblebee brought Raf home, Raf decided that perhaps he should follow Optimus's advice and let Bumblebee come to him, but first Raf decided to cheer Bumblebee up. Then perhaps, Bumblebee will open up to him. As Raf laid in bed, he decided that tomorrow he will plan a day of fun for just him and Bumblebee in hopes of brightening up his young guardian even though he was clueless to what's bothering him. After all, friends are there for each other.
Comfortable knowing that Bumblebee was just parked outside his house, Raf turned off the lights and slept peacefully excited for tomorrow.
These are the songs used in Bumblebee's dialogue
"I'm singin' in the rain/Just singin' in the rain/What a glorious feelin'/I'm happy again." – Singin' In The Rain (song from musical Singin' In The Rain)
"…thanks for the gift," – Scars and Stripes by: Angelspit
"I thank you…" – I Thank You by: Rebecca St. James
"…I didn't think…" – I Didn't Think It Would Last by: Trevor Robinson
"…come alive." – Come Alive by: Foo Fighters
"Hello/I've waited here for you/Everlong," – Everlong by: Foo Fighters
"He's going the distance/He's going for speed." – The Distance by: Cake
"And I am fine, I'm fine, I'm fine I am fine,/ I'm fine, I'm fine," – I'm Fine by: Kimya Dawson
"Oh, sweet nuthin'." – Oh! Sweet Nuthin' by: Velvet Underground
"Hello, hello, hello…" – Smells Like Teen Spirit by: Nirvana
"Uh-huh, this my shit…" – Hollaback Girl by: Gwen Stefani