It's been a while since I've posted a story. (I did post a story on another site that I wrote for my Significant Other for a My Little Pony Gravity Falls crossover.) I came up with this idea while think about how the Cybertronians would react to rain on our planet. They have acid rain that can do serious damage to them. Here rain is a good thing. I wanted to explore some of their reactions to experience it for the first time. I might still add to this story. I haven't decided yet.
As always I ask that you please review and tell me your thoughts. I also have a blog post being posted tonight.
Enjoy!
"Hey Bumblebee," said Spike. "Want to go for a drive? I found a couple of logging trails that you guys might enjoy."
"What are logging trails?" asked Bumblebee.
"Roads created by the truckers who cut down trees," explained Spike. "They are usually just dirt roads that are pretty rough."
Bumblebee thought about it. "That could be fun," he said.
"Awesome!" said Spike pumping his fist in the air. "I'll go see who wants to come along."
A half hour later and Spike had managed to talk Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, Hound and Trailbreaker into joining him and Bumblebee. Spike climbed into Bumblebee and said "I hope you guys are ready."
"It'll be like the road simulations back on Cybertron," said Cliffjumper revving his engine.
"Just be careful," said Hound. "Ole Hatchet will be furious if we get too beat up."
"Do you think we will be?" asked Bluestreak.
"We should be alright as long as we are careful," said Trailbreaker. "I've already scouted these areas. Most of the roads are in fairly good use."
"Aw, come on," said Spike. "Doing things like doughnuts is half the fun of going off-roading."
"What's a doughnut?" asked Bluestreak.
"Kind of like the 360s you'd see mechs do in the extreme driving games," said Trailbreaker.
"Oh," said Bluestreak and Cliffjumper.
"I think I'll pass on that," said Hound.
"Fine, fine," said Spike. "What do you think Bee?"
"Does your dad know this is what we're doing?"
"Ouch, right in the heart," said Spike feigning hurt and rubbing his chest.
"We'll see how great the road conditions are, okay," said Bumblebee.
"I'm taking that as a maybe!"
The group of mechs found the turn off to the logging roads. Almost at once the mechs noticed a change in the conditions of the road.
"Wow," said Bluestreak. "I wasn't expecting it to be this loose."
Cliffjumper almost spun his tires out. "This isn't like the dirt near the Arc."
"It rained about a week ago. The dirt might not be fully dry yet," said Spike.
"Rain?" asked Bluestreak nervously.
"Yeah," said Spike. "The rain washes out the gravel and loosens the dirt. We should be fine though. The dirt near the Arc is in a sunny area, so it dries quicker. Come on Bee, let's see what you can do!"
Bumblebee laughed. "I think I can handle this."
"This is very similar to some of the other planets I remember visiting before the war," said Hound.
"Really," said Cliffjumper. "I only remember the metal roads on Cybertron. These dirt roads are weird."
The group drove up and down the different paths and enjoyed the different textures under their wheels. Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and Bluestreak each tried to do a doughnut with varying degrees of success. Spike promised to show them some videos when they got back. However each mech found that figure eights were easy enough.
Hound shook his frame. "I don't think the Hatchet will get too upset with us. I've got a few twigs in my undercarriage."
"Prowl might fritz at the dirt though," laughed Bluestreak.
"I'd be more worried about running into Sunstreaker," grumbled Cliffjumper.
"I think there's a clearing not too far from here," said Spike. "It's far enough away that you can transform. You could try to get the worst of the damage out there."
"Worth a shot of escaping Ratchet," said Trailbreaker.
They reached the clearing and transformed. Bumblebee let Spike out and he stretched out on the ground. It was warm and sunny as the Autobots started pulling out the rocks and branches caught in awkward places.
"D'ya think Mirage or Jazz would like it out here?" asked Bumblebee.
"Mirage definitely not, but Jazz might," said Hound. "It would depend on his mood."
"'Raj wouldn't be caught dead out here," snickered Cliffjumper. "He wouldn't ruin his tower's paint job."
"Don't laugh at Mirage's need for hygiene," said Trailbreaker. "You've never been stuck in some of the places he has. It's amazing he isn't as bad as Sunstreaker when he gets back from a mission."
"I'd want to get as clean as possible too if I was stuck in a Decepticon base for orns on end," said Bluestreak. He started rubbing his arms. "Sometimes you just can't feel clean enough."
There was a long pause. "I don't mind dirt," said Hound. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Yeah, but we don't want to have to smell you all the time," said Cliffjumper throwing a rag at Hound. It was caught by a gust of wind and landed on Spike.
"Hey guys, human down on the ground," his muffled voice could be heard from under the rag. Bumblebee quickly pulled it off him. "Gross, what's on that?"
"You sure you want to know?" asked Hound. Spike made a face.
There was suddenly a loud crack and the sky grew dark. "That's odd" said Bumblebee "Isn't sunset not for a few more hours?"
"Probably a thunderstorm," said Spike. "Guess the roads are going to get muddy. What's wrong?" Spike looked at the mechs and noticed that they had frozen.
"What's a thunderstorm?" asked Bluestreak. "It sounds more like the Decepticon Thundercracker."
"You've never seen one?" asked Spike.
"I've heard of similar things on other planets," said Hound. "Are they like electrical storms?"
"Yep, except with rain."
The Autobots immediately transformed and Bumblebee opened one of his doors. "Get in, now," said Bumblebee.
Spike hopped in as Hound said "We need to locate some shelter."
"Guys I don't think anything is going to happen. Cars rarely get hit lightning, especially with all these trees around and the storms still pretty far away."
"Lightening?" asked Bluestreak.
"The electrical part of the thunderstorm," said Spike. "I know it's dangerous, but it doesn't happen all that often."
"It's not the lightening we're worried about," said Bumblebee.
"Then what?"
"It's the rain," said Trailbreaker.
"The rain?" asked Spike. "I know water can cause rusting, but I didn't think it would hurt you guys."
"Water doesn't hurt us," said Hound.
"Then why are you scared of the rain?" asked Spike. The sky was getting darker. It almost looked like the sun had set early.
"It burns," said Bluestreak. They were almost back onto the main road.
"But I thought you said water doesn't hurt you," said Spike.
"Water doesn't hurt us, Spike," said Trailbreaker. "But acid rain does. It corrodes our armor and if a mech is really unlucky can even kill them."
"Acid rain?" asked Spike.
"It usually happened about once a vorn on Cybertron," said Hound. "It would start to rain and if a mech didn't find cover in time they were usually toast."
"Oh," said Spike. "Well here rain is a good thing."
The mechs almost slammed on their breaks. "Rain is a good thing?" asked Cliffjumper.
"It doesn't hurt you?" asked Bluestreak.
"Sure, it's just water. It's necessary for planets to grow and for animals to live," said Spike. "When I was a kid, I'd love going out and playing in it. I'd build mud pies and my dad would make me leave them outside."
Plink.
The rain started slowly. Plink. Plink. Pitter patter. The mechs shivered when it made contact. When there wasn't a burning sensation, they started to relax and finally slid to a stop not too far from the entrance to the Arc.
"This feels weird," said Bluestreak.
"Kind of like a shower in the washracks," said Cliffjumper.
"Want to transform?" asked Spike as he got out of Bumblebee.
The five Autobots watched as Spike was drenched by the downpour. He flung his arms out and spun around. "See it's perfectly harmless."
With some hesitation the five mechs transformed and let the rain hit them. With little warning Bumblebee quickly found himself sporting splashes of mud on his shins. "I got you Bee!" called Spike.
"Hey!" said Bumblebee and he scooped up a little bit of the mud with the very tips of his fingers. He let it slide onto Spike's head.
"Seriously, do you guys forget how small I am?" asked Spike as he threw another mud glob, this time at Cliffjumper.
Chaos soon erupted as the five mechs started lobbing small globs of mud at each other. They started laughing, but were always mindful of where Spike was so as not to squish him.
"This is amazing!" said Bluestreak.
"I should give Sunstreaker a hug after this," laughed Cliffjumper.
"Or take over the couch in the rec room, then no one will steal it!" said Hound.
-What in the Pits do you idiots think you're doing? -growled an angry voice over the five mechs' comlinks. Apparently somemech had seen fit to inform Ratchet that there were some mechs out in the rain.
-Enjoying some down time? -asked Bumblebee.
-You're going to get rusty and I won't replace your armor when it starts to fall off because of the acid – Ratchet sounded menacing over the link.
-Come on mechs – Jazz sounded a little concerned for the sanity of the mechs rolling around in the rain and mud –We don't want you guys seriously hurt-
"Something wrong guys?" asked Spike.
"We need to go back inside," said Trailbreaker.
"The others are starting to worry about our sanity," giggled Bluestreak.
"Your's is already questionable," said Cliffjumper pushing mud into Bluestreak's faceplates.
"Come on, funs over," said Hound shooing the mechs towards the entrance to the Arc.
"I guess we should go inside, the lightening sound like it's getting closer," said Spike.
Inside the entrance to the Arc stood Ratchet, Jazz, Ironhide and Optimus Prime waiting for them. "Are you out of your processors?" Ratchet's voice seemed to hit a whole new decibel level. "Your armor might be unsalvageable at this point."
"Look Ratchet, we're fine," said Bluestreak showing Ratchet his arm.
"Might have to give you lot psych evaluations on top of all of this," continued Ratchet's snarl.
"The rain's not acidic," tried Trailbreaker.
"And letting the human out in it," Rachet was still inspecting the armor on Bluestreak's arm. He paused. "Your armor is fine?"
"It's just water Rachet," said Spike. "If I had known this was going to be a big deal I would have slowly introduced you guys to it."
Optimus knelt down to Spike's level. "You mean this is a normal occurrence on your planet?"
"Uh, yeah," said Spike. "If it weren't humans would have died out a long time ago. Some cultures even have special ceremonies when the rain season starts. Here it's only a minor inconvenience, but farmers need it to grow food. Heck if we didn't get any rain we'd have nothing but desserts and oceans."
"So rain is a good thing on this planet?" asked Optimus.
"Well not if there is too much of it. Floods and mudslides are dangerous and the water is starting to get too polluted in some areas. The pollution can be bad for crops and animals," said Spike.
Optimus Prime stood back up. "This planet is very different from Cybertron," he said.
"I'll say," said Bumblebee. "I think I got cleaner out in the rain than I would have in the washracks."
Optimus could not help the smile that spread under his face mask. "At least we won't have to worry about the Decepticons for a little while. They hopefully still think the rain is acid."