Series Title: Mecha And Armor
Chapter Title: Strange Guest
Disclaimer: I don't own either Ronin Warriors or Transformers characters. I'm not making any money on this
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Character: Sam/Bee/Mikaela, Ryo, Hound, White Blaze, Prime over Hound's radio, and Kento's voice from Ryo's phone.
Summary: Hound is learning the lay of the road when he stops to help a human with directions.
Notes: Well, this is the first chapter of hopefully a long series. This isn't beta but I'll gladly accept any offers of help.

The green jeep bounced along the rough desert landscape, stopping briefly for the car to pass before pulling onto the main Highway. The jeep seemed to relax and enjoy the scenery around him. Hound was enjoying all the new sights, smells, and open land of Earth. The different creatures that lived in the desert alone would keep him busy for a long time, just with tracking their movements. He would have to see if Mirage would be will to come out with him on their next day off.

A bit of red and black up the road, drew Hound's attention from another scouting day. A human was on the side of the road, looking over a piece of paper, and began to slow down. The Autobot rolled the window down, bring up the Holographic driver that he had design. "Is something wrong?" he called out, just managing to keep the driver from flickering when Autobot blue meet the hologram's eyes.

Ryo Sanada had stopped on the side of the road, sighing as he pulled out the map from his backpack. The quiet and peace of the open road had been a great idea, allowing him time to think about his future. True, he still had no idea on what he wanted to study in college. Thoughts of college now kind of seem like a mote point now that the armors have come back into his and his friends lives. He didn't regret Suzunagi making them Ronin Warriors again. He knew that there was more that he could do in his life then just protecting the Earth.

"Kind of wish they made road maps for armor bearers," he mutter to himself. At the sound of a car approaching, he turned to see a jeep pulling up beside him. "Is something wrong?" the strange man asked. Well, the guy looked human but he didn't feel human. Ryo frown more, 'He doesn't feel like the Dynasty either. What is he?'

"Um, excuse me…" Hound said, waving a hand. Maybe the human was from another country.

"Ah, sorry," Ryo said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I am trying to find…" he looked down at the map again, "Layland Camp Grounds." He looked back up. "It's supposed to be outside a small town, Tranquility."

The 'man' grinned, "I'm going right by it," he said, leaning over to open the passenger door. "I can drop you off there or you can get a small room at the motel in town." This time the man frowned when Ryo backed away from the door. "I don't bite."

"I'm sure you don't," Ryo said, "but I'm traveling with a friend and I don't want him to get worried if I disappeared."

"I can wait…" Hound began.

"You don't have to," Ryo said, stuffing the map back into his pack. "I should go and see what taking him so long." With those words, Ryo adjusted his pack and began to follow the trail that White Blaze had taken.

Hound watched the human head off into the desert, almost turned himself to follow him, but sunk low in his tires instead. He let the hologram fade, making his way back toward Tranquility and the Autobots new base.

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Hound spotted the trio before they saw him. The Autobot would have smiled if he had been in his robot form. Sam was helping Mikaela out Bumblebee and she ran a hand over the top of the car as she kissed Sam. Pulling in beside the group, he rolled down his window. "You three look like you're having a good time," he said.

The two humans started in surprise, looking at the brown hair man sitting in the green jeep, but smiled at him. The yellow Camaro began to play the "Twilight Zone" theme. "Hi, Hound," Sam said, giving a friendly glare at his car.

Hound chuckled for a moment, until the song reminded him of the human that he had come across. "What's wrong, Hound?" Mikaela asked.

"I was coming back from the area of desert that you both had told me about," he said. "I saw a human by the side of the road, looking at a road map." The hologram tapped his fingers against the wheel. "He was looking for 'Layland Camp Grounds' and I offer to take him there…um, why are you laughing?"

"No," Sam said, coughing into his hand. "It's just that it's kind of dangerous to accept rides from strangers."

"But I wouldn't have hurt him," Hound said.

Bumblebee sighed. "You know that, the humans that know about us know that, but the rest of the humans don't know about us. I would take it as him being caution, which is a good thing."

"It's a good thing. Not all humans are friendly, Hound," Mikaela said, leaning against both Bee and Sam.

The Hologram nodded, remember hearing about the human, Trent, who had cause Sam and Mikaela trouble. He seemed to be leaving them alone now but they pair was being careful. "He said that he was traveling with a friend. I'll stop by the camp grounds in the morning to make sure they both made it there without any problems."

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Ryo sighed as he made his way to one of the far, far camping area, glad that it was the off season for most backpackers, allowing White Blaze to stay near him. The white tiger was finishing off one of the two rabbits that he had caught; the other was cooking near the fire. "It was really strange, Blaze," Ryo said, finish setting up the tent. "The guy driving it didn't feel human."

The large white tiger's ears were turned forward as he listened to his young charge. Brown eyes gleam at the black hair human. "No." Ryo shook his head. "He didn't feel like the Dynasty, either." He fell back on the ground, clutching his black hair. "This is going to drive me crazy."

It was probably a blessing from the gods that Ryo's cell phone rung at that moment. The young man scrambles over to the pack, digging out a small phone from one of the pockets. "This is Ryo," he said.

"Yo, Ryo," Kento's voice sounded in his ear. "How are you and Blaze doing?"

"We're fine," Ryo said, holding phone down to White Blaze. The tiger gave a growl at the phone before turning back to cleaning his paws. "Blaze said hi."

"I heard," Kento said with a laugh. "So, where are you at?"

"I'm at a camping ground outside of a town called Tranquility, somewhere in Nevada."

A whistle sounded over the phone. "You're making good time."

"Yeah," Ryo said. "I'll stop at Tranquility; see about getting an odd job for a couple of weeks." He looked through his pack. "I'll need some money to restock my supplies before we make our final push to the coast."

"Well, just be careful, Ryo," Kento said. "Don't know if you heard about those war games that went wrong."

"Yeah, I heard. It's why I'm stopping at this small town instead of heading for Mission City." Ryo moved the cooked rabbit to a tin plate, waiting for it to cool off before eating it. "Let the others know that I want to talk to all of you, sometime about tomorrow evening, by link."

He heard Kento inhale sharply. "What happen?"

"I'm not sure," Ryo said. "The best I can do to explain it to all of you would be to show you."

"Sure," Kento said. "We can meet tonight if you think it's serious."

"No," Ryo said. "I don't think it's a threat…yet. Give me a chance to think on what happen and get some rest. Maybe if I get a good night sleep, I can figure out what was going on."

"Ok, Ryo," Kento said. "Just save some bad guys for me if it turns out to be a threat."

"Well," Ryo said, letting a smile touch his lips, "it depends on how long it takes you to teleport to wherever I'm at." He said his goodbyes and hung up the phone. He started picking the meat off the rabbit's bones; thinking over what he had sense from the 'human'. He hoped to have a better idea by the time he linked with the others tomorrow evening.

Once he was finished with the rabbit, Ryo tossed the bones and the rabbit skin into the fire. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a small box, bright red, a gold symbol made up of four square turn so that they made the shape of a diamond. Light seem to seep out of the box as blue eyes brighten. The flames of the fire seem to glow brighter, hotter, and the red-orange turning almost white. A second later, the flames seem to snuff out, the brightness in Ryo's eyes fading to tired blue.

Packing the box away, Ryo ran a hand through white and black stripe fur. "Let's get some sleep, White Blaze. Tomorrow is probably going to be a long day." The tiger stood up, following after his boy, and settle next to the sleeping back, nuzzling the black hair before they both slipped into sleep.

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The green jeep study the quick burst of energy, the engine rumbling in confusion. Hound didn't know what caused it and it hadn't lasted long enough to get a pin point reading. "Somewhere in the eastern outskirts of Tranquility, Prime," the scout-sniper told Optimus. "It didn't have a Decepticon reading to it and it didn't last very long."

"Keep a sensor on it for right now. If it shows up on your sensors again then check it out," Optimus said. "There shouldn't be any humans in the area..."

"Actually, there might be, Prime," Hound broke in. "A backpacker was looking for 'Layland Camping Grounds'. He and his friend might be there right now."

"Then go and see if the humans are alright," Optimus said. "If they are in danger then get them out of the area. We'll have the twins ready if you need backup."

"I'm heading there now. Hound out."