Their prescence in the oceans didn't go unnoticed. With their calves continuously beaching themselves in their attempts to play in shallow water, it was a wonder they didn't get spotted the first day. Still, even with humans aware they existed, their trash still turned up in the oceans, the water was still a dangerous place to be with hunters looking for the mers, fishermen, and their boats with the mean, damaging propellers that could easily hack through bone and destroy anyone, even Ultra Magnus. The mers, however, did understand that in deeper waters, they were left mostly undisturbed, and in shallow, warm waters, they were often approached. Their calves didn't understand the danger of humans up close. They had a better chance of survival in the sights of a shark, which would more than easily swallow a calf and not even notice its struggles down its throat.

Ultra Magnus, eager to get his new pod on the road to greatness, had started adopting lone calves that just wandered aimlessly. He had collected a few, lost a few more, until he only had calves Jazz and Hot Rod. Prowl, a black mer with a white underbelly and splashes of white on his flukes, had claimed Jazz as his own. The calf was gripping his dorsal fin, nuzzling the soft, smooth skin there fondly. Prowl reached back as Ultra Magnus watched and tickled under the little one's chin. The calf purred and nuzzled against the mech a little harder.

Hot Rod was curled up in Ultra Magnus' hands because Ratchet refused to carry him. The bull was on his tail, his eight tentacles curled around the other's flukes, securing him there. Every so often, Ultra Magnus would have the urge to shake the slower mech off and let him struggle behind, but he needed a pod, and Ratchet was an important part of his pod. He was a medic.

"Are we there yet?" Hot Rod yawned up at Ultra Magnus, his blue eyes searching his face. He didn't like long trips, and migration was one of those very, very long trips the little calf learned to hate. There was simply nothing for the little thing to do other than get lost and get left behind and eventually eaten if he wanted to get out of Ultra Magnus' servos. Jazz, at least, learned that he was smaller and slower than Prowl, and was more than happy to hold onto the bigger mech.

"Not yet. The water is still warm."

"I still don't know why we have to go somewhere cold," the calf muttered. His little tailfin beat the water as he sighed, his gaze flicking to the side. "Fish!"

Ultra Magnus lifted his head and he saw that there was, in fact, fish in the distance. Fish for the taking. No one was around, he thought. He looked at Ratchet, who was sleeping. He would usually coast close to the sand so the mech could get off and wait on the sand with the calves, but since the red-and-white striped mech was sleeping, Ultra Magnus supposed he wouldn't be too upset at being disturbed if he woke up in a cloud of fish. After all, Ultra Magnus thought as he approached the school of tuna, he was the biggest mer in the sea. What did he have to worry?

While he and Prowl hunted to the best of their ability, they didn't see the larger-than-normal net that dropped down and scooped half the school up, including the mers. Ratchet, waking up, was furious to find himself in the embrace of a net. He showed his displeasure by digging his claws into Ultra Magnus' skin. The mer fought then, breaking the net open and scooping Prowl and an armful of fish out before the net raised and took a small amount of the still-struggling fish up above the water. A quick glance confirmed Jazz and Hot Rod were safe, if shaken and crying, but they settled down when Ultra Magnus swam away as far as he thought was safe and started killing the fish. He had to feed Hot Rod and Jazz small morsels at a time because their tiny mouths could only handle so much. Ratchet on the other hand was swallowing whole fish at a time, alive or not, if they escaped ltra Magnus' grasp or if they sank to the sand, forgotten. Prowl ate almost delicately. Ultra Magnus waited until everyone was full before he finished up the meal.

As he ate, he thought about the large net. It was, he supposed, the same kind that scooped up half a pod of mers. He had witnessed the taking with wide eyes, but he was too slow to save them. What the humans were doing, he was willing to bet, was "accidentally" lifting the mers out of the water with their intended prey, explaining the huge net. He made a vow to avoid all nets and to be extra cautious.

Then he gathered Hot Rod in his servos again, holding the little orange, red, and white mer closer to his chest than he usually did as he waited for Ratchet to secure himself to his tail again. After checking on the mech and nodding a little at Prowl, the mech beat his large flukes and headed back in the direction of colder waters.

On the way, Ultra Magnus hoped he could find more mers for his tiny pod. He knew there would be more than a few lonely mers out there, with the ocean so big.

Hot Rod was momentarily distracted by a meduim-sized pod of whales trumpetting their songs so loud the water around the mers vibrated. "They look like you, Magnus!"

"Those are humpback whales," Ratchet observed. He tapped Ultra Magnus' tail. "Try your song."

Ultra Magnus cleared his throat and slid into his song with minor uncertainty. He hadn't sung since he found Prowl and Ratchet, but after the first note, he knew exactly what to do. It was a song of longing, and the whales went silent after the third note and listened. When he was finished, the mers had an escort of whales. Hot Rod abandoned Ultra Magnus' servos to beat his tail side-to-side furiously. He swam beside a calf six times his size, his poisoned fins fanning out as he reached and touched the side of the blue calf. The cow it belonged to gave a soft, short song of love and moved closer to her calf. Hot Rod gave a chirrup and went back to Ultra Magnus, who was gazing around. Surprise made him freeze.

On one whale's back clung a mer, her eyes closed. She was unlike anything Ultra Magnus had ever seen, and he moved closer. She was a dawn-pink with a light splash of white on her face and down her chest. Her tail beat up and down slightly, and her eyes flicked open when Ultra Magnus touched her side. "Hey, hey, hey! Watch it..." She growled lowly, detaching from the whale. "What are you doing?"

The whales swam on past them, a few calves making soft songs of confusion before the lead bull trumpetted a new song and the whales were caught up. Ultra Magnus missed their presence.

"You're being left behind."

"Well, who's fault is that?" She crossed her arms and stared him down. "What were you trying to do?"

"Look..." Ultra Magnus didn't know what to say, and he fumbled for words until Hot Rod spoke up.

"Who are you?"

The cow looked down at Hot Rod and smiled. Ultra Magnus blinked in surprise. Was she pretending to be tough? "Call me Aleta, little one. What's your name?"

Ultra Magnus released the little calf and watched him swim to the new femme. "I'm Hot Rod."

"Cute. Where are you going, Hot Rod?"

"We're migrating," the little thing groaned. "Do you want to come with us?"

The cow looked around at the small pod. "Well, let's look at my options. You." She sighed softly. "For weeks, I've been with that pod of whales, looking for a pod of my own kind to join for migration, and now that I've found one..." She looked at Ultra Magnus. "Mind if I tag along? I'm sorry for snapping at you. You caught me off-guard."

"It will never happen again," he vowed. "And I would be honored to have you.

Aleta smiled and let Ultra Magnus swim forward. She settled next to Prowl, watching Jazz with a fond expression.

Ratchet reached out with one of his eight appendages and curled it around her fluke. She turned her head to look at him, then at Ultra Magnus while the mech slowly untangled himself from around the large blue flukes of his pod leader.

"Don't mind him. He did the same to Prowl and me." Ultra Magnus beat his flukes, savoring the feel of the water on them now that Ratchet was gone. But Aleta was slowing down, beating her tail a little faster just to keep going. Ultra Magnus shifted Hot Rod to one servo and took her servo. "He's a little heavier than he looks."

"I've noticed," she puffed. She stopped beating her tail, letting Ultra Magnus pull her along, and Ratchet slowly crept up her back, his appendages spreading out all over her body, pressing in different areas while he checked her out.

"He's a medic. He monitors health, a good thing to keep around."

She squirmed a little, laughing. Ratchet apologized for touching a particularily ticklish part under her arm. "How'd you find him?"

Ultra Magnus remembered being kicked out of his sire's pod and coasting low to the sand, passing a strangely colored rock only for it to latch onto his flukes and not let go. "He found me, I guess."

Prowl chuckled lightly at the story and he took Hot Rod from Ultra Magnus. Jazz was sleeping lightly, curled around his dorsal fin. Ultra Magnus touched the calf's head.

Aleta told her story slowly. She was a Siren, had a pod that spent most of their time on sharp rocks, luring all kinds of ships to their doom. She fed on humans, animals they were carrying, and any kind of cargo they had. She said her favorite ships to bring in were cruise liners and cargo ships that smelled like exotic fruit and fear. She was one of the best Sirens before humans started carrying weapons on their ships and her pod was wiped out, save her, three other cows, and the lead bull, but she felt she had a better chance of survival alone. "Stupid thought, but I've made it so far by myself. I missed being part of a pod, though. I forgot how social I really was, even with females I hated."

Ultra Magnus slowly nodded in understanding, feeling Ratchet prod his flukes. He slowed and let the mech crawl back on. He looked back at the bull and rolled his eyes. The brightly colored mer was sleeping soundly. "I'm beginning to think he's more of a night creature," he said.

Aleta glanced behind her and smiled. "I'd have to agree."

And sure enough, when night came, Ultra Magnus found Ratchet bright-eyed. The mech angled himself to the surface and took a deep breath. He had to breathe every so often with Prowl, Jazz, and now Aleta, but Ratchet and Hot Rod could stay underwater all they wanted. So Ultra Magnus laid on his back, Prowl on his left with Jazz on his chest and Aleta on his right. Ratchet was prowling the ocean floor for food, eating greedily and saving what he didn't rather like for the calves. Hot Rod was snoozing lightly on Ultra Magnus' flukes.

One time, when the pod was only him and a few calves, Ultra Magnus had fallen asleep with both eyes closed. He had lost three calves to sharks, another two to curious humans, and one when he moved his flukes and the little air-breather sunk to the bottom to die, not strong enough to fight through the water to the surface when she realized how badly her lungs were burning. Ultra Magnus had vowed not to lose another calf to stupid mistakes, and so far he had succeeded. Granted, the only calf he trusted himself with couldn't really suffocate under the massive amounts of water, and granted there were only two calves, and granted he had more mechs with him now...but now Ultra Magnus slept rigid and with one eye open.

ooo

When Ultra Magnus woke up, a pod of dolphins surrounded them, also sleeping with one eye open, but on their sides. He woke Aleta, looked over at Prowl and prodded him, then ducked below the surface without disturbing the dolphins too badly. Aleta was laughing.

"They liked you! They felt safe around you!" She purred as she dropped to the ocean floor to find Ratchet laying on his side, breathing deeply. His belly was rounded and he was laying inside a clam, the clamshell open. Ultra Magnus sighed, settled Hot Rod among the tentacles, then closed the clamshell and carried it in his arms.

Prowl rubbed his eyes sleepily, Jazz swimming beside him. "What's that?"

"Ratchet's new bed," Ultra Magnus sighed. "There's no fragging way I'm waking him up." He remembered the last time he woke the octomer up. Ratchet had attached himself to his face, and refused to let go for a good fifteen minutes. By the time Ultra Magnus stopped struggling, he needed a new breath of air.

The waters had begun to cool when Ratchet woke up and climbed out of his shell. Possessed by Nature, he clung to Aleta again, and this time, his tentacles had a new reason for their proddings.

Aleta shrieked and shook herself, but the mech stayed on. She rolled over and over, and that was when Ultra Magnus saw the tentacles buried in her slit. "Get him off!"

Ratchet dug his claws into her back and growled lowly, and Aleta stayed still. She whined and let him do what he wanted, which didn't look remotely possible. Three tentacles were inside her, obviously moving around.

"What is he doing?" Ultra Magnus frowned as he swam closer, keeping the ever-curious Hot Rod away. Jazz had successfully been distracted by a starfish that had been thrusted into his little hands by Prowl, who was watching the scene with a tilted head.

"He-he has his...things inside me and they're moving and tying themselves into knots and ooooooh..." She whined and beat her flukes a little harder. Ratchet grunted and slowly pulled his tentacles out, crawling under her and setting himself squarely over her slit. That was when Aleta really started to squirm.

Ultra Magnus didn't understand. His eyes were narrowed and his head was tilted, and then he was even more puzzled when Ratchet pulled away and Prowl replaced him. This time, Aleta clung to him and whined in a pathetic way, nuzzling and rubbing against him. She broke away from him and reached down, rubbing her slit that ever-so-slightly gaped. She looked at Ultra Magnus quizzically, then swam just a little closer to Prowl and Ratchet. Jazz and Hot Rod nestled themselves together in Ratchet's shell, whispering. The octopus joined them shortly, falling into a deeper sleep than usual.

After the clamshell closed, everything seemed to go back to normal, and Ultra Magnus was grateful for that. He thought nothing else strange would happen the rest of the trip. He should have known better.

They found her laying on the ocean floor, net around her body, strangling her. Once, she had struggled furiously, but when Ultra Magnus and his pod arrived on the scene, she was slowly beating her tail, slowly cycling water. And, as the pod watched, she went still.

Aleta rushed forward and started clawing at the net. Ultra Magnus dropped the clamshell, Ratchet springing forward and slinking across the sand as fast as he could carry himself. Then he was on her, forcing water through her gills while his hands tore at the net. Prowl circled them all, anxious.

The female started cycling intakes again, started moving furiously until the last restraining bit of net was gone and she tore off across the sand, her tail flicking like Hot Rod's. She even looked like him, but more frilly and less poisonous by a hundred percent. She watched the pod for a moment, then came back.

"Thank you, thank you." She hugged Ratchet, who protested gently, then wrapped her arms around Aleta. "I didn't think I would ever get out of that awful net..."

Aleta held her close. "What happened to you?"

"Humans tried to capture me!" She whined loudly and shivered. "I fought them and I guess my struggles broke their machine hauling the net, because it shrieked and I was back in the ocean..." She shuddered, looking around. "I'm so far from home...I...don't know where I am..." She covered her face and cried.

Ultra Magnus swam to her, gently touching her scaled body. She was small, just barely bigger than Jazz and a foot smaller than Prowl, and weaponless. Ultra Magnus doubted she could swim faster than Ratchet. She was only to look pretty.

And he couldn't leave her.

"Well, we're migrating, and we sure wouldn't mind it if you tagged along."

"Migrating? I've never migrated before..." She looked around again at the vast ocean and she curled a little closer to Aleta. "It sounds scary...and fun!"

Good, Ultra Magnus thought. Another female to add to the pod.

I REFUSE TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER CORRECTION ABOUT MY USE OF ALETA. DEAL WITH IT.

Anyway, I wanted to play with my mers again x3 So, enjoy.

If you want to know what they look like, look at uniformshark's mers on tumblr. I love them x3 I used them all, I think, save Oil Slick and Whirl...I didn't know enough about them to attempt. X3