Just to note, I tend to write Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw like they're older, Rumble and Frenzy like rowdy teenagers, and Ratbat like a baby or small child. :P
I find that whenever I'm sad or upset it always makes me feel better to write a drabble about the cassettes (I also remember doing this occasionally with Wheeljack and the Dinobots, but I can't find any of them. I must have either deleted them or somehow failed to transfer them to my new laptop). I have no idea why this is, but I do remember realizing that I did this when I discovered I have an entire folder full of them. Some of them need a bit of tweeking or rewrites before I'll deem them suitable for human eyes because they're so old, but for the rest I thought I'd post them so you can all be hopefully entertained by my stupid sense of humor.
Ravage yawned, stretching his body out while he did so. It was getting late and his energy bars were starting to run low. He'd had such a big day today. First he sat in a sunny spot in the hallway by a window and slept for a few hours, even sleeping through Starscream tripping over him. Then he'd watched Rumble and Frenzy chasing each other around out back. Afterwards he spent several hours staring at a ghost in the corner of the room that no one else seemed to be able to see. Finally, he'd finished up the night with some food left out for him by Soundwave and decided to thank him for the treats he'd hidden at the bottom of his bowl by sharing with him the kill he'd made in the basement store room earlier that day, which he'd left right in front of his bedroom door where he was sure the boss would see it. He couldn't wait to see how pleased Soundwave would be with him when he saw what a marvelous hunter that Ravage was!
Ravage jumped up, slapping a panel with his paw that opened the door to Soundwave's room for him, and headed straight for the berth, where he'd lie until Soundwave came in for the night so they could recharge. Jumping up onto his usual perch, he was surprised when he landed on something hard and lumpy wrapped in a towel and propped up by several pillows. He jumped off to the side and stood warily a couple inches away, snarling at the strange lump. It suddenly wiggled, becoming still once more. Ravage watched it curiously. He inched forward ever so slowly, reaching out a paw and touching it, giving it a gentle shove and retracting his limb when he saw the towel recede. Ravage found himself face-to-face with a pair of glowing red optics.
He was about to ask this obvious intruder who it was when it lept forward and pounced on his face. Ravage felt sharp claws sink into his neck and throat as whatever it was attempted to hold on firmly. Oh god, it's an alien! It must be trying to lay eggs in my stomach! Ravage panicked as he shook his head violently in an attempt to throw the personal space invader off his face. He roared angrily at it and ran in circles, falling off the side of the berth and sprinting around the room with the strange creature holding onto him for dear life. He smashed into shelves and the desk, knocking things every which way as he went. He went sliding on a data pad and crashed inside the closet, the tiny monster finally letting go and falling to the floor amidst the clutter as a shelf full of junk collapsed on them both.
Ravage climbed out from under the shelf, lept out of the closet, and ran to the other side of the room. He flattened himself against the wall and hissed at the intruder menacingly, prepared to attack it should it attempt to come at him again.
Soundwave returned to his room with fresh energon for his new little guest. He felt something squish underfoot as he approached his door and looked down. The cold, lifeless eyes of an eviscerated rodent stared back at him from the floor. Soundwave realized he was standing in entrails and quickly moved his foot. Ravage's calling card, definitely. "Rumble, eject," Soundwave commanded.
Rumble ejected from Soundwave's chest compartment and looked around excitedly. "Alright Boss, what do you need me to do this time? Blow up an oil rig? Burn down an orphanage? Commit voter fraud?" he asked, eager to receive his orders.
"Commence operation: Clean That Up," Soundwave ordered, pointing to the dead animal on the floor.
Rumble looked at the floor and sighed. "Oh. Right away, Boss." Soundwave heard him mumbling under his breath, "Why doesn't he ever ask Frenzy to do it?" while he entered his room.
Soundwave stood in complete shock at the chaos before him. His and his cassettes' belongings lay scattered all over the floor. Ravage stood against the wall growling at the closet. An overturned box scurried out from the wreckage of a spilled shelf inside and ran for the door, stopping when it realized there was someone there and making a U-turn towards the space under Soundwave's berth. Ravage backed up further away from it as it came closer.
"Um, Boss? Why is that box trying to run away from home?" Rumble asked while he held the dead rodent as far away from his body as possible.
"Down, Ravage," Soundwave commanded. Ravage relaxed at the sound of his voice and laid down against the wall, refusing to take his eyes off the box beneath the berth. Soundwave kneeled next to it and reached underneath towards the box.
Rumble deposited the rodent in a nearby waste disposal unit and joined Ravage against the wall. "What are we looking at?" he whispered.
That was when he noticed the blood-red eyes staring back at them as Soundwave dragged the contents of the box out from its hiding place and held it to his chest to comfort it. A tiny, shaking body looked over his shoulder at the big, angry cat still glaring at him. Rumble got a feeling he knew what he was looking at, and if he was correct, Ravage wasn't going to like it.
"Soundwave...is this?" he paused.
Soundwave looked over at him and held up the tiny little bat-like creature for them to see. "Your new brother, Ratbat," he explained bluntly.
Rumble was right then. He looked at Ravage who looked less than pleased at having yet another brother to add to his competition for Soundwave's affection. He and Frenzy hadn't been part of the family in time to see it, but supposedly when Soundwave had added Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to the group, the first thing Ravage had done was try to eat them. Given how close they were now, he wouldn't have believed Laserbeak's account of the story if it weren't for the fact that Ravage had buried Frenzy in the backyard and chased Rumble halfway down a city block when he first met them. Surely Soundwave had remembered these incidents...why hadn't he foreseen that Ravage might find Ratbat and attempt to off him when no one was here to protect the little guy?
"So...Ratbat? Where did you find this one?" Rumble asked in an attempt to ignore the uncomfortable atmosphere that was building up just now. Ravage stood up and slowly made his way forward to sniff the new bundle of "joy" that Soundwave was wrapping back up in the towel. Ravage wouldn't dare try to hurt Ratbat in front of the boss, but that didn't help relieve the tension.
"Wandering around in the road," Soundwave explained. "Almost got run over." Ratbat made a tiny squeak as he yawned and curled up. "It's bedtime," he added, almost like an afterthought.
Rumble nodded. Frenzy was probably still up waiting for him. His brother absolutely refused to sleep at all if Rumble wasn't right there next to him when he did so. He returned to Soundwave's chest compartment and immediately felt Frenzy snuggle up next to him.
"Ravage. You too," Soundwave said to the cat. Ravage lept up on the berth and awaited night-night time, staring with discontent at the stranger who currently had his coveted space next to Soundwave.
Yeah, this was going to be an adventure. The transition period between adding a new cassette and Ravage finally accepting that cassette was always fun...
