Ah yes, the plot bunnies kept nibbling at my brain, so I decided to add at least this chapter and the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy!
Twelve hundred and seventy-seven turns of the sun wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things. However when you were alone in the world it was quite a significant amount of time. Cheetor had been excited to hear their leader's announcement to join him and other Autobots on the planet Earth. He'd been tasked to scout out the message despite the encryption, there had been too many traps laid by Decepticons. If there was one thing they were good at it was derailing trust among the Autobot ranks. Then slag hit the fan and Cheetor couldn't remember any of the first perhaps week or more he'd been on the planet. Even the weeks that followed were spotty at best.
A loud click brought Cheetor out of his reminiscing. The cicadas chirped loudly in the trees nearby and he sun shimmered off of the dusty ground. Cheetor got up from his place of rest and stretched all four limbs, it was one problem he found with the organic form he'd managed to adapt to from a two wheeler form, it needed to stay limber. His mechanical side helped keep it limber longer than natural but he kept the stretching habit up so that he wouldn't forget. He found his memory wasn't as good since the crash.
The big cat walked over to one of the only pieces of equipment he'd managed to repair which was a small energon convertor. Thank Primus he was handy with these sorts of things, otherwise the energon he'd found he'd have to consume raw which would make any Cybertronian a bit ill. Alive but ill.
Instead of transforming to his biped form though, Cheetor just popped the lid off (he'd gotten good at using his paws despite no opposable thumbs) and stuck his face into the half filled jar and lapped up the energy like a natural cat would lap up water. At first, Cheetor had found many of his organic form's habits quite irritating, but at the same time if he fought them too hard his form got itchy and very uncomfortable, he also got this sense of dread and aggression so if his form demanded a certain habit, he allowed it… somewhat.
He finished the energon and left his shell of a home that the local flora was taking over and began his daily patrol of what he'd decided was his territory. Which was a strange concept once he thought about it, and he'd thought about it many times. Trying to figure out what was his organic side and his Cybertronian had been quite the journey, and still continued to be.
Cheetor walked around the edge of the valley along the mountains, the easiest route to the energon caves he knew. He also could avoid the two legged locals, he'd tried to communicate with them but they'd reacted violently, so Cheetor had resulted to petty theft when he came upon more two legged organics that seemed to have more advanced materials but that got him on the bounty list. The materials he'd stolen hadn't been compatible with his equipment so yet again, he was stuck on a world he was unfamiliar with and as easy as it was to avoid the two legged organics, it was very tiresome to always be the enemy. He wondered if any Decepticons ever got tired of being the enemy.
As the Autobot trotted across the country side, clouds began to move in from the plains. Lightning boomed overhead causing the flocks of birds to take refuge. The predators of the land started their stalk as the rain began to thicken and turn the dust into mud. The horned animals began to hunch up and become less vigilant in the cold. Rain slipped off of Cheetor's fur as it wasn't keratin like the regular organics. Had he not been in an organic form for so long he would've found the mud and rain very irritating, but he'd grown to love it. It made hiding a lot easier that was for sure.
A loud thud shook the ground, causing Cheetor to jump and look around, blue optics wide with surprise. A few bulls took off running, bleating in fear. The Autobot's sensitive hearing picked up a distinct whine that he hadn't heard in years. The whine of a ship's engine.
Every instinct of his four footed form demanded he run but this time he ignored it and sprang forward, mud caking his paws and belly. A couple hyena's joined in his run but he quickly outpaced them. Cheetor had a rather amusing game with the other predators of the planes, they didn't like him obviously, but it didn't seem personal other than they wanted to keep their areas safe. So Cheetor would play cat and mouse with the hyenas, catch me if you can with the lions and with the leopard he just surprised it by showing it he could climb trees as well. Maybe not as well but he could. The two legged organics he simply avoided now a days, if they weren't trying to stick him with a spear they had long range weapons, some hitting with a force that rivaled having an arrow shaft stuck in your hide despite being so small.
Cheetor began slinking closer to the ground and keeping close to the long grass as it was his only cover till he reached the trees along the mountainside. He was close to the area where he got his own energon supply. The young autobot was about to cross the hill when a loud hiss caused the birds to scatter and the trees to moan in the wind. A large ship was lifting off the ground and into the sky. Cheetor had a mixture of excitement and dread pump into his system as it was a Decepticon ship. It might not be holding the kind of bots he wanted to see but the supplies it dropped off could be useful or he might even be able to commandeer one.
Slowly, Cheetor slipped through the shadows and at times in the opening, his spotted fur giving him the perfect camouflage so long as he didn't move. There it was, at least ten Vehicons gathering up their supplies to set up camp inside the energon cave. Their job was to survey the caves completely and have the plans ready for harvest when the main equipment came around. Cheetor found the site of actual Cybertronian shapes a bit surreal at first, like they were some far off dream. The words they spoke, although familiar were strange to process.
Cheetor would've processed this feeling further had he the time, he'd been in beast mode for so long he had to remember how to process things as an Autobot.
So there were ten that he could see, their equipment were most likely basic medical supplies, survey and potentially a back up radio somewhere in case of the unlikely scenario that all of them would be knocked out at once. Cheetor knew the initial cave system better than them, so he had that to his advantage. The big cat snuck around the entrance to a very small side one about a quarter mile away and slipped inside.
At first there was only stone and quarts, then the crystals began to have a blue tinge to them, then began to glow the further he went. As long as he wasn't actually seen, Cheetor was able to move about without being detected since his form was so made to have soft padding on his feet he practically made no sound.
As an after thought, Cheetor picked up a small crystal head of energon and put it away, it would last him a good while. After this he waited for the Vehicons to move away before examining the crates they'd dropped off. Out of habit he sniffed them first, the unnatural metal was an assault on his organic senses but his brain processed it as something he needed, but he couldn't open the case in his current form.
Oh slag…. the Autobot thought. When was the last time he'd transformed? The memory was actually quite fuzzy, perhaps he'd been working on repairing something. Cheetor jumped when he heard a squabble happen at the entrance of the cave.
Alright Cheetor you got this… just…. remember. It's like breathing to organics.
His skin began to itch and a sense of horror filled his spark, there it was, that fear of his organic half that it was going to perish. Cheetor fought through the fear and finally reached what his organic self was trying to surpress. The cogs began to turn, click and shift into their new positions. Cheetor reared back on his hind legs and rolled his shoulders, helping the transformation along as it had not happened in so long. He stretched out his fingers, suddenly remember how much he missed having hands.
Working quickly, Cheetor hacked the digital lock, all of his skills as an Autobot scout suddenly coming back to him in a rush in this form. The disagreement was still going on at the front of the cave but a loud voice told him that it was about to be over.
In fact it was over right when the leader yelled because four of them came sprinting into the cave, weapons at the ready. Now Cheetor thought slag but it came out as a hiss between his teeth and his ears pinned back and his fire stood on end. This image startled the Vehicons long enough for Cheetor to turn tail and run back down into the cave.
Not giving up his main form just yet, the Autobot sprinted down the side entrance hall and leaped out, only just being missed by a few rounds shot by the Cons.
"Come on that all you got? Ah… *cough* there it is." Cheetor's voice box cracked at every single word, but it felt good to speak again. It felt good to remember where his blades were, his arm weapons, and to remember that his time as a Cybertronian wasn't a dream. These were him, Cheetor, Autobot scout and lost on this damn planet. He was thankful for the Decepticons arrival actually, helped him remember who and what he was.
Cheetor turned on the Vehicons, aimed and pelted two of them right in the face. One fell over the other and back into the cave. He cackled with glee that he still had it, or at least the luck to do it and took off for the woods.
"Right, hide and seek, my favorite game." Cheetor gave a cheeky grin. Even in this form he had greater speed than the four wheelers who were used to well paved areas even on Cybertron.
He slid down into a rocky gully, his feet sinking into the soft mud where a small creek was starting to form because of the rain. This was a horrible place to be, however if he could hold his ground…
Mud and rock exploded next to him which told him that was a no go. He scrambled downstream into some brush and up the other side of the bank just in time to avoid a rush of water from another part of the rain storm. The Vehicons jumped over the gap easily and continued their pursuit of the intruder.
The sun was beginning to rise in the distance and Cheetor was beginning to wonder why these Vehicons knew exactly where to find him each time. Then it occurred to him to run a diagnosis on himself, something he hadn't done in such a long time since his transformation. The long list of damages was not unfamiliar to him, then he found out why they were being so troublesome, his emergency beacon although corrupted was still emitting a signal in this form.
Cheetor heaved a huge breath, then reverted to his alt form and took off further into the forest. He heard the Vehicons suddenly skid to a halt, one slipping in the mud and cursing all that was good in the world. Cheetor had to resist the huge urge to just sit and scratch all the seams of what the nanobytes had sewn together of his camouflage. He was on the hunt now, an urge he'd seldom indulged since he had no need to consume other organic flesh. He needed a better running ground, the trees were too thick here. So he allowed his pursuers to see him momentarily before running off. The energon in his system pulsed hot with anticipation, he needed to sink his teeth into them at this point.
Once he led them to a spot more suited to his tastes, Cheetor hunkered down into the grass and waited for them to turn their backs on him. His claws dug deep into the less sloppy earth, feeling the vibrations of the titans footfalls, his ears pinned back, tail twitching ever so slightly with excitement. Eyes burning with concentration, a hint of amber ringing around the outside of his irises.
It was at this point that he caught a new scent. The Vehicons smelled bitter and oily, where as this one smelt, what he could only describe as sweet. This threw him off for a moment, then h saw movement on the other side of the clearing. A loud squeal pierced the air just as the figure tripped over something but kept running. Everything happened in slow motion. The Vehicons turned to see what it was and fired upon it. Their aim was poor but lucky and they dropped the crown of a large tree on the runner. At the same time Cheetor dug into the ground and launched forward. Within two strides his jaws clamped down on Vehicon number two and crushed his spinal support between his teeth. Both of them went tumbling down the small hill but Cheetor regained his composer faster than number one did. He sprinted forward and knocked the Vehicon's legs as he went by.
The snarling Decepticon stumbled backward but caught himself. He whirled around and fired randomly but Cheetor dodged easily, now in his two legged form he brandished his arm blades, a classic weapon for most two wheelers. He popped one of them out and swung, cutting the end of his enemy's weapon off rendering it useless. Then he snarled in the Vehicon's face causing him to fall back onto his aft.
"W-what are you?" the grunt asked, shivering in the mud.
"Well… that is a good question isn't it." Cheetor said as he tossed his free blade a few times in his hand before strolling up to the Decepticon.
Energon splattered across the mud, the cool blue mixing with grainy brown. Cheetor saw his reflection in a nearby puddle and saw that he had energon spilling from his mouth all the way down his chest. The Autobot reached up to his face and wiped some of it away but the energon on his clawed hand just smudged it further. His hand was shaking ever so slightly from the excitement.
The sound of the grass shaking suddenly brought Cheetor back to the present. He sheathed his weapons and walked cautiously over to where he saw the runner, the scent of sweet metal touching his nose again.
Trembling in the grass clinging to the ground as if they were going to fall into the sky was a blue femme Autobot. She had energon leaking heavily down her slightly cracked helm and the lights of her optics were flickering in and out and she didn't seem aware that he was close by. Cheetor almost couldn't believe what was before him, after all these years and now finally someone had shown up. He wanted to feel angry but her injuries pushed him past that.
Once he found his feet again, the humanoid like cat went over and examined the femme. He had a basic kit back at his lair but he couldn't carry her in his four footed form, so he took the chance of being found with his damaged emergency beacon still bleeping on someone's monitors out there and picked the femme up and raced back to his ship.
Energon dripped all over the floor as he set the femme down where he would normally sleep. Then he dug through his tattered containers of supplies and found his soldering tool which he'd used to fix himself several times over the years. It wasn't exactly something a medibot would be proud of but it wasn't like he had a choice.
Cheetor knelt next to the femme who was muttering something and rolling around in agony. His scanners weren't as fine tuned as a medibots either, but the head wound didn't look like it would cause her much harm in the long run.
"Sorry! Whoever you are!" He pushed her arms together and basically laid down on top of her while holding her head still with his free hand and the tool in the other. The femme whimpered and tried to struggle against him as sparks started to fly. To his blessing half way through the repair she passed out and he could work without fear of damaging her further.
Heaving a heavy sigh of relief, Cheetor shifted off of the femme and took stock of his situation. Energon had dripped all over the place, that he would clean up while he kept an optic on the femme. She was still shaking slightly, which made Cheetor feel a bit guilty perhaps he could've attacked sooner. No, if she hadn't moved they wouldn't have turned around and he would've remained hidden. It had been a costly distraction.
"N-no…."
Cheetor stopped his work and looked back at the femme, her optics were partially opened and she was reaching out. He quickly took her hand in his, an ache in his spark emerging so suddenly that it caught him off guard. The beast bot's ears drooped and his optics softened as he watched the femme fight through her pain. Cheetor cleaned the energon off of her sleek but beat up frame, all the while she wouldn't let go of his hand and he didn't let go of hers.
The young mech found himself watching her a lot longer than he meant to. So he pried her fingers from his and stood up. He was still filthy and waiting for the energon to slough off would take too long, Cheetor suddenly felt self concious despite the other Autobot being unconscious. So he reverted to his cheetah form and trotted over to the nearby creek.
His image caused him to hesitate at the water's edge. Cheetor decided he looked so strange, all fuzzy and dark yellow. What self respecting two wheeler walked around on four limbs? The mech growled at his reflection and slapped it with his paw before entering the water.
From time to time Cheetor checked on his new charge, she'd finally stopped shaking and was sleeping as peacefully as she could with such head trauma. Cheetor paced around his home, occasionally going off to check out strange sounds, or just sitting and standing up to turn in a circle and sit back down again.
Eventually he was joined by the resident cheetah, one he assumed was called a female since in the years he'd known her she'd given birth to copies of herself. Nakeeta, he called her, some alien name he'd learned long ago when he was still among the stars. The significantly smaller cheetah greeted him with loud purring and lots of head rubs, she even went as far as grooming him for a few minutes. Cheetor never cared for this ritual she seemed to love to do but if he didn't let her do it… well he had a few scars to prove her mood about the topic. Nakeeta lay down next to him and rolled onto her back, purring and meowing.
Watching her behavior he realized now what this spark ache was, he'd been lonely for company. Somebot that would have a friendly conversation, joke, laugh, even fight alongside with. He craved that connection that he couldn't get even with a friendly local like Nakeeta. She did what she needed to survive, nothing more.
What if when this Cybertronian woke up she rejected him just because he'd taken on an organic form to survive? Cheetor remembered all the snide remarks they would make about these squishy forms.
Nakeeta pawed at him gently, demanding attention.
Then again all these squishy animals had survived for millions of years through extinctions, extreme climates. They weren't hardy like Cybertronians, but they had their own traits to admire. Still, he hoped his form didn't scare the femme, that wouldn't be a good first impression. Cheetor lay down next to Nakeeta and allowed her to lay her head over the back of his neck.
It was almost dark when his guest actually succeeded in staying awake. Nakeeta jumped to her feet and hissed at the stranger. Even went as far as jumping at the femme to try and scare her, but the other's icy glare was much more intimidating to the simple creature. Cheetor found the stand off quite amusing but couldn't sit still for long, the femme wasn't ready to move yet.
Cheetor stood over her awkwardly a moment not sure how to get her back inside. He remembered watching Nakeeta carry her cubs around by the scruff of the neck but an Autobot had no such thing. So Cheetor just grabbed a winglet between his teeth and dragged her back inside. He didn't wait for her to recover, just went to the energon converter and popped it out of its station as he'd always done. He offered it to the femme who, hesitantly accepted the energon.
A bubble of excitement rose within his spark chamber as she seemed to relax just a bit, she didn't seem horrified by him…. yet.
The femme settled, then looked at him, analyzing every detail. He could actually see the gears of her optics move. She asked if he could speak and he opened his mouth but it just came out as a funny meow so he just shook his head. His skin was starting to itch again, he wasn't sure why this time.
She mentioned Cybertronian, a good start, he'd crashed here… well duh. He wasn't trying to kill her so a Predacon (whatever that was) and a Decepticon he was not. Cheetor couldn't help but get excited, hearing actual words from another machine. When she said Autobot Cheetor jumped in glee, almost going up to her face and licking her but he withheld that happy instinct from his fellow organic form.
The subject of communication came up and at this point, despite the protest of his organic half, Cheetor knew he couldn't keep having this one sided conversation. So the proper introduction began, her name was Arcee. Such a pretty name to his audio receptors. She still seemed a bit uncomfortable around him though. Cheetor couldn't blame her, he did look very strange. He just fiddled with his claws and eye contact was a bit strained on his part. It didn't help that he was now acutely aware of which instincts of the cat he'd allowed to weasel their way into his habit stream. Like personal space, the cats didn't have personal space if there were no hard feelings. Even his cat, loners though they were when they met family or a potential mate personal space didn't really exist. He started to think personal space was invited by intelligent beings.
Cheetor placed his hands on her shoulders, "Rest, I'll go make sure no one's snooping around other than the locals, maybe go get some more energon."
"Be careful!"
He turned back, hearing genuine concern in her voice. A bubble of happiness that Cheetor had forgotten existed during his time here swelled up in his spark, "Always am, stayed alive the past three years didn't I?" he reverted to his four footed form and indulged the urge to rub up against her side despite her surprise at this behavior, he couldn't help but purr at how happy he felt before he took off into the darkness. Cheetor was so happy that she actually cared despite him being a four legged furry weirdo, that the prospect of being rescued and having more Autobots judge his appearance didn't bother him for the moment. Boy she smelled good too. Cheetor took a moment to slam on his breaks and smack his head with enough gusto that his head rattled.
'Stop that Cheetor that's kind of weird.' Sure his organic half enjoyed scentsy stuff but, it was just weird! Cheetor had forgotten he'd had this conversation with himself about two years ago. There had just not been any bot around for him to become self concious about the habit. The cat had certainly… not enhanced but adjusted his smell sensors to notice completely different things than before.
Alright back to the situation at hand, he had to keep Arcee out of trouble till her squad mates came running to save her. As well as make sure she didn't try anything dumb to further her injuries. She seemed like the highly independent type that could get herself out of any situation.
When Cheetor returned with a few more crystals of energon from a smaller stache located away from the Decepticon base, Arcee was asleep again. He placed the crystals on the convertor to start another batch. He'd taken a sniff around the Cons area and they didn't seem very enthusiastic about going out on the African plaines at night, especially after they'd found their comrades torn to shreds. Cheetor took a moment to remember the hunt, it was truly a mixture of acceptance on both parts of himself, the Cybertronian warrior and the organic predator. He'd never actually had a chance until now to actually test his abilities. The combination was actually quite frightening, what Cybertronian ripped his opponents heads off with his teeth?
Cheetor tried to slid the container into place his his paws shook and the lid dropped to the floor with a clatter. He stared at it for a while, only looking up when Nakeeta jumped onto the roof of his dilapidated home. Amber eyes peeking through the holes at him through the moonlight. She'd gone for an evening hunt before the sun disappeared completely, blood staining her face and paws. She was completely at peace with the violence of her nature. Yet it seemed to Cheetor that that was more acceptable, despite the fact that the Autobots and the Decepticons were fighting for survival, they ultimately had the choice in how the acted and reacted to each other. Yet old wounds just simply would and could not go away. His missions before had had violence, yet blasters were pretty clean. Burning holes into your opponents armor and seizing up the systems before the bot knew what hit them. Nakeeta lay down and began licking herself clean, a few loose drops of blood slipping and hitting Cheetor on the face. A deep low growl entered his throat as he rubbed it away with his paw. He was still shaking, the days events catching up to him. The images of the ripped up Decepticons causing him to lose face.
The young Autobot walked over to where Arcee slept and lay close to her, ignoring the personal space rule. He simply didn't want to feel alone as his mind spun horrors arounds the events of the day. Cheetor tried to focus on the good that come from it, he had a new friend, one that could get them both out of this place. Even get him medical attention there were so many things that weren't repaired or were only partially repaired through his body's natural repair function. He'd relied so heavily on the cat over the years, it was time to get back to where he belonged.
Cheetor's skin itched and crawled, a sense of dread seeping into his dreams.