The rest of the day was uneventful, to say the least; what exactly could compete with meeting giant, sentient alien robots? And it was so hard to focus on anything except what Optimus and the one known as Vector Prime had told me. From what I could gather: they seemed to trust me, at least for now. Halfway through, I decided to call home sick so I could rest up for the day after and did my best to play the part of a normal, sick kid when my mom came to get me. She had doubts about me being sick, but didn't seem to bother me about it and let me rest when I came home. The only time she voiced an opinion was when I asked to go to the forest, but even then she just let me mind my own business.
And here I was, tomorrow now morphed into today, sitting in the backseat of my mother's car as my gaze looked out at everything whizzing past us.
"Thank goodness it's the weekend…"
My mom seemed to hear me as she looked back at me through overhead mirror. "You sure you are actually sick? I'd hate to learn that my daughter skipped the end of school so she could have a longer weekend."
I rolled my eyes, "I was sick yesterday, mom. But I feel a lot better today. It was probably just a stomach bug or something."
"Well, I still don't like the idea of you going into those woods. You don't have a phone or any other way you can contact someone if you need help. Plus, your phrasing of 'I'm going to stay out all day' is both admirable yet suspicious."
"Mom...Like I said yesterday, I wanted to get some fresh air outside of the house. What better place for that then the forest? There's clean air...fresh water..." I began listing things off, hoping to derail her suspicions.
"Wild animals…," My mother chimed in with a frown.
A sigh escaped me and I adjusted in my seat, feeling like I was on the spot at the moment. And knowing my mom, I had a high chance of that being right. Before I could think of an answer though, the car stopped and my mom turned herself fully towards me.
"Be safe, okay? I'll come get you round six tonight."
I smiled at her and nodded, giving her a quick hug before exiting the car. Honestly, I was surprised she was letting me go at all. Waving at her before she drove away, I turned back to the woods and took a deep breath before making my way in.
Luckily, I remembered how to get to the lake from the school and decided to enjoy the peace and quiet; who knew when the aliens would stop by to talk to me, if they would at all, so I figured I would make the most of it. Taking out my sketch book, I stopped here and there to draw something that caught my interest. Stopping in front of a rather large stump, I decided to sketch out the scenery in front of me when something caught my attention.
It was quiet. Like, more quiet than a forest would usually be.
Gulping for a second, I decided to put my sketchbook away and try to make it to the lake as quickly as I could. To my relief, I was closer to the lake then I had thought and took my place under the same tree I had been yesterday. For what seemed like hours, I sat there and waited for anyone to show up. But after some time, I was beginning to have my doubts about this whole thing.
"Well…this wasn't very well thought out, was it?"
Tossing a rock into the lake, I waited for a reply as if it would talk back, and sighed heavily. Perhaps I had thought about this too quickly; for all I knew, the Autobots may have moved on and only told me to come back as a sort of ploy to get them off my back. But then again...their leader, Optimus, seemed to be genuine enough. I had a feeling that he of all of them would not lie to me...
Suddenly, a low humming caught my attention, making my head whip up towards the direction of the sound. It sounded almost like a jet plane...which seemed out of place in a forest like this. Catching a glimpse of it in the distance, my senses screamed that I needed top stay out of sight. And that's exactly what I did. Hearing the sound get closer, I clutched my belongings closer to my chest and held my breath as I pressed my back to the tree. Ironically, I would later realize that it was the same tree as the one I hid before when I met Optimus..
The hovering sound soon slowed to a stop as a large shadow loomed near my location. I decided to take a risk and peek out to get a better grasp on the situation; for all I knew, it would have been one of the Autobots sent ahead of the others to meet up with me. From what I could tell, the jet was a strangely colored Sukhoi Su-37 and it had landed on the grass; the silver body highlighted with light blue on the underside and orange on the tips of the wings cockpit windshield.
"I know I spotted somethin' down here..." a male voice suddenly popped out from the aircraft, a slight southern drawl to it and the cockpit glowed a brighter shade of orange in time with what was being said.
Right in front of my eyes, I saw the jet transform. In mere seconds, what started as a jet turned into a robot similar to Optimus and Vector Prime's race; the body was a pure silver with light blue in the helmet on its head, the main body with the shoulders, and its feet. Watching the transformation was literally the best thing I had ever seen...though I began to wonder if Optimus and the other Autobots he mentioned could do the same.
"I hope its a Mini-Con. Lord Megatron will be mighty pleased if I bring one of them back to base. Shoot, he may even promote me for it!" The Cybertronian began to walk to the left of where I was standing, making me maneuver so he wouldn't see me. I had no idea what he was talking about, but it was strange hearing the robot talk to himself as he looked around like he was in some sort of anime cartoon.
Finally using the wings on its back, the robot began to hover around the top of the lake as he stared into it. "Scanners aren't picking anything up down there. The thing must still be in the forest somewhere..."
He quickened his speed and dashed back to the shore, landing when he knew he had solid ground to stand on. Looking in both directions, the Cybertronian frowned and began to try to make his way through the trees. The sounds of heavy footsteps and the random mumblings of the aircraft robot soon becoming fainter with every second.
As soon as I thought it was safe, I slowly began to creep out from behind the tree. Whatever it was that had landed was gone...at least I hoped.
"Okay, Nissa..." I whispered to myself, trying to stay calm as I took a few deep breaths. "Maybe having a phone would have been a good idea..."
My thoughts were cut off as the sound of footsteps coming back caught my attention and I quickly hid back behind the tree, hoping the robot hadn't heard me. To my relief, Optimus was the one that showed up this time, and I quickly made my way over to him.
"Ah, there you are," Optimus nodded at me as I made my way towards him. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as he saw the look on my face. "Is everything alright, Nissa?"
"O-Optimus, before we talk about whatever it is you wanted to tell me about, please tell me there was another robot with you?"
Optimus' eyes narrowed, "No other Autobot was dispatched to meet with you today other than myself, though my team is patrolling nearby just in case. Tell me, what did this other Cybertronian look like?"
Doing the best I could, I told Optimus about the jet transforming and saying something about Mini-Cons and a Lord Megatron as he was looking around. After everything was said, Optimus' frown deepened. Without another word, the Autobot kneeled down and held his hand open in front of me. "If what you say is true, ThunderCracker may come back and your life may be in grave danger. Please trust me when I say that we must move to a safer location."
Optimus' eyes widened and he suddenly grabbed me, rolling off to the side into the forest as a loud explosion erupted from where we were standing. Surprisingly, the grip he had on me didn't damage me in any physical way...except for maybe some slight bruising and my head spinning from it happening so fast. I found myself quickly being placed on the ground before Optimus turned and stood up, getting into a defensive stance. At first, I didn't understand why, but then I spotted an all too familiar jet transform near the middle of the lake.
"Well I'll be a Predacon's uncle, I found Optimus Prime!" The robot now known as ThunderCracker grinned, its arms crossed. "Lord Megatron may not get a Mini-Con today, but bringin' the dead Spark of an Autobot will surely bring a smile to his face."
"You picked the wrong day to instigate a fight, ThunderCracker..." Optimus growled, raising his weapon to the foe. "If you do not wish to be dismantled, leave now!"
ThunderCracker laughed. "Whatcha gonna do? You are confined to the ground, Auto-loser. What makes you think you can keep up?"
The enemy robot's laughing soon turned into a shriek of surprise and pain as a missile hit him in the back, making him fall into the water underneath him. Blinking in surprise, I looked up at the sky and was thoroughly surprised to see a Antonov An-225 cargo plane fly by.
"Mind if I butt in?," The cargo plane landed close by our location and transformed into a robot that had a white arms, head, and body, bulky green legs, and a helmet that covered his whole head unlike Optimus and the Decepticon.
"Perfect timing as usual, Jetfire!" Optimus nodded. "Can you handle ThunderCracker for me while I finish our mission?"
"Can do, mate." Jetfire gave Optimus a thumbs up, his Australian accent pitched in a way where you could tell he was grinning from his voice alone. "I was getting bored waiting anyways!"
A loud splash was heard as ThunderCracker hovered back into the fight, spluttering slightly. "Y-You damn Autobot! That was one mighty cheap shot you pulled!"
"Says the bloke who usually fires first instead of paying attention," Jetfire chuckled, morphing back into the cargo plane as he flew off. "Think you can take out another flyer, chump?"
"I'll make you eat those words, Jetfire!" ThunderCracker screamed out his challenge, morphing mid flight as he gave chase.
Optimus stood for a few seconds, expecting him to come back or for reinforcements to show up. But when nothing seemed to happen, he sighed with relief and looked at me. "Are you hurt, Nissa?"
"I-I think so..." I finally tried to stand up, my legs wobbly at first before I found my footing. "Is your friend going to be okay?"
"Jetfire can handle himself. Right now we need to worry about getting you back to our base." Optimus gently grabbed me and began to walk towards the entrance I came from. "More Decepticons may arrive if ThunderCracker calls for help."
Nodding, I sat down and began to rest since that was all I could do at the moment. All of this was happening so fast.
