A/N: You know, I had a friend of mine – who for privacy's sake I shall refer to as AP – read and rate my first chapter for this… You know what he gave me? A 5/10! For "being weird"! Imagine my absolute outrage! :O I'LL SHOW HIM! *Rages*
So anyways, thanks to all the Favorites, Follows, and that one Reviewer! UuU I sincerely appreciate each Fav, Follow, and Review! :D It's… Literally the only reason I update.
*Omg I should be working on TBD for my April update… x,D
**A Bayverse Oneshot is in the works FYI and is already over seven-thousand (7,000) words long. UuU
***(!)Before anyone harps on me about how "illogical" this is… Uh, Alien robots with emotions, anyone? Besides, it's not like Cybertronian's would be built of the same materials we Earth-peeps use! I'm pretty sure it's practically canon they would be stronger at the very least in TF:Animated. I mean, remember the first two eps of season one? Bumblebee ripped off the door of a futuristic train-thing with his bare servos. So yeah; no such thing as "illogical" or "unrealistic" anymore.
****Edit: (2017) gUESS WHO'S BACK YO? That's right, it's m e. And I'm gonna rewatch the entire fucking Animated series and FINALLY work on this! :) I got a recent review that was somewhat inspiring, so, thank SilverFlameoftheWindScar for this! (Also I finally fixed that Atlantic/Pacific typo!)
Chapter Summary: Bumblebee and Harry go through the Atlantic Ocean as planned, bumping into mermaids and a cruise ship or two. Also, sand sucks, and so do tridents.
CHAPTER ONE –
"Stolen scuba gear?"
"Check."
"Emergency rations?"
"Check."
"Precautionary oil?"
"You do know that's part of the emergency rations, right?"
Bumblebee shrugged,
"Eh, whatever. Credits-er, money?"
"Double check. I also got an extra change of clothes just in case because, you know. Extra." Bumblebee nodded before packing everything specified in his subspace. Harry felt his eye twitch. That was almost worse than that magic hocus-pocus, Bumblebee's whole vanishing-and-summoning-items-from-nowhere trick. Sub-space Harry's arse!
Not that Harry would say that out loud, because it would only serve as a great source of amusement for the older mech.
Bumblebee finally transformed with their packing done, opening the driver-side door to his alt. It had taken much wheedling and debating between the two, but in the end Bumblebee had won and went ahead on forgoing an Earth vehicular alt mode. Harry knew he would regret it, but in the end couldn't bring himself to care too much. Who else could say they rode around in an alien car?
At any rate, it will certainly be experience, Harry thought as he shook himself from his musings and hopped inside. Despite the seats being an added function, they were surprisingly comfortable, Harry noted absently as Bumblebee began speaking. The minibot's dashboard lit up with each word.
"Hey, boss-man, wanna do one last thing before we get off this island?" Harry grinned, "Maybe, depends on what you have in mind."
"Eh-hem… Introoooducing, Bumblebee – destroyer of wooden fences and gardens everywhere!" Harry's grin merely widened as he understood, face taking on a sharp edge that gave him a significantly darker appearance, and waved his hand in vague permission.
Bumblebee's engine revved once, twice, and he took off by the third. He crashed through the white-picket fence, sending splinters in every direction, and Harry even didn't bother trying to contain his glee as he saw his aunt's precious garden – which he had slaved over – become demolished when faced with the Autobot's tires. Tulips and petunia's littered Bumblebee's windshield before he merely wiped them off with his windshield wiper.
It wasn't long before Harry saw his aunt through Bumblebee's pitch black tinted windows. Her face was ghastly pale and she was screaming in the shrillest voice Harry had ever heard her manage. Bumblebee quickly enough crashed through the other side of the fence, and together they took off down the road, wailing becoming distant within moments before fading together. Bumblebee soon slowed to match the speed limit when he finally thought they were a safe distance to do so.
Harry's delighted laughter was finally dying minutes later, snorts and giggles escaping him when he recalled his aunt's face and how good it was to see the nigh spotless yard become such a mess. Harry could almost feel Bumblebee's smirk, he was giving off such an intense aura of smug pride.
"That-that felt really good," Harry finally sighed in contentment. Bumblebee had a smile in his voice as he replied,
"I'll say! Did you see her faceplate? I thought she was going to have a processor meltdown! Her expression was even better than that Sirius guy back a few stellar cycles ago!" Harry blinked at the dashboard.
"When did you meet Sirius Black?"
"Did I say Sirius? I meant, er – Perry? Yeah, Perry… Brown. Perry Brown." Harry snorted, easing into Bumblebee's seat.
"Right, sure. Perry Brown, honestly… At least come up with a better name next time!"
"Roger that, boss-man!"
Harry fastened the air mask securely to his face. His voice was muffled as he voiced an affirmative when Bumblebee revved his engine eagerly. It was now much later, nearly three in the morning, and this was the best calculated time they could find where there would be the least amount of people in the area to possibly spot an unusual yellow car drive into the ocean without anyone coming to the surface.
Bumblebee's frame gave a shudder as he dipped into the cool, frigid waters. "Ooh, that smarts! Are you doing alright there, Harry?"
"Yeah," Harry replied as he watched out through Bumblebee's window in avid interest, "yeah, I'm doing alright." Harry observed the wooden legs of the harbor connecting to the beach appear to get further and further away as they drove farther out. As they drove further out from the British shores – and wow, but Harry never thought he'd realistically get the opportunity to think something like that! –, signs of sea life became more and more obvious. Harry's tiredness and exhaustion at the early hour was soon forgotten in the face of the aquatic landscape.
Eventually, however, within the next three-point-six breems, Harry succumbed to his body's natural need for sleep. Bumblebee drove on, making sure to avoid the bumpiest of the sea ground.
It was five breems after Harry fell asleep, however, did Bumblebee hit his first real snag since entering the ocean.
"Er," Bumblebee muttered intelligently, mindful of his sleeping passenger, "I didn't know Earth had fish people… I thought these guys were only indigenous to Regulus-89907?" The nearest fish person bared fangs and gave a guttural hiss that really shouldn't have been heard through the water but managed it in response. Bumblebee edged away slightly.
Two more hisses came from behind him, and Bumblebee saw there were even more of the fish people approaching. Bumblebee gave a threatening rev of his engine, beginning to panic when they only snapped at him, holding strange metal forks. Harry was still asleep, shifting to his side with a sleepy mumble. Hah, but organic recharging habits were weird…
Harry jumped awake, startled, when Bumblebee's tires made a strange, loud squelching noise that most likely would have been the sound of rubber grating against a cement road had they been on land. He blinked blearily before jerking wide awake and was left gaping at the view he saw, not quite sure if he was just having a really strange dream or if he were actually awake.
"Are-are those mermaids?"
Bumblebee gave a slightly hysterical laugh, swerving to dodge a trident.
"You recognize them?" Harry gasped as a trident nearly hit the window near his face. "Yes! But I thought these things were myths! Next thing I know and Atlantis will suddenly be real, I suppose!"
Harry nearly gave a shriek when Bumblebee was nearly sent tumbling to his side from a particularly hard and quick turn, the momentum not settling well with the water slowing down Bumblebee's speed.
"Well I don't care what these things are," Bumblebee snapped irritably. "I just need to lose them… Oh, now that's an idea!" Bumblebee gave a cackle. Harry gulped, gripping onto the seatbelt nervously as it held him securely in place.
It took a moment for Harry to realize what the shaking of Bumblebee's frame meant, but when he did he shook his head rapidly, face paling drastically.
"Oh no, no, no! No, Bumblebee, don't you bloody dare-"
Bumblebee ignored him, activating his thrusters.
Bumblebee quickly gained speed on their pursuers, thrusters leaving a trail of rapidly dying bubbles. He aimed for a slow left upon seeing an incline that lead higher, aiming towards above sea level.
Harry shrieked, clutching at the seat, and Bumblebee gave his own exhilarated shout of glee. They shot out of the water yelling and screaming, a black and yellow blur substitute for a rocket.
It was sudden, but they were air born for only a quick five to ten seconds. They landed hard, both letting out grunts at the impact, Bumblebee more so than Harry. It took a moment, but Harry recognized where they were. Or rather, what they were on.
"Er, Bumblebee? Are we on a, er, I don't want to sound crazy but-"
"If you mean are we on a cruise ship, then yes Harry, we totally are." Bumblebee's voice sounded as faint and disbelieving as Harry felt in that moment, stunned and breathless. And a healthy dose of Oh thank Primus are we still online?! Was in the range of emotions being felt presently, but that was an expected reaction or emotion to be feeling considering their encounter with the… Fish people.
Ugh, but Harry would convert to eating fish for the rest of his life as some sort of, of rightful retribution, of angry revenge!, at that highly unnecessary and prejudiced attack.
Mermaids were obviously racist against autonomous robots from space, which was the only reason Harry could think of to be attacked so violently.
Speaking of which, but Harry was really thanking his lucky stars that it was so early in the morning – when most people would consider it night, no doubt, if for no other reason than it being such an ungodly hour to be awake – as no one was on deck to see some strange car burst out of the sea with some strange teenaged-appearing male inside.
Except maybe the captain, but he probably figured he had just imagined it, and that wasn't even accounting for if the cruise ship was one of those fancy automatic ones that were gaining in popularity under the name of Sumdac or something, a supposedly skilled technological genius and prodigy just entering in his adulthood within the last couple of years.
It was that kind of raw talent that Harry could respect, but enough reminiscing. Harry had an alien car-robot for a best friend to hide in plain sight!
It took them another hour to find the storage containments, an extra thirty minutes to do so without making any noise, and an extra forty five minutes of making sure they hadn't left any clues.
Jaunt across the Atlantic Ocean to America; Semi-success.
Or it was, until they made it to America itself.
"Ew, ugh! Harry, do you realize what this is doing to my wheels?"
Harry hissed at the much older-by-alien-technicalities-and-alien-calendars mech in response, "Stop talking! Cars don't talk, least of all in bloody public!"
Bumblebee made a noise like a cat being run over by a car, twice. Harry patted the side of the yellow alien automobile in apology.
Sand, officially, was the bane of Bumblebee's existence. Harry could hate mermaids for the rest of his possibly-Cybertronian-like life, Bumblebee thought darkly, but he would never be able to comprehend the sheer, pure and uncontested evilness of sand.
By the Allspark, but Bumblebee didn't just have the gritty stuff between his joints and tires; he had it in places he didn't even know he could get it!
Harry patted him again almost-sympathetically, attempting to look as if he were totally American with a non-alien car that definitely wasn't having a pity party for Primus' sake. Honestly, but Bumblebee could be such a Sparkling sometimes!
