Cybertronian Units of Time:
Nanoclick—1 second
Cycle—a minute
Klik—1.2 minutes
Breem—8.3 minutes
Groon—1 hour
Orbital cycle/Orbit—1 day
Orn—13 days
Solar cycle—1 year
Vorn—83 years
Jolt continued to crawl through the vent, his new sidekick keeping pace behind him. He'd have to hurry. Morganite was likely running out of areas to look for them. He probably only had a breem until she panicked enough to call his creator. He paused at a crate and peered below.
"Target acquired," he murmured to himself. He stuck his digits between the gaps to unscrew the bolts that held the cover fast. It took him a few tries—"Why did they screw them so tight?"—but eventually the cover was lying inside the vent. The mechling checked that the coast was clear before dropping down below. He expertly landed in a crouch and tucked into a roll to minimize scuffs.
"Okay, your turn," he glanced up at First Aid. First Aid was staring down at him with wide optics. "C'mon! Hurry up before someone sees us!" First Aid shook his head.
"Don't be such a sparkling," Jolt huffed. First Aid shook his head.
"Argh, I don't have time for this!" Jolt stomped his foot and turned. A whimper stopped him. He frowned and glanced back up at First Aid. "What is it now?"
"You're not gonna leave me, are you?"
"Well I can't fly back up there," Jolt answered sarcastically. First Aid's lip shook. "Ugh, fine. I'll catch you." The blue mechling raised his servos. First Aid gave him a skeptical look. "You'll be fine. I promise." The shy mechling seemed to think it over before carefully positioning himself to drop down. With two servos firmly holding onto the edge, he stuck his legs through. Jolt watched him dangle from the vent, waiting for him to let go. He didn't. Good grief this kid was ridiculous.
"C'mon, we don't have all orn!" Jolt hissed. First Aid let out another whimper. Jolt glanced both ways. They needed to hurry. Someone was likely to pass by any cycle. "Just let go. It'll be fine. I can almost touch your pede." He was exaggerating of course. There was actually a few feet of distance. But the kid needed a confidence boost.
"You'll catch me right?" the dangling youngling asked. He couldn't see if Jolt was standing underneath him.
"I'm right under you. Just let go," Jolt strived to sound patient. First Aid closed his optics tight. He let go. And fell. And crashed into Jolt. "Oof!" Jolt grimaced. That mechling was heavier than he looked. First Aid scrambled to his pedes. He stared at Jolt who stood up as well, albeit more slowly.
"You caught me." Actually, Jolt had broken the youngling's fall. But he wasn't going to correct him on such a small detail.
"I told you I would," Jolt checked himself for dents. When he didn't receive a reply, he glanced at First Aid. The mech was beaming at him.
"What are we going to do next?" he asked, practically giddy. Jolt blinked at him. Huh, the mech must be high on adrenaline or something, he thought.
"This way," he waved for his buddy to follow him. They snuck along the corridor until Jolt had them stop in front of a door. "Alright, give me a boost," he ordered. First Aid gave him a questioning look. Jolt sighed. "I need to check if the coast is clear," he explained, pointing at the small window the door, too high for him to reach on his own. A few grunts of pain and irritated exclamations later, Jolt was standing on First Aid's shoulders, just barely tall enough to peek through the window.
"All clear!" he whispered. "Let's go!" He opened the door and jumped off his partner. He trotted into the generator room, First Aid trailing behind.
"Where are we?" First Aid asked in a small voice.
"The generator room," was Jolt's brief explanation. First Aid was staring at the generators—more specifically, he was staring at the electricity.
"What is that? On the…on the genarators?"
"You mean generators. That's electricity. The generators make it to power the whole building," Jolt was in his element now. His mech creator had told him all about electricity and how it was generator. Jolt had always had an interest in what his dad did. Something about the electricity always mesmerized him.
"What are you doing?" First Aid gasped, when he saw how high Jolt had gotten.
"Shh!" Jolt hushed the anxious mechling. He inched closer to the generator and—ever so slowly—reached out to touch it.
"Are you supposed to touch it?" First Aid asked.
"Nope." Jolt's digits brushed up against the surface. ZZZZZTTT!
"Jolt!" The blue mechling blinked a couple of times
"Huh…tingly…"
"Are you okay?" First Aid had reached where Jolt was.
"I'm fantastic!" First Aid watched the mechling in front of him twitch every few seconds.
"Uh…right…Why did you do that? Wasn't that dangerous?"
"Not really, no."
"…"
"Since, you know, I'm still online," Jolt added.
"You could've offlined?" First Aid yelped. "Why did you do it then?"
"To test a theory," Jolt was feeling rather smug. He knew there was something different about him. He'd always felt a certain…connection to the generators.
"Why…why didn't you offline then?" First Aid finally asked.
"Because I'm just like them!" Jolt exclaimed. "Look!" He held up his servo digits. First Aid watched as nothing happened.
"Um…"
"Hold on," Jolt furrowed his brow in concentration. Electricity leapt from his fingers. An arc zipped right at First Aid and zapped him in the face.
"Ow!"
"Whoops!"
"You shocked me!" First Aid stared at him accusingly.
"Didn't mean to," Jolt shrugged his shoulders. First Aid opened his mouth but Jolt quickly covered it with his servo. "Shh! Listen." Both mechlings listened intently. Two voices could barely be heard outside. The door of the generator room began to open.
"C'mon!" Jolt hissed and bolted up a nearby catwalk. First Aid followed, hot on his heels. They zigzagged between some generators to put some space between them and the newcomers. Jolt spotted an air circulation grate high in the corner. "C'mon, this way!" Jolt grabbed First Aid's servo and dragged him along. They stopped just under the grate.
"How are we gonna reach it?" First Aid asked. Jolt peeked around a generator as he heard the door open. The two newcomers were leaving. He breathed a sigh of relief. He faced First Aid again.
"We're gonna climb. Like this," Jolt demonstrated by jumping onto the catwalk railing. Once he was balancing on the railing he sprung up and grabbed the edge of the grate. With the precision of an expert troublemaker, he screwed off the bolts with his one free servo. He dropped back down on the railing, grate cover in hand. He tossed the cover into the vent and leaped back up himself. His servos caught the edge of the vent and he hauled himself inside. He turned around to see First Aid staring at him once again.
"Your turn."
"I don't think I can do that."
"Of course you can."
"No…I really don't think I can."
"Don't say that," Jolt chided. "You haven't even tried."
"But—"
"You didn't think you could drop to the ground from the ceiling before. But you did."
"Well," First Aid shuffled in place. "O-okay." He carefully clambered onto the railing just as Jolt had. He crouched down to jump and leaped straight up. His servos flailed to reach the vent. First Aid's optics widened in fear when he realized he was short a few inches. He began to fall.
"Jolt!" Jolt's arm lashed forward and clasped First Aid's servo. The little mechling clung to the servo with all his might. He began to tremble when he realized he was dangling over a sparking generator. "D-don't…don't drop me!"
"D-don't worry, Aid. I got you!" Jolt was half-way out of the vent now, straining to pull the mechling out of harm's way. "Hold on!" Inch by inch, Jolt pulled with all the strength his little frame could muster until he was able to lift First Aid up into the vent with him. The next cycle was spent heaving air into their intake valves. They stared at each other with wide optics.
"You…you saved me," First Aid was the first to break the silence.
"Yea…yea I did," Jolt panted.
"T-thanks."
"Hey, that's what friends are for," Jolt shrugged. First Aid stared at him wordlessly. "What?"
"I…" First Aid ducked his helm bashfully, "I've never had a friend before." Jolt didn't say anything. What was he supposed to say to that? Actually, if he was being honest with himself, he technically didn't really have any friends. He had some playmates maybe. But they weren't really true friends. Most younglings couldn't keep up with him and his high energy. Or he sometimes accidently made them cry since he could be rather blunt. First Aid began to fidget nervously as if he regretted what he had said. Primus this mechling needed a confidence boost. Well, Jolt had enough confidence for the both of them.
"Well, you've got one now," he finally said. First Aid immediately perked up at his words. He reminded Jolt of a petrohound. "Um, let's go. We should probably hurry back now." Jolt turned around and started crawling down the vent shaft. All this spark-to-spark was making him uncomfortable. First Aid followed him back to the office.
When they reached the office, Jolt peaked through the grate cover. No one was inside. He carefully set it to the side.
"Alright, you first," he motioned towards First Aid. He helped his new friend out of the vent before climbing out himself. He made sure to secure the bolts back onto the grate before dropping to the floor, and not a moment too soon. The door slid open. And in walked their creators along with Morganite who was babbling.
"I am so so so sorry, sir!" she apologized profusely. "I don't know how they got out!"
"I thought you said that you couldn't find them?" Thunderstrike asked with a puzzled look on his face, staring at the two younglings.
"I did," she blinked.
"Well, they're right where we left them," Aesculapius walked around Morganite and scooped up First Aid.
"B-but…b-but…"
"We were playing hide and seek," Jolt explained to his creator. "But then Morganite left us all alone in the room."
"I—no I didn't!"
"Well you most certainly did," Aesculapius frowned at her disapprovingly. "I trusted you to look after my creation. And you left him alone to tell us that he had somehow disappeared. I believe your sensors are in a desperate need of recalibrating." Morganite opened and closed her mouth wordlessly.
"We'll discuss this later Morganite," said Thunderstrike. The femme wordlessly walked out of the room. Thunderstrike gave Jolt a look. The mechling gave his creator his best innocent face.
"I'm sorry about that, First Aid," Aesculapius stroked his youngling's helm. "She should not have left you unattended." Jolt and First Aid shared a look. Thunderstrike saw it, but he wasn't given a chance to pursue it.
"Guess what!" First Aid tapped his mech creator'sshoulder excitedly.
"What is it First Aid?" Aesculapius smiled down indulgently.
"Jolt wants to be my friend!" he whispered excitedly, as if he were revealing something top secret.
"Really?" he blinked down at the blue mech. That had been the point of the playdate. He knew First Aid got lonely since he had a difficult time making friends. But he hadn't been sure that it would actually work.
"He's a pretty good partner," Jolt shrugged. First Aid beamed at the praise.
"See!" he bounced eagerly. Aesculapius chuckled.
"Indeed." He glanced at Thunderstrike
:: I'd like to bring First Aid over for another play date, if that's alright with you:: he commed his superior.
:: There's something they're not telling us:: Thunderstrike answered.
:: I know:: Aesculapius shrugged. :: But they're working together. I'm just relieved First Aid's finally made a friend. His femme creator's going to be overjoyed:: Thunderstrike thought it over. I guess it depends on Jolt, he thought to himself. Jolt was okay with making friends short-term. But once the playdate was over, he wasn't really overly attached with the other younglings. It was probably because most of them didn't share the same interests as him or didn't have the capacity to keep up with him.
"Well Jolt," he glanced down at his youngling. "Would you like to play with First Aid again?"
"Yes!" Thunderstrike was surprised by the enthusiasm he felt from his youngling. "Well, I guess it's settled then," he chuckled. He glanced at the youngling in Aesculapius arms. "We'll be seeing you again First Aid."
The two younglings shared an excited grin. Oh the adventures they would have…
Author's Note: Erm. Sorry for not updating for so long, but…tada! The conclusion of Jolt and First Aid's first adventure together! This'll give you an idea of what their friendship will be like. :)
Anyways, let me know what you thought. What you liked, maybe if you didn't like something, or something you would like to see. I'm thinking there will be at least a couple more chapters of Jolt growing up before Moonlight enters. Oh, and I've been making a list/brainstorming of Cybertronians he'll run into a meet before the war breaks out. So if there's anyone you'd like to see a cameo of (Autobot or Decepticon) let me know! I'll see if I can work it in. Who knows, it may be someone I was already planning on including. :)
FYI, Jolt won't be meeting many of the major characters (ex: Optimus Prime) until much later.
