I apologize for posting so late. Please don't murder me.
Thanks to all the awesome people who reviewed! And favorited, and added me on their fav author list! You're all so nice... ^/^
They pulled into Trent's driveway not twenty minutes later, Sam in the shiny Camaro concept that had been introduced as Bumblebee, and Trent in a car now known as Kup.
To Trent, the car was still freakin' Christine.
"Just- wait here. I'll be back out- wait, am I even allowed to bring animals with me?"
"Animals?" Sam asked, confused.
"I have a cat and I really don't want to leave him here."
"Sure, I guess, I mean, they let me bring Mojo sometimes. You just have to keep a careful watch to make sure someone doesn't accidentally step on him."
Trent nodded his thanks and skulked his way into the house.
"Boy! Where th' hell've you been! Nothin's been done 'round here!"
Trent, already irritated, in shock, and a whole other set of confusing emotions, snapped.
"Then do it yourself, you drunken waste of space! I'm being carted to some top secret military base while you sit around and pickle yourself!"
Not the smartest thing to say...
There was a sharp crack as his father's fist met his face, and again, and again. He skittered backwards out of the rain of blows, darting up the stairs and grabbing a duffel bag. He shoved some clothes in, along with a couple of pictures and a leash and harness for Sakebi.
Lifting that and his flute case, he edged his way out of the room cautiously, not expecting to run into his dad, who, judging from the expression on his face, was not happy.
"You little runt!"
Trent was shoved harshly, tripping over the rug on the landing and falling down the stairs with a loud yelp. Almost instantaneously, Sakebi was standing in front of him, snarling and yowling that godawful screech of his. Trent grabbed his stuff and scrambled away, calling Sakebi after him.
He darted out the door and threw his stuff into the Plymouth, jumping into the driver's seat, Sakebi close behind.
"Oi, Christine! You better get moving, like, now!"
His dad staggered out of the house, yelling obscenities as he went. Both cars pealed out of the driveway and out of the residential district, sliding into a highway.
"Uh, Trent?"
Sam's voice was tinny, coming in through the car's speakers.
"...Are you talking through the car?"
"Bee's got a microphone, and apparently, so does Kup. We can talk to each other and so can they. What was that all about?"
Even through the tinny speakers, Trent could hear the concern in the other's voice.
"Nothin'. How far away is this secret military base, anyways?"
"...About an hour away. You might as well go to sleep, you kinda looked like you needed it."
"Whatever, Witwickety," Trent grumbled, curling himself into a ball on the Plymouth's seat, head resting against the window.
Not that he'd ever admit it, but... he was kind of... tired...
Nearly an hour later, Trent was startled out of a restful nap by Sam's tinny voice.
"Uh, Trent? If you're asleep and not just really, really quiet, you should probably wake up now."
"M' awake," he grumbled, lazily waving a hand in the general direction of the voice. He sat up slowly, groaning as he cracked, well, everything. Neck, shoulders, back, fingers, he'd crack out his legs when he could actually stretch them...
Christine, AKA Kup, made a disgusted noise, the faint color covering the interior of the car turning an odd grayish green.
"Must you do such... icky organic things?"
"Stuff it, Christine. At least I don't horribly mutilate people for fun."
"You- You little bratling! I'll have you know that I have never harmed an organic. Yet."
"Uhm, guys? We're here."
Christine pulled to a stop in front of a large, blocky-looking grey building, threw open the door, and tilted the passenger seat, dumping Trent onto the ground.
"Stupid bucket of bolts."
Kup's engine sputtered, a cloud of exhaust fumes puffing straight into Trent's face.
"Whatev, Christine."
Trent staggered to his feet, gazing up at the building with uncertainty in his eyes.
"Ratchet, Ironhide, and Will are on their way here."
Trent nodded absentmindedly, turning to the plymouth fury and gathering his stuff, clicking for Sakebi.
The cat hopped out of the backseat and twined around his legs, miauing questioningly.
"No. Stay with me."
The cat miaued again, irritated this time.
"No, Sakebi. Stay."
The door to Sam's car opened, and the aforementioned boy patted the dashboard before stepping out.
"Miau?"
Trent smirked, recognizing the tone.
"Go ahead, you crazy cat."
Trent watched as his larger than normal, definitely smarter than normal cat hunkered down, slinking around the ground before leaping onto the smaller boy.
"What the hell?"
"Sakebi, meet Sam. Sam, this is my cat, Sakebi."
"This thing is a cat?"
"Yep."
"While this is all well and good," the grumpy Plymouth spoke up, "when is Ratchet going to get here? My wires are starting to rust!"
A little girl's voice, coming from nowhere, announced, "Theeey're heeere..."
Trent shuddered.
What was it with these crazy robots and horror movies?
But the quote from the Poltergeist was right. An ambulance and a large black Topkick pulled up into a stop in front of them, the Topkick's door opening to reveal a tall man, late twenties, dressed in military fatigues.
"God, Sam, when they told you to take a break, they meant more than two days!" The other man laughed, slapping Sam on the back hard enough to make him stagger.
"Yes well, there was another undetected landfall. Kup here's pretty badly damaged, so..."
"Another one?" The yellow ambulance snarled, startling Trent bad enough to make him jump.
And then, the insane happened. With an odd, unearthly mechanical sound, all three cars started to transform.
That's it. He was insane. First the colours, then the dreams, next, talking cars, and finally, talking cars from another planet that transformed into giant alien robots.
His knees gave out, sending him to the ground. God, that thing, the ambulance... it would be so easy to just... step on him. He didn't do puny, dammit!
"Sam?"
"Yes?"
"...You seem to have forgotten to inform me that your buddies are TALKING CARS that TRANSFORM into GIANT ALIEN ROBOTS!"
"I could have sworn I mentioned that..."
Yep, next chapter coming soon, hopefully.
And yes, Trent plays the flute. That's important in later chapters (I think)
Enjoy.