"On your marks... Get set... GO!"


Look and Listen Book 1

There's a Reason

Chapter 4: On Track

Rating: PG (physical disabilities, light language)

Major Characters: Wheelie, Daniel, Chip Chase, Jazz, Tracks

POV: Wheelie


"Come on Wheelie; faster! They're gonna start without us!"

If the Mini-Bot'd been able to in his alt. mode, he would've rolled his optics- that wasn't the first time in the last five minutes Daniel had said that. Words start scrolling across the screen on the orange mech's dashboard; the letters in plain English. Shut up and let me drive.

Daniel looks at the screen in disbelief as the words keep scrolling across it in a loop. "Did you just...?" The organic busts out laughing and slams one fist onto the Autobot's wheel. An almost high-pitched honk leaved the car, and Wheelie's front tires swerve a little until he's able to regain control. CAREFUL! the screen reads in big, all capital letters. You know my steering's touchy, Dan.

"I know, I know. Sorry buddy..." Daniel has a sheepish expression as he sinks into the driver's seat and crosses his arms over his chest. After that the rest of the drive goes pretty quietly and with no other incidents.

Wheelie's hatch opens up after he comes to a stop where the other 'bots and humans were gathered, and Daniel clamors out and onto the sandy ground. The young mech stays in his alt. mode- currently the only mecha notin their alternative mode was Tracks. The young human goes to talk with the others organics as they go over rules and the course with each other.

Tracks transforms down into his alternate mode and roles over to where Wheelie's parked. "You have done this circuit before, right?" When there's only silence from the Mini-Bot, the older mech gives and awkward chuckle and transforms into his root mode. "Well, come on then." Wheelie quickly follows suit and looks up at the taller mech as Tracks takes to one knee and gets as close to optic-level as possible. "You have done it before haven't you?"

This time, with his servos actually available, the young Autobot's able to answer. 'Yes. One time with other M-I-N-I-B-O-T-S.'

"Alright, good. Bumblebee part of that company?"

'Yes.'

"Good. Then you should know the obstacles."

Wheelie nods. 'Tunnel. S-L-O-P-E. That some.'

"Yes. Those are some of the most difficult. Dan has done the circuit more often than you though- be sure to listen to him on directions, you hear me?"

A nod and thumbs-up are given by the mute soldier; Tracks returns the gesture, and then both mechs return to their alternate modes.

"Alright, listen up!" Raoul shouts to get everyone's attention. The man's hair falls over his eyes a little after he combs his fingers through it before he ties an old, ragged bandanna around his forehead to keep jet black locks out of his face. "Hound an' 'Cee're new to The Circuit, so be sure to give 'em some help if they need it! Chip's also chosen to take part, so we won't have him watching the finish line for the true winners- that means remain truthful when an' if you pass that line!" The organic looks right at Spike, then the little yellow buggy that revs his engine with annoyance.

"It was one time!" Bumblebee retorts.

If he'd had the physical ability, Wheelie would've laughed. Instead, his engine just hums softly while the others snicker.

"Quiet down!" The male puts his hands in the air and slowly lowers them- like he was trying to turn the volume down on everyone. "Remember, this's team racing! Autobots: you're not allowed to steer yourselves unless your driver's about to run you into something, but you've got full control of your pedals! Organics: we've got full control of the wheel, but we're not allowed to touch the pedals unless our partner's about to run us into something! Both will share control in shifting gears!"

Spike takes a step forward and puts a hand on his old friend's shoulder. "As for the teams: Jazz is paired with Poplock. Hound, you're with Rocksteady. Arcee and Carly."

The human female smiles and looks to the pink-and-white car. "We'll take these boys down."

Spike laughs and shakes his head before continuing. "Bluestreak will be Chip's partner. Danny, you're with Wheelie." Daniel grins and the Mini-Bot honks twice. "Raoul and Tracks will be together, naturally. And I'm with Bee. Everyone remembers who they're with?"

The organics give thumbs-ups or shouts of affirmative; the Autobots honk or rev their engines.

"Alright, then let's get with your partners!"

The next minute or so there's a lot of scuffling feet and slamming doors as the humans hop into their partner's alt. modes. Once everyone's with their partner, the Autobots' radios get a ping coming from Tracks' communicator and Raoul's voice is heard through the radio. "Alright, everyone to the starting line! Once we're settled we'll have Chip count us down."

"You got it."

"Sure thing."

"On it!"

All seven teams pull up to the starting line while Chip works on setting up his computer on Bluestreak's dash. When the human talks, his voice is broadcasted into the other six's radios. It's simply their communications, but in their alt. modes it definitely sounds like it comes from the radio itself. *Alright, ah...I've got cameras set up around the track and two at the starting/finish line. I just need to...and...there! Okay, my system's good to go. I'll be able to keep an eye on things even though I'll be taking part, now.*

Raoul's voice comes over the radio. *But I thought-*

*I didn't think I would. But I got here early so I had Blue here help me out in setting them up.*

*Gotcha. That'll sure make it easier. Keep an eye on Bee, then.*

*Come on! It was one damn time!*

Laughing from multiple humans and Cybertronians is heard over the comm.s before Chip starts the countdown. *On your marks... Get set... GO!* Bluestreak honks loudly for the starting 'gun' as soon as the last word leaves his driver.

Engines roar and tires spin out as they try to get traction in the sand. Hound is the first to take off, followed closely by Tracks, Wheelie, and Jazz; the rest take a tad longer before they're able to shoot through the sand.

*Hound and Rocksteady have the lead!* Chip announces through the comm.s, watching both the track and his laptop's screen. *However, Tracks and Wheelie are right behind him- and they're being tailed closely by Jazz!*

Daniel grins, watching the screen on Wheelie's dashboard that let him see the track. His friend had hatch-top windows, but not ones that let the passenger see the road- Perceptor had built the viewing system for the Mini-Bot to allow his passengers to actually see what was going on ahead and behind. "Wheelie, faster!" he shouts out.

'Right on his tailpipe!' the Mini-Bot 'says' with the dash-screen just under the viewing screen.

"Yeah, but so's Tracks. An' we got Jazz on ours."

*And Jazz and Poplock pull ahead to take the lead!*

*What?!*

*Nuh-uh, no way!*

*Dammit! Not again!*

Multiple ranting voices come over the comm.s- Daniel's included among them. He leans forward in the Mini-Bot's single seat, holding the wheel in a white-knuckle grip. He looks at the rearview screen and curses in English. He jerks the steering wheel to the left, causing them to cut right in front of Bumblebee. From in the yellow buggy, Spike honks the horn and glares daggers at the orange Quint-car that's easily seen through Bee's windshield.

*A dirty maneuver from Wheelie and Dan that cuts off Bumblebee and Spike from pulling any further ahead!* Chip narrates as he and Bluestreak inch past Arcee, coming up behind said little yellow buggy.

*Hey, why don' ya try passin' us instead'a payin' attention t' the slow-pokes!* Poplock mocks from Jazz's driver's seat.

The SIC forgets to turn off his end of the comm. as he tightens the seatbelt around his passenger in scolding, causing Poplock to yelp. *Ain't no need for mockin' the other racers,* he growls, then immediately turns off his communications. Clearly, even though they can't hear Jazz and his driver anymore, Poplock's still being scolded since Jazz starts falling behind. Hound passes him. Then Tracks and Wheelie. Then Bumblebee, before he swerves a second and tries to regain his lead.

*Ouch! That fallback's definitely gonna take a while to recover from!*

A smiley face pops up on Wheelie's dash-screen. Daniel looks down at it and rolls his eyes with a grin. "You frickin' troll. What've ya got in mind?" The human's brown eyes shift between the screen and track continuously as his grin grows. "Oooh, yeah. Let's do it!"

The young mech's almost high-pitched horn beeps twice and his gas pedal hits the floor as he speeds up. The desert was Wheelie's fragging territory. Tracks made a mistake inviting him here!

Daniel turns the wheel whenever the words come up on the dash for him to do so, causing Wheelie to zig-zag in front of the racers still behind them, preventing them from moving any closer ahead.

*Agh! Another dirty maneuver from Wheelie and Daniel! They're full of this sh-* Bluestreak cuts off his comm. before Chip's able to finish- he wasn't really one who liked cussing. Be it Earthen or Cybertronian. It really wasn't much of a surprise that he'd cut Chip off before any of the other racers could hear him.

*Well Chip, we've got a lot more up our sleeve!* Daniel laughs as he jerks the wheel to the right and toward the Tunnel- a portion of the old Outpost that had collapsed, leaving it in a tunnel shape that could be a maze if you didn't pay attention once you entered it.

*No shi-* the comm. is cut off momentarily before Chip's voice is heard again. *Hound and Rocksteady are the first to enter the Tunnel, folks! They're still being tailed by Tracks and Raoul with Wheelie and Daniel right at their side, however!*

Wheelie's lights turn on when he enters the Tunnel in third place- Tracks able to pull ahead in the last second before they'd entered. Now, all he could do was keep up until they got out of the old Outpost. 'Hope you know where you're going, Dan,' the dash-screen reads, and the human nods.

"Yeah, 'course I do! Unlike you," he pokes the steering wheel, "I've done this circuit dozens of times!"

'Well then shut up and drive!'

The organic grins and rolls his eyes. "Then floor it, Wheelie!"

Left. Right. Right. Left.

They can see Tracks' taillights ahead of them, looking like eerie red eyes in the darkness, and can see Jazz's headlights bathing them in white light from behind.

*Hound and Rocksteady make it out of the Tunnel!*

They can see light ahead of them.

*Tracks and Raoul make it out of the Tunnel!*

The orange Quintessonian car swerves momentarily when his driver's blinded by the sunlight.

*Wheelie and Daniel make it out of the Tunnel!*

They hear Chip announce each racer's exit. The intervals between each announcement tells them about how far behind or ahead each racer is from them. Hound is somehow a good five hundred feet ahead; Tracks about a hundred or so. Jazz is right on their tai-...right in front of them. Well, his lead-loss sure as heck didn't last long...

Wheelie's engine rumbles in its strange, non-Earth or Cybertronian-way. 'Come the frag on!' his screen reads, mechanisms under Daniel's seat clicking as the young soldier shifts gears. It takes all of his willpower not to take control of his wheel- and Danny can sure tell because for a second there it's difficult for him to turn it.

"We can 'least try staying ahead of Bee, Blue, and Arcee- ya got that? S'long as we can stay ahead of them, we can at least get fourth!"

A long list of profanity scrolls over the screen in answer.


AN: Place your bets! I'm sure Smokescreen will be happy to take them