And it's this chapter where things start to go down hill.
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In the twenty minutes since Sari had arrived she was already wishing she had played sick. Scoop had been waiting for her arrival like a ninja and had almost quarantined her off from the others except Hightower and Bumblebee. He had figured that since Bumblebee was her "escort" he was "worthy" enough to be with them.
Sari sighed as Scoop kept going over his data was asking her questions, and lots of them. Asking her to interpret this sentence and this phrase, even though she had no idea what to even say, but her answers must have made some sense to him. However, after two hours of nothing but this she was getting a little annoyed.
"In this, it says that your age will be young around eight stellar cycles of age, yet according to the research I've done. Your appearance matches that of an adolescent of sixteen stellar cycles." Scoop inquired. Sari sighed once more as she looked at Scoop.
"A little over a year ago, I used my key to upgrade myself when I discovered my techno organic nature." She explained.
"In the process I got a maturity boost and aged an extra seven years, my physical age is only eleven." Scoop looked a bit stunned at the news and jotted down some notes.
"This is some very interesting information priestess; it appears that I may have to make an updated version of this text." He said a little excited at the idea. Sari paled slightly at the idea of Scoop spreading info about her across Cybertron.
"Let's uh...keep the word preserved and not try to change it..." her brain wracked for an answer she could give him. "Because it will upset...the allspark that you made those changes without its consent."
Scoop looked at her blankly, but then nodded with a small smile.
"Very wise Priestess, I do not wish to anger the Allspark." He was about to begin asking another question when Bumblebee spoke up.
"Can we please take a break from the Q&A panel, it's starting to get boring." Bee complained, throwing his head back. Hightower chuckled at Bee's exaggerated tone. Scoop however was unamused
"These are very important questions that all followers of the Allspark ought to be aware of for when they come to meet the priestess." Scoop narrowed his optics at Bumblebee. Sari gulped once again and held up her hands.
"I agree with Bumblebee, though not his exact wording, this is getting a little tiring " She said. Scoop looked at her before sighing and deactivating his holopad.
"Alright priestess, if that is what you wish." Scoop mumbled. Hightower noticed Scoops looked and then looked at Sari.
"So...what do you do in your free time Priestess?" He asked. Sari tapped her chin for a few seconds before smiling.
"Hey Bee, do you want to try and get further on that video game?" She asked.
"What's a "video game and what do you mean by "getting further?" asked Hightower. Sari smiled as she walked over to the Autobots TV. She grabbed a game system that sat behind the screen along with several games and laid them on the table in front of her.
"Video games are a form of earth entertainment; they have multiple levels and challenges you have to face." Sari explained as she began to hook up the system.
"You mean like a building?" Hightower happily asked.
"Well. Sort...of..." Sari trailed off. Bee shrugged as Sari pulled out a game case from the stack. The cover showed two humans, one human and one woman in knight attire wielding swords.
"Kingdom Blade VIII, but that's the hardest one in the series!" Bumblebee bemoaned. "We haven't even made it past level 5!"Scoop and Hightower looked at each other, and then the game.
"If it's so hard, then how is it a form of leisure?" Scoop folded his arms.
"Well, it's mostly the thrill of accomplishing your goal, defeating your enemy or going on an adventure." Sari shrugged as she put the disk into the drive.
"Yeah, and each level takes forty five cycles to complete." Bee mumbled, resting his head in his hand.
"That does seem like a challenge." Scoop wondered. Hightower got on his knees and rested his elbows on the cough as Sari seated herself in Bumblebee's lap.
"You two can watch if you're quiet." Sari offered. Hightower looked at Scoop hopefully. Scoop sighed and sat on the couch. He shot a small glare at Bumblebee before looking at the screen.
"Alright, let's play ball!" Sari declared as she hit the start button.
"I thought this was a game with words." Scoop commented. Sari looked at him and waggled her finger.
"What did I say about staying quiet?" She asked. Scoop looked at her and then sighed.
"Yes priestess, my apologies."
65 Minutes Later.
"Dang it we lost again!" Bumblebee shouted, throwing down his controller. Sari sighed once again as the game over screen flashed before setting down her controller.
"At least we got farther then last time." Sari sighed Hightower and Scoop looked at the screen with stunned looks.
"How did that person fit an entire steel mill into a castle?" Scoop asked.
"Why did he have a steel mill inside his castle; isn't that dangerous?" Hightower looked at them.
"It's not steel its lava, it comes from the earth itself from volcanoes." Sari explained. Scoop and Hightower both blinked.
"Still looks insanely dangerous to me." Hightower muttered.
"I don't even understand how you can entertain yourself with that." Scoop said. Bumblebee looked at Sari with a smirk before placing his controller into Scoop's hands.
"Why don't you try playing the game, it'll help you understand." Bee said with a small grin. Scoop looked incredulously at Bumblebee.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with what we came here to do." He said.
"Ah, but you want to know everything about the "priestess" right, and do you want to know why she likes the game?" Bee challenged with a smirk. Scoop looked at Bumblebee and then at the controller. Scoop grumbled to himself as he grabbed the controller.
"You make a valid point Autobot." He said and was about to hit the play button when Sari snatched the controller away from him.
"Hold it Scoop, you need to start your own game, I'm not letting you mooch off Bee and I's success." She began to mess with the controller, heading to the main menu and starting a new save file for the game. She handed the Controller back to Scoop.
"Now it's best to play the game with two players so..." Sari connected another bot sized controller and tossed it to Hightower. Hightower caught it with a look of utter elation.
"Alright Hightower, let's get this started." Scoop sighed as he hit the play button.
10 hours later.
"Confound it, we lost again!" Scoop roared. He threw the controller onto the ground. "Why is this earth game so hard?"
Bulkhead walked over at the sound of Scoops shouting. They had been hearing it for the past several hours since Scoop hit level five. He walked over and stepped around Hightower, looking at the screen.
"So...what killed you guys this time?" He asked, resting an arm onto the couch.
"This giant lizard creature ate me in one gulp, and then killed Scoops character." bemoaned Hightower. He leaned back and sighed. Bulkhead looked at the screen, and then back at Scoop and Hightower.
"I don't think the dragons in level five guys." He said. Scoop scoffed, rolling his optics.
"We're not on level five; we hit level ten, which is what we just lost." Scoop grumbled, and then he noticed Bulkhead wide optics.
"You guys reached level ten...that's farther then me, Sari and Bee combined could do." He said in awe. Hightower's optics went wide.
"You mean we did better than the Priestess?" He asked. Scoop's optics went wide as well. Bulkhead nodded and looked back at the screen.
"Yeah you guys did alright, not even Sari's been that far into the game." Bulkhead said. Hightower looked stunned, but at the same time he was just as shocked as Hightower grabbed his arm.
"We should tell the Priestess about this, she'll be thrilled!" He said. Scoop however shook his head.
"That is a bad idea Hightower, she may get upset at us for beating her game." Bulkhead began chuckling at Scoops sentence.
"You guys didn't beat the game, your only on level ten, there's still thirty more levels to go." Hightower looked at Scoop and grinned.
"See Scoop, I told you that the priestess wouldn't mind."
"She's not even here right now; Bee took her out a few hours ago." Bulkhead explained. Scoop froze and looked at him.
"What did you say?" He asked, fear and venom creeping into his voice.
"I said that Sari's not here, Bee left with her a few hours ago, said he was going to take her out." Bulkhead trailed off as he noticed the look Scoop was giving him.
"Um...did I say something?" Bulkhead asked. He got a response when, with a loud cry, Scoop flipped the table, sending the console flying through the air.
"Hey, be careful this thing cost a lot of money!" He cried. Scoop however ignored him as he looked at Hightower.
"I knew we shouldn't have let ourselves be fooled by that Autobot, now look he's run off with the priestess!" He kicked the couch a little bit and stormed past Bulkhead.
"We need to find them before any harm comes to the priestess!" Scoop declared but Hightower raised his arms.
"Scoop, maybe we should get the facts about this first." Hightower attempted to calm Scoop down but Scoop gave him a cold glare.
"What else is there to know Hightower, he convinces us to let our guard down, play that game, while he runs off with the Allspark Priestess!" He angrily shouted, before transforming into excavator mode and roaring out of the base.
Hightower stood for a moment, and looked at Bulkhead for a few seconds. With a sigh he transformed and rolled out after Scoop. Bulkhead stared after them for a cycle before he set the consul down.
"Scrap." He muttered.
It didn't take long for Scoop and Hightower to hit the outskirts of Detroit. The two of them went as fast as they could with their large sizes, all the while Scoop has scanning for any Autobot energy signatures.
"Are you sure this is a good idea Scoop, Bumblebee might not have done anything wrong." suggested Hightower as he struggled to keep up with Scoop.
"Well, as followers of the Allspark's word we should ensure that no harm comes to the priestess so I am not going to take such a callous chance." Scoop huffed as his scanner began to pick up a signal.
"AHA, we should have him now." Scoop said. He began to race his engine to the max.
Just up the road, Bumblebee drove in silence. It had been a pretty relaxing date for him and Sari. They had gone to dinner at burger bot and then went to see a movie; Sari had found a restored drive in movie theater ten miles outside of town. Curled up in his passenger seat was Sari, who had fallen asleep toward the end of the movie.
"At this rate, I should make it home in time for her curfew." Bumblebee whispered. He looked to his left, and saw Scoop and Hightower driving in the other direction.
"What the slag.." Bee trailed off and slammed on the brakes. He transformed into robot mode with the still sleeping Sari in his arms. He watched as Scoop curved sharply and broke through the concrete barrier in the roadway.
"I was right, he has harmed her!" Scoop shouted as he transformed. he slid to a stop a goof ten feet away from Bee.
"Oh hey guys...how went the video game?" Bee asked, taking a step back in case Scoop was about to go off the rails. Scoop glared at Bumblebee and tightened his hands into fists.
"Do not play dumb with me Autobot, you tricked us so you could try and destroy her!" accused Scoop. Bumblebee cocked an eyebrow.
"Destroy her...I happen to love Sari thank you very much." Bee stated. Scoop sniffed and glared at Bumblebee.
"Then why is she in stasis lock?" He demanded as he began to step forward. Bumblebee held Sari defensively, being gentle so she wouldn't wake up.
"She's not in stasis lock she's asleep!" Bee called. Scoop threw a punch at Bumblebee and Bee ducked and ran to the side. Scoop moved to tackle Bumblebee but Bee dove away.
"What the slag is your problem?" Bee demanded. Scoop rushed him, forcing Bumblebee to dodge once again.
"You really think I'm going to believe such lies?" Scoop challenged. Hightower ran over to the scene as Scoop began to advance on Bumblebee once more. Bee stepped back until he clanged into Hightower. He looked back at the giant mech and handed him Sari.
"Here hold her till I'm done with this." Bee said. Hightower blinked as Sari was placed into his hands. Bumblebee activated his stingers and charged at Scoop, firing all the while. A bolt of electricity raced across Scoops chassis, causing him to stumble back in pain. Bumblebee threw himself into Scoop, tackling him to the ground.
Scoop grabbed Bumblebee's head and tossed him off, before sucker punching him in the chest. Bumblebee fell backwards and hit the road, but Scoop wouldn't let up. He threw a punch into Bee's chassis, making Bumblebee yell in pain. As Scoop prepared another punch, only for Bee to grab his arm and convert his hand to a stinger and shock Scoop.
Bee kicked out Scoops legs before hurling himself into Scoop's chest. Scoop fell backwards and slammed into the road. Scoop kicked his legs upward, nailing Bumblebee and sending the smaller Autobot flying back. Bumblebee hit the road and kept on rolling a short ways until he finally came to a stop.
Scoop grinned before he began to charge forward, until something wrapped around his legs. With a yell, Scoop fell onto the ground and face planted. He raised himself up and glared at his legs, seeing a cable wrapped around them.
Looking over, he saw Optimus standing next to Hightower. Optimus gave Scoop a hard glare as he retracted his cable and began walking toward Scoop.
"What in the Allspark is your malfunction Scoop?" Optimus asked as he stomped over. Scoop glared as he got up and stood tall over Optimus.
"I am not "malfunctioning", I am trying to save the priestess from one who tired to do her harm." Scoop stated. Optimus narrowed his optics and scowled.
"I think that if Sari was in trouble, she could fight her own battles." Optimus said. He turned and walked toward Bumblebee, thankful to see that there was relatively little damage done to him.
"How can she fight her own battles if she's in stasis lock?" Scoop demanded. Optimus looked over toward Hightower, who had held Sari close to him the entire fight. She was still sleeping peacefully as Hightower looked at Optimus and then back at Scoop.
"She's sleeping, like a stasis nap it happens when humans get tired." Optimus helped Bumblebee to his feet and glanced at Scoop. "Something you might have known if you read up on earth culture like I suggested."
Optimus walked over to Hightower and held out his hand. Hightower looked at the prime and gently place Sari into his hands. He looked back at Scoop with a frown.
"We'll talk about this tomorrow, right now I need to get Sari home and Bumblebee some repairs." Optimus looked at Scoop, who looked about ready to object. He gave Scoop a dark glare and Scoop backed down.
"Fine we will, but you cannot keep us back for long. You can't keep cowering from this any longer!" He declared. He transformed and rumbled off. Hightower stared after him before looking back at Optimus and Bumblebee. Hightower sighed as he transformed and drove off after Scoop.
Bumblebee limped over and looked toward Optimus.
"Glad you came when ya did Boss bot, how you'd even know that they were after me?" Bee asked.
"Bulkhead told me that Scoop freaked out when he discovered that you left with Sari...in fact he was right behind me." Optimus looked around and saw no trace of Bulkhead. Right at that moment, Bulkhead drove up from the roadside, covered in mud, grass and branches.
"Sorry I'm late; I took a wrong turn so I went off road." Bulkhead explained as he transformed. "Did I miss anything?"
"No, I'd say that not much happened." Bumblebee sarcastically responded. Optimus shook his head and looked down at Sari.
"We'd best roll on home Autobots; we'll deal with this situation tomorrow." Optimus said, before he transformed and drove off. Bulkhead looked towards Bumblebee and shrugged.
"So what movie did you guys see?" Bulkhead asked as he and Bumblebee transformed and drove off.
"Well we saw two, the first one was okay but the second was made by this guy with the last name Harbor, he couldn't even shoot a camera straight, I barely saw the female hero's face! The whole thing was riddled with plot holes and the dialogue was clunk and-"
The two of them drove off into the night as Bee continued his rant. Just down the roadway Scoop and Hightower were heading back to their ship.
"You know Scoop you really shouldn't have overreacted like that..." Hightower started to say but Scoop cut him off.
"It was necessary; he might have harmed the priestess!" Scoop defended his actions. Hightower pulled up next to him.
"But he didn't and now we might get in trouble with her." Hightower shook a little bit at the thought. Scoop vented a sigh through his engine.
"You're right Hightower, let's try to smooth things out tomorrow and go back to our original goal." Hightower smiled inwardly that Scoop had finally seen a little sense. He silently prayed to the Allspark that tomorrow would be a much better day.
Ya know the trickiest part of this story is making Scoop seem sympathetic but still the antagonist :p.
Hope ya'll like the story so far. and I do ask you guys to review I REALLY Want to know your thoughts on this story.
So as always if you liked this story and have any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms of this work, let me know in a review or PM!