I am so sorry for the late update. It's been over a week, I know. And I blame Justice League Unlimited. I've been watching that show all week on Youtube. Who knew DC superheroes were actually good? I'm more of a Marval fan, so I always thought DC was super cheesy. Well, I'm beginning to change my mind. lol Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the story!
Chapter Eight: Trials
"Intruder!"
Bumblebee threw up his hands in a futile attempt to block the burning blade from slicing his helm in two. But the blow never came. He slowly opened an optic to peak up at the brute Dinobot, and found him scratching his chin thoughtfully. He still held his sword above his head, still threatening to chop Bee with it.
"Hey, do me, Grimlock know you? Me think I've seen you before."
Bumblebee slowly began to lower his hands. He couldn't tell Grimlock when he had seen him before, so he just hoped that the dino would decide to leave him alive.
"Oh, yeah! You the puny yellow bot me Grimlock try to barbeque! What was it that other car robots call puny bot?" Grimlock looked to his silent companions, but they gave no answer, just puzzled looks.
"Was it Bubblehead? Blisterbell? Bopper? Bobby? Bumper? It was Bumper, right? No, Bumper don't sound right. You look like a Bumper though. Um, Blizzardboy? No, not it."
By this time, Grimlock had lowered his sword, and the flames extinguished much to Bumblebee's relief. The Dinobots didn't look like they wanted to destroy him anymore; they looked like they were too occupied with figuring out his name.
"Busterbelly? No, that stupid name. Not right." Still guessing different names, Grimlock shuffled off, followed closely by Swoop and Snarl. "I know it something! But what? Billy? Bonnie?"
Bumblebee watched as the Dinobots trampled off, disappearing into the trees, and leaving him all alone. Perhaps they didn't care so much about him anymore? Well, no matter what, he didn't want to run into them again. He turned around and started marching in the opposite direction. Coming into the woods and stumbling upon those crazy Dinobots had made him decide he was going to wait on the beach. That way, he could leave in a hurry on the raft if he had to. He felt somewhat insulted though since the Dinobots couldn't remember his name. Usually, he made sure everyone knew his name! And all those stupid suggestions Grimlock kept coming up with! Insulting!
It wasn't long-ok, it was a long time later-that Bumblebee finally admitted that he was lost. He had wandered for hours, and everything looked the same! No matter which way he went! He sat down, leaning his back against a tree, and tried to work out a plan to get him out of this mess. Looking up into the leaf-filled branches above his head, he felt sure he had seen this tree at least three times already.
How does Prowl go into the wilderness and always come out without any trouble? All these trees look the same to me! And I know I've tripped over that root twice already! Bumblebee complained to himself. He was more sure than ever that he hated the wild. It was just too…wild!
Sitting there, with nothing to do and no closer to finding his way back, he began to slip into recharge. It would just be a short nap, he promised himself, but before he was finally lost to the world, he heard rustling over to his left. Perking up, he listened intently, and heard voices somewhere deeper in the trees. Maybe finding the Dinobots again was his best bet. Perhaps, if they didn't do that whole 'destroy intruders' thing again, he could ask them if they knew where his raft was. He was just about fed up with this island, and had decided to go somewhere civilized to hide, even if it wouldn't be as good a hiding place as this.
So, he got to his feet, stumbled over the same root for a third time, and then trudged through the leaves and branches towards the sounds of the Dinobots. From what he could hear, they were in a discussion. Grimlock was the one doing all the talking anyway, but Bumblebee did hear cries and roars from the other two, he didn't know if they were in agreement or not though.
When he finally found them, they were all in dinosaur mode, and they all turned and stared at him when he broke out of the foliage. He waved awkwardly, and wished he could've said something like 'I've come in peace'.
"What you want, Bubba?" Grimlock asked, still staring at him with the same unreadable expression as the other two Dinobots.
Ok, now what? He couldn't think of a way to explain he was lost. And even if he had brought his dry erase board, he doubted the Dinobots knew how to read. He stood there, and then shrugged his shoulders.
"What? Little yellow bot forgot how to speak?" Grimlock said teasingly.
Bumblebee nodded. How else would he explain it?
"Oh," Grimlock looked at his companions, and then back at Bumblebee. "Well, maybe this will cheer you up after forgetting how to talk. Stupid as that is."
Grimlock took a step forward, and Bumblebee in turn, took two steps back. "Dinobots no like intruders. Must kill all intruders. But if you no want to be killed, you have to be Dinobot."
And what does that mean?
"So, if you want to stay on Dinobot Island, we will let you be a Dinobot. What you say, yellow runt?"
Bumblebee put his hands on his hips and scowled at Grimlock. Can't say anything. Remember? He thought to himself.
"Me, Grimlock know you can't say anything!" the T-Rex said, seemingly reading Bumblebee's mind, "But at least nod your head if you like the idea."
I guess it's better than getting squashed. Bumblebee nodded.
"Good!" Grimlock clapped. But then he got all serious again. "But you can't just become Dinobot like that. You must go through trials."
Bumblebee raised an optic ridge. Trials?
"To see if you worthy to be a Dinobot. See if you think like a Dinobot. It the only way you can stay on island. They will be hard, dangerous too!"
Oh boy….
"Come, we start first trial in a minute."
"The Test of Speed!" Grimlock shouted. Bumblebee looked around him. The Dinobots had taken him to the beach, and it wasn't the beach where he left his raft. But the beach was clear and looked like a perfect place for racing.
Bumblebee grinned confidently. This Test of Speed will be a piece of cake!
"Ok, Buzzy, let's see how fast you are."
Bumblebee didn't like the way Grimlock had said that. It was like he was scheming something. He looked over his shoulder and saw the three Dinobots crouching, ready to spring at him.
"You better be fast. If we catch you, we get to smash you!" Then without any further warning, Grimlock lunged at Bumblebee, barely missing him as the yellow bot leaped out of the way. Grimlock stood and spit out a mouthful of sand, then roared at Bumblebee as the other two Dinobots launched themselves at him.
Bumblebee figured they had changed their minds about letting him stay, so he took off down the beach, way in head of Grimlock and Snarl. He noticed that the two lumbering dinos weren't able to match his speed, so he grinned, and would have shouted out a snide remark if he could. But then he remembered that there were three Dinobots, the other being the pterodactyl. Where was he?
Screeeeeeechhhhh!
Before he could even look up towards the call, Swoop came diving in and rammed Bumblebee into the ground. He began to peck at Bee, making sure he was slowed down enough for the other two to catch up. Bumblebee didn't want that to happen, so he kept fighting to get out of Swoop's way. He slapped at the long beak, forcing it away from him, and then took off again, this time in vehicle mode. He was faster this way anyway, and the Dinobots didn't say he couldn't use it. But Swoop's attack had allowed the others to catch up, and they were hot on his tail, snapping and roaring. They were so close now, that Bumblebee could almost feel them snapping into his bumper.
Putting on an extra burst of speed, he began to pull away from the Dinobots, this time swerving as Swoop dived in again. This time, the flying Dinobot crashed with his beak in the ground.
Seeing that Bumblebee was escaping them, Snarl let a stream of fire erupt from his mouth, catching the back end of Bumblebee and setting it ablaze. Bumblebee yelped, but it came out silently. He swerved around, trying to stop the flames, but it wasn't working. He then splashed right into the waves washing up on the shore, the flames dissipating with a sizzle.
The Dinobots loped up to the edge of the water and stopped. Bumblebee stared back at them, waiting for anything to happen.
"We done. You gonna keep sitting there? You'll rust." Grimlock said, still staring at Bumblebee.
It took a while, but they finally coaxed Bee out of the water, and now on the beach, he transformed back to robot mode.
"Good job, Buster! You passed first trial!"
Yay me.
"You now one step closer to being a Dinobot. Come. We got other test for you."
Is this one also going to be life threatening? Bumblebee wondered to himself, cautiously following the Dinobots back into the woods.
Bumblebee was relieved when he found out the next trial was just a Test of Accuracy. Grimlock had the other two Dinobots set up targets, each a Frisbee or broken surfboard that had washed up on the island from the mainland. They all had a bull's-eye painted on them with purple berry juice.
Just looking at the targets and their distance from him, Bumblebee couldn't believe this was going to be any kind of challenge. The targets were so close that there was no way he could miss. Stepping up to the line drawn in the sand indicating where he was supposed to stand, Bumblebee waited for Grimlock's signal to begin firing.
"So, you ready?"
Bumblebee gave a thumbs up and then switched to his stingers, eager to begin.
"Ok, shoot!"
Bumblebee began firing at the targets, each blast making its mark, each target now sporting a hole in its center. There were only six targets, so it was only a matter of seconds before Bumblebee was finished, and switched his stingers back to his hands. He turned around to the Dinobots behind him, expecting to be congratulated, but instead, he saw three Dinobots that looked quite bored. Grimlock even yawned.
What?
"You think you done?" Grimlock asked. Bumblebee turned back around to see if he had missed anything. Nope, all the targets were hit, nothing else he could do. So he nodded.
Grimlock sighed and shook his head, disappointed.
Bumblebee spun around again. Clearly, there was something that he missed, but what? He didn't know, couldn't tell.
Okay, Bee, think. What did I possibly do wrong? All the targets were hit! Dead on! Then Bumblebee remembered something Grimlock had told him before they began the tests: think like a Dinobot. Okay, so, how do I think like a Dinobot? What would they do?
Staring at the targets, thinking about all he knew of the Dinobots, which wasn't very much, he realized they didn't care much for perfect aim. It seemed all they thought about was destroying things. Bumblebee remembered his close call when he first came to the island, the Dinobots were going to kill him right then and there, he was sure of it. Then it hit him, maybe that's what they wanted then. They wanted Bee to destroy the targets, not just hit them!
Charging his stingers to the max, which still wasn't very strong because his stingers weren't battle grade after all, he aimed for the bases of the targets, knocking them over, and then blasting them with his charged shots, breaking them to pieces. Even if this wasn't what the Dinobots wanted, he was pretty proud of himself as pieces of plastic and wood littered the ground. He changed the stingers back to his hands, and stood there admiring his handiwork. Ha! Nothing left. And that was actually kind of fun.
He turned around when he heard clapping. Grimlock congratulated him, "That's how us Dinobots do it. Good job."
Of course I did a good job. It comes with being awesome.
"Next trial starts when sun goes down. Be back here then. Me and other Dinobots have to set up things. No peaking!"
Bumblebee nodded. Right, no peaking. But it doesn't matter; I'll get through it no problem!
Since it was going to be a few hours until sundown, Bumblebee decided to wait for the Dinobots on top of the mountain surrounding the center of the island. As he sat down on a boulder, waiting for the sun to dip behind the horizon, he started getting calls from the other Autobots again. They had tried to reach him earlier in the day, and were now at it again. Some sounded worried, others sounded mad at him. He couldn't answer, so he decided to shut off his communicator instead of listening to the calls. How long had they been looking for him? Well, he knew they wouldn't come here. Once he felt like they were ready to treat him with some respect, he would go back. Things weren't so bad here, the Dinobots were all right once you got used to them. And they seemed to like him; they didn't tease him because of his problem. Probably because both Swoop and Snarl couldn't speak either. They were used to it, and at least Grimlock seemed to understand them even if they couldn't express themselves verbally. Grimlock even understood Bee to an extent, too bad he couldn't get him to remember his name though.
"It's getting late. I think it's about time to call it a night." Optimus said as he made yet another turn onto a street in his search area. Sari was sitting in the passenger seat, and she shook her head, disagreeing with him for yet another time that evening.
"Night time is when crooks start to come out, we can't leave Bee out there all alone with no way to call us!" she argued.
"I'm pretty sure Bumblebee can handle himself against any human threat here."
"But what about non-human threats? The Decepticons attacked him late at night before. That's how we got into this mess. What if they do it again?"
That was something Optimus had thought of. He didn't like the thought of leaving a mute Bumblebee out here to fend for himself if Decepticons were about, but there was nothing they could do about it. If Bumblebee didn't want to be found, they probably wouldn't find him, at least not right away.
"Autobots: report." Optimus ordered through the radio.
Bulkhead was the first to answer: "I can't find anything. I've gone to all of Bee's favorite places; nothing."
"Nothing here either, Prime." Came Ratchet's voice through the radio.
"Same here." said Prowl.
"Right then." Optimus answered. "I think it's time head back to the base. We can start again tomorrow."
"No! We have to find him!"
"We will, Sari." Optimus promised. "But it'll be harder to find him once it gets dark. We could overlook him easily or miss a clue to his whereabouts."
Sari crossed her arms in defeat and frowned.
"But as soon as it's light again, we'll continue searching. I'll even check to see if Captain Fanzone has any leads. All right?"
"Fine. I'm still not happy about it."
"I know." Optimus turned around, and started back for HQ. "All right, Autobots, return to base."
And, yes, that chapter was a bit longer. Two pages longer in fact. I thought that since I was so late with the update you deserved it. ^o^
So, as always, if you enjoyed, please review! It makes my day to get them. ^^
