From a far away land, he sits in front of a computer...

And he has to do homework (cue thunder and lightning). Sorry for a delayed update guys. I've been putting off writing in favour of schoolwork (since school started last week)... and I may or may not have put off the homework in favour of other things. There's no evidence of that (imagine a totally innocent face).

Yeah, we got our midyear exams back this week. So many stupid mistakes... Like not planning for two essays in the one paper that counted like 25% of the exam. Whoops. Still, I did well enough, so no complaints their. Then our internet went down for a week, because someone fiddled with the main lines in the district and put the whole place in the dark, internet free zone. And we're currently all keeping an eye on our former state-president. So yeah, distracted...

The NB note on the change in this chapter's format!

After much thinking, and sitting on the throne (located between the sink and the bathtub), I decided on this. In honour of Miko's current predicament, I made a Miko-centred chapter! Which isn't really from her point of view, but you all know what I mean. So just a heads up for those of you that are expecting Jack and Raf to pop up halfway through. Rest assured, the format will be normal as of chapter 11.

Anyway, I'll chat on the other side. It's a bit short, sadly, but I couldn't think of a way to make it longer.

On with the story!

When in the World

Chapter 10: The Long Journey Home

Jungle Planet; Miko

Miko rolled to the side, letting out a gasp of pain when she hit the uprooted roots of a nearby fallen tree. It had been in the ground a minute ago, but, as it turned out, the yellow bot was pretty strong when he was angry. On any normal day, she would have loved to have watched him fight a 'Con, or shoot at something.

So far, Miko hadn't had a normal month.

She barely managed to push herself off of the ground before a large red metal foot stomped right where she had been. Ever since they'd seen her, the red and yellow bots had done nothing but try to kill her. She wasn't too sure what she'd done to get on their bad side so quickly.

Caught off guard, the yellow one swatted her. She skidded across the dirt, rolling over so much she was dizzy. Trying to push herself up, she looked up just in time to see the red one ready to crush her.

Her scream echoed throughout the mountains.

Decepticon Space Bridge; Bulkhead

"Bumblebee, keep an eye out. The Decepticons are bound to notice the power surge in this area, and it is imperative that we keep the bridge both open and undisturbed. We do not want a repeat of the last incident." Ratchet ordered, standing by the main control console of the space bridge. The scout nodded, and sped off to check the perimeter.

Ratchet typed in a few commands into the console, and the systems immediately began powering up. "Bulkhead, I am unsure how long I will be able to keep the vortex stable. Starscream's estimates suggest two hours at most. After that, the bridge must be shut down in order to stabilise, and, given our current situation, I do not know when we will be able to take control of the space bridge."

Bulkhead nodded. "Yeah, yeah, be quick, got it doc." He ignored the glare Ratchet shot at him, instead standing right in front of where the vortex would form. "Any other suggestions, Ratchet?"

Ratchet nodded, still inputting codes into the console. "Maintain radio silence at all times. I was on this planet at the time, so the chances are that you will connect with his comm. link, and not mine. We cannot risk altering the past in any way, no matter how small."

"You realise I'm fetching Miko, right? The past has probably changed a lot since then."

"Precisely my point. If events do not play out correctly, however, then she will most probably die. May I remind you that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are with her?" Ratchet yelled at him. He backed up a step from the console when it let out a volley of sparks. "They told me that they were trying to kill a pest that had dirtied their paint jobs, but it shot them. Back then, I had brushed off the idea, and thought they had been fighting. Now, however, I believe they were telling the truth, or their version of it at least."

"Wait, Miko shot the twins?" Bulkhead said, shocked and unsurprised.

"Unless you know any other humans that play horrible music. I had been forced to listen to it for days." Ratchet paused, typing in the last few commands for the bridge. Warning sirens immediately began blaring. "They will be at the coordinates I sent you!" Ratchet yelled, having to shout over the sirens and the roaring of the vortex as it began to form.

He tried to shout something else to him, but it was lost in the roar of the space bridge, and Bulkhead didn't wait for him to repeat himself. Transforming, he pushed his engine to the limits as he drove through the vortex.

Jungle Planet, Bulkhead

With a grace that only came from years upon years of experience, Bulkhead transformed mid-air, landing firmly on the ground. He turned around, checking to see that the large vortex was still there. He honestly didn't want to be trapped on some alien planet, far away from any place called home.

"Two hours," he repeated. He made a mental note of the current time, and set a few alarms to remind himself. He didn't want to risk being stuck here. With a grunt, he made his way away from the portal, following the directions Ratchet had given him.

He almost immediately wanted to turn around. Branches whacked against him, scratching his paint job. His larger frame didn't allow him much space to manoeuvre through the tight gaps of the trees, all of which spiralled far above his head, creating a dense foliage. He pushed forward, though, if only so that he could see Miko again. And he could feel it, deep in his spark. Somewhere, hidden in the forest, was his partner, and she needed him as much as he needed her.

"Miko! Can you hear me?" he yelled out. He waited a minute for an answer, but none came. He continued walking forward, keeping an eye out for any sign that someone had been through the area recently. All he saw was mud, which was everywhere. It had rained recently, he figured.

Soon enough, he found himself standing of a large gaping hole in the earth. From what he could tell, the ground had collapsed into a cave network just beneath the surface. He would have just ignored it, and walked away without a second thought, but something caught his attention. A small slither of fabric was wedged on a branch that had fallen in with the soil. Nothing was really special about the fabric, except for one thing:

It didn't exist in this part of the galaxy.

That, coupled with Miko's... tendency to leave a trail of destruction in her wake meant only one thing. His partner had walked through the area recently. The rain had washed away any footsteps she may have left, though.

"Miko, can you hear me?" he tried again. The sound echoed through the forest for a bit, before dying down again. No answer came back. "Frag, I barely found a trail and now I've lost it." Out of anger, he punched the nearest tree he could reach. A few small leaves drifted down from the treetops and floated to the ground below. Bulkhead watched them as they slowed to a standstill on a pile of broken branches.

He stared at them for a moment, his processor running on overtime. Broken branches... a small part of his mind was trying to tell him something. "Come on, Bulky, think. Think!" he muttered to himself. He waited for a moment, trying to see if anything to come to mind. Absently, he looked up slightly. More branches were broken up ahead.

"Miko, girl, you're a genius." He exclaimed, looking at the obvious trail in front of him. She'd broken branches on her way through the trees. Whether it was on purpose or not, she'd left a trail for him to follow. He didn't even hesitate to follow it, only pausing slightly every now and then to make sure he wasn't going off track. When he reached a clearing, he traded the trail of broken branches for a trail of fruit pips. Ratchet had tried explaining to him earlier that the planet seemed to have no plant-eating animals on it, which was half the reason why it was flourishing so well as a jungle across almost the entire globe.

The trail soon ended though, when he found an outcropping of rocks in a cliff wall. The fruit had been eaten and tossed into a pile, and two sets of footprints led away into the forest. He inspected them for a moment, before panicking a bit. It seemed that he wasn't the only one that had been following Miko's tracks. And from the looks of it, it wasn't anything organic, or organic loving. "Ravage," he growled, inspecting the treeline for any signs of the panther drone of Soundwave's. Now that he thought about it, no one had seen or heard of the panther since their exodus from Cybertron.

Suddenly, he heard a loud scream come from the forest. He hadn't heard her voice in over a month, but he knew without a doubt that it was Miko. Only she could scream so loudly. His brief moment of happiness for having located his partner faded, and he began sprinting in the direction of her cries for help. She was in danger, and he was not going to lose her just after her found her.

"I'm coming Miko!" he yelled, moving through the trees. Up ahead, he could already see another clearing in the cluster of trees. If there was anywhere Miko would be, it would be somewhere wide and open. The perfect place for an ambush, too.

He reached the border of the trees just in time to see two mechs, red and yellow, stomping there way over to Miko, who was laying in a fetal position on the ground. Blood was dripping from her forehead. "The twins," he growled, "It figures they're the cause of all this trouble." He was distracted from any further thought as Miko screamed. He looked up to see Sideswipe standing over her, raising her pedes.

He didn't even pause to think. He took out his blaster, and with two quick blasts to their heads, the twins were knocked out. They swayed slightly, before falling to the ground. Miko looked up and rolled to the side just in time to save herself from being squashed beneath the tons of metal that fell down in front of her.

"Miko!" Bulkhead yelled, running up to the girl. She perked up at the name, looking at him.

"Bulkhead, is that really you?" she asked just as he reached her.

He crouched down in front of her, nodding. "Sure is. The one and only. Ratchet managed to trace you here after he heard that song you made just before you left." Miko looked at him with confusion, and he realised that she probably hadn't noticed she was out of her own time in the tranquillity of the forest. He shook his head. "I'll explain everything when we get back." He paused to work out the time. One second later, he was cursing profusely.

"Frag it! Slag, slag, slag!"

"What's wrong, Bulky?" Miko asked, startled by the sudden bout of swearing from the large green mech.

He frowned. "The Space Bridge I used to get here is unstable. If we don't get there in ten minutes, it'll close up. For good." He gave her a moment to process the information, before lowering a palm down for her to climb on. "Climb on. We haven't got time to walk slowly."

"Just give me a moment." She responded.

Without any warning, she ran to the fallen form of Sunstreaker. When she reached his face, she leaned down and scooped up a large ball of mud. Smirking, she smeared it all across his face. Bulkhead resisted the urge to laugh as she drew a moustach on his face. She sprinted over to Sideswipe, and kicked him in the head, hard enough to leave a small dent.

"Ow!" she yelled, hopping on one leg. She made her way over to Bulkhead. He carefully lifted her up, sitting her on his shoulder. He smiled on the inside at her familiar weight there. "That hurt," she remarked through her teeth as he began a full on sprint towards the Space Bridge.

"What did we learn from this?" he asked mockingly, moving through the trees.

"That idiot has a thick head?" she asked. The two of them burst into laughter, and the two quickly rekindled their bond as they made their way back home.

Decepticon Space Bridge; Bulkhead

Ratchet looked at them with a mix of relief and irritation as they jumped out of the vortex. With a practiced ease, he shut the entire device down, and the only evidence of their time-travelling experience closed behind them.

"Cutting it a bit close, Bulkhead. I was struggling to keep the bridge open for the past three minutes." He said, walking up to them as the last few systems shut down.

"It's nice to see you too, Ratch!" Miko called up to him from her perch. Ratchet sighed, rolling his optics.

"Great, we have to put up with you again." Despite the irritation on his face, there was no doubt that, for all his gruffness, the medic was glad to have her back.

"Now let's get you home, Miko. You've missed a lot." With that said, the three of them walked through the cave. Meeting up with Bumblebee, they stepped through their own Ground Bridge, successful in their mission.

Unnoticed to anyone in the network of caves on Earth, a lone figure walked through the shadows, and, with the grace of a cat, stalked through the Ground Bridge, completely undetected.

Jungle Planet; Ratchet

There were some days Ratchet really regretted being an Autobot. These were some of them. He'd been forced to listen to the most atrocious, disgusting sounds imaginable for the past few days, and that wasn't counting the company he had to keep. The infamous twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, had been sent with him to investigate the possibility of gaining the assistance of the locals for the war effort. Primus must have been laughing at him, because, of all the mechs in the Autobot ranks, these two were some of the worst when it came to getting dirty.

Which was perfect for a completely organic planet.

He tried looking at the bright side. He could also have Tracks with him, he figured. That could have made things worse. The optimism died the moment the twins had decided to hide his wrenches. Now, he was ready to kill anything that was red or yellow for disturbing him today...

"Ratchet, Ratchet, we need help!" Sideswipe called from outside. Not thinking twice, Ratchet ran to the cries of panic.

He was greeted with a disturbing sight. Both twins were covered in mud, fresh from the recent rains. They had scorch marks on their helms, signs of blaster fire on a lower setting. Sideswipe had an almost invisible dent on his helm. Both looked terrified. Sunstreaker looked fragged off.

"What happened?" he asked. They shared a look quickly, before Sunstreaker spoke up.

"We were attacked by an organic." He paused for a moment, gauging Ratchet's reaction.

"An organic... did all of this?" He asked, gesturing at them. He glared at them. "What aren't you telling me?"

"It's the truth. We were trying to kill it, but when it screamed, we were hit on the back of our helms with blaster fire. Next thing we knew, we were lying on the floor." Sideswipe explained, walking up to the medic.

"You expect me to believe an organic did this to you?" He asked, getting irritated with the two. They both nodded.

"It's the truth, Hatchet." Sunstreaker said matter-of-factly.

Ratchet stared at him blankly for a moment. "What did you just call me?" he asked, deathly calm now. They had just crossed the last line.

Both twins began stuttering instantly. "Nothing, nothing at all, Ratchet. Right Sides?"

Sideswipe didn't get a chance to respond, before he found various medical tools being thrown at him. Wrenches, welders, everything Ratchet could get his hands on became deadly projectiles, and neither twin was safe.

"What did you call me?" Ratchet yelled again, beginning to chase the twins as they tried to run away from them. That had been the last straw, and now the once peaceful medic was completely livid.

The sounds of the twins screaming almost made it across the entire planet, only drowned out by the sound of a completely furious medic adding more injuries to them than they'd ever had before.

She's home!

At long last, one of our three friends have found their way back to Jasper (which Miko will never, ever, ever complain about again. Until tomorrow ;) ).

Little cliffhanger at the end, but most of you probably know what's happened anyway. If you didn't, well you'll know in the next couple of chapters.

Now, for my reviewers to shine!

Kyuubi-Titan: Hmm, the cons aren't doing nothing, rest assured. They've just been... quiet. Which is never good. Out of curiosity, is your username anything to do with Attack on Titan? I'm curious.

general zargon: I did very well on them, thank you. Yes, G1 inspired me very much. It helps that the first and few G1 episodes I saw with him ended with a bang. Yes, the keys synced up. And no, Trion wasn't speaking English...

ALoveForOrcas: Here you go, glad you liked it!

UTHEMAN: I'm a little confused, but it's true. I think. Me Grimlock confused?

Asher Tye: Not the end yet. Jack and Raf are still somewhere out there, waiting to be found. And yes, the glasses are a non-issue now.

summerflower13: Just checking. I've been a bit confuddled lately. Glad you're enjoying it.

Riyappe Paws: The words make perfect sense to me. Raf's gonna be a smarty, and Jack's got a friend to speak to.

Foxbear: Yeah, we boys like to do stupid things when we're bored, and on alien planets ;D. Miko must be a boy in disguise, though, because she seems to be the queen (king?) of chaos. And Raf, well he's got Wheeljack to make up for his calmness.

Mrs Ferb-Fletcherinator: I always thought pins and needles was more of a local expression down here than anything else. I learnt something new today. Glad you're enjoying it thought!

Thanks for reviewing, guys and dolls! To all the people who are following and favoriting, thanks too!

Please tell me if you've got any ideas, suggestions of any kind, or if you've seen any evil, Decepticon-allied typos. Even if you just say hi and tell me what you think!

I'll be back (hopefully soon), and with chapter 11!

JayJayinMay, lost in the valley of homework assignments.