Author's note. Written by me and Mediziner.
Now things start to get serious.
Enjoy and please review.
Sundancer eventually was getting tired, telling Hot Shot that she really would need a break.
"Hey, you better rest for a bit, you look beat," he said sympathetically, remembering how hard he'd trained when he was a rookie.
"Thanks," she said gratefully, going over to sit with Wildracer.
"Don't forget your sword," he called out and she jumped before chuckling. Carefully, she replaced her wing.
"How'd training go?" Wildracer grinned as Sundancer came to sit over next to him on another crate.
"It was fun, looks like Ra- I mean, Dragster, is still going at it," Sundancer replied as the two of them watched their friend focus on trying to snipe the target.
"Oh yeah, poor dude will need a break soon," he said, watching their friend. "Man, I can't believe the kind of things we're doing now, it's incredible."
"I guess so; I enjoy it very much but... I still wish I could be turned back into a human... I still honestly can't stand having to be end up married- Or betrothed to someone..." Sundancer replied with a frown and a sigh. "I wished that the Femme population wasn't so little back in Cybertron, I would have had to worry about getting a lot of Transformers asking for my hand."
"Yeah, that really sucks," Wildracer said, frowning. "It kinda sounds like me and Dragster would have a hard time finding a girl, I wanna have a family one day but how can I if the girl I like is being fought over?"
Sundancer grimly nodded, she would really hate it if her two friends had to fight other Mechs to get them to back off of the Femme they catch an interest in...
They were absorbed in their talk they haven't seen Dragster came up to them until when he spoke, looking in his direction. "Hey guys, how did your training go."
"Huh, oh great," Wildracer replied, shaken out of his thoughts. "I think I'm really starting to get the hang of it."
"Same here, I have my very own weapon that is actually one of my wings," Sundancer replied with a smile.
"Hey, which reminds me... Do you think just like the others, if we would be able to powerlinkx with our Mini-Con friends!?" Wildracer's smile was very wide, almost as if his cheekplates would ache for grinning that widely.
"I never thought of that," she exclaimed. "Do you think we could?"
"No reason why not," Rad said with a smile. "I bet the Decepticons wouldn't be expecting that."
"Let's ask Scavenger or maybe Hot Shot." The motorcycle beamed with excitement. The other two nodded as they came up to the construction loader.
"Hm? Something on your processors?" The old war veteran asked as he saw the three Transformers approach him curiously.
"We want to know if it will be possible for us to powerlinkx with our Minicons," Dragster explained and the old Mech looked thoughtful.
"Hmm, well it is a possibility, but it is also rather taxing, however..." Scavenger replied.
"What do you mean taxing?" Dragster curiously asked.
"While our Mini-Con partners do give us a boost in power, it comes at a cost... Those who aren't experienced well enough in the Powerlinkx may find themselves... Drained. Particularly speaking, while powerlinked with your Mini-Con, it slowly drains your energon levels. Some of us are highly experienced to be powerlinked with our Mini-Con partners longer than others but we still suffer from the energon draining levels. When you disengage, your Energon levels will slowly regenerate on its own, of course." The construction loaded explained sternly and carefully.
"Oh, so we wouldn't be able to combine for too long then?" Sundancer questioned and Scavenger nodded. "That's right but in an emergency, it wouldn't be a bad thing to use."
"I wonder what sort of cool powers would we gain from powerlinking with our Mini-Con friends," Wildracer exclaimed with glee as he gave a hug to the two of his friends, though he had to be careful with Sundancer so that he didn't crush one of her wings in his group hug.
"Who knows," Sundancer said with a shrug as Dragster considered it. Would the powerlinkx mean a weapons upgrade?
"You'll all see, I'd recommend to learn to get used to the powerlinking before you even think about using the power boost against the Decepticons, it's dangerous if any of you get drained while trying to use the power attacking them," Scavenger advised, crossing his arms. "Who knows what kind of power your Mini-Cons will give you. But I would recommend to talk it out with your partner first, it's better to have them agree to the powerlinking since they know about the energon levels draining, too," He added.
"Sounds good," Dragster said. "Uh, would it be okay if we grabbed a cube and talk it over with them while we're having it?"
"Sure, go ahead, we'll have another training session later, barring any alarms," Scavenger said with a nod, turning to talk with Blurr. Being more experienced, the kids' teachers could train for a lot longer and harder.
Dragster, Sundancer, and Wildraccer all exited out of the training room and headed on over in the direction of the rec room, luckily they ran into their Mini-Con partners who were talking to a few of the other Mini-Cons along the way.
"Hey guys!" Wildracer said as their attention turned to the three Transformers. "Umm... Do you think you guys could have a little talk with us about something in the rec room? It's kinda... Important."
High Wire and the Mini-Con they were talking to each other in their language, they said that they will catch them later as Sureshock looked at them and spoke. "Sure thing." With a nod, they each knelt over to gently lower a hand to the Mini-Cons, each of their friend hopping onto their hands as they stood to their height gently afterwards.
"We're going head to the Rec Room to grab a cube, are you guys needing something?" Dragster questioned but the Minicons had already fuelled. So they took them through and after grabbing some cubes, they sat down at a nearby table.
They began setting their Mini-Con friends down onto the table as they looked at their partners with curious optics. "I wonder what's important that you all wish to talk to us about," Grindor said.
"Well basically," Sundancer explained. "Now that we're all transformers, we wondered if you guys would be interested in trying to powerlinx with us."
The Mini-Cons all looked at each other, while their partners are originally humans, they hadn't thought of being able to powerlinkx with them with their now current Transformer bodies.
"I guess we could give it a try after all three of you refuelled," High Wire said, he and the others were feeling both excited and nervous as they haven't had powerlinked before, not even formally with other Transformers as they preferred to stay out of the way than be used.
"Great," Wildracer said with a grin. "Can you imagine the Decepticons faces if we managed to powerlinx right in front of them? They wouldn't know what to do."
"Hopefully it'll confuse them for a moment," Sundancer agreed, lightly stroking her own Minicon.
"It may be too much for you three though..." Sureshock spoke with a frown. "The powerlinkx is very taxing, since we slowly acquire your Energon levels in order to give you all power boosts while in battle..."
"We begin to worry we may wear you out during the powerlinking," Grindor added gently, placing his little hands on one of Carlos' digits.
["Hey, we're just have to practise a bit," Dragster said reassuringly. "We can make sure to refuel before any hunt and only use it as an emergency procedure."
"Alright." High Wire replied with a small nod, looking at Dragster.
"Oh yeah! I can't wait when we'll be able to!" Wildracer beamed, taking a sip of his cube as Sundancer quietly sips her cube.
"It'll be intense," warned Grindor. "But we'll let you know if it's becoming too much and you can disengage us."
"Thanks guys." Dragster replied with a smile and nod, he couldn't wait to see what kind of power would High Wire grant him. He could see that his friends are also wondering what their partners would grant them as well.
Once they were finished their cubes, they placed their Minicons on their shoulders and head out. They needed to find a decent sized room that was hopefully empty; they felt like doing this by themselves.
"I would recommend perhaps a secluded place where we won't draw attention during the course of powerlinking and testing out the power..." Sureshock suggested.
"I agree, we don't know what kind of power you'll all get and hopefully the area is big enough," Grindor added.
"Yeah, any ideas?" Sundancer asked, they didn't know the base quite as well as the Minicons.
"Hmm... I think there is an old storage room the others rarely use, it's always isolated so that could be a good place, it's got some good space." High Wire suggested but quickly added. "It could be best if we practised outside however... I worry about damaging the base and end up with the Autobots wondering what's going on, just in case... You may want to ask someone to come with you."
"I think we'll have to," sighed Sundancer. "Optimus doesn't want us outside yet without superivision, in case the Decepticons pop out of nowhere."
"They are right to be worried," Sureshock said gently. "The Decepticons would happily snatch you all away and that would devastate Optimus and the others."
"Who's going to watch us though, Sundancer...?" Wildracer curiously asked, turning to his friend as Dragster did the same, nodding in agreement.
The Femme Seeker thought for a moment, then it came to her mind as she suggested. "How about Hoist? He hasn't been out that much, maybe he could use some fresh air?" She said, despite the transformers don't even need to breathe.
"Let's ask him," Wildracer said, Hoist was pretty easy going and great to get along with. They headed back out into the corridor and started searching for the crane Transformer. Eventually, they found him in one of the computer rooms, he seemed to be fiddling with one of them.
"Hey Hoist," Dragster greeted as Hoist paused what he was doing, turning around.
"Hello Dragster, Wildracer, and Sundancer, what can I do for you three?" He replied gently with a smile.
"Uh, we were wanting to try powerlinxing with our Minicons," Dragster explained. "And we think the best place would be outside but we need someone to come with us. Would you be able to do that?"
"Hmm, I'll have to ask Optimus for permission to take you all out." Hoist began activating his comm link directly to Optimus'. "Optimus Prime, this is Hoist. Requesting permission to take Dragster, Wildracer, and Sundancer out for a while? They apparently want to try powerlinking with their Mini-Cons."
/Hmm/ Optimus replied, clearly considering it. /Well, if you're alright with that, then you have my permission to go outside. But don't go far and keep a sharp lookout for Decepticons. Megatron's already wondering what happened, we don't want him to know before he has to/
"Acknowledged, thank you Optimus," Hoist replied as the link was cut. He looked at his friends' smiling faces and asked. "Ready to go?"
"He said yes?" Wildracer said excitedly. "Awesome, let's go."
Hoist laughed, this was going to be interesting to watch.
"Remember, any sign of Cons and we split, alright?"
"We figured that," Sundancer said with a smile as they headed outside.
They looked around for a good spot to practise for a short while until when they found one suitable. Liftor sat comfortably on his partner's shoulder.
"This would also be a good chance for me to try what new things could I do in this body as well." Hoist said as he added. "I've never powerlinked before... Well for this body at least," He chuckled sheepishly.
"Will there be a big difference?" Dragster questioned and Hoist nodded. "Oh yeah, new body, new powers basically."
Grinning up at Liftor, he added. "Least I can rely on my old Minicon buddy to help me out."
Wildracer grinned as he spoke. "Why don't you go first, Hoist? We want to see what your powerlinkx does!" He exclaimed as Dragster and Sundancer also nodded in agreement, while they have seen him powerlinkx while he was Smokescreen, they had never seen him powerlinkx as now Hoist.
"Alright kids," Hoist laughed, walking into a clear spot with Liftor ready for action.
"Liftor, Powerlinx," Hoist ordered in a commanding voice and Liftor transformed and shot upwards and locked onto his right arm.
The lower right arm, being a shovel, slightly transformed and adjusted as it had partially turned the said shovel arm into a heavy duty-like blaster muzzle.
"Whoa! Cool!" Dragster said as Hoist chuckled. "I may not have a cannon anymore but this is also great."
"Thanks," Hoist said, looking rather pleased with his new blaster. "I better test it."
He aimed at a large boulder and fired, said boulder was blasted to bits within a few moments. The kids gazed in awe, imagine having that much power.
Hoist then gave the command to disengage Liftor as his arm reverted back into a shovel, Liftor detaching from himself and landed back on his partner's shoulder. "I think I'll have a greater advantage against the Decepticons than before." He said with a smile as he looked over at the three Transformers. "I think it's time one of you gave your powerlinking a try." Hoist backed up as one of them stepped forward.
"You going first, Wildracer?" he asked with a smile as the young Mechling nodded.
"Yep, I wanna know what happens when I powerlinx," Wildracer said with a grin as Grindor came beside him. "Ready Grindor?"
Grindor gave a nod, standing up as he awaited Wildracer's command to powerlinkx.
Dragster and Sundancer were watching curiously as Hoist stood with the other two.
"Alright Grindor, powerlinx," Wildracer commanded and Grindor shot up, transforming and attaching himself to his partner's back. This caused Wildracer's tires to shift from his back to his feet, transforming to give him powerful looking roller blades. At the same time, small blasters appeared on his wrists obviously designed to shoot when his hands were down.
For a moment, Wildracer felt a bit wobbly from the tires adjusting to his feet but he quickly gained balance, thankfully Transformers have strong equilibrium sensors. "Cool, dude! Check me out!" He spun around to face his friends. "I should see how fast I can go with these wheels!" Before the others could give him an answer, Wildracer spun again and dashed on forth.
"Don't go too far, Wildracer!" Hoist exclaimed as the others were shocked how fast their friend went.
"I don't think he can hear you," Sundancer exclaimed as they watched Wildracer race around them in a massive circle, kicking up a lot of sand and dust.
Hoist then switched his comm link, telling Wildracer he needs to disengage as he should be feeling the powerlinkx drain his Energon levels right about now, hopefully if he can hear him speaking through the comm link.
"Huh...aww," Wildracer groaned, he was having so much fun.
"We need to disengage," Grindor said gently. "I can feel that your energy is draining, we will do this again."
"Alright," Wildracer sighed as he gave the order to disengage.
First, the motorcycle had to grind to a halt. Once Wildracer stopped speeding about, Grindor then disengaged from his partner's back and landed right on his shoulder. "I did not want the others to worry if you suddenly went into stasis lock from the powerlinking," Grindor pointed out.
"Yeah," Wildracer said, suddenly finding that he wasn't feeling quite as energetic as he had before the powerlinx. It looked like Grindor and Hoist were right about that energy draining.
"Phew... Sundancer, how about you give yourself a go?" He said as he walked up to his friends, sitting at the side as he needed a short rest. He felt that his Energon levels were restoring but at a very slow pace.
"Wow, I never thought I'd be doing this," Sundancer told Sureshock as they now walked away from their friends.
"Me neither," her Minicon beeped, clearly hiding a grin.
"Okay, let's do this," she said before giving the command to powerlinx. She gasped as her Minicon attached to her back, seemingly making her wings bigger but also giving her massive energon missiles on each of her shoulders.
The others gazed in awe, Dragster then suggested trying her power out as Sundancer focused for a moment. She could see that in her visual systems, a crosshair was showing up, which meant where or what would she target.
"Whoa...okay...let's find a target," she muttered to herself, finally focusing on a likely looking lump of rock and the crosshair shrank to really lock on to her intended targert.
Afterwards, the crosshair changed from a green colour to a red colour, which meant she's fully locked on and began firing the missiles as they whooshed from her wings in a burst of white fog as they homed on the target Alexis picked, which was obliterated immediately afterwards in a large explosion.
"Whoaaaaaa!" Dragster and Wildracer exclaimed, looking at the explosion as Hoist looked pretty amazed as well. ~That is quite a lot of power...~ The shovel constructor thought to himself, he should suggest Jetfire to have her practise with those powerlinked missiles, she would need it if she were to practise using them on moving targets.
"Ohh," she exclaimed, taking a step backwards in shock, she hadn't expected it to be so powerful.
"Let's disengage," Sureshock warned her. "That took a lot of your energy."
Sundancer gave the command to disengage as Sureshock disengaged, landing on her partner's shoulder as Sundancer collapsed slightly, completely exhausted. Slowly, she stood back up again and walked over to the others. "H-How was it...?" She asked wearily.
"Awesome amiga," Wildracer as Hoist quickly stepped to grab hold of her shoulder, making sure she wouldn't fall over.
"See what I mean?" he said wryly. "The powerlinx really drains your energy, you kids better save this only for emergencies."
"Don't worry, I will," Sundancer panted.
Seeing this made High Wire feel a little hesitant about powerlinking, while he wasn't sure what would Dragster gain from his powers but he didn't want his partner to be in the same state as Sundancer.
Looking over at his shoulder, Dragster noticed High Wire and asked in worry. "Hey, is everything alright, High Wire?" He said gently.
"Yeah...I just don't want to exhaust you like that," High Wire said softly, looking away.
"Hey, it'll be alright?" Rad said, reaching up a hand to stroke his Minicon. "We're a team remember, I look after you and you look after me. We'll be fine."
The bike Mini-Con gave a small nod, though he was still rather hesitant about powerlinking with Dragster.
"It's your turn Dragster!" Wildracer exclaimed with excitement. "I wanna see what kind of ability will you have powerlinked with High Wire, man!"
"Yeah," Dragster said with a smile, giving Highwire one last reassuring look before giving the command.
As he did this, HighWire transformed and shot upwards, like the others attaching to his back. Dragster gasped as a high powered blaster with a sniper scope appeared and he snatched it and automatically brought it into position.
"Dude, that is so awesome!" Wildracer exclaimed as Hoist observed carefully, Dragster could have a powerful powerlinkx similar to Sundancer's so he had to keep a close optic on him as he watched the Hummer began to test it out on a couple boulders as well.
"Yeah," Dragster said slowly, staring in amazement at his weapon. Raising it, he searched for a likely target and when he found it, he used his scope to focus right up close on it. He then zoomed back once he knew his gun was pointed perfectly and fired.
The recoil was very powerful as the shot was fired, it pierced the boulder as if it were parchment before eventually crumbling into pieces in an explosion. Dragster knew that perhaps this would be better fired while going prone so that he wouldn't move too much or backwards slightly from the strong recoil.
"Damn," he muttered, carefully separating from his Minicon before he started to feel the drain.
High Wire separated as ordered, appearing on his partner's shoulders afterwards, he could tell Dragster felt just a bit of the drain but is relieved at least not too much.
"That's one powerful weapon, Dragster!" Sundancer exclaimed as Wildracer agreed. "Heck yeah, we would be able to take on those Decepticreeps one of these days!
"You all still have training to do though." Hoist said with a gentle chuckle. "I understand you three want to bash some 'Cons but you all don't have the experience just yet, I'm not sure about the hunting though, that's for Optimus to say."
"Aww," Wildracer groaned in disappointment but he did understand why.
"I think I might need a cube," Sundancer now said, she still felt a little faint.
"We'll get back to the base then," Hoist said with a smile, opening a Warp Gate.
They warped back to the base and within a few moments, they were back in the warp room. Hoist helped Sundancer over to the rec room as she was having trouble standing on her own. Dragster and Wildracer followed suit as they chatted to one another.
"Man yours is really awesome, Dragster. Wish I had something powerful like that." Wildracer began.
"Yours is pretty cool too, Wildracer. You're a lot faster than Sundancer and I. I highly doubt the 'Cons would be able to get you with that much speed, I highly doubt I'd be able to grab a hold of you if you dared me to," Dragster replied with a hearty laugh.
This made Wildracer grin, he was quite proud of his new powers. It was just a shame they were drained so quickly, it would be awesome to charge around on those roller blades with his special blasters.
"You doing okay Amiga?" he asked Sundancer and she nodded.
"I just need a cube and I'll be fine," she assured him.
It wasn't a long walk as they got to the rec room, Dragster and Wildracer said they'll get a cube for her as she nodded. Hoist helped her to a chair as Wildracer and Dragster came to the same table with the cubes in their hands, giving Sundancer her cube as they sat down.
"I better report to Optimus that we're back, I'll talk to you three later." Hoist said with a smile as he dismissed himself.
"Alright, see you later, Hoist! Thanks again for taking us!" Dragster said.
"No problem, we can always go again," Hoist said, grinning before he headed off.
"Here you go," Dragster said, coming over with a cube for Sundancer who gratefully took it and gulped it.
"Thanks...I really needed that," she sighed as Sureshock stared close to her.
Sureshock lowered her head in shame, her partner was really drained... High Wire, and Grindor noticed this as they leaped from their partners' shoulders and ran over to comfort her.
"I can't believe the powerlinkx would be such a painful process for our partners..." She beeped softly, speaking to her friends in their language.
"Neither did we but they are very young," Grindor pointed out. "Most younglings their age do not get partnered with Minicons even if they're in the army."
"We can't powerlinx with them unless it really is necessary," HighWire said firmly.
The three all frowned as they looked at their partners, as like themselves, they too had first experienced the powerlinking, they wished that they would be able to hug them properly but due to the size and scale, it would hurt them if they tried...
"Aw, don't worry you guys, it was a first time for all of us, you too I think...?" Dragster said as Wildracer added. "Yeah, it's alright. I had a lot of fun." He said with a grin as Sundancer nodded, continuing to sip her cube quietly.
"We just need to be careful," she agreed. "But I won't call on you Sureshock unless I need to, how's that?"
"That would be good," Sureshock said with a smile, this made her feel much better.
They eventually finished their cube as they spent a couple joors chatting to one another.
"I wonder when will Optimus think we'd be good enough for hunting with them," Wildracer said.
"I don't know, but like Hoist said, it's for Optimus to say as the others can't..." Sundancer replied with a slight shrug. Their Mini-Con partners meanwhile were chatting to one another in their language, though they couldn't understand what they were talking about but it appeared to them at least that they were talking about something positive.
"I just hope we can get some casual time outside of the base," she added wistfully. "I really want to be able to go flying sometime, just normal flying with no fighting involved.
"I wouldn't mind some more driving," Dragster admitted. "What about you Carlos?"
"Same here dude," Wildracer said with a nod of agreement.
"Let's see if Jetfire isn't too busy later on? He might be busy right now," Sundancer said before pointing out. "We could get the others but the problem is in case the 'Cons did know about us, no one but Jetfire would be able to reach me if I were to be in the air since he's the only Autobot who can fly other than me..."
"It stinks that a lot of the Decepticons can fly..." Wildracer said with a frown.
"Yeah," she sighed. "And that creep Thrust can turn invisible, I might not even know if he was sneaking up on me...or on any of you guys."
"Urgh," Wildracer exclaimed, making a disgusted face.
"If only he were not a flyer, we would've taught that creep a thing or two if he tried anything on any of us..." Dragster stated in defence.
"Yeah! We'd pound that traffic cone shaped weirdo!" Wildracer added.
"Well, let's hope we can get something in when we do meet him," Sundancer said with a wry smile. "He's probably too much of a coward to face us when we have weapons."
"Maybe he would be something like... This!" Dragster said as he began attempting to imitate Thrust encountering them, and if they drew their weapons, he'd be cowering, turning invisible sounding like a panicked squawking bird which caused Sundancer and Wildracer to laugh as Dragster joined in.
"Man, that would be just like him," Wildracer laughed as the Minicons also watched and chuckled among themselves.
"Agreed, imagine how funnier it would get if Thrust really did that during a hunt." Sundancer added.
Wildracer sniggered as Dragster said. "I'm sure we'll get a chance to see that."
They were so absorbed in their little insults about Thrust that they haven't heard Hot Shot and SideSwipe walk into the rec room.
"Hey guys, what are you all finding so funny?" Hot Shot said as he and SideSwipe were getting their usual Energon Cubes before sitting at a table near them.
"Yeah, it must sound really, really funny," SideSwipe said, the laughter looked so very contagious.
"Oh, we were just talking about what a coward Thrust is," Sundancer laughed.
"Ah right," Hotshot said with a grin. "Yeah, that Thrust is a real piece of work."
Nightbeat and Jolt leaped on over towards the table where the three sat at, seeming to want to join in on the conversation the Street Action Team Mini-Cons were chatting about.
"How much do you guys know about that coward?" Wildracer asked curiously, the other two seeming curious as well. SideSwipe wished he could give them an answer but he wasn't much of a fighter, he was still rather new to the whole thing and hadn't known much about a lot of the Decepticons.
"Well, I've been in a few battles with him," Hotshot said grimly. "I've also heard a lot about him from other Autobots, he is one slimy customer. He comes up with schemes to cause the maximum amount of damage to our side but he isn't always bothered if a few Decepticons get hurt too."
"He's also one of the Decepticons' Tacticians," Hot Shot added.
"A terrible Tactician at that," Sundancer pointed out. "None of his tactical plans even work against us." She couldn't help but burst into laughter again.
Hotshot smirked but then added. "But they have in the past. I dunno if he's losing his touch or something but he has caused us losses perviously."
"I've heard about those," Sideswipe said with a shiver.
They all frowned upon hearing this; however they heard Jetfire and Optimus eventually come into the rec room.
"Hey Optimus, hey Jetfire!" Wildracer beamed as he saw them enter the rec room. Dragster, Sundancer, Hot Shot and SideSwipe all looked at the direction of the two leaders.
"Kids, I heard your powerlinx went well," Optimus said as Jetfire added. "Yeah, sounds like you kids will be thrashing those Cons in no time."
They all nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, we did well, just occupying ourselves with some topics, a good laugh and all," Dragster said as Sundancer and Wildracer remembering the little imitation Dragster did of Thrust and snickered, trying to hold in their laugh.
"We'll see," Optimus chuckled. "I'm glad you kids have settled into your bodies so well. I was worried there might be problems."
"We've been feeling great, though we have to admit the powerlinkx really is very taxing..." Sundancer said as the other two nodded.
"Your bodies aren't used to Powerlinking for too long, but the more you practise, the more longer you can remain powerlinked, but you still suffer the Energon draining. Hot Shot, SideSwipe, Jetfire, the others and I may be able to powerlink longer than others but we also still suffer from the draining."
"Even Megatron and his goons?" Dragster asked.
"Yes, even Megatron and the others also suffer from the Energon draining when they powerlinkx with their Mini-Cons," Optimus replied with a nod.
"Huh, you wouldn't know that the way Megatron carries on," Sundancer scoffed. "Remember all that power he used the first time we met him? I can't imagine how drained he must have been afterwards and for what? To show off?"
"Everyone and everything has limits," Jetfire replied. "There is no such thing as unlimited power. Megatron may have gotten used to his powerlinking overtime perhaps, I don't know." The Space Shuttle gave a shrug, he hadn't been to Earth like Optimus, Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Hoist while still Smokescreen did until much later on.
"Megatron pushes himself to the very limits," Optimus said slowly. "Just when you think he must collapse, he keeps on going. Never under estimate him, he can keep on going when lesser Mechs would have fallen."
The kids began to shiver. "That dude must be mad or something... As if he were going to kill himself doing that..." Wildracer replied. "Or go to the point of going and going until he passes out."
"It's what he lives for," Optimus said simply. "He gives him a kick unlike any other and when he takes his prize..."
Optimus stopped, he didn't want to give them those kind of details. Especially as Megatron had been known to take Autobot concubines.
"Prize...?" Dragster repeated, both he and Wildracer were wondering what was Optimus going to say.
"It's nothing," Optimus said quickly.
Sundancer's mood immediately dropped, looking down at the table and the Mini-Cons chatting away to one another.
"Are you sure, Optimus...?" Wildracer said, very bemused.
"Yes," he said, avoiding looking at Sundancer, he didn't want to distress her.
"Okay then," Wildracer said as Dragster spoke. "Aside from that... Optimus, we were wondering hopefully if no Mini-Con wakes up today... We could go to the same place again like yesterday with Jetfire so that we could race around while Sundancer goes flying?"
"You may as long as Jetfire goes with you," Optimus said with a nod. "Pick another secluded spot, one the Decepticons aren't likely to notice."
"Thanks Optimus." Sundancer said, feeling a little better.
"We promise!" Dragster said, grinning.
"Good," he said with a smile, while over a comm he spoke with Jetfire. "They might ask what I meant later but do not tell them about the femmes. I do not want to distress Alexis."
"I'll keep that noted, Optimus," Jetfire repled through the comm with a soft nod. The link was cut as he looked over at the three. "You guys ready to go out for a bit?" He asked in his usual enthusiastic tone.
"Yep," Sundancer laughed, he was such a charmer it was difficult not to laugh.
Jetfire and the others excused themselves. He greeted Hot Shot and SideSwipe before leaving with the kids as they greeted in return. They made their way to the Warp Room and to the control panel as they began choosing a new place to warp to.
"I wonder where would be a good place to drive around...," Wildracer said as they brought up visuals of different places this time.
"What about somewhere at night?" Sundancer suggested. "Somewhere nice and quiet."
"That sounds like a great idea!" Dragster then pointed at one of the visual images. "How about this spot? It's not too bare and has plenty of good open road for Wildracer and I to drive around. Perfectly out of others' eyes."
"Wow, I totally agree! Hey I wonder if we can use our headlights or see better in the dark than we can while we were humans," Wildracer said.
"You guys will need to test that out," Jetfire stated, a night time outing sounded perfect. Because some of their hunts did take place at night after all, the kids needed experience moving about in it.
"Then let's go!" Wildracer eagerly spoke as Jetfire nodded with a slight chuckle, typing in the coordinates as the Warp Room hummed, ready to warp them. "Alright, the Warp Room's ready and coordinates are set, lets go ahead and head to the location.
Wildracer, Dragster, Sundancer all began heading in front of the Warp Room, transforming into their alt modes as Jetfire also got in position, doing the same thing as he gave the command to launch. One by one, they warped to the location.
"Dude, this is awesome," Wildracer said as they arrived on the dark mountain slope. There were tracks everywhere and in the distance, they could make out the twinkling lights of a city.
"I know," Sundancer said, now very eager to get into the air.
They began willing their headlights on as Sundancer and Jetfire transformed. "You want to try continuing the flight session from yesterday, Sundancer?" He offered her as Dragster and Wildracer began racing one another again.
"Oh yes," she said excitedly, almost bouncing on her heels. "Is it much harder to fly at night?"
"For some yes but we all can fly at night," he assured her.
"Oh yeah, I have seen a couple planes and jets out at night, well some of us can't but we would see them having their special lights on, which warns other aircraft that there are others out there, too since it's difficult to see what's in front of them during the night." Sundancer pointed out.
"Yeah, we have something similar," Jetfire agreed. "But we can also sense others nearby unless they've got a cloaking device."
Sundancer nodded as Jetfire began to teach. "I haven't taught you this but when you take to the sky, you can also fly, or hover in robot mode, something only Seekers and aerial bots can do, like us," Jetfire then demonstrated as he leaped into the air and willed his thrusters on, now hovering a few feet off the ground. "Like this, now you try." Jetfire said with a smile.
She gasped, staring up at him in awe before asking.
"How do I hover like that?"
"It varies for every flyer but it's similar to flying around in alt mode, you just only need to activate your thrusters. Imagine yourself wishing to fly, you should be able to will yourself to activate your thrusters as you leap into the air," Jetfire instructed.
"Okay, I'll try," she said, focusing on flying just like him and the others she'd seen flying, she wanted to be free like them.
It took her a couple of tries but Sundancer was able to activate her thrusters, for a moment losing her balance but quickly recovered. "Whoa!" She yelped in surprise as Jetfire flew right next to her. "You're a fast learner, Sundancer. I'm really impressed." He said with a chuckle. She watched as Jetfire hovered a few feet away from her. "Now try to will yourself to move towards me, it's not that hard, I assure you."
"Okay," she said, willing herself to move forward and she did indeed start to move forward. It was difficult not to start pumping her arms up and down, it just felt so weird floating in the air with nothing holding her up. It was with great relief that she finally reached Jetfire who took her hands and pulled her close.
"Like a natural." The Space Shuttle praised with a smile. For a moment, he looked downwards to check on both Dragster and Wildracer, who were still enjoying themselves, racing each other then returned to Sundancer, asking. "You ready to try again on the landing?"
"Yeah," she said with a nod as he carefully let go and moved backwards.
"Alright now," he said. "Just watch me and you should be fine."
He carefully decreased the amount of power in his thrusters and descended to the ground, with an ease that she envied. He could clearly land a lot faster and just a smooth but he was making sure she knew what she was doing.
She watched as Jetfire when he was close enough to the ground just by a few cm off the ground, he began shutting off his thrusters, smoothly landing. /Your turn, Sundancer,/ He said through her comm.
She nodded and tried to slowly decrease her thrusters, she didn't want to do that too much or she'd just fall to the ground. However, she was going way too slow so she decreased the power a bit more as she sank to the ground. There was a certain amount of temptation to simply switch off all power and drop but she resisted.
-/Good, good. Almost there!/ Jetfire said as Sundancer can see him nodding a few times. /You're doing great, Sundancer,/ He added.
/Thanks/ she replied over the comm before looking back at the ground as it came steadily closer.
Once Sundancer was close enough to the ground, she began decreasing more of her thrusters' power. Before she nearly touched the ground, she shut it all off and landed on the ground, staggering just a tad bit but quickly recovered her footing, standing up straight again. "Phew... How did I do?" She asked, looking at Jetfire.
"Pretty good," Jetfire complimented. "I've seen new fliers panic and just fall to the ground, you controlled your descent very well."
Sundancer blinked her optics slightly, seeming surprised at what Jetfire told her. "R-Really...?" She asked, nearly shy. She also had to resist the urge to laugh, thinking of how other fliers would crash to the ground in a panic would be a little funny scene yet at the same time she would feel bad, as it would hurt.
"Hey," Wildracer called from where he and Dragster had stopped for a break. "Looking good amiga."
"Yes, she is," came a voice from out of nowhere.
Everyone began looking around, more so where they think the voice came from. "Show yourself." Jetfire demanded, readying his primary blaster.
There was a shimmer a short distance away and Sideways appeared, arms folded as he regarded him. As Sundancer gasped, Jetfire growled. "You."
"Me," Sideway agreed, his voice containing a smirk. "So, this is interesting."
Dragster and Wildracer quickly rushed to Jetfire and Sundancer's side as Wildracer spoke. "You creep, what do you want from us!?" He growled.
Sideways shrugged. "Not a lot, I was just curious about how you were getting on."
"Because you didn't plan this, did you?" Dragster stated
"No, I didn't plan this," Sideways agreed. "But maybe this could turn out to be a better series of events."
All three of them just stared at Sideways, they weren't liking where this was going, especially with what he said... They had a bad feeling that something will happen sooner or later. Jetfire carefully observed Sideways, making sure that he wouldn't plan one small little thing against him and the others. Behind his mouthplate, he seemed to frown, knowing that it could be a possibility he would expose what exactly happened to the kids to the Decepticons... Especially Sundancer, it would cause a huge uproar about knowing that she's a Femme Transformer.
"And what do you mean by that?" Jetfire asked slowly, hoping he was wrong.
Sideways offered him a tilt of the head that meant he was probably smiling.
"I think the Decepticons will be very interested to know you've now got three younglings with you...especially as one's a Femme."
"You creep, we won't let those Decepticreeps near Sundancer!" Dragster snapped in defence as Wildracer agreed. "Sundancer belongs to no one!" He also snapped in defence. Jetfire had to resist the urge to shoot, he knew now that the purple and yellow motorcycle is very likely to expose the three kids to the Decepticons...
"We'll see," Sideways stated slowly. "Who knows, maybe none of the Decepticons will show any interest but you know...it's been a long time since Megatron took a concubine. He's probably thinking of getting a new one once he gets to Cybertron but he wouldn't need to when there's one right here."
"You..." Jetfire eventually snapped and fired his blaster at the mysterious Mech, that really ticked him off as Sideways chuckled as he faded away before the shots could reach him. His voice lingering for a moment before he was fully gone.
"Hehehehehe... I shall watch, and observe," Sideways' tone sounding off in a blurry sinister echo.
"Damn him," Jetfire growled before turning to Sundancer who was standing frozen there. "Hey, don' listen to a word he says, he's just trying to spook us."
She nodded slightly before looking at him and asking. "What did he mean by cocubines?"
Jetfire knew that Optimus had warned him not to answer her question when questioned about what a concubine is as he simply dismissed the question and said. "Let's just warp back to base, Optimus needs to know what's happened..." He said grimly as the other two Mechs nodded, Sundancer seeming to frown at her question dismissed but nodded, as all four warped back to base.
"Jetfire to Optimus." The Space Shuttle opening a private comm directly to Optimus.
"Yes Jetfire?" Optimus answered, hearing the concern in his friend's voice.
"That slagging Sideways turned up," Jetfire said angrily. "And he implied that Megatron might want to turn Sundancer into a concubine."
There was a moment of silence, then... /Sideways? ...This is no good, if he's spotted the others.../
Jetfire started walking on ahead as he dismissed himself from the others, preferring to continue the chat without them getting too curious. "We don't know but knowing Sideways, it is a possibility he will inform the Decepticons about them... What should we do, Optimus sir?" Jetfire asked once he was out of audio receptor range of the kids' own audio receptors.
"Wait," Optimus said. "That's all we can do, if Sideways does call them then it's likely that Megatron will call. He won't be able to resist gloating about the fact that he now knows."
"Alright sir," Jetfire said with a heavy sigh.
With the link cut, the Space Shuttle was very disappointed... He enjoyed teaching Sundancer the basics and now it had to be all ruined thanks to that manipulating Sideways. He had to resist bringing a fist to the walls, he was clearly very angry. He had a bad feeling in his tanks that a lot of things will get worse... Very worse... He grew worried especially about Sundancer, knowing that there are very few Femmes left, the Decepticons would possibly all be wanting her hand.
"Damn, what are we going to do?" he muttered, leaning against the wall, head against arm. He had a feeling Sundancer was going to question what Sideways's words meant and he didn't know how to answer. He didn't want to upset her, she was a good kid and didn't deserve that.
Meanwhile, the three Transformers were making their way to their little hang out area... Or well what they called their little place where they had their human equipment at. The Mechs were talking to one another along the way, questioning about Sideways while Sundancer wondered what did Sideways mean about when he said 'concubine'.
"...I know man, I don't even know what are we going to do now that those Decepticons will know about us," Wildracer said with a sigh.
"I guess it will mean a lot more training for us from the other guys." Dragster said with a shrug as they eventually reached their little hang out room.
"If they let any of us out," Sundancer said gloomily. "But I don't understand...if Mechs can have harems or whatever, how come a Femme can say no? What Femme would want to be in a harem when she could have a single Mech all to herself?"
"Eh, who knows," Wildracer said with a shrug. "Must be one of those things about Transformer culture we don't know about yet."
"I have a feeling though that we may be stuck in here for a while, after Sideways saw us... I guess it's become a high doubt that Optimus won't let us out on hunts at all or something... I want to prove I can handle a Decepticon." Dragster said with a sigh, sitting down as he has his back against the wall.
The Street Action Team Mini-Cons, their partners, had eventually came into their little hangout.
"Heeeeey, Grindor!" Wildracer exclaimed as he knelt down and his partner climbed into his hand. Standing up, he brought Grindor up to his optic level. "You and the others missed us, 'man?" The little Mini-Con gave a nod as Sureshock ran on over to Sundancer, who also had brought her partner up to her optic level while Dragster placed High Wire on his shoulder gently.
"What's wrong?" Sureshock questioned, seeing how sad her partner was.
"Sureshock...do you know what a transformer concubine is?" she asked her partner who looked shocked.
"Where did you hear that?" she demanded.
"Sideways... He appeared earlier when Jetfire was letting me and the others out to stretch out our joints and enjoy our alt forms a bit more...," Sundancer replied.
"Ah, I understand," Sureshock said grimly. "He had no right telling you about such things, you're too young."
"But... What exactly is a transformer concubine...?" Sundancer couldn't help but repeat the question, she really needed to know and it's been gnawing at her now since when Jetfire nearly said it the first time.
"Well...," Sureshock said slowly. "You see since Femmes are relatively rare, they're really prized right?
"Right," Sundancer agreed.
"Well, if Mech has more than one, it shows he's got a lot of power," Sureshock explained.
The Femme Seeker's expression slightly changed, slightly disturbed as she replied. "It doesn't matter to me who has more power than the other or not. If... If I were to choose... I would prefer someone to accept me for who I am, and I'd want that Mech in return to be themselves... I really would hate to be seen as a... Prize..."
Sureshock nodded.
"Some Femmes want to be near a Mech of power, they can sometimes become his mate," she explained. "Others do it because their families will be taken care of or because they don't have anyone. A concubine isn't a mate so she will often end up choosing another Mech to be with but being a concubine does relieve a lot of pressure I guess. She isn't being bombarded with offers while she belongs to a certain Mech.
Sundancer sighed, she knew that there seemed to be no way out of this, or let alone a choice if she did end up being offered to inquire.
She heard footsteps and that it was her two friends, concern crossed their faceplates as Dragster spoke. "Are you alright, Sundancer...? You're really quiet."
"I'm alright," she sighed. "Just still getting used to this whole 'the Decepticons might start asking to marry me' thing."
She looked again at Sureshock and asked.
"Can a Femme refuse to be a concubine or is that something different?"
"It's a little different... Reversed perhaps you could say. It's the Femme that willingly goes or follows the Mech that often has a lot of power without a word from both ends. Inquiring is where the Mech asks and from there it is up to the Femme's choice if she desires to be with that Mech or not," Sureshock said, placing her little hands on her partner's thumb.
"So it's a similar form of what the humans call 'women's rights'. It's the Femmes that have more power than the Mechs on the choices they make," Sureshock added.
That's good," Sundancer said. "I was worried for a moment there."
"Yes," Sureshock agreed before adding hesitantly. "But I'm afraid that doesn't stop some Mechs from being more...persistent. They sometimes do just about everything they can to get the Femme to say yes."
Dragster and Wildracer listened in, their expressions gloomed as they listened to Sureshock's explanations. They felt very sorry for Sundancer, Mechs would fight over her like some trophy because of how rare they are on Cybertron. They exchanged glances together, knowing what they were thinking without needing to be said. They also worry about if Megatron, of all Mechs, had caught an interest in her.
And what about the other Cons, would they be competing with their leader for a shot at her. Urgh, that was a really horrible shock.
"Hey," Dragster suddenly said. "Like we said before, we won't let any of them near you, you don't have to worry about them."
"Yeah 'man! It feels totally wrong even though we're not Cybertronians, that girls should be fought over like trophies or prizes...," Wildracer exclaimed.
"If only there were more Femmes," Grindor agreed with a sigh. "Then there wouldn't be such an issue."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Hmm," Sundancer said. "It seems so strange, if only Femmes can have babies and yet your species barely produces enough. How on Earth does your species still survive?"
"Femmes tend to have quite a few Sparklings," Sureshock said with a slight shrug. "They usually develop several Sparkling orbs which they incubate with their bodies until the Sparklings start to form and grow. Most Femmes aim to have at least one Femme but virtually all their children will be Mechs."
"What would be the maximum and minimum... Orbs... Can Mini-Cons incubate?" Wildracer asked curiously, the others also curious as it showed visibly on their faceplates.
She giggled at this question before saying. "The minimum would be two and the maximum five; most Minicons have three or four Sparklings."
Their troubles seemed to have washed away as they were absorbed on a completely different topic. Sureshock and sometimes both High Wire and Grindor pinching in a couple things were explaining all there is about the Mini-Con's anatomy and cycle.
They hadn't notice when Optimus had stepped inside, he needed to speak with them.
"Oh hi Optimus," Dragster greeted. "What's up?"
"I need to speak with you three," Optimus said gently and they instantly stood up, it sounded important.
"We're all ears- I mean... Audio Receptors, Optimus," Sundancer said as the others nodded, placing their Mini-Cons on their shoulders.
Optimus chuckled slightly before beckoning them to follow him. They did so and he led them to his office where seats were waiting. They sat down and Optimus said.
"Jetfire told me what happened today."
"Yeah... That Sideways came out of nowhere while we were all out and minding our own businesses..." Dragster said grimly with a frown as Wildracer spoke. "We have a feeling that rat... Mechanical rat is going to be spilling the beans about us to Megatron and his Deceptigoons..."
"I fear that too," Optimus said with a nod. "If he does, all we can hope is that Megatron calls to question us. At least then we will know for sure that the Decepticons are aware of you kids. Otherwise it will make planning very difficult."
There was silence for a moment, then Wildracer who was unable to let this question slip his mind, asked. "Hey, Optimus... Does Sundancer really have to choose a mate...? It sounds all unfair for her to be forced to choose a mate out of the blue and if she doesn't get to know that Mech enough."
"I will do my best to ensure that does not happen," Optimus assured them. "I will argue that it isn't fair for her to chose from such a small group when a mate could be waiting on Cybertron. But she is too young to actually bond and considering the fact we are trying to turn you all back to human, that should help our cause."
They all nodded in agreement. Optimus however had to think of a plan about how he could keep them occupied if they couldn't go out for a while thanks to Sideways. The only big issue is to find an alternate for Sundancer, Seekers were known to get very antsy if they remained on the ground for too long due to their strong desire and need of being in the air, he knew other aerial bots would be the same but some did not have that issue too much, being able to remain alright on the ground longer than others.
"I'm afraid that for now, you must all remain indoors," he said gently. "I'm sorry to have to do this but until we know for sure about the Decepticons awareness of you, we can't risk it. But we will do our best to ensure that you are distracted and still receive the training you need."
"We understand, Optimus." Dragster said as he nodded, the others following suit and nodding. "We'll do our best to train harder and be ready for them, right guys?" The Hummer added.
"Right," they both agreed firmly as their Minicons beeped acknowledgment.
"Your good kids," Optimus said, happy they were taking it so well. "You make me very proud."
The Mechs grinned widely while Sundancer smiled shyly.
Before anything else could be said, the Mini-Con alarms had suddenly gone off.
Author's note. How does this battle go? Do the Decepticons suspect anything? Find out then, until then.