*EDIT [7/3/13]: FULL VERSION OF CHAPTER 9 IS NOW HERE!*
So...3 weeks without an update. I am SOOO sorry for the delay, you guys! I've been in a sort of rut/writer's block with what to actually WRITE in the story, as opposed to thinking WHAT I should do. Don't worry, I know exactly how I'm going to end Act 1 of the story; Act 2 is still a bit in progress; Act 3, I already know basically everything I'm going to do, even the ending.
Anyways, I've mostly been procrastinating with my spare time, but I've also created a new story- my second one ever! If anyone is interest, I HIGHLY recommend it! Though a fair warning, though: it is a Rated-M fic, so PLEASE keep that in mind! Thank you for your cooperation! :)
Also, I have a new poll on my profile determining what new fics to do, and I would be very very VERY grateful if as many people could vote as they can! You can vote for three different answers (four fics yet to be made, and two [including this fic] that are in works). PLEASE VOTE! THANK YOU!
Title Inspiration: 'Abandoned' by Kamelot
Translation guide for Cybertronian Time Dates [CTS] (As made by DreamMaster08X)
Nano-Klik = 1 second
Klik = 1 minute/60 Nano-Kliks
Joor = 1 hour/60 Kliks
Meta-Cycle/Cycle = 1 day/24 joors
Mega-Cycle = 1 week/7 cycles
Deca-Cycle = 3 weeks/21 cycles
Stellar-Cycle = 1 year/Approx. 17 deca-cycles (18 on leap year)
Orn = 16 stellar-cycles
Vorn = 83 stellar-cycles
*Note: this is not an official translation guide, but the one used for all of my stories*
Once my life was plain and clear
I recall
Once my ignorance was bliss
Nightfall came
Like a serpent's kiss
To my troubled mind
Why my God
Have you abandoned me
In my sobriety
Behind the old facade
I'm your bewildered child
So take me cross the river wide
Binding promises were made
On my soul
Grand illusions lead astray
Ice cold winds swept my heart away
Bring me back to you
I remember a song
Like in a dream
Where September was long
And winter unreal
Chapter IX
Abandoned
"Y-Y…Y-You're meaning to tell me that…t-that he thanked you!?"
Arcee gave a nod, still just as surprised as her human counterpart.
Two meta-cycles ago, the day of her latest encounter with Starscream, the femme had told the rest of the team the news, now that she found her plan to be quite an unexpected fusion of both success and failure . Had it not worked out at all, Optimus, Arcee, and Ratchet, since the medic found out, agreed to keep it between the three of them….that was, if Arcee did come back alive.
After school the cycle after the next, the femme took Jack back to base, as did the other guardians with their corresponding counterparts, and filled them in on every detail of the Seeker.
And by every detail, it meant every little detail.
From the first meeting and his exposure as the murderer of Cliffjumper (to which Arcee kept hidden surprisingly well from the kids, apart from Jack), to her hasty judgment and contrite aid to the Seeker while trapped underground (which again, Jack was told), and then finally her strategy of aiding the Seeker, followed by the outcome.
Jack, who above the rest had the most knowledge of her affiliation with Starscream, was the first to respond.
"H-He…he, your teammate's killer…actually thanked y-you!?"
Arcee nodded again. She was hoping Jack would have been the most understanding of the group, but his reaction told him that he had die-hard split mixed feelings about the Seeker.
"You think he might really be different now, Arcee?", Raf queried.
Miko jumped up from her seat and also interjected in the conversation as well. "You mean like having Starscream as a new member of Team Prime? Suh-wee-." She then paused for a moment, in which her expression reformed from enthusiastic to unpleasant. "…Wait…have a Decepticon on our team!? Not cool! Arcee, are you outta your fraggin' mind!?", she yelled, obviously grown adapted to the Cybertronian profanity. She heard it a couple times from Ratchet during the humans' commonplace shenanigans.
The femme wanted to laugh at the human girl's abrupt change of emotion, but nevertheless kept a straight face and looked down at Miko.
"I can't say that it wasn't a possibility of mine. However, there was one minor detail that I didn't mention…Starscream said that he wouldn't be crawling back to Megatron or the Decepticons anytime soon."
"So why is he not here, then?", Jack asked.
"You didn't let me finish.", Arcee said with a scowl on her face. "He's no longer a 'Con…but he said he has no intention of joining the Autobots, either."
The humans said nothing and started exchanging looks at each other. Finally, Raf spoke, "So…this means that Starscream is going solo?"
"That's the only probability.", Arcee answered.
"You think he's planning on flying all the way back to Cybertron?", Miko stated.
"Or maybe he's going to build his own army of fighters and overthrow Megatron, and then most likely us?", Jack estimated.
"I don't know, guys.", Arcee said. "But one thing's for sure: right now, I'm the only one he trusts. He told me himself."
The humans all stopped and looked at the femme with total shock.
"…Well, he didn't exactly tell me directly. But from what I've assessed from his words, he might as well have been straightforward and said it."
And once again, the humans didn't speak after a long moment.
"So…you're plan did work." Jack finally said. "It just didn't work out in the way you expected it to turn out."
Arcee looked off into the distance, unsure of whether or not that was actually true. Did she expect Starscream to fully commit himself to the Autobot cause?
She responded with uncertainty in her voice, "…I guess so"
"You guess so?"
The femme sighed. "I don't know…I guess maybe he would just become a whole new bot, reformatted from a completely different bot, but…but…"
As she spoke the last few words, Arcee, who was starting to lose interest in the discussion, began to drift off. Her face was full of curiosity…then positivity. Which then changed to doubt…and then sheer hatred.
"Arcee?"
The sudden voice of the youngest human, Raf, caught the femme's attention. She quickly turned her head towards the humans again.
"Is something wrong?", Jack asked.
Arcee froze for a moment. At the moment, her mind was stuck in a swirling vortex of chaos.
"…I…", she began to say. "…I-I'm sorry, guys. I…need to go and clear my head…"
The femme stood up from her kneeling position and walk away from the kids, taking note of the confused looks on their faces. Believe or not, she was just as baffled as they were. She was very uncertain about why she even came up with the plan in the place. Maybe he could've lost his life to gain a better one. Maybe he could've killed Arcee and bring her corpse as an offering to rejoin the Decepticon ranks.
Or perhaps…
…perhaps…
...perhaps she doesn't know anymore.
She blankly stumbled down the corridors, turned right, and headed down to her berthroom, with disorganized feelings scrambling inside of her head. The current emotion running through right now was anger. Once she reached the second door to the left, she exasperatedly punched her digits on the keypad to shut her door, staggered her way over to her berth, and fell down upon it.
Now that Arcee was immobile, she could contemplate her mixed feelings.
For the next few kliks, she rounded up every single little possible reason on her formulation to reaching out to Starscream and, most important of all….why.
In the end, Arcee came up with three plausible solutions:
One: Confession. Starscream would have gone forth with his original plan to spill out all of the Decepticon's deepest secrets. Perhaps telling them of a vulnerable spot on the Nemesis that the Autobots could hit and cause the entire warship to fall to disrepair; or maybe even expose them to Megatron's greatest weakness. The second estimation, nonetheless, seemed highly unlikely. This appeared to be the most rational presumption. His optics told them that he was begging for treachery.
Two: Abduction. Starscream gets ambushed by the rest of Team Prime, falls unconscious due to a blow to the head, and is therefore brought back to base for a brutal interrogation. However, Optimus Prime had promised not to do so unless Arcee patched him through com-link and requested it. Plus, detrimental interrogation wasn't very Autobot-like as well (unless used as a last resort). This was the most irrational outcome, but it would have gotten the job done.
Three, and lastly: Redemption. Starscream grovels in great shame and regret and completely admitted himself to the Autobot cause.
This also seemed unlikely….but…
…in Arcee greatest faith of judgment throughout her vorns…he wasn't lying.
In all of the femme's lifecycle, she had observed the many facial expressions of any living organism and being, Cybertronian or human, and, after a certain amount of time, had been able to detect the tiniest white lie by just watching the deceiver's optics and denta movements. If their sight wanders, their mouth quivers, or even their servos fidget around…lies are evidently discernible.
She took this into account when Team Prime came across a rage-induced Starscream caught in a web.
"You wouldn't betray the Decepticons.", Arcee bluntly told the captive Seeker.
"Wouldn't I?", he retorted back with furious optics. "What have they done for me lately? Besides humiliate me, spy on me, demote me! Megatron tried to extinguish my spark in cold blood! Then all but replaced me with that traitorous glitch, Airachnid! She abandoned me! Left me for SCRAP! So why not rat them out?" He spoke the last three words with such ferocity.
The team all exchanged looks, then Optimus, Bulkhead, Arcee turned away from the Seeker to discuss the matters, leaving Bumblebee, shifting servo to blaster, to look after the helpless prisoner.
Arcee was the first to speak of the trio, while the other two stared back at the captive.
"He's telling the truth."
Bulkhead and Prime looked straight at Arcee, obviously questioning her motive.
She finished, "Megatron really did try to scrap him. I saw it myself."
The Wrecker's optics widened at the femme's contemplations.
"W-W-Wait….", he began to stammer. "…You're not saying that you actually trust Starscream, are you!?"
Arcee opened her mouth to speak, but then paused for a moment, looking at the Seeker. Her mind then recalled all of his previous motives, including his near-termination of Optimus Prime back in the Arctic. Then her words spoke for themselves."
"Trust him? Never.", she said quite bitterly, and then continued. "But this might be the only time that our objectives align."
Looking back, she realized now that she has made a complete fool of herself. She had trusted the Seeker….three times! Once in the cavern when she saved his aft from rusting to death, another time when she moved forth with her plan to reach out to him, and once more when she used the groundbridge to meet up with him all alone with no backup. And she trusted him!
And yet, all three times….not a single scratch was given each time (save for the cave-in, which, frankly, was the cave's fault).
Not once did Starscream ever harmed or even laid a digit on Arcee.
…Maybe breaking her vow of distrust was for the better.
If it was, then Starscream would have joined us.
Maybe he needed time to think things over. After all, switching sides with the former enemy is a massive change.
Did you not forget that this is the same fragger that slaughtered your partner?
But why didn't he kill me the last time we met?
He's probably building up your confidence just to strike you down when you least expect it.
Arcee was caught in a giant maelstrom of disparagement and pandemonium. Perhaps a quick recharge could clear her head.
She slowly offlined her optics and blanked out her mind, thinking of her three solutions on why she would trust Starscream: confession, abduction, and redemption.
Confession. Abduction. Redemption.
Confession…
…Abduction…
…Redemption…
….no….
….Perhaps….there was a fourth solution.
1st Cycle, late afternoon
Audio receptors began to pick up a strange sound in the distance below the clouds. Like some sort of soft collision between two of the same kind of object.
Starscream was familiar with this noise before. He had heard it multiple times while on a few recon missions with the astonishingly inadequate vehicons. It sounded like constant crashing, but not the bombastic kind emitted from two moving matters ramming into each other. No, it was more of a…lighter sound….
…Like…water.
The Seeker was flying straight above a body of water.
Starscream decided to cut the rest of his flight short, despite the fact that he has flown for at least 4 joors now, and give himself a rather halfhearted break. He slowed his thrusters and took a large, perpendicular, nosedive through the base of the clouds. His vision suddenly changed from hazy ash to bright sapphire. Lots of bright sapphire. Primus, the sight of the body was huge! It spread far and beyond the horizon from where Starscream could see. Every other time he saw water with his own optics, they were much smaller and very sparse and murky. This one, on the other hand, was the precise opposite: deep, clear, vibrant, and enormous.
The further down the Seeker went, the more bigger and deeper he could see through the water. He saw a few larger Earth creatures followed by a countless school of microscopic creatures from the other side of the thick, cerulean layer of liquid underneath him. Right when was 200 feet directly above the water (a hazardously bold move on Starscream's part), the Seeker forcibly pulled himself up to a horizontal position and boosted his accelerators, just barely missing the sea level by mere inches.
Up ahead he spotted a dark, indistinct view in the distance, about a few miles from Starscream. It looked quite vacant and fallow: a perfect place for shelter.
Yesterday, the Seeker called upon the Autobot femme, Arcee, to announce to her, along with the rest of the Autobots, that he had decided to resign from his post as SIC of the Decepticons in pursuit of exploration and discovery on the very planet that they walk upon. A closer observation could prove quite vital should all of the Cybertronians here be permanently stranded for the remainder of their lifecycle. Megatron never allowed any of the 'Cons to research and study the humans because he believed that any of the information gathered would prove useless in his future endeavors….and by endeavors, the tyrant would really mean conquests.
He reached the island in under 2 kliks, a record time. Even under the dictatorial command of Megatron, Starscream seldom jettisoned his post on a mission so fast to return to his commander. As the Seeker slowly flew over the shore of the isle, he quickly transformed and touched the soft ground, heels first, immediately dropping the energon cubes that he had kept inside cockpit. He had just enough of being stuck inside the Primus-forsaken cave and it's draftiness. He needed someplace warmer.
The substance on the ground was very fluffy, though it had the flaw of sticking to his fine, silver coating. His exterior finish had slowly healed overtime and are now showing as light battlescars. Funny, seeing they were given to him from both the cave-in and the faulty engine incidents. However, Starscream now considered this remote habitation of seclusion his reward for putting up with his accidents, misfortunes, and near-offlining experiences, and building up his spark from the most brutal tortures and cruelties from Megatron.
He plopped onto the thick, golden layer beneath him, leaned back, and buried his helm deep into it.
Sand! That was the name of this substance! Sand. For a time, during his time on the Nemesis, Starscream managed to hack into one of the ship's smaller mainframes and access Earth's global database: the Internet it was called. It was very similar to the database on Cybertron. He spent several joors, roughly 6 or 7, examining the world's most important, beneficial, and expedient statistics. The body of water in front of Starscream was actually referred to as an ocean, and most of the material that appears near it, along with arid and dry patches on land, was called sand. The Seeker practically loved indulging into Earth's endless catalogue of curiosity. Unfortunately, the best of things had to come to an end, as Megatron finally caught Starscream sneaking up info against his wishes, and was subject to a rough beating, though not quite as brutal as previous thrashings.
Despite the warlord's repulsion of interfering with human affairs, Starscream craved for more of it. This was partially the main reason for the Seeker's resignation from his post. Another was the beatings from Megatron.
And a third….for the lack of fondness that Arcee had given.
Starscream had to admit, the femme must really be quite the forgiver. One cycle, she's at him with her gun in his face; the next, she gave him an offering of energon in an attempt to absolve their differences. She certainly was a very erratic being. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. The Seeker felt as if he were more predictable, at least from his perspective. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two from her.
That is, if their paths ever cross again.
'If Primus wills it, then so be it.', Starscream told himself.
He closed his optics and went straight into deep thought. Many things ran through his mind one by one. His arrival on earth. His watching Megatron's discovery of Dark Energon's regenerative properties. His supposed elimination of the warlord. His excruciating torture from Megatron after his revival. (Primus, Megatron certainly is a vicious mech!) His capture under the Autobots. His near-killing of Arcee, followed by the tables being turned and her almost annihilating him. His encounter with Arcee in the cavern. His discovering the gift from her. His speech and thank-you to her.
Arcee.
Arcee.
The name was starting to sound very pleasant now.
Though the femme would probably say otherwise, when Starscream remember one gigantic flaw in their alliance: He terminated her partner…
…And actually felt proud of doing so.
'Primus, I'm a fragging imbecile!', Starscream thought. He all of the sudden realized his foolish action that nearly cost him his life! And the worst part is…is…
…Arcee may never forgive him for that.
She could forgive him for nearly killing her. She could forgive him for almost blowing up the Autobots inside the energon mine several deca-cycles ago. Hell, she could probably even forgive him for his wrongdoings back on Cybertron, no matter how terrible they may have been.
But this was an exploit that would cause a grudge lasting both of their entire lifecycles.
All because of him…
Starscream just wanted her forgiveness for that one particular moment. And he may never have that wish fulfilled ever…
He buried his head deeper into the hot sand, not minding that it stuck to his face like cement.
The Seeker put his servos to his optics and uttered his only wish of the cycle.
"Arcee….Will you ever forgive me?"
2nd Cycle, early dawn
While searching around the now-confirmed uninhabited island after his much needed recharge, Starscream traversed through the thick, overgrown specimen that attached itself to the ocean's shore- Trees, as the humans refer to them as- and coincidentally found himself a cave that may shield him from any imminent dangers…that is if there was nothing dangerous in the cave itself. Fortunately, there was nothing that could harm the Seeker except for a couple of bats. 'Pathetic.'
He decided to head back to the beach, gather up all of his remaining energon cubes, and transport them back to his new safe haven. He wouldn't want them to get washed away from the tides of the waves. That was another factoid that he collected from the 'Net': the ocean waves walloping up against the shore can shift higher and lower due to the gravitational masses of the planet's moon. The closer the vessel, the stronger the tides would act up. He immediately remembered this when he woke up from his recharge and the water, which was several feet away when he began sleep, were crashing against the heels of his pedes, waking him up with the rather cold of the water.
Once Starscream secured the cubes in a chamber hidden deep in the hollow, he started shaking off more of the sand that began building underneath his chestplates and into his internal workings. Too much buildup would cause serious problems. After he got what seemed like pounds of the golden matter off of him, he looked around the room with wide optics.
'This place has been untouched,' thought the Seeker. The cavern looked more natural, as opposed to the previous one, which was forcefully scraped from human tools. 'Surely there must be a fresh pile of energon crystals inside here.'
ZZZT!
That task would have to wait, for Starscream heard the sound of his own energon cables zapping around due to the sand jam. He needed some way to cleanse himself. Unfortunately, there were no washracks in slagging isolated places like this.
That was a price the Seeker was going to have to live with for freedom.
Then he suddenly remembered….'The ocean!'
Starscream zoomed out of the cave, outside, and ran towards the giant vessel of water in his vision. He treaded through the sand and slowly stepped into the thick layer. It was cold on touch, but after a brief nano-klik, it actually felt really nice. Without any second thoughts, he jumped straight into the water. When he popped out from underwater, the first thing he ended doing was raucously spitting out the water. It was very…salty. Much too salty for his taste.
Despite the flavor, Starscream noticed that the water quickly washed away the troubling sand. It felt so relieving….for about a klik. Until the Seeker realized that the old problems were being taken over by new ones. Apparently, salt had about the same effect on a Cybertronian's internal systems, if not worse. Starscream hurried his way over back to shore and hoarsely shook off the combination of salt, sand, and possibly other specimens from his chassis. He was going to have to live with the last bits caught in his underside. As long as he kept himself tidy, he wouldn't have to worry about anything building up from his internal or external features. He kept thinking about the numerous places that the substances could accumulate. In between his digits, which wouldn't be much of a problem, as he could just scrape it off; Underneath his heels, which might pose a small dilemma; In his optics. Ouch. Hedidn't even want to think about that. The worst place for the buildup was underneath his interface panel. If it got stuck there…
It was still morning, and it didn't look like there was much else to explore on the island. The only other place that looked interesting was a volcanic escarpment about 15 kliks due north by pede. And unfortunately, it would remind him too much of the mine incident with Megatron… and his near-termination. Primus, that was something he wasn't going to forget anytime soon.
That left one single choice for Starscream: temporarily leave base and explore elsewhere.
That sounded perfect. After all, had he not volunteered to examine the endless virtues, statistics, and prospects of another world for the mere cost of companionship. It was a quality that he could live without anyways.
The Seeker quickly glanced towards the supposedly endless-looking horizon and decided to head straight back in the opposite direction that he arrived from. With that said, in a flash, Starscream headed back to the cavern, grabbed his energon cubes, transformed into flight mode, and took off from the cave, out of the jungle, and into the sunrise.
3rd Cycle, early dusk
Approximately 33 joors of roving, reconnaissance, and research, and the Seeker arrived back at base, his mind filled with all brand new statistics. It took him approximately 56 kliks to reach the shore of the country, where he came across a solidly built human city by the ocean. It was reasonably large by human standards (it was considered a mere settlement on Cybertron) and contained a rather tall and unusually-shaped building with a sort of unidentifiable top and an antenna on top of it. He picked up radio frequencies with his jet-mode transistors (courtesy of Soundwave for creating one for him) and could gather from all of the radio stations' enthusiastic hosts that the metropolis was known as Seattle, Washington.
For the next few joors, Starscream slowly glided across the skyline flipping through various radio networks. Some featured various talk show hosts that bring out human guests that the Seeker had never heard of. Truth be told, he was only familiar with the 3 petty youngsters of the Autobots. Other networks provided sources of music: a trend which grew progressively popular on Cybertron at the start of the war. These sounds quite differed from Cybertronian music. It sounded a bit more clear. Like the separate instrument recordings were taken and altered to fit and blend together more well. Starscream wasn't sure it this was a good or bad thing.
Either way, it counted as statistic accumulation. And that was all the Seeker needed.
There were also several posters and advertisements on numerous buildings, boards, and strings hanging on the back of other aircrafts: all entirely pointless. Save for the planes. The needle-like building was what Starscream's attention. It was a very peculiar design, indeed. There were countless buildings on Cybertron with bizarre shapes and forms, but to see one on this planet was rare, even by his standards.
About 5 joors was spent hovering above the city cycling through several stations and eyeing the citizens and vehicles below. Afterwards, the Seeker grew increasingly tired, so he found refugee in another uninhibited cave in the tall mountain range not far from the metropolis, and spent the night there. He was fortunate enough to dig up and come across a few crystals of energon, and decided to chew and process them all so he didn't have to haul it back. The surge that went out when he found the energon wasn't powerful enough to show up on either the Autobot's or Decepticon's radars, so he need not to worry about that. Once all crystals were liquefied and consumed, he went into recharge. When he woke from recharge, he immediately left and searched on. Unfortunately, in contrast to his fruitful findings the cycle before, today provided no help whatsoever. After more than half the cycle of absolutely nothing useful, he gave up all hope and decided to go back to base.
As flew over the island, he went past the beach and straight through the cave. He felt very deprived of his ineffective cycle, so decided to search deeper in the cave and find more energon. He found a few more, probably more than he found in the temporary base. He set it all aside with the cubes of processed energon. He wanted to save those in case of a disastrous emergency.
His mind and processors, though fruitless and empty from today, felt queasy due to extensive trips of flying around. Slowly he set himself on the ground and settled in for an early recharge. It took a few kliks before his mind was completely blank.
5th Cycle, high noon
Not much had in the past few cycles. Starscream searched further deep into the cave for more energon, and became half-satisfied with the results. He at least found enough to last for a mega-cycle, which meant that he could rest more knowing he had something to live on. However, with his current amount of rations, the Seeker was afraid that it would be big enough to set off the energon sensors on the Nemesis. He conveniently dug out a crevice to hide the rations and faintly covered most of it to where it shouldn't be able to show up on any sensors, Bots or Cons alike, but not too much to where he might misplace it.
He spent some time outside base, deciding to expend some of his free time exploring the further realms of the island. There wasn't much to sightsee, as it was nothing but coastlines, jungles, and volcanic massifs. Of course, he didn't spend much time in the mountains. Too many reminders of why he decided to quit war in the first place. In fact, he now pondered about all the many reasons to resign his post: Too much overtime. Too many workshifts. Too many accidents. Too much abuse. Being kept under constant surveillance on the Nemesis 24/7. Subordinates who are to incompetent to complete the simplest tasks. Knockout's obsession with his paintjob. Soundwave always spying on him. The wretched spider-like afthead Airachnid. Breakdown's obsession with the spider-aft.
And above all: Megatron.
Megatron.
That reason alone was enough to make his resignation logical.
He suffered under the wing of the vicious tyrant for eons. At first, Megatron was like a sire to Starscream, which made him the happiest Seeker alive. He grew up not knowing his creators or his origins, so being cared for at sparkling-hood made him feel welcome. However, over the course of the war, the Seeker noticed a slow change in the warlord: he became more and more violent and power-hungry- much more than he already was at the time. When he first met him as a sparkling, even through that fearful face of his was a soft spark for neonatal creations. Overtime, however, the casualties of war had drove him insane. His strategized, barely-fatal battleplans were switched with more dangerous and bombastic ones. He first cared about the will and strength of one soldier than a thousand, but then suddenly, he didn't give a frag if their sparks were snuffed….even by his servo, at times.
And the worst part was, everyone had willingly followed him into the Pit and back several times too many. Including him.
It was only a matter of time before someone had the spark to stand aside.
During more excursions around the island, Starscream noticed a slight change: the clouds above started to become darker and darker. Their usual white, fluffy textures were suddenly replaced by dark grey, portentous opacities that, quite frankly, made him worried. All of a sudden, something light hit the Seeker on the shoulder. He went to touch it, but nothing was there.
Except…it was something else. Something…wet.
Wet…
…Rain.
It was another piece of earth evidence that Starscream studied up on. It was a form of change on the planet's weather patterns. At times, the rain was accompanied with thunderstorms. At other times, during various time spans in an earth cycle, the rain freezes up and becomes composed of another earth matter known as snow. By the looks of it, thunderstorms seemed very likely. And the Seeker decided it was so when suddenly, the rain began to speed down at a gradual pace.
Starscream quickly dived off the face of the cliff he was standing near, transformed into his jet mode, and glided down towards the direction of his base. Halfway through, the rain started to pour down at a brisk pace. When he caught sight of the cave mouth, he began to slow his speed thrusters down. Unfortunately, he slowed down at the worst possible moment. Lightning from the sky began striking down all of the sudden. One shock of thunder struck down on his right wing, blowing out the thruster next to it. He began spiraling down at an alarming rate.
'Oh Primus, not this again!' Starscream thought, bitterly recalling his previous crash just a mega-cycle ago.
There was no point in fretting around like last time, though. Instead, when he hit about 200 feet off the ground, he shifted back into bipedal form and did his best to try and land in the smoothest method. The Seeker stretched his entire body as straight as he could. 100 feet. He spread out every limb of his body to catch as much air as he could to slow himself down. 50 feet. At the last nano-klik, he pulled himself into an upright postion and braced for impact.
BOOOMM!
The crash was rough, but it was at least more tolerable than the other one. When he regained his strength after a klik, he stood back up and was met with an entire downpour of water and shame.
Unbelievable…the first mega-cycle he dedicates his life to solitude for science, and for what? All info he has gathered so far was beyond impractical, and whatever locations he tried to scout for, was nothing but the same slagging expanses of forests, mountains, and oceans.
'So now this is what is to become of me now', he thought. 'Being reduced to a pile of rust and left to whatever crawls upon this Primus-forsaken isle. Fraggit…Frag it all to the Pit!'
Slowly Starscream made his way into the cavern, bringing along whatever sense of dignity he had left with him…which, in this current case, was none.
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