Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any of the characters in it.
The planet he was currently on was strange to say the least. Bumblebee couldn't help but marvel at how small the dominate species of the planet they called Earth were. Hiding amongst them wasn't exactly an easy thing and he was forced to remain in his alt mode as he scouted. It wasn't that bad really, transforming was second nature to a Cybertronian as soon as they learned how to and they were able to stay in their alternate modes for long periods of time. Though not many actually chose to stay in their alt modes all that much unless they had to travel to another portion of Cybertron. So after quite a few orns on Earth, Bumblebee was aching to get out of his vehicle mode.
It had taken some time, but he had managed to find a large forest that he would be able to transform in without anyone noticing. As soon as he managed to drive inside of it, Bumblebee transformed. His limbs ached slightly, not used to being trapped inside of a vehicle form for that amount of time. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stay in his normal mode for that long, or else he risked being spotted by the humans and that was just too risky at the moment. Tiredly he sat down next to one of the larger trees, hoping that he wouldn't accidentally end up knocking it over.
Everything was much sturdier on Cybertron. Bumblebee wasn't used to having to make sure that he didn't destroy something by accident. He was far from being one of the largest and strongest of his species. On Earth, the things that may be sturdy to the native lifeforms of the planet, were fragile to him.
'This is the longest I've been alone,' Bumblebee thought to himself.
It was true. He had never went a whole orn without being with a family member or friend, let alone several orns. Bumblebee wasn't quite sure what to think about that. Part of him liked having this bit of freedom. The others trusted him to complete his mission by himself. And Bumblebee liked having that responsibility. But at the same time, a part of him missed having the others with him. He bet that they would like Earth. Even though it was a strange planet, Bumblebee still found it interesting.
Their music, movies, and television shows fascinated him. They had forms of those back on Cybertron as well, but by the time that he had come online they had stopped being made. Optimus and Elita had managed to find a few copies of old shows for younglings for him to watch for entertainment, but that had been his only glimpse at what the entertainment portion of his world had been like before. Well really he had heard some music too. He had a few memories of Elita singing a lullaby to him when he was younger. The thought of his mother, made him miss her even more.
Sure, he was used to being away from Elita since he normally stayed with Optimus, but he wasn't used to being away at this kind of distance. It was weird to Bumblebee. He was so used to being able to feel both of his creators through his spark bond with them, but now Elita's part of the bond felt so weak. He couldn't reach out and get a response from her, and really he didn't like it. It made him reach out for Optimus just so he could get some kind of response to make him feel better.
(Is something wrong little one?)
(No, nothing's wrong. I just miss 'Lita.)
(I know, I miss her too. How is your mission going?)
(Umm, okay I guess. Earth isn't as connected as Cybertron is. There are oceans that separate parts of it, but I think I'm in the right part. I was able to find something on the humans World Wide Web about a man and he was writing in Cybertronian, though the humans didn't know that. I'm trying to find more information about it.)
(You believe that could lead us to the AllSpark?)
(Maybe. I'm not really sure, but it's the lead I've found so far.)
Unfortunately the little bit of information he had found had told him that the human, Archibald Witwicky, was already dead. It seemed that humans had much shorter life spans than Cybertronians did. Bumblebee was hoping that maybe the human had given some information to his family – he just had to figure out who his family was.
(Alright, be careful.)
(I will be Optimus.)
Even though they were only communicating through their bond and not seeing each other or actually speaking, Optimus' worry came over clear. Bumblebee was used to having his father worry about him whenever he was off on a mission. It used to annoy him, but now he took it as comfort. He knew that it meant that Optimus would try to check in with him often, and on this mission, that was something Bumblebee would gladly welcome. Being silent for this long was pure torture to him! It wasn't like he could actually verbally speak anyway, but communicating through his bond with Optimus or sending messages through the comm. at least made him feel less alone and it made his mission slightly more bearable.
Bumblebee talked to Optimus for a little while longer. Apparently he had heard from Elita that she had left Cybertron. It was likely that if they found the AllSpark on this planet they would end up coming across the ship she was on, on their way back home. That made Bumblebee hope that he would be able to find proof that the AllSpark was on Earth and that they would be able to get it soon. He was ready to get back to his family, though part of him wouldn't mind staying on Earth longer. There seemed to be a lot to explore on this planet and a lot of different things to see. He wondered if Cybertron had been like that before. It probably had been. He couldn't imagine it, but if the stories he had been told were anything to go by, Cybertron used to be a lot different.
Shaking his head, Bumblebee tried to return his focus on his mission. He tried to get a grip on how human family units worked. For the most part they were similar to Cybertronians. Humans had creators, though they referred to them as parents, siblings, aunts, and uncles just like Cybertronians. Though after that things were a bit different. They didn't really have grandparents like the humans, at least they didn't have a term for them. Bumblebee was sure that some Cybertronians had met their creators creators, but he hadn't. They also didn't have a term for cousins, and in-laws were a completely foreign idea to Bumblebee. Apparently in the human culture since Elita and Chromia were sisters, it made Optimus and Ironhide brother-in-laws. Humans clearly had much larger family units than Cybertronians did. Bumblebee wasn't sure if that was a result of having much shorter lifespans compared to a Cybertronian or not.
Either way the largeness of the humans family units made tracking down Archibald Witwicky's family both easy and difficult at the same time. It was difficult because he wouldn't know who to check with first, but it was easy because once he was able to figure out which humans were related to Archibald, he wouldn't have to look at any of the other humans. At least he hoped he wouldn't. If the Witwickys ended up being a dead end, Bumblebee wasn't sure what he was going to do. He wasn't going to worry about that just yet though. Right now he had a set plan, all he needed was to get a little bit of recharge before starting his search.
Forcing himself to get back up, Bumblebee transformed back into his Earth alt-mode and drove out of the forest. He hated recharging in his alt-mode, but currently it was a necessity. He wasn't expecting that the humans would react all that well if they saw him in his normal mode, so staying hidden was a must. Plus there was also the chance that some Decepticons had found their way to the planet already as well and Bumblebee did not want to be spotted by them. He was expecting that he would end up coming across them before he left the planet, though he was really hoping that he wouldn't. At least not until he found proof of the AllSpark and the others came down.
It was two Earth days later when Bumblebee was able to find information on Archibald's family. The human had had a son named Clarence, though from what Bumblebee had found the man was dead as well. Clarence had a son named Herbet, and that man had had six children. Looking through each of the children individually Bumblebee was able to see that they were all still alive and several of them also had children. Ignoring the other children, Bumblebee returned his focus to the first six. Six humans, six places to look. That wasn't so bad at all.
Speeding off, Bumblebee headed in the direction of the eldest on the list, not paying any attention to the black human van following him.
