Beast Wars

Chapter 10: First Day part 3

After English, the three went to Lunch. But they went to their secret hideaway, up on the High School roof. They got there without anyone finding out, and got out their lunches. But before they ate, they land to look around for someone. Then suddenly, something pounced on Justin and fell flat on his back. He looked up and saw Cheetor, in Beast mode smiling. "How's it shakin', guys?"

"Doing great and I might be doing better if you could get off me.", Justin said, as le was trying to breathe. Cheetor got off of him and sat down with the others, eating a little tuna that Justin brought.

They all talked about what went on during their classes. Justin told them that Aelita wowed the Math teacher by solving all the problems with ease. Alex commented that she might be super-smart like Justin. Cheetor got a little pouty, "Rrowl. It isn't fair! It sounds like a blast in there! Slag! I wish I could at least go inside to see what its like." Justin and Alex just laughed their heads off at the teen Maximal's reaction.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

The boys looked at Aelita, who seemed to be sulking while picking at her lunch. Justin asked, "What's wrong Aelita?"

She shot them a look that showed she was upset and angry. "What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG! WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT DURING THE FIRST FOUR CLASSES WE HAD TOGETHER! ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS ISOLATED YOUR DESK FROM EVERYONE ELSE LIKE YOU WERE SOME KIND OF MONSTER! AND THEN THERE WAS THAT GIRL, TONI WATSON, CALLING YOU AND ALEX LOSERS! IF YOU ASK ME SHE AND EVERYONE ELSE ARE DOWNRIGHT NASTY!"

Alex and Cheetor looked surprised at Aelita as she blew up with frustration. Justin just calmly ate his lunch and said, "It's because of me actually." Aelita and Cheetor were surprised when Justin said that.

"You see, my parents weren't as rich as everyone else or had better jobs, so they couldn't afford anything for me and my sis. Just enough to get us food, clothes, and for a school or college education. So my sister and I could only find stuff that could have been just as useful in the scrap yard. Everyone thought that was kind of disgusting so they always called us the trash family."

"Alex saw things a little differently and thought what I could do by turning junk into something else was pretty cool. He's actually the only person outside my family to think so." Alex nodded at that. He thought what Justin could do was amazing, and the reason he wanted to be friends was because he wanted to, not for what he could give him.

"So it can't be helped if they think about me like that. Nothing I do is going to sway them, so I just hope for the best and am thankful for what I have now and for the friends I have." Aelita looked a little hurt for what she said a little while ago.

"But now I'm thankful even more because I got to meet the Maximals, and you." Cheetor was touched by what he said, and Aelita was too. She had no idea that his whole life was full of hardships, and yet he still showed no grudges against anyone. She seemed to have a better understanding of Justin now.

After Lunch

Cheetor went back on guarding the kids from the shadows and out of sight. The trio decided they could spend time at the library. Which was also a mission objective; they were going to check out a World Atlas for the Maximals to complete their map of the planet.

As they searched for it, they didn't take into account that Josh and Brad had followed them in. They thought the best way to get to the girl was to separate them in a big place, and the library was one of the biggest and most empty place in the entire school.

They saw the three split up and saw the girl they learned was named Aelita, go into the Reference section. Josh followed her while Brad went after the two losers to try and keep them busy. Either way she was going to be his girl, and what Josh Weldon wanted, he got.

In the Reference Section

Aelita was looking through from shelf to shelf, trying as hard as she could to find a book on information, any information that would help her find any clue about anyone that was like her. Justin said to her that they would find the Atlas book. He said she could look around to read any book, so she went to the Reference Section seeing that the Librarian was out to lunch.

She spotted one book that looked interesting, Aliens: Is the Truth Out There? "Hmm, this seems interesting enough. It might have something about me and the Transformers." She went to the section, completely unaware that she was being followed. She went into the Science Fiction center and found the book she was looking for. As she pulled the book out, she turned around only to bump into a boy who was bigger and older than she was.

She recognized the boy as one of the two who tried to tackle them, Josh Weldon. He smiled at her, and that made her feel a little uneasy. She was about to walk away until he spoke, "Hey cutie, name's Josh. I hear your name's Aelita. From my guess, it's a name that holds much mystery to it. A mystery I'd like to 'uncover', if you know what I mean."

Aelita did not like the way this guy was talking to or looking at her; she wished Justin were here.

Meanwhile

Justin and Alex were being pushed around by Brad in order to make sure they couldn't get to Aelita or Josh. Justin and Alex had found the Atlas, but now they were trying to get past the bully. "Hey man, we're not in the mood for this. Okay?" Brad pulled up Alex by the collar of his shirt like he was about to slug him one. "Funny, cause I'm in the mood for a good smackdown."

Justin stepped up and tried to get Brad to let his friend down. "Hey Brad, just knock it off, okay?"

"Knock it off? KNOCK IT OFF!", Justin could tell this guy was pissed off. He could tell because he put Alex down and picked Justin up the same way and slammed him back first into one of the book shelves very hard. "I'LL KNOCK YOUR LITTLE NIMROD HEAD OFF, YOU…"

But before he could finish or could do anything, Brad was knocked over the side by the Atlas book that Justin and Alex had picked out. Brad was out of it by one blow as he let Justin go and fell down on his side, completely unconscious. "Thanks, Al.."

"Sorry, but you're way off, Justin."

Justin looked up before he could finish thanking Alex, only he was still sitting on the ground trying to collect himself from the lack of air. He looked up and saw Toni Watson, holding the Atlas, and held out her hand to help him up. He accepted it, and was helped up. Alex got up as well, still feeling a little out of breath.

"Uh, thanks. I think." Justin was a little confused at this situation; seeing is how a girl who hated his guts would suddenly help him and his friend. Toni just turned away and he swore he saw her go crimson for a minute, "Yeah whatever. I'll go help your friend here, you've got to go help Aelita from getting nabbed by that playboy Josh."

"What!"

Back with Aelita
She was trying to get away from Weldon but he grabbed unto her and it was starting to hurt her. "Why don't you just say that you go out with me, huh?" Josh had tried every pickup line he had done in his high school years and this girl was not going for any one of them. He got so frustrated with her talking about that loser, Seyvont that he just wanted to slap her here and now.

Aelita wasn't liking this guy anymore than she did of that girl from English class. He had said some awful things and now he was telling her to lose Justin and hang out with him from now on; he was nastier than that girl was, "Let go of me! I don't even like the kind of person you are! You're nothing like Justin at all…"

Before she could finish, Josh slapped her across her face and she fell on her knees. She touched the side of her face where he struck; now she was even more scared of this guy. They both didn't notice that the lights began to flicker as some of the computers went haywire, as did the phones. Josh was wondering 'What the heck', but didn't notice that Aelita was in a trance for a moment as her eyes began to glow white.

Justin saw where they were and went in that direction; he just hoped that he wasn't too late. But was more weird was all the commotion that was going on.

At the Axelon

Rhinox was working on the computer console, while everyone was busy doing something else. Just then, a map flashed on the screen and he saw tiny little red dots just suddenly flash on and off. He noticed they were all over the world going off. He suddenly realized what these were.

"The stasis pods…they're all still functional!"

Rhinox began recording all the locations as best as he could. "Optimus will need to know about this right away. Fast."

At the Inferno
Blackarachnia was just relaxing near the computers; everyone else was busy hunting for Energon or scheming on the next plan of attack. She had been left on monitor duty and nothing was happening, until the computer lit up and showcased a bunch of red dots in different locations all over the world.

"So, Blackarachnia, what have you found here? Yess."

She was startled and turned around to find Megatron looking over her shoulder. She thought, 'Sheesh! Doesn't this guy give a warning before he sneaks behind you?' "I'm not sure. They seem to be giving out a Maximal beacon. But they're not moving anywhere."

Megatron knew what they were now. "Ah, the stasis pods. Yess. They must have fallen off the Maximal's ship when they crashed here with us." He turned to Blackarachnia. "Hurry! Try and map their locations before we lose the signals. Yess."

Megatron may not have the Key, but as soon as his forces were ready he was going to get something even better: reinforcements.

Bach at the Library
Everything had returned to normal as Aelita was slowly getting up. Her eyes had stopped glowing as she did; but Josh grabbed her by the wrist and made her look at him. "Now you listen to me, you witch. We can do things easy or hard. You can either be my girl, or I'll make Seyvont's life a living hell if you decide no. And trust me, if you thought I was tough when we met, then…"

"Let her go, Josh!"

They both looked to see Justin, with his fists balled up and ready to fight. Aelita could never be happier to see him, "Justin!" Josh, however, wasn't, "back off Seyvont, this doesn't concern you."

He then saw the slap mark on her face and Justin just lost it. "It does when you hurt my friend." Josh didn't see it coming, but Justin had run up and slugged him one in the face as hard as he could, causing Josh to let go of Aelita as she ran beside Justin.

Justin could not believe what he had just done; he punched Josh 'the Animal' Weldon in the face. Josh had straightened himself out and looked at the two. All his life, bullying this kid he got lucky and sucker punched him. He was steaming now; he didn't care about the girl now, he was going to kill Seyvont this time.

He started to walk up to the two and stood in front of Seyvont, who was trying not to feel intimidated. "Alright, Seyvont, you want to fight then get ready. Because I'm going to rip out your he…"

THWAKK!

Josh was in a whole world of pain now as he slumped to the ground, moaning in pain. Before he could land a punch on him, Aelita stepped up and kicked him in the Gonads as hard as she could. It was such a fast and powerful, that he fell down and passed out from the pain.

Justin was stunned from this sudden turn of events; not only did he punch Weldon in the face, but Aelita kicked him in his 'marble sack'. He thought, 'I guess she took Rachel's advice to heart.' Aelita turned around to face Justin and just hugged him for dear life. He hugged back to comfort her. "Uh, Aelita. I think we might have to leave the library before he wakes up and not in the best of moods."

She broke the hug and nodded. They left but not before they checked out the two books and got to the next class before the bell.

Later on
The three, now four seeing as how Toni Watson had unofficially become part of the group, had finished the last three classes. Before that, Justin asked Aelita if she wanted to go to the nurses to have her slap injury looked at, but she shrugged it off seeing it would go away. Surprisingly, Alex saw that it was healing quickly; luckily Toni didn't notice it when she was heading to class.

Biology was loads of fun; Aelita had no idea that the human body had so many functions or complex organs such as the brain or skin itself was the largest organ on the body.

P.E., however, was a little difficult due to the coach being such a hardass. After that, she cleaned up and on her way to Theatre class, she bumped into Toni again. She decided to try and apologize to her and to thank her as well. She was a little nervous at first but just got it out with a bow. "Um, Toni. I just wanted to say thank you for your help in the library."

Toni just shrugged it off, but Aelita wanted to ask her something. "Can I ask you something?" Toni was just going to have to answer her anyway, whatever dumb question it was. "Why did you help us? I thought you hated Justin."

Toni softened a bit and answered, "I kind of overheard what he said on the roof. I guess it kind of got me thinking to ease off the guy." Aelita was a little surprised and worried; if she overheard them on the roof, then that means she must have learned about Cheetor and the Maximals. She nervously asked her, "Ah, when you overheard did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Toni looked at her puzzled and answered, "Not really I was just going up the roof to get a bit of fresh air, but before I could open the door I heard you guys talking." She then got a thought in her head that made her smile like a fox. "Why? Were you and Justin making out after?"

Aelita was puzzled and asked her what 'making out' meant. Toni looked a little shocked at this girl, 'Is she really fifteen?', she thought. She would have to tell her later on as they got to their last class for the day.

After school was Over

Aelita had joined up with Justin and Alex, but not before Toni joined up with them. Justin and Alex were a little uneasy with her around until she said, "I'll see you guys here tomorrow, okay?" This got the guys to look at this surprisingly as they saw her walking towards the way she went to get home. Justin thought, 'Toni Watson, being friendly with us? What the heck?'

It made it even weirder when she turned around and said, "by the way Justin, Aelita said you punched Weldon right across his face. Nice move there!" Justin was confused until Aelita told them everything. The boys asked her if she overheard about the Maximals or saw Cheetor. She said no and that got them relieved. She was puzzled about this and Justin explained, "You see, Toni's part of the school paper. She's sort of like a reporter, you know on the TV. She investigates and is known for her stories about unusual things happening around our town."

Alex jumped in saying, "Ya might say she's a regular fanatic about UFO's or legendary monsters." Justin nodded, "I think it's only a matter of time before she learns the truth about the Transformers. I think we might have to be careful around her when it comes to that."

Aelita disagreed, "I don't know, I think she can keep a secret about this." Justin took that into consideration; he guessed they would have to tell her about it, if she became a good friend and could be trusted with this big a secret. He would have to think about that later as they walked home. Alex went his separate way on his bike while Justin and Aelita walked back home.

Seyvont Residence

The two teens had gotten home and Rachel welcomed them home with the biggest bear hug imaginable. "Ooohhh, I missed you guys all day. Come on in, you must be starving. I ordered out."

The three teens, including Cheetor who transformed into robot mode and joined in, walked in and ate out. Justin asked Cheetor if eating organic food was good, and he answered that the bodies were designed to take in organic food for the beast forms to stay fresh and be a second power source.

After dinner, Justin went up to his room to get his work done and Cheetor went up with him to read some of the books he had; he also wanted to get the Atlas to Optimus as soon as he could. He had told Justin about the transmission over his comlink that the stasis pods had somehow become functional after their dormant state after so long.

Meanwhile Rachel and Aelita stayed downstairs to have a little girl talk. She told her all about the classes, Toni, and Josh. After that, Rachel must have felt worse than anything else. "Aelita, if I had known about what would have happened I…"

Aelita stopped her and said, "Its okay. Everything turned out alright. I think Toni's decided to be a friend instead of a bully. And I think Josh will reconsider his attitude towards Justin and me." The girls couldn't help but laugh as Rachel remembered hearing about Josh getting kicked in his privates that hard.

After Aelita was done helping her, she decided to go upstairs to her room and start on her homework. Rachel sat on the couch to think about something. She also heard that Justin slugged Josh when trying to help Aelita; in all his life he never stood up to that guy, until now.

She smiled as she sipped her coffee and thought, 'I guess it was bound to happen sometime. Those two don't know it yet, but I think they're becoming more than just friends.'

Next Chapter: the Quick and the Deadly