Chapter 12

"Mud war!"

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

Everyone at Earth Base held up with what they were doing and ran to the command deck from where the scream came from. They all knew to whom it belong to and did not wanna keep Megatron waiting. Mischief was all ready there to greet his leader but right now he was the wrong Decepticon at the wrong place at the wrong time. With a blink of an eye and no chance to step back the young Transformer got Megatrons' hand around his neck once more and was pushed down on the control panel, gazing with fear in to the leaders red optics.

"Where are all the Mini-Cons!" Megatron hissed and pushed up Mischief head harder against the panel. "Why aren't they here, working?"

Mischief had a small difficulty to answer the leaders question, not that Megatrons' hand was in the way, it was because he didn't know either. All he knew was that the Mini-Cons had been here at the base all morning and there'd been no sound of that anyone had left the base. Even Laser Arrow was missing.

"According to the Mini-Con signals they are not so far away. I'm gonna be nice and give you twenty minutes to find them or I, in personal, will take you apart piece by piece."

Neo walked calmly in to the room and in a discreet try to help Mischief's position at that moment. "Sir…Ask for permission to help-"

"No!" Megatron cut in and let go off Mischief, who slid down to the floor holding his hand carefully around his neck, and turned around to face the black seeker. "It is time to see what he has learned since he was taking in to this family."

The young Decepticon leaned against the panel and glanced over at Neo who shrugged slightly and agreed with Megatron. There was nothing more than do to just agree at the moment. Maybe he could sneak out and try giving a helping hand.

With very loud noises, Demolisher and Cyclonus tried to enter the room at the same time and got stuck in the door way.

"Move Demolisher, I was here first!" Cyclonus tried to push away the tank-bots head to make more room for himself to get loose.

But Demolisher did not move an inch; he just gave the helicopter a head butt. "Stop that, or I'll remove that thing that is supposed to be your head, from your body!"

As they continued to argue, Starscream walked up behind them and with one single kick he managed to get them through the doorway with out damaging it. "Out of my way!" was the only thing the red and withe seeker said with a slight annoyance in his voice when he walked pass Neo and over to Megatron.

Neo turned his head ways quickly and covered his mouth with the back of his hand when he saw the heap Demolisher and Cyclonus made on the floor. He could not show that he laughed or they would start arguing with his as well. Mischief just glared at the black seeker. How did he dare to smile? Neo did not notice the young Decepticons glare and when he'd managed to hold back the laughter he turned his head back again.

"Ahem…So where is the human, by the way?" Neo leaned against the wall acting like everything was cool and still trying to not smile, with is arms crossed he looked around but could not see Anna anywhere.

Mischief eyes widened. Now, if she was the one behind all this with the lost Mini-Cons causing Megatron blaming him instead of her… His optics started to glow. She was so gonna die! Fast, he straightened up and saluted with his optics focused on the wall in front of him.

"Sir, I'll find the missing Mini-Cons!" without looking his leader in to the optics. It was not smart in this situation since he was still furious about the missing Mini-Cons.

Neo nodded and smiled slightly for himself as he saw that Mischief did have some guts after all to show that he did what he could too help.

"Then why are you still here?" was the only thing the young Transformer got back before running out from the room, leaving the base to find the missing robots.

Megatron sighed and turned to his small group of four soldiers. "We'll return to the base and we'll see how this greenhorn can handle the situation." He looked over his shoulder, glancing at Neo. "We are expecting a new arrival."

The black seeker nodded once and watched the group disappear with the transporter back to the moon base.

Great, Neo thought and let his hands fall to his sides and leaned his head back, another Decepticon who'll join up in this war against the Autobots. Wonder who it would be this time? Last time it was he who'd been called to this green planet. Thinking of it, he could not say he didn't like to get away from Cybretron for a while. To see other things then just metal buildings and other none organic things and all the battles, explosions, that had been going for million of years now. To see the green grass fields and this very clear blue sky filled with withe fluffy clouds. A small smile appeared on his lips again and this time it was not the thought of Demolisher and Cyclonus stuck in the doorway, no it was out of joy. Sure, it was a strange feeling, but he kind a liked it. He did not feel it at first but right now he hoped that the search for Mini-Cons would take a little longer so he could get some time to explore this new planet to see what new things it could offer him too see.

He woke up from his dreaming. "Oh yes Mischief! I almost forgot," and knocked himself on the helmet a few times and laughed out loud for himself." Ha ha ha, must not get lost in these dreams… And I'm talking to myself…" With that he left the base.

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Sinking down in the cold water that embraced her, Anna could feel freedom. It was no worries down here, only the muffled sounds of bubbles floating up to the surface. A slight smile appeared on her lips. She really needed this. It must be the first real time she got to be clean in a couple of weeks. Get away this stench of the dirt on her skin and hair. But that was the thought beyond the freedom feeling, to bad it didn't last for long she could feel this before she needed to get up and get some air. Slowly her legs started to kick and soon she was up at the surface breathing in air and looked around. She was in the middle of the small lake where she'd almost drowned not so long ago, or it was rather a pond now when she saw it with a clear look and all round it Mini-Cons in all different shapes and colours was sitting. They seemed a bit worried… Maybe that was because they had left the base without no-one noticing. What if they would get punished when they were found? Anna sighed and swam to the edge where Laser Arrow met her with a big piece of cloth that now had the duty to be a towel. It had been a pain in the neck to get it fairly clean. Ish, to find out what had been on it… Anna shuddered and wrapped it around herself and winded it as a hooking.

"Thanks…" She gave the blue robot another smile and looked quickly over the other Mini-Cons. "They look a bit… down, don't you think?" she wringed out some water from her blond hair.

"A little…" Laser Arrow spoke in human language making Anna to freeze in her move and she looked with big eyes at her friend.

"You…spoke? In human language…"

Laser Arrow nodded and beeped. "((Learning…))" He followed the girl who walked around him one time before she went to a small tree where all her clothes were hanging to dry. It was pretty cool that he could talk. Not that she didn't get when he was beeping. She touched the clothes, they were still wet. Well understand and understand. It wasn't like he was talking to her like a human would do. It was something else, a bit hard to understand but she did understand the beeping in some strange sort of way. But now soon they could talk in the way she could.

Looking down at the yellow and green Mini-Con who that was sitting almost beside the tree Anna's smile slowly went back to her serious face. Maybe she shouldn't have brought them with her. With a sigh she turned to all Mini-Cons.

"Okay… I see that my little plan was no great idea after all, so I-

"You bet it wasn't!"

Anna spun around and saw the blue car with the red flames on the hood driving towards her.

"Have you any idea of when trouble you got me in to?" Mischief transformed to robot mode and had to stop himself from stomping on Anna even though he knew Laser Arrow would protect her. "I thought I was going to lose my head this time!"

"I'm sure you wouldn't notice if it was removed!" Anna spat back and grabbed the 'towel' when it almost lost its hooking as she calmed down and lowered her head. "… I was on my way back since they-" she nodded to the side at all the small robots behind her. "-didn't enjoy the small freedom I tried to give them…"

Mischief looked up and saw all the Mini-Cons around the pond. Everyone was keeping a distance from each other. All the eyes looking at him, optics filled with worry, made him forget that he was mad at the girl and walked pass Anna and over to the small robots.

"Hey, if you all come with me now I promise you won't take any blame, it was all m-.. her fault." He nodded back at Anna, who snapped. Okay that was it he asked for it.

She walked back to the water, put her hand down in the water and picked up a hand full of mud. Oh he was so gonna get it! With all her power she threw the mud ball at Mischief and hit him in the face over one of his optics.

"Argh.. What did you do that for?" the young Decepticon wiped it away and could feel the rage against Anna come back.

"You always put the blame on me when it is your fault as well!"

"Oh… so it is MY fault that you and all these Mini-Cons are out here having a 'fun'?"

"You should keep your optics up for intruders… or in this case; escapers!" She picked up another hand of mud, ready to throw it at Mischief.

"U-uh, you wouldn't dare…" his yellow optic narrowed and his voice lowered to a hissing.

"Watch me…" and so did Anna's.

All this caught the Mini-Cons attention and they all looked interested on what soon would happen. They all saw how Anna pulled her arm back and threw the mud ball as hard as she could at the Decepticon and it was once again a direct hit in the face. All the worries in their optics disappeared and was replaced admiring. A human that was way way smaller then a Transformer, dared to stand up against him, throwing mud at him and still stand on the same spot with out running away with the knowing that she would be persecuted.

Mischief wiped away the mud and his optics started to glow. "Is that the way you want it… fine with me…" An evil grin came up on his lips, glancing at the clothes hanging in the small tree as he transformed in to car mode.

"O-oh, you wouldn't!" Anna knew what he was going to do.

"Watch me…" he replied back and parked so that he had the clothes behind him as he let his back tires spin in the dirt letting it fly all over the clean -now almost dry- clothes.

The closest Mini-Cons moved aside to keep a small distance from the Decepticon. Laser Arrow was one of them, not that he was afraid of Mischief he just didn't wanna get involved in this fight.

Anna just stared at her clothes as they got dirtier and dirties for every second. "Stop that!" She picked up a third hand of mud and threw it at Mischief, but this time he was prepared, transformed to robot mode and ducked while the mud ball kept flying and hit Laser Arrow in the face, sending him fly backwards to the ground.

Anna held her breath. Woops that was not the target.

Laser Arrow sat up and wiped the mud of his face, keeping it in his hand as he looked at Anna with wide optics.

"Laser Arrow, I'm so sor-"

The mud that Laser Arrow held in his hand, hit her in the face before she finished the sentence. He was now a part of the fight.

Chocked, Anna spit out some of the mud that she got in her mouth and wiped away some mud from her eyes. "What…?

Another Mini-Con looked down in the pond, picked up some mud and looked at it when it ran through its fingers.

"Come on, throw it at someone," Anna suggested, straighten the 'towel' again since it didn't wanna stay hooked and just waited to see what the small robot would do. Just stand there letting it all drip to the ground? Or throw it at a fellow Mini-Con?

Laser Arrow beeped at his friends and got several of beeps back, all in different tones. Amazing, Anna thought. They don't have a similar beep, any of them.

Mischief saw how fascinated Anna looked when she heard all the beeps and tones. "You should hear them when they start singing."

"Sing?"

"It is just something they do when they wanna stand strong together." The young Transformer said and watched how the Mini-Con threw the mud on Laser Arrow. "They have this song that will fill the air. Some find it irritating other beautiful." Laser Arrow held up the shield on his arm preventing the mud to hit him and he was wearing a small smile on his lips. Soon all Mini-Cons were having a small mud fight against each other. Mud flying across the pond hitting a fellow on the other side who threw back at the attacker. All the different beeping sounds were filling the air and they sounded happier then before. They were actually having fun. "But…" he continued. "I've never heard it."

A new mud ball hit Anna on the arm. "Hey I just got myself clean!" She scarped it of and threw it at Mischief without thinking. Everyone stopped in their action and just looked at the Decepticon, what would happen now?

Mischief looked at Anna, his optics narrowed and he pointed at the mud.

"Okay you asked for it!" Mischief transformed into a car again and did the same thing to Anna like he did to her clothes a few minutes ago. As best as she could she shielded with her arms! She gave up a shriek when she felt the cold mud on her naked arms and legs. When Mischief finally stopped and transformed back to robot mode, he looked at the now very dirty girl with crooked back looking down at her feet, breathing slowly as she lifted her head up. Her when her eyes reached the Transformer he could feel the coldness they shot at him and her face was sulky.

"Hey, you started it…" Mischief defended himself and leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest and waited for her to yell at him, but it never came any yelling.

No, her head dropped and her shoulders started to shake. Quiet sounds that reminded of sobbing were heard from her but they started to sound more like laughter. Quick she lifted her head back up and her face was shining from smiling and the sounds from her mouth were laughter, from with all her heart.

"You guys should see yourselves!"

The Mini-Cons looked at each other. They were all covered with mud. You could almost not see what colour they used to be.

"And look at me…" She opened her arms so everyone could see how dirty she was and she laughed more.

"What is that sound you do?" Mischief asked and remembered that Neo had been holding it back earlier at the Earth Base when he saw Demolisher and Cyclonus fight in the small doorway. "I've never heard it before…"

Anna took a deep breath. "What? You've never heard laughter?" She found it very odd. How could you not have heard laughter? "Then you must be a very boring person, you know that?" she scratched away some dried mud from her face.

Mischief then remembered what Neo told him the other day.

"Humans have and show more emotions then we do."

It seemed like he was right. Mischief was just about to open his mouth when they heard a creaking sound, something that broke and a crash not so faraway from where they were standing.

"What was that?"

All the Mini-Cons dropped the mud they held in their hands and gathered up in a group. All the happiness they just shared was gone again.

Mischief noticed them and brushed of the mud. "I'll go check it out. You stay here and just keep quiet."

Quiet, he moved among the trees when he saw how a big rock was visible through the bushes. They were not so far away from the road. He moved a little further and soon he could see a blue body lying, half hidden by small bushes, not so far from him. He kind a recognized him; It was one of the Autobots from the last fight, who had hailed him to the side making him fall over. What was his name again? Mischief knew he heard when the second in command introduced them too Anna, something that started with an 'S'. Side…something.

Carefully he moved over to the young Autobot to see if he still was alive. He reached out one hand to poke the Autobot in the shoulder when he heard a groaning from him and pulled his hand back.

"You…?" Sideswipe spoke when he saw Mischief standing in front of him. "You and your dirty tricks…" was all he managed to say before passing out again.

What's going on here? The blue car-bot looked around to see what had caused this. When he looked up he saw something interesting. Up at the road, by a big hole in the metal fence he saw the yellow car-bot standing on his knees, talking to an unknown black cat-bot, who also was aiming a gun him. Okay something was going one here. How could one single Decepticon beat up two Autobots and still be standing and aiming his gun at the second in command? He must be very strong and have a very great will power!

Mischief watched with wide optics how the unknown car-bot shot the Autobot with out giving a care… it was in cold blood. The yellow Autobot sunk down on the ground.

The young Decepticon looked up when he heard the sound of jet engines and spotted Neo, who landed beside the back car-bot. By all the hand gestures, they had a lot to talk about. Neo pointed down at the Autobot and the unknown Transformer just crossed his arms cocking his head to the side.

Slowly Mischief backed in to the bushes again. He had not yet been spotted by anyone then this Side… what ever his name was.

Back at the pond, Anna had brushed of the dirt of her now dry clothes. You could not think they'd been cleaned just a few minutes ago. She wrinkled her nose when he pulled her sort over her head. Eww it was all sandy inside them too. The sound of an engine made her forget the sandy situation for a while.

"So, what was it?" she asked when Mischief parked beside her.

Mischief just opened the side door. "Get in, we must return to the base, now."

"Mischief what's wrong?" she did not like this but after pulling on her pants she jumped in to Mischief.

"Everyone, follow us back to the base, and remember; we will take the blame…" Mischief engine roared once as he took off. "Hope that no one is at the base when we arrive." This was only meant for Anna to hear since he didn't want to worry the Mini-Cons.

Laser Arrow walked in the lead of Mini-Cons. Some looked back at the pond, where there were very visible traces of the mud war. They helped each other to scrape away the dry mud while walking, because they didn't wanna show that they had been outside with out permission. Laser Arrow glanced back at his friends. It was his part –which Anna had given him- to bring them back to safety. He was the only Mini-Con that had a partner among all of them so he was a small part of the Decepticon team, so he felt responsible for them, not only as a Decepticon tool but as a fellow Mini-Con.

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Well back at the Earth Base, the fellowship was lucky. No one was around to see them return.

They thought…

"So… did you find what was lost?"

Mischief jumped back and almost stepped on Anna if she wouldn't have been pulled back by Laser Arrow who did react faster then he did when the black seekers suddenly appeared.

Neo walked around the corner and stood face to face with Mischief. As it sounded he was not going to tell that after one hour of searching, Mischief finally returned, with success. He looked over the young Decepticons shoulder and saw all the Mini-Cons. They clung up closer to each other when they saw the black seeker looking down at them. They had been spotted.

"I see you did find what was lost." He smiled at all the frightened mini robots. "Hey, calm down," he waved nonchalant with his hand, "I'm not gonna tell, okay?"

All the small optics saw how they were given a thumb up from the Decepticon and they nodded slightly.

Mischief blinked and was confused over how Neo was acting. It was almost scaring.

"Good… and no if you excuse me" he moved Mischief out of his way and walked through the group of Mini-Cons. "The new Decepticon is waiting to be escorted to the Moon Base. Ta!"

"You know… If he'd been human, I'd say he's high…" Anna coughed and walked pass Mischief, who was just looking after the black seeker still confused over the acting.


To be Continued…
Okay, while writing this I had a small problem with the key "S" ... since I –ahem- accidentally spilled some Fanta on it O.o. But now it seems like it started to work as normal as it can for being sticky underneath. XP –bleh-

The small inspiration of this chapters "mud fight"was actually the song from Disney's "Tarzan", the song that Turk sings/plays when they discovers the camp the first time.