"Nikki, we've been looking for the seed sense 3 ante-meridian," I let out a yawn, "Can't we just go get something at KO Burger and head back to base?" "I'm not enjoying this either, Ariona. Don't you want to save our home planet?" Nikki asked. "Of course I do, but I kind of like Earth more," Nikki gives me a look. "If we don't, there wont be anymore Oronian Energon for us to refuel on, and we'll wither up and crumble to dust," Nikki says. I shivered. Nikki has told me about how Oronians reproduce, and how they die.
"I understand how you feel, Nikki. But, we can't tire ourselves out. We still need rest," My inner stomach growls, "and substitute energy," "I'm getting pretty hungry, too," Steel, the Scraplet comments while sitting on my shoulder. "Do you even have a mouth to eat with?" Nikki asks. "Yes," Steel answers simply. "He does," I say. "Alright, whatever," Nikki sighed, "I guess we'll take a break," Steel and I cheered, "I heard Jack was working today, maybe he'll give us a discount," I said with a smile. "I highly doubt about that," Nikki replied.
:
"Hey guys, we're back!" I called out, skating into the Autobot base along with Nikki. "Hey there, squirt," Bulkhead greets me. I made a face at him, then I notice him and Miko sitting in front of the television, which was emitting noises of crowds cheering. "Give it up for the baddest beast machines on the planet!" The television says, striking me with curiosity. I walked over, turn into my human form and climbed up the steps and sat next to Miko, "What are you guys watching?" I take out the vanilla shake I got from KO Burger and take a sip.
"What else? We're watching monster trucks!" Miko replies, then sees the large truck run over a smaller one, crushing it, "Oh right!" My mouth was slightly opened from seeing the car getting crushed. I completely ignore the shake in my mouth and it dripped down onto my lap. "Would you mind lowering the volume...?" Ratchet asked in annoyance. "Hey Ratch, check out this monster truck rally Miko took me to last week," Bulkhead said. "Innocent vehicles battling for the pleasure of human spectators?" Ratchet shivered in disgust, "Blood sport!" I'd have to agree with him, honestly.
"You could be helping out Optimus in the field right now" Ratchet said. "He doesn't need my help searching for some ancient educational...thing-a-ma-bob," Bulkhead replied. I blinked in confusion, "What?" Ratchet shakes his head, "The "thing-a-ma-bob" you're referring to is a Cybertronian data cylinder," Ratchet says, pressing a button in front of him. The television was now showing a information map of a cylinder shape. "Hey!" Miko complained along with Bulkhead. Beats oil gore.
"There is no telling what vast intelligence it may hold," Ratchet says. "A lot of data in a tinder cylinder? Is this like a flash drive for Cybertronians?" I asked. "A tinder cylinder? They don't call it that, idiot," Nikki rolls her optics. "Fine, whatever," I sighed and take another drink from my shake. Ratchet blinked at me before continuing on, "During the golden age, dozens of these cylinders were created, each containing the sum total of Cybertronian knowledge on any subject. When the war broke out, the were scattered to other galaxies, keeping far from Decepticon reach.
"But, finding one here, on Earth, is the opportunity off-" "Ugh, TMI, dude," Miko interrupts. "Switch it back, I wanna see what happens next!" Bulkhead says. "Oh, come on you guys, I was actually interested into something historical," I whined. "And that's a rare thing," Nikki says. Steel remains quiet on my head. "Ratchet, Decepticon ambush! The cylinder is at risk, we acuire back-up!" Optimus says over the com-link. "Phew, finally, something to let off some steam," I finish my shake and throw the cup into the trash can nearby. "Ariona! That's the third one today!" Nikki says, mentioning the shake.
"So?" I asked. "You're going to make yourself sick!" Nikki shouts. "You had three of those?" Miko gives me a look. "What? Sweet stuff are delicious. Besides, my inner stomach's made of steel, I can handle it," I smiled. Slowly, there was a strange feeling in the lower part of my body and my smile disappears. "Let's get a move on," Bulkhead pounds his fist into his palm and runs over to the bridge opening with Nikki. I take Steel off my head and set him down on the couch, telling him to stay put and I ran over to the stairs. I jump off from the top step and transformed into my robot mode, landing on the floor and running off into the bridge opening.
Stepping through, I find myself in a rock canyon filled with Autobots and Vehicons. Knock Out and Breakdown are here as well, my two favorite Decepticons. I bare out my blades and ran to the nearest Vehicon, slicing it up into two. "Ariona, heads up!" I look over to Nikki and see her spinning a Vehicon before throwing it to me. I calculate where the Vehicon was going and put my blades up in the air. The Vehicon flies over my head into my blades and I slice it in half vertically. I shut my optics once I felt Energon drip onto my helm. "Well, that's pleasant," I muttered, wiping the Energon off with my forearm after dis-guarding the blades.
I blinked, hearing someone behind me and quickly turn around. I catch Knock Out's punch with my hand, letting out a small gag from the force. "Ah, Snowflake. It's been a while sense our last run in," Knock Out says with the same sly voice, smirking. "You're not exactly sight for sore eyes," I reply back, using full force to push him back and back flip. I land next to Nikki and bare out my blades. "Run in?" Nikki asked with a raised optic ridge, overhearing our small conversation. "I'd rather not talk about it," I say bluntly. "What do you mean "not talk about it"? What did you guys-?" "Vehicon, twelve o'clock," I interrupt, putting my blades together and shoot at a Vehicon to our right. Nikki eyes me before running off to take down more 'Cons.
I then caught something in my sights: A cylinder. Must be the tinder cylinder old bot was talking about. "Autobots! We must not let the data cylinder fall into Decepticon hands!" I hear Optimus say. I stare at the cylinder intentionally for a bit before making a break towards it. "Ah!" Something slams into me from the left, grabbing me as I was sent flying yards away from the cylinder. "Oof!" I land on my side with something on my other side. I quickly shake my head and look up to see Knock Out.
"Are you trying to tempt me?" I asked, baring out my blades again, slightly stabbing Knock Out on the chest plate. Knock Out leans away from me, seeing the results of the damage. "Look at what you did to-!" Knock Out was interrupted when my foot kicks him at the forehead, knocking him back a couple of feet away from me. I try to get up, but my right arm wouldn't follow. I look down and notice my blade lodged deep inside the Earth's crust. "Slag!" I mutter to myself and look up back at Knock Out to see him get up and glare at me. I gasped and try to dislodge my right blade from the ground.
"Ugh! [Come on, you stupid thing!]" I hissed in frustration. I gave one last pull and my blade gives out. "Ah!" My arm causes me to whirl around, almost punching Knock Out, who manages to catch my fist in his hand and used the other one to punch my face. This punch was hard, too. Slag! I fell onto my back, feeling my sore face. I blinked once I felt the slight dent on my cheek. I clenched my dentals and furrowed my optic ridges, looking up at Knock Out. He stood over me as he smirked, his right arm turning into a circular saw.
My optics widen and I quickly put my blades together to form a cannon. I mostly aimed my cannon at the circular saw, watching it slowly turn. My inner stomach tightened again, slightly fearing the saw. Knock Out raised and optic ridge at this, no longer smirking. Seeing Bulkhead falling to the ground behind Knock Out, I glanced at him, then back at the saw. I then hear something in the sound waves that made my audio sensors ring a bit. I clicked. Wait, is that laser shooting from the cylinder? I completely turn my attention to Bulkhead wider optics, mouth agape. Knock Out notices this and turns around to see what I was looking at.
The red laser stops emitting from the cylinder, and the sound stops along with it. My audio sensors stop ringing just enough time for me to hear Knock Out finish his sentence. He grabs me at my arm and whirls around, letting me go and aloud me to be hurled across the canyon. I stopped breathing for a couple of minutes once I crash onto Bulkhead's back. I let out a gag, which was louder this time. I kick the ground and somersault off of Bulkhead and land on my back on the ground. "Ugh...[Ouch...]," I groaned, falling limp.
Knock Out walks over to us, picking up the data cylinder, "You really took one for the team, Bulkhead. My team," He smirked before retreating with Breakdown, running into their bridge. "Ough..." I cursed in my Oronian language, sitting up and covering my mouth, feeling something come up and go back down. I pushed myself up from the ground and stood upright. Optimus, Arcee, Nikki and Bumblebee ran over to us. "Bulkhead, are you-" "Fine, I don't feel any different," Bulkhead says to Optimus. I vomit out breath, lazily keeping my optics.
:
"Ariona, what happens to you?" Steel asked in worry, seeing the chipped off metal and dents all over my body. The one on my cheek stood out more. "She got a beating from her male friend," Nikki said, patting my back with a slight smirk. "Ha ha, very funny," I scowled at Nikki. Nikki laughs, "You're so cute when you're mad," Nikki pats my head, causing my face to warm up in embarrassment. "Why are you all so cheerful now? You voice sounded angry back at that fight. Are you bi-polar, or something?" I asked. Nikki's smile disappeared, "I'm not bi-polar, just using fake emotion," "Fake?" I bit my lip. "And I wasn't mad, just concerned. Take a rest, I'm going back out to look for the seed," Nikki pats my shoulder before using the bridge as an exit.
I let out a sigh, sitting on the crate next to me, "Every time I get somewhat pulverized, she's always concerned about me. I don't get it, I'm not as young as I used to be. I mean, come on, I fought in the Cybertronian war for crying out loud," I used my my knee to hold my arm upright and I place my chin on my hands. "Who're you talking to?" Steel asked. "No one, or you, whichever one makes sense," My lips form a line as I look up at him. Steel shakes his head and jumps down from the railing onto my shoulder pad. I lift my head up from my hands and looked at him from the corner of my optics.
"She's just protective of you, that's why. I even sometimes wonder if you two were mates, with the way she concerns about you," Steel says. "My what?" I raised an optic ridge. "Well, uh, don't take my saying seriously. No, wait..." Steel sighed, giving up on how to explain it. I sighed, "Well, I guess I could say Nikki and I are like a family. We look out for each other. Nikki can be considered as the older sister, seeing how over protective she is at times," Steel nods, "Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant to say,"
"So, what are you going to do about this?" Steel's tiny arm stroked the dent on my cheek. "Oronian's have human D'N'A. Over time, our wounds will heal up, of course, some wounds will leave scars," I said. "Oh, right, right," Steel nods in understatement. "...Speaking of which, I don't recall any Scraplets on Oronion. Care to tell me how you came to be?" I asked. "Well, uh..." I waited for an answer. "I guess things will be better explained once time passes," Steel said after a long pause. "Okay...?" I said. "Bulk, what are you doing?" I blinked and looked up, hearing Miko's voice. "What the...?" I breathed out with wide optics.
Bulkhead was using a mop, painting a weird symbol on the wall. I stood up from the crate, walking over to get a closer look, still wearing a surprised expression. "Do you have any idea what this is?" Miko asked me. My gem emits a beam. It stops on the wall and the blue beam becomes wider, going up and down over the symbol, scanning. The beam disappears and my optics flash off. I looked at the results and my optics clicked back on. "No idea, I've never seen anything like this before," I answered. "I'll go get Ratchet," Miko runs off. I narrowed my eyes, trying to read the symbols. But, I failed at attempt once I felt my processor starting to hurt.
"See, did I tell you, or what?" Miko comes back with Ratchet. The doc bot blinks, "That isn't art, it's science," Ratchet said with disbelief in his voice. "Science? No wonder I was having trouble trying to figure it out," I said. "We have to tell Optimus. Ariona, bridge everyone back," Ratchet orders.
:
"You see this hotspot here? It's information. Data, living energy," Ratchet explains while pulling up an x-ray of Bulkhead's processor on the screen. "Wait, hold on. It's alive, and it's in Bulkhead's brain?" Miko asked in alert. "Kind of sounds like a parasite," Steel comments. "Chill Miko, the data's only inhabiting a fraction of my brain," Bulkhead says, pointing to his helm, "Infinitesimal by neural net densities...wait, how do I know that?" I recover from my stare and wiped the liquid from the side of my mouth, fixing myself.
"Based on what we witnessed from our last battle, the living data must have been programed to eject when it's sensed unauthorized access," Optimus says. "A security measure..." Ratchet says, understanding. "It would have jettisoned heavenward, lost to the stars," Optimus said. "Except it ejected into my brain," Bulkhead says with a smile. "Every 'Con made a grab for it. The cylinder doesn't go off until Miko touches it?" Arcee asked in confusion. "The cylinders are originated from Cybertron's golden age, pre-dating the Autobot and Decepticon vision," Ratchet explained. "So it wouldn't consider any native of Cybertron to be a threat," Optimus adds. "Only alien lifeforms, such as humans," Ratchet looks at me, "And possibly Oronians,"
"When the cylinder activated, my audio sensors were ringing like there were a thousand whistles being blown. Is it just me, or did Cybertron and Oronion not have any friendly terms in the golden age?" I asked with a look of question. 'What about those writings Bulk's painting down?' Bumblebee beeped in question. "Are we looking at genius, or gibberish?" Arcee asked, tilting her head at the writing on the walls. "I don't wish to falsely rally anyone's hopes, but these equations appear to be the formula," Ratchet says.
"Formula to what?" I blinked. "For a synthetic Energon," Ratchet answered.
Bumblebee fist pumps the air, cheering in beeps, 'Alright!' "We've hit the mother load?" Arcee asked in excitement. "What? What? I don't understand," I looked around at everyone. "Energon provides our fuel and our ammo," Bulkhead says, looking at me. "I know that, but what's the big hullabaloo?" I asked. "With the short supply of Energon on Earth, this can solve us a lot of problems," Bulkhead says. "...I still don't..." I slowly shake my head. "Such as providing us with the edge to turn the tide of this war," Optimus says. "Or, the key to revitalizing Cybertron," Ratchet says. "Ooooh! ...I wish that could help me find the seed..." I muttered the last words to myself.
"We've got the goods, and all Megatron got was an empty bucket," Arcee smirked. "How often to I use my noggin to save the day?" Bulkhead smiled at Miko. I tilt my head, slowly shaking my head. Well, at least it's a good thing for the Autobots...
:
"Ugh, if I keep hearing Bulkhead yapping out equations, my head is going to explode from overload. Reason one: Science and I don't mix. Reason two: It's coming from Bulkhead's mouth! " I continue to walk back and forth from my path, which was slightly dented from constant stomping. "Cheer up, Ariona. It wont last forever," Steel said. "How can I cheer up?" I sighed, lowering my head as I came to a stop, "The Autobots have hope of restoring their home planet while we still have miles of ground to cover to look for one measly orb. It's like a rude punch in the face," I point at my dented cheek, "Literally... "
Steel remained quiet, staring at me. I shake my head and continue to walk back and forth, listening to Bulkhead's rambling. "It's still interesting how Bulkhead's mind can hold such knowledge," Steel said. I came to a stop. He can't, it's too much for one bot. "Steel!" I turn around, catching the Scraplet's attention, "You said before how the data was like a parasite. How is it?" I asked. "Well, the data was said to be a living thing, and.." "Parasites usually eat away at their hosts, and if Bulkhead is carrying was supposedly a live data source, it means the data can take over Bulkhead's mind and wipe it clean!" I realized what measures we have taken.
There was a sudden loud noise and I quickly cover my ears. I look over at Bulkhead and see Miko with her guitar, "I hate it when she does that," I mumbled. Steel let out a 'hmm'. I blinked again, hearing the bridge turn on. I look up to see Miko lure Bulkhead through the bridge. "Ah-!" I held out my hand and take two steps to follow them, then stopped. I lower my hand to the side, walking over to the bridge control panel. "What are you doing? You're not going to follow them? What if trouble finds them?" Steel asked, following me. "Trouble always finds us. And, I'm just minding my own business," I pull the switch up, deactivating the bridge.
:
"So, it turns out there's no win-win for any side?" Steel asked. "Guess not. I thought we've lost Bulkhead for a second there. I felt...scarred," I said, leaning against the crate. The data Bulkhead had was ejected into the sky when Miko did it again, what she did to activate the data cylinder. "It's just as they say: Everything that appears to be a dream, really is one," I say. "Not always," Steel says. "Hm, guess you're right," I sighed. I remained silent for a bit. "Do you really think there's really hope of reviving a planet?...Steel?" I look down near my hand, seeing the Scraplet gone.
"...Steel...?"
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