-1Chapter 26

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"He wants to do what?" Sunstreaker asked his twin who was in holoform for the time being until they could return Sunstreaker to a protoform.

"He wants us to go on a vacation with him and some of the others," Sideswipe answered quietly. "I think it's a good idea. Prime agrees with him."

"He does?" Sunstreaker asked, raising a brow slightly.

"Yeah," Sides answered. "He does." Sunstreaker watched him a moment longer then let out a loud sigh and leaned back in the chair.

"So, what does this vacation entail and who all is going?" Sideswipe grinned at him and took out the book again, setting it on his lap, making Sunstreaker move closer to him in order to see the pictures.

"Those of us going - you, me, Will, Sam, Scotty, 'Hide, 'Bee and Hot Rod - are going to head out to Arizona and camp out in the Grand Canyon," Sideswipe began, showing him a couple of pages. "There's a great place to camp out and Will's already made the necessary arrangements. We'll go hiking and kayaking during the days, and we'll do the whole campfire and cook out thing at night. Will is going to take you and Sam with him to get supplies while Scotty stays with the rest of us to start plotting out the routes to take and all."

"We're going camping?" Sunstreaker asked curiously. "Why camping? I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing."

"Camping is relaxing, Sunny," Sideswipe told him softly. "Think of it as a way of getting away from Ratchet for a few days, bro. That right there ought to be relaxing enough." Sunstreaker chuckled softly.

"Yeah, that's true. All right, so camping. How long are we going for?"

"Seven days and six nights," Sideswipe replied with a smile. Sunstreaker looked at the book again then back at his brother and smiled softly at him.

"And you think this is a good idea?" Sideswipe nodded. "All right, bro. We'll go…"

(Two Days Later)

It was not an everyday sight to be seen on Interstate 40 heading east into Arizona; a 2008 black, GMC Topkick followed by a 2009 yellow Chevy Camero, a 2008 red Lamborghini, and a 2008 orange Dodge Charger with magenta racing stripes. They took down the highway topping speeds of almost eighty to ninety miles per hour, with the larger of the vehicles, the Topkick, in the lead. They had been on the road since dawn and they had about two more hours to go before they reached their designated stop where they would check in and get what they needed to head to the camping sight.

They had packed two tents, each able to hold four people apiece, along with sleeping bags, air mattresses, hiking bags and duffel bags with clothes for the humans, all in the back of Ironhide's bed. Will and Sam were riding inside of Ironhide, Scotty inside of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker was riding with Hot Rod. Sunstreaker had fallen asleep about half an hour into the drive and Hot Rod had been worried until Sideswipe had told him that Ratchet was aware of Sunstreaker's penchant for falling asleep easily and to just leave him alone for now.

Inside Ironhide, Will and Sam were debating about scheduling a hot air balloon ride over the canyon. Bumblebee was listening in to the conversation through his and 'Hide's internal link.

Inside of Sideswipe, Sides and Scotty were jamming to some new music mix the kid had brought along with him. And back inside of Hot Rod, the youngster was playing a mix of soothing instrumental music and nature sounds to keep Sunstreaker asleep for as long as necessary.

It was just after ten in the morning when the group pulled into the guest center at the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon. Sunstreaker was just waking up when Sideswipe knocked on the passenger's side window to get his attention.

"Hey, Sunshine, we're here," Sideswipe said with a grin as Hot Rod's door opened, allowing the blond haired twin to slide out of the vehicle.

"So I see," Sunstreaker observed quietly. Hot Rod's holoform appeared on the other side of the car and the group gathered at Ironhide's truck. They were all pretty much dressed the same that morning; blue jeans, hiking boots and soft flannel shirts in various colors and designs. The weather was cool, in the mid-fifties by then, but it felt good compared to the heat in Tranquility.

"I need to go check our reservations and find out how we get to the campsite," Will said to the group. "You guys just wait here." Will walked into the guest center while everyone else began walking along the guardrails, glancing around at the Canyon itself.

"Kinda reminds me of being on top of the Hoover Dam all those years ago," Sam said quietly. Sunstreaker stood next to him and looked down over the railing.

"What was it like?" he asked quietly. Sunstreaker had not been there during the first battle and had not really thought to ask about it until now.

"I'll tell you about it tonight," Sam said, draping an arm around the blonde's shoulders.

"I'll hold you to that," Sunstreaker answered with a grin. Ironhide pulled Sideswipe to one side, the two of them watching Sunstreaker carefully.

"I'm glad we got him to agree to this," Ironhide said quietly.

"Well it was either take a vacation or end up killing each other," Sideswipe replied. "Which would you prefer, 'Hide?"

"No, this is fine. I'm the one that said I needed a vacation. Didn't think the guys would take me this seriously." Sideswipe nodded slowly.

"After everything we've all been through this past year, the vacation was definitely needed, not just us away from the others, but give them a chance to be away from us." Ironhide chuckled in agreement.

"You'll get no argument from me there."

Will walked back outside after a few minutes, maps in hand, and came back to the group.

"We've got about half an hour worth of driving to get us down to the campsite. We can spend the rest of today just setting up and walking around the camp area. Tomorrow we're going hiking and maybe even kayaking… and one day this week we're going on a hot air balloon tour." Scotty walked over to his brother and swiped a map out of his hands.

"Well you've just got this all planned out, don't you?" Will grinned at his younger brother.

"I am all about plans," the former soldier answered with a quick grin before looking back at the others. "Come on, gang, let's head out."

The campsite they'd finally set up in was rather large, trees all around them, and a great view of the sky as the sun finally set and the stars began to come out overhead. Two tents had been set up near each other and a rather large campfire had taken shape in the middle of the area. Will and Sam had gone fishing with Ironhide earlier while Sideswipe, Scotty and Bee had gone hiking and Sunny and Hot Rod walked along the banks of the water nearby. Everyone seemed content for the most part…

"Tell us about the Mission City battle," Sunstreaker asked softly after everyone had eaten and the beers had come out.

"What battle?" Scotty asked, now interested as well in what was going to be said. Will leaned back against one of the nearby logs and took a drink from the bottle in his hand.

"Six years ago now, when the gang first came to Earth to find the All Spark," he began quietly. "Although, to give you the full story, Megatron showed up hundreds, maybe thousands of years before that and Bumblebee had been here approximately four years or so before the others arrived. I don't know how long Barricade and Frenzy had been here, though…"

"I arrived a few years after them," Bumblebee stated quietly. "When I first arrived, I assumed it was just Megatron and me and the All Spark here on Earth. I first saw Barricade about a week after I arrived and I knew Frenzy was around. I assumed the others had to be close by as well, but I wasn't sure."

"Anyway, Sam's grandfather is the one who discovered Megatron and it was his glasses that had the location of the All Spark embedded in them. Sam's grandfather lost his life because of his knowledge." Will looked at Sam and slung an arm over his shoulders for a brief moment before continuing. "I was overseas when the first attack came. Blackout took out my entire base along with most of my battalion and a good portion of my unit. We fled across the desert until we reached a nearby village. We finally radioed for help and that's how we got Skorponok's tail." Sam nodded quietly.

"Meantime, Bumblebee and I were back in Tranquility and I had no clue what he was yet. I'd just gotten him from a local used car dealership and I was trying to impress this girl, Mikaela, not that it worked very well. I think she ended up being more impressed with my car than with me."

"Hey, in all fairness," Bumblebee interrupted, "she was very interested in you, according to Ratchet, until she realized that you planned on staying with us and working for the government. That is about the time she lost interest in you." Sam nodded slowly.

"Anyway. Barricade found me and Bumblebee came to the rescue shortly after he'd made the call to the others that it was time for them to get here and the sooner the better. Mikaela and I were with him the night Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz arrived."

"Yes," Ironhide said, nodding his head slowly. "I remember that night. I fell into a pool and this little slip of a child asked me if I was a tooth fairy." Sunstreaker laughed, spewing beer into the flames of the fire as he did so. Hot Rod smacked him on the back, trying hard not to laugh as well. Ironhide chuckled softly.

"They were amazing when they finally arrived," Sam continued softly. "Optimus in the lead, the others behind him, Bumblebee already with us. It was almost as if everything became clear and I knew, even if I couldn't quite say the words, I knew everything was going to be okay."

"Optimus has that sense of calming presence on everyone," Bumblebee admitted quietly. Hot Rod nodded in agreement.

"Even with those of us who have fallen off the beaten path so to speak," the younger Autobot said quietly.

"The battle itself came several days later," Will continued. "A group called Sector 7 captured Bumblebee and were experimenting on him before we all got there and got them to release him. We found the All Spark, Bee did this really cool trick of shrinking it down to size and then we headed for Mission City, looking for a way to hide it again."

"Instead," Bumblebee picked up, "Starscream and the others arrived and pursued us once Megatron was released from his frozen stasis. So, we gathered in Mission City and battled with each other in hopes of saving the All Spark."

"Instead," Sam said softly, "when Megatron was about to deliver the killing blow to Optimus, I shoved the All Spark into his chest, killing him instead, but also destroying the All Spark as well."

"We lost Jazz that day," Ironhide revealed quietly. "He tried to take on Megatron and the bastard tore him in half, destroying his protoform. Ratchet managed to salvage his spark but we have no way to rebuild Jazz." Sunstreaker looked up slowly.

"Much as Ratchet has no way to rebuild me, either," he answered softly. There was silence for several minutes before Scotty turned to Hot Rod.

"What did you mean when you said earlier that Prime's calming influence even worked on those who were off the beaten path?" Hot Rod sighed heavily.

"Back on Cybertron, long, long ago, during one of the major battles of the Great War, Optimus was fatally injured trying to save me from Megatron. It was my own fault. Prime had told me to stay inside the base, but I wanted to help, thought I could, you know? But Megatron grabbed me, intent on killing me when Prime appeared. Megatron shot Prime instead. It was a killing shot."

"But Optimus is alive," Sam said slowly. "So, what happened?"

"Ratchet wasn't sure he could save him, so Prime removed his leadership Matrix and was trying to hand it over to an Autobot named Ultra Magnus. The Matrix slipped out of his hands and I caught it before handing it over to Magnus. Later, though, as Prime lay in a coma, another battle surfaced and when Magnus tried to use the Matrix, it wouldn't let him open it. Turns out, it would only open for me."

"Hot Rod here became our temporary leader," Ironhide explained quietly. "Rodimus Prime. We defeated a being known as Unicron. He was a planet eater so to speak. Anyway, after his defeat, we began to slowly rebuild our world and Optimus slowly began to heal. It took almost a vorn before he was out of his coma. Several weeks passed and finally he was up and around again. Rodimus was having all sorts of issues by then." Hot Rod nodded slowly.

"The role of leader just wasn't suited for me," he said quietly. "I was making careless mistakes and had cost us the lives of several very good warriors and officers. When Optimus came to me, I returned the Matrix to him and nearly begged him to deactivate me. He spent a lot of time with me, once I returned to this form, and made me see that there are things within us all that make us into leaders. He gave me peace in his own form of forgiveness I suppose."

"Prime or not, Sides and I would have followed you into battle," Sunstreaker whispered softly. Hot Rod nodded slowly.

"I remember," he said quietly. "Even though at one point we thought we'd lost all of you to Megatron and his people." Silence settled among them all again and Sunstreaker leaned against his twin, eyes closing slowly. A few minutes later and he was asleep. Will looked at him and sighed softly.

"We should all get some sleep. Got a big day tomorrow." Everyone agreed and Sideswipe picked up his twin and walked into the red tent, Scotty and Hot Rod behind him. Will, Sam, Bee and Hide moved into the other tent and closed it up behind them. It had been a good day, a good night, but it had given everyone things on which to think for the next few days…

TBC - So, what did everyone think of the back stories and my idea of rectifying the mistake that was TFTM from the 80's? Please read and review and more coming soon! Thanks!