It had been about a month since Sam had been turned into a Seeker by the AllSpark in Mission City. And it had been a lot of things he hadn't been prepared to learn or deal with all heaped on him at once. And the move to the new base wasn't helping. Like at all. He'd been with the Autobots on Garcia Island all of a week now, and he still couldn't figure out why he was so twitchy. It had started during their transport here, when he had been stuck under a tarp and forced to suffer thru feeling wind brushing over him as they traveled the sea, but forbidden to so much as twitch lest the crew realize they weren't just transporting military vehicles.

It hadn't helped that the rest of the Autobots had been to busy setting up base to do more than direct him towards a just as busy Ratchet when he started feeling strangely jittery. Even Sunstreaker was busy, being sent out with several soldiers on patrols of areas where they thought Decepticons might have been spotted. His heckling of Ratchet, eventually had the mech snap at him one day to go for a flight and leave him be for a few joors while he straightened out the Medbay.

He'd seemed a bit distracted, and he had waved him off. Sam/Skyfall didn't even get the chance to point out that he had yet to be even taught how to fly before he was shuffled out of the Medbay. He threw his servos up in frustration before deciding he might as well go try not to crash, because nobody else was going to help him. He left a message with air patrol stating he was going on a flight before going to an out of the way runway. Didn't want too many witnesses should he manage to crash right away.

Luckily, he had gotten some practice transforming already in order to be transported here. So getting into his Alt Mode wasn't difficult. Figuring out how to take off took a little more effort. It took him several minutes familiarizing himself with his protocols before he figured out that, apparently, he could hover. Triggering it, had him off the ground a good six feet. He was a bit giddy at that, and paused as a notice popped up asking if he would like to run a systems pre-flight check. He figured that would be a good idea and triggered it.

Immediately, he regretted it. Going thru it apparently equaled to downloading an entire programs worth of items and checks that he would need to do every time he went to fly, or risk having an issue before even taking off if something was wrong. With a mental groan, he slogged thru it before triggering the 'flight ready' protocol. Immediately, his systems cleared and he had a much less 'busy' field of view. After a few nudges at internal gauges, he figured out which did which and managed to rise several yards. This also showed him how to read the myriad of sensors that triggered as soon as he began to move. (There were a lot of air flow sensors.)

As soon as he felt confident enough, he let go of his wariness and shot up into the sky. He immediately forgot what he was so worried about.

-=-This is a line break-=-

He had no idea how long he'd been flying for, or just how far he had gone from Garcia. He had been worried about fuel for about the astrosecond it took for his systems to inform he had a secondary hydroponic system. Meaning that in the hydrogen heavy atmosphere of Earth, he was continuously refilling his tanks. He could, essentially, never touch the ground if he didn't want to.

Whatever had been bugging him the last few days, vanished almost as soon as his peds left the ground. But even though he so very much better in the air, he couldn't help the pervading sense of loneliness the longer he was up here. Even as much fun as it was to fly, he was finding it to be something that (somehow) he had the impression would be much better to do with someone else.

By this point he was basically just drifting along the upper atmosphere, far higher than any man-made plane could go, just shy of the point where shuttles tended to 'catch fire' entering and exiting the atmosphere. So he was legitimately surprised when his systems notified him that another plane/cybertronian that was approaching. He twisted in a lazy loop to maintain a general position as the unknown came closer. He nearly stalled upon spotting the Decepticon Glyph on the plane (an F-22). After a frantic mental moment he remembered that he didn't have an Autobot symbol yet, so as far as the Decepticon was concerned he was essentially a Neutral.

"Hailing Neutral: Permission to approach?"

He paused as he condisered.

"Hailing Decepticon: Permission granted."

The lavender colored 'Con angled into a steeper climb before settling across him in his loop as soon as he was at the same level.

"Hiya, Designations Skywarp, don't think I've ever met you before. Kinda small aren't ya?"

If they had been in root mode, Skyfall would be glaring at him.

"Frag off! I am not small, slagger!"

Skywarp made an intricate barrel roll in place that registered as a sign of amusement in Skyfall's helm for some reason.

"Sorry, sorry! So, what's your Designation? And what you doing out here by yourself? You're Trine running late or something?"

"My Designation is Skyfall. And… no. I don't have one." He couldn't help the kind-of sad, kind-of forlorn note in his voice when he said it. Until Skywarp had asked, had put a name to it, he hadn't realized that's what he had been missing. Skywarp made a low, dual-toned warble and seemed to rock in place (peace-sorrow-comforting). Skyfall responded with a low trilling noise, rocking in return (acceptance-sorrow-its okay).

"You can come hang out with my Trine for a bit. You don't have to stay or anything, just give you a little while so you're not on your own."

It was tempting, really, really tempting. He didn't realize he was making a wavering motion with his wingtips (indecision-worry) until Skywarp dipped sideways and drifted closer so that his wingtip edged under Skyfall's lower set. He barely kept from tapping their wings together, startled by the feel of their energy fields rubbing against each others. Skywarp made a startled noise followed by a cooing warble that, for some unknown reason, made Skyfall trill softly back and lean into his airspace, letting Skywarp direct their drift.

"What the frag, how young are you?! You're way too young to be left on your own!"

Skyfall made a disgruntled noise, but couldn't be bothered responding. Skywarp's energy field had spread out slightly as his wing edged farther under Skyfall's. It left an almost cocoon like feeling of calm enveloping the newly Sparked Seeker. He wasn't even aware of the low hum he'd begun putting off until Skywarp sent him tilting and he let out a startled chirp before twisting to arc downward with a laugh. The larger Seeker gave chase.

They played a back and forth game of cat and mouse for almost an hour before their play was interrupted by two more Seekers appearing on Skyfall's radar. He startled and flipped over Skywarp in an unexpected twirl to come up facing the two unknowns in the distance. Skywarp leveled out and looped back to him.

"Oh, that's just TC and Screamer, my Trine. I was supposed to meet them twenty minutes ago." The purple Seeker mumbled a bit sheepishly. Skyfall, still uncertain what about Skywarp was making him act this way, looped up and back to hover behind the larger Seeker. Skywarp made an amused noise, followed by an almost cooing warble that both came across as soothing, and managed to irritate Skyfall at the same time. 'TC' and 'Screamer' came within range about the same time he made the noise, and both drifted to a hover with an almost confused wing motion.

"Warp?" One of them asked leadingly. Skywarp wobbled side to side in greeting, still half orbiting Skyfall in an amused/protective motion before responding.

"Heya TC, this is Skyfall, he's a Neutral, no Trine, you won't believe how little he is!"

"Fragger! I'm not little! I'm fun sized!"

Neither of the other Seekers seemed to know how to respond to that. Skywarp just laughed and slipped closer, nudging Skyfall closer to his Trine.

"Right, right. Anyway! Check his energy field."

Skyfall made an armor rattling hiss, but didn't back away no matter how much he wanted to as the apparent 'Screamer' (since he hadn't been the one referred to as TC) drifted closer and edged his wingtip under Skyfall's as Skywarp had done earlier. He only stayed that way a moment before speaking in a slightly screechy voice that Skyfall immediately recognized as Starscream (Hence the nickname really did fit).

"What in the Pits?! You're barely more than a Youngling! What in Primus are you doing by yourself?"

He immediately shifted over and nudged Skyfall so that he was hovering between Starscream and TC. Skyfall, for some reason, had the mental imagery of a mother hen trying to corral her chicks as he was moved. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh or frown at the mental image. Instead, he just sighed and let himself drift closer to TC, he would just have to sneak away later. That was one upside of the stealth programs he had discovered at least. He would be able to get away.

-=-This Is A line break-=-

If they were surprised by the pale blue optics he sported, they didn't show it. They did, however, be moan the 'state of his wings' and shove him off towards the cleaning racks nearest the Trine's berth room. Once they had him in there, he was scrubbed until he gleamed, much to his mortification. He hadn't realized just how sensitive all those sensor arrays and panels were. Once he was dry and polished he was dragged back to their berth where Starscream ran a systems check and recalibrated several systems before all but ordering him to lay down and 'recharge, damn it, you've barely got enough Energon in you to function you glitch-spark'. After a brief 'nap' he had two cubes of Energon shoved off on him before being ordered to go back to recharging.

By this point, he had noticed several pings in the periphery of his systems where he had been messaged by first Ratchet, and then Ironhide, and then Ratchet again before the last one was from Sunstreaker demanding he show his faceplates or else. He had to wait nearly a joor before the last of Starscream's Trine fell asleep and he could activate his stealth programs and leave.

-=-This is a line break-=-

He landed back at Diego Garcia nearly a day and a half after he left. He was met on the tarmac by an irritated looking Sunstreaker, whom had a vaguely silver unknown bot with him (who was similar enough that Skyfall was going to assume the mech was Sideswipe until told otherwise), and Ratchet. Ratchet growled lowly before gritting out a demand.

"Where have you been, Skyfall, and why didn't you answer your comms?"

He shifted from one ped to the other, scratching at his helm in an embarrassed fashion.

"I- ah – may have been kidnapped by 'Cons…."

The three bots momentarily froze.

"….What?" Ratchet asked with a poleaxed expression. "How in the pit did that happen, and how are you already back?"

Skyfall's wings twitched and drooped a bit.

"Um, well IsortabumpedintoSkywarpwhofreakedoutwhenherealizedhowyoungIwas, andthenStarscreamwouldn'tletmeleavewithoutasystemscheckandabath. Andthentheychewedmeoutforanhouraboutproperwingmaintenance. And…Ikindasortahavestealthprograms…."

"Skyfall…again, and slower this time, I didn't catch any of that."

He sighed and refused to look at them as he responded.

"You told me to go flying, which, yeah, probably would have worked better If you actually taught me how to fly. But it was kinda fun, and I lost track of time. I was over the atlantic when I realized there was another plane except it couldn't be an actual plane cause I was only barely in the atmosphere to start with. And it turned out to be Skywarp, who thought I was a Neutral because I don't have any glyphs. He was pretty much just saying hi and asking where the rest of my Trine was. When I told him I didn't have one, he sorta apologized, or that's what it registered as anyway, cause it wasn't really talking, just sorta tilting his wings and drifting.

Anyway, he shifted closer and you can really tell how old a bot is by their energy field? How does that work? And then he kinda made this odd squaking-shock noise about the fact I'm apparently barely out of the youngling stage? What the hell is a youngling stage? And I 'shouldn't be on my own'. So he started playing a sorta flying-tag game- which is actually really fun by the way- and then Starscream and TC showed up I still have no idea what TC is short for-"

"Thundercracker." The silver bot interjected. He had a very amused expression on his face as he watched Skyfall ramble.

"Thanks, anyway. Starscream kinda freaked out about my age to, and made me go back to their base with them so he could do a systems check and make me take a bath, because apparently I wasn't clean enough. How clean is too clean? Because I swear to Primus I've never been this clean in my life! And then made me take a nap because apparently I was low on fuel, and then gave me Energon and then take another nap. Which is when I snuck out. And do you know how awesome stealth programs are? Because I walked right past at least three patrols and none of them realized I was there….Okay maybe the second one did after I was already gone, because he fell right into that paint spill I set up around the bend."

Ratchet was rubbing his faceplate where a nose would be on a human when Skyfall finally fell quiet. He held up a servo for quiet, ignoring the silver bots snickering and Sunstreaker's what the hell did I do to deserve this slag expression.

"You went flying, without a watcher, with no idea how to fly?"

"…Yes, but to be fair, I tried to ask you and you just shewed me off."

Ratchet just waved that off.

"You didn't set a timer to remind you to get back, and because the rest of us were occupied we didn't realize you were even gone."

"That's not my fault," he grumbled. "You're the ones that pretty much told me I was in the way."

Ratchet again waved it off.

"You ran into a Decepticon, and instead of requesting aid decided to play a Seeker Training Game with him, and yes, that is a Seeker Training Game, they use it to teach Winglets how to interact in a non-hostile meeting of potential Trinemates."

"….Yeah, but if I had taken off he would have followed me. And the only place I could honestly go was here."

Ratchet nodded acceptance of that.

"You're lucky you hadn't been glyphed yet, or he would have shot you out of the sky without a second thought. If your lucky, he might hesitate next time because of your age."

Skyfall hummed acceptance of that.

"You went back to their base. And spent several hours there before returning here, ignoring our attempts to communicate while there."

"…You do realize our optics flicker when we talk over comms right? It's kind of obvious, and none of the three would leave me alone. Plus, didn't Ironhide say something about one of them being able to trace comm signals?"

Ratchet groaned.

"Do you at least have the coordinates for their base?"

Skyfall paused.

"Maybe? I have no idea how to find that in my systems…"

"Right. I'll add that to the list of things you need to be taught still. Just….stop by the Medbay in the morning, for now, get some rest, I've no doubt you need to recharge."

With that, Ratchet turned around and headed back in the direction of the Medbay. Skyfall shifted on his peds again before his optics slid over to the exasperated looking Sunstreaker (who was technically his Guardian as far as he was aware considering the bot rarely let him out of his sight).

"…How much trouble am I in?"

The silver bot laughed outright as he leaned on Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker just sighed and jerked his helm in the direction of the barracks.

"You aren't leaving my sight for a week, I swear to Primus you exist to try and put me in stasis."

Skyfall grumbled under his breath, giving a shoulder rolling vent that shuddered his wings before following after the two mechs.

"I don't do it on purpose…"

"Trust me, I would be a pit more angry if you did it on purpose." Sunstreaker slowed down so that the twins were walking next to him instead of ahead. "You don't consider anybot here as your Trine?"

Skyfall shrugged.

"I didn't even realize that's what I was missing until Skywarp asked. I don't even really know what a Trine is, only that now that I'm aware of them, I really really want one." He shrugged. "It's kinda eating at my processor now." He muttered in annoyance.

"How about we be your Trine then." Sideswipe chirped from Sunstreaker's other side. Skyfall jerked his head up and leaned slightly forward to look past Sunstreaker.

"Really? I'm not a very good Seeker…."

"You'll learn." Sunstreaker rumbled. "And it's not like we'd really know the difference considering we're grounders."

Skyfall considered that.

"True, but I still want to be a good Trinemate."

"Then we'll practice together." Sideswipe stated. "Will eventually get it right."

-=-This is a line break-=-

Optimus stared after the retreating forms with a fond expression.

"Younglings," he spoke with quiet amusement.