Author's note. Nice big chapter for everyone to enjoy, a lot of us have more time on our hands so I hope this helps. Written by me and AuroraFerreri.
Enjoy and please review.
"This is amazing!" Spike cried as he held onto Rypetyde as she barrelled through the water.
He was wearing a special wetsuit that the neutrals had produced that kept him dry and warm in the cold water and fitted him perfectly. The young boy wasn't entirely sure where they'd gotten it from but he loved it. But even better was the bubble mask that allowed him to both safely breathe and see the crystal clear ocean water. The top of his wetsuit had a sort of collar which the bubble mask was attached to and safely sealed off from the surrounding water. Spike also had a pair of flippers, just in case for any reason he ended up in the water on his own.
And to finish the package was a special harness attaching him to Rypetyde's back, just behind her dorsal fin which he was holding onto and marvelling at how incredible this was. He was truly lucky that so many bots gave him special moments like this.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it," she chuckled through her comm. "You're not slipping, are you?"
"No, I'm great!" he assured her with a grin. "This is awesome!"
"Hold on tight Spike!" She called through the comm, "Yes ma'am!" Spike replied gripping tighter to her.
RypeTyde angled upwards sharply and shot out of the water, flying through the air like a dolphin. Spikes body raised off of hers slightly making him feel momentarily weightless.
"Whahooo! This is amazing!" He cried out gleefully just before plunging back into the water with her.
"Haha I'm so glad you think so." She smiled in her voice. She couldn't actually smile in her shark form, it hurt to do so.
Spike could see the familiar volcano coming into view, the bay growing in size as they approached. He did not see anyone else on the beach but the again he figured everyone was still checking out all the sparklings.
RypeTyde slowed down once she was back in the water, having received a ping from her CMO Prota.
"Hello my friend, what news do you have?"
"Hello Commander, Ratchet and I have cleared everyone to return to our base. Will you be joining us en-route or meeting us there?" Prota asked well wrapping a sparkling in a thermal blanket for the trip. Their new friends where lending them their trailer and shuttle once again. Azulaton was already headed to the bay preparing to haul their people back once again.
"Between the trailer, Skyfire, and Azulaton we should have no problem getting everyone home. I will met you en-route, as an escort. If I remember correctly there is a pod of sperm whales moving through so be wary of them coming up from below from feeding in the depths."
"Thank you for the heads up Commander, I will relay it to my mate," Prota admonished.
RypeTyde switched comm's now back to Spike, "Hey Spike, would you like to see our base? My people are gathering to return there."
"Yeah, that'd be great," Spike said excitedly. Rypetyde had wanted to test out his outfit before they headed to the Decepticon base, they didn't want any surprises in such a delicate situation. "Thank you."
"No problem," she chuckled before adding. "I don't think we need to worry about you catching the virus."
"Uh, no ma'am," he said with a bit of a blush, he definitely wasn't ready for kids. Even if he was so inclined, his dad would have a fit.
She didn't tease him, that wasn't her style. Instead, she changed course to head in the direction of her team. Spike enjoyed the ride, especially when she cut through the water and arched into the air before diving right down.
"We may encounter some whales," she warned him. "You can help me keep a look out."
"Yes ma'am! I can do that, what kind of whales? Orca's, Baluga, Norwahl?" He asked excitedly, letting go of her dorsal fin momentarily to spin with the harness. He wondered momentarily if this is the freedom birds and dolphins felt. He was startled when out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark shape rising from the depths. He was mesmerized by its shape, growing in mass and darkness. He was barely conscious of the fact he was still being pulled along by RypeTyde. He suddenly realised that the dark shape was not one but several of them, seemingly following them.
"H-hey RypeTyde, I think you'll want to see this?"
"Yes Spike?" she questioned before turning her head slightly to see what Spike could. "Ah, I knew they were here!"
"What are they?" Spike practically squeaked, he'd never been so close to such giant creatures before. Organic ones anyway.
"Sperm whales," she told him. "They must be migrating through this area."
"Uh...," he mumbled as the shapes became even clearer with distinctive, long flat heads. "You don't think they want to eat us?"
"No, we're not in their diet," she assured him, feeling him cling to her a bit tighter. "But I think we're about to see something special."
"R-really?" he exclaimed, what on earth could that be? But even as he said it, the whales started to head straight for the surface and his eyes widened.
The closest whale to them let out a stream of gigantic bubbles as it got closer to the surface. Accelerating with several powerful beats of its tail it breached up and out of the waves, its body completely leaving the water. The other pod members erupted out of the water shortly after it, all of them momentarily air born before crashing back to the waves.
"Holy crap! How are they not getting hurt?"
RypeTyde chuckled, "They have many layers of blubber that they use to insulate their bodies, it also acts as a cushion when they land again."
She swam closer to the pod letting Spike have a good look see, she silently sent Hammer a ping notifying him the pods whereabouts, so he could course correct their people.
"Wow they are so huge, and beautiful!" Spike said in awe, the smallest member of the pod swam up to the pair, it was a yearling and very curious about the oddly shaped shark.
The yearling swam closer cautiously, using it's long tail and fins it hovered in the water. Spike suddenly felt an odd sensation, like underwater waves hitting him. They were gentle but fast.
"Can you feel that?" He asked RypeTyde, holding her dorsal with one hand and his stomach with the other. These invisible waves were making his stomach upset.
"Hnn, they are so..strong!" She gasped out, she was having trouble moving, the waves were somehow disabling her. "H-how can one so young, b-be so strong?" she struggled out, she couldn't really move but thankfully she wasn't sinking either. One of the other Sperm whales swam over to the little group, it nudged the yearling and the sound waves dissipated.
The larger whale, presumably the mother of the yearling, nudged the calf once again, this time the sound waves dissipating completely. She then start flexing her body up and down, this curious action further confused Spike until he realized to late what she was doing. Suddenly the adult whale heaved up into the surrounding water a dead half eaten squid. To which the yearly gleefully swam over and started playing with.
"I think I am going to be sick," Spike gagged.
"I'll take you away then," she chuckled, the sight didn't bother her. At least the young calf was distracted now, that had been unbelievable.
She began to gently swim away, making it clear she was no threat to the whale calf or its mother. The whales seemed to accept her presence as non-threatening and didn't bother her. It was rather fascinating to watch these animals, even as the calf started to tear into its food which caused Spike to groan.
"It's alright, you don't need to watch," she said comfortingly to her little charge. "This is how they feed."
"I know," he sighed heavily. "It's just gross to watch."
"I guess you humans don't feed like that," she questioned, sure of the answer.
"No!" he practically yelped. "We...we don't work like that."
"I thought so," she said, gliding smoothly through the water to give the whales some space but they could still view them. Spike peeked at the whales before asking. "What was that earlier?"
"That I believe was sonar, sound waves produced by the spermaceti organ are used for navigation, finding food, communication to one another and a whole host of other things!" RypeTyde recited proudly, she had learned these things from Beachcomber through comms after Prota gave her the heads up about the pods moving through.
"Wow, it felt like I was on a body board, floating on the surf." Spike said still watching the Pod, some of them had begun to splash about and play with the calf.
"It was incredible," she acknowledged. "We were lucky he was so young, the adults would be even more powerful."
"Whoa," was all Spike could say, he couldn't imagine what that would feel like.
"We'll leave them in peace," she stated. "Let's get to the base and then we'll head to the Decepticons."
"Yeah, sounds good," Spike nodded, even though she couldn't see him.
As RypeTyde started to move away after Spike waved to the little calf, "That little guy sure was cute. How far till your base? Is it safe to assume its underwater? I noticed a lot of your people were of water creature morphology." He asked curious, once again holding on to her fin, a renewed excitement to visit the mysterious neutrals base welled up inside of him.
"Haha it's a bit ways away from the Autobots and Decepticons but not terribly far. You are correct though, our base is mostly underwater. I think it was once a continent on your planet, or at the least a larger island," She mused thoughtfully.
"Wow! Like Jules Verne the mysterious island? That was one of my favourite books when I was younger!" excitedly he started to tell her about the book. She listened contently about the Robinson families adventures, their pet orangutan, the pirates and so much more.
Spike chattered on and didn't mind one bit when they swam a little deeper to avoid a large shoal of jellyfish. He stopped talking an looked in awe at the large creatures, they were nowhere near as big as the whale's of course in girth being only about a foot in diameter, but where close to as big as Spike himself in length. They had hundreds of long thin fragile tentacles, some tangled around deceased fish that had wondered to close.
"Give these a wide area, I think I know which one's these are?" He commented a little hesitantly. "Do you see those bluish purple bubble like structures on top of the water?" He asked pointing upwards.
"Ay?" replied Ryptyde doing as he suggested still brand new to the planet and its dizzying array of creatures. "What are they? They remind me of a creature from Predica that if you touched it your armour would start dissolving."
"They're Portuguese Man-of-War; they are extremely venomous to fish. Not unlike the creature from your home world, when it stings you it injects a venom that hurts a lot!" He gulped nervously dutifully placing himself on the opposite side of Ryptyde.
They moved away from the shoal, "We are almost there, a few hundred more meters." Ryptyde mused, the water lifting up around them, they were getting closer to an underwater coral reef that the neutrals called home. A pulse through the water swept over them, followed by another one.
"Did the whales follow us?" Spike asked a little worried, he didn't want them to get stuck on the corals.
"You could say that," Ryptyde chuckled, suddenly two sharks darted up from the depths, circling around the pair.
"Oh! Hello boss! Hammer said you were on your way, but when you entered the early warning field your signal didn't register right, he said to investigate."
The slightly smaller of the two jabbered, "Do you know you have something stuck to you? I think that's what triggered the system. I'll get it off you!" The white shark darted forward jaws open wide ready to bite down on Spike.
Spike of course screamed in terror before Ryptyde could say anything to either. The other patroller, tackled the fast talker just milla-seconds before his partners jaws locked on Spike.
"Mech's stand down!" Ryptyde snarled, baring her many teeth. Spike gripped her fin pale faced and sweating in his suit swallowing hard trying not to throw up.
"Scythe! You idiot! It's attached to her! For all you know it could have been a sparkling!" Snarled the now recognizably more mature mech of the two. The bigger mech snap his jaws closer to Scythe forcing the mech back. Ryptyde was fuming.
"Thank you Requiem, the individual attached to me is a HUMAN ambassador to our group from the Autobot base. I would have ruined our relationship with them if he would have been hurt, or worse killed," She growled, the water vibrating around the group with the powerful statement of her words. The younger mech sank lower in the water, the reality of what almost happened hitting home.
Sheepishly he raised up his helm looking at the group, "I am sorry Ryptyde, I was just so excited to see you and thought the human was one of those sucker fish that I have seen on other sharks." Turn his helm so one large eye looked directly at Spike he said, "I am truly sorry human. I do not wish you further harm and hope you enjoy your visit to our newest home."
"S-spike;" he croaked out, "M-my name, is Spike."
"Spike?" he repeated, brightening slightly. "That's a good name, I think I once knew a Mech with a name like that."
"Really?" Spike asked, still very shaken but he was surprised to be complimented on his name.
The Mech nodded before saying. "I am Scythe and this Mech's Requiem."
The older Mech inclined his head in a nod, his attitude decidedly more neutral than his excitable companion. Rypetyde could feel Spike was still a bit shaken by his experience so she said to Requiem.
"Would you help Spike off so I can transform?"
"Yes ma'am," he said transforming himself so he could fiddle with the restraints that kept Spike securely fastened to Rypetyde. Lifting the human free meant his leader could transformer herself and turn to take Spike into her hands.
"Are you alright?" she said gently as he held on tightly to her.
"Y-yeah," he said. "Just got a fright, that's all."
"We'll have a gentle swim to the base," she told her kindly. "That'll help you relax. Scythe and Requiem will be nearby, they'll warn us if there's trouble but we should be safe this close to base."
"Okay," he agreed, that didn't sound too bad.
The group swam along quietly for a few moments, Spike safely in Ryptyde's servos. It was Ryptyde herself that finally broke the silence.
"Requiem would like a status report of things from when I was gone. Also when did everyone else get back?"
Requiem started telling her his report, Scythe occasionally adding in here or there, the trio talked for a time.
Spike quietly sat in Ryptyde's servos, watching as bigger schools of fish became more and more frequent. He also noticed that the ocean around him became shallower as the farther they went. The shallow waters revealed they had come upon a reef.
"Wow!" Spike cried out seeing all the amazing colours and creatures.
The trio chuckled, they too never got tired of seeing the reef, it was actually Requiem & Hammer that found their new home. The group followed perpendicular to the reef, wild sharks and large groupers swam out of the path of the group. Spike could see up ahead that there was a break in the reef. There was an odd shimmer, he closed his eyes for a moment thinking he was just seeing things. When he opened them again he was startled to see that the place in the reef where he had saw the shimmer was now an exceptionally large cave opening, it looked as black as night, and they were swimming right for it!
"That's the base?" he gasped, almost forgetting his previous terror.
"That's it," Ryptyde confirmed with a smile as he stared in awe. "We were very lucky to have found it, it suits us perfectly."
"I bet," Spike agreed. "The Cons couldn't get at it easily."
"That's the plan," Requiem murmured as he lazily drifted past although Spike was sure it was very deceptive.
"Don't be scared Spike," Rypetyde said soothingly as they approached the black maw of the cave. "I know how dark it looks but it won't take us long to get through it."
"I'm...I'll be okay," Spike said, swallowing. It did look rather claustrophobic and despite his wonderful suit, he was very well aware that he was underwater which made him more nervous.
"Brave boy," she encouraged, feeling that he was nervous. Holding him even closer, she beat her tail and swam straight for the pitch blackness.
Spike was unable to stop a faint gasp escaping him as darkness suddenly engulfed them.
It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but once they did it was surprised to see small flickering neon lights here and there.
"What are those?" asked Spike warily, he did want to think about what nasties could be hiding in the dark.
"Each one is a different creature Spike, each and every flicker of light. Do you see there, the string of lights floating just a ways ahead of us?" Requiem asked their human companion, "Yes? What is it?" Spike asked crawling forward and hanging onto the tips of Ryptydes fingers to get a better look at the creature Requiem was speaking about.
"Those belong to a Ctenophore, they are a comb type jelly fish. If you're careful you get close to it and a few others around here too, the walls are lined with bio-luminescent corals too. He pointed out several fan shaped corals the pulsed lightly. Spike was in awe at the dark world around himself, forgetting his fear of the dark completely. A startled school of Bigfin Reef Squid darted off the bottom of the cavern, flashing warning colours of all kids to try to scare away the big predators.
"This is so amazing!" Spike gapped in awe at all the wonderful creatures around his group of friends. Requiem continued to point out other bio-luminescent creatures, Alarm Jellyfish, Crystal Jellyfish, Tomopteris Plankton, and others. Scythe even joined in on the conversation and told of tiny creatures called Dinoflagellates, a type of plankton that lives in the up areas of the surface of the oceans. When disturbed it will pulse a light blue to distract predators to try to get away from them.
"Whoa," Spike said in utter amazement, he couldn't believe he was seeing.
"Your oceans are incredible," Requiem complimented. "Although I do find it ironic that you call this planet Earth when there is considerably more ocean than land."
"Heh, yeah," Spike acknowledged with a chuckle. "I guess because we're not water dwelling creatures."
Rypetyde was pleased to see Spike much happier now, he was forgetting his previous fear in the wake of the beautiful wildlife. She too enjoyed the journey to the base's entrance, there was always something new to see. Perhaps sometime she could take Spike exploring other parts of the seabed, he'd surely enjoy that.
"Hey! Spike can you help me with something before we get to the base?" Scythe asked slowing down in a slightly better well lit part of the cavern. The group slowed and finally stopped waiting to see what Scythe wanted to show the little human. He reached into his subspace and pulled out a sobering sight.
Plastics.
Plastics of every size shape, size and form imaginable.
There was so much coming out of Scythe's subspace he started panicking, "Scrap! I didn't know I had collected that much!" He started shoving the rubbish back into it. The water movement made several items float farther away from Scythe, Requiem swam around the group collecting the bits. A solitary bag remained floating through the water, Spike jumped up from Ryptyde's servos, the bag wasn't far but it floated funky.
Finally reaching the bag Spike cautiously grabbed it, inside was deceased sea turtle.
"It looks like he got stuck inside somehow and drowned," Spike said sadly.
Ryptyde wrinkled her nose at the stench of decay that floating through the water, "What is this stuff Spike?" Scythe asked quietly, a vast change from his earlier energetic demeanour. He was visibly slowly sinking to the sea floor, just staring at the plastic bag in Spikes hands.
"This is plastic, humans use this specific kind for bagging up their goods at stores. They are recyclable, but not all humans feel the need or want to recycle. Sometimes these bags, and all sorts of other plastic refuse end up in the ocean," Spike said sadly he was heartbroken that such a young innocent creature could have its life end so tragically.
Requiem sighed breaking the silence, "Our scouts have ran into this stuff more times than I can count. We have been instructing them to clear it up as they come a crossed it. But we will doubt our efforts." He paused momentarily a strange fire building in his optics.
"Just because this is not our natural home, doesn't mean we can't leave it in better shape!"
He said clapping a finned fist to his chest in oath, Scythe and Ryptyde doing so as well.
"Requiem, I have sent a level one transmission to everyone on this matter. If this substance can hurt one so small as this creature," she indicated the baby turtle in the plastic bag, "I dare not think what it could do to our precious sparklings. I have dispatched a team to comb the bays looking for this…plastic, and others like it."
"Thank you ma'am." Scythe purred in appreciation, the youngest of the group visibly relaxing an becoming more hopeful. Seeing his friends become so determined to work on such a huge global matter gave Spike hope in the future.
"Now that we have gotten this pesky business out of the way, what do we do with the deceased?" Asked Requiem, Spike was silent for a moment before realizing that they were all looking at him.
"Oh! Uh, well we can bring him back to the entrance and leave him on the corals, scavengers will make use of him."
"Are you sure?" the Mech asked and Spike nodded.
"If he'd died naturally, something would have eaten his remains anyway," he said softly. "This way, some creature will get fed and that'll help their survival."
"Ah," he said in understanding, that did make sense. "Very well, I'll take care of that. You stay with our leader."
"I will," Spike promised, grateful that he didn't need to take the poor dead turtle. As the shark former swam away, a thought occurred to Spike.
"Hey Ryptyde? I've got an idea."
"Yes Spike," the femme said gently grasping him and pulling him closer. He'd drifted a bit because of the current.
"If your people were able to record some of the plastic pollution, maybe I could put together a video back at the Ark and make people more aware of this," he told her earnestly. "I want to do something about this, help people understand that plastic needs to be recycled and not tossed away."
See the dead turtle and hearing Requiem speak of leaving the place better than they'd found it had inspired him. He wanted to see what he could do to change things.
Ryptyde smiled, "I am sure that my people will be more than willing to help with this."
"You bet your right fin I would!" Crowed Scythe, he swam around his leader and new friend eagerly.
"What's got your tail in a twist?" Asked Requiem when he returned, a bit confused on how a sobering discussion had turn so quickly to excitement. "Scythe will fill you in my old friend, but we must be moving on at the same time. I fear Prota will have my dorsal if we don't."
"Hey Ryptyde? Are all medics cantankerous?" Asked Spike with a giggle holding onto her servo again. Ryptyde arched an optic ridge, "Cantank-who what?" She asked confused swimming along with her two scouts. "Cantankerous, cranky, grouchy, foul mood?"
Scythe started to laugh, "I'm pretty sure its actually a requirement."
The group laughed and found themselves drifting with the current again, a trickle of sun light breaking up the darkness up ahead. It was a small break in the corals and farther ahead was another and another. Scythe swam ahead, lightly weaving through the beams of sunshine, a few times the sun catching the blue-grey sharkformer on his long tail.
He paused at a large break in the corals for the rest of them to catch up. Sunlight flooding the area around them when they neared him, sand from a nearby beach swirled at times around the coral and fish darted into hiding. A lone Moray Eel gaped and showed her razor sharp teeth, she wasn't afraid of them.
Ryptyde moved pasted Scythe and Requiem, transforming to her biped form well still carrying Spike. The sun momentarily blinding the young human, Spike wanted to rub his eyes but could only blink the streaks of light away.
"Here we are Spike," she told him as they emerged from the water onto a beach that was in front of cave. Surrounding them were cliffs that shielded the beautiful lagoon they were in. "Our base."
"Whoa," he said in astonishment. "It's amazing."
"It is lovely," she acknowledged with a smile. "And we are out of sight of everyone, so we feel safe."
"I can see that," he nodded. "The kids should be safe here, huh?"
"That's the general idea," Requiem mused as he too stood up and shook himself a little. "Commander, what do you need before you go out again?"
"Not much," she murmured as Spike looked at the large Mech, still sad about the turtle. "Spike had a good suggestion to deal with the plastic pollution, I thought I would see which bots might be interested in it."
A squeal of joy and splashing interrupted the group, a tired smiling parent supervising a set of twin waved to the commander and her comrades. The twins were some of the first to be born, giggling and splashing in a little tide pool, Spike couldn't make out their respective forms from the distance though.
Ryptyde waved with her free servo and smiled as well, "It feels so good to be safe."
Spike looked around at the cliffs, he noted that they very nearly reached the clouds, some he suspected did. A glint of light higher up caught his eye, "What's that Requiem?"
Requiem looked to where the boy pointed, and chuckled in surprise, "Good eye kid, that is relay, we have them spaced every 152 meters, or 500 ft. Each one is connected to its fellows and casts a holographic dome and shield above our base protecting it from prying optics. We also have atmospheric sensors up there to monitor storms. During the worse one we shore things up even tighter encase there is damage to the relays and we are exposed. And before you ask, we power all of that and more through thermal and solar energy, that way we can remain undetected by not leaving a way to trace ourselves through conventional means through destructive energon processing."
"That's awesome," Spike complimented, really impressed. The Autobots and Decepticons bases had their own defences but they weren't secret. "The Autobots have been using the volcano to help power their base as well."
Requiem nodded, that made sense.
"The kids look happy," Spike observed, hearing the young ones playing. "Are they all doing okay?"
"They're thriving," he confirmed with a small smile. "You've got a beautiful planet."
"Yeah, you guys should see more of it," Spike said, looking up at Rypetyde. "We've got ice poles, tropical jungles, deserts, mountains, you name it."
"Eventually, we'll explore," the femme commander laughed. "But for now, we've got a mission, partner."
He couldn't help a silly grin at that, he hoped they could help Optimus kids.
The small group was cast in shadow momentarily, then some sand and a few loose palm fauns blew up startling Spike. A flying former landed not too far from the group.
"Commander! Are all our people home safe?" Called out the new former, it was a femmling just out of her youngling shell and quiet possibly the oldest of the young neutrals Spike had seen so far.
"Taerosi, it is good to see you! How are you enjoying your new post as a scout?" Ryptyde spoke warmly, it was clear she found of this femmeling. "I love it! Though my creators would rather I stay within the holofield forever!" She huffed crossing her arms a crossed her chest. Spike realized she resemble a large sea bird but couldn't quiet put his finger on it.
"Papa wont stop drilling me about protocols, if I see or even think I see a Decepticon! Don't get me started-" She stopped mid vent when she finally noticed Spike in Ryptydes servos.
"What's that thing!"
"A human! His name is Spike!" Scythe jabbered excitedly, "He's really nice, and really smart."
Spike chuckled as Scythe regaled to Taerosi about how he met Spike and almost bit him in half, their adventure through the tunnel and seeing the bio-luminescent corals.
"Wow! So I gotta ask, are you tall for your species? And why do you look so squishy?" She chirped in question, coming closer to him to inspect him. She was very nearly all white he seen, save for a few black markings on her elbows and heels so far that he could see. He was surprised though that she had an all blue visor.
"I guess humans are just squishy," he said with a wry shrug, that always seemed to be the first thing new transformers always commented upon so he was used to it. "Uh, about my height...I'm still growing."
"So you can get a lot bigger?" Taerosi asked eagerly.
"Um, I don't know about a lot..," Spike mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Humans are all a lot smaller than us," Rypetyde chuckled. "But what they lack in size, they make up for in bravery."
"Now you're making me blush," Spike laughed.
"And you're cute," the young femme giggled at his blush.
Taerosi asked eagerly "Do you mind if I hold you to get a better look at you? I promise I wont drop you," She giggled, she was young, easily compared to a teenager like himself Spike noted. "Sure that'll be fine."
He looked back to Ryptyde and winked, Ryptyde smiled in knowing. Turning he took off at a sprint and vaulted off her finger tips into open air. Taerosi gasped and dove forward to catch him, her blood running cold with panic! She landed on her stomach plating into the sand and some part of her noting too that Scythe had also dove too catch their new human. Only the two elder bots remained standing and laughing at the antics of the younger femme and mech.
Taerosi and Scythe looked around confused, blood pumping in her circuits, "Oh no did I squish him!?" She said panicking pushing herself up a bit to look under herself. "Where did he go?" Asked Scythe, moving the sand around himself fearing the worst.
"I'm up here!" Spike waved from Ryptyde's servos, he was smiling devilishly. It wasn't often he played pranks but with his new suit and Wheeljack's improved pocket knife he'd discovered that combining the two he could make a small holographic projection of himself, running away. While he himself remained perfectly invisible for a very short time!
The young femme gasped in shock.
"Can you teleport?" she demanded as Scythe slowly got up, looking a bit embarrassed.
"It's a holo?" he asked, brushing the wet sand off his frame, unable to believe he'd just be so neatly fooled.
"Yep," Spike confirmed, waving his pocket knife. "It's something one of the Autobots cooked up for me, to help protect me from the Cons."
"It's amazing," Taerosi exclaimed in excitement.
"Thanks," he replied with a grin. "Be cool to teleport though, that'd make the Cons go wild."
"Heh, you definitely got me though." Getting up brush some sand from her own plates. Reaching over to her shoulder plating Scythe brush some lingering sand off.
"It would! I'll bring it up to WheelJack. You know I honestly haven't even explored everything about the pocket knife yet, or the suit Ryptyde gave me." Spike commented looking at the oversized pocket knife.
"Spike, why don't you wait here with Taerosi and Scythe, Requiem and I have some business to attend to."
"Sure, if they don't mind?" Spike smiled rubbing the back of his head a bit.
"I don't," the young femme said as Scythe sighed before shaking his head with a small smile.
"I'm alright," he confirmed, no hard feelings on his end. It was rather ingenious bit of technology, he could see how it could fool an enemy, a perfect distraction.
Spike beamed, he'd really wanted to spend time with some new bots, especially young ones. He really hoped they could persuade Megatron to let Optimus's kids go, it'd be awesome to meet them. Hopefully the old grey Mech wasn't being a jerk to them.
"Great," he said enthusiastically. "What do you guys wanna do?"
"Well I am curious, what do humans do for fun? Do you fly as high as you can and kill your engines plummeting back to the ground seeing how close you can get before kicking them back on scaring the spark out of your sire!" Taerosi giggled a bit manically, Spike highly suspected her question was based on experience.
"Taerosi, you're lucky your Sire didn't ground you after that!" Scythe chided a little well smiling, his smile more a smirk of impress than of scorn.
"Oh he wanted too, believe me. I think he was embarrassed by it more than anything. I overheard him and ahma talking one night," She placed her servo's on her hips and puffed out her chest trying to look more mechly.
"How am I supposed to command the respect of my scouts if I cannot even make my own sparkling listen! She must be grounded!" Taerosi boomed in her best impressing of her Sire. Spike laughed, her impression reminding him of his own father.
"I can't believe you weren't grounded if he was talking like that," Spike asked, amazed that hadn't happened.
"My carrier talked him out of it," Taerosi explained with a grin. "Said, I wasn't a scout, I was his daughter."
Spike was still amazed until she said.
"And then my carrier reminded him of some of the stunts 'he' used to pull when he was a kid."
She then did an exaggerated slump, imitating how he Sire had reacted. This made both of them laugh, that must have been a sight.
Requiem chuckled overhearing the young ones, "I sure hope Hammer doesn't catch wind of the teasing now that she's a scout."
"I don't think he will. Besides she has proven herself capable in all his rigorous testing." Ryptyde smiled remembering fondly how Prota swelled with tears when Hammer presented their daughter to Ryptyde in front of the entire clan. Requiem nodded before pushing open one half of a well-worn set of doors. A faded red Cross just barely visible when the closed. These doors had seen many pass through. Not all returning to their loved ones.
Prota sat quietly rocking a sparkling in one arm, well holding a data pad in the other. A small multi jointed appendage with three fingers tapped quietly away on the data pad, a second one held a bottle for the sparkling.
The carrier of the sparkling lay quietly on a berth nearby, a second sparkling laying in the crook of his arm. The carrier and sparkling fast asleep, a forgotten bottle just barely still in his finger.
Prota looked up at her Commander as she and Requiem entered quietly.
"Greetings, how has your travel been from the Ark?"
"Not too bad," she said with a smile. "I had an enjoyable swim with my new little friend Spike."
"Ah, the human," Prota nodded. "I hope I might have the time to get to know him better, he sounds interesting."
"He is," the commander agreed before asking curiously. "I didn't expect to see you back here, I thought you were working with Ratchet?"
Prota nodded. "Yes, I thought I'd be at the Ark longer but it was decided I should return here and examine our people, get what results I can so those Autobot scientists have more data to work with. So Requiem took me back."
"I hope there can be a solution found," Rypteyde mused softly. "I'm going to see Megatron soon, convince him that using this virus would be a bad idea."
Nodding at her commander, Prota said. "You know, if things are more settled, this might be something useful for the future. If the war ever ends, it might be a good way to kickstart the population. It's a possibility anyway, we wouldn't want to mess around with it until we know we can halt the process."
"That's true," Rypetyde said, she hadn't considered that angle. "By the way, your daughter is currently entertaining Spike."
"I wonder who is entertaining whom?" Prota chuckled, "It seems not too long ago we were running from the war, a tiny sparkling no bigger than this one in my arms. Hammer shielding us with his body..," She trailed off then, her optics dimming deep in memory, as small tremble was just barely noticeable in her shoulders.
Seeing her reaction, Rypetyde gently placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
"It's hard to recall," she stated sympathetically. "It's an exciting tale to tell but those who lived through it..."
Prota nodded, her body tensing a little. Her friends were aware she sometimes had nightmares about that incident, her processor conjuring up awful scenarios where that brutish Mech carried out his threat. They'd lessened greatly as time had passed but they could still have an effect on her. They all had their moments but it helped they could rely on each other to get through them.
"It was a very defining moment," Requiem spoke up.
"Indeed," his leader acknowledged.
"After what happened," Prota said softly in remembrance. "Everyone called Welsm Hammer and that's who he became."
"And he still carried his weapon today," Rypetyde finished with a nod. "No matter what state it gets in."
The other femme laughed with a small shake of her head in disbelief.
"I can't believe that thing hasn't broken," she admitted, gently rocking the sleeping sparkling. "Then again, he has taken care of it, augmented it with different metals."
"It's a mighty weapon," Requiem recited with a smile. "Strikes fear into our enemies and gives it's allies a boost."
"Like a good luck charm?" Prota chuckled. "It's certainly that."
All the sparklings and younglings loved to gather round the weapon and hear Hammer recount it's many conquests and adventures. Only slightly exaggerated at times. Their daughter hoped she could one day lift it up, something Hammer wasn't so sure about.
While the adults talked, Spike was having a great time with his new friends. As much as he loved his Autobot friends, it was nice to spend some time with...well fellow kids. It was especially funny listening to her impressions of her dad Hammer who sounded both loud and commanding.
"...and you should see him with his weapon," Taerosi excitedly exclaimed, grabbing a random bit of discard pipe and lifting it up. "Doesn't matter what or who he's facing, he always has it."
"Does he have a catchphrase?" Spike couldn't resist asking, thoughts of 'by the power of Greyskull' flashing through his mind.
"Oh yeah," Scythe cut in with a big grin, looking over at the younger femme who lifted her 'hammer' even higher.
"Looks like it's hammer time!" she boomed before bringing it down with a splash into a pool and making everyone laugh.
"Bet he'd give old Megs a run for his money," Spike giggled, now imaging the Decepticon leader being chased around. "Funny he's called Hammer and he's got a hammer."
"That didn't used to be his name," the young femme said thoughtfully, sitting down on a rock, the pipe lying on the sand before her. "We all know the tale of how he became Hammer...and got his weapon."
"Could you tell me?" Spike asked eagerly, he really wanted to hear another story.
"Heh, okay," she agreed. "Hope I do this right..."
~Memory file~
Explosions ricochet overhead and off partially collapsed crumbling buildings, the concussion of which had tossed everyone to the ground. Barely catching herself Prota held a tiny squalling bundle close to her chest. A thermal blanket tucked tightly around it. Looking over her shoulder she could see others of her small group still alive but stunned. Dust and gravel littered everything and everyone, the dust hung in the air clogging her intakes and obscuring her vision. A sharp ringing in her audios heavily disoriented her. Turning back around numbly she pulled the bundle from her chest. With shaking fingers and pounding spark Prota pulled the cloth from the top of the tiny bundled. A tiny wailing white sparkling bawled up its fists at her. Prota gasped out in pure terrified happiness, her sparkling was okay.
The ringing in her audios hide the approach of pedes, a servo gripped her spinning her and throwing her to the ground. Prota took the force of the fall directly on her elbows just barely shielding the sparkling. Quickly she covered its face to try to protect her offspring.
"Leave us alone! We claim no sides!" She screamed crawling backward with her one free arm, Energon seeping from multiple cuts on her back and arms making her way muddy and slippery. The being that stood over her was dark sparked she knew, his frame streamed and streaked with Energon, very little of it his own. A dirty dripping blade hung easily in his servo, his blood-red optics declaring him a Decepticon.
"Join, or perish." growled the deadly mech before her. Some part of her noting that steam was rising from his frame, he'd been exerting himself heavily this day.
Another explosion close by pushed the dust hung the air away from the pair, Prota screamed. Three more mechs stood not far from the one that towered over her, each had a weapon that dripped with someone's blood. She watched as indecipherable audio was uttered by one of the mechs, he had bent down offering a servo to the Cybertronian that lay in the wreckage. Pulling the bot up the pair disappeared out of sight, the bot had chosen to join she knew in her spark.
The mech standing over them had followed her line of sight and had watched his companion draw the recruit out of view, no doubt bringing it to the medics. Another bloody mech walked over to a bot laying on the ground, this bot was unconscious apparently, he'd bent down and hefted the bot over his shoulders also disappearing from view.
The third Con got to his query, the bot on the ground was closer to Prota and the sparkling than anyone else, he was also injured like so many of the neutrals. The same question was asked to this bot, the mech offered his servo just like the last two had. The bot accepted and let the mech lift him to his pedes. Unseen by the Decepticon was that the bot on the ground was armed with rebar from a crumbled building. The bot shoved the rebar hard into the stomach platings of the Decepticon that had helped him up. Energon blood oozed over the bots servo, panting hard he shoved further up into the spark of the mech that hung in his servos, the red optics of the mech flickered. The mech placing his servo on the bots shoulder smiled, a small look of relief before collapsing to his knee's on the ground Energon blood gushed out the wound. The bot panting hard from the effort of dispatching the Decepticon turned to the final mech next to Prota.
The mech that stood by Prota grinned, "Perish it is then." He brought the dirty bloody blade to the ready, the bot looked about himself for a weapon. The only thing close by was the very same rebar, with a grimace he bent down and yanked it out in one swift motion.
Prota's optics were wide, she couldn't believe what she was witnessing. She coughed as dust still liberally coated her intake but then tried to suppress it as the murderous red optic Mech glanced in her direction. However, he seemed to judge that she wasn't in any condition to flee so he could focus his attention on his prey.
And it was true, she seemed drained of all energy, there was no way she could push herself up and sprint away in a single instant. She could only just hold herself up enough to cradle her precious sparkling who was still crying over the noise of distant shots, explosions and screams. A groan escaped her, she was still seriously disorientated and her body trembled as her nervous system screamed from the abuse it had suffered.
"H-hush," she whispered to her sparkling, this Mech had no problems killing her and probably her little one too. Although the horrifying thought occurred to her that he might kill her and take Taerosi away to raise as a child solider. Her poor child was still crying, dirty from dust despite her best efforts to keep her wrapped up in a protective blanket.
She saw her would be killer take a step forward, clearly about to kill the defiant bot in front of him. And there was nothing she could do to stop either his death or her own.
Slowly the horrid ringing in her audios gave way to the loud world around them. What was left of the group was finally coming to, no one was able-bodied enough to help the mech fight the Decepticon. Her mech, she suddenly realized blood running cold, now that the world was coming into focus. A scream nearby did nothing to sway the attention of the Decepticon, though Welsm twitched momentarily, his optics never leaving his opponent. Dark Energon blood dripped from the rebar he held, a small bit of broken metal from the Decepticons stomach plating glint in the dim light just before dropping off to the gravel in a small pool below.
Pebbles all around her started to dance from a deep vibration, seconds later the mech blasted forward. Snarling he raised the blade at spark height, ready to parry the rebar. Welsm dove to the left tucking and rolling, careful not to impale himself with his crude weapon. The mech skid just passed his opponent with a growl of frustration, he wasn't used to his prey being so agile. What this mech failed to know was that Welsm was a member of a recently let go group of miners. His job was to be fast and smart, he was in charge of ensuring the safety of his fellow miners. The security and structure of the caves they extracted the life given Energon ore from. He had one of the most dangerous jobs in his field, he was the first in the tunnel checking for fractures, gases, and loose rock.
Planting his right pede and using his momentum spun himself back around, growling in annoyance he spun his blade. With such deceiving prey, he'd have to be smarter. Sparks showered both mechs when blade met rebar, the contrasting metals, and force of each mech jarring.
The Decepticon let go of his blade with one hand, using his free hand he started to use his forearm to bet down on Welsm's. He was quickly disabling Welsms grip on the rebar. Thinking fast Welsm head-butted his assailant, forcing the mech to stumble back a few steps allowing him to shove himself free. His arm throbbed from the beating, cycling hard trying to regain his strength, a part of him noting others in the group coming too finally. He momentarily locked optics with a femme who crawled behind some of the rubble in the direction of Prota and his sparkling. He was distracted too long in those few seconds, the Decepticon used his thrusters and finally succeeded in ramming into him. Body-slamming him into the ground, growling his victory he rose to grab Welsms arms to pin him down.
When the mech gripped his injured arm he involuntarily roared from the pain, yanking the mech forward and down closer to him. Welsm was no pushover, he pulled himself up off the ground just enough to reach the Decepticon. He bit down on anything he could get his denta on, his teeth met the audio of the mech. Roaring in pain the mech jerked up and away snarling, inadvertently falling off Welsm. He recovered enough to raise his left pede and smash it into Welsms faceplates, successfully taking out his left optic with two kicks. The mech crawled back over to the stunned bot on the ground, he was irritated and pissed off, he was done playing with this worthless bot. Taking in the area around him he found his blade, smiling wickedly he brought himself up off the ground. Back on his pedes he half stumbled over to his blade and retrieved it from the rubble. Turning he saw Welsm was still on the ground unconscious, twirling his blade once he walked calmly over to the bots still body.
Looking down at the barely breathing mech at his pedes the Decepticon made a disgusted sound, "Pathetic"
Prota screamed when Welsm went flying through the air, the mech had hauled off and kicked him. With a sickly crunch, he hit against a nearby half crumbled wall. The mech jumped over a low pile of rubble to get to Welsm who was now just barely conscious and laboring to breathe. Gripping Welsm by the neck struts he hauled him up off the ground but firmly against the wall, Welsm gulped and gurgled gasping for air, intakes catching on even more dust. Welsm tried desperately to pull at the Decepticons arm that he was being pinned by struggling against his opponent fighting against his grip. Fueled by the pain in his body screaming at him, his spark pounding hard against its casing he regained a tiny bit more of himself.
"You filthy piece of scrap-metal, did you think the likes of you could take me on?" laughing he punched Welsm in the stomach plates with the hilt of his blade in a backhanded fashion. Welsm dropped his servos from the Decepticons' arm in defeat, blood dripped down his face from the broken optic into his mouth and back out.
"See, pathetic." the mech growled, raising his servo to hit Welsm again. Clenching his fists preparing for the incoming blow he felt his right servos fingers close around a rod of metal, it was rebar.
"NO!" Prota screamed startling everyone who had managed to gather around her and her sparkling. Her scream distracting the Decepticon for a moment, long enough for Welsm to adjust his grip on the rebar, he tried to lift it, it was heavier than he thought. He managed to glance down, a large chunk of concrete wrapped itself around the opposite end of which he was holding. Some part of his mind registered that it probably belonged to the build he had collided with and maybe even was dislodged with his impact. Welsm's spark skipped a beat he stiffened feeling the tip of the dirty blade against his stomach plates, "I think," the mech turned back to Welsm now, his ruby optics with deadly intent, something there akin to a hunger lingered in them.
"I'll claim your femme as my own, make her bare ME sparklings. Your sparkling, however, will serve the war in the camps until she can be used properly," He growled hotly not leaving anything to the imagination. Welsm grit his denta, digging deep into his dwindling reserves of strength he kicked at the Decepticon hard in the stomach forcing him stumbling backward. He dragged the hidden rebar behind him a few steps barely able to see the Decepticon.
"My family will live a free life."
He turned slightly to give himself more momentum for the onslaught. The Decepticon roared charging forward, he would end this. With a grunt of huge effort, Welsm spun the rebar and concrete up into the air and with a sickly crunch, firmly against the helm of his attacker. This one hit fully dispatching the Decepticon, Welsm stumbled forward, lifting the makeshift hammer into the air. Crunch, he hammered again, crunch the body of his enemy flopping with another impact. A squelching crunch was the final blow, every ounce of him hurting. Stumbling he righted himself bits of metal, dust, dirt, and blood coated his frame. Finally, a couple of bots from their half hazard group came near, one went to the opposite side of him ducking under his arm she took some of his weight. She was very young no more than fresh into her femme shell, carefully she reached for the hammer, it was coated in the remains of the Decepticon. She carried it anyway. On his other side was a very old mech, many vorns his senior his optics glazed over showing his age. He too took up Welsm's other arm, both bots brought Welsm out of the rubble and away from the dead mech.
"Come on," the old Mech said in a rasping voice, whether from age or the dust, Welsm couldn't tell. "He won't hurt no one anymore."
Welsm stumbled forward, his whole body shaking from his injuries and the rush of fighting for his life. His hand came up to his damaged optic, he couldn't see anything out of it and his mouth tasted life force, his own and the Con he'd just slain. He normally would be ashamed of leaning on such an old Mech but right now, he could barely think.
"W-welsm?" a treasonous voice called out and he violently started.
"Prota!" he exclaimed, his beloved mate and child had just witnessed what he'd done. "Are you...?"
"We're okay," she said, another of their crew had managed to make it to her and was helping her up. They were all injured to various degrees, it would take a lot of medical treatment to bring them up to scratch. And yet he had the bad feeling that would be a very difficult task.
He closed his one optic, he wasn't sure he could fight off more of them. That last fight had taken a lot out of him and he was only going to get weaker. He wasn't sure of what their next move should be.
"We should leave," the old Mech suddenly said. "This one will be missed."
He gestured to the grisly remains of the crushed Decepticon. Welsm nodded, that was probably the best thing to do.
"Regroup," he managed to say. "We need to regroup, anyone who isn't too badly injured can scout ahead of us."
The old Mech nodded agreement.
"You may need your hammer," he suggested as he helped Welsm closer to his mate.
"Here," The young femme said holding up his hammer, grizzly bits of metal dripped off still. He grimaced, there was a point in his life that he would have never hurt another spark, back then life was simple. Another nearby explosion shook the air around them, he knew in his spark that if the group was found that they would be tortured in an act of revenge for what happened, Decepticons were not known for their kindness, save a very very few.
He looked at the hammer, sliding his arm off the femme and with a shaking servo he gripped the rebar. The femme moved to Prota now, her and the other member of the group that had made it to Prota earlier gentle helped her to her pedes. After they felt she was stable on her own they moved away, "We'll scout ahead." they told Welsm and the older mech.
"T-thank you," Prota shakily said to the two femmes, Taerosi was still sniffling hugging the thermal blanket tightly. Welsm moved forward with the help of the older mech again.
"Is she okay?" He asked tiredly.
"Thanks to you. Are you okay?" She asked placing a tentative servo near his jawline careful not to touch his damaged optic. "That looks bad Welsm."
Welsm half chuckled, " Think it'll improve my looks?" he asked half-heartedly, he set the hammer against his thy then, gently he reached for Prota, placing his helm against hers, in a rare show of vulnerability he murmured just loud enough for her to hear him. "Thank Primus you both are safe. I would be lost without either of you, you are my spark," He looked down at his beautiful sparkling.
"Taerosi" He choked out, his voice filling with emotion. Looking back up at Prota, he kissed her forehead, "Let's gather the others."
"Yes," she agreed, wanting nothing more than to be away from all this death and destruction. Especially before more of the killers showed up. "Let's go."
Welsm hefted his weapon onto his shoulder and they made their painful ways after the others.
…..
A small group of transformers had congregated around Taerosi as she recounted her family's tale, gasps from some of the newer arrivals to their neutral ranks had spurred her on till her finally. The crowd was silent and stony, the war was hard on everybot, some more than others.
"Wow," Spike said softly, he hadn't expected such a harrowing tale, from what he thought would be a simple name change to hide Welsm's original identity. "What your parents went through, just to find safety and protect your families was..."
"Brutal? Chaotic? Terrifying? It was all those and more, blood and death by my servos. That's something that can never be washed away from one's spark. "
The gruff almost gravely growl of Hammer startled the group hard and many of them had jumped or cried out loud. None of them had heard him approaching over the sands to see what the gathering of bots was about. Hammer paused for a moment, his optics glazing over in his own memories of eons gone by. With a low growl, he stepped forward, his hammer appearing from subspace now, a fire in his optics.
"I would do it all again to know that my family and my people were safe." Hammer snarled brandished his hammer at no-one in particular, letting it hit it the ground with a defiant thud.
Everyone jumped at the deadly serious statement, even Taerosi looked a little subdued despite her earlier teasing of her sire. Spike could understand that, he was still processing what he'd been told. The idea of his new friend being made into a slave when she was just a baby was horrifying. He didn't know what to say in this charged situation and it seemed no one else did until the young femme moved forward.
"You're done great Sire," she said gently as she reached his side. "You've always protected me and mama, and one day I'll make you proud when I can do the same."
He looked down at her and his rough face with it's old scars smiled. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he said gruffly but firmly. "You know I'm already proud of you daughter. You are everything to me and your carrier, I know if you ever get into a bad situation, you have the skill and training to get out of it."
Hefting his hammer up again, he asked with a crooked smile. "But they'll still have to get past me first."
Looking at the battered but strong looking weapon, clearly enforced with different metals, Spike knew he wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that. After having it for so long, Hammer clearly knew how to wield it to it's full potential. Briefly, he wondered how a fight between Hammer and Megatron might go, it'd be brutal that was for sure.
Author's note. In the next chapter, Spike and Rypetyde meet up with Megatron but how does that go? Find out next time, until then.