Chapter 8: Rain Forest Part 1

(Alternative Title: All Aboard The Angst Train)


As Starscream stared down at the blue planet, he realized how he hadn't had any time to himself since arriving in this solar system. Though he had no real feelings for this planet one way or the other, he knew that the exotic locations and climates would have interested someone he'd known once.

Grimacing, he felt the sharp sting of bitterness in his spark as he thought of the vorns which had long since passed. Looking back on the years, Starscream couldn't believe how much things had changed. Perhaps it was his own fault for thinking that joining Megatron would be like how it had been with Overcast.

Though Starscream had been assigned to Overcast as his bodyguard, the large white shuttle had never looked down upon him for being a warrior instead of a scientist like himself. He'd viewed them as equals, valued his opinion, and listened if Starscream declared that one of the planets they explored was deemed too hostile for even them.

Why couldn't Megatron see how much he wanted that same respect with him? Starscream was one of his top soldiers, so his recruitment for this mission made the most sense to him. The others…less so. Demolishor fawned over Megatron to an almost sickening degree, and the only point in that idiot Cyclonus' favor was that he could fly-other than that he reminded Starscream unpleasantly of his cousin's worst aspects.

It was infuriating that they were the ones who were allowed to have the mini-cons collected after the Autobots had fled the desert, while he was left to acquire one on his own. He huffed quietly as he looked away from the damaged ship's window; he'd taken much in stride due to his ego, and he wouldn't let this slight overtake him. He'd get a mini-con and would show all of them, especially Megatron that he deserved to be respected.

And he wasn't going to let those two oafs show him up; not on a retrieval mission and certainly not during a training simulation.


Rad felt a knot tie in his stomach as he glanced up at Rachel from his cereal bowl. His cousin looked worse for wear, as though she hadn't gotten any sleep for the past two days. Her hair was haphazardly pulled into her usual ponytail with more fly-aways than normal, and there were dark circles under her eyes. He wondered if she really was regretting her decision to keep High Wire around, but despite how grumpy she acted, there was never any lash-out towards the mini-con.

Rad was left to worry about what else it could have been. His thoughts would often turn to the stress of her schooling, but she'd already dealt with it during her freshman year of college; was it him? Was she realizing he was too much of a hassle to keep around? Rachel had expressed frustration with his recent behavior, and it churned his insides to know that he could possibly be adding to her problems made him uncomfortable.

He found he couldn't eat any more of his breakfast, and he dumped it down the empty side of the sink.

Rachel shifted in her seat and reached out to grab his arm as he tried to move past her. "Wait, I got something for you." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a white cell phone. "I bought this and got Mom and Dad to agree to a family plan so we can save on money," she smiled tiredly, "so at least this way I'll know you can call me anytime."

Rad bit his lip as he accepted the phone, the feelings of guilt only intensifying. "You didn't have to waste your money on me; the check's supposed to be coming soon-" Rachel shook her head.

"It's not a waste since it concerns your safety." She assured him. Her eyes flickered to the clock and she grabbed her crutches. "I gotta go, Hot Shot's gonna be here in a few minutes."

"Have a nice day." Rad said quietly as his cousin made her way out of the apartment. Giving his own side-eye glance to the clock, he found he still had a bit of time left before he had to head out, so he slinked off to his room where High Wire and Kero were cuddling together on his bed. Rad's lips twitched up just for a moment. 'Wouldn't know that these two hated each other looking at this.'

Rad checked his phone, and found that it indeed had a camera feature. He smiled briefly once more as he lined up the shot and took the picture. The image froze on his phone as he saved it, and he couldn't resist using it as his screen saver; Carlos and Alexis wouldn't think it was High Wire with nothing but a plush toy, but Sureshock and Grindor were sure to get a kick out of it though.

High Wire awoke first, and he tilted his head when he saw the phone flash. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing." Rad answered innocently as he put the phone in his pant pocket. "We have a bit of time left before we have to leave, do you want to do anything?"

"Hmm," High Wire subtly shoved Kero away from him, who squawked as he shot into the air, "I think I just did what I wanted too." There was definitely a smirk in his tone.

Kero fumed as he clenched his small fists. "Just you wait, soon I'll be big enough to shove you off the bed!" he whirled around, and abruptly beamed at Rad. "Hee-ey, think I could finally get a room of my own? Washing off the smell of dirt and oil is a real hassle." He explained, while pointedly ignoring the glare High Wire sent him.

Rad raised a brow though. "Couldn't I just use Bubbles to clean you?"

"Oh, look at the time, too bad you gotta go." Kero said as he just 'happened' to glance at the digital clock. "Be sure to think of a way to get Create back, remember to be on the look-out for more magical signatures, and don't be too disappointed if this tin-can doesn't work out as your partner." He listed off, and High Wire took a swipe at him when he got to that last bit. Kero floated out of the way lazily. "See? He's violent."

Rad rolled his eyes, but their antics did help alleviate some of his dour mood. He checked to make sure he had all his notebooks for school, that his key was inside his shirt, and that all three of his Sakura Cards were all tucked away in his backpack's side pocket. Since he planned on taking a side trip to see the Autobots after school, perhaps he could try once more to convince Create to come back by showing it he wasn't so bad with these three.

Kero said they felt rejected-he just needed to prove that he wouldn't do that. 'Yeah, turns out that's a lot harder than I thought.'

Rad shook his head, but gestured for High Wire to follow him. "Oh, and if you promise not to mess up my room, Kero, you can have one of my drawers if you don't want to use Bubbles." He said, his tone a tad teasing and Kero stuck his tongue out at him before flying over to his desk. He chuckled briefly as he closed the door just enough so that Kero could get out if he wanted too.

When Rad came back upon the kitchen, he peered back over his shoulder at his room. Nodding to himself, he found a pen and took out a plate from the cupboard. He pulled the necklace off from around his neck as he grabbed an apple out of the fridge and set it on the plate. Rad put a finger against his lips and High Wire nodded.

"Release!" Rad said quietly. The strange elongated and he fished Sweet out of his backpack. He tossed Sweet up into the air and the wings on the staff glowed as Sweet was held in place. Rad's voice remained low as he continued, "Make this apple into a cake, Sweet!"

A small pink form sprung from the card as Sweet descended upon the apple. She flourished her wand, tapping the apple and in an instant a cake was in its place. Rad mouthed 'thank you' and Sweet smiled at him before reverting to her card form and slipped back into his knapsack's pocket.

After Rad put a note in front of the cake and set it in the fridge, both Rad and High Wire set about making their way out of the apartment, and Rad smiled when he caught up with his friends on the ride to school and parked their mini-cons at the bicycle rack once they arrived. "Hey, you never did tell me how you got your parents to believe the cover story for Grindor and Sureshock."

Carlos rubbed the back of his head. "Must have slipped my mind." He said sheepishly. "So anyway, I told my 'rents that I entered a raffle for a new skateboard, and they totally bought it."

Alexis' lips pursed moodily. "I didn't have such a good time; I had to say that you and Carlos both helped me buy this with your allowance."

Rad raised a brow. "Straight-laced Alexis actually lied? What would Rachel think of you?" he teased, and Alexis' face flushed red.

She glowered at Rad. "The things I'm doing for you and the mini-cons."

"Speaking of our robot friends," Carlos piped up, "I was thinking of going to see them after school got out. Now that you're ungrounded we can go together."

Rad blinked, but felt touched by the gesture. "You didn't go because you wanted me to go with you?"

"Hey, don't go thinking I'm getting all soft and mushy." Carlos warned him.

"Too late." Alexis shot back. "Your very 'manly' screams when the Decepticons cornered us didn't exactly make me think any better of you."

Carlos scowled back at her. "Well, at least I don't have a super annoying cousin." He snapped childishly.

Alexis paused as she ignored the jab. "Now that you mention it, I won't be able to make sure you two don't get into trouble at the Autobot's base." She didn't exactly look sad that she couldn't go, and Rad was reminded that she'd always been the least enthusiastic about this continued contact. "I have to go home and help my parents 'de-cute' the living and dining rooms."

"De-cute? Is that even a real thing?" Rad asked curiously.

Alexis nodded grimly. "My uncle thinks Mom got over her 'cuteness' craze-or at least downplayed it, I was never really sure-and so Kelly gives us a heads up when her parents want to come over for dinner. It's just us taking down pictures of kittens, puppies, all that kind of stuff."

"Your mom sounds like more of a kid than you do." Carlos pointed out.

Alexis grimaced. "I know."

Rad blinked once more, and he was presented with the image of a younger Alexis in their second grade where she'd come to school every day wearing a different dress that looked overly cute. "Wait a second; is your mom why you used to wear those frilly outfits to school?"

The brunette nodded, the grimace widening. "She laid off that when I told her as the president I'd be wearing business suits and not frills. Point is, don't bug the Autobots if they're doing something important. In fact, maybe you shouldn't even go to the Autobot base if they are in the middle of something important."

Rad shook his head as Alexis tried a last ditch effort to convince them to back out, but it had been two days since he'd last seen the Autobots-heck, he'd never seen Hot Shot in that time frame and he stopped by twice a day. 'Although,' Rad thought of Rachel's angry and disappointed expression, and how the dark circles under her eyes made her appear worse for wear, 'I don't need to worry her-I should probably call her just to make sure that it's okay to go see them.'

Barring the situation with the Sakura Cards, Rad wasn't willing to make Rachel's haggard condition worse.


Rachel rubbed her temples as she was grateful for the break bell. She had an hour to rest and eat a quick lunch before going back to class and not thinking about her nightmare. Though she hadn't resorted to sleeping pills, she was getting closer and closer to it the more the dream kept up. Rachel had enough to worry about with Rad, the fact even her subconscious was on her case about him did nothing to help.

"Hey, you don't look so good."

The blonde furrowed her brow, but blinked when she found Marty standing beside her desk. "Hmm? Oh, I'm just tired." She chuckled nervously. "Probably don't have to tell you that; you're in here helping Professor Paaswell all day after all."

"Yeah, it can get pretty hectic. Paleontology students can be a real wild bunch." Marty said with a wry smile. "If you're not too tired, wanna have lunch with me down in the quad?"

Rachel shrugged. "Sure, it's better than getting in line at the cafeteria." Plus, she hoped the fresh air would do her some good and get the cobwebs out of her head. After dragging herself out of her seat and pulling her crutches along with her, she hobbled out of the class room. 'I cannot wait until I can get this cast off.'

"So how's Rad?" Marty asked.

"He's fine." Rachel replied. "Bit more rambunctious than I expected, but fine all the same."

"It must be difficult for him settling into a new place, even if you are his cousin." Marty said thoughtfully.

Rachel sighed; it had crossed her mind that his acting out could be a sign he was homesick. She sure knew how bad she got during her parents' many moves from Lincoln for the sake of their careers. Bitter? No, she wasn't bitter, not at all. 'It's total normal for me to have Rad move in so he didn't have to go through that too.' She thought dourly.

The steps down the front of the main entrance always gave her a bit of trouble, and she hated feeling so limited. She was tempted to blame the reason for why she got like this, but self-loathing would deflect it inward. 'I could have done better, couldn't I? Yeah, probably.'

"So which vendor do you want to stop at?" Marty asked.

Rachel chuckled dryly. "You go on ahead, I'm sure you're gonna need the time to visit everyone."

Marty grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess that's true."

Rachel watched her friend cross the street, and she gave a quick glance around before starting to walk as well. A screech got her attention, and when she looked up, a gasp escaped her. A large purple and yellow motorbike was coming straight for her!

'Move, move, move!' she yelled at herself and stumbled to backtrack, but the sound of the engine was suddenly upon her. She shrieked as she was flung backwards, but instead of pain, a weight was around her waist.

Rachel's mind slowly registered what happened, and she just knew she hadn't been flattened like a pancake. Her eyes narrowed after the motorbike and the darkly clad driver. "Watch where you're going!"

Marty rushed back over to her, his expression contorted in worry. "Can you believe that guy? You're not hurt, are you? How's your ankle?"

Rachel winced at the pain which shot up her leg, but it was from the reminder than any further spraining. "Bad as it's regularly been." She muttered. The hands around her waist left when she leaned against Marty, and she looked over her shoulder at the one who pulled her out of the way. It was an older man with silver along his hair that contrasted against his dark locks. He reached down to pick up her crutches and a beige briefcase he must have dropped. "Uh, thank you sir." She tried not to show her confusion over her gratefulness, even if she couldn't recognize the man.

Marty though straightened up. "Hello, Professor Kinomoto." Rachel glanced at him, and he explained, "As a prof. aide I know everyone" with a wry smile.

The blonde grasped her crutches and smiled politely. "Thank you." She said once more, before her eyes glared off into the direction where the motorbike had zoomed off into. "Can you believe the nerve of some people?" She fiddled with her crutches until she was standing on her own once again, and her tone softened when she looked at the professor. "Have a nice day, sir."

Quickly, Rachel waddled across the street as fast as she could to hopefully avoid any other unobservant drivers.


Rad fumbled with his new phone as he put in not only Rachel's contact number, but worked up the courage to actually call her. It was like a dark cloud hanging over him all day, and now that he was at this moment he realized there was no going back. He was also acutely aware that he was being a tad overdramatic, but after all that Rachel went through with them-and given that he lived with her-a heads up seemed like the least he could do.

Taking a deep breath, Rad was interrupted from hitting the call button when Carlos' exited shout rang out from behind. He all but jumped out of his skin as he glared at him over his shoulder. "Warn a guy, next time, would ya?" he placed a hand over his chest. "I think my heart actually stopped for a second."

"That's impossible," a young voice said, and Carlos' expression turned annoyed as Kelly and Alexis walked up to them, "if you're heart stopped, you'd be dead." Kelly finished seriously.

Carlos glared down at her. "It was just an expression; don't go making everything weird."

Kelly huffed as she crossed her arms. "I'm just telling you the facts; don't get mad at me for not knowing basic biology."

"If anyone should be embarrassed," Rad cut in sheepishly, "it's me for not knowing either."

Kelly blinked at him, her eyes staring into his as a flush appeared on her cheeks. "O-oh! I'd never think you were stupid, Rad." She said shyly. She glanced back at Alexis, who looked faintly amused. "See ya later." She mumbled and scurried past Carlos and Rad.

The blond was left bemused. "What just happened?"

Alexis chuckled. "I think someone's got a crush on you." She outright laughed when Rad looked confused. "I was shocked too, but apparently she really likes you."

"Why? I barely even know her!" Rad retorted.

Alexis sighed in what sounded like exasperation and shook her head. "Oh, Rad, you just don't understand romance. Crushes don't have to make sense, sometimes they just…are." She stared off dreamily, a faint tinge of pink her in cheeks.

Rad tilted his head as he considered her behavior. "So you got a crush on someone too then?" He was rather bewildered when abruptly Alexis straightened up, her entire face flushing beet red with an angry glimmer in her eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous!" she snapped. "I-I-I don't have time for such childish things! Now if you'll excuse me I have a house to de-cute." She added huffily and stormed down the school steps towards the bike rack.

After his moment of quiet observation, Carlos added his own two cents. "Alexis is just as weird as Kelly." His demeanour shifted as he leaned forward excitedly. "So, you gonna call Rachel? 'Cause I really wanna get up to the Autobot base."

"Yeah, I was just about." Rad said, and he cringed as he hit the call button. He gulped when the other line was picked up. "Uh, hey Ray. You know how my grounding is over today?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, I was thinking that Carlos and I could go see the Autobots. That okay with you?" Rad held his breath for the answer.

Rachel hummed on her end of the line. "I'm glad to see you're actually asking now. I don't see why not though, since it's not like you're gonna be there alone."

"Uh, that's right-we have High Wire and Grindor with us." Rad replied.

"That's not what I meant." Rachel said flatly. "And you can't trust anyone not to try and run you down-why at lunch-" she stopped abruptly. "Hot Shot just drove up; I'll see you at the Autobot base soon then."

Rad opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped when the other line went dead. He groaned as he slapped a hand to his forehead, but Rachel's anecdote worried him. Who almost got hit today? "Well, we can go, but Ray's gonna be chaperoning us."

Carlos let out a disappointed whine. "This is just like when she babysat me. I couldn't go two feet without her trailing after me. I think she's gained some kind of sixth sense about these kinds of things."

Given that Rad knew magic existed and he apparently had it, there was a certain possibility that Rachel could have that kind of power too. Something that gave him pause was when he remembered Create's dragon, and the fact both Hot Shot and Rachel could see it. 'I'll have to ask Kero about this later.' He thought, and without further prompting, he jogged down the steps towards High Wire. "Hey, little guy, ya miss me?"

"Of course I missed you!" High Wire replied indignantly. "Without you I can't stretch my cables or transform. I'm stuck out here all day with nothing to do but cloud-gaze with Grindor or play that 'I spy' game. It really would be helpful if you left us a magazine or something."

"But then you couldn't read it anyway." Rad replied smartly. He bit down his chuckle when he felt High Wire and Grindor's sullen realization of this fact. "Don't worry, just think of this as getting some extra sleep-or recharge if that's what you call it."

"Hmm, that is true." High Wire admitted.

"Maybe we could even help you with those magic cards-" Rad froze as Grindor spoke, and watched Carlos furrow his brow as High Wire quickly shushed his combiner teammate. "-uh, magic card tricks! Only three tricks and you forgot the fourth? High Wire says that's not a good thing."

Carlos shrugged as he smiled easily at Rad. "That's not a bad number; you shouldn't be too hard on yourself."

"Believe me; I'm trying not to be." Rad muttered. On the inside he was silently relieved that Grindor had censored himself. Perhaps he needed to stress with the three mini-cons that they shouldn't talk about the cards or Kero at all when around Carlos or Alexis. This was too close for comfort.

Carlos looked from Grindor to Rad. "Though I am kinda wondering how you could understand him when I can't understand High Wire."

Rad stiffened. Of all the things, he really should have thought of a cover for this. He and Rachel had been worried about the Autobots figuring out their ruse than about either Alexis or Carlos questioning it. "Er, well, you see…I, uh, guess something just went wrong with the scanning? It's hard to tell-heck, even High Wire doesn't really know!" he looked imploringly at his friend. "Can you not mention this to the Autobots though? I don't want them to think I'm...weird."

Carlos raised a brow. "Weird? I think it's kinda cool, but whatever man." He shrugged.

Rad smiled in relief. "Thanks." He felt a twinge of guilt for lying about his ability to understand the mini-cons, but he felt that with the odd way both High Wire and Kero acted when he asked certain questions, that he wasn't being told the full truth either.

He just hoped they would tell him when they were ready.


Kero looked down at 'his' drawer with pride. It took most of the morning after Rad and High Wire left to clear it out, but he was finally finished! His mood dampened when he looked at the space, the image overlapping with another little room in a drawer.

The guardian shook his head vigorously. 'Those days are gone, everything's different now.' he thought and closed the drawer. He glanced at the one above his new room, where he could feel the presence of the Sakura Book.

In more ways than one, things had turned out differently than he thought. The Cardcaptor was a boy, when he thought for sure it would have been… Kero sighed as he flew over to the window. Even the view was different. Sure, there had been parks back in Tomoeda, but he could actually see at the outskirts of Lincoln that there was a forest instead of more buildings.

Perhaps the frustrating thing was that even with the change in places, there was still too much magical interference. It made trying to find the cards even more difficult, and that was not good. Rad might not have been what he was expecting, but he was still the Cardcaptor and Kero would do his best to help him.

The interference wasn't just with the cards, and that worried him. As depleted as his own magic was, he should have felt something from- well, it just made him that much more suspicious of the people Rad hung around.

Kero slipped through the open slightly ajar door and made his way towards the kitchenette. When he opened the fridge, he peered around the interior. There was a carton of milk, two cabinets full of vegetables and fruits, but his eyes were drawn to the plate with a one layered cake; it was chocolate with blue frosting and red sprinkles.

His eyes shined as he read the note in front of it. 'I thought you'd might like this,' was scrawled across the paper, 'but don't eat it all in one go, and be careful when you put the plate into the sink.'

Kero felt a mixture of excitement and gratitude. "Ca-ke!" he slipped back into his accent as he hefted the plate out of the fridge. He shut the door and flittered around the cake with a fork in hand, wondering where to start first. "Cake~!"


While Rad was all aboard with going to the Autobot base, even if it was for his own reasons, he still worried about if Rachel was going to come up to the mountain every time he did. Sure, he appreciated how protective his cousin was, but she also seemed to lack a sense of self-preservation that was worrying. From what High Wire had explained once he got back, Rachel thought nothing of trying to protect him until the very end.

It was a sobering thought, especially since Rad got the feeling Rachel was only going along with the Autobots because of him and Carlos. It didn't take a genius to see that Alexis hadn't been for this alliance either.

He straightened up when he saw Rachel limping alongside Hot Shot, who was walking at what looked to be a snail's pace given their differences in height. "Are you okay?" While he meant Rachel, he hoped his significant glance at both of them knew it included Hot Shot too.

The yellow mech hadn't seemed out of sorts when Rad asked his cousin how the bot was during the last two days. She hadn't noticed anything off about him other than the boredom of repetition apparently, and Rad was relieved as well as uneasy. Create hadn't done anything during its time with Hot Shot, and it worried Rad for if the time came when it decided that it had enough too.

Rad knew Kero was agitated with Create's unmonitored presence, and the blond was ashamed he hadn't come up with an idea of how to get the card on his side. He had a vague plan of how to get the card itself, but that would require getting Hot Shot away from everyone else.

Leaning against her crutch, Rachel smiled at him as she stepped into the cave. "I'm getting better; I actually got a call from our doctor on my way here, and he said I could come in tomorrow to check and see if this cast can come off."

Rad smiled. "That's great."

The yellow bot grinned next, puffing up proudly. "My injuries are all but gone, so now Red Alert has to stop getting on my case about it." He said and Rad chuckled weakly while Rachel shook her head.

Rachel then nodded to the inner cave. "It's okay, Hot Shot, I got Rad here now in case I lose my step." She said, and after a moment of deliberation the yellow bot reluctantly continued into the cave. "So," she started once they were alone, "Alexis decided not to come?"

"Yeah, something about helping her parents with the house." Rad explained. He winced when he saw Rachel's haggard appearance again. "You didn't have to come either, it's not like Carlos and I would get into trouble."

His cousin narrowed her eyes at him. "It's not that I don't trust you, but this is something new you're presented with."

Rad sighed. "So no except yes?" Rachel only smiled softly and Rad put his hand over his chest. "That hurt." He forced himself to smile back glibly as they both continued into the cave. Rad glanced at Rachel when High Wire rushed up to them with Grindor and two unfamiliar mini-cons. "Hey, you can keep an eye on Rachel, right? I gotta go talk to Hot Shot."

"You bet I can!" High Wire said enthusiastically.

Rachel's smile turned sardonic. "And here I thought I was supposed to be keeping watch, not the other way around." She still limped along with the mini-cons though when High Wire gestured to the hall, chattering all the way about little tidbits for the ship.

When the other mini-cons turned to follow, Rad reached out to tap the two unfamiliar ones on the shoulders. He could remember them coming back with them after that fiasco in the desert. "Is one of you Hot Shot's partner?" The salmon colored bot nodded and Rad smiled. "Just making sure; do you know where he is?"

The pinkish-orange bot nodded once more. He looked at his fellow mini-cons. "You can go on ahead, I'll catch up when-"

"Oh, I don't want to take you away from your friends." Rad said.

The two bots looked surprised, but Hot Shot's partner made a sound which Rad vaguely recognized as a cough. "Your consideration is nice, but do you actually know where specific areas of the ship are located?" Rad flushed when he realized he didn't. "I thought so; it is no trouble to help you. And besides, Hot Shot could do with some other company than his teammates every now and then when he comes back." He tilted his head. "He also seems to find it annoying when I keep telling him he should take it easy."

Rad blinked. "Are you a medic too?"

The helicopter mini-con stiffened, and his tone became distinctly flustered. "No, I'd like to be, but I'm just a mini-con." He said, but shook his head and pointed down the hall. "Anyway, he's in his quarters right now."

Rad thought that the conversation ended way too abruptly, but didn't need to ask why Jolt couldn't be a medic. 'Just a mini-con' was depressingly becoming the answer to a lot of things. It acutely explained why High Wire was so scared of Sureshock and Grindor separating from him. Rad didn't like that his parents were off on a dig somewhere for an unspecified amount of time-and really hadn't liked it when Rachel was forced to leave with her parents- but even if it was underhanded he could understand High Wire's actions.

It still felt like he got off a bit light though, but that was not for here nor now.

"By the way, my name's Rad."

"Jolt."

Rad nodded, and made to take in every corner they turned, and hoped he could remember it even after he was done talking with Hot Shot. "Yes," he answered when Jolt asked if he was sure he wanted to be alone, "I can find my way to the command center." He sheepishly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "And it's not like I can't just call Rachel."

Jolt tilted his head. "Those don't work in here."

Rad froze, his mind immediately turning back to when Optimus had called Rachel on the console. He groaned and slapped a hand over his face. "Don't tell me that only alien tech can work in here." He sighed, but tried to appear chipper than he felt. "Well, it's not like I can't just ask Hot Shot-he probably has to go there too, doesn't he?"

Jolt nodded, and after a bit of prodding from the blond did the mini-con take his leave. Rad found it endearing that Jolt cared so much, but right now he couldn't let the other mini-cons know about Create being with Hot Shot. Kero definitely didn't like that Sureshock and Grindor knew about magic, and Rad knew he'd have to go over with Jolt and Red Alert's partner about secrecy-secrecy which felt rapidly like he was losing with how more of the little bots were bound to learn about it.

Rad knocked on the door, and a shuffling on the other side was the only warning he got before the metal sheet slid open. Hot Shot looked at the open air with annoyance, but seemed confused before his gaze shifted downward. His expression brightened. "Expecting someone else?" Rad asked teasingly.

Hot Shot laughed lightly. "Red Alert, figured he'd come skulking around to make sure I was following his orders." He huffed. "I swear he got to Jolt, little mech won't let me hear the end of it when I even try and pick up a crate."

"I'll take your word for it." Really, that's all Rad could say without spilling the beams about his second secret. "Are you busy though? 'Cause, well, I wanna talk to you about something."

Hot Shot's eyes widened, which Rad didn't think was possible given how wide they already were. "Really? Uh, sure then." He grinned at him. "As long as it's not about taking it easy, I'm all for it."

Rad relaxed. "That's great." He stepped inside the room and took the time to look around. Things were sparse given that Rad assumed the Autobots likely hadn't been able to bring much with them, but he could see little knick-knacks on a shelf and a beat up television. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Oh, from someplace called a dump." Hot Shot replied casually. "Red Alert nearly blew a circuit when he found out I 'risked exertion to my injuries'." he scoffed, and smirked as he rolled his shoulder. "I'm more than fit for duty now."

"Right." The blond answered faintly, and tried not to think about how Hot Shot had even been able to get away unseen at a landfill. Given they could teleport, the yellow bot could have picked one that happened to not be checked on a lot, but perhaps he was just thinking too much about this. 'Heh, Alexis would be here telling me that I should be applying this thought-level to school and not what aliens do in their spare time.' He mused. "I actually wanted to ask you about something my friends told me," he began carefully, "it happened just after you met them apparently; they said you fought a giant flying lizard they couldn't see?"

Hot Shot's expression shut down a little, his eyes dimming. "They told you?" his voice was soft and he couldn't quite hide the worry that came over his face.

Rad nodded, and was sure to keep his tone encouraging. "Yeah. I'm actually pretty jealous that I didn't get to see it either-or not see it, but oh well." He shrugged. His voice shifted to convey his awe as his eyes widened. "You actually fought it though! What was it like? Did it breathe fire?"

Hot Shot stiffened. "It can breathe fire?" he winced. "Uh, no, it didn't." he answered in a clipped tone.

Rad saw a shifty act for what it was given how much he'd been doing it too recently. "Have you ever seen anything like it before?"

"No," Hot Shot replied, and his voice went so low Rad almost missed what he muttered next, "apparently there's no such thing as imaginary creatures."

'So that's why he's so unsure.' Rad thought. He boldly approached Hot Shot and peered up at him. "It's okay you know. I won't think you're weird or anything." He said smiling.

Hot Shot jerked back. "You won't? Your friends didn't think I was telling the truth, and Rachel just shut down." He looked concerned when he mentioned the blonde. "You should really tell her to get her head checked; I think she just went along with me so it didn't sound like I lost my processor either."

"I'll suggest it to her." Rad said. "But I meant what I said. Aliens exist, what else could, right?"

Finally, Hot Shot smiled again. "Yeah, what else." His grin faded a little, and he paused in reaching for his shoulder. "You swear you won't think I'm crazy?"

"I promise." Rad said solemnly.

Hot Shot nodded, his expression a touch nervous as he opened his shoulder compartment and pulled out a pink card. "That dragon, turned into this." He held up the card in front of Rad, who could swear he was being stared at by it.

And being judged.

It worried Rad that Create had heard him lying through his teeth to Hot Shot. If it did, could it understand why he can't just come out and tell the truth? Then again, Create likely didn't care if it was mad at him for whatever reason. Rad held out his hand. "Can I see it?"

Hot Shot tilted his head, but shrugged. "Why not. Maybe you can see something I didn't." he said with a weak grin, and Rad returned it. His fingers clasped the edge of the card, and almost indiscernibly, Create shifted sharply.

"Ah!" Rad cried as he pulled his hand back. He grimaced as a thin cut ran across his finger, right above where Windy had left her own mark on him.

"Rad, what's the matter? I'm so sorry!" Hot Shot said, his tone frantic and panicky. He looked completely out of his element, and robot or not he seemed even younger than Rad at the moment.

The blond applied the hem of his shirt to the cut, and tried to smile reassuringly through his grimace. "I'm okay, just a bit clumsy I guess."

"Are you sure? Do you need to see an earth doctor," Hot Shot paused, "or Red Alert?"

Rad laughed despite himself. "No, a paper cut isn't a big deal. Really, just give me a minute and I'll be fine. The sting is worse than the scratch." He couldn't help but feel disheartened by Create's response. It didn't even want Rad touching it? Still, he would not lose hope that he could get some kind of trust. "Maybe it would be best if I could just see it?"

Hot Shot held the card out at him once more, and Rad pointedly kept his hands to himself. "So, you see anything? It's really starting to drive me crazy that I can't get the others to understand, they just think that-" he stopped abruptly, and his lips pressed tightly together.

Rad decided not to ask; Hot Shot felt like an open book, and even if they hadn't spent much time with each other, the tells about his mood were quite obvious. "Aside from the fact it's pink, this just looks like a regular tarot card. Though I do admit I've never seen one with a face like that. Maybe the card and lizard are too separate things?"

"No, I'm sure that flying thing turned into this." Hot Shot replied. He looked up when a blaring rang out, and Rad's mind immediately went to an attack.

"Is there something wrong?! What's that noise?" he questioned.

Hot Shot smiled down at him. "You've never heard it, have you? It's the mini-con detector." He made his way to the door and slid Create back into his shoulder compartment. "You need help finding the command center?"

"No, I can manage." Rad replied. He bit his lip, and he knew he'd never gather the courage again if he didn't say it now. "I won't give up!" Hot Shot stopped and looked down at him. Rad's eyes locked onto the compartment. "I swear I won't."

Hot Shot's eyes widened in surprise. "Well, that's-thanks Rad." He said appreciatively. "At least someone believes me."

Rad smiled at the yellow bot as he walked out, and hoped that Create knew that was for it too; if he could just get Create to think about what he said, then maybe he'd have a chance to resolve things peacefully.

He sighed heavily, and left the room moments later.