"We're lost."
"We are not."
"Yes we are."
"No more than we've been this whole time."
"Fine, we've been lost this whole time."
"Then what's your point?"
"Oh, forget it."
Hot Rod watched the exchange between the two former commanders with fascination. By Primus, they were acting like old friends. Old friends sick of each other's company, yes, but old friends nonetheless. They had been walking along the endless beach for hours, and the silence had only been broken by momentary blurbs of conversation such as the previous one. Hot Rod was getting quite bored.
"Hey, guys?" He finally spoke up. "Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe they DIDN'T build the cities on the water?"
Optimus and Megatron both stopped, turned around, and stared at him.
"Hot Rod, didn't you ever pay attention when they were teaching civilization?" Optimus asked. "Most major cities are built on the water."
"Well, yeah, I know, but what if all the people live on the land? And so they built their cities on the land? And suppose they never even come beyond this jungle because their tribal mythology says the ocean is evil and should be avoided? What if we're going the complete wrong way?"
Megatron stared at Hot Rod. Then he looked at Prime. "Where did you find this kid?"
Optimus shook his head in partial response. "Come on, Hot Rod." he and Megatron continued down the beach.
"We're going the wrong way!"
"You fool, I say!" Wheelie chimed in, smirking at Hot Rod.
"You tell 'im, Wheelie." Megatron chuckled.
***
Blaster woke up on the ocean floor. There was a metallic fish trying to eat his nose. But that wasn't what woke him up.
What woke him up was the sound of slightly muffled squawking from above.
'Swoop?' he wondered. Aching all over, he dragged himself into a sitting position and sent the annoying little mackerel attached to his face flying. What was going on? They had crashed....where were the others?!
The loud bird cries from above told him he might know where one of them was. Well, even hanging out with a Dinobot was better than being alone. He swam to the surface.
The sounds of squawking became louder and louder as he drew close. Finally, he surfaced and found himself directly below a midair battle. Swoop, in his dinosaur form was snapping at something that looked like...Laserbeak? What was Laserbeak doing here?
Blaster never had time to think about it, as the Decepticon condor nearly took his head off diving beneath Swoop. Blaster treaded water for a few more seconds before he decided that perhaps this was not the best place for him. He quickly swam to the rocky shore.
As soon as he got a firm footing, he turned back to the ocean. "Hey, Swoop!!! Hey, you stupid dino! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Laserbeak!!!"
Blaster nearly fell off his rock as a way-too-familiar voice resounded from the other side of a large boulder.
"Laserbeak, get down here NOW!!"
The red condor dodged a rather feeble blast from Swoop's beak, then reluctantly glided out of the line of fire. Blaster peeked over the edge of the rock and saw exactly what he had been hoping not to see: Laserbeak diving downwards and alighting on the arm of his master, Blaster's arch nemesis, the communications expert of the Decepticons....Soundwave.
Luckily the indigo robot was too busy glaring at his cassette to notice Blaster's presence. Swoop apparently didn't notice Blaster either, but he did notice that Laserbeak was no longer attacking him. He dove headfirst towards the beach, attempting to slice both condor and communicator in two.
Blaster was just making up his mind to call out to Swoop, even if it did mean attracting his rival's attention, when a rose colored laser blast shot a gaping hole through the dinobot's wing and sent him spiraling downwards.
"Oh for the love of Primus...." Soundwave moaned. "Thundercracker, what part of 'we have to conserve energy' do you not understand?"
"You oughta be thankin' me." the jet grumbled. "He was heading straight at ya!"
"'Heading straight at me' give or take a few meters." Soundwave muttered. The idiot dinobot's trajectory would have sent him crashing into that pile of rocks some distance to Soundwave's left.
"Besides, it was just one blast." Skywarp jumped to the defense of his fellow Seeker. "We're not THAT hard pressed for energy."
Blaster crouched behind the rock, trying to decide whether or not to try to get to Swoop. The dinobot was only a few yards away, but it was a few yards out from the cover of the large rocks Blaster had been relying on. If Soundwave and the others noticed him...
"...anyway, it's not like I destroyed him or anything. Just blasted a hole in his wing."
"That's not what I'm talking about." Soundwave shook his head in frustration. "How are we supposed to find out why he's here if he can't speak?"
"He can speak." Thundercracker insisted. "Why wouldn't he be able to speak? Here, I'll prove he can speak." he turned and strode towards Swoop's unmoving form.
Blaster almost panicked when he saw Thundercracker begin to move towards his fallen comrade. But this time he wasn't going to run away while a friend was killed. After the incident in the tower with Perceptor....he was not going let that happen again!
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" He jumped up, laser gun drawn. The gun was empty, but there was no reason Thundercracker had to know that.
The four Decepticons jumped. They certainly hadn't been expecting any more surprise Autobots....and yet.
Soundwave regained his composure quickly. "Ah. Blaster. A pleasure to see you. And what might you be doing here?"
"I'm asking the questions now, radio boy!" Blaster screamed, still trying to scare his enemies.
"It's not very wise to insult someone with a slur that could just as easily be applied to yourself." Soundwave said dryly. The two Seekers sniggered quietly.
"Relax, radio boy number two." Skywarp smirked. "We didn't come here to plunder the planet's energy or anything, so you and your buddies can relax. How many of you are there anyway?"
'Oh, just me and the guy you shot down a minute ago.' Blaster thought, again on the verge of panic. He said nothing.
"I thought you were the one asking the questions, Blaster."
"Sh-Shut up!" Blaster stammered.
"Oh, will you calm down already?!" Thundercracker groaned. "We're not gonna kill you or your pet dinosaur. We just wanted to know what you guys were doing here."
"Wh-what are YOU doing here?!" Blaster snapped, not at all calmed down.
Soundwave sighed. "WE are looking for our commander. And quite frankly we aren't interested in fighting with you, so kindly just tell us what business you have here and then we will both go our separate ways."
"I-if you don't want to fight me, why do you care why I'm here?" Blaster was getting a bit confused. It didn't look like the Decepticons had any intention of harming anybody, but he kept his gun pointed at Soundwave's head just to be safe.
"Because we thought this planet was uninhabited. It wasn't even on the charts." Skywarp explained. "So we'd like to know if there's something here the Autobots are interested in so we can avoid it."
"Avoid it?" Blaster echoed, disbelieving.
"Yes, avoid it." Thundercracker snapped. "We just told ya we weren't lookin' for a fight!"
Blaster stared quizzically at all three Decepticons (Laserbeak had retreated into Soundwave's chest hatch at this point). They really didn't want a fight?
"You guys really don't want a fight?" he asked, wanting confirmation.
"NO!" all three of them snapped in unison.
"Oh....then why was Laserbeak fighting Swoop?!" he demanded angrily.
"For your information, the dinobot attacked US." Soundwave glared.
".......oh." Blaster lowered his gun. "Why are you guys here again? Looking for Megatron? What did he do, fall out of Astrotrain?"
The three Decepticons looked at each other with rather pained expressions.
"As a matter of fact that's exactly what he did....and he wasn't the only one." Skywarp groaned.
"Well, we had a little help...." Thundercracker grumbled.
"Um....okay....." Blaster was really confused now. "Is...that why you guys aren't with the other Deceps?"
"You mean attacking earth?"
"Yeah, but it went a little farther than that....."
"Meaning...?"
Blaster shrugged. "They shot us down. That's why we're here. It wasn't exactly our idea. You mean you weren't following us? You know, to see where we crashed and finish us off?"
"Why would we waste our time doing that?" Thundercracker asked, a bit surprised.
"Um...it just seems like the kind of thing you guys would normally do."
"Uh-huh." Skywarp rolled his optics.
"Okay, guess not...." Blaster said quietly. "But what makes you think Megatron is here?"
"Well, this is where his energy trail ends, and we figured he didn't go through the planet." Soundwave told him. "So we're looking for him."
"Okay.....why?"
"Why? What do you mean, why?"
"Well, why would you even care?" Blaster asked incredulously. "I'd have thought you'd be more worried about getting the whole leadership thing for yourselves instead of getting Megs back."
A short period of very tense silence ensued.
"You don't know as much about us as you think, Blaster." Soundwave said icily.
"I.....guess not." the younger communicator was getting increasingly uncomfortable with this whole situation. He didn't trust these guys on a good day, and this did not appear to be a good day. Not for him at any rate. But wait a minute.
"Hey, how did you guys follow Megs' energy trail here if you fell out of Astrotrain?"
Skywarp snorted. "Well we got another ship first!"
"So....you have a ship?"
"Of course we have a ship! What kind of idiots would we be if we came here without a ship?"
"And it's totally functional?"
Thundercracker and Skywarp both guffawed. "No, we brought a broken ship! Of course it's functional you dolt!"
"Hold on." Soundwave attempted to silence his amused comrades. "I think I see where this is going. You want a ride back to Cybertron." it wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact.
"Um, well, yeah." Blaster admitted.
"And why should we do that?"
Blaster was saved from answering that immediately by the sound of muffled squawks emanating from the ground at his feet.
"Swoop?" Blaster knelt down next to his friend. "Take it easy, buddy. Can you transform?"
Swoop moaned incoherently, then caught sight of Thundercracker. He thrashed in the sand trying to bite the Decepticon's feet, but succeeding only in damaging his broken wing further.
"Swoop! Swoop, stop that!" Blaster frantically tried to hold the Dinobot in one place. "They aren't going to hurt us! Relax!"
The mechanical pterodactyl continued to flap his good wing and snap his jaws ineffectively until finally he lost all energy and slumped onto the ground.
"Swoop!" Blaster groaned. "You don't have to fight them. Now try to transform. There's no way you can move in that form."
The fallen dinobot groaned, but for once in his life decided to do as he was told. With a great creaking of sand and water clogged gears, he slowly managed to transfer into his more humanoid form.
"Good dino." Blaster patter his crest. "Now take it easy."
"Me Swoop not good dino..." Swoop growled weakly.
"Well, at least you're feeling better."
"As touching as this is, can we go now?" Skywarp shot a glance at Soundwave, who apparently had become de facto leader.
Soundwave looked at the two Autobots on the ground. It was a rather pathetic sight. These were probably the last of the Autobot forces. Anywhere. No Decepticon likes to cultivate an impression of himself as a bleeding heart, but Soundwave had to admit he felt sorry for them.
But Blaster was talking again. "...we could pay you, you know. When we get back to Moonbase One...or maybe earth...wherever..."
"Oh, give me a break." Thundercracker groaned. "Why should we help you? It's not like any 'o you'd help us, if this was the other way around."
Blaster bit his lip. It was true. He himself wouldn't be inclined to give any helpless Decepticons a ride back to Cybertron given the opportunity. Maybe he shouldn't have asked.
"Perhaps an arrangement can be reached."
"What?!" Both the Seekers spun around to stare at Soundwave.
"What?" Blaster echoed, disbelieving.
"Does everyone but me need their auditory receptors checked?" Soundwave asked dryly. "You need transportation back to Cybertron. We could probably use two extra sets of hands and eyes. Perhaps we can arrange something."
***
Megatron looked around, becoming increasingly dismayed with his surroundings. The river had seemed like sign from the gods at first; since there was no civilization on the beach, perhaps they would find some following the river. But so far all they had found was a very damp swamp.
"AUGH!" Hot Rod screamed suddenly, causing the rest of the assembled company to jump three feet in the air. "EWEWEWEW!!!!!" he practically jumped into Optimus' arms.
"Hot Rod!" The larger Autobot yelled. "What in the name of all that is holy is-"
"That-that THING!!!"
"And-and, that other thing!" Megatron gasped, mocking the younger robot. "Will you please shut up?"
"It wrapped around my leg!" Hot Rod was practically hyperventilating. "It was all-all slimy and gross and slimy and -mmph-"
Optimus clamped a hand over Hot Rod's mouth. "Hot Rod. Relax. We're in a swamp. You probably just felt a vine or something. There's nothing here that can hurt you."
Suddenly a loud snarling noise came from somewhere ahead of them.
"For Primus' sake, Optimus." Megatron muttered. "You should know better than to say things like that. The moment you start talking about nobody being able to hurt you, something or someone shows up who can. I learned that the hard way."
"It-it's probably just a...a...." Optimus' attempt at brushing off the noise failed miserably.
The whatever it was snarled again, louder this time.
"It's getting closer..." Hot Rod whimpered.
"Just a what, Optimus? Just a big nasty thing that can rip our heads off?" Megatron snorted.
A branch snapped in the distance. Almost the second it did, Wheelie shot out from behind Megatron.
"Hey--!" the white Decepticon, spun around just in time to see the little robot transform into what looked like a slightly demented version of a VW Beetle and speed off into the trees.
"Wheelie!" Megatron yelled after him. But it was no use. He was gone.
"Why do I get the feeling that whatever's making that noise is pretty bad?" Hot Rod continued whimpering.
"Shut up, Hot Rod." Optimus said absently. He and Megatron both had their eyes riveted to the blind bend of the river where the noise seemed to be coming from.
"Tell me you still have your fusion cannon, Megatron."
"Do you see a fusion cannon anywhere, Optimus?"
"Drat....."
Another, much louder snarl resounded through the forest, accompanied by a loud splash. Then several dark figures could be seen swimming down the river.....directly towards the three Transformers.
"Don't....move." Megatron said slowly.
"They are coming straight at us and you want us to not MOVE?!" Hot Rod yelped, even though he was paralyzed anyway.
"It will attract their attention, you imbecile."
But apparently the creatures didn't need any movement to alert them to the presence of three unusual life forms. The leader of the pack shot up from the surface, barely a meter from Megatron. His comrades quickly followed him.
Optimus breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good. They're Transformers."
"What?!" Megatron gaped. The creatures standing before them stood on two legs, but they were squat and reptilian, with several long rows of teeth jutting out from mouths larger than half Megatron's whole body. "You call those things Transformers?!"
"Shush. Don't act hostile." Optimus let go of the trembling Hot Rod and moved to Megatron's side. The creatures, already tensely poised for attack, crouched as if they meant to pounce.
"What are you doing, you idiot!?!" Megatron grabbed Optimus' arm as the Autobot began to take another step forward.
"Relax. They're not all that different from us."
"Oh will you please put the Doctor Dolittle act on hold?! They're unlike us enough to eat us!"
"Be quiet. Here, I'll prove it. I'll use the universal greeting."
"The universal what?"
"The universal greeting. Now hush." he cleared his throat, shook off Megatron's hand, and stepped forward.
"Ba weep granah weep ninny bong." he said in a voice loud and clear.
If the situation were not so precarious, Megatron would have wasted no time in descending into howls of derisive laughter. But since his own life was being put on the line by Optimus' stupidity, he just stared.
"Ba weep granah weep ninny bong?" Hot Rod echoed disbelieveingly.
"Optimus, I think you've finally taken complete leave of your logic functions....." Megatron muttered.
"Will you two shut up?" Optimus muttered over his shoulder. The creatures just looked confused. Well, might as well try it again.
"Ba weep granah weep ninny bong." he repeated.
The creatures pounced.
***
Springer pried a large piece of sheet metal out of a pile of what looked like ship parts. "Well, at least we have no shortage of supplies." he muttered.
He swung his find onto his shoulders and made his way back to the ship.
"Will this be big enough?" He held the metal up for inspection as soon as he was within earshot of Arcee. She looked down from her perch on top of the ship.
"That should be fine. Bring it up here. Blurr! Did you find anything we could use for welding?!"
"Absolutelypositivelydefinitelyhowsthis?!" Blurr was at Arcee's side before she had even realized he had been on the ground. He proudly showed her a incredibly well kept welding iron.
Arcee stared in shock as she took it from his hands. "Where did you find this?"
Blurr said something no one could possibly have been expected to understand and pointed to the south. Arcee shook her head in disbelief. This iron was.....well, not perfect, but as good as any you'd find in a workshop. In perfect working condition. What was something like this doing on a planet of garbage?
"What's going on?" Springer asked, setting the metal down by the large hole in the hull.
"Look at this." Arcee held up the iron.
"Wow." the helicopter eyed it in disbelief. "Where did you find that in a place like this?"
"I have no idea. I'd say ask Blurr, but I doubt that would do you much good."
Springer chuckled. Blurr was long gone; running around the ship and checking various damages without actually doing anything about them. The same thing he had been doing for the past five hours.
"Well I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but do you actually think someone just left this here?"
Arcee glanced up at him. "What do you mean? You can't be suggesting THIS place is inhabited."
Springer stood up and surveyed the terrain. "I guess you're right...I can't imagine anything living here....but still."
"But still nothing. I thought you weren't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Now bring me that sheet, we have work to do."
Both the Autobots set to work, oblivious to the many sets of eyes watching them from a distance.
"Stop thief! No welcome wagon hello stranger with that new coffee flavor for you! Offer expires while you wait. Operators...are standing by."
"We are not."
"Yes we are."
"No more than we've been this whole time."
"Fine, we've been lost this whole time."
"Then what's your point?"
"Oh, forget it."
Hot Rod watched the exchange between the two former commanders with fascination. By Primus, they were acting like old friends. Old friends sick of each other's company, yes, but old friends nonetheless. They had been walking along the endless beach for hours, and the silence had only been broken by momentary blurbs of conversation such as the previous one. Hot Rod was getting quite bored.
"Hey, guys?" He finally spoke up. "Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe they DIDN'T build the cities on the water?"
Optimus and Megatron both stopped, turned around, and stared at him.
"Hot Rod, didn't you ever pay attention when they were teaching civilization?" Optimus asked. "Most major cities are built on the water."
"Well, yeah, I know, but what if all the people live on the land? And so they built their cities on the land? And suppose they never even come beyond this jungle because their tribal mythology says the ocean is evil and should be avoided? What if we're going the complete wrong way?"
Megatron stared at Hot Rod. Then he looked at Prime. "Where did you find this kid?"
Optimus shook his head in partial response. "Come on, Hot Rod." he and Megatron continued down the beach.
"We're going the wrong way!"
"You fool, I say!" Wheelie chimed in, smirking at Hot Rod.
"You tell 'im, Wheelie." Megatron chuckled.
***
Blaster woke up on the ocean floor. There was a metallic fish trying to eat his nose. But that wasn't what woke him up.
What woke him up was the sound of slightly muffled squawking from above.
'Swoop?' he wondered. Aching all over, he dragged himself into a sitting position and sent the annoying little mackerel attached to his face flying. What was going on? They had crashed....where were the others?!
The loud bird cries from above told him he might know where one of them was. Well, even hanging out with a Dinobot was better than being alone. He swam to the surface.
The sounds of squawking became louder and louder as he drew close. Finally, he surfaced and found himself directly below a midair battle. Swoop, in his dinosaur form was snapping at something that looked like...Laserbeak? What was Laserbeak doing here?
Blaster never had time to think about it, as the Decepticon condor nearly took his head off diving beneath Swoop. Blaster treaded water for a few more seconds before he decided that perhaps this was not the best place for him. He quickly swam to the rocky shore.
As soon as he got a firm footing, he turned back to the ocean. "Hey, Swoop!!! Hey, you stupid dino! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Laserbeak!!!"
Blaster nearly fell off his rock as a way-too-familiar voice resounded from the other side of a large boulder.
"Laserbeak, get down here NOW!!"
The red condor dodged a rather feeble blast from Swoop's beak, then reluctantly glided out of the line of fire. Blaster peeked over the edge of the rock and saw exactly what he had been hoping not to see: Laserbeak diving downwards and alighting on the arm of his master, Blaster's arch nemesis, the communications expert of the Decepticons....Soundwave.
Luckily the indigo robot was too busy glaring at his cassette to notice Blaster's presence. Swoop apparently didn't notice Blaster either, but he did notice that Laserbeak was no longer attacking him. He dove headfirst towards the beach, attempting to slice both condor and communicator in two.
Blaster was just making up his mind to call out to Swoop, even if it did mean attracting his rival's attention, when a rose colored laser blast shot a gaping hole through the dinobot's wing and sent him spiraling downwards.
"Oh for the love of Primus...." Soundwave moaned. "Thundercracker, what part of 'we have to conserve energy' do you not understand?"
"You oughta be thankin' me." the jet grumbled. "He was heading straight at ya!"
"'Heading straight at me' give or take a few meters." Soundwave muttered. The idiot dinobot's trajectory would have sent him crashing into that pile of rocks some distance to Soundwave's left.
"Besides, it was just one blast." Skywarp jumped to the defense of his fellow Seeker. "We're not THAT hard pressed for energy."
Blaster crouched behind the rock, trying to decide whether or not to try to get to Swoop. The dinobot was only a few yards away, but it was a few yards out from the cover of the large rocks Blaster had been relying on. If Soundwave and the others noticed him...
"...anyway, it's not like I destroyed him or anything. Just blasted a hole in his wing."
"That's not what I'm talking about." Soundwave shook his head in frustration. "How are we supposed to find out why he's here if he can't speak?"
"He can speak." Thundercracker insisted. "Why wouldn't he be able to speak? Here, I'll prove he can speak." he turned and strode towards Swoop's unmoving form.
Blaster almost panicked when he saw Thundercracker begin to move towards his fallen comrade. But this time he wasn't going to run away while a friend was killed. After the incident in the tower with Perceptor....he was not going let that happen again!
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" He jumped up, laser gun drawn. The gun was empty, but there was no reason Thundercracker had to know that.
The four Decepticons jumped. They certainly hadn't been expecting any more surprise Autobots....and yet.
Soundwave regained his composure quickly. "Ah. Blaster. A pleasure to see you. And what might you be doing here?"
"I'm asking the questions now, radio boy!" Blaster screamed, still trying to scare his enemies.
"It's not very wise to insult someone with a slur that could just as easily be applied to yourself." Soundwave said dryly. The two Seekers sniggered quietly.
"Relax, radio boy number two." Skywarp smirked. "We didn't come here to plunder the planet's energy or anything, so you and your buddies can relax. How many of you are there anyway?"
'Oh, just me and the guy you shot down a minute ago.' Blaster thought, again on the verge of panic. He said nothing.
"I thought you were the one asking the questions, Blaster."
"Sh-Shut up!" Blaster stammered.
"Oh, will you calm down already?!" Thundercracker groaned. "We're not gonna kill you or your pet dinosaur. We just wanted to know what you guys were doing here."
"Wh-what are YOU doing here?!" Blaster snapped, not at all calmed down.
Soundwave sighed. "WE are looking for our commander. And quite frankly we aren't interested in fighting with you, so kindly just tell us what business you have here and then we will both go our separate ways."
"I-if you don't want to fight me, why do you care why I'm here?" Blaster was getting a bit confused. It didn't look like the Decepticons had any intention of harming anybody, but he kept his gun pointed at Soundwave's head just to be safe.
"Because we thought this planet was uninhabited. It wasn't even on the charts." Skywarp explained. "So we'd like to know if there's something here the Autobots are interested in so we can avoid it."
"Avoid it?" Blaster echoed, disbelieving.
"Yes, avoid it." Thundercracker snapped. "We just told ya we weren't lookin' for a fight!"
Blaster stared quizzically at all three Decepticons (Laserbeak had retreated into Soundwave's chest hatch at this point). They really didn't want a fight?
"You guys really don't want a fight?" he asked, wanting confirmation.
"NO!" all three of them snapped in unison.
"Oh....then why was Laserbeak fighting Swoop?!" he demanded angrily.
"For your information, the dinobot attacked US." Soundwave glared.
".......oh." Blaster lowered his gun. "Why are you guys here again? Looking for Megatron? What did he do, fall out of Astrotrain?"
The three Decepticons looked at each other with rather pained expressions.
"As a matter of fact that's exactly what he did....and he wasn't the only one." Skywarp groaned.
"Well, we had a little help...." Thundercracker grumbled.
"Um....okay....." Blaster was really confused now. "Is...that why you guys aren't with the other Deceps?"
"You mean attacking earth?"
"Yeah, but it went a little farther than that....."
"Meaning...?"
Blaster shrugged. "They shot us down. That's why we're here. It wasn't exactly our idea. You mean you weren't following us? You know, to see where we crashed and finish us off?"
"Why would we waste our time doing that?" Thundercracker asked, a bit surprised.
"Um...it just seems like the kind of thing you guys would normally do."
"Uh-huh." Skywarp rolled his optics.
"Okay, guess not...." Blaster said quietly. "But what makes you think Megatron is here?"
"Well, this is where his energy trail ends, and we figured he didn't go through the planet." Soundwave told him. "So we're looking for him."
"Okay.....why?"
"Why? What do you mean, why?"
"Well, why would you even care?" Blaster asked incredulously. "I'd have thought you'd be more worried about getting the whole leadership thing for yourselves instead of getting Megs back."
A short period of very tense silence ensued.
"You don't know as much about us as you think, Blaster." Soundwave said icily.
"I.....guess not." the younger communicator was getting increasingly uncomfortable with this whole situation. He didn't trust these guys on a good day, and this did not appear to be a good day. Not for him at any rate. But wait a minute.
"Hey, how did you guys follow Megs' energy trail here if you fell out of Astrotrain?"
Skywarp snorted. "Well we got another ship first!"
"So....you have a ship?"
"Of course we have a ship! What kind of idiots would we be if we came here without a ship?"
"And it's totally functional?"
Thundercracker and Skywarp both guffawed. "No, we brought a broken ship! Of course it's functional you dolt!"
"Hold on." Soundwave attempted to silence his amused comrades. "I think I see where this is going. You want a ride back to Cybertron." it wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact.
"Um, well, yeah." Blaster admitted.
"And why should we do that?"
Blaster was saved from answering that immediately by the sound of muffled squawks emanating from the ground at his feet.
"Swoop?" Blaster knelt down next to his friend. "Take it easy, buddy. Can you transform?"
Swoop moaned incoherently, then caught sight of Thundercracker. He thrashed in the sand trying to bite the Decepticon's feet, but succeeding only in damaging his broken wing further.
"Swoop! Swoop, stop that!" Blaster frantically tried to hold the Dinobot in one place. "They aren't going to hurt us! Relax!"
The mechanical pterodactyl continued to flap his good wing and snap his jaws ineffectively until finally he lost all energy and slumped onto the ground.
"Swoop!" Blaster groaned. "You don't have to fight them. Now try to transform. There's no way you can move in that form."
The fallen dinobot groaned, but for once in his life decided to do as he was told. With a great creaking of sand and water clogged gears, he slowly managed to transfer into his more humanoid form.
"Good dino." Blaster patter his crest. "Now take it easy."
"Me Swoop not good dino..." Swoop growled weakly.
"Well, at least you're feeling better."
"As touching as this is, can we go now?" Skywarp shot a glance at Soundwave, who apparently had become de facto leader.
Soundwave looked at the two Autobots on the ground. It was a rather pathetic sight. These were probably the last of the Autobot forces. Anywhere. No Decepticon likes to cultivate an impression of himself as a bleeding heart, but Soundwave had to admit he felt sorry for them.
But Blaster was talking again. "...we could pay you, you know. When we get back to Moonbase One...or maybe earth...wherever..."
"Oh, give me a break." Thundercracker groaned. "Why should we help you? It's not like any 'o you'd help us, if this was the other way around."
Blaster bit his lip. It was true. He himself wouldn't be inclined to give any helpless Decepticons a ride back to Cybertron given the opportunity. Maybe he shouldn't have asked.
"Perhaps an arrangement can be reached."
"What?!" Both the Seekers spun around to stare at Soundwave.
"What?" Blaster echoed, disbelieving.
"Does everyone but me need their auditory receptors checked?" Soundwave asked dryly. "You need transportation back to Cybertron. We could probably use two extra sets of hands and eyes. Perhaps we can arrange something."
***
Megatron looked around, becoming increasingly dismayed with his surroundings. The river had seemed like sign from the gods at first; since there was no civilization on the beach, perhaps they would find some following the river. But so far all they had found was a very damp swamp.
"AUGH!" Hot Rod screamed suddenly, causing the rest of the assembled company to jump three feet in the air. "EWEWEWEW!!!!!" he practically jumped into Optimus' arms.
"Hot Rod!" The larger Autobot yelled. "What in the name of all that is holy is-"
"That-that THING!!!"
"And-and, that other thing!" Megatron gasped, mocking the younger robot. "Will you please shut up?"
"It wrapped around my leg!" Hot Rod was practically hyperventilating. "It was all-all slimy and gross and slimy and -mmph-"
Optimus clamped a hand over Hot Rod's mouth. "Hot Rod. Relax. We're in a swamp. You probably just felt a vine or something. There's nothing here that can hurt you."
Suddenly a loud snarling noise came from somewhere ahead of them.
"For Primus' sake, Optimus." Megatron muttered. "You should know better than to say things like that. The moment you start talking about nobody being able to hurt you, something or someone shows up who can. I learned that the hard way."
"It-it's probably just a...a...." Optimus' attempt at brushing off the noise failed miserably.
The whatever it was snarled again, louder this time.
"It's getting closer..." Hot Rod whimpered.
"Just a what, Optimus? Just a big nasty thing that can rip our heads off?" Megatron snorted.
A branch snapped in the distance. Almost the second it did, Wheelie shot out from behind Megatron.
"Hey--!" the white Decepticon, spun around just in time to see the little robot transform into what looked like a slightly demented version of a VW Beetle and speed off into the trees.
"Wheelie!" Megatron yelled after him. But it was no use. He was gone.
"Why do I get the feeling that whatever's making that noise is pretty bad?" Hot Rod continued whimpering.
"Shut up, Hot Rod." Optimus said absently. He and Megatron both had their eyes riveted to the blind bend of the river where the noise seemed to be coming from.
"Tell me you still have your fusion cannon, Megatron."
"Do you see a fusion cannon anywhere, Optimus?"
"Drat....."
Another, much louder snarl resounded through the forest, accompanied by a loud splash. Then several dark figures could be seen swimming down the river.....directly towards the three Transformers.
"Don't....move." Megatron said slowly.
"They are coming straight at us and you want us to not MOVE?!" Hot Rod yelped, even though he was paralyzed anyway.
"It will attract their attention, you imbecile."
But apparently the creatures didn't need any movement to alert them to the presence of three unusual life forms. The leader of the pack shot up from the surface, barely a meter from Megatron. His comrades quickly followed him.
Optimus breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good. They're Transformers."
"What?!" Megatron gaped. The creatures standing before them stood on two legs, but they were squat and reptilian, with several long rows of teeth jutting out from mouths larger than half Megatron's whole body. "You call those things Transformers?!"
"Shush. Don't act hostile." Optimus let go of the trembling Hot Rod and moved to Megatron's side. The creatures, already tensely poised for attack, crouched as if they meant to pounce.
"What are you doing, you idiot!?!" Megatron grabbed Optimus' arm as the Autobot began to take another step forward.
"Relax. They're not all that different from us."
"Oh will you please put the Doctor Dolittle act on hold?! They're unlike us enough to eat us!"
"Be quiet. Here, I'll prove it. I'll use the universal greeting."
"The universal what?"
"The universal greeting. Now hush." he cleared his throat, shook off Megatron's hand, and stepped forward.
"Ba weep granah weep ninny bong." he said in a voice loud and clear.
If the situation were not so precarious, Megatron would have wasted no time in descending into howls of derisive laughter. But since his own life was being put on the line by Optimus' stupidity, he just stared.
"Ba weep granah weep ninny bong?" Hot Rod echoed disbelieveingly.
"Optimus, I think you've finally taken complete leave of your logic functions....." Megatron muttered.
"Will you two shut up?" Optimus muttered over his shoulder. The creatures just looked confused. Well, might as well try it again.
"Ba weep granah weep ninny bong." he repeated.
The creatures pounced.
***
Springer pried a large piece of sheet metal out of a pile of what looked like ship parts. "Well, at least we have no shortage of supplies." he muttered.
He swung his find onto his shoulders and made his way back to the ship.
"Will this be big enough?" He held the metal up for inspection as soon as he was within earshot of Arcee. She looked down from her perch on top of the ship.
"That should be fine. Bring it up here. Blurr! Did you find anything we could use for welding?!"
"Absolutelypositivelydefinitelyhowsthis?!" Blurr was at Arcee's side before she had even realized he had been on the ground. He proudly showed her a incredibly well kept welding iron.
Arcee stared in shock as she took it from his hands. "Where did you find this?"
Blurr said something no one could possibly have been expected to understand and pointed to the south. Arcee shook her head in disbelief. This iron was.....well, not perfect, but as good as any you'd find in a workshop. In perfect working condition. What was something like this doing on a planet of garbage?
"What's going on?" Springer asked, setting the metal down by the large hole in the hull.
"Look at this." Arcee held up the iron.
"Wow." the helicopter eyed it in disbelief. "Where did you find that in a place like this?"
"I have no idea. I'd say ask Blurr, but I doubt that would do you much good."
Springer chuckled. Blurr was long gone; running around the ship and checking various damages without actually doing anything about them. The same thing he had been doing for the past five hours.
"Well I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but do you actually think someone just left this here?"
Arcee glanced up at him. "What do you mean? You can't be suggesting THIS place is inhabited."
Springer stood up and surveyed the terrain. "I guess you're right...I can't imagine anything living here....but still."
"But still nothing. I thought you weren't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Now bring me that sheet, we have work to do."
Both the Autobots set to work, oblivious to the many sets of eyes watching them from a distance.
"Stop thief! No welcome wagon hello stranger with that new coffee flavor for you! Offer expires while you wait. Operators...are standing by."
