"Okay," I said. "I think I've found the problem, Hot Shot. Let me just refasten this hose right here, and we should be ready to roll." As I moved the hose up and down to try to put it on a small spout, Hot Shot began to laugh.
"Hey!" he cried. "Stop it! That, that... I don't know what it is, but stop it!" I stopped trying to reconnect the hose for a moment.
"Describe what it felt like," I said. "Maybe if you tell me, I can find out what it is." Hot Shot thought for a moment.
"It's, um, kind of like a prickly feeling, but it doesn't hurt. It goes through my entire body, and as you saw, it makes me laugh." I thought about what he said, then I started to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"Well, I'll be dogged," I said. "Hot Shot, you're ticklish!" There was a moment of silence, most likely out of confusion.
"What is 'ticklish'?" he asked. I was right, so I thought for a moment. Then remembered that I had to finish reconnecting that hose. As I did so, Hot Shot erupted in laughter again. I smiled.
"That, my friend, is ticklish." I shut his hood, he opened his door and I was about to hop inside, when I remembered something. I rushed back to the room where I had first met all the Autobots and grabbed my blue backpack- it had been on my back when I encountered the Decepticons and someone had taken it off. But I had a feeling I might need it. I rushed back to Hot Shot and got inside. "I'm ready," I said. "Lets juice!"
"Juice? What do you mean?" I giggled.
"Let's juice is just my way of saying 'lets go.' Jazz doesn't like it either."
"No, I like it- it's pretty sweet. Let's juice!"
I buckled my seat belt just as I saw the Mini-Con location appear on a screen in front of us. The next thing I knew, we were there- mountains everywhere, with large snowcaps on the top, green grass on the bottom... and wouldn't you know it? We got there right smack dab in the middle of a battle. I could see Megatron dueling it out with Optimus; Starscreen and Smoke Screen getting it on. But I couldn't see Red Alert anywhere. I scanned the area until I spotted him- Demolisher and Cyclonis were ganged up on him.
"Hot Shot" I said, "Red Alert's in trouble!"
"I see that," he replied. "But I said I'd look after you and I can't transform while your inside." Suddenly, I unbuckled my seatbelt, stood up and opened my door. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I grabbed hold of the sides around the door and stuck my head out.
"Jazz-man!" Jazz heard my call almost a quarter mile away, where he was with Rad, Carlos and Alexis, and their Mini-Cons, High Wire, Sure Shock, and Grinder, respectively. Instantly he transformed into the BMX and headed towards me.
"Hey!" cried Rad. "Jazz, where are you going?" Jazz beeped back a simple, one-word answer: "Sarah."
When he got close enough I asked him and Hot Shot to hold steady. What happened next still amazes me, let alone Hot Shot, Jazz and Carlos, who was watching from the nearby cover of a small hill.
"She wouldn't," he said. Wanna bet? I readied myself and jumped from Hot Shot's doorway onto Jazz's seat. Carlos took a deep breath. "She would." As soon as I was out, Hot Shot transformed back into a robot and rushed to Red Alert's aid.
"Man," he said to himself. "That girl is as big of a hot shot as I am." As he thought this, I skidded Jazz to make a turn then sped off in the other direction.
"Okay, Jazz," I said. "Lets go help Rad, Alexis and Carlos find that Mini-Con!"
Jazz and I sped over to Alexis, Rad and Carlos. When we got there, I sensed that someone there was glad to see me. I skidded to a stop in front of then and hopped off Jazz, who then changed to his robot form.
"Sarah, are you all right?" cried Carlos. "That stunt you pulled was simply amazing!" I smiled and felt my cheeks turning red- I wasn't used to being complimented by anyone other than teachers, and their compliments were pretty lame.
"I just did something that needed to be done," I told him. "Hot Shot couldn't transform while I was inside, so the only logical course of action was for me to get outside." My smiled shied up a bit as I winked at Carlos. "So, exactly how do we find this Mini-Con?"
"Hey, why don't you guys pick on someone your own size?" Red Alert gave a mental groan from his spot on the ground when Hot Shot made that comment- the guy had obviously been watching too much of that television thing Carlos introduced him to. Red Alert had heard that cliché one too many times since Hot Shot became hooked on Spaghetti Westerns, and was slightly sick of hearing it.
"And who would that someone be?" asked Cyclonis, bringing Red Alert back to reality. "You?" Hot Shot smiled and gave a single nod.
"If you think you can handle it," Hot Shot replied. "Lets go." As Cyclonis began to get it on with Hot Shot, Demolisher continued to beat on Red Alert.
"Give it up, Autobot," he said, "You're done for." Red Alert didn't want to give up, but it didn't seem to be his choice. He stood up and prepared to attack Demolisher, when his legs seemed to give out and he collapsed to the ground. Demolisher grinned and left him there- he had a Mini-Con to find.
I put the Mini-Con into my backpack, hopped on Jazz and waited for Carlos to hop on his skateboard (his Mini-Con, Grindor). After doing so, he came over to me and was about to ask I was able to sense the Mini-Con like that, when he noticed I was staring at something behind him. Judging by the height of my stare, which was way over Carlos' head, the thing I was staring at was extremely tall. He gulped then looked me dead in the eye.
"Oh man," he said. "There's a Decepticon behind me, isn't there?" I nodded.
"Yeah." I didn't say it slowly, like I was scared out of my mind or something like that. It was just your normal everyday "yeah," as if he'd asked me if I liked to play basketball. But no matter how I answered, it didn't change the fact that a large Decepticon, Demolisher, was standing right behind him. I bit my lip, but just for a second- I had gotten an idea. I pulled the Mini-Con out of my backpack and tossed it to Carlos.
"Get out of here!" I yelled to him then directed my words towards the Decepticon. "What do you want more? The Mini-Con, or the key to your precious prophecy?" With that, I turned tail and ran, heading for the Autobots, the rest of the Decepticons and the battle they were in.
I had managed to keep a good lead on Demolisher, who didn't really know what hit him when I gave him his choice and had to think about it for a minute. I was sure things were gonna be all right, when I saw Red Alert lying on the ground at the base of a mountain and I could tell he was hurt. I quickly sped over to him and hopped off Jazz, who transformed back to a robot. I started to check Red Alert and found he was unconscious- not good.
"Jazz," I said, suddenly. "Get Demolisher's attention- that hunk of metal will probably figure I'm still with you, so he'll follow. Go find Carlos and the rest of the guys and tell them to give up that Mini-Con."
"Are you out of your mind?!" he asked me. "We can't do that, it's crazy!"
"Jazz, trust me!" I looked him dead in the eyes and he suddenly understood what I was talking about- something the two of us had done a long time ago would help us out now. Jazz nodded, went back to vehicle mode and drove off. I hid behind Red Alert's arm and watched as Demolisher followed Jazz, just like I thought he would. I smiled, then got to work- I had to figure out what was wrong with Red Alert.
"Rad, Carlos, look!" cried Alexis, "Isn't that Jazz?" Carlos had caught up with Rad and Alexis and the three of them were kind of just standing around wondering what to do. Rad looked in the direction Alexis was pointing.
"That's him, all right," he said. "And Demolisher is right behind him... but where's Sarah?" Carlos saw that I wasn't on Jazz's seat and was instantly worried, wondering what had happened to me. Jazz came up to them and turned to robot mode.
"Carlos, Rad, Alexis," he said. "Sarah wants you to give up the Mini-Con."
"Give up the Mini-Con?" cried Alexis.
"Is she out of her mind?" added Rad. "We can't do that!"
"Where is she, Jazz?" asked Carlos. "Is she all right?"
"She's with Red Alert- he looks hurt and she's trying to help. But give up the Mini-Con, trust me!"
"We can't do that!" said Rad. Suddenly, Jazz grabbed the Mini-Con, turned it over to the backside and handed it to Carlos. He looked at it and smiled.
"Yes, we can," he said. "We can give this one up." He showed the backside of the Mini-Con plate to Rad and Alexis, who smiled and shook their heads.
"Hey there!" cried a voice. The kids turned around to see Demolisher gaining fast. "Give up that Mini-Con or else!"
"Act scared," whispered Carlos. Rad and Alexis did so and began to run. As they did so, Carlos made it look like he accidentally dropped the Mini-Con. Demolisher quickly retrieved it, transformed to vehicle mode and headed for Megatron. He never noticed that the one he had originally been chasing, me, was nowhere is sight. Moron.
"Give it up, Megatron," said Optimus. "We aren't going to let you have that Mini-Con or the child, no matter what." Megatron laughed. The two of them were still going at it and had flattened a few smaller mountains in the process, but neither had quite gotten the better of the other.
"So," the Decepticon replied. "You also know that your new friend is the one I'm looking for. Well, mark my words- we will have that child and it will be the end for you."
"Megatron, sir," called Demolisher. "Sir, I have the Mini-Con!" Megatron smiled and looked at Optimus.
"One down, Optimus Prime," he said. "And it won't be long until I have both things I came for. Decepticons, retreat!"
Cyclonis and Starscreen heard the command from where he was still fighting with Hot Shot and Smoke Screen, all of which had done some considerable damage as well, and smiled.
"Sounds like we've got the Mini-Con," Starscreen said.
"Yeah," chimed in Cyclonis. "Who knows, maybe we've got that little friend of yours as well." Before the Autobots could do anything about it, Cyclonis and Starscreen vanished. Hot Shot stood there, with a sensation of fear coming over him.
"Sarah."
"Where is she?" asked Rad. "Jazz are you sure she's here?" Alexis, Rad, Carlos and the Autobots had gotten over to Red Alert, hoping to find the two of us alive and well, but I wasn't in sight. Jazz told Rad that he was sure he had left me here.
"I'm right here!" I popped my head up from behind Red Alert's arm then stepped out the rest of the way. Everyone, especially Hot Shot and Carlos breathed a sigh of relief then noticed I was covered in oil. I noticed their stares and shook my head. "Red Alert got hit hard," I told them. "He's got a bad oil leak and I've slowed it up, but we need to get some place where I can get a better look at it." Optimus nodded.
"All right," he said. "Let's get back to the base." We began to leave when I remembered something.
"Hey," I said. "Do any of you not have your own Mini-Con?" Smoke Screen held up a hand, causing me to smile. I opened my backpack and pulled something out- a Mini-Con plate. The Autobots stared at me in total disbelief.
"But, Demolisher," said Optimus. "He said..."
"I know what he said, sir," I replied. "And I promise I'll explain later, but we have to get Red Alert back to the base now!"
Within minutes we were there and I was finishing up my patch job on Red Alert, with Jazz as my assistant. As I worked, Rad, Carlos and Alexis decided that they had better go home, but said they'd see me tomorrow. But back to Red Alert: since I was finally able to get a good look at the wound, I got it fixed rather quickly. Jazz and I stayed by Red Alert's side until about an hour later when he woke up.
"Oh," he moaned as he put a hand to his forehead. "What happened?"
"You kinda got the snot beat out of ya, pal," said Hot Shot. "And you've been totally out of it ever since."
"I thought I felt something leaking," Red Alert replied. "Was I dreaming?" Optimus shook his head.
"No, old friend you weren't dreaming," he said and pointed over at me. "She found the leak and sealed it... and she's been right there waiting for you to wake up." I gave a weak smile and looked up at him.
"Are you okay?" I asked quietly. Red Alert smiled back and nodded.
"I can't feel a thing, kid," he told me. "Thank you." Then he looked at the rest of the Autobots. "What happened to the Mini-Con?" Hot Shot looked at me.
"Yeah, Sare," he said. "What happened to the Mini-Con?" I looked over at him and my weak smile became very bright.
"Last year," I said. "At my old school I managed to create a full size replica of a Mini-Con plate for my metal shop class, with Jazz's help of course. After I found the real Mini-Con plate back in the mountains, I slipped in my backpack with the replica. So when Demolisher showed up, I simply gave Carlos the replica and kept the other in my bag." Everyone seemed impressed with my thoughtfulness, but Smoke Screen had a question.
"How were you able to tell them apart?" My gaze drifted over to him, but my smile stayed the same.
"Simple," I replied. "When I created the replica, I engraved my name into the back. So when I went to grab it, I made sure to feel for the engraved letters before giving it to Carlos." Hot Shot shook his head and smiled.
"Way to go Kid. Way to go."