Chapter Five

Wheeljack stared down at his friend. Ari grinned and twirled a screwdriver around her fingers, cowboy style, before stuffing it in her hip pocket. She never ceased to amaze him, and seemed to know it. His success rate had skyrocketed the moment she stepped into his lab, but this one, as the humans put it, took the cake.

"You mean to tell me you rigged this whole thing by yourself? Behind my back? In my own lab?!?!"

Her grin widened and she nodded. The engineer just shook his head in disbelief. He picked up the device in question and studied it. A beautiful piece of work really, but how on earth had she managed it? It was roughly eight feet long, and shaped like some mythical dragon from a fairy tale. Its armor was a bright burnished red with gold trim, at the moment it hung limp in his hand, but Ari assured him it worked perfectly.

"I think I'll call him Pixal."

Wheeljack gave her a strange look. "You mean Pixel."

"Well, the acronym would be a little screwed up, so how about Pix?"

He nodded absently. "How do you activate it?"

"Him." She corrected. "I gave him a personality chip that I found in your junk pile. He can't talk yet, but we can work on upgrading him later. He's voice activated." Ari pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to him, she had scrawled several words as big as she could to make reading it easy. "Just say this out loud and he'll be programmed to your voice pattern."

The 'bot shrugged and glanced at her after reading the lines to himself. "Why aren't you programming him you your voice?"

She laughed. "'Cause he's yours handsome! Why do you think I built him?"

THAT caught him off guard.

"Mine?! But it must've taken you months to build this!" He exclaimed, indicating the mechanical dragon in his hand.

"Yeah, so? I built him for you." She gave him a lop-sided grin. "Couldn't figure out your birthday, or coming-online day or whatever, so I figured the anniversary of the day we met would have to do." The human hesitated. "You...like him?"

"Like him? LIKE HIM?!?!" Wheeljack cried, making her wince. "He's....amazing, I don't think I could improve on him one bit!"

She tried to appear indifferent to his enthusiasm, but he could tell she was both relieved and overjoyed by his reaction to her gift.

"But," He said, sounding upset. Ari's face fell.

"But what?"

"I don't have anything for you!" He really felt guilty, and she seemed to sense it.

"Aw, that's ok." She told him, patting his leg since it was the only place she could reach. "You don't have to get me anything. Besides," Ari pointed out. "I built him using your materials, so technically he's yours anyway!"

"For some reason I don't feel any better.." He grumbled. Then he had an idea. Ari practically saw the light go on above his head.

"Okay, what are you up to?" She accused, putting her hands on her hips.

"Out!" Wheeljack cried, pushing her toward the door. "Hurry up! Shoo!" He shut and locked the door behind her, leaving a very bewildered Ari standing in the hall.

Several Hours Later....

...You could set my truck on fire, and roll it down a hill

And I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe Deville

I got an eight-foot bed that never has to be made

You know if it weren't for trucks they wouldn't have tailgates...

Ari sang along with the music as she waited outside Wheeljack's lab. She had borrowed a radio from Jazz and set it on her favorite station, now she lost track of time listening to it.

...Yeah, justice is the one thing you should always find

You gotta saddle up your boys, you gotta draw a hard line

When the gunsmoke settles we'll sing a victory tune

And we'll all meet back at the local saloon

We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces singin'

Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses!...

She didn't even notice when Wheeljack opened the door and came out. He watched her with amusement as she sang along, eyes closed, her foot tapping in time with the beat. Without warning, he scooped her up, scaring the poor girl witless, and carried her back into the lab. Ari had just recovered enough to start scolding him when she noticed what he had brought her in to see. She stared, speechless, at his creation. He set her down on the table and she slowly approached it, eyes wide. "Is it....?"

"Yep, all for you. It's nothing like your dragon but..."

Ari ran a hand down the front of his gift, and hesitantly opened one of the many drawers, inside were several small tools and devices, she picked one up, holding it as if it were made of solid gold.

"If you were human, big guy," She said seriously. "I'd kiss you."

Wheeljack chuckled softly at that. The young woman studied the tool in her hand and frowned thoughtfully.

"What?" He asked, hoping something hadn't gone wrong with his surprise. He stepped closer to see what she was staring at. She held it up to him. "Look."

"What?" The engineer saw nothing wrong, he leaned over to peer at the tool...

Ari leapt up and planted a kiss on his faceplate.

Wheeljack sputtered in surprise and jumped back, the girl only smiled and continued marveling over his gift.

"What was that for?!" He demanded, unsure whether to laugh or glare.

She glanced up at him, and went back to studying the tool. "Just saying 'thankyou'..."

He sighed. "Ookay... So," The engineer began, trying to change the subject. "how do I activate him?" He picked up the mechanical dragon, it was small by his standards, quite large by hers. Ari reluctantly put away the tool and looked up at him.

"Just press the spot under his jaw and say the words I gave you."

The 'bot picked up the paper again and studied it. "You really don't expect me to say this..."

She shrugged, trying not to grin. "You gotta if you want him to work."

"I can't believe you programmed him like this just to make me do it...but here goes.." He took a deep breath. "Daisy, daisy, give me your answer true, I'm half crazy all for the love of you, it won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage, but you'll look sweet, upon the seat, of a bicycle built for two..."

Ari grinned widely and clapped, he shot her a look, but was too busy watching the dragon to give her his full attention. The creature's golden optics lit up, it flexed metal-plated wings and turned its head to look up at him.

"Eep?"

"...I thought you said it couldn't talk." Wheeljack commented as he stared at the dragon in his hand. It chirped again.

"He can't, but I had to make him capable of some sort of noise. Otherwise he could get lost or trapped somewhere and we'd never find him!"

"Eep!" Pix confirmed, and flew up to perch on his shoulder. He turned his head to study it.

"I guess this means he likes me?"

"Eep!"