Title: A Bump in the Night
Challenge Set: #3
Challenge: Monster
Rating: PG
Word Count: 884
Pairings: none
Summary: There's a monster in his room…
Other Notes: None.
A Bump in the Night
By Tirya King
It was just sitting there, staring at him with its big scary eyes. Tritone didn't move, frozen like a hunted animal against its predator. Maybe if he didn't move, it would leave him alone. He couldn't tell just how big it was; the shadows blended the creature perfectly. There were shapes, indistinct lines where creature met wall, but not enough for him to see it all.
A part of him wanted to pounce on it before it pounced on him. After all, if he defeated it, then he wasn't in any more danger, right? Besides, he was the son of Jazz and Jynx. Sunstreaker's warrior-in-training. Daddy and Uncle Sunny wouldn't hide from it, would they? No, they wouldn't! They would go after it, scare it away like they scared away the 'bad guys' when they went out to fight. Slowly he drew his legs under his body until he was in a crouched position. Still keeping his optics on the beast, he tensed, readying himself to spring.
Wait, did it just move?
He froze again, not moving a servo for fear of the creature attacking him. Lazuli optics were wide in fear, he staring in case it moved again. Against his will he let out a small whimper. He didn't want to be monster food!
Sunstreaker jerked awake as a shrill beeping noise cut through his recharge. Orienting himself he let out an annoyed snort. Oh, this had better be important! He had a full day tomorrow and didn't get enough recharge as it was. "Sunstreaker here," he responded to the comlink tired and annoyed yet careful not to wake his brother in the bunk above him. Sideswipe would not appreciate interrupted recharge anymore than Sunny was appreciating it now.
"Uncle Sunny?" a soft trembling voice met his audios, the last thing the warrior expected to hear. His bad mood dissolved as he recognized the voice.
"Tri?" he frowned, confused. "What do you want?" If the kid wanted another bedtime story…
"There's something in my room," the little whisper replied fearfully. Immediately Sunstreaker thought of Ravage.
That slagging cat would be sneaky enough to make it into someone's quarters if he had half the notion to. And Tritone would be the perfect target too. The offspring of a high ranking Autobot officer would be just the right kind of leverage Megatron would want. Leverage the Autobots could not allow the Decepticons to obtain. Especially considering Tritone's spark condition. How had they found out about him when he was supposed to be secret? Oh Primus…
Any trace of fatigue quickly fled him as he made a beeline for the door, pulling one of his daggers from subspace. If that cat wanted a hostage, he'd have to go through Sunstreaker first. He only hoped he wasn't too late.
When he entered the young one's room, he paused for a moment to assess the situation. Tritone was curled up against the wall, knees folded up to his chest protectively. His optics were bright with fear and were fixed on one spot on the opposite side of the small room. There was a rattling noise where his chassis shook against the wall. Other than that, he seemed relatively unharmed, thank Primus.
"Tri?" Tritone's head swiveled over to look at him, relief obvious in his optics. Uncle Sunny was here! He could scare away the monster!
"Where is it?" Sunstreaker asked in a low voice, senses doing everything they could to locate the Decepticon cat before he attacked. Not that Ravage could do the warrior any real harm, but to a young one like Tritone he was a very real danger. It was also possible, however, that his appearance was enough to rid Ravage of any notions of completing his mission. He could only hope that much; the less Tritone had to see the effects of war the better.
Jerking his head back to where he was facing before, Tritone whispered, "it's right there."
The yellow warrior's optics followed the sparkling's line of sight. There was indeed something across the room from the little one, but if it was Ravage, there was something wrong. The Decepticon should have attacked by now, run away, done something! There was no missing over 40 feet of big angry Lambo barging through the door. Reaching over carefully, he activated the light pad on the wall, hoping to identify just what it was that upset the little sparkling.
For a moment, the sudden bright light threatened to blind him. The perfect opportunity for Ravage to strike if he himself wasn't already stunned by it. Yet… again, no attack came. Just what was going on?
"You did it, Uncle Sunny! You scared it away!" Tritone cried in glee. Forcing his optics to adjust to the light, Sunstreaker looked back to where the 'creature' had been. Only a few oddly placed toys with a large stuffed fish on top. Which meant…
"Oh Primus…" Sunstreaker walked forward to the toys, Tritone's happy cries in the background, and poked them with a foot. "Tri, there wasn't any..."
"You scared the monster away!" Tritone grinned, staring at his hero with awe. "You did it!"
Sunstreaker sighed, looking back down at the toys and then back at the little one. Breathing a little laugh he nodded. "Yeah, kid. I did."