"We are never doing that again!" Terra proclaimed after she, Alexis, and Hot Shot returned to the Autobot base the next afternoon. "At least not with Mom, but never again!"
"Agreed," both Alexis and Hot Shot said.
"At least you've got some nice clothes now," said Alexis.
That was true. Terra was now wearing a new white peasant blouse, jeans, a newspaper-boy cap, and new sneakers. When Hot Shot saw the cap in the store, he put it on her head and told her that it looked good on her. Alexis even commented that it looked right on her, like a trademark.
"So, dude and chikies, how did it go?" said Carlos in his usual teasing tone. It appeared that everyone on the team wanted to know how the little debacle went. "Did you mentally scar our favorite muscle car?"
"Aside from Mom trying to buy thongs and trying to push me into lingerie stores, it could have been worse," Terra deadpanned.
"Seriously, does she have to do that every time we go clothes shopping?" Alexis grumbled. "She has no shame!"
"We've unanimously agreed to never go shopping with her ever again," piped in Hot Shot. The entire team stared at them; Rad and Billy's faces twitched, Scavenger and Optimus's optics twinkled with amusement, Blur just looked bored, and the rest were snickering.
"At least we know where to take the boys for punishment now if they disobey an order," said Terra with an evil, mischievous gleam in her eyes that made the boys cower in fear and the snickering Autobots to laugh.
Starscream had monitored the human female that was Stardancer for a majority of the solar cycle until she returned to the Autobot base.
The spark she carried matched Stardancer's signature, and it pulsed very weakly in her human body. By now the spark should have a strong, steady pulse, very much like a human heart, but her spark appeared to have stayed in the Sparkling stage of development. It should have grown a little larger by now. Perhaps there was a reason for this; it was possible a normal spark would be detrimental to a human's health.
Starscream warped back to the Decepticon base soon after his patrol on Earth.
"Starscream," Wheeljack immediately got hold of the Seeker when he materialized in the warp room. "I got your readings on the human girl and noticed something. It's barely there, but the spark pulse has gotten stronger since yesterday."
"Send me the data now." A moment later he was comparing yesterday's scan with the new scan and did find that the human's spark pulse had indeed become stronger in a barely noticeable amount. "Wheeljack, how many Minicons have been recovered total by both factions?"
"All of them have been uncovered, sir."
"No, there is one more on Earth, and I have a feeling that we're not going to get it."
"What? Why do you say that?"
"Do you remember the shuttle pod that was launched nearly 14 Earth years ago? It contained a precious cargo with a Minicon guard to protect it."
"I'm confused," said the former Autobot. "How do you know there was a Minicon on that pod? And why did we not try to take possession of it if it did have one?"
"I was there when the pod was launched, and it was Megatron who ordered the Minicon to protect the cargo."
The young mech appeared shocked and predictably asked, "What was so important on that pod if Megatron ordered a Minicon to guard it?"
Starscream stared the mech in the optics for a long moment. "I cannot say. It is for Megatron to reveal. Encrypt the data pertaining to the human; there are few certain mechs we cannot trust with this data."
Red Alert had requested Terra to come to the Med bay for a checkup sometime after she arrived at the base.
"Your spark pulse has somewhat increased, but other than that your healthy," he said once the scan was done.
"Spark?" Terra sounded genuinely confused. "Isn't that like a Transformer's soul?"
"Yes, we discovered this yesterday," he replied, now getting confused himself. "Remember? I brought you in for a physical after you told us of the abuse you went through."
"We did?" She thought for a long moment before she said, "I don't remember anything from when you brought me into the Med bay and when I woke up."
"Is there anything you do remember of that time?"
"No, it's completely blank. I don't remember anything of that time frame."
Red Alert digested this new information. He remembered the message they received last night; maybe it wasn't time yet for her to learn her real name. Maybe when she regained enough of her memories on her own, they could tell her who she really is and who her parents are.
"Aside from the memory loss, I see nothing wrong with you." He told her calmly. "You can go back to sparring with Scavenger now."
"Alright. Will you tell me if you find something new? I do not like mysteries, especially if it concerns my health."
"I will, now go on. I'm sure your old friend is waiting for you."
"Okay, see ya later," she chuckled before leaving the Med bay. Red Alert commed Optimus Prime to inform the Autobot commander about what had transpired just moments ago.
Terra walked hurriedly back to the sparring room. She and Scavenger had become good friends with their interest in the martial arts, not to anyone's surprise. The elder Autobot was more than eager to learn Earth's many forms of self-defense, and Terra gladly taught him everything she learned from her Sensei.
Cybertronian self-defense was not as diverse as Earth's martial arts. They were beings that relied more on their weapons than their two giant, metal fists and feet. When Terra had shown the Autobots various videos of self-defense that humans practiced, they were surprised and impressed. Though Blur had asked why the humans had so many forms of hand-to-hand combat.
"We did not always have guns and vehicles," Rad had said. "Before we had these powerful weapons of mass destruction, we had swords, shields, and our muscles for weapons. The various forms of martial arts are a result of people wanting to defend themselves from the big bullies."
Terra had thrown her own two cents in at that point, "It was not common for the lower classes to have weapons such as swords and such. They had to learn how to defend themselves without the use of weapons and thus we have karate, Taekwondo, jujitsu, and so on." Since then, Terra became the sensei of the Autobots in a way.
A series of beeps brought Terra out of her musings. A Minicon—Sparkplug she believed—was trying to get her attention. She was about to ask what the matter was when the alarm went off and the yellow Minicon dragged her to the command center. Every Autobot had gathered and were clearly confused.
"I thought all the Minicons had woken up," said Hot Shot.
"Yeah, what gives?" asked Carlos. "Is it another trap?"
Highwire beeped repeatedly, apparently explaining something to Rad for him to translate.
"Highwire says this Minicon was tasked with a special mission," Rad told them. "It didn't come with the rest of the Minicons when they left Cybertron."
"We'll have to get the details later," said Optimus Prime. "Surprisingly, this Minicon is very close to the base. Just outside the city limits from the looks of it."
"You're kidding!" Fred exclaimed. "That is weird!"
"You kids stay here, we'll—"
"Whoa! Are you trying to pull my arm out, Sparkplug?" Terra shouted as she was dragged by the Minicon towards Optimus.
"Sparkplug?" The Autobot leader asked his Minicon partner. The little Minicon stared at the large Cybertronian for a moment before beeping. "Do you want her to come along?"
Another series of beeps which Rad translated as, "She has to come."
Apparently the rest of the Minicons thought the same as they all beeped in agreement.
"Alright, but Terra has to stay out of the way," Optimus conceded. "Got it?"
"Aye, aye, Captain!" she mock saluted and stepped towards the elevator. Unknowingly she stepped onto one of the squares that transformed her clothes into an orange jumpsuit with the Autobot insignia and a pin of the symbol appeared on her cap. "What the heck!? A little warning next time, please!"
Everyone just chuckled and they proceeded to the warp room.