[Arianna's diary- 4 weeks later]
So, it's been about four weeks since I revealed my powers to Raf, and believe this- he's still perfectly okay with it! We've become really good friends and hang out a lot. A couple of the seniors teased me for a bit, but I soon gave them the message not to mess with me or Raf.
I decided to write in the morning today, because I feel like something big is going to be happening today. What, I don't know. And Primus is being awfully quiet. Guess I'll have to see.
()
[Gully- evening]
Arianna sat next to Raf as he raced his small race car around, which had been a gift from Aria to him on his twelth birthday. She was making small ramps and curves so Raf could have a little more fun with it.
As the young boy's phone rang, he quickly answered it. "Hi Momma," he qickly said, "Racing. In the gully. I'm with Aria. Just five more minutes?" He hung up and said, "It was my momma. It's almost time to head in."
"Well, we've still got a few more minutes, right?" she asked, making another ramp for the car to jump over and stop right next to them.
"Sure do!" As Raf had the car drive around a bit more, Aria thought about the events of the day. A little while eariler, she had felt like something had happened in the Allspark. When she had asked about it when school got out, she met Cliffjumper, Arcee's partner. He had been killed by Starscream not too long ago. The teen had to wonder how Arcee was handling it.
"You've been kinda quiet." Aria was jolted from her thoughts and looked at Raf, who was looking at her in concern, "Did something happen?"
Aria shrugged and said, "A few things."
"Kid, might wanna listen," Ironhide suddenly said. And that's when Aria heard it; a motorcycle engine and a scream. "Did you hear-?" she started to ask Raf, but before she could finish her sentence, a motorcycle zoomed over them and landed in front of them.
Aria stared in shock at the black-haired Jack Darby, who looked rather breathless and was riding on a dark blue and pink motorcycle that she recognized as Cliffjumper's former partner, Arcee. "Did you just climb on?" she asked incrediously.
"What happened?" asked Raf, picking up his toy car and putting it in his backpack.
Jack finally looked up at the two of them and said, "You have no idea." He quickly climbed off as the other two approached. However, they turned to look up the slope as two more engines sounded. "Oh great," said Jack, "It's them."
Two purple and black muscle cars sped down the slope. With the sound of turning gears and shifting parts, they transformed into large purple robots, with their arms turning into red blasters. Aria's jaw dropped slightly when she recognized them. Vehicons, she thought in dumb amazement, they're bigger than I thought they'd be.
At the sound of more transforming behind her, she and the two boys turned around to find that the motorcycle had changed into a small, female-looking robot wth fierce-looking blue and pink eyes. That's Arcee, Aria thought again. "This ends here, Cons!" she snarled angrily.
"I think we might want to move," decided Aria. She quickly grabbed Jack and Raf and pulled them to the wall as Arcee rushed forward, dodging the two Vehicon's fire. When she got close, she leapt up into the air and slammed her ped into one of them, before roundhouse kicking the other.
"What are they?" aske Raf. "Talking cars that turn into robots," said Jack, obviously still in shock over what had just happened.
"I think it's actually the other way around," Aria corrected him as Arcee started pummeling the first Vehicon with her clenched servos.
"I think she's still angry," said Ironhide.
"You think?" asked Cliffjumper.
Aria watched as the Vehicon started shooting Arcee, who backflipped several times to avoid the blasts, but a final one nailed her in the chest. She fell with a heavy thud, causing the three humans to flinch.
"Jack, quick question," said Aria as the Vehicons approached the stunned Arcee, "were there any other vehicles helping you two?"
"Actually," Jack started to say, but was interrupted by a vehicle jumping off the bridge and transforming into a yellow and black Autobot. He landed on one of the Vehicons and rapidly punched the second one, making it fall back under the onslaught.
"It's Bumblebee!" yelled Cliffjumper, "He must've followed Arcee!"
"He's cute," Aria said before blushing. The Terror Twins roared in laughter. "Shut up!" she quickly said.
Bumblebee quickly pushed back the two Vehicons, then accidentally stepped on one of the small ramps that Aria had made. He then decided to look to his right to see the three humans. *Uhhhh... hi?* he said.
Aria saw one of the Vehicons getting up while Bumblebee was distracted. "Look out!" she yelled.
The yellow Autobot narrowly dodged the punch, but then it tripped him, making him fall onto his back. As the two Vehicons prepared to shoot him, Raf yelled out, "Leave him alone!"
The two 'Cons turned their attention to them at that. "Please?" he squeaked out.
"Probably shouldn't have said anything," said Aria, grabbing his hand and pulling him and Jack towards the tunnel that led out as one of the Vehicon's tromped after them.
Aria lifted Raf into the tunnel as Jack hopped in after them, the three of them racing down the tunnel as one of the Vehicons reached after them, trying to grab them. A massive *clang* caused them to turn around to see the stunned Vehicon being pulled out of the hole and Bumblebee's face replacing it. *You three all right?* he asked.
"We're fine," said Aria.
"Thank you!" added Raf.
*Stay out of trouble now,* said 'Bee, before leaving the tunnel.
"What was that?" asked Jack as they continued down the tunnel.
Aria decided to play along as the unsuspecting civilian. "I don't know," she said, "but I think we better get going before we find out." She gave Raf a wink and he nodded, knowing what she was doing.
"They were pretty cool, though," said the young boy.
"You try getting chased by them and shot at!" said Jack, sounding slightly scoldish.
"Welcome to my world," Aria muttered under her breath.
()
[Next day]
"Hey Aria!"
Arianna opened her eyes as Raf came running up to her. "How was school?" he asked.
"Same old," she replied, "What about you?"
"Same," he said, shrugging, "but I couldn't stop thinking about yesterday. Are they like those guys you were telling me about?"
"Sure are," she said, "And I can see Bee on the corner. I guess he's waiting for Jack to show up."
"Speaking of which," said Raf. He waved to the older boy that came out of the school. Jack noticed them and walked over. "Raf. Aria. Hey," he said, "Look. How about we just forget what happened yesterday."
"I doubt that's gonna happen anytime soon," said Aria, rolling her eyes at him.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
A sudden honking noise caused the three of them to turn. "That does," Aria said as Bumblebee drove up next to them.
"Not again," groaned Jack.
The passenger door opened and Bee said, *Alright. Youngest boy and girl with me. Arcee's right behind you.*
"It... wants us to get in?" asked Jack.
"No, just me and Aria," said Raf.
"Wait," said Aria, "you can understand him too?"
Raf nodded as Jack said, "What?"
"Arcee's over there," Aria pointed out the motorcycle parked in front of the school.
Jack stared hesitantly at Arcee and said, "Look, I really think-,"
"So how's it going?" asked Raf, walking up to Bumblebee.
"I call shotgun," said Aria, climbing in after him.
"Hey guys! Wait!" yelled Jack, but it was too late. Raf and Aria climbed in and Bumblebee took off. "It'll probably take a while for him to come round," said Aria with a slight chuckle.
*Well, I think Arcee will put some sense into him,* said Bumblebee, as they drove down the road.
"So, what's your name?" asked Raf.
*I'm Bumblebee. What about you two?*
Aria gave him a confused look at that. "You guys have been watching me since I got to Jasper, and you still don't know my name?"
*Optimus never said,* said Bee, a little sheepish.
"Well, I'm Arianna," she introduced herself, "And this is Raf."
"Nice to meet you!" said Raf.
*You guys too!* said Bee, *So, how can you understand me?*
"Kind of a long story on my end," said Aria, "what about you Raf?"
"Not sure," the younger boy replied, "maybe it's because it sounds like you're talking in code."
*Ohhhhhhh,* buzzed Bee, *Tech whiz, huh?*
"You could say that," Raf grinned.
"Those two are gonna get along just fine," commented Perceptor.
()
A few minutes later, Arcee had come back and the two Autobots were headed for a large-looking mesa. Aria looked at the wall they were driving towards and said, "Secret door. It's always a secret door."
A section of the wall suddenly split apart, revealing a long tunnel.
"Knew it."
*You are being oddly calm,* said Bumblebee as they drove on through.
"I don't get that surprised with stuff anymore," she told him. As they drove into the main part of the base, Aria gave a slight nod. Nice, she thought to herself.
"Cool," said Raf, staring at the large white and orange mech that stood watching them, a slight displeased look in his optics.
"He doesn't look happy," Aria thought.
"Ratchet's never happy," replied Sideswipe.
As she and Raf got out and the two Autobot's transformed, Ratchet stepped forward, looking at them. "Four? I thought there were three." he said, standing next to a large green Autobot that Aria recognized as Bulkhead.
"Haven't you heard?" Arcee asked sarcastically, "Human's multiply."
Aria rolled her eyes and turned around to look at Jack, who had another girl standing next to him. She unfortunately recognized the spunky looking Asian teen. "Miko?" she asked, "why?"
"She peeked around the corner," said Jack with a resigned sigh.
Aria shook her head in resignation as Raf said hesitantly, "I'm Raf."
"I'm Miko!" said Miko, running up to Bulkhead and asking, "What's your name?"
"Bulkhead," the large Autobot said hesitantly.
"Are you a car?" asked Miko, "I bet you're a truck, a monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever used a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" She gave a sudden yelp as Aria walked up behind her and pulled down on her hair. "What was that for?" she asked.
"Too personal, Miko," said Aria, "You need to pull down that excitement sometimes."
"Says the girl who doesn't have any excitement in her life," said Miko in a huffy tone.
"You'd be surprised," replied the older girl, rolling her eyes as the Terror Twins burst out laughing.
"So, if you're robots," asked Raf, "who built you?" Aria looked at him with a approving smile. Raf was the only other person in the room who knew about these guys thanks to her. Best to play the role of the unsuspecting civilian.
His question did irk Ratchet a bit though, "Puh-leaze," scoffed the medic.
Large footsteps caused them all to turn however, and Aria and Miko joined the group as a large and familiar Autobot decided to join them.
"We are autonomus robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron," explained Optimus Prime, "Also known as Autobots."
Jack stepped forward and asked, "Why are you here?"
"To protect your planet from the Decepticons," said Optimus.
"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night?" clarified Arcee, noting the confused expresson on Jack's face.
"Oh-kay," said Jack, turning back to look at Optimus, "Why are they here?"
Optimus knelt down to address them better as the rest of the group stepped forward to join Jack, "A fair question, Jack," said Optimus, "In part, they are here because our planet in uninhabitable. Ravaged by centuries of civil war."
"Why were you fighting a war?" asked Raf.
"Foremost, over our world's supply of energon," explained Optimus, "The fuel and lifeblood of all Autobot's and Decepticons alike."
Aria suddenly gave a small flinch as her powers acted without her wanting them too. She saw a war-torn Cybertron and Cybertronians fighting, led by a menacing figure with glowing red optics as Optimus said, "The combat was fierce and endured for centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one whom I considered a brother. But in war, ideals can be corrupted. And it was thus that Megatron lost his way."
Her vision ended when Miko said in a bored voice, "Is there gonna be a quiz?"
With a rather annoyed expression, Aria tugged on one of puffy, pink-tipped pigtails on the top of her head, causing her to yelp. "Can you stop that?" she asked.
"No," said Aria.
Jack rolled his eyes at them and asked, "So what does Megatron or any of this have to do with us?"
"Megatron has not been seen or heard from in some time," explained Optimus, "But if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic."