I IN NO WAY OWN THE TRANSFORMERS, THEY BELONG TO THEIR CURRENT OWNERS SO PLEASE DO NOT SUE ME!
I IN NOW WAY OWN ANY SONGS OR MEDIA USED IN THIS STORY AS REFERENCE OR OTHERWISE I.E; NAME BRANDS, MUSIC, ANIME/MANGA REFERENCES (THERE MAY BE A FEW) OR OTHER SUCH NONESENSE! AGAIN PLEASE DONT SUE!
I do own Arabella, Tia, Kyler, the sparklings, and any other OC's I add later!
Major thanks to; 1337banna, Ikniaa, lizziecats, Jynx Fang Nemesis, JessicaBelleHolmes, CosmicUnicorn and jgoss for Following me! I appreciate it!
Major thanks to; 1337banna, Ikniaa, lizziecats, Jynx Fang Nemesis, JessicaBelleHolmes, CosmicUnicorn and jgoss for adding me to their list of Favorite authors! I appreciate it!
Retrokill: Don't worry, I wont let them get you! I hope you are well! I recently read that you retired and started teaching! If so then I owe you a belated congratulations! I am actually in the process of becoming a teacher so I respect you for both lines of work! I hope you like this chapter!
Rebecca Frost: Thank you! I'm glad you liked the prank and I hope you like this chapter! Hope you are well!
THIRD PERSON'S POV
It all started with a series of pranks. Good pranks. The twins and Arabella had woken up and were spending a lazy morning with their sparklings. The quartet had kept them up late the night before crying, so the three spent the majority of the night reading to them. It was pushing four thirty when the quadruplets finally fell asleep and stayed asleep, and that sleep only lasted a few hours. By eight thirty the four were up chirping and whistling loudly to be fed.
When they made it to the rec room they found a fuming Ratchet. Somebody had magnetized the machinery, tools and berths to the ceiling and he was livid. Immediately he began to curse the twins and Arabella out for what they did, and the three blinked owlishly at him for a moment before they began to argue back. Optimus was on his way to the rec room with Elita, both having been called by Ratchet and Ironhide who was pulling a growling and snarling Tia and Jolt behind him. They had been walking outside, trying to ease Jolt's nausea when they stumbled on Ironhide in the halls. His holoform projector and vocal components were re-programed to make him look and sound like a femme. Behind Prime and Elita, Prowl stormed up painted bright white with silver swirls and pillow fluff decorating his frame. Upon seeing both parties, Sunny, Sides and Arabella fought to stave off their laughter. Especially when said mech seemed to slip on thin air and slide into Ironhide knocking him and Ratchet over before they all careened down the hall on a thin layer of grease. They hadn't pulled the pranks, but they could appreciate the detail. To the officers, it was obvious who pulled the pranks.
Arabella, the Twins, Tia and Jolt argued that it couldn't have been them, they had plausible alibi's. But the camera footage from the night before easily destroyed it. It showed the accused bots sneaking about with wide mischievous grins as they set out to complete their misdeeds. Optimus and Elita knew what they had to do. They couldn't let the twins and Arabella get away with another prank, not after the last few and especially after their sparkling's first attempt.
The brig. Two days separated from their sparkmates and sparklings. No excuses or arguments. The sparklings began to throw a fit. Two whole days without their parents, and to make matters worse, Optimus and Elita of all bots would be watching them. The quadruplets were not pleased at all!
The twins and Bella saw this and asked for a few moments alone with their sparklings. "You have ten minutes." Prowl said shortly as he walked out of the room. "We know that you four don't like what happened. Neither did we." Sunstreaker said as Sideswipe snarled in anger. "We didn't even do anything! The one time we're innocent we get in trouble!" He shouted as he slid down the wall of his soon to be cell. "I need you four to do us a big favor. And you can't tell any of the big bots that I told you this okay?"
The quartet nodded their helms at their mother in unison. "Promise not to tell? No matter what?"
"Yes."
"I need you four to drive everyone crazy. Throw tantrums, run away or hide from them at bedtime, bath time and nap time. If you do this for me, I will give you each an ice cream sundae when we get out of here."
If Bella had to be wrongly punished she saw no problem in letting the bots suffer the wrath of the fearsome foursome. Sideswipe, seeing what his sparkmate was doing and seeing the confused looks on his sparkling's faces decided to jump in. "It's a game. The prize is ice cream and you get more points for doing things that we wouldn't usually let you do."
"Make messes, cry loudly, get messy! Each thing you do gets you another treat on your ice cream!"
Sunstreaker said. By now the sparklings were bouncing on their peedes with excitement. "For example, if you four can get Ratchet, Prowl, Inferno, and First Aid to chase you using their sirens, we'll put brownies on your ice cream." Sideswipe said enticingly. The four nodded in understanding. They had to be naughty to win the game, and by extension get their parents out of time out faster.
After their time was up, the sparklings were carried out of the brig and back into the rec room where they were presented to Optimus and Elita who instantly noticed the angry glares that the four were directing at them as Prowl and Jazz set them down on the floor.
Maverick's pov
"Quadruplets, we understand that you are unhappy with how- "
We didn't even let Optimus finish what he was saying cause we got up and went into our fort. This isn't fair! Mommy and daddies didn't do anything bad. They read us stories all night! And now we gotta be watched by Optimus and Lita. They probably won't let us have any fun! Mommy and daddies said that all they ever do is train and go to boring meetings!
["We need a plan! 'Member mommy and daddies said that we had to drive them crazy!"]
"Quadruplets? Please come out of there."
["Its Lita and Oppymus!"]
["What do we do?"]
["I dunno Freeze, tell them to go away."]
"Go way!"
"Go way! Pease?" Night said after Freeze closed the peek hole. "Please come out. We know you four are mad at us, but we want to talk to you."
["Now what? We need a plan!"]
["Why don't we just wing it Pulse?"]
I asked. Why are they looking at me like that? "Good idea Mave! Bye bye!"
"Pulse! No! I don't wanna go out! HEY!"
He just closed the door in my face! That was mean! I don't wanna talk to Optimus and Lita!
"LET ME IN!"
"No. Distwact them."
"Puuuuuuuulllllllllsssssssssssssse! I don't wanna! I don't wanna 'stract Lita and Oppymus! NIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHHHT! LET ME BACK IN!"
"Sowy, no. Pease distwact Oppymus and Lita."
"I DON'T WANNA! LET ME IN NOW!
"Maverick, throwing a fit isn't going to get you what you want."
"He's a mechling Optimus, he's allowed to have a small fit. Besides it's not like he can kick the door down."
"I'M GONNA KICK THIS DOOR DOWN! LET ME IN! NOW!"
CLANG!
"OOOOWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Maverick! You poor thing, why did you kick that door? Come here little mechling let me see it."
Lita said as she picked me up.
["Good distraction!"]
["MY FOOT HURTS GUYS!"]
"MOOOOOOMMMMMYYYYYYYY!"
["You guys are mean! I have an owie! Meanies!"]
"MAAAVVVVVVE! MAVE MAVE!"
"Elita, I believe we may have a tantrum brewing."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"I believe that it just erupted Optimus."
Third Person's pov
Optimus stood holding two wailing femmlings as his sparkmate held Maverick who was bawling into her chest, meanwhile Pulse was roughly patting at Optimus' leg sobbing angrily. He and Elita had offered to watch the sparklings for the duration of their parent's punishment seeing that they didn't have too much to do in the way of meetings or reports. Unfortunately said sparklings were more than irate at them for keeping them from their parents.
"Yeesh. Those are four angry little bots." Cliffjumper said as Nightsinger's wailing rose higher in pitch and volume. The problem was that neither Elita nor Prime knew how to calm the four down. They weren't inexperienced when it came to sparklings. They helped raise Bumblebee and a few other abandoned younglings after all, but no matter what they did, be it bouncing, swaying, or hushing the sparklings only seemed to scream louder.
Just when the two thought the sparklings couldn't scream any louder, they stopped. A smug looking Jazz had supplied the four with pacifiers making them shut up. Nightsinger didn't take too kindly to this. Slowly, she took her pacifier out of her mouth and proceeded to lob it at Jazz's helm with an aim that would make her mother proud.
With a metallic smack Jazz winced in pain as Nightsinger went back to screaming. "Wow, I don' think Ah've ever seen lil' Singer so angry." He said in amazement as she continued to throw a fit worthy of her little sister. She wriggled and kicked and screamed, making her little cheeks burn bright blue. With a frown Optimus held both Nightsinger and Freezefire closer to his chest while making a deep rumbling sound. Both sparkling's cries began to soften until they were sobbing and sniffling into his chest plates. Not too long after, both Maverick and Pulse were doing the same. "Easy little ones. Everything is going to be okay." He said gently noticing the loud groans of their tanks.
"Jazz?"
"No worries, Ah'll get 'em some energon."
He nodded to the two as he began filling four bottles. When presented, the quadruplets wouldn't drink their energon. They simply pouted and turned their heads away with an angry squeak. With a sigh Elita gently prodded Pulse to make him squeak again, when he did so, she put the tip of the bottle in his mouth and rubbed it against the roof of his mouth. The mechling couldn't resist, and much like his siblings began to drink.
After a few bottles the quadruplets weren't as cranky, but they certainly didn't want to cooperate with Optimus and Elita and began to try to throw another fit. Both leaders were weary of the quadruplet's attempts at being annoyed so they decided to go a different route.
The quadruplets were unprepared to be assaulted by Optimus and Elita like they were. The poking, prodding, and tickling was unbearable, but it was the silly faces that Optimus was making that had the four laughing hysterically. Especially when Prowl walked in asking for Optimus to sign off on a document and saw him with his glossa out. He had been blowing raspberries into Freezefire's tummy and was slightly embarrassed to find Prowl standing there.
By the time 11:30 rolled around, the sparklings were back to how they usually were, happily playing with one another and Elita and Optimus. The two noticed that the quads were falling asleep in their little pillow and blanket fort that they had built for fun.
"Alright you four, I think it's time you had a nap."
"No! No wanna nap!"
"Not teepy!"
"Wanna play!"
"Pease?"
"None of that now. You four need to rest, we can play after you wake back up."
Optimus chided gently. "We don't wanna nap!" they whined back. Pulse and Nightsinger fell to their rears ready to throw a fit while Maverick and Freezefire began to toddle away trying to escape the inevitable. Before either events could happen, Elita and Optimus lifted the four up. "Would you four like it if I read you a story?" Optimus asked as he and his sparkmate made the short trip to the quartet's quarters and laid them down in their cribs.
Optimus did a good job telling the story. He even went so far as to use different voices for each of the characters in the story he read to them. After seeing that the quadruplets had fallen asleep, the two leaders placed a bookmark in "Charlotte's web" and left. Meanwhile the quadruplets were meeting in their dream world and speaking about how the rest of the day would play out.
Maverick's pov
"Otay, Oppymus tells really good stories."
"Yeah Pulse, and Lita is really fun to play with."
"But Night! We have to drive the big bots crazy somehow!"
"Freeze is right, we gotta do something. Like 'scape nap time!" I said.
"And then what? Oppymus and Lita will make us take another nap!"
"Not if they don't catch us Night. We can take the vents to get outside so we can play!"
"Better than staying here and napping!" My brother said as we left our dreamscape and woke up. We got out of our cribs and crawled through the vents until we got outside. Then we had to sneak all the way to the forest to play.
"Otay what should we do?"
"We gotta do what Mommy and Daddies wanted us to." Night said. "How are we gonna drive big bots crazy? We're 'lone!"
"We gotta get messy Freeze!" Night said as we came to this big, stinky puddle.
"Do we have to? That stuff looks icky, and it smells bad!"
"Yes! 'Member daddies said to get messy and make messes, this is how."
I said to Pulse as me and Night jumped into the puddle. It made a really funny squishing sound, and it's really goopy! This is the best mud puddle I've ever played in! After a while Pulse and Freeze joined us.
"Ewww! This stuff is gross! And cold! But…kinda fun!"
"Oh no! Quadruplets!"
"HOUND!"
"What are you four doing out here? And in the wet compost I was making for Bella?" I don't know what wet compost is, but it's fun to roll around in! "I better call Optimus and Elita and tell them you're out here."
["Uh oh, what do we do now? Lita and Oppymus are gonna be mad!"]
["I don't think they'll be mad, but they're gonna try to give us a bath."]
["And we can't let them! Remember what Mommy and Daddies said!"]
["Mave is right, we gotta make the big bots chase us, or we won't get extra treats!"]
Night said as Optimus and Lita walked up. "There you four are!"
Lita said as Optimus scrunched up his nose. "Phew! I think you four have earned yourselves a bath!" Lita said.
"And a long one at that." Optimus said as he tried to pick us up.
"No! No baf!"
Freeze said as she threw the mud at Optimus. "RUN 'WAY!" Night shouted. "Quadruplets! Come back here!"
["Change to kitty mode! They can't catch us that way!"]
["Are you sure Pulse?"]
["Yeah! They can't run on four feet like we can!"]
We all changed to our kitty modes and ran towards a warehouse. Lita and Optimus aren't following us anymore which is good, but we're probably in trouble which is bad. Maybe we can stay in the warehouse for a while?
{"Autobots, the quadruplets are loose and they are avoiding us to escape having a wash. Anybot that finds them, please report to Elita or myself so that we can collect them and clean them up."}
"Why Freeze? Why? Why did you throw mud at Oppymus?!"
"Cause…if the big bots get messy, then they have to get cleaned up."
"Yeah so what?"
"So, if all the big bots get too messy, then they can't chase us cause they have to get clean!"
"Ohhhhh." We all said. There was a whole crate full of stuff that we could use and we took lots of it too! (I think that it was daddies cause it had S.S written on it.) But we still had to get all kinds of stuff to make the big bots messy. Stuff like oil, jello, oatmeal, cheese, paint (not yellow daddies) and we could use the mud from outside too. Once we had all our stuff we went to drive the big bots crazy. We walked into the rec room and found our first victim.
["Oooo! Tracks is here!"]
["And he's all alone Mave!"]
["We should start with him guys!"]
I said as we walked over to him. "Ewww, what's that smell? Oh gross!" He yelled when he saw us. That's when we hugged him. He screamed so loud! All we did was hug him and he screamed!
"There they are!"
"Run 'way!"
I said as we ran from Smokey, Tracks and Prowl. The best thing about our kitty modes is that it makes us faster than the big bots by a lot, so we lost them super easily. When we did we started to make our traps, and we were almost done with all of them when we ran out of mud. So we went to get more.
"Psst! Quadruplets! C'mere!"
["Its 'Ferno! What do we do?"]
"Quick, before the other's see you!"
["I dunno bout this guys."]
["C'mon Night! We can trust 'Ferno, he's nice."]
Freeze said as we walked over to 'Ferno. He's smiling way too big…something's wrong here. "Come with me, I'll take you somewhere were the others can't find you."
["Wait a mimut. Does anybody else smell something…(sniff)…fruity?"]
["Yeah, I do Pulse. And look, there's a bubbly puddle behind his feet!"]
"C'mon you four, hurry before the others get here!"
'Ferno said.
["Kay. Night, you and Mave might have been right. I think that 'Ferno isn't gonna help us."]
["That's otay Freeze, we just gotta back up and run."]
["Run really really fast!"]
I said as we slowly backed up. Night and me were right. Cause he started to chase us spraying bubbles!
["Kay, can't trust no more big bots. Oppymus is making them try to give us a bath!"]
["Tay, so now what?"]
Freeze and Pulse asked.
["We gotta play harder! We gonna make the big bots messy, stinky, sticky and sorry for putting Mommy and Daddies in a long time out!"]
["RIGHT!]
Third person's pov
The quadruplets ran screaming from Inferno who was trying desperately to rinse them off via a very weak blast from his hydro cannon. He added a little soap to his water supply ahead of time, so that the dirt would wash off the sparklings easier. But it was looking to be a frivolous effort since the four were skillfully dodging his shots. Unbeknownst to him, the sparklings were leading him towards the training field, where Ironhide, and William Lennox were giving the newest recruits a lecture on proper weapons handling. Thankfully the humans moved out of the way of the stampeding sparklings as they ran between Ironhide's legs. Maverick, deciding to be funny, jumped up just as Inferno was aiming for him. The result was Ironhide virtually getting his aft power washed. Said mech gave a startled yelp as he thrusted his hips forward from the force before he turned around and nearly knocked out Inferno. The quadruplets simply laughed as they ran away. Ironhide was fine aside from his bruised ego, and foamy aft. The same couldn't be said for poor Inferno who lay on the ground groaning in pain.
After Ironhide helped Inferno up, the two raced into the dense trees along with Smokescreen and a few other bots while the humans were herded to a safe zone seeing that the sparklings were now a hazard. Meanwhile the sparklings had reached the mud puddle they were originally found in by Hound only to freeze when the bots ran up shouting, Optimus and Elita included. "Quadruplets, step away from that puddle." Prime said sternly. To his and everyone else's surprise the four raised one paw and hung it above the puddle. "No. You four come here this instant! I mean it." Elita said angrily, her tone clearly stating that she wasn't in the mood for games. The quadruplets only raised their optic ridges and scooted closer to the puddle as a result. "You four had better come here. If you do not do as we say, you will sit in the corner as punishment." Prowl said coldly. His gaze was potent. The sparklings backed away from the puddle, allowing all those in the area sigh of relief. Before it turned into a gasp. The quadruplets had turned tail and ran straight for the foul smelling bog. The bots attempted to stop them, jumping forward to catch them, only to fall face first into the muck. The quartet however was just fine. Their powerful feline based alt modes easily carried them across the distance of the mud where they landed safely. Before running off, the four blew a raspberry at their victims.
The sparklings had officially declared war on Optimus and Elita, or so it seemed by all the traps the four had set. If it was gross, slimy or downright nasty, the sparklings used it in a trap. The result being the vast majority of their troops having to make a trip to the washracks or other facilities to clean up the extensive mess that the four had made them into. The latest being Tracks who had finally walked out of the washracks only to find Pulse and Nightsinger dancing together to some form of classical music. He planned to sneak up on them and grab them, but the two danced and twirled their way out of his grasp.
As they continued to do this, Freezefire and Maverick generously poured buckets of processed cheese and bags of feathers down on him. Nightsinger and Pulse eventually tricked him into going out into the hall, where he was tripped by an ankle strung cable making him land in a puddle of Wheeljack's special glue. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Cliffjumper found them running up the hall shortly after that, and they too fell into one of the quadruplet's traps. The four lured them into the training room, where the three were then bombarded by paint, oil, and glitter via the sparklings jumping from catapult to catapult laughing hysterically. Of course no catapult barrage is complete without a net. It was only by chance and luck that the net was hung before the four lured the three bots into their trap, and Nightsinger playing with the control unit for the simulator certainly helped. The three bots were not only caught in it, but also magnetized to the floor because of it. The sparklings of course found this to be hilarious. Just as the sparklings were running out of the training room cackling, Arcee yelled something that would make Arabella and especially the twins very proud; "QUADRUPLETS!"
Meanwhile, said twins and their sparkmate sat in their cells having a good laugh at their comrade's expense. Kyler had all of the video feeds being saved to a separate hard drive for their viewing pleasure (something he promised to do so that they wouldn't miss any more milestones) and the three along with Tia and Jolt were watching the live feed as Pulse and Maverick galloped up the hall with Prowl, Inferno, Ratchet, and First Aid chasing them in alt form. All four of them had their sirens on and were trying their best to keep up with the little trouble makers.
Kyler and Christine were watching the same thing on a separate feed and were laughing far too hard to be productive. "The twins and your sister planned this didn't they?"
Christine said between giggles. "I don't know, maybe yes, maybe no, but I'm definitely saving us a copy." He said with a wink as they struggled to go back to work, watching the monitors.
Due to the speed of the quads, the bots had to bring out the big guns. Blurr started to chase the four outside and was mere millimeters from capturing Freezefire who was carrying Maverick on her back, when the formerly blue femme surprised him, the other bots in pursuit, and her siblings by breaking the sound barrier. The four squealed in amusement and joy as Nightsinger also broke the sound barrier to keep up with her sister. Maverick and Pulse decided to throw Blurr off by pouring both oil, and glue onto the floor while their sisters quite literally bounced off the walls. At first the mech didn't notice the conditions, but soon enough he noticed his peedes slowing and slipping. The next thing he knew was that he was sliding slowly on his back up the hall watching as his targets ran back outside cackling, and sounding frighteningly just like their fathers when they were running from their own pranks.
The quads growing weary stopped to rest. They just so happened to stop in the base's waste management center. The four panted as they looked across the wide array of buttons, leavers and knobs, very aware of the bots closing in on them. "AH HA! THERE THEY ARE!"
"GET THEM!"
Somebody shouted scaring the four, who as a result lashed out and pressed multiple buttons at once, accidentally purging all of waste holding tanks onto the mob of bots and themselves.
Thankfully Elita and Optimus had decided to block the opposite entrance, and were spared from the mess. Very carefully, they ventured into the building after the last of the shrieks died down and grabbed the quadruplets by their scruff bars. Prime had to secure his battle mask both to guard against the smell, and to keep anyone from seeing the mischievous smile on his face. "Is everyone alright?"
The room at large was filled with stares and glares that clearly stated that they were anything but okay. The attention was then brought to the squealing and warbling sparklings in their grasp. "You two go and clean the little trouble makers up. We'll figure out how to clean this up." Ratchet said with an annoyed sigh. "Thank you Ratchet, please keep me posted on the status of the situation here."
Ratchet simply shooed them off reminding them to clean the quartet thoroughly and to use decontamination soap. The sparklings kicked and screamed all the way to the washracks, much to the chagrin of their care givers who sat them down on the floor before they began to gather the materials to clean them up. The door was locked, and the sparklings thought they had no chance of escape, that is until Pulse thought of an idea. Speaking only over their bond the four split up. Maverick, Nightsinger and Freezefire ran into the adjacent room with the bathing pool squealing. Optimus sighed as he left to retrieve the three while Elita continued to gather supplies. Pulse took his lack of attention in stride and began to sabotage their care givers by transforming and poking holes in the pre-arranged bottles of soap, accidentally spilling some of it onto the floor as he tried to drop them into their quickly filling tubs. He used some of the mud he had on his back to plug said tubs and silently crept back to his spot watching as the tubs began to over fill and spill onto the floor just as Optimus walked back in with his three siblings in his arms. Both caregivers muttered a few curse words as they ventured over to the tubs only to slip and slide into the tables holding them up allowing the four to sneak out through a hidden air vent.
"Careful Elita, there seems to be soap on the floor."
"I'll try. Do you think you can turn the water off?"
Her question was answered by her sparkmate surfing into the faucet, accidentally breaking it and allowing water to spray everywhere.
"Oops. Oh no…"
"Optimus…where are the quadruplets?"
The two looked around not seeing the four, before trying to crawl around the room in search of them. Once they made it to the adjacent room with the bathing pool, both knew that the four had somehow escaped. With a sigh, the two tried to carefully cross the room once again, only to wind up slipping and falling again.
Most of the bots on base were looking forward to seeing how their leaders handled the four rowdy sparklings during bath time. Especially seeing that many had their own "war stories" from preforming the service during their time as sparkling sitters. So it was no surprise to find half of the bots on base leaning against the walls and the door to the washracks listening to the chaos ensuing inside. However, they were all startled when a thundering THUD shook the whole base. Ratchet overrode the lock on the door and watched as a small tidal wave hit his feet. There was water and bubbles everywhere, and both Prime and his sparkmate looked beyond frustrated as their soldiers laughed at them. "So Ah see th' bitlets gave ya a bath huh?"
"They escaped." Prime said in frustration. That frustration didn't stop his soldiers from laughing even harder. Thankfully Wheeljack's cleaning drones fixed the mess made as the two got cleaned up and followed their noses to where the quadruplets were hiding. But not before Bumblebee gave the two his copy of the quartet's care instructions.
["We can not be too angry with them."]
["Elita, they have defied us at every given opportunity."]
["I know, but this is helping them cope. To them we are simply the boring commanders who are keeping them from their parents. They have every reason to be angry with us."]
Elita said as she quickly went to the "care and cleaning" portion of the guide. She raised an optic ridge and smiled.
"What?"
"The guide says that the sparklings like to play during bath time."
"I imagine so."
"It also says that we should play along with them seeing that they behave better that way." She said as they approached the warehouse where the quadruplets were hiding. Once they stepped through the door, it was easy to find the four. They sat against a few crates clicking in distress while they desperately tried to scratch each other's itches. All of the chemicals, paints, mud and oils had begun to dry on their armor and protoforms making it hard for them to move and making them itchy.
Freezefire was the first to see them and she squawked in alarm. "Easy you four. We only want to talk." Elita said as she sat on her knees.
"Little ones, we understand why you are upset with us." Optimus said as he kneeled down. The quadruplets simply stared at them. "We're sorry that you can not spend time with your parents, seeing that they had to be punished. But we want you four to be happy."
Elita said noticing how the sparklings squirmed. "Itchy!" Maverick whined pitifully. Optimus smiled gently as he picked him up. "Don't worry Maverick, we happen to have a rather fun cure to your problem." Optimus and Elita collected the four and made the short trip to the washracks where Jazz had just finished filling the tubs for Elita and Optimus. To the quadruplet's surprise, the bubbles seemed to glow and pulsate with bright vibrant colors. The four squealed in excitement as they reached for the suds making the three chuckle. Optimus and Elita gave Jazz their thanks as they sat the four down and began to remove their armor. However, once they were in the tub, the four didn't seem too interested in getting washed. They were much more content to play. Of course Optimus and Elita had found a way to fix that.
"GRRR! The tickle monsters have come to attack you!"
Elita growled playfully as she rubbed the soft bristles of the brushes she held into Maverick's sides. Poor Maverick squealed and shook his little helm in dismay as she "attacked" him. Optimus snarled playfully as he scrubbed away at the filth on Freezefire's tummy. "Time to tickle the grime away! You'll positively shine when we're through with you!" And he was right. The sparklings quickly became four giggly balls of bubbles with their optics being the only things visible. It was a rather amusing sight that the two captured with picture before they rinsed them off.
After a very thorough wash, the four playfully nibbled at Prime and Elita's fingers. The two took that as a sign that they were hungry. Going to the rec room they warmed up a few bottles. Neither expected the four to consume four bottles each. But they most certainly found it funny when each of the four belched like a Wrecker. The four were tired which was understandable. They had been running around causing mischief for three and a half hours, and Optimus and Elita stole what was left of their energy at bath time. So neither minded when the four drifted off into a light recharge cycle on their laps. The quadruplets remained asleep for about an hour before they awoke with a soft yawn, before carefully crawling off the couch they were snoozing on. Tracks was playing the classical piece that Nightsinger and Pulse were dancing to earlier trying to figure out what it was. "La Gaité Parisienne" Jazz said off handedly as he walked by before he stopped and stared at the quadruplets who were dancing. They were moving with such a grace that he didn't know they had. They were still a bit clumsy in their steps, but for the most part, all four looked as though they were trying their hardest to dance ballet and like they were enjoying it. The most startling about it was that when they had their optics closed, they seemed to improve. "Hey Prime. Look at 'em go." Jazz said quietly to Optimus who was looking through a few documents and reports. He looked over just as Freezefire executed a perfect pirouette and as Nightsinger and Pulse danced by on their tippy toes while Maverick was twirling nearby. Optimus smiled and nudged Elita who was speaking with Firestar. Soon the whole room was watching the four silently as they danced around the bot sized coffee table. Out of curiosity Jazz played a different genre of music and it threw them off at first, but the four went back to dancing soon after.
That was how the quadruplets spent the rest of their night. They didn't complain or cry when they were whisked off to bed, having exhausted themselves dancing. Optimus and Elita where pleased to see the four sleep. After the rambunctious day they had they too felt as if they needed to go to bed. They instead sat in the rec room wearily looking through documents until the harsh cries of the quadruplets over the baby monitor stirred them from their work.
This would be the start of a very long night. The quadruplets originally woke up startled from a nightmare. Optimus and Elita calmed them down and got them back to sleep, only for Pulse to wake up wailing when they got back to the rec room. Unbeknownst to them, the quadruplets while in their dreamscape decided to play musical bots. One of them would wake up crying, only to be put back to sleep, then a different sibling would continue the cycle. Optimus could be seen (and heard) carrying an irate Pulse up the hall, bouncing him and rubbing his back. By the time he came back with a sleeping mechling, his sparkmate traded him for another.
After an hour and a half of rotating the sparklings all woke up at once, making poor Elita and Optimus cringe and the other bots come out of their quarters. Now this was an "all bots available" mission. One that many failed. Jazz tried lullabies, with the result being two sparklings out of four falling asleep. The femmes tried massaging their back and neck cables which unintentionally woke them up, but kept them in a soothed mood. Somebody suggested that Prowl bore them to sleep. The tactician gave said mech a harsh glare but relented when Optimus added that it might work. So Prowl began talking about politics, which oddly enough, put nearly everyone else but Freezefire to sleep. Finally, they settled on telling the four stories, but even that didn't work.
"I still think that a sedative might be the best route." Ratchet groused, only for the quadruplets to squeak with fear before whimpering. "With all due respect sir, I don't think that would be wise. They are far too afraid at this point to try." First Aid said. He certainly didn't want to try because he knew it meant that he would have to hold the four when they did it, and that they would no doubt cry even louder at the sight of the needle. Just as he thought that, the Chevy twins walked back into the rec room grumbling about pranks and stupid twins and plans for revenge while the quadruplets sniffled ominously in their arms.
Just when the bots thought that they'd be subjected to more tears, a miracle came in the form of a very tired Kyler. Said human rubbed his eyes groggily before he shuffled with purpose into the kitchen and poked around loudly for twenty minutes before poking his head out the door. "Hey, Hound."
"Yes?"
"Do me a favor, pour the quadruplets something to drink, about half a glass please…a…and leave the lid off, I have to add something." He said softly as he went back to what he was doing. Ten minutes later he came out of the kitchen with four sparkling sized cookies on his shoulder. With a soft whistle up to them, the four each took a cookie and silently nibbled on it, their optic lids growing heavier as they did so. Kyler smiled as he went back into the kitchen and brought out four large coffee urns before he told Hound to pour one into each of the bottles. After doing so, the quartet were given their bottles. "What exactly did you do?"
Optimus asked as he fed Maverick. "Cybertronian style chamomile tea and cookies." He said as he shuffled over to the piano and stretched. "I do not wish to discourage you…"
"My little sister spent nearly the last month developing that strain of chamomile. It's designed to affect Cybertronians. I know because I was with her in her lab when she started taking and testing samples. It's pretty potent stuff if steeped correctly."
He said as he began playing random melodies. "How did you…"
"Look. You may not believe that my sister and brother's in law were up late with them last night, but I do. I was there. I heard her pacing the halls last night, and I offered to help. She took me to her lab and grabbed some tea for the sparklings, only to find that the twins had finally gotten them back to sleep when we came back. I put it in the pie safe for her before I went back to bed."
He said as Optimus and Elita rested on the couch with the four now very drowsy sparklings. "And you are sure she wasn't using the quadruplets as a cover up for- "
"Do you fucking want me to put them to sleep or not Prowl?! Its two thirty in the fucking morning, and you're evaluating chamomile tea! She didn't do anything, she and the twins were too tired, this is like the third damn night this week that those four have been up, for God's sake!"
Kyler snapped quietly. Prowl merely bowed his helm in apology and motioned to the piano. "I really suggest that you get comfortable. If you move, you risk waking them up." Kyler said as he began playing Clair de Lune. One by one the quadruplets fell asleep, peacefully nuzzling into Optimus and Elita. They weren't the only ones. Each of the bots found a comfortable piece of furniture or claimed an area of floor for themselves as they too fell asleep. "I apologize for your lack of sleep. I'll have Ratchet and the Major put in for you to have the next day off."
"No biggie Optimus. It's what good uncles do." He said as he continued to play softly, allowing Optimus to fall into recharge. Kyler eventually fell asleep at the piano, and Pulse silently draped a blanket on him before he crawled back into his spot on the couch and fell back asleep.
The next morning found the four nudging Elita and Optimus awake, all holding a serious look on their faces. When asked what was wrong, the four simply pointed at the Chevy twins and repeated what they said. Apparently the two had incriminated themselves in front of the sparklings, the night before and Prowl only had to look back a few hours to find the proof. Upon a scan from Ratchet, reprograming chips could be found in each assumed guilty party's helm. The two had framed the others. Using the chips to make them sneak out so that they would have the camera footage needed to replace the segments they cut out of themselves actually doing the deeds.
As Ironhide and Prowl hauled the two off, the five strolled into the rec room with their arms crossed.
"We are sorry that we punished you wrongly. But given the proposed evidence at the time it did seem convincing."
"I'm not mad at you that I had to sit in the brig and miss precious time with my sparklings. I'm mad that you all so easily jumped to conclusions."
Arabella said plainly. "Really, you know us better than that. We usually let our victims stumble into the hall unaware that we'd done anything. Makes for a much more humiliating prank." Sideswipe said as he picked up Pulse.
"Not only that, but we haven't pulled a pain inducing prank on purpose in vorns. Even if our pranks accidentally hurt somebody, we typically say sorry and mean it. We may seem sociopathic but we're not."
Sunstreaker added while narrowing his optics. "It's also the first rule we taught the sparklings about pranks." Sides said as the four mimicked back what they had told them. All Optimus and the others could do was apologize. They had no right to jump to conclusions so quickly. "If you wanted to sparkling sit so badly, you could have just asked us." Arabella teased playfully. A signal showing the others that they weren't too mad at them for what happened.
As Arabella and the twins began to serve the promised desert, they noticed the rather colorful rainbow of sparkling sized hand prints on Optimus and Elita's backs as the slunk off to their quarters for bed. No doubt a souvenir from the day before. Most of the base decided to sleep that day, something having to do with an all-nighter and rowdy sparklings during the day. However, that night Kyler stopped by with a large hard drive in his hands and a wide grin on his face as he handed his sister the reprograming chips that he removed from the Chevy twins.
They planed everything, them getting framed, their sparkling's rebellion, and all they had to do was pull the pranks and reprogram the Chevy's to sneak around and frame them. The Chevy's did after all set the remote activated grease slick in the halls. That was their own original prank, the twins and Bella just ran with the rest, even getting Tia and Jolt involved.
The three stood looking into the cribs of their sons and daughters smiling. It was the first successful prank they had pulled as a family. Sideswipe also fingered the large sum of money in his servo. Smokescreen, Tracks, and Cliffjumper paid up, they rescinded from the challenge of sparkling sitting after seeing firsthand the trouble that the Fearsome Foursome could cause. At least for now.
A/N: Whew! That took longer than it should! Somehow writer's block frequently attacks this fic and another one that I have, even when I have the chapter already thought out! It didn't help that I went on a week long vacation to California. I saw San Francisco, and L.A. and as someone who is a Californian living in a different state, let me say that I miss home badly! It was fun though, I saw a lot of corvettes, Maserati's', Ferraris', and a white Lamborghini in San Francisco! It was parked outside of an Italian restaurant! Lol we may have a bot in the bay area! Plus I saw a van with the Decepticon insignia in San Fran so we may have a bot on patrol in the bay area!
The good news is that since we drove, I had over 48 hours to write this chapter and a few others for other stories of mine!
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter with long rambling reviews, and let me know what you want to see next! We're approaching this story's one year anniversary, so please let me know!
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Peace love and Quadruplets❤💛💙
