Rain of Minnesota

by Krystel of Elaria

What would you do if after you met an Autobot your life just seemed to totally spiral out of control. Not only that but you and your friends soon find out that you're actually Autobots thought to have died millions of years ago!

2. Chapter 2

Hey there! This is my first Transformers fan fiction! Hope you enjoy!

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters relating to Transformers, even though I own the DVDs. I only own my OCs that are in the story.

TTTTTTTTTTT change in the scene (if there is one)

Name: change of the pov

'Italics' telepathy, "italics" talking on a phone

My friends and some of the people on my street were starting to worry about me. Everyone had been on edge ever since the first Decepticon attack. Tara and Jen had come over to my house to walk with me down to Mrs. Johnson's home just three houses down. She had asked us to help her work on her garden in the front. It was full of weeds and other plants like poison ivy or oak, I could never tell.

I ignored it for the most part as Tara kept glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. She was only half listening to Jen telling her about something that her mom had found down where she worked in Minneapolis. Some kind of DVD or something.

Tara was the one who always worried about me no matter how many times I said I was fine. She never took my word for it. It was like her goal was to make sure that I was alright whatever the situation, she was sort of like a guardian. Jen too, though she did not worry about me as often.

As we walked down the road I just stared off into space in my own thoughts about what had been going on. It had been two weeks since I had last talked to Ratch. He had called me on the phone he had given me the day after I had showed him the building, telling me that his friends had arrived in the city and they approved of the factory. He said that he would see me when he could. But I hadn't heard from him since then.

I knew that I shouldn't have been, but I was worried about him. Hopefully nothing had happened to him if there had been another attack outside of the city. Wherever I went, like now, I always had the phone in my pocket with an ear listening at all times if it started ringing. No such luck yet.

We arrived at the house. Mrs. Johnson was already outside and directed us to where her other pairs of gloves were and had us grab the new tools she had purchased from Lowes the other day to help exterminate the weeds. Tara grabbed the water hose to give the flowers that we planted a drink, though she seemed to get the water more on Jennifer more than the flowers. I was cleaning the tools that I used from the second water spout when those two started a water war but Tara was winning since Jen only had a watering can.

I just shook my head taking off the gloves that I had on, laying them on the step as I helped Mrs. Johnson bringing out the food she had made as a thank you to us for helping.

I sat on the front step to her house dodging the water sprayed at me. I put down my food for a second and ran over to my friends. I grabbed the hose out of T's hand and turned it on her. Then I took it and turned the water supply off before walking back over to my lunch. T and Jen finally stopped laughing enough to come and sit down before all the food was gone. I had just finished my first sandwich, listening to the music coming from the house and half listening to the conversation T and Jen were having with Mrs. Johnson.

"Angel . . . Hey Angel!"

I jumped. "What?"

Tara smirked. "I think your boyfriend's here." She motioned over to the sidewalk. I looked up to find Ratchet . . . well Ratchet's holo-form standing there watching up. He smiled and motioned for me to come over. I smiled back and put down my food to walk over, glaring at Tara and Jen as they tried to stifle their laughter.

I walked over to Ratch. "Hey. Whatcha doing here?"

He smirked. "What? I can't visit you now?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm just surprised. Considering that I haven't heard from you in awhile . . . how are you doing this anyway?"

"Huh, oh. The hologram can stay away from me for a good ninety minutes or so, solid too. Wheeljack designed the system so you'd have to ask him for the technical details."

"No thanks. I don't think even I'd be able to follow that." I glanced over my shoulder at my friends. Both of them were watching me intently. I had guy friends in high school but no boyfriend so any new guy that had met they considered my boyfriend if I hadn't told them otherwise. That was really annoying for me. I turned back to Ratch. "So what's been going on?"

He shrugged. "Nothing much. The Cons' haven't made any new attempts to attack that energy plant but Prime thinks they will soon, so we're staying for awhile longer."

"Just let me know if I can help you guys with anything. Okay?"

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Alright, but if they do attack don't get in the middle of it like before. Promise?"

"I promise," I said. "But you better get back, I don't want you getting into trouble."

His hand tightened its grip. "Alright, just be careful." He turned and walked across the street where I saw his actual body sitting at the corner. He opened the door to make it look like the hologram was getting inside, closed it with a loud slam, and then drove off with the holo-form waving out the window. I walked back over to the others. Tara and Jen were still smiling even when I glared at them one last time before sitting back down to finish eating.

"So . . . who was that?" Jen asked. She leaned forward eager to hear the details.

I smirked. "None of your business." I said finally, taking a drink of water. Thankfully those two took it as a sign that I was not going to tell them anymore and sat back to eat.

Ratchet

I drove back to the factory base, going in through the back door that I had found that led straight into my temporary med bay. I hadn't told Angel that I purposely snuck out of the base just to go see her. That I don't think she needed to know, she was worried enough as it is with making sure I didn't get into trouble with Optimus, as well as making sure her friends were safe if the Decepticons made another attack on the city.

I transformed and quietly closed the door behind me. I went back to straightening a few of my tools that I had left lying on the make-shift desk Wheeljack had constructed for me out of some scrap metal we had found in one of the other abandoned factories.

CRASH!

Oh now what? I thought heading out the door to inspect whatever damage had been done.

The door to the med bay was open already, that was odd but apparently no one had noticed my disappearance. We had found in the second room another door that led to the factory next door. That place also had three rooms with the middle being the main one with the computer that Wheeljack had designed and dubbed the 'Traveling Teletran' . . . do not ask. The third room across from the med bay was the conference room.

Prowl came running out of the door with Jazz right behind him. Prowl glanced at me. I shrugged and then headed over to the last room which was used for training.

Prowl stopped next to me in the doorway. Sideswipe was lying on the floor with a thick slab of steel on his back. Hound, Sunstreaker, and Cliffjumper each had grabbed a side of the slab and were attempting to life it when Prowl and I entered and came over to help. The slab rose easily with our help and we leaned it against the wall. Sunstreaker helped his brother up, checking to make sure he wasn't damaged or anything. Good thing that he wasn't, I really was in NO mood to start doing repair jobs on either of the twins.

"What happened 'Sides?" Prowl asked.

The red twin shrugged. "I'm not sure. We were just training. Sunstreaker threw me into the wall and then next thing I know that slab was on top of me. Boy that thing was heavy."

Jazz went over to the wall checking to see if anymore slabs were going to come loose and fall. "That looks like it was the only one Prowl. I don't think we'll have trouble with the others."

I sighed. Angel hadn't told be of the possibility of some slabs being loose, but then again she had only shown me that one factory.

"Well at least you're not damaged." I said. Then I turned around and headed back to the med bay. I passed Wheeljack and Prime on my way; I nodded to both then turned the corner. I heard Prowl telling Prime what had happened and that Jazz made sure that nothing else would happen. These factories were build really strong which was surprising since Angel had told me that it had be about six years since anything had occupied the space.

Picking up some tools that had fallen off the desk I started putting them away again. I was so absorbed in the work that I didn't hear Prowl come into the room.

"Ratch?"

I jumped turning toward him. "Prowl, sorry I didn't hear you come in."

He came forward putting a hand on my shoulder. "You okay? You haven't said a word for awhile."

I glanced at him having turned back to the desk. "Yeah I'm fine. Just uneasy about no activity I guess. But I think everyone could use the rest for now."

He smiled. "True. But I'm still not sure you're okay."

I turned and saw concern wavering in his eyes. I put a hand over his. "I'm fine Prowl, trust me I would tell you if I wasn't."

"Alright. But don't over work yourself cleaning up." I nodded.

"Hey Prowl!" a voice called.

Both of us turned to see Bumblebee come into the room. To my eyes Prowl visibly relaxed when he saw Bumblebee. He had expected Prime or Jazz coming to get him to go back to the conference room. Usually my friend didn't visibly let anyone see him so at ease but there were times, like now, that it just did not matter to him. Bumblebee had asked to come along on this mission instead of staying back at the Ark. He nodded to me, giving a quick smile and turned back to Prowl.

"Spike and Carly want to know if we can go into the city and look around. Is that okay Prowl?"

"I don't think . . . " Prowl started.

I interrupted him. "Oh come on Prowl. Let them go and explore. The last time we were able to see another city was when we were in New York. Besides I would think Bumblebee would bring Spike and Carly back here if the Decepticons showed up."

Prowl mock glared at me even though he was smiling. He knew I was right. "Okay," he said to Bee. "But come right back if the Cons decide to show up."

Bumblebee nodded eagerly and ran out of the door.

Prowl turned back to me. "I wish you wouldn't do that."

"What?" I asked innocently. He swatted me lightly on the arm.

"You know, persuading me to let them go. You always seem to make me do that."

I grinned. "Why do you think Bumblebee waited until you were in here to ask?"

Prowl tilted his head for a second before realization came into his eyes. He growled in his throat and I had to duck to dodge the data pad he threw at me. I laughed and threw it back. This started a throwing war between the two of us. Not that I minded, it felt good just to relax and have a little fun.

Angel

Tara, Jen, and I finished at Mrs. Johnson's soon after lunch and we decided to head into town after that. We drove down along down the hill in my Ford towards the small shopping center at the base. The two of them danced in circles around me from their seats continuously asking about Ratchet. But I kept quiet. I knew this would annoy them both beyond all reason, but I do believe I am allowed to have some secrets from the two of them. I parked my car parallel to the sidewalk and behind this adorable little yellow VW bug.

We walked into the mini-mart first to get some things for me at home. Jen and T complained but I told them that if they were going to continue to come over and eat my food then they had to help me get more for the house.

Tara immediately ran down the chips aisle and Jen headed towards the drinks. While I headed down to where the fruits and milk were filling up a small basket with apples, strawberries, oranges, and some white 2% milk and some chocolate milk. I walked down to the back aisle which was filled with meats and vegetables along with cheese and bread.

I turned towards some noise seeing Tara and Jen had found each other and were running along the ends of the aisles. They couldn't cross to my side due to the center freezers with turkey, chicken, and frozen dinners. The only opening was in front of me. I watched them then looked to where they were heading both of them had their eyes on me. I saw a blonde haired girl about my age walking next to a brown haired boy coming down the same way towards my two friends.

"Watch . . . " I started. Too late.

CRAAASHHHH!

All four of them fell onto the floor. Thankfully everything that both parties had was still unopened otherwise there would have been more of a mess. I put down the chop meat I had been looking at and ran over to them.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked. Starting to pick things up along with Jen who had recovered from the shock quicker than the others. The blonde girl shook her head and then leaned forward to help. Her brown haired companion started to do the same thing, all the while shooting daggers at Tara and Jen.

"You two alright?" I asked again. The girl turned to me.

"Yes. We're fine." She replied.

"No we're not," the boy growled. "You two should watch where you're going!"

Tara and Jen at that time had the right mind to look embarrassed and ashamed.

"Sorry." Tara said. "We were just in a hurry."

"Yeah a little too much of a hurry." The boy hissed.

The girl put a hand on his shoulder. "Now really Spike. It was just an honest accident."

I smiled a bit then helped her to her feet. The boy followed suit with their groceries while Tara and Jen picked up theirs' . . . well ours'. I handed the girl a few of her things that I had picked up.

"Oh, thank you."

"You two new to town? I haven't seen you around before." I asked.

She nodded. "Yes we are actually. My name's Carly and the grouch over here is Spike." She held out a hand.

"I'm Angel and the two runners here are my best friends Tara and Jennifer." I answered shaking her hand then pointing to each one in turn. All of us then walked down the nearest aisle to get to the checkout counters.

"You two here visiting with friends?" Tara asked.

Carly nodded. "Yep. We're here for just a little while then we have to go back home."

The checkout lines were small. Yippee! Usually around this time a day on the weekend the store was packed. But then again it wasn't a game weekend or anything special. Tara and Jen pitched in for the groceries for my house. Then we walked out with Carly and Spike to the cars. They went to the VW bug while the three of us loaded the bags into the trunk of my car. We were all just about to part ways when the explosion hit.

This one was a lot stronger than the last one that had hit. The ground actually shook knocking Tara off her feet and sending me and Jen grabbing onto the car for support. I could see Carly and Spike grabbing onto the bug as some planes flew overhead. I looked up at them and froze. Their coloring was the same as the ones that attacked Ratchet. The Decepticons had come back just like he said. Tara got up and slammed the trunk shut.

"What the heck was hit!" she yelled a bit hysterical. Not that I blamed her. I would be too if this hadn't happened to me before. I saw smoke rising up, being blown in the wind to the north.

"I think it came from the power plant!" I said.

Spike whirled to face me. "How do you know that?"

"Well uh . . . ," I trailed off. I couldn't tell him about before. "For one, clueless, I live here! The plant is in that general direction if you go down to the end of the street and turn right. The smoke is being blown from that way!"

Carly said something to Spike that I couldn't hear as another explosion hit. This one throwing all of us into the air. Jen screamed holding onto the car for dear life.

One of the gas tanks must have exploded! I thought. That thought even horrified me. If a fire had started down there with those six large gas filled tanks . . . oh I didn't even want to think about it.

I heard sirens in the distance. Though I couldn't tell if it belonged to a fire truck or ambulance. Wait what if that was . . . "DUCK!" Spike yelled at the three of us.

We did as we were told. Tara and Jen were huddled together next to me. I looked up to see a big red, white, and black bird with the purple Decepticon symbol on its wings flying above us. Mostly circling over Spike and Carly. Then the yellow VW transformed. Okay, I have to be honest, I was shocked. I hadn't seen another Transformer before Ratchet.

"Go away Laserbeak! You birdbrain go away!" the Autobot yelled. He fired at the bird as it flew up and down. The bird fired its own laser back. Carly and Spike ducked behind him and then ran over to where my friends and I were crouching behind my car.

A crash sounded behind us.

Spike, Carly and I whirled around to find another Decepticon standing there. He was about human height colored a silver-gray with white markings on its chest. The arms then changed into pile drivers and slammed into the ground. From the pile drivers came two large cracks, meeting in front of the Decepticon as they split the earth in half and right through the concrete. Spike grabbed Tara and Jen while Carly grabbed my arm and had us run to the other side of the street.

The small Con started towards us, his arms now back to normal when a white and black sports car literally ran him over. Then it turned around and transformed knocking the small Con back on the ground where he had started to get up.

"Jazz!" Spike yelled. The second Autobot looked up at us. "Get out of here Spike, all of you. RUN!"

Well you didn't have to tell the five of us twice. We sprinted up the sidewalk leading towards my house up the hill. I glanced at Carly and Spike as both of them were having trouble catching up to me, Tara and Jen. I hadn't even noticed that we had gotten ahead of them. I ran back and held onto Carly's arm while Tara grabbed Spike's and we helped them run up the steep incline. We stopped around the corner at the front of the first house next to the hill to catch our breath. I glanced over at Carly and saw that the bird, Laserbeak, had followed us.

"Watch it!" I yelled and ran over to her. I grabbed her around the stomach and dodged the bird's swooping attack by throwing us both onto the house's lawn. Tara, Jen and Spike followed my example getting out of the bird's way. He lifted back up into the air and spun around to face us.

"What is he doing?" I asked Carly.

"Watching us. Do you know of anywhere to run?" she asked.

"There is a small shelter up the road here, from when bombs fell back in World War II. Some of the people still use it because of the Decepticons."

She nodded. "Okay on three. Ready?" she asked. We all nodded.

"Okay one . . . two . . . THREE!" she shouted. All of us shot up from the ground and crazily ran towards the bird, ducking him as he made another pass and sprinted towards the direction of the shelter. As we neared my house Tara and Jen both made a dash for the front door.

"You crazy? Don't separate!" I yelled following them to get them back on the right path.

"Angel! Watch out!" Spike shouted.

I turned towards Spike but did not get the chance to answer him. I suddenly felt my arms being lifted from just below my shoulders in a sort of vice grip but still loose enough for me to move my arm. Then my feet left the ground as the bird lifted me off of the ground till I was about twenty feet in the air.

I screamed.

I heard Spike yell, "Angel!" I turned my head as far as I could. Spike was running after me with Carly, and my two friends not far behind him. I struggled in Laserbeak's grip as he flew out towards the lake. I turned my head the other way and could see the power plant with the Autobot and Decepticon planes were locked in a giant dogfight.

A bright blue laser flew past me from the ground. I could hear the one called Jazz yelling. "Let her go Laserbeak!"

The bird blatantly ignored him, flying out further till I was a good quarter of a mile away from the cliffside and beach that was just below it that Tara and Jen had shown to me when I first moved up to Duluth. I looked in front of me. I saw two large robots coming towards the bird. One of them was dark blue with a visor over his eyes and some kind of cannon on one shoulder with a gold and black colored version of Laserbeak flying beside him. The other was silver with the biggest cannon I had ever seen on his right arm. I could see the violet symbol on his chest. Oh god, I've got to get out of here.

I started to struggle again. As I did I could feel my arms start to slip out of my jacket sleeves. Apparently Laserbeak didn't have as tight a grip on me as he thought. My jacket was old, it had been something my mom had gotten at Goodwill a few years back when she wanted to get me a cheap coat. I looked down and could see the top of the lake water about forty feet below me.

Laserbeak had stopped flying and was now hovering in one place. Okay, two choices ran through my head . . . one get captured by the Decepticons or two slip my arms out of the jacket and plummet into the icy cold water below me. I chose the icy cold water. I shifted a bit in the jacket and felt my arms start to slip. Then my arms started to go faster.

I dropped.

Wind rushed past me as I plummeted towards the water. My arms flailed slightly, spinning in small circles. Like that would help me. I took a deep breath and then felt my body hit it water.

Tara

I ran next to Spike and Carly as we chased Laserbeak as far as we could. My heart was pounding in my ears from fright and surprised as I watched Angel get carried away. We stopped at the guard rail that stood at the top of the cliffside. Jennifer stood beside me catching her breath but watching Angel with the same fear that I felt. I heard pounding footsteps behind me and then saw a laser fly towards where Angel was. It missed. Then I heard the one robot, Jazz, yell "Let her go Laserbeak!"

I looked up at him. "Hey watch where you're aiming! You almost hit my friend!"

He looked down at me. "Sorry miss, I thought that would have scared that birdbrain enough to let your friend go." He said with a Cajun accent.

I smiled. "I know. I'm just scared."

He nodded understanding, as I turned back to watch. I could see Angel struggling against the bird's grip but she stopped seeing something in the distance in front of her. I could hear a soft, "oh no" come from the other Autobot Bumblebee as he saw something. I couldn't tell what exactly, but it didn't sound good.

"What is she doing?" Jen gasped.

I quickly looked back up at Angel and could see that she was hanging slightly lower that before. But then my heart flew into my mouth as I saw her suddenly plummet away from Laserbeak and land in the water. Still several meters from shore.

Angel

The water felt like a thousand pins were getting plunged into my skin at once as the water closed over my head. I floated underwater for a minute and then turned towards the shore and started swimming. My clothes felt like ten pound weights on my as they were now completely soaked. My feet just felt like dead weight as I kicked the water with as much force as I could. When I couldn't bear the feeling of fire in my lungs I cautiously went to the surface lifting my eyes out first to make sure it was safe.

I could see the blue Decepticon looking back and forth over the surface of the water. He wasn't looking at me next so I quickly took another deep breath of air and plunged back beneath the surface, swimming now as fast as I could towards the beach. I heard a yell of fury and rage up above me, which was magnified by the water in my ears, coming from the direction behind me. Jazz must have hit one of the Decepticons. I rose to the surface and took one last breath, I could see that the beach wasn't that far so I could probably swim the rest in one breath.

I heard a splash not far from me. I turned in the water thinking it was Laserbeak but it was only a fish. I sighed inwardly and continued swimming. A shadow then flew over me, a big one. I went a little deeper into the water. The shadow went a little farther over the water's surface but then turned and flew back the other way at a fast speed. I reached out a hand to feel in front of me and touched the rock that marked the cliff beneath the beach. You see the cliffside did a little zigzag pattern going down, making the flat beach, and then dropping again into the depths of the lake.

Pushing my feet against the rock I flew up to the surface breaking the water line gasping for air. I shook my head to get the water out of my ears and then swam the little bit of space left to the beach. I tried to climb out of the water but my arms were too numb to let me, they shook uncontrollably every time I tried.

"Alia!" I heard to voices shout above me.

I looked up and saw Tara and Jennifer looking down from the cliff top down at me. Tara held up her hand with a 'stay there' motion. Then she and Jen ran away from the others towards the stairs that led down to the beach. Tara flung open the gate and literally flew down the stairs, not that Jen was much better. They ran from the base of the stairs over to me and helped pull me out of the water. Tara then gripped me tightly around the shoulders, while Jen latched onto my waist as I sat in the sand.

"Thank god!" Tara gasped, she was still trying to catch her breath after all. "You're alright!"

Jen didn't say anything to me to express her relief, she just tightened her grip on me.

I looked at them both. "Yes I'm fine. Now could you two please help me up so we can get back to my house."

Both of them pulled back a little. They seemed shocked at the suggestion at first and looked at each other for one of their silent conversations. Apparently they both decided it would be better for me to rest at the house then stay out in the open because they each grabbed an arm and slowly walked with me towards and up the stairs.

Jazz

I watched as the two girls helped their friend to get up the stairs back to street level from the beach. All of us on the cliffside had froze when we saw her drop away from Laserbeak's grip. I looked down at Spike and Carly. Carly was holding onto the rail her shoulders relaxed at the relief she felt. Spike just had a hand on her shoulder, but I could tell on his face he was just as relieved. I turned around as I heard someone approach. Optimus, Prowl and Ratchet drove towards us and transformed.

"Jazz, what happened?" Prime asked.

Angel

Carly and Spike came over to us as we finally reached the top of the stairs. I leaned over and put a hand on the rail determined to get the feeling back into my legs. I looked towards where Jazz and Bumblebee had been standing having joined my friends, Carly, and Spike soon after Laserbeak had taken off with me. Now standing with him were three others.

One I recognized immediately as Ratchet. One of the others was white and black like Jazz but he had door wings coming out of his back and a red chevron on his forehead. The last one who towered over the rest was colored a deep red, silver, and blue on his feet. His chest had two glass panels on it like the front of a semi cab. I shivered, this was Optimus Prime. I had seen what he looked like before from pictures on the net and the television but this was so much better than any picture.

"You sure you're alright?" Carly asked as I let go of the railing to test my strength. "You gave us all quite a scare."

I smiled at her. "Yeah sorry about that. But how else was I going to escape?"

She shrugged. "We would have found a way. Come on." She motioned for us to follow her, which we did.

As we got closer I could hear Jazz finishing up his explanation to the three newcomers, about what had happened to me. I had to lean against Tara again a bit for my legs felt like they were going to give out. I looked up at Ratchet and saw that he was watching me. Thankfully he was standing behind Prime so he didn't see Ratchet nod to me. His eyes were filled with concern having just heard all about my ordeal. I nodded to him and mouthed, 'I'm alright, don't worry'. He nodded again but there was still some disbelief in his eyes.

"The question now though is. Did Laserbeak mistake her for Carly or did he grab her on purpose?" I heard Optimus ask out loud for everyone to hear.

I looked back at the others as the second black and white answered. "No way to know for sure right now Prime. The one good thing is that the Decepticons didn't get the plant's energy."

The last thing that I heard of the conversation as Tara and Jen led me away back to my house was the answer to that question.

"True Prowl. But that situation raises even more questions about what just occurred here." Optimus replied gravely.

Author's Note: Sorry about no note on the last chapter! Well chapter two is done! Yippee! Thank you for reading! Please R&R, I am open to anything you have to say. I will try to update as soon as I have a chapter finished. But please don't kill me if I don't update for awhile, for I am balancing this with the homework from my classes. Thank you!