Chapter Six: The Friend
Fiorla: I'm SOOO sorry for the late chapter; I was a bit stumped on what to do in this chapter. And there are a lot of single stories I'm trying to finish…so…sorry!
Berry: Another Transformer shall be introduced, though he may be a bit more violent…
Miku: A bit?! He tried to squish me when we brought him in, saying, "Me…!"
Berry: MIKU!!!! Be shush! You'll give it away!
Fiorla: Berry, take Miku out, please, before he reveals anything else with that big mouth of his.
Miku: BIG MOUTH?!
Fiorla: Yes, big mouth. NOW that that's taken care of…
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any shape or form; I only own Aria and the plot.
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CRASH!!!!
"WHAT THE?!" Aria's body instinctively jolted her conciseness to awaken, alerted by the loud explosion that came from outside the medical bay. When she saw nothing inside the room that was out of ordinary, her heart slowly began to calm down. 'What a pleasant way to start the day…'
Ratchet's quickly emerged out of the side room, and saw Aria awake on the recharge bed that was much too big for her. As his ocean blue optics narrowed, Aria got the feeling that if he had laser eyes, that glare he was sending the entrance right now would've melted the whole door the second it made contact. The medical officer stormed towards the door, his boot-like feet making a small vibration course through the floor. Aria watched in great fascination as he swiftly opened the slide, and closed it in the blink of an eye. But that wasn't the end of it, the uproar he was causing outside was loud enough so that she could clearly hear what Ratchet was saying.
"What's with the racket?! I said no one was aloud in or near the med bay unless it's an emergency!" Aria winced, rubbing her ears after the holler passed by. When Ratchet yells, it would be very wise not to be the one he was shouting at. 'Ooo…I feel bad for whoever's out there…'
An equally loud voice, this one much more deeper and gruff, like the growl of a dragon, responded, "Me, Grimlock want to see human!"
"Well, too bad! You can't! Come back later!"
"ME WANT TO SEE HUMAN NOW!!!!!" Aria sank to the metal surface of the recharge table cringing. This new voice was seriously intimidating her.
"Why? Give me one good reason why the pit I should let you, of all the war-crazed Autobots, to see a human child!" Ratchet propelled back at the mysterious stranger.
"You, Autobots, hiding something from Grimlock. Me, Grimlock, want to know! Me KING, me should know everything!"
"No wa- GRIMLOCK!!! DON'T YOU DARE!!!!"
Not knowing what to expect, when she saw an the bright orange that was spreading over the silver metal of the entrance, Aria screamed when the door suddenly collapsed as a strong blast of a laser cannon tore it apart, and narrowly missed the terrified girl by mere inches. She ducked low to the ground to avoid the orange beam, but the heat almost burned the skin of her back before fading into nothing. Glancing at the wall behind her, she felt sick when a black hole with smoke trailing out from it like a fleeing snake showed just how powerful this gun truly was, and the thought of it striking her chest nearly made her faint. Her head whipped back to the entrance when a huge robot, even bigger then Optimus Prime, thundered into the room. His footsteps made small earthquakes that caused Aria to bounce on the metal surface, almost as if an oversized dinosaur had entered the room. His black facemask and ruby red eyes glared down at her, as the frightened child absorbed his intimidating presence and thick iron armor.
"This human? So tiny though!" the new robot noted, his voice rumbled like a growling monster. This robot continued to stare at the child, and almost scared Aria half to death when his hand began to reach for her.
"GRIMLOCK!!!! GET OUT OF MY MED BAY!!!!" Ratchet tore over to the scrambling Aria and plucked her up in his palm before the robot could get a hold of her.
"Grimlock not do anything wrong! Me just want to see human." The robot, or Grimlock, as he called himself, scratched his head like a clueless five year old. Aria clutched Ratchets thumb in hopes to still her shivering body.
"You scared her half to death! And you blasted my door down, almost hitting her in the process! This is not exactly the best way to say hello to Aria. I'll introduce her to you later, but only when I see that you're ready to handle a human child properly!" Ratchet walked over to a desk, and gently set Aria down, rubbing her back with his index finger to calm her down. Sending his piercing glare back at Grimlock, he pointed back at the destroyed entrance. "Out, now."
"But…"
"NOW!!!"
"…Okay." The giant robot lumbered towards the door, but before leaving, he turned his black helmet, and said, "Me, Grimlock come back soon though. Me still want to see human."
Once he left the room, Aria took deep breathes to calm herself once more, before looking back up at Ratchet, and asking, "Ratchet, who was that?"
"That was Grimlock, commander of the Dinobots." Ratchet almost spat out the word, signaling his foul mood was taking its toll. "There's five Dinobots all together. Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop, and Snarl. All of them are as dumb as any bot can possibly be, and most of them despise humans."
Glancing back down at her, he pointed out in a stern voice, "That's why I want you to stay away from as many of them as possible."
"Which ones don't despise humans?"
"Hmm…that would be Swoop and Sludge. Swoop has had good incidents with humans, and Sludge is friendlier then the others." He pointed at the destroyed door, and continued, "But all of them love war. So I want you to stay away from all of them, friendly or not. They're still capable of squishing you without even noticing."
Aria gulped at the sight of a squished human, and almost made her sick to her stomach. She would make sure she wouldn't be meeting the Dinobots any time soon, although she was highly curious of them. Maybe she could sneak out and meet this Sludge person, he didn't sound so bad…though the thought of a human pancake wasn't too pleasant. Once making his warning, Ratchet made his way back to his office, probably to make a call to Optimus about the wrecked door, this left Aria all alone in the bay, with no one for company. So she took this time to think about her vision and this Allspark.
It felt so real, yet she never had a dream like that ever before, the dream was really strange. Then again, everything was taking a turn for absolutely crazy in her life, and she was beginning to wonder how many more weird things may pop out of the next corner she comes around. 'I just hope I don't run into Decepticons anytime soon…' she shuddered at the thought, clutching both of her arms to soothe herself. There were so many questions left unanswered from the vision, Aria felt as though her mind was completely blank when it came to that dream. Like a fawn how was trying to learn how to stand up on it's four legs, but didn't know how, as if it's instincts had turned on it. The Allspark had been able to talk to her during her dream, saying that it's creator was Primus, whoever that was…but maybe the Allspark could relive her of some of the doubt.
'Allspark? Allspark can you hear me?'
…
'Allspark? ALLSPARK!!!!'
Still no response.
'Are you sleeping?'
Silence.
'So much for that idea.' Aria sighed, scooted back against the wall and got comfortable with her legs spread out in front of her. The orange medical bay walls surrounded and clouded her vision, with the lights hanging above in the ceiling, and the various tools and machines hanging from the ceiling as well, it reminded her of a science fiction movie. The various tools that had been placed on the desks were sometimes recognizable, while others…she had no idea what they were used for. 'What on earth is THAT capable of doing?' She asked herself when an object, shaped like a hammer, only having a very sharp knife at the end, and a flamethrower at the other, sat idly on the desk beside.
After studying the medical bay after what seemed to be hours, slowly, she lowered her head towards her arms, and began to wait. The young girl had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that this would be an extensive delay once she heard Ratchet starting to swear through the door.
'This is going to be a long day…' was her last thought as she drifted off into sleep.
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For the second time that morning, Aria was waking up from a small nap she was happily relaxing in, until footsteps of a robot, quieter and much lighter then any mech she had heard before, started to rebound down the hallway an into the med bay. They really needed to get that door replaced if she was going to get any good sleep with her, she thought as she stretched her sleeping muscles when they protested to her movement, and sat up. After rubbing her eyes for a few moments, she was able to make out a yellow and black robot with child like optics standing by the entrance… 'OH!'
It was that mini robot from before! The one that turned away from her in the social room! He was standing at the door, looking rather confused, now that she looked at him, and was looking like he had no idea why he was here. She scrambled up onto her feet and quickly ran over to the edge of the desk to get a closer look at him. When he heard her movements, however, the small robot glanced her way, and widened his optics in surprise. Aria stopped in her tracks, confused as to why he reacted to her presence like that. 'Why is he surprised?'
Wanting to break the silence that had began to spread between them, Aria waved at the robot and greeted, "Hello there."
The robot didn't respond right away or verbally, but he eventually brought up his hand and waved nervously. That struck something in her mind, and was immediately able to recognize the jerky movements the robot was making. 'He's being shy!' She cocked her head to the side, and almost smiled at the cute yellow robot. But another pair of footsteps came down the hallway, startling both the girl and robot. After a few seconds of waiting Wheeljack came into vision, and although he didn't have a face, it was quite obvious that when he saw the wrecked door, he was surprised. His optics widened in surprise, and with his sudden gasp he backed up one step from the door.
"Whoa! Who did THIS?" He mused to himself, almost sounding slightly amused.
"Wheeljack! Could you take any longer to get your aft down here?!" Ratchet's shout came from his office, and the sliding door opened with a hiss. The medic looked rather angry. The humble mad scientist glanced from the door to Ratchet, and back again, a confused look coming across his optics.
"Uh…did you do this?" Wheeljack pointed a single finger at the broken and cracked entrance in front of him, only to twitch at his friend's response. Aria ducked and covered her ears, and the small robot seemed to gulp as well.
"WHAT?! I did not!! That bumbling, clumsy, crazy drone you call a Dinobot just happened to waltz by, and banged to door saying, "ME WANT HUMAN!!!" That's what happened!" Ratchet went so far to act out what happened by raising his fist and hammering on the wall beside him, leaving a good-sized dent in the metal, Aria grimly noted. 'God, Ratchet has a temper! And a bad one at that!'
"Grimlock did this? I'll have a good word with him, but please, calm down!" Wheeljack sidestepped the door and entered the room, and then noticed the large smothering black wall behind on of the recharging beds. "And…I'm guessing he made that too."
"And almost barbecued the human, who was standing right there! I'm never letting that over-sized lizard into my med bay again! Even if it was a life threatening injury, let him leak energon for a while, see if I care!" Ratchet muttered, crossing his arms and narrowing his optics in resentment.
"Well…that's Grimlock for you." Wheeljack nervously chuckled to himself, but shook himself and nodded at the small yellow robot, greeting, "Hey Bumblebee. What brought you here? Doc called you down, right?"
'Bumblebee…so that's his name. I'll have to remember that.' Aria glanced back at this Bumblebee, and wished she had a pen and paper around, she wasn't good at keeping track of names. But since his colors contribute to the bee, maybe that task wouldn't be too hard. He did look a little like a bumblebee anyways.
"Hi Wheeljack. Ratchet called me down, but he didn't explain why, he was growling through most of it…" Bumblebee timidly turned to the silently fuming Ratchet, and asked, "Why did you want me, Ratchet?"
"Hmm?" The medic broke from his ramblings, and eyed the bug in front of him, but he didn't glare at him. "You don't remember?"
"Well, you were kinda've…grumbling a lot, so I didn't quite get all of it." Bumblebee glanced at the floor, covering his face.
"Ugh…I wanted you to take Aria out for a drive, get some supplies she needs, we don't have all the necessities to have a human, and maybe let her get some fresh air…" He smiled at Bumblebee's gawking face. "Or did you have something more important you wanted to attend to?"
"But… Ratchet-"
"Good. She's right over there, you can leave now, and she probably knows what she wants." He chuckled as Bumblebee continued to gawk at him. "And don't worry, she won't bite you. She's too afraid you'd bite back."
"Huh?"
Bumblebee stood still for a moment, before Wheeljack gave him a nudge towards Aria. She was waiting patiently and attentively for the robot to approach, not knowing what to expect from this minibot. He probably wouldn't hurt her, from the way he was acting in front of her now. He seemed rather young, but he had more scratches on his armor then Wheeljack. 'Wheeljack's an inventor, not a warrior. Remember that.' Aria inspected the bot's face as Bumblebee slowly laid his hand down in front of her, and carefully, she climbed onto the palm of his hand. She was quite amazed at the size of his hand, compared to Optimus and Ratchet's hands, Bumblebee's was probably the smallest hand she had been in yet, she could barely keep her legs from dangling in between his fingers. Which she eventually did when she saw no other way of getting comfy. He brought her up from the metal floor she had been on a few seconds ago, and up in front of his chest that wasn't to far from the bed.
Just as Bumblebee was going to transport her to the ground below, Aria placed a hand on his yellow paint, telling him to stop for a second. Once he did so, she looked at Ratchet and asked, "Is it possible we could go somewhere fun? Like a water park or something?"
Wheeljack chuckled at the question, and Ratchet shook his head. No one could resist such large, begging eyes like Aria's. "YES. You may do so if you choose. But don't stay there too long!"
"Kay!" Aria giggled and glanced back at Bumblebee, a smile spreading from ear to ear. "You can put me down now."
Bumblebee stiffly nodded, and walked out of the med bay with Aria in his palm. Ratchet hollered after them, "And don't take too long! If you're not here by the end of a rotation, I'll come hunting for you myself!"
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Later…
"No one told me you could transform…" Aria sat in Bumblebee's cab, still amazed with that gaping mouth on her face.
"Well…why do you think we're called transformers? Didn't you ever think of that?" Bumblebee's hologram responded, with its blond hair and blue eyes taking it's focus off the road, and facing Aria.
"I was too absorbed in your size and bulk. Do you know how big you guys can be? You're huge!" Aria felt much more at ease now that the robot Bumblebee was a car instead of an intimidating robot, and though still tense inside of the gripping seat belt, she trusted Bumblebee enough to think he wouldn't get them killed.
"You think we're big? You should meet Omega Supreme, then you'll know the exact definition of BIG."
"Who's Omega Supreme?"
"You don't want to know, kiddo."
Aria slumped in the passenger seat, and glanced out the window to watch the landscape go by. Yet another Autobot she had yet to meet, how many of them were there? Probably a lot, considering the estimated amount of transformers back at the base. Now that she thought about it…a thought came across her mind. Why wasn't she afraid of Bumblebee, as she was with the others? Sure, she had gotten used to Ratchet, but everyone else she had tried to avoid. Was it because he was smaller, more childish, or maybe because of his fun personality? Whichever one of those it was, she felt much more at ease with him. Aria slightly smiled, thinking how lucky she was to have met such a young Autobot. 'Well…maybe not so young, but probably as young as their going to get.' She considered. A question then came upon her.
"Um…Bumblebee? How are Autobots and Decepticons made? Do you have baby bots or something like that?" Aria turned her head towards Bumblebee's hologram, which was now staring blankly at the road ahead of him, seeming board. When she asked the question though, his cheeks turned a deep shade of red.
"What? No! Mechs are created, not born like organics. There are many steps to making a mech, the process is much more difficult then an organics way of giving birth is. To sum it up, there are two sources that are needed to make a mech. A body, and a soul. The creator provides the body, and the soul is provided by Vector Sigma." Bumblebee rolled his eyes, almost as if everyone should know the process.
"Who's Vector Sigma?" Aria asked, glanced over to Bumblebee, waiting for him to answer.
"Who's Vector Sigma? He's the reason why we're here! Without him, we'd be empty shells!" the hologram raised his hands in exasperation. "You humans don't know a thing about transformers!"
"Well how would I know? I've only heard of two things, Primus, and the All--!" The last word was cut off before Aria could finish. Startled, Aria touched her throat in surprise, and realized what she had almost done.
"What?" Bumblebee's optics stared at her hard, those blue eyes narrowing in suspicion at Aria. "Where did you hear about Primus?"
'OOPS! Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that!' Aria turned away from the hologram, mind working fast to think up an excuse. She bit her lip as her tongue began to taste strange when she said, "Uh…well, Ratchet talked about him, but he was muttering to himself about it and he…um…didn't know that I was listening."
"Right…WHOA! Look out!" Bumblebee suddenly veered off to the side, making Aria stumble into the door and bang her head on the window, causing it to vibrate.
The screech of tires came to her ears, and she froze, still as a statue, listening intently. The sound awoke something inside of her, a memory…a memory that she wished she had forgotten. The tires… the screaming…the crash…death…it was all thrust upon her in one giant surge, consuming her soul and sanity. The fear was overpowering, she was reliving the crash that killed her parents, and changed her life forever. Screaming in terror, she clutched the door handles and curled up into a ball, closing her eyes and ears, trying to gain control of her emotions. The blood, she could see it now, all over the car seats, with her mother and father laying limp in the front… Bumblebee secured himself, but immediately came to a halt when he heard Aria's cry of panic. The car that had come front nowhere had startled him bad, for the memory of Aria's crash was also burned into his mind, like a bad weed. He didn't want to ruin yet another poor family's lives, and he refused to stay off focus, avoiding all cars he could, driving as far from them as possible. That other car had come up right beside him, it was so close that Bumblebee could've sworn he heard the driver breathing. But now he was in the middle of an empty road, with a horrified child inside of him.
"Aria! Aria, what's wrong?" Bumblebee activated his hologram again, since he accidentally switched it off in his frantic processor, and leaned over to her side of the seat. The only answer he got in response was wide, terrified eyes, full of hurt and sorrow…
Bumblebee then realized what he did, and wished in all of Cybertron that he could actually touch her, comfort her, to brush away the child's tears… "I'm sorry Aria…I didn't mean to scare you…"
Her sparkling blue eyes softened the tiniest bit, but she was still trembling like a dying leaf in the wind. The bug didn't know what to do, Spike had never acted like this before…Wait! Spike! He might be able to help!
"Hey, what do you think about seeing one of my old buddies?" He quickly rephrased that when he noticed her stiffen up. "No, he's not a transformer, he's a human. His name is Spike Whitwhicky; he's been my friend ever since we arrived on Earth. I think he should come along on this trip, just to…you know…."
"Keep an eye on me?" Aria whispered in a quiet voice. It was obvious that Bumblebee's efforts weren't working.
"No. You need some company, human company, someone who will know what to do in situations like this." Bumblebee started rolling back onto the road, heading straight for the distant town.
It was quiet for a few minutes, before Aria said, "You're afraid of cars too, aren't you?"
"…Yes, I'm uncomfortable around driven cars." Bumblebee admitted, but he continued to focus on the road, not wanting to continue.
Aria had other plans. "Why?"
"…"
"Did you get into a crash or something?"
"…Yeah…" the interior sagged a little, and the engine hissed in a sighing like way.
"I got in a crash too…but…" Aria had to wipe away the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks again, trying to act her age in time. 'Pull yourself together. It's in the past, move on with you life…'
"Look, just relax today, alright? We're going to have fun shopping, remember all that cash Ratchet gave you?" the hologram fizzed a little as, once again, it turned to face her.
"Yes." Gently putting her hand into the side pocket of her jeans, Aria pulled out a small wad of green money. It looked small, but that small handful of cash was actually five hundred dollars, and a fifty bill too, but Aria highly doubted that they even needed that much money.
"Let's set a goal for today. We're…going to spend all that money. Leave nothing left, you think you're up to it?" Aria's eyes perked at the thought of the challenge. 'Is he kidding me? There's like a thousand dollars in here!'
"But, there's so much!" Aria complained, waving the wad of paper around, trying to prove her point.
"Exactly." Bumblebee chuckled when Aria's eyes glared at the hologram sitting next to her, the blue eyes sparking angrily. "Don't look at me like that. It's just a challenge; you don't have to do it. Unless you're scared…"
'SCARED?!'
"Okay, bud, you're on!" Aria rearranged her seating posture, so that instead of slumping and staring out the window, her back was straight as a tree truck, with her eyes fixed on the road ahead. "Bumblebee, do you know any radio stations you could put on?"
"Oh, sure… hold on, there we go!"
I'm bringin sexy back…
"BUMBLEBEE!!! No, turn it off! Different song!" Aria jolted out of her seat and clawed at the radio, changing the channel to a more suitable song. After relaxing back in her seat, she glared daggers at the innocent whistling hologram.
'Oh well…'
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Fiorla: I HATE this chapter[grabs a flamethrower and burns it to ashes
Berry: I agree! This has to be the worst chapter in the whole story!
Miku: Come on guys, can't be that bad…
Berry/Fiorla: IT IS!!!
Miku: Okay! Okay, don't take it out on me…sheesh…
Fiorla: I so want to do this over, but I've put this off long enough, I'm sure all of you were waiting for this…
Berry: We're sorry, Fiorla's been busy with school and all, and it's a killer.
Miku: Double killer, and all those other stories she's been working on.
Fiorla: Next chapter probably won't be out for a while, just to warn you. With that, adios!
Another Disclaimer: Sexy Back is not mine, Bumblebee just wanted to play it.