Why hello, my dearest readers! It is I, DJ Rae! And yes I am starting chapter three of Secret of the Arcyria Keys. I have planned this story out until the end; all I have to do now is write em! Mwa ha aha ha ha ha!!!! Why that it's laughable, you shall never know.
Ugh, high school work is killing me. If you don't believe me, here's a list:
-key club
-skits
-5 classes a day
-dance
-stories
-art
-finals (blech)
-sleeping (and I seem to be getting less of this.)
On the plus, I have a new way to upload! My school has a personal page for every student, and I can upload during mah homeroom! (Around 10; 35ish)
I knows you pplz are probably tired of listening to me so here goes the next chappie!
DISCLAIMER/ I keep forgetting to do these…..sigh I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS, ARMADA OR OTHERWISE
Lalalalalalallalalalalalalalalalallalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala
Chapter 3/ Hunt
'I never once thought that when I moved here, I would find this much excitement. My heart has always beaten very faintly, so I was advised not to make it beat any faster. Hehe, too late for that! One moment I'm standing in a quarry, looking at a strange disk I found there, the next; I'm surrounded by gigantic robots! Then they're talking about some weird key, which is entirely Greek to me.
'I guess it's like my cousin, Lori, always said: "life is full of the unexpected, so plan for it.". But I do think that my cousin is a little on the insane side. I've known that my life was going to drastically change ever since, well, the accident. But not like this, no, never like this…
Piercing white light burned into the retinas of amber eyes as they looked about the base in awe.
"O-oh my…"was all that she could stutter out. Terra was clinging to Alexis, cutting off her circulation in her arm. Still wounded, she could only blink with enlarged eyes.
HotShot had been taken by RedAlert to the medical room for repairs, so the rest of them were standing in the Command room, watching Terra's eyes get bigger and bigger.
Said girl, raised up her hand to her mouth and bit her nail in realization, "This is no dream."
Optimus looked at the poor girl as she looked from wall to wall to even the ceiling.
"Terra," he spoke wisely, which immediately caught the scarlet-haired girl's attention. "I need you to try and do something."
Terra cocked her head to the side a little, but nodded.
"I'd like you to try and control the Stone Key. See if you can use it."
Too many things flew through those amber eyes for anyone to tell what she was thinking, but none the less she nodded once again.
She pulled herself from Alexis, who backed away to give the girl space. Rad handed the key to Terra, who took it a little hesitantly. She held it up a bit and stared at it with half lidded eyes.
For a small time, nothing happened. Before anyone had a chance to speak a blinding light, much like the one before, washed over the entire room. It felt as if an earthquake hit the base, the ground shook with so much ferocity, it knocked the 3 humans down and both SideSwipe and Optimus had to balance themselves to keep themselves from falling as well.
As quickly as it came, it was gone. As for the beings in the room, gasped at what they saw. Terra had fallen back and was staring in awe at the sight before her: a stone pillar had risen in front of her, just a little ways before where she had been standing.
"Oh my-" was all Alexis could voice.
Optimus nodded, "I see, you do have some control over it. But you might need some practice." It was at that moment that RedAlert and the repaired HotShot chose to dash in, only to stare in awe the pillar of stone that jutted out of the metal flooring.
"Uh, sir, what happened here?" HotShot asked.
"Terra just exhibited her powers." SideSwipe explained, "And it was a sight to see."
Said girl looked from them back down to the key in her hands. "I didn't know I could…"
'What's happening to me?' she asked herself.
"I am sorry that you had to be involved with this, Terra, but what's done is done. Will you please help us in our mission?" Came Optimus Prime's esteemed voice. Terra looked into his eyes, and he could tell she wanted nothing to do with the savage violence that was in store for them all. None the less, her answer came in timid worry: "Yes."
The wind whisked through the four teen's hair as they motored down a street illuminated by the setting sun. The trio had taken the Mini-Cons (A/n: who disappeared when they left XD) home with them, sitting Terra behind Alexis on Sureshock. All three of them were trying to get her to say something, but she remained silent beyond a few words here and there.
The two boys went their own way, and Terra directed Alexis to where she lived. Once they reached her house, which was a nice Arizonan Villa, the brunette stopped the red head.
"Terra, I know you're a little freaked out right now, I admit I was too after my first mission with the Autobots, but you don't have to worry about a thing. Those guys are the best, they'll look after you and I know you'll grow to like them a lot, so don't be afraid to come with us tomorrow back to their base, ok?" Alexis smiled reassuringly at her.
The smile was contagious, Terra nodded.
"Alright, I'll try and stay sane, Good-night Alexis." She waved.
Alexis returned the wave, walking back to Sureshock. "Yeah, Good-Night Terra, see you tomorrow."
Terra
I told my godparents that I had been hanging out with some new friends from school, and that my wounds came from sports that we had played all day, they were ecstatic about the fact that I had made friends on my first day, so they dint notice the cuts and bruises all along my arms and legs . I resigned myself for the night and journeyed up the stairs to my room. Plopping down on the bed, I closed my eyes and thought of everything that had happened today. Oi, it gave me a headache just thinking about tomorrow.
Opening my eyes, it laid them upon a picture: a picture of me and them before the incident.
I missed them. It was true, and I started to wonder that if they were still alive, would this of happened? When I fall asleep tonight, will this have all been a dream? Do I want it to be a dream? I couldn't say. All I knew is that I needed to talk to someone; Lori would have to do. Punching the speaker button, I hit #5, and it started to ring.
"Yo." a feminine voice came through the plastic speaker.
I smiled at the bored hint in it, Lori loved excitement and hated how boring life apparently was.
"Hey Felizia (1). I got myself into a situation; a pretty messed up one too. So I needed to talk to you."
There was a pause, "webcam?"
"Sure." I pushed the button to hang up.
Pulling myself off my bed and getting over to my desk was a lot harder than I thought. I was still so sore. I awoke my computer, staring at my reflection in the black until my background brightly flared. Clicking the icon in the corner, a window grew on my screen, showing Lori's interested facial expression.
"So what's up ангел (2)?" she asked curiously in her native tongue.
Sighing, I looked at her dual colored hair; hot pink and ebony black. Strange; Just like Lori. "Well, I found some interesting new friends here, and its not that they aren't nice, it's just like…..they're from another planet."
She raised a slim eyebrow at that. "Are they guys?"
"All but one."
Sitting back she smiled at me, "Well that's to be expected. Males are natural born idiots."
(A/N: no offense, it's just Lori's attitude.)
I decided to change subjects to lighten my mood; "So how's the weather in Russia?"
My cousin just shrugged, "its fine for a Russian, but you'd freeze your butt off out here."
Chuckling, I saw the door to the room Lo was in open. I smiled at the new arrival.
"Hey Khristophe, how are you?"
My other cousin glared at me, he hated it when people used his first name instead of his nickname. All he did was push his half-glasses back up with his middle finger. "Please don't call me that, Terra. You know I hate it."
Before I could respond, Lori barked at her brother for me. "Darren! Don't you talk to Terr that way, she asked how are you!" all the boy did was walk towards Lori's laptop.
"So what's new in the desert? Make any new friends?" he ignored his sister, which was a big mistake. A swift kick to his shin caused the silver haired boy to fall to the ground in pain. From the floor I could hear him mumble "Mom never should have let you join soccer."
"Becoming captain didn't help you either, but did I quit? Nope, and I never will. And why? Because I love kicking you so much." The self proclaimed marine girl snickered.
I was getting tired of their bickering, so I just smiled and said goodnight to them, which they both responded to (even though Lori had her brother in a head-lock and Darren had his hand clenched around his sister's long braid.)
Powering down my computer I walked back to my bed, and fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.
I ended up falling asleep with the Stone key and my photo lying near me, not sure of which path to take.
(Normal)
A few weeks passed since the stone key had been found, and the air itself seemed to get thin with anticipation. Terra, after spending a few days away, finally went back to the Autobot base everyday like Rad, Carlos, and Alexis. Once every couple of days, Terra would be asked to use the key, and every time it happened, she seemed to gain more control over it. Carlos thought it was like the key was alive and obeying her orders.
Rad and Alexis told him to stop watching so much T.V.
But it began as the routine normal day. The kids were done with school and were driving towards the base. Terra had become much more comfortable around her human friends, but as for the Transformers; she was still extremely wary of them.
They arrived at the base in perfect timing; they waited for their mini-cons to transform and as soon as the four entered the base, Terra stopped dead in her tracks. The others looked back at their friend and saw that her eyes were blank and she had stopped breathing, but was still standing.
In a panic they raced to her, "Terra, are you ok?" Alexis asked worriedly.
The amber-eyed girl stayed still and silent for a few more moments before she gasped in air and looked around at her friends.
Panting, she breathed out, "Another key….it's activated."
Before anyone could say anything else, alarms went off around the base, just as they did when they were hunting for a newly awakened Mini-con. From the other end of a hall, HotShot skidded through, looking at the kids with an excited grin,
"We gotta go another-"
"Key has been activated?" Rad asked with a smile.
HotShot looked puzzled, "how'd you know?"
All three of them pointed to Terra, who was still catching her breath, "Terra sensed it a few seconds before the alarm went off."
Alexis helped Terra up and all of them ran towards the command room.
'These powers of mine, they're so strange. This has never happened to me before, so why now? Oh, right, all those Arcensia keys or whatever are activating. Well, that's my life for you.'
She pulled herself out of her thoughts to find her self in the command room. Optimus and the two other robots, who she found out were called 'RedAlert' and 'SideSwipe', were looking at a digital map of Earth, she guessed that they were trying to locate the key.
And from the looks of it, they couldn't find it.
Terra smiled, "It's out in California, Redwood national forest to be exact." She said. The robots and the kids looked at her, obviously surprised.
"You can tell where it is?" RedAlert asked.
Terra nodded, with an uneasy smile, "I guess so."
Optimus turned to RedAlert, who was already typing away at the computer.
"RedAlert?"
The medic looked back with a smile and nodded. "We're set to go, sir."
All the Autobots nodded, it would definitely be interesting to see what this key could do.
Except Terra; she hated her newly developed powers, and the misfortune it wrought.
Once all four of the Transformers switched into vehicle mode; the kids piled into them.
Rad with Optimus, Carlos with SideSwipe, Alexis and RedAlert, and Terra left with her new guardian.
Terra was staring wide-eyed at the colossal screen with coordinates flashing all over them.
"Hey, c'mon girl, let's go!" HotShot barked, annoyed.
The sharp tone of his voice immediately snapped her out of her awe. She climbed into the bot and put the stone key she had been cradling in her arms into her book bag.
Terra wondered how on earth they were going to get the national forest from just sitting here. The girl was cut off in her thoughts when she heard Optimus shout;
"Launch!"
This was immediately followed by a sensation that made Terra want to retch and faint. She felt woozy and sick. "What the heck just happened?"
"We warped, what else?" HotShot asked sarcastically, "See if you can pinpoint the key."
The girl was a little taken aback at his tone, like he didn't want anything to do with her, but obliged. She closed her eyes, and for some strange reason, cupped her hands at the center of her chest. 'Ok, why am I doing this? Force of habit maybe…'
It was an odd thing; Terra could remember when she closed her eyes all she would see was black; now… it was like a mental grid inside of her mind. She could outline the enormous trees around them and the roads through the park. It was like her brain had a built in G.P.S. system. And it the distance of her simulated world, she could see a small glow; like a radio-active meteor that had crash-landed. She didn't have to guess; it was the key.
Terra opened her eyes once more, seeing them on an open road; it was dead ahead.
"Well?" An annoyed HotShot asked.
"It's right in front of us, just a little ways away." She answered quietly.
The yellow bot relayed the girl's words to his comrades, and soon all four vehicles were driving off further into the dense woods.
'He hates me' Terra thought to herself with a sarcastic smile 'I don't blame him. Stuck babysitting some strange girl; I feel so out of place, I wish Darren and Lori were here with me'
The Autobots had separated a while ago after deciding they could cover more ground of the park by splitting up. They stayed in contact through their communications device, often asking Terra questions about their location distance from the key.
Sighing quietly, the amber eyed-girl closed herself from the outside world and thought of her Godparents and her cousin's family. 'I wonder if they'll notice eventually that something's not right,' concentrating, Terra brought an image of her cousins and herself in Russia when she had gone to visit them over summer vacation. Smiling, she remembered how wonderful life was for her back then. The girl's peaceful thoughts were interrupted by a sharp jolt inside her mind. Terra's eyes snapped open and a single word ripped from her mouth: "Stop!!"
HotShot immediately slammed on his brakes, skidding on the slightly wet dirt road. Grunting in frustration, he barked at his charge, who was already out and looking around.
"Oh, what is it now, girl? This better be-"
"It's up there." She cut off, pointing to the high branches of a nearby Redwood.
The yellow autobot looked up to the giant, even by his size, tree.
"The key is up there?" he pointed.
A nod.
"No problem, I'll just blast the tree down and we can get it." HotShot said, walking towards the very old plant. He was stopped, however, by a slab of stone rising in front of him; blocking his way. The bot heard Terra speak behind him;
"No wait, you don't have to cut it down. I'll just climb up there and reach it."
HotShot looked up; the girl would never be able to reach the top; fear of heights would set in or she'd fall. Either way, it was less work for him, why not let her?
He took a step back, watching as the girl walked to the foundation of the Redwood.
'Oh no, what did I get myself into? I'm never going to be able to climb all this.' She thought, trying desperately to think of a way up. The nearest branches were still very far up; the absolute height seemed nauseating and impossible.
The tranquility was interrupted, however. As Terra was facing the tree, her eyes enlarged when she noticed her shadow grew darker and larger. Much, much larger and in the oddest shape.
Like that of a towering giant, with jet wings sprouting from the shoulders.
The girl slowly looked back in fear, and the sight she was met with made her eyes almost fall out.
StarScream loomed over her with a sinister look in his eyes and a malicious smile.
"Hello, girlie."
Canons poised themselves with bright lasers to fire at the human, who was paralyzed at the moment.
"You are the seeker, aren't you? Well why don't you try finding the key for me." StarScream laughed.
He wasn't laughing for long. With a harsh slam, a yellow fist collided with the Decepticon's face. Terra looked into the blue optics of her ticked off savior.
Growling, HotShot barked out "Get up there girl, before he gets the key!!"
With that he grabbed her, lifting her as high as possible. A hasty toss upward caused the girl to grab onto a nearby branch for dear life. Terra's entire body dangling and her palms being torn up by the rough bark made her look down, and see how dreadfully high she was. She saw HotShot and StarScream shooting at each other like a western showdown in an impressive display of lights and explosions.
Focusing on her task, Terra looked back up to the large branch. Inhaling she pulled herself up with all her might. Once the girl had raised herself up enough, she slid her knee onto the wood, hoisting herself up even more. Exhaling her breath, Terra slung her leg over the thick branch. Looking back up, she saw the branches become more and more numerous.
'Still a long way to go, the key can be anywhere up here…'
Scooting herself over to the trunk, reaching up to the next branch, and then climbing it about shot her nerves. Terra's hands were visibly shaking and her panting seemed to be more like hyperventilation than exhaustion.
Down below, the clash of the metal titans raged as Autobot and Decepticon forces pushed against one another.
In a freak moment, HotShot turned the tables and slammed StarScream up against a tree he presumed vacant; he was wrong. An earthquake shook the tree causing the human occupant to be jolted and thrown from her reaching position.
But another object was thrown from its resting place somewhere in the tree; a silver rimmed disk with a brown interior. In a desperate attempt, Terra flailed her arm to try and grab the valuable artifact but utterly failed and the key tumbled down into the grip of one certain maniacal jet while the poor girl in the branches fell all the way to the ground far below.
HotShot saw all this and cursed his horrible luck. He released StarScream and rushed to catch the human. With outstretched arms, he leapt and caught Terra midair. But as the amber eyed girl was set down on the ground, a large Redwood branch crashed down onto the helpless Autobot's body. Terra watched in shock as HotShot Struggled to move the branch that seemed to have all of the earth's gravity on it. StarScream's cackling boomed over the grunts of HotShot.
"What's wrong Autobot? Can't move? What a shame…" The Tree Key shining in his hand, it glowed brightly to indicate an attack "well if you won't come at me I'll just crush you where you lie!"
Another tree obeyed the Decepticon's will and launched itself at the fallen yellow bot. Blue optics closed, waiting for impact, but found it never came. HotShot opened his eyes to find a shadow before him and two, jean covered legs standing there. Gazing upward, he found Terra standing defiantly, Stone key in hand, and a wall of stone standing between them and a Redwood.
Motioning her arms, the girl surged the stone forward to her enemy and took a few steps back towards HotShot. StarScream hadn't taken much damage from the stone, but he knew that the girl could be much more of a headache than he was willing to deal with; and besides, if he killed her, Megatron would kill him. Growling, he reverted to vehicle mode and flew off, leaving the duo behind in the dark of the Redwood canopy.
After making sure that her was gone, the girl ran to the side of her protector. The redwood had lost it's strength and it now became easy for the Autobot to push off the tree and stand before her.
"You ok, Terra?" Hot Shot gasped out.
She was obviously shocked at the words he spoke. "Uh, yeah…but."
"But what?"
"Well, you didn't call me 'girl'; you actually used my name this time."
HotShot stared at her for a second, contemplating what he said. After a few moments, he replied childishly, "huh, guess I did." The bot closed his eyes and let his head fall back, "Dunno why, but I have feeling that this is going to get real fun, eh Terra?"
A faint smile spread across her lips, "yeah, if you can call it fun, HotShot."
Terra let her head fall beck too.
'maybe being this seeker thing isn't going to be that bad, not if I have people like this around me, and ,' she thought, looking at her guardian, 'this is more adventure than I would have ever thought I'd find in my new little town.'
HotShot's voice woke her from her daze "Hey c'mon Terra, let's find the others and tell them what happened!" he shouted.
"Coming!" she said as she watched him turn to vehicle mode and open the door for her.
Once inside, the two drove down the mud road through the giants, which would be the only witnesses of what had taken place there.
Felizia, her full name is Feliciatas Lorilei Viktorya Novako, You'll see later that Felizia is the nickname that her father gave her, she hates it.
Ангел- Russian, meaning 'Angel' this is Lori's nickname for Terra, and it's also her middle name.
Whew! Dang I can't believe I typed so much(4,000 words is a lot for me)! I can't believe I procrastinate so much! Why don't people tell me these things? I feel bad when I do this, bad authoress….
OH WELL, UNTIL NEXT TIME…OR NEXT YEAR WHICHEVER ONE COMES FIRST!!
Pth, I wouldn't do that to you…..or would I? No. Yes. Maybe. HA!. No.
Luvs!
DJ RAE
