Chapter 5: The Rookie
Early the next morning, the sun was just coming up and Jazz was already wanting to get going. He jumped up from the couch and bolted to Bee's room. Jazz always loved to scare Bee and often did it when they were kids. Jazz crept towards Bee's berth and hopped on top of him.
"WAKE UP BEE! RISE AND FRAGGING SHINE!" Jazz yelled.
Bumblebee jumped up from his bed and landed on the ground. He looked up at his berth and growled.
"WHAT THE FRAG WAS THAT FOR?" Bee snarled getting up.
"Time to go, sun's up! I told you, once I wake up, you wake up!" Jazz said hopping off the berth.
"Dude, it's like 6:00 in the morning!" Bee snarled.
"And Prowl's shift isn't until 6:30! Do you really want him to be around town?" Jazz asked.
"Good point!" Bee said. "Let me just pack up some energon! Did you ever try to contact him again?" Bee asked.
"Yeah, still no answer! I tried it 3 times last night!" Jazz said.
"He must be really needing some time away!"
"You're telling me! I hope he's doing okay!" Jazz thought.
Somewhere, beyond Kaon and Iacon, on a long stretched highway, a silver Audi R8 was driving down the highway seemingly in thought. The mech was in fact Sideways. Sideways was thinking about the times he was picked on for poor racing skills. Even he wanted to be a racer, but he was never good at it. He tried drifting once but that ended up leaving him with dents and scrapes. He tried driving fast but he would lose control easily. Some called him a coward and the worst racer in Iacon. Some didn't even consider him a racer, just a loser. One time, two mechs named Brawl and Onslaught threatened to beat him up next time they saw him racing on their racetracks, despite the fact they did rough him up a bit anyways. From then on, Sideways never raced near them again. Jazz and Mirage would often cheer him up, but usually he stayed depressed. Then he remembered the time he first met Bumblebee which was the day he was threatened.
Flashback...many years ago...
"Next time we see you around our tracks, there will be a lot more where this came from!" Brawl said kicking the already beaten down Sideways lying on a race track in their backyard.
"I'm sorry! I just want to be like you guys!" Sideways cried as he tried to get up.
"You'll never be like us!" Onslaught said. "We may not be normal racers since we have bigger car modes, but we only let actual RACERS on our tracks, GOT IT?"
Sideways whimpered as the two mechs backed off. The rest of the group they called the Combaticons appeared.
"You guys done yet?" Vortex asked.
"Yeah, for now!" Brawl said.
Just then, Bumblebee came over with Jazz who were curious of what happened. Bumblebee has matured a bit from when he met Jazz and they often visited Iacon before Jazz permanetly moved there. They often got to Iacon by a subway.
"What's going on?" Bee asked.
"Just business!" Onslaught said.
"Sorry Jazz, but we had to put the hurt on your cousin for intruding on the tracks we made." Brawl said.
"I...understand!" Jazz sighed knowing he couldn't defend Sideways right now. And the fact he wanted to stay on the Combaticon's good sides.
The group left and Jazz went to help up Sideways. Sideways wasn't heavily injured, he was just a bit dented.
"I'm sorry they did this Sideways!" Jazz said.
"It's okay! I just wish they would leave me alone!" Sideways said before looking at the future dirt champion! "Who are you?"
"I'm Bumblebee! Nice to meet you!" Bumblebee said.
"Nice to meet you as well, are you a racer?"
"Well, a racer-in-training!"
"Really? I really want to race!"
"I can teach you how to drive on dirt, but I'm not much of a city racer!" Bumblebee said.
"Thanks!" Sideways smiled.
Present...
Bumblebee had in fact did teach Sideways how to race on dirt and soon became pretty good and many of his friends called him a rookie. But the Combaticons still rejected him. Sideways wanted more, to be someone worthy to be challenged. He wanted big opponents, dangerous turns, difficult objects! But he seemed to be far away from that. He was now on a mission, a mission he hoped anybody wasn't curious about. He couldn't be more wrong!
"There it is Bee, the end of Kaon, you ready?" Jazz said as they were getting close to the highway entrance!
"No dirt?"
"Nope!"
"No Prowl?"
"Nah!"
"No problems?"
"..."
"Jazz?"
"...That I don't know, but whatever happens, we will face it together!" Jazz said.
The two drove onto the highway with bundles of energon cubes in their trunks. The sun was shining and the mech's paint was gleaming. Their engines was humming as they tried to resist the urge to start speeding.
"Thanks for coming along!"Jazz said.
"My pleasure Jazz, anything for my best friend!" Bumblebee said. "So...how far do you think he went, does he have friends in other places?"
"In fact, I believe he does, but far out from Iacon. Hmm, I wonder if he went to find some of his old friends a few cities over!" Jazz wondered.
"It's possible, we just have to keep looking! But...who said we couldn't have some fun along the way?" Bee smirked in his alt. mode.
"He-he...I got something planned for Mirage when we get to Iacon!" Jazz said.
To be continued...
I think there will be one more flashback far later on! I'm trying to focus on Jazz and Bumblebee's journey and Sideways' journey. So expect to see Sideways more often! Please review!