Chapter 8: Pitstop
In one room, Barricade and Warpath were talking to Sideways about his training. So far, it seemed to be going well. However, the Combaticons were listening from outside the room. Well, mostly Brawl and Onslaught were paying attention.
"Ugh, I can't believe that Sideways is actually getting training! He sucks!" Onslaught growled.
"I know, he will fail very soon!" Brawl said.
"Would you guys stop ripping on him? Jeez give him a chance!" Vortex said.
"What! You actually think he will succeed in the end?" Brawl snarled.
"I have to agree with Vortex! He's not that bad!" Blast Off said.
"You two are traitors!" Onslaught snarled.
"Oh be quiet Onslaught, you're just jealous. If Sideways raced in our races, he would probably win since he's smaller and seemingly faster!" Vortex said.
"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO SHUT UP!" Onslaught growled.
"YEAH, SIDEWAYS WOULD NEVER WIN! I WOULD!" Brawl said receiving a surprise look from Onslaught.
"You mean me right?" Onslaught asked.
"What no! Screw you! I would win!" Brawl said.
Now Brawl and Onslaught began to argue with each other. Of course, Swindle had to open his mouth.
"Neither of you would win, the winner is obviously me!" Swindle said. Vortex began to back away from them to find Blast Off who was watching from nearbye.
"How do we put up those three?" Vortex said.
"I don't know!" Blast Off said pinching the sides of his nose with annoyance.
Not long after did Brawl, Onslaught and Swindle start a brutal fight in front of the others. The insecticons came over to watch.
"Hmm, and people say we're crazy!" Bombshell said.
Vortex and Blast Off glare at the insecticons who return the glare.
"Yeah I said it!" Bombshell sneered.
Meanwhile in the office...
"So Sideways, you think this training session will go well?" Barricade asked.
"I believe it will, I want to prove myself!" Sideways said.
"That's good, but don't think we're going to go easy on ya just because we three have been close friends since sparklings." Warpath warned.
"I know, you two always bragged about your speed and toughness." Sideways laughed. "Hey...what's going on out there?"
The three look back at the door where they see Kickback get slammed against the door.
"You're dead, dead, DEAD!" Kickback snarled and lunges at someone.
"Sweet Primus!" Barricade face-palmed.
The three decided to come out of the room and see an unexpected scene. Brawl and Onslaught were duking it out, Swindle was getting choked out by Kickback. And Bombshell and Shrapnel were beating up Vortex and Blast Off.
"I'm not breaking that up!" Warpath said.
Back over at Breakaway's house, Bumblebee couldn't get any sleep as he struggled to get comfortable on the couch. After a bit more twisting and turning, he fell on the floor face-first. He decided that desperate times calls for desperate measures. He stormed up the stairs and tried to pick out the room Jazz was in. He slowly opened one door to end up seeing Breakaway sleeping on his side. Bumblebee noticed there was enough room on the bed for him to fit in. But he knew Breakaway would probably wake up and kick his ass. Bee knew how angry seekers get when they are awaken. So, he closed the door and went to next one! There was Jazz sleeping happily. But not for long!
"Jazz! JAZZ!" Bumblebee called out sucessfully waking up an angry Jazz.
"Bumblebee, what's the big deal?" Jazz snarled.
"Move over!" Bumblebee demanded.
Jazz then smirked.
"You fell off the couch didn't you?" Jazz asked.
"Yes I did, laugh it up all ya want! Just move over!" Bumblebee said trying to shove Jazz aside.
"Fine, but don't wake me again...or else!" Jazz warned showing his claws in a threatening away.
Bumblebee rolled his optics and chuckled to himself. He wondered how Sideways was dealing with his night. Back in Tarn, Barricade, Warpath and Sideways had gotton control of the Combaticons and Insecticons who were now seperated.
"So Barricade uh...do I have to go all the way home just to sleep or do I get some kinda sleeping arrangement around here?" Sideways asked.
"Well, we don't stay here at night, we go home! But...I'm pretty sure Warpath and the Combaticons wouldn't want you in their houses. The Combaticons are actually going back home till their sprint cup. I don't think you can stay over with me! And I don't know what the Insecticons would think-" Barricade is cut off.
"He can stay with us!" Bombshell said as he and his brothers come up.
"You would let me?" Sideways asked.
"Of course, you're cool with us, we wouldn't want you to keep coming all this way every day!" Shrapnel said.
"Wow, thanks!" Sideways said.
"There you go!" Barricade said happily.
"Come on!" Kickback said guiding Sideways from the building.
The Combaticons meanwhile watched them leave, Vortex, Swindle and Blast Off actually waved bye but Brawl and Onslaught growled. About a few blocks down, the Insecticons invited Sideways inside their house.
"Thanks again for taking me in!" Sideways said.
"No problem, anything for a friend!" Bombshell said.
"I'm your friend?" Sideways asked with his optics beaming.
"Yes, yes you are!" Shrapnel said.
Sideways tried his best to pull back the tears in his optics. Bombshell showed him an extra bed they had next to the kitchen.
"You going to be alright?" Bombshell asked standing at the door as Sideways was tucking himself in.
"Yeah, I really hope I do well in training!" Sideways said.
"I'm sure you will!" Bombshell said and cut off the light. "Goodnight Sideways!"
"Goodnight Bombshell!" Sideways said before drifting into recharge.
The next morning in Vos, Jazz and Bumblebee were saying goodbye to Breakaway.
"Thanks for lending us your house Breakaway!" Jazz said.
"No problem, hope you find Sideways!" Breakaway said.
"Thanks, we hope so too!" Bumblebee said.
Back on the highway, Bumblebee and Jazz were wondering what their next little adventure was. Bumblebee was actually looking for some races, dirt races to be exact. They drove around some dirt streets seeing if anybody was around.
"You know Jazz, this would be a perfect time for us to practice some racing!" Bumblebee said as they stopped at a bank of dirt.
"You mean us just having a simple race?" Jazz asked.
"Sure, why not! But I would like to try out a new method where we do a burnout at the beginning of a race!" Bumblebee said.
"Oh I see! I could try that!" Jazz said revving his engine. "But...on the dirt?"
"Yeah, come on, just this once!" Bumblebee pleaded.
"Dirt racing you say?" A voice came from nearbye.
Bumblebee and Jazz turn around to see a red car with horns on the hood come up to them.
"Can I join?" The car asked.
"Who are you?" Jazz asked as they all transformed.
"The name's Cliffjumper! I heard about you Bumblebee! Dirt champ in Kaon!" Cliffjumper said.
"You bet!" Bumblebee said. "Hey Jazz, looks like we got a new racer to challenge.
"You know it!" Cliffjumper said. "So...me and you?"
"Exactly, do you mind Jazz?" Bee asked.
"Go ahead, I'm not trying to get my paint dusty!" Jazz said.
Bumblebee and Cliffjumper had decided to have a dirt drag race. So, they lined up where they were at and had to race all the way to a bridge that was near Tarn. It was going to be a pretty long race and they were ready. Jazz decided to start ahead.
"In case you were wondering, I'm the dirt champ of Tarn!" Cliffjumper said.
"Wait...Tarn? We were on our way there!" Bee said.
"Well then, we're going to race there!" Cliffjumper said. "Ready...set...GO!"
The two took off blowing dirt everywhere, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee were evenly matched at the moment. Jazz was having a hard time keeping himself ahead. The dirt banks were high and both racers soared off of them. There were several rocks and crates lying around. Bumblebee was used to driving around objects and he turned around each one. Cliffjumper jumped them as much as he could. Little did they know, Sideways and Barricade were training near the desert in Tarn. Sideways was demonstrating everything Bumblebee had taught him. Barricade was very impressed. Sideways would often make tight turns and was great and making a speedy start!
"Very nice work!" Barricade said. "You're a fast learner!"
"Thanks Barricade, but I need to be better!" Sideways said. "When can we work on street racing?"
"We can start tonight if you want!" Barricade offered.
"Yes please!" Sideways smiled.
If Sideways had turned around from where he was standing, he would've saw three small blurs of silver, red and yellow go by.
To be continued...
Sideways should've turned around! Oh well, will they ever meet again soon? You'll just have to find out probably next chapter! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please Review!