Author's Note: I've decided to continue this story thanks to the readers that have encouraged me to keep at it. The idea of a 'scruff-bar' is Karategal's idea, I do believe, who gave me permission to use it. Thanks Karategal!! *Big grin*
Chase=Sideswipe
Blaze= Sunstreaker
Thank you to: Blood Shifter 2, chimeronette, FunkyFish1991, Shimmershadow30, Cman710, Elita One, and Kick-Aft for reviewing!!
Chapter 3
Dark blue optics narrowed fiercely in anger.
"Say you're sorry!"
The older youngling smirked and leaned smugly back against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Why should I? The little sparkling tripped."
"I saw you push him!" Bluestreak growled as dangerously low as his high pitched youngling voice would allow.
"Okay I give…I'm sorry that your clumsy sparkling friend tripped himself." He rudely snickered in amusement.
"Say sorry, Hotshot!" Bluestreak's voice jumped into a high squeak, the angrier he got.
The little, defenseless youngling known as Cliffjumper was sitting on his aft, bawling his optics out. This little one had arisen to full youngling status about a vorn before the twins had arrived and was one of the youngest in the Alpha-Sigma Youth Sector. Two orns ago, Cliffjumper had chosen a designation for him-self and had scanned his first alt-mode, although he still had to learn how to transform into it. Most younglings accomplished this feat at least a vorn after scanning it, although some fast learners could do it in half that time.
He had been on his way to the common room to watch a holo-vid since it was movie night but the flame colored, older youngling had violently pushed him down when Cliffjumper had darted in front of him to get through the door. Bluestreak was on his way to visit the twins when he chanced upon the scene, witnessing the entire spectacle. The blue youngling immediately jumped to the little minibot's defense.
"SAY IT!" Bluestreak's little body was quivering with barely contained fury.
The flame colored youngling leaned forward a little bit, his smirk still in place, and with arms crossed he replied in a cocky voice.
"Make me!"
Bluestreak lunged for him shrieking in absolute rage, catching the other completely off guard. Hotshot didn't really think that the quiet, normally calm youngling would really fight him… especially since most other younglings knew about his hot tempered fighting reputation and avoided Hotshot at all costs.
Bluestreak gladly accepted his arrogant rival's invitation, without any hesitation.
Within nano-seconds the two younglings were rolling around on the ground, punching and kicking one another. This scene of violence, only made little Cliffjumper scream even louder, as more tears squeezed out of his baby blue optics.
A few seconds later and two caretakers who had heard the commotion from within the common room ran out to see the bright, flame-colored youngling getting his aft handed to him by the little blue one. Right as the caretakers had come out into the hall Bluestreak finally managed to pin Hotshot down by sitting on his chest and proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the face in anger.
To say that the caretakers were shocked by this scene was an understatement. Of course they were used to Hotshot's fiery personality but to see the non-violent, quiet, calm, reserved, and well-behaved Bluestreak dishing out the damage, was the last thing they ever thought they'd witness. Usually, the caretakers had to pull Hotshot off of some poor innocent little youngling who managed to trigger the little fireball's temper.
Before he knew what was happening, he was dangling in the air, still kicking and punching as one of the caretakers held him up out of Hotshot's reach. Once Bluestreak realized he was no longer beating the slag out of Hotshot's face, he stopped struggling and his legs curled up reflexively under his body as the caretaker tightened her grip on his scruff bar, ceasing his violent movements.
Cliffjumper was picked up off of the pristine floor and soothed by the other caretaker. Hotshot scrambled back up to his feet and pouted. Bluestreak had yet to successfully transform into his first alt-mode, so he was unarmored. His little fists caused Hotshot some pain but only left minor dents in his face-plating. If he had grown into his first set of mech armor, the damage would have been far worse. As it was, the only thing that was really damaged was Hotshot's pride.
Both younglings avoided each other's optics, silently fuming while they were both picked up and hauled to First-Aid's repair bay. Although Bluestreak was the victor in the skirmish, he suffered the worst. There were numerous dents and scrapes on his highly malleable, youngling, arm and leg plating. His little fingers and hands were scratched and small rivulets of energon leaked from the deeper gashes on his knuckle struts—injuries that were not caused by Hotshot's blows but by his own furious assault on the elder youngling's, lightly armored face. Armor Hotshot had obtained when he successfully transformed into his first alt-mode, as all younglings were privileged with after their first achievement.
If it wasn't for the fact that Hotshot had his first set of youngling armor, Bluestreak might not have hurt himself, but his rage had blinded him to his actions. The little blue bot was only orns away from getting his own. Once he had armor like Hotshot…that bot wouldn't stand a chance next time.
Bluestreak's air vents worked overtime to cool his internal systems, moving his little chest up and down with every intake of air. As the caretaker carried him by his scruff bar, his little legs remained curled under his body, his arms were crossed, and a scowl that looked more like an adorable pout was written on his face for all to see when they entered the repair ward.
First-Aid turned to greet them from where he had been sitting at his station, filling out reports and the like.
"What can I do for you?"
The doctor's eyes immediately shifted to that of the two little ones, since the majority of his patients, were the younglings of the Youth Sector.
"These two younglings got into a fight…thought you might want to have a look at them."
The caretaker deposited them both on an exam table, both younglings immediately lunging for each other again. First-Aid was quicker and scooped up Hotshot and held the squirming youngling in his arms.
"Hotshot, that is quite enough!"
Hotshot cringed at First-Aid's harsh scolding and settled down but glared defiant daggers in Bluestreak's direction. The little blue bot stuck his tongue out at him before turning his head to look at the wall.
First-Aid quickly examined Hotshot and sighed.
"This one is fine, he may go."
The caretaker nodded his head and retrieved Hotshot before the hot tempered youngling did anything rash, like try to tackle Bluestreak off of the exam table and resume their fight.
It only took one scan on First-Aid's part and he shook his head negatively.
"I'm going to have to help this little one. I'll bring him back to his designated caretaker for punishment when I'm through."
"Very well"
With that said the caretaker turned and left, taking the growling little spitfire with him.
Once they were out of sight and the repair bay doors closed, First-Aid looked down at Bluestreak with concern. He was well aware of the little one's personality and knew for certain that the blue youngling would never pick a fight with anyone, unless it was for good reason.
"Youngling…what happened?"
First Aid took out his tools to begin repairing the little one's injuries.
At first, Bluestreak remained tight lipped and refused to respond to any of his questions. Once the pain receptors in his hands caught his attention, tears leaked from his optics and he started to sob.
First-Aid who was ever compassionate, rubbed soothing circles across the youngling's back panels.
"H-he…pushed Cliffjumper down, a-and I told him to say s-sorry but he didn't!" Bluestreak's voice quivered as he curled in on himself into a little ball, the tell-tale sign that the youngling was subconsciously seeking comfort. The Youth Sector's medic scooped up the youngling and held him protectively, while patiently waiting for him to continue.
"I-I was so mad, that I hit him! Cliffjumper was crying…Hotshot wouldn't say sorry," Bluestreak cried pathetically, turning tear-filled, baby-blue optics on the elder mech.
First-Aid began to run soothing fingers across the little one's sensors on his sensitive cranial unit, immediately calming him. Before long, the crying youngling was reduced to soft squeaks and clicks as the last of his raging emotions died down. He snuggled into the comforting medic's embrace, his hurts momentarily forgotten.
"I think I understand the situation," First Aid reassured before setting the youngling back down on the table.
"Bluestreak, I need you to hold still, for just a nano-second."
The medic deftly took the youngling's pain receptors off-line and then began to repair his damaged hands.
"Little one…there is something you must know."
Bluestreak clicked tiredly in response, temporarily regressing to sparkling speech, as many younglings did when they were put through a great deal of stress.
"I am very proud of you, for what you did today."
"Huh?"
The medic continued once he knew that he had the youngling's undivided attention.
"You stood up for Cliffjumper. It is a noble and admirable quality, to defend the weak."
First Aid placed the tools down and began to wrap the youngling's hands in bandages so that the superficial damage in his soft metal plating could heal. He locked optics with the curious youngling, hoping to Primus that the little one took everything he said to spark.
"But that still doesn't give you the right to attack Hotshot."
"After I told him to say sorry, he said make me, so I did!"
"Did he say sorry to Cliffjumper after you hit him?"
"No."
"Then attacking him did not solve the problem, did it?"
The youngling sulked and mumbled a dejected "No."
"Violence is not always the answer. If Hotshot had hit you first, you would then be allowed to defend yourself without consequence. Seeing that you did start the fight…Fireflare will be notified and your punishment will be as he sees fit."
At last, First Aid finished tending to the young one's injuries.
"There, all better now."
"Thank you."
"You are most welcome," the medic smiled warmly before moving to clean up the mess he had made.
"I've contacted Fireflare, he is on his way."
Bluestreak nodded his head tiredly and rested on the table until Fireflare arrived.
First-Aid explained the situation in a hushed tone, Fireflare occasionally glancing in the youngling's direction and nodded every so often in response to what the medic was telling him.
"I see. I will take care of him. Thank you, First Aid."
"Not a problem. If you need anything at all, just let me know."
Fireflare scooped up Bluestreak who was too tired to protest and allowed the caretaker to carry him out of the room and down the numerous hallways to get to his assigned quarters.
"Bluestreak?"
"Yes?"
"You have a good spark. The true makings of an Autobot"
The blue youngling had heard of them but had never met one in person… such an encounter was not saved in his memory banks, since he was too young at the time to remember.
"Autobots are good?"
"Yes, very. They stand for justice, truth, and freedom for all beings. Many an Autobot, stood for a weaker race, defended them against the tyranny of the Decepticons who wish only for destruction and power."
Bluestreak yawned and leaned against Fireflare's shoulder as they entered a nearby room. The youngling was rather surprised to see that they were in the shared quarters of Starlight and the twins.
Before the blue bot could question why they were here, two energized little sparklings ran eagerly up to them from across the room, squeaking and clicking in excitement.
"Blue!"
"You are here!"
Both twins wasted no time greeting their friend who was gently lowered to the ground by Fireflare. The little ones noticed the bandages on his hands and the dents all over his arms and legs. Blaze reached up and touched Bluestreak's bandages with concerned optics.
"Blue hurt?"
"Not anymore…First-Aid made me better."
"How you get hurt?" Chase questioned with wide optics.
Even though the sparklings were still mastering speech, they were very intelligent and could understand most of what was said.
"I got into a fight with Hotshot."
"Hotshot mean?"
Bluestreak nodded his head solemnly.
The twins looked at one another and then together they each gently took one of Bluestreak's bandaged hands and led him further into the room to play with them.
Fireflare explained in a soft, hushed voice to Starlight about the state of the youngling. Her optics narrowed in anger when she heard that Hotshot had caused more trouble. She hissed back furiously at her co-worker.
"Hotshot is a little bully! He needs discipline and proper supervision! Where was his caretaker when this happened?"
While the two adults continued to whisper furiously amongst themselves, the youngling and two sparkling twins worked on building a tower out of small metal cubes. After a while, Chase stood up from where he had been sitting and scampered up next to Bluestreak and sat there watching him intently.
Bluestreak tried to ignore him and focused on building the structure with Blaze but eventually, the creepy feeling that he was being watched drove the youngling fritzy, so he finally turned to him.
"What!"
"Mean bot needs trouble!"
Bluestreak thought he understood what he was trying to say.
"Yeah…the caretakers will punish him."
"No...I hurt mean one!"
With those words Chase scrambled away and pumped his tiny sparkling legs as fast as they could go, heading straight for the door. Of course, this caught the attention of his yellow twin who immediately ran after him, accidentally knocking down the tower of cubes. Bluestreak's optics widened in shocked disbelief when he really understood what Chase had been telling him.
"NO! Come back you guys!"
The two caretakers were pulled out of their heated argument over Hotshot's future punishment detail when their sensors detected the two sparklings and one youngling scamper full kilter out of the door.
Bluestreak was relieved when first one and then the other sparkling were plucked up off of the ground, both squeaking and chirping in anger, at the amused looking Fireflare.
"Going somewhere, sparklings?"
Bluestreak sighed softly and raised his hand to get the caretaker's attention.
"They were gonna go after Hotshot cause' they heard that I got hurt in the fight…"
"Is that so?" Fireflare quirked an optic ridge at the two furiously twittering sparklings in his hands. Both sparklings had their optics narrowed and they were kicking and struggling to get free of the caretaker's strong grasp.
"Mean bot hurt Blue!"
"We go hurt mean one!"
Both twins found a brief moment to vocalize their thoughts before reverting back to angry chirps, one of the twins actually hissing, he was so mad.
"What has gotten into them?" Starlight took the hissing twin from Fireflare and began to calm him down by massaging his little head, Chase's internal motor soon purred in contentment. The sparkling's body relaxed and he leaned into the soothing fingers of Starlight, the previous situation utterly forgotten.
It was a good thing sparklings had short term memory loss. Or there would be pit to pay.
By the time a sparkling advanced to youngling-hood, their memory core would be completely developed, allowing them to begin storing long-term memory files. For the twins, this day was not far off. They only had approximately three orns left until they were no longer considered sparklings.
It was a sweet thing though, to see just how close the twins and Bluestreak really were.
It was almost as if the little sparklings viewed the youngling as an older brother. Perhaps he was.
The caretakers took the little ones back into the room, announcing that it was recharge-time. The youngling groaned but obediently trudged over to his recharge berth. The sparklings were eager to get their little hands on another bottle of low-grade energon. Once their tanks were full, the two sparkling twins snuggled next to each other, not yet old enough to sleep in seperate berths.
Starlight and Fireflare shared a knowing smile as they watched the little ones tiredly click themselves into recharge.
It had been a long day.
TO BE CONTINUED!
A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story! Updates from now on...could get a little slow, so please bear with me.
Approximate Ages: (Equivalent to an Earth child)
Bluestreak= 7 years old
Hotshot= 10 years old
Cliffjumper= 5 years old
Twins= 2 years old