Woo, I'm on a roll here: several chapters posted her in one day. Hope you guys like this one! Some fave characters are comin'!
The golden sun was touching the tree line and a soft breeze blew in the forest. The sky was in a harmony of pinks, oranges, blues, purples, and yellows, in Nature's evening painting of the closing day.
A gray jay was zipping to and fro from a cluster of bread crumbs scattered on a bush to its nest, where its hungry chicks chirped impatiently.
Cosette sat a distance from the scene, captivated by the busy avian creature.
"How's the bird watching coming?" A young male voice asked, and then a figure sat down next to Cosette.
"Wonderful, Daddy," she replied, snuggling close to the man who raised her and loved her all her life. Even though she wasn't wearing her sweater and it was chilly, Cosette felt warm when her father wrapped his only young daughter in not only his arm but his love.
"Do you know," her father started with a glint in his golden brown eyes, "that the gray jays stay here all year round?"
"Really?" Cosette was surprised at the information. "Den dey must be very 'special birds. Like oysters, 'cause dey have a dull appearance, but inside dem dere's a tweasure."
"They are," her father said, impressed with the clever comparison, as he drew his daughter closer, "and like them, I will always be with you, no matter what happens. Happy fifth birthday, princess."
"Hey, Cosette, wake up!"
Sari buffeted her new sister unmercifully with a pillow. Sparkplug joined in the fun by pouncing on his new playmate. The commotion caused Cosette to fall on the hard floor with a thump, amid her bed sheets. And she was not impressed.
"You have 'bout less than fifteen seconds to explain why I am on the floor and rudely awaken from a nice sleep before I will kill you."
"We're going to meet my friends at eleven," Sari explained. "Remember?"
Cosette remembered: she was up late finishing some projects from the Academy as schoolwork. As the textbook said, Economics is the science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of commodities. In other words: work first, fun later.
"And?"
"It's a quarter to eleven."
-An half hour later-
"Well, this is unusually quiet."
"What makes you say that?"
They were at an abandoned auto factory which is the base for Sari's friends, the Autobots. Cosette had heard many stories about them; they were the buzz of the Academy, but since nobody there has seen them, the stories were either made up or they were exaggerated. One kid said they were humans in machines, another said they were man-made robots controlled by their creator, and yet another claimed that they were humans turned into robots. Or, at least some stuff like that. Cosette doesn't really remember or care much: she was busy getting good grades and helping the other kids, while she was being adopted and withdrawn.
"Well, usually there's plenty of excitement, that's all I could say." Sari stated, glancing around the base, expecting Bulkhead to accidentally break something or Bumblebee getting into trouble.
"Compared to the, er, scene this morning?" Cosette asked nervously and guiltily. The next few minutes after Cosette woke up was a blur of an angry teenager rushing between the bathroom, bedroom, and the kitchen with a barricade of words that even a police officer would blush from.
Sari merely smiled. "Don't worry, it was my fault for not waking you up earlier, but you had looked like you needed the sleep, and it was a bit entertaining to see you freaking out."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Cosette murmured, still guilty of the bad start. She hated to think that she might be back at the Academy without a family. Again. She was pretty sure most of her life's gonna be a whirlpool of accepting and rejecting.
"Hey, Cosette!"
Sari's call from across the base brought Cosette back to the present. She bounded toward a small clearing, noticing that it contained some things that made the place seem like a house, only much bigger. Sari was sitting on one of the many large furniture facing the largest TV Cosette has ever seen.
"What do you want to watch? We have over five thousand channels!"
"Uh. Discovery, CSI, FilmBot, History,and Urban Legends if they're on." Cosette stated as she sat down next to Sari. "What about you?"
"Oh, Bumblebee and I like to watch cartoons or whichever interests us," Sari answered as she flipped through the channels—with a remote as big as a tray and required two hands to use it, noticed Cosette.
"Um, how big are your friends, exactly?" Cosette was about to ask until she heard voices. They were male to be exact and they were coming closer. It seems her unheard question was about to be answered.
A yellow robot, about twice the height of Sari or Cosette, appeared first. "Hey, she's recovered!" he said happily when he caught the sight of Sari. Then when realization came to him, he then crossed his arms. "No fair, she beat us here!"
"Well, it's your fault for being so slow!" Sari retorted as she echoed her best friend's posture and stuck out her tongue teasingly.
"Hey! I just so happen to be the fastest bot around." The robot boasted.
"I thought Blurr was the fastest bot around," stated another voice, deeper and much bigger than the yellow bot. Cosette was nearly petrified with fear when she saw the robot the voice belonged to. He was almost twice as tall as Bumblebee—Cosette assumed that's the name of the yellow bot—was bulky, and was military green and black with white stars on his shoulders. When he noticed the two teens, he simply grinned happily with a quick, "Hi, Sari! Hi, Friend-of-Sari!" before his kibble transformed into a chair. Cosette felt a bit relaxed. This robot may be huge, but he is a typical friendly giant.
The third was taller than Bumblebee but was smaller than the green giant. He was lean with a good mixture of blacks, silvers, and golds. His brilliant blue visor—Cosette noticed by then the robots have blue eyes—showed no emotion, making him mysterious, like a cop or a ninja, as he stared at Cosette for a few seconds before turning his gaze to the teen next to her.
"Sari, shouldn't you be at the tower recovering? Ratchet said-"
"What does it matter, Prowl?" Sari retorted. "I'm ok, really!"
"Kid, yer not foolin' anyone," another voice stated behind the girls. Turning around, Cosette could see that this bot looked really old, with a wise but grouchy face that reminded her of a janitor at the Academy who was an old war veteran. Cosette could right away tell he is the doctor of the group because of his red and white ambulance appearance. He was probably a great medical bot in his time. When he saw the human next to Sari, he nodded in greeting before turning back to her. "Yer 'suppose to rest, 'cause yer still a bit unstable."
"Well, can't I at least walk around without destroying anything?"
"That is not an option," another voice replied. It sounded like a young adult, older than a teenager but still young. When Cosette saw the bot the voice belonged to she instantly recognized the red, blue, and white colours she saw on the news. She realized she has met Optimus Prime, the leader of these Autobots, the ones who saved Detroit and the world from countless destruction and chaos.
Suddenly something awoke deep within her. Her reaction was fear. She started to shiver, terrified of what might happen soon—
"Hey, are you alright?"
Cosette stopped, aware that the green bulky robot was talking to her. "Oh! Oh, I-I'm ok, really!" she smiled. The thing has calmed down and was quiet again. Then a face of confusion took over. "Exactly what are they talking about?" She indicated to the conversation that was happening with the other Autobots and Sari ("If Ratchet says you need to rest, then you should rest."
"Hey, Boss-bot! If she says she's alright, then she's alright!")
"You mean you don't know?!" The green bot's outburst caught the other's attention.
"Don't know what?" Cosette asked Sari. "Is there something I should know about?"
Sari smiled sheepishly. "It's…kindof a long story…"
Beefy, ain't it? Ok, not much, but more than the others. The facts about gray jays are actually true: my family and I learned about them when we went camping. The Economics part was homage to the awesome "The Count of Monte Crisco" movie. And, I confess, I sortof used the intro like Counterclock's on DA when Cosette met the Autobots. I DID NOT COPY IT, I USED THE OUTLINE! *either way I failed :cries:*
Anyway, tell me what you think!