Holy crap, this took a long time to finish. Sorry for those who were waiting.
"Why didn't you tell her when you had the chance?" Cheetor asked his elder after his friends disappeared into the night.
Rhinox was silent, slightly guilty of not telling when he should tell. Then he spoke: "It wasn't really the right time, and we don't know if it really worked."
"Well, you all saw what happened," Cheetor stated. "I was chasing this rabbit in the forest a few days ago when all of a sudden—bam! I changed." He remembered his legs reassembling, his body changing, but at the same time he felt new limbs forming, and the next thing he knew, he was standing on two legs like a human. Like a Transformer.
"Eh, it was probably a one-in-a-hundred chance," Rattrap piped up. "No one else could."
"Not yet, though." Cheetor replied. "We all saw..." then his voice died as he remembered. He didn't need to say more; they all knew what he was talking about. Already a void of sorrow grew among the trio as they recalled their greatest comrade and leader: Primal. He had been among the first to transform as well as to arouse the rebellion of the Animechs. They combined their efforts with the organics, M'lady the leader of the organics. That was how Crofs was formed: the Captive Resistance of Fighters (the title still needs working, Rattrap had indicated). They had made their escape, but not before the heavy price was paid.
She must still be mourning over her friend, Cheetor thought, thinking of his M'lady.
Suddenly something nabbed him from his reverence. "Hey, guys?" he whispered. "Do you have a feeling you're being spied on?"
"Now, that's new," Rhinox stated. "Usually it's Rattrap who said stuff like that."
"Hey!" The one whose name was spoken exclaimed. "Usually I have a reason to!" Then he paused. "Hey, I feel it too."
"I'm serious," Cheetor stated, sensing around the forest for something, anything that seems like an enemy.
"Well, whatever it was, it's not there," Rhinox murmured after a few cycles, though it was clear on their processors: what was there in the forest and why was it spying on them?
-Meanwhile-
"Prime, there's something about the organic kid I don't like."
"You mean Cosette?"
Optimus Prime and Ratchet were among the patrolling Autobots in the city: Bulkhead was working with Professor Sumdac on a Space bridge, and Bumblebee and Prowl were in a different area, northern Detroit to be exact.
"Call it a bad line of code, but there's something she's not telling us an'—" Suddenly a nanosecond of darkness passed over the Autobots, briefly stopping Ratchet in mid-sentence. "What in the name of Cybertron was that?!"
Optimus Prime transformed and unsheathed his battleaxe, prepared for any threat of battle. After several nano-clicks, he spoke: "Well, whatever it was, I didn't pick up its energy signature. If it was a Decepticon, it would have attacked us by now."
Just then his com-link beeped: "Yo, Boss-bot, heads up; there's a Decepticon heading your way fast!"
"We're on our way!" Optimus Prime immediately transformed back into his vehicle mode and shifted into high gear, Ratchet following behind. Where there's Decepticon, there's chaos and trouble.
-At the same time-
"Oh, slaggit, that was close," Nyghtwing breathed as she angled herself higher, out of sight of the inhabitants of the city, but close enough for her techno-organic bat audio sensors to hear as well as for the sleeping passenger to breathe. How could've she been so stupid, they might've thought her as a Decepticon and attack without mercy, unaware that their friend and her M'lady was on board.
When she found the building that matched the image in her sound map, Nyghtwing landed silently at the entrance. She summoned her sound map again, just to be sure. Yep, this is the place. She was aware of the interior designs, too.
"Impressive hideout," she thought. "Perhaps when the time is right we could live here," but in her spark she knows very well it will never happen: they were too different, unnatural, monsters and freaks. But there's a faint shimmer of hope: maybe M'lady can convince the Autobots, and they could prove themselves.
Like the silent shadows, the giant bat moved undetected throughout the base, cautious and aware of the huge machinery and the small material.
In her processor's optic she saw a sleeping organic life form—M'lady's foster sister—and something else in a room next to her. Good, the large door is halfway open; she can make it through.
Crawling on all fours, and extra cautious of her sleeping passenger, Nyghtwing detected what the "something else" was: some large cloths in a bundle, also realizing that is where M'lady sleeps; her scent lingered there. She crept close to the bundle, lowered her body, and gently tilted. M'lady slid into it without harm and a sound.
"Primus, she looks so peaceful," Nyghtwing thought as she covered the sleeping girl with the cloths. Would she herself ever sleep like that?
Reluctant to leave M'lady after having just seeing her again after many months, but have to report to Rhinox, Nyghtwing made her way out the exact way she came in, only with no weight on her back but a heavy spark in her chest.
"But I promise to come for help," she swore to M'lady as she takes her flight when she rejoined the night sky. "Bet your tailpipe on it."
-Few hours later-
Darkness.
Blackness.
That was all she could see.
Warmth.
Comfort.
That was all she could feel.
Warm, she felt so nice and warm. She felt like she could sleep for eternity. And she could, have not muffled voices and the smell of rancid meat nagged her to wake. She willed herself to open her eyes...and she was aware of emotionless optics staring back at her.
"You do realize, Prowl, that it's disturbing and rude to stare at someone who's sleeping?" she mumbled as she pushed the covers back, slightly drowsy.
"I just so happen to enter and was about to wake you," he calmly replied. Cosette wondered if he have had anger management meditations.
Then something hit her like a sudden static shock. "What's burning?" she suddenly asked Prowl as she got up.
The black and tanned bot was slightly taken aback by the quick change of tone, but he answered nonetheless, "Sari's attempted to make some...bacon and ham." He had slight difficulty saying those; Cosette mentally remarked that if he was a human he'd defiantly be a vegetarian. "Some of the others are trying to help her."
"By the smell of it, she's more likely to burn the place down," Cosette remarked as she made the sleeping bags neat. Thank goodness she has a sweater, the air's freezing. "Race ya."
Prowl was about to protest when she made a sprint to the area where she thinks is where the smell was coming from. He gave a long sigh, but transformed as he gave chase. For an organic she is fast, he observed.
-Later-
After the "bacon incident", a small breakfast, and a quick change of clothes (it was sunny but cool, so she donned on a long sleeved shirt, a jacket, and jeans), Cosette joined the Autobots Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Sari in the base clearing to play "street hockey." She knows how the game works, but—
"Ouch!" She silently exclaimed when her roller blades betrayed her. Again. She's not very good.
"Hey, Cosette, you alright?"
Cosette glanced up to see a concerned Bulkhead. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied as she struggled to control her balance. It's just like ice skating; it's just like ice skating—
"Incoming!"
Cosette glanced up to see the puck zooming in her direction. Without thinking, she swung her hockey stick with all her might. There was a sound of wood meeting rubber, and the puck streaked into the direction of the net. Even the trash bot, acting as goalie, was no match for the puck's speed.
"Whoa…" Cosette uttered in a daze. She still couldn't believe it; she struck at the puck and shot a score when she couldn't even balance herself on her own two feet.
"Wow! That was awesome shooting!" Sari remarked as she skated over to her sister. Cosette felt slightly envious of Sari's skills at skating, but she felt admiration and interest of her Cybertronian armour: it allowed her to have a helmet covering everything except her Autobot eyes, some protection on her arms and legs, and even provided her skates! Life was made interesting for Cosette now with unsuspecting surprises from a robot sister.
"Heh, well usually, I'm not that good," she smiled modestly. "It was more of a reflex..." The sentence trailed off and died when she noticed Sari staggering, looking wary, when several minutes ago she was zipping between metal beings several heights taller than her.
"Are you alright?" Now it was Cosette's turn to be concerned of someone else. It sounded stupid to ask when it was clear that she wasn't.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm..." Suddenly Sari collapsed near Cosette. Out of all the beings that called her name, her sister was the loudest.
"SAAARIIII!"
-Moments later-
"Is she...going to be okay?" Cosette asked Ratchet as she stared at the still figure that is her foster sister. In a blur of moments for Cosette, she remembered this: after Sari had fainted, somebot, she's not sure who, possibly either Prowl or Bumblebee, had alerted Ratchet and she was taken to the emergency section of the base, where she is now on the large table recovering. Cosette never left her side during the chaos.
"She'll be in stasis for at least a solar cycle," the medic bot replied, "But it will take a while for her to be fully stable."
"If I may ask, Ratchet," Cosette started, looking at the Autobot, "what happened?"
The red and white mech looked at the organic kid with a stern glare that could silence most youngsters, yet contained a hint of sadness and age-old wariness, when loud clanking of metal footfalls entered the room.
"Hey, Cosette, are you ready to go?" Bulkhead lumbered over to the organic.
"Yeah, sure, just give me a minute," Cosette responded the large green Autobot. To Sari, she said, "Hey, Sari? I'm not sure if you can hear me, but Bulkhead and Prowl invited me to go with them on a little adventure. To an island in Lake Erie," She paused, "Just so you know."
"She hears," Ratchet stated, "and she can understand."
Cosette thanked the medic bot for the information as he lowered her down. She glanced at the table above here before climbing into Bulkhead's military truck alt-mode.
Ratchet looked at he organic kid with a slight distaste in his circuitry. He doesn't know why, perhaps it's a bad line of code, but he has his suspicions that she is keeping a deadly secret from them; something that could put all of Detroit and perhaps Cybertron in danger.
-Later-
Cosette whistled in awe when she saw the island. "Beautiful view," and it was: the warm sun was at its zenith, casting dancing lights on the never still water; the cool breath of the wind frolicked among the trees, daring the leaves to lose their attachment, and at the same time brushed alongside Cosette, causing her to shiver in its coolness.
"It is, isn't it?" Cosette almost didn't noticed Prowl came up from behind her. Cosette knew that they had to get to the island by traveling on water, but she hardly expects a large ship! It seems to be a large marketing ship, by her estimate; rustic but sturdy, and obviously large enough, and is the only type, to sustain more than Autobots.
"What's Bulkhead doing?" Cosette noticed said Autobot was some distance behind her, with a faceplate (she was adapting to the robot language already, it terrifies her) that could only be described as concentrating.
"He's attempted to paint the island," Prowl replied. "It's a very interesting talent he has, though it seems new to most of us."
"I could help," Cosette went to Bulkhead before the ninja bot could say another word. He followed in walking pursuit; this could be fascinating.
"Hey, big guy,"
Bulkhead looked to see the little teenage organic next to him. "Hey, Cosette." He greeted as he lowered his hand.
"Prowl told me what you're doing," Cosette stated as she hoisted on the large hand. "Could I help? I know a bit about painting."
Bulkhead gave his permission as he lifted the organic to the canvas and the paints.
Cosette studied the painting, or rather the work in progress. It's coming along nice, though he needed some good pointers on color blending. "Hey, Bulkhead, could I see that paintbrush you're using? Thanks." She looked at the large brush, then she indicated what to do. "Dip a bit of it, a half if you could, into the blue, yeah, that's it. Now, dip the other side of it into the white, that way, you could get one half blue, and the other white."
"But won't that mix the two colours?" Bulkhead questioned, unsure of his gentleness.
Cosette merely smiled. "It's ok if you didn't get it right the first time; I had a long time trying to do it, too." Then, she added, "Good, good. Now, stroke the paintbrush over where the top part of the sky is, yes, that's it..."
Over the next few minutes, Cosette gave instructions on how to blend colours and other pointers when necessary. Prowl watched in silent fascination while Bulkhead obeyed the organic's gentle instructions, occasionally asking if he was doing ok, or if it needed more. When it was done, the two Autobots were astonished at what tips Cosette gave to Bulkhead: it was really, really, good, in fact, excellent. The sky, the sea, the island, they looked real.
"Cosette, how did you do that?" Prowl worked up enough energon to ask.
"Yeah, how do you know this?" Bulkhead also asked.
Cosette, for the second time that day, smiled modestly. "An old art teacher of mine taught me how to do them," then she was slightly sad, and whispered, "a very long time ago." She closed her eyes, trying to remember, and at the same time hoping, praying, the others don't see or noticed.
Suddenly, a slight jolt and scrapping of earth against metal shattered the silence among the ship's passengers.
"We're here!" The giant Autobot exclaimed cheerfully, seemingly for Cosette's silence state. "Would you believe how fast the time flies!"
"Oh, and I've been meaning to ask, secret ninja bot," Cosette remarked to said ninja bot with mock doubtfulness as they landed on the beach. "Why are we here?"
Prowl smirked, his blue optic visor showing no emotion whatsoever. "Could we not show you around? We often visit this island when we can."
"And may I ask, pray tell me," Cosette continued, "what is this island called?" Coarse, she had overheard it from their conversations, but she wants to hear the confirmation from these guilty bots.
As if she had uttered a magic word, unnatural and other-worldly growls, roars, and shrieks filled the air. Sounds that seem to be taken from Jurassic Park in a cheesy way.
"INTRUUUDER!!" roared a huge metal being, and said being charged into the clearing. And Cosette was in petrified disbelief.
Right in front of her was a dinosaur, and behind it there were more. A freakin' huge metal Tyrannosaurus Rex, a triceratops, and a pteranodon, and they were angry.
Cosette had had seen worse though, and she doesn't like to remember them. Especially Them.
"Me Grimlock not like humans." Said Tyrannosaurus Rex spoke. "Dinobots DESTROOOY PUNY HUMAN!!!"
A blur of black and tan suddenly appeared in front of Cosette, separating the frightened human from the aggressive "Dinobots".
"This human is good. You don't chase, scare, or harm this human." Prowl soothed. "She won't do anything bad." Cosette watched from his foot/servo in frightened fascination.
Gradually, the three seemingly furious dinosaur robots calmed down slightly and looked at the timid human with new-found interest.
"Ok, then. Dinobots not destroy puny human," Grimlock stated as the Dinobots retreated into the forest. "But me Grimlock don't like humans."
The bewildered 'puny human' stared after the large Dinobots for a few minutes before: "What. The heck. Was that?"
"Their usual greeting," Bulkhead replied. He was mostly silent during the whole scenario, Prowl was the most agreeable bot.
"Then I take it they don't like visitors?"
"Pretty much." Prowl answered. "They have a strong respect for nature, although they can be arrogant."
"Can't say I blame them," Cosette remarked as the trio trekked into the forest.
It was a reawakened memory for Cosette. The forest was domineering, yet contained a sense of welcoming. Scattered parts of the sunlight peeked through the packed leaves, though most were gone. She inhaled the fresh sharp scent of crispness, yet slight death as it was almost fall. She could hear many birds chirping and whistling, perhaps questioning this creature and the large metal ones. So many voices....so many memories...
"Cosette, are you alright?"
"Huh, wha?" Startled, she turned her attention to a concerned Prowl. "Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm okay."
"You zoned out for a moment," Bulkhead added.
"I used to go camping one time," Cosette explained, sheepish.
Suddenly something large as the Dinobots roared into the clearing. But it wasn't a Dinobot. It was something much more dangerous.
Yays, a cliffie! After six pages, it seemed good to stop. Crappy ending, yes.
And what is that thing at the end? I'll give you a hint: it's a type of creature that appeared in both Transformers (2007 and 2009) movies.