Prowl

Author's Foreword

... we started thinking about that situation and imagining others in medical distress. Ratchet and Shockwave of course became our two doctor's (unfortunately for them) and then we began coming up with random things that they would go through. We quickly got to the point where we decided to write a fanfic about it and not too later, a whole series. I wouldn't be able to do all of them by myself so after a little "convincing", C.M.D. graciously agreed to help a poor beginner fanfic writer out ...

"… so let me get this straight. You used your …"

"Uh-huh."

"… to enlarge your …"

"Uh-huh."

"Prowl, honestly, I don't know what to say," the docbot said after an awkward pause, "I would expect something like this from Bumblebee or Sentinel but not from you!"

"I realize my mistake," Prowl said with a twitching optic sensor, "can or can you not fix it?"

"Oh you young bots, always trying out all these crazy things without THINKING OF THE CONSEQUENCES!" and with a grunt Ratchet turned to his table to grab some tools.

Sitting at the berth, Prowl decided to suck up the medbot's oncoming speech about young bots and how they do not know anything, blah blah blah …

"… like that time with all the modifications," the CMO continued to mock the ninjabot, "Ooo! Look at me! I can do this and that and this with that! And what happened in the end? Nearly got yourself offlined! That's what!"

"Breathe, just breathe. Stillness, stillness," Prowl thought to himself restraining his desire to talk back to Ratchet. He was right, on a number of occasions Prowl lost his head, almost losing his spark. Not a day passed that he did not remember those events.

"All right, can you lie down on your back? This will take a little while."

The whole deal with Yoketron's helmet was already dangerous enough and …

"You know kid, out of all the young bots we got on the crew, I like you best."

Prowl did not know how to react to this. Widening his optics, the ninja bot looked at Ratchet.

"Dun ya look at me like that! You have caused the least damage so far and you rarely lose your head."

Still with his optics wide, the ninjabot laid his helm once more onto the berth. Well, it was true... Bumblebee always rushes into things without stopping to think and Bulkhead is, Bulkhead, for the lack of better description. How else could you put it?

"… but when you do lose your head, oh sweet serving of slaggin' energon in a pub …"

Hm, that was very true too. Lockup, for example …

"Ow!"

"Oh! Sorry kid. Slaggin' Cybertron! Why would you ever use something like that to …"

"I was drunk, all right?"

"Huh?" Now it was Ratchet's turn to widen his optics.

"I was …" Prowl took a deep breath, "… drunk. Bumblebee spiked my drink."

"Oh Primus!," the CMO said, facepalming.

"… and things got a little … out of control …"

"A LITTLE out of control? Ya, just a LITTLE! It's not like the problem got bigger!" Ratchet raised his hand to point at …

"… and we all thought it would be funny to …"

"It is a good thing that Sari is the appropriate human age! Don't you realize how badly we would all look if something like THAT got out in the media? Slaggin' Primus!"

"Yes, I know," Prowl said, clenching his dental plates.

"I can guess all the rest."

"It is kind of small now, but it can get so big that I can't walk."

"Well, I should be thankful then," Ratchet replied, grumbling. "How kind of you to 'make' it smaller before you get here. Don't you realize that you can go offline if that thing …" Ratchet paused and looked at it, " … grows."

"Yes, I know."

"Prowl, next time you are going to 'have fun' with your body like this, you come to me. You understand?"

"Yes," Prowl turned his head the other way, looking through a window at the gorgeous day outside.

For a few minutes both remained silent; Ratchet doing his work still, grouching something under his intakes, something about the Great War, young bots these days, the Jettwins and age.

"All right, I got good news and bad news fer ya."

"What is it? Start with bad news."

"Good news is that we are almost done. Bad news – the last bit will hurt like slag and I can't have ya moving around too much, so I will be tying you up to the berth."

"Can't you just disable my joints?"

"Eh, kid, it is not that simple, I am afraid that it may cause a negative electron feedback loop in your circuitry and I don't have to tell ya how dangerous that can be."

"No, you don't," Prowl said without twitching a single face component.

"Ok kid," Ratchet was finally done fastening the restraining belts, "just try not to move as much and we should be fine. I will begin in three, two, one …"

"Stillness," the ninjabot thought to himself, "Stillness. I am a cat hunting for prey. Stillness. I am a preying mantis awaiting ambush. StillneAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. STILLNESS! STILLNESS! !"

"Thank you, Ratchet."

"You are welcome kid."

"You know," Prowl turned to the CMO as he opened the door out of the medbay, "I would have to say that you too are my favorite amongst the group. Your experience and skills are truly worthy of respect."

"Thanks kid." Ratchet wanted to turn back to his desk but turned back to Prowl, seeing as he was about to close the door and said, "Oh! Hey! Prowl! Next time – don't use your process over matter technique to make your spike bigger."

"WHAT?"

"Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, I can explain … somehow …"

Author's Notes

Third appointment! How ya feeling? Wanna stretch your legs? Wanna stop rolling on the floor laughing out loud? WELL YOU CAN'T! WHY? BECAUSE THERE IS MORE!

Hope you enjoyed it. C.M.D. has the rest of them.

A big thanks to C.M.D. for reviewing and editing.