Tomato spent most of the next solar cycle in another world, sometimes typing "Tomato + Blueberry" again on his data pad, or simply daydreaming as he peacefully stared into space. He just couldn't forget last night with Blueberry.
Around the middle of the solar cycle, Starscream parked himself in front of the TV, a bowl of miniature energon cubes in his lap, and turned on Wind Beneath My Wings. Tomato decided to come over to the couch and watch it with him, since it was kind of a romantic TV show.
The femme Seeker, who always seemed to be drifting from one mech to another, was now flirting with a very handsome Seeker who was grinning at her and holding a champagne class filled with dark energon.
"You know," the femme was saying, "we could go back to my place."
"Now there's an idea," the mech said sleazily, then handed her the dark energon. "Why don't you have another shot then?"
"Oh, I don't think I could—oh, what the heck?" The femme downed the dark energon in one gulp and then cried, "Oh, yeah, that's the stuff!"
"Let's go," the mech told her, wrapping her up into his arms. "I'll give you the best pleasure of your life."
Tomato and Starscream were munching on the energon cubes, and staring intently at the TV. The two Seekers on TV were exiting the nightclub, and Tomato and Starscream were waiting to see if anything steamy would happen, when the TV turned to a commercial.
"Oh, scrap!" Tomato and Starscream said at the same time.
"Umm…Tomato?" Starscream looked surprised. "I never knew you liked this show."
"W-Well, um, actually, I-I do," Tomato told him. "Now, I mean."
"That's a good choice," Starscream told Tomato, shrugging. "It's not my favorite show for nothing!"
Tomato sighed, putting his head in his hands. "Do you think the two of them will fall in love after this episode?"
"Well, neither one of these characters actually believe in love, so probably not," Starscream replied matter-of-factly. "It's kind of always a one-night stand for her."
"That's too bad."
"In the end, she's probably going to fall in love with someone for real," Starscream reminded him. "She just hasn't found her other half yet."
"That's romantic," Tomato said. Starscream nodded, and the both of them kept on staring at the screen until the show was over. After that, Blitzwing turned on Dance Your Aft Off, so Tomato decided to head to his room for some more daydreaming.
MEANWHILE…
Megatron was sitting on his chair with Starscream and Shockwave next to him, and Blitzwing watching Dance Your Aft Off. Megatron hated that show, so he tried to ignore it—and he had bigger problems to worry about, anyway.
"Have you two noticed that Tomato seems to be acting a little…different, lately?" Megatron asked Shockwave and Starscream.
"Of course, my liege," Shockwave replied, nodding. "He's in there deep, all right."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Megatron, irritated.
"Well, I noticed it from the start," Starscream told him. "Someone has captured his spark, very much so."
"What?!" Megatron hollered.
"What word don't you understand?" asked Starscream. "Tomato's in love."
"Since when was he in love?" yelled Megatron.
"There's no way of knowing that," Shockwave reminded Megatron matter-of-factly. "And we don't know who he's fallen in love with, either."
"Maybe he met some Decepticon femme on the ship because she was a prisoner too," Starscream suggested. "So they got locked in the same cell, for every solar cycle, all solar cycle, for a week, and the rest is history."
"I think you watch too much Wind Beneath My Wings," Shockwave told Starscream.
"Shut up, Shockwave," Starscream replied airily.
"What are we going to do?" asked Megatron. "This is the last thing I need."
"People fall in love all the time," Starscream reminded Megatron. "Why is it such a big deal?"
"It's a big deal because sooner or later, Tomato's going to bring his love interest home with him," Megatron explained, "and then the two of them won't be able to think of anything except their stupid relationship, which will render Tomato's battle skills utterly worthless."
"Well, you can't know that for sure," said Shockwave. "For all we know, she doesn't even like him back. Which would be worse?"
"If she rejected him, he would never be happy again." Starscream shook his head sadly. "Spark-break, thy name is femininity!"
"Maybe she'll help out the cause, my liege," Shockwave suggested. "After all, you'd accept any Decepticon who's willing to help us obtain control over Cybertron, correct?"
"I guess…" Megatron said hesitantly. "In that case, I'm going to go straight to his room and ask him just what all this 'love' nonsense is about."
"You're like that character on Wind Beneath My Wings, except you don't get nooky nearly as much," Starscream told him. "Don't pry like you do, or he'll just deny everything."
"Since when do I pry?" asked Megatron.
"No, Starscream's right, you don't want to embarrass him," Shockwave agreed. "Don't worry, though…he'll let you meet his new girlfriend soon."
"And our new ally," Megatron added.
THAT NEXT SOLAR CYCLE…
Tomato hadn't seen or heard from Blueberry, but she had probably been busy with school. As she had told him, when she wasn't at school, she was typically studying at home. Science and Technology degrees were very hard to obtain.
Nothing had really been happening that solar cycle, and Tomato was deciding that he should get Blueberry's email address—and give her his, too, of course. That way they could keep in contact all the time, Tomato would never have to sneak out, and if Tomato was worried Megatron would find out he was corresponding with her, he could just delete the messages. Plus, since they had com. links, they could see each others' faces when they talked.
Eventually, after staring at his data pad and wishing he had Blueberry's number, Tomato became rather restless and ran to the kitchen for some fizzy energon. When he got there, he decided he should stop being such a coward and grabbed a cube of dark energon. Without thinking twice, he downed the whole thing in practically one big gulp.
"Oh, yeah, that's the stuff!" he said, just like the character in the TV show.
Unfortunately, Tomato wasn't quite as good at tolerating a whole cube of dark energon at once. Before he knew it he found himself vomiting all over the floor, cursing dark energon and wondering why he'd even tried it.
Unfortunately, that was when Megatron and Blitzwing walked right into the room.
"MY FLOORS!" hollered Megatron, lifting Tomato off the floor by his head.
"Hey! Ouch!" said Tomato, waving his servos all around. "Let go!"
"Tomato, why did you drink a whole dark energon cube?!" Megatron demanded furiously, glaring at the empty container on the floor.
"I-I thought I could—" Tomato horked up the rest of the dark energon…right onto Megatron's servo. Megatron dropped Tomato on the ground and growled at the injustice of it all.
"Not easy being zee parent, eez it, Megatron?" Crazy Blitzwing cackled.
"Clean up the floor, Tomato," Megatron told the red 'bot angrily. "I'm going to go wash this off before it taints my finish."
"Umm…Lord Megatron?" Tomato stood up and pointed out the window. "I think we've got bigger problems than your finish right now."
Megatron turned his head in the same direction. "What do you mean, Tomato?"
"That's what I mean," said Tomato grimly.
All three of them gasped as they saw…both their enemies?! Yes, the Cybertron Elite Guard, accompanied by Team Prime, was standing right outside their base.
"Open up!" hollered Ultra Magnus.
"Yeah, we know you're in there!" added Optimus.
"Decepticons!" Megatron yelled. "Battle stations, go!"
"Oh, come on," said Starscream, who was watching the Seeker channel.
"If I have to," added Blackarachnia, setting her magazine aside.
"Reporting for duty, Lord Megatron!" yelled Shockwave, saluting.
"I live to serve you, oh great and glorious Master!" Lugnut hollered, running toward Megatron. "Oh handsome, noble, brave, wise—"
"Save the flattery for when I'm in another galaxy, Lugnut," Megatron said coldly. "For now, let's go defeat the Autobots!"
As soon as the Decepticons ran outside, they encountered an angry-looking Ironhide, standing there with his arms folded across his chest.
"We just wanted to thank you for luring us into that trap, Megatron," he told them sarcastically.
"Indeed, Ironhide, we should not have been surprised when we discovered that you were not going to hand over the AllSpark at all," Ultra Magnus added (he wasn't looking very happy, either).
Tomato looked over at Sentinel Prime, who didn't look in very good shape—he had a cloth tied around his head, stained with raw energon, and his arms and legs were scratched. Tomato asked him, "Are those injuries from when you last battled me?"
"No, he tripped coming down the stairs back at base," Optimus said, with just a touch of a smirk on his face.
"Well, I've got some bigger fish to fry!" Tomato laughed, taking off into the air. By now, he wasn't as scared of flying as he was when he first tried it, and sometimes he actually enjoyed doing it. Since he was now about the same size as Autobot Bumblebee, he decided to go after him first. (Currently, the two of them were the same size, but Tomato wasn't done growing, as opposed to Bumblebee, who was just built small.)
Right now, Bumblebee was stinging Blitzwing, who received a strong electric shock right on the back of his head.
"You will pay for zee stings!" hollered Blitzwing.
"Take this, Autobot!" Tomato called, shooting his handgun at Bumblebee.
Bumblebee turned around, startled, and Tomato used the element of surprise to his advantage. When he felt the force of the bullets, Bumblebee turned around and tried to sting Tomato again.
Meanwhile, Blackarachnia was fighting Sentinel. Tomato didn't know what the two of them had against each other, but apparently they hated each other, very much so.
"Take that, Sentinel!" Blackarachnia cried as she tied Sentinel up with strong spider web, then slammed him into a wall.
Ratchet, meanwhile, was trying to bring Starscream down to the ground with his magnets, but Starscream could fly so fast that the magnets didn't affect him. Blitzwing was freezing Blurr, Shockwave was battling Optimus Prime, Lugnut was battling Bulkhead, and Megatron, of course, was caught in a fierce battle with Ultra Magnus.
Tomato was still fighting Bumblebee with an aerial attack, but then he realized that he could be even more victorious if he fought him from the ground, with his sword. Tomato descended to the ground and slashed his sword at Bumblebee, just the way he had slashed at the Ropes. Bumblebee, in turn, shocked Tomato's sword, with the hope that Tomato would get electrocuted.
And, of course, Tomato would have gotten electrocuted—if he had been wearing weak metal armor from Earth, and if his sword had been constructed of steel native to a mudball such as Earth. Tomato's armor, though, was made from the most impenetrable metal on Cybertron, and his sword was made of Cybertron's strongest steel. After all, Tomato was made of metal, just like the sword was. Bumblebee's electricity simply did not have enough voltage.
Using this to his advantage, Tomato slashed again at Bumblebee's armor, leaving a deep gash, though not deep enough to draw energon. Bumblebee shocked the sword again, with Tomato pushing the static back.
The two small 'bots continued to fight, electricity and swordsmanship battling against each other, until finally, Tomato was distracted by something.
It was a familiar yet heavenly voice, coming from right behind him: "Tomato! Over here!"
TO BE CONTINUED…