Here's the next chapter:D Sorry it's kind of late, but like i sadi before, school has been awful, but i'm still trying to get these updates out. The backstories continue. almost done though, i think after the next chapter, Opal will meet Optimus for the first time:D Yey finally! The flashbacks are very important to the story though so hang in there! I Had amazing reviews for not only this story but for my other oneshots, and i just wanted to thank everyone dearly for your interest and kindness. It inspires me to keep creating, and even though this is my first ever real fanfic, i can't wait to continue writing. Hope you enjoy this. I have just had inspiration for a later scene between Opal and Optimus, so the part everyone is waiting for is so close!
all Transformers belong to Hasbro, but i own Opal:P
"Just hold still dear, this will only sting for a second." The nurse flicked a needle gently to check for air bubbles. Opal nodded slowly in compliance. She couldn't move her head too much because it still throbbed painfully after the incident in her quarters. Her faceplates around her right optic were now swollen, causing her optic to close slightly from the pressure. Opal didn't even want to see how she looked, and she was already accepting that she'd be getting some weird looks for next joor or two.
The nurse gently placed her hand on Opal's shoulder and after the needle was ready, began to guide it towards Opal's injured face.
"This will help with the swelling," she said reassuringly. Opal winced as the metal tip slowly slipped into her bruised faceplates. She wasn't afraid of getting shots, but now her face was more sensitive, so even a needle greatly increased the pain.
Once the tube with the healing solvent was empty, the nurse carefully slid the needle out and used a small cloth to pat away the dribbling energon on Opal's face. As she continued to clean her injury, the nurse noticed a small tear trickle from Opal's optic.
"You poor baby, first day and you're already getting hurt." She softly dried the tear away, and slowly lifted her chin up with her thumb. "Hang in there hun, this place needs more like you."
Opal smiled slightly, and gave the nurse a small nod, but she couldn't stop a few more tears from dripping down her cheeks.
"I know things will be better, and I want to be here, but I don't understand why it has to be like this." Opal stared at the floor, and watched as two last tears dropped onto her dangling legs.
"All young cadets act like immature sparklings; they've never had strenuous training before. The Sergeants will whip them into shape quick, but there will still always be a few who never fully grow up. Just ignore them if you can. Find a group to stick with." Opal smiled, and immediately thought of Bumblebee, the cute yellow mech with the bright blue optics. He was so sweet and so caring. Opal was glad to have taken the punch for him; she knew he would have done the same for her. She just hoped Bumblebee wouldn't be punished for his involvement in the fight; he did shove first after all.
"I know; I actually do have someone that's already been so kind to me." The nurse caressed Opal's chin and beamed happily at her.
"I'm so glad, and if you need another femme to talk to, please don't hesitate to come and visit me. I know what it's like to be surrounded by a bunch of mechs." They both shared a small laugh. Opal grimaced at the pain to her upper cheek and touched her face to try and soothe the soreness. The nurse noticed and gave her a warmed wash cloth.
"Sorry I shouldn't be trying to make you laugh in your condition. Here try this." Opal graciously accepted the dampened cloth and closed her optics in pleasure as it heated her wound.
"It's ok, I needed a laugh, but I meant to ask you, why don't they have separated quarters for mechs and femmes?" Opal was hoping the nurse would be able to convince the administration to give her a room to herself.
"It's so horrible that they don't, but femmes are such a rare commodity in the military. Although after the first 400,000 stellar cycles, the whole class of cadets will be moved to a larger main barrack room. This way the next rising class can have the separate rooms. So in the end you'll still end up sharing one huge room with the rest of your class." Opal nodded with a disappointed frown, and continued to massage her face with the rag.
"But-" The nurse continued. Opal looked up in excitement. Maybe there was still hope that she could have her own quarters. "I can request that whoever caused this," she pointed to Opal's swollen Optic, "is removed from your room. Would you like that?"
Opal glanced back to the ground, slightly dissatisfied, but nonetheless having the other two mechs removed would make her life so much more pleasant.
"That would be nice. There were two mechs actually." Opal knew the only mech who really caused any problems was the one who tried to hit Bumblebee, but while she was allowed to change her room partners, having both of them leave would be even better. Just because she had to train with them, didn't mean she wanted to live with them.
"Oh ok, well I'll definitely fix that for you, from now on, I want you to visit me as a friend, not as a patient." The nurse joked and held out her hand. Opal reached her own hand out and happily shook it.
"Thank you for everything, nurse Kayleigh." The pink and purple armored nurse smiled warmly, and placed her other hand on top of their embraced ones.
"Please Opal dear, just call me Kayleigh." Opal squeezed her hand gently and bowed her head.
"Thank you, Kayleigh." She repeated in a gentle whisper.
They let go of each others' hands, and after a friendly goodbye, Opal left the medical room. Now she felt even more confident in herself and her future at the Academy.
When Opal reached the hall outside of the nurse's office, she was surprised to see Bumblebee nervously waiting in the guest room. He was sitting bent over with his hands covering his face. Opal didn't know whether to feel sad or touched by the sight of her friend. He must have cared for her, and was obviously feeling responsible for her condition.
Opal silently walked over to him and knelt down next to him. He looked up suddenly when he felt the gentle touch of a small hand on his knee. He locked optics with hers, and immediately focused his attention to her swollen and bruised upper cheek. Opal tried to assure him she was ok by giving him a friendly smile, but Bumblebee only felt more anguished. His guilty face was so spark wrenching, Opal didn't know what to do. He buried his head in his hands again, not wanting to see the pain he had caused his friend.
"Bumblebee," Opal whispered, rubbing his knee reassuringly, "I'm fine, the nurse said the swelling will go away in the next joor, and I can still train today."
Bumblebee didn't speak, but then slowly lifted his head to look back at her.
"Does, does it hurt?" He asked in a weak voice.
"Not really." Opal lied. In fact it hurt horribly, but she didn't want Bee to know that.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Bumblebee wasn't convinced, "This is my fault Opal, I'm so sorry."
"Bee It's not your fault, and there's no reason for you to be sorry. You didn't punch me in the face." Opal tried to bring humor into her words to help relieve Bumblebee. "I talked to the nurse, and she's going to reassign rooms to the other mechs. So it'll just be us again."
Bumblebee looked down to the ground, his solemn optics shifting slightly as he glanced in different directions. "I uh, I already surrendered myself for disciplinary action."
Opal widened her optics in shock, "WHAT? Why you didn't do any-"
"I started the fight Op." Bee interrupted, shaking his head.
Opal opened her mouth to begin to protest, "You only did it to help me. You didn't do this," Opal aggressively circled around her bruised face.
Bumblebee just shook his head again and went back to looking at the ground.
There was a long silence between them.
"Well, what is your punishment?"
"I have to clean the wash racks after our training in the mud arena today." Opal was relieved that his punishment wasn't as physically painful as she was expecting, but then again, cleaning mud ridden showers wasn't too pleasant either.
"Oh I can help if you want." Opal offered, "We could make it fun, like whoever leaves the room with the least amount of mud on their armor wins." Bumblebee couldn't resist revealing a small smile at Opal's playfulness. She always managed to make a bad situation into something enjoyable. Opal giggled when she saw his happier expression.
"Now that's the Bumblebee I like to see."
"You'll get in trouble you know." Bumblebee warned, though he was happy that Opal wanted to help him.
"Nah everything will be fine Bee, you were there for me so I want to return the favor." Opal patted his knee and stood up confidently.
"Yeah and look how well my helping you turned out."
Opal waved him off and pulled at his arm, "So tonight you'll be in the wash racks then?"
Bumblebee sighed in defeat and glanced down at her. "Yeah tonight once the last cadet leaves the showers."
Opal smiled and winked her good optic, "Ok I'll be there, now we better head to the arena before we're late. Sergeant will not be happy if we're tardy on our first orn of training." Bumblebee nodded and stood up beside her. Together they walked down to the arena to begin their first instruction.
Present day:
"Move faster you sorry bunch of scraplets!" Sergeant's intimidating voice roared down the ranks of running cadets. "I hope y'all will run faster when a Decepticon's chasing your afts!"
Opal kept her quick pace, with Bumblebee right next to her. The cadets huffed and panted behind the sergeant as he quickened his speed. He purposely took them on an especially long and obstacle filled course.
Once they reached the end of the course, the sergeant stopped and turned back to face his halting soldiers, who were all dripping in coolant.
"Having fun yet? Hope so I have another surprise for you." He pointed to a trail way up farther up the road. "Pick a partner, first pair to bring me back the flag at the end of the next course not only gets their name mentioned in the next report to Optimus Prime, but gets to miss tonight's midnight workout.
Opal and Bumblebee immediately looked at each other with excited optics. Team races were always fun.
With a sudden signal from the sergeant, the teams instantly took off up the trail.
Opal and Bumblebee gained a quick lead. Being a small femme had its advantages; speed came naturally. With acrobatic grace, Opal leapt over the hurdles, and slid under the haphazardly placed barriers. She enjoyed the exercises where agility was involved; that was one of her strong points. Bumblebee was always right behind her, sprinting and jumping vigorously to keep up with her.
"Hey showoff, wanna slow down a bit?" Bumblebee huffed behind her. Opal teasingly smiled and looked back at him.
"Aw come on Bee, we're scouts remember? We're supposed to be fast." She giggled and picked up her tempo. Bumblebee grumbled and mimicked her pace. By the time they reached a large clearing on the course, they had already achieved an impressive lead on the other teams. Opal began to scan the area for the next trail of the course.
"You see another trail?" Opal asked, glancing in different directions.
Bumblebee stood confused and turned his head around, "Um no. Why would they hide the trail?"
"Probably to test our navigation abilities." Opal climbed up a nearby metal structure and peered over the edge. "Hey over here!"
Bumblebee quickly joined her side and surveyed the view. On the other side of the structure, there was a deep pit which lay just beneath them. Opal's hand accidently slipped and caused a small pience of scrap metal to fall off the edge. They watched as the metal fell down into the dark crevasse; they weren't even sure when it hit the bottom, or if it even had.
"Well we know where we're not supposed to go." Bumblebee joked, but his face kept a serious expression.
"Why would there be a gigantic hole in the middle of a military base? This and a little high grade would make for a bad combo." Opal looked at Bumblebee with a confused look.
"Beats me, but let's find another -"
His words were cut suddenly short by the screeching of a stray insecticon which ambushed the surprised scouts. Its sharp claws visciously grasped the metal structure, causing it to become unstable.
"BEE!" Opal screamed, trying to cling onto any possible piece of metal to keep her from falling into the cave below. "BEE I'M SLIPPING!"
"OPAL!" Bumblebee tried to grab her hand to pull her back, but he was thwarted as the insecticon ferociously dug its fangs into his leg. Bumblebee yelled in agony and turned to attempt to escape the vermin's grasp. With a skilled strike to one of its crimson optics, he got the creature to release its bite. The insecticon gave a blood curdling shriek and angrily threw Bumblebee over the edge.
"BEE!" Opal grasped the ledge with one hand, and miraculously managed to snag Bumblebee's hand before he fell. She groaned in pain from the immense weight on her body. She wouldn't be able to hold on to him for long.
"Opal let go, I'll only take you down with me!" She couldn't hear Bumblebee's pleas over the excruciating cries of the insecticon. It thrashed violently on top of the structure, no doubt from the injury it had just sustained.
"Never leave a bot behind!" Opal tightened her hold on Bumblebee's slipping fingers. She looked up slowly when she felt oozing saliva dribble down her shoulder. She met optics with the now half blinded insecticon, fueled with utter rage. It raised its grotesque claws and sliced into her arm, immediately causing Opal to release her grasp. Their screams turned into echoes as they descended into the cavern.
Sergeant kept a tally of the arriving partners as they finished the course. Eventually he had everyone accounted for, except for two.
"Where's Opal and Bumblebee?" He asked aggressively. "I saw them ahead when y'all took off." Even some of the larger cadets had now managed to beat them.
"Don't know, maybe they decided to play hide and seek instead." One mech laughed. Sergeant angrily glared at him and walked up right into his face.
"Think this is funny? If I recall correctly, you signed up to be a soldier not a comedian." The mech's smile immediately disappeared and he turned his head to escape the sergeant's piercing optics.
"So none knows where they are, none of you passed them?"
The cadets were all silent; some shook their heads. Now the Sergeant was worried.
Her vision was blurred, her head throbbed painfully, and everything was spinning around her. Her arm was leaking something? The feeling of a warm liquid underneath her brought Opal out of her daze. She was immediately abhorred when she saw the extent of her injuries. Her forearm was horribly mangled; bright blue energon was seeping profusely from the gashes. Oozing energon trickled down her face as well, and as Opal nervously felt her head, she realized she had sustained a severe helm injury as well. It wouldn't be long before she lost too much energon, and drifted into unconsciousness.
"B-Bee?" Opal whimpered weakly. Her surroundings were dark, but she could still make out silhouettes. She strained her optics to scrutinize the area, hoping to find evidence of her partner's whereabouts. She tried to call his name out again.
"Bee?" She managed to say a little louder, but just barely. Tears flowed down her cheeks, both from fear and pain. Suddenly there was a low moan of reply in the darkness. Opal widened her optics at the noise, and slowly attempted to crawl in the direction of the sounds. She winced and groaned with every movement of her damaged body. When her fingers felt a large metal object, she stopped and began to feel it for familiarity. After making out an arm, she recognized it to be Bumblebee. She anxiously shook his still form.
"Bee? Bee wake up!" She rested her head on his chest, and quietly began to sob. Her cries became so loud that she couldn't hear Bumblebee's more frequent moans and grunts. Opal looked up when she felt his chest slowly move up and down.
"O-Opal primus what happened?" Opal smiled softly, and moved her face closer to his.
"Bee you're ok." She was immediately relieved to see that Bumblebee wasn't as bad off as she was.
"Yeah, but Opal you're leaking and your arm." He lifted his head as if he was about to sit up, but Opal placed her hand on his chest to stop him.
"I know," She grimaced as she shifted her weight on her elbows. "But we have to get help."
"How? We fell in the cave."
"Sergeant will know something happened. He'll come for us." Opal's optics began to roll in the back of her head, as she found it increasingly harder to remain awake. Unconsciousness was beginning to sound very inviting.
"Opal don't you dare fall asleep! Stay with me soldier, we'll get through this."
"WHAT HAPPENED?" The Sergeant commanded the two mechs who were the last ones to see the missing scouts.
"They had a huge lead, but we heard a few screeching sounds, had no idea from what, then we came to a big clearing and there was nothing there."
"Some metal structure was slashed to pit though," the second mech added.
The Sergeant kept an emotionless expression; then turned hastily on his heel and half jogged out.
"I want a search team put together immediately! Get to that clearing now!" He ordered grabbing the two witnesses to lead the group.
Bumblebee was rubbing Opal's injured helm, who had already fallen asleep. Bumblebee was too weak himself to keep her awake; he was beginning to fade as well. He slowly closed his optics for what he felt like would be the last time, until he heard a faint noise coming from above. He carefully laid Opal on the ground and sat up, staring up above him.
He heard the unmistakable voice of the sergeant cursing about something. Probably about the fact that there was an enormous, deadly pit on a cadet training course. Bumblebee knew he only had one chance to save Opal and himself.
"HEY, DOWN HERE!" He yelled with all the strength he had left. When he didn't hear a respond from the top, he tried again.
"ANYBODY? DOWN HERE!" There was only silence in return. In defeat, Bumblebee fell back to the ground and felt the dripping solvent from the damp cave fall onto his face.
After about a breem, the noises above resumed and even sounded louder. Bumblebee became alert again and this time attempted to stand up.
"HEY ANYBODY DOWN THERE?"
"YES OPAL AND BUMBLEBEE! WE NEED A MEDIC!"
"HANG ON WE'RE SENDING DOWN A RESCUE PLATFORM!"
Bumblebee rejoiced at the sight of the metal gurney being lowered by thick cables. When it clanked against the hard ground, Bumblebee cautiously lifted Opal into his arms and then gently laid her on the rescue elevator. He yanked on the cable to signal for the others to begin to pull it up.
As it slowly lifted up out of the cave, Bumblebee patiently waited for his turn.
Don't worry everything is ok:D So much tension. Please review! I want to know if you like it:D Your comments mean so much to me!