She was asleep for so long, they began to glance back at her every now and then, especially Sam. He seemed more worried that she had died, and voiced his thoughts several times, each one slightly different then the last. Finally, Bee cut in. "She was unable to recharge fully last night, and she has not had an adequate day." "So, she's asleep? Bee, there's no way she's asleep. She's just lying there. She's probably knocked out, or, or something." "Sam, Bee's right. Look." Mikaela nodded her head at the girl in the back seat. Sam looked back, and sure enough, saw a small twitch from the girl's foot. There was a quiet whimper, then her shoulders moved slightly. The two waited to see what would happen next, although nothing did. It seemed that she had been simply adjusting her position, or dreaming. In fact, she was asleep all throughout the day, stretching through the night. That was when Bumblebee began to worry, just ever-so-slightly. He settled down into recharge that night, on the deck of a boat that was speeding towards the island where their base was. Foxy was still asleep in the backseat, and she was still there when he came out of recharge. He decided to let her stay, and see if she woke up on her own. If she didn't, then he'd have to wake her up sooner or later.
"Yo, she still rechargin'?" Jazz asked, and Sam nodded after peering in Bee's passenger side. "Yeah. It's like she's dead to the world, or something." "She's dead?!" Jazz exclaimed, charging forwards to have a look for himself. Bee flew backwards, and Sam rephrased his thoughts quickly. "She's not dead! She's just, just… Down for the count! I promise, she's definitely not dead." "So she's just down for whatever ya said?" "Yes. She appeared to be in need of sleep when I saw her on the deck last." Optimus replied, and Jazz quieted down. It seemed as though the damage had already been done, because there was a shuffling of the blanket, and then she sat up. "You're alive!" "Hi, Bee." She replied softly, then yawned widely. She spotted Jazz peering in at her, and smiled sleepily. "Hi, Jazz." "Ey, Little Bee." She stretched, then cringed at a stiffness in her shoulder. She began rolling it to try and get it to dissipate, with little success. Giving up on that for the moment, she got out, carrying her things. She yawned again, and went into another stretch. When she had finished, she looked up into the sky, finding it clear, with small, white, wispy clouds flying across it. Bumblebee changed back to his Autobot form, and picked her up. She gave him a smile, then went to sit on his shoulder. "See those? The clouds?" He looked up, then nodded. "They're all made out of ice because they're really high up. They're called Cirrus clouds. The big fluffy ones that look like cotton are called Cumulus, and the worst of those are called Cumulonimbus clouds. They're what usually forms during a thunderstorm. I don't think we're getting any rain today though. Probably just a high pressure system." Bumblebee gave her a look, and she giggled. "I took the study of the weather in high school." "You have gained the ability to study patterns and signs of this… 'weather', in order to predict what will happen in the future?" Optimus looked at her curiously, and she raised a hand, then rocked it from side-to-side. "Ehhh… It's iffy. Sometimes those unexpected storms and other things like that come up, and nobody was able to read the correct signs. Sometimes they even 'pick-and-choose' what information to give out during a weather forecast." Bee gave her a look of confusion, and she smirked. "They'll tell you that there's a storm coming, but they won't tell you that it's bringing giant balls of frozen ice with it." "You are adept at this?" "I wouldn't call one period of studying it 'adept', but I'm pretty good." She replied, her bangs flopping over her eyes as her head lowered shyly. "You are an interesting example of a human, Foxy. There are many things that you know and are capable of doing which others do not know, or are not able to do." "Thanks, Optimus." She replied softly, peeking out from around her bangs to give him a small smile. She could rarely accept praise from one of the townsfolk, but here was the leader of the Autobots, the most powerful one in their ranks, acknowledging that she could do things most other people couldn't. It was incredible, and extremely humbling.
"How long was I out for?" She asked, looking around curiously, finding that they were on a different boat. "Long time, Little Bee." Jazz replied, then plucked her off Bee's shoulder. "Where we goin', Jazz?" "You'll see, Little Bee." She giggled. "That rhymed." Her head tilted backwards so she could see Jazz, and she blinked as the sunlight hit her eyes. "Wait… Can we stop for food first?" She gave him a goofy grin, and he nodded, setting her down. They two headed for the kitchen, going below deck. They soon found it, and the cook slid her a plate with eggs, bacon, and two pancakes on it. "Thanks." She gave him a smile, and he gave her a nod, probably assuming that she was part of the military that worked with the Autobots. She locked onto the coffee machine at once, a large grin taking up her features. Jazz was obviously confused; he had never seen her that happy before. She grabbed the largest paper cup they had, which was roughly the same size as a travel mug. She filled it to within an inch of the rim, then put a lid on it, making sure it was secure. "Ya drink oil?" "Not oil. Coffee. I don't put anything in it to make it lighter-colored." She replied, giving Jazz a smile before taking a sip. "Mmmm, coffee…" She sighed happily, then looked to him alertly. "Okay, what're we gonna do?" She asked, taking a forkful of eggs and laying waste to them. "I wanted to see ya do that change thing with the fox, Little Bee." "Oh! Right! Let's see… c'mon, this way." She nodded her head out the door, and he nodded.
The two headed to an empty firing range, and Foxy set the plate on a table, along with her coffee. She headed far enough away from them, in case something happened, and cautioned Jazz to stay back. "I'm not sure if this is gonna work, so just gimme a sec." She quickly had the fox hologram on, and shut her eyes tightly, her ears laying back. She concentrated on what she wanted it to look like, the complete image in her mind. A yellow fox, the same color as Bumblebee, with a black muzzle, black-tipped ears, black 'socks' on her paws and legs, a black-tipped tail, then of course, the two racing stripes beginning at her muzzle, going between her eyes, over the back of her head, down her back, and through her tail, stopping at the black tip. She imagined the stripes getting wider at the back of her head and staying that way until they got to the base of her tail, and thinner on the bridge of her snout, between her eyes, between her ears, and thinning just slightly as they ran down her tail. "Little Bee!" She opened her eyes, only to find her muzzle dark. "It worked!" Jazz exclaimed, picking Foxy up. "Ya look like Bumblebee, Little Bee!" An excited bark sounded from the fox in his grasp, and it reformed into Foxy. "Yeah! I swear it's the coffee!" She replied with a grin. "What's the big deal about 'coffee', Little Bee?" "It's the most amazing hot beverage EVER, and it tastes awesome, and it's like an energy boost." She finished, getting down and taking a sip. "But it tastes disgusting when it's cold." She added, taking another sip. "Hey, you wanna see something funny?" "Sure." "All right! Okay, listen closely. This has to be done perfectly if it's gonna be funny." She began explaining to him the trick, then looked up at him. "You got it? 'Cause we can pull it on Bumblebee later." Jazz laughed, then nodded. Her fox hologram engulfed her, and she was happy to see that it was the black-and-yellow coloring. Jazz pointed two claws at her, and her tail wagged. "Bang bang!" She fell splat on the floor with a whimper, and Jazz began laughing, sitting down on the floor of the boat. "Wicked, Little Bee!" He exclaimed, and Foxy hopped to her feet with a bark. "We definitely gotta show Bee that." Foxy shut her hologram off, and grinned up at Jazz. "Told you." She grabbed a strip of bacon, and began munching contentedly, the eggs and pancakes already gone.
Once she had finished with the plate, she carried it on one hand, her coffee in the other, as Jazz followed along behind. She set her plate where the cook told her to, then walked out the doors, meeting Jazz outside the rec hall, where the food was served. "Ready to go show Bumblebee?" Jazz picked her up, and she sighed happily, sipping at her coffee. He set her down once they got on deck, and she gave him a smile. "Thanks, Jazz." She spotted Bee, and grinned. "Hey, Bee! Guess what? I found coffee!" The grin on her face was colossal, and Bumblebee shook his head. "You're a good kind of strange, Foxy." "Thanks, Bee. I wouldn't have it any other way." She replied with a laugh, and took another swig of the hot drink. "Get ready for the 'high on coffee' Foxy. She's even worse then the wide-awake one." Foxy replied, giggling. Jazz nudged her with a claw, and she smiled. "Bee, there was something I wanted to show you…" She set her coffee down, and switched her hologram on, sure that it would go to the black-and-yellow fox. It did, and she watched as he lowered for a closer look.
She thought up the idea of a wicked prank, and watched as he slowly lifted a hand. She matched it, lifting the matching front paw at the same speed. The 'antennae' on his helmet went up, as did her ears. He sat down, and so did she, having to modify the position a little. After another few minutes of mirroring everything Bee did to the best of her ability, Foxy heard him radioing Jazz. "I'm now a fox, Jazz." To make things worse, he pointed at Foxy, and she extended a paw, pointing back at him. 'This is too perfect!' Foxy thought to herself, laughing like mad in her mind at her accomplishment. This went on for several more minutes, eventually drawing Ratchet to the two. He had overheard Bee telling Jazz that he was now a fox, and that instantly got his attention. When he arrived, he found Bee sitting on the deck, playing some sort of game with a yellow-with-black-stripes fox, one that looked quite like the scout. Every time Bee would move, the fox would move as well. The fox's mouth was open, and the tongue was lolling out. He scanned the fox to see if it was all right, only to jump back in surprise. It was Foxy, and she was grinning as though enjoying herself thoroughly. He looked away from the scanner, and back at the fox, which looked like an unusual-colored fox. He looked back to the screen, and saw Foxy in a side profile, sitting normally and grinning excitedly. "This isn't you, Bee. This is Foxy." "It doesn't appear to be Foxy. Therefore, it's me. I'm a fox, Ratchet." Ratchet looked at the scanner again and saw Foxy laughing now. He looked at the fox, but nothing had changed. Finally, he gave up on convincing Bumblebee that it was Foxy and left, shaking his head with a sigh.
Eventually, Foxy grew bored with the mind game, and shut her hologram off. "Now I'm Foxy, Jazz! I'm a human!" Foxy and Jazz began laughing, and she stood up. "Bee, it's me. Foxy." "Where's my fox?" He asked her, looking around for her hologram. "Bee, it was me the whole time. That's where Jazz and I went after I got coffee. To try to get it to work." She gave him a smile, and he picked her up. "Again." "All right, all right. You'll probably have to give it a few minutes, I want to re-do the tail." He nodded, and she let the hologram program take over, her eyes shutting tightly, and her ears going back. Her head lowered in concentration, and she heard Bee's excited exclamation. She looked back, finding that her tail was as she wanted it: Black and yellow horizontal stripes, like a hornet. It soon began wagging rapidly, and she yipped, bouncing up in his grasp. "You and I are identical!" Bee replied, and Foxy just yipped. She shut her hologram program off, planning to give it a rest. "Your hair has also changed colors!" He replied, and she looked, only to find that he was right. Where it had been red, it was now yellow. Where it had been yellow before, the five-inch tips, it was now black. There was another horizontal black stripe about two inches above the five-inch tips. That stripe was also five inches wide, and she laughed. "Cool! It matches you, Bee!" "You sound surprised. Humans don't change their colors spontaneously?" Ironhide asked, looking down at her. "No, they don't. At least, not like this. Usually, it takes hours to get a human's hair to look this good, complete with the colors." "Then why can you change it in an instant?" "I'm… not sure… it's never happened before…" Hearing this, Bee instantly took her to find Ratchet, knowing that something wasn't right. He found the medic where he was expected to be, in the medical area, and together the two began explaining.
Once they had finished, Ratchet instructed the two to enter, and for Bee to set Foxy down. He did, then backed away hesitantly. Ratchet instantly swooped in, examining Foxy closely and even going as far as tugging on her hair. "Ow! Ratchet…" She whimpered, but he ignored her. He continued with the examination, until finally, he turned to Bee. "She is still herself, but she now has the ability to change her exterior to match whatever she wants." "So, I could be like a toaster or something?" Ratchet shrugged, and she stared at one of the tools he was holding, memorizing what it looked like, then she tried picturing it. Her eyes shut, and her head lowered. Nothing happened, and she blinked her eyes open. "Didn't work." "Since it did not, I'm assuming that she can only reform into 'living' objects." "Soo… like Bumblebee?" Without warning, her eyes shut, and her head lowered, picturing Bumblebee's entire form, trying not to leave out a single detail. She heard Ratchet gasp, and blinked her eyes open. "You're me!" She heard Bumblebee's shout, and looked down, only to find that she did, in fact, look like an exact replica of him. 'This is incredible! Ratchet, are you seeing this?' She attempted to talk, but all she got was a strange buzzing sound. "Voice problems as well. That is extremely unusual." She thought hard about her original, human form, and blinked up at the two. "I will run more tests when we arrive at the base. Attempt to stay in the human exterior as often as possible." She nodded, and began mumbling. She looked down, didn't see anything, and tried again, getting the same results. "You do not have-" She nodded, seeing what had gone wrong, and two minutes later, felt the mouth she forgot to include appear. "This is too freaky, Ratchet. I mean, really. I can pass as an imitation Bumblebee! I should try Optimus." "I would strongly advise you not." "Yeah, you're right, he'd probably get mad. Hmm… I should go with… Lightning!" She concentrated on picturing her friend, and when she opened her eyes, there was the hood with the 'Rusteze' logo on it. "This is amazing! Is that my voice? Is that my voice? Please, tell me that's something else! How does he stand this? It's incredibly annoying!" She concentrated on being a human, this time with a mouth, and looked down. She was an identical match to Matt Smith, complete with long hair, suspenders, combat boots, and of course, a bow tie. "Apparently I can change genders, too. Bloody hell, I'm Matt Smith!" She squealed excitedly, and the thought slowly came to her that she must've looked extremely odd. She swapped it for her slightly newer look, with the black-and-yellow hair. "This is awesome! Ratchet, don't fix it? Pleeeease?" "I have already told you that I am doing nothing until we reach the base." "Whoo! Hey, Beeee…. Guess who?" She grinned, and concentrated on his exterior again, taking the form of it. The humming, buzzing noise sounded from her again, and Ratchet quickly had her voice on the same level as Bee's. "This is amazing, Ratchet!" She exclaimed, and high-fived Bee. She heard Ratchet sigh, and laughed. "Hey, Bee! Let's try something." As if he could read her thoughts, his radio turned on, as did hers. 'Sorry for Party Rocking' by LMFAO blared out of both their radios, and the two began a combination of the robot and shuffling. Ratchet tried to stop the two, but they were too far into their dance. "Enough!" He exclaimed, and both versions of Bumblebee froze mid-dance. "Can't you at least wait until we get back to base?" "Hey, Bee. Do you feel like waiting to goof off with this?" Bumblebee shook his head rapidly, and began blaring the song again. "Bee, I'll reformat you into a toaster if you do not stop this silly nonsense!" Ratchet exclaimed, going for a wrench. One Bee stopped at once, and the other one shrank into Foxy. "It's a wrench, Bee." "He has a painful swing." Foxy's jaw dropped, and she looked to Ratchet, feeling slightly offended that Bee was afraid of Ratchet. She was the size of an ant compared to Ratchet, yet she wasn't afraid of him. At least, not a whole lot. "Just stay out of trouble." Ratchet grumbled, and Foxy sighed. "C'mon Bee, let's go. I need to go get the rest of my coffee anyway." The two left the area, heading back to the deck.
She found her coffee setting where she had left it, and grabbed it. "Okay, since Rachet told us to stay out of trouble, let's do that." She watched as Bee drooped, and she had an idea. "Here, it's a game. You sit down like this-" She did, and so did he. "Then you take one hand-" She lifted her right, so did he. "Then you do this-" She stuck her hand out, and he connected his with hers. "Then you pull back, clap, then go to the opposite hand." He watched carefully as she did just that, and she stuck out her right hand again. He touched his right servo to her hand, and she shook her head. "Your left this time." He quickly switched servos, and she nodded. "Let's try it again." She stuck her right hand out, and he did the same. They pulled back, clapped once, then he went with his left, and she went with her right. "There. That's one hand. It's almost the same thing for the other one, just reversed hands, or servos." Foxy continued training Bumblebee in the art of schoolyard games for the rest of the afternoon, until they reached the base in the evening. She stood up, then grabbed her coffee cup, having renewed her coffee fairly recently. She gathered her things, then followed Bee off the boat, flopping into a patch of sandy grass as soon as she reached it. "I missed it here…" She mumbled with a happy sigh. She was scooped up by Bee, and the song began blaring out of his speakers again. Foxy laughed, then took a sip of the coffee. "We can stay up late and party, Bee. For now, let's go find out how this happened, and what started it." The sound cut out, and he drooped, but walked towards the base again. She would quickly come to regret the decision, as she was in the med tent for the remainder of the night, Ratchet doing test upon test upon test. "It would appear that Megatron had implanted something in your shoulder. From there, it burrowed down to here-" He gently prodded a finger against her spine, and she winced at an acute pain that was there. "-And that's where it remains. It is not only what we use to take alternate forms, but it also functions as a tracker." "When you say 'alternate forms', do you mean Bee's Camaro form, Optimus' truck one, stuff like that?" Ratchet nodded, and Foxy blinked in surprise. "When would he have put that in?" Ratchet shrugged, and Foxy's head tilted. "Soo… this means that he would've gotten the technology, somehow, then implanted it in me, then let himself be beaten by you guys? It doesn't make any sense." "It does, actually. He didn't let himself be beaten, he 'surrendered'. He knew that Optimus wouldn't leave you behind, and is using it to track our whereabouts, knowing that you will be with one of us at all times. He also knew that you would not know that he had implanted it until you tried something, so this could have very possibly gone on for years without one of us noticing. You were meant to be an unknowing decoy all along. I am quite sure that you were never of any significance to Megatron, although why he would go all the way to another Earth to acquire a single one of what this Earth has in millions is beyond me." Foxy's eyes suddenly went wide. "I do, Ratchet. Because I've got no living family members here, or there. I'm completely cut off from there, and nobody knows who I am on this Earth except all of you, the humans that work with you all, and the Decepticons. He wanted someone that was as far away from home as possible to use as a bloodhound, to sniff you guys out. He knew that I'd take to you guys quick, and that was exactly what he wanted. We played directly into his game of poker." Her head lowered. "Is there a way to get it out, that you know of? I'd love to smash it. I can already hear him screaming with rage as the signal cuts out." Her eyes narrowed angrily, and Rachet leapt backwards in horror as smoke began curling out of Foxy's nose lazily. She spotted the wispy tendrils, and grinned. "Foxy, your teeth are sharper then they were before!" She used a reflective tray to look at them, and grinned again. "This is going to be too fun." Her voice came out in a venomous purr, deathly quiet, and Bumblebee backed a few steps away, not wanting her to turn on him. "Ratchet, can you make this thing look as though it's tracking us, but in reality be tracking Megatron?" "I'm not sure it is possible…" "See what you can do. I plan on finding this slagger with it and showing him how badly it backfired." "But it didn't backfire." "Not on us. It's gonna backfire on him." She grinned that grin again, all her teeth sharp and triangular-shaped, almost like a dragon's. Ratchet and Bumblebee shared a glance, then he nodded. "Very well." He got to work after dismissing Bumblebee, and at some point, she drifted to sleep, too tired to remain awake.
She awoke the next morning to Ratchet's curse of alarm. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked down, only to find that she looked… different. More like Bumblebee, but still like herself. "What is going on…?" Ratchet was over at a workbay, and hit something with a wrench. Foxy cringed at the sound, understanding what Bee had meant by 'painful swing'. Rachet turned around, only to find her awake, holding something in a hand. "That's the thing that attached itself to my spine?" He nodded, and she looked down at herself again. It was as though someone had dissected her Porsche hologram, and she reminded herself that it had probably been Ratchet. "The only way to track him down accurately was to mold you into something like ourselves, Foxy. Luckily, it will only function when you use this hologram." "Ratchet, this is… incredible… Does this mean that I'm officially an Autobot?" "You are on whichever side you choose." "Autobot, definitely." She replied, and he nodded once. "Then that is where you will reside. I have modified this to handle only what we have already seen, and no humans, other then your original form." "The one with the yellow and black?" He nodded, and Foxy sighed with relief. She preferred those colors at the moment. He placed it in the center of the new Autobot form she would be getting, and it was as though an energy surge went through her entire form. Suddenly, things started moving, and clanking, and she turned wild, frightened eyes upon Ratchet, unsure of what was going on. Although in seconds she was no longer staring up at Ratchet. She was looking at a 'Con she knew well. Megatron. He was laughing, and beside him was Barricade. "She is still with the 'bots. This will be simple enough to accomplish, Barricade." Barricade nodded, and Foxy quickly looked around, trying to see where exactly they were. She recognized the area, and was pulled away from the two by a sharp pain.
She opened her eyes to see Ratchet, and he was holding a wrench. "Really? Shouldn't hit girls, Ratchet. It's not nice." "I wouldn't need to if you would stay on-line for five Earth minutes." He grumbled, and Foxy sighed. "I know where Megatron is. And Barricade, too. The signal's working, Ratchet!" "That's not of any concern now! You aren't finished!" Foxy sighed. "Fine…" So she allowed Ratchet to finish, and finally got out of the med tent at nightfall. She was still in her original form, Ratchet having told her to not use the Autobot modification until she knew what to expect. Bee scooped her into his grasp and hugged her. She smiled and leaned into his armor comfortingly. "Bee, guess what?" He looked down at her, and she grinned. "I've got a seeecret… And Ratchet says I can't tell anyone until it's fully… 'operational'." It seemed as though that was all she had to say, because Bumblebee began buzzing and humming excitedly. 'Sorry For Party Rocking' began blaring across his stereo again, and Foxy laughed. He set her down, and the two began dancing. Foxy began performing the Running Man across the floor a few feet in front of Bumblebee, who was doing the robot. "Yo! Whatchu doin', Bee?" The music cut out, leaving Foxy and Bumblebee staring at Jazz, who had completely thrown off their groove. The three laughed, then Bee turned the song back on, this time including Jazz in the festivities. The trio fooled around until nearly midnight, eventually getting Skidz, Mudflap, and Wheelie to join in, when Ratchet finally threatened them with an extremely large wrench. Foxy, having seen the deadliness of the simple tool, cringed with Jazz and Bumblebee, then all three went to bed.
Sorry, you guys! I've been grounded for the past few days, and I'm restricted to only an hour on the computer now... it's chaotic and it sucks, but I'm going to try to keep updating as regularly as possible. I hate technicalities. Anyway, onto cheerier stuff: What the frag is happening to Foxy? Guess we'll just need to wait and see!