...down, guys. He's trying to sleep...think HE could get him down...him over when he wakes...

Eventually...

...don't you hate mornings where it feels like you've been sleeping for almost 3 years?

Scratch woke up to this feeling, slowly coming into the waking world and yawning from his corner in the garage. He felt like he had some good dreams last night... something about flying... Who knows though.

As his mind fully woke up, he found Waldo on the ground coming up to him, who must have seen him wake. Ty and the other dinotrux seemed to be gone. Question was, where?

"Well well, good to see you finally woke up." Waldo commented, looking rather amused. "You MUST have been tired. You slept through clean-up in the garage, Ton-Ton antics and singing, Dozer sneezing, Click-Clack screaming, and all the conversation in between."

Scratch blinked, silently looking confused before remembering something. He could TALK now. Yeah, that's kind of important. Still, it felt weird having to REMEMBER that after being stuck to feral speech for days.

"Oh... wow. Sorry about that."

Waldo shrugged. "Don't worry about it. The others figured after yesterday you would need some extra time to sleep this morning."

Scratch nodded, noticing Click-Clack shaking across the garage, Ace comforting him. "Um... Is Click-Clack okay?"

Waldo glanced over. "He should be soon. Still recovering after the storm last night, which, might I add, you ALSO didn't wake from."

"Right... it's too bad, to be honest. I would have loved to watch the storm last night. The night is pretty comforting already, but watching a storm in the darkness is pretty sweet."

"GAH! Darkness?! WHERE?!" Click-Clack could be heard yelling, making Scratch look and sigh. That reptool REALLY needed some anxiety medication...

"Aaaanyway, where ARE the others? Did they need me once I woke up?"

Waldo nodded. "Yup. Ty wants you to head to the forest to meet with them. Revvit apparently saw a problem. Probably more clean up after the storm."

"Got it. One moment..." Scratch stood up, wobbling a bit and stretching. "Oh man... I feel like something's stiff."

"Will all that time you were sleeping, I'm not surprised." Waldo looked to Click-Clack and Ace. "Hey guys, give Scratch here a quick tune up."

Click-Clack looked a little nervous at the idea, however after connecting a bit with Scratch, he gulped and went over, quickly unscrewing one of Scratch's plates and climbing inside, along with Ace who followed him. Scratch himself shivered nervously. "Nnnnng... I REALLY hope I get used to you guys climbing around inside me..."

He felt a comforting pat inside him by Click-Clack, who couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. "I-It's okay, Scratch... I-I would be scared if something was climbing around inside me too."

"As if you don't get scared by anything else..." Scratch thought to himself, as he felt the two reptools adjust a few things inside him. He started to feel his body becoming looser, and stood up completely, giving another stretch.

"How do you feel?" Ace asked, poking her head out the hole in Scratch.

"Muuuuch better. Thanks guys."

"Always happy to help!" Ace smiled and climbed back out with Click-Clack, who put the panel back on. Scratch gave them a wave goodbye as he headed out of the garage, the reptools watching him go.

A little bit later...

Scratch quickly dropped off to his downed Scrapadactyl, drinking down some oil from it to continue helping his predator mode. He was getting both concerned and interested as he finished and looked it over. On one hand, robotic or not, he was noticing less oil coming out of it every time he drank. Hopefully he didn't accidently do anything stupid before the others got him a new drinker...

On the other though, he couldn't help but look at the wings. He remembered something his old Scrapter leader said, as much as he didn't really want to remember it...

"They may have the wings of scrapadactyls, but they have the body of a scraptor..."

Scratch looked to his sides, where a slot was on each. He couldn't help but wonder... COULD he detach the wings and make himself fly?

Deciding to hold that thought until he talked to Revvit about it, he went back out of the Scrapadactyl's hidden spot, heading for the forest.

When he arrived...

Scratch came up to the sight of a Scrapadactyl leaving the area. Thankfully, he didn't have anything when he looked to it, and he simply looked down and glared at Scratch before flying off. Scratch continued on, soon finding the dinotrux and Revvit, who were working on what must be the problem. A giant tree that was blocking the path to the ravine. He remembered Revvit saying once that the ravine was were they got supplies, so that was probably why they were trying to clear it.

As he approached, he saw Ton-Ton almost run Revvit over in his haste. "Woah! Careful, dude!"

"Pardon me." Revvit said back, before continuing to head over to Ty, who was working on the tree. Dozer was near him, looking rather annoyed at his horn, where a dragonflopter had landed. "Um, if I may...?"

As Revvit headed over, Dozer went forward too, talking to the dragonflopter. "Fly somewhere else..."

Looking at the dragonflopter though meant Dozer didn't look where he was going, and was heading right into the path of where Revvit was walking. Scratch went wide-eyed and zoomed forward. "STOP!"

The noise caught the attention of the other, who looked over to see Scratch barely manage to get in front of Dozer, stopping him from running over Revvit. Dozer was of course annoyed at him. "Hey! What gives?"

Scratch gave a glare at him. "You almost squished Revvit, you idiot!" He gestured to Revvit on the other side of him.

Revvit looked up to Scratch. "Good morning to you too, Scratch. As much as I appreciate the gesture, I was going to step out of the way."

Dozer huffed, watching as the robotic insect flew off him and away. "I got distracted! Dang dragonflopters..."

Scratch watched the dragonflopter go, wondering how the heck THAT managed to distract the hot-headed dinotrux... then again, perhaps he just answered his own question. Ton-Ton and Skya came over.

"Morning, scrap dude!"

"Mornin', Scratch."

He looked over to them and smiled. "Hey guys. Sorry for being late to work this morning... so to speak"

Ton-Ton smiled and pat his back with a tire. "Hey, it's alright, Scratch! I mean, if yesterday was anything, I would probably be getting some extra z's too, dude."

"Heh, I guess." Scratch smiled.

Dozer however was still giving Scratch an annoyed look. "Hey, don't think you're off the hook yet just because you can talk! You've still got plenty to make up for after your scraptor adventures."

Ty gave Dozer a dirty looked. "Dozer, he was essentially FORCED to be there."

"And yet he didn't fight back? It's no excuse. I won't be happy until I KNOW he's clean."

Ty was about to respond to that when Scratch spoke up. "It's alright, Ty. I know I have friendship sins to make up for." He quietly sighed and spoke to himself. "No wonder I never had friends on earth..."

Revvit heard that statement and looked at Scratch concerned as Skya spoke. "Well, you can certainly start by helping us get this tree out of the way."

Scratch looked to it. "Yeah, I can do that... man, we need a Trencher or something for this..."

Revvit looked curious. "Trencher? Is that one of your... what did you call them... human inventions?"

Scratch nodded. "Yeah. It was a type of vehicle with a giant saw on it. Humans would drive it to-"

"Wait, HUMANS would drive it?" Dozer looked confused. "Why didn't it drive itself?"

"Vehicles in my world aren't sentient. Humans needed to use and control them themselves."

"Ooh." Skya nodded. "So your species basically drove things like US to do this sort of thing."

"Exactly."

"Wow..." Ty was intrigued as well. "And were they like us?"

"Actually, yeah." "Scarily so, might I add..."

The group nodded in understanding. Scratch then had a thought. "Say, do you guys know of any dinotrux that sound like what I said?"

Ton-Ton perked up. "Say, I DO, dude! It sounds like a Sawmetradon! Big guy with a saw in his centre. They're pretty cool... even if they are a little scary."

"I can imagine..." Scratch shuddered to think of the experience meeting one of THOSE would be...

As Scratch pondered, Revvit looked to Ty as he spoke and pointed to an empty spot on the ground. "Well then, as I was going to say. Ty, if you would to put the loose timber over THERE, it would give Skya a clear path to load Ton-Ton's bed."

"We GOT this, buddy." Ty said reassuringly. "It doesn't LOOK like they know what they're doing, but they do."

"HEY!" The other the dinotrux said annoyed.

Ty grinned. "Kidding."

Revvit meanwhile looked and sounded a little hurt from Ty's statement. "But... I am helping!"

Ty leaned his head down to him. "I know, but it's dangerous out here for a reptool. There's scrapadactyls, big falling trees, Dozer-"

"I heard that!"

Ty glanced at Dozer then grabbed some ore on the ground, putting it before Revvit. Scratch got a wiff of it and looked, his stomach giving a motorized growl. Damn, he never had breakfast this morning, didn't he? "Here, have a snack! Stay safe. By the time you finish that, we'll have this tree out of your way."

Revvit picked up the ore a little annoyed, a dragonflopter coming up to him as he did. "Just because I am smaller does NOT mean I cannot handle myself-"

And of course, right after he said that, the dragonflopter grabbed him and lifted his light body into the air. "GAH! Put me down! Put me dooooown!"

The others looked up worriedly to Revvit, Ty calling to him. "Rev, stay calm! It JUST wants the ore! Drop down and I'll catch you!"

Revvit called back as he was lifted up high, Scratch aiming his claw hands to see if he could grab him. "I CAN'T give him my ore if he-!"

The dragonfloper gave Revvit a shake, then made some strange chittering noises to Revvit, who looked up with a "huh?". To Scratch's surprise, as if it was a second natural born language, he could understand what it was saying. "I want the ore! I'm hungry, reptool! You WILL give it to me if you don't want to fall to your death!"

The concern from the others also turned to surprise, even more so from Scratch, when Revvit then started to wurr his drill back. And like a hidden translator, Scratch could understand THAT as well. "Easy, friend. I am willing to give some to you."

The dragonflopter looked as surprised as anyone else, and looked to Revvit. "Wait, you can understand me? And, you are willing to give it? I don't need to drop you?"

Revvit wurred back. "I can. Call it a little reptool knowledge. And of course I am! Just lower me back to the ground, and I will hand it over, no trouble at all. Dropping would certainly not be preferable."

With that little conversation, the dragonflopter lowered Revvit back to the ground then landed next to him, Revvit putting the ore down and pushing it to him. "Here."

With some more chittering and drill wurring, the dragonflopter thanked the kind Revvit and bowed to him, Revvit bowing back, before he headed off, the reptool saying goodbye. As Scratch twirled the drill in his mouth in thought, Revvit looked to Ty with a slighly smug grin. "Ha!"

Ty was astounded, as were the other watching dinotrux. "Did... you just have a conversation with a... dragonflopter?"

"Indeed. As I was saying, I can handle myself."

"I'm not gonna lie, that was incredible! But..."

Revvit became exasperated. "...you want me to sit this one out."

Ty leaned down and gave him an apologetic look. "We're almost done anyway."

With a hurt look, Revvit moved out of the dinotrux's way, going over and sitting on a rock, before looking at the group, mostly Ty, with a very passive-aggressive look. Scratch winced a bit at the look then looked to his large friend. "Ty, I'm not expert of group work... but come on, that was a LITTLE scummy." He turned away and went over to the part of the tree the dinotrux had been working on, using his drill tongue to make a more easy part to break off. Ty looked at him and sighed a bit before he and the others got back to work.

Revvit watched with his passive-aggressive look, glancing away only for a moment as the dragonflopter he had given ore to flew off.

Out in the empty lands...

The dragonflopters flight lead him to three others on a rock. He dropped the ore for them then kept searching as the others looked it over happily. He hovered over the ground and landed on another rock, looking around... before almost getting crushed by the heavy ball of a certain pissed off t-trux, who growled at him.

"Grr... I HATE those things." The gruff D-Structs commented. He only became even more annoyed as the dragonflopter flew around his face, making him snap his mouth at it. Being too quick, the dragonfloper dodged the two snaps before flying off, D-Structs continuing to growl at it.

"Nyha, always find scrap after (nnk) rains, heh!" The t-trux's unfortunately forced Scraptool partner Scrap-it came up behind him, making him turn as Scrap-it put a piece of metal on the ground. "Look at this one! It's pretty~"

Scrap-it appreciated the shiny metal. D-Structs, in response, smashed his ball into it, crushing it into the ground. Scrap-it dodged the ball and looked at the metal a little sadly. "(Sigh), less pretty now..."

D-Structs leaned his head in gruffly. "Stop bothering me with your silly scavenging! We're after a t-trux, remember? And the sooner we get rid of him, the better."

"And his annoying Scrapter friend too, if we can." He thought to himself as he turned away and paced, Scrap-it following. "No matter how many friends he manages to collect, one simple fact remains..."

"That scrap is our most precious metal?" Scrap-it guessed.

"No..."

"That our most precious metal is scrap?"

D-Structs rolled up to his face. "No! That this crater belongs to me."

"Oh yeah, right! Heh heh, (Snnk) I... I see you went a different way with that, heh..."

D-Structs continued to pace, thinking out loud. "If only I could pick the dinotrux off one by one... If only I could find a way to-"

He suddenly looked down at the down at the ground and yelped as he came to a dead stop, backing up before looking at his possible solution. "...dispose of them."

Before D-Structs was a giant hole in the ground, looking wide enough to easily fall into. Scrap-it came up next to him and looked in. "Huh... sinkhole (nnk), from the storm."

"How deep is it?" D-Structs barked. "Drop something in!"

Scrap-it looked around and tossed a leaf in... which, as expected, was slow to fall. He watched excitedly. "Mmhmm... Still going... Still going... Still going... Oh, it stopped NOPE, still going! Heh!"

D-Structs was getting annoyed with Scrap-it's obliviousness. "ENOUGH! Drop a rock in or I drop you." He threatened.

"Ah! A rock! Of course! That makes SO much more sense, heh heh..." Scrap-it grabbed the nearby rock with his mouth and gave it a good toss, sending into the depths of the sinkhole. It was a whole four seconds, with D-Structs listening and humming, before the thud of the rock landing on the floor below could be heard. If the maths is correct, that was about 78.4 metres, or 257.2178 feet, just over the length of 4 semi-trucks with trailers attached to them. In other words... It was a pretty freaking deep hole.

Scrap-it then figured it out. "Oh, you're gonna drop the dinotrux in there, aren't you?"

"Now where would you get THAT idea~?" D-Structs said menacingly.

Unfortunately, Scrap-it didn't pick up it was rhetorical. "Well, first you were talking about getting rid of the dinotrux when you saw the pit..." Seeing where this was going, D-Structs rolled away as Scrap-it kept blabbering.

"And THEN, when we dropped the rock in, I put two and two to-" Scrap-it finally realized he was gone. "...aaaand I'm talking to myself... (wakkkk!)"

Back at the forest...

The dinotrux had finally carved a bit enough hole in the fallen tree to be able to drive through it, Scratch drilling off some final pieces to make it look nice as Ty put down some last chunks and allowed Dozer to push them into Ton-Ton's flatbed, just about finishing the clean-up. "Thanks Dozer."

Ty then looked to the wood in the flatbed. "We could probably re-use all this wood. Ton-Ton, could you haul it over to-"

Before he could finish, Ton-Ton was already positioning himself and tossed the wood away, Scratch watching and sighing. So much for re-using it...

"...or... there is good." Ty then turned to the craneosaur and gestured to the last chunk of wood in the way. "Skya, can you do anything with this?"

"Like ya gotta ask." Skya went up to the piece as Scratch moved away and used her hook and rope to lasso the piece, snapping it off and dragging it away, making the path open. Ty then turned to Revvit, who had been staring at the dinotrux with his passive aggressive look for the entire build.

Ty came over to him, Scratch at his side watching. "Look Rev, I get it. If I were you, my drill would be out of joint too."

"Drills do not have joints." Was Revvit's simple answer. Without another word, he turned away from Ty, jumped off the rock and walked off, internally angry and hurt.

Ty tried to call to him. "Rev! You know what I meant!"

Revvit didn't even look back. Scratch sighed. "Smooth, Ty." He went off to see how the others were doing, Ty watching him going. He turned to the work he had made Revvit sit out on, feeling a little ashamed of himself.

Down a ways, Skya dragged the piece of wood a while and found a good spot to put it. She retracted her hook. "That should do it!"

She then started to head back to the others, but stopped as she heard a noise from nearby. Something like a rustling and slight chattering of metal. She looked around suspiciously a moment, trying to figure out where it came from, then continued on, keeping her wits about her.

After some driving through the trees, a familiar voice came from the branch of the tree above her. "Any loose parts I can help with~?"

Skya looked up to see Scrap-it, and before she could react, he jumped onto Skya's face, laughing. "Hey! Get off me!" She yelled, swinging her head back as Scrap-it crawled around, making him land on her back.

Scrap-it laughed and went to Skya's side. "Ahh, there's one!" He reached down and removed one of her back bolts, waving it at her. "Not loose anymore!"

"Hey Scraptool!" Skya shot back. "How would you like a tree with that bolt?"

"Uh... a tree?"

Skya jolted her back and sent Scrap-it flying onto her conveyer belt neck, then spun it, ramping Scrap-it off her and straight into a nearby tree. He held on tight to the bolt and quickly recovered, shaking his head. "No scrap off my back! Can't (kccch!) say the same for you!"

"Come over HERE and say that." Skya taunted back. Instead of doing that, Scrap-It ran off the tree and away from Skya, bolt in hand. Skya gave chase, Scrap-it continuing to talk her. "Craneosaur back bolt, mint condition! This will be a prized piece in my collection!"

Skya lowered her head to Scrap-it to grab him, not realizing where he was going. "Come here, you little tweAAAAAHHHHH!" Before she could stop, she slid down the very sinkhole Scrap-it was leading her towards and fell inside, screaming as she fell to the bottom on her side with a CRASH.

Groaning in pain, she heaved herself back upright and looked around at the trap she had fallen into. The hole's sides were steep and mostly smooth. No way to climb back out.

"How's the view from down there?" A voice called from above. She looked up to see the familiar t-trux grinning down at the sight and speaking mockingly, Scrap-it watching next to him. "I bet you never get asked that."

"D-Structs!" Skya called back. "As soon as I get out of here, I'm gonna-"

"...get your friends?" D-Structs interrupted. "No need. They'll be "dropping in" soon."

"You can't beat them, D-Structs! And you know it!"

"As a team, maybe not. One-by-one... easy." D-Structs gestured around him. "This crater is MINE!" He looked back down with a smug look. "But the pit? Well... the pit is aaaaaall yours."

With that, he and a laughing Scrap-it headed off to wait for the next Dinotrux to lure in, leaving Skya all alone in the hole. She sighed, knowing she had to get out of here. If she didn't warn the others what was happening, they would all be stuck and left to die.

Out in the rocky fields...

Scratch paced around, actually walking on his treads instead of rolling on them. He had been hoping to ask Revvit about attaching the wings to him, but due to the reptool's mood after what happened today, he decided it would be best until he cooled off, so he headed off to somewhere private to think.

Despite trying, he couldn't help but be annoyed with Ty to his attitude. He obviously meant well, but he surely didn't think Revvit was THAT pointless for the build, did he? And Revvit his clearly shown he can handle himself, especially with that dragonflopter.

That was another thing that had been weighing on his mind. He could not only hear feral, he could also hear... Insect? But then how did he translate Revvit's drill noises? It was so bizarre... there HAD to be some sort of translator inside him. Question was... could he SPEAK insect. Revvit managed to do it with some drill spins... perhaps he could do it with the drill in his mouth? It was a weird concept... But then again, what WASN'T weird about this place?

"I am right by your side on THAT question, my friend."

Oh hey... haven't heard THAT voice for a while.

"Glad to hear someone's on the same page with me for that... how's life in my old reality?"

"It is fine, though a little obnoxious sometimes, I must admit."

"...is it my parents?"

"It is indeed. They have done nothing but eat, sleep, and talk to each other ever since your father arrived."

"Do you think there's been any progress?"

"Your mother is admittedly showing pride in your achievements so far here. However, she is slow to change her mind."

Typical... she's stubborn to the core, isn't she? Scratch just couldn't understand why...

"Yeah... great... (sigh), thanks for the update."

"No problem my friend. You continue to stay safe. I sense big things for you in your future."

"Good or bad?"

"A little of both. I shall go now... I like your pet. Heh heh."

"Yeah, alri- Pet? Wait what?"

Scratch's confusion from that last statement turned to slight fear as he realized something had landed on his arm as he was spaced out. He looked to see a dragonflopter on his box, and carefully lifted him up to his face.

"...um... hi."

The dragonflopter chittered at him, and his translator helped him understand every word. "Hello there. Don't mind me, just resting."

Scratch thought a moment then opened his mouth slightly, concentrating. After a few seconds, the dragonflopter looking confused, Scratch's drill started to spin, and he was talking to the robot bug back. "It's alright. Just wasn't expecting it is all."

The dragonflopter looked to Scratch's face. "Oh, how nice! You can talk to us too! I remember you as the one who was with that reptool who gave me some ore."

"Yeah, that was Revvit. He's a nice guy... so, are there more of you around here?"

"There are a few nearby. We've been slowly working on the ore your "Revvit" friend gave us."

The constant mention of ore made Scratch's belly growl, and he held it a moment. "I see... I need to get some myself, but perhaps I could talk to you and your species sometime? It's for... reasons."

"Certainly! You are a friend of Revvit so you are a friend of us. What is your name, stranger?"

"Scratch. I live in the garage with the other dinotrux and reptools, including Revvit, nearby."

"Oh, THAT batch! Well, they are certainly hard to miss, so I'll keep an eye out!"

"Thanks... take care buddy."

"You too my friend."

With that, the dragonflopter flew off, and Scratch watched it go before heading back to the garage. Hopefully Ty brought food... or what constituted as food here.

I HAVE ADD MEDS!

...okay, but seriously, feels good to finally get back to my story and stories in general. Would've done this sooner due to virus crap, but I was too busy being distracted by online TAFE which failed, and me being dumb. With the new meds though, which caused distraction for a while, I should be able to keep this going.

Thanks to everyone who patiently waited for this to return, along with those who continue to leave those inspiring and lovely reviews. And for those who left me... I honestly can't blame you. Hope you enjoyed reading, and have a great rest of your day.

P.S. To address something brought up by CalvinFujii, I'm down for hearing what ideas you're interested in seeing in the future! Something from the storyline is nice, though I can figure that out myself. However, if you have any original concepts to happen in this, definitely let me know in your review! I'll definitely give it consideration.

Also, hi to 01 from portugese! Obrigado pela revisão e muito amor para você! Closes google translate. Heh heh, nailed it.

P.P.S. If you're, A, interested in fully chatting with me, B, wanting to support a creator, and C, you have a discord, I'm in a discord server for someone named Erenaroonie, who've I've done audio stuff for and assist with her server. However due to her wishes and the fact you can't apparently put discord links in here... like what, you will need to PM me for the link. Come on over, chat with me and her, and check her stuff out! She's a funny potato XD