I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!

Hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Transformers © to Hasbro!

OCs © to me!

Chapter 8: Forest

"There you go!"

After a few weeks of therapy, Silk now stood strong her own feet. She'd managed to finally stand up and walk about a week ago.

The humans talked about how jealous they were that she could recover that fast. She didn't know humans couldn't recover that quickly. You learn new things every day.

But it wasn't a full recovery, she ached.

Different parts of her body ached nearly constantly. At this point she was able to block some of it out at times, but it caused her no end of annoyance.

And that was putting it mildly.

And Velocity said the pain might never go away fully.

Great.

And even as her joints ached, she stood with the entire team in the base's training room as Saber's big hand rested on her shoulder.

"One more time."

Silk nodded before her body shifted, taking the form of her eight-legged spider form.

"That's so cool." Jan gasped from the side.

Good thing none of the humans who spent a lot of time here were scared of spiders.

Elita said some Security Council members wouldn't come see her because of their fear of spiders, not of her specifically, but spiders in general. Part of her spark hurt at that knowledge, but she knew it wasn't their fault. Humans don't see vehicle-sized spiders outside of movies.

"Want to test moving around?"

"Sure." The bots watched as the youngling began skittering around the room, including climbing up on the walls and ceiling.

Ayal looked up as she crossed over him. "Do you have webs too?"

"I do."

She transformed out of habit, flinching as she felt her arms ache. The four extra limbs on her back continued to hold her to the ceiling, much to the shock of everyone else.

"You have control of those in this form?"

"Full control." The back legs moved, pulling her across the ceiling as she giggled despite the pain. "It's pretty useful." Holding out her hands, a small opening appeared, and a web-like material shot out, hitting the floor. "I wouldn't touch it. It's pretty sticky." Jan froze, as he'd just been about to run down and touch it.

Elita looked over at Marissa. "I don't know about you, but I think Silk needs to go outside and run around. What do you think?"

"I agree."

"Outside?" Her optics widened at the thought.

She'd watched TV for weeks.

Including nature shows. She'd seen animals, places, and amazing things.

But not with her own optics.

Things that made her think of home.

"But I don't have a vehicle alt mode."

Dante grinned. "Don't worry about that. We planned that ahead of time. There's a secret military base in a rainforest, and we have connections. And since these guys are already in 'secret-mode', we have permission to tell them. Actually, they already know. And you have permission to run around the military controlled area."

"I DO!?"

"Can we go too!?" Jan hopped on the catwalk. "I want to go to the rainforest!"

Patty laughed. "It would be lots of fun!"

Ayal's eyes looked up to their dad. "Depends on the medical records you two have, specifically your vaccines. I mean, Malaria and Yellow Fever are real possibilities, and a few other diseases. And I'm sure your dad doesn't want you in the hospital. And think of how we'd have to explain to the doctors that you guys got a tropical disease with no travel history or reason to go there."

"I have made sure to keep them up to date, and they do have all the travel ones." Star Saber grinned, his optics glimmering with proud dad energy. "So, they can come. I'll take Silk and keep an eye on them all."

The Fate Weaver shuddered with excitement. "I get to go to a rainforest! I want to see the little animals I saw on TV."

"I'm sure you do."

"I'll come with." Dante smirked.

Landing on the ground, her joints aching again as she hit the floor, Silk giggled. "I can't wait!"

The ground bridge swirled to life, all the humans at the military base standing back as Saber exited with his two kids on his shoulder, and Silk walking beside Dante.

"Hola!" Dante called to the commander, saluting as they began to speak in a language Silk didn't understand.

And to be fair, she felt a little distracted.

Green leaves filled the air, filtering the gentle sunlight.

The humid rainforest air immediately put her sensors on alert.

Home.

It felt like home.

Birds and other animals called from the canopy of trees.

"Silk," Dante called up, "the area you can go in is a five-by-five-kilometer square. Saber will be overhead, and comm us if you have any issues or if Cons get involved."

Hopping from one foot to the other, she shook. "Ok! Can I go!?"

"Have fun."

"YAY!"

Dashing across the base, making sure not to step on any people, she transformed into her spider form and leapt into the trees.

The green swallowed her up as she maneuvered through the trees, her spark racing. And while her body ached a little, now it didn't matter at all.

She felt at peace.

At home.

Her spark felt light as she giggled constantly, moving deeper into the trees.

After a bit of running, she slowed down, choosing to skitter through the trees, looking for animals she'd seen on the human's TV.

And there was one!

A gray furry creature hung upside down from a branch moving slowly. A sloth! Moving to the same tree, she transformed, hanging onto the tree with her back legs as she looked down at the slow-moving animal.

It regarded her with confused curiosity and kept moving slowly away.

Giggling she moved along, listening as screeching filled the air and she looked up to see howler monkeys looking down at her with confusion and guarded curiosity for the giant visitor. Giving them a screech back, she moved on.

Her eyes picked up every little movement.

The colorful birds that fled as she came close.

The large tarantulas that scurried across the ground.

The snakes that coiled in the trees.

As she came to a river, she landed on the ground, looking into the clear water.

The sounds of the rainforest surrounded her as she sat down, transforming back into a spider so she could hunch down to the ground better to just relax, letting the sounds wash over her like rain.

And then it did begin to rain a little. The sounds lulling her into a sense of security and peace as she struggled to keep her optics online.

A soft growl caught her sensors as she looked up to see a jaguar across the river, looking at her cautiously.

Raising up slowly, she met its gaze. It didn't run, but it certainly looked more cautious of the giant spider that now stood before it.

Slowly, she transformed, smiling at it, though it growled back, taking a step back. Holding out a hand across the river, she mimicked the sounds it made back to it.

The jaguar looked at her before turning and running away.

But she laughed regardless.

Smart animal.

"Silk, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing amazing!" She flopped back on the grass, letting the rain cover her whole body.

Saber laughed. "I'm glad. We've still got a few hours."

"Hey Silk." Dante called over the comm. "Commander Manuel here was curious if you'd like to come back and help with some survey stuff? While they do secret military stuff, part of their job is conservation. He says you can help if you'd like."

"Really?"

"If Elita clears it, it should be fine." Saber added. "And you'll have to have an escort until the Cons are dealt with."

"Yes!" She stood up, beginning to walk more through the rainforest. The thought of Team Stream made her shudder for a moment, but those thoughts washed away with the rain.

A cry caught her attention. Sitting in a tree were a small group of little brown monkeys with funny faces; from TV she remembered they were called capuchins. One of the monkeys clambered across the tree toward her, looking curiously at the robot.

"Hi there." Silk held out a hand to the capuchin.

It's eyes shimmered as it stared at her hand before slowly coming over to sniff.

Giggling as it sniffed her, Silk waited as the other capuchins came closer, all taking a moment to sniff at her hand before the first on climbed into her hand and up her arm.

And the others followed.

Up her arm they ran, poking between her plating, which she was careful when she moved, so as to not squish their little hands.

"You're all so cute!"

Sitting down among the trees, she leaned against one trunk, staring up at the canopy above her.

How she wished this day would never end.

But, eventually, she heard the call to come back to the base and had to leave her new tiny capuchin friends behind.

"They want me to stay longer?"

Dante nodded. "At least for a bit. I told them you were from a different planet than the others, and the soldiers are all a bit curious."

"I can't speak their language… I didn't ask Velocity to help me with that."

She felt a bit guilty.

She heard the humans around base all speaking different languages, and some of the others would speak it with them, but they'd all taken the time to install those languages into their processors or learn them directly, and she hadn't.

But that would be the first thing she asked Velocity to do when she got back.

"No problem." Dante grinned. "I'll translate as best I can."

So, as the soldiers all brought their evening meals outside, Silk began to tell them about Eukaris, with translations into Spanish by Dante.

As night fell over the rainforest, Silk felt content. The people here were so kind. Sitting around with these humans, it felt like those times with the Fate Weavers would sit around at night, sharing stories. And this time, she was the one sharing the stories.

And this place, this forest, felt so amazing.

She almost didn't want to leave.

But eventually, it was time to go back to base.

As she passed through the groundbridge, she turned back to wave to Commander Manuel and the soldiers before they vanished from view.

"So, how'd it go?" Kup asked.

"The forest is amazing!" Silk giggled, bouncing around from one foot to another. Her leg suddenly wobbled a little.

She didn't even notice how much her legs and whole body ached.

Until now.

She collapsed to the floor, shaking her head as she looked down at her shaking legs.

"Ow."

"You need to rest." Velocity took her hand and moved her to her wheelchair. "You've had a fun but tiring day."

"Ok, and can you upload Spanish into my processor?"

"Make some friends?"

"Uh huh! I want to talk to other people there."

Ayal looked up at Kup. "Hey! Someone who can watch telenovelas with us!"

"I don't understand why you watch that junk!" Dante groaned.

"Says the guy who is obsessed with K Dramas."

"Those shows are ART!"

Silk giggled before looking up at the Autobot commander. "Elita, I want to go outside here… can I?"

The femme held out a hand. "I think that would be alright. You haven't had a chance, have you?"

"No."

With the commander's help, the youngling rolled in her chair toward the large double doors. She was aware of Patty following closely behind.

"Want a ride?"

"Sure."

Reaching down, she picked up the young human, setting her on her knee.

As the doors opened, the fresh salty air hit her face and she gasped.

A beach! Before her stretched the deep ocean, shining in the light.

"This area is called the Whaligoe Steps." Patty pointed up at the sheer cliff that towered over them all. "The town of Wick is not far from here."

"If you'd like to come out here to the beach, as long as you have an escort, we don't mind. I know Team Stream has been quiet, but who knows when they will come back."

Setting Patty down, she slipped out of the chair to sit on the sand, letting the water lap at her feet, the youngling sighed. "I'd love to see more of this planet, but a giant spider walking around isn't really acceptable."

Patty sat beside her, eyes glancing up at Elita. "Do you think she can get a holoform like Dad has? That way she could hang out with me and my friends in town without drawing attention."

"That is a great idea. And then you can get out and make some more friends."

…

"Um, what's a holoform?"

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!