Author's Note: I borrowed Sari from TFA and stuck her into the TF Movieverse. She's the Lennoxs' adopted daughter in this AU (Don't worry, Annabelle's still here too). I did that so I can explain her backstory and her being a Techno-Organic a bit differently than the actual show did, and a bit more in depth than the show did.
Walking Talking Lamborghini doesn't own Transformer or Nintendo, although I do love playing on my Switch.
Chapter One: Discoveries
I walked into the room I shared with my sister. My little sister, Annabelle, ran around laughing in our room. Our stateside home is roomy, with lots of backyard space too.
"Hey, 'Belle. What's that?" I asked the enthusiastic three-year-old.
"It's my doggie," She held up a black and white stuffed dog. "Sari, Mom's making cookies."
"She is?" I stuck my head out of the doorway. "Mom!"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Are the cookies done?"
"Not yet, Sari."
"OK!" I rummaged around my closet. "Oh, Where'd I put my Switch?"
The more I searched, I couldn't find it. Annabelle tried to help. Dad had gotten it for me for Christmas last year, and some games for it. Annabelle and I played Mario Kart a lot together. Ironhide and Annabelle are best buddies, I swear. He pretended to not like her at first, but she found her way to his heart. Little babies are supposed to make people melt. I've met the autobots before, so it's not like their strangers to me.
"Mom, I think I left my switch on the patio, can I go get it before the rain starts?" I bounced into the kitchen.
"Of course, be quick."
I opened the screen. Glancing on the table, I noticed the house phone had been left outside. I picked it up and decided I was going to call my friend, Sam Witwicky.
"Hey, Sam." I said into the phone.
"Hey, Sari, What's up? Bumblebee and I are just hanging out."
"Not much. Hey 'Bee."
"He said hi. What are you doing?"
I step off the patio and walked toward the place where I left my Switch.
"Looking for my Switch. I left it outside on the swings earlier."
"Ooh, that's not good, especially since it looks like its gonna storm soon"
Getting to the swing set, I gasped.
No, I didn't find my switch. A green transformer was laying on its side, optics closed. Blue liquid dripped from damaged places in its armor. I recognized him; this was Ratchet.
"What? What?"
Thundering footsteps echoed from a little further off. An orange and yellow… robot horse… leapt over the injured autobot, her hooves cutting me off from approaching further. At least I think it's a her. She has little firefly antennas. I don't recognize her though.
"SAM!" I yelled into the phone. "Do you happen to know if an orange horse-bot is a good guy?"
"Oh gosh, that sounds like Firefly. She's a good guy, but Optimus said Ratchet was hurt. They both got caught in a cliff collapsing and your dad and Arcee, Ratchet's sparkmate, are still looking through the rubble to find them. I know they fought close to your house. Firefly must've tried to get him closer to someone who can help him."
"Wait, what's a sparkmate?"
"Their version of… like a spouse or soulmate." Sam told her. "Arcee's pretty worried. To top that all off, Firefly is like Ratchet and Arcee's adopted kid."
"Oh. What should I do? Firefly seems very angry and I don't want to end up as a Sari pancake."
"Try to calm her down. I'll tell Optimus that you found them."
I set down the phone and held out my arms. "It's ok, I won't hurt you."
Firefly lowered her head and took a foreleg and knocked it against the side of her head.
"Is- is your voice not working?"
She nodded, rearing up and letting her hooves crash to the ground.
"From the fall?" I just hazard a guess. She nodded, and I got my answer.
Ratchet moaned, blinking open a pair of dimly glowing optics. Firefly spun around and nuzzled his head. He brought a hand to Firefly's neck, seeking out a pair of cords. There was a distinct click! And she shook her head like a horse would. I'm assuming he fixed whatever was wrong.
"Thanks." She responded. "How bad is the damage?"
"My back strut is fractured from the fall. If it had been a clean break, I could have just hobbled back to the others, since a clean break would have brought those sensors offline, but it's fractured half way through. When that happens, those sensors are online, making it very painful." His voice seized up for a moment, and he closed his optics. I honestly felt really bad for Ratchet. "I can't move without making the damage worse. Arcee is worried about us, too."
Firefly glanced back to me and took a few nonchalant steps toward me.
"Hey, uh…"
"Sari." I tell her.
"Sari, you wouldn't happen to have any way of helping us, would you?"
"I could call my dad," I said. "Or Ironhide."
"Maybe call both." Firefly said out loud.
I did just that, calling dad first, and then Ironhide.
"Sari, what do you need?" Ironhide grumped on the other end of the phone.
"Ironhide, you big old crabby pants, can you just come to the back yard."
"This better be worth it." He snarked.
"It will be, I promise." I told him.
Firefly lowered her head to be eye-level with me. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." I responded. I took a hand and stroked her nose. The moment my hand connected with her nose, I almost felt a connection to Firefly. It felt like I'd known her my whole life.
"What- just happened?" I asked.
"You just established a bond with Firefly. Links, the type of Cybertronian she is, can bond with any 'bot they choose. Essentially, the bonds links establish are like a sister or brother bond." Ratchet lifted his head. His voice was getting weaker.
"Wait, I thought I couldn't make a Link-bond anymore." Firefly said with confusion.
"The fall must've reactivated those circuits somehow."
She transformed to her bipedal form, peering around the house and falling into a battle stance. In her bipedal form, she still had her antennas on her head. The big black angry pickup spun around the corner, and she visibly relaxed. It transformed, and a moment later, Ironhide knelt beside Ratchet.
"Stay with us, Ratchet." Ironhide worriedly said.
"That's what I'm supposed to say." Ratchet rasped.
A pink motorcycle with dad on it came around the corner. He got off, and it transformed. She knelt beside Ratchet, intertwining her fingers with his and gently putting her other hand on his side. I ran up to Dad and gave him a hug.
"Why are you out here?"
"I was looking for my Nintendo Switch." I shrugged. "But I found two robots instead."
He chuckled briefly, before glancing back to what was going on. Firefly inched toward us. Dad had an anticipative look on his face.
"I don't know any medical stuff," she told Lennox. "So, I don't know much. I do know that it's bad, but Arcee and Wheeljack will be able to handle it."
"Good."
Turns out, we get to go to Diego Garcia. We have a house there too. Diego Garcia pretty much could be its own little town, with everything possible to support the families of the soldiers fighting with the autobots. The whole time we got to ride in the C-17, Firefly was dancing around or doing something to make us laugh. Sitting in the front seat of her F-350 mode, overlooking the beach, we got some one-on-one girl time which Optimus suggested for us to get to know each other. Right now, we're playing two truths and a lie.
"So…." Firefly said thoughtfully. "My color scheme used to be pale green and grey, Spiders creep me out, and I gave Ironhide a pat on the head once and called him a good boy."
"The lie is spiders creep you out." I said with assurance.
"Nope. The little buggers are creepy."
"You were green and grey?"
"No, that's actually true."
"Really? I can't picture that." I tried, but the more and more I did the harder it was to picture it.
"Neither could I. I asked your mom, actually, what color I should switch to and she orange and yellow."
"The lie is you gave Ironhide a pat on the head."
"Yeah." She chuckled
"I want to see that." I laughed.
"I would love to continue to function, thank you!"
"Ok, My turn. My favorite color is peach, my favorite animals are cats, and I can't beat 'Bee at Mariokart."
"I'm going to say one of the truths are that you can't beat 'Bee at Mariokart. He's freakishly good at videogames. I'm also going to say that your favorite color is peach is true, since you're wearing a peach-pale orange dress, and I'm going to say the lie is your favorite animals are cats." Firefly pretty much disassembled every last one of my truths and lies to figure it out.
"Yeah. I'm more of a dog person." I smiled.
"Bumblebee tried to bring a cat to base once. Prowl glitched when he found out. The thing hissed at him. It got into one of the soldier's quarters who's allergic to cats and he sneezed for days after." Firefly laughed, and then abruptly stopped. I just assumed she's talking on the comm links.
"Arcee just said they got Ratchet stable."
"He's gonna be ok?" I ask.
"Yep." Firefly let out a staticky sigh of relief.
"So, is it true that Ratchet and Arcee kinda adopted you?" I ask.
"Yep. I lived on Antu, one of Cybertron's moons. That's were Links used to live, mind you. We looked like Earth horses, to be honest. Then the decepticons came in. I don't remember anything that happened, since I was a sparkling. But I do remember Shockwave, the decepticon brainiac, had a theory that if a Transformation Cog was put in a Link and properly integrated, then they would gain both an alternate mode and a bipedal form. He tested it, and I guess so I wouldn't be able to give away any info he wiped my data core. The autobots stormed the base where he was working, and Arcee and Ratchet rescued me."
"I… didn't know. I'm sorry."
"Don't be, if none of that had happened, I wouldn't be where I am today. Besides, I don't remember it, courtesy of Shockwave erasing my data-core."
"You wouldn't change what happened to you?"
"Well, I mean, being a triple changer is part of who I am now." She said thoughtfully. "From what I heard, you can understand being an adopted child."
"Yeah, I guess." I said shyly. Firefly laughed.
"Well, we both have a bit of common ground."
"We do." I smiled, and then got a bit more serious. "You promise you'll be my friend forever?"
Wow, that sounded like a little kid, didn't it.
"Of course. We're bffs." She said warmly.
I laughed at that, and Firefly started laughing too. This was the start of a beautiful friendship; I just knew it.
Later, Firefly and I walked through the base. She was in her Link form, and I was sitting on her back.
"You wanna go outside again, and maybe get a good run in?"
"With me on your back?" I asked.
"Well, yeah." Firefly laughed.
"That sounds awesome, let's go!" I exclaimed.
She cantered down the hallway. Once we were out the door, her strides became longer. With every stride Firefly took, I could feel the raw power behind them. I briefly wondered if this was what Kentucky Derby riders felt like when they raced their horses. I turned my head to see a yellow Camaro race up beside us.
"Bee?" I ask out loud.
"Oh, it's so on, boys!" Firefly yelled. Bumblebee hit his top speed and pulled a few feet ahead of us.
And then, Firefly put on more speed, and her strides ate up the ground. We stayed neck in neck until we came around to side of the autobot hangar. Firefly's sprint turned into a dead run. We got ahead of Bee and Sam. Once we got back to the door, Firefly dug her back feet in to stop herself, leaning back on her hindquarters. Once stopped, she lifted her front legs and pawed the air. Bumblebee stopped next to us, and Sam got out.
"Wow!" His eyes were wide. "I didn't know you could go that fast."
Firefly had sparkle in her optics. "Yeah, my record speed is 204 mph."
"Hey, that's cheating." Bumblebee grumbled, transforming. "We all know that I'm clearly the fastest."
"Not anymore." I pointed out.
"I need to practice more." Bumblebee said. "Or pester Ratchet to upgrade my engine."
"Speaking of which, I'm gonna go." Firefly said.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted. With me still seated on her back, she walked inside the base and toward the med-bay. Once she walked into the med-bay, I could feel the sympathy for Ratchet practically radiating off Firefly.
He looked honestly pitiful. His green frame was motionless where it rested on the berth. A few machines beeped and purred next to him. Another looked like a big canister full of glowing blue energon with a tube feeding into his arm. One of his shoulders was missing its armor, which was piled up on the workbench a few feet away. I could see all the components that made up his shoulder. The armor that was still attached to him was dented and scuffed; its once bright green color was dulled under the grime. Energon was dried onto his armor. What wasn't dry was smeared on his armor. I didn't know much about alien robot medicine, but I could tell when he woke up, he would be sore.
Firefly turned her head and nudged my leg. I understand what she wanted. I climbed on her head, and she lowered it to the ground to let me slide off. She transformed to her bipedal form and scooped me up. She grabbed a stool and sat on it, setting me on the berth which Ratchet's motionless form rested on. She looked really- sad, a stark contrast to the cheery bot who'd lived up to her name that she was earlier.
"Are you ok, Firefly?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm just worried." Firefly rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"But you said he's going to be fine."
"I know, but I'm still worried." She sighed.
Arcee walked back into the med-bay, carrying a scanning tool. "He should wake up soon."
"Good." Firefly nodded.
Ratchet groaned, blinking open his optics. They were dim, but brighter than when I first seen them. Arcee got to his side, holding that scanning tool from earlier, and swept it over his frame, a blue light emitting from it.
"How do you feel?" Arcee asked.
"Like I fell off a mountain." He grated out. His voice was full of static.
"Well, we kinda did fall off a mountain. That cliff collapsed." Firefly sassed. Ratchet smiled slightly, then winced.
"How's that back strut?" Arcee questioned him some more, intertwining her pink digits with his green ones.
"Hurting." Ratchet half-snorted, with less static in his voice. "But that's not exactly unexpected."
I shifted, getting a bit more comfortable, leaning against Firefly's hand. Firefly glanced down at me, met my gaze, and smiled.
"Hey, do you still need a guardian?"
"I think?" I have no idea what she's asking, but if it means hanging around here more often, it sounds great.
"You, as a guardian?" Ratchet asked. When Firefly nodded enthusiastically, he chuckled. "Something's going to get blown up."
"Aw-" Firefly glanced down at me and smirked. "Dad, give me some more credit."
Ratchet smiled. "Maybe you would be a good guardian but we do not need another duo like Sam and Bumblebee though."
"We won't be." Firefly promised, and then scooped me up. "Woah!" I exclaimed. She clearly didn't notice. "Hey, ya know where Optimus is so we can try to convince him?"
Ratchet chuckled and Arcee smiled, before saying. "Behind you."
Firefly spun around, jerking me around. "Woah, Firefly!"
"Sorry." She apologized.
"You're totally sorry." I grumbled, fixing my hair.
"So, Optimus…" And this was when my hopefully-future-guardian went into her act, puppy-dog eyes, letting her antennas droop, letting her shoulders sag. I could already tell: we were gonna get along great. "…Could I maybe be Sari's Guardian?"
"Yes." Optimus nodded, smiling. "Just, please be responsible."
"Me? Irresponsible? I wouldn't even entertain such a thought."
Optimus chuckled. Firefly nodded fervently. "Thanks, Prime!"
And with that, she flew out of the room. I didn't know what we were doing next or where we were going, but I knew I was going to have one awesome summer.
So, I did make up Links. Feel free to use the concept of them in your stories.