Chapter Three

Close Encounter

"Let's go check it out!" Pandora said starting to run ahead but she felt Kemeko grab hold of her tail.

"Wait!" she said to which Pandora turned to her with an annoyed look.

"What!?" she asked.

"We can't go any further! Dad and Grandpa Splinter said we can't go any further than the safe points!"

So saying she pointed to some red and yellow ribbons that were tied to the trees leading to the space ahead.

In the years the two girls had been travelling to the farmhouse, they were allowed to go exploring in the woods, but when they were alone, they were only allowed to go as far as the boundaries which at first started off and being the edge of the woods by the farmhouse, but since they had gotten older and more trust had been built, the turtles, Monalisa, April, Casey and Splinter had expanded the boundaries to further into the woods and even into further areas.

Pandora turned to Kemeko and rolled her eyes.

"So?" she said "It's just ahead by a few feet! Let's just check it out and come straight back! And anyway, we still got a couple of hours until it gets dark!"

As she said that she checked a wristwatch she wore.

"But it's out of bounds!" Kemeko argued "Dad says..."

"You gonna listen to everything Uncle Leo tells you?" Pandora asked getting rather agitated "And anyway, as I said, it's just up ahead by a few feet!"

"Pandora..." Kemeko sighed, but she trailed off knowing how stubborn and determined Pandora was, just like her father.

"Come on!" Pandora wheedled "We'll be back in two minutes and our parents will never know!"

Kemeko looked hesitant but Pandora sighed.

"Meh whatever!" she said, "I'm going to have a look anyway!" she quickly picked up the pace and ran to where she saw the shining object.

Kemeko didn't want to disobey Leonardo, but she didn't want to lose sight of Pandora so she ran after her.

"Hey wait!" she shouted "Not so fast!"

"It's always this way!" she thought to herself "Pandora running off to satisfy her curiosity and I'm the one having to keep an eye on her!"

She followed the stubborn hybrid reptile until they came to a wide clearing area in the middle of the woods where there seemed to be a large rocky formation where some groups of large shiny blue crystals sticking out!

As Pandora got there, she stopped and admired them.

"Whoa!" she cried "Get a load of that!"

Kemeko's jaw slowly dropped as she took in the image of the beautiful blue crystals.

Pandora went over and touched the crystals as they shone in the fading sunlight.

"Wow..." she said, "I've never seen anything like this before!"

"Me neither!" Kemeko agreed running up to join her hybrid cousin "They don't look like anything I've seen before, and I've studied semi-precious stones and the like!"

Both girls walked over and stroked the shining blue crystals then started to wonder how to harvest them.

"I wonder if we can break a piece off and show it to Uncle Donnie?" she asked.

"You got any tools?" Kemeko asked.

Pandora shook her head.

"No." she said, "I haven't even got my claws, tail blade or Mr Swinger with me, we're supposed to be on holiday."

"Ditto!" Kemeko agreed "Maybe we could find a rock or something to break it?"

As the girls analyzed the crystals, they were unaware that Optimus wasn't far away in his truck form.

He had been mining the rock formation gathering as many crystals as he could until he heard the voices of Kemeko and Pandora and had quickly moved around the formation and transformed into his truck form.

Since arriving on Earth, the rule was that they couldn't let the humans see them, nor let them come to harm whilst they searched for these crystals.

He sat there quietly in his truck form and watched the girls as they looked at the crystals curiously and he hoped they wouldn't hang around for long nor see him.

Yet that hope faded as Pandora moved towards where he was hiding, and she saw him!

"Hey Kem!" she shouted, "Check this out?"

"What?" Kemeko asked "Mind wandered away from the crystals already?"

"I just found a large truck here!" Pandora called over "A big red, blue and silver semi-truck!"

Kemeko instantly ran over to have a look.

"What's a truck doing here?" she asked "How did it even get here in the first place? It's too big to even get through the trees without ploughing any down in the process and I don't see any tire marks either!"

"That is strange." Pandora mused and she walked up to the truck and starting to knock on the driver's door.

"I wonder who it even belongs to?" she asked.

As he felt the hybrid climbing onto him, Optimus kept as still as possible.

He wanted to activate his holoform to make the hybrid back off thinking there was a human inside, but she was already climbing up to look in and he knew if he did, he would give himself away, but then again, as he saw the hybrid, he was equally surprised as in the three years he and his group had been on Earth, they had never encountered anyone like her.

"Curious..." he thought to himself "What being on this planet has her features? Are they a rare type of human?"

Pandora looked at the truck then jumped down.

"There's no-one inside." She said, "And I can't sense anyone else around."

"Neither can I." Kemeko said "Come on Pandora, let's just grab a piece of the crystals and let's get out of here."

"Alright alright!" Pandora grunted and walked over to the crystals, yet as she did, she heard a roaring sound.

"Hey," she said standing up straight "Did you hear that?"

Kemeko also looked up.

"What?" she asked.

"There's some roaring sound on the wind."

Kemeko narrowed her eyes and listened hard then her eyes widened.

"Sounds like there are jets nearby?" she asked.

"Not uncommon." Pandora said as she looked up to see three black jets as well as a grey one flying over then position themselves behind the rock formation.

The two girls watched in fascination as the jets hovered then they gasped in shock as they saw the jets transform into giant black robots whilst the first one morphed into a slender grey one.

"What the shell!?" Pandora cried as she grabbed Kemeko, and they hid behind a mound of rocks.

"Have I fallen asleep or something?"

"Maybe Uncle Don's burgers are spiked or I'm reacting to Uncle Mikey's orange juice!" said Kemeko "But I'm seeing things!"

"Me too!" whispered Pandora "Those Jets turned into giant robots!"

"Pinch me!" hissed Kemeko "Please tell me I'm not dreaming!"

Pandora gave Kemeko a sharp pinch on her arm causing the girl to squeak.

"You're not dreaming Kemeko!" Pandora confirmed "This is real!"

"Should we make a run for it?" Kemeko asked.

"No." Pandora replied "We'll draw attention to ourselves! Let's just stay quiet and watch, we'll have to either wait till they go away, or we'll sneak away."

As they continued to watch, they saw the first one, a tall slender grey and black robot with red eyes and pointed wings on his back walked over to the Rocks.

"Soundwave's co-ordinates lead us to this very spot, with all the Energon here, we shall have all we need to prepare for our Masters coming."

The three robots behind nodded.

"Start mining." The grey one ordered "Who knows if those Autobots might be on the trail!"

Pandora and Kemeko looked at each other fearfully.

"Something tells me these guys aren't friendly." Kemeko whispered "We should get out of here!"

"Shhhh!" Pandora pulled Kemeko down as a large robot walked close to their hiding place.

"Stay low!" she hissed.

The girls stayed still and silent as the robot worked around their hiding place, Pandora looked up as she saw a large hand wave over the rock they hid behind.

Kemeko gulped and grasped Pandora's hand painfully.

The hand hovered for a few moments then moved away, Pandora then felt the vibrations as the robot moved away from their hiding place.

Both girls exhaled in relief.

"That was close!" Kemeko hissed.

"Too close!" Pandora agreed, she peeked over the side of the rock and watched as the robots started to unearth the crystals and load them.

"Those crystals must mean something to them," she mused "but what?"

"I'm not sure I want to find out!" Kemeko hissed "Come on! Let's just get out of here whilst those guys are distracted!"

Pandora agreed and she stood up pulling Kemeko with her.

"Okay." She said, "On my word, one...Two...Three!" she cried and both girls took off towards the woods.

"If we get to the trees, those guys won't see us!" Pandora said, "Then we can take some pics for our parents to see!"

"Less talking more running!" Kemeko said yet as they approached the woods an explosion went off before them and they skidded to a halt in fright.

'Holy Shell!" Kemeko cried as she slid on the ground and looked behind her to see one of the black robots had fired at them from a cannon on his arm.

"Lord Starscream!" it cried "Fleshlings!"

At once the grey robot looked over and glared.

"Little beasts!" he snarled.

"Decepticons! Get those two-legged creatures!"

As he shouted that, Pandora grabbed Kemeko and pulled her up.

"Get up!" she yelled "Run!"

Kemeko looked over her shoulder to see the robots coming towards them and she screamed in fear, yet as she did, another shot was heard, and she and Pandora covered their ears as well as dived forward to avoid the shot.

Pandora rolled over onto her back to see what was happening and she soon saw a sight that made her gasp!

From the side of the rock formation, a red, blue, and silver robot that stood taller than the grey robot and his three black companions started firing at them.

"Optimus Prime!?" the grey robot Starscream shrieked as he saw him "How in the name of...?"

He stopped mid-sentence and started firing back at Optimus whilst the other two joined in whilst the third tried to grab Pandora and Kemeko!

Pandora and Kemeko quickly jumped away from each other to avoid the robot's large hands and they started to run in opposite directions.

"No fleshy leaves here alive!" the black robot snarled as he again tried to grab the girls, yet a shot was fired into his back, and he fell forwards!

"Kemeko!" Pandora shouted as she ran to her cousin, leaping over the black robot but as she did, she felt herself get scooped up and she screamed in terror!

"Pandora!" Kemeko shouted as she looked up to see that the large blue, red, and silver robot had grabbed her cousin.

"Let her go!" she shouted running up to him in an act of defiance, but she also screamed as he reached down and scooped her up into his other hand.

Kemeko screamed then she felt herself get moved then she found herself with her cousin in the robot's other hand.

"Pandora?" she cried reaching out and hugging her cousin to which the hybrid hugged her back.

"Kem!"

"What's happening?" Kemeko cried "What's going on!?"

"I don't know!" Pandora yelled yet she screamed and held Kemeko closer as she felt herself get held against the robot's chest then him speak in a robotic language then start to run as a few shots were heard behind them!

Both girls then felt darkness close in around them as the robot covered them in his large hands and started to run then a whirling sound was heard as well as the gunshots behind them!

Both girls held each other tightly as they felt themselves get carried away by whatever was holding them, unsure if they were friend or foe!

"Pandora!" Kemeko whimpered "I'm scared!"

Pandora held Kemeko close.

"It's okay Kem!" she soothed "I got you! Everything's going to be okay!"

Oh Boy! Looks like the girls have been caught in the crossfire!

Starscream and three of his Decepticon Soldiers have appeared and spotted them! But Optimus has revealed himself to help the girls! Yet how will Pandora and Kemeko react to this?

Stay tuned to find out!