The trip through the portal this time around was probably the most… unique, to say the least. Thanks to Sharko, they weren't all going tumbling, especially since it looked like the shark and mermaid were basically fully in their element. Zig was struggling with the force of everything, while Caleb simply leaned against Sharko's dorsal fin with a bored loom on his face. He peeked over his shoulder, and smiled lightly as Katania and Gladius talked quietly with Bernie.

The boy sighed and closed his eyes, leaning back as he let his thoughts wander elsewhere. He knew they'd get home soon, but as things were he wasn't sure when. Things were so uncertain, that he wasn't sure if they'd get back in a decent time. He was hoping for at most a month, but with how inconsistent the worlds were, he was sure they'd be stuck in one for about two weeks. Maybe three if they were really unlucky.

As Caleb started to somewhat drift off, Katania glanced at him discreetly before looking back at Gladius and Bernie. "So, you sure you can tell how close we are to the Capital, Gladdy?" She asked in an uncertain tone.

"I can, yes", the sword said with a nod. "Thanks to the constant travel, I'm able to sense the centre of everything better. It helps that as a precaution, I left, as you would say, a piece of my essence in Caleb's room. That way, if something like this were to happen, I had a natural GPS signal to get us back as quickly as possible."

Bernie let out a curious squeak, his eyes looking a bit uncertain.

"I say we are… four worlds away till we make it back…" The sword's jewel shimmered a bit as he paused. "It's not exact, but I know we won't be at this for long. We'll most likely be back after a few more days, maybe a little over a week at most."

"That's good", Katania said with a relieved sigh. "Because after hearing your guys' last adventure, I don't want to be stuck in a world as long as you guys were with Star and Marco's. Over two weeks like that is… Too long to not make progress."

"I agree, but that was mostly because of Galacta anyway…" The blade shook his jewel. "But that's in the past. If we stay centred in the portals, then we should be fine." He was cut off when Zig spun past, looking horrified as he tried to gain control. With a sigh, Bernie reached over and pulled the hyena over, setting him down firmly on a vacant spot on Sharko's back. The shark let out a low growl at the added weight, but didn't do much else.

Marina was doing flips around her boyfriend, laughing like crazy as she did several tricks in a row. Caleb peeked an eye open to watch, and smiled as she did a triple axel. The boy chuckled, then relaxed, only to startle a bit when the mermaid landed next to him. Blinking, he looked at her and saw her light smile.

"Sorry, just didn't think you'd get tired of flying around", he said as he regained his bearings.

Marina shrugged, mumbling something. She then turned around so she could lay on her stomach and pet Sharko on the head.

"Yeah, it is all a bit much… But you get used to it." Caleb relaxed a bit, closing his eyes again. Marina smiled lightly, before looking down at his injury. The mermaid frowned, her mind wandering back to how Neptune just made it worse. If that snobbish royal punk ever showed up again, she'd have her dad completely lay him out.

She was knocked out of her thoughts when Sharko grunted, and she looked ahead to see a blinding white light approaching. Gladius just happened to look ahead at that point as well, and hummed.

"Everyone brace yourselves", he called out. "Portal exits with us are extremely inconsistent and tend to lead to-" He was cut off when the portal spat them out in mid air. "Disaster."

The group all screamed in terror as they fell through the air, tumbling down. Gladius worked quickly to grab Caleb with his telekinesis, who was grabbed onto by Kat and Zig. Sharko fell down like a rock, but was able to land with at least some sort of stability. He caught Marina and Bernie with ease, sighing in relief as he saw the others slowly come down.

When they were set on the sandy turf, Caleb sighed in relief. "And this is one reason I hate stuff like this…" He blinked and started to look around, taking in the sight of the little canyon they were in. It was just rust-coloured sand and rust coloured rocks. "So, we are… on Mars?"

"If we were, we'd be suffocating and dead", Kat said flatly. "Unless he's doing something", she jabbed a thumb at the blade. "Otherwise… Maybe this is a special Mars?"

Zig walked off as Caleb looked down thoughtfully. "That's not surprising. Some worlds tend to say 'Screw you, physics!'"

Marina knelt down and gazed at the ground, ruffling the dirt. As it kicked up a cloud of dust, she flew back and started hacking, waving it away. Sharko quietly chuckled, only to shut up with a terrified look when Marina snapped a glare in his direction. But things calmed back down as Zig jumped around at the top of one of one of the small canyon's walls. The group all shared looks, and started to head up towards him.

Gladius helped Caleb up as the others scaled the surprisingly easy to scale cliffside on their own. Sharko obviously helped the others reach ledges that were out of reach, but soon they reached the top. Looking out over the horizon, the group were all surprised to see endless highways snaking and looping around all over.

Some were on the ground, others were held up by massive concrete supports, but it all looked almost dream-like.

"I swear I've seen a place like this before", Katania said. "Like some in one ear, out the other kind of thought or dream."

"Endless roads as far as the eye can see…" Gladius hummed out in disbelief. "I have never seen infrastructure this… centralised…" He looked down at Caleb. "Do you know where we are, Caleb?"

The boy shrugged. "No clue. A location like this is pretty common in fiction, so it's honestly hard to say where we are exactly." He looked around, only spying a few high plateaus and strange structures in the distance. "And there's no landmarks… so I'm at a complete loss."

Bernie squeaked and pointed down at the road, gesturing at how it was styled.

"It honestly doesn't have any sort of recognisable style or design. So until we find someone, we're kinda stuck." He leaned on his crutch, looking up at the orange sky with a melancholy look. "So I guess the best bet we got is just walking and seeing what we find."

Sharko grunted, looked over the horizon, then nodded. He picked up the boy and placed him on top of his head, and the group all headed down the sloped side of the hill they were on, and reached the base of the slope. They were right beside a road, so after Zig did a quick game of Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Mo, they headed left.

The walk was fairly quiet and calm, with only the occasional sound of distant race car engines revving. Caleb hummed as he looked ahead, seeing the road they walked beside stretch on forever. But his thoughts were cut off when the sounds of a car were approaching them from behind. The group all turned around, and watched as a purple monster truck with red wheels raced passed at blinding speeds. It kicked up a bunch of dust, making the group shield their eyes and cough.

Gladius and Zig ran a bit after the truck, waving their wing/fist in anger.

Caleb cleaned the dust from his glasses and looked at the leaving truck with shock. "That… That was Dirt Boss…" He said.

"You know who that is?" Kat asked as Sharko and Marina looked up at him.

"Yeah… He's a Transformer… and if he's here, that means we're on the Velocitron."

The shark grunted while the mermaid looked interested. The general's daughter looked thoughtful. "I know a bit about Transformers… So I guess it's good?"

"These guys never really saw humans. Or… anything from Earth, for that matter. So I honestly don't know…"

"That's not too reassuring…" Gladius said in worry. "We should avoid the roads at all costs then, in case we become a target…"

"Uhhhhhhh… Guys?" Kat said in slight panic. The group looked at her, and she pointed the direction Dirt Boss came from. Looking down the road, they saw two vehicles booking right at them. And they clearly had the intent of targeting them.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY GUYS!" Caleb screamed. The group all scrambled back up the hill, just narrowly avoiding the two vehicles. They both were very contrasting, and the fact they turned around didn't help.

One was a red bike with red wheels and green headlights, topped with a golden trim. The other vehicle was a green car with three large, blue wheels, a plane cockpit of some kind, and two massive jet engines in the back.

"Aww, c'mon there's no need to be scared!" The bike said in a mock safe voice. "Me and CZ don't want to hurt ya'. We just want to give ya' a classic Velocitron welcome!" Both vehicles started to do donuts at the base of the hill.

"Yeah! We just want to see what you newbies have to offer!" The green car said.

"No thank you!" Caleb said fearfully. "We'd rather not get run over, if that's not so bad!"

"Nah, we wouldn't run ya' over!" The bike said, stopping so he was facing the group. "We just want to chat!"

Sharko growled and jumped down, unknowingly taking Caleb down with him. The boy ducked behind the shark as the green car, unsurprisingly, drove right at him. But the shark didn't even flinch as he grabbed the car's front wheel, bringing him to a dead stop.

"Uhhhhhhh… Can I try that again?" The car asked, only to stop his engine when the shark shook his head. Then, with little effort, Sharko threw the car across the road so it landed upside.

"Woah, okay!" The bike said in shock. "I didn't think we'd be playing like that!" He drove a distance away and turned around, and drove back up firing some blasts. Sharko acted fast by throwing Caleb back to the top of the hill, comically slipping through the laser and then decking the bike between the headlights when he was in range.

The bike fell on his side and groaned in pain. "Oooohhhhhhh… that'll leave a mark…"

Sharko huffed out steam from his nose proudly, grinning and laughing in triumph. The others all slid back down the slope and looked at both the vehicles, who were groaning in pain.

"Are you two… okay?" Kat asked carefully.

"Give us a… minute…" The bike said. He and the car suddenly shifted so they were robots that towered over the group, especially the car. Both of them were still obviously their respective vehicles, but it was still strange to see. "Okay… okay… You got us…"

Caleb tilted his head, taking in the two robots. "You both definitely are all bark, no bite… for the most part."

"Yeah, well we didn't think he was as strong as Dirt Boss", the bigger bot said a bit dejectedly as he pointed at Sharko.

The shark laughed as Caleb walked ahead. "Well… It is nice to talk to you without you trying to kill us. I'm Caleb, and these are my friends. We're travellers."

"I'm Ransack", the bike bot said. He then gestured towards the bigger robot. "And that's Crumplezone. We're pretty well known on Velocitron."

"Based on that behaviour, I'm not surprised…" Katania said as she and Zig shared a cringe.

"Hey, that's a title we're proud of!" Crumplezone spat out angrily. "So if you don't trash it, we won't trash your dumb haircut!"

"EXCUSE ME?!" The general's daughter roared. She glared at the robots before looking at her best friend. "Can we turn them into scrap already? I'm kinda done with their… them-ness, already."

Ransack and Cumplezone flinched as Sharko grinned and pounded his fists together and Bernie pulled out some tools, but Caleb holding up an arm made them stop. "No. Look, let me handle this."

He limped up to the bots and gave them a stern look. "Look, we've never been here before. And you two have lived all your lives. If we don't trash you, will you help us out and be our guides?"

Ransack discreetly glanced back at the others, and winced at the glares they all shot him. "Y-Yeah, sure, no problem! We'll help ya' any way we can!" He laughed nervously, then blinked. "Soooooo… should we get going?"

Caleb looked back at the others, then back at the robots with a genuine smile. "Yeah. Let's get going."

~X~

Ransack and Crumplezone raced down the highway at high speeds, but still at speeds that were comfortable for their new passengers. Sharko and Marina rode on Ransack while the others were all in the surprisingly spacious cockpit of Crumplezone,

Caleb leaned back in the seat as the Transformer took a turn well. "So, I wanted to ask… what do you two do here?"

"Race and… uhhhhh…" Crumplezone paused for a moment. "Race and mess with people. And cheat at races."

"Crumplezone!" Ransack scolded. "We don't cheat, we more… make things interesting. Plus, I don't see any rules anywhere, so what's there to follow?"

"They have a point…" Gladius mumbled. Kat swatted at the sword and huffed.

"So that's all you do? Race?"

"Well it's not like there's anything else to do here", CZ said. "We can get turned up, maybe charge up a bit… But it is mainly races here."

"What's nice is there are a good variety of tracks", the bike said. "There's turns, loops, ramps, tunnels… anything you can imagine! Sure, not much for off-worlders, but it's home to us."

"Have you guys really thought about going anywhere else in the universe?" Katania asked in a gentle tone.

"Of course! Just never knew where to go", Crumplezone answered.

Caleb hummed in understanding and looked out the cockpit window at the passing scenery. "Where are you two taking us any way?"

"Our place!" Ransack replied. "If you guys are here for a while, you need a place to relax. So why not open our door?"

"That's awfully kind of you two despite… previous situations…" Gladius said in an uncertain tone.

"Awww, don't mention it!" CZ said happily. "Ransack says it best: Never judge a book by its cover!"

"Sure…" Caleb said with a tense smile and clenched teeth. The group fell into silence for a moment before CZ spoke up again.

"So we told you about here", he said. "What's your guys' deal?"

"Well…" Caleb glanced at Gladius, and the sword just shrugged. "We're travellers from other worlds. Me, Katania and Gladius are trying to get back, and Zig, Sharko, Marina and Bernie are along for the ride."

"That sounds fun", Ransack said. "How do you guys get around?"

"Portals", Gladius said. "It's too complicated to get into."

"Eh, I'll take your word for it." The bike and rocket car turned off the main road and pulled up towards a decent but also kinda shabby garage. "And we are here!"

The group all climbed out/off the Transformers and started to look around the space as the two robots transformed into their bipedal forms. Crumplezone headed inside as Ransack did a scan of the area, seemingly looking for something.

"Everything okay, Ransack?" Kat asked as she walked over.

"Just trying to make sure no one was here", the robot responded. "Because of how famous we are, people like to leave… gifts…"

"AKA, you made enough people mad that you have them showing up and making a mess of the place."

Ransack was silent for a moment before sighing dramatically. "Yeah… It's not great, but at least Override tells them to back off, even if we cause trouble."

After Gladius helped Caleb onto one the garage's workbenches, he gave the bike a curious look. "How come?"

Zig let out gibberish adding to the question. Much to Caleb, Kat and Gladius' surprise, Ransack and Crumplezone understood him.

"Override is the leader of Velocitron", the bike Transformer explained. "And she always wants a fair race. So she doesn't want anyone messing with other garages."

"Not like it stops people messing with ours", CZ mumbled as he pulled out a few tools. "So me and Ransack are always trying to be in peak shape."

"Right you are, buddy!" The bike walked inside and took out one of the tools, starting to mess around with his wrist. "And with Dirt Boss dominating off-road and Override so fast no one can match up, we need to do what we can to win."

Bernie hopped onto the workbench and watched the robots work on themselves. Crumplezone looked down at the mollusk and turned away a bit while Ransack scowled. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." The robots were shocked when Bernie pulled out a camera out of nowhere and did just that.

CZ looked at Caleb with a look that screamed 'What the'. It made the boy snort and start to laugh like crazy, which spread to Zig, Kat and Marina. Gladius sighed good naturedly, while the others were all just confused by the turn of events.

After things calmed down, Bernie did a quick check-up on Caleb's injury before heading off to do his own thing. Katania jumped up next to him, and shot him a reassuring smile. The boy just silently shrugged, and the two young adults looked out the front door. Ransack walked up to them and leaned on the bench so he was behind them.

"You punks are weird", the robot said. "I've never even thought anyone could just show up here."

"We're a bit of a weird group", Caleb said with a half-smile and shrug. "Heck, you guys would love to meet others. Especially Barranco and Dave, they're right up your manic speeds."

"That'd be nice…" The biker looked up at the night Velocitron sky. "I'll be honest, but me and CZ have been getting antsy. We do want to see what else is out there, so you guys showing up is perfect."

"Well, maybe you can tag along, who knows", Caleb said with a full smile. "We'll have to upgrade our place, though. You two are definitely a bit big for what we're used to."

"I'll be looking forward to it." He walked off to find Crumplezone, leaving the two Capital kids on their own.

"So you actually want them to join?" Katania asked.

Caleb shrugged. "Maybe. I wouldn't mind, because having more fire power would be good. Plus, they'd make travel through the portals a lot easier."

"Fair…"

They both fell into silence again and watched as Zig struggled to set up some tents that Bernie had packed up. The sight did make Caleb smirk, but as he looked up to the star-filled sky his smile fell into a look of homesickness. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, wishing that the rest of his family was okay.

Which they both were and weren't.

Spamley looked up as the bell at his pawns shop's front ringed, and smiled as Ralph walked inside.

"Ralph! How is it?" The pop-up said.

The wrecker sighed, slumped over as he walked behind the counter, pulling up a chair, and sitting down heavily in it. "Bad. The others are still missing, Rainbow is still an emotional mess, and everything has basically halted."

Spamley glanced out the front windows to the light drizzle outside. "Yeah, I can see that second part…" he sighed. "I'm really sorry about the kids, too, Ralph. But I'm positive they'll make it back soon and in one piece."

"Thanks, Spam…" The wrecker shot his partner a grateful smile. Gord came over with a cup of coffee, and Ralph took it while saying a quiet thank you. Taking a sip of his drink, the wrecker looked at his partner with a gentle look. It was still weird that he had found love in this guy, who actually reciprocated. Even if this wasn't supposed to be, he was happy.

Ralph's mind was taken off his partner as a customer walked in and started to scour the shelves. The wrecker stood up and went to the back room, always up to help Spamley organize any of his excess stuff. As he looked over the shelves, his phone buzzed.

Picking up the call, he held it to his ear. "Hey, what's going on, Scrapy?"

"Fine…" The clawed animatronic said with a sigh. "I'm just calling because you vanished and the others were worried."

"I just went to Spamley's to hang out with him and take my mind off things."

"That's a good idea, because Rainbow is going on a bit of a warpath. Not towards us, but everyone is staying out of her way. Me and Bon are going to head to the theatre to get away from the noise. If you want, you and Spamley can tag along. Merida and Izzy are coming."

"I'll see what Spam says. Keep ya' posted."

"Okay. Good luck, Ralph." The call ended just after, with the wrecker wondering why it was so short. But he just shrugged and went back to his task at hand. Things were slow, but he knew things would get back to normal soon.

"Be safe, kids…"

~X~

And that's chapter 15 done! Yes, we are now with Transformers in this story! I will warn that this arc won't be as long as the others, maxing out at two chapters. It's because Velocitron is such a barren place that I need to focus on characters more, which can only go so far when four of the nine characters are non-verbal. So yeah, won't be as long.

But regardless, this was fun! Simple but sweet! I'm definitely excited to get Ransack and Crumplezone for future chapters. Actual powerhouses.

Hope this shorter chapter sufficed!

Up next: As they see the group interact and hear what they say more, Ransack and Crumplezone worry for the future and their place in a 'war' they're forced into…

~Caleb/Kat~