I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.

Chapter 37: A New Guy and a Day Off.

After Galen had given them the coordinates to the location of the construction of the Nautilus, Ratchet had stayed up all night studying them and doing the calculations.

Everyone was called to the briefing room the next day to hear his findings.

"So Ratchet, what do you think?" Optimus asked.

"Pretty straightforward really," Ratchet explained. "As Galen said, the coordinates lead to an uncharted area of the Indian Ocean. I can't find a human map that shows an island there though."

"Which in this case is probably a good thing," Prowl noted.

"Exactly," Ratchet said.

"Ugh, we gotta go in a place with a lot of water again…" groaned Sunstreaker.

"Don't worry Sunstreaker, we should be above the water this time." Thalia pointed out.

"And thank goodness for that…" Sunstreaker muttered.

"Before we head off, though, there is one thing we need to do…" Ratchet said. "We're running low on Energon. That last trip to the Mediterranean drained up most of our reserves."

"Energon, that's what you call the crystals that give us power and life, yes?" Nightprowler asked.

"Yeah," Hot Rod said. "What did you call them?"

"We just referred to them as "Power Crystals"." Nightprowler elaborated.

"Basic name, but it's self-explanatory," Hot Rod responded. "I like it."

"We also didn't need to use them much because the cube kept us powered," Nightprowler added.

Prowl sat up in his chair and faced everyone. "Alright, we have our mission, find more energon, and then we're headed to the Indian Ocean, everyone got that?"

Everyone stood up and said, "Sir, yes, sir!" except for Nightprowler, who just looked weird at everyone.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Chromia spoke up. "This is what we do when we receive orders. To acknowledge we understand we're prepared to follow them," she explained.

"Oh, I... I see." Nightprowler stammered before rising. "Sir, yes, sir!" he said.

"Good," Optimus said. "Now, we need to attend to other business." He turned to Nightprowler. "Nightprowler, I need you to be fitted with your own holomatter avatar."

"What's that?" Nightprowler asked.

"It's basically a mini avatar we can make as a human." Hound said. "You'll see."

"And there's one other note…" Optimus hung his head solemnly. "In light of…recent losses, I've decided to call in some backup from Cybertron." He looked at Hound after saying this. "Hound, I want to make it clear that I am not replacing Brawn. No one can replace him. But the mission—

"It's okay Optimus." Hound said, holding up a reassuring hand, "I understand. We need all the help we can get."

"Wait, someone else is coming in from Cybertron?" Luke asked.

"We're gonna get to meet another one of your friends?" Annabeth asked excitedly.

"Yes." Optimus nodded. "In fact, their shuttle should be arriving just about now."

Everyone went outside the Ark-27 to wait for the arrival of the new Autobot. While they waited, Ratchet started fitting Nightprowler with the holomatter projector he would need.

Ten minutes later they were still waiting.

When fifteen minutes passed, Prowl growled. "Where is he?" he muttered.

"Patience Prowl…" muttered Optimus but his voice indicated he was getting just as fed up.

Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke were annoyed as well. They really wanted to meet the new Autobot.

"What are we looking at?" asked a voice.

"Oh, we're waiting for the new Autobot to show up," answered Thalia. She then froze, and her blood ran cold.

She didn't recognize the voice.

She and everyone turned around.

"Surprise!" said a red and white Autobot with a missile launcher on his left shoulder with his arms outstretched.

Everyone jumped back in astonishment.

"SIDESWIPE!" yelled Sunstreaker. "I should have known it was you!"

"Sideswipe." Optimus scolded. "You said you were landing your shuttle right outside the base!"

"I lied," laughed Sideswipe. "I actually landed it a few miles away so I could sneak up on you all!"

"It is kind of funny," Luke said, laughing.

Sunstreaker growled. "You little…"

"Oh, by the way," Sideswipe added, pointing at Sunstreaker's chest, "Your paint is smudged."

"What?" asked Sunstreaker, looking down before Sideswipe raised his finger up, flicking Sunstreaker in the face.

Sunstreaker rubbed his face angrily. "Sideswipe…" he growled.

"Hah! Got you again." Laughed Sideswipe.

"Of all the stupid…" Sunstreaker took in a breath and allowed himself a moment to collect himself. Then he smiled. "It's good to see you again, bro," he said, raising a fist.

Sideswipe bumped it. "Likewise."

"Aw," muttered Hot Rod. "They got you?"

"What's wrong with me?" asked Sideswipe.

"I was hoping for Velocity…" Hot Rod murmured.

"Who's Velocity?" asked Thalia.

"One of our medics," answered Chromia.

"Yeah, and Hot Rod likes her…" teased Sideswipe.

"I... I don't!" Hot Rod stammered, his face turning as red as his paint job.

Sideswipe laughed, then kneeled down to look at Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth. "So these are the disgusting life forms Sunstreaker has told me all about?" he asked.

"Disgusting life forms?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"Sunstreaker…" Hound scolded, crossing his arms.

Sunstreaker put a hand on the back of his head and gave a sheepish laugh. "Annabeth, Luke, Thalia, this is my brother Sideswipe. Autobot close combat specialist and a pain in the tailpipe."

"Nice to meet you," Luke said, extending a hand.

"Good to meet you too…" Sideswipe said, carefully shaking it.

"I would like to extend my greeting to you as well, Sideswipe," Nightprowler said as he extended his hand.

Sideswipe took Nightprowler's hand next and shook it. "And you must be the cat bot my brother and the others rescued."

"Yes. You may call me Nightprowler."

"Can't wait to see what you can do," Sideswipe said. He turned to face everyone else. "In all seriousness, it's great to be here helping you guys, and I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances."

Hound hung his head at that.

"I'm just glad you're finally here, Sideswipe," Sunstreaker said.

"Right, so what are we doing next?" Sideswipe asked.

"For now, while Ratchet is searching for a new energon deposit, I want you to get acclimatized to Earth," Optimus instructed.

"I guess that's another way of saying we need to give you the grand tour." Luke guessed.

"Sounds good to me," Sideswipe said.

"I would like to come along too," Nightprowler said. "It would give me a chance to 'test out' the holomatter avatar as Optimus wanted me to."

"Then it's settled," Optimus said. "Autobots, get to work."

After Sideswipe had settled on his alternate mode for disguise on Earth, a Lamborghini Countach like his brother's, the rest of the Autobots took Sideswipe down to a nearby city to help him get the hang of driving on Earth roads. Ratchet and Optimus elected to stay behind to get some work done.

Nightprowler came along, too, with Hound using his hologram tech to make it look like Nightprowler was an ordinary car and not an out-of-place snow leopard.

Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke were, as usual, riding in Hot Rod, Prowl, and Hound respectively.

"You sure you don't want to get a proper modern-day alternate mode Nightprowler?" asked Chromia as she and the other Autobots drove down the South Carolina highways in their vehicle modes. "It might be a little easier on both you and Hound."

"It's not a problem Chromia," assured Hound. "This is child's play compared to what else I can do with this tech."

"Besides," added Nightprowler. "I don't wish to give up my beast mode. It has a very sentimental attachment to me."

"Alright, fine…" said Chromia.

"Okay, enough stalling," Prowl said. "Nightprowler, deploy your holomatter avatar."

"Yes, sir," Nightprowler said. He focused, and in the backseat of Prowl's police car mode, a figure in an ancient Greek tunic and brown hair appeared. "Did I do it correctly?" Nightprowler asked.

Luke looked over from his position in Hound who was driving nearby. "Well, yeah, but your clothes are a little outdated," he said.

"I'm not caught up on the clothing of the modern day…" Nightprowler pointed out.

"Well, I think he looks cool," said Annabeth with a smile.

Luke shrugged. "Maybe we can fool everyone into thinking you're a frat boy."

"What's a frat?" asked Nightprowler.

Meanwhile, Sideswipe was in front of the pack of Autobots, with Sunstreaker and Hot Rod close behind him. He had his holomatter avatar, a college-aged kid with black hair, a red jacket, and more than a few scars, upfront "driving.".

"I think you're getting the hang of this Sideswipe," Sunstreaker noted.

"Aw, this is easy…" Sideswipe boasted.

Just then they turned, and a stoplight appeared ahead of them.

"Okay, Sideswipe, remember," said Thalia. "Green means?"

"Go," said Sideswipe.

Just then, the light ahead of them turned yellow.

"And yellow means?" asked Thalia.

"GO FASTER!" Sideswipe hit his accelerator and sped forward.

"NO!" cried Thalia.

"Well, I mean… technically..." Hot Rod began to say.

"Shut up, Hot Rod," ordered Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe accelerated quickly as he neared the intersection. Thalia and Sunstreaker winced, fearing Sideswipe would crash at any moment.

And then right at the last second, Sideswipe stopped on a dime.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you." Sideswipe laughed. "Yellow means caution, and red means stop."

Thalia and Sunstreaker let out sighs of relief. "You nearly gave me a heart attack there," Thalia moaned.

"That's my brother for you…" muttered Sunstreaker.

The seven Autobots drove around for a few more hours before Hound's eyes latched onto a huge thin structure with tracks rising into the air.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Hound.

"That's a roller coaster." Annabeth said. "We must be near Carowinds!"

"What's Carowinds?" asked Chromia.

"It's this awesome amusement park, with rides and games and all sorts of stuff!" Annabeth explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Hot Rod. "Let's go there!"

"Sounds great to me!" Sideswipe said.

"Wait. Now?" asked Prowl.

"Yes, now," said Luke, smirking.

"But we still have important business to do!" Prowl reminded everyone.

"Prowl…We've been through a lot in the past couple of days," Hound stated. "I think we can all use a break…"

"I would like to see this 'amusement park' as well," Nightprowler added. "It would give me a way to study the culture of this new time period, as well as allow me to test my holomatter avatar in a public place."

"But…but…" Prowl stammered. "Our headstart…"

"Prowl…Let's just go…" Chromia said.

"...Fine," Prowl said.

"Yay!" cheered Annabeth.

After finding parking spaces, making sure Nightprowler was hidden in his snow leopard mode, and helping Nightprowler pick out more appropriate clothing for the modern age, the seven Autobot avatars and the three kids headed into the park.

It was massive. Giant roller coasters like the ones they'd seen from afar stretched far and wide; all other kinds of rides were scattered around, and vendors also dotted the landscape, offering food, stuffed animals, and different types of souvenirs.

"It is... very colorful," Nightprowler noted.

"Oh man, if I'd known your planet was this awesome, I'd have come way sooner!" Sideswipe laughed.

"It is indeed quite awesome." Hound laughed back.

"So what are you kids doing first?" asked Sunstreaker, his avatar that of a similar-looking college-aged guy to Sidswipe's except with blond hair and a black jacket.

"Roller coaster," Annabeth said.

"Roller coaster," Luke repeated.

"What?" asked Thalia.

"Come on, Thalia you can't go to an amusement park and not go on a roller coaster!" Luke pointed out.

Thalia looked shakily at one of the nearby coasters, how tall it was.

Hot Rod's excited expression turned a little downcast when he saw how nervous Thalia was. "Um… actually, guys. Why don't we split up?" he suggested. "I'll go with Thalia. Prowl, Hound, you two can go with Luke and Annabeth. We can meet up later."

"Yeah. Sounds good to me." Thalia suggested.

"Works for me," Hound added.

Prowl shrugged. "It's fine with me."

"You sure, Thalia?" Luke asked, a bit nervous.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Thalia said a bit relieved. "Tell you what, let's meet up at the game corner later, and we'll have all kinds of fun trying to beat each other."

Luke shrugged. "Alright then."

"Let's go then!" Annabeth said, grabbing Luke's arm and dragging him towards the nearest coaster.

"Man, that girl can move…" Hound said, walking after her with Prowl in tow.

As everyone split off into their own little groups, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker found themselves in one. Since they couldn't go on many rides without attracting suspicion due to their holomatter avatars, the two mostly just wandered around the park taking in the sights.

Sideswipe couldn't help but watch and wonder at all of the humans walking around and the sights to see. His eyes locked on one yellow roller coaster that went through two loops and then two corkscrews. "Man, Annabeth was right," he noted. "This place is awesome."

"I suppose…" muttered Sunstreaker.

"Come on Streak… You're still not on this whole "organics spread gunk" thing, are you? Sideswipe asked.

Sunstreaker had his avatar cross his arms in indignation.

"You miss Cybertron, don't you?" Sideswipe asked.

"How can you tell?" Sunstreaker muttered sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, you're not missing much…" Sideswipe muttered.

"It's still home…" Sunstreaker pointed out.

Sideswipe was quiet.

"What?" asked Sunstreaker, his voice rising out of nervousness.

Sideswipe hesitated for a moment before answering. "Things took a turn for the worst after you left…" he explained.

"Worse?" Sunstreaker asked. "Worse how?"

"The last of the natural energon lakes dried up…" Sideswipe answered.

"Oh…" Sunstreaker said quietly.

"Look, my point is, you're on a planet that has some life in it, Streak," Sideswipe said. "You need to make the most of it…"

Sunstreaker turned his head and stared off at a nearby forest, his mind a mess of emotions…

Elsewhere, Chromia and Nightprowler's avatars sat on a nearby bench watching the various humans pass by. As each one passed, Nightprowler took note of each. At one point he took particular interest in one couple who were making out with each other.

"Hmm... it seems that even in this time, people need to cool it with displaying affection in public," he noted.

"So people needed to get a room back then too?" Chromia laughed.

"You have no idea how bad it was in the times of ancient Greece," Nightprowler said ominously.

"And I get the feeling I don't wanna know…" Chromia muttered.

Nightprowler was silent as he continued watching people. He observed another person, this one an African American man that walked by.

"So how are you feeling now that it's been a few days?" Chromia asked.

"A bit better…" Nightprowler admitted. "Thank you for making me feel like I'm a part of the team despite my brief time here."

"You're welcome," said Chromia.

"And I'm certainly looking forward to fighting alongside you in combat properly and…what's the word? Scrap some Decepticons?"

Chromia smirked. "That's the spirit."

Hot Rod and Thalia meanwhile we're enjoying some of the other rides. Right now, Thalia was getting off one ride that was referred to as a "Scrambler". After it was over, she swayed back and forth, and she tried to get her balance as she stepped off it.

"You okay Thalia?" Hot Rod asked as his avatar came to help her stay stable.

"Heck yeah!" laughed Thalia. "Now this is the ride for me! Not too high but with plenty of thrills!"

Hot Rod laughed, and his avatar and Thalia started looking around the park for another ride.

"So what's next?" Hot Rod asked.

"I think I'm ready to get to the game corner," Thalia said. "That's where we promised to meet the others, right?"

"Yep."

The two walked over there and spent the next hour playing the various carnival games at the park. Hot Rod had never seen Thalia smile so much since he'd been with her.

As the two finished up a game of football toss and Thalia claimed her prize of a large stuffed animal, she and Hot Rod took a moment to step aside and get away from the crowds.

"Hey, Hot Rod…" Thalia said. "Thanks for being there for me…"

"Always Thalia." Hot Rod said. "But why's this coming up again?"

Thalia's smile turned sad. "Because…Because I just realized something."

"What?"

"...When I'm with you I don't have to pretend I don't miss my dad…" Thalia sniffed.

Hot Rod was silent for a moment. "Yeah…I guess Luke is a bit insistent on not talking about them…"

"I know he's had a hard time…" Thalia murmured. "But I don't think our parents are all bad… I think they can be—

Before Thalia could finish, someone bumped into her and knocked her down. The two fell in a heap on the ground.

"Thalia?! Are you okay!?" asked Hot Rod.

"I'm fine…" Thalia muttered, rubbing her head. She sat up and looked at the guy who ran into her, an awkward-looking guy with curly hair and a rasta cap who was slightly younger than her.

"I'm… I'm so sorry…" he muttered standing up shakily.

"It's cool…" said Thalia. "Accidents happen."

"Thank you, Thalia." the guy said.

Thalia and Hot Rod both froze. Then they glared at the guy. "How do you know my name?" Thalia asked.

The guy froze as well. "Um…No, I didn't," he said.

"You just called her Thalia." Hot Rod pointed out. He had his avatar cross his arms for emphasis.

"No. No, I'm pretty sure I did not." the guy stammered. "Girl I have never seen before in my life!" he said rather insistently but shaking as he did so.

"You're a terrible liar," Thalia said.

The guy groaned. Then he looked at Hot Rod's avatar curiously.

"What?" asked Hot Rod "What did I do?"

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Her friend."

The awkward guy walked over to Hot Rod and…started sniffing him?

Hot Rod responded by having his avatar punch the awkward guy in the face, knocking him to the ground again.

"Hot Rod!" cried Thalia. "You can't just go hitting random kids!"

"Even when they're being creeps?" Hot Rod asked.

"Okay, yeah, good point…" Thalia muttered.

"URG…" the guy groaned as he picked himself off the ground. "What in the name of Pan…You don't smell like anything. It's like you're dead…"

"Okay, what is going on here!?" Hot Rod asked.

"I don't… I mean…" the guy gave an odd laugh before he started walking away awkwardly, like he was on a limp.

Hot Rod and Thalia watched him leave with blank stares before looking at each other. "...What was that about?" Thalia asked.

Hot Rod shrugged. "I don't know…but I feel like…"

"Feel like what?"

"I feel like I've seen him somewhere before…" Hot Rod answered.

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