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

Chapter 38: A Day To Remember.

Annabeth and Luke laughed as they got off of the roller coaster known as "Fury 325" for the fifth time.

"You two having a lot of fun?" asked Hound, whose holomatter sat on a bench outside it next to Prowl's.

"Most fun ever!" Annabeth cheered.

"Yeah, it's nice to just be normal kids for a while," Luke added.

"I bet," Prowl said. He glanced around. "I don't see any sign of monsters or cons. I think we're still good."

"Let's go again!" suggested Annabeth.

"Actually Annabeth," said Hound. "I think we should probably be going. I think it's past time we met up with Hot Rod and Thalia…"

"Oh… yeah…" Annabeth muttered as she gave a sheepish smile. "We probably should meet up with them…"

"Don't worry, Annabeth," said Luke. "I'm sure we'll have time to ride more coasters later."

Annabeth, Luke, and Prowl and Hound's avatars walked over to the game corner, where they found Thalia and Hot Rod's avatar's dangling on some kind of rope ladder game.

"Whoa!" Thalia moaned. "This is harder than it looks!". The rope ladder she was on spun around due to her weight, and Thalia had a hard time keeping balanced.

"I don't know about you, but this is easy!" Hot Rod said smugly.

"Easy for you to say!" Thalia said. "It's because that's not your real—"

"Ahem." Prowl's approaching avatar interrupted as he "cleared his throat".

"Oh right," Thalia muttered. "Forget what I said—WAAAAH!" Thalia wailed as she fell off the ladder and into the soft pit below her. "Aw man," she muttered.

"Hey, Thalia." Annabeth greeted.

"Hey guys…"

"You okay?" Luke asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Thalia said as she picked herself up and walked over to them. "I've fought giant monsters and robots, and I can't master a stupid carnival game," she lamented.

"That''s because these kinds of games are evil," laughed Luke.

"No way! It's too much fun to be evil." Hot Rod said as he finished the game and went to collect his prize.

"That's how they're so deceptive." Luke teased.

"So, uh, you guys wanna play any games?" Thalia asked.

"I suppose..." muttered Prowl, but he didn't look very excited about it.

"Come on, Prowl, it's our day off!" laughed Hot Rod. "Live a little!"

"I don't know the meaning of the words day off," Prowl stated firmly.

"Come on, Prowl, let's have some fun," Annabeth said.

Prowl's avatar rolled his eyes. "Very well," he said. "What game should we partake in?"

"How about that one?" Hound asked, pointing at one game booth that seemed to have a bunch of water guns all lined up in front of some targets.

"What's that one?" asked Annabeth.

"It's a game where you shoot some water at a target to move something, and whoever moves theirs to the finish line wins," Luke explained.

"You had me at finish line!" Hot Rod said confidently. "Let's do it!" he raced his avatar over to the game. Thalia followed, and Annabeth and Luke were not far behind.

"Coming Prowl?" asked Hound.

"Yes, I'm coming…" Prowl said.

The employee at the booth gave them each their seats, and the six were all soon ready for the game to begin.

"I'm so going to win this," Annabeth said.

"Eat my dust, smarty." Thalia shot back.

A couple of minutes of intense gaming later, and Luke was walking away with the stuffed animal prize.

"How is it that even when we're not physically running, you're still faster than us?" Thalia asked bitterly.

"Secrets of being a Hermes kid." Luke laughed.

"Maybe we should test out that speed," Hot Rod proposed. "See how you do against me in vehicle mode."

"Yeah, maybe we should," Luke said.

"I still can't believe Annabeth got ahead of me." Prowl muttered.

"At least you didn't come in last place…" Hound said bitterly.

At that moment, a grumbling sound broke the bickering up. Everyone turned to the source of it and saw Annabeth clutching her stomach. She gave a sheepish smile.

"I think that's a sign it's time for lunch," Luke suggested.

"Yeah," Thalia agreed. "Food sounds pretty good right now..."

Hot Rod, Hound, and Prowl felt slightly awkward in the restaurant they had found nearby. Since they were using their holomatter avatars, they obviously couldn't eat any of the food there, meaning they just had to sit and watch as Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke helped themselves to the massive selection of food.

"You know you could just wait outside." Annabeth pointed out as she dug into a soft pretzel.

"Yeah, but no offense; we couldn't keep an eye on you then." Prowl points out. "Trouble has a way of finding you guys even without us around."

"Good point," Luke said as he swallowed some french fries.

"Primus, you kids consume more food than Guzzle and Trailbreaker consume energon…" Hound noted.

"Months later, and it's still a relief compared to how you guys found us," Thalia answered.

Hot Rod didn't join in on the banter. His holomatter avatar was just staring at something across the restaurant.

"Hey, Hot Rod?' Thalia asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's that stranger again." Hot Rod murmured.

Thalia turned her head to where Hot Rod was looking. He was right. That awkward-looking guy they bumped into earlier was right there, a few tables away. He was digging into an enchilada and looking nervously around; he shot an occasional glance at Thalia before looking away.

"Hey, it is him," Thalia said.

"Who?" asked Hound.

"Some guy me and Thalia ran into earlier." Hot Rod explained.

"Yeah, he was acting really weird…" Thalia said.

Luke glared at the strange boy. "You think he's a monster?" he asked.

"It all likelihood it is," said Hound.

"So what do we do?" asked Thalia.

"Give me a second to come up with a plan first," Annabeth said.

"No, let me come up with the plan." Prowl said.

"How about you both come up with it?" Suggested Hound.

"Okay. Yeah. That's a good point." Prowl conceded.

"Great," Annabeth said cheerfully. "First, let me finish eating though." She proceeded to shove a huge chicken nugget into her mouth.

The awkward-looking guy strained as he tried to listen in on the conversation the group he was watching was having.

It would really help him out if he could figure out what they were talking about...

It would also help if he could get a chance to talk to Thalia herself, but he couldn't, not while those…things were still here. He couldn't risk them being aware of him.

After all, abominations couldn't be trusted.

Several minutes passed, and at last the group of six got up and began to leave. The awkward man sat up and followed them. He wasn't about to let them out of his sight.

He stumbled over as he walked out of the building. He wished he had better legs; he was so slow when he wasn't allowed to...

Now wasn't the time to think about that. He found the six outside the restaurant walking down the line. He hid behind a tree first. He had to make sure they weren't aware of him before.

None of them turned back, so that looked like a clear sign. He walked forward slowly, trying to keep his head down.

"You okay?" asked a voice as a guy with a red jacket came over.

"I'm alright," the awkward guy said.

"You need some help?" the guy in the red jacket asked.

"No, no…my situation is a bit more... The awkward guy sniffed the air. and realized he couldn't smell the guy in the red jacket. "...Complicated." he finished nervously.

He was about to make a run for it when the red jacket guy extended his leg in front of the awkward guy, tripping him. The awkward guy fell to the sidewalk face-first with a THUD.

"Baaaa…" he muttered.

Thalia, Luke, Annabeth, Hot Rod, Hound, and Prowl ran over to see Sideswipe's holomatter avatar had tripped the guy following them.

"Nice job, Sideswipe," complimented Hound.

"No problem," Sideswipe said. "You guys need my help with this guy?"

"No, I think we got it." Luke said, cracking his knuckles "Thanks anyway."

Sideswipe's avatar walked away, and Luke picked up the disoriented stalker by the neck; he held him up right in front of them.

"Baa," the guy muttered again.

"Did he just baa?" asked Hot Rod.

"Who are you!?" Luke asked.

The guy seemed to snap out of it at the sound of Luke's voice. He shuddered with fear. "I, um, I don't know if I should tell you much right now…" he said nervously.

"Why not?" asked Hound.

"Because I can't trust any of you guys…" the stranger said as he awkwardly pointed at Hound, Hot Rod, and Prowl's holomatter avatars.

"Why can't you trust us?" Prowl asked.

"Is it because we don't smell like anything?" asked Hot Rod. "That's what you said earlier…"

"Wait. Smell?" asked Annabeth.

The awkward guy froze up.

Thalia looked confused "So is he a monster or..." she trailed off.

"If he was a monster, he would have changed and attacked us by now." Hound pointed out.

"Wait a minute." Annabeth said thoughtfully. "Luke, take off his shoes."

"What?" Luke asked.

The awkward guy winced.

"Just do it," demanded Annabeth.

Luke sighed and pulled off the stranger's shoes, but rather than flesh and blood feet, the ends of his legs were cloven hoofs.

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at them.

"So he's got donkey legs?" Hot Rod asked.

The stranger let out an irritated 'BAAAAAAAAAAA" and kicked his legs up and hit Hot Rod's holomatter avatar right in the face. It didn't hurt Hot Rod, but it was very disorientating for him. He stumbled backward, and his avatar flickered in and out of sight.

"URG," he grunted.

"GOAT LEGS! I have GOAT LEGS!" The stranger stated as if having the lower half of an animal was something to be proud of.

"Okay, why do you have goat legs?" asked an incredulous Prowl.

"Because he's a satyr," explained Annabeth. "They're half men and half goat creatures from Greek myth."

"Is that true?" asked Hound.

"Erm yeah," the guy said awkwardly. "My name is… is Grover."

Luke, seeing this guy was going to be no threat at all, put him down. Then Thalia walked over and grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Hey, easy… this seems a bit redundant," Grover protested.

"Well, 'Grover'," began Thalia. "What are you doing following us?"

"I'm just trying to keep an eye on you." Grover explained. "It's what my bosses want."

"Who are your bosses?" asked Prowl.

"Chiron." Grover explained some more as he loosened himself from Thalia's grip. "He's the guy in charge of Camp Half-Blood–"

"That place again!?" Luke growled resentfully.

"Luke, calm down," Hound said assuringly.

Luke took a deep breath and sighed. "Is that what this is about?" he asked. "You're trying to get us all to go to this camp? Like my dad wants?"

"Luke, shut up about your dad." Thalia murmured as she let Grover go.

"This isn't about Hermes," Grover said. "Chiron doesn't like any demigod being outside of Camp Half-Blood and unaccounted for too long. After Charles Beckendorf told us about you guys, he wanted me to be your protector," he explained, pointing at Thalia.

"And you didn't just tell us because?" Hot Rod asked.

Grover glared at Hot Rod, then he glared at Prowl and Hound. "Because I know what your true forms are because of Charles, I know these forms right in front of me are just some kind of projection. I know you're abominations."

"Excuse me!?" asked an offended Hound. "Why!?"

"You're creatures of living metal and technology," Grover said dismissively. "You're a disgrace to the natural order."

"Natural order?" Prowl asked confused.

"Saytrs are said to have a really close bond with nature," Annabeth explained. "I'm guessing because you're living robots, they probably aren't too fond of you guys."

"Exactly," confirmed Grover. "Charles may have liked you, but I just can't see it that way."

Hot Rod, Prowl, and Hound winced. All three of them looked unsure of what to think.

Finally, Thalia spoke up. "Listen uh… Grover, right?" she said.

"Yeah…"

"I appreciate this Chiron– Wait, is he that Chiron?" Thalia asked.

Grover nodded.

Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia were quiet. "Whoa," said Annabeth.

"What? What is it?" asked Hound.

"Chiron's kind of a big deal." Luke explained. "We'll explain later."

Thalia shook her head. "Look. The point is, we appreciate Chiron being concerned about us and wanting to make sure we're safe, but we're doing fine right now."

Grover looked nervous. "I just don't know–"

"I know you don't trust these guys, but believe me, they're the best friends we've ever had. We're good." Thalia assured him.

"It's just that Chiron thinks..." Grover trailed off.

"What?" asked Luke. "He thinks what?"

Grover hesitated. "Look, um..." he pulled something out of his jacket. It was a business card that he handed to Thalia. "In case you need to call me or change your mind about coming to camp."

Thalia took the card and looked at it. It was in fancy script, which played havoc with her eyes, but she could vaguely make out it saying, "Grover Underwood. Keeper. Half-Blood Hill, Long Island, New York," along with a phone number.

"...I'll… I'll think about it," Thalia said.

"What?" whispered Luke.

"Erm…thanks…"Grover said. "I should probably get going now." he grabbed his shoes from Luke, put them back on, and then stumbled away.

"Why do we keep meeting so many weirdos?" Hot Rod asked.

Thalia was quiet. She just kept looking at the card.

"Thalia?" asked Annabeth.

"Nothing," she said. "Anyone wanna ride 'Afterburn'?"

"I do!" said Annabeth.

"Let's do it!" Luke said.

Hot Rod smiled, but then the face on his avatar went blank.

"Hot Rod?" asked Thalia. "Something wrong?"

"Um…no," said Hot Rod. "I'm fine."

He wasn't though.

He had just remembered where he'd seen Grover before. In the dream, he had several months ago. The one where Thalia sacrificed herself to save her friends...

The next few hours were some of the most fun times Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth had ever experienced. But eventually it had to come to an end. They met up with Chromia, Nightprowler, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker's avatars, and everyone started moving towards the park's parking lot.

As this was going on, Thalia was very quiet and distant; she kept looking at the business card Grover had given her.

Luke finally noticed Thalia's distant attitude as they were approaching the exit. "You okay, Thalia?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"You've been staring at that business card on and off again…are you seriously thinking of going to that Camp?" he asked.

"I dunno…maybe…" Thalia shrugged again. "We can't stay with the Autobots forever, Luke."

Luke sighed. "I just…I don't know…"

"Are you so angry at your dad that you're going to let a good opportunity pass us by?" Thalia asked.

Luke went silent and hung his head.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" asked Annabeth.

"Nothing." Luke and Thalia said together.

After Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth got in Hot Rod, Hound, and Prowl, respectively, and they started leaving the park, Thalia saw them pass by one of the giant entrance signs for Carowinds.

"Hey guys, stop!" she requested.

Hot Rod screeched to a halt. "What's up?" he asked.

"Can we get a photo of us all together by the sign? Me, you, Luke, Hound, Prowl, and Annabeth?" she asked.

"In robot form?" asked Prowl.

"Well yeah. Hound can just do that hologram trick he did at the Parthenon, can't he?" Thalia pointed out.

"Yeah, I'd actually like that," said Luke. "Something to remember this trip by besides the prizes we won."

"I don't see the harm in it," said Hound.

Prowl sighed. "Fine," he said.

After Hound finished projecting the large-scale hologram around the area, he, Hot Rod, Prowl, Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth stood by the Carowinds sign, each one by their respective partner.

"You six look good together," cheered on Sideswipe.

"I don't get why I don't get to be in the picture…" Sunstreaker murmured.

"This is a special thing for close friends, Sunstreaker." Nightprowler pointed out.

"I'm still good enough for it…" Sunstreaker groaned.

Chromia had volunteered to take the picture; she stood in place in front of them, pulling out the camera attachment on her wrist.

"You six ready?" she asked.

After the six nodded, Chromia lifted her arm up. "Alright then, say, "Till All Are One!"" she ordered

"Till All Are One!" Thalia, Luke, Annabeth, Hound, Hot Rod, and Prowl said at once with the biggest smiles on their faces.

Chromia snapped the picture right away. "Hah. Perfect. Got it on the first try," she said. "I'll make sure to make a printout once we get back to the Ark-27."

A couple of hours later, back on the Ark-27, Chromia presented the printed-out versions of the picture to them. One Autobot-sized for Hound, Hot Rod, and Prowl and one human-sized for Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke. She had been right. It was perfect.

"Damn. I look good," said Hot Rod.

"I must admit. It is nice to have something like this, all six of us together…" Prowl said.

"Thanks, Prowl!" said Annabeth, hugging his leg.

"You coming out of your shell stick in the mud?" Hound teased.

"Don't push it…" Prowl growled.

Thalia smiled as she looked over the picture.

"Thanks, guys," she said, smiling. "I'm gonna remember this. For the rest of my life..."

"Me too," said Luke happily.

As everyone walked back to do their own business for the night, Annabeth pulled Prowl aside. "Hey Prowl?" she asked.

"What is it, Annabeth?" asked Prowl, kneeling to her level.

"What does that phrase mean? Till All Are One?" she asked. "You and the other Autobots have said it a couple of times by now.

Prowl shrugged. "It's part of an old Cybertronian legend," he explained. '"The Darkest Hour."

"What's that?" asked Annabeth.

"Supposedly the darkest hour for all Cybertronians." Prowl continued. "When the fate of not only our planet but all planets are in danger from the threat of Unicron, and a battle, said to be unwinnable and doomed to failure, occurs."

"But," he added. "The legend also says that during all this, a hero will rise and all will become one."

"Who's Unicron?" Annabeth asked.

Prowl should have been annoyed, but he found himself smiling unexpectedly. "Tell you what, how would you like a proper history lesson on Cybertron?"

Annabeth beamed and grinned ear to ear."YEAH!" she said excitedly.

Prowl pulled Annabeth away into his room and the bot started to begin his lesson…

The next day, Ratchet called everyone to the briefing room for an important meeting. Once everyone had gathered, Ratchet got in front of everyone.

"Alright, I got good news and bad news." Ratchet said.

"Do the one that makes more sense to lead with." Annabeth requested.

"Good, you're learning," said Ratchet. "In this case, the good news is that I've found an energon deposit."

"Bad news?" asked Luke.

"The Decepticons found it first..." Ratchet muttered frustrated. "I sent a sky spy to look at the energon deposit I found in Arizona this morning, and they're doing their own mining operation right there."

"Then we'll just have to take that energon deposit for ourselves," Optimus said standing up. "Autobots, are you with me!?"

Everyone stood up and cheered, "Yeah!"

"Till all are one!" cheered Annabeth.

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