#should these two meet Autobots next or Decepticons?? Or a human group from one of the shows

[thegrinningghost]

BLACK, The Night That Ends At Last!

Prompt: what if Aerovive met Dazzle?

Information: Dazzle’s alt is a dazzle ship, and the war he fought in was WWII; oh, and he has a sort of chimney sweeper British accent mixed with southern lingo and an angry hippie/70s disco drag queen attitude =3

Characters: Aerovive, Dazzle

Credits: Aerovive belongs to sviidoll; Dazzle & moodboard belong to me

Tag(s): @sviidoll

—

The sea was good at drowning out most things. Sorrow, guilt, confidence, fear; the waves could take anything under, and that was a power to be in awe of. For all their years at sea, it was still an ability that wrought Dazzle’s spark with envy. To be able to remember but not be haunted. If only it were that simple.

The sky was a place to forget. When the wind sweeps up and over, around and past, it takes the terrors with it. To embrace the sky is to finally escape. An honor, it is, to have wings. A joy that Aerovive wished many times was easier to share.

Though the war from which they came had lulled into a peaceful truce, the memories danced as ghosts through many harrowing days and nights. With nothing to fight for, the weight of carrying a life to live finally crashed down on many weary sparks. Some allowed themselves to be buried under it, others dodged the weight in order to leap from one task to the next. Few began to wonder, searching and letting the dust begin to settle.

The beach held the aching rust Dazzle had learned to hide from years of activity at sea. It was one thing to fight a battle for your people, to interest yourself in another civilization’s war? The shame weighed them down. Perhaps it was because of the weight that they failed to recognize the sight of a jet hanging low from the clouds, disappearing and reappearing through the fog before landing on the soft padding of the sand. In fact, it wasn’t until the seeker settled next to them that their bubble popped, and the clouds began to clear. 

“Hello–”

“Ya need something?”

The seeker looked over, as did Dazzle, who bounced their focus rapidly to different sights. “No,” the femme replied, finally. Then, she stuck out her hand, “I’m Aerovive. And you?”

His optics flitted back to her hand, then up at her and back down again. There was a certain restless uncertainty in the air around them, but eventually, they took it as a playful smile. “You can call me Dazzle. Say, what brings you here, Viv? Don’t imagine a bot would wander aimlessly towards the sea, much less a seeker.”

She laughed. “I’m just taking a break. I’ve been flying since sunrise. Why are you stuck on this shore,” Viv inquired, tilting her helm and adjusting her wings. Dazzle vented, looking back towards the faded crashing waves.

“I’ve escaped the sea, but not the memories of it,” he began, “and anyway, I can’t exactly leave. I can’t face anyone. Not after running like a coward.”

“But,” she interrupted, shrugging as she spoke, “you’re facing me right now. That’s a start.”

The remark was strange, but at a second-glance, Dazzle recognized it to be true, laughing. “I guess, I guess. But no, I know it might be hard to understand, but I ran. I mean, from the war back home. Even when it came here, I didn’t fight. I couldn’t.”

Aerovive hummed, thinking for a moment. “I get it,” she said at last. Dazzle shook their head, but she cut them off, continuing, “I do. I aided the Autobots because I believed in their cause, but after so long … the destruction began to seem all the same. So I left.”

“You,” Dazzle paused, wide-eyed, “left?” As soon as she nodded, he laughed. “I didn’t think those bots were capable of letting someone go, seeing how often they mourn one of their own every klik. You’re not jesting, are ya?”

She stared, watching as Dazzle burst into laughter, mocking and teasing, feigning the tears for Autobot comrades lost. “I’m not,” she finally snapped out of the daze, “and it’s not nice to make fun of them. Those are sparks gone, after all. Weren’t you just gloomy about war a few moments ago? How can it be so … funny to you?”

“It’s not a human war,” Dazzle exclaimed, standing up with a hand outstretched to Aerovive. As soon as they pulled her up, they started trailing across the beach with her catching up close behind. “What do you mean?”

“They’re feisty,” he explained, moving his servos in crazed gestures. “Fiery! Like the minicons! The clever little toasters. Humans come up with all these strategies and plans. It’s wild! Their wars end so quickly, meanwhile ours? I don’t know if it’ll ever see an end!”

“But–,” Viv tried to start, but stuttered, ideas and questions tripping over one another. “How do you know all of this? About the humans, and their wars?”

Dazzle vented, servos and helm lowering, their brief burst of dazzling energy fading. “I didn’t have a t-cog during the war, y’know. I fought best I could, but it was never enough. Not for him. Not for any of them! … so I left. Signed up for the G-force and abandoned the war. Most of us stayed here, and it wasn’t long before the humans broke out in war. Nobody really cared. Afterall, we came to Earth to avoid the war. But, there were a few of us. Rue and Rye; the trine and a select few others. We didn’t lose as many as the humans, but … it was more than we expected.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The clouded sky darkened the monotone hues Dazzle wore, emphasizing the rust that should’ve been worn as a badge. Pride in survival. But there was no such thing, not after something that had gotten so many others killed. Aerovive weighed the options before reaching a gentle servo out for Dazzle’s shoulder, only for him to turn suddenly to face her. Their optics were a blushy pink that took the light of the sunset when a golden visor flicked down from the top of their helm.

“I want to bash their helms in and tear up their cybo-dendrons!”

“What?” Exclaimed Viv, watching as Dazzle shouldered past her and started off towards the other side of the beach. “Who? Dazzle!”

Swiftly turning around, they screamed, “Megatron! And Starscream! And his stupid trine and everyone else on that wretched ship we called the Nemesis! I’m going to find them, and I’m going to– going to … blast them to smithereens!”

The shift from playful mockery to solemn explanation to pure ire and vengeance was startling, to say the least. When their arm retracted to transform into a torpedo launcher, Viv had to halt her attempts at getting closer. That was a sign of no empty threat. Still, despite the bot's vigor and passion, there was something hanging in the air around them. Suffocating them. 

Cowardice.

“Would you really,” Viv asked, slowly backing away, servos up in reassuring surrender. Dazzle pointed their launcher at her, but faltered as they processed her words. “I would … I would! Yeah!” They scoffed, “Of course I would! I mean, Starscream’s overthrown Megatron numerous times! It doesn’t seem so hard to … y’know … I mean, he attempted multiple times. It never did work out for him. His screams kept me up at night. Everything did. There was never time to rest on the Nemesis. Not during a war … but I’m not war-worn like them, so clearly I have an advantage! Ha-ha!”

Aerovive couldn’t help but laugh, trying best she could to hide it with her helm. Still, the bot caught on, lowering their torpedo launcher as it slowly transformed back again. “Would you stop? It’s not very compassionate for an Autobot to laugh at anyone! Don’t they teach any y’all anything?”

“You’re weird,” she finally got out. Dazzle stared, servo mid-action of flipping their visor back up, before deciding it wasn’t worth it. “Yeah I am,” he exclaimed, servo proudly on his chest plate. Back in a full swing of energy, and with more genuine playfulness than the attitude of playing with the mind of an enemy, Dazzle strode over and picked Viv up in a hug, squeezing her before setting her back down.

“You’re strange yourself. The Autobot that got away! … hey, that’s got a nice ring to it!” Dazzle hummed, grinning. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re a madman,” Viv explained, adjusting her wings, “but for you, I think that’s a pretty alright quality to have. So long as you don’t hurt anyone.”

Dazzle sighed, gesturing off-handedly. “No promises.”

[cutekittenlady]

Trains, Planes, and Autobots

Summary Fic Part 8

[Previous] [Next]

Opening on a flashback to back during the war.

Breakdown is waiting somewhere on the Nemesis alongside Wildrider and Deadend. Breakdown is trying to avoid the two ganging up on him by letting Deadend spiral into another bout of existentialism and keeping Wildrider boasting about a pileup he caused on the freeway.

The three are waiting for Dragstrip and Motormaster to return from a meeting amongst the higher ranks of the Decepticons. Wildrider notices Breakdown not paying full attention to him. Breakdown tries to play him off, but Wildrider is still growing aggressive. Breakdown tries to appeal to DeadEnd who shrugs him off.

Just then Motormaster and Dragstrip return with Motormaster in a bad mood. Breakdowns relieved when Wildrider's attentions shifts to the two and asks Motormaster how the meeting went.

This turns out to be a mistake as Motormaster angrily shoved Breakdown aside. Dragstrip leans over Breakdown and yells at him to "read the room".

Motormaster rages in frustration and throws a fist at the wall leaving a dent.

Breakdown mentally hopes that they're out of the room before anyone can report the damage.

Motormaster goes on a minor rant about his authority being undermined and his efforts unappreciated.

Dragstrip suggests they "wreck that little red corvette"* but Motormaster immediately shuts her down. Saying that if they did that Megatron would have all their heads as string lights because "the little bastards 'irreplacable' at this stage in the war".

Breakdown asks "more than Menasor?" only for Motormaster to bark at him to shut up and order the group to move on out so he could blow off some steam. Breakdown considers asking if they've been given approval to leave the Nemesis, but not wanting to get shoved or shouted down again he holds his tongue.

---

Back in the modern day, its the break of dawn and Breakdown comes out of his reflections on the past by Swindle asking him which way they need to go next. Breakdown pauses and transforms back into his robot form and looks at, of all things, a paper highway map.

Hardtop and Swindle give him "a look" and Breakdown asks what they think they're looking at.

Swindle asks Breakdown if his alt mode seriously doesnt have GPS to which Breakdown responds that hes never needed it because "some of us learned to read a map!" besides GPS is human tech that they could use to track them.

Hardtop asks why Breakdown is so on edge about them being traced. After all the autobots have plenty more to worry about than them. Breakdown doesn't answer and instead tells them the way they're going before immediately turning into his alt mode and driving off. The Con Bros look at each other before begrudingly driving after him.

---

Back at the Maltos house Dorothy, Megatron, Optimus, and Twitch are up and ready to start their own mission.

Robbie and Mo are also up to see their mother and sibling off, though Robbie is obviously still tired. Not having been able to sleep from the worry. He feels theres more he should be able to do to help his family, and by extension the autobots and Megatron.

Dorothy reassures him and tells him, Mo, and the Terrans to look after one another and listen to Ratchet.

Schloder pipes in that Dorothy has nothing to worry about as he'll make sure to look after the kids.

Dorothy acknowledge that before leaning in close and whispering to the kids to take care of Schloder too and make sure he doesn't get in over his head.

Ratchet hears this and gives a small laugh.

Schloder doesn't notice and asks if they have all the information they need to track down the Stunticons. Megatron confirms they do, but asks to be given any updates he may be able to receive from any of GHOSTs remaining connections.

The three finally take off. Twitch bidding goodbye to her siblings and racing to stay caught up with Megatron and Optimus. Twitch asks who they're looking for first.

Optimus tells them that the nearest and most recent information they could find was on Deadend. So that's who they're gunning for first. GHOST had discoverd his location but never got a chance to follow up on the lead.

They were going to New Jersey.

---

Hashtag brings the database up back at the dugout as the group looks at the lists of thousands of transformers.

Robbie takes charge and asks Hashtag if she and Nightshade were able to implement any kind of filters on the database. She responds negatively. They have the search engine, and can manually flip through the files, but thats about as far as they got programming wise.

Schloder points out that they DO have something. Him and Ratchet!

Ratchet is an experienced medic whose seen more bots in his life than anyone else, and he has extensively knowledge on various decepticons. Between them they should be able to help narrow down who the red transformers Jawbreaker saw was.

Ratchet is not as enthusiastic. He points out that a new paint job isn't exactly difficult to obtain. Besides which not all of GHOSTs information was up to date. For all they know the "red" cybertronian Jawbreaker saw could have changed colors five times by now. Or more.

Jawbreaker gives a disappointed, "Oh."

Mo suggests they try and help jog Jawbreakers memories. Maybe if they redo what they were doing when he saw the picture the first time around it might bring something back.

Ratchet tries to disregard the idea but Schloder is all in and the kids are already trying to figure out where everyone was standing at the time. It becomes increasingly clear Ratchet is going to get roped into pretending to explain Combiners again. He starts wishing he'd gone with Bumblebee or Optimus.

---

In an abandoned car factory we find a shadowy motormaster talking to someone about any progress they've made.

The other responds that he's managed to get the general location of all of the stunticons, but warns that although GHOST is gone the autobots are still absolutely at large and likely looking for all the escaped decepticons.

Motormaster disregards this. Telling the other that he's just making excuses, and demands to know where the others are.

The other scoffs and sarcastically asks if hes that eager to go back into stasis.

Motormaster responds by asking whose fault they think it is that he was put into stasis in the first place.

The other (its clearly knock out but i like playing up the shadowy unseen person trope so let me be coy) sarcastically asks if its really HIS fault that he went on a rampage and nearly ran him and a bunch of other cons over.

Motormaster replies in the affirmative. Tearing into the other for allowing his "family" to get torn apart. Insisting that if the stunticons had not been disbanded, they could have torn Megatron apart the moment he defected and won the war.

THe other just sighs, clearly having heard all this before, and warns that be that as it may, they can't form Menasor. Not yet. Not until they find the stunticons and convince them to rejoin the "family". After that nobody will be able to hurt them and they can do whatever they want.

Motormaster laughs and suggests that as a reward for their help, the other (knockout) could form Menasors "posh little red hat" and bursts into further laughter.

The other gives a sarcastic "ha. ha. ha." before refocusing on a map and a pile of rigged up technology.

((

*So after doing some research Knock Outs alt mode in Prime is maaaaybe based off an Aston Martin? But going off a wiki page I found here, the make and model wasn't available until, like, 2009. But doing some math it looks like the war must've ended around 2008 in the Earthspark universe, and since this flashback probably takes place in the early 2000's at the earliest I decided Knock Out would probably have had a different alt mode. But since I'm dumb about automobiles I more or less picking sports cars at random. So KO gets a Corvette alt mode in the early 2000s because it was the first one I thought of and also a reference to the song "Little Red Corvette" because why not? He probably changes to a different sports car every couple of years. Lets face it, Knockout probably changes alt modes like humans change clothes.

))

[randomthefox]

Why don’t you like the concept of the transformers war being something more than just a war about resources?

I think it has the same problem as how the prequels handled Darth Vader. They made him too important. In the original trilogy he was just some guy, he was just a Jedi who fell to the corruption of the dark side and was this weird authority figure in the Empire who operated outside of the chain of command who simply enforced the Emperor's will. And in the end he redeemed himself by sacrificing his life to save his son, choosing to die as Anakin Skywalker. The prequels turn him into The Chosen One who was meant to Bring Balance To The Force, and he was only born because Palps manipulated the midichlorians to produce the biggest most coolest most special force sensitive dude to ever exist, and now his final act of killing the emperor was some kind of pre-ordained fulfillment of destiny.

It makes the character feel so much LESS special by trying to make him MORE important. For no other reason than because he's important to US as the audience.

Transformers feels the same way. Taking the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and trying to make it grander than it actually is makes it feel less special. I'm not saying the way G1 depicted it was perfect by any means, they were making it up as they went along. And I like the stuff they invented later in the franchise mythology like the matrix of leadership and Primus and all that. But the civil war itself feels like it should be more grounded. Adding stuff like the Allspark as some kind of winstate macguffin just feels so pat.

When you think about it this is a DEVASTATING global conflict that wore an entire planet of millennia old machine life forms to the point of ruin. It is a true Total War scenario. There are NO non combatants. EVERYONE is either an Autobot or a Decepticon. By the time we enter the story the conflict has been going on for so long that it pre-dates humanity as a species, and there are countless bots who were born into the conflict. Who had their side chosen for them by virtue of their construction. It runs the risk of drifting into "they're just fighting for the sake of fighting" territory.

So trying to imbue some kind of grander cosmic purpose to the fight just feels so fucking weird to me. It's easier to go along with it when it's "just" a this town ain't big enough for the both of us kind of thing. The Decepticons are greedy and violent and want to suck the planet dry, and then move onto the next one like some kind of parasite army that drained their home world to the bone and now intends to do the same to earth. The Autobots want peace and co-existence and prosperity but are willing to fight to defend it against those who seek to dominate others, they tragically lost that battle on their own home world but can find a new purpose by protecting the life forms of earth from meeting the same fate as them. It's character driven, instead of being story driven. The conflict exists because of a philosophical divide between two groups of individuals, not because "oooh big cool magic glowy thing that will make all our wishes come true, I want it so I can do the thing" or whatever the Allspark is in any given continuity.

[petitelepus]

Birth And Name

You carry the one and only Ultra Magnus' sparklings.

It hurt, it really did hurt to see your loved one in Spark Support. You sat on your seat next to your beloved Ultra Magnus, holding his only intact arm, seeing that his whole left arm was missing. You knew Magnus wouldn't go down without a fight so how come there wasn't any proof of his opponent? You knew better, this was an assassination from Decepticons.

"Hey, Ultra noob..." You gently said, hoping that he could hear you through the coma he had fallen into. You used to call him Ultra noob ages ago back in your training days and he hated that name. Maybe calling him with it would bring him back to light. You smiled sadly and took his intact hand and placed it against your sizeable abdomen.

"Can you feel them? Your little sparklings are taking all the space in my tank." You grinned wider, imagining his face if he knew that you were carrying two protoforms in your tank. Not one, but two! He would no doubt be a proud sire.

You checked your internal clock and saw you were running late. You put your lover's hand back to his side and got up to leave, but not without leaving a kiss to your Magnus' cheek. "I'll be right back my love."

You couldn't drive well in your situation so it took you a moment, but you made it into Autobot Council. Everyone turned to look at you and you cursed your luck. They had already started the meeting.

The members like Botanica of the council made way for you in honor and you nodded at her, thanking her silently for letting you take the seat that wouldn't put any more strain on your spinal strut.

You weren't an official member of the council, but in this dark time with Ultra Magnus in a coma, you were given honorary membership in his place. As you took your seat, everyone turned their attention back to the problem at hand. Sentinel Prime.

"I'm telling you old coots, I'm just taking my rightful place as Magnus! I'm his rightful successor!" The blue bot with a huge chin shouted. You grimaced and Alpha Trion copied you. "You have no right in my mind to take over Ultra Magnus' place as Magnus."

"You wouldn't know, you haven't fought against these Decepticons who did this to Magnus in million years! You have grown weak Alpha Trion!"

"If I may say, you haven't exactly been fighting against the Cons either, Sentinel." You jabbed and you took huge pleasure seeing the mech ground his denta in your direction. "What I heard, you were frozen in fear when you first time met a Decepticon!"

Sentinel was mad and with a good reason, but then he grinned and you felt like something bad was about to happen.

"Senators, all due respect I believe carrying has clouded their ability to make such major decisions." He said smugly and you saw red in fury.

"How dare you, Sentinel Prime!?" You screeched, jumping up from your seat and slamming your hands against the table. "My Magnus would never stand so low as you!"

"And what do we really know about them? They just disappeared millions of years ago and suddenly appear on this planet called Earth, where Decepticons had made their headquarters!"

"Decepticons that you overlooked and failed to inform to our Magnus!" You couldn't stop yourself, you were pissed beyond saving. "You know Sentinel, I'm actually happy that the Hammer was stolen because as long as my spark still shines I would never give Magnus Hammer in your incapable hands!"

"See what I mean!? They can't be trusted!"

"You little...!" You growled, but the damage was done. The members of the Council were whispering and talking to each other through commlinks and you weren't included in these conversations. The Alpha Orion turned to look at you apologetically. "I am sorry to inform you, but we must ask you to leave this decision to Autobot High Council."

You couldn't believe what you were hearing. They were actually believing the lies Sentinel was spouting? You were about to start a whole new war, but you felt pain shot in your abdomen. You cried out and doubled over, falling on the ground in pain as you held your abdomen.

The protoforms...! They were early!

Alpha Orion jumped up and immediately ordered you to be taken to medbay and while Sentinel screamed how you were faking it, you were taken to a safe space where your little litter was delivered. You were ordered to bedrest but you wouldn't let them take your little miracles away from you. You let Red Alert check them, but that was it, you wouldn't hand them over to anyone.

The gray little things were smaller than would have been ideal, but it didn't matter to you if they were small for their own good. They were your and your Ultra Magnus' little cuties.

But with you bedridden, you could do nothing to prevent Sentinel from becoming the next Magnus. You had to focus on keeping your sparklings safe. Sentinel would no doubt try to get revenge on you for talking against you and you feared he would try to take away your little sparklings.

Time went by and you nursed your little ones and they were soon taking their own form. They were warm against you as you watched days for them to grow. The older one took on a gray coating and the younger twin turned green and white. What was odd were their optics. They were crimson. You wondered where that coding came from, but you loved your sparklings from the bottom of your spark.

When you heard that Longarm Prime had tried to kill your Conjunx Ultra Magnus, you gave twins to the nurse and rushed to the scene where doctors were hassling over your lover and guards were looking for any evidence of the traitor. You were panting when you got to the scene and you wanted nothing more than to run over Ultra Magnus and hold him close, but security wouldn't let you.

"Give them the space they need to work." Came a scruffy voice and you turned to see an old ambulance standing on the side, much like you. You looked at the bot up and down and you thought he looked familiar. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Name's Ratchet. I'm a part of Optimus Prime's group back in Earth."

"Wait...!" You looked at the old mech from up to down. "You're that Ratchet! You're a war hero!"

"Haven't been hero, never was." He grunted and turned to look at the Ultra Magnus, "I chased off Shockwave who was here to kill Ultra Magnus. He shouldn't try that again."

"Chivalrous Ratchet, you have saved my Conjunx's life." You smiled and bowed lightly like you older warriors tended to do to one another.

"You show braveness and honor." You said before you grimaced, "Unlike that backstabbing Sentinel...!"

"Speaking of him..." Ratchet grumbled and hoisted up the Magnus Hammer and offered it to you. "I believe this should belong to you. As Ultra Magnus' Conjunx Endura."

"Magnus Hammer...!" You awed as you gracefully took the hammer offered to you. "But how...?"

"Shockwave had it. I believe that he is also responsible for what happened to Ultra Magnus."

"That sleazy piece of...!" You cursed under your breath and closed your eyes. You wanted to hunt him down and make him pay like you used to do in your younger days back in the war, but you were a carrier now and you had two lovely sparklings waiting for you to return back to them.

"I must stop Sentinel from getting the hammer." You said and pushed the hammer cab into the medic's hands. "Take it with you back to Earth! I will not let that backstabbing Sentinel get it."

"Will do," Ratchet promised, but you couldn't let him return to Earth just yet. You placed your hand over his shoulder plate and smiled. "Please, before you go, I must as you to join me in medbay."

"Gotta be quick. Sentinel is coming back soon."

"Can we be quick because I want to go back to Earth as soon as possible!?" Came an angry man's voice and you blinked in surprise. You looked around but saw no bot around.

"What in the name off-?"

"Down here."

You looked down and you couldn't believe what your old optics were seeing. A human? On Cybertron? You blinked and looked at Ratchet for answers. He grunted. "Captain Fanzone got sucked here and I came to rescue him. He helped to chase off Shockwave."

"Really?" You had trouble understanding what you were hearing. You spent a good while back in Earth, but you never heard a human saving an Autobot. But if it was true then this human was a hero as well. You smiled to little big human and picked him up, much to his dismay.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Captain Fanzone was it? You helped to save my Conjunx' life. I would appreciate it if you joined Ratchet and me in medbay before you leave."

"Alright, but make it quick. I can't stand machines and I have certainly had my fill today."

"I can understand that." You smiled and lead the medic and human to medbay where your little twins were resting in their separated beds. Ratchet's and Captain's optics and eyes widened and the human let out a word that sounded much like a curse.

You smiled and motioned towards the babies. "You two saved my Conjunx's life. It would be an honor for me if you would name our sparklings."

"God. They come as babies now also?" Captain asked and you gave a short laugh. This human was funny. Ratchet took a long look at the green and grey sparklings and pointed at the grey one. "Dominus. A strong name for the son of Ultra Magnus."

"Dominus..." You tried the name and smiled. "I love it. Will you name the younger one sir Fanzone?"

"Well, it sure isn't the smallest machine... But it is the smallest alien machine I've seen..." The man rubbed his chin and looked at you, "How about Minimus?"

"That's...  A fitting name." You smiled and leaned over to wiggle your servos at the newborn. "Hi Dominus! Greetings Minimus! Your carrier and sire love you so much...!"

Your spark skipped in joy when you saw your boys open their optics and look at you. You smiled and kissed them both. You had a feeling things would get better from there. 

[yourfavmagicpiano]

“Christmas Blues”

((Enjoy this little Christmas oneshot for the Autobot Knockout AU! Happy Holidays!

Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee pulled into the base, the human children parting from their guardians in excitement.

“Hell yeah! Two weeks of no school!” Miko cheered, running back to Bulkhead to grab the decorations she had brought.

Arcee grumbled and walked away, leaving the others to their “holiday cheer”.

Knockout walked in the room just as she was about to leave. The ex Decepticon watched in confusion.

“What’s with all of the colorful lights and shiny items? Is there something going on?”

“We’re getting ready for Christmas, Knockout.” Raf smiled at the shiny red bot.

“Christmas?”

“It’s a human holiday. A rather annoying one, to be honest.” Arcee sighed, walking up to Knockout’s side.

“Aw come on, Arcee! Don’t be such a grinch.” Jack teased.

“A what? What’s a grinch?”

•It’s a scary green guy that hates Christmas!• Bumblebee chirped excitedly. •I’ll explain everything if you help us out!•

“Well...alright, I guess it couldn’t hurt.” He approached the group and picked up a strand of garland. “What do I do with this?”

“Hmph. I’m going on a drive. Have fun.” The blue femme transformed and drove out of the base.

“Jeez, what’s HER problem?” Miko huffed.

“Hey now, be nice. Arcee’s just a little upset because...” Bulkhead’s voice became more hushed. “It’s her first Christmas without Cliffjumper. Just give her a little space.”

“You guys celebrate Christmas?” Raf tilted his head in confusion.

“Not at first, but after being on Earth for 3 years, we kinda got into it.” Bulk gently patted the small boy’s head.

“Do you think she’s alright?” Knockout stared at the exit to the base. He understood how Arcee must’ve felt. The death of her partner still haunted her, as he was haunted by Breakdown’s death. “Maybe someone should go check on her?”

•She just needs a little space. Now come on, these decorations aren’t going to hang themselves!•

Over the next few hours, Bulkhead, Bee, and the kids did their best to explain Christmas to the new autobot, but Knockout could barely pay attention. His thoughts kept drifting back to Arcee and how lonely she must feel.

What was more concerning was that she hadn’t returned yet. Where was she? Paranoia continued to build until he couldn’t stand it anymore, excusing himself to go find her.

The moment he stepped out of the base, he heard a faint sobbing from above. Knockout almost smacked himself, of course she would be at Cliffjumper’s grave. He walked back into the base and made his way up to the top.

Arcee was sitting by her fallen comrade, hugging her knees and bawling her eyes out.

“Arcee?” He spoke softly, crouching by her side.

“Leave me alone...” She sobbed, her voice hoarse from crying.

“And leave you out here while it gets dark? I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He sat beside her, rubbing her back. “I feel like I say this a lot, but I’ll say it once more: I’m sorry for your loss...”

The femme tensed you at his touch, before relaxing and starting to lean into him. Knockout wrapped his arms around her for a hug. She hesitated for a moment before reciprocating, holding him close.

“Shhh...it’s alright. Just let it all out.” He continued to rub her back as she sobbed into his chest.

“Thank you, Knockout...” She sniffled, surprising him with a kiss on the cheek.

Knockout felt his face flush, but he only hugged her a little tighter. Now wasn’t the time to let his silly crush get the better on him.

“You’re welcome.” He spoke as calmly as he could. “Let me know when you’re ready to go back in.”

“A-Alright.” She stuttered, snuggling more into the ex con. “I’m gonna guess Bulk or Bee told you why I’m, pardon the pun, feeling blue?”

“Yes, they did.”

“They really need to mind their own business.” She laughed, wiping her eyes.

“Perhaps so, but they’re worried about you. I...I’m worried about you.” He blushed, not able to meet her optics.

“You’re so sweet. How did such a nice mech like you end up with the cons?”

“Well...I didn’t really have a choice. Think like a “join us or die” situation.” He shut his eyes, remembering how he had been threatened into joining the cause.

“I...I’m so sorry...” Arcee started. “I didn’t-“

“Nothing to apologize for. I made my decision then, but I’ve made my decision now to be better.” He cupped her chin, giving her a warm smile. “I do wish Breakdown could be here with me though...”

Arcee hugged him.

“We would have welcomed him the same way we welcomed you.”

Knockout felt tears prick at his optics at her words.

“Thank you.” He softly kissed her forehead. “Ready to go back inside?”

“Yeah...thanks, Knockout.”

“Anytime, my dear.” He offered her his hand to help her up. She took it with a smile, walking back into the base by his side.

The inside of the base had been turned into a winter wonderland. Miko was standing back, admiring the work she and the boys had done,

“It’s perfect! Absolutely PERFECT!” She squealed.

“Wow...okay, even I gotta admit, it’s kinda pretty.” Arcee smiled. “Nice job, guys.”

“Thanks, Arcee!” Raf smiles at her, before his gaze was drawn to something above her head. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh?” Knockout looked above them, spotting a small green plant with white berries. “What in the allspark is that?”

“Oooooooh! Mistletoe! You know the rules!” Miko cheered.

“I’m afraid I don’t?”

“When two people stand under the mistletoe together, they gotta KISS!”

“W-WHAT?!” The red and blue Cybertronians exclaimed at the same time, nervously looking away from eachother.

“I...Uh...I mean...I would *like* to kiss Arcee, but only if she was alright with it! Which she’s probably not, so-“ Knockout was cut off mid sentence by Arcee grabbing his face and kissing him on the lips.

“There.” She said after breaking the kiss, blushing hard. “Are you satisfied, Miko?”

Before the girl could speak, Knockout cupped Arcee’s chin and kissed her again.

“I’m satisfied. Merry Christmas, Arcee.” Knockout smirked.

Arcee rolled her eyes and smiled back.

“Merry Christmas, elf ears.”

((Happy Holidays, everyone! ❤️💙

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 42: Transcript

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

O: But that's because he acquired a dog!

[Intro Music]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon. I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs.

O: And today we're going to be talking about episode number 42: The Autobot Run. Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Yeah!

O: So once upon a time... on a racetrack.

S: Spike and Chip get a brilliant idea: What if the other boss participated in racing? 

O: Bumblebee arrives and says, “One limo-bot at your service,” uh, which is adorable, might I add?

S: Spike asks Bee how he feels about racing.

O: Bee is decidedly not a speedster as he seems down for it as long as it's under the speed limit, which also amusingly, goes against the fact that he totally got pulled over for speeding in an earlier episode but whatever. 

S: Yeah, yeah that's true. Laserbeak overhears this exchange.

O: I'm not exactly sure how any of this is going to help the Decepticons but all right.

S: The Decepticons are just- they're here to gather all the information they can. 

O: It's Laserbeak's job. I- I am just imagining him picking up on the most mundane information and, like, having to pass it off to Soundwave because it's his job.

S: Yeah, oh god, they probably have terabytes of information stored someplace. 

O: [Laughter] Probably.

S: Yeah. Elsewhere, in a weirdly well-preserved old west town, the Constructicons are finishing the dumb 80’s weapon of the week. The, um, Transfixatron which sounds like could be a lot of things, but probably not what you're expecting.

O: Uh, which is, of course, a purple gun mounted on a weird stand thing. 

S: Yep. Laserbeak's arrival causes Megatron to go off model and resemble Homer Simpson for a split second in the mouth department.

O: Which is very unnerving.

S: Yeah and I- I keep envisioning it right now and it is definitely very unnerving.

O: Very, very, very unnerving. Um, Laserbeak hops into Soundwave’s chest compartment and reports on the doings of the Autobots’ human allies, and the Autobots too, I guess. Since Bumblebee was there.

S: Yeah, Megatron is going to make good use of this information about the, uh, proposed Autobot race. 

O: Again, not sure how but okay, buddy! 

S: Yeah, but, uh, first he's gotta test out his new toy! Much to the chagrin of Starscream, who really does not approve that they're not beating up the Autobots right now.

O: You know, I think he's just salty that Megatron had the Constructicons build his new toy instead of him.

S: Yeah, that sounds- that sounds on brand. He calls it an idiotic contraption.

O: Of course the moment Megatron threatens to use it on Starstream, as his first test subject, suddenly Starstream changes his tune on if the device might work or not. “After all, what's a test without a guinea pig-atron.” Yes, Megatron said that word for word.

S: Guinea pig has clearly entered the Decepticons lexicon.

O: Yes, so Megatron picks up the entire gun which, again, I remind you is on a base, uh, and, uh, shoots Starscream.

S: Why does it have a stand at all? Maybe just get a shoulder strap or a harness or something for it? Or a table? Do they not want to draw a table? This is a very stupidly designed contraption.

O: Which, you know, is per the norm for 80's cartoons. At first, it appears that the gun has done nothing to Starscream.

S: Starscream responds just about how you'd expect, mock-mocking Megatron for his high-tech garbage.

O: But Megatron tells Starscream to try and transform, which, of course, he can't because that's the entire function of the Transfixatron.

S: Transfixing you in your-

O: Alt.

S: Altmode, yeah. And so Shockwave suddenly appears standing next to Megatron despite not being in any of the previous shots?

O: I also don't think he shows up again in this episode. He certainly doesn't have any lines.

S: Yeah, he just- poof. He's just taking a mini vacation.

O: Assumably he wanted off Cybertron for a while.

S: [indistinct] Yeah.

O: Uh, Starscream begs Megatron to return him to normal. 

S: They bicker, there's some back and forth. Megatron threatens to leave him this way forever.

O: Starscream says, “But I'm too valuable to you!” I'm too good of a lay, boss you can't do this.

S: Megatron tells him to stop whining and, uh, returns Starscream to normal. He then monologues a bit about how they're going to use the Transfixatron on the Autobots and then commands the Constructicons to, “Get started on the second device.”

O: So we don't just get one silly 80’s weapon of the week, we get two in this episode!

S: Gee, I wonder what it looks like.

O: [Laughter] The answer to that might surprise you! 

S: This inexplicably involves Hook plunging his namesake into the ground to begin excavating- with his hook. The Constructicons, well, the other Constructicons begin digging in a much more sensible manner.

O: Now at the Ark, uh, Chip and Spike are on the cusp of convincing Optimus Prime of their charity racing idea.

S: The other Autobots all seem pretty for it.

O: Ironhide wants some action or he'll rust. I'm not sure if I had Ironhide’s alt that racing would be my first choice of a leisure activity, but more power to you buddy.

S: Obviously he's just going to use his multitude of weaponry to booby-trap the track. I mean, who knows? Maybe he's got some sort of rocket booster? 

O: [Laughter] More of the rocket-powered fist! 

S: Yeah, or at least everybody but Huffer is into the idea. Frankly, I have to wonder where Red Alert is because he'd probably be having a conniption.

O: Okay, he is locked up in his room monitoring things, probably. And it's like, “I don't see it, I don't hear it, it does not exist,” I imagine. Uh but, of course, this means Huffer is voluntold that he gets to stay and watch the base.

S: Yep, ah, Huffer who gets to be responsible today, but Brawn, Ratchet and Wheeljack stay behind to keep him company. 

O: Which is weird, because isn't Wheeljacks’ alt a race car?

S: Yeah, he's a Lancia Stratos.

O: You’d think he'd be more into this. 

S: Maybe he's just not that big into going around- around- around- around in a circle. It's just not so exciting for him.

O: I-I do like the idea of somebody who definitely does not have the personality of a race car being put into the body of a racing car like- you know, he's a scientist in all- all reality he should be like, uh, um, a sedan or something, but- but he got stuck in the body of a race car!

S: Optimus leads the rest of the Autobots out with the call of: “Roll for the show!”

O: At the racetrack, with our celebrity guests, the Autobots.

S: Our roster for today is: Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, Jazz, Prowl, Sideswipe, Ironhide, Hound, Sunstreaker, Optimus, Trailbreaker, Mirage, Windcharger, and Gears.

O: Huffer was too cranky to come but Gears is just fine with this today.

S: He's a sporty little car, he can have a little racing, you know, as a treat.

O: [Laughter] Uh, one man from the audience jumps up and says, “Hey! Where are their cars?!” 

S: Honey, honey, they are the cars.

O: Has this man been living under a rock for a year or so, or however long they've been there and missed the whole giant transforming alien robots bit?

S: Very probably.

O: Jesus!

S: I'm going to go with a ‘yes’ here.

O: Where do you live, man? I-I would like directions because I would like to not be in society right now. Um, so we see Bumblebee chilling off to the side with Chip and Spike as the two- ah, the three of them, rather, watch the race. 

S: He doesn't really seem like he cares for sports.

O: He likes the speed limit just fine, thanks. That's what he said to the- I know, it's funny. 

S: Mostly I'm just wondering if he was involved in that episode where Optimus plays basketball or whatever.

O: I can't remember. I- like, I'm remembering like Sunstreaker and, I think, Sideswipe but I don't- I don't remember if Bee was involved with the basketball or not.

S: I feel like he wasn't, but yeah, I don't remember so, yeah, he's just- Bee does not care about sports, yeah. Ah, the Autobots, predictably, transform and line up at the starting line. 

O: The race begins!

S: Ironhide and Trailbreaker rib each other a little bit as neither of them seems terribly quick.

O: Sunstreaker leaves the rest in the dust, taunting them as he goes by. Oh, my beautiful idiot.

S: Mirage being an actual Formula One race car also pulls ahead and Jazz decides they need a soundtrack. 

O: Which I would think driving around in circles would be boring so, I don't know, that seems like a very good call to me.

S: Yeah, Optimus Prime is inexplicably close to the lead, I mean, maybe everyone is-

O: Too afraid to pass him?

S: Maybe, or they're all just chill and this is their equivalent of jogging around a track.

O: [Laughter] Okay, that's kind of funny. Suddenly! Skywarp appears overhead, transforming into his root mode and pulling the Transfixatron out of his ass. 

S: Subspace, hammer space, wherever Optimus hides his trailer. 

O: Skywarp hits all of the Autobots on the track with the Transfixatron. 

S: Spike sees this and says, “What was that?”

O: Bumblebee responds with something about energy evaporation from all the speed.

S: Bumblebee responds with bullshit. 

O: [Laughter]

S: Let's just be straight about this.

O: Skywarp teleports away, meeting back up with the Decepticons

S: Megatron actually praises him.

O: Again, he really seems to like Skywarp.

S: Back on the racetrack, Ironhide asks Trailbreaker if he felt anything weird.

O: And then Trailbreaker, again, ribs him because Ironhide’s in last place and, really, when you get down to it they are in a race of two and are really only up for who's not in last place right now because they are both very slow.

S: Yeah, the group approaches the finish line with Jazz and Mirage out in front.

O: We're not really told who wins but it's safe to assume it was either Jazz or Mirage or, maybe, both of them.

S: Yeah. On to the next event on the docket for today: The Autobots’ incredible car stunts.

O: Sunstreaker has all the other Autobots line up so he can jump over them off, you know, jump off a ramp over them, rather. 

S: Ah, time to be a daredevil. Some of the Autobots dislike this idea more than others, but they all, you know, comply and line up. 

O: Optimus tells Sunstreaker he won't be able to make it.

S: Spoiler alert: Sunstreaker does not make it.

O: But! Sunstriker is saved by some quick thinking by Windcharger, who catches him with his magnets.

S: And the crowd seems to love it anyway, so: Mission accomplished! 

O: Mirage catches sight of the Decepticons and the Autobots attempt to transform. Of course Megatron lands in front of them and gloats.

S: It's Megatron, I mean, that's what he does, it's what he loves.

O: It's what he lives for.

S: Then Megatron uses- utilizes some eye lasers to chase the humans away.

O: When did he get eye lasers!?

S: He's just had so much stupid shit installed.

O: [Deadpan] Help the Autobots are in danger, cut to commercial. 

S: Is this a facelift for Decepticons?

O: I don't know. 

S: The Decepticons attack and with the Autobots in car mode they aim for the tires.

O: Bee gets Spike and Chip out of there before they're noticed and heads back to the Ark. 

S: Ironhide tells everybody to, “Push past that flat tire,” but they start taking hits from Thundercrackers’ incendiary blasts.

O: Ironhide says, “I'm getting sunburnt on the inside!” Push past it, Ironhide, push past it! 

S: Soundwave then disables the Autobots communicators and Megatron says to, “Take them away.” 

O: Bee’s plan actually worked quite well and the Decepticons never noticed them at all and they were able to get back to the Ark and tell the remaining Autobots basically all this shit went down.

S: Yup. Huffer bitches and moans before Brawn threatens to put his, “Footio into his audio.”

O: That's not even clever.

S: It isn't.

O: I know what I'm watching. [Laughter] Uh, Chip uses Teletraan I and he, Wheeljack, and Ratchet are very quickly able to come up with a hypothesis for what could have caused the Autobots to not be able to transform.

S: Ratchet and Wheeljack get to work. They got some business to take care of.

O: Good thing, too- they left two of the scientists behind. Where's Perceptor? 

S: Yeah, and Beachcomber? I mean-

O: They're just off today, apparently! 

S: Maybe Beachcomber took the- the Dinobots out?

O: Yeah, that's just the right recurring joke at this point is he- he babysits the Dinobots in his downtime.

S: Beachcomber and Perceptor took the Dinobots out on an expedition-

O: So, Ratchet and Wheeljack could have a nice, quiet couple's day at home and then this happened.

S: Yes.

O: Gotcha. Back in the old west, Megatron unveils his second bullshit machine.

S: Guess what it does? Guess what it does? It's gonna eat the Autobots!

O: That's what he says but that thing has fucking tentacles. Remember what I said, is what you didn't expect? It has fucking tentacles! And, you know, it makes me think, remember that episode of the giant supercomputer, TORQ III, and the weird kink machines he was using against the Autobots? I am just saying he did that after being corrupted by Megatron. After!

S: Yeah.

O: Megatron! Has a thing! For kink machines!

S: Yeah, the machine is really dark purple-

O: Of course.

S: It has a large grabby claw and a crusher at the top and also, weirdly enough, smaller tentacles.

O: Don't know what to do with your machine? Add more tentacles!

S: Apparently. Well, I mean, the whole theoretically them coming from the Quintessons, kind of makes that all really-

O: It does make a little bit more sense with that, doesn't it? Hmm.

S: Yeah, time to shudder.

O: [Laughter] Ironhide cuts off Megatron with the sentiment of, ‘Oh, just kill us already,’ rather than have to listen to him talk.

S: Then, of course, Megatron wants to demonstrate to them exactly how they're going to die but so the Cons toss in some stuff to show the Autobots how they're going to get crushed. Did they just go off and grab some junk for this?

O: I assume? Maybe it was spare parts from the machine- or like, they didn't use when building the machine? 

S: Maybe.

O: While all this is going on, Hound is able to transmit a single image to the Ark, despite their communicators being disabled. 

S: Teletraan I is able to triangulate their exact location based on this one image which, I guess, is not out of the realm of possibility.

O: It still seems kind of silly.

S: Yeah.

O: Um, Soundwave being, you know, the only competent one here realizes that something's up pretty quickly and shoots Hound's gun that was also acting as his transmitter?

S: He's the guy who does the... holograms! 

O: Yes.

S: That was what I was... yeah, so yeah. Who knows what the fuck Hound can do. Megatron's new machine spits a tiny little block of crushed metal out so apparently he was concerned with how much space his enemy's corpses would take up.

O: At least he's not littering?

S: I guess? I mean you can always recycle material but I guess he's an evil villain so, uh, yeah.

O: [Laughter] He's going to build a house out of his enemy’s corpses is what I'm getting from this, okay. It's gonna have an entire fortress of Autobots. 

S: I think, more likely to do a chair out of corpses.

O: That's true, there aren't that many Autobots there.

S: Yes, but I think there's also a weird precedent for that in the comics.

O: Yeah, probably. 

S: Megatron tells the Constructicons to make Ironhide the first target and the Autobots surround him like circling up the wagons and the- but the Constructicons just sort of casually pick them up and toss them over to the side and get to Ironhide anyway.

O: Because, again, they're all stuck in car mode.

S: Yea.

O: Uh, back at the Ark, Wheeljack and Ratchets’ labors have produced, the Holy Hand Grenade!

S: [Laughter] This will apparently create energy waves that will allow the others to go back to normal.

O: Unfortunately, there's no time to test if this will work so off they go to try to save their friends.

S: Back with the Cons, Ironhide is in the grasp of the purple, chompy machine and about to be eaten but Optimus sends out Roller. It's Roller time, guys!

O: Duh-duh-na-na!

S: Jazz hands.

O: Jazz doesn't have any hands right now. [Laughter] Sorry.

S: Jazz speakers, then!

O: [Laughter]

S: Uh, Roller begins, uh, weaving between the Decepticons’ legs as they all start shooting at him.

O: The rest of the Autobots arrive just in time.

S: And Ratchet gets to be Ironhide again because he's miscolored. Again.

O: So, Ironhide is about to get eaten and is also driving up to himself.

S: Good times, good times, guys.

O: [Laughter]

S: While the Cons are distracted, Optimus rams the machine causing it to drop Ironhide onto the ground.

O: Megatron's pissed and fires on Optimus and Ironhide. 

S: Ratchet is uh, Ratchet again before turning back into ironhide for three sec- three seconds later.

O: Soundwave, his cassettes, Skywarp, and Thundercracker begin attacking them.

S: But at least Spike brought his personal protective equipment today.

O: Yay. 

S: Wheeljack is running in an attempt to protect the grenade in what can only be described as a Scooby-Doo-esque sequence.

O: Which is very applicable considering how many Scooby-Doo voice actors were in this show but anyway, I have no idea how the Cons know that Wheeljack's the one they should target right now but they are targeting him.

S: Yeah, two Thundercrackers appear to be chasing Wheeljack before one disappears, presumably Skywarp, uh, you know, teleporting and reappears as Starscream before yelling in Skywarp's voice.

O: So everything went wrong in that scene that possibly could. [Laughter] 

S: Well, aside from just completely forgetting to color characters at all.

O: Yes, yes but- but I think because the Seekers are all the same model it's almost worse when they're- they're colored the wrong color.

S: Yeah, the grenade is knocked out of Wheeljack's hand before Spike catches it.

O: Soundwave then makes a beeline for him and Soundwaves like, “Get the human microbe.” 

S: Spike then tosses the Holy Hand Grenade to Chip who begins wheeling away like there's absolutely no tomorrow. Soundwave sends out Ravage who knocks Chip over just as he throws the grenade to the Autobots.

O: Ravage, apparently, just leaves him alone after he does this instead of, I don't know, mauling him. 

S: He's a considerate cat. Thankfully the grenade does indeed work, pissing off Megatron who orders the Constructicons to combine.

O: And they seem quite happy to have something to do that isn't work on Megatron's pet projects.

S: Finally! Conflict!!! Hit it!!

O: Devastator then tosses the Autobots around.

S: And, surprising the hell out of us, the propulsion via hand thrusters makes a surprise second appearance with Wheeljack.

O: Who gets the great idea of defeating Devastator with the Transfixatron and enlists Cliffjumper to help him because he cannot reach the controls without help because the gun is too tall.

S: Yeah, so they hit Devastator with the gadget of the week and Devastator falls to pieces.

O: Megatron realizes they're outnumbered without Devastator and the Decepticons retreat.

S: Ironhide and Trailbreaker knock over the Transfixatron, which then has a tiny explosion for no good reason.

O: [Laughter]

S: Ratchet groans about how many repairs he's going to have to do now and the episode ends.

O: So join us next time for episode 43: The Golden Lagoon. Skinny dipping robots, skinny dipping robots everywhere. Oh, and also the Decepticons want to be... shiny.

S: And environmental destruction. But let's not forget the shiny.

O: [Laughter] The shiny is what's important here. 

S: Okay so we have two fanfic recommendations: one wild card fic from Owls and one from myself. Mine is “Going to the Dogs” by Koi Lungfish. It's in the G1 cartoon continuity, rated K+, it's Gen, there’s no pairings, and the characters are Red Alert, Prowl, Inferno, and Jazz. In summary, “Human tourists cause Prowl and Red Alert some confusion.” 

O: I could see that.

S: And so the reason I picked this one is because the race is basically like human outreach- social outreach, more or less. They're- they're trying to be entertainers, so the fan thing about the humans effectively trying to reach out and build more of a social profile with humans by inviting tourists into the Ark and trying to be transparent is- it's a fun concept and I like it.

O: Fair.

S: It's a one shot so therefore complete, so let's go on to Owls' choice!

O: All right, my fanfic suggestion for today is “Casting for a Tape Bros Film.” It is by LittleMissSweetGrass. The continuity is IDW, it is rated G. It is slash, but very light slash, I would say.  Our pairings are CosWave and our characters are Soundwave, Marissa, Rumble, Frenzy, Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Cosmos. And in summary, “Soundwave gets a phone call from Marissa that he really, really doesn't want to deal with right now.” It is a one shot, it's very short but it's very cute. It's kind of, I think, Soundwave trying to sleep and getting calls that involve Thundercracker.

Both: [Laughter]

O: A sudden attack of the Thundercracker.

S: Nice, and that just about wraps it up for us today.  Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word) and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast such as AO3, iTunes, Spotify, and Youtube, just to name a few.  And feel free to send us questions on Tumblr, Youtube, or AO3!  Till next time, I'm Specs.

O: I’m Owls.

S: Toodles.

[Outro Music]

[bot-imagines]

I think you should continue the fusion au. Also not connected to the last one but what if during the reunion at the beginning of season 3 Jack and Miko fuse into Mack then when they go to hug Raf all 3 of them fuse?

(I’ve gotten a couple requests for something along the lines of an Alexandrite/Obsidian human fusion, so I wrote a quick thing for my take on a fusion of all three kids!)

Who Says Three's A Crowd?

Rafael sat nearby as Ratchet worked quickly on the Harbinger’s console, transmitting their coordinates to Agent Fowler. He fiddled with the seam of his shirt as he listened to Ratchet quickly explain their situation. 

Just then, Bumblebee came barging in, his optics wide. 

[Ratchet! I just caught sight of an incoming ship!]

Ratchet turned towards the scout, his expression changing to one of shock. “What?” He quickly disconnected the line and followed Bee out of the ship. Rafael leapt from his perch, running to keep up. He could hear the roar of a ship’s engine as they walked out into the open near the downed Decepticon ship. Rafael could just make out a large ship descending down from the cloud cover when Bee held out a servo to stop him.

[Stay back] he ordered. Rafael knew better than to argue. The ship activated its landing gear as it drew near.

“It’s one of ours!” Ratchet exclaimed. The ship’s thrusters pivoted to slow its decent, sending sand and dust flying in thick clouds. Rafael shut his eyes as he brought his arms up to cover his face. He heard the thud of the landing gear making contact with the rough terrain, followed by the dying whine of the engine. The dust began to settle, and Raf hesitantly glanced up. 

The ship was huge, even next to Bumblebee and Ratchet. There was a hiss and groan of metal as a lift of sorts began to descend, landing on the ground with a group of Autobots standing on it. Autobots and…

“Raf!” Rafael’s eyes brightened as he saw both Miko and Jack standing at the front with the others. Miko leapt off the platform and ran straight towards him. Raf smiled as he ran out to meet them halfway. Miko’s arms slipped around his middle before she lifted him up in a lung-crushing hug. He let a surprised laugh burst out as his glasses wobbled nose his nose. She set him down then, but kept her hands on his shoulders as she looked over him, seeming to be checking him for any injuries. 

“Girl’s got a grip, doesn’t she?” Jack chuckled. Rafael smirked at the teen as he walked up behind Miko. She stepped to the side to allow the boys to grasp hands and pull each other into a back-thumping hug. Jack pulled back and smiled down at Rafael, still squeezing his hand. Rafael felt like his heart was filled to bursting with relief and joy. They were safe. His friends were safe.

He saw Miko move out of the corner of his eye, and Raf turned just in time to see her wrap her arms around both of them, bringing them in for another hug. Both he and Jack gladly returned the gesture. Rafael’s cheeks ached with how much he was smiling. He felt so happy in this moment. So safe and complete.

And then he felt something else. 

It was warm, and bright, and it should have scared him, but he could only be happy as he let it encompass his whole body.

Bumblebee let out a buzz of awe as all three kids lit up and melded together, the light fading away to reveal a strange looking human that was at least a foot taller than Mack. Their hair was a wild, messy ponytail of black that faded into brown and pink in a strange sort of ombre. They had five eyes now - an extra pair under the normal ones, where their cheeks began, and the single eye in the middle of their forehead that Mack always had for some reason. They wore a large pair of glasses that covered the lower four eyes and it fell down the bridge of their nose.

Their clothes were an even odder mix-and-match of all three children’s outfits, creating a blend of bright colors, long, baggy sleeves, and scuffed up sneakers. The strangest thing though, was their arms. They had two arms set in the normal spot for a human, but underneath was another pair. It was an odd sight, and the new fusion quickly took notice of all of the optics on them.

“Well, uh,” Wheeljack said in an attempt to break the awkward silence, “That’s one way to say hi, I guess.”

The fusion smiled shyly as they pushed their glasses up the bridge of their nose with one of their four arms.

[What do we call you then?] Bee asked, and the fusion blinked in surprise, because they could understand him completely, which Miko and Jack hadn’t been able to do before. They glanced down at their hands and hummed in thought.

“I think… I might need some time to come up with something. Rafael, Jack, and Miko aren’t names that blend very well.” They held up their hands, their fingers laced together on either side as they smiled knowingly. “I think I like you…” they said softly to themself.

The Autobots went on with their greetings, happy to give the kids time to learn their new name and to become accustomed to this new, exciting thing they had become. Together.

-

(I tried to think of something to name this new fusion, but I honestly have no ideas)

[ohlookabookbyanerd]

Rosie is NOT a Bot!

Story type: Slice Of Life

Continuity: TFP

Timeline: Before the first episode

Featuring HeadCannons from:

@tf-imagines @deceptimagines

Story Summary: When a Strange little girl enters into the lives of the Transformers Crew, Things take an unusual Turn! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 1- Encounter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a Bright and Blustery Day in Jasper, Nevada as a Blue and Red Peterbilt truck was driving into town form the outskirts of desert. To the trained human eye this is your usual heavy-duty Truck completing its rounds. But this Particular Truck is more then meets the eye, as it also happens to be the Alt-mode of the leader of the Autobots; An Alien Race of Technological beings Protecting Earth From the evil forces of another faction: the Decepticons. Things had been Pretty Quiet here ever since the decepticons Went Off the grid about two months ago.. but whenever they Weren't around that usually meant they were planning something big. This bothered Optimus so he often Left the Base for Patrols.He might come off as paranoid to his team but he’d Rather be safe then sorry. He Silently drove threw the streets for a while before he soon stopped at a traffic light. He waited there patiently while letting his thoughts run away with him.. Until something caught the corner of his eye. Across the Street on the Sidewalk stood a little girl with a Wagon, waiting to cross the street. Now this was your typical Little girl;  she had Long black hair, Brown skin, Glasses, Brown eyes, looked about 14, and was wearing Jeans and a kitten Hoodie. A Normal little girl. Nothing to be really interested in right? That’s what you would think. But This particular Little Girl had peaked Optimus’s Interest. Ever since he Started Going on these patrols for the past month he’d Seen this Same little Girl Everyday in the same outfit on this same street with the Same little Wagon. It Happened so many days at the same time that his inner curiosity was focused on finding out who this little girl was. As the walk sign on the crosswalk lit up, He watched as she Quickly Crossed the Street while pulling her little wagon behind her in a Hurry before Returning to a Normal Walking pace Upon Reaching the other side and onto Sidewalk. Gingerly he Began to Tail The Little Girl- But Remembered to Keep a Respectful Distance between her and himself. Humans Tend to Panic If they feel threatened so it's best to Observe From a distance. As he Drove down the road he Took Note of how she Reacted to her Environment. She seemed to Avoid Being Close to any of the other Humans Nearby, and Wouldn't even Look At them as her eyes were planted to the ground. She walked Slightly slower then the usual Speed of movement.. and Sometimes if there was a Large group of people she would Take another Route, and Optimus would surely have to Find a Side-road to Continue his Persuit. Judging by These Reactions this Human seemed to be Shy. After a While He Noticed that they were beginning to leave the city. Where was she Going? After a while she approached an Abandoned Area.. It seemed to be an old Park of some sort.. He watched as she Entered it.

//I'll have to follow her on Foot.. Nobody seems to be around.. It should be okay for me to Transform.\\

Optimus Transformed into his True Form, a giant,Towering Robo-sapien. He Carefully Treaded Threw The Parks entrance and threw the Trees, Not wanting to loose sight of the little human that Had him so Enraptured. Finally She arrived at her destination, an Old And Worn out Wooden Canopy.

He watched her with Wide Optics as she Pulled out a few Groceries from her wagon and set them on a Park Bench, giving a warm smile as a Little Black Dog Came Rushing From inside the canopy- Barking unusually Loudly. She laughs Playfully as she Rubbed The Excited canines Back as it continues to bark Happily. She Carefully Placed Her Wagon behind the Canopy and Gave a Quiet Yawn Before Taking a worn out Blanket from the wagon and walking Under the Canopy, Before Laying down for a Nap while her Little Dog Ran lays down Next to her.

Optimus was Beside himself! Was this where this little Child went every day? Was this where she Lived?! Where was her Family? Being an Autobot hidden Amongst The Humans, You Notice things others do not. He's been around long enough to see Humans who Live on the streets. But he has Never..EVER.. Seen a Child on the streets.. without their Guardians No Less. He Quietly Approached The Canopy where The little ones Slept Quietly, Getting a good look at the two. Deep down in his Spark he knew that She Was Alone... And he couldn't bare to Leave them here. Glancing around the Area Silently, He gently reached Out to the Little Child and Dog with his Servos. The small Dog's head perked up immediately with a Soft Growl, before she Looked up to Optimus, Causing him freeze. The two were there for a few moments before the dog Got up and wags its tail as it sniffed at his servo, before surprisingly climbing onto it. Perhaps this canine can sense His Pure intention. Either way he Carefully Held the Pup in one Servo before Using his Other to Carefully pick up the Sleeping Child. He Glanced around as he Treaded Carefully threw the park and to the Entrance, Trying his best Not to wake The Little Girl. Once he had Exited the Park and made it to the Main Road, He Transformed and Silently Drove away towards the base.

After a Few minutes of Driving his Comm-link Gave off a Ping as an prettyAnnoyed/Slightly worried Tone Spoke.

🔧- [*Optimus! Where Are You? You've been out Longer then Usual! Are you okay?! You better not be Captured Or Ignoring my Calls!*]

💙- [*No Old Friend.. I was Just.. Busy.*]

🔧- [*You we're what? Optimus, If Your Bringing Back another cat to This Base I Swear to Primus-*]

💙- [* I Can Assure You that I'm not Bringing back a Cat..*]

🔧- [*Thank The All-spark.*]

[allspark]

It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like Star Trek vs Transformers, Batman/The Maxx, Star Wars, Team Sonic Racing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and much more! All coming your way for December 5th!

STAR TREK VS TRANSFORMERS #3

John Barber, Mike Johnson (A/CVR A) Philip Murphy (CVR B) Gaving Fullerton

Klingons and Decepticons lay siege to a remote Federation dilithium mine-and the only thing holding them back is the shaky alliance of Captain Kirk and Optimus Prime. But what dark secret is buried beneath the ground… and can this uneasy partnership withstand the revelations?

The Transformers ’80s cartoon series meets Star Trek: The Animated Series in a no-holds-barred Saturday Morning mash-up for the ages!

TRANSFORMERS IDW COLL PHASE 2 HC VOL 08

John Barber, James Roberts, Shane McCarthy (A) Alex Milne, Andrew Griffith, Guido Guidi (CVR) Marcelo Matere

Rodimus leads a team of Autobots into Cybertron’s past, pursuing the Decepticon double-agent Brainstorm, who plans on killing Orion Pax before he can become Optimus Prime. Meanwhile, on Earth, Prowl is left in command gathering his allies, the Constructicons, to search for the one human he holds a grudge against, Spike Witwicky. Then, Drift returns! After leaving the Autobots in disgrace, he’s now alone, on a mission to clean up the darkest depths of the galaxy.

Collects Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye issues #35-40, Transformers: Robots in Disguise issues #35-38, Transformers: Punishment, and Transformers: Drift-Empire of Stone.

•   Advance solicited for December release! •   The best format for new readers to pick up the series and for continuing readers to supplement their collections with deluxe hardcovers.

BATMAN/THE MAXX ARKHAM DREAMS #3

Sam Keith (A/CVR A&B) Sam Kieth

With Joker back in Arkham, Maxx runs off into the night. Meanwhile, Batman grows more wary of Dr. Disparu’s experiments. In an effort to unravel the riddles of the Outback (and Disparu), Batman seeks out Julie Winters… and they both enter a dimensional hole leading to the Outback-where they encounter an alternate version of Harley Quinn! Back in the real world, Joker, Harley, and the Penguin are the current subjects of Disparu’s experiments-experiments that have a decidedly bad reaction on the Maxx!

COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD DICK TRACY HC VOL 25

Chester Gould (A/CVR) Chester Gould

Dick Tracy closes out the 1960s by moonlighting-literally! The master sleuth takes a part-time second job as Head of Security and Law Enforcement for Diet Smith’s operations based on the moon. Soon, Tracy learns that an international crime syndicate, the Apparatus, has infiltrated Smith’s organization on the lunar surface.

All this and more in these classic Chester Gould comic strips, from April 3, 1969, to December 23, 1970.

MAGIC THE GATHERING CHANDRA #1

Vita Ayala (A) Harvey Tolibao (CVR A) Ken Lashley

The boundless multiverse of Magic: The Gathering returns to comics!

In the wake of tragedy, Planeswalker and pyromancer Chandra Nalaar strikes out on her own. On her journey, she’ll have to fight against threats both old and new, as well as her own sense of guilt. Can she overcome all of that alone? And who is that familiar face lurking in the shadows?

OCTOBER FACTION TP VOL 05 SUPERNATURAL DREAMS

Steve Niles (A/CVR) Damien Worm

With their former leader and father retired, the rest of the Allan family adjusts to the new status quo and brings the monster-hunting business into the modern era. But a sinister and powerful new evil stirs… one that could tear the family apart! The town of Gristlewood is under attack from the most powerful being it has ever seen. Vivian and Geoff take the lead in fighting the evil, but can they even begin to match its power? Or will this be the end of the October Faction?

•   Advance solicited for December release! •   “The October Faction: Supernatural Dreams is packed with demonic action, with an important family thread running through it.”-Horror Talk

RICK & MORTY VS DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #3

Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Zub (A/CVR A&B) Troy Little

A dimension where the Dungeons & Dragons paradigms are real. The rules are absolute… or, at least, they were… until Rick and Morty make their mark. Get ready to plead the fifth (edition) in this unlawful, chaotically evil story of family friction and fantasy frolics.

The world’s greatest roleplaying game. Reality’s most dysfunctional animated series. What could go wrong?

•   Presented in conjunction with Oni Press! •   Patrick Rothfuss, the multiple award-winning, bestselling author of The Kingkiller Chronicle series, joins Dungeons & Dragons fan-favorite author Jim Zub (Avengers, Wayward) on a tri-dimensional fantasy adventure! •   Rick and Morty is one of the most popular shows in Adult Swim history, with a steady fan following since it debuted in 2013. This is the first official Rick and Morty team-up story and should have deep traction in fan circles! •   Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition sales continue to grow each year and the Baldur’s Gate video games have sold millions of copies around the world. D&D has returned as a cultural force in bookstores and online.

RISE OF THE TMNT #3

Matthew K. Manning (A) Chad Thomas (CVR A) Andy Suriano

The TMNT are in a bitter fight with each other over an extremely sensitive topic… which pizza place has the fastest delivery! When a villain butts in, the Turtles will have to put aside their differences and do what they do best: beat up bad guys!

•   Overseen by showrunners Andy Suriano (Cosmic Scoundrels) and Ant Ward!

ROAD OF THE DEAD HIGHWAY TO HELL #2

Jonathan Mayberry (A/CVR B) Drew Moss (CVR A) Santiperez

An over-the-top wild ride prequel to ROAD OF THE DEAD! Written by Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author and creator of V-WARS. Scientist Harriet, tank crewman Skelly, and their crew of losers leave a trail of bodies-living and dead-behind them as they race for sanctuary through the zombie wasteland of North America. The road to hell is paved with bad decisions, heavy drinking, and a lot of blood on the asphalt.

•   Five-time Bram Stoker award-winning author, Jonathan Maberry, returns for a new tale of the undead!

STAR TREK TNG TERRA INCOGNITA #5

Scott Tipton, David Tipton (A) Angel Hernandez (CVR A) Tony Shasteen (CVR B) Photo

On the heels of the blockbuster THROUGH THE MIRROR miniseries comes a brand-new NEXT GENERATION series, featuring untold tales of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D! Interstellar odd couple Worf and Beverly Crusher undertake a difficult mission, but can they overcome their differences to work together?

•   Takes place during Star Trek: The Next Generation’s critically acclaimed fourth season! •   Featuring covers by Mirror Broken co-creator and designer J.K. Woodward! •   The unexpected twist ending of Through the Mirror continues!

STAR WARS ADVENTURES #16

Chris “Doc” Wyatt, Michael Moreci, Kevin Burke (A/CVR B) Arianna Florean (A/CVR A) Valentina Pinto

Welcome to the Resistance! Star Wars Resistance is an exciting new animated series coming to the Disney Channel this fall, and making its Star Wars Adventures debut in this very issue! In the time before The Force Awakens, this all-new adventure follows the fledgling Resistance as it begins to realize the growing threat of the First Order!

•   Ties into the new Star Wars Resistance animated show coming this fall to Disney Channel! •   Written by Resistance show writers Chris “Doc” Wyatt and Kevin Burke! •   Plus, an exciting new Flight of the Falcon story!

STAR WARS ADVENTURES DESTROYER DOWN #2

Scott Beatty (A) Jon Sommariva (A/CVR A) Derek Charm

Swallowed by the shifting sands of Jakku, the Imperial Star Destroyer Spectral has been lost for two decades, giving rise to rumors of hauntings and buried treasure. But an epic sandstorm has revealed the ruins of the starship, and renowned scavenger Rey now leads the race to claim whatever lies within!

•   Three-issue miniseries set during the days before The Force Awakens! •   Includes a backup story depicting the Battle of Jakku, revealing how the Star Destroyer Spectral met its fate during the last days of the Empire!

TEAM SONIC RACING (ONE-SHOT)

Caleb Goellner (A/CVR A) Adam Bryce Thomas

Sonic’s been taken to another world and entered into a race unlike any other! With a little help from his friends Tails and Knuckles, he’ll race to win the competition and get everyone home! BUT! Before that, check out a comics exclusive story straight from the world of Team Sonic Racing!

•   Leads into the upcoming game, Team Sonic Racing, available Winter 2018! •   Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails team up in this exciting adventure! •   Special extra-long one-shot!

TMNT ONGOING IDW COLL HC VOL 08

Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Ben Bates, Dustin Weaver (A) Bill Sienkiewicz, Damian Couceiro (CVR) Dan Duncan

Bebop and Rocksteady stumble across a time-travel scepter, kickstarting the craziest, most destructive adventure yet! Then, when a mysterious new mutant targets Baxter Stockman, it will be up to the TMNT to reluctantly save him, but little does anyone know that a larger trap is being laid by a new arch-foe. Plus, Donatello reboots a new and improved Metalhead only to find that the robot no longer functions entirely as designed. Collects the Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything mini-series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe issues #1-8, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issues #65-66.

•   Advance solicited for December release! •   The best format for new readers to pick up the series and for continuing readers to supplement their collections with deluxe hardcovers.

  Join the IDW Hasbro Shared Universe related conversation here in our Comics Discussion and Reviews section and here for all other franchises, superheroes, or general comic book discussions! Not a member? Join our community by creating your own free account here! Or jump right into the live chat on our Discord server or our Facebook Group!

IDW Comics Shipping List for December 5th! It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like 

[petitelepus]

Autobots Meet Sexy Monster Ladies, Part 1

Soooo, I just like monster ladies, they’re hot, I like Transformers, who are also hot, so why not combine these two? The Lost Light will have some sexy time with new alien planet’s sexy residents. I got the bravery from @rocksinmuffin to go with this idea, and I’m trusting the first bot’s smexy time to her skilful hands! I have my own list, let’s just see what will happen! Who will frag which monster lady?

This wasn’t exactly what Megatron had in his mind when they came across a new planet, but he couldn’t say that he was surprised by his Co-Captain running off to recruit any eager mechs to join him on exploring mysterious planet.

Megatron and Ultra Magnus stayed behind, as the ex-Decepticon-leader watched the green planet grow larger and larger on the monitor. Ultra Magnus was on comm with Perceptor and Brainstorm, listening carefully what the two scientists had to say about the planet so far.

As far as Megatron understood, it was almost identical to human’s planet Earth. It had it’s own atmosphere, it was small part of decent solar system and it even had a moon circling it like Earth had. That was everything they could tell without settling to atmosphere for a closer look.

How this part of galaxy and this specific organic planet had managed to stay hidden and untouched by the war was a great mystery for Megatron. He turned to Ultra Magnus, his face serious as always. ”Are you fine with this? With us proceeding to an unknown planet?”

Ultra Magnus opened his mouth, but cut himself off before he could say anything, correcting his words in his mind. ”Our mission, and Rodimus, insists that we scout through this planet. I also just received a message from Perceptor. According to a quick scan, this planet could supply us with new energon resources, depending on the purity of it.”

”There’s energon on an organic planet?”

”It appears so, but this wouldn’t be first planet we have faced that has energon.” Ultra Magnus turned to Megatron. ”Are you going to join Rodimus and others?”

”I would rather not. Unlike you, I still haven’t gotten used to his unpredictable antics, but if there are intelligent life forms on this planet then I would feel much safer for everyone’s sake that someone level-headed would accompany them.”

”Are you offering to?”

”I don’t see any other way out of this.”

The group was small, but capable, chosen by Rodimus and finally approved by Megatron. Like he had any other choices.

He understood Rewind and Brainstorm. He could see good use having them around recording and collecting data and samples. Drift came since he was excited to see new life and he was talented with his swords. Ratchet was also coming, since it never hurt to have a doctor around incase something went wrong.

But what he couldn’t understand was why Rodimus had allowed Whirl out of all the mechs on the ship to come also. He was irrational, rash and always picking up a fight or a reason for one.

Megatron had tried to talk Rodimus out of it, but Whirl wasn’t going to stay on the ship once he had decided to come. So Megatron gave up, this ONE time. He honestly felt like staying behind, but when he thought about Rodimus speaking to a new civilisation that possibly didn’t even know about life outside their planet.

Rodimus took the first big leap on the planet, jumping straight out of the ship on the solid ground, Whirl coming right behind him and others following. The planet was so far just like human’s Earth had been. Green grass beneath their pedes, blue sky reaching over the horizon and forest swaying in the wind near by.

”This is so exciting! Look at those clouds, flowers and trees! They’re so lush!” Rewind said as he whipped his helm all around him, making sure to film anything that caught his attention.

”I want to take one of each with us and run some tests!” Brainstorm squealed like a sparkling, his optics glinting in excitement and dozens of vials already on his reach.

”As long as you’ve made sure they’re nothing dangerous.” Megatron warned everyone. They had no idea wha kind of a primitives the planet had. They could be hostile, well armed or worse, a spark-eaters.

”BOOORING! What’s the use being here if we don’t have some excitement!?” Whirl shouted snapping his claws agitatedly. Megatron was just about to tell Whirl to return back to the ship if he didn’t shut up and behave, when suddenly Whirl’s optic flickered and he looked up towards the sky. ”Oh hey, they got someone looking at us.”

Everybody looked up and certainly, there was someone circling over the sky above them. Megatron tried to focus his optics, but the sun gave the creature above them a blinding cover. Suddenly he heard a click and metal whirling and he looked at Whirl who had picked up his gun. ”Can I shoot it? I’m gonna shoot it!” He was already aiming.

Drift was quick to slam gun off from cyclop’s claws. ”Whirl, no! It would ruin our karma if the first thing we do on this beautiful planet is that we shoot something innocent!”

”Whirl, we just got here!” Rodimus groaned.

”For Primus’ sake, put the gun down before you shoot one of us!” Ratchet yelled.

”All we know may be that it might be a bomber ready to drop a fragging bomb on us!” The psycho copter said as he angrily put his gun away.

”Whirl, that’s not a bomber, it’s a organic aviator.” Rewind said and everyone turned to him, wondering how he could see when others couldn’t. The tiny mech pointed at his camera, red light blinking slowly. ”I have a light dimmer on my camera.”

”Well, whatever it is, it’s coming towards us.” Ratchet grumbled. Everyone looked at the closing in creature and stood their ground, ready to defend themselves if situation called for it. But what they saw took them all by surprise.

There was a humanoid looking creature with aviator’s wings there where it’s arms should have been and yellow thin legs with sharp looking talons. The creature itself was rather adorable and super small compared to big mechs. It appeared to be as small as human child on their years before young adulthood.

It’s crimson hair was messy, probably because of flying so high had much air currency, matching crimson wings worked as the creature held itself up on their eye level. It’s sky blue eyes sparkled as it looked at them curiously. They all activated their galaxy-wide-translators and waited for the creature to speak. If it was even able to.

”Hi!”

It was able to. It also appeared to be she if her light girly voice was anything but a hint.

”Um, hello!” Rodimus took a bold step forward and offered his hand as it was habit in human Earth. Maybe she was relative to humans? Instead of shaking his hand, the bird girl landed on it, her surprisingly strong talons wrapping around his finger. Rodimus felt like he was holding a real bird. It was something he had never excepted to do. ”How are you?”

”Kimi’s good! Kimi’s flying!” She said and make a wide motion with her wings. Did the little creature speak of herself in third persona? Well, who was Rodimus to judge. He might start doing that as well.

”That’s cool! Where are you flying?”

”Kimi can’t remember…” What was this creature, an lost infant? Even for a humanoid, she was awfully small. ”Kimi was suppose to take a look at something new… but Kimi forgot.”

Rodimus and Megatron shared a look. She was probably a scout sent by her superiors. What kind of a creatures sent a child on such a dangerous job? They could have been Decepticons or worse, if there was anything worse than Tarn and his group.

”Captain, there’s someone running this way.” Brainstorm noted and pointed towards the vast meadow. Rodimus and Megatron turned to look who was coming and they saw a something coming at them with a speed strong enough to raise a cloud of dust on it’s wake.

Their optics zoomed in and they saw yet another human hybrid running towards them… with their lower half being an Earth horse’s lower body. But what drew the crew’s attention were giant, no, ENORMOUS breasts she had, jumping up and down as she galloped. Rodimus inched a little closer to Megatron. ”I’m not seeing things, am I?”

”Clear your optics.”

”I did and I still see them! You’ve seen more humans than I, do they usually have such a huge racks!? Primus, they’re bigger than her head!”

Before Megatron could even reprimand Rodimus, the horse woman came to a screeching halt before them and pulled out a a very real and very sharp sword, pointing it towards the mechs.

”Halt! Thou are you metallic men and what is your business here!?” The bootyful brunet with a white horse’s body peeking from under a big skirt yelled at them, her voice strong with bravery and heavy accent. None of the mechs had ever heard an accent like that.

Megatron stepped forward, not intimidated by the sword since it would probably just scratch his paintjob. ”We’re Autobots and we come in peace. We’re on a mission to find a new home planet-!”

”Žemė isn’t open for those like thou!” The horsewoman stomped her hooves on the ground and for a second mechs felt threatened by smaller life form. ”Leave and never return!”

”Maija they’re nice!” Kimi the bird girl chirped and jumped off from Rodimus’ hand and glided with a skilful grace next to horse woman. Maija lowered her sword a little, apparently knowing Kimi, but she didn’t put it away either. ”Kimi, I told thou to seek out enemies and report back to me! Not to accompany them!”

”Oh, so that’s what Kimi was suppose to do!” The bird girl laughed lightly and turned to look at giant mechs over them. ”But metal giants are really nice! Colourful like Kimi also!”

Rodimus felt a prod of proudness. She was almost as red as he was. The horse woman looked like she was about to argue with the more simple minded girl, but Megatron had to ask. ”You sent a child to scout us? We don’t mean any harm, but not all the travellers passing by might take kindly to such actions.”

Maija scowled and gave them a harsh leer. ”Thou are underestimating the Harpies age. Kimi here is four years older than I and I am 26.”

Well that was surprising. Mechs looked at each other and Ratched asked. ”Now hold on a sec, pardon me, not to be rude, but she appears far younger than you young lady.”

The woman scoffed, but she seemed to relax a little bit. It must have been Ratchet’s approach to situation. ”Thou really don’t know anything of Žemė, do you? Thou aren’t trying to take over our home?”

Megatron shook his head. ”None. We just found out that this planet existed and we decided to see if there was any clues that could have helped us to find Knight of Cyberton.”

”Have you heard of them? Any clue, even smallest one could help us!” Rodimus butted in, grouching down so he was a little bit more at humanoid duo’s level. He still hovered over organics easily, but neither of the girls seemed to mind his attempt to ease the situation.

Maija actually seemed to accept them, not deeming them as dangerous anymore and she put her sword back to it’s sheath on her… stomach, waist? ”Very well. Thou haven’t made any attempts to abuse my friend’s credulousness, so I will help you the best I can.”

Rodimus beamed. Megatron couldn’t believe it how his co-captain was able to break through these young women so easily. Maybe it was his paint job and flames. He was an eyesore and wouldn’t camouflage anywhere. Maybe they didn’t see a predator in him. Maija gave them each a quick look, before her green eyes landed on their Rodpod. ”Is that thou’s ship? It’s rather runty. But, forgive me, then again, thou could also be a small group.”

”No no, we’re here just scouting the area. Our ship is still above the atmosphere.” Rodimus said and got back up. ”I hope you don’t shoot us down with any magna weapons or such things.”

”That would be up to the Queens.”

”Queens?”

”Žemė is ruled by our Queens. Three of them resided to our land capital Pistas. It’s couple miles down the hill. Thou may follow us if thou want to meet them.” Maija explained, before stopping. They all heard a camera, or rather an optic zooming in. Megatron hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was.

They all looked over and sure enough, Whirl got his lonely optic pointed right towards the horse woman’s busty chest area. She stared at the giant mech, shocked to silence, before suddenly blushing so badly her face turned crimson.

”Thou foul giant cyclops!” Maija drew her sword and jumped at Whirl, trying to jab his lanky feet with her weapon, but the mech dodged it easily with his lanky chicken legs.

”Keep thou’s eye in my eyes!”

”Hey, I gotta appreciate the organics’ nice-!” Ratchet swatted the mech over the head. ”Shut yer mouth and apologise from this kind young lady, who is ready to help us!”

”Owww! Alright, alright, jeez…! Sorry! I won’t stare anymore!”

Maija scoffed, but when she looked over at Ratched her scowl turned into kind smile. ”Thank you noble giant. You truly are a knight among the peasant.”

Now if Ratchet wasn’t an old mech he might have blushed at the praises. Still, despite his elder status, he did take the kind words to his spark. ”Just honouring a lady’s wish of privacy.”

Maija nodded, retreating her sword again and Kimi started jumping up and down excitedly. ”Let’s go, let’s go! Kimi will lead the way to the city! You follow Kimi!” Before anyone could even object, the tiny harpy jumped up, spreading her wings and with a strong push rose to the sky.

The mechs glanced at each other, before turning to Maija, only to see her galloping at the high speed, far off already. Rodimus glanced others and grinned. ”You heard the ladies. Whirl, since you like talking you get to pick Rewind with you. Autobots, Wham bam in the van!”

Many groaned, but did as they were told and soon enough the Transformers were driving and flying after two women. They caught them up with ease, but what they didn’t except to see was a city so enormous that it would have left New York in shame.

As soon as they made it to city’s border, everyone took their normal forms and soon enough, they got audience. Megatron, Rodimus and rest of them watched in surprise how many avian hybrids there actually were in the air, diving in to meet the new people. There were so much of them that it looked like a rainbow had exploded all over mechs’ optics and before anyone could really complain, their frames were already used as landing trees.

Every single harpy approached them without a hint of fear. Rodimus laughed as the bird humans landed on his shoulders, head, hands and fingers. Megatron felt more complexed. He wasn’t sure what to feel towards these fearless little humanoids that approached him with such ease, not knowing of the crimes he had committed.

Rewind was recording every second, Ratchet was baring it, Whirl felt like a scarecrow, Brainstorm asked feather samples from every harpy that crossed eyes with him and Drift… He was enjoying every second he could take, being one with nature. Then Kimi appeared, huge smile on her pretty face.

”Kimi told everyone about new friends and everyone wanted to meet you!” Tiny harpy said happily as she hovered just before Rodimus’ face. The captain smiled and gestured to his filled hands. ”That is nice of you. Want to ask them to take off so we could meet up with the queens?”

Kimi nodded and called all her friends off and they took off into the air. It was like watching colours fly. Maija joined the Autobots, coming up front from the city. ”Follow me. I’ll take thou to see the Queens.”

The Autobots followed behind the horse woman. With their huge frames, they made it to the busy part of the city quickly. They were actually surprised to see fantastic artisan work done on the skyscrapers that towered over the mechs and there were even cars and motorcycles. Žemė appeared almost as perfect replica of the Earth. Except the residents.

Megatron almost felt like he was walking to his trial again. People were staring at them so much, but the mechs were honestly looking at the people also. There were so much different humanoid hybrids. Some looked exactly like humans, but instead of two optics they had one huge one. Some people had spider’s lower body, some had snake’s lower body.

Soon the mechs came to a very big grand building that looked like a villa. It surprised the mechs that the building was actually big enough for them to enter. Inside the building was office workers busting from room to another, answering phones and doing their daily duties.

Maija knocked on a enormous double doors and they creaked open with a surprising ease. She turned to Megatron and others and nodded. ”Thou may enter, the Queens have heard of thou’s arrival.”

”Thank you.” Megatron thanked the horse woman and she nodded, stepping to a side to let them enter. The group walked into the room and they came across three new humanoids. A green tailed snake woman with a head full of snakes sat at the end of a very big dark wooden table. She had an official looking suite and pencil skirt on her

On her right was a dark skinned tall woman with long dark hair and long pointed ears on her head. She was wearing same official outfit as the snake woman, only her skirt wasn’t a mini skirt, but a long maxi skirt.

On her left sat a surprisingly scary looking woman whose skin was red, long horns growing from her forehead and her eyes being crimson red. Unlike other women, she had bikini looking outwit on her, with dozen of coins hanging on the edges. They were all looking at the papers before them, but when Autobots came and they turned their full attention on mechs.

”Aaah, welcome to our planet Žemė!” The snake haired woman said, getting up from her seat and slithering around the table to meet up the mechs. Her two colleagues got up and followed her. They all got before Rodimus and Megatron and bowed like a royalties would do. Gracefully and full of elegance that was beyond a normal citizen’s abilities.

”We’re the Queens of Pistas and area surrounding the city. I’m Maddy the Medusa.” The snake woman said and bowed once again.

”Greetings visitors. I am Aydan the Fourth Anubis.” The sharp doggy eared woman said and nodded to each mech, acknowledging them all.

”And I’m Malika the Ghoul Queen!” The red demon looking woman cheered and did a little twirl, like she was dancing. Megatron put his right servo on his chassis, over his spark chamber and bowed respectfully back to them, even if he still towered over them. ”It’s a pleasure being here.”

”Likewise. I’m Rodimus Prime and this is my co-captain Megatron.” Rodimus said next to him, not even showing any other signs of respect other than saying that. Megatron rose to glare at his co-captain, but the red mech ignored him.

”How were you expecting us? Or noticed us? Do you have some kind of a signal catcher hidden in some base here?” Rodimus asked, much to Megatron’s anger. ”Rodimus, don’t be rude.”

”Indeed.” Aydan glared Rodimus from the corner of her almond brown eyes, but when she looked at Megatron, her glare disappeared. Malika swayed on the heels of her feet and hummed a little. ”We do have a space centre, you know? Our researches caught your signal ages ago and we have just been waiting for you to come visit!”

”How come you didn’t answer to our signals and invite us?” Rodimus asked.

”We wished to prepare a party for your sake. You’re our first visitors from space.” Maddy told them.

”You aren’t scared?”

”We have been aware of life outside Žemė for a long time! We catch signals here and there and put a thing or two together from whatever we may hear.” Malika helpfully added.

”You appear to have very advanced technology, despite one of you baring a sword as her weapon.” Megatron said, minding his words so he wouldn’t even accidentally offend anyone.

”My apologies for Maija’s forwardness if she caused any trouble. She’s a little hotblooded. The Centaurs themselves aren’t as fond to modern science as rest of the species here on the Žemė are. They’re more about honour and serving, but they’re good friends and loyal subordinates to have around.” Aydan said and bowed lightly as apology for her servant’s sake.

”None taken.” Megatron replied. Maddie slithered forward and smiled to mechs much bigger than her. ”Our party for you isn’t finished yet, so you may stay here as long as you wish! We can even host you in some of our houses.”

”Thank you for the offer. The crew could use a little break.” Rodimus answered without even consulting Megatron about staying. The grey mech gave his co-captain a dirty look and Rodimus reverted. ”But we insist on staying in Lost Light. We’ll just park it somewhere.”

”Understood.” Aydan nodded. Megatron wasn’t still pleased, but it was better to stay at their own ship rather than bother this planet’s residents with their big frames and need for energon. But they had to talk some business.

”I need to ask you, even if you haven’t explored space before, but have you heard of something called The Knights of Cyberton?” The grey mech asked. The Queens shared a confused look with each other.

”Knights of Cybertron?” Malika wondered out loud.

”Cybertron is your home planet?” Aydan questioned. Megatron nodded. ”Yes.”

Maddy frowned and sadly shook her head. Even her snakes on her hair seemed sad. ”I’m afraid we haven’t heard anything… Why are you looking for knights?”

”They’re kinda like our Gods. We’re trying to restore our planet to the way it used to be, so we’re looking for them.” Rodimus explained. The three Queens shook their heads. ”We’re sorry that we don’t know anything. This is the first time we have heard of them.”

Megatron felt disappointed. Their trip was useless if they didn’t receive any information about their Gods, but trust it to the Rodimus to take the best out of the situation. ”Well, that sucks, but it’s cool! We’re millions years older than you so it would be miracle if you knew anything! Either way, we’ll enjoy our stay here!”

Three Queens smiled and nodded. ”We will be happy to have you here.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? The crew could use a little rest and take example from Drift who loved everything peaceful.

”With all due respect Your Highnesses.” Brainstorm captured everyone’s attention and Megatron felt like everything was going to go downhill. ”I have been paying some attention and I noted that you don’t appear to have any representers of your masculine sex here. Not in the city anyway. I would like to ask why is that?”

Megatron tried and Primus praise him, he was able to stop himself from pinching the bridge of his nasal. He regretted letting other mechs besides him join them on the throne room with this planet’s rulers.

The Queens shared a quick glances with each others and Megatron feared that they had offended them. Instead, Queen Maddie smiled and tip of her snake’s tail wiggled almost happily. ”That is actually what we wanted to talk with you Captains. You see, we wish to trade with you.”

”What do you want to trade?”

”You Cybertronians aren’t really famous out there in space… But we don’t mind you. Many may found you strange, but Žemė is really open planet to different species. We should know after all. So you could maybe use some of our fuels, energon what you call it as, to fill up your supplies. That’s what you consume, I understood?”

”That is correct and awfully generous your Highness.” Megatron bowed lightly. ”But what do you want for exchange?”

The sharp teethed smile on snake haired Queen’s lips was nothing more than devious and pleased. ”We want your bodies.”

”…Excuse me?”

They wanted their bodies? Did they want them to sacrifice some of their men to them? Was the crew wrong about this planet? Were they really organics or were they the first organics to eat metal. Or did they wish to build weapons from them?

The calm Anubis Queen cleared her throat to get their attention. ”It’s not exactly that. Our planet was wiped clear of all men three years ago by an unknown virus we weren’t able to cure. What we wish to have from you are some of your seeds so we could give birth to a new generation and possibly restore our former independence.”

Megatron saw Whirl fist pump the air from the corner of his optic.

That made so much more sense, but it didn’t make things any easier. Some mechs didn’t mind organics, but some didn’t find them appealing either. They would need to talk about it with Ultra Magnus in private before they could agree on anything.

”Okay, let’s do it! We can help you!” Or Rodimus could just go and agree on anything without hearing what rest of the crew had to say about the case. Megatron couldn’t allow it. This thing needed to be discussed with Ultra Magnus before agreeing on anything! They weren’t Decepticons who bended others to do their bidding.

”Excuse us.” Megatron bowed yet again and not-so-gently hauled Rodimus to the side of the room so they could get some privacy. As soon they were alone, he gave his flashy co-captain nasty look and whispered, ”Are you being serious!? This has to be discussed back on the Lost Light!”

Rodimus scoffed and casually tried to slung his arm around Megatron’s shoulders, but he wasn’t quite tall enough. So he just motioned the bigger mech to lean down a little so he could talk quietly back to him.”Come on Megs-”

”It’s Megatron.”

”Megatron. Can’t you sympathise with them?”

”How so?”

”They’re dying, just like we are. They may have home, but they don’t have any way to continue their citizens. They’re all femmes and last time I checked, human women at least couldn’t reproduce with each other. They have that problem! If we don’t help them, who would? Plus, our crew could get kicks out of it also!”

Megatron grew quiet. He pondered what Rodimus said to him. Maybe he was right. If they just left, they might just as well doom this planet to extinction if no one else was coming along. Cybertornians had destroyed planets and life forms with their war… Maybe it was time for them to save one.

”Alright… But we must discuss this further with Ultra Magnus.”

Rodimus beamed like a newborn solar system. ”You won’t regret this Megs!”

Megatron couldn’t even correct the younger mech before he ran off to the rest of the crew and Queens. He groaned and followed him, but he was surprised to see his mechs socialising with three Queens. Megatron had no idea which side had started it, but they looked like they were all enjoying themselves.

Maddy the Medusa Queen had coiled her long tail around Drift’s arm and was happily chatting with the peace loving mech and Rewind who no doubt was recording every second. Megatron noted that  Aydan the Anubis Queen had a calm, but apparently pleasant conversation with Ratchet about Primus knows what.

Malika the Ghoul Queen was happily twirling around and showing her dancing skills to Whirl and Brainstorm to enjoy and observe. The movement made the coins on her clothes ting in harmony. Organics were so bendy compared to Transformers, whose joints weren’t predicated to such dexterity. Organics sure were quick to engage a conversation with them.

”Okay men, we’re heading back to Rodpod and return to the ship!” Rodimus declared cheerfully and looked at everyone. ”I see you’re all getting along! That’s great! When are you ready to take us in Your Highnesses?”

Maddy smiled as Drift helped her back on the ground and other Queens joined her. ”We can host you here right away. I’ll let the other Queens know we have visitors. Many will certainly want to meet you also.”

”We will be looking forward it.” Megatron and Rodimus bid their farewell and mechs exited the room. Maija was right outside the room, waiting for them. ”I’ll see that thou are escorted safely to your ship.”

”That’s not necessary. We can make it on our own.” Rodimus said, but the centaur didn’t give in. ”I insist. Accept it as my humblest apology to my earlier rudeness.”

How could they say no? So the mechs became the centre of organics’ attention once again as they made their way through the city. Megatron had a weird feeling about this whole thing. Then he heard Whirl whisper on the background.

”I bet 50 shanx that I get laid before any of you sparklings do.”

Megatron didn’t know that should he should groan at that or to that Drift actually took that bet.