Stranded ch. 1

Summer gasped as she looked up at the towering robot. He glared at her, and crouched down to pick her up. Summer tried to run, but the hand quickly shot out and brought her face to face with the robot. “What in the name of Primus are you?” it asked.

“I’m a human. What the heck are you?” Summer replied. A large purple symbol was branded on the robot’s arms, and it was an odd color for a jet. She had just been walking home from school, and heard a jet flying over head. Next thing she knew, a huge robot stood in front of her. Blue, black, and red, she had never seen a jet like this before.

“I’m Thundercracker, a Decepticon from the planet Cybertron. I’m on an exploration mission.” The robot replied.

“All right, then. Could you put me down?”

“No. I was also in charge of bringing back a specimen for testing. You seem the perfect sort.”

“WHAT? PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!” Summer screamed as she swung her fists at Thundercracker. He only laughed, and said, “You’re amusing to watch, and with a swift movement of his hand, he threw Summer into the sky, and transformed. Catching her in his cock-pit, he flew to find the Decepticon base.
********
Flint hung up the phone. Summer wasn’t back yet, and she should have been hours ago. It didn’t take that long to come home from school. Flint scribbled a note to his mom, and brought his bike out of the garage.  “Where are you?” he muttered as he biked to the school. Taking the usual path home, he didn’t look both ways before crossing one of the roads.

“WOAH!” a voice shouted as the car skidded to a halt. Flint watched in horror as the car that nearly hit him shift and finally turn into a large robot. Red, white, and black, a large red symbol was on the chest of the robot. “You organics need to watch were you’re going!”

“What… the… heck?” Flint whispered as he stared at the robot. “What are you?”

“My name’s Sideswipe and I’m an Autobot from the planet Cybertron. Who’re you?”

“I’m… Flint. I’m a human, and I’m looking for a friend of mine. Now if you don’t mind I think I might leave to see a doctor.”

“A doctor? I thought you were looking for your friend!”

“I’m talking to car that is a robot.”

“So?”

“THAT’S NOT NORMAL!”
********

Summer pounded on the glass of the cock-pit. “Let me out of here!” she shouted angrily.

“No.”

Summer sat in the cock-pit, arms folded. “How about now?”

“No.”

“Now?”

“No.”

“Now?”

“No!”

“Now?”

“NO! HOW MORE ANOYING CAN YOU GET?”

“Very annoying.”

Thundercracker groaned. He had to pick an annoying one. She’s not going to last very long with Megatron around.

A few minutes later, Summer asked, “Are we there yet?”

“We get there when we get there!”
********

Flint was strapped in the red car as it sped around town. How did he manage to get help from this thing, he will never know. Btu now he was speeding through town in a talking car.

“So, what connection do you have with this friend of yours? Relative?”

“Enough people think that. Another friend of ours, Beth, is always keeping us out of trouble. Hey, maybe Summer’s there!”

“Where?”

“Beth’s house! Turn here!”
********

Beth was out front playing with her Saint Bernard. She was surprised to see Flint jump out of a brightly painted car. “Flint?”

“Is Summer here?”

“No… why?”

“I gave her a call, and she still isn’t back yet from school!”

“But school was three hours ago!”

“Exactly! Come on, you’ve got help me find her.”

Beth stood up and put her dog in the back yard. She ran to follow, but stopped. “Who’s driving?”

“A friend.” Flint replied as he dragged her into the car.

“Is that Summer?” a voice asked.

“No, Sideswipe. This is Beth,”

“Who’s talking?” Beth asked as she looked around the car.

“The car is.” Flint replied as the engine came to life. Tires squealed as the unlikely team sped off to find Summer.
********

Sunstreaker stood on a cliff over-looking the city. He searched the roads for Sideswipe, who had disappeared off the monitor. But, instead of picking up Sideswipe’s signal, he picked up Thundercracker’s. “Decepticon?” Sunstreaker mumbled as he looked up at the sky. He saw the blue shape of the Decepticon as he flew overhead.

Zooming in with a sound modifier, he heard a loud argument talking place.

*If you don’t put me down, I’ll get even more annoying!*

*You can’t possibly get more annoying than you are now! You’re bluffing!*

*I’ll show you!*

Sunstreaker turned off the sound modifier. “I’ve got to see if Wheeljack can check up on this thing.” He continued to watch it, wondering if he should shoot at it. Suddenly, Thundercracker transformed and held a tiny organic by the foot. “SHUT UP!” he roared.

“MAKE ME!” the organic replied as it swung its fists at the Decepticon. Sunstreaker groaned, because he had to go save the helpless thing. But apparently, he didn’t need to. Thundercracker dropped the organic on the ground and transformed.

“I’m just going to suffer Megatron’s wrath. I’d rather face him than that thing.” He mumbled as he flew off. The tiny organic didn’t move.

“Uh oh.” Sunstreaker ran over and looked down at the organic. Its eyes were closed, but with a quick jump it was standing. “WHOA!” Sunstreaker shouted as he took a step back. The organic looked up at him and groaned.

“It’s just raining Decepticons, isn’t it?”

Sunstreaker was offended. “I’m not a Decepticon, I’m an Autobot. Get it right!”

“Sorry, but I’ve had my fair share of over-sized robot changing vehicle… thingies.”

“Thingies?”

“I don’t know what you guys are, besides the fact of whatever Autobots and Decepticons are.”

“I’m a Transformer. Get it right.”

“Fine, you’re a Transformer. Whatever that is. Now, which way to town?” the organic asked as it began to walk away.

“Wait, why did Thundercracker have you in the first place?”

“Something about an experiment, and someone named Megatron. Before he took off, he said he’d rather deal with Meg’s wrath than me.” The organic replied as it turned around.

Sunstreaker stared. “What did you do?”

“I did what I would normally do; annoy them to their wit’s end.” The organic replied as a smile spread across its face. Sunstreaker laughed.

“Sounds like me and my brother.” He replied, and quickly stopped laughing. “Where is he anyway?”

“Who’s your brother?”

“His name is Sideswipe. He came here to explore, and Optimus wanted him to come back to the base before he caused trouble.

“Can I help you find him?”

Sunstreaker nodded. “Sure. I think he’ll like meeting you.”
********

Sideswipe was surprised to see Sunstreaker’s energy signal appear on the monitor. “Good news, my brother’s in town. We’ll ask for his help.”

“Brother?” Beth squeaked as they turned. She still couldn’t figure out how the car was talking.

“Yeah, Sunstreaker is his name.”

Flint turned towards the radio, and asked, “How many robots are there like you here?”

“Well, let’s see…” he paused. “There’s Wheeljack, Ratchet, Ironhide, Jazz, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Prowl, my brother, me, and Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. That makes… ten of us. And that’s only the Autobots. There’s the Decepticons, too. We don’t know how many of them are here.”

“What are Decepticons?” Flint asked.

“Another race of Transformers that lived on Cybertron. We’re at war right now.”

“Like a civil war?” Beth wondered.

“Yeah. They want control of Cybertron, while the Autobots just want peace.”

Beth looked at Flint, and a sly grin spread across his face. “Can we help?”

Sideswipe skidded to a stop. “It depends. That’s not me decision, it’s Optimus’s.
********

Summer’s head hit the dashboard when Sunstreaker stopped. A red car identical to Sunstreaker was on the other side of the road. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She dizzily muttered as she rubbed her head. “Ow…”

Quickly transforming, Sunstreaker caught Summer in his hand and set her on the ground. The red car transformed as well, and Summer was rubbed her head as her two friends were set on the ground in front of the red transformer. “I must of hit my hear harder than I thought.” She muttered.

“Summer!” Beth and Flint shouted as they ran over to greet their friend. Summer waved, and a small smile was on her face. Flint unconsciously hit her on the head. “Where have you been?”

“Getting captured by transforming jet, and looked for this guy’s brother.” Summer replied as she pointed at the yellow robot behind her. The yellow robot exclaimed, “Sideswipe!”

“Hey, bro.”

Sunstreaker ran over, and gave a swipe at his brother’s head. “Don’t go disappearing on me! Optimus sent me to find you.

“Optimus?” Summer asked in confusion.

“He’s the leader of the Autobots.” Flint answered as he smiled.

“Why are you smiling?” Summer asked suspiciously.

“Because,” Flint said as he looked up at the sky. “I finally know something you don’t!” he laughed with a silly grin on his face. Summer’s eyes narrowed, and she tried to strangle him. He tore off running, and Summer tore after him. Beth sighed, and watched Flint run away from Summer. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe watched them too.

“Those two like each other.” Sideswipe said a little too loud. Summer and Flint turned on the spot, and shouted, “WE DO NOT!”

Beth turned to the two Autobots. “Try not to mention that. It embarrasses them. They’re cousins.”

“Really?”

“No.”
********

Thundercracker looked at the mountain on the edge of town. The Decepticon base no longer looked inviting. He took a deep breath, and walked inside the base. Megatron was sitting at one of the monitors in the head control room. Starscream and Skywarp were talking quietly, and Soundwave was repairing some of the computers. Cyclonus, Rumble, Frenzy and Laserbeak must have been somewhere else in the base.

“So, you have returned.” Megatron said without turning around.

“Yes, sir.” Thundercracker replied, shaking. “I failed in bringing a specimen.”

“I see.” Megatron still didn’t turn around. “Normally, I would have you punished. But because of the shortage of soldiers, I will have to put it off until we can get reinforcements.”

In Thundercracker’s head, he was screaming with joy. But on the outside, all he said was, “I understand.” Quickly walking out of the room, Thundercracker thanked his lucky stars. That could’ve gone a lot worse.

-TO BE CONTIUED…