Six short-pieces
Title: No points.
Universe: Generation 1
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Characters: Hound, Spike
Summary: When learning how to track down natives, locals are a helpful source of knowledge.
Prompt #1 Footprints
The camouflaged tracker knelt down, bringing his green-and-tan painted face closer to the dry, gravel-path. A moment’s study, and he stood up, announced “he went this way,” and took off at a jog.
“How can you tell, Hound?” The minibot huffed, doing his best to keep with his longer-legged friend.
“Footprints.”
“Footprints? I didn’t see sign of footprints.”
“Muddy river-banks are not the only visible footprints.” Hound responded, never taking his optics off the faint markers left behind by a fleeing human.
“How long - gack”
Hound’s head swiveled. “Spike! Don’t scare us like that.”
Spike Wtiwkcy slid off the jumpy Autobot he’d landed on. “You wanted me to surprise you.” The human grinned, ignoring the twigs and leaves in his hair. “How’d I do?”
“You outlasted every other volunteered.” Hound admitted. “But no points for evading pursuit.”
Title: Great find
Continuity: TF Prime
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Characters: Miko N. Bulkhead
Summary: Exploring natural wonders, can lead to a massive headache - or the best staging point ever!
Prompt #2 Scenario: Inside a massive structure
“Hello!”
It came back, barely distorted. “E’llo.”
“Cool.”
Again, the words returned. “Ool.”
“Anybody out there?”
This time, parts of it disappeared. “ut there?”
“Can anybody hear me?”
Broken and jumbled, “here me,” was still understood.
“Fun!” Miko shouted. She didn’t wait for the echo before beginning to strum her guitar.
“Uh, Miko.” Bulkhead spoke up before his human charge could get lost in the music. “Try not to bring the house down, okay?”
“Why?”
For answer, the dusty-green Wrecker pointed up.
Up towards the rocky ceiling, where stalactites were already starting to sway with the massive sound vibrations.
“Oh. But Bulk! Natural caves have the best acoustics!”
“Who’s going to dig us out if we’re buried under sixteen tones of loose, fallen stone?”
Title: Observations
Universe: Prime
Rating: K
Warnings: None
Characters: Starscream, Shockwave
Summary: Expectations of behavior can prepare one for the inevitable - except when the pattern diverges from observed interactions.
Prompt # 3 Take a character you write often and portray then in a totally different way.
As if having survived Unicron’s attempt to ride the universe of Primus (which happened to be the planet of Cybertron) wasn’t surprising enough, Starscream was flabbergasted when he saw the (recently believed dead and deactivated) Megatron walk away form the arrayed Autobot troops.
Well, it wasn’t the fact Megatron walked away from Autobots - it was that they were still alive, still standing, and still armed, but unharmed when Megatron turned his back on them.
Starscream watched stunned, as Optimus Prime, the Decepticon warlord’s eternal rival, remained uninjured, relatively, and Megatron himself exchanged a short conversation instead of weapons fire. He fully expected a battle to break out, or weapons fire to be exchanged before the two parted ways.
“What is wrong with you?” Starscream ranted and raved in his head, unable to get the words out of his mouth. “This is your chance to wipe out all resistance to your authority, and you turn your back on him? Without checking for weapons?”
The Air-Commander screamed some more internally before realizing no one heard a word he spoke. Rather, no one heard anything he thought he’d spoken.
Watching the leaders of two opposing factions retreat, Starscream turned to Shockwave. “Are my processors faulty, or did Megatron and Optimus separate without turning their encounter into a battle zone?”
“You missed something,” Shockwave retorted.
“Well, what did I fail to grasp?”
Shockwave watched the Autobot army for a bit longer before answering. “His greatest enemy has become one with Primus.”
Title: Subliminal talk.
Continuity: Generation 1
Rating: K+
Warnings: none
Characters: Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, Smokescreen
Summary: Silent conversations can go over the heads of those believing everyone is very interested in what the speaker is saying.
Prompt #4 An annoying creature
“And then I was like ‘oh, no’ and she was like ‘oh, yes’ then I asked, ‘so what happened next’ and she said ‘it went like this. -“
Sunstreaker looked over the head of the talkative human, caught Bluestreaks’ optics. Sunstreaker broadcast ::I’m sorry Blue - please forgive me.::
Bluestreak nodded. ::Apology accepted::
“And then she said ‘oh - do you have any nail polish remover?’ and I was like ‘huh? What does nail polish remover have to do with what happens next’ and she was like, ‘nothing, but my nails are chipped’ and then -“
Sunstreaker winced when the long-winded human took a deep breath. ::Smokescreen, I yield:: He pleaded, ::humans can be more annoying than Bluestreak::
Over the gunner’s affronted ‘Hey!’, every bot in the room chuckled.
::Doesn’t count coming from you,:: Smokescreen sounded contrite.
“but then she was like ‘hey - here’s my friend. Nice talking to you’ and she got up and left me. And I was like ‘hey, where are you going?’ and she ignored me. Then I was like, ‘so, neighbor, what’s new in your life’, and can you believe that my frined, who left to use the restroom never came back? I waited a whole three hours for her to remember where we were sitting - “
::Then again, I may have to agree with you:: Smokescreen acknowledged after a flurry of complaints from the rest of the Autobots stuck in the room, listening to the lone talker.
::Any takers up for dropping this nonstop speaker to Megatron’s brats?::
::Already tried it.:: Bluestreak admitted cheerfully. ::Optimus put a stop to it, saying ‘no torturing Decepticons, Blue’::
::Darn it! How do we shut this human up?::
“And then I was like ‘mom, I told you I’d be home late’ and she was like ‘You should have called, when you knew you’d be out past curfew.’ Then dad spoke up and he was like ‘you need to respect our authority’-“
Teletraan 1’s low priority alarm flashed. Every Autobot got up and stampeded for the door. “Gotta run - possible Decepticon attack.”
Title: Eternal Night
Universe: Bayverse
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Characters: Jazz, Ironhide
Summary: Before dawn is the darkest - when the planet circles a shining sun, some sights are taken for granted.
Prompt #5 Set a story amid a weather condition that has persisted for a long time. Maybe too long.
Midnight had come and gone before the Autobots touched down. Now, less than a joor - six hours by local time - later, the moon had set, the stars were fading, and the distant horizon began brightening.
Jazz unfolded form his disguise. He stood up and turned to face the lightest part of the sky.
“Jazz?” Ironhide asked, also forgoing his wheeled-truck form.
“I forgot what it’s like.”
Ironhide glanced at the dawn, looked at Jazz again.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen a sunrise.”
“Too long.” Ironhide rumbled. “Catch up soon, Jazz - we can’t wait forever.” The black-famed weapons master scrunched himself back into truck form, followed Ratchet who was setting a somewhat sedate pase for a medic in a hurry.
Title: Shape up, or shut-up.
Continuity: Animated
Rating: K+
Warnings: none (name-calling)
Characters: Bumblebee, Ratchet
Summary: Age and experience hold some mechs in good standing. Youth and inexperience turns everything into an adventure.
Prompt # 6 “you go in there, I’m not coming in after you.”
“Why?’ Bumblebee asked in a sneering tone. “You’re not afraid of spiders, are you?”
Sari Sumdac giggled, immediately slapped both hands over her closed mouth.
“No.” Ratchet growled, straightening up ever so slightly. “Organic spiders don’t scare me.”
The young Autobot shook his head. “You’re afraid of the dark, then! Ha! I knew Old Hatchet was afraid of something.”
“Old?” Ratchet repeated, lowering his voice. “When you’ve survived as many battles as I have, then you can call me old. But until then, I am Ancient compared to you.”
Bumblebee wouldn’t let it go. “Old Hatchet’s afraid he’ll get stuck walking through the door -“ He laughed dancing out of the medics reach.
Meanwhile Sari had collapsed to the floor, giggles no longer restrained or hidden.
“Old Hatchet, can’t walk through a simple hatch, Old Hatchet, so big he rolls down the hill, Old Hatchet.” Bumblebee jeered as he boldly walked into the unlit dungeon-like basement.
“Youngsters.” Ratchet san onto the ground. “Too much energy, too restless.”
Universe: Generation 1
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Characters: Hound, Spike
Summary: When learning how to track down natives, locals are a helpful source of knowledge.
Prompt #1 Footprints
The camouflaged tracker knelt down, bringing his green-and-tan painted face closer to the dry, gravel-path. A moment’s study, and he stood up, announced “he went this way,” and took off at a jog.
“How can you tell, Hound?” The minibot huffed, doing his best to keep with his longer-legged friend.
“Footprints.”
“Footprints? I didn’t see sign of footprints.”
“Muddy river-banks are not the only visible footprints.” Hound responded, never taking his optics off the faint markers left behind by a fleeing human.
“How long - gack”
Hound’s head swiveled. “Spike! Don’t scare us like that.”
Spike Wtiwkcy slid off the jumpy Autobot he’d landed on. “You wanted me to surprise you.” The human grinned, ignoring the twigs and leaves in his hair. “How’d I do?”
“You outlasted every other volunteered.” Hound admitted. “But no points for evading pursuit.”
Title: Great find
Continuity: TF Prime
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Characters: Miko N. Bulkhead
Summary: Exploring natural wonders, can lead to a massive headache - or the best staging point ever!
Prompt #2 Scenario: Inside a massive structure
“Hello!”
It came back, barely distorted. “E’llo.”
“Cool.”
Again, the words returned. “Ool.”
“Anybody out there?”
This time, parts of it disappeared. “ut there?”
“Can anybody hear me?”
Broken and jumbled, “here me,” was still understood.
“Fun!” Miko shouted. She didn’t wait for the echo before beginning to strum her guitar.
“Uh, Miko.” Bulkhead spoke up before his human charge could get lost in the music. “Try not to bring the house down, okay?”
“Why?”
For answer, the dusty-green Wrecker pointed up.
Up towards the rocky ceiling, where stalactites were already starting to sway with the massive sound vibrations.
“Oh. But Bulk! Natural caves have the best acoustics!”
“Who’s going to dig us out if we’re buried under sixteen tones of loose, fallen stone?”
Title: Observations
Universe: Prime
Rating: K
Warnings: None
Characters: Starscream, Shockwave
Summary: Expectations of behavior can prepare one for the inevitable - except when the pattern diverges from observed interactions.
Prompt # 3 Take a character you write often and portray then in a totally different way.
As if having survived Unicron’s attempt to ride the universe of Primus (which happened to be the planet of Cybertron) wasn’t surprising enough, Starscream was flabbergasted when he saw the (recently believed dead and deactivated) Megatron walk away form the arrayed Autobot troops.
Well, it wasn’t the fact Megatron walked away from Autobots - it was that they were still alive, still standing, and still armed, but unharmed when Megatron turned his back on them.
Starscream watched stunned, as Optimus Prime, the Decepticon warlord’s eternal rival, remained uninjured, relatively, and Megatron himself exchanged a short conversation instead of weapons fire. He fully expected a battle to break out, or weapons fire to be exchanged before the two parted ways.
“What is wrong with you?” Starscream ranted and raved in his head, unable to get the words out of his mouth. “This is your chance to wipe out all resistance to your authority, and you turn your back on him? Without checking for weapons?”
The Air-Commander screamed some more internally before realizing no one heard a word he spoke. Rather, no one heard anything he thought he’d spoken.
Watching the leaders of two opposing factions retreat, Starscream turned to Shockwave. “Are my processors faulty, or did Megatron and Optimus separate without turning their encounter into a battle zone?”
“You missed something,” Shockwave retorted.
“Well, what did I fail to grasp?”
Shockwave watched the Autobot army for a bit longer before answering. “His greatest enemy has become one with Primus.”
Title: Subliminal talk.
Continuity: Generation 1
Rating: K+
Warnings: none
Characters: Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, Smokescreen
Summary: Silent conversations can go over the heads of those believing everyone is very interested in what the speaker is saying.
Prompt #4 An annoying creature
“And then I was like ‘oh, no’ and she was like ‘oh, yes’ then I asked, ‘so what happened next’ and she said ‘it went like this. -“
Sunstreaker looked over the head of the talkative human, caught Bluestreaks’ optics. Sunstreaker broadcast ::I’m sorry Blue - please forgive me.::
Bluestreak nodded. ::Apology accepted::
“And then she said ‘oh - do you have any nail polish remover?’ and I was like ‘huh? What does nail polish remover have to do with what happens next’ and she was like, ‘nothing, but my nails are chipped’ and then -“
Sunstreaker winced when the long-winded human took a deep breath. ::Smokescreen, I yield:: He pleaded, ::humans can be more annoying than Bluestreak::
Over the gunner’s affronted ‘Hey!’, every bot in the room chuckled.
::Doesn’t count coming from you,:: Smokescreen sounded contrite.
“but then she was like ‘hey - here’s my friend. Nice talking to you’ and she got up and left me. And I was like ‘hey, where are you going?’ and she ignored me. Then I was like, ‘so, neighbor, what’s new in your life’, and can you believe that my frined, who left to use the restroom never came back? I waited a whole three hours for her to remember where we were sitting - “
::Then again, I may have to agree with you:: Smokescreen acknowledged after a flurry of complaints from the rest of the Autobots stuck in the room, listening to the lone talker.
::Any takers up for dropping this nonstop speaker to Megatron’s brats?::
::Already tried it.:: Bluestreak admitted cheerfully. ::Optimus put a stop to it, saying ‘no torturing Decepticons, Blue’::
::Darn it! How do we shut this human up?::
“And then I was like ‘mom, I told you I’d be home late’ and she was like ‘You should have called, when you knew you’d be out past curfew.’ Then dad spoke up and he was like ‘you need to respect our authority’-“
Teletraan 1’s low priority alarm flashed. Every Autobot got up and stampeded for the door. “Gotta run - possible Decepticon attack.”
Title: Eternal Night
Universe: Bayverse
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Characters: Jazz, Ironhide
Summary: Before dawn is the darkest - when the planet circles a shining sun, some sights are taken for granted.
Prompt #5 Set a story amid a weather condition that has persisted for a long time. Maybe too long.
Midnight had come and gone before the Autobots touched down. Now, less than a joor - six hours by local time - later, the moon had set, the stars were fading, and the distant horizon began brightening.
Jazz unfolded form his disguise. He stood up and turned to face the lightest part of the sky.
“Jazz?” Ironhide asked, also forgoing his wheeled-truck form.
“I forgot what it’s like.”
Ironhide glanced at the dawn, looked at Jazz again.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen a sunrise.”
“Too long.” Ironhide rumbled. “Catch up soon, Jazz - we can’t wait forever.” The black-famed weapons master scrunched himself back into truck form, followed Ratchet who was setting a somewhat sedate pase for a medic in a hurry.
Title: Shape up, or shut-up.
Continuity: Animated
Rating: K+
Warnings: none (name-calling)
Characters: Bumblebee, Ratchet
Summary: Age and experience hold some mechs in good standing. Youth and inexperience turns everything into an adventure.
Prompt # 6 “you go in there, I’m not coming in after you.”
“Why?’ Bumblebee asked in a sneering tone. “You’re not afraid of spiders, are you?”
Sari Sumdac giggled, immediately slapped both hands over her closed mouth.
“No.” Ratchet growled, straightening up ever so slightly. “Organic spiders don’t scare me.”
The young Autobot shook his head. “You’re afraid of the dark, then! Ha! I knew Old Hatchet was afraid of something.”
“Old?” Ratchet repeated, lowering his voice. “When you’ve survived as many battles as I have, then you can call me old. But until then, I am Ancient compared to you.”
Bumblebee wouldn’t let it go. “Old Hatchet’s afraid he’ll get stuck walking through the door -“ He laughed dancing out of the medics reach.
Meanwhile Sari had collapsed to the floor, giggles no longer restrained or hidden.
“Old Hatchet, can’t walk through a simple hatch, Old Hatchet, so big he rolls down the hill, Old Hatchet.” Bumblebee jeered as he boldly walked into the unlit dungeon-like basement.
“Youngsters.” Ratchet san onto the ground. “Too much energy, too restless.”