Transformers Animated: Little Spider

Chapter 11

Kelly sat outside in the long blades of grass, playing. Several days have pass since the defacto mother and human child had moved homes. It actually took little time or effort to acclimatize to their new residence given that their current living conditions are far more hospitable and decent than that of the cave. When taken into consideration that human children are far more fragile and feeble than sparklings that made certain conditions that were relatively meaningless to Cybertronians downright safety hazards for poor Kelly. As if the encounter with the mother wolf was not enough testament to a humans vulnerability, Kelly was also prone to subtler dangers, such as maladies. The conditions of the cave posed a danger to Kellys health and wellbeing with dust, grime and mold covering almost every surface. When Arachnia had returned from her week long absence, the child was not in the best state of physical health. Yes, Kelly had the supplies to sustain herself at the time but being alone, especially with constant bad weather, she was developing a human illness, symptoms of which were sneezing, secretions of mucus and lowered temperatures. Kelly referred to this illness as a cold. Arachnia had to nurse the child back to full health, as well as gather their belongings, before moving to Dinobot island.

Not far from where Kelly sat, the Dinobots lounged lazily. They begrudgingly had to watch over the girl, according to Arachnias orders. Grimlock was particularly bitter about this arrangement. His primitive processor arrogantly viewed humans as inferior. If he had it his way, he would have dealt with the little pest, however he was still loyal to Arachnia, the same could be said for Swoop and Snarl, so they obeyed without any further questions or protests. Their loyalty aside, even if they were to rebel against Arachnia, they could not do so because she had already proven her strength and dominance.

Snarl nonchalantly dug into the dirt with his snout out of boredom then looked up to the little giggling child. The triceratops, in contrast to the other Dinobots, was not as scornful of humans as his brethren, making him more inclined to accepting the child. However he was reluctant to voice or act of his own thoughts because he did not want to be shunned by Grimlock and Swoop.

Kelly got up and began to waddle off, much to the annoyance of Grimlock. Now that they were living on a small island there were no restrictions on where Kelly could or could not go. However, Arachnia made it clear that the Dinobots were to supervise the child at all times when she was not around, meaning that they had to follow Kelly. Just as Grimlock and Swoop were begrudgingly getting to their peds and stretching their wings, Snarl intervened. "NO! Grimlock and Swoop stay. Snarl go."

Snarls words perplexed and bemused the other Dinobots. "Why we stay?" Grimlock inquired.

Now the Dinobots were not notorious for their intelligence, others holding the belief that their processors were as primitive as the dinosaurs they are based on. But in that moment, Snarls processor was working overtime to fabricate a convincing enough reason to explain why he should go alone with the girl. "Spider lady said Dinobots must watch teeny human for her, but Spider Lady not said ALL Dinobots watch her."

Despite the obviously poor diction and syntax, Snarls reasoning was sound. Arachnias orders were to keep watch over Kelly at all times but she never said that they could not take shifts. And thankfully, Grimlock and Swoop could understand this reasoning as well. "Huh? So you go watch teeny human now and Swoop go next time?" Grimlock asked, eliciting an indignant squawk from Swoop.

"What about Grimlock?!" Swoop screeched.

"Grimlock will go!" The T-rex retorted, though by his stubborn tone it was obvious he had no intention to do so.

After some more squabbling, mostly involving Grimlock and Swoop, Snarl simply went off on his own, trotting after the girl. Kelly had made her way down to the beach, plopping herself down and began playing in the sand. Another of Arachnias rules was that she was not allowed to go swimming, for her own safety, which Kelly admitted was disappointing but at least now she had a whole island to play on instead of having to hide away in a cave. She set to work building a sandcastle, the sand already sticking to her skin and clothes and getting under her nails as the castle took shape. It was lumpy and but Kelly looked proud in spite of it being misshapen. She giggled, decorating it with shells and twigs she had found.