"First, you have to tell me how you plan on finding this Energon? You have no vehicular form, no prior knowledge of Energon deposits, and no tools to find them," Ratchet pointed out.
"I'll let my sense of smell lead me to it. I just gotta get a whiff of whatever Energon you have here in order to track it down," Sunbeam explained with a playful wink.
"You have a sense of smell?" Ratchet asked.
"Yeah, and I thought you had a sense of hearing. Do you want me to be louder?" Sunbeam teased.
"Do you want me to help you or not?" Ratchet deadpanned. Sunbeam laughed a little.
"Sorry. Now let's get crackin'!" She exclaimed.
"Calm down. Don't get ahead of yourself. First, you have to prove that you can really use your sense of smell to track things. Smell this," Ratchet stated, taking a random tool off of his desk and handing it to Sunbeam. She sniffed it, covered her eyes, and Ratchet hid it to find. "Okay, go find it." Sunbeam nodded and rushed to find the hidden object.
"Why're you playing 'Where's Waldo' with the newbie?" Arcee asked.
"She says she has an extremely good sense of smell. I thought I'd test it out," Ratchet explained.
"Fine by me," Arcee replied with a shrug as she walked away.
"Found it!" Sunbeam called, showing off that she found the tool before accidentally dropping it and breaking it on the floor.
"I needed that!" Ratchet screeched.
"Sorry!" Sunbeam apologized before picking up the broken item and returning it to Ratchet.
"Good job. You pulled a Bulkhead," Arcee remarked.
"You said you'd never say that again," Bulkhead pointed out with an emotionally hurt glare that didn't match his tone of voice at all.
"My mistake," Arcee responded with a shrug.
"I really am sorry...but, this proves I can sniff stuff out, right?! I can do it! Besides, those con things you're worried about won't be a problem!" Sunbeam exclaimed.
"I'm still not sure if it's a good idea. You could be seen. The fact still stands that you have no vehicular form, and no way of communicating with us outside of our base," Ratchet pointed out.
"Okay, so how do I get a vehicular form?" Sunbeam asked.
"You have to scan a vehicle," Ratchet explained.
"Then that's what I'll do!" Sunbeam exclaimed. "Just...tell me how to do that..."
"I'm very busy. Ask someone else," Ratchet insisted.
"Right...hey Arcee! Can you teach me how to transform like you guys?!" Sunbeam questioned.
"Uh...sure. Come with me," Arcee agreed, waving for Sunbeam to follow her. Sunbeam grinned over at Ratchet and gave him two thumbs up, and actually got one in return.
"See those cars over on the street?" Arcee pointed to some cars pulling into a gas station just in Jasper's city limits.
"Yeah! What about 'em?" Sunbeam wondered aloud.
"You can scan one," Arcee explained how to scan vehicles to Sunbeam. "Understand?"
"Yeah! I think..." Sunbeam confirmed before doing exactly as she was told. She scanned a small dune buggy and attempted to transform. It didn't work. "I don't think I'm doing this right..."
"You scanned the car, right?" Arcee asked.
"Yeah, but I can't transform into it. I don't know how," Sunbeam admitted. Arcee huffed and explained how to transform.
The transforming lesson took up most of the night, and they had nothing to show for it. Sunbeam let out a growl of frustration before letting herself fall backward onto the ground.
"This is stupid! We've spent almost all night out here, and we got nothin' out of it!" Sunbeam shouted to no one in particular.
"It may just take some practice. Obviously you've never transformed before or even scanned a vehicle," Arcee pointed out.
"But how am I gonna help if I can't even go outside and fight with you guys?!" Sunbeam questioned.
"You don't have to fight in order to help out. Ratchet spends most of his time on base, and so do the kids," Arcee pointed out.
"That's 'cause Ratchet's the medic. Makin' him go out and fight with ya wouldn't be such a good idea, and the kids are human. If they got under a Con's foot, they'll get crushed, so that isn't a good idea either," Sunbeam responded.
"Well, you've still got a lot of time to figure everything out. I'm sure you'll get it eventually," Arcee admitted. Sunbeam's eyes lit up.
"Really?! You think so?! Don't worry! I'll learn fast!" Sunbeam assured her.
"Sure you will. Now let's get back inside. We can figure out your transformation problem when the sun's out," Arcee suggested. Sunbeam agreed and happily went back into the base with Arcee.
"Did you manage to pick an alternate form?" Ratchet asked as Sunbeam entered the base and immediately went back to see what he was doing.
"Nah. I scanned a car, but I couldn't transform into it," Sunbeam explained.
"Well, hopefully we can get some answers when your creators visit tomorrow," Ratchet stated.
"They're coming tomorrow?! I knew I'd have to see 'em again, but I didn't think it'd be that soon!" Sunbeam yelled in shock, clearly on the verge of panic.
"No need to freak out. You most likely won't be here when they arrive. Although I advised against it, Ultra Magnus insisted that you be sent on mission upstate," Ratchet said.
"Really?! That's awesome!" Sunbeam exclaimed.
"Well, as much as I'd enjoy a little more quiet, sending someone so inexperienced on a mission to hunt decepticons is a terrible idea," Ratchet pointed out.
"Maybe, but who cares! I'm gonna get to help out a little bit!" Sunbeam shouted. "So tell me everything I gotta know about these guys!"
A few hours later, Ratchet opened the ground bridge to send Sunbeam to a remote location upstate. Sunbeam said goodbye to everyone before leaving.
"You had better be certain that this was a good idea," Ratchet said to Ultra Magnus.
"We'll be back to check in on things in a month. We'll be in touch over comms until then," Ultra Magnus replied dismissively as the space bridge opened and the rest of the bots were sent back to Cybertron.
"The little lights in the sky are so pretty when there aren't any clouds!" Sunbeam exclaimed over comms.
"Focus," Ratchet deadpanned.
"Right! Sorry...Uh....what was the mission again?" Sunbeam asked. She heard Ratchet's huff of frustration over the comm link.
"You have to look for decepticons and see what they're up to!" Miko exclaimed, but not from the other end of Sunbeam's link. She was there.
"Why are you here?!" Sunbeam screeched.
"Because I want to go on a life changing adventure!" Miko exclaimed.
"Oh, it'll be life changing all right! I'm coming to get you," Ratchet scolded Miko.
"Look like someone's in trouble," Sunbeam teased.
"I can handle Ratchet," Miko rolled her eyes.
"You do that," Sunbeam responded. Miko was about to respond when a fighter jet swooped down, picked up Miko as it transformed from jet to decepticon, and flew off. "Miko!"
"What happened?!" Ratchet asked over comms.
"Nothin'! Talk to ya later!" Sunbeam exclaimed before chasing the jet to a large cave opening. "Well that ain't good..."
"What? Tell me your coordinates and we can rendezvous there," Ratchet suggested. Sunbeam shook her head.
"No way. You gotta watch the kids. I can handle this," Sunbeam insisted. She entered the cave and discovered a whole army of decepticons. "Whoa...so these are decepticons...I never seen one in real life before..."
"Stay focused," Ratchet stated. Sunbeam nodded.
"Right," she replied before sneaking past some guards, which was made much easier by her small stature and the dim lighting of the new decepticon base. She mostly let her nose and hearing lead the way, since she found it hard to see, and she couldn't exactly call out for Miko.
"Hey, you there!" A vehicon shouted at Sunbeam.
"Great..." she grumbled before turning to the con. "I have a name ya know."
"What is it?" The vehicon asked.
"Sunbeam. What's yours?" Sunbeam asked.
"Uh.....I don't have one...?" The vehicon stated, as if that would be obvious.
"Really?! I didn't have one either! Ooh! Let me think of one for you!" Sunbeam exclaimed with stars in her eyes.
"Sunbeam!" Ratchet shouted, causing Sunbeam to let out a surprised squeak. "Focus!"
"Right! Sorry 'bout this..." Sunbeam punched the vehicon, knocking him down before running off. "But I gotta find Miko!"
"What just happened?" The vehicon squeaked out.