"This better not become a regular thing," Ratchet warned after Sunbeam woke up the next day. She waved the comment away.
"I doubt it. But, ya won't believe what I found!" Sunbeam exclaimed.
"I'm sure I will," Ratchet deadpanned.
"Jack and I found Decepticons in Alaska! Can you believe they'd be that far away?" Sunbeam questioned.
"Yes, considering we've all been all over the world," Ratchet answered. "Did they say why they were there?"
"Uhh...I don't remember," Sunbeam admitted.
"Well, then, they probably didn't get what they wanted. Perhaps we should go there and see what we can find," Ratchet suggested.
"Great! Ooh! I have an idea!" Sunbeam started before getting up and whispering something to Ratchet.
"Hey! Secrets don't make friends!" Miko shouted.
"I don't know if that's the best idea," Ratchet ignored Miko.
"C'mon, it'll be fun! Plus, they'll have the best bodyguards in the galaxy with them! How much safer can you get?" Sunbeam pointed out.
"Have you even met them?" Ratchet deadpanned. "They're about as safe as a potato is on a chopping block!"
"You have a point...Then we can use this as a way to help them learn to protect themselves," Sunbeam replied. "Besides, they're probably gonna follow us anyway. Wouldn't you rather know for sure that we have an eye on them?" Ratchet let out a huff of exasperation.
"What are you guys talking about?" Raf asked. Sunbeam nodded at Ratchet, who reluctantly nodded back.
"Get your coats and best campin' gear, 'cause we're goin' on a trip!" Sunbeam exclaimed.
"Really?!" The kids asked excitedly.
"But it won't be all fun, this is strictly for training purposes," Sunbeam added with a wink. With that, Ratchet opened the ground bridge and sent the kids home to gather their things.
"You'd better be right about this," Ratchet grumbled.
"Pfft, don't worry! I've got a good feeling about this!" Sunbeam exclaimed. "I'll look after 'em!"
"28 stab wounds. You got 28 stab wounds last time you had a 'good feeling' about something," Ratchet pointed out, using air quotes around 'good feeling.'
"That was by shrapnel," Sunbeam replied.
"From an explosion!" Ratchet shouted.
"You worry too much," Sunbeam pointed out.
"You don't worry enough," Ratchet retorted. Sunbeam laughed.
"Perfectly balanced. C'mon, let's go find a place to camp out!" Sunbeam insisted.
A few hours later, Ratchet and Sunbeam had finally agreed on a safe enough place to stay...at least for the kids while they went and investigated the facility that Sunbeam and Jack had found.
"I still don't think this is a good idea," Ratchet admitted.
"I know ya don't. But, at least it's better than leavin' 'em here alone," Sunbeam responded. "Besides, what couldn't go wrong?"
"Don't you mean 'wh-,'" Ratchet started before Sunbeam covered his mouth.
"Don't say it! You'll jinx the whole trip!" She warned.
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Ratchet asked after she removed her hand. Sunbeam shrugged.
"I mean, even if it ain't real, I don't wanna find out," she replied.
"Alright. Let's go get everything set up," Ratchet suggested. Sunbeam nodded in agreement.
"Let's go!" She said. Ratchet typed in the coordinates to the campsite and opened the ground bridge. Sunbeam immediately grabbed his hand and ran through the bridge.
Sunbeam ran around the campsite, chasing squirrels and birds in her animal form.
"Why did I even bring you?" Ratchet questioned.
"Because you like me!" Sunbeam exclaimed with a grin as she finally caught a rabbit. "Now we have a pet!"
"Yeah, we're not keeping that," Ratchet declined. Sunbeam gave him a pout before shrugging and setting the rabbit free.
"Suit yourself," she responded.
"Are you going to help get this set up or not?" Ratchet deadpanned. Sunbeam trotted over to help set up a tent for the kids.
It didn't take long for the Ratchet and Sunbeam to return to the camp with Miko, Jack, and Raf.
"Understand that we are not here to play. We're here on a mission, and we only brought you because if we didn't, you'd all just stowaway anyway. At least this way, we know that you're here," Ratchet explained. Sunbeam threw a snowball at Raf.
"Snowball fight!" Miko shouted. Instantly, Sunbeam and the kids were in the midst of an all out war, using snowballs as projectiles and trees as cover. Ratchet facepalmed.
"Why do I even try..." he grumbled.
"C'mon, Ratchet! It's fun!" Sunbeam exclaimed. Ratchet shook his head.
"No thanks," he responded before Sunbeam threw a snowball that hit him in the side of the head. Sunbeam and the kids burst into fits of laughter, with Sunbeam apologizing through tears, only to be hit in the face with a snowball. "Now we're even." Sunbeam smirked.
"Oh yeah? Take that!" Sunbeam threw another snowball at Ratchet before darting off to hide behind a tree. The kids also scattered, and that's when Ratchet realized the reason Sunbeam had started this: it was her own way of training Jack, Miko, and Raf in case they ever have to fight against Decepticons again. Due to that, he decided to play along. It seemed to actually be helping.
That night, the kids went to sleep in their tent, while Ratchet and Sunbeam went to the site of the Decepticon raid.
"Thank you," Ratchet mumbled.
"Huh? For what?" Sunbeam asked.
"The snowball fight. It wasn't just for fun was it? You were trying to teach the kids," Ratchet pointed out. Sunbeam smiled.
"Beat listenin' to a lecture. I could tell Miko had tuned ya out before you even started talkin'," she confirmed.
"She tends to do that," Ratchet agreed.
"That's why if ya want someone like Miko to listen, ya gotta think like her. Luckily, I always think like a kid!" Sunbeam admitted proudly.
"Not exactly something to be proud of..." Ratchet deadpanned.
"Clearly it was earlier," Sunbeam responded with a smug smile. Ratchet was about to respond when Sunbeam punched him and knocked him to the ground.
"What the-"
"Shh! Stay down!" Sunbeam ordered, ducking next to Ratchet.
"Was that really necessary?" Ratchet questioned.
"I can't exactly push you," Sunbeam pointed out.
"Couldn't you have just told me to hide?" Ratchet asked.
"If you expected me to think that far ahead, you don't know me at all..." Sunbeam answered.
"Good point," Ratchet agreed.
"They must be back for the Tesseract. I gotta stop 'em!" Sunbeam shouted, jumping out from her hiding place, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
"We have to come up with some sort of plan," Ratchet stated. "Rushing out there without one would be too dangerous for just the two of us, and a waste of spilled Energon."
"Ratchet...if we don't stop those guys now, they're gonna try to take the Tesseract, and it ain't there. When they don't find it, they'll think the humans took it..." Sunbeam pointed out.
"How do you know that the Tesseract isn't there?" Ratchet wondered aloud. Sunbeam didn't answer right away.
"I just know," she lied.
"How do you know?" Ratchet asked again.
"Yes...how do you know?" A voice asked. Ratchet and Sunbeam turned to see Starscream appear from behind a tree.
"Scrap..." Sunbeam and Ratchet grumbled in unison.