"Hey, kids! Wanna play?!" Sunbeam asked before transforming into a dog.
Sunbeam, the kids, and the Autobots played for hours, until they were completely worn out. The kids had gotten permission to stay the night, so they simply went to bed, and Sunbeam sat watching over them in her dog form, using Raf's forehead as a pillow.
"Looks like nothing's getting them," Arcee joked.
"Oh please, she'd probably just try to hug them to death," Ratchet responded.
"Hey, as long as it works, who's complaining?" Arcee stated with a shrug. "Which reminds me, I'm gonna borrow Sunbeam for a bit tomorrow."
"Okay. Why tell me that?"
"Just so you know. Since she doesn't know how to fight, she's kind of a weak link right now...and she doesn't exactly have smarts on her side either..."
"Do what you want. I've got to get back to work."
"What do you even do?" Ratchet shot Arcee a glare before beginning to attempt to rebuild his smashed computer.
"Yeah, sorry about the computer, Ratch...I didn't mean to break it," Bulkhead apologized.
"It's alright Bulkhead. You just have to be more careful," Ratchet assured him. "Among other things..."
"Ha! Oh yeah? And what would you do without us?"
"Actually get some work done," Ratchet retorted.
"Ouch..."
"Hey, Bulkhead! Catch!" Wheeljack shouted before throwing their lob ball and hitting Bulkhead in the face. This sparked a tournament between the two. Ratchet rolled his eyes and got back to work.
The next day, Sunbeam went with the kids and their Autobot guardians to see them off at school.
"Oh my god! Is this your dog?!" A random teenage girl asked Raf, walking up to the car and petting Sunbeam.
"Uh...yeah?"
"What's its name? What breed is it?" The girl asked.
"Her name is Sunbeam. She's a wolfdog from...um...Alaska," Jack answered for Raf.
"So cute! Well, see you around," the teen walked away and allowed the kids to say goodbye to their friends before walking through the front doors.
"Man this sucks..." Sunbeam complained, resting her head sadly on the windowsill of Bumblebee's vehicle mode.
"Yeah. But, they have to go to school. Now, let's get back to base before Ratchet finds out we took you for a joyride," Bumblebee suggested.
"Yeah, okay," she agreed.
They quickly got back to base, only for Bumblebee to be sent on a mission.
"Ratchet, can you please send me on a mission?! I can't sit around here all day!" Sunbeam begged as she dramatically laid on the floor.
"Technically, I can," Ratchet replied. Sunbeam beamed and hopped up off the floor.
"Really?!"
"Of course. I just don't want to."
"Are you freakin' kiddin' me?! C'mon, man! Ya got my hopes up, now I'm just more bored!"
"Why don't you go see if you can get any information from Starscream."
"Really?! Okay!"
"That doesn't mean play with him or talk about whatever you like to talk about. If you want to help, try to get some information."
"Yes sir!" Sunbeam paused. "I am so sorry!" She screeched, remembering that she wasn't supposed to say that. Ratchet facepalmed.
"Hey, Sunbeam! Come with me!" Arcee suggested. Sunbeam nodded and skipped off to follow her.
"Why're you takin' me so far from everyone else?" Sunbeam asked.
"So we don't have any distractions," Arcee responded, causing Sunbeam to raise an eyebrow.
"Distract from wh-" before she could finish speaking, Arcee grabbed Sunbeam by the arm and flipped her over her head and onto the ground. "A heads up woulda been nice!"
"You have to learn how to be prepared for anything."
"Ya want me to be prepared to get attacked by my friends?"
"Well, yeah. Especially when one of your friends is a sadist. Now get up."
"Alright, fine...but only if ya agree to teach me everything!" Arcee just chuckled.
"It's a deal." So, Sunbeam stood up and her and Arcee began to fight. Arcee went to kick Sunbeam, but the smaller bot just ducked out of the way. "Good dodge. But, you can't just dodge forever. You'll have to fight back."
"But you haven't taught me anything yet!"
"The best teacher is experience," Arcee remarked with a smile before sweeping Sunbeam's legs out from underneath her.
"Says the one with all the experience!" Sunbeam stood back up, but had to quickly dodge another kick from Arcee.
"One trick is to use your opponent's own strength against them. As a smaller and weaker bot, you'll always come across enemies who are stronger than you, and agility won't always help you. You've got to be able to use their strength and make it your own."
"Uh....okay....I feel a little insulted...." Sunbeam muttered jokingly. However, when Arcee went to punch her, Sunbeam grabbed her arm and swung her into a wall. Sunbeam immediately panicked. "Are you okay?!" Only to have Arcee kick her feet out from under her again.
"Never let your guard down for even a second."
"Gee, you're so hospitable..."
"Big word...careful, you might hurt yourself," Arcee smirked and offered Sunbeam a hand, and Sunbeam took it before using her knee to catapult Arcee over her and onto the ground beside her.
"Good. You're learning."
"Somethin' tells me ya wanted me to do that..."
"That's ridiculous."
Meanwhile, Ratchet and Bulkhead entered Starscream's room and found his cell to be empty, and the door to be open.
"That ain't good..." Bulkhead mumbled.
"Scrap...we should've kept a better eye on him," Ratchet replied.
"We also really should've installed a lock on the cell..."
"You go tell everyone what happened...I'll search for any traces of what happened and how he escaped."
"But, why would he leave without finding out where the Tesseract is...?"
"Because he must've figured it out..."
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
I will be going on a hiatus for a few weeks while I finish more chapters of the story and continue with my schoolwork.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll continue! ❤️❤️