Snarl galloped along the outskirts of the city. He did search, but his methods weren't exactly refined or subtle. He barreled through the streets, causing road damage and miniature earth quakes. He lifted up cars and looked under them, terrifying drivers on their early morning commute. He punched holes into nearby buildings in order to look inside, resulting in screaming and fleeing humans.
The Dinobot didn't register any of the damage though, he simply searched through the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of the little human girl he grew fond of. But no matter where he looked, he couldn't find her.
To say Snarl was worried was an understatement. He was outright panicking as he frantically searched. He remembered how Meltdown had treated him and the other Dinobots, when the scientist had first claimed the island as a base.
The cruelty.
The mistreatment.
Snarl recalled how he had once snapped defiantly at the deranged scientist. That earned him a burn on his underbelly as Meltdown's disgusting mutants held him down, the triceratops struggling as he bellowed in pain, his metal melting under the acid. Meltdown looked at him with disgust, and the sentiment was carried over to Grimlock and Swoop. He held absolutely no kindness towards them, but that was not the worst part nor the part that scared Snarl the most.
The mad scientist would perform the most vile and inhumane experiments on his own animal test subjects. Snarl could clearly recall the screeching, the howls, their morbid ululations as they were dissected, cut up, injected, poked, prodded, and turned into something else entirely.
The most unsettling experiment Snarl had witnessed was an ape, hooked up to various tubes and wires, its face covered with an oxygen mask. Meltdown had been attempting to find a way to regrow organs, obsessing over it. The ape had been put under with heavy anesthetic, its chest cut open and organs removed, before Meltdown injected it with formula after formula, in a crazed attempt to find results.
The ape did not survive.
Meltdown barely cared, only annoyed that his experiment failed, ordering the Dinobots to dispose of the body and bring him a new test subject.
Snarl could remember the clumps of organic flesh lying on the floor, how the floor pooled with blood, and the stench. It assaulted his olfactory sensors, putrid and rotten.
And it was these horrors that made Snarl think, if Meltdown held no compassion for even other organics, what was to stop him from doing the same to Kelly?
Snarl stopped running, transforming into robot mode as he reached the edge of the city where nature met concrete. He looked from side to side, uncertain of where he should go from here. His shoulders slumped down, despondent. Feeling utterly lost, he sat on the grass. From inside his chassis compartment, he reached in and pulled out Kelly's little rag doll.
Gazing down at the little doll, Snarl let out a sad rumble.
What was he going to do?
His friend was in trouble and he didn't even know how to help her...
It was then Snarl noticed the ground shaking.
"SNARL!" Grimlock bellowed, stomping over to him, Swoop not far behind.
Snarl stood up, quickly putting away the doll as he turned to face his brethren. "What Grimlock want?" he asked, disinterested and tired. He really didn't want to deal with them right now, he had better things to worry about.
Grimlock transformed, towering over Snarl. "Grimlock want Snarl to stop being stupid."
Snarl did not allow himself to be intimidated. "Snarl not stupid. Snarl has friend."
"SNARL IS STUPID!" Swoop screeched, "friend is human. Human cannot be friends with Dinobots!"
Snarl tilted his head. "Why?"
"Because humans weak and puny! Dinobots big and strong!" Grimlock proclaimed, stretching out his arms dramatically.
Snarl stared at them blankly before turning and walking away.
"Hey! Where Snarl going? Me Grimlock no finish talking!"
"Snarl going to find friend," Snarl called over his shoulder.
"Dinobots are friends!" Swoop screeched.
Snarl stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly, his face furious. "Dinobots hurt Snarl! Dinobots..." Snarl's tone grew sad, "....Dinobots...bad friends."
And with that, Snarl turned and began walking off again.
Grimlock and Swoop watched as the triceratops walked away. From an outside perspective, it could be interpreted that Grimlock and Swoop were nothing but big bullies, determined to prove their superiority over the weak. And while that may be partly true, keep in mind that Dinobots aren't as mentally evolved as other Transformers. Their processors are primitive and as such they mostly act on instinct and impulses without a second thought. Grimlock and Swoop see Snarl's actions as confusing. What was the appeal in this little puny human? They just couldn't understand. And just like with humans, what cannot be understood is immediately hated for no valid reason.
Despite this though, the Dinobots actually missed Snarl. It was strange not having the third member of their group with them. After all, they were created together, as a set, and since creation have been together. They were not like other Transformers; they're not Autobots or Decepticons, they couldn't even be classified as Cybertronian since they didn't originate from the planet. They were the only ones of their kind. They had to stick together.
Unfortunately, their processors were too primitive to comprehend all these confusing emotions, Grimlock particularly. He wanted Snarl to come back, he wanted their little herd to be complete again, for this empty feeling to go away. But he couldn't properly express those feelings. And so, he reacted in the only way he knew how; violently.
Grimlock transformed, letting out a roar as he lunged at Snarl.
Snarl reacted in time, dodging out of the way as he too transformed, meeting Grimlock's battle cry with one of his own. The two of them clashed and battled. Swoop also joined the fray.
It was almost like before, when the two other Dinobots had attacked Snarl for daring to go against their beliefs, where Snarl nearly lost his life.
But this time, things were different.
Snarl fought with a newfound sense of ferocity and determination. He had something now that he didn't have back then; a will and desire to protect.
When they threw him to the ground, he got right back up.
When they hit him, he hit them back twice as hard.
When they made him bleed, he attacked even more viciously and made them bleed twice as much.
Snarl barely registered his wounds and his pain as he fought. Grimlock and Swoop's attacks weren't bringing the triceratops down and they did not know how to react to that.
Grimlock clamped his jaws down on Snarl's neck, only for Snarl to aggressively throw him off, ramming into the T-Rex's underbelly with his horns, stabbing him in the process.
Grimlock coughed up oil. "SNARL!" He bellowed, shocked, "Why you do this?!"
"Because Grimlock and Swoop hurt Snarl!"
Swoop dove down, aiming to swipe at Snarl's optics and blind him, but Snarl saw it coming. He moved in time, grabbing Swoop midair and hurled him into a nearby building, the pterodactyl crashing through brick wall as debris buried him.
Grimlock saw this and roared, transforming back into robot mode. Snarl did the same.
They grappled with each other, wrestling in an attempt to get the other to submit. Grimlock got Snarl into a headlock, struggling to overpower him.
"SNARL! STOP AND COME BACK WITH DINOBOTS!"
"NO!" Snarl yelled, using Grimlock's momentum against him as he threw him over his shoulder, the T-rex slamming on the ground.
Snarl pinned him, his weight crushing Grimlock as oil spurted from the T-rex's wound.
Grimlock screamed in pain.
This was it. This was where he would die.
Grimlock could barely keep conscious, his optics flickering, the pain overwhelming.
He should've been angry, rage filled even at this betrayal, but all he felt was sadness and he didn't understand why.
That sadness ate away at his usual bravado and fighting spirit, leaving him empty, defeated. He accepted his faith, waiting for death, for the final blow.
But it never came.
To his surprise, Snarl got off him, staggering to his peds.
Snarl stared down at Grimlock before going and digging through the rubble, pulling out a barely conscious Swoop. He laid Swoop down next to Grimlock before getting up and leaving once again.
Grimlock struggled to get up. "Snarl!"
Snarl kept walking, not stopping once.
"WHY?" Grimlock desperately called, "Why you not kill us?! Why-!" He struggled with what he wanted to say. What did he want to say? "...why....why you want to find human? Why...why is...is human...friend?"
Snarl stopped. He turned around slowly.
"Because...Kelly likes Snarl not because Snarl big and strong but because Snarl...is Snarl."
And with those few words, he continued on, determined to find his little friend.
Grimlock and Swoop exchanged glances before both of them struggled to stand. Quietly they approached Snarl, but this time, there was no sneak attack, no ferocity, no violence.
They silently followed him, limping along the way.
This wasn't because they wanted to assist in Kelly's search. No, they just wanted to follow Snarl.
And Snarl let them, allowing them to follow him despite not acknowledging their presence.
Grimlock could see that Snarl clearly understood something they didn't. It was what fueled him to keep going despite the pain, gave him the strength to persevere despite the adversity. And though, Grimlock still considered humans beneath them and couldn't fathom the notion of being friends with one, he at least wanted to learn.
Maybe then, they could finally understand
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A/N
I swear, writing the Dinobots' caveman speech is causing my brain to short circuit. You'd think it'd be easy but you face a whole other challenge when you have to make basic disjointed English make sense while also having emotions. The amount of times I had to rewrite dialogue.
I think it turned out okay...hopefully.
Alright! That's enough of my writing woes.
Next week's chapter we meet back up with Arachnia and the Autobots and let's just say that things...aren't looking so well. Can Arachnia learn to cooperate with the others in order to find Kelly in time? What about when she meets up with Sari again? Will they put their differences aside or will shots be fired?
You'll have to wait and find out next week my lovely guys, gals and non-binary pals.