The pair checked the clearing where the dinos typically wandered above-ground, and to Blurr's disappointment, there were several. Adults watching over their children as they tussled and chased one another through the grass.

"Too bad we left Downpour back at the ship, she's always wanting someone to wrestle with," Blurr muttered.

"I think with her being metal and them organic, she'd still be too rough for the other adults' tastes..." Quickshadow started out of the trees to where the dinos could see them. "Come on, we just need to keep them away from the shore for a little while, corralling any that stray."

Blurr groaned, and then followed her out as well. The dinos stopped in their activity to look at them, and for a moment, Blurr was concerned their appearances weren't convincing enough, but then Quickshadow sent a rumbling sound out of her crest, and they resumed their play; the bots' presence had been accepted.

"Okay, so the adults have the little ones in a circle already, so for the most part, we just need to keep them from leaving the clearing."

Blurr nodded, and then carefully moved through the group until he and Quickshadow were on opposite sides of it. "Okay... One, two, three, four," he counted, keeping the number of little dinos in mind; they'd be easier to lose than the full-grown T-Rex, Triceratops and Stegosauruses. "How's it going with the humans, Salvage?"

They're still working on the engine, but it's sputtering, so we're making progress.

"Good... Ope!"

Blurr lowered his tail to block the path of the little triceratops as it tried to chase a butterfly into the trees. "Not that way, tiny."

Unfortunately, the triceratops was not pleased by this big bot making him lose track of the butterfly, and he promptly backed up and then rammed his head into Blurr's shin.

The speedy rescue bot grunted as pain shot up his leg and the metal dented inward a little, but he didn't cry out, afraid it may startle the other dinos. "Scrap scrap scrap...!" He hissed, pulling the leg up and watching the tiny, hardheaded creature stomp off to return to his mother.

"Aren't they adorable?" Quickshadow teased, nudging the little stegosaur gently with her nose.

"Oh yes... Angels." Blurr muttered. His optics widened as he saw the triceratops coming back at him for another blow, and he jumped back. However, now the other adolescents saw it as a game, and within seconds all of them were rushing Blurr at once. Blurr ran around the edge of the clearing, his feet digging into the dirt to keep traction as they chased with excitement.

Quickshadow smirked as she watched the spectacle, "Perhaps a bunch of little ones chasing you around isn't too bad."

"Easy for you to say! You're not the one being chased!"

Several minutes passed, and eventually the baby dinos all tired and slowed, returning to their parents' sides to rest.

"Thank Primus...!" Blurr murmured as he came to a stop beside Quickshadow, "I may have speed in the tank, but I don't have enough for all afternoon!"

Well, then good news. Salvage informed, The humans got the engine going again. They're heading back away from the island and should be in the clear shortly.

Quickshadow looked up at the sky, "That'll put us reaching Griffin Rock close to sunset, so we'll still be making Heatwave's deadline."

"Yeah..." Blurr winced as he lifted his leg to avoid putting weight on it. "...And I think Blades should take a look at this."

As soon as Salvage gave them the All-Clear, the two bots headed back into the trees, leaving the dinos alone once more. Once out of view, Quickshadow transformed into bot mode and assisted Blurr down the slope towards the ship, Salvage joining them shortly after.

They all looked over at the barricade of crates being used to keep Downpour stationary, her head resting on top of one wall and looking very bored. "...Wow." Blurr muttered.

"She was throwin' half the ship overboard!" High Tide defended, holding a sleeping Snowblast in one arm. "You know how the birdie was staring at me?"

"Yeah?"

"Turns out he was asleep with his optics open."

Quickshadow giggled, "Poor sparkling... Let's get home."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Heatwave, chill. It's only been a few minutes."

"A few minutes is enough." Heatwave paused in his pacing, "The sun's almost down and they still haven't contacted us." He turned back to the others, "Aren't you worried about Snowy, Blades?"

"I am...But I trust Quickshadow...If it had just been Salvage and Blurr, then I'd be a nervous wreck."

"Hmph...I guess you're right..."

Heatwave then looked up as the garage door opened, and gave a sigh of relief as all of the absent bots entered, his daughter included. Even better, the little brachiosaur looked about ready to fall asleep on her feet.

"Perfect..." He whispered, scooping her up into his arms. "...How'd the mission go?"

"Success, minimal complications," Quickshadow informed, turning to look at Blurr as he limped across the room.

"What happened to you?" Blades asked as he examined the speedster's favored leg.

"Baby triceratops nailed me in the shin..." Blurr admitted, letting Blades lead him over to where he could sit down.

"A triceratops?" Heatwave's optics narrowed, "You didn't mention that this mission involved taking these two to Dino Island!"

"Everything worked out, right?" Quickshadow informed, "You worry too much."

"Well in Downpour's case, it's my job to worry!" He then relaxed, "Just... Warn me next time..."

Blades smirked, and then took Snowblast from High Tide's arms. "Hi, Snowy..."

Snowblast cooed and then yawned, snuggling deeper into his parent's arms. "Aww...All worn out from your adventures."

"He didn't even do much," High Tide admitted, "He's a much less fussy sparkling compared to you, Mosquito."

"Hmph. What were you doing on the island, anyway?"

"The proximity alarm went off and so we went to check it out." Quickshadow explained, "Turns out it was just a fishing boat that was having engine trouble, so we had to keep the dinos from spotting them until they left."

"And we all got dino modes in the process." Salvage announced with a grin, "Now we're all triple-changers!"

"Great..." Heatwave murmured, "...Well then, I am going to put Downpour to bed...again...and then finish hosing off the mud that got in my joints."

Boulder chuckled as their leader wandered off down the hall, "Poor mech...He's exhausted."

"Aren't we all?" Blurr questioned.

"Well yes, but he's got a lot of responsibilities on his plate... I vote we all try to pick up some slack until he can catch up and get back up on his stabilizers again. We can all pull more weight, right?"

The other bots all nodded in agreement. "Good... I'm going to call up Bumblebee's team, just to see how repairs are going."

The bulldozer headed for the communications center, and after pressing several buttons, the screen flickered on. A few seconds passed, but eventually, Bumblebee's faceplate appeared.

Boulder! What a surprise, usually it's Blades calling us up.

"I know..." Boulder grinned, "...Just figured I'd check up on the situation there."

Whew...Well, it's been better, but it can certainly be worse. Most of the damage from the Decepticon Attack has been cleared out and repairs are being done on the buildings. The civilians are still kinda shaken up, but they haven't come at us with pitchforks yet, so...

"It's not your fault, though."

Isn't it though? Shockwave never would have attacked Crown City if it weren't to lure us out.

"Shockwave...Wow. Nobody ever told us who exactly ordered that attack."

Yeah...But he's been dealt with. Bumblebee's face fell a little, ...Flash hasn't really been the same since that.

"What do you mean? Was she hurt?"

Oh no, she was actually the one to take him down! It's just... Ever since she did so, she's been quieter... And asking questions I don't know how to answer, like if all Decepticons are bad bots.

"She's reached the point of working out which side she's on."

I guess so... I just hope she makes the right choice. I can feel the struggle in her spark like she's not sure who she believes.

"She'll make the right choice in the end, Bee. She's your daughter, after all, and you raised her right."

I guess you're right...Still, it's one of the things that keeps me up at night, wondering what all she's taking into account in order to make her decision... What about you guys?

"Well, Blurr, Salvage, Quickshadow and High Tide all have dino modes now, apparently. They went on a mission and just got back... Heatwave's tired out of his processor trying to run the team and keep Downpour in line, Blades and Chase are well...Blades and Chase."

How's Chase doing, by the way? The last time I saw him, he looked kinda... Dazed.

"Better... He's working through some things also."

Bumblebee nodded, More and more these days, our time is being taken up by not only work but relationships and family conflict... The everlasting struggle all sentient beings face.

"And yet, life goes on..."

Yes... Life goes on. Give the Burnses and the rest of the team my regards, but I should get back to work.

"Same here. Good to talk to you, Bee."

The Lieutenant's faceplate then disappeared again, and Boulder gave a hard exhale as a smile appeared. "'Til all are one..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: And yet another fanfic draws to a close! I have another story to follow, but it jumps ahead in time quite a bit to when Snowblast and Downpour are much older, and some more sparklings have arrived by that time. 

@firestorm83 requested I write some oneshots detailing the arrivals of those sparklings and post them first, since my plans for those events wouldn't make up an entire story, so the first of those oneshots is mostly done and will be posted soon! Keep an optic out for it!

Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your week!