"Brr...!" Cody shoved his hands into his pockets as he shivered, "Still cold out here."

Chase nodded, looking out across the ranch grounds. Everything was coated in white, the tips of fence posts peeking out of drifts and long, winding trails made through it by the burrowers. The fences branched out towards the horizon, framing the edges of designated fields- though what those fields were primarily used for was buried for the time being.

Those that dared exit the barns and step out into the world were not baring the brunt of the cold alone, instead walking the grounds in groups, pressing against one another for warmth. Cody himself was doing the same against Chase, who gladly pressed into the teenager to keep him from shivering.

"How far is it to town?" Cody asked, looking out towards the horizon as if trying to spot it.

Dr. Parathos crossed his arms, "Normally, about twenty minutes. Quite a bit longer in this weather. Good thing we stocked up..." He gave Chase a glance, "Now don't spend too much time out here, alright? If you start to hurt or get tired, back in the barn with you. Lower Grasslands aren't built for the snow, most of them have migrated south by now."

"Lower Grassland?" Chase tilted his head, "That's what I am?"

"Oh... Yeah, guess you two wouldn't know about that. Yes, there are Lower Grassland, High Grassland, River dragons like Rush, Gliders, Mountain, Burrower, and then there's Forest Dragons, that's what Peri and Arson are. They were thought extinct up until about thirty years ago when a small population was found in the Manet region. They're protected by law since they're so endangered, but it means they're also rare and quite the commodity for poachers."

Cody frowned, "Which is why they must've taken Arson."

"Right. Peri's restricted to the barn for the winter because of her condition, so she wasn't easy for them to snag, but Arson was out in the fields looking after the herd like a good leader does..."

"But you have a hunch on who is responsible?"

"Yeah. Thermon. He's been asking and trying to haggle Arson from me ever since Sigma Twelve arrived here, and more than once he's said he'd get a hold of him someday... But since he wasn't here, I can't exactly prove it was him."

"Are you concerned he'll sell Arson?"

Dr. Parathos sighed, "Nah, he knows I'll be skimming every auction and sale for him..."

"Then what could he want with him? What benefit does he gain by abducting him?" Chase shook his head, "He'll be exposed by selling him or by flaunting him to his peers..."

"Exactly. So my guess is a bit more scandalous, I'm afraid... After all, with the breed itself being so rare, their hatchlings would also be valuable to sellers."

"You mean trying to breed him? But that's wrong!" Cody exclaimed, "He's a sentient being, you can't-"

"Not all humans see the dragons as sentient... You and I are special in that we've gained the trust of a dragon, which enables us to understand their speech, but not all humans can... and those that mistreat them, probably never will understand them like we do. To some, Arson is just an expensive item to own... and a means of gaining more wealth."

Chase shuddered at the thought, "Then we can't wait for me to recover... We have to find him now!"

"Don't worry, Chase. I have a plan. Arson won't be of much use to them, as even male forest dragons aren't able to breed very often, and he and Peri are a very recent development. So for now, until we can locate him, I want you and Cody to work with some of the others to keep Peri safe. Once Thermon finds out that she's expecting, I have no doubt he'll try to take her too."

Chase was comforted by this a little, but his brother was still trapped somewhere, possibly being hurt by his captors... He wouldn't let that happen to Periphery or their children. "Understood."

"You said that the lower grassland migrate," Cody remembered, "Do all species normally migrate?"

Dr. Parathos grinned, "Most of them, yeah. It's the funniest thing. Herds migrate on their own every year, but every once in a while... They all move together."
He pointed out into the hills, "The Gliders up at the tops of the mountain peaks start it off. They make their way down from the upper cliffs and down here towards the plateaus, and then the mountain dragons join them. Then the burrowers at the bottom of the mountains join in, and they pick up the grasslands and then this massive migration of almost every dragon in the area all head west."
He pointed in the opposite direction, "You don't see them again for almost another full year, and then they come back."

"Where do they go?"

The man shrugged, "I've tried asking them, but they all say it's a dragon secret. Some think it's some sort of spiritual rite of passage for them, going to some ancient grounds to honor their ancestors and taking their kids to get in touch with their heritage, but who knows..." He pointed to Rush, who appeared to be uncovering some equipment that had been buried in a snow drift, "Only forest dragons and river dragons don't have this pattern."

"Have any of the dragons here been there?"

"Yeah, a few of them. But they aren't sharing either. I don't mind it, they have their culture, we have ours... Scientists have even tried to follow them. I mean, there's so many dragons passing by, you can hear the rumble of their many footsteps all day and night as they pass, but somehow... The scientists always manage to lose them. They just... Disappear. The scientists keep following all the way to the coast, and... Nothing."

Chase hummed curiously, looking out to the west. What was out there, and why were the native dragons so eager to keep it secret from human eyes?

"There's a lot Optimus keeps from you..." Cody mumbled, as if he knew what the officer was thinking. "And you're the same species... Normally."

Chase sighed, "Indeed... I am certain it is to protect us, but it leaves me wondering if he was aware of Griffin Rock's status as a predacon fossil."

Cody shrugged, and then all three of them perked up a bit as they heard a loud shriek from somewhere beyond the hills of snow. "What was that?"

Dr. Parathos frowned as he looked out, and then the dragons with little ones quickly shuffled them up under their wings and bodies like a hen rounding up her chicks. Those that did not have children to watch over also looked out, and deep growls rumbled in their throats. Whatever made that sound, it wasn't good.
"...Hiye!" The man called out, and the parents and younger dragons all fled towards the barns to hide.

"We'd best get inside too," Cody hissed, putting a hand on Chase's shoulder. The officer nodded, if only to protect Cody from whatever was out there. He hoped it wasn't the virus, somehow surviving last night and tracking them to the ranch where others would be at risk.

The pair followed the rush of dragons inside where it was warmer and safer, retreating to the stall where Periphery still rested in the straw. Her head perked up as they heard the shriek again and the little ones scampered into the stalls even faster, especially as others in varying pitches joined it from outside.

"What is it?" Chase asked, "Are we under attack?"

"Only if they decide to push their luck..." Periphery hissed, "...Everyone's littles accounted for?"
There was a collective of mothers counting and checking, but then were was a chorus of confirmation. "Good."

"I don't like griffins...!" One of the smallest dragons whimpered, ducking under her mother's belly. "They're big and scary and mean...!"

"Griffins..." Cody whispered, and then they heard the remaining dragons outside begin to howl. Like wolves, they seemed to be sending back their own message, a message of 'stay away.'

"I take it dragons and griffins do not get along."

Periphery shook her head, "Griffins hunt down our littles and small herds when they can. Here we can avoid most of the conflict by retreating to the barns, but out in the open... We'd have to fight, and that would mean some littles might get lost in the shuffle and leave them exposed."

The howls and shrieks argued back and forth for several minutes, and then both quieted. Dr. Parathos appeared at the door, "...Looks like they've moved on, but we're gonna wait a bit and let the sentries patrol, just to be sure."

The dragons nodded in understanding, and then the man was gone again.

"Do they attack often?"

"Not here, but sometimes new leaders fresh and eager for a fight think the young and injured here would make for easier catches than trying to find herds out in The Wilds."

"Like a thief attempting to rob an elderly woman's home..." Chase grumbled, lying back down as he felt his injuries beginning to ache. "...Bullies."

"Unfortunately so... That's why having a king and sentries is so important. Strong, healthy leaders to protect the weaker members. If they'd picked up Arson's scent, they would never have gotten this close. But with his absence..." Periphery sighed, "...Arson... Where are you...?"

"We'll find him, Periphery... We'll find him..."

__________________________________________________________________

By the time Aaron came back to let the dragons know the coast was officially clear, Chase had fallen back asleep, and so Cody left him with Periphery once more, tiptoeing back outside to see what all he could do to help.

Most of the work needed was shoveling snow or removing the tarps they'd placed over equipment to keep it safe from the blizzard. Once again he'd been told that as a guest, he didn't need to do anything, but Cody was insistent on being useful.

"I helped make a park-sized pizza, I think I can handle a few tarps."

"I'll... take your word for it?"

Not only would this let him feel like he wasn't just leeching off of the man's hospitality, but he also realized it gave him a chance to talk to Rush.

"So..." He hummed as he shoveled and she dug out a tractor. "You and Chase went to the Academy together?"

"Yup! He and I would have graduated together, but some of my 'paperwork' went missing, so I had to do it all over again and that set me back."

"What rescue work did you specialize in?"

Rush sighed hard, "I wanted to be search and rescue," She complained, "You know, finding the people in trouble and helping get them to safety? But no. They decided I was better off as an environmental analyst..."

"Environmental analyst?"

She paused, giving him a bored look. "I got to sit on the ship the whole time and tell my team what the weather was like, what kind of rocks were on the planet, yadda yadda. That's not rescue work, that's being the... The bot in the chair!" Her head drooped a bit, "I wanted to be out there, doing something other than looking at screens all day and watching the rest of my team get to do the saving."

Cody paused in his shoveling, giving a grin. "Wow. You and I have a lot more in common than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

Cody sat down on a cleared wheel of the tractor, "Back home, my dad's the police chief and works with Chase, and then my three older siblings are a firefighter, a rescue pilot, and an engineer, who are all partnered with Blades, Heatwave, and Boulder, respectively. That leaves me, the youngest, with the job of emergency dispatch. Sitting at the command center and watching camera footage for any emergencies to send them out on."

"So you understand!"

"I do..." Cody smirked, "I tried to use some experimental tech to be involved one time. It didn't go so well, but I was also like, twelve. So there's that. I still work dispatch, and I was hoping to talk to my dad about me getting a rescue partner of my own soon, but he barely lets me drive anything bigger than my go-cart around the block..."

Rush sighed, "It stinks feeling like everyone gets the spotlight and you're trapped behind the scenes... I knew I was helping in my own way, but... Ugh."

"And yet this morning..."
They turned as Cliffjumper approached, "...You said you were content pulling carts around and not getting in on the action."

"Making war with griffins and rogue dragons isn't the kind of action I'm looking for, Cliffjumper. I know you miss getting to punch Decepticon lights out of their casings, but fighting and rescue work aren't the same thing."

Cody looked to the red dragon, "You said you came here after being killed in the war... Did you ever meet Optimus Prime?"

"Oh yeah! I was one of Optimus' closest guys! Of course..." Cliffjumper slumped a bit, "There weren't many of us left by then... Hope Arcee made it okay. You know OP?"

"He came to check in on Sigma Seventeen every so often, make sure they were doing ok. Haven't heard from him in a while, though."

He wasn't about to tell them that it had been because the bots had been thought dead, but even Bumblebee had said that he wasn't able to get a hold of him right now. He must be really off-the-grid for some reason.

"You think Arson's okay out there?"

"Primus, I hope so..." Rush hummed, "It's not good for Peri to be this stressed out, but the only way to fix that would be to find him and bring him home."

Cody sighed, "Home..."

"You miss yours too..."

"Yeah... I mean, Chase and I got pulled here against our will and I'm sure our family is worried sick about us! Not to mention Chase told me that thing hurt the others pretty badly... I wish... I wish we could find some way to call them, let them know we're okay... Wait a second."

Comms would be useless here, no signal could jump dimensions, but Cody remembered another type of communication that might be of use, one they used back in the cave. If Blades could call Chase psychically... Could Chase call one of the others in the same way?

"Got an idea, Tiny?" Cliffjumper asked.

Cody smiled a bit, "...I just might."