Melody's POV

Waking up was uncomfortable. I was sore and in desperate need of food and a stretch. Yawning I lifted my arms and stretched, ahh- "Ouch!" What the hay hay? I frowned and sat up, looking at the patch on my shoulder.

"Yip, yip, yip! Careful!" I turned to see Ratchet who was now standing up. His hands were on his hips and he gave me a stern look, "That armature patch job was the best I could do on such short notice. We have a lot of things to talk about young femme." I lowered my head in guilt causing him to sigh. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could have helped!"

"Because you're already dealing with a lot. Hiding from big bad men, being badly hurt, nearly dying." I looked up at him making eye contact, "I've manged for 3 years. I didn't want to worry you."

"Managed." He lightly corrected. "And no sparkling should have to deal with such things! That pit spawned fragger is worse than a Decepticon!" I didn't really understand what a deceptecon was but I was happy he cared. "Look, I have to leave soon." What? No! "I don't want to leave you though. And now that I know what your sire does I cannot, in good conscious, leave you here. So, I'm taking you with me."

I don't think I've ever smiled so much and so big in my life. "Really?!" My body tingled with excitement.

He smiled down at me. "Indeed. I would send you back so you could retrieve your necessities but I don't think that is wise."

"Don't worry!" I pointed to the far left corner in the back of the barn. "I have an emergency bag just in case he kicked me out without letting me pack!"

He gave me a sad look, "Well... that's good. Would you be ok with leaving tonight? I picked up an Autobot signal in a place called 'Monument Valley.' It was faint and brief; they must be in need of medical care."

I gasped, "I know where that is! It's in Arizona!" I grinned and bounced on my heels happy to help. "We can leave right now if you want." I stopped bouncing on my heels and gasped again, this time in worry, "Wait, they might need medical help?! We gotta leave now! Oh, I hope they're ok!!" I don't think I have enough Band-Aids for them...

"Calm down Melody. We are Cybertronians, Autobots none the less! I am sure they are fine." Oh yaaa! They need welding, not Band-Aids. I giggled lightly, silly me.

"Okie. But can I bring some of my trinkets with me?"

I watched as he paced around. "Yes yes." He answered distractedly. "We'll need money, I'll need a new alt-mode..."

I zoned out with a frown. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? I shrug to myself and run over to my emergency bag. It held jeans, shirt, a sweater, underwear, sketch pads, pencils, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a pocket knife I stole from my dad. Picking the bag up I walked over to my metal desk and open the middle right drawer. I listened to Ratchet mumble more while I opened the secret compartment and pulled out my emergency money. Five hundred smack-a-roos! Booyakasha!

"Hey Ratch." He stopped mumbling and noticed me. Yes, notice me senpai. "Will 500 dollars help you?"

I raise my hand up to him showing that I did, in fact, have the money. "Wha?" All of a sudden a sand blonde man in jeans, green shoes with white laces, green shirt, a white lab coat, and black glasses appeared in front of me. I let out a surprised squeak and pulled the money to my chest. "When did- how did you get so much money?"

The strange man spoke with Ratchet's voice. "Ratchet? Is that you?"

He blinked a few times, "Huh? What are you- oh." A look of realization crossed the man's face before he smiled at me. "Yes Melody. It is I: Ratchet. This is my holoform. It lets me blend in better with you humans."

Relief filled me and I let out a breath. "Oh, okie. That's really cool!! You look good! What else can you do?" Oh my glob, this is so cool!!!

He laughed, "Calm down child. Thank you for the complement but there isn't anything too extraordinary I can do that you haven't already seen."

"Aww." He smiled softly at me which caused my heart to beat faster from nervousness. Nobody has ever looked at me with so much love. Even when my mom and dad were together. I quickly ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you Ratchet."

I soon felt him relax into my touch and hug me back. "No, thank you." We stayed like that for a while before we finally pulled apart. He took a deep breath and walked over to his Cybertronian mode. "I suppose we should leave now. What state is this? My navigational systems are down."

"We're in Oklahoma! If we stop and get a map then I'm sure we can find a way to Arizona."

"Air-eh-zone-ah, not Air-e-zon-ah." I huffed and crossed my arms. Stupid pronunciation. I can say it correctly in my head, just not out loud. "It's alright little one, you'll get it." I gave him a smile in thanks and watched as he disappeared. "Now, let's get on the move."

Then he transformed! Into an ambulance! "Woah!!" That was so cool! "Can you do that again?!" I jumped up and down clapping in excitement.

He gave a hearty laugh, "Now Melody, we need to go. I'll transform again soon. Don't you worry." I groaned but complied none the less. He popped his passenger side door open for me. Grabbing my bag, money, a few wrenches, and a broken iPad I crawled in. "There's a good femme. Now, first I need a new alt."

We drove out of the barn and I tilted my head in confusion. "Alt? What in the who-ha is that?"

He laughed, "It's my vehicular form."

"Why do you need a new one? I like this one!"

He sighed which just blew warm air into my face. "As do I, but those big bad men I told you about will recognize me and try to not only hurt me, but you as well." I let out a small 'oh' and frowned. Why do they want to hurt Ratchy? "It'll be alright sweetspark. I won't let them hurt you."

"But why do they want to hurt you?" I started to tear up, "You're- you're nice and saved me from my dad! You're a good guy! It's not fair!!"

"Oh, don't cry sweetspark. I know it's not fair, but life isn't fair. We don't know why humans betrayed us, but Optimus sent out a warning message to us. We went into hiding to stay safe."

"Who is Optimus?"

"He is the leader of the Autobots, the good guys. We fight the Decepticons who were led by Megatron. Luckily Megatron was offlined but unfortunately the Decepticons continue to rain terror under Starscream's rule. He was Megatron's second in command."

I nodded, taking it all in. "Why did you guys come to Earth then?"

"Cybertron." His voice was so soft and sad that I instantly felt bad for asking. "Our planet Cybertron died. After so many destructive years of war we finally killed it. It was such a beautiful and peaceful planet. Tall metal structures, beautiful jewel flowers... It was magnificent."

I smiled softly and rubbed the dashboard comfortingly, "It sounds amazing."

"It was. It really was."

"What's your favorite flower? Do you have any pictures?"

He sighed again, "Unfortunately not, nobot ever thought we'd lose our home. It was always there. Always has been there. Once the thought of losing it even crossed our processers it was too late. Most of our once beautiful home was destroyed in the early stages of war. My favorite flower, however, was a blue il verde gida. The petals were a shiny silver, the stem a stunning green crystal, and at the center was the blue verde giada. Much like your blue jade gemstones. They were rare, only grew once a year." He laughed, "It was Primus's favorite too. He always grew it in a different spot so nobot could go pick it every year." He paused for a minute. "One year, many eons ago, I was in the Hydrax Plateau, the Ankmor Park to be specific, and stumbled upon the flower. It was beautiful, so beautiful that I didn't have the spark to pick it. I just stared at it for a good few hours. I'd give anything to see it again."

I hummed and decided to change the topic, not liking how sad Ratchet seemed. "Who's Primus?"

"Primus? He is a life bringer, said to be our creator. He is also the core of our planet. Rumored to be one of the first beings to have ever lived. He along with his brother, Unicron. Unicron is a destroyer, death bringer. After Primus defeated his brother he became the core of our planet and created us."

"Well that's cool!" I grinned and leaned back into the warm seat. "Can you tell me about the others? Autobots like you?"

"Of course. In the beginning of our trip to Earth our team had a first lieutenant. His designation, was Jazz..."

I listened to a bunch of cool, adventurous stories about the other Autobots. Ratchet gave vivid descriptions about them and told me all about their positions, like wreckers and scouts. He seemed really fond of Opty's old weapon specialist Ironhide. They seemed really close. I cried during a few stories and laughed at others. Especially when he told me about Ironhide first meeting Que. "Oh he hated the bot. Smart know-it-all yet really clumsy. But then, Que made a really big cannon that could do more damage than Ironhide's own cannons. He fell on his aft the first time he shot it." We laughed at this. "Oh, I'd think he like you. He always wanted a sparkling of his own. He quite liked looking over William's sparkling. We often joked about when and how he'd steal and take the sparkling as his own."

"You think if he was still here he'd teach me how to shoot a gun?"

"Ha! Most definitely." We continued to talk and joke happily about him and his teammates until he pulled into a truck stop. His holoform appeared in the driver's seat and he ruffled my hair, "All right, time to refuel."

We climbed out of his now white based off-road search and rescue vehicle. It had orange detailing and was roughly the same shape as his emergency vehicle. With a new alt comes new looks; now his hair is a white blonde with two orange streaks. It was pulled back into a man bun with one loose strand framing his face. He had blue jeans, an orange shirt, white shoes with orange laces, and a black leather jacket. He changed sometime during our drive, how I missed that I'll never know.

We walked through the glass doors with a jingle. Ratchet led me over to some open stools and we sat down, waiting to order. "Alright Melody what would you like?"

"Steak, eggs, and hash browns! If it's not too much trouble." I've been trying my best to act normal for Ratchet but every time I speak without being spoken to or ask for something I feel like my dad is about to jump out and beat me. My heart pounds with nervousness and uncertainty.

I think Ratchet knows this because he always gives me small encouraging smiles when I feel nervous or scared. "Of course you can, it's no trouble at all. Anything else?"

"Chocolate milk?" He nodded and turned to order for us. I ignored the burning stares from the group of men over at the corner booth and instead searched for a bathroom. Finally finding it I turned to Ratchet who just finished ordering. "Ratchy?" I get his attention with one of his nicknames causing him to roll his eyes. "Can I use the bathroom?" I pointed at it and his eyes followed my finger.

"Yes, but be quick and don't talk to any strangers."

"Okie!" I hopped off the stool and made a b-line for the bathroom. As I passed the men's table I had to suppress a cough. Ugh, it reeks! Finally making it to the bathroom I do my business, wash my hands, and exit the room. Turning to walk back to Ratchet I run into a smelly thing. I stumble back a bit and blink up at the man I just ran into. The smelly thing being his beer belly.

"Well, hello." The man gave a crooked grin showing off his plaque covered teeth. He needs to brush his teeth! "What's your name?" I remain silent and just stare up at him. He quickly grows mad at my lack of response and glares at me growling out his next sentence. "I asked you a question god damn it! Answer me!" Now afraid of the man I scramble for a lie which ended up making me point at my throat and hold up my hands in a shrug. "Can't talk huh?" He got this glint in his eye that I definitely didn't trust but I nodded anyways. "Good." He then grabbed me and hightailed it out of the truck stop.

Oh heck naw. "Ratchet!!" As we ran past him I screamed his name as loud as I could. I saw his angry and wide-eyed expression when he snapped his head in my direction.

"Melody!" He quickly ran after me; catching up to the man incredibly fast. He tore me away from the man and set me down behind him. "Wrong move fragger." He then punched the guy clear across the jaw with a crack. He continued to beat the guy bloody while his friends watched scared poopless. "Next time you think about, breath, or so much as look in my sweetsparks direction again consider yourself as good as dead." He then dropped the nearly unconscious man roughly on the ground. "Come on sweetspark, let's go finish our breakfast." He took my hand in his and we walked to the diner doors. Quickly, in the spur of the moment, I turned slightly and flipped the group of men off with an innocent, blank expression.

We went in the diner like nothing happened and ate our breakfast. Ratchet scanned me a bunch of times to ensure those guys didn't hurt me. Once satisfied, we paid and left. "How much longer till we make it to your friends?" We were driving again, a lot of dirt and mountains everywhere.

"Actually, we're nearly there. I think whoever's signal that was is still th-"

"CALLING ALL AUTOBOTS! CALLING ALL AUTOBOTS!" I saw a car far off to the side speeding to where we were heading.

"By the All Spark! It's Optimus!!" The happiness in Ratchet's voice made me smile. Ratchet honked happily over to Optimus as we got closer to him. Optimus did the same causing me to laugh.

Soon we were driving side by side and came up on these big mountain things. I saw a big green bot shouting something, sliding down the mountain, and shooting his large gun into the air. A blue samurai looking bot flipped off his perch and turned into a helicopter. Then to the right of me a green bot with a cape ran alongside us. We pulled to a stop and the green bot with the cape laughed. "Hell ya! Doc bot and Mr. LeaderOfTheFreeGalaxy is back! I knew you'd make it. Never doubted."

The helicopter transformed back into a samurai and rolled in front of us. "We got your warning." He hit the green bots arm lightly and did a little bow. "We've been waiting."

"Hell ya! Boom time! We got the gang back together." I looked at the other green bot curiously. Why is he chewing on a bullet?

I watched people climb out of Optimus as a yellow and black bot started walking towards us. He nodded at Ratchy and Opty as Opty transformed. I quietly slipped out of Ratchet and watched in awe as he transformed. "Humans have asked us to play by their rules. Well, the rules have just changed."

"Human beings." The big bot started shedding some of his weapons as he walked closer. "Bunch of back stabbing wheesles."

I stuck closer to Ratchet's ped sensing the negative feeling towards humans. "Hound, find your inner compass. Loyalty is but a flower in the winds of fear and temptation." Is that a Haiku? Aunt Tille loves Hiaku's!

"What the hell are you saying?!" Hound, I believe, asks grabbing a grenade.

"It's a Hiaku." Yay! I was right!

"Cut the crap before I drop a grenade down your throat!"

"Try it. You'll be dead!" Blue bot aims his two swords at Hound.

"Oh please pull it. Please do it."

"Ya know what – it'll save us so much time." Bumblebee said. Ratchet told me about him, his voice was damaged in battle so he uses the radio to speak.

"Well raise your hand if you're thoroughly disenchanted with our little, pleasant Earth vacation." The green bot rose his hand only to quickly pull out some pistol looking weapons and point it at the group that got out of Opty. "So who's the stowaways?"

"Woah woah. Hey, what's with the guns?" The older looking man held up his hands in surrender. I hold back a gasp, not wanting to be caught and hid further behind Ratchy. He noticed and shifted slightly so he was fully blocking me.

Hound rolled in front of Opty and aimed a machine gun at the group. "Stop! Hound! Both of you! They've risked their lives for mine; we owe them."