Escaping Reality

Chapter Three: New Terrain

The cybertronian standing before them was incredibly tall with grey being its primary color. Two wings were positioned its back, thus allowing the group to assume it was a Decepticon. The flier looked like it was from the Bayverse universe, which made him harder to identify since just about every Bayverse Decepticon looked the same. However, when he spoke yet again, the group immediately knew who the mystery-bot was; the transformer was Starscream, second in command of the Decepticons, and he didn't look happy.
         "I can't believe Soundwave detected energon here when there clearly isn't any in sight!" growled the seeker before kicking at the ground, his back to the group as he looked beyond the woods.
         The Transfans then glanced to where the convention was still being held, though given their current position, it was rather hard to see much of anything other than a blur of colors and the grey and black transformer.
         "Ugh, now more fleshbags are heading this way..." trailed off the Decepticon as he began typing something into some kind of keypad he was holding.
         As this went on, neither of the teens took their eyes off Starscream, though Nightblade nudged his sister when he heard yelling ensue from where the convention was being held. Tense, Starblade lightly bumped Sasori to get her attention, though this continued on until everyone in their group knew what was happening from afar.
         "The activities must've started back up!" Katrina whispered to the others.
         "And search parties looking for us along with it!" hissed Darkfin in alarm.
         "How the hell are we gonna explain that we saw a transformer?!" Starjinx chimed in quietly, trying not to talk too loudly.
         "We don't!" Midnight replied in a hushed voice, though silenced herself as small side conversations started between the others; they were no doubt over how the situation was going to play out, especially given that a Decepticon was practically standing in the middle of the woods while various humans were heading in their direction.
         The whispering only stopped when a click was heard, causing the teens to turn their attention back to the Decepticon. No sooner had a missile left the seeker's right arm when they took a glance, only to fly in the direction of the Quotev House. Only seconds later did an explosion occur as well as the sounds of screaming kids flood the air, Starscream's dark chuckle following behind as he watched chaos ensue from beyond the trees. All the eight kids could do was stare up in shock at the mech, neither knowing what to do in such a difficult situation.
         When a swirling blue vortex appeared behind Starscream, the mech didn't hesitate to walk back to where he came from. While this didn't snap most of the group out of their daze, Sasori climbing out of the ditch sure did.
         "Sasori!" Starjinx whisper-yelled before following close behind, the other Transfans getting the gist and climbing after their friend.
         It didn't take a genius to know what Sasori's plan was; she was heading straight for the still-open groundbridge. However, before she could reach it, Starblade grabbed her hand and stopped her in her tracks.
         "Are you crazy?!" the brunette practically yelled. "We can't go in there without a plan!"
         "There's no time for a plan! The groundbridge is already closing!" exclaimed Sasori as she gestured to the fading portal.
         "We'll figure this out later- Just come on!" With that, Midnight sprinted right into the groundbridge with Darkfin and Titaniumwrench hot on their heels. Sasori then broke free of Katrina's grip before following the three girls, leaving only Starjinx, the Blade Twins, and Katrina behind.
         As Starjinx took a few brave steps forward, Starblade dashed to the front in an attempt to stop her.
         "Dude, we have to think this through," advised the female twin. "We don't know if we'll even make it back here!"
         "Yeah but we'll never have another chance at possibly checking out things in the Transformers universe! And if they can get in and out, so can we." With that, Starjinx took off towards the groundbridge and disappeared into the swirling blue portal, Katrina eventually doing the same as she commented, "Jinx's right. This is a once in a life time deal and I'm not gonna mess this up." Even if she seemed a bit afraid of entering the groundbridge, it was clear that Katrina, like the others, wanted to see the universe they loved so much.
         This left the Blade Twins, who were rather hesitant in entering the groundbridge, but did so when the portal began to fade once again. Racing forward, Starblade jumped into the vortex with her brother close behind, both sprinting through the portal before it vanished completely.
         Once they'd made it to the other side, the two jumped out and looked around, seeing yet another forest much like the one they'd left.
         "Hey we all made it!" exclaimed a voice, catching the twins' attention; it was Sasori, though it was hard to tell since everything looked... different.
         "Don't worry guys, it's me, Sasori!" the Decepticon fan assured. "Looks like we're all animated like in Transformers Prime!"
         The twins then looked at their friend before beginning to pick out the other six in their group. Each looked like their normal selves, but with three-dimensional animation. Looking themselves over also proved to them that they hadn't escaped the same visual effect.
         "Whoa..." Nightblade breathed before looking at his sister. "Um, you look weird..."
         Starblade did nothing more than slightly smile and say, "Right back at ya bro."
         "Wait- Where'd Starscream go?" questioned Starjinx, thus tearing the Blade Twins away from their conversation.
         "Transformed and flew off," Sasori reported with a shrug of her shoulders.
         "Glad you guys could make it," Darkfin commented. "Kinda thought you wouldn't make it through the bridge in time."
         "Yeah, well we made it, somehow," Katrina said in a slightly confused tone.
         "What I wanna know is how did we even make it through after hesitating so much?" Starblade questioned, looking to her brother for answers.
         "Maybe cause people were in the groundbridge, so it wouldn't close till everyone was out?" Sasori suggested, Midnight shrugging in an almost bored manner.
         "Who cares? Let's just find the cons and kick some tailpipe already!" Midnight said in a rather impatient tone; it was clear she was expecting something more action-packed, and not the same clearing they'd been in earlier.
         "Whoa whoa whoa. Now that we're here we definitely have to think things through!" Starblade suddenly exclaimed, reality hitting her in the face as she once again fully realized the situation. "What will we do for food? How will our parents react? Will we even be allowed to get back on Quotev after all this-?"
         "Hey calm down," Katrina commanded, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder in a firm yet reassuring manner. "Right now, we just have to focus on what needs to be done at the moment and take a deep breath. After all, we've got the Autobots in this dimension, and they'll definitely lend a servo when we find them."
         "Who said we were going to see the Autobots?" questioned Sasori with a slight frown. "I'd rather go hang with the Decepticons, and the bots would just send us home."
         "Which is why we should contact the Autobots, so when the time comes, they can send us home," reasoned Starblade; while she was excited about an adventure, she preferred having a plan before completely jumping in on it.
         "Also, the Decepticons will probably kill us," Nightblade chimed in timidly, feeling as though he needed to voice that one fact. "Cause we're human and stuff-"
         "Well we've got information on the Autobot base, so we're valuable, remember?" Midnight reminded them, thus receiving a few annoyed expressions from the Autobot fans.
         "Yeah, we're not doing that," Katrina said flatly, crossing her arms. "If this place is going by the series, then we shouldn't interfere with the plot!"
         "And live the Predacons Rising movie for real? Pit no," Starjinx said with a look of disgust. "I'd rather screw things up a bit than let the bots and cons suffer by living through that movie." Not even the Autobot fans could disagree with her point; after all, the movie was pretty bad, and the fact that Hashbro made a movie instead of a season four annoyed many in the fandom.
         "Well then what do we do?" questioned Darkfin. "Steal scrap from stores around here?"
         "Uh, last I checked, the closest town is miles away," Starblade pointed out with a small frown. "And these towns are usually as small as the pits so we'd probably get caught quickly."
         "Well what about the Quotev House?" asked Midnight. "That's close by, right?"
         The teens then looked at each other and exchanged a few glances, some being hopeful, while others weren't so sure.
         "Do you think it's even in this dimension?" Katrina pondered as she and a few others looked in the direction of the Quotev House's supposed location.
         "Only one way to find out," said Sasori, and with that, the Transfans took off in the direction of the Quotev House, neither knowing what they'd find in the Kentucky clearing.