Life's New Adventures and Secrets

Chapter 3

The following day, Emberwing was playing with the twins. She was having a hard time sneaking up on them while in her beast form. Each time she thought she had them, they would turn in time before she would pounce on them, "Why can't I do this right?" She whined.

"Well, we're more experienced, just keep practicing and you'll get us eventually."

"How long did it take you guys to master it?"

"A couple of years," Jetstorm replied.

"We still have a hard time sneaking up on your mother," Slipstream added.

"That we do."

Emberwing giggled, "Oka-san is the best, no one can sneak up on her, except for Papa."

"He can? How?"

"I'm not even sure, he just can."

"We must get him to teach us."

"He is teaching me how to headbutt things, I just wish Oka-san could show me how to use my claws. My two long ugly claws. I have two on each paw, er, hoof. Look at them," Emberwing held up a paw to show her claws. "At least they're re.. reteachable?"

"Retractable?"

"That's it."

"Well, at least that."

The young femme let out a sigh as she lay on the ground, "I'm bored."

"We can do something with you. What would you like to do?"

"I don't know, Oka-san and Papa are on patrol, and I think the guys are scared of me."

"Why would they be scared of you?"

"I chased Seajumper around after he dared Nightback to jump on my back and I bucked him off."

"Oh... Well, to be honest, they deserved it."

"Why does Seajumper have to make fun of me sometimes? "

"Not sure," Slipstream replied.

"Some boys are just that way," Jetstorm added.

"Well, he can just--" The sound of the alarm from the Alchemor drowned out her words as the adults gathered.

"What is it, Fixit?" Bumblebee asked after he arrived.

"I'm seeing multiple Decepticon signals, some of them are scattered out while others are clustered together," the Mini-con explained.

"Well, looks like we'll have to split up."

"But who will watch the sparklings?" Grimlock asked looking in the direction of where the sparklings were.

"Fixit will. Besides, the defense systems will be on."

Soundwave deployed Laserbeak, sending it to help look after the sparklings.

"Alright, so who's gonna go where?" Strongarm asks the lieutenant.

"Drift, Steeljaw, and you will head to the forest where the 'Cons are scattered out. Optimus, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Wheeljack will look for the group. I'll look for Windblade and Sideswipe, they keep disappearing whenever we need them. Metalsound and Thunderhoof will go with Megatron to the rock quarry to look out for anything out of the ordinary. Grimlock and the twins will stay here with Fixit to look after the sparklings."

"Right!" They all depart to go where they were appointed.

Emberwing left to try to find the boys, wanting to play with them. She finds them in a section of the scrapyard roughhousing. Nightback had pounced on Seajumper, "Hey, get off me!"

"No," Nightback responded with a smile.

"Hey, guys," Emberwing greeted as she transformed into her bot mode.

They both look up at her, "Oh hi Emberwing, didn't know you were there."

Guess I'm getting better at sneaking up on others than I thought. "What are you guys up to?"

"Just roughhousing as the humans call it," Nightback replied as he got off of Seajumper to let him up. Seajumper tackles him to the ground trying to pin him, but he does a flip and pins him down instead.

"How do you do that?" The slightly smaller mech asked.

"Father taught me. Doesn't your father teach you anything?"

"He does but Mom's scared we may get too rough."

Nightback rolls his optics, "I know, same here. Mom can get so overprotective."

"Oka-san and Papa roughhouse with me all the time," Emberwing put in wanting to be part of the conversation.

"Really? No fair you got a fun mom!"

"Oka-san just knows how rough to be. If anything Papa has to make sure she isn't too rough."

"I have a strange feeling you're gonna be just like her when you're older," Nightback says while rubbing his behind which is still sore from the day before.

"You really think so?" She asked with her tail wagging.

"Yes, I really do."

"Cool, I think Seajumper's going to be like Wheeljack."

"Who you think I'm gonna be like?" Nightback asked.

"A little bit of both your mom and dad," she giggles.

"You two do know I'm still here, right?" Seajumper asked feeling annoyed.

"We know. Actually, I want to be more like my dad, though not a criminal, just be tough and vicious."

"What did he do to get locked up anyway?" Seajumper asked.

"Not sure, he just told me he was a 'Con criminal."

"Even Papa won't say much about when he was a criminal. You're lucky you have two warriors for parents," Emberwing replied to Seajumper.

"Your dad was a criminal too? Just how did they end up with the Autobots?"

"I'm not sure, Oka-san said that she used to be a Decepticon before joining the Autobots."

"Dad told me falling in love with Mom was what changed him and he left his criminal life to be with her."

"Aww, Papa won't tell me how he met Oka-san," Emberwing puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

"Well, Dad just told me yesterday while we were talking."

"What did he say?"

"Not much, just that he was a 'Con criminal, and mom was an Autobot cop. Also, they used to be enemies until he started falling in love with her after their last fight and she changed his mind about his plans, whatever they were, and even changed his outlook on everything."

"Cool, that sounds like something from a story Mom would tell," Seajumper said.

"How did your parents meet?" Nightback asked Seajumper.

"They knew each other during the war but they never really talked much because Dad left to see if he could find other Wreckers," the younger mech explained.

"So, you don't really know the story of how they got together?"

"Dad was about to tell me but Mom glared at him and he stopped talking."

"Really? I wonder why."

"Not sure."

"Grown-ups are weird," Emberwing stated, "Papa said a word and Oka-san hit him on the helm and told me not to say it."

"What word did he say?"

"Oka-san said if I said it she would know, and I would be grounded for a week."

The boys were about to say something when they heard a commotion at the gate, they ran to check it out and saw Drift and Strongarm carrying a wounded Steeljaw into the scrapyard.