I Have No Excuse

Untitled Part 17

Today was the day. Unfortunately for both parties that Barricade was in the clear for now. A little banged up, but he was much better off. Damaged scales were shedding to be replaced and that was great and all, but they would take some time to actually harden enough to protect him. Some time had been wasted on deciding which group was going to go in first. Sure Barricade was aggressive and two of the three in the other were pretty aggressive when they wanted to be too, but they only had two while the other had three. Mini or not they would be outnumbered and I had no doubt that both groups would notice. Barricade may just decide to attack right away should the others have control of the tank when they got in. He was at a higher risk for aggression and starting a fight so in Prowl and Barricade went. Prowl didn't take to the new environment too well. Technically neither of them did. Prowl darted about in the new space and Barricade was following him around again, but this had occurred in their previous tank so it wasn't concerning. Prowl was looking for a safe spot to no doubt hide another small nest and Barricade was being Barricade. We gave them some time and Prowl seemed to have decided on a spot judging by how they had settled in the right hand corner with all the seagrass. They were settling in fine.

However when the other three got dropped in things got tense. Nothing happened for a minute. They all just stared at each other. Everyone was holding their breath and preparing for the worst. If things got bad then we needed to break them apart fast. A sedative needed to be dropped in and they needed to be pulled out. Barricade looked ready to launch himself at them and I was sure I wasn't the only one who was really hoping that he wouldn't. If he started a fight then Prowl would get hurt and possibly killed by the two larger mers. The young little black and yellow wouldn't be able to handle too much damage as he had yet to actually gain the armor that his pod mates had. His scales were too soft yet to handle a real fight.

I was learning the little cues that the mers gave off and I'd like to think I was doing pretty good, but Arcee and Cliff both had called a merge off or just walked away saying that things were going to be fine before either of the groups had moved. Both had been within a five minute period, but now neither of them had said a word to either call it off or to reassure that they weren't going to kill each other. It was just quiet and it was unnerving.

Chromia had named them a while ago. The little mini was Bumblebee due to his coloration and his love for the underwater flowers. He was friendly. The cherry red was Sideswipe which I'm sure there was a story that I didn't know about. Then there was Sunstreaker and I figured that was just due to his color because his personality sure wasn't sunny.

Then Prowl moved. Slowly. Carefully. Barricade growled and Prowl hissed at him before turning back to the other three. Another slow move forward. Then he stopped. No calls from Arcee and Cliff yet. The mini eased past his pod mates. The other two were still tense. One watching Barricade and the other watching Prowl. However ever so slowly his shifted to Barricade as well.

"Come on. For once play nice." Arcee hissed beside me.

Yep I was not the only one. Apparently this was all on Barricade. Just... Great. This was not going to go well. Barricade was still close to the sand and still looking ready to lung with the way his arms were braced and his tail was twitching. He was dangerously focused on them as they were on him. Prowl and little Bee had been slowly shifting closer. Hopefully they were trying to work something out. They were close enough to touch now, but neither moved. Bee tilted his head to the side with a rather innocent look. The other three still hadn't moved to attack or withdraw.

"Back. Down. Please just back down." Came another hiss from Arcee as she stared at Barricade.

"This is gonna be another bloodbath." Blurr spoke in a dangerously serious tone.

Cliff tensed beside me as Barricade shifted to watch Prowl and Bee. They moved around each other in a close circle. Prowl showing his back to Bee's pod mates and Bee to Barricade. A show of trust. Either Bee was really stupid or way too trusting and hopeful. Another minute of silence and stillness before Prowl reached out. Bee willingly pressed their palms together.

That was when everything went to hell. Barricade lunged at Bee. Prowl snatched the mini and curled around him to show his back to Barricade. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe moved quickly in lunging at Barricade who was retreating in his attack when Prowl made to shield Bee. Then they were tearing at each other. Prowl retreated with Bee as the other three fought.

"Dammit! Go! Blurr, Sedative! Now!"

Dropping Bee behind a ridge of coral Prowl launched himself over the coral ridge and into the fray. He slammed into Sideswipe with enough force to knock him away, but he easily recovered to assist Sunstreaker. The two were doing rather well in tearing Barricade apart. Barricade screeched when Sunstreaker tore one of his wing fins. Prowl was trying to break it up. Sunstreaker gave a howl of pain as Barricade raked his claws down his tail. The water was turning red. Prowl hissed when Sideswipe slammed his tail into him successfully batting him away before turning back to Barricade. That was when Bee raced from his cover to assist. Prowl and Bee were doing their best and failing to make the three stop, but it was the sedative that made the fight stop.

Prowl and Bee were fine. The other three were covered in claw marks and bites. They were brought back to their own tanks once the other three were taken to medbay. Prowl and Bee had gotten along fine and I had no doubt that Prowl would have done just fine with merging if Barricade hadn't of been there.

"So damn close to an understanding." Arcee slammed her fist on the wall in her frustration. "Maybe they wouldn't have merged, but they would have tolerated each other and shared the space. But no. He had to ruin it."