Generation Regenerate

Battle at the Water's Edge

The day after my arrival, I found myself having my vocal processors examined by my father to ensure that everything had grown back properly. "Okay, well everything seems to have grown back nicely," said Ratchet as he finished my scan, "so you are free to speak as you wish." "Thank you, father" I replied "it is good to be back where I belong." "It's good to have you back, Regenerate," he responded s he pat me on the shoulder, "now, Optimus would like to see you for an assessment of your combat training." I nodded my head in affirmation before I walked out of the medical bay to where Optimus was waiting for me.

"Ah, Regenerate, there you are," Optimus said, "how are your processors today?" "Good and getting better," I smiled in response. He nodded his head then gestured for me to follow him outside. I followed him out and was surprised to see BumbleBee waiting for us. "BumbleBee will be sparring with you today because he is closer to your size," Optimus clarified. I noticed BumbleBee shift into his armored form, so I did the same. "This is just offence and defense, hand-to-hand combat. Absolutely no cannons," Optimus explained, his optic shifting between the two of us. We both nodded in affirmation before we faced each other and took a battle stance.

*line break*

I'd love to think that I had beaten BumbleBee fair and square, but somewhere in my processors, I knew that he had let me win. I confess, I was a little disgruntled, but I let rest as Optimus congratulated me on my "victory." I thanked him before he walked away. It looked like BumbleBee was about to congratulate me, too, but I lifted an arm up to stop him. "Why did you let me win, BumbleBee?" I asked, confusion clear across my faceplates. He looked shocked for a second before covering it up with a calm façade. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he said dismissively. I narrowed my optics at him, "do not lie to me," my tone was serious.

He fidgeted nervously before a worried look crossed over his faceplates. "Oh no," he said, as he pointed to the air behind me, "look a Decepticon!" I spun around and aimed a cannon at the sky. There was nothing there. I disarmed my cannon and turned to face the empty spot where BumbleBee had stood moments before. Then, I saw his alternate form take off down the road. "BUMBLEBEE!" I screamed after him before I took a running jump and landed in my alternate form and chased him down the road.

"I'm going to catch you Bee, and when I do, you're going to pay for that!" I yelled through the communications link that I had opened with him. "You'd have to be fast in order to do that," he mocked back through the link, as he sped faster down the road into town. "Ha!" I replied, "you just think you're fast." I sped alongside him through the quite town. "Do I smell a challenge?" I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I'll race you to the lake." "Fine by me," I replied, "but when I win, you have to not only admit to going easy on me before, but I want a rematch, a fair one." "Okay," he said, going along with my wager, "but since that's not going to happen, when I win I want to know what's been going on back on Cybertron all these years. Deal?" "Deal," I confirmed, as I sped off ahead of him. "Cheater!" BumbleBee called after me as he tried to catch up.

Fifteen minutes later, we ended up with a tie, so BumbleBee agreed to a sparring rematch if I told him about Cybertron when we were done. I agreed. We shifted into our battle modes before I lunged at him, making the first move. Catching him off guard, BumbleBee fell back onto the ground before he rolled over on top of me in an attempt to gain dominance.

We rolled around like that for almost an hour before I found myself pinned beneath BumbleBee, completely exhausted. He sat, smirking, on my waist, pinning my arms to my sides with his strong hands. "I win," he said smugly, letting go of my arms, but not making a move to get off of my waist. "Yeah, I noticed," I replied, just as playfully, "now, would you please get your aft off of me?" His optic flickered mischievously, "and if I don't?" I leaned up, resting back on my elbows, "then you'll have to explain our position to my father and the rest of the Autobots," I said, as I gestured down the road to where the Autobots were rapidly approaching us.

I let out a small laugh as he all but jumped off of me. I got to my feet as the Autobots arrived and transformed into their bipedal forms. "And just what do you think you were doing with my femme, BumbleBee?" Ratchet growled at the small yellow bot. "We were just sparring, father," I jumped in, defending him, "BumbleBee and I made a deal to race to the river side and if I won then we would have a fair sparring match, and if he won, then I'd tell him about my life on Cybertron, but, since it ended in a tie, we agreed on doing both and you caught us at the end of our match," I concluded, standing my ground. "What was wrong with your match before?" Optimus asked, an 'I-already-know-the-answer' look on his faceplates. "He let me win," I said, pointing an accusing finger at BumbleBee, who proceeded to shift awkwardly between his feet, "but then he beat me fair and square, so now we're even." "So what you're saying is that we missed the fighting, but we got here for 'story time'?" "Well, yeah," I confirmed, shrugging my shoulders, "but it's no fun if you say it like that." "We will go back to that base and discuss matters there," Optimus declared, looking slightly disappointed in Bee and me. "Autobots, roll out!" With that, we all transformed and journeyed back to the base.