~Knocked-Out~

Watchet?

As everybody stared down at the shrunken Prime rather than up, Optimus became confused.
"Did I........miss something?" He asked, then tensed. Did his voice sound... higher? And, why was his team so much taller than him?
"Um, Optimus, sir? Do you... understand what you look like now?" Ratchet asked slowly.
"Yes, old fwiend, why?" Optimus winced at his pronunciation. Fwiend?
"With all do respect, sir, I believe you do not. Your recent makeover has produced...very strange results."

Optimus looked around, and noticed everything seemed larger than before. He noticed a mirror, on top of the desk, and walked over to it. Yet, upon reaching the desk, he noticed it to be way too tall. 

"Watwet? When did we wetrieve this desk?" He asked, whirling, and that's when the height of his old friend finally set in. "And have you been taking Synthetic Energon again? You have gwown quite a bunch. How long was I out?"

Ratchet sighed. "Sir, I think you might want to take a look at yourself in the mirror first, before questions are asked."  And with that, Ratchet bent down and picked the Prime up. 

"Watchet, I doubt this is really necessaw...." he froze when he finally caught his reflection. 

All the other bots hadn't grown, he had shrunken. 

"Watwet, how did this happen?" Optimus froze when he heard his pronunciation of the Medic's name. Along with his size, his speech had changed dramatically too. He grew angry at his inability to pronounce Rs. 

"I-I have no idea." Ratchet stammered. 

"Hey Doc!" Smokescreen finally spoke. "Didn't this happen right after that mysterious shake?"

"For once, you actually have a point." Ratchet muttered, his optics widening. He turned to his computer, and started typing madly, while the others just stared, awkwardly. Ratchet didn't seem to mind, until the impatient shuffling of feet started to get on his nerves. 

"If you don't mind.." he interrupted the silence. "I work best in peace and quiet." The others clearly didn't get the message, so he added "alone!", followed by soft murmurs and fading footsteps. The silence fooled Ratchet into thinking that he was alone, until he heard the faint groan. That's when he remembered that there was one more patient who needed tending to. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The faint beeping of the Energon IV started growing louder in Knockout's audio receptors. Slowly, his optics came back online, and his surroundings started becoming clear. His helm throbbed as he rubbed it. 

"Careful, Careful, you've been through a lot." He hadn't noticed Ratchet in the room until he spoke. 

"Yes, yes, if you consider being shot in the shoulder and foot, while being trapped in a cave exploding with energon a lot, then I guess I have experienced a lot in the past 24 earth hours." he muttered.

"It is quite a way to spend your first month as an Autobot, though I can't way I've gone through less. It was you who gave me an ordeal with Synth-En, which nearly ended me up in a worse condition than you."

"It was your arrogance which landed you in the sick bay, by so foolishly thinking you could take on Megatron by yourself, even with Synth-En flowing in your veins."

"I blame it all on that dreaded Synth-EN." Ratchet groaned. "So glad we disposed of the remains."

"Yes, well Synth-En isn't the safest thing." Knockout attempted to sit up, when pain hit him, in both the shoulder and the foot. 

"Easy, Easy!" Ratchet commanded. "You should stay down until you've fully recuperated."

"I'm fine, just a pinch."

"Listen to your doctor. It's not like you know any better."

"Ex-CUSE me, Doctor, but I am a medic myself, remember?" Ratchet sighed in defeat. He knows when he has lost, and watched with annoyance as Knockout limped out of the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!" Miko shrieked upon seeing the shrunken leader. "He's so cute!!!"

"Excuse me, Miko, but what is this "Cute" you speak of?" Optimus asked, in his high pitched voice. 

"Oh." Miko stopped. She had thought Optimus had been turned into a sparkling, not that he had merely shrunk. "Um, it's what you say when you say baby animals."

"I-I am confused. You explain it is a word to descwibe baby animals, yet I am neither a baby, nor an animal." 

"Never mind that, Optimus, more important, we have to figure out how we are going to change you back. You can't exactly fight Megatron when you're...5 feet tall." Arcee intervened. 

"Though I maybe small, I am still perfectly capable of leading. One's size does not affect theiw judgement, or spark. This is mewely a small setback, capable of being overcome." Normally, the prime's wise words would move the team; however, they couldn't take it seriously, with his voice, pronunciation, and size.  It was  like listening to a toddler give a college presentation; it was extremely hard not to giggle. Optimus could see the amusement in his team's optics. He didn't understand how ridiculous he sounded.

"I'm sure Watchet will wetwieve the solution soon. In the meanwhile, we need to continue on with our mission, and pwetend nothing has happened. I will not wetreat because of my cuwwent situation. I will stand stwong, because I am Optimus Pwime, no matter the size, or age. Come, my team, let us go in search for more energon. Autobots, twansfowm and woll out!"

That speech was too much for the team to handle. Bulkhead trembled as he tried to contain his laughter. Smokescreen, was turned around, laughing silently with his mouth open, hoping the prime didn't see. Bumblebee and Arcee, with their mouths trembling at the ends, walked off to their berthrooms, so they could laugh without Optimus noticing. Miko was squealing with cuteness, instead of finding it funny. Jack and Raf, who had stayed silent for the whole time, just stared, trembling also as they tried to contain their laughter. A small snort escaped Jack, and Optimus heard it, and whirled around. 

"Wat?"

Miko squeeled even harder at the tiny blue optics. Optimus remained confused. 

"Is Miko Ok? Her face is wed." This made Miko squeal even harder, and started jumping up and down. 

"I think she's having a cuteness overload." Jack said. Optimus cocked his head to the side. That pushed it over the top. 

"Going...Going..." Miko squealed so hard, she collapsed onto the couch, completely out, with a permanent smile on her face. 

"Gone." Raf said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Down the hall, echoing laughter and "awwws!" could be heard, no doubt coming from Arcee and Bumblebee, who had been able to contain their emotions until now. 

"Yeah, I think something's wrong with Bee and Cee. (BeexCee4ever)They wont stop laughin..." Knockout said as he limped into the room, and froze when he saw what was happening.

Smokescreen was bent over, silently laughing; next to him was a trembling Bulkhead, with a wide goofy grin on his face, soft snorts escaping him. Miko was laying on the couch, smiling also, while Jack and Raf watched him. Last of all, he noticed a tiny Prime, looking up at him, pouting at his team's immature behavior. Jack and Raf burst out laughing when they saw Knockout's face, which only made Optimus pout harder. Knockout blinked in surprise. 

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go back into recharge now. " He said, and whirled, walking back to the medical bay.