Transformers Prime: The Tesseract

Eighteen: Playing with Fire

"Hey, Sunbeam! I'm back to normal! You know what that means!" Arcee shouted. Sunbeam slumped her shoulders.

"Totally not looking forward to getting beat up again..."

"Huh, and here I figured you'd be pretty used to it by now," Arcee remarked with a smirk. Sunbeam glared playfully at her.

"Seriously though...are you sure yer okay? Ya got pretty beat up..."

"Eh...a fusion cannon'll do that to you. I'll be fine. I've gotten through worse," Arcee assured her. Sunbeam nodded.

"Alright..."

"Besides, there's no way you're getting out of this," Arcee interjected.

"Aww man! Well, dragon friends, yer gonna have to start the tour without me," Sunbeam stated.

"You seem to get along with them..." Arcee pointed out.

"I don't even know their names," Sunbeam deadpanned. "They won't talk to me..."

"Oh...maybe that's a good thing," Arcee replied.

"Why?"

"Predicons aren't exactly the best influences."

"Because they breathe fire?"

"Oh, look. We're here," Arcee pointed out, not wanting to tell Sunbeam about the predicons' preferred meal choice. Sunbeam took a look at their surroundings, and Arcee took the opportunity to swing at her. Sunbeam heard her move and quickly ducked out of the way.

"You're getting faster. That's a good sign."

"Or maybe you're just too slow," Sunbeam retorted. Arcee spun and kicked Sunbeam in the face, knocking her to the ground before wincing in pain herself. "Hey, are you sure you're okay...?"

"I'm fine. Get up," Arcee assured her. Sunbeam looked concerned.

"Hey, I think it's okay if we skip the training for a day or two..I can work on what I already know with someone else."

"They've got other things to deal with. Besides, you wear that mark now. Which means you have to be a functioning member of our team. If that means sparring with you until I pass out, I'm going to make sure you get there."

"That's quite the speech...how long have you been waiting to use that one?"

"About a day and a half."

"Not surprising," Sunbeam said with a grin. "Well...if you're sure you're okay..."

Meanwhile, the rest of the team was trying to adjust to having three literal dragons and a sociopathic scientist living with them. It wasn't going all that well.

"So...where do you keep your fire?" Smokescreen asked Skylynx, who just smacked him to the ground with his tail.

"Looks like they're having a pretty hard time adjusting to all this..." Ratchet pointed out.

"You are not?" Shockwave asked. Ratchet shook his head.

"Nah. I learned to adapt quickly a long time ago," he admitted. "Although, I should admit that having another scientist around is pretty helpful."

"Isn't Knockout an Autobot now?"

"You really think he'd stick around here all day rather than racing?"

"I see your point. What about that new one?"

"New one? Oh! You mean Sunbeam? Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon," Ratchet deadpanned, remembering the last time he tried to let her help in his experiments.

"Ooh! So shiny!" Sunbeam shouted with a giddy laugh, holding a robotic arm in the air as if it was an animated baby lion.

"Are you even paying attention?!"

"What is this?" Shockwave wondered aloud, pointing to something next to the large computer.

"Oh, that's something humans call a photograph. Miko really likes taking them...especially without consent."

"Miko is one of the human companions, correct?" Shockwave inquired.

"Yeah. Unfortunately," Ratchet teased. Shockwave picked up one of the photos. "Hey! Be careful with that!"

"How can something so small and fragile be important?"

"Memories," Ratchet responded with a shrug.

"What is this memory?"

"Well..."

"Ratchet! Watch this!"

"What is it now?"

"Look! I worked so hard on it!"

"That's just my name on a sheet of paper..."

"I know! I'm the one that wrote it!"

"I figured. The chicken scratch handwriting gave it away..."

"Yeah! I'm learning!"

"Your friend can't write?" Shockwave questioned.

"She can't read either. Well, not yet...that was one of the surprise photos that Miko took. Speaking of the kids, what time is it?" Ratchet asked, more to himself that anyone else.

"Showtime!" Miko shouted as she kicked the human door open.

"They're here..." Ratchet grumbled.

"Uh...why're there four Decepticons here?" Jack asked.

"They came to help us. They won't hurt you," Ratchet replied, glaring at the Predicons, who seemed to get the message.

"Sweet! I've always wanted a dragon friend!" Miko exclaimed, running up to Prediking.

"Puny human," Prediking muttered. Darksteel laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sunbeam asked as she walked up behind Skylynx.

"Hello," the latter said. Sunbeam responded with a smile and wave.

"I see you two are back. What injuries do you need fixed this time?" Ratchet asked.

"None. I think Arcee may have opened up one of her smaller wounds though," Sunbeam explained.

"Of course she did. I'll fix it," Ratchet replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Ratchet went to the room where Arcee and Sunbeam had been sparring and found Arcee training by herself. "Arcee! Get over here."

"Scrap. I told her not to tell you. Look, it's fine," Arcee assured him.

"I know. But what kind of Medic would I be if I didn't make sure?"

"A productive one," Arcee remarked.

"I heard that," Ratchet informed her.

"Shocking, considering you refuse to listen when I say I'm fine," Arcee retorted.

"Must you all be so difficult?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the main room of the base. Arcee and Ratchet rushed to see what was wrong, only to find a hole melted into the wall, a guilty looking Sunbeam, and Skylynx and Darksteel, who thought it was just so funny.

"What happened here?!" Ratchet shouted. Sunbeam nervously scratched the back of her head.

"Sorry, Ratchet. I was just playing with our new friends, and I guess we got a little carried away..." she admitted.

"You guess you got a little carried away?! There's a hole in the wall!" Ratchet scolded her.

"Well...I'm gonna go mind my own business..." Arcee stated before Ratchet held out an arm to stop her.

"Oh, no. You got her fired up. You're gonna help fix it with everyone else," Ratchet pointed out sternly.