Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

21. A Big, Reoccurring Problem

All of town had agreed with the Burnses once the concept of Allspark Day was explained; if the bots were required to participate in all of their human holidays and customs, it was only fair that the humans get to participate in some of the bots' homeworld's holidays.

Allspark Day, a celebration of just being alive and all of what makes a cybertronian a cybertronian. With help from the townsfolk and the Burnses, the bots were able to find ways to make alternate versions of some of the traditional activities for the event. The Parade of Metals, the Festival of Primes, storytelling, and music were all crucial parts, and the three youngest members of Sigma 17 were eager to get the party started.

Even High Tide and Slipchain joined in the preparations, though Slipchain seemed mentally preoccupied, constantly checking her transmittor as if waiting for a message back from someone. Boulder had asked her if something was bothering her, she told him it wasn't a serious matter and not to worry about it, and the topic was dropped- Not forgotten, but dropped.

But while the rest of the Cybertronians of Griffin Rock were quite excited by the rapidly-approaching holiday, Heatwave seemed less than happy to be alive. Every mention of their preparations brought a scowl to his face, and he spent much of his time not on rescues in the bunker avoiding everyone else.

Boulder's paintings and Blades and Chase's memories had given the humans plenty of ideas on how to reinvent certain aspects, such as enlarging rocks for the Parade of Metals, and a grape juice fountain to represent the energon fountains they had flowing in the squares.

It was early morning of the day their celebration would begin, the festivities beginning at almost sunset. The bots and humans were going over their final decorations; Dani folding up banners with Blades, Graham leaned over his computer and making sure the weather would stay calm and clear for the evening, and Boulder gently cleaning some of the stones for the parade of dirt so that the crystals growing on them shone.

"So... Quick question." Dani crossed her arms as she paused and looked to the bots' cubes of energon. "So that eneron there is greenish blue, right?"

"Right..." Blades responded slowly. "...Why?"

"So why is the energon in your illustrations a purplish color?"

"Oh! W-Well... That's because it's- erm... It's-"

"It's High Grade." Chase answered bluntly, "High Grade Energon is the cybertronian equivilent to you humans' alchoholic beverages."

"So cybertronians drink too? How old do you have to be before you can drink High Grade?"

"The majority of cybertronians came into existence fully mature in frame, so as soon as they felt ready to try it, I suppose." Chase shrugged, "I abstained and have never consumed High Grade, but I remember seeing Boulder with a cube or two of the limited variety during our later training periods."

Boulder nodded in agreement, "I never tried it straight, more in something reminiscent of spiked-lemonade." The bulldozer then paused, looking Chase over briefly. "Chase... You're dripping wet."

Chase nodded, looking at the water dripping from his frame. "Yes, yes I am."

"What happened?"

The policebot took in a deep vent of air and then huffed it back out. "I went to Heatwave and while I thanked him for pulling me out of my slump a week ago, I reminded him that he should not have allowed me to mope so long and thus I was not going to let him do the same over our work to prepare for Allspark Day... And he sprayed me in the faceplate."

He shook more of the water from his frame, "...I then decided to leave him be."

"Why do you think he's so upset about it?" Cody asked.