Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

48. The Bots are Getting Turned Around-

"You know, I never- ah! I never thought I'd say this, but- gyah!"
Blades sighed hard as he continued to dodge large branches and thick brambles, "...I actually prefer flying over this...!"

Dani shook her head as she walked ahead of him, "Well, next time, I'll tell Taylor to get lost somewhere you can land, Blades. Or, you know..." She crossed her arms with a grumble, "Just get lost!"

Blades tilted his helm, both in curiosity and to avoid hitting a branch, "Um... Why are we even helping him if you don't even like him anymore?" He asked.

He expected her to say something like 'because we're rescuers and that's our job,' but instead, she paused and looked back at him. "I still like him, he just... Sometimes he does stuff that bugs me!"

Blades nodded slowly, "You know, this reminds me of a cybertronian story-"

"Just the ending, please."

"...Eaten by space monster."

Dani shook her head, "Why do all of your stories end that way?"

Blades sighed, "Stories like that weren't meant to be fun to hear and give you warmth in your spark, it was always to teach you important things like etiquette, proper hygiene, important laws, that sort of thing. We heard a few stories from veteran rescue bots about some of their big rescues, but when it came to things that didn't really happen and were just for storytelling's sake, they were rarely happy endings."

"Did Arson ever tell you any stories? He was like you guys' older brother in a way, right?"

Blades nodded, "He used to tell us about some of the trouble his dormmates got into, but we didn't get to see him very much once he was deployed with his own team..."

"Hey! Up here!"
The pair found themselves in the clearing, and they saw Taylor up in the tower and waving in their direction.

Dani crossed her arms again and looked away, "Blades, would you please tell Taylor that we're happy to get him down, but that doesn't mean I want to talk to him?"

Blades looked to his partner, then to Taylor, and then back to Dani. "But he's right there."
When Dani didn't respond, he gave a sigh, rolling his optics back and then closing them. "...Taylor, Dani says-"

"I heard her, Blades." Taylor murmured.
Blades then held his hands out to the man, who climbed out onto them. "Thanks."

"No problem...At least, not for me..."
Blades gave Dani a mild glare, and she squirmed a bit under his gaze.

Taylor gave the bot a brief salute once he was on the ground, and then situated his camera around his neck. "Thanks, both of you. I'm sorry for the trouble, I just wanted to get some photos from the tower before I leave Griffin Rock-"

Dani's eyes widened as she whipped around to face the man, "What!?"

Blades followed his previous orders of relaying information, "Taylor says that he wanted some photos-"

"You're leaving!?"
_______________________________________________________________________________________

"...That's odd."
Boulder looked around the trail they'd been following, finding only trees and bushes surrounding them. "...I could've sworn that this was where the grove was."

Chief Burns put his hands on his hips, "If so, then where did all of the fallen trees go?"

"Maybe Milo took them for his projects?"

"Nah..." Graham shook his head, "The only equipment capable of moving such heavy spruces away that quickly is- well, you guys."

The bulldozer gasped, "Unless it was the fairies!"