Though she only acquired her driving license recently, Fluttershy was still quite confident in her skills upon the open road. And so it was today as she drove far from Camp Everfree, going along the familiar journey she'd come to know in recent months. However, it was definitely worth mentioning that she had the ultimate safety net in the form of a car that could think and act on its own, in this case Bumblebee. The young Autobots let loose a series of incomprehensible sounds that, to Fluttershy's ears, led to a smile. "Oh, I'm sure you'll love the roads around here. Traffic in the area has always been good so you can have all the open space you want." Another few bleeps and bloops led to a giggle on her part. "Yes, I would very much appreciate you not going as fast as Chromia. Rainbow may adore those kinds of speeds, but not me." She sighed. "I find...taking things slow is the best way to do them. You can't really appreciate anything, like the views, if you're just rushing past it all the time." After another beep, Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "Well, it's good to know you're finally in a place where driving doesn't have to be for just getting away from danger."
The two drove on like this for some time, enjoying the peaceful tranquillity of an afternoon down the open roads. But, there came a point where Fluttershy, after glancing up to the sky for a brief moment, developed an excited smile. "Oh!" She put her foot on the brake, though a beep from Bumblebee let her know that this definitely felt like an abrupt stop on his part, prompting an embarrassed blush for the girl. "Sorry, Bee. I just need to stop on the side here." And so stop she did, parking her Autonot friend on the edge of the road, upon some adjacent grass, and getting out. She scoured the sky once more, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun, before finally spotting what she'd noticed before. "Ah, there it is!" The object in question was a far-up plane of some sort, trailing through the skies at great speeds. Having finally locked onto it, Fluttershy clasped her hands together. "Oh, Rainbow would just love being here right now. Those aerial performers are always such a delight for her." She looked to her companion. "She's taken me to so many shows." Then, she paused, tilting her head slightly. "Huh...I could've sworn those planes were always blue."
Even in his current mode, Bumblebee still had sight to use and try to make out what Fluttershy was referring to. Like her, he too had spotted the aircraft high above them, and as she'd said, it was not predominantly blue in colour. Rather it seemed to be a combination of red and white, with only the rear section being the colour she'd expected it to be. However, there was something about the way it was moving, flying at a speed one could almost call aggressive. This triggered something in Bumblebee's instincts, making him feel wariness of a sort he'd had a merciful reprieve from since he'd landed on this planet. Instantly, he started letting out sounds of distress to his friend, causing her to look to him with equal concern. "Bee? What is it?" But he kept on making noises, leading to Fluttershy looking again to the plane, this time noticing, to her horror, that it had turned and was now heading in a new direction. Specifically, it was descending rapidly, looking like it was flying straight towards the two of them, to which Fluttershy took an instinctive step backwards. "Wha...what's it doing?!"
Her friend didn't answer. Instead, and to the girl's further shock, he just straight-up transformed, right there in open daylight by the side of the road. By some small miracle there were no other humans to witness him doing it, but Fluttershy remained worried about the action. She didn't have time to debate though, for her Autobot partner instead just gestured to her, silently motioning for her to run and hide. Though hesitant, Fluttershy did so, running as fast as she could to behind the nearest tree, leaving the young Cybertronian all by himself. He wasn't alone for long though, as the aforementioned plane was still darting fast towards him. And it was within the last few moments of this that Fluttershy witnessed what had been so concerning for Bumblebee. For that plane now also transformed, becoming a massive robot that clearly dwarfed the Autobot by a definite margin. Such was the size, strength and speed of this stranger that, upon making contact with Bumblebee, he grabbed the latter by the throat and, after landing on both feet, slammed him back into a large, nearby tree. "Did you think you could hide?!"
Bumblebee reacted immediately, grabbing hold of the hand that was gripping him and twisting himself so as to be able to deliver a roundhouse kick to the face of what Fluttershy had to assume was one of the Decepticons she'd heard so much about. The impact of the kick caused the assailant to drop Bee, though he quickly recovered, using the jet engines on his back to launch himself back in the air. Meanwhile, Bumblebee, in a moment of quick thinking, noticed a large log on the ground, presumably from a recently-fallen tree, and just as his attacker came back down to give another hit, the Autobot grabbed the makeshift weapon and swung it. The Decepticon blocked it with his forearm though, and with his other hand laid another punch to Bee, followed by a backhand which sent the younger Cybertronian flying backwards. When his enemy was down on the ground again, the Decepticon looked to him with narrowed, blood-red eyes. "It's not you I'm here for, Scout!" he said, marching menacingly towards Bumblebee.
As for the Autobot himself, he didn't wait to see what the Con would do next, instead charging forward, colliding with his opponent and sending him falling back this time. Fluttershy watched it all, terrified and enraptured by the sight all in one. She looked on as Bumblebee, now having a slight advantage in this fight, wasted no time in jumping as high as he could, and produced what seemed to be a short blade from his right wrist. Clearly, he was going in for the kill, but the Decepticon wasn't going down that easily, and his engines roared to life one again, lancing him along the ground just in time to avoid the Autobot's decisive blow. Now back in the air, the Con flew hard and fast into Bee, grabbing him by the neck yet again and taking him along for the flight. Bumblebee, now held once more, had to endure a barrage of trees to his face as the Con forced him along the road's edge at high speeds. A trail of splintered and ruined trees were left in their collective wake, but like before, Bumblebee was able to take hold of the offending hand and reposition himself, twisting so that he was right on the Con's back. This time, he took out his blade and made contact, shoving it straight into one of the engines.
The effect of this was as one would expect, with the Con flying off against his presumably desired direction, redirecting him to collide with the trees on the other side of the road. This had the added benefit of forcing him to release Bumblebee, who rolled to the side to recover from the fall. However, it seems even this move was not enough to deter his Decepticon enemy, as the former jet now lunged forward, grabbing tightly onto Bee's chest and holding him up, his voice now having gone far beyond mere irritation and into full-on rage. "I've been patient, little one, but even I have my limits! Tell me what I want to know or it's the scrapheap for you!" Bumblebee looked to his foe with defiance, and when he finally did speak, it was with all of the mechanical noises he had now been reduced to. The Decepticon, bearing a look of confusion and annoyance, responded accordingly. "What? What in Cybertron's name are you...?" Then, after a long pause, his eyes widened, as realisation now dawned for him. "The crash...you were injured?" Then, anger crept into his voice again. "You can't talk?!" When Bee replied with more noises, the Decepticon's grip tightened, and he balled his free hand into a fist. "Then it seems you are of no further use to me."
But before the larger Cybertronian could deliver and undoubtedly fatal blow to the scout's head, he was distracted by the sudden and unexpected sound of something clunking against his leg. Curious, he glanced down, as did Bee, and the two of them bore witness to the sight of Fluttershy, armed with nothing but a stick she'd picked up off the ground, whacking the Decepticon with whatever strength she had. Unfortunately, this was not enough for the metal alien to really feel all that much, but Fluttershy nevertheless kept at it. "Put him down and leave us alone, you big bully!" she declared angrily.
The Decepticon, blinking to this, soon looked back to Bumblebee, bearing a distinct smirk. "How cute. You befriended a local." When Fluttershy's demands were further ignored, she fumed, giving another hit to the blue leg in front of her. This time, however, it simply served to annoy the assailant, who now looked down to her with a frown. "Your elders should really teach you not to punch above your weight class." With his path now decided, he looked on with steely resolve as he raised his foot, taking a moment to see the look of terror on the young girl's face, before bringing it slamming down again, leaving naught but a cloud of dust there. Bumblebee, enraged by this display, renewed his efforts to break free, though his attacker was not swayed by this. "Come now, Scout. So many of our kind fallen and that one gets you riled up?"
"She's not falling today, Decepticon!"
The new voice caught him off-guard, and he turned to see a second human, one with bright, rainbow-coloured hair, just off to the side. More importantly though, she was holding Fluttershy in her arms, who appeared to be completely unharmed, much to the confusion of the Decepticon. "What...how...?"
The new human chuckled. "Heh, gonna have to be faster than that if you wanna smush us!"
"Not that we're inviting you to of course," Fluttershy added, giving her friend a look of annoyance.
The Decepticon regarded them well, especially the new girl, and he narrowed his eyes in a manner that the humans had already witnessed in their Autobot friends. After a few moments of this, he smirked again. "...Interesting."
"STARSCREAM!!!" a new voice bellowed.
This time, the Decepticon, Starscream, reacted not with curiosity or irritation, but with fear. He dropped Bumblebee to the ground, with Fluttershy rushing over to tend to him, and instead looked as a bright, red truck began approaching at high speeds down the road, flanked by a red car and a blue motorcycle. Starscream, apparently recognising a lost battle when he saw one, cut his losses and leapt into the air, with even the damaged engines on his back able to keep him airborne. However, before fleeing completely, he cast one final look towards the two humans, grinning darkly. "Don't worry...we're not done with you just yet."
And that was the last thing he said to them as he transformed in mid-air back into his jet mode, launching himself high above at great speed away from the area. All eyes were on him until he was no longer in view, and Rainbow then ran to Fluttershy's side. "Fluttershy! You okay?"
Fluttershy nodded to her, but her attention was back to Bumblebee soon afterwards. "Don't worry, Bee. We'll get you to Red Alert and you'll be all better." Bumblebee let out a few beeps, which the animal-lover quickly smiled at. "You're very welcome."
Rainbow, looking away from her friend, watched as Optimus, Elita and Chromia finally arrived beside them, transforming into robot mode. "So...that was a Decpticon, eh?"
Optimus nodded grimly. "It was. And it seems our fears of their survival have just been proved right." He turned, looking to his injured scout, speaking with clear and obvious sadness. "Our war...truly will continue on this world."