āThings have been far too quiet lately.ā Ratchet mused in a low voice, with a quick suspicious look to the locked jet. āSave for our new unwanted resident, nothing out of sorts has happened in a good while.ā
āThey're biding their time.ā Arcee agreed with a grim tone.
Bulkhead just looked plain antsy. Which went along with the thrum of anxiety that had been filtering through the air since obtaining their current prisoner. It was never a good thing to have bored soldiers itching for a fight in the same vicinity as an enemy captive.
Ratchet struggled to think of some tasks he could have them do for him. There was still that leak down in Corridor - C. They were probably also due for a quick stock check on their supplies. Decision made, he sent them off. They grumbled but complied. Leaving the main room back into the tentative peace itād been in.
Or so Ratchet had thought.
A notification window popped up and interrupted his current task. It was Wheeljack requesting to be bridged to base. Withholding a groan, the medic inserted the command and pulled the lever. As he turned toward the bridgeās light in wait, Miko had dropped the eraser sheād been furiously using. Having finally gotten around to doing some of her homework, she struggled on figuring out the equations of her math class.
The eraser hit the floor at an awkward angle and the rubber flung itself out wide in the air. With hardly a thought, the exchange student flew after it. Her shoes squeaked against the hard ground below. Arms outstretched with hardly any notice to anything else.
Jackās and Rafās cries of warning were left unheard by her single-focused devotion to catching that eraser. She grinned when the pink rubber finally lost altitude in its arch and felt that she was successful in getting to the spot she needed to be to grab it out of the air.
Her legs slammed into something hard. Pain burst through her and the eraser only just brushed against her fingertips.
It began it's descent downwardsā¦ and Miko found herself going down with it. It was the in the next moment when her brain finally registered that she had hit into the railing and her momentum was taking herself over it. Down a deep drop.
Panic froze her limbs and took her voice, save for a shallow gasp as she found herself feet over head. In the next beat of her heart, she could hear all of the yells and the burst of movement around her.
In her line of vision, large gray hands swooped down in an attempt to catch her but only just missed by inches. Mikoās heart stuttered.
Everything had slowed down. Moving in time with her heartbeat. Which had become very loud to her ears. Her eyes blurred with water. Her brain simultaneously focused on the fact that she might just die, but also couldnāt find herself quite comprehending it.
Then all at once it seemed to click and found herself screaming and flailing. The air whistling in her ears.
What started as just wondering what an ideal Rune Factory marriage candidate would look like to me has turned into an insanely long slowburn story of overcoming fear and insecurities, of trust in others and oneself, of isolation and yearning.
Arius and his little brother Nester are on the run. They have been for quite a while, actually. Their mother is doing god-knows-what god-knows-where as her sons live day by day, stealing only what they have to in order to survive and avoiding confrontation with anyone else.
One fateful day, they get separated, and Arius finds himself being accused of murdering someone he has never seen before in his life.
Loreley, the mortician and reluctant doctor in training, struggles to come to terms with the death of the only person she's had a genuine connection with ever since she has moved away from home.
With that aloof nature of hers, she is having trouble being fully accepted by a lot of people. Her morbid interest in talking to the preservation jars displaying various mutated monsters in the back of the clinic, a habit she's formed only after she has started isolating, doesn't help her make a case for herself, either.
Both lone wolves feel drawn to each other, despite their initial dislike, and eventually form a firm bond as they learn how the other thinks, how they move, fight for what they think is right and most importantly why they act the way they do.
They could be friends one day.
Maybe even more, one day...
Epitaph: A Rune Factory Story coming to Webtoon on March 25th!
For day 7 of fankid week hereās part 1 of 2, Richie as he would appear in a Rune Factory AU! The local fisherman, Richie is the one that discovers the amnesiac Kierra near his house and is the one that suggests that she move into the farm outside of town that no one uses.Ā
Another section of my animatic has come into play! Anyone remember Devcon? The foil to Lockdown?
Heās the G1 Autobot-aligned bounty hunter we get to see a very few episodes of. He transforms into a spacecraft and Mandoās his way across the galaxies. Gotta love himšāØ
I really miss the guy. He might have been one of my little kid crushes once upon a time and I really appreciate the very small taste of galactic civilization we also get in those eps.
I donāt think Iāve ever seen any fanart or fanfics of him. So I plan on fleshing out his character and giving him some love. Havenāt quite decided exactly where to place him in my AU storyline but he will definitely be getting some attention.
Someoneās breath was heavy and warm against her ear. Her own chest heaving to keep up with the quick pace of her heart. Ratchetās shocked face peered down at her. His hands still outstretched where he had attempted to catch her.
The warmth of the body against her own pulled away her attention. It wasn't warm in the normal sense either. It felt more like the strange feeling of warmth when one pressed their fingers against the static screen of an active retro boxy television. Creating a buzz that was felt more than heard.
One arm was wrapped under her shoulder. The other under her knees. Firm but not smothering.
Miko turned to get a look at who had literally just saved her life.
A pair of crimson orbs stared down at her. They were just as unnatural as the heat that he āfor it was a man whoād saved herā emitted.
Yet his eyes of red carried a warmth of their own in them. Similar to that of a campfire. Potentially dangerous but controlled.
Miko was glad that her cheeks were already so bright from the adrenaline because it would have no doubt been obvious she was blushing otherwise.
There was what could have been the beginnings of a smile on his dashing face, when Miko found herself pulled out of his grip at the same time a harsh shriek of metal came from the other side of the room.
She watched as the manās face, now a few feet below, contorted into pain. Then his body froze and began to flicker like a bad WiFi connection.
The rhythmic clacking of keys echoed through the main room of the hidden mesa base. The noise was level. Controllable. Soothing. A familiar presence. One of the few things that this organic planet had in common with his wonderful homeworld.
It brought a sense of ease that lulled him into the calm of a mindless task. A quiet chore that brought a peace that he could hardly find at any other point within this senseless war.Ā
A silent alarm popped up in the bottom right corner of his screen and he gritted his denta at the reminder that the children were nearly done with their last day of school before summer break.Ā Because that was just what they needed. Sparklings underpede.Ā
He shuttered his optics, stretched his digits, and continued his current job. He only had a few short earth hours before the next two months. Which would be filled with youngling fun and fancy free.Ā An absolute boon to the war effort, he was sure. Note the sarcasm.Ā
He pushed away the souring thoughts. They wouldn't serve anything other than ruin his mood more than it already was.Ā
He'd gotten back into his groove when a Deception proximity alarm screamed through the mesa.Ā
A window concerning the potential danger popped up in front of his work and he nearly threw one of his tools in a fit of rage. He didn't, as he was a fully grown cybertronian and heĀ neededĀ those tools.
He maximized the window and narrowed his optics at the information. The signal was unknown. Meaning that it wasn't of any decepticon that they'd been in contact with since they'd moved into this mesa.Ā Magnificent.Ā He wished yet again that they had access to Teletraan I. But Primus-only-knew where the Ark was in this blasted universe.
The bot sighed and notified his team of the disturbance. He got four acknowledgements and ETAs. The heavy pedefalls of his oldest and closest friend coming near brought down some of his frustrated anger. He breathed in a deep breath and closed out of all his open programs. Leaving only the map showing the signal.
Moving away from his monitors, he turned around to greet his Prime. "Optimus."
"Ratchet." The deep baritone welcomed back. The Prime settled his hand on his shoulder plating and giving it a comforting squeeze, as he walked past. He peered at the screens to oversee the tripped alarm and hummed in consideration. That familiar gleam of the infamous strategist brightened up his gaze. "It is of unknown origin."
"Indeed. A new menace to grapple with." The older bot rolled his eyes.
"Orā¦ perhaps a weary soul in need of better allies?" The Prime retorted back with his usual bout of hope.
"As if any Con would understand the meaning of the word." The medic huffed. "You expect too much out of thieves, societal rejects, and ex-convicts."
For a moment, the taller bot looked surprised. Then pained. Ratchet felt a lurch at his spark when he actually took the time to analyze his words.Ā
He blinked and pinched the bridge of his olfactory sensor.Ā There he went, shoving his pede into his derma. Again.Ā "Iā¦ I'm sorry Optimus. That came out wrong."
"But full of truth." His leader gently chided. That look of disappointment never faltered. Ratchet sighed and looked away.
"IĀ amĀ sorry. You know of my past and how I was raisedā¦ but that is no excuse." Ratchet felt the familiar weight of his friend's servo land back on his shoulder. A comforting weight.Ā Forgiving.Ā The old bot looked back over to the younger mech. They smiled.
Optimus looked back up to the signal and then teasingly back down to the medic. "What do you say we scout out the signal together? It's rather close to being time for our charges to be picked up by their guardians."
"I'd say we're asking for trouble."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound like aĀ noĀ to me." Optimus had already inserted the coordinates into the ground bridge, powering it up.Ā
Ratchet felt the tell tale of a ping reverberate through him. One that he was sure was felt by the rest of the team. It notified the rest of their orders from the Prime, to retrieve their humans and to join them at base on standby at the soonest opportunity.
There were more pings that flew in soon after. Full of complaints and acknowledgments. They were happily ignored as the two walked through the gate.Ā
It led into a road through a forest of trees.Ā
From the position specified on their internal maps, they were about a couple hours away from the heavily populated city of Los Angeles.
It was honestly not too far away from their own home base in Nevada. Less than a day, even. Which was much too close for comfort in Ratchet's opinion.Ā
He followed Optimus through the trees. Their optics to the skies as they scanned for the source of the signature. It didn't take very long to find the jet.Ā
They heard the engine long before they caught sight of it. A worryingly familiar palette of purple and black made it ever obvious just who it was, despite the unfamiliar altmode.
"Ā Skywarp."Ā Ratchet growled, his optics narrowing at the jet above.Ā
He slipped a servo into his subspace and brought out a tiny gadget given to him by Wheeljack. The wrecker had created it on a whim and given it to the medic proclaiming that it needed to be "field-tested" by the team.Ā
He hadn't yet brought it up with Optimus. A fact that was backed up when the Prime looked down at the medic's arm cannon in confusion while Ratchet inserted the device within a small port that seamlessly opened up.
"...What is that, old friend?" Optimus looked back up to meet Ratchet's optics, wariness pooling in his own. The medic didn't hold the same concerns.
"Jackie said he needed this field-tested. So here it is!" His answer didn't seem to be to his leader's satisfaction.
"Ratchetā¦ let's not be too hasty." A servo found its way over top of his weapon. With enough pressure to imply that he needed to put it down, rather than forcing him to do so. The medic rolled his optics.
"If all goes well, it'll merely incapacitate him. Not kill him. Wheeljack knows of how you operate and wouldn't dare to go outside of those bounds." Ratchet looked over to his old friend, the corners of his lips curling downward the slightest bit. "For all my misgivings with him, I know he respects you too much to do something like that."
With that said, the old medic took aim. An optic closed as he aligned the sights with the plane overhead. He took the shot.
The old bot turned around to smile with pride at his leader, as the plane stalled in the distance. Blue arches of electricity danced along Skywarpās frame as he was forced down to the ground by gravity.
āI'm quite surprised you actually agreed to test it, old friend.ā Optimus sighed and shook his head when the ground shook and a few of the trees ahead cracked and fell.Ā
āOh, no. I've run test after test on my terminal on this thing. Also checked the power output and many other things.ā Ratchet nullified with a shrug. āI kind of liked the idea of temporarily incapacitating a foe. Just too bad that some of the materials to obtain it are either expensive or hard to obtain.ā
āIs that so?ā Optimus began his trek forward toward the decepticon. His medic, right on his heels.
