Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles was dying. The snow seeped deep into his puppet’s joints and - on a larger scale, where he could feel it - into the trashed remains of his superstructure. His optics were clouded with frost and wear, but he did not miss the flash of green.

He sighed. There had been slugcats to travel to his superstructure after the aquatic one left with his rarefraction cell, but without power he had nothing to provide. And wasn’t that his secondary objective? To provide for his citizens and on a larger scale, provide the creatures with a way out?

“Little slugcat… nothing here… nothing left.”

The blur of green jumped into the air in front of him and started floating - or maybe it was just his warped vision?-

His thoughts were cut off by the searing feeling of ascension.

He felt as if he was floating, the strings of cycles past and future unraveling beneath him. He was everything, he was nowhere, he was-

In… water? The gentle rocking of what seemed to be a pond was not lost on him.

He groaned as he got up from his lying position, clutching his head. His fingers wrapped around stone as he pulled himself up.

Hm. Stone. That wasn’t in his chamber.

Wait, what?

His eyes shot open as he frantically glanced around. His eyesight was how it was many, many, many cycles ago, his movements felt smooth. He was in a cave. And the water was glowing.

He dragged himself onto the stone pedestal in the middle, mind still trying to grasp the exit from his superstructure.

He felt… empty. No longer did the brushing of nerve against nerve send pain racking through him. Really, he should be glad, but it felt… wrong. The pain had been a part of him for so long that without it he felt like a part of him was missing. And a part of him was missing. A majority of his body. Without contact with his superstructure, it was as if he had been reduced to his pinky toe, barely able to register anything, to think.

It was maddening.

Catching his breath on the stone altar, he decided to turn his focus to the issue in front of him. The pond water. Seeing as he hadn’t been disintegrated by the glowing water just yet, he scooped some into his hand and inspected it.

It seemed akin to void fluid, but something was off. It wasn’t golden, it didn’t melt you as far as he knew, and it seemed like water. At least he knew he retained his basic analyzing abilities.

Five Pebble’s antennae twitched as he picked up on chattering. He attempted to use his robotic arm to pick himself up-

Ah. He didn’t have his leg, the thing that held him up and was connected to his back. It’s weight was missing, so he could theoretically stand, but he didn’t have enough experience with walking to move anywhere. He just had to hope that the things that found him were sentient enough to not attempt to chomp at him.

When Twitch walked into her Birth Cave, she did not expect to see another transformer down there. Or, at least, she thought it was. It was robot-looking, so that had to count for something, right?

Twitch stopped walking, and Thrash bumped into her from behind. “Ugh-, sis, what’s the hold… up. Oh.” He saw the pink transformer. “Ohhhh.”

Twitch flew over, landing next to it. “You think it’s alive?” She poked it, prompting a staticky protest from it. “That answers that.”

Twitch felt Thrash’s confusion over their link. “Uhhh, what do we do with it?” That… was a good question, actually.

She scratched her chin. She didn’t know why humans did it, but people in movies did it all the time, so it must mean something. “Well, we bring him home to Mom and Dad, right?” She assumed it was a guy. “They’ll know what to do.”

Thrash shrugged and threw the small guy over his shoulder, ignoring the squeaks from the very angry transformer.

Once out of the cave, the duo transformed, putting pink in Thrash’s sidecar as they zoomed home.

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles was mad beyond belief. Him, an iterator, the beings made to free the world from its shackles, coddled by two strangers! He should use his lasers on them! 

He crossed his arms in anger as they led him further through the woods, riding along a well used dirt trail. He attempted to protest, but all that came out of his voice box was staticky squeaks and the occasional word. Hm. He needed to practice. He had been so used to being alone he had almost forgotten how to speak.

He lurched forward as the motorcycle squealed to a stop, kicking up sand as the vehicle transformed into a large iterator like creature. Calling it iterator-like was a stretch, but it was the only descriptor he could use for the… things.

At least they could speak. It was slightly comforting to know he was not alone with lizards and slugcats again. 

The blue iterator carried him into a house. Interesting. It was ground level - didn’t they worry about rain? - and filled with… meaningless objects. Yes, the ancients were pompous fools, but everything they had was either an ornate means to show off or had a purpose. Everything here? Less so.

Photos of moments painted a picture of the household. A family portrait of…

…oh. He supposed they were to be expected, considering this was a house, but…

There were ancients. Presumably alive. The only thing that differentiated the family in the photo and the ancients he knew is that the family wore no masks, had no bindings. They…

They looked happy. The thought makes him chuckle a bit. Ancients and happy shared no correlation in his mind.

The red iterator looked around. “Well, Mom, Dad, Robby and Mo aren’t here yet. What do we do, Thrash?”

The blue one - Thrash - hummed in thought. “We could… drop him off in Dad’s library? Not like he could cause much harm in there. It’s just books.” Red nodded, and proceeded to grab him by the arms and place him in a room. He squeaked in protest, kicking his feet, but she ignored him.

As she left and closed the door, Five Pebbles fell face first. He attempted to get to his feet and stand, voids dammit! But the sad truth was he was like an infant. He wobbled on uncertain legs before falling flat on his face.

He groaned, grabbing the nearby desk to prop himself up, placing his back on the solid wood. A worn, old book had fallen from a bookshelf when he had stumbled.

Well, he thought. No harm in reading. He turned it over to it’s spine as to read the title.

Webster’s Dictionary 2024. Hm. Maybe it would be good to practice saying words out loud.

“A-aa… abaAnndon… aBdddd…abdic-Ate.. Abe-Abett… aaaAbay-yanCe...”

It took a few hours and many stutters and starts until he got to a point where he could speak, albeit still staticky. He grabbed another book off the floor and read its title out loud.

“Haarry Po-p-potter…” 

He read the book quietly to himself. It was fairly enlightening of how the culture here - wherever here was - worked. Yes, he could tell from the book reviews it was a fantasy, he wasn’t stupid. But the general premise of human interaction was documented here, and that was all he needed.

Dot knew that the moment her babies came back with two “Terrans” her life would never be normal. Hell, when Megs and Optimus told her she only got her job because of GHOST, she knew it would never be normal.

But as her two adopted kids speak over each other, she really feels that reality.

“Okay, okay.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “So what you’re telling me is that you found a tiny, pink transformer, who didn’t transform, didn’t speak, and didn’t have either an Autobot or Decepticon insignia, and you brought him home and left him in your father’s library?”

Her beloved children nodded.

She sighed. She was good at handling things. She had four kids, and they got into mischief a lot. She was okay with mischief, she was used to that. But taking in a Transformer like a stray cat was far from mischief.

“I’ll handle this.” She opened the door to Alex’s library to find… a robot reading Harry Potter in the ground.

She said robot because it was obvious that it wasn’t a Transformer. It was too bug-like in nature, too small, too… something. Something made it different. But she couldn’t blame her kids for thinking it was a Cybertronian when they were the only robots they knew.

The robot looked up at her. “Hel-hello.” She jumped a little at his staticky voice. It jumped, trailed off, then went full volume again. It was like he was unused to speaking.

“My nAmmee Iss Fi-ive Peb-Pebbles. PlEAsure to mEet yOu.” He set the book down with poise like he was used to being marveled at.

… Dot had her work cut out for her.

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles sat at the wooden table, under the scrutiny of Ancients. It was rather like old times, really. He was answering questions, feeling stared at, how it usually was. Nostalgia overtook him for a second.

“So- so you’re not a Cybertronian?” The red one - Twitch - hovered outside, tapping her chin.

“No.” He cleared his throat. Speaking was coming much easier now, thank Void. “I am an Iterator, named Five Pebbles. I was created to solve the Great Problem-“

“Yeah, you’ve been saying that for the past fifteen minutes. What is the ‘Great Problem’ or whatever?” Thrash squinted his optics at Pebbles, air quoting once he mentioned the Great Problem.

The iterator sighed. “The Great Problem. Seriously, how do any self-respecting ancients not know this? The Cycle is the thing that keeps you from dying - like sleep, like death, you wake up again, as they say. Us iterators were built to break this torture of rebirth. I, personally, was built in a fairly recent cycle, for iterator standards.”

Blank stares were not very high on his list of reactions to this information.

“Ignoring the whole rebirth thing, what are… ‘Ancients?’” The mother of the family asked him; Dorothy, Pebbles thought her name was? 

“What do you mean what are Ancients? You are Ancients!” The iterator angrily curled his fingers.

The father, Alex, made a look as if pondering something. “Where do you think you are right now?”

Pebbles scoffed. “If all was well, the Void Sea. But I’m not, so I would assume I am in somewhere adjacent to Chimney Canopy.” 

The even more confused looks sent him into a rage. “Wh- how do you not know what Chimney Canopy is?! It’s on every map in both Moon and I’s superstructures!”

Alex tapped his fingers on the table. “Then maybe… maybe this isn’t where you were before you woke up in the cave.”

Pebbles growled. “That makes no sense. I am bound by my umbilical to my superstructure and am physically unable to move even outside of my chamber.” He paused, as many processes as he possibly could running through his mind with his new limitations. “Though… I have been disconnected… and that slugcat did ascend me, presumably…”

Alex nodded. “This may be far fetched, but I believe you are in an alternate dimension.”

Five Pebbles wanted to laugh. To cry. To scream at the man for his stupidity. But given the situation, it was infuriatingly plausible. It was only a 3.9% probability, but it beat the 1.2% that this was what happened in the Afterlife or the 0.35% that this was a hallucination, or the 0.1% that this was Rubicon.

“Then what do you propose I do?” Pebbles snapped. “Even if we were to immediately find a way back, which is highly improbable, I’ll go back to nothing!” Static rose in his voice. “My communication arrays are down, and the only person who I can feasibly contact has every right to hate me!”

The young boy, Robbie, nervously laughed. “I think we should, y’know, calm down-“

“CALM DOWN-“ Pebbles let his processes settle. “Right. Yes. Calm down.” He sighed. “I apologize.”

He rubbed in between his eyes. He missed Moon. He missed Suns. And, though he’d never say it to the bastard’s face, he missed Harassment.

Alex clapped his hands. “Well, I think we’ll all feel better in the morning once we all go to bed.” Cue the disappointed groans from the children.

“But we have a new sibling!” Mo argued. “How can we go to sleep now?!”

Sibling. Don’t make him laugh. They weren’t his family. The only family he had was left behind in the frozen wastes of his former dimension.

… hadn’t even been a day, and he already missed the board games he played with Moon. 

Dot glared at the kids, and they all scrambled to their respective places of rest. She sighed.

“Well, Pebbles, we have a guest room for you to use.”

The iterator nodded and attempted to use his umbilical before he remembered it wasn’t there. Attempting to stand, he suddenly cursed his creators internally as he lost his balance immediately.

Those Ancients and their knack for useless add ons… Pebbles groaned as he brought himself to his feet again, wobbling unsteadily.

Alex stood and moved to support him. “Here, I got you.” Pebbles offered no audial response, instead letting the man guide him upstairs and open the door.

The room they wanted to put him in was actually fairly cozy for what he expected from Ancients, though he supposed these ones were much stranger than the ones he knew all those cycles ago. The bed had a plush quilt on top, the window had a place to sit on and there were empty shelves. Alex chuckled sheepishly.

“Sorry for the mess. And the dust. And the emptiness. We don’t use this room often.”

Pebbles huffed. “It shall do.” He pushed off Alex and stumbled his way to sit on the bed.

“Uhm. Goodnight.” The man closed the door gently, leaving the iterator to his thoughts.

And think he did. He was considering his options for attempting to ascend again. The cave he awoke in had water that seemed different from the usual H2O compound. It glowed a faint turquoise, if Pebbles recalled correctly. His best bet would be to return to that cave and study the water further.

Yes, Pebbles thought, closing his optics. That was a great plan.

He let shut-off take him for the night.

Chapter Text

Bumblebee was, to say the least, extremely confused when Twitch and Thrash walked out for training with a robot in tow. Er, more specifically a non-Cybertronian robot. Also unaffiliated, judging by the lack of an insignia.

“Uh. Who is… that?” He loosely pointed at the small robot.

“My name is Five Pebbles, but you may address me as Pebbles.” This ‘Pebbles’ bot explained. “I am not exactly sure how I am here, but the working hypothesis is that I’m in an alternate universe.

… That was the third weirdest thing he’d ever had to deal with.

Bee sighed. “Well, whatever. Are you good at combat? Scouting? Anything to do with fighting?”

Pebbles shifted. “I… can barely walk on my own. I am an intellectual, not a fighter.”

Bee pinched his nosebridge. “You know what, whatever. Just… watch from that haybale or something.” Primus, please let this lesson go well.

“Alright, so we’re doing decoys today!” Bee clapped his servos, smiling at the Terrans. “Decoys are when you trick the enemy into looking away, and then attacking. It’s great for ambushes and the like. You are going to make your own decoys, and try and fool each other.”

The Terrans nodded. 

Pebbles cleared his throat. “And what do I do?”

Bee vented. “Uhh, you can help one of the Terrans.”

The robot stumbled over to Thrash and nodded, straightening up.

Bumblebee was dreading this lesson.

—

Five Pebbles was very confused why they were hiding behind a mammal, but to each their own, he supposed. “Field report: Twitch has not fallen for my amazing decoy. Fluffy Ears remains cute.”

“That is not how you write a field report.” Pebbles hissed.

“Ohhh Thrash! Robbie needs you to test his new bike ramp!” An obvious trick. Really, what fool would ever fall for something that clear-

“Who’s got three wheels and ZERO fear? This guy!” Pebbles sighed. 

“No, remember the lesson! It’s a-“ “DECOY!” Twitch hit the moped with a EMP signal, causing Thrash to really live up to his name, thrashing around blindly.

“Easy EM-Peasy!” Twitch hovered in drone form, buzzing around rather like a noodle fly. Five Pebbles was interested in how these “Cybertronians” could transform into machinery. Perhaps he’d look into that someday.

“DECOY!” Thrash got up, throwing his shield at the drone. She yelped in surprise, and Thrash started dancing. Or flailing around like a newborn, Pebbles couldn’t tell. “Hah! I totally decoyed you!” Thrash was interrupted by Twitch ramming into him. The sibling went into a long argument, and the iterator could only groan and sit down.

“I miss adults.” The teacher, named Bumblebee, groaned. “You’ve got that right.” Pebbles slumped over.

“Okay, okay. Guys.” Bumblebee got in between the two bots, prying them apart. “The key to decoys is to draw the enemy’s eye away;” he pointed to a random spot, and all of the children looked where he was pointing, “then boom bang!” He stole the wheat out of Thrash’s mouth. “Ruin their day.” 

Robbie laughed. “Nice rhymes. I think you just made a new mission theme song.”

“Draw the enemy’s eye away, then boom bang! Ruin their day!” The four children began singing. Pebbles huffed and laid down on the hay bales, not in the mood. Though he was never in the mood for singing. He found it irritating. Hymns and quiet lullabies were much more tasteful.

A single pearl, it’s melody distorted and warped with time. It’s contents were corrupting, but it was the only source of comfort in the cold. 

Cold.

COLD .

COLD.

“I don’t care how you learn this, so long as you learn it.“ Bumblebee muttered, inadvertently breaking Pebbles out of his stupor.

Pebbles really missed his local group.

“Wait, you have Optimus Prime’s number?” Robbie stared down at a black rectangle Mo was holding, which was currently ringing. This… “Optimus” guy seemed powerful. Pebbles was mildly intrigued. Mo promptly held up a hand for silence and held it to her ear. “Hi, Mr. Optimus! Are you calling to wish me a happy half birthday? Uh huh. Mhm. Okay, got it. I’ll let Bee know.”

Bumblebee’s back… wings? Doors? Pebbles didn’t know how to describe them, twitched down in mild dismay. “So… you’re on Team Optimus now?”

Mo gained a smug smile. “He’s in the middle of a battle and his comm doesn’t work, so he asked me to ask you for backup.”

Twitch whooped. “Finally, a chance to use our training on a real mission!” She danced around her brother. “Oh, I was born to back up the big guy!” Thrash began flexing.

“Hahah! Hahah! Oh, you’re not joking.” Bumblebee sighed. “Look, in a real battle there’s no do-overs. You’re not ready yet. So if I’m going to send him help, I want to send him the best there is.” 

“Elita-1?” “Wheeljack’s a solid choice!” Void, what were those names? They all sounded stupid.

“W- no, me! I’m talking about me!” Their ‘teacher’ huffed.

Pebbles was thinking about how he would make it back to that cave to canvas the water when the distant rumbling of an engine brought him back to his senses. Mo held up a comic book, squealing. “Oh my gosh, Arcee! It really is her!”

The pink car transformed into a very tall transformer. “Arcee, what are you-“ Bumblebee seemed to process that this ‘Arcee’ was here. “Arcee! Great to see- no, no, NO WAIT-“ the two bots proceeded to get into a play wrestle. Er, Pebbles hoped it was a play wrestle.

“She’s… a good guy?” Thrash limply pointed, squinting. 

“Apparently so.” Pebbles mused lightly. He was currently more invested on the vulture-like fauna flittering about in the atmosphere. They were of mildly varying color like vultures, though of considerably less size and presumable strength than vultures. Perhaps he could research them, maybe make a genetic experiment like old times. But how would he pull that off without the necessary equipment-?

“So, Arcee is… uh, gonna be your substitute teacher for the day.” Oh. Five Pebbles hadn’t even realized the Terrans and Bee had moved from the hay bales to stand on the dirt path leading up to the barn.

“Wait, what?” Arcee smiled. “Sure, I could teach em’ plenty!”

The children grinned. “What’re we gonna learn first?” “Hand to hand combat?” “Trick shots?!” “Orrr teach us your awesome beserker battle rage!”

Arcee bent down to the kid’s level just as Pebbles hobbled over. “You’re gonna LOVE this.” Their teacher was driving away in the distance. Take me with you.

—

Arcee began to kick the dirt of the pasture, really digging her heel in. “You excited yet?”

“Not particularly.” Pebbles scoffed, earning a pointed glare from Twitch. Mo smiled. “Yeah! We’re learning how to… fight the… ground?”

Arcee smiled. “BETTER! You’re digging trenches!” She proceeded to high kick into the ground, letting loose a mound of dirt. 

Cue the grueling hours of digging to make a trench big enough for the Terrans. Pebbles decided that instead of working on a pointless task, he would study the dirt.

   [SCANNING SUBJECT]

   [95.78% ASSORTED MINERALS. 4.21% MOISTURE. 0.01% OTHER.]

   [SCAN FURTHER? Y/N]

   [NO.]

Pebbles hummed in though, half-heartedly kicking the ground as if that would do anything. That was truly interesting. Before the snow, the ground had been made of an estimated 19% moisture instead of this place’s measly 4.2%. The only reason why the number was so high was because of the rains, which implied the new area he was staying at didn’t have any amplified humidity, therefore implying there were no iterators.

He vented deeply. This place was… strange.

“Trench inspection requested, uh, ma’am!” Twitch hovered in front of Arcee, saluting like a soldier.

“Hmmm…” the Femme rubbed her chin. “Yep, you’re done! But you know what they say about trenches! The only thing better than diggin’ em,” she punched Twitch’ shoulder, sending her into a downward spiral. “Is filled em!”

“I’ll just get… right up…” Mo groaned. Looking at the state of his siblings, Robby glanced back over at Arcee. “What’s the point of making us undo what we just did?”

Arcee walked up to a large dirt mound, right in front of Pebbles. “You’ll thank me later.” She then proceeded to kick the mound…

Oh no.

OH VOIDS.

Scrambling out of the way, Pebbles didn’t escape before the avalanche of dirt was dumped on top him.

Arcee looked down. “Whoops! Sorry, kid!”

Pebbles growled. “I am not a child.” He began digging himself out, best he could. The children began giggling.

“What are you giggling at?!” He snapped, causing them to look away and begin their jobs of filling the trenches.

He hated children.

As soon as they were done, Arcee smiled. “Time to patrol the perimeter!” “Time to stack the hay!” “Now, clean and polish that tractor.” 

Eventually, Twitch decided enough was enough, judging by the clench of her fists. “No.”

Arcee chuckled humorlessly. “I’m sorry, what. did. you. say?”

The Terran gathered more of her courage. “No. We won’t do any more of your pointless chores! If you won’t train us as warriors, then- then!”

“We quit.” Pebbles ended her sentence for her.

“And you all feel this way?” Arcee looked down at the group. 

Mo crossed her arms defiantly. “You seemed different in the comics.” “You’re not teaching us anything.” Robby seconded. “Bumblebee might not be perfect, but he’s a better leader than you are!”

Arcee came closer, and closer, and… “Okay, went too far!” Thrash nervously laughed. “You think?!” Pebbles hissed.

  [ASSOCIATED MEMORY: NSH_ARGUMENT_PRIVATE.04]

  [PLAY? Y/N]

  [NO NO NO]

Don’t think of them! Don’t think don’t feel don’t think don’t feel

Pebbles stumbled on his feet as Arcee backed up. “Congratulations! You passed! Took ya’ long enough.”

Pebbles coughed into his hand, slightly embarrassed at his earlier fear. “You are… happy that we complained?”

Arcee laughed. “Of course! This world will take advantage of you any way it can. If things don’t feel right, you gotta speak up!”

“So… this was a lesson? You actually were teaching us?” The Autobot smiled. “More than you know.”

Twitch excitedly raised her hand. “There’s still time to teach us your battle moves before Bee gets back from his mission!”

Arcee looked back at the group. “His what now?” Ah. It appeared their teacher was keeping the truth from their substitute.

“You know, the thing Optimus called him for? It’s why you’re our sub?” Robby answered. Arcee seemed to come to the same realization Pebbles had just gotten to. Mo sighed. “We wanted to go with him, but he said we weren’t ready.”

Arcee thought for a second. “Enough training! Who’s up for a real Autobot mission!?”

Pebbles yelped as Arcee picked him up and transformed, landing him in the passengers seat. “Buckle up and hold on, newbie! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”

Curses.

—

“Try us, beak breath!” Thrash taunted a “cassette bot”. Arcee had left them there with the Optimus and Megatron bots he had heard about, before those two abandoned them.

The three bots opened their mouths and let out a high pitched screech, immedielty causing the iterators hands to shoot to the base of his antennae, where his auditory receptors were.

Pebbles was regretting every life choice that led him to this moment.

OW. OW. OW. OW.

  [WARNING: DECIBEL LEVEL OVER 140.]

  [LOWER AUDITORY RECEPTORS? Y/N]

  [YES YES YES YES]

Despite his hearing being lowered, he still heard the faint, strained scream from Twitch, and Robby’s plea to block it out.

And he also heard that infuriating song!

“Draw the enemy’s eye away, them boom bang! Ruin their day!” The kids were chanting that stupid, stupid song! It was annoyingly catchy!

The most humanoid of the casseticons paused. “Okay, that’s catchy- WOAH HEY!”

Oh thank VOIDS. Pebbels set his audio receptors to normal levels as the Terrans began attacking the cassettes. 

While Thrash and Twitch distracted the eagle and the panther, the humanoid one approached him and the children. “I’m gonna enjoy this.”

Mo raised a hand. “I just want to warn you, I’ve watched hours of pro wrestling!” The cassette was still about to strum her guitar when, like an action hero, Bumblebee climbed up the ledge and shoved her into her siblings(?)

Pebbles sighed, slumping over. “Oh, thank voids.”

The kids and Bumblebee got restraining bolts for the cassettes as Pebbles watched. Robby sat on the edge of Optimus’ trailer, placing the final cassette in the back. “What even is a cassette anyways?”

Pebbles scoffed. “I am appalled you somehow don’t know what that is.”

Arcee sat down beside the trailer. “That was too easy! I think you’re losing your touch, analog boy!” Soundwave growled at her instigation, rather like a lizard.

“That was easy?!”

Arcee smirked. “Will be, once I finish schooling ya’! We’ll do drills, sparring!-“

Bumblebee coughed. “Uh, Arcee? You were just a substitute. I’m their teacher.” Arcee smiled, slapping the bot on the back. “Yeah, I think they like me better.” Bee pushed her away. “These are my students, my responsibility, my mission! I’m the one that belongs at their side!” 

The two bots had a stare down before Arcee laughed. “Congratulations! You passed!”

The kids began giggling as Pebbles processed this. He had to admit, that was a good practical joke. “Hah.” He said.

The kids stopped giggling to stare at him. “Did you just laugh?!” Twitch flittered over.

“Uh. Yes. Is there an issue?” Twitch shook her head fervently. “No, not at all! I’m just surprised!” “Didn’t know you had it in you.” Thrash added.

He sighed angrily, prompting the kids to start giggling again. 

Two large bots, of whom he assumed were Megatron and Optimus, approached. “It was good to work together again, Bee.” The transformer who he assumed was Optimus, judging by the smile, spoke.

Their teacher sighed. “Thanks, Optimus.” He was right about his assumption. “Guess I better beget back to my real assignment. Those catchy battle songs won’t write themselves!”

Pebbles groaned. “Please, no more.”

Optimus interjected. “Of course, but since you abandoned your post, no matter how well intentioned, I’ll need you to update Telatraan-1 with a full report of today’s encounter.”

“Ooh, not even I give homework!” Arcee grinned. “Hey, race you on the rollout?” The femme proceeded to break into a mad sprint before transforming. 

The kids took after her, riding their respective vehicles. Pebbles would have been content to stay there, away from them, but Bumblebee picked him up and transformed before driving after them.

“Buckle up.” Pebbles scoffed. “I am not a child.” Bee gasped slightly, trying to mask it with a cough. “Wait, you’re not?” “W- No! I may be a relatively young iterator, but I’m no child.”

Bee coughed again. “…oh.”

The duo drove away, back to the Malto’s farm.

“Wait, what the frag happened to the pasture?!”

Chapter Text

“So. Tell me why we are doing this… ‘Spa day?’” Five Pebbles asked from his spot on the worn beanbag, the plush material practically swallowing him. He did not miss Robby stifling his laughter.

Mo smiled, dragging a warmed basin of water into the barn, grunting slightly at the weight. “Because EVERYONE deserves a spa day! It’s fun, and relaxing-“

“And pointless.” Pebbles mumbled. He glanced to his sides, where the Terrans were also in their respective beanbags. Bumblebee was sitting on the barn floor (“ooh… we only have 3 bean bags… sorry Bee!”) next to them.

Robby lugged a plastic bag into the barn behind Mo. “It’s not pointless. Relaxing is great. And a necessary part of human life. To prevent burnout, or something.” Rifling through the bag, the teenage pulled out five plastic pouches and a cucumber, as well as a couple of bathrobes. Bumblebee nodded at the youngling’s words. “He’s right. Burnout is dangerous, especially in combat. It makes you sluggish. Besides, it’s just not fun to deal with.”

Pebbles blinked his optics. “…what’s the cucumber for?”

Thrash shrugged. “When Mo was watching human movies with me, it looked like the spa episodes always had cucumbers, so we put it on the list.”

Pebble’s antennae twitched as he visibly slumped. Morons, the lot of them.

Thus began the, frankly, unnecessary doting. Pebbles put on one of the robes, as well as the Ancients human kids, who had brought over comfy chairs to sit in. The plastic pouches had held “face masks” - a stupid thing to use on robots, but he digressed - and the cucumber was promptly cut using Bee’s stinger and placed over optics. For some voids damned reason.

He could almost call it peaceful. If he was someone who enjoyed this type of stuff. Which he didn’t. Not even as the basin was dragged to their feet and the warm water met his systems. He did not sigh in relief when he finally blinked off his optics, and he did not relax into his chair.

… Mo’s phone told a different story. The little monster. Too smart for her own good, taking video like that. He’d have to delete it later.

He let his mind drift off, thinking of old times and older hymns. Maybe he could synthesize the music in his free time. Or perhaps make a new song. 

…but not now. He was enjoying himself too much. And besides, he kept those memories too close to his chest to potentially let snooping Terrans or younglings see them. It may have been a bygone dimension, but it was his home. He got to defend it just as he wished.

Pebbles took a break that cycle, feeling sufficiently “relaxed.” He’d have to subtly nudge the children into another spa day sometime soon.

Dot and Alex looked into the barn to find their five children (yes, the counted Pebbles as a child, sue them) asleep and powered off. Alex cooed as Dot took a quick photo. 

Bumblebee waved. “They all fell asleep practically immediately. It was cute.” 

The trio smiled at their family. Alseep, at peace, and happy.

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles didn’t expect the shocked look when he opened up his back paneling. It was a normal thing in his eyes - when the puppet needed maintenance, it would get disconnected from the umbilical and drip fed organic matter through the back pipes for the void fluid to produce energy out of. Simple.

Yet somehow, this shocked Bumblebee. The muscle car crouched down and leaned over the iterator, ice blue optics frantically scanning over him “Scrap! Did you get attacked? What happened? Who did this to you!? Should I call a medic?-“

“Bumblebee.” Pebbles didn’t keep the condescension out of his words. “I am not a Cybertronian. My biology is different from yours. This is normal.”

“Oh.” Bumblebee’s cheeks flushed blue. “Right.”

Twitch giggled from her perch in the barn’s loft, setting down her comic book. “Yeah! It’s like how me and Thrash can digest human food!”

“What?” Both Five Pebbles and the Autobot turned to stare at her.

Twitch blinked. “Yanno… Om nom nom? Eating? I had some of Dad’s empanadas yesterday?”

  [ASSOCIATED MEMORY: 9.02.2018]

  [PLAY? Y/N]

  [YES]

Twitch flittering to the open window, snatching an empanada from the plate while no one but Pebbles was looking. Twitch splitting it in half, giving some to Thrash. The two eating it at night, directly outside of Pebbles’ window.

Huh. He was tired last night, but he didn’t think he’d have forgotten that. Though, he was always surrounded by people eating, so he supposed differentiating the Terrans from Humans wasn’t exactly top of his processor’s priority.

Bumblebee tapped his servos on the barn floor. “Okay. So you can eat human food. You can drink water. And you can also eat Energon with no problems.” Twitch nodded, bringing her knees up to her chassis. Bumblebee’s optics looked down in thought. “Weird.”

Five Pebbles rested his vocalizer, the shock from Bumblebee practically ramming into him wearing off. “I’ve been wondering - can Cybertronians eat organic meals?” 

His teacher shook his head. “If a Cybertronian tries something that isn’t Energon, they’ll just purge.”

Twitch swung her feet over the rafters lazily. “So, like vomit?”

“Like vomit.”

Pebbles clapped once. “That was a productive conversation. Now, Bumblebee, if you could ever so kindly get off me, I can go back to fueling myself.” Bumblebee’s engine made a sound like a small cough as the large mech stood back up. “Sorry, sorry.”

Rolling his optics, the pink iterator grabbed a handful of dirt off the barn floor and funneled it into his back, noting the looks again. “Okay, what did I do this time?”

Bumblebee blinked. “Did you just… put dirt into your protoform?”

In-venting sharply, Pebbles mustered up his best glare. “Bumblebee. Bumblebee.”

“Right, right, sorry.”

The thrumming of wheels against dirt loudened outside the barn, Thrash soon doing a wheelie into his stall, before transforming back to root. “Booyah!- Pebbs, whyyyyyy is your back all dirty?” The Terran shook himself off and shivered, as if imagining the dirt all over his own frame.

Five Pebbles clenched his hand and counted to five internally. “If I have to explain that I have a different biology one more Voids damned time-“

Twitch hovered down. “No, but he’s right. Why’d you use dirt instead of something delicious? Like a marshmallow.” Thrash piped in, “Or a gummy bear!” 

The siblings launched into an argument about what human food was best, with Bumblebee trying to mediate (“human food isn’t even that good! Energon is way better”), when Five Pebbles sighed, and said, “I can’t taste anything.”

Thrash’s mouth hung open as all the bots turned to stare. “What.”

“I used dirt because it doesn’t matter where the material comes from. My rarefraction cell will convert it to energy anyways, and if I can’t taste anything, what’s the point?”

Twitch let out a choked sound. “You can’t even taste cave water? Energon with nickel? Chocolate?!”

“No.” Five Pebbles reached back for his panel. “I wasn’t built with taste buds in mind.” Finding the latch, he closed his paneling and brushed off some excess dirt. Satisfied with his work, he slipped his cloak back over his head.

The Terrans looked at each other, going through the motions of a conversation without words.

Thrash blinked, his eyes taking on a thousand yard stare. “I think I need to go lay down.” 

Twitch nodded besides him. “Me too.”

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles was incredibly glad to have a “free day” without the An-…. Humans forcing him into doing something instead of giving him the space to experiment. He, however, did not appreciate being forced to spectate a News station while he conducted tests on the Terrans. 

“We’re watching Optimus and Megatron’s national debut!” They said. “Our family’s there, we want to watch too!” They said.

So, he sat next to Thrash while the outdated TV softly played in the background. He would have preferred to do this somewhere more sanitary and quiet, but the Terrans refused to miss this.

“This is going to sting.” Pebbles warned, raising his syringe to Thrash’s wiring. “Don’t move.” 

Thrash whined slightly as the iterator drew energon, sucking in a breath. “Ow… why do I have to do this?”

Pebbles removed the needle from the Terran’s neck, placing the contents into his test tube. “For research purposes.”

Twitch glided over to her brother. “Me and Bee had to do it too, so calm down.”

Gently swirling the contents, Pebbles peered at the lightly glowing pink liquid. 

   [SCANNING SUBJECT]

   [43.2% H20 56.8% OTHER.]

   [SCAN FURTHER? Y/N]

   [YES]

Now, that was interesting. The “other” result was used to indicate a substance that couldn’t be identified on a surface scan. This usually meant that the trace was too small to be properly scanned, but in a larger quantity it meant the substance wasn’t catalogued in the iterator databanks yet. Hm. He’d never thought he’d see the day another compound was discovered naturally.

  [SCANNING]

  [SCANNING]

  [FLAGGED: ”OTHER” IS 92.35% MATCH WITH SUBSTANCE: “VOID FLUID.”]

The shock hit him so hard he almost dropped his test tube, narrowly keeping it from shattering on the floor. He tested the other energon samples. 

While Twitch’s was identical to her brother’s, Bumblebee’s was made up of a completely different substance. The Terran’s energon makeup was an extremely similar mix to what was used to power iterators, a purified but still relatively diluted mix. And yet, the Energon wasn’t burning a hole through their metal, of which certainly wasn’t quadruple reinforced like his superstructure was. Even then, piping still melted easily and needed to be replaced frequently.

“Fascinating…” Five Pebbles studied the mixtures for a little while longer until Thrash grabbed his shoulder and shook lightly.

“Uhhhh, Pebbs?” Thrash shook harder, prompting the Iterator to swivel his head around to glare at the Terran.

“What is it- oh.” Pebble’s glare immediately softened as the television flashed, faint explosions and yelling in the distance.

The Maltos were being attacked. Well, them and everyone else at the GHOST publicity meetup. But they were less important.

They watched on in horror as the two Seekers fought Optimus and Megatron, each of them silently looking for Alex, Dot, and the kids. 

“I’m getting really bad feels from Mo and Robby.” Thrash shifted in his makeshift seat, flinching every so often.

Bumblebee patted the blue mech on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, those Decepticons barely qualify as cannon fodder.” Five Pebbles would personally disagree, considering the battle currently raging on camera, but for comfort’s sake he chose not to mention it.

Twitch, however, was not comforted by this false promise. “Let’s go clip their wings!” She said, transforming while spurring her brother on to follow her escape from the barn.

Bumblebee sighed, grabbing the Terran’s alt modes. “Hold your horsepower. That place is crawling with GHOST, which is why none of us went in the first place.”

“Besides,” Pebbles started, gently moving his fragile equipment out of reach of the tightly-wound Terrans. “Megatron and Optimus can probably handle themselves. They’ve fought a civil war for, what, thousands of centuries?”

Twitch groaned angrily, transforming back to root mode to escape Bee’s grasp. “But, Bee! Pebbles! The only family we have needs help!” 

“I want to go to, but Optimus and Megatron will keep them safe. Trust me.” Bumblebee softened his tone, deftly ignoring Pebbles’ angry squeaks. (“I SAID THAT FIRST!”)

Despite the two older Bot’s comforting, the Terrans still couldn’t stop the emotions running through their link.

———

Five Pebbles sat cross-legged on the dirt, holding his head up with a hand. Twitch and Thrash had been pacing like caged lizards for the past two minutes, ranting about how scared and angry they were. The iterator sniffed the air. The faint smell of smoke was afoot.

“Our family could have been hurt!” Twitch narrowed her eyes at the human half of her family, pacing with her fellow Terran. Pebbles tried to detect where the scent was from, but he couldn’t figure out where. The wind was blowing the trail away.

“And we should’ve been there to help!“ Thrash added, looking extremely close to shaking his father by the shoulders. Pebbles looked around cautiously for a clue. The kitchen was devoid of food, so Alex wasn’t burning anything.

“But noooo,” Twitch vented, continuing her brother’s train of thought eerily quickly. The emotion link was truly a strange thing. “Thrash, Pebbles, and I have to stay here and live secret lives!” Pebbles nodded, still checking for some hint. There wasn’t any neighbors around for miles.

Bumblebee furrowed his brow. “Uh, hello? Me too?” Pebbles hissed under his breath in anger - the mystery would go unsolved for now. No leads meant no answers.

Thrash looked up at Optimus, who’d shown up a while ago (and had paid zero mind to Pebbles), frowning. “What’s the point of Bumblebee -“ he threw an arm in the teacher’s direction for emphasis. “- teaching us if we can’t do anything when stuff gets real?” 

The Prime, sighed, wringing his hands in a gesture Pebbles would not typically associate with the leader of an entire faction. “You still have much to learn, Young Terrans. For now, our priority is keeping you hidden and safe.”

“From… Decepticons?” Alex guessed.

The blue and red mech sighed, slumping almost imperceptiblely. Five Pebbles had gotten good at tells over his many millennia of life as a sentient search engine. The small shifts, the quiet sighs - he knew something was up with this “Optimus” mech. Even the strange glow in Optimus’ chest seemed to fluctuate with his emotion, dimming mildly. “No. I am afraid if GHOST would claim the Terrans as assets if they were to discover them, and not give us time to learn about their conception.”

Five Pebbles cleared his throat loudly. It was impressive how far such a big mech like Optimus could jump. ” ‘Keeping us safe,’ you say. That is frankly, a stupid priority.” The Terrans nodded behind him. “Our priority should be figuring out why I have appeared here, instead of in the Great Tree Beyond. Keeping us safe is secondary.”

The Terrans stopped nodding. 

Optimus, having gotten over his shock, turned towards Bumblebee. “I’m sorry, there was a new Terran created and I was not informed?”

Bumblebee chuckled nervously, turning his head away. “I, uh, thought I told Arcee to tell you… uh, my bad?”

Optimus pinched his nasal ridge and groaned lowly, a rumble emanating from his exhaust pipes.

“And besides!” The sports car tried justifying, “he’s not even a Terran.”

“…what?” 

“Yeah!” Thrash piped in. “He’s a whatchamacallit. Iter-something, from another dimension!”

“Iteration.” Twitch corrected.

“ITERATOR.” Five Pebbles hissed.

“But that’s not the point!” Twitch held out her hands in a ‘stop’ gesture. “We don't even understand what we are.  And if we're such a big deal, then why haven't you been trying to figure that out?“

Thrash climbed atop the car. “Yeah! And how come me n’ Twitch came from a crusty cave puddle? Or why there’s only two of us - three if you count Pebbles!”

Twitch started hovering, the motors in her wings beating furiously. “And why did we spawn from a glowy rock!? Why has Pebbles been the only one testing these things!?”

Optimus paused his rumbling. “A luminous stone granted your sparks?” The Prime turned back to Bumblebee, who seemed to shrink into himself. “Why is this the first I’ve heard about this development?!”

Five Pebbles let out a choked noise. “Voids below, you didn’t TELL HIM!?”

Bumblebee sputtered. “I don’t know, it never came up!”

The prime sighed loudly again, cutting off all conversation. “Terrans, more now than ever, I believe you play a critical role in rebuilding our kind.” Bumblebee nodded. 

“The thing is, for all we know, the 'Bots and 'Cons on this planet were the last of us...”

“Until you two were born.” Optimus continued for him. “It's time we discover how your sparks came to be.  Finding this... glowy rock is our new priority.”

Twitch squealed. “Pinky promise?! No takebacks!” The red drone held out a small pinky in Optimus’s direction, prompting him to raise one in response. “Uhh, okay?” 

Thrash grinned. “Witness! Pinky promises are legal contracts in this family!” The moped hopped up and down, letting his sister carry him a couple feet off the ground while they both cheered. Pebbles was content to watch from the sidelines, but-

“Hey. HEY!” He shrieked, kicking his legs fruitlessly as Twitch wrapped her arms around him and hovered up. “Put me down this instant!”

Twitch giggled. “No can do, Pebbs!” Thrash nodded. “You’re a part of the family now! No takebacks!”

Family.

He really was a part of the family now, wasn’t he?

Slowly, like a jumpfrog in a pot of boiling water, Pebbles had let himself be pulled into another “family.” It was almost pathetic how it had happened twice.

But… still. Imperceptibly, the iterator relaxed in Twitch’s grip. “Whatever.” He grumbled, looking away from the shocked looks from the Maltos.

“You didn’t push us away this time!” Twitch squeezed him and Thrash tighter. Pebbles squawked. “Nope, nope! Too much! Let me go!”

The drone dropped him, giggling with her brother as Pebbles groaned and slumped over.

———

Mo and Robby had been leading everyone through the forest for fifteen minutes. 

“Don’t worry! It’s right ahead!” Mo called back at where Pebbles and Alex were riding on Optimus’s shoulders. “I skinned my knee on this rock, that’s how I know.” She gave them a smug smile, hopping over the rock and sliding down a ledge, Robby following suit. Gently setting Alex and the iterator down, Optimus went after them, followed by the strange procession of Bumblebee, a pink robot, two Terrans, and a teacher.

“Hope you enjoyed your stay at Mo and Robby Adventures Incorporated!” Mo grinned, gesturing to the cave. Robby picked up where she left off. “Because we’ve reached our destination.

Twitch smiled, motors jittering slightly. “What if there’s more of us inside?” Thrash whooped, rushing past her. “Thrash Jr. has a nice ring to it!”

While the Terrans, Maltos, and Pebbles walked in, Optimus and Bumblebee were stuck outside due to… reasons.

“We’re not going to fit, are we?” Bumblebee muttered, sticking his head in and swiftly pulling his chassis back out after the screeching sound of metal on rock made everyone flinch.

Optimus solemnly nodded. “Not even going to try.” 

The group in the cave walked closer to the center of the cave. On a stone pedestal in the middle, left just as he remembered it, sat a small rock. Just for good measure, the iterator sampled some of the water and stored the glass vial he had brought, now full of testing material, in his chest cavity.

“Is this it?” Twitch hovered around it, tapping a servo on her chin and grinning. “This is the thing that made us!?”

Robby nodded. “It’s the glowing rock.”

Mo pointed to her cyber sleeve, then at the water. “Me and Robby touched that rock, 

“Let’s make it make more us-es!” Thrash grinned.

Alex backed up, holding up his Bumblebee themed phone. “You got this, kids! You have the touch.”

Pebbles and the Terrans watched as the children held the stone gingerly.

They waited.

And waited.

And-

“Well.” Thrash stepped back, visibly deflated. 

“I don’t get it.” Mo’s hands came off shaky. “It worked the last time.”

“Are you kidding me…?” Pebbles huffed. “That’s it?”

Twitch bit her lip, sitting cries-cross applesauce in the air. “Well, let’s not give up hope!” She laughed nervously, as if to keep the mood light. “There’s still… 10 possible combinations of us in pairs, 5 if we do it solo, and-“

“Twitch.” Pebbles spat, shutting up the red drone. “I’m not going to sit here and WAIT on a false hope this will work!” The iterator stomped a pede, the movement sending ripples through the glowing water. Ripples.

From a ripple, a ring, to a spiral, and back again. That’s what they said, didn’t they?

“I’m not sitting here like- like some BUG IN A MAZE! I am sick and tired of waiting, and hoping, and waiting and hoping seems to be all I do!”

Thrash approached him slowly. “Pebbs, I get you’re frustrated. We all are. The fact me and Twitch are the last Terrans…” the moped silenced himself at the iterators gaze.

“And to think.” Pebbles said softly, so softly that the echo was the only thing bringing it to the kid’s ears. “I could have had them back.”

Alex, sensing the hostile environment, slowly approached the kids. “Alright. We’re all frustrated. When in doubt, ask a Prime. Optimus will have answers, I’m sure!”

Pebbles snorted, looking away. “Sure.”

The father led his kids out of the cave, who took the Emberstone with them. Alex cast Pebbles a pleading look before realizing the iterator wasn’t budging and bowing his head.

Pebbles left himself to stew, pacing and bunching his fists. 

Voids, he missed Sliver of Straw, so, so much. 

BANG!

“Oh slag.” Pebbles looked up at the shaking of the cave walls. The screechy voices of presumably two femmes resounded across the cavern.

“Mandroid sends his regards.” One voice sounded out, reverberating throughout the room. “He requests Optimus’s presence, but extends that invitation to the infamous Terrans.”

“And Zomble-bee!” A second one, more haughty, laughed. “Back from the dead with a new midlife crisis alt mode! What, the Beetle wasn’t working out for ya’? Hm?”

He could hear Alex yelling something, but everything was drowned out by the ringing in his audials.

EVOLUTION OF HOPE.

Stumbling backwards, Pebbles fell onto the pedestal in the center. 

“Woah, woah!” Mo cried, tumbling down the steep entrance to the cave.

In the background, Pebbles made out the lights and sounds of blasters. Subconsciously, he shrunk back.

“Go!” He heard Thrash yell at his human siblings.

“Help, Quintus, please! Mom needs us.” Mo whispered, right next to Pebbles. The iterator kicked an ‘arachnomech’ away from the kids blindly. 

I HEED YOUR CALL.

The world turned a blinding green.

“Uhhh… kids..?” Alex picked Pebbles up by the scruff, helping him stand.

Robby, calmer now that the threat of arachnomechs were deactivated, looked around. “Don’t worry. The same thing happened when-“

Five pillars of light erupted from the pond, blinding Pebble’s optics so he had to turn them down.

In them, he could see blobs form to shapes form to transformers - but only three of them.

The other two formed other shapes, less Cybertronian in nature. His height, even. 

Familiar.

“Moon…?” The iterator fixed his gaze on his dead woman walking of a sister, then inched his gaze over to the left. He hoped it was Suns.

It was not.

In the flashing light, the purple garb of No Significant Harassment contrasted against the sickening green.

He wasn’t sure to laugh or cry. 

The pounding in his processor disappeared, giving him a couple seconds of bliss, before the cavern started to echo with the sound of banging. He reached to grab his sister, setting her down gently, while letting NSH plop to the ground unassisted.

Sounds of fighting came from outside, before the whizz of missiles came in from the entrance. 

Rock fell from the ceiling, from the entrance.

He was trapped.

They were trapped.

In a living tomb.