HOME | DD

Description
"That was some celebration," Hotshot said with a grin as he helped the Minicons clear up the streamers, tinsel and other Christmas decoration littering the Autobot base.

"It certainly was," Red Alert stated with a small smile. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone consume so many Energon Treats in one go. Or any other Energon sweets."

"Hey, it's a Christmas tradition," Hotshot defended with a grin. "Anyway, what about the High Grade you were knocking back?"

"I 'knocked back' a mere two cubes," Red Alert said dryly. "I lost count of the number of ones you had."

"I'm sure you had more than two," Hotshot countered and this earned a chuckle from the usual stoic Red Alert.

"I had two High Grades and a few Medium Grades," Red Alert said with a small smirk. "That way, I can enjoy the night and not come out of recharge the next cycle with a pounding processor ache."

Hotshot smiled ruefully at that, he had had rather a bad morning on the cycle known as Boxing Day. But he still felt it had been worth it, besides, it was just a single cycle.
Normally, he wouldn't drink like that, not with Decepticons lurking around. But it seemed that the Decepticons themselves had decided to enjoy the human holiday so they'd enjoyed a few cycles of peace.

But several cycles has passed and although there hadn't been any Minicon activity yet, it was only a matter of time. At least they'd been able to enjoy themselves with the kids who'd taught them a lot about their human culture. Speaking of kids, they were supposed to be visiting today, this was apparently the last day of their human stellar cycle.

They'd managed to get permission from their parents to go camping since the weather was rather mild for this time of year. They wanted to celebrate the New Year with a campfire under the stars but of course, what they hadn't told their parents was that this was the Autobots. Hotshot knew that Optimus in particular was looking forward to it, he enjoyed doing things that were utterly uninvolved with their war.

Hotshot knew his Commander had a lot of responsibility and expectation weighing heavily on his shoulders and wished he could do something about that. All he really could do was be the best solider and Autobot that he could be and make his Commander proud.

"When are the kids getting here?" Red Alert now asked.

"Should be soon, they said they'd head up after they'd refuelled," Hotshot said, a little distracted as he tried to tug down some stubborn tinsel.

"Hmm," Red Alert said thoughtfully, getting a prickling feeling in the back of his processor. It was a strange glitch of his but sometimes he could predict when trouble was about to go down.

"I'm going to contact Highwire and find out how the kids are," Red Alert suddenly declared, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Huh, alright," Hotshot said, a little distractedly.

Red Alert quickly left the room and headed for the communication room, they didn't keep a live comm. with the kids Minicons in case the Decepticons intercepted it. So, they only contacted those three Minicons through a computer and Red Alert hoped that he got an answer.

"Highwire, where are you?" he asked as soon as he'd made the connection.

He got several frantic beeps in response and mentally cursed as he realised what they were
saying. He listened for a few moments before saying.

"Alright, come to the base right now, I'll go get Optimus and Hothot. Don't worry, we'll get them back."

"Optimus," he called as he run from the room. "Megatron has the kids."

Sometime later

"Let's split up," Optimus said as they surveyed the area they'd tracked the Decepticons to.

It was in a very deserted place, with no human settlements for hundreds of miles. However, there had once been humans here because there were the ruins of a massive old temple, covered in vines. It wasn't just a single building, there were courtyards and walkways, a positive maze.

Both the kids and the Decepticons could be anywhere so the only option was to separate. They had flares with them to ensure that when they engaged the Decepticons, their location would be easily noted. Dust and moss lay thickly upon the old ruins and all kinds of plant life choked the remainder.

Optimus gripped his blaster tightly, wondering what Megatron was up to now. There had been no Minicon alerts but perhaps Megatron hoped to exchange the kids for some. Although it did make him wonder why Megatron felt the need to Warp out to this location unless there were some traps involved.

The Autobot leader was currently walking along a ruined corridor but stopped as he noticed how the vegetation had been disturbed. Someone else had walked through here and by the looks of it, it wasn't a human or animal. And it definitely wasn't a Minicon either, so that only left a transformer and Optimus had a feeling he knew who.

He turned a corner and saw that he was right.

"Megatron," Optimus growled as he made out the form of his rival lounging upon a fallen pillar.

"Where are the children, what have you done with them?"

"Oh don't worry about them Prime," Megatron sneered, still not moving from his pillar."They're quite comfortable I believe."

"You believe?" Optimus said angrily. "You don't actually know?"

Megatron shrugged, smirking even more.

"Like I said Prime, I'm sure their perfectly alright. Why, they might even be enjoying themselves."

Optimus growled again and started advancing on Megatron who was still acting extremely casual. Optimus frowned, this wasn't like Megatron, he was usually so keen for battle.
Something was clearly up but the Autobot leader had no idea what.

But then his senses detected a strong scent in the air, one that was familiar but not normally found on Earth.

"Megatron.....have you been drinking?"

Meanwhile

"Man, this blows," muttered Carlos as he sat in a little cage suspended over a debris littered floor.

"Tell me about it," Rad said with a sigh as he sat in his own cage.

"At least they said thanks for the Christmas gifts," Alexis said ruefully, sitting in the final cage.

The two boys mumbled agreement, eying Cyclonus who was lounging on a stone slab and looking half asleep. The kids frowned, they knew the Decepticons were up to something but they weren't sure if it had anything to do with Minicons. Megatron had seemed more concerned with luring the Autobots to this place than obtaining Minicons.

"Hey dude, what's going on?" Carlos tried asking the Decepticon who looked up at them in mild surprise.

"Huh?"

"What's happening?" Alexis asked patiently.

"Megatron wants a word with Optimus Prime," Cyclonus said with a shrug.

"That can't be right," Rad exclaimed with a frown. "If he wanted to talk with Optimus, he could have just called him."

"Yeah well, Megatron wants to see him in person," Cyclonus retorted. "Meanwhile, we get to show those Autobrats how real bots fight."

"This is just so you guys can have a punch-up?" Alexis said in disbelief. "I don't believe this."

"What's wrong with a punch-up?" Cyclonus asked in total seriousness.

"I...urgh, never mind," Alexis said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"So why are we here?" Rad demanded as Carlos said.

"Cause the Autobots would never come out otherwise."

"Precisely," came the raspy voice which belonged to the Seeker Starscream.

"Optimus Prime has found Megatron, we're just waiting for those other two to find us," he explained, giving the kids a smirk. "You kids just relax and we might take you home later."

"We wanted to see the stars at midnight," Carlos said mulishly but Starscream continued to smirk, aiming his blaster at the ceiling and firing.

The kids yelped and covered their heads as rubble raining down but their cages protecting them, only a few small pieces hit them. Now, the hall they were in opened out onto the sky where all the stars glittered brightly. For a moment, as rubble dust fell as though snowing, it all looked rather beautiful and peaceful.

But it was spoiled a moment later by a shout.

"Hey you Decepticreeps!"

"Finally," grumbled Cyclonus, leaping to his feet to lunge at Hotshot who had just charging in.

As Starscream also leapt forward to engage him, Red Alert came in a moment later already wrestling Demolisher. The kids cages shook and swung as all five transformer wrestled and fought in the small confined space. They sighed, realising there was nothing they could do and checking their watches.

It was almost midnight.

Back with the leaders

"I cannot believe it," Optimus complained as he dodged Megatron's attempt to slam his face into the ground.

"You have been drinking yourself silly and decide you want to have a fight?"

"Of course," Megatron said, his words not slurred but his optics were buzzing with the powerful energy High Grade gave.

"Don't tell me you haven't had any?" Megatron added with a sneering smirk. "You should live a little, Optimus."

This made Optimus mentally pause, Megatron never called him Optimus, at least to his face. Just what was up with Megatron, what made him decide to get drunk and then fight him? But he couldn't dwell on this as Megatron seized him by the waist and charged forward, managing
to force him to the ground. He strained against his rival but wasn't able to dislodge him.

"Just tell me why Megatron," he said tiredly as Megatron leered down at him, now clutching a fresh cube of High Grade which he'd just summoned from sub space.

Ten

Nine

Eight

"Well, what else would I do on New Year's eve?" Megatron asked, some of his High Grade dripping onto Optimus's mask.

Three

Two

One

"Happy New year, Prime," Megatron said, toasting Optimus as fireworks went off, perhaps by the Minicons, maybe the Decepticons but it didn't really matter.

"Happy New year, Megatron," Optimus replied with a sigh as Megatron chuckled loudly.

He should have known Megatron would celebrate New Year but drinking....and fighting.

Description
"That was some celebration," Hotshot said with a grin as he helped the Minicons clear up the streamers, tinsel and other Christmas decoration littering the Autobot base.

"It certainly was," Red Alert stated with a small smile. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone consume so many Energon Treats in one go. Or any other Energon sweets."

"Hey, it's a Christmas tradition," Hotshot defended with a grin. "Anyway, what about the High Grade you were knocking back?"

"I 'knocked back' a mere two cubes," Red Alert said dryly. "I lost count of the number of ones you had."

"I'm sure you had more than two," Hotshot countered and this earned a chuckle from the usual stoic Red Alert.

"I had two High Grades and a few Medium Grades," Red Alert said with a small smirk. "That way, I can enjoy the night and not come out of recharge the next cycle with a pounding processor ache."

Hotshot smiled ruefully at that, he had had rather a bad morning on the cycle known as Boxing Day. But he still felt it had been worth it, besides, it was just a single cycle.
Normally, he wouldn't drink like that, not with Decepticons lurking around. But it seemed that the Decepticons themselves had decided to enjoy the human holiday so they'd enjoyed a few cycles of peace.

But several cycles has passed and although there hadn't been any Minicon activity yet, it was only a matter of time. At least they'd been able to enjoy themselves with the kids who'd taught them a lot about their human culture. Speaking of kids, they were supposed to be visiting today, this was apparently the last day of their human stellar cycle.

They'd managed to get permission from their parents to go camping since the weather was rather mild for this time of year. They wanted to celebrate the New Year with a campfire under the stars but of course, what they hadn't told their parents was that this was the Autobots. Hotshot knew that Optimus in particular was looking forward to it, he enjoyed doing things that were utterly uninvolved with their war.

Hotshot knew his Commander had a lot of responsibility and expectation weighing heavily on his shoulders and wished he could do something about that. All he really could do was be the best solider and Autobot that he could be and make his Commander proud.

"When are the kids getting here?" Red Alert now asked.

"Should be soon, they said they'd head up after they'd refuelled," Hotshot said, a little distracted as he tried to tug down some stubborn tinsel.

"Hmm," Red Alert said thoughtfully, getting a prickling feeling in the back of his processor. It was a strange glitch of his but sometimes he could predict when trouble was about to go down.

"I'm going to contact Highwire and find out how the kids are," Red Alert suddenly declared, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Huh, alright," Hotshot said, a little distractedly.

Red Alert quickly left the room and headed for the communication room, they didn't keep a live comm. with the kids Minicons in case the Decepticons intercepted it. So, they only contacted those three Minicons through a computer and Red Alert hoped that he got an answer.

"Highwire, where are you?" he asked as soon as he'd made the connection.

He got several frantic beeps in response and mentally cursed as he realised what they were
saying. He listened for a few moments before saying.

"Alright, come to the base right now, I'll go get Optimus and Hothot. Don't worry, we'll get them back."

"Optimus," he called as he run from the room. "Megatron has the kids."

Sometime later

"Let's split up," Optimus said as they surveyed the area they'd tracked the Decepticons to.

It was in a very deserted place, with no human settlements for hundreds of miles. However, there had once been humans here because there were the ruins of a massive old temple, covered in vines. It wasn't just a single building, there were courtyards and walkways, a positive maze.

Both the kids and the Decepticons could be anywhere so the only option was to separate. They had flares with them to ensure that when they engaged the Decepticons, their location would be easily noted. Dust and moss lay thickly upon the old ruins and all kinds of plant life choked the remainder.

Optimus gripped his blaster tightly, wondering what Megatron was up to now. There had been no Minicon alerts but perhaps Megatron hoped to exchange the kids for some. Although it did make him wonder why Megatron felt the need to Warp out to this location unless there were some traps involved.

The Autobot leader was currently walking along a ruined corridor but stopped as he noticed how the vegetation had been disturbed. Someone else had walked through here and by the looks of it, it wasn't a human or animal. And it definitely wasn't a Minicon either, so that only left a transformer and Optimus had a feeling he knew who.

He turned a corner and saw that he was right.

"Megatron," Optimus growled as he made out the form of his rival lounging upon a fallen pillar.

"Where are the children, what have you done with them?"

"Oh don't worry about them Prime," Megatron sneered, still not moving from his pillar."They're quite comfortable I believe."

"You believe?" Optimus said angrily. "You don't actually know?"

Megatron shrugged, smirking even more.

"Like I said Prime, I'm sure their perfectly alright. Why, they might even be enjoying themselves."

Optimus growled again and started advancing on Megatron who was still acting extremely casual. Optimus frowned, this wasn't like Megatron, he was usually so keen for battle.
Something was clearly up but the Autobot leader had no idea what.

But then his senses detected a strong scent in the air, one that was familiar but not normally found on Earth.

"Megatron.....have you been drinking?"

Meanwhile

"Man, this blows," muttered Carlos as he sat in a little cage suspended over a debris littered floor.

"Tell me about it," Rad said with a sigh as he sat in his own cage.

"At least they said thanks for the Christmas gifts," Alexis said ruefully, sitting in the final cage.

The two boys mumbled agreement, eying Cyclonus who was lounging on a stone slab and looking half asleep. The kids frowned, they knew the Decepticons were up to something but they weren't sure if it had anything to do with Minicons. Megatron had seemed more concerned with luring the Autobots to this place than obtaining Minicons.

"Hey dude, what's going on?" Carlos tried asking the Decepticon who looked up at them in mild surprise.

"Huh?"

"What's happening?" Alexis asked patiently.

"Megatron wants a word with Optimus Prime," Cyclonus said with a shrug.

"That can't be right," Rad exclaimed with a frown. "If he wanted to talk with Optimus, he could have just called him."

"Yeah well, Megatron wants to see him in person," Cyclonus retorted. "Meanwhile, we get to show those Autobrats how real bots fight."

"This is just so you guys can have a punch-up?" Alexis said in disbelief. "I don't believe this."

"What's wrong with a punch-up?" Cyclonus asked in total seriousness.

"I...urgh, never mind," Alexis said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"So why are we here?" Rad demanded as Carlos said.

"Cause the Autobots would never come out otherwise."

"Precisely," came the raspy voice which belonged to the Seeker Starscream.

"Optimus Prime has found Megatron, we're just waiting for those other two to find us," he explained, giving the kids a smirk. "You kids just relax and we might take you home later."

"We wanted to see the stars at midnight," Carlos said mulishly but Starscream continued to smirk, aiming his blaster at the ceiling and firing.

The kids yelped and covered their heads as rubble raining down but their cages protecting them, only a few small pieces hit them. Now, the hall they were in opened out onto the sky where all the stars glittered brightly. For a moment, as rubble dust fell as though snowing, it all looked rather beautiful and peaceful.

But it was spoiled a moment later by a shout.

"Hey you Decepticreeps!"

"Finally," grumbled Cyclonus, leaping to his feet to lunge at Hotshot who had just charging in.

As Starscream also leapt forward to engage him, Red Alert came in a moment later already wrestling Demolisher. The kids cages shook and swung as all five transformer wrestled and fought in the small confined space. They sighed, realising there was nothing they could do and checking their watches.

It was almost midnight.

Back with the leaders

"I cannot believe it," Optimus complained as he dodged Megatron's attempt to slam his face into the ground.

"You have been drinking yourself silly and decide you want to have a fight?"

"Of course," Megatron said, his words not slurred but his optics were buzzing with the powerful energy High Grade gave.

"Don't tell me you haven't had any?" Megatron added with a sneering smirk. "You should live a little, Optimus."

This made Optimus mentally pause, Megatron never called him Optimus, at least to his face. Just what was up with Megatron, what made him decide to get drunk and then fight him? But he couldn't dwell on this as Megatron seized him by the waist and charged forward, managing
to force him to the ground. He strained against his rival but wasn't able to dislodge him.

"Just tell me why Megatron," he said tiredly as Megatron leered down at him, now clutching a fresh cube of High Grade which he'd just summoned from sub space.

Ten

Nine

Eight

"Well, what else would I do on New Year's eve?" Megatron asked, some of his High Grade dripping onto Optimus's mask.

Three

Two

One

"Happy New year, Prime," Megatron said, toasting Optimus as fireworks went off, perhaps by the Minicons, maybe the Decepticons but it didn't really matter.

"Happy New year, Megatron," Optimus replied with a sigh as Megatron chuckled loudly.

He should have known Megatron would celebrate New Year but drinking....and fighting.