Fanfic Posting Thread

okay, i know i haven't gotten on here in a while, but this TF story is awesome! keep it up!!!

There was only one man at the guard post.
“Did you not get the message?” Lennox asked, frustrated. He, Epps, and the guard were standing on the porch of the little cabin.
“Oh, we got it all right,” the man said. “Problem is, no one ‘round here is qualified for what you’re askin’ them to do.” He peered over Lennox’s shoulder. “Are them those robot things? They look like regular cars and trucks. Nothin’ special ‘bout ‘em.”
Epps cursed under his breath.
Ironhide transformed. “We are not Earth vehicles,” he growled. “We’re here to stop your planet from being destroyed. Show some respect.”
Strangely enough, the man simply shifted his pipe to the other side of his mouth. “You’re big and scary, all right. The only thing more badass than you ‘round here is the grizzlies.”
“Well.” Jazz chuckled. “Looks like you met your match with this one.”
“I’m not tryin’ to screw you up,” the man told them. “I figured you’d rather work alone than with a bunch of unqualified yahoos. You’d just have to worry about them gettin’ killed. The people here know nothin’ about the advanced weaponry you’ve got, tough as they are. There are Inuit and Yupik guides who could cross the whole state without leaving a single footprint. But I don’t think even they could hide all of you.”
No one spoke for a moment. Here was man who probably hadn’t said a word in days, but he had summed them up at a glance. And he was completely right.
“Okay, that’s fair,” Epps conceded. “Got a map you can give us?”
“Sure thing.” He handed over a travel atlas. “There’s a political and a topographical map in there. That should help you.”
Epps dug in his pack. “I’m gonna leave this satellite radio with you. If you see or hear anything—even if it’s just gossip—let us know. You’re our eyes out here, okay? Thanks a ton for your help.”
The man nodded, took the radio, and went back inside. Ironhide transformed, and allowed Epps and Lennox to climb into his front seat.
“Wow,” said Sam. He was riding with Optimus. “I’ve n-never been this c-cold before!” “I can heat my interior,” Optimus suggested.
“I’m f-f-fine. You need to c-c-conserve your energy.”
“So do you and being chilled will only make you sick.” Optimus blasted warm air into his cab. “Does that feel better?”
“Yes.” Sam leaned toward the vents. “Thank you.”
An hour later, Ratchet transmitted to the Autobots, “We need to stop for a while. We have to de-ice ourselves.”
They pulled off the road—if it could be called such—and into the shelter of the forest.
“Leakin’ lubricants,” Ironhide groaned. He transformed once Lennox and Epps got out. “I’m too old for this crap.”
Sam jumped out of Optimus’s cab and landed knee-deep in a snow drift.
Optimus transformed, his joints creaking. He stumbled. “Oooh. I think my equilibrium circuits are misaligned.”
Elita grasped his arm to steady him. “Are you—oh, no!”
She slipped on a patch of ice. Optimus made a grab for her, but only succeeded in hitting the same ice. They fell in a heap.
“I wish you could see yourselves,” Epps laughed. “The dignified Autobot leader, on his ass in the snow.”
Optimus threw a handful of snow at him and hit the Twins in the process. That was all it took for the fight to begin.
Jazz stooped down and formed a snowball. “Hey, Wheeljack!”
“Wha—” The snowball hit him full in the face. “Aw, now you’re going to get it!”
Skyfire hit Ironhide with massive snowball that knocked the weapons master off his feet.
“Skids!” Sam shouted. “Come and get it!”
“You’ll never catch me!” Skids retorted.
“No, but I will!” Ratchet dumped a handful of snow directly over the little Autobot’s head. “Gotcha!”
“Ratchet, look out behind you!” Sam warned.
“Sam!” Hound cried. “You rat! Now I’ll splat on you!”
In a second, Sam was buried. Bumblebee pulled him out by the back of his parka.
“Oh, so you want to go against me?” Hound asked.
Bumblebee dropped into a battle crouch, his optics glowing in a smile.
“Come on, Perceptor!” Chromia taunted. “Join the fun!”
“No, thank you,” Perceptor replied. “I think I will stay dry.”
“Mudflap!” Ironhide called. “GET HIM!”
“No!” Perceptor held up his hands and backed away. “No!”
His next words were cut off as Mudflap hit him in the face with a snowball.
“Epps!” Lennox spat out a mouthful of ice. “Get back here!”
He football-tackled Epps and shoved a fistful of snow down his back.
“Jazz, that one hurt!” Elita staggered and bumped into Chromia from behind.
Optimus let fly at Jazz, and knocked him over with a giant snowball. A moment later, Optimus was struck on the side of his head.
“Sam!” he boomed, whirling around. “Nice shot, but not nice enough!”
Once again, Sam got buried and once again, Bumblebee dug him out.
Skids pointed at Skyfire. “Take him down!” he screamed to his twin.
They both began pelting the giant Autobot with snowballs.
“Big mistake!” Skyfire thundered.

LOL!!! So cute!

you are really good elphie~

“Now that was a good fight,” Ironhide said thirty minutes later. “I haven’t had that much fun since that time on Cybertron when Optimus and I—”
“Stop right there,” Optimus warned. “That was a long time ago.”
Ironhide laughed.
“I guess snow isn’t so bad after all,” Bumblebee remarked, digging ice from between his toes. Sam sat on a log beside him, drenched.
“You got good aim for someone who doesn’t fight,” Jazz told Skyfire.
The enormous Autobot chuckled. “True.”
“He throws hard, too,” Skids added.
Mudflap nodded. “It hurts.”
“We should get going,” Optimus said regretfully. “Night comes quickly.”
“It will get colder, as well,” Perceptor said. “More animals will come out.”
Bumblebee and Epps looked up quickly.
“It can get colder?” Bumblebee demanded.
“Animals?” Epps repeated. “No more critters. Please.”
Optimus stood up and stamped the snow from his legs. “Is everyone warm enough to transform?”
“I think so,” Ratchet answered. “Might be a little tough, but we can manage.”
Creaking and groaning, the Autobots changed shaped more slowly than usual. Chromia, Perceptor and Elita One got into Optimus’s trailer with no prompting, and Sam climbed into the Autobot leader’s front seat.
“Sam, you are soaking wet,” Optimus said. “I’ll get you warm again.”
“You can’t keep using up your energy like this,” Sam protested.
“Arguing will get you nowhere,” Elita called from inside the trailer. “Besides, Optimus is the one who started the snow fight in the first place.”
Optimus’s low growl was far from threatening. Warm air began to pour from his vents.


Optimus speaks…

It was exactly as cold as I had feared it would be. The snow was three feet deep on the main road—which was not much of a road to begin with. Hound, Ironhide and Ratchet took turns at point position breaking a path through the snow. Elita and Chromia’s alternate modes were both too small to move about without getting stuck, so they rode in my trailer along with Perceptor. Sam sat in my front seat, and I was trying to keep him warm. In terms of power consumption, it was not an ideal situation. Elita was in my trailer and she somehow sensed my fatigue.
“Optimus,” she said through a closed transmission. “I will give you a power transfusion tomorrow after I have soaked up some sunlight.”
“I will be fine,” I told her. “Sam needs the heat I am generating.”
“You are also carrying the three of us. You did not factor that into your energy output equations, did you?”
She had me there. “No, I did not.”
“I rest my case.”
“I think it is time to stop for the night,” Ratchet broadcast. “There is a storm coming in.”
I took his advice and directed everyone to take shelter in the forest. Ratchet was correct: the blizzard started within a few minutes. In the trees, we were protected from the worst of it, but we could still hear the wind whistling as we sat in a circle upon the ground.
“So…what’s it supposed to do?” Mudflap asked Lennox.
“It’s supposed to catch on fire.” Lennox threw down the last useless match and stared at the pile of logs. “d**n, I was looking forward to some coffee.”
“Lennox,” Wheeljack called, “move.” Lennox scooted out of the way and Wheeljack lit the fire with a spark from his fingers. “There. Problem solved.”
Lennox added more branches until the flames were roaring happily. Then he perched on a log and began preparing a self-heating meal.
Epps opened his laptop. “The last Decepticon signal was about twenty-five miles east of here. Think we can make it by noon tomorrow?”
“We could make it by sun up if you humans didn’t have to sleep,” Ironhide grumbled.
“If I recall, you were the one who said you would be an ice cube by morning,” Hound reminded him.”
“Knock it off,” I ordered wearily. “Bickering will get us nowhere.”
“The Decepticons have been here longer than we have,” Ratchet pointed out. “Think how miserable they must be.”
I leaned a bit closer to the warmth of the flames. “In any case, we cannot travel at night. It is far too cold, and the humans need to sleep.”
“Take it from me,” Skyfire said, speaking for the first time in hours, “you do not want to be out and about in a blizzard.”
Mudflap nodded in Skyfire’s direction. “We go where Big Man goes.” Skids agreed solemnly.
Sam and Lennox dug into their self-heated meals and Skids made a face. I had no idea what the food was, but I could smell it, and it was repulsive. Not that any of us knew a thing about human food, but still.
Elita leaned against me and I put my arm around her. Her exoskeleton was warm to the touch.
“How are you doing that?” I demanded.
“I’m trying to thaw out my joints,” she replied with a laugh. Sparks flew as she rubbed my cold hands.
“Sam,” Epps said. “Help me set up the tents.”
Ironhide groaned. “Did you really think we were gonna make you sleep on the ground?” He transformed. “Shut up and get in.”
“I will take the first watch.” Elita got to her feet. “Chromia, please join me.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Chromia chirped. She got up and followed Elita, priming her main weapon.
Ratchet shifted into vehicle mode. “Lennox, you may bunk with me.”
“Bumblebee.” When I had the little Autobot’s attention, I motioned wordlessly toward Sam.
Bumblebee nodded. He reached over and poked the boy’s shoulder. With his teeth chattering, Sam looked up. Bumblebee transformed and opened his door.

Yeah, they're all kind of out of it.

Wake up, Maggie, I think I got something to say to you…”
Sam rolled over on Bumblebee’s back seat. “Thanks for keeping me warm, ‘Bee. How you doing?”
“Baby, it’s cold outside!”
“No kidding.” A pair of gleaming metal legs strode past as Sam staggered out into the snow. “Morning, Optimus.”
“Good morning, Sam. We must get going. The visibility is terrible.”
“Not an ounce of sunlight to be had,” Elita One muttered as she stalked into view. “Nothing out there to absorb. Sorry, Optimus.”
Half an hour later, they were on the road. The blizzard was going full force.
“Is everyone still back there?” Optimus called from point position.
“Right here, Optimus,” Hound replied. “I can hardly see you!”
“I can hardly see the road!” Optimus said. “If we are even on a road. I have never seen weather like this. I tried reversing the polarity of my windshield. Didn’t help.”
“We’re less than a mile from Jack Dun’s cabin,” Ironhide reported. “That was the last known Decepticon sighting. We should be able to pick up some energy readings and follow them.”
“If we separate in this storm, we will never find each other. Autobots halt,” Optimus ordered. He opened his trailer. “Everyone out. I will take point and go in first.”
Once Elita, Chromia, and Perceptor had clambered out, he transformed and strode forward, half-obscured by the blowing snow. The Autobots followed him closely in vehicle mode. After a few minutes, he stopped and motioned for the others to do the same.
“Autobots, transform,” Optimus said. “Sensors on full. I am not picking up anything, but be cautious.”
“The house—what’s left of it—is to the east.” Ironhide primed his cannons. “We can start there.”
“Here, kid.” Lennox tossed Sam a radiation detector. “Make yourself useful.”
Bumblebee and Hound came up beside Optimus.
“I just don’t know.” Hound sniffed at the air. “It doesn’t make sense. Quiet as a graveyard here, but Megatron doesn’t operate like that.
“Something’s wrong,” Bumblebee said in Cybertronian. “Stay back, guys.” He took a step forward.
With a monumental crack, Bumblebee disappeared from sight. A second later, the ground gave way beneath Hound’s feet. He gave a startled cry and flailed, trying to scramble back onto solid ground, but he, too, began to fall. Optimus reached out to help him. He clamped his hand around Hound’s arm, intent on pulling him back. Unfortunately, the snow lacked the traction for to brace, and Optimus slid into the hole and landed atop the other two.
Above them, humans and Autobots alike began shouting and surged forward.
“DON’T MOVE!” Optimus roared. “It was trap!” Satisfied that no one else would fall in, he turned to his comrades. “Everyone all right?”
“Sore, but functioning,” Hound groaned. “Not to offend you Optimus, but you’re heavy.”
“My apologies.”
“I…have a problem,” Bumblebee transmitted. He was sitting down rubbing his right leg. There was a large dent in the armor on his shin. Fluid dripped from the injury and froze almost instantly. “I’ll have to ask Ratchet to check this out.”
“Bumblebee!” Optimus stopped down. “What happened?”
“I landed a little off, then Hound landed on me, and you landed on him. But I’ll be fine.” He motioned upward. “More bad news. According to my calculations, none of us are tall enough to climb out.”
“You’re right,” Hound agreed reluctantly. “The walls are sheer, nothing to grab onto. I don’t even think we could jump high enough to reach the rim.”
Sam’s head appeared over the edge of the hole. “Hey, guys.”
“Sam, what are you doing? Get back!” Optimus ordered.
“I’m the scrawniest,” Sam told him. “Least likely to fall through.”
“Back up, kid,” Hound said.
“Everybody okay?” Sam asked, clearly ignoring the orders. “Ironhide wants to know if you guys can get out on your own.”
“Bumblebee is hurt.” Optimus glared up at the boy. “We will figure a way out of here. The others will be in danger if they try to help.”
“Tell him to get away from the edge.” Bumblebee stood up, favoring his bad leg. “He will be in a world of trouble if he falls in.”
Optimus relayed the message and Sam nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
Hound turned to Bumblebee. “You get into trouble wherever you go, don’t you?”
“It’s my special power.” Bumblebee’s transmission was sarcastic.
“Some things never change,” Optimus said to Hound. “That is why I never have him take point.”
“If you recall, I was trying to keep you from getting hurt,” Bumblebee remarked irritably.
“Whoo, ‘Bee, you really done it this time.” Mudflap slid into view with Skids right beside him.
“Are you going to help or just gawk?” Hound asked.
“Oh, we gonna help,” Skids assured them. “We just wanted to tease you first.”
Optimus growled at him. “Send Sam back. He makes more sense than you two.”
“Mudflap’s the only one who has a cable,” Sam said as he came into sight. “We’re going to pull you up one by one.”
“That will take a lot of power from everyone.”
“It’s the only way, Prime,” Ratchet called from the sidelines.
“All right,” Optimus relented. “Get Jazz. I need to give him some orders before we started.”
“We’re on solid ground.” Jazz’s voice was calm as he peered into the hole. “Perceptor scanned everything, and Skyfire’s overhead makin’ sure no Deceptigoons creep on us. I’m havin’ the rest of the gang search around for clues.”
“Good,” Optimus said. “Now, listen.”