I heard voices as I slowly regained consciousness.

"Ratchet, what are we gonna do? I mean, you ran her over!"

"It's not my fault she was standing in the middle of the road!"

"But still. Should we take her to Optimus?"

"Miko, are you kidding? She's still knocked out; our best bet would be to take her to my mom. I mean, she is a bit scraped up."

"Okay, so are we going in the Doc-bot or in your car?"

Doc-bot?

"Don't call me that, Miko."

"In the car. Hopefully she won't wake up-"

Whoever was speaking was interrupted when I sat up and opened my eyes. I covered my mouth in shock when I saw a giant robot in front of me, but was there only for a second before there was an ambulance in its place. My eyes widened, and I blinked several times, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming or anything.

"Okay, now we definitely have to take her to Optimus," Miko muttered. "She knows."

"Great..." the ambulance suddenly said sarcastically, and I scooted away in shock. Whatever it was, it didn't seem too friendly. Jack offered a hand, and I took it, and I stayed behind him for protection. He chuckled.

"Cassidy, meet Ratchet. Ratchet, Cassidy," Miko introduced. I looked over Jack's shoulder to give it a small wave.

"Hmph," was the ambulance's reply.

"Just wait until you meet the others!" Miko said excitedly, pulling me out of my hiding spot behind Jack. I hid behind her, my eyes focused on the ambulance the entire time. She shook her head.

"If we show her, she might hide behind one of us forever," Raf replied. I took a glance at the ambulance still sitting in the middle of the road, before its front wheels turned in my direction. I hid behind Miko again, before I saw my notebook lying on the asphalt. I went to go pick it up, before noticing my arm, which was pretty scraped up. I reached for my pencil, before realizing it must've fallen off my ear. I ran back behind Miko, before flipping through my notebook and showing her.

What's going on?

"Uh, you got ran over. By the Doc-Bot."

"I told you not to call me that!" the ambulance immediately replied, which made me duck behind Miko again.

"And you can tell her she doesn't need to hide, I'm not going to kill her," the ambulance called. "That's the Decepticons' job."

I didn't budge, before I realized that's what Miko had been talking about.

"Just give me the answers before we all have to end up in a museum with Decepti-ow!"

Decepticons.

"Not helping, Ratchet," Jack seethed.

"Just get in; we're taking her to the base. And there's a first-aid kit in the back."

We piled in the front. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed to fit. This thing was obviously alive, and it felt weird to be riding inside it, but the others didn't seem to care. I looked to Raf, making do with my notebook.

What's your name?

Before he could answer, I pointed to the dashboard.

"Oh. Ratchet."

"What?"

"Nothing... she just wanted to know your name again," Raf replied.

"Well, it's what Raf said. I wasn't paying much attention to Miko's introduction, so what's your name?"

My name is Cassidy Weathers.

"I would say it's nice to meet you, but it really isn't," he replied. I rolled my eyes as my reply.

"Silent treatment or what?" Ratchet asked.

"She's mute," Jack answered for me. "She can't speak. Oh, by the way, I had your pencil," he said as he dug into his pocket. I nodded to him in thanks before setting it on top of my ear again.

"Good. If Optimus wants you around the base, you won't be as loud as Miko here," Ratchet said as he turned on a street leading to a giant cliff edge.

"Hey!" Miko cried. I let the corners of my mouth turn up in a small smile, before realizing we were headed straight for the cliff edge. Great. Two car accidents in one day. I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact.

I was surprised when the impact never came. Instead, we were driving through a tunnel, and Ratchet slowed to a stop in a room with computers and screens everywhere, but what shocked me the most was four more robots in the room. I got out after Raf, my mouth open in shock.

"Cassidy, meet Team Prime!" Miko said cheerfully, pulling my arm. I hid behind her again.

"Told you she would hide," Raf said to Miko, who rolled her eyes.

"Ratchet? Care to explain why there is another human at the base?" one of the robots asked, a blue and pink one.

"I ran her over on the road," he replied as he transformed, and I bit my lip.

"You can't be serious," a green one replied. A yellow and black one warbled.

"Unfortunately," Ratchet replied, his arms crossed over his chest.

I had another epiphany. These three robots were the same ones to pick up Jack, Miko, and Raf from school. I pointed at them, my arm shaking as I looked to Raf and Jack, my eyes wide. I slowly pointed to the blue and pink one, before pointing to Jack, and then pointed to the green one and Miko, then to the Black and yellow one and Raf.

"Yeah, those are our rides," Jack replied. "Meet Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee."

"Bumblebee's mute, too," Miko whispered. I nodded, slowly deciding I didn't need her as a shield anymore as I looked to the robots. The one called 'Bumblebee' was the only one to wave at me. I remembered seeing another robot, but I couldn't find it as I scanned the area, until I found out it was right behind me. I tripped as I fell on the floor, and if I wasn't mute, I probably would've screamed.

"That's Optimus," Miko whispered as she helped me back up. I wanted my shield again, and I noticed Raf give Miko another 'I told you so' look when I hid behind her. Optimus slowly kneeled down, nearly at our level, and I looked up at him, feeling a bit more comfortable.

"Sorry to frighten you," he said gently. "I see you've met the others. My name is Optimus Prime, and we are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron. Our home planet was destroyed by a war between Autobots and Decepticons, as we fought for energon, our very lifeblood. Jack, Miko, and Rafael learned of our existence recently, and now, so have you."

I grabbed my pencil as I wrote something down before showing it to Jack.

Did you all get run over, too?

I could see Jack was trying to hold back his laughter as he shook his head.

"No, I happened to be sitting on Arcee in her vehicle mode when she had to evade 'cons, and Raf caught us in action. Miko found out the day after, when Arcee was trying to convince me to come back to base."

"I still don't know why you would hesitate on something like that," Miko replied, which made Arcee sigh and roll her...eyes?

"You will need a guardian," Optimus said gently as he stood up to his full height, which was much taller than any of the others, I noticed. I heard a warble, and turned to see Bumblebee gesturing to me.

"No, none of you will have a second charge."

"So it's you?" Arcee asked, giving Optimus a puzzled look.

"It is not me, either," Optimus replied, looking over at Ratchet.

"Optimus, you can't be serious! I have work to do here, I can't look after a human! Besides, I ran her over; I'm basically like a threat to her very existence! And what about the fact that I'm an ambulance? It would look sort of suspicious having one pick her up from, what was it you humans call it? School?" he asked as he looked at me.

There was no emotion in Optimus's voice as he asked, "Are you done finding excuses?"

"Hold on, I'm still narrowing it down to my top five," Ratchet replied as he looked off into space to think.

"Ratchet, you are her guardian, and that's final," he said firmly as he gestured to me. I met his eyes, and he met mine, before looking back to Optimus.

"...Fine."

I exhaled slowly. This should be interesting.

~~~

Ratchet is so fun to write. XD

Hope y'all enjoyed this one, because I enjoyed writing it. :]

5 1/2 pages on word and three on Watty. Interesting...

Till next time!

*disappears*