Aftermath

Aftermath



(Please see Artist's Comments BEFORE reading, for warnings and disclaimers)




Prime tried to move and found his relays frozen.
That alone would have been disconcerting were it not for the intense pounding within his helm, as if Rumble was trapped inside and trying to escape.

Why am I on the floor? He asked himself, waiting patiently as his optics focused on his immediate surrounds. The Rec Room was in semi darkness save for strobe lights flashing madly overhead. When had the base acquired strobe lights?

The strobe lights he could understand, the stacks of evaporating high grade cubes scattered across the floor and atop the tables, that too he could understand.
Blaster offline atop a makeshift stage and sporting an Elvis bouffant wig ... that was a little harder to grasp.
So was Wheeljack tucked alongside him, decked out in a bandoleer, sombrero and fake moustache.

What had happened? Prime wondered. Why was Cliffjumper covered in fluorescent Autobot symbols? Why was Windcharger wearing rabbit ears and tail?

'Autobots ...' Prime tried to speak but failed.
His systems were rebooting very slowly, overwhelmed by excess energon.

Struggling to his feet he did his best to step over Ironhide and Sideswipe, who had apparently fallen into recharge halfway through an arm wrestling match.

His processors finally completed rebooting, firing the last fragments stored within his memory core and bringing recollection at last.
Jazz had returned from his latest mission and had held a party to celebrate.

Aha! Prime smiled behind his faceplate.
Jazz's parties were legendary affairs but Prime had never taken part before, usually due to his duties, so he was always at a loss as to why these parties often resulted in solar cycles of hard work for Ratchet and more than a few malfunctioning memory cores. Now he understood.

The Rec Room was in chaos, Autobots lay scattered everywhere, atop tables and benches, many in costume, others covered in paint.
Prime came across almost everyone he knew but could see no sign of Jazz anywhere.

'Bumblebee?' Prime spotted Bumblebee walking by, wearing a hula skirt and carrying a long pole.

'Eh?' Bumblebee asked hazily, 'Oh! Hey, Prime!' He smiled, 'you up too?'

Optimus Prime felt embarrassed to be seen like this. It was his duty to set an example for his troops.

'Where are you going?' Prime asked.

'To get Jazz.' Bumblebee smiled and went on his way.

Prime was curious and followed the minibot, stepping as carefully as possible over Grimlock and the Dinobots, who lay scattered along the corridors, wearing tutus and tiaras.

'I told him,' Bumblebee grumbled, '"the consistency's all wrong! You're going to get stuck!"'

'Pool?' Prime wondered, following Bumblebee outside.

Prime couldn't remember much of what had occurred the previous night but he would ask Jazz, the moment Bumblebee managed to scoop him from the middle of the conductive electrojelly pool.

'C'mon!' Bumblebee insisted, poking Jazz who was wedged in the midst of the jelly along with other offline Autobots.

'Where'd he go?' Jazz gurgled in a daze as his helm popped from the gel.

'Who?' Bumblebee looked about.

'Yey tall,' Jazz vaguely gestured, 'kinda shiny … can't remember his name now …'

Bumblebee ignored him, still trying to scoop him closer to the pool's edge.

Meanwhile, in Decepticon Headquarters, Megatron was having similar problems.

'What …' Megatron began, grumbling as he stirred, central processors lagging, 'where am I?'

'A better question would be, where have you been?!' Starscream sneered.

Megatron was immediately mortified to find himself lying atop the base's main console, a Cybertronian sized traffic cone attached to his helm and his pristine silver armour covered in fluoro Autobot symbols.

Finis