Idiosynthesize

Woooo! :D

Freestyle. Adaptation (the chameleon blending concept, if that gives you any ideas to work with. Can be on Earth or before.)

From:

Takes place on Earth (possibly obviously). This connects in my head, but as I'm very quickly losing coherent thought it may only be in my head that it connects.
---
They drifted into a hard hairpin around the street partition, squealing tires sending off plumes of smoke as the cars spun into a 180. The leading car's differentials locked, treads gripping the asphalt and turbo revving the engine hard-

"Jesus shit-"

The lead jerked to the side, mowing down a 40 mph sign as the trailing car found the inside line, nearly snapping off a wing mirror as he streaked ahead.

A voice crackled over the 2-way radio, part furious, part elated all to hell at the race, "Dammit Sterling, crazy motherfucker- I give. You won this round."

The two cars coasted back to the square, fairly spilling out with cars and people that erupted into cheers as the racers returned. The Impreza slipped into the crowd first, gleaming flawlessly blue in the midnight lighting and neon signs that lined the strip. Sterling stepped out of the driver's seat with widespread arms and an even wider spread grin. The crowd erupted into louder cheers and groans as money swapped hands.

"Goddamn, Sterling. Yer fuckin' killin' me, here!"

"That boy don't ever lose, when you gonna wise up?"

"Fuck, I owe ya like a stripper or some shit for this."

Sterling just gave them all his trademark reckless grin, feeding off the praise even as he encouraged it. "What can I say, an object in motion and all." He draped himself over the bonnet of his Impreza, holding a hand out for the race's winnings to be slapped in the palm

[Hate to break it to ya, Style,] a voice crackled in Sterling's head, [but you should be heading back.]

At the same time a voice yelled out in the crowd, "Got badges comin'!"

In seconds, half the crowd were in their cars and those started peeling away, scattering in various directions. Someone shouted over to Sterling, "We're regrouping at the Manor shopping center- you coming?"

"I'm done for the night," he called back, sliding back into the bucket seats, "I'll catch you guys later!"

It wasn't until he was near the outer city limits that the voice came back [How'd the night go?]

[Not bad, won a lot less than I used to, though.]

[Maybe if you didn't win so often...]

[Doesn't really matter,] the car settled more fully on the suspension and the road. [So why're you calling me back? Someone finally noticing what we're up to?]

[Not just yet, but if we don't ease off, someone's gonna. And if Red Alert gets his way in getting everyone a permanent tag in Teletran, our racing nights are basically over.]

Now that he was well into the back roads taking him from Portland into the mountain ranges, the form of Sterling clipped itself out of existence, leaving Freestyle to continue driving with only his brother's comm link keeping him company. [Yo, Relay.]

[Hm?]

[Appreciate you covering for me.]

On the other end he could hear his brother scoffing. [Of course I'd cover for you! That way you have no excuse to cover for me when I feel like lying down rubber!]

Freestyle's engine gunned like a throaty laugh. [I dunno, if they actually ask for ya, I may decide that covering is too much effort..]

[Yeah, funny. I was just thinking how much effort this was on my part, too.]

His engine gunned again, settling into the lonely roads and his brother's familiar banter seeing him back to Ark.

From:

<3 this. =) Muchly so!

From:

Hrm. If another is allowed - Relay. Keeping up appearances for the sake of his brother. If that works. :)

From:

This probably wasn't what you really had in mind. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind but the idea is close |D

Takes place kinda early in Style's arrival on Earth.
---

Jazz had gotten three complaints in two days. 'That mech's just been causing trouble since he got here!', 'The entirety of the section 8 junction is a mess!', 'Jazz, you need to get Freestyle under control.'

Which, under normal circumstances, would have had that black and white pulling said mech aside for a long chat, but the circumstances were hardly normal. Jazz hadn't seen Freestyle in days. With the exception of showing up for monitor duty, the Impreza had made himself scarce. And that, to Jazz, did not bode well.

But first thing was first. Jazz tracked down Relay in one of Ark's common areas, the mid-day hours granting him almost exclusive use of the room while everyone else was either resting or attending to their assigned duties.

"Jazz!" The red mech smiled broadly, waving at the empty seat next to him. "What are you up to today?"

Jazz, though accepting the seat, did not return the smile back. "Relay," he said flatly, "you need to stop."

The Lancer tilted his head to one side. "Stop what?"

"You know you can't lie to me. I know the both of you too well."

The smile fell from Relay's faceplates. Deciding it prudent to not press his commanding officer, he stayed silent.

Air heaved through Jazz's vents and he was feeling his rank and age in ways he didn't enjoy feeling. "Why are you pulling these stunts, Relay? It's not from some weird sense of obligation, is it?"

Yellow optics widened at that. "What? No! No, it's not... not... really..." The Lancer slouched down, looking at his hands as if staring at them would hide himself from Jazz.

"So then what is it really?"

"It's for Freestyle. I'm not trying to make up for anything doing this, I'm... it's...," he'd be slouching down further if it were possible, "I'm trying to protect him."

Jazz did not look at all convinced, opticband staring steadily through the younger mech. "Protecting him by getting him into trouble with everyone else?"

"No, it's not- I'm trying- it's complicated!"

"Freestyle's still distancing himself from the other Autobots due to trust issues, went off somewhere and you're trying to cover for his absence by pulling pranks to make everyone think he's still lurking around so they won't grow concerned about him and start pressing him with questions he doesn't want to deal with. Right?"

Relay boggled. "Er... well, yeah. Pretty much."

A quirk of lips was his first reply. "I told ya I knew the both of you too well. Where's yer brother?"

The return of Jazz's less formal speech pattern didn't ease Relay's guilt any. "I don't know. He's only been back when he has to and leaves without telling me anything." Then, almost inaudibly, "He hasn't been answering any of my comms."

Standing, the Porsche leaned over to pat Relay's shoulder. "I'll track 'im easy, no worries."

A hand clamped down on his, Relay's expression desperate, "He's not in trouble, is he?"

Were it anyone else- and were he anyone else -a denial would easily have slipped through his vocalizer. But this was Jazz and he didn't pad the truth for his mechs. "We'll havta see. I'm not lookin' to get him in trouble, but him an' I are gonna have a long chat. What comes outta that will depend on him." He patted Relay's shoulder again before turning to leave the room and then Ark.

From:

The Jazz love, it never ends. <3

:D

And since you told me I could ask for another...

Both Brothers & WRC!!!

:: runs for the hills! ::

From:

Damn you! *shakes fist* I should've seen this coming!
---

Two cars were parked side by side before a 7-11, each with a young, dark haired man leaning against the sides. One had a newsboy cap and a Sobe, the other sipping on a large Slurpee.

"He's got the speed," said the one in the cap calmly, "he's both still young and not as experienced in the championship. He has time."

Taking the time to get in one more slurp, the other countered, "Yeah, but will Ford have the patience? How many chances is Wilson gonna keep giving him? Last year wasn't all that much better, what with his being regulated back to Stobart for two rallies."

"So you think Ford should give up on him?"

"Depending on his performance in Finland, yeah." He took another long slurp. "C'mon, Ry. He could be great, but he just doesn't have the consistency. I mean- there was absolutely no pressure on him in that last stage, it wasn't a particularly tricky corner and yet, somehow, Latvala still managed to crash out. Mikko should've been two point ahead in the standings, now he's only one and Ford would've been six points behind Citroen instead of seventeen-"

"So he's had a bad year, it happens." Ryland drained his drink, took aim and tossed the bottle into a garbage can. "He's got the same mentality McRae, Vatanen and Makinen had. All or nothing."

"If Latvala was the number one driver, he could have that kind of mentality, but he's not. Mikko is and Jari-Matti's job is to help him up the driver's standings and get points for the manufacturer's championship. He's retired from two rallies and had to restart three. That's not a good percentage."

"Pfft," Ryland leaned back on the gray and red bonnet of his Mitsubishi, "like your performance was much better when you first started driving. Style."

Sterling glared, even his slurping was unamused. "That's different."

"Yeah, we being what we are, our crashing out is far, far sadder."

"And yet I'm still the faster driver of the two of us."

"And I'm the more consistent one."

"You're such a dick, Ryland."

The younger man grinned, big and proudly, "I know."

Reaching the bottom of his drink, Sterling went to toss the cup away. As he reapproached his Subaru, headlights swept over the parking lot and cars started filling in.

"Hey, we got both Raleighs tonight!"

The two waved back as cars parked and people hopped out, greeting each other loudly.

"Alright, before we get distracted racing," Sterling said, leaning close to his brother so no one else would overhear, "Latvala will finish Finland without retiring or restarting, yes or no."

"Yes."

"No."

Ryland gave the sharp grin he shared with his older brother, "We'll see at the end of the month."

"Yes we will." Pushing the younger one ahead of him, Sterling steered them both into the crowd.

From:

Bwahahahahaha! I laugh an evil laugh! ;)

That was great! (And for a non WRC fan, I actually followed this fine. Go me! XD)

And, since you said yes... Ahem.

Brothers (again), optional on others to show up if you want. Having watched the Star Wars trilogy, they associate Darth Vader to Megatron. It's all in the helm you see.

:: wise nod ::

From:

I'm really glad to hear that, actually. I was worried no one would know what I was talking about. Part of the reason I'm hesitant about doing Rally/WRC stuff. I'd fangirl all over the piece |D
---

"So," Freestyle said in the kind of way Relay had long ago associated with mentally bracing himself for something random and possibly CPU-stopping, "do you think I'd get into trouble if I busted a gasket laughing next time I see Megatron?"

Relay turned to regard his brother, wondering where his thought process kept getting twisted around. "First off, why would you want to see Megatron to begin with, secondly, dare I ask why you'd bust a gasket laughing at him?"

"I got bored so I decided to check out movie night in the common room and they were marathoning Star Wars."

"Uh-oh."

"No, no- it wasn't that bad at all!" Freestyle leaned his elbows on the table thoughtfully. "I mean, okay, science aside, it wasn't that bad. But part of the way through I... might've... er, said something about how Darth Vader's helmet reminded me of Megatron's."

Ooooooh boy. Relay waited, knowing there'd be more coming.

"And that might've started up a discussion, part of it being on how Decepticons seemed to have as good of aim as Storm Troopers and Grimlock could be our Chewie..."

"And the thing about laughing at Megatron?"

Freestyle fidgeted slightly, looking as guilty as the Impreza seemed capable of looking. "Someone- not saying who," which meant it was Freestyle, "might've made a possible connection between Megatron and Vader in which he's actually an old, wrinkled oragnic going around Force strangling his troops."

Relay paused. Relay thought. Relay slowly put his head to the table with a long, stuttering snort he tried to keep locked in his engine. "I hate you, Freestyle."

"We're in trouble, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are."

From:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love this!

From:

Freestlye. Sunstreaker. Duct Tape.

Since Freestyle seems to like antagonizing the dandelion. Eve though I know this can only end in fire. ;)

From:

He held it out like it was the ultimate peace offering. Sunstreaker looked at it- and him -as if he was wabout to put a fist through armor weaker than what he was built to destroy. "Are you mocking me?"

The look Freestyle gave him was affronted, "What- no!"

"Duct tape?" The Lamborghini snapped up the offensive roll where it was perched on the smaller mech's finger. He crushed it between his fingertips. "You rip loose part of my bumper and your offer of help is duct tape?"

Getting defensive and frustrated, Freestyle crossed his arms over the blue expanse of his bonnet. "I didn't do anything to you. You were the one that clipped the guard rail."

"Because you were coming the other way in the middle of the road!"

"You're the one too stubborn to go into medical to get it fixed."

Sunstreaker's engine growled hard, shaking the trees around them. "Because another rant from Ratchet is exactly what I need on my day off!"

The Impreza tossed his hands in the air, done with the argument that rightly shouldn't have happened to begin with. "Fine," he snapped, "I tried to help, you don't want it, my involvement is done."

Freestyle's exit was blocked by an arm barring his way, a fist heavy on the end of it. "I don't think so. You caused this damage, you're taking responsibility for it and I will not tolerate anymore of your stupid jokes."

"I'm not joking! Duct tape is perfectly capable of-"

"Forget it!" Sunstreaker whirled and stalked off as best he could as his left ped dragged part of his front bumper along the ground. "I can't take your incompetence and idiocy!"

He gingerly transformed, sulking on his wheels as he eased his way back to Ark and Freestyle slouched on his support struts, seething. "Incompetence my exhaust port. Just because some bots don't know a proper tool when it's offered to them..." He turned back to the road leading away from the other Autobots and transformed, tires skidding over the sealed surface, looking to dump his bad mood miles behind him.

Edited Date: 2009-07-06 07:31 am (UTC)

From:

Awww...I don't know who to feel bad for here. Sunstreaker because now he has to deal with Ratchet or Freestyle because he was actually trying to help.

But I have to admit my reaction would have probably been much like Sunstreaker's :P

From:

And as it seems you haven't closed the challenge yet, may I have another?

Freestyle,Optimus Prime, Loss

From:

Takes place not long after Freestyle's... 'eventful' arrival on Earth.
---

Between keeping off the humans' radar, tracking Decepticon activity, dealing with the reinforcements from Cybertron and a problematic new arrival, it had been a stressful week for Optimus Prime. In an attempt to calm his overclocking processors, he decided to walk about Ark. The familiarity of the halls loosened up the tension in his body. That is until his sensors pinged at something that wasn't supposed to be there.

He turned, peering into the Ark's low lighting and saw two points of yellow lights glowing in corner. The fluctuating energy signature had the Autobot leader calling out cautiously, "Freestyle?"

"Haven't gotten any of my dampers or shielding reinstalled yet," the newcomer said, stepping into the light, "but still got this close before being spotted. Guess I still got it."

Optimus Prime had been shocked at how small the other mech had appeared with his mismatched pieces of crumpled metal patched over his body. But now, stripped down to his base frame, Freestyle was frighteningly slim, all flexible joints and willowy limbs. He looked more like some starved mechanical creature than a Cybertronian. Optimus Prime had to wonder if, without the armor, Jazz was just as fragile looking.

"Shouldn't you still be in the medbay?"

A sharp grin was his answer, one that put Optimus on the alert. "Are you afraid the crazy newbie is gonna do something terrible to your crew? Who knows how bad the 'cons scrambled my circuits."

"Wheeljack will be finished with your new body frame in a few days. You'll be cleared to leave medbay after that."

"You know," though Freestyle's grin was amiable and his tone light, there was a dark animosity that seeped into the depths of his entirety, "the medbay is an informative place for someone trained in intel gathering. For example, I know that both you and Megatron decided not to expose yourselves to the planet's dominant species. You're perfectly happy with beginning a war that could destroy their planet just like it did Cybertron, but you don't want them to know about it. Of course, you being Autobot Supreme, I'm sure you have all sorts of noble reasons not to drag them in to a war that's not theirs, even though this is their planet. And who knows why the Decepticons do anything. For all you know, in a deca-cycle they'll get bored with the charade and start just destroying everything around them! Or," Freestyle's entire presence became razor edged, "perhaps one of your Autobots will go a little crazy and expose themselves to the humans, suddenly becoming a news sensation the world over. Or maybe the dominant government will try to keep them a secret. Ah- but then you'll really have to watch out because you might find another Autobot- perhaps someone who had someone deer to them taken away before -charging in, determined to save the poor prisoner, even if it meant going on a rampage. There'd be no way for you to do any kind of damage control for the humans after that. What, then, would you possibly do, oh magnanimous Prime?"

Blue optics narrowed carefully. He understood Freestyle had no loyalty to the Autobots after his ordeal, but to blatantly threaten... "Are you planning on doing as such?"

All pretense finally dropped, the small mech in that carefully neutral state Jazz was often in when he was beyond finished dealing with worthless slag. "Luckily for you I don't plan on being captured again for a long time. But keep in mind that I'm not here because I believe in your war so don't think your heroic sentiment means slag to me. Right now the only thing allowing me to consider returning to duty is Jazz. The rest of the Autobots mean absolutely nothing to me and I couldn't care less what happens to them. I'll do my job to the best of my abilities, but don't think I've forgiven anyone."

Then, stepping back, Freestyle said with a smile so bright that, if it weren't for the memory of his words, Optimus Prim wouldn't have known there was someone so dark and bitter beneath it, "Have a good night, Prime."

Freestyle slipped back into the darkness, leaving Optimus Prime to hope Jazz would be able to deal with the mech because damned if he had a single clue on where to start...

From:

o_O Freestyle is not a mech I think I would want to cross. . .

From:

Hehe, yeah. Style's got... issues |D;;

From:

erm...sorry if this seems greedy, but may I request another? *hopeful puppy eyes*

Relay Fireflight Brothers

From:

Yeah, late reply is late sorry^^;; Takes place not long after Freestyle's 'eventful' arrival on Earth.
---

Ever since he was released from medbay, no one seemed to know how to act around Relay anymore. Everyone kept their distance, pretended they weren't watching him or whispering to each other. As if Relay weren't built with advanced sensors to know when he was being watched or hear shushed words. Whenever anyone attempted to engage him in conversation, it was usually stilted and awkward and Relay would always give them a way to gracefully bow out of the talk that they always took.

His life had been completely upended. He found out his supposedly dead brother was still alive and had been a Decepticon captive while command forced Relay to believe he was dead. The red mech glared down into his energon, unable to stop the furious reeling of 'they lied to me' from cycling through his processors.

"Um..."

Relay's head snapped up, a little surprised to find Fireflight giving him a curious look. "Yes?"

"Your brother is kinda..." the jet trailed off, trying find a word he liked. Unable to find it, he tried again, "Are you-"

"What happened was not his fault," Relay snapped, simultaneously angry and relieved that someone finally got around to say it directly to him instead of where they thought he couldn't hear. "Freestyle went through a lot of trauma. He was in pain and disoriented and he didn't recognize me. I should've known better than to approach him when he was in that condition, getting stabbed was my own fault."

Fireflight just looked confused. "I was going to ask if you were glad he's here, but okay."

"Oh," caught completely off balance all of Relay's annoyance drained out. "Well, yeah. I am."

Sitting down next to the Lancer, Fireflight stretched out his legs under the table, aileron flexing unconsciously. "Do bots really think he meant to hurt you?" He tilted his head in thought, "Well, a lot of them don't have siblings so I guess they wouldn't understand them."

Unable to help himself, Relay drawled with a phantom grin, "What, your brothers have a tendency of putting you in medbay?"

"Actually, most of the time it's my own fault," the Aerialbot laughed, "but Air Raid and Slingshot sometimes get carried away and might do or say something to hurt one of us. It's not intentional, they just don't always think first." Fireflight hummed. "It's probably not the same thing that happened with your brother, but when he gets better, I'm sure he'll be sorry about it, just like Raid and Sling do."

Folding his hands together, Relay let out a quiet, "I guess..."

"Of course he will!" The certainty in Fireflight's words- as well as the arms suddenly thrown out as wide as his wings -surprised the other mech, allowing Fireflight to plow on. "He's your brother! No matter what the two of you might go through, you'll always be brothers so you really don't have much of a choice but to make the best of it!" He ended with an important nod.

The corner of Relay's mouth twitched into an almost outright smile. "Did you get that from Slingshot?"

"Silverbolt, actually. I think he was kinda annoyed with us then."

"Well," Relay agreed, "Freestyle with me now. That's what really matters."

From:

AWWWWWWWWW!! If anyone was going to cheer up Relay Fireflight could definitely do it! And ain't it the truth about siblings :P I have to remind myself of that all the time with my little sister lol

So quick question because I've been looking through your later entries but haven't found anything :P From what I've gathered Freestyle was captured by Decepticons and is currently suffering from PTSD, yes? Have you written an actual fic for it? I'd be most interested in reading it :D

And sorry late reply is late >

From:

Asides from a birthday present for Cafei, I haven't written anything out for either Rallys, though what you've gathered so far is pretty accurate. I am sorely tempted to write an actual story for them but, as with all things, time isn't agreeing with me recently.

Though I'm glad to hear someone wouldn't mind reading about them^^

From:

seikk.livejournal.com

Umm. Hi! If you don't mind more prompts?:

Relay. Young.

From:

Yup! Feel free to keep prompting until I get bored and close the challenge^^

Note: this all takes place in a sort of modified G1 cartoon!verse, except instead of millions of years, they crashed only about two thousand years ago.
---

Bumblebee was beyond ecstatic with all the new arrivals from Cybertron- specifically with the new special ops mech. He had met Relay a couple times before Ark had left on its fateful mission, but he recalled the red infiltrator as being good humored and easy to talk to. Now that he was on Earth with the bulk of the Autobot Special Ops, Bumblebee had been learning a lot what had been happening on their homeplanet as well as some new sneaking tricks. And best of all?

Bumblebee threw his arms wide, face an expression of utter elation, "You're younger than me!" The rest of the company at their table erupted into laughter, even Mirage couldn't help a little smile on his lips at that.

"Well, technically yes."

Relay's little shrug and grin made the minibot quirk an optic ridge. "What do you mean 'technically'?"

Spreading his hands in a 'don't shoot the messenger' kind of way, Relay said, "I may be a couple centuries younger, but you were in a comatose state for far longer. So, in terms of experience and active time, you'd still be the youngest."

That got even more laughter. "Aw, Bee!" Blaster chortled, slapping the minibot on the shoulder, "You were so close!"

"Being young isn't so bad," Hound said, attempting to be placating even as his grin curled over his faceplates.

"Argh!" Bumblebee waved his arms about, "That doesn't count at all! He's younger! End of story! Go coddle him!"

"I dunno, Bee, that's a pretty heavy order," the Jeep chided, watching how Relay merely observed the proceedings with a soft curl to his lips, head resting on the palm of one hand. "He's pretty mature for his age."

A petulant scowl (pout) was his reply. "And you're saying I'm not?"

"What about the two combiner teams?"

Everyone looked at Relay, as perfectly innocent as ever, as if he said something none of them had ever considered before. "They are the youngest, aren't they? After all, they were created after you reactivated here on Earth."

Optics made contact with each other over Bumblebee's head and said 'uh-oh'. Bumblebee scowled darkly (no pout about this one). "That," he groused, "is a very good question..."

"Hey now, Bee..."

"The Dinobots as well," Relay continued thoughtfully, "they certainly have a limited maturity. Though I suppose, they being as large and powerful as they are, there's no real concern over them. They're certainly capable of taking care of themselves."

"W-Well-"

"You think I can't take care of myself??"

The larger mechs fumbled for words, trying to defend themselves against an irate Bumblebee. Relay continued to watch them, head still in his hand, edges of his lips still slightly curled upward. The only thing that had changed was a gleam in his optics.

Mature? Yeah, provided no one looked hard enough.

From:

Not the original requester, but I adored it all the same X3

The other Bots are going to have their hands full with this one lol

From:

seikk.livejournal.com

I loved the last line! 8D Thank you so much!

Poor Bee. He was so excited that Relay was younger than him and then it just kind of...goes down the toilet. But Relay sort of makes it better, yes?

Though, really. Guys. Bumblebee sneaks. He does sneaky things. Why tease the guy who does sneaky things? It can't end well. ~~(though of course that's if, in this universe, Bumblebee's still in special ops as well.)~~

And Relay is so very evil. I love it.

Thank you again!

From:

bookworm-faith.livejournal.com

*tiptoes in* Freestyle & Puppy Dog Optics *sneaks out again*

From:

Sorry, Relay ended up slipping in because Style wasn't going to admit his ~~plotting~~planning to anyone else.

And, er, prompt inferred |D
---

"You're plotting something."

"I am not plotting."

"You're plotting."

Freestyle leaned back, causing Relay to tilt to one side as the blue mech flopped against his arm. "I'm not plotting, I'm planning."

"I didn't realize you differentiated."

Freestyle craned his head back to give Relay a 'your wit does not amuse me' look. He kept giving off that look until the younger mech gave in and asked flatly, "Alright, what are you planning?"

"I'm planning that, we are on a planet whose native species is on a somewhat technologically and culturally advanced level, correct?"

The Lancer rolled the thought around for a moment. "One of the more advanced of the species we've come across, yes."

"And they're unaffected by our war and therefore their entire culture doesn't revolve around warfare."

That thought, too, got rolled around. "Not to our extent, no," he conceded.

"Therefore, they probably have interesting ways to entertain themselves."

This hypothetical question-answer session was starting to get interesting. "Very probable."

"Except, for some reason, the officers don't really trust me."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Hush, you," with a finger tapping against his chin, Freestyle continued his verbal planning. "I'm sure I've figured out the officers' collective weakness but I have to wonder, is it manipulation if it's for the greater good?"

Relay paused for a moment, wondering if he heard right. He gave his brother an incredulous look, "As your idea of the greater good is being entertained, would it stop you either way?"

The Impreza's lips pulled back into a sharp grin. "Well put. My dear younger brother, I do believe we will soon have installed a full blown entertainment system like the one you've been pining for."

He pushed himself off of Relay and meandered a few tables over where a couple of the Protectobots were gathered. Relay watched his brother plop himself down and could hear him ask, "Hey, have any of you seen a Bose catalogue around? My brother left is somewhere and I can't find it."

Curious optics turned to the saboteur. "Bose? What's that?"

Feigning surprise, Freestyle asked, "You don't know? It's a great catalogue that has all these sound and entertainment systems in it..."

Relay ducked his head to hide a smile and shaking shoulders. He couldn't decide if his brother was the worst or greatest thing ever.

Edited Date: 2009-07-06 11:54 pm (UTC)

From:

bookworm-faith.livejournal.com

OH FREESTYLE ♥ I don't mind Relay sneaking in at all! They're such good brothers ♥ also evil, but eh XD

From:

kyra-neko-rei.livejournal.com

Both of them, Fireflight: curiosity.

From:

Nah, I'm probably going to have this open for a long time since I'm using it to suitably distract me from my homework.
---

The common area erupted into shouts and cheers so loud it drove Fireflight out. The jet retreated to the open air and peaceful quiet of Oregon's early evening. His brothers had mostly holed themselves up in the hangar, too annoyed with the sports cars to stick around the common room, too annoyed with the cold and snow to go outside. Fireflight didn't mind it, though. He liked the way the mountainside looked all coated with soft and white.

"Yeah? Try following this one!"

The laughter surprised Fireflight- only of the few of the Autobots seemed to tolerate the snow and all of the new arrivals from Cybertron were still too wary of it to go out. Which was why he was infinitely surprised to find the two newly arrived Rally brothers making patterns in the snow.

Freestyle was currently spinning about on his right ped tire, swerving backwards until, rather anti-climatically, he skidded on the snow and landed on his back with a squawk. Relay nearly knocked himself over laughing.

Fireflight stared at them, dumbfounded. "Um..."

Taking a moment to throw a wad of snow at his brother, Freestyle looked up. "Oh hey! Aerialbot!"

"That's Fireflight, bright one," Relay snickered. "You know their names."

"Yeah, I know." Freestyle made no move to get out of the snow and instead waved Fireflight over. "Care to join us?"

Moving carefully toward them the jet couldn't help but ask, "How come you're not inside watching NASCAR with everyone else?" They were big racers, weren't they? Fireflight was certain he'd seen the two constantly over the speed limit going down the mountain, even if there were no missions or Decepticon activity going on.

They looked at him with identical, patient half-smiles. "NASCAR's boring," they drawled.

"Don't get us wrong," Relay added quickly, "it's certainly a sport of skill and endurance but really... they drive on one, fairly oval-shaped track for a hundred plus laps. That gets kinda repetitive after awhile."

Fireflight tilted his head to one side, trying to figure them out. "So you don't like racing competitions?"

This got a little chuckle out of Freestyle who finally stood up, brushing the snow off of his backside. "NASCAR's not the only autosport around. F1 is pretty interesting, so's a lot of the Touring championships."

"Off-roading, motorcross, rallycross-"

"The Dakar."

"Oooooh yes, the Dakar."

"And, our absolute favorite-"

"Rallying!" They crowed, giving Fireflight big, excited grins.

He merely looked back at them blankly. "Yeah, car racing is all kinda the same to me. I have enough trouble telling the different types of cars apart."

With the proverbial air taken out of their sails, the Rally brothers' fans let loose a sigh. "Well, I guess that's to be expected from a jet," Freestyle groused out.

"Don't listen to him," Relay said in a soto voice, "he's fanatical about rally racing."

"There's nothing wrong with being fanatical about it! The skill! The tactics! The different characteristic of the road-" the blue mech seemed to see Fireflight's wings for the first time. Trying to explain to him the various textures of roads would be like the jet talking about how one kind of wind differed from another. "Yeah, never mind. It's hard to explain to someone that doesn't travel the ground."

For a long moment Fireflight just looked at them. Then, slowly, he asked, "So... you don't go around in circles in rallies?"

There was a silence. Then laughter. Lots of laughter. "No no no, oh no! The only time they ever go around in a circle- at the most two laps -is on the spectator stages. The rest of it is... well," Freestyle looked at Fireflight thoughtfully. "Tell you what, there's gonna be another rally in a little over a week, lasts three days. You wanna try watching a day of it with us?"

Feeling out of his depth but curious as to what made one car race different from another- and hey, they didn't go around in circles -Fireflight said, "Er, I guess? I mean, giving it a try can't hurt, right?"

The Impreza gave a big grin, looking inexplicably proud. "Well, either you'll love rallying or you'll never like an auto racing sport."

From:

kyra-neko-rei.livejournal.com

Taking a moment to throw a wad of snow at his brother, Freestyle looked up. "Oh hey! Aerialbot!"

"That's Fireflight, bright one," Relay snickered. "You know their names."

*giggle*

Cute! Nice and friendly, and awww! Fireflight's gonna check out auto racing! Sweet!

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Not too late, just a little slow |D
---

Of all the things Bluestreak was expecting on a nice, quiet drive up the wooded mountain road a meek [Little help, please?] was not among them. He paused in the middle of the road, scanners sweeping the area around him in confusion. Getting pinged back, he edged to where the road ended and dropped off into a row of trees. There, leaving no damaged guardrail and just a couple lines of gravel and skid marks as evidence, was a red car leaning against a tree.

[Relay!?] The gunner transformed, straining to find a safe way down. [Are you okay?]

[Well, you know,] came the almost conversational reply, [aside from my pride I think I'm doing pretty well.]

[You can't transform?]

[I could but my front end is kinda hanging over oblivion here so moving isn't exactly in my best interest right now...]

Bluestreak's doorwings flapped wildly, fretting about. [Okay, okay, uh, whadda we do? The trees are too thick for an aerial pick up and I don't think there's enough room for Grapple to-]

[Blue, Blue, hey now, take it easy,] Relay soothed over the comm. [It's okay. I've been here for a while now and this tree is very stable. No need to get ourselves worked up over nothing. I could probably stay here all night if I had to.] There was a pause. [Not that I really wanna do that, but the option is there, I guess.]

The gray mech's flailing halted and he turned the situation over in his processors again, reanalyzing it. See, that's why he liked Relay. He was always nice and patient and he never made Bluestreak feel stupid over his overactive processes. He reminded Bluestreak a lot like Hound in that regard-

"Oh!" [Hound has a winch! He can get you out, I'll be right back-]

[Ah- Bluestreak!]

[What? What's wrong?] Doorwings hitched high, Bluestreak scanned the area, straining to read any destabilization of the area.

[I actually have a winch here. I just can't get it hooked on to anything in this position.]

The gunner halted. [Oh. Well, toss it at me. I can anchor you up here.]

Relay's gratitude was palpable. [Thanks.] His trunk slowly eased open, the movement slowly rocking him forward and Bluestreak had to clamp down on a squeak of warning. A tow-hook shot at him and the Datsun fumbled it in surprise for a moment before clapping his hands around the cable.

He twisted it around his arms, braced himself hard on the ground and gave Relay the okay. Bluestreak wondered what other gizmo the Lancer had on him and if those were standard equipment for all Special Ops.

The cable went taut, Relay's rear wheels slowly shifting on the earth and Bluestreak's denta clenched tight, ignoring the pain of the coils digging into him. Eventually the red mech found his grip, easing back entirely onto the ground and slowly driving toward the road backwards. When his tires hit the pavement again, he transformed into a crouch, a crooked smile on his faceplates.

"Well," he said, looking up at Bluestreak, "that was fun."

The other mech just laughed. "I hope you don't do that too often!"

From:

okamichan.livejournal.com

It's nice to see the Rally brothers getting some love. :)

May I request Freestyle - Sidewipe - Competition? (I'm not sure we've seen much on their relationship, have we??)

From:

I don't think I've done anything with the two of them together yet...
---

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"We all must learn to fight outside of our abilities, Sideswipe," Prowl said bluntly. "There are Decepticons built more for agility than battle, therefore you need to know how to handle such cases."

The red warrior threw his hands into the air, "I could punch a hole right through his chest if I really tried!"

"Just as you need to learn how to fight a differently capable mech, so too must Freestyle be experienced in dealing with a strong fighter," he gave the Special Ops mech a level look. "After all, given his job field, there is a chance he will be discovered without back up and thus will need to be prepared to defend himself."

Freestyle didn't look any happier to be on the fighting pad than Sideswipe was to have him there. "I think my running away technique works well enough, personally."

"As much faith as I have in your stealth, if you should ever get caught, I would prefer you be prepared for it." The officer nodded to the two, "Please begin."

Sideswipe went into a fighting stance, not wanting to be putting the blue mech back into medbay so soon after he got out of it. "I'll go easy on ya at first, okay? I don't really wanna hurt you."

Freestyle still looked unhappy with the set up. "Much obliged."

The first punch had the smaller mech jerking his head out of the way. The second was ducked. The third and forth had him twisting out of reach, the tires on Freestyle's peds coming down so he could roll away.

Huh. Slipperier than Sideswipe first thought. He launched himself at Freestyle again, moving in a little quicker. Each one only hit air as the Impreza continued to twist and dodge, skating around in a circle as Sideswipe chased after.

Okay, now the Lamborghini was starting to get torqued. He was going to go easy on Freestyle because he wasn't built to fight, but the fact that he'd yet to land one hit on the mech was infuriating him. Especially given Freestyle's expression hadn't changed much from his earlier distaste- as if evading was no effort!

Optics flaring bright, Sideswipe planted a foot, power gathering behind his fist as his body twisted, full force gunning his arm forward with the speed of a jet engine-

The amount of nothing he hit nearly had Sideswipe falling on his faceplates. His arms pinwheeled, mainly trying not to trip over Freestyle who (he's that flexible? really??) had bent backwards, bridged on his hands and tires.

Their optics made contact for just a nano-klik before the array on the right side of Freestyle's head swiveled forward and, for the first time, Sideswipe realized that they were barrels attached to his helmet. Sideswipe's vision went white, his sensors sparked with static and he jerked backward, clutching his head with an 'ARGH!'

He reset his optics and scanners, clearing out the static and found himself alone on the fighting pad. Sideswipe whirled around to see Freestyle was standing just behind Prowl.

"Okay," Freestyle said with a slight grin and, if Sideswipe didn't know better, a kind of edge that said he really no longer wanted to be there, "I got away. Are we done?"

Prowl's doorwing flicked slightly. "Yes, Freestyle. Thank you for your cooperation." He barely finished the sentence before the blue mech went for the exit. Sideswipe frowned after him.

"Not one of your better performances, Sideswipe," the tactician said, calling his attention back. "Perhaps someone of Freestyle's experience is too much of a first step."

"Yeah," he shook out his arms, trying to dismiss the unhappy feeling from his processors, "let's try someone else."

From:

okamichan.livejournal.com

Heehee! Bonus for Prowl's inclusion! :D I'm sure Freestyle was doing this sorta stuff on Cybertron before coming to Earth. Poor Siders that's so humiliating. What's to bet that someone's gonna get their hands on the security footage of this. ;)

There seems to be some story behind this, too. There was reference to his being captured earlier and that makes me wonder if this is before or after that.

Makes me itch for a little Rally - D-con interaction.

If I may request again: Rally brothers - Coneheads - Turn the tables.

From:

Yup, while the Ark crew was comatose, he and his brother were out dodging D-cons in their own bases. And also yeah, Freestyle also had the unfortunate luck of not only getting captured but also watching as his unit left him behind. As I said before, he has issues^^;;
---

[Do you realize,] Freestyle commed, sounding not nearly as frustrated or panicky as someone in his situation probably should be, [I have been shot at more often on this planet than I have my entire existence prior?]

His brother, equally hunkered down behind a rock slowly being chipped away by enemy fire, replied with a [Hard data or it's just conjecture.]

It may as well have been the truth, for as much as the Nemesis Decepticons were Megatron's elite (allegedly) they had a nasty tendency of not being where they were supposed to be at any given moment. Case in point, instead of having a slow yet clear shot to a Decepticon setup via gaps in patrols, the Rally brothers ended up being stumbled upon by Coneheads who were freewheeling in the air instead of sticking to their prescribed guard positions.

A rock exploded somewhere overhead, showering the two in sediment. [I hope Cosmos gets out of medical soon. The lack of data stream may kill me.] Another rock exploded, this time by Freestyle's shoulder. [Literally.]

[You should just give in and go for stronger armor like I did.]

[And give up my speed and flexibility? Never!]

The Coneheads continued to pelt away at the Autobots' cover. That is, one of the Seekers did. The two had managed to slip into a small inlet in a nearby ravine and Thrust, being the only one equipped with VTOL fans, was able to hover in place while his trinemates circled overhead.

[Hey, Relay. If I said I was gonna do something crazy, would you follow me?]

[...well who wants to grow old, anyway?]

[Who indeed? Alright, here's the plan...]

Thrust let out a squawk of surprise as the Autobots he had pinned suddenly raced out under him, leaving him to wobble as his fans tried to spin him around. Overhead, Dirge and Ramjet swooped down, forced to fly single file between earthen wall. The Rallys barreled through the dust, nose to tail with Relay taking point. In the middle of passing a series of hoodoos, Freestyle jerked away, only his superhuman driving ability keeping him from crashing into the base.

He leapt onto the hoodoo, scrambling upward as his brother led the two jets back down the other side of the rock formation. A container popped out of one of Freestyle's compartments and as Dirge neared, he tossed it at the blue jet. It exploded on contact, magnetized dust getting sucked into his intakes and, with a howl, Dirge crashed into the ravine. Ramjet, his own engines partly clogged, decided to go out in his own style. By taking out Freestyle.

With curses buzzing through his vocalizer, the Impreza tumbled off, hitting the rock with his back and bouncing into space head first. His arm blade flicked out, stabbing into the rock and jarring Freestyle to a halt with a painful cinching in his shoulder. Dangling helplessly, he watched Thrust's ominous approach with a very final "Fuck."

Somewhere below him was the sound of metal pinging off rock and a ball ricocheted into Thrust's underside. The ball uncurled, latched on with magnetic clamps and unleashed a contained emp, shorting out the jet's systems just long enough for him to careen into the ground.

Freestyle looked down, his brother looked right back up. They both laughed, wondering how they were still alive.

[I can't believe we just took down an entire Seeker trine!]

[Let's never do that again.]

From:

okamichan.livejournal.com

~~Eeek! Hadn't responded to this~~
Tee~! Coneheads getting owned is always a god read. Thanks!

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