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The base, for the past few days, had been quiet.
Normally, Ratchet would consider this a blessing. No random explosions. No loud rock music blaring through the hallways. No daring certain fellow autobots (Smokescreen) to do a burn-out in the entrance tunnel. It was almost as if the children hadn’t been there at all.
The only problem? They had been. And at the current moment, they were. And the fact that they had been so silent unsettled Ratchet, almost as if he was expecting something chaotic to happen at any given moment.
“Cherry is clearly the best.” Miko asserted.
In spite of himself, Ratchet couldn’t help but turn his attention away from the computer at the sound of their voices that afternoon. Miko, Jack, and Raf were all gathered around the couch in the lounging area the other autobots had set up for them a while back, their attention on the tv and the game system attached to it. Miko had the controller, making a character on the screen run around some sort of green pasture-like area with trees.
Another video game, Ratchet realized. So that was where the source of their entertainment had been coming from lately.
Humans always seemed so fascinated with video games and from what Ratchet had seen their three humans were no exception. Although truthfully, they would probably grow tired of it as soon as something more interesting came up within the base. They always did. This could only mean that the area would yet again be filled with noise and that he should probably try to get as much done as he could while he could. Turning back to the computer screen, he returned his focus on what he had been working on moments prior. Behind him, the three continued to talk.
“Cherry is the best. Right.” Jack retaliated, his tone dry.
“Yeah?” Miko challenged, sensing his sarcasm in his voice. “Who do you think is the best villager then?”
“Simple. Kyle.”
Miko scoffed and rolled her eyes, slumping back dramatically onto the couch at Jack’s answer. Instantly, she sprung back up again and turned to Raf on the floor in front of them.
“Okay Raf, settle this for us. Who do you think is better? Cherry? Or Kyle?”
“I...um...I think they’re both good.” Raf replied, attempting to calm the situation before it escalated. “But my favorite is Ribbot.”
Miko and Jack said nothing.
“Eh. Robot frog.” Miko shrugged. “That’s fair I guess.”
“The robot animals are kind of cool.” Jack couldn’t help but add.
The three fell into silence again, with Miko now making the character cross a river with a little pole as they headed toward what looked to be a campground area. Behind them, Bumblebee appeared from down the hallway, the sound of his footsteps alerting his presence. He carried a container of spare parts that Ratchet had asked him to move earlier and was just now getting around to doing it.
“Bee! Come look!” Raf was quick to wave him over. “We got a new villager!”
Bumblebee made a small, almost surprised beep, dropping the container onto the ground before he sprinted toward the kids. At the sound of the metallic clatter against the floor, Ratchet flinched slightly and made a grunt of disapproval.
And so it begins.
Bumblebee was quick to skid to a halt, his head appearing over the couch, optics wide and curious as he watched Miko maneuver the character in front of some little creature she had run into, causing a speech bubble to pop up.
“His name is Zucker and he’s an octopus! Look how cute he is!” Raf chimed. Bee could only beep and buzz in agreement.
“Technically he’s supposed to be Takoyaki.” Miko added, offhandedly. She passed the controller to Raf, shifting her position around on the couch until she was upside down with her head dangling off the side. “That’s why he has that little stick thingy on his head and the brown spots and the freckles. They’re toppings.”
It took a moment for Miko to notice that Jack, Raf, and Bumblebee had all turned to look at her, a perplexed look on their faces. It took another moment for her to understand why.
“Oh, duh!” She realized. “Basically Takoyaki is just a ball of fried dough with pieces of octopus inside of it. I used to eat them all the time back in Japan. And trust me! They’re amazing!” Miko now slumped again, her next statement being more to herself. “I wish Jasper actually had a place that served decent Takoyaki.”
“Pretty sure diner mac-and-cheese is as good as it’s going to get.” Jack replied.
“So wait…” Raf spoke suddenly, a bit concerned. “Zucker is...food?”
Behind him, Bumblebee beeped yet again, probably saying something to agree with Raf’s sentiment.
“I mean, yeah!.” Miko protested. “But there’s a lot of animals in the game that are supposed to be food.” She began to count on her fingers. “There’s that pink rhino named Merengue. That cat Tangy that’s supposed to be like an orange. The red duck named Ketchup that looks like a tomato.”
“Isn’t there supposed to be an elephant that looks like a teapot or something too?” Jack asked.
“Heck yeah! Tia!” Miko chimed, holding her hands up in a cheer. Or as much as she could while laying horizontally.
It was becoming pretty apparent to Jack, Raf, and Bumblebee that Miko had an extensive knowledge of Animal Crossing. To them, it was almost amusing since Miko usually came off as somebody who played things like Resident Evil or games where something would usually blow up or had a lot of combat involved. They hadn’t expected her to be so excited over little virtual animals in sweaters.
Raf quickly finished talking to Zucker and then made the character travel further down the path until they reached a strip of beach. All was calm. Until…
“Tarantula!” Miko yelled suddenly, pointing at the screen. In an instant, she was sitting back up again. “Behind the rock! Raf. Go. GO. Run!!”
In a panic, Raf fumbled with the controller as he made the character in the game run away from a small spider chasing after him on the beach. Both Miko and Bumblebee were a chorus of shouting and encouragement as Raf made a little bug net appear, the character having a stand-off with the spider. The cheering only got louder after Raf managed to catch the tarantula, the character displaying the prize on the screen for all to see.
“I wonder if that's how Arcee feels all the time.” Miko added, watching Raf store the spider away.
“Really?” Jack gave Miko an incredulous look at the joke. Miko only smirked, or at least until another voice managed to fill the room.
“Okay. Honestly.”
The four spun around in time to see Ratchet stalk up behind Bumblebee, his servos crossed. Moments earlier (unknowingly to the kids) he had just shaken his head in defeat once he realized how apparent it was that he wasn’t going to get any work done that afternoon, somewhere between the time they all started yelling about the tarantula situation and the time when he had finally managed to calm himself down from the mild panic he had felt due to it, assuming something was wrong. Either way, he didn’t look too pleased.
“What is it about this game that’s causing you four to make so much ruckus so suddenly?” He questioned.
Bumblebee, realizing they were all in trouble, was quick to point behind him and buzzed before sprinting off. While Jack and Miko couldn’t understand Bumblebee’s speech the same way Raf could, they could both only assume he had made some excuse about moving those parts for Ratchet that he had dropped on the ground earlier.
Watching him leave, Ratchet now allowed his gaze to fall back onto the kids, expecting an answer. An unspoken alliance seemed to hold strong between the three of them, all wondering what exactly they could say for damage control.
“Relax.” Miko finally attempted to sooth. “We’re just playing Animal Crossing. It’s like one of the most calming games you can play.”
“Assuming that were true,” Ratchet began. “I wouldn’t have to keep looking over every so often to wonder why you three are all shouting so much.”
One by one, the kids locked eyes with each other and seemed to shrink down against the couch in an attempt to make themselves look smaller. They had been shouting...
“Precisely.” Ratchet replied, curtly. “Now, I would greatly appreciate it if…”
Ratchet’s optics now fell onto the tv, more specifically at the game character the three were using.
“Is your character’s name....Optimus?” Ratchet questioned, now squinting in confusion at the name on the screen. Their character had blue hair and a little red and silver jacket, almost as if to match Optimus’s color scheme.
“Yeah…” Jack’s voice trailed off. Slowly, the three seemed to perk up at Ratchet’s sudden interest. “Since we’re all sharing the game and we couldn’t decide which of us to make the character look like, we kind of just asked Optimus if we could make him as a human.”
Ratchet was silent.
“And...how exactly did he feel about your decision?” He asked, genuinely curious.
“I think confused yet flattered would be a good description?” Jack guessed.
“We named the island Cybertron too!” Miko added. “We tried making the autobot symbol as the flag the other day until Jack butchered it.”
Jack shot her another look.
Ratchet remained silent, his optics still darting back and forth across the screen before resting on the kids a final time. Slowly, he propped his servos against the railing surrounding them, resting against it as he stared at the screen.
“Tell me more about this Cybertron Island you’ve created.” He urged.
Honestly, the kids would have been more than happy to give Ratchet a tour of what they had done so far, especially if it meant getting out of one of Ratchet's typical scoldings, but around the same time both Arcee and Bulkhead appeared in the main room and signaled for the kids to get ready to leave.
“Your mom said she wanted you home early.” Arcee spoke, addressing mainly Jack.
“Ha ha.” Miko taunted, barely audible to anybody other than him.
“Which means we’re taking all of you home early.” Arcee added, clearly hearing her. “Raf, since Bee is busy you can ride alongside Miko.”
“Ha ha.” Jack replied to Miko’s now crossed arms and pouting expression at having to leave early alongside them. The duo tossed their bags over their shoulders and headed down the stairs.
As Raf gathered his school books in an attempt to catch up with Miko and Jack, he paused long enough to turn to Ratchet.
“Would it be okay if we left the game here until tomorrow?” He asked. “I don’t want to risk losing the cartridge by carrying it around in my backpack at school all day.”
Ratchet, not sure how to respond to the small human’s request, slowly nodded.
“Thanks Ratchet!” Raf beamed, headed down the stairs. “We’ll see you tomorrow! Could you say goodbye to Bee for me too?”
“One favor at a time.” Ratchet called dryly, although he felt his statement was lost as Raf headed down the stairs and hopped into Bulkhead’s vehicle mode alongside Miko, the five disappearing down the entrance tunnel moments later.
So, that was the end of it.
The kids were finally gone, the base would be quiet, and Ratchet would yet again know peace. Slowly, he headed toward the computer once more, but paused once his gaze fell onto the tv and the game system the kids had left behind once more, a very ridiculous thought slowly crossing his mind.
-
In all honesty, Jack and Miko hadn’t expected for Raf to get to the base after school before they did. And they certainly didn’t expect for Ratchet to be behind him and watching him while he played. Usually, whenever Raf was early, he always waited on the others to get there before he booted the game system up, using it as an excuse to get his schoolwork done before his friends arrived. Yet there he was, sitting on the couch in front of Ratchet. He signaled to Miko and Jack.
“Guys! Look!”
Curious, Jack and Miko shot each other a confused look before they headed toward the couch, Arcee passing by them as they did.
“He’s been playing that game for most of the day.” She couldn’t help but mention.
“Raf?” Jack asked.
Jack knew it didn’t make sense the moment it left his mouth. Both he and Miko had seen Raf at school that day.
“No.” Arcee gave a slight nod toward the couch, smirking with a slight amusement. “Ratchet. Even before you three got here.”
Saying nothing else, she walked on and the kids headed across the room, albeit a little more eager.
“Ratchet did a whole bunch of stuff on our island while we were gone.” Raf explained once they finally reached them.
“And thankfully so.” Ratchet couldn’t help but add, giving a quick glance to Miko and Jack to acknowledge that he had seen them arrive. “Do you humans truly have no organization skills whatsoever? Your inventory was an absolute mess.” He ranted.
He turned back to the screen, his optics lighting up again as Raf maneuvered the character around.
“Oh! Stop and talk to him!” Ratchet encouraged, pointing. “I enjoy the little avian villager.”
“Apollo?” Raf asked.
“Yes!” Ratchet insisted. “I think he might be my favorite! Clearly, he is the best.”
Miko couldn’t help but snort at Ratchet’s words, then followed behind Jack as the two attempted to squeeze between Raf on the couch to watch all of the chaos unfold.