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Spring on Earth had started only a few weeks ago, but it was in full swing now. Plants had started blooming all over, giving life to the planet once more.
Optimus and Cheetor were doing their rounds, making sure no Predacons were in their area, when…white stuff started to fall from the ground.
“White…Optimus, is that snow?”
Optimus grumbled. “For the sake of our frames, I hope not.”
Cheetor held out his hand as more of the white stuff started to come down. He looked up; it was a clear day, and well above freezing temperature. As the white stuff came into his hand, it felt fluffy and not cold at all.
“I…don’t think this is snow.”
Optimus held his hand out, also finding that it wasn’t cold. He looked up, staring at the large tree they were under.
“I think it’s from the tree, Cheetor.”
“What do you think it is, big bot?”
“I’m not sure, Cheetor. We’ll come back after the patrol to get some samples.”
*
When they returned to the tree, the ground surrounding it was littered with the white stuff.
“Well, big bot, we certainly have a lot of samples to choose from!”
Optimus chuckled. “Yes, we certainly do.” He grabbed a small container from his subspace, and kneeled, filling it up with the white stuff.
Cheetor noticed some green pods on the ground, and picked one up. Out of pure curiosity, he opened it, finding more of the white stuff.
“Hey Optimus, do you want some of these pods? They have the white stuff in them.”
“Uh, sure, just stick them in here.” He grabbed another container from his subspace, and passed it over to Cheetor. Cheetor collected the pods, shoving them in the container.
As he looked for the pods, and anything else that might be worthwhile, he kicked around in the white stuff. It really was like snow, just without the coldness, or the inevitable wetness when it all melted.
It had the look of snow, without all the trouble actual snow had with it.
*
Cheetor felt awful the next day. He couldn’t stop sneezing, and his optics were itchy, and occasionally, tears spilled from them, despite the fact he wasn’t upset at all.
He went to the healing pod, desperate to figure out what was making him feel this way. It wasn’t even an occasional sneeze, it was constant!
“Well, Cheetor, the samples you and Optimus collected yesterday actually helped the pod figure out what was wrong,” Rhinox started.
“And…?”
“Your systems are irritated by the white stuff.”
“…what?”
Rhinox pointed to the monitor. “The white stuff is actually seeds of the tree, and it looks like your systems don’t like them.”
If the white stuff was causing this…
”Does this mean Optimus is sensitive to the white stuff as well?”
“He hasn’t shown any symptoms…so either it takes longer for it to affect him, or his systems aren’t affected by the seeds.”
Cheetor let out a myriad of sneezes before speaking again. “Lucky…how do we fix it?”
Rhinox shrugged. “All I can say is to rest and wait it out. We don’t really have anything to combat it.”
Cheetor let out a couple of heavy sneezes, and rubbed his optics with his hands. “I’m going back into the pod…” he muttered as he walked back, hoping it would fix his problems.