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Deckerd was, to put bluntly, a little frightened.
He had been running for what felt like forever, but his chronometer tells him it’s only been about 45 minutes. He looked around anxiously trying to get a glimpse of deep purple plating but saw nothing. Good, a chance for him to relax and cool his overtaxed systems.
His fuel pump hammered in his chest and fans whirred at their highest setting. The patrol car leaned heavily against a tree and offlined his optics with a relieved sigh. Deckerd honestly didn’t know how much longer he could keep running before something broke or he just passed out.
Between harsh invents of cool air, he caught a soft rustle behind him and jerked his helm to catch what made the noise. There, peering out from between a tree and a large tuft of grass, was a large metal hound.
Well, Shadowmaru is a wolf, Deckerd reminded himself as he broke back into a full sprint in an attempt to regain distance between himself and his pursuer.
His current strange predicament was very confusing as he had no idea what he had done to cause Shadowmaru to suddenly decide to hunt him for sport.
Okay, that was a lie. Maybe he did know.
Maybe Deckerd shouldn’t have let Gunmax borrow his last pen knowing that the mech wouldn’t give it back. Maybe he shouldn’t have, in a moment of blind desperation, gone snooping in Shadowmaru’s desk to find a pen so that he could finish his paperwork. He knows how possessive Shadowmaru is over his limited stash of pens and knows the repercussions of taking such a precious item without permission. So okay, yeah, when Shadowmaru walked into the Decker Room and caught Deckerd hunched over his open desk with definitely-not-his-own pen in hand, he knew he was in very deep trouble.
So now he finds himself on the outskirts of the city, the offending pen tucked into his hip holster, running through a small patch of forest in an attempt to lose the other mech.
As he batted wet branches out of his face and lept over fallen trees, he didn’t even bother to look behind him to see how far Shadowmaru is from himself. Shadowmaru’s pedesteps are always quiet no matter how fast he ran, so there was no use in trying to spot the shapeshifter.
Between the two of them, Shadowmaru was faster. Much faster. The only reason Shadowmaru hadn’t caught up sooner was because Deckerd had used rather dirty and underhanded methods to get the larger mech to slow down.
Not his proudest moments but hey, it had to be done.
There was no room to transform so he was forced to run in his root mode. This gave Shadowmaru yet another advantage because this slowed the patrol car down while Shadowmaru was able to run in his very agile wolf alt mode.
The trees began to clear some but the ground was still too slick for any traction on his tires. It’s fine, Deckerd thought to himself in a slight panic. He can just find someplace to hide and wait for Shadowmaru to give up and go back. Then he can go back to finish his paperwork and return the pen and apologize for pilfering his coworker’s precious loot.
Just as he formulated his perfect plan, he felt a shift in the air behind him and—
The impact of metal slamming against his back knocked the air right out of Deckerd’s vents.
Deckerd absolutely did not squeak.
The two hit the soft wet ground below in an unceremonious tangle of limbs and kibble. They rolled once, twice, before finally stopping. For a half second neither of them moved as their gyros recalibrated after the sudden shift in motion.
Then, Deckerd shifted.
He rolled over onto his front in an attempt to get away from the arms that had loosened their grip around his chest, but it proved rather futile when Shadowmaru quickly pushed himself up overtop of Deckerd in order to pin the other down.
Deckerd squeaked and writhed, attempting to swat away hands that were quick to grasp at his holsters.
The patrol car wriggled and managed to flip the shapeshifter off of him, but Shadowmaru just grabbed the closest thigh and caused Deckerd to slip on the wet grass and fall face first into the mush.
They wrestled a beat longer before Deckerd relented.
“Wait!!” He panted out, holding his hands out in a pacative manner, “wait I’m sorry I’m sorry!”
Shadowmaru, to his credit, did stop. He was halfway on top of Deckerd with one leg slung over the patrol car’s own, and a hand pinning Deckerd’s shoulder into the ground. The other was mid-way through clawing at the holster that held the stolen cargo.
A beat passed, and another.
Then Shadowmaru snorted. His face went from being pinched with agitated determination to suddenly bright with the silliest grin Deckerd has ever seen on the bot.
Shadowmaru laughed and laughed and laughed, collapsing on top of Deckerd and giggling breathlessly against the other.
The laughter was infectious and Deckerd, though quite confused by the sudden shift in tone, couldn’t help the chuckles that started from deep within his chest. It didn’t take long to morph into full bodied laughter. The patrol car wasn’t sure what was so funny to the ninja but it was rare to hear Shadowmaru laugh so earnestly. It made him forget what he did to cause the chase in the first place.
Shadowmaru propped himself up on an elbow beside Deckerd’s head and looked back down at the smaller bot. He was still smiling.
“My apologies, Dekkado. I haven’t done this in a long time. I forgot how fun it was.” He finished with a pleased huff.
Deckerd, confused, asked “done what?”
Shadowmaru hummed and flipped over so that he was lying beside the other on his back. His wing clipped Deckerd side and the patrol car had to shuffle to make room for the sensitive appendage.
Once situated, Deckerd looked over at his companion. Shadowmaru was staring up at the night sky with a soft, wistful look.
“I used to do that with Kagerou a lot. We called it ‘tag’.” He said quietly.
Oh. Right. Kagerou.
“He was always faster than me, you know.” Deckerd rolled onto his side, his gaze still fixated on the other’s face. “We would chase each other after dark, trying to catch the other. We called it training but really we did it because it was fun.”
Shadowmaru brought his hand up to his chest and absentmindedly traced the star emblem on it. The night air rustled the wet grass and the crickets chirped happily somewhere within the trees. It was tranquil.
“I would have loved to meet him.” Deckerd spoke after a bit. “The real him.” He quickly amended.
Shadowmaru hummed.
“He would have liked you, I think.” The ninja said quietly.
They stayed like that for a while. Deckerd felt sleep creep up his processor, the earlier chase must have worn him out more than he had thought.
He barely registered the movement to his right until a hand squeezed his shoulder pauldron.
“We should head back, Master Dekkado. It is getting late and I’m sure Miniboss is wondering where you are.”
“Oh, right,” Deckerd mumbled. He sat up groggily and looked down at his plating before wrinkling his nose. He was covered in mud and wet grass, with scuffs of violet and gray coloring his blue and white plating.
Shadowmaru held out a hand with a smile and Deckerd took it, hoisting himself up from the now muddy earth floor.
Deckerd returned the smile softly and nodded in a silent thanks before turning to head back to the headquarters.
He didn’t make it too far, though, as he was quickly tugged back towards the ninja.
He turned and before he could speak he was met with a scowling Shadowmaru.
“My pen.”
Right.
Deckerd squeaked and frantically pawed at his holsters to return the stolen pen.