"I told him this wouldn't work!" Starscream shrieks, vying to the side to avoid a shot, Ravage carefully held in his talons. "I told him!"

"We know! Stop whining already!" Ramjet, carrying Rumble on his back, growls as he pulls up next to the Air Commander, behind his right wing, Thundercracker's position as the Second Wing of the Trine.

But Thundercracker isn't here. And neither is Skywarp, nor the other two Coneheads, or any other Cassette.

They're with Megatron and the rest of the Decepticon army, raiding yet another power plant, while the four of them were supposed to 'distract' the Autobots by attacking a smaller one far away from their real objective.

But, as Starscream pointed out over and over again before Megatron almost slashed his wings and ordered them out nevertheless, four Decepticons aren't enough to attract the attention of the whole of the Autobots. More so if two of said Decepticons are Cassettes and, the two others, Seekers.

If only their Trinemates had been allowed to come along, maybe the distraction wouldn't have been as big a failure as it has been.

At least, it would have earned them more attention than just that engineer Medic and the war-built Minibot.

Oh, and Megatron will blame this on Starscream, no doubt.

"I told him," the Air Commander hisses under his breath, his mood as dark as the sky and as ready to snap as the charge building in the storm clouds.

Though he's not as far gone in his rage to not notice them.

A quick look up and around, and he knows they won't make it out of the cloud cover before the rain begins.

And, worst of all, the lightning.

They may have organic-looking alt modes, but they're still metallic. Plus, they're flying, which only makes them bigger targets.

If it were only Ramjet and himself, Starscream would have taken further up until they were over the clouds. But there are the Cassettes to take into account.

The Seekers' plumage keeps water droplets away from joints and the base layer, so the temperatures of their new altitude wouldn't harm them when the liquid forming the clouds froze. It would be a simple matter of ruffling themselves a bit to get rid of the ice if it became annoying. Their intakes are coded to evaporate any liquid and keep their engines working at optimum efficiency, and their optics are also modified to endure the harsh conditions of higher altitudes.

But the Cassettes' systems are not.

And Starscream really doesn't want to explain to Soundwave why his creations are damaged due to ice forming in their joints and inner workings. Or, worst of all, why they deactivated.

Not that he wants harm to come to the Cassettes, anyway. But that is something better kept in the deepest recesses of his processor.

So, since increasing altitude is out of the question, and continue flying under the cover of the storm is calling for a lightning strike, the Air Commander decides to put Plan C in action.

Find a refuge to stay in until the storm abates or stops completely.

"Huh, Starscream?" Ramjet calls when the growling of thunder echoes far too loud and close, streams of electricity rushing through the clouds.

"I'm looking. Try to find some cave or burrow or anywhere we could stay hidden in. There's no way we're getting out of this right now," he answers with a growl, still searching for a refuge almost frantically.

"There!" the Air Commander turns his head sharply, quickly seeing what the Conehead has, and, without need for anything else, both turn and dive towards what looks like a cave's entrance.

He can hear Rumble squeak at the sudden move, and Ravage tenses in his hold. Still, the Fliers only open their wings to slow their mad descent when they're close enough to confirm it is a cave.

A big one.

They fly inside, Ramjet at the front and ready to 'convince' any previous occupants to leave with his unburdened talons, and find it empty.

Starscream stops midair but doesn't touch down, even if Ravage twitches in his hold.

"A cave this big shouldn't be unoccupied," the Air Commander muses out loud, and the Conehead, also hovering in front of him, turns around. "We need to make sure no other creature is here before we settle down," he orders, and, slowly, he lowers himself to be able to drop the Cassette on the ground.

The Rusty-Spotted Cat shakes himself and stretches as Starscream lands next to him, talons scrapping the ground and big optics fixed on the darkness filling what is starting to look more like a tunnel than a cave.

Ramjet touches down not too far, and Rumble quickly jumps off his back.

"You mean we have to go further inside? Why?"

"We don't know how long this storm may go on. Would you rather we stay here and find ourselves attacked by a pack of coyotes, or a bear, and have no place to go?"

Rumble muses that for a bit, most likely thinking of ways they could tear apart whatever beast they found themselves against. However, a quick look at the four of them makes the Least Weasel's fur bristle.

Yes, they are sturdier that any animal. Yes, they have weapons.

But their energy gauges are not full, and they will need the power to go back to the Victory.

And they are Seekers and Cassettes, some of the weakest, armor-wise, frame types of the Decepticons.

The sturdiest of them is Ramjet, but the Crested Eagle is reinforced with other Seekers in mind, not a bear's thick hide or a coyote's well-placed bite.

No. If they want to stay in one piece, they need to either scare whatever is already inside, or rush to find another shelter while the storm is still brewing.

Without answering, Ravage stalks forwards, ears pricked and whiskers twitching as his darkness-adapted optics scan the cave.

The rest follow, the Seekers' own heavily developed visual systems looking around, while Rumble sniffs the ground.

"Doesn't seem anything's been here in a while," the Least Weasel whispers after a bit, carefully staying between the Fliers.

"Do you think there may be another entrance?" Ramjet asks as softly, crest fanning all the way open in an intimidating display meant to hide his own doubt and fear.

Starscream is as high-strung as them, but, fortunately, he doesn't have fur or a crest that rise as a reaction. Not that the rest don't know he's as twitchy, but at least it doesn't show as badly.

"It's a possibility we have to take into account. Perhaps our entrance hasn't been used, but if there are more…"

"So what? We're going to look around until we've mapped every micron of this place?" Rumble snarls with distaste, pulling his head up to glare at the Air Commander.

"Look at it this way. If we don't find anything, at least we'll have passed some time. Besides, Megatron will be more likely not to shred all of us if this place turns out to be a good spot to settle an outpost or a secondary base," he answers calmly, and Ramjet nods in appreciation, even if he's smirking almost mockingly.

They all know that, if their leader is going to punish anyone by how the mission went, it will be no other than the Peregrine Falcon. The rest are practically safe, with the Crested Eagle and the Least Weasel only having to worry about being given monitor or cleaning duty.

Distasteful, but at least they won't be harmed by it.

Nevertheless, they stay silent. No one wants to hear Starscream's screechy rambles.

And the creepy dark tunnel-cave they're exploring right now is more than enough to distract them.

A loud roar of thunder stops them and makes dirt and pebbles fall from the tall ceiling.

But, when it dies, there's no other sound from further into the darkness. No whimpering of an animal scared by the storm, no growling, not even the squeaking of bats.

Somehow, if the rising fur and feathers and opening wings are any indication, the quiet doesn't reassure any of them.

"Perhaps we should go back to the mouth of the cave. It's obvious there's nothing here," Starscream whispers, trying for nonchalant but sounding creeped.

Nevertheless, the others nod in agreement, with Ravage taking some steps back to be next to his brother and between the two larger mechs.

And then, no one moves, still staring into the darkness.

Turning their backs to it is not an option.

Before they can do more, though, another roar, louder than before, shakes the cave.

Shrieks and yowls of surprise echo against the walls, but don't drown the crashing growing louder behind them.

A quick look at the path they've come from reveals only a wall of fallen rocks.

Cave in.

They're trapped.

Immediately, Ramjet's fans start to overwork as he squeaks in fear.

Starscream isn't much better, but he's been in similar situations before. Even if this time there will be no Skyfire to help him clear a path.

But the Crested Eagle doesn't need to know that. He just needs to calm down. So, the Air Commander opens a wing and whacks the back of the Conehead's helm with it.

Ramjet stops his little sounds of despair to stare at him with wide optics.

Straightening with a small scowl on his beak, Starscream lifts his wing again.

"Will you calm down?" he asks casually, not shrieking or shouting, making sure his voice is down to a somehow soothing rasp. "Yes, that entrance is blocked. So, we keep walking and see if there's another exit, just like what we were doing before. And, even if there isn't, do you really think Megatron won't come back for us? At the very least, Soundwave will manage to get the Constructicons here to recover his Cassettes. Besides, there's enough space to stretch our wings, see?" he explains, demonstrating his last words by opening his wings as wide as they go.

A bit tentatively, Ramjet mimics him and, when he gets his wings open all the way, finally slumps down a bit in relief, his fans turning off and his crest lowering.

"Now, let's keep going," he orders, once more turning to the tunnel—

Not having realized the Cassettes have pulled closer to him at the Crested Eagle's distressed act, Starscream stumbles on Rumble and almost falls on his beak.

He scowls and glares down at the sheepishly smiling Least Weasel, but the Conehead's snickers are reason enough not to reprimand him.

So, Starscream just huffs, shakes himself as he straightens, and starts to walk.

The soft clicking of Ramjet's talons and Rumble's scurrying steps are enough to know they follow. The dark silent shape quickly pulling up by his side, optics glinting a bit as it looks around, is all he needs to know Ravage does so too.

It's almost a breem later when another small quake shakes the cave, more dust falling, but no indication of rocks about to crash on their helms.

Nevertheless, they all stop and huddle close without thought, the Cassettes pressing against their legs as Starscream feels Ramjet's wing and side against his own.

It takes some nanokliks before silence falls again.

"Is thunder supposed to do that?" Rumble whispers, and the Air Commander can feel him shiver.

"Looks like it," he answers softly, nudging the Least Weasel away before resuming their walk. "Come now. The sooner we find an exit, the better."

Ramjet is quick to go back to the Peregrine Falcon's side, staying close enough that their wings rub against each other from time to time. The Cassettes stay between them this time, brushing against their legs but expertly moving away from their talons when they take a step.

The loudest roar and worst tremor yet stop them with renewed shrieks, almost sending them to the floor—

The ground caves in.

It's only because of their reflexes that the Cassettes manage to grab onto the Fliers when they start to flap their wings, even if they use their claws to do so. However, none of the Seekers seems to feel the pain in their legs, optics widening as they see the light that has appeared at the end of the tunnel.

With just a quick thought about securing the Rusty-Spotted Cat latched onto a thigh by clasping a talon-ended pede around his dangling lower body, Starscream rushes to the exit, Ramjet close behind.

Dust and pebbles keep falling, accompanied by more dangerous bigger rocks, and the claws digging into his leg tighten their hold as the Seekers take sharp turns to evade them.

But, finally, they fly into open air—

And almost crash into the ground at the sudden environmental readings assaulting them.

The ambient Energon levels are so high that, if it wasn't for the isolation their fur- or feather-like outer layer gives them, their systems would crash.

There's no way this place is Earth.

Dumbstruck, but managing to keep his flight smooth, Starscream hovers close enough to the ground that Ravage is practically laid down on it.

When the Cassette releases his hold on his leg, the Air Commander lands—and hisses as he feels the sharp pinpricks the overwhelming levels of ambient Energon are sending up his damaged leg.

The injuries are minor, barely a dot of fluid where the claws have indented the metal. But they are more than enough to let him feel the effects of the current atmosphere on the lowest possible degree.

"No one transform! The environmental Energon levels are high enough to deactivate us with enough exposure of our root modes. Our fur and feathers are our only protection against them!" he shrieks when Ramjet lands, Rumble falling to the ground with a soft 'oomph'.

"I'll say. This hurts like slagging white-red needles!" the Conehead growls, shaking the leg the Least Weasel was clinging to, which now bears small dots of pink between some of the scales thanks to the Cassette's claws.

"Where the frag are we?!" Rumble exclaims after getting up onto his back legs, observing their surroundings with wide optics. "This can't be Earth, right?"

"It's an organic planet, no doubt. But it doesn't look like Earth," Starscream muses, looking up at the two differently sized C-like satellites visible on the blue sky. "The air composition is fairly similar to it, though the Energon levels are impossibly high," he adds, trying to ignore the jolts going up and down his damaged leg as he scans their surroundings. "Strange…" he whispers at his latest realization, but, just in case, plucks up a blade of what looks like green grass and runs his scans on it again, hoping for different results this time. "This is supposed to be grass. Earth grass."

"I think your scans are shot," Ramjet answers, though his optics are narrowed in confusion. "If this isn't Earth, how could that be Earth grass?"

"Time stamp?"

As one, they all turn to Ravage, who simply looks back at them, waiting for their answer.

All three mechs find themselves shocked when they take a look at their chronometers, and a simple look is enough to let them know it's the same for the rest.

Their chronometers are malfunctioning, still counting from the joor down, but signaling an error when it comes to orn to further up time measures.

"Orn?" Rumble asks, and the Seekers and his fellow Cassette only nod in answer. "Frag."

"So, what? We've been shot into another time? That's ridiculous!" Ramjet shouts, looking around before glaring at Starscream. "How the frag are we going to get back now?!"

"Not shouting, that's for sure," he snarls back, looking at the cave they've come out of.

The entrance is blocked by rocks that look too heavy to be moved.

No way back through there, since none of them would be able to even make any of them twitch.

This is all Megatron's fault.

UPDATED 26/06/2019: Corrected grammar.

AN: Remeber A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court, the episode in which Starscream, Ramjet, Ravage and Rumble get thrown into the England of the Dark Ages? Well, since I discovered Beast Wars I couldn't help but think how that episode could have been adapted to get the Decepticons there instead of England. And then, the idea came to me to mix my Beastformers universe with that AU, and this was born. Obvious changes are obvious, but they were needed.