Silver Purity, Cursed Crimson
Prowl slid his shutters open, blanching in the orange light. Nothing about him felt right. He felt heavy, which was unusual for he wasn't one of the larger mechs, like Prime or Trailbreaker. The Ark floor felt like it had been turned to slag that had never cooled. He blinked up at the white form before him and immediately snapped himself to his feet.
And promptly toppled over.
What the slag?
Blue organic eyes watched him from a soft white face. Bony dental plates jutted out of a ridiculously large mouth. The corners of that mouth curled up in what could only be a smile. A chevron-like projection rose off of the creature's forehead, giving it a permanent glower. It reminded him of someone…
"It's about slagging time," the words came out thickly, as though the creature didn't quite know how to handle its broad jaw hinge, and the tentacle of flesh that flapped around its mouth. That voice, however, was undeniable.
"Ratchet?" the tactician queried. Or he tried to; all that came out was a noisy spasm. His body jiggled in an uncomfortably alien way as the spasms continued, his tracheal tubing crawled and encouraged the fit to continue.
The white beast drew his head up, blasting air out of his nasal holes. The-thing-that-illogically-sounded-like-Ratchet nudged Prowl with a hand-foot.
"Come on, Optimus had the same thing happen, and so did I for that matter. Get up, and don't try to stand. Just crawl on your hands and... feet." The large beast continued to prod at the tactician, who was wondering why his battle computer hadn't knocked him offline yet, until Prowl gained his feet. He stumbled after the Ratchet-thing, feeling his own tentacle of flesh sticking to the roof of his mouth.
"Here." The sound of liquid running drew the tactician's attention more than Ratchet-thing's voice. He noted with alarm that the Ark had formed a leak some time during their period in stasis. "You're lucky Optimus already figured this out, or we'd both be sorry. Watch."
Prowl's circuits crawled as Ratchet-thing dipped his pointed nose into the liquid and lifted his head, nose pointed straight into the air. The thick white neck convulsed and Ratchet, Prowl was becoming more and more convinced this was indeed their medic, shook his jaw dry. Prowl stared blankly, aware of the strange sensation that continued to wriggle in his tracheal tube. Did Ratchet just… intake the Ark's coolant?
"Now, or I'll stuff your face in that substance," the medic snarled in his normal acidic voice. Somehow coming form that organic throat, and added with the rumble from his chest, and the flash of those white dental plates, Prowl found it more intimidating than usual.
The tactician obeyed, finding the liquid warm, and, for the first time since he awakened, he attempted to bring his sensors online to analyze his surroundings.
Noise thundered through his cranium, melding with the splitting pain. His tracheal tubing vibrated and he realized that hewas making that noise. What came out, was not a snarl like what the medic accomplished, but something he expected more from the twins, or Brawn, and certainly not what he normally produced. A roar, high-pitched and deafening, broke out of his tracheal tubing.
"Don't do that again. And drink, fraggit." The hefty white shoulder shoved Prowl back toward the small stream.
Gaping in alarm, Prowl staggered forward, his head dropping into the liquid. Ratchet was there, roughly hauling his nose out. A nose, Prowl realized, that was longer than it used to be, longer than Ratchet's and ended with a pair of thin fleshy tentacles sticking out.
"Drink. If I tell you again I'll slagging let you ventilate the stuff."
Prowl tried again, taking care to keep his nasal holes out of the liquid. He scooped up a mouthful, amazed as the tentacle in his mouth seemed to absorb the fluid and unstick. He imitated Ratchet's head tilt, and the warm substance flowed down his tracheal tubing, not without choking him. There seemed to be more than one way for the stuff to go.
Ratchet blew air out of his nasal holes again. "Keep up until you've had your fill. You should know when." The medic took his own advice and dipped his jaw into the stream again. Prowl stood there for what had to be another breem, sliding the liquid into his fuel tanks until he ached. Ratchet bumped the tactician away with his snout. "You've had enough. Any more and you'll burst through."
The medic didn't seem to question how he knew, though Prowl was not inclined to disagree. That would accurately describe the feeling in his fuel tank. He almost felt ready to purge.
Blue eyes swept Prowl up, down, and back.
Prowl realized that he hadn't spoken since he woke. "Ratchet?" he tried again, grateful when the noisy spasms didn't claim him. Though he found it difficult to work out the necessary combination of ventilation, tentacle and jaw movement. The medic blinked, two sets of shutters sliding over his moist optics.
"Well, you look functional. Ready to see Prime? I need to wake up Wheeljack." A grumble sounded from the broad white chest, and Prowl was suddenly aware of yet another fleshy tentacle, one attached to Ratchet's backside, that twitched and swished, balancing Ratchet's movements while seeming to react to his moods. "And don't even try to transform. If you think bringing your sensors online was painful…" the medic trailed off, turning to head back the way they'd come.
"Where's Prime?" Prowl asked.
"Behind you."
Prowl whipped around, barely aware of the glimpse he received of his own lithe body, nothing like the one the medic sported. He stared up at yet another creature.
Big and red. Very red with blue projections rather than gray. Projections that scraped the Ark's ceiling, and made the ship bleed.
A/N:A challenge was placed on the Padded Cell to draw the Transformers as dragons. I turned resultant images over in my head quite a few times, and came up with two different stories. This is the one I chose to write...And I am drawing them too, occassionally. This is something I poke at when I need a break from the current project. I'm going for monthly updates, but no guarantee.
By the way, have I ever mentioned that I like dragons?