Sorry in advance if this gets a little confusing: there are a lot of pov changes. And sorry for any grammatical errors.

And now, the long awaited next installment of A Darby Family Vacation!

I don't own transformers.

"Jack. Jack! Wake up!"

The young Darby groaned as he opened his eyes. His mother's concerned face stared down at him. Images from the previous night sprang up in his mind: the boat on fire, falling into the ocean as Val was struck by lightning, and then the hours spent treading water, slowing swimming to the shore where they had collapsed and fallen into an exhausted sleep. The experience was one Jack most certainly did not want to have again.

Clutching his head, he sat up. "Where are we?"

June looked around with worried eyes. "I'm not sure."

"Where's Val?"

"I…I don't know." His mother's worry increased tenfold. "After we fell, I lost sight of her. Y-you don't think that lightning k-killed—"

Jack placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Val's been through way worse than a little lightning. She's probably looking for us right now." He stood, pulling off his now ragged life vest. "But that doesn't me we can't make things a little easier for her to find us. Let's try and get a scope of the place." He patted down his pockets. "I must have lost my phone in the water."

"I don't have anything eith—wait a minute." June dove her hands into the pockets of Val's jacket. One hand emerged with a damp iPod. "Rhapsody!" she pressed the center button and the pixie-pod transformed, coughing up water. "Rhapsody, can you get a fix on Val's signal?"

The pixie-pod only hiccupped and spat out more water.

"I'll take that as a no." Jack said. He headed toward the tree line several yards away.

"Where are you going?" June asked.

"Taking a look around." He called back. "I can't just sit on a beach twiddling my thumbs.

His mother sighed and glanced down at Rhapsody. "Those two are definitely siblings."

Cody Burns hopped off his hover board and hurried through the trees to the edge of Mr. Buffkin's field. After what his siblings had told him through the comm. tab, the youngest member of the Burns family just had to see the sight for himself. He paused as he caught his first glimpse of what lay in the farmer's pasture. Growing up on Griffin Rock, Cody had seen some pretty cool things. The coolest of all were the Rescue Bots of course, but the creature that lay in the field came in at a pretty close second.

From its metal body it was obvious that the dragon was a robot, yet its shape and structure looked so natural, so fitting with the wilderness around it that it seemed as lifelike as the birds that sang from the trees. As he approached, Cody took in the long tale, tipped with two sail-like black fins; the plating along its back overlapped in smooth sheets of black armor, accented with lines of silver. He looked at the massive wings, tucked into the creature's sides, and wondered how large they were when unfurled. Cody frowned when he noticed massive scorch marks running along its left side. His frowned deepened when he saw what the rescue team was doing.

"Kade is your end tied off?" Graham called to his older brother.

The blond fireman gave a thumbs up.

"Alright then, Dani and Blades, let's work on getting your chains attached to the rocks."

They were tying the dragon up. Large chains were tied around its legs, along its back to hold the wings down, and several chains strapped its tail to the ground. Each of these chains was attached to massive rocks taken from the country side.

"What are you guys doing?" Cody asked, jogging up to his dad.

Chief Burns frowned as he saw his youngest approach. "Cody what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see this for myself. It really is a dragon. Noble!" His son said. "Oh and Frankie and Doc Greene are on their way."

The chief nodded. "Good, maybe the Doc can make some sense of exactly what this thing is, and where it came from."

"And more importantly, who built it." Heatwave grumbled, coming to stand by them. "I've got a sinking suspicion a certain doctor is behind this."

Dani tilted her head to the side. "I don't know. This seems a little advanced for anything Doctor Morocco could make. I mean his Morbots look like scrappy garbage disposal drones compared to this thing."

"But why are you tying it up?" Cody asked.

"As a safety precaution, kiddo." Chief Burns placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "At the moment we have nothing to transport it with; I'm not even sure the MHQ could do the job. And we don't know what this thing will do if it wakes up."

"Yeah," Blades added, nervously twiddling his thumbs. "It might have an appetite for cows, or humans, or," the Bot gulped loudly. "helicopters."

Boulder frowned. "Still, it doesn't exactly seem right to chain it up, for all we know it could be friendly."

Kade snorted. "Nothing that looks like that could possibly be friendly."

Cody sighed as his siblings began to debate over the origins of the creature. The young boy walked up to the dragon for a closer look. The smooth oval head was tipped with floppy horn-like appendages in the back. Several sharp, metal fangs poked out of its jaws, which, to Cody at least, seemed to be turned down in a troubled expression. The boy noticed whirlwind patterns with strange lettering carved into the armor of the creature's forelegs. Circling the body, Cody also caught sight of a depiction of a spider on the dragon's lower right side and an Egyptian-style cat on its left hind leg. He came to a stop at the scorch marks; the metal was slightly melted near the center of the wound. With ever hesitant hands, Cody reached out and brushed his fingers against the burn marks.

A shudder went through the dragon and ever so slightly the creature began to stir.

Cody quickly withdrew his hand and hurried to his family. "Uh guys, I think it's waking up."

OW!

Pain, worse than any hangover, racked through my processor as my systems slowly booted to life. A scorching sensation came from my left side. What the heck happened last night?

Oh right, I got struck by lightning.

Important life lesson to learn: when you're a giant flying creature made out of metal alloys, never fly in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Now I knew how a lightning rod felt.

With a low, gurgling groan I ran a systems check over my body: my comm. link was down, fried by the storm, and my T-cog had taken some damage. Transformation was going to be a no-no for another hour or so until my self-repair systems could fix it. Memories from last night returned to me: dropping Mom and Jack so they wouldn't be hit by the bolt. I had to find them. Best case scenario was they made it to the island or were picked up by another boat. The worst case was that they were still out floating adrift. Either way, I couldn't stick around here, wherever here was.

There was just one problem: I couldn't move.

It wasn't that my body was incapable of movement. It was that something was holding me down. I wiggled my body and heard the clank of chains.

You've got to be kidding me. I moaned internally. Chaining the dragon? I thought we'd left the Middle Ages long ago. What next? Are they going to try to kill me with a holy hand grenade?

"Yeah, that thing is definitely waking up." A young male voice announced.

"Everybody take a step back." A much older man ordered.

Oh please don't tell me I landed on somebody's house. I slowly opened my optics.

I first focused on the small group of humans standing in front of me. There was a grey haired man in a blue police uniform; his badge read Griffin Rock Police (Griffin Rock...that rang a bell). There was also a twenty-some blond guy in a fireman's get up, a sandy-blond man with glasses and a hard hat, a young woman with brown hair shorter than mine in a jumpsuit, and young boy in a old aviator's jacket with bright yellow hair and eyes full of curiosity but very little fear.

Then I noticed the Bots.

My spark nearly stopped, fearing for a second that they were Decepticons (they lacked the blue optics after all). But I quickly calmed when I saw the Autobot insignia adorned on them, though the symbol was encircled by a four-pointed shield. What were Autobots doing here?

And more importantly, why did they tie me up?

Wait, Griffin Rock.

Ok, I remembered Optimus and Bumblebee mention something about other Autobots being stationed on earth. These guys were Rescuebots, outfitted for civil service not war. Hence why Optimus had station them on Griffin Rock. I couldn't remember more since Bee had been chattering on about some sort of time machine, but the basic point was that these guys were friendlies.

Now I just had to convince them that I was one too.

But that was going to be a little difficult seeing as how I was tied up.

I tried to shift into a less intimidating position, but the movement caused one of the chains to rub against my wounds. Not thinking, I snapped my jaws, growling at the pain.

Wrong move to make. Very wrong move to make.

The Rescue Bots jumped into action. The red one charged at me, grabbing my head and holding my jaws shut. The blue one hurried over to assist him.

Um, ow.

On instinct I tried to shake them off. But they held on tight.

Seriously guys, I'm not going to eat anybody. But of course, I couldn't talk in this form so it all came out as growls and grunts.

"Boulder, Blades, grab some chains. We need to put a muzzle on this thing." The red one barked.

A muzzle? A MUZZLE?

Oh. Hell. NO!

I shook my head harder, desperate to throw them off. There was no way I was getting a muzzle put on me like some bad tempered dog. The two Rescuebots held on tightly, and soon the other two, a green one and a white and orange one, hurried forward, wrapping thick chains around my jaws. Once they were sure the chain was secured, the red and blue 'bots took a step back. I strained to open my mouth but to no avail.

How humiliating.

If Ironhide found out about this I'd never hear then end of it.

The red 'bot looked pleased. "That thing isn't going anywhere."

Oh, just you wait. I snarled in my mind.

The orange and white 'bot eyed me nervously. "It's looking at us like we'd make a good meal."

Don't worry. I only plan on taking a chomp out of Red there. I was glaring at the lead 'bot, wishing that Gaia had added laser vision to my list of talents. Buddy, just you wait. When I get out of this you are going to be the one in need of rescue. I struggled against the chains for a few more minutes but flopped my head onto the ground when I realized that I wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

First round: chains-one, Val-zero.

Now what?

Judging from the nervous and uncertain looks on their faces, my captors weren't so sure either. Ok, maybe captors was too harsh a word, but right then I wasn't feeling very generous.

The blond fireman scratched his head. "So…what do we do with it?"

"This is clearly a very advanced piece of machinery, Kade." said his bespectacled co-worker. "But every machine has an off switch."

I choked back a snort. Yeah, good luck with that. I was the freaking energizer bunny from hell.

The man named Kade took a step back. "You wanna go prodding around that thing? Be my guest."

I rolled my eyes. I don't have cooties, you know.

Whatever debate they were about to have was interrupted by the rumble of an approaching engine. A large SUV trundled over the hill, parking itself right next to the 'Bots. The vehicle was tricked out with so much wacky tech that I half expected Dr. Venkman and the rest of his ghost busting crew to come tumbling out. Instead a middle-aged man and his daughter hopped down. The man wore a long white lab coat, he had long, grey-streaked black hair, and his dark skin was wrinkled around the eyes and mouth with laugh lines. The girl looked to be about the same age as the blond kid and carried herself with confidence. Right now though, she seemed to be bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement.

This couldn't bode well for me.

"Doc, glad you could make it out here." Chief Burns shook the scientist's hand. "This one's definitely going in the books as one of Griffin Rock's stranger occurrences."

Doc Greene smiled "Ah, but what truly constitutes as strange on Griffin Rock?"

"You have admit, though," Graham walked over to join them. "This one is odd."

"Odd? I'd say this is a piece of marvelous machinery!" the doctor approached the beast with eager strides. The creature tugged harder on its restraints. "Now, now my friend, I swear on Schrӧdinger's cat that I won't harm you." He patted the dragon on the snout.

"Uh Doc, if you want to keep you fingers, you probably shouldn't be putting your hands there." Heatwave eyed the monster warily. Dual colored optics shot the 'Bot a venomous glare, though the beast made no threatening move toward the scientist.

Frankie peered at the burnt metal. "Looks like it was struck down in the storm."

"Oh, you poor dear." Greene rubbed soothing circles against the creature's metal hide. "We'll get you fixed up faster than the splitting of an atom."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa" Kade held up his hands. "You're going to fix this thing? If you ask me it should go straight to the scrap heap."

The growl reverberating from the dragon made the ground tremble.

Blades shuffled behind Boulder. "I don't think it likes that idea."

"Well, we're not going to make any further decision until we figure out what—" Chief Burns as interrupted by the beeping of his comm. tab. "Griffin Rock emergency. What? You have only two of the passengers? I'll be right over." He clicked the comm. off. "This'll have to wait, I'm afraid. Chase we've got to head over to Old Shore road; apparently two of the three passengers aboard that were aboard that boat tour that went down last night managed to wash ashore here."

"It got caught up in that storm?" Kade asked.

Charlie nodded. "It hit them out of nowhere."

"These strange weather patterns are really beginning to wreak havoc in this area." Graham adjusted his glasses as he inspected the sky. Several miles off, dark clouds were beginning to gather. "And it looks like today will be no exception."

Kade crossed his arms. "Great, another day hauling tree branches off power lines." His comm. when off. "Yello? Sure, we'll be out there right away." He hung up and turned to his siblings. "Dani, Graham, we need to head out to the east cliffs. Apparently the base of the radio tower is starting to wiggle loose. Probably from all these high winds."

"Would it not be more prudent for us to begin a search and rescue for the third passenger?" Chase asked.

"Right now the coast guard is calling the shots. We're just supposed to stay on standby." The chief rubbed the side of his head wearily as Chase transformed. "I hope they make it; the only thing east of this island is the Atlantic."

The dragon warbled and thumped its head on the ground.

Heatwave stared at the creature. "Are you sure it's alright to just leave this thing here with the Doc?"

"Nonsense, she and I will get along fine." Doc Greene waved away their concerns.

"She?" the fire truck asked.

The scientist shrugged. "She has a sort of feminine grace about her."

The dragon chuffed.

"Ok, I'm gonna go before I catch any of this weirdness going around." Kade said. "Cody, you coming?"

The youngest Burns shook his head. "I think I'll stay with Doc and Frankie."

"Be careful," Blades warned. "There aren't any knights or harpoon wielding, fake doctors to stop that thing if it gets loose."

No one noticed the dragon rolling its eyes.

June Darby was biting her fingernails, something she'd not done since she was Jack's age. Yet it seemed, due to their current situation, that old nervous habit was rearing its head again. The nurse forced her hand back to her side as she peered down the road. The cyclist that they'd stumbled across had wanted to wait with them until the authorities had arrived, but they had assured the man that they would be fine. Now June was wishing that they'd asked him to stay, if only to have small talk to distract her from her incessant worrying.

Jack wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Mom, relax. We'll get into town. See if anybody has seen Val, and contact base. If worst comes to worst, Optimus will get a search party together. You keep worrying and you'll get more grey hairs." He tugged on her ponytail.

"I know, I'm just having a hard time keeping calm." June sighed. "It's just that, I'm just now piecing our family back together but it seems like every other minute something or someone is trying to take you or Val away from me…and what do you mean more grey hairs?" she poked Jack in the side.

They turned to see a sleek police car approaching. The vehicle had barely stopped before the door opened and a grey haired, mustached officer stepped out. The man carried a first aid kit with him. "I'm chief Charlie Burns. Do you require any immediate medical attention?"

"We're fine. Nothing more than a few shallow scrapes and a need for dry clothes." June said.

The police chief looked back and forth between the mother and son. "Coast guard reports said three passengers didn't make it onto the lifeboats."

"We…got separated from my daughter in the storm."

"Don't suppose you've seen her? Tall, black haired girl with a snarky attitude and a habit for getting stumbling into trouble." Jack grimaced when his mother pinched him.

"You seem to be taking this situation a little too lightly, Son." Burns frowned.

The teen shrugged. "I'm in shock."

"Anyway," June stepped in front of her son. "We'd really appreciate any help you can provide."

The chief nodded. "Of course, hop on in and I'll take you into town where we can hopefully get the mess straightened out." He gestured to his cop car.

"I'm surprised we warranted the attention of the chief of police." June said as she walked toward the vehicle.

"Well, you're looking at the main police force. This is really a sort of one cop island." Burns chuckled.

"You know what other place was a one cop kind of island? Amity." Jack said as he climbed into the back seat of the cruiser. "And look what happened to th—gah! Why is there a face in the dashboard?"

"Greetings citizen." Chase replied.

"This is a top of the line rescue vehicle." The chief patted the hood. "We call them Rescue Bots."

Jack stared at the dashboard then back at Burns. "Wait, what island are we on?"

"Griffin Rock."

The teen sat back and rubbed his forehead as his mother sat in the passenger seat. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts (dee dee dee dee), there they are standing in a row." I grimaced as the Doc hit notes I'm pretty sure weren't legal.

I'd learned one important thing as this guy's unwilling patient: he was sweet but completely tone deaf. I was pretty sure there were dolphins off the coast going: "what the hell was that?" Mercifully, the scientist switched to humming as he continued to work on my side, using nothing more than a pen-sized, high powered laser. Where do they get tech like that anyway? The boy and the girl, Cody and Frankie I think their names were, sat directly in front of me. Cody reached out and touched my snout. I sighed and tried to shift into a more comfortable position.

The Doc whistled. "I must say, whoever made you did an absolute outstanding job."

I would've appreciated the comment a whole lot more if he wasn't trying to root around in my gears.

"Do you think it's like the 'bots?" Cody asked, his gaze curious and excited.

Frankie leaned her head to the side, scrutinizing me. "It does seem to be quite sentient."

They had no idea.

"Well, if we want to discover that." Doc Greene paused to wipe his brow and look up at the sky. "We'll have to move quickly before this storm sets in."

Following his gaze, my spark sank uneasily as storm clouds rumbled overhead.

I was just beginning to debate if I could somehow use Morse code to communicate when I heard it. That same high pitch from the night before. It came sweeping in from the direction of the ocean, starting low then ascending in pitch with each passing minute. I whined and shook my head furiously as my audio receptors began to throb.

The noise turned into a shriek.

The children scrambled away from the beast as it became increasingly agitated. Doc Greene even had to take several steps back when the creature began to wriggle in its chains.

"What in the name of Newton's cradle has gotten into her?" the scientist scratched his head.

Cody was about to suggest they alert the team when a loud splash drew his attention away. Some of Mr. Buffkin's property did extend to the sea, and the young Burns knew that several yards away, and through a copse of trees, was a small cove. But what could have caused a splash to be heard from their position?

Cody jogged the short stretch to the little cove. He stopped short as he reached the sand. Out in the water, dozens of lights were moving east. Their eerie glow was fractured in the choppy water and kept the true size and shape of the beings a mystery. Something about those lights didn't sit well with that boy. As he watched, one of lights paused then slowly began to move into the cove, heading straight towards him. Palms sweaty, Cody turn and ran back towards the Doc and Frankie.

"Guys," he panted. "There are some weird glowing things in the water!"

"Cody, stay back!" Doc Greene warned, keeping his daughter behind him.

The dragon was now thrashing against its bindings, muffled roars escaping from under its muzzle. The creature whipped its head towards the sky then the sea its eyes desperate and pained.

"Guys, I think we should let it go." Cody fidgeted anxiously. "I think it—she's—reacting to the storm. I think," he quieted when the beast turned its gaze to him, its eyes seemed to plead with him to understand. "I think she knows something about these storms."

The boy didn't wait for the others' responses; he made a beeline for the dragon, snatching Doc Greene laser pen along the way. He pointed the device at the chains holding its left front leg down. With a flick of a switch the laser fired, heating the metal until it snapped free. The creature shook its claw free then began to yank at its makeshift muzzle while Cody ran around it, dismantling the other chains. With a deep breath, the boy began to climb up the beast's side, intent on getting rid of the last set of bindings: the ones holding down its large wings.

"Cody, stop!" Doc Greene yelled.

The final chains snapped off.

The dragon flared its wings, and with a single down stroke, shot into the sky with Cody clinging for his life on its back. After a moment, the creature seemed to realize the young boy was still on it, and it leveled off, gliding along an updraft, though it was far from at ease. It turned its head, as if trying to catch a sound.

"There were lights in the water." Cody called as he settled into a more stable position. "They were heading east."

With a snort, the dragon took off in that direction, swooping low over the waves.

"Alright, let's wrap this up before lunch. I don't want my sandwich getting soggy when it starts to pour." Kade crossed his arms as the Heatwave and Boulder held down the tower with Blades and Dani spotting from above. The tall structure was located on Griffin Rock's most easterly point where the land rose up from the ocean to form a cliff several hundred feet high.

"You're seriously thinking about food right now?" Dani asked over the comm.

"Hey, I'm a growing man."

"You humans stop growing at a certain age. From now on, you can't grow up, you can only grow out." Heatwave smirked.

The fireman patted his stomach defensively as Graham stepped towards the tower with his tool kit. "The less we squabble, the quicker the work gets done and the sooner we get in from this stor—"

The young engineer dropped his tool kit as his eyes glazed over.

Boulder peered down at him. "Are you alright, Graham?"

His partner didn't respond as he slowly turned in the direction of the sea, towards the cliff.

"Kade, snap him out of it." Heatwave huffed.

"Um, guys. They're both acting that way." Blades reported.

The two young men stared out at the rough waters.

Kade took a step towards the cliff.

Jack snapped his fingers. "Sigma 17! You're Cybertronian!"

The dashboard showed Chase's slightly surprised face. "How do you—"

He was cut short when he unexpectedly veered off the road, slamming into the rail guard. Beyond the road was a steep slope that led to a beach.

"Chief, why did we—" he grimaced as Charlie stomped on the gas, forcing the 'bot to press into the railing.

June grabbed his shoulders. "Chief Burns!" she gasped when she saw that his eyes had a glassy look. "Jack, he's just like the men on the boat. Jack?"

She turned to see her son clutching his ears. "That noise!"

"Madame, I'm afraid I cannot gain full control without some assistance." Chase stated.

June reached over and tried to yank the chief's hands away from the wheel, but he had a death grip. "I can't move him." She followed Charlie's hollow gaze. "I think he's trying to get to the water."

Rhapsody popped up from her hiding place in the coat pocket. The pixie-pod was frantically waving a plastic package in front of June's face.

The nurse snatched it. In Val's messy scrawl it read: Get these to Chief Burns…whoever he is. Inside were earplugs. June ripped open the bag. "Val, I hope for our sakes this works."

"Normally, I would not advise leaning across the center console while a vehicle is in motion." Chase grimaced as he fought for control. "But in this single instance I must insist upon it!"

June lunged towards the chief, shoving the first plug in his right ear then reaching around and, with a bit of a struggle, smushed the second into his left.

The effects were almost instantaneous. Charlie slumped over the steering wheel, his body going slack. Chase took the reprieve to reverse as far away from the guardrail as possible. June pressed a hand against her heart. Rhapsody had a death grip on June's hair. Jack slouched down into the back seat, still grimacing slightly. They remained like that for a moment until the driver began to come to.

Chief Burns shook his head and peer around. "Wha-what happened?"

"I believe you attempted to emulate the ones known as Thelma and Louise." Chase stated.

"Is everyone alright?" Charlie peered around at the other occupants.

"Don't worry; compared to nearly being sucked into a tornado, this was relatively tame." June smiled weakly.

Jack rubbed his ears. "I don't know what the hell is going on here, but we need to find my sister. Now."

Heatwave shot a confused look over his shoulder. "Kade, what in the Pits do you think you're doing? Kade!"

The fireman was oblivious to his partner's calls as he slowly began to shuffle towards the cliff. His younger brother followed his lead. Their faces sported identical blank looks.

"They seem to be in some sort of trance." Boulder nearly shouted as wind off the sea blasted over them. The storm was kicking into high gear.

"You think?" Heatwave snarled. "Let go and grab Graham. I'll keep the tower steady."

The green 'bot dropped his portion, and hurried towards his friend. "Graham, what are you doing?"

From above, Blades tried to swoop in to assist but was hit broadside by another blast of wind. He was forced upward, rocking unsteadily as gusts hit him from multiple directions.

Dani clutched the controls tightly. "Boulder's got Graham, but Kade is heading right towards the edge! Blades, we have to do something!"

"I'm—urgh—trying!" the copter 'bot grimaced. "This wind is too strong! It's pulling me every which way!"

Down on the ground, the situation was far from improving.

"Graham, what's wrong?" Boulder held on as his partner struggled to get away; his destination seemed to be the same as Kade's: the sea cliff. The engineer was desperate, scratching at the 'bot's servos, reaching towards the ocean. His expression was a mix of longing and pain.

Boulder was so caught up in seeing to his partner that he failed to notice that Kade was nearly at the edge.

Heatwave dropped the tower and ran towards the cliff though he knew he wouldn't make it. "Kade don't!"

The fireman stepped off the cliff.

A roar resounded off the waves as a large flash of black crested over precipice. The dragon soared high over the rescue team, the oldest Burns son clutched in the creature's right claw and the figure of the youngest Burns clinging to its back.

I circled around the cliff, a groggy Kade clutched in my claws and a slightly shaken Cody clinging to my back. The helicopter buzzed past me; through the glass I could see the concern on the pilot's face, but neither she nor the 'bot chose to fly closer. With a few erratic wing beats, I descended, landing unsteadily with one claw held out so I wouldn't crush the fireman. The green 'bot held his partner carefully in his servos, making sure the bespectacled man wouldn't try to make a break for the cliff again. But the eerie screeching had stopped and with it, the guys' symptoms.

Loud footfall alerted me to the red 'bots fast approach. He had his fist in the air, ready to swing.

"Heatwave, don't!" Cody yelled, sliding off my back. "It's just trying to help!"

Heatwave slowed but was still poised for attack. I reached out and gently placed Kade on the ground.

He groaned and rolled over onto his side. "Urgh…my head. What happened?" He looked up, saw me leaning over him, and promptly let out a rather feminine shriek and scrambled backwards. "How'd that thing get out?"

Cody rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I unchained it."

"You what?!"

I chuffed, not really wanting to see the kid get chewed out. So ignoring the warning signs about my still damaged t-cog, I began to transform, slowly and very painfully. With one last grunt, my armor fell into place and I stood up, though I leaned heavily to my right.

To say they looked stunned would be a vast understatement; if their jaws were hanging any lower they could've swallowed a manatee.

"W-wha…" Heatwave certainly didn't look like he could form a coherent sentence.

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "As much as I'd love to sock you a good one for that muzzle thing, you've got bigger problems," I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the ocean, once again deceptively calm. "lurking in the waters off Griffin Rock."

Whew, that was exhausting! Hopefully next chapter won't have so many pov switches. So, any ideas about what sort of mythical monster is terrorizing the patrons of Griffin Rock?

As always, reviews are most welcome and appreciated.