This is a challenge, from LeaderPinhead, which was originally titled "Amnesia", that I accepted.

This story takes place in 2010 - a year after the events of ROTF and year before the events of DOTM. The human race is still reeling from the fact that a Pyramid of Giza was destroyed, and they are slowly rebuilding the pyramid as people try to figure out if the "Alien Robots" that destroyed it are friendly or not.

There will be only one main OC, but this story will mainly focus on the "main character" - a Cybertronian - who can't remember who he was.

I'm going to have fun with this, I can tell. And because I'm going to have fun with it, I'm going to be careful and make it as realistic as possible.

(And I wanted to post something on the last day of 2012, the year people thought the world was going to end.)

I hope you like!

Troubleshooting: Amnesia

1 – That Fateful Meeting – 1

He found himself laying there. He didn't know where he was or how he got there. He couldn't remember. No matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn't. Why couldn't he remember? This confused him. Had he ever remembered anything before this? He had a strange feeling that he should be remembering something. But what?

He slowly rolled onto his stomach before getting to his hands and knees. Slowly, he breathed in and forced himself to his feet. He stumbled as he straightened, and continued to sway slightly as he looked around. He looked at everything around him with confused blue eyes. Everything around him looked so strange, so unfamiliar. To him, it was all he knew.

It was all he knew, he realized. He couldn't remember where he came from. He couldn't remember if it was far away, or close-by. He looked at the clearing he was in, and scanned everything around him.

He seemed to be standing in a deep dip in the ground—a crater. There were patches of fire here and there. Did he cause that? But how? Had he fallen?

Carefully, he climbed out of the crater and stood up by the edge. He looked at the tall objects standing taller—taller than he was—around the crater. They were tall brown…poles…covered in spikey green things. There were many of them, and when he looked down to where he had found himself, he saw that a few of them were laying down in the bottom. He must have landed on them and brought them down with him. He couldn't remember how he did it, though. And that worried him.

Warily, he left the crater and began to walk between the tall green and brown things that towered over him. His blue eyes looked back and forth, taking in everything as he made his way forward. Something in him told him that he shouldn't be caught off guard, but that quickly faded and he was left confused. He quickly forgot about staying ever vigilant and just focused on finding out where he was.

He broke through the trees eventually and came to something he wasn't quite expecting. A long strip of grey cut across the landscape, and he could pick out the white and yellow lines that framed it. He didn't understand what it was for. What was its use? Was it a landmark? Or was it a lane to travel on?

He blinked and slowly began to cross the strip, unsure if it would suddenly jump up and attack him or not.

But it didn't seem aggressive, he thought as he tip-toed across it, balancing on only a few metal toes. He had to be careful, one wrong move and the grey stuff under him might try to eat him. He didn't want to upset it. Really, he didn't.

He was halfway across the strip of grey when he was suddenly bathed with light from the right. He jerked in surprise before he turned to look at the source of the light. His eyes widened at the sight of the small body of metal racing towards him, mostly obscured by the light. He tensed as it began to blare a noise at him. Something in him screamed, It's the Strip of Grey! You've incurred its wrath! RUN!

And that's what he did. Once he regained control of his body, he jumped out of the body's path and performed a somersault. When he got back to his feet, he continued to cross the road, now running, until he was on the other side. There were more brown and green things on this side of the Strip of Grey, and he quickly ran into the cluster of them in order to hide from the body of metal that the Strip of Grey had sent after him.

Little did he know, he was injured and was leaking his life-blood.

She smiled at the warm sun that shone down on her face, which she had tilted back in order to face the sky. She sighed a soundless sigh of contentment before she opened her green eyes and lowered her head. She gripped the straps of her camo-coloured Roots backpack that hung from her back as she started to walk down the trail. Today was Saturday and it was summer, and she had made it a habit over the last two weeks to go on a hike alone. It was not like her mother or twin sister would have wanted to come with her.

Maxine Xavier, "Maxx" for short, was the twin sister of Summer Xavier, Tranquility High track superstar, and the daughter of Tracey Baxter-Xavier, member of the Neighborhood Watch and head of the Tranquility High school board. Summer and Tracey had blonde hair and looked down on Maxx because of her brown hair and lack of voice. She had lost her voice due to an automobile accident that also claimed her father's life. Without her father, she felt that she had lost her family's respect.

But she didn't care. She was going to have a great day walking through the woods. She was going to forget about her family, she was going to forget that her sister, Summer, had a boyfriend that was the head of the football team, she was going to forget that her mother made the school board agree to restrain her from having a study partner in Chemistry. And she was going to forget that she had no friends, because the ones she had stopped talking to her because they were suddenly wierded out at her lack of voice or because they found it awkward to talk to someone that could only write on paper in order to communicate.

She was going to be free. She was going to be by herself, alone with her thoughts. Nothing was going to interrupt her peace. Nothing.

Maxx skipped up the trail, replaying a song she had heard earlier on the radio in her head. She stopped and looked at every flower she came across, allowing herself to enjoy herself. This was her time, and she wasn't going to waste it.

Eventually, she sat down on a stump and pulled out a water bottle and a small sandwich-bag filled with some trail-mix. She smiled and munched on some of the mix and drank some water as she looked about. The forest was so peaceful. There was a lack of noise, a lack of human presence. And for the first time in a while, she felt that she could control her life. That she was in control and not her mother.

She put the food and water away and continued up the trail. She felt so free, and the air was so fresh, that she never wanted to return home. This was truly her element.

Her cell phone suddenly rang, and she felt a sense of dread. What if it was her mother? What if she wanted her to come home? But…what if it was her cousin?

She took out her iPhone and looked at the caller ID. It said "Chelsea Xavier". Good, it was her cousin. Her cousin new she couldn't talk, but often called her in order to grab her attention because Maxx often ignored the beep her phone made when she got a text. So Maxx quickly pressed "Ignore Call" and texted her cousin.

'I really hate not having a voice, you know. I was ready to say "hello" verbally even though it's been a year already.' Maxx wrote.

'I'm sorry, Maxx. I guess every time I ring ya up, I painfully remind you that ya can't speak.' – Chelsea.

'I'm slowly getting used to it. So…why do you need to talk to me?' – Maxine.

'I hope there isn't any annoyance hidden behind those words, because I didn't mean to annoy you.' – Chelsea.

'Nope, you're not annoying me. So, what's up?' – Maxine.

'Okay, I'll cut to the chase. Did you see the falling stars last night?!' – Chelsea.

Maxx was surprised. There had been meteor shower the night before? How had she missed it? She had always enjoyed meteor showers while she grew up. 'When did it happen?' – Maxine.

'At 10 PM. I watched it through my telescope from my balcony. There was this really big one that didn't burn up in the atmosphere and crashed down in the forest where I think you're walking. Are you walking in Carmine Forest?' – Chelsea.

'Aw, crap, I guess I had been sleeping. I was really tired last night.' – Maxine.

It took her a few moments before she registered the rest of her cousin's previous text. But by then, Chelsea had already texted her again.

'Are you hiking in Carmine Forest or not?' – Chelsea.

Maxx hesitated. 'Yes…why?'

'That meteor might contain harmful radiation and might be polluting the forest as we speak…er…text. You better not spend much more time in the forest.' – Chelsea.

'I won't spend much more time out here, I promise.' – Maxine.

'Good. Cause I don't want to hear that my favourite cousin suddenly turns up dead with her insides cooked. It happened in that episode of "Murdoch Mysteries", you know!' – Chelsea.

'But those were microwaves!' – Maxine.

'Same-diff.' – Chelsea.

'Ugh. Well, I'm going now. Text you later!' and with that, she turned off the sound of her phone and put it back into her backpack. Her cousin worried about her too much, sometimes. But Maxx was glad someone cared at least.

She sighed and prepared to climb a steep part of the trail when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it, even as a slightly oily smell reached her nose. She blinked a few times when she saw the white wildflower. But it wasn't white anymore. There was a blue liquid coating it, slowly turning it blue. What is that? she wondered. She leaned in closer to the flower and sniffed. She recoiled with a look of disgust on her face when she found out that that was the source of the oily smell.

What could have caused that? Maxx wondered. Could the…could the meteor Chelsea mentioned be causing this?

Maxx looked up the trail, the sun shining down through the trees, giving her a perfect view of the plants lining the trail. But it wasn't the uneven placing of more blue liquid on rapidly bluing plants that got her right away, it was the large, unsteady, and very, very alien footprints pressed into the trail. Maxx was mentally speechless. But once she could think again, she slapped herself several times in order make sure she wasn't seeing things. But the sight of the footprints never went away.

What the heck? What could have caused those? Maxx asked herself.

She ran up to the first footprint and knelt down beside it. She slowly reached down and touched one of the impressions, marvelling at how compact the ground was at the bottom of it. It was like one of those two-legged robots-tank-things from Star Wars came stomping through here.

She got back to her feet and went to the next footprint. This one wasn't shaped the same as the first one. It was like whatever made this was damaged. She looked up at the top of the hill and began to wall up there. She wondered about who or what had made those prints, and she was curious to find out. But she also worried about the meteor. Could there be radiation in this area? Could it hurt her?

But her curiosity got the better of her and she trudged on. At the top of the hill, she stopped and looked around. She looked carefully to see any sign of a crater or whatever caused the footprints. I think it was be some form of natural irony if I found out those footprints were caused by a metal sasquatch, Maxx thought to herself before she giggled. She walked ahead but stopped when she saw another patch of blue liquid. After seeing so many of them, she figured she should at least check it out before she stopped coming across them. She knelt down by it and studied it. Wondering what it would do if it touched something dead, she picked up a dried out stick and poked it. It did nothing.

That intrigued her. But before she could investigate it further, she heard something. She looked up abruptly and gazed around cautiously. She jumped in surprise when it came again.

It sounded like a whine of some sort. But it also sounded electronic, as if a machine in distress had made it. The whine was full of pain though, so she doubted it came from a machine. Maxx slowly got to her feet, her green eyes taking in everything around her, trying to find out the source of the noise.

It came again, and her heart went out to it in sympathy. It reminded her of a wounded cat or a lonely infant. Maxx focused on the direction the whine had come from. It came from her left, so she dashed into the forest.

She took long strides as she dashed between trees and jumped over roots that threatened to trip her. The pack on her back weighed down heavily, threatening to make her slow down and thus lose the source of the whine she heard. But she fought against it, even when she broke out into a sweat and she had to take deep gulps of air.

Her father, before he died, told her that her great soft spot for infants and animals would make her a great vet or nurse someday. She smiled fondly as she thought about how that soft spot was driving her now.

The sound came again, steering her a little towards the right before she came to the edge of a clearing. But she stopped there.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of a large figure laying limp against a large boulder like a large ragdoll. Its chest rose and fell weakly. It keened, showing Maxx that it was the source of the whines. But her heart didn't melt this time at the sound, though it tried.

The figure before her was tall. It wasn't human, it looked like a giant robot. It was a giant robot. A robot that had to be dozens upon dozens of feet tall. Or maybe it was slightly shorter than that. Maxx couldn't tell, and it was hard to figure out because her conscience was constantly screaming at her to run away. Maxx swept her gaze over it, taking in its distinctly male-like form and the grey metal it was comprised of. The blue liquid she kept coming across was slowly leaking from several points in his frame. It—he looked to be in a lot of pain, and she wondered what could have caused him to be in such pain.

Her kindness quickly overrode her fear, and she carefully stepped towards him. But then she remembered, how was she supposed to speak to him without a voice?

Suddenly, he was looking down at her was a pair of laser-blue eyes. A stricken look appeared on his face, and he tried to get away from her. At his flailing, Maxx silently yelped and dashed backwards, away from him. This caused him to pause. He looked at her carefully before he collapsed onto his back, obviously exhausted.

Maxx was breathing hard. She didn't know what to do. Was he going to attack her? What if he was dying? How could she help him? If he didn't hurt her, how was she supposed to patch him up?

She didn't know what to do. The fear was slowly creeping back, threatening to consume her.

But when the robot didn't move, she slowly gathered up the courage to walk over to him and touch him. She mentally encouraged herself. You can do this, Maxx. He's hurt. Go check if you can help him. Oh crap, who am I kidding? He probably doesn't even know how to speak English! But before she could back out, she forced herself to stride slowly across the expanse that separated her from the robot.

She walked lightly past his feet and then his legs, her own legs tingling with adrenaline. She clenched her fists in order to keep them from shaking as adrenaline raced through her arms as well. She passed his torso, and then walked around his splayed out arms and hands before she made it to his head.

Maxx was now forcing herself not to shake as she came to a stop by his head. Her breaths were coming out unevenly as her chest seemed to tighten in anxiety. You can do this, she told herself. You can tell him you're right next to him without using your voice. So, with the last of her courage, she stepped forward and reached out, placing her hand on his cheek.

Well...I hope that got you hooked. See you next chapter and in the New Year!