A Halloween To Remember!

by Odeena Sabnach

Slowly, time passes by… It’s been nearly a month now since the Beast Warriors arrived to our base. Slowly, that invisible wall between the Maximals and Predacons vanished. The first ones to break the ice were Cheetor and Terrosaur, who were roomies, and soon after, the others followed. But that didn’t happen all at once. For a while, Optimus had to keep a sharp eye on Rampage and Depth Charge, Inferno was very cautious around the former ‘enemies of the colony’, TM2 Dinobot snarled at everyone (except himself--I mean his former self--I mean…for bootin’ out cold, you got the point, didn’t you) and Rattrap didn’t miss a chance to say something smart about ‘da’ stinkin’ Preds’. Over and all, two weeks after, there was no difference if you were Maximal and Predacon, and things somehow settled into normal.

The repairs on both the Axalon and the Darkside went on slowly, due to lack of supplies and spearparts on one hand, and the guys’ laziness on the other hand. Windows gave Skorpinok headaches, until he managed to remove it, and install my Sm!le primary operating software instead. Rhinox, on the other hand, worked for three or four hours to delete Britney Spears’ voicecode and restore Sentinel’s original voice.

So, as I said, nearly a month had passes… and we were approaching the 31st of October. As in, Halloween. And I already did say the Beast Warriors were found of Earth customs…

The feeling hit me like a point-blank shot, straight in the face: something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Note the fact that I was straight at the limit between dream and reality. Sure, this could all have been just a figment of my imagination… but no matter HOW realistic a dream could be, I know you’re not supposed to feel cold. And wet.

And I did.

Something snapped at the back of my mind. However, I didn’t have any time to figure out what it was, because something cold touched my shoulder, and a familiar voice screamed straight in my ear, "Wake-UUUUP!!!"

I jerked up; the next moment, the world seemed to turn upside-down. I landed on something hard. Desperately trying to find something fixed in all this mess, I waved my hands, My left hand grabbed a metallic foot. My right hand found mud.

Mud?! But--

The previous events were slowly coming back to me. I recalled setting up my hammock just outside the base, then falling asleep. There were some screams in the background, someone swearing out loud… but I was used to that by now. It was warm and sunny then…

But now the sky was cloudy, it was raining hard.

Two metallic arms hauled me back to my feet, and I blinked in surprise, spotting a pair of crimson-red optics staring at me.

"Ya sure picked up a bad time an’ place for a nap", Rattrap said, shaking his head. "C’mon, let’s head inside."

I nodded sleepily as he half-dragged me through the massive doors Rhinox had put up and into the base.

"Ya know, ya had us all worried for a while. We’ve been searchin’ everywhere."

"Uh-huh…" I mumbled sleepily.

Suddenly, I caught a reflection of myself in one of the walls.

"Oh, slag…" I muttered.

I looked somewhat like a swamp creature, covered in mud and soaking wet. NO WAY I could let anyone see me like this.

Rattrap shared my thoughts. He whistled once or twice. "Tell ya what. Ya’re coming with me ta my quarters, take a shower, an’ change inta somethin’ dry. An’ den… um, we have somethin’ to talk."

"Um… I don’t know…"

Usually, this was Rattrap’s behavior when he wanted something, and I wondered what was I now. Last time he had been this nice, he asked me if he could shoot Dinobot.

On the other hand… a swamp monster was NOT exactly the ideal image I wanted the others to have about me.

The sound of approaching footsteps helped me make up my decision. "Okay, okay… I’m coming."

He pointed towards the air vents. "Weeel… ya comin’?"

I took a surprised step back.

"You HAVE to be kiddin’ me."

No he wasn’t.

After the events of the day, a nice hot shower was all I needed. That, and a nice snack. My stomach growled at me.

Rattrap had found me a pair of baggy jeans and a T-shirt. When I came out of the shower, he was nowhere in sight, so I sat down on the recharge pod, picked up a magazine and started to skim through. After a few minutes, Rattrap walked in, holding a tray with a few sandwiches and a cola shake.

"Thought ya might me hungry", he said, settling it down on a table.

I gratefully picked up a sandwich. "So, whatcha’ wanna talk about?"

He cleared his throat. "Um… ya know, tomorrow’s Halloween."

"Yes…?"

"An’… we’ve been talking…"

"Yes?"

"Um…"

He shifted uncomfortably.

"We… wanna go trick an’ treat", he finally spat it out. "Well, some of us do, anyway."

"Some…?"

"Yeah. Cheets, Thalia, Alkari, Waspinator, Serena an’ I."

"You know--"

"Ol’ Pop-Op figures we shouldn’t hide like dis."

I sighed. "Rattrap, the government sees in you a possible threat."

"We can always reason…" he trailed off, uncertain, "…can’t we?"

"Then why didn’t you reason with them the first time?"

"Um… because ol’ Crab-Legs went postal on’ em."

"You can’t reason with them now any more than you could then, especially since you say Rampage killed people. End of matter."

He made a face, but suddenly he beamed.

"I know! We’ll just disguise ourselves! After all, dat’s what Halloween’s all about, ain’t it?"

"And you think a seven-feet tall ‘bot can disguise himself as an ordinary kid, huh?"

"Well…"

He frowned. I finished the second sandwich and took a sip of Cola. Hm… wait a minute… idea coming up… I took another sip, pursuing the thought. A few more sips, and I had plan ready.

"You know… This is a military base and a research facility. Maybe… we can find something to make you guys smaller."

"Um… not a bad plan, assuming da process is reversible."

I sat up. "Come with me. I think I know where they keep the experimental new technologies…"

Tarantulas looked up from the computer screen. "Interesting… This technology outruns, tehehe, even our own."

On the other side of the console, Rhinox sighed. "I think I understood how it works."

"So can you make us small?" Cheetor implored.

"Um… I don’t know… Dua said this technology was ‘experimental’. I can turn you small, but there’s no certainty that I can reverse the process."

"How about a test?" Black Arachnia suggested sweetly. "I’m sure Quickstrike wouldn’t mind… would you, Sugar-‘Bot?"

Silverbolt made a face. Quickstrike giggled.

"Well, Ah s’ppose Ah could…"

"O…kay", Rhinox agreed. "Um, step in here."

Quickstrike entered the small chamber, and Rhinox closed the door. He made sure it was properly sealed, and then he nodded towards Tarantulas.

"Bringing unit online… Tehehe, engaging… Introducing instructions… there. Process, tehahe, complete, tehahahehehe."

We all exchanged glances. Rhinox opened the chamber… and a tiny Quickstrike, about as tall as a cat, blinked at us from inside.

"Oops. Wrong, tehahe, parameters. Engaging again."

This time, when we glared inside, we couldn’t see Quickstrike anywhere. Only at a closer look we spotted him. The size of a fly. Tarantulas burst out into a maniacal laugh.

Serena whacked him (and she can HIT!). "Stop fooling around!"

"Okay, tehehehe… Here we go, tehehe, again."

We all held our breath as Rhinox opened the door, and a Quickstrike munchkin walked out, not more than one foot tall.

Rhinox smiled. "Perfect!"

"Oookay. Now bring me back to normal, ya tinhorn!" Quickstrike snapped. Tarantulas chuckled as he motioned his hand towards the chamber in an inviting gesture. Quickstrike went back in, and moments after, he came out in his normal size.

"Whoa. Ah say that was weird." He turned to Black Arachnia proudly. "So, how was that, Sugar-Bot?"

Black Arachnia smiled at him. "That was… brave of you."

"So… who’s next?" Rhinox inquired.

Everyone glared at me. I glared back innocently.

"What…?"

Tarantulas chuckled.

"I swear, of all the sneaky, backstabbing--"

Depth Charge chuckled. "What? I didn’t fly thathigh."

I shakily climbed to my feet. "Says you".

The others burst out laughing.

"Geez, THANKS for the support. Jerks", I mumbled under my breath.

Depth Charge, who was the only one that was his actual size, was the first to calm down. "Okay. I’ll meet you here in three megacycles for pickup."

Cheetor sighed. "Just three megacycles? Come on, DC…"

"Primal’s orders. Now go and have fun, and don’t be late."

With that, he transformed to jet mode and took off.

I glanced around. Our costumes weren’t that great. We had been turning the intact crew quarters upside-down to find something to improvise our costumes from. But given the circumstances, they would do.

Rattrap had found an intact Darth Vader costume. A few adjustments to the cape, a nice Predacon insignia on the left shoulder--and meet Darth Ratter, the most notorious Predacon villain ever.

Waspinator came up with a yellow chicken costume. When he showed up in the control room, even TM2 Dinobot had doubled over laughing; as for the others, they laughed their brains out.

If Rattrap was Darth Vader… er, Ratter, Cheetor was Luke Skywalker. A facemask, some sheets turned into clothes and an authentic laser sword completed the outfit.

Thaliana and Alkari were Frankenstein and Francesca. Tore-up clothes, lots of white powder and a pair of electrodes per each was enough of a disguise.

Serena was Miss Terminator III. Er… let’s leave it that way.

As for me, I dressed up as a pixie-fairy. It was the only thing I could find. Besides, the gold tiara and wand made a perfect match with my purple skin and hair.

Thaliana’s shriek made me snap out of my thoughts.

"Banzaaaaaiiii!!!"

She started forward, with Serena and Cheetor in hot pursuit. "Here we GO!!!" Serena seconded enthusiastically.

Yeah, here we went… Heck, this was gonna be FUN!

I sighed as I looked at my watch. The three hours had passed SO quickly! Only a few minutes until the rendezvous with Depth Charge, and we still hadn’t covered all the neighborhood.

Cheetor’s enthusiastic expression turned into a grim one. "Time to go… already?"

I nodded silently. "Yeah, time to go."

"But we have one more street to go!" Thaliana protested.

"Wazzzpinator want more candy!"

"Like you don’t have enough already", Alkari teased him, pointing towards the full bag Waspy was carrying.

"But alien ‘bot have more!" Waspy complained.

I did. "If you want, we can trade bags."

"Ooh, Wazzzpinator like alien ‘bot! Alien ‘bot not mean to Wazzzpinator like other ‘bots."

I frowned. I knew the others weren’t exactly fond of Waspy and didn’t miss a chance to tease him. Personally, I found him kinda cute.

"So, what do we do?" Thaliana asked.

"Well, if you ask me, I say we go meet Depth Charge", Alkari suggested.

"Nobody asked you", Thaliana snapped at him. "I was talking to Dua."

"Oh, yeah. I doubt she wants to talk to you, Bug-Breath."

Thaliana’s optics narrowed. "What did you call me?"

"Bug-Breath", Alkari repeated, slower. "If you don’t understand what it means, take a dictionary."

"You--"

*Depth Charge to Rattrap*

The comm-link abruptly interrupted any discussions. Thaliana threw Alkari a killer glance, then turned her back at him.

"Rattrap here."

*Come to the rendezvous point immediately. I don’t have all night. Depth Charge, out*

"How rude!" Thaliana complained.

"I’ll say. We better go", I sighed.

"Absolutely NOT. We still have one more street to cover."

"But--"

"C’mon, it won’t be long!" Thaliana motioned towards the last street. "Just a few more houses, then we go!"

"I’m with Dua on this", Serena said. "Getting Op-Op mad isn’t exactly the smartest thing to do."

"Oh yeah, sure, like he’s gonna take you apart or anything."

"Well if he won’t, TM2 Dinobot will", Alkari said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Optimus wouldn’t let him."

*Rattrap, what’s taking you?* Depth Charge’s voice came from the com-link.

"Er, we’re… um, lost. We’re headin’ yer way."

*Well hurry up*

"I say we vote for it", Thaliana suggested.

Voting? Slag.

"Who wants to stay some more, raise your hand."

Much to Thaliana’s surprise, the only one to raise his hand was Waspy. Cheetor, although sulking, had a huge respect for Optimus. As for the rest of us, we were in no mood to upset Optimus.

"Drat."

I smiled when Thaliana used my favorite expression. "Yeah, drat. Now let’s go."

"No fair. Wazzzpinator having fun", Waspy complained.

"So, go tell someone who cares."

"Rattrap!"

"What?"

"Stop being mean to Waspinator."

He gave me an intrigued look. "Since when do ya defend him?"

"Since--"

I choked. As we went past a large house, I saw my adopted mother, May, in front of the doorway. She was dressed as a witch and she was sharing candy to a bunch of kids.

I hadn’t seen her since the day this whole madness had started. With all the events going on at the base, I had almost forgotten about her. But now, when I saw her, I realized how much I missed her.

For a moment, I felt a terrible urge to go tell her everything. But then, we could have been exposed, and that wouldn’t have been a good thing for the Beast Warriors. This whole thing lasted a few moments, and then she went inside, and the door closed behind her.

"Dua? You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.""

I turned my head with an effort. Serena was glaring at me with a concerned look on her face. "I did", I replied softly.

I noticed they were all staring at me, and I made an effort to smile.

"Look around you, bone head. It’s full of ghosts."

"Well, DUH. It’s Halloween, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, gimme a break. So, what were we talking about, Rat-Face?"

"I asked ya, since when do ya defend Bug-Boy here?"

"Since you’re all being mean to him for no good reason. Knock it off."

"Suuuure I will." He grinned. "Dua an’ Waspy, sittin’ in a tree--"

"Shut up Rattrap."

"No, no, NO! I am NOT riding with you again, Fish Face! Absolutely NOT!"

He threw me an imploring glance. "Aw, c’mon… I’ll be good!"

"Sure you won’t."

"I promise!"

"I don’t believe you."

"Look, what do I have to do, beg you?"

"Um… yeah?"

"Okay, I BEG you to ride with me. You satisfied?"

"No tricks?"

"No."

"On your word as a Maximal?’

Depth Charge growled. "Yeah! Now come on!"

I hopped onto his back. "Now if you DARE--"

"Fooled ya!" Depth Charge giggled. "Maximum burn!"

"What? Oh, NO! Depth Charge!!!"

The others burst out laughing. Yeah, right. VERY funny.

NOT.

Optimus was waiting for us at the main entrance. He seemed anxious, but he sighed in relief when he saw us.

Depth Charge landed abruptly in a ball of dust, and I nearly rolled off his back. Cheetor, with Serena on his back, landed a few steps away, and Thalia and Waspy followed.

"What took you so long?" Optimus inquired. One could easily have sensed the anxiety in his voice.

"Um… we got lost", Thaliana explained.

"Suuuure you did."

Thaliana looked up to him. With her in munchkin mode, Optimus was almost six times as tall as her. "If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem, you monkey."

Optimus giggled. "I don’t. But that makes no difference. Now, let’s get you guys restored to your normal size."

"Um… Optimus?" I cleared my throat as we entered the base. "I’m not so sure about this."

He glared down at me. "About what?"

"What if Tarantulas tries something?"

TM2 Dinobot, who was passing by, heard me. "He will not", he hissed. "And if he does, I will rip him apart."

Well, at least that was reassuring.

Right?

I growled at Tarantulas. "I hate you."

He giggled. "Tehehe, really. Why is that?"

"Do you think being the size of a bacteria feels good?"

"I’ve already told you, it was a malfunction!"

"Yeah, right."

"I am, tehahe, serious."

"Duh."

"Honest!"

"Uh-huh."

You know, the strangest thing about this conversation was that I was actually talking to Tarantulas’ head, while TM2 Dinobot was extremely busy taking apart his body, with Rampage helping up.

Talk about keeping your word.

The lights dimmed out, leaving the briefing room in complete darkness, with crimson or yellow optics occasionally glowing in the dark. Although I couldn’t see Rattrap’s face, I could tell he was grinning.

"I’m warning ya, dose of ya who don’t got a tough stomach should get lost now, because dis is da ultimate horror story."

Next to me, Waspinator shifted uncomfortably. I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It’s okay, Waspy. It’s only a story."

"Wazzzpinator afraid of the dark."

"Oh."

Quickstrike’s cobra head’s eyes grew bright in the dark. "I ain’t afraid of no story, ya varmit."

"Oh yeah? Hehe, we will see."

"Bring it on!" Cheetor cheered enthusiastically.

"Okay. Here goes. Once upon a time, on a Halloween just like dis one, a little boy went trick or treatin’. His name, was Jimmy Simmons. Da night before, a strange, old lady had given him a weird costume to wear, and told him that with that costume, he could have anything he wanted. But she also told him, everything in dis world came with a price."

Waspy gulped. "Wazzzpinator zzzcared!", he whispered.

"Don’t worry. I’m here."

"Da costume was in fact a mask. An extremely life-like mask, lookin’ just like a decomposin’ corpse’s face. It had big, red eyes, an’ long, black hair, not to mention sharp fangs dat could’ve cut through steel."

"I think I’ll be sick", I heard Serena whispering to someone. I giggled, although I wasn’t doing any better.

"An’ dat night, when he put da mask on, he had a strange feelin’. It only lasted for a second, an’ he went trick or treatin’ with his friends. After a while, he remembered da woman’s words, and wished for a chocolate bar. It immediately appeared in his hand, an’ he knew then that what da old woman had told him was true."

"Cool!" Cheetor said. "You sure know how to tell stories, big R."

"I’m not scared yet", Rhinox teased him

"When he got home, little Jimmy wished for more candy, an’ he got it. After he ate it all, he went to da mirror, an’ tried ta take da mask off, but he found with horror that it had bound to his skin, an’ it would stay there, forever and ever."

"Big wow", Thaliana said.

"I’m not done yet. Dey say dat little Jimmy Simmons became immortal, an’ dat, every Halloween night, he haunts da world, in search for new victims. He den kills ‘em an’ eats their brains, turnin’ them inta zombies. Some say dey saw him right here, around dat city where we went trick or treatin’."

"*gulp* Wazzzpinator hope evil fleshy-‘bot not pick Wazzzpinator up for next meal."

"He’s looking for brain, you bug", Terrosaur said in an annoyed voice.

"He usually picks his victims out of little kids", Rattrap continued. "He follows them until he catches them alone, an’ then he slits deir heads off, an’ drinks deir blood--"

"Wazzzpinator want outside!"

"Gimmie a barf bucket."

"--takin’ out deir eyes--"

"Okay, Rat-Face, that’s disgusting."

"--an’ crackin’ da bones--"

"*gulp* Okay, I’m scared now."

"You said it."

"Oh, come on."

"I think I’m gonna be sick."

"--an’ den, dey become zombies. Da end."

"Rat-‘bot saw evil fleshy-‘bot in city?"

Rattrap cackled evilly. "Yeah, I did. An’ he did kinda lay his eyes on ya…"

"Wazzzpinator want out!!"

"Calm down, will you?" I tried. Then again, this was giving me the creeps, two.

"An’ he laid his eyes on da’ purple lady, too."

"Me? Come ON, you’re pathetic!"

Just as I said that, the door slammed open, and a massive figure walked inside; wide, red optics glowed brilliantly in the dark, and his breath was audible.

What followed was a first-class concert of screams, and all offkey. Someone grabbed me from behind, and I turned to punch him, but I hit Waspinator instead. Waspinator shrieked and blindly ram away, colliding with someone else. In all the confusion, someone tripped me over, and I fell over Quickstrike, barely dodging a deadly bite from his cobra-head.

"The zombies are here!!!" Cheetor cried. "Run--ARGH!"

*BlamblamBLAM!*

"Ouch!"

"Leave Wazzzpinator alone!"

"Get your hands offa me, you CREEP!"

I struggled to my feet, and tried a strategic retreat, backing up against the wall. Just then, someone sent Terrosaur flying into my arms. I struggled again to get free, and I tripped over someone and fell to the floor again. The next instant, someone fell on top of me, and I turned and punched him, screaming all the way.

"OW! I didn’t do anything!" Alkari screamed.

"Well then GET OFF!"

"I’m trying--OW OW OW!!!"

Someone else fell on top of both of us, sending sharp waves of pain through my foot.

"OUCH!"

Thankfully, before this could get serious, the lights turned on.

"What in the Pit is going on here?"

We all glared towards the door, and found TM2 Dinobot standing there.

Thaliana laughed nervously. "You--were--slagit, Chopperface, you almost gave us a fuel-pump attack!"

Serena stared at him blankly. "You were the zombie?"

Dinobot seemed confused. "What zombie?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Long story. Very long story."

"Rattrap was telling us this scary tale about a red-eyed zombie", Cheetor supplied. "And then, you showed up."

"I am looking for Dua."

I waved my hand. "Here I am! Could you get me outta here… please?"

Dinobot motioned towards us, but before he could do anything, Cheetor painfully climbed back to his feet, with Alkari on his heels. I tried to stand up, but a sharp pain in my ankle almost caused me to collapse again. Fortunately, Dinobot was there.

"We require your presence in the control room, now", he hissed. "Can you walk?"

"Um… nope, I don’t suppose I--HEY!"

Before I could say anything, he lifted me like a feather and exited. Behind me, I heard Alkari and Thaliana, quarreling as usual.

"Just admit it, you were scared."

"Was NOT."

"Were TOO!"

"Was NOT!!"

"Were TOO!!!"

"Was NOT!!!"

…the door closed.

Optimus greeted me absently. Tarantulas was too busy working on a console, and Megatron was asleep in one of the command chairs.

TM2 Dinobot gently put me back on the ground, and I held onto his arm for support. "So, Optimus… what is it?"

"We need your help with the defense grid. It went offline a few minutes ago, and we have no idea what to do. Tarantulas says it could be from the generator, but everything else is functioning normally."

I motioned to the console Tarry was working on. "Thathas nothing to do with the defense grid. It’s the one that controls the spy-cameras. Thisone controls the defense grid. Lemme take a look."

I opened the front panel and glared inside.

"Yup, some of the wires are fried and need to be replaced. But… the storage is on level 35. As in, deep."

"Dinobot will go retrieve them."

"Negative. He wouldn’t know what to search for. I have to go myself."

"Fine. Take Tarantulas and Dinobot with you, and get back soon. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Okay, Optimus. Let’s go, boys."

And so, with Dinobot on one side, and Tarantulas on the other, we trailed off to the spooky level 35.

*33*

*34*

*35*

*Beep!*

Tarantulas and Dinobot exited the elevator hurriedly, and I crawled down the wall and joined them.

"Tehehehe, which way?"

"Left."

Our footsteps echoed loud, and the sound gave me the creeps. Fortunately, Dinobot and Tarantulas were with me, and they were both walking war machines. That made me a little more confident. A little.

"Listen, tehehe… I know this great Halloween story--"

"Don’t even go there."

"But it’s, tehahe, the best, tehehehe! It’s about a young couple that--"

"Tarantulas!"

"--decided to spend their Halloween--"

"TARANTULAS!"

"What? I thought you liked Halloween stories!"

"Not here, not now. Got it?"

"Tehehehe, got it."

He burst into giggles.

"What’s so funny?"

"Tehahehehehahe, you are a coward, hehahehe!"

"Grr, that DOES it! Let’s hear your insane story!"

"Tehahe, here it goes. One year, a young couple decided to spend their Halloween in a small cottage on the shore of a remote lake, somewhere in the mountains. The moon was full and the stars shone brightly. At a few minutes to midnight, they thought a moonlight cruise would be romantic, so they took a boat and rowed towards the middle of the lake. They kissed, and just then, the bells of a nearby monastery started to toll. Dark, creepy tentacles came from the abyss, and they wrapped around them, pulling them under. And no one has ever seen them ever since. People say they have been turned into the guarding spirits of the lake."

"Um… nice."

I was shivering though. The story itself was not so scary, but the circumstances had a dire effect on my mood.

"Here."

I tried to open the titanium door that lead to the stores. Locked.

"Please enter identification code."

*****

"Code incorrect."

I sighed. "Stupid codes! Guess I’ll have to--"

*ka-BLAM!*

"Um… never mind."

Dinobot smirked proudly. The opening he had created was big enough for me to leap through… but too small for the others.

"Great. Dinobot, can you enlarge that?"

"Negative. My power reserves are mostly depleted."

"Tarantulas?"

"This is, tehahe, titanium. I cannot."

"You’re telling me I have to go there alone?!"

"There is nothing to be afraid of, female", Dinobot snarled, obviously annoyed.

"I told you, my name is--"

"Dua".

"You’re catching up." I shook my head. "Okay… here I go."

And there I went. It took me forever to find the light switch (which was actually right next to the door), and then I began rummaging through the various piles of stuff scattered around.

"Junk… junk… junk… grenade… junk… gun… gun… gun… junk… watch…"

Suddenly, a tag caught my eye. "Hello! What do we have here?"

I held up a small device and glared at it intently. It looked somewhat like a bracelet, only it had a small dial on it. It wasn’t a watch, either. Its label stated, ‘Experimental cloaking field.’

"Hmm… This could come in handy", I mumbled, attaching it to my wrist. Then I went back to rummaging through the stuff. "Junk… junk… junk… grenade… junk… dream decoder… junk…" HOLD IT! Dream decoder??

I read the label. ‘Reads subject’s mind during sleep. Can be used to interface with subject’s mind during sleep. Extreme caution.’

Cool! I shoved it in one of my pockets. Hmm… what else could I find here?

A rucksack, eh? That could come in handy. I picked it up and carefully put the dream decoder inside. The nametag spelled, ‘Nikki Grunt, private’. If only he knew…

I pushed the thought at the back of my mind and went back to searching. I found all sorts of crazy devices, like contact lenses with built-in mini-DVD players, a ‘hallucination generator’ cleverly disguised as a necklace with a pretty medallion, some weird-looking gizmos and many, many more. I only stopped searching when I heard Tarantulas’ voice from outside.

"Are you alright in there?"

"Help, help!" I mocked. "I’ve been kidnapped by the evil Jack-O-Lantern! Oh, somebody save me!"

"Quit fooling around and come on!"

"Er… just gimme a minute."

Great. Where the slag were the spear wires? Let’s see now, here… no, here… a bit higher… bingo!

"I’m coming, boys!" I shouted enthusiastically. I started towards the door, when a funny idea suddenly crossed my mind. Grinning, I activated the ‘experimental cloaking field generator’ and I sneaked outside.

Tarantulas was creeping up on the wall, and TM2 Dinobot was tapping his foot impatiently. Ooo, this was gonna be FUN!

I waited until Tarantulas was just above Dinobot, and then I jumped and kicked Dinobot in the head. The ‘raptor snarled and looked up.

"Why was that for, spider?" he hissed.

"Why was what?" Tarantulas inquired in a surprised tone.

"Why did you hit me?"

"I didn’t!"

"Then who--"

"Look, it’s not my fault that you’re imagining things."

Taking advantage by the fact that Dinobot had turned his back on the spider, I hit him again.

"Grraaauuu!!!"

Tarantulas barely dodged Dinobot’s optic blaster, falling to the ground with a loud thump. He transformed almost instantly and aimed his leg-guns at Dinobot.

"I don’t know what you think I did, but I’m not gonna let you slag me just for that", Tarantulas shouted, backing a few steps.

I figured this would be a good time to intervene, and I deactivated the generator.

"You guys are SO easy!" I chuckled.

They both threw me a blank stare.

"You mean--"

I chuckled again. "Guess you’re not as good as you thought, huh, Dinobot?"

He made a face. Tarantulas grinned, but changed his expression immediately when Dinobot snarled at him.

"Not many can sneak up on me like that", Dinobot said, and… was it just me, or did I sense a slight note of admiration in his voice?

"I’m good. Get used to it, Chopperface." I chuckled. "Well, we better head back up to the control room, hmm…?"

"Did you get the wires?"

Dumb question. Then again, it came from Tarantulas, which had already been ripped apart once, and had been this close to being torn to pieces again.

I held up a bunch of wires. "Duh!"

"Oh. Then, I think we should, tehahe, go."

"Right."

"Um… do I have to be in the same elevator with him?"

Dinobot grinned.

"I… guess you can take the ceiling", I offered.

Tarantulas flinched, but reluctantly nodded. Dinobot snarled and pushed Tarantulas to give him a head start. Behind them, I grinned. Dinobot threw me an annoyed glance.

"What is so amusing, female?" he snarled.

I rolled my eyes. "Looks like you gave Tarry quite a fright. And… the name’s Dua, okay?"

"Alright", he hissed, not convinced at all.

The elevator doors closed with a loud clang

"…An’ den, da witch said to da cat--"

TM2 Dinobot, who was helping me with the console, made a barely-audible snarl. I sighed and shook my head. He glared at me inquiringly, and I shrugged.

"--an’ da cat turned to da zombie’s pet--"

Dinobot glared at me again. This time, I nodded imperceptibly.

The next instant, tiny pieces of Rattrap lay all across the command room.

"Thanks, Dinobutt."

He grinned.

Finally, after I was done with the console repairs, there it came, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the costume party.

Cheetor, Rhinox and a repaired Rattrap had done an incredible job with the canteen--it even gave DINOBOT the creeps! Depth Charge proposed we had a ‘Best Costume’ contest. The others immediately agreed--and for about half an hour or so, everyone (read: EVERYONE!) had gone postal searching the whole base for original costumes. And then, everyone voted (ARGH!). Here’s how the final top looked.

On the first place, clearly outrunning EVERYONE. Rattra--er, I mean, Darth Ratter, with his obsidian mask, six-feet long cape and authentic laser sword.

On the second place, Quickstrike, a.k.a. Elvis Presley, the king of rock’n’roll. This whole ‘king’ business gave Inferno headaches, until he solemnly proclaimed Quickstrike as the beloved husband of ‘the Royalty’. Everyone lost it over that.

On the third place, well acclaimed by everyone, myself, wearing an authentic Princess Amidala costume, make-up included. My thanks go to Air Razor and Serena for their help.

On the fourth place, Terrosaur, cleverly disguised as Megatron. I must say, he DID make a very good Megs impression.

On the fifth place, tight with Terrosaur, Cheetor, who had chosen to be Nick Carter. Everything was OK.. until he started to sing. Ouch, head hurts…

Next off, Dinobot TM2, wearing a Superman outfit. He looked absolutely PRIME and he actually had a good time during this party. Dinobot Classic, on the other hand, looked like he hated the world in his Batman outfit.

As for the others, there were no better.

Optimus chose to be Bill Clinton (‘the most respected leader of your country’-NOT!), and we laughed our heads off when Thaliana actually volunteered to be Hillary. They made a really cute couple! He was about twice as large as her.

Rhinox became ‘Santa’s Little Elf’ (LITTLE?!?!), and he hanged around ‘Santa’ (Waspinator) all night.

Because he lost a bet with Rattrap, Megatron was forced to become Barney. By the end of the party, he actually came to enjoy it, because he sang the ‘I-love-you(NOT)-you-love-me(NOT)’ theme aloud non-stop. But… er, he was a little drunk, too.

Silverbolt and Black Arachnia were Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. When it came about singing, Silverbolt was pretty good, and Black Arachnia wasn’t so bad, either.

Tigatron was Luke Skywalker, which gave Air Razor a good reason to be Princess Leia.

As expected, Rampage choose to be a notorious killer--Jack the Ripper. He had at least a dozen daggers and knives hanging from his beast mode legs, and he looked like a freakish Christmas tree.

Depth Charge was one of the coolest appearances of the night. Serena really took care of him, making him look like Count Dracula. And, as expected, she choose to be Vampirella or something. But she DID exaggerate with those fangs.

Skorpinok and Inferno, since they lost anotherbet with Rattrap (There’s a lot of bettin’ going on around here! The guys bet on ANYTHING! A few days ago, Terrosaur betted I’d date TM2 Dinobot within the next week! Can you believe that? I sure cannot!), so they had to be the red and purple Teletubbies respectively.

Since Alkari was absolutely mad about Pokemon, he chose to be Ash. The big surprise was when he actually showed up with a very cute holographic version of Pikachu.

And Tarantulas was George Michael. Enough said. The rest--is silence. Better leave it that way.

The party broke only when most of the guys were totally out of energon and needed to recharge. Even then, though, we kept chatting and laughing, until Optimus had to chase us to our quarters. EVEN then, Serena, Thaliana, Alkari and I stood up a looong time, telling spooky stories and jokes. Finally, at about six or seven in the morning, we went to sleep.

And that’s how we spent our Halloween here in Area 31!

Bye!

And…

Happy Halloween!