A/N: This is the first series I ever started working on, so the first parts may be a bit screwy. Parts one through nine up, more to come!

The Worst Way to Start the Day

by Odeena Sabnach

I was still half-asleep, when I heard a desperate scream, followed by the screechy sound of breaking glass.

"We have to tell Odeena, before somebody gets killed!" A nervous voice emerged from outside my door. It sounded like Tigatron.

Killed?! What the slag was he talking about?

I growled and took a brief glance at the clock on the wall. It was a few minutes past five. Too early. WAY too early.

I heard another voice from outside. "Alright then, you go and wake her up!" This one was Terrosaur.

Wake me up, will they? Well, that really wasn't going to be necessary, the wrecking downstairs had made sure of that.

"I'm not going in there", Tigatron said, his voice shaking.

"Well… um… then we'll send in the bug!"

"Wazzzpinator not going into Ruler-Bot's room!" a soft buzzing voice protested. "Wazzzpinator not wanting to end up like Zpider-Bot!"

I couldn't help grinning evilly. The last one that had tried to wake me up this early-Tarantulas- had ended up in the CR tank. Okay, so maybe I was kinda harsh on him, but slagit, I HATE getting up early in the morning.

The voices outside were growing impatient.

"I'm getting sick of this!" Terrosaur yelled. "One of you go in there, now! I COMMAND YOU!!"

"Bird-Bot dare give Wazzzpinator orders! Bird-Bot must die!"

Uh-oh, trouble. I had better stopped them before anybody got hurt, or worse. Fortunately, a stern tone suddenly restored peace.

"Have you done what I've asked you to?" I heard Optimus asking.

A brief moment of silence.

"Well that's just prime."

"Wazzzpinator afraid of going into Ruler-Bot's room", Waspinator timidly tried to apologize. "Wazzzpinator afraid Ruler-Bot be mad."

I was.

"Afraid?!"

"You know, we didn't want to end up like poor Tarantulas", Terrosaur said.

"Forget it then." Optimus sighed. "Just go and… er, finish packing your stuff."

I heard footsteps heading away and I sighed in relief. Now I could go back to… Wait a minute! Did Optimus just say "packing"?!

My sleepy mind started working. Yesterday was Monday, which meant today was Tuesday. Right. Perfectly logical. So today was Tuesday, which meant today I was leaving for my uncle's house in Seattle! Yay!

Well, that was the good news.

The bad news was that I wasn't leaving alone. Nooo…

After a week of endless begging and promising, I had agreed (I have NO idea what I was thinking) to take the Beast Warriors with me. BIG mistake. VERY big mistake.

Okay, my plane started boarding at half past ten, AM. I mentally went over my 'To do' list. Pack my stuff… done that. Clean my room… well it didn't look so bad to me. Go shopping… ouch, tough one. Whatever was I going to do with the guys? And, last, but definitely least, explain everybody some elementary rules, like no shooting anyone in public, no chewing on the cushion and so on and so forth. Plenty of stuff to do.

But more of that later. For now, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The next moment, the door opened and Primal's head slipped in.

"Um… Odeena?" Optimus was almost whispering.

"Go away".

"You really should get up, they're going crazy down there."

Boy, was he ever right… The noise downstairs hadn't stopped for a moment.

"Five more minutes…" I sighed. Overall, I had barely had three or four hours of decent sleep last night, with the Beast Warriors being so excited on their imminent flight trip. And now this.

"OK…" I heard Optimus closing the door and I sighed again. I had an insurance, so technically anything that could have happened wouldn't have been too much of a problem. Besides, just because there was some noise downstairs didn't mean I had to get up…

"BURRRRNNN!!!"

Well, that did.

When I finally got downstairs, I couldn't believe my eyes. It appeared someone had stumbled upon my Star Wars videos, and now, despite all the noise coming from the kitchen, there were about five or six Transformers piled up on and around the couch and intently watching the last duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. I could recognize Silverbolt, Rhinox and Terrosaur. The other figures were a blur.

"Guys, what the sla-"

"Ssh, this is my favorite part!" Right then, on the screen, Luke managed to cut Vader's arm off.

"Alright!"

"Nice move"

"Good one, Luke!" - various exclamations came from the group.

I couldn't help chuckling under my breath, but just then a desperate scream brought me back to reality:

"HEEEEEEEELP MEEEEE!!!"

It sounded like Cheetor. I rushed outside. Behind me, I heard Terrosaur's voice.

"Watch out for the Emperor, Luke!"

I was standing irresolute outside the kitchen door. Inside, the massacre was going on. I couldn't decide what to do; on one hand, I had to stop them, sooner or later; on the other hand, I was afraid I'd 'accidentally' get slagged if I did.

I heard a buzzing sound behind me. Turning around, I found Waspinator staring at me a few feet away.

"Ruler-Bot now go in and stop fight?" he asked timidly.

"Duh. I'm afraid not to get shredded if I set foot in there."

"But Ruler-Bot must stop destruction of house! Ruler-Bot must have courage! Wazzzpinator help!" Good point! Hmm, wait a minute, since when did Waspinator develop such a personality? Must be those Star Wars videos. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd actually start thinking he was Luke Skywalker or something. Or maybe he thought I was Luke's sister or something.

"OK, I'm going in." I must say I was rather convinced by the various screams coming from inside than by Waspinator offering to help me. *crunch!* Hey, that had better not been my grandma's Chinese bowl!

I cautiously opened the door. At the same moment, a thick column of smoke emerged, and two plates flew inches away from my head, breaking into tiny pieces the moment they hit the opposite wall. Together with that, I heard a scream: "For the royalty!!!" Three guesses who that might have been.

Taken completely by surprise, I quickly took a step back and slammed the door. Not watching where I was going, I bumped into Waspinator, who, despite his earlier bravado, had remained behind me the whole time. Waspinator lost his balance and fell down. I almost fell too, but, at the last second, two metallic arms caught me.

"You should really watch where you're going", Rhinox said, his voice filled with amusement. I was guessing the movie was over.

"Need a hand with those guys?"

Like he really needed to ask that.

"Sure do, big R."

"Okay, I have an idea." I glared at him curiously. "Hey 'Bolts!" he shouted towards the living room.

"Yes?" a muffled voice answered.

"Could you come over here please?"

"'Kay"

The next second the fuzor came out of the blurry living room.

"Okay, now transform."

Both Silverbolt and I looked at him, not understanding what he was up to. Silverbolt shrugged.

"Beast mode!" he commanded. Rhinox smiled.

"Good. Now listen. When I open the door, I just want you to start flapping your wings. That will get us rid of the smoke, at least."

Now I got it. Rhinox was just acting his usual self - brilliant.

"Ready?"

Silverbolt nodded. Rhinox opened the door, and the wolf/eagle fuzor started flapping his huge wings. The air current was so strong that I could barely hold against it. I almost fell again, but Rhinox was on duty. I just closed my eyes, covered my ears and let the green giant worry about the rest. After all, this was his idea. Even with my ears covered, I could hear sudden screaming coming from inside. I grinned.

Finally, Silverbolt stopped flapping his wings and the screaming ceased. There was a moment of complete silence, and then…

"BURRRNNN!!!"

"Come back here and fight me, X!"

"You'll never take me alive, Chopperface!"

"Heeeeeeelp!!!"

A plate flew through the open door and landed on the floor, just a few steps away. Now I was reallymad.

I stood up. "This ends now!" With that, I courageously walked in.

At first, I couldn't believe my eyes. I just stood there, staring at what used to be my kitchen. The image blurred for a second, and Rhinox had to help me keep my vertical position.

Next too the door was a huge web, with Black Arachnia silently moving across in beast mode. That would have been fine, unless there hadn't been for Cheetor, also in beast mode, caught in the web. Apparently, the spider-lady was taking the poor cat-'bot for her early breakfast.

I was beginning to feel a little dizzy. Then I noticed that the kitchen was starting to fill with smoke again. Tracing the thick column of smoke back to its source, I saw something I didn't want to see: Dinobot, laughing hysterically while stuffing Rattrap in the microwave. I was guessing this had been going on for quite a while. The rodent was struggling helplessly.

Now I was starting to feel sick. With an effort, I turned my eyes into another direction, only to find Tarantulas and Skorpinok rummaging through my fridge. It seemed as if Tarantulas had found something interesting, because he burst into maniacal laughter.

Everything was slowly fading out. I caught a glimpse of Rampage and Inferno chasing Depth Charge around the smoking remains of what had once been my kitchen table and I heard the pyromaniac ant's scream "BURRRNNN!!!". Then, the image went out and I slowly collapsed into Rhinox's arms…

The first conscious sensation I had was a terrible headache. My melon felt like a nanoclick away from self-destruction.

Painkillers…

The word silently echoed through my aching head, causing even more pain. Nonetheless, painkillers were something I desperately needed.

Then I heard some distant voices. It sounded like they were arguing, but I couldn't pick up the words. My headache maintained.

I slowly opened my eyes. All I could pick up were some blurry figures, and tiny sparks dancing around them. I blinked several times, and the image became a bit clearer. I could see the faces of the Transformers, gathered up around me. I found that I was laying down on the couch in the living room.

"Ya know, dis is all yer fault, Chopperface!" Rattrap's angry voice came from somewhere behind me.

"Don't blame your actions on me you pathetic rodent, or I'll tear you limp from limb!" Dinobot answered in a threatening tone.

"Oh yeah, I'm really scared, Scale-Belly!"

"Oh, will you two finish it?" Rhinox sounded angry. "Are you OK?" he then asked me gently.

"My head is killing me" I managed to mumble. "What happened?"

"You passed out" Rhinox explained. "We were worried sick!"

"Passed out?…"

Slowly, it was all coming back to me: the unexpected wake-up call, the guys watching Star Wars, my kitchen…

"Where's Cheetor?" I asked in a worried tone. Hopefully Black Arachnia hadn't eaten him up.

"Here I am…" Cheetor waved his hand from behind Optimus. I noticed he was keeping as far as he could from the black widow.

My headache was starting to cool down. I slowly stood up. The Beast Warriors were watching me nervously.

"Rhinox, how's the kitchen looking?" I asked. The green bot flinched uncomfortably.

"Well, I don't think you want to know". I could feel the tension in the air.

I shrugged. "That's right, I don't".

"Um… Odeena?" Megatron looked embarrassed. That was unusual for him.

"Yeah?"

"I… personally want to apologize for my minions' behavior."

Megatron, apologize? Now that was something new. I smirked.

"That won't be necessary."

"Excuse me?"

"I said that won't be necessary". A general sigh of relief filled the room. "But-"

Their faces became worried again. "Rhinox, what's the time?" I asked.

"Almost seven" he answered.

"Good. I still got some stuff to buy for our trip, so I'll go to the mall downtown. Terrosaur, Waspinator, Inferno and Rampage, you're coming with me." I stopped for a moment, as I heard Rattrap chuckling in a corner. "You too… vermin."

Dinobot grinned.

"As for the rest of you, I expect the house to be spotless 'til I get back. Capiche?"

Everyone nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing." They all looked at me expectantly. "Any more 'scenes', and the only place you'll be going is the slag factory."

With that, I turned around and exited. As I was stuffing everyone in my van, I sighed. It was definitely going to be a long day.

I had my reasons for choosing certain Transformers to come with me on the shopping trip. I thought that by taking the main troublemakers with me I had some chances of finding the house still standing when I got back. Then again, that meant I had to keep a close eye on them, so that they wouldn't have 'accidentally' blown the supermarket up. That was the last thing I needed. And over all this, my headache had made a spectacular comeback.

Surprisingly, everyone behaved their best. I actually trusted Rampage and Waspinator to go and pick up food for the trip (giving strict instructions to the crab-'bot on how to keep Waspy away from anything that contained sugar), Terrosaur and Inferno went over to pick up some beach stuff (including a dozen volleyballs with Kate Winslet's original autograph, bought by Inferno, of course), and Rattrap and I headed for the clothing department, since I needed a new swimsuit. In the end, I choose a blue denim suit (Rattrap's exact words, quote: "It really brings out yer eyes"), along with various other stuff the rat picked up for me.

As I drove back home, Rattrap (whom I had to keep in the front seat next to me in order to keep Rampage from killing him) broke the silence.

"So, er… do yas think we'll find yer house still there in one piece?" he asked in a worried tone. I sighed.

"I reallyhope so. Otherwise, I'll have to emigrate to Mars or something so my dad won't kill me. But if anything happens I'll kill those guys myself first."

"Well den ya had better-"

"You dare speak badly about the Royalty!" Inferno's voice suddenly interrupted him. "I will-"

"Put your gun away unless you want to be blown to bits", I finished the sentence.

"But-"

"But nothing. Put your gun away" I angrily turned to him. "NOW!" He reluctantly did what I asked him to. "Good."

"Watch OUT!!!" Terrosaur suddenly screamed.

I quickly turned my attention back to the road. There was a huge lorry heading straight for us. I screamed. The others screamed. I desperately turned the wheel right until it felt like it was going to break off any second. The lorry passed inches away from my van and drove away, as we landed on a freshly mowed lawn. I desperately hit the breaks. After picking up a mailbox, bringing down fence and scaring a few kids, the van stopped with a loud bang. Only then, the screaming ceased. At the same time, a gray column of smoke began to crawl from where the engine supposedly still was.

"Man, who gave yas a license?" Rattrap was back to his usual self. "Ya almost got us all slagged!"

I ignored him and tried to start the engine. Nothing. I tried again. Still nothing. In the back of the van I could hear nervous whispering. Trying to be calm, I softly turned to the frightened Transformers.

"Looks like we'll have to walk".

It was nearly nine when we finally managed to reach my house. Everybody was beat. Rampage had kindly towed the van, so he could drag it along while roaming the streets. Eventually, we made it home without any major incidents (although people kinda stared at us when passing by, and a group of Japanese tourists even wanted to take a group picture with us in the background -- but they quickly changed their mind when Rampage groaned angrily). Rattrap had been kind enough to offer me a ride, while Terrosaur and Inferno carried the shopping bags. Waspinator kinda just buzzed around.

I sat down on my porch with a sigh of relief. I had been waiting for a catastrophe to happen at any given time, and now I was just happy this was over. However, my van didn't look too good, and, while watching Rampage dragging it in the garage, I couldn't help thinking that my dad would be mad when he gets home. Adding the burnt kitchen table, plus the mess the rest of house was into, I had no doubts that he'd have my head in the end. Yep, I was definitely in trouble.

I listened carefully. There was not a single sound coming out of the house.

"Don't you think it's a little too quiet?" Terrosaur asked.

"Yeah…" I shrugged. "Well, time to go in and check things out."

With that, I cracked the door open slowly, waiting for the end of the world to pass before my eyes. But everything was silent. I entered. The others quickly followed me, curiosity spread all over their faces. We advanced to the living room. There, we found Rhinox, Cheetor and Dinobot sitting on the couch and watching Star Wars Episode I. Naturally.

"Heya 'bots!" Cheetor greeted us. "Had fun?"

"Whatever". I looked around. The place looked pretty good.

"Good job you three. Where are the others?"

"Well, Depth Charge, Skorpinok, Quickstrike and Optimus are in the kitchen, Tigatron and Tarantulas are cleaning your parents' room, Air Razor is doing yours, and Silverbolt and Black Arachnia are taking care of the guest room. And that's about everyone."

"Uh-huh… What 'bout Megs?"

"Oh, he's supervising them upstairs."

"Hmm… good". Just then, Optimus came out of the kitchen.

"We're done", he said, and then he sat down with a sigh. "I hate Quickstrike."

"Really? Cool!" Only then he noticed me. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Sure, go ahead."

I entered the kitchen, waiting to find something similar to a WWII battlefield. Much to my surprise, everything looked perfectly normal. Three Transformers were sitting down at a half-burnt table and playing poker. They greeted me cheerfully.

"Um… nice goin' guys." I was surprised. "I… er, I'm going to take a look upstairs".

Everything was 'k there, too. I actually didn't recognize my own room. Air Razor had done an incredible job there. As for the other rooms, they looked prime. The entire house was, indeed, spotless.

Guess my dad wasn't going to kill me, after all.

We were running out of time. It was already half past nine, when Rhinox and I managed to gather every last Transformer - and their luggage - downstairs, into the living-room.

"Alright, guys, listen up", I started. "I will explain you some elementary rules of behavior in the human society.

"The first and most important rule - NO GUNS. Of any kind. That includes swords, optic lasers, missiles, bombs or anything else that could cause any sort of damage."

"Den Chopperface should stay home", Rattrap interrupted me. I frowned.

"Maybe youshould stay home, vermin. After all, I see no reason for innocent creatures to support your stench", Dinobot snarled.

"Stop it you two. Second. During the flight, under no circumstances are you to leave your seats or engage in any sort of fighting."

Various mutters.

"Third. Leave the other passengers alone. If necessary, you can have a pleasant conversation, but nothing more than that. Since we'll be in a pressurized environment, I have to remind you, no guns. One tiny hole in the plane's hull, and ka-BOOM we go."

Well it wasn't actually like that, but I couldn't help scaring them off a little after everything. I saw their faces turn white with horror as they all nodded in agreement.

"Fourth. We'll be staying in a house that is not ours, so I want you to BEHAVE, got that?"

They nodded again. This seemed a lot easier than I imagined.

"And finally. While on this trip, I'm the supreme authority."

Megatron frowned.

Optimus shrugged.

Rhinox grinned.

"Optimus, you and Megatron are directly responsible with keeping everyone on their best behavior Rhinox, you're with the supplies."

I took a pause to reclaim my breath.

"OK, now we're a bit behind schedule, so everyone with a vehicle or flight mode will have to give the others a ride or help with the luggage."

"No way! I ain't bein' no stinkin' taxi!" Rattrap protested. I could see that he wasn't alone in this. I scolded. Fortunately, Megatron took point.

"The supreme authority gave an order, you WILL obey it. Yeees…"

"But why…" Tarantulas started. Megatron roared, grabbing him by the neck.

"Is. That. Clear." The tyrant hissed.

"Y-yes."

"Good. Anyone has something he'd like to add?"

Silence.

On the other side, Optimus sighed.

"Just do it," he said, and there was no argument, although Rattrap looked reallyhurt.

"Good. Now, I'll give you guys your tickets. Be careful not to loose them or you won't be going anywhere."

I shared the tickets around. Then we left. Now the hard part began.

After some arguing, Depth Charge agreed to carry part of the luggage, along with Rhinox, Optimus took the other half, Rampage took Quickstrike and Skorpinok, Tarantulas took Tigatron, Silverbolt took Black Arachnia (naturally) and Rattrap took Dinobot. Cheetor kindly offered to take me, after arguing over it with Waspinator, who insisted the "Ruler-Bot" went with him. I must say, the view from up there is absolutely fascinating. Eventually, we made it to the airport and into the plane.

I sighed in relief when I saw everybody seated. Rhinox had kindly taken care of that for me. I ended up sitting between Cheetor and the green giant, with Rattrap, Dinobot and Waspinator behind us. On the other side there were Air Razor, Tigatron and Inferno, with Optimus, Depth Charge and Rampage a few seats behind. Way back were Quickstrike, Terrosaur and Skorpinok, and Megatron was behind them with a Chinese couple. As for Silverbolt and Black Arachnia, they had been lucky enough to go to first class.

I sighed again as the plane was taking off. Then I rested my head on Cheetor's shoulder and finally managed to fall asleep.