Friday the 13th

by Odeena Sabnach

"Cheetor! Stop fooling around and get over here!"

I rolled from one side to another and burried my head in my pillow. Just some talking on the corridor... nothing to worry about...

*bang* "Ouch! These guys really shouldn't leave their stuff laying around like that!"

"Ssh, not so loud! You might wake Odeena! And then we'd be in realtrouble."

Sure... nothing to worry about...

"Yeah, I know. But... but she'll never know... right, Rhinox?"

"I dunno... Maybe we should drop this. You know Odeena said the attic is off limits."

"Well, yeah... Kid?"

"I... guess it's no problem if we just take a peek..."

"That's what I thought. Sooo... are ya comin'?"

"...Okay. But if anything happens, this was your idea."

"Sure. Let's--"

"Ooh, Wazzzpinator want to come!"

*sigh* "Oh, no... Who woke himup?"

"Dunno. Anyway... Waspy, go back to bed."

"No! Wazzzpinator want to go to attic! Other botz take Wazzzpinator or Wazzzpinator wake Odeena!"

"Yeesh... Okay, c'mon, bug-boy. But remember: one problem, just one, and you're outta here. Got it?"

"Ooh, goodie! Wazzzpinator be good!"

"Sure, c'mon!"

Thank heavens, silence at last. I took a peek at the clock on the wall. It was so late at night it was already early in the morning. Time to go back to sleep...

*bang!* "Waspinator!!"

"Wazzzpinator sorry?"

"Yeesh! Rhinox, would ya mind, it's darker than the Inferno up here!"

This time, the voices were coming from the attic. I sighed and got half-up. No way I was getting any sleep in these conditions.

Dinobot was already up and at it. "The vermin is missing", he informed me in an annoyed tone. "Shall I go and quieten them down?"

"Umm... sure."

"Alright. You can go back to sleep, situation under control."

"Really? 'ppreciate that!"

He exited quietly, and I laid back down. But no way it could have been that easy. Noo...

"*snarl* What is going on here?"

"Dinobot! Hiii!"

"Yeah, wazzup! Erm... woke ya up, didn't we?"

"I demand that you leave at once. Your bickering has already awoken out commander."

"Oh yeah? An' who died and made ya Primal, hmm?"

"I think he's right. Odeena's gonna give us hell for this anyway."

I was.

"Cheetor's right. I say we--WASPINATOR, NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

"Too late--" the rest of the sentence was cut off by the sound of heavy stuff collapsing, and Dinobot's shriek.

Uh-oh. Time to go up there and check things personally. Who knew what I was going to find. Just as I exited the room, I noted the date on my small allarm-clock.

Friday the 13th.

Oh joy.

"What happened he--Hol. Ly. Insanity. Dinobot? Are you okay?"

There was no answer from the unconscious 'bot, and the other four 'bots in the room flinched at my gaze.

"We can explain!" Cheetor said quickly.

"Really". I crossed my arms. "Well. I hope it's a good one, or you guys will spend your day with your dearest buddy Barney."

"No!" all three chorused. "You see," Rhinox continued, "we just thought we'd explore up here a bit. You know, I read about spooky attics and all."

"Really", I repeated, eyeing them. Dunno why, but they flinched.

"Yeah, yeah... We wanted to see... if... there's any ghosts up here, yeah, that's it... It was Rattrap's idea!" Cheetor added quickly.

Somehow, he didn't find the look on my face reassuring.

"Sure. Blame it on the rat why dontcha'. So it was like this--we just wanted to see what's up here. Dat's all."

"And this?" I inquired sternly, pointing over to Dinobot, who was still out cold and burried under a pile of stuff. "How do you explain this?"

"Waspinator did it!" Rattrap and Cheetor chorused that altogether. Waspinator glared at me innocently. "Waspy?"

"Wazzzpinator wanted to look close at cute shiny thzzzing."

"...So you pulled it out, and the stuff that was above fell over Dinobot", I finished the sentence.

"Wazzzpinator sorry."

Suddenly, there was a groan from under the pile of stuff, and Dinobot emerged up.

"Dinobot? You okay?"

He threw me a blank stare. "Who are you?"

My face fell. Dinobot thought for a moment, and then...

"For that matter... who am I?"

Ooooh boy.

"Dinobot?"

The raptor gave Optimus a funny look. "Who in the Pit are you?" He looked around. "And what am I doing here? What happened?"

"I'm not sure, either." I turned to Rhinox. "Well?"

The green 'bot shook his head. "I'm afraid it's bad news. He's got amnesia."

"Amnesia? I thought 'bots don't get amnesia!"

"Well, think again. I don't think there's been any damage to his core processor, just a few loose wires. I expect to have those repaired, if only--"

"No way!" Dinobot snapped. "I'm not letting you opening my core processor! I don't even know you guys! Now what's going on here?"

I sighed. "Your name is Dinobot, and you're a Pre--err, Maximal warrior. We're spending the summer holidays here. This morning, you got hit in the head, and that's why you can't remember us."

"And why should I believe you?" He narrowed his eyes. "Really, this doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Umm... don't you remember anything? ...Chopperface?"

"What?"

Next to me, Rattrap made a face. "If he don't react to that... I guess he's really shook up."

"Shut up Rattrap. Say, shouldn't you and Cheetor be cleaning the mess upstairs?"

Both him and Cheetor lost their jaws.

"But--but it's gonna take us bloody ages to--" Cheetor tried.

I wasn't in the mood for another of those authority disputes. "Get!", was the only thing I said, and they both rushed up the stairs.

"Whoa, you are one tough leader", Dinobot muttered appreciatively.

"Yeah... Thanks." I turned to Rhinox. "How long will it take you to get him back on track?"

"Well..." The 'bot sighed. "Not more than a megacycle, I guess... if he cooperates that is."

"Dinobot?"

"I... suppose I will, trust you."

Rhinox stood up. "I'm going to prepare the stuff I need. It'll take me a little while, but then I'll have the old Dinobot back in a jiffy."

"Good. Then--"

"Odeena!" someone screamed from upstairs. "Call for you!"

"Coming!" I yelled back and rushed up the stairs, nearly bumping into Megatron. Somehow, I should've been worried that the Predacon tyrant was going downstairs, with Dinobot being the way he was, but the only thing on my mind right now was to get to the phone before any of the guys could mess things up. It could've been my aunt or my uncle--and I don't think they would've liked to hear Inferno screaming "Burrrrn!", or listen to Tarantulas' evil chuckles.

Black Arachnia handed me the phone with a nice expression on her face. Hmm, Black Arachnia and nice... Now what was wrong with that, hmm?

"Hello?"

"Tehehe, is that you, tehe, Odeena?"

"Yeah, Tarantulas, what did you do now?"

"I... think I have a problem, tehehehehe."

Tarantulas... Problem... Not good.

"If you're in jail again, don't expect me to come and bail you out again."

"Oh, no, nothing of that sort, hehe... In fact, I think you should come here before, tehehe, the owner calls the pollice."

"What did you--" the phone cut off "--Tarantulas? Tarantulas! Come in! Drat!!" I cursed, not even bothering to lower my tone.

I needed someone to yell at, and Black Arachnia, who was leaning against the wall a few feet away, seemed like the perfect target. "That idiotic arachnid didn't even say where he was!" I shouted. "How the hell am I supposed to help him if I don't even know where the slaggin' he is!!"

Black Arachnia glared at me. "Calm down, girl. Anger is bad for your health you know."

I took in a deep breath and left it out slowly. "Okay. I'm calm. Sooo calm. Yeah."

"He's at a pet shop a few streets away", Black Arachnia supplied. "He told me that before you came."

I sighed. "Tarantulas. Pet shop. Not a very fortunate combination."

"Yeah, I'll bet. Apparently ol' gruesome had some... well, thingsfor breackfast, and those weren't exactly for sale, know what I mean?"

I felt the room was spinning with me. "Not for sale?" I asked, my voice shaking a bit. Now what kind of things exposed in a pet shop are 'not for sale'? Priceless things, of course! And why was eating priceless things bad? Because now I'd have to pay for everything... or Tarantulas would go to jail. Either this, or that. Quite simple, really. Guess what my decission was.

"Come on", I said resignedly. "Let's see what Legs did this time."

"I'm coming with you", Black Arachnia offered immediately.

"Me too."

Black Arachnia gave Terrosaur a weird look. "And why would youwant to come, hmm?"

Terrosaur looked away. "I... err, mind your own business, widdow."

"Suuure I will." Black Arachnia smiled sweetly. "In this case, I'm staying home."

"Fine." I sighed heavily. "Let's go, Terror." Not even minding whether he was following me or not, I started to go down the stairs. Before exiting, I noticed Megatron was talking to Dinobot in that persuasive tone of his, and the raptor was nodding slowly from time to time. There were no Maximals around.

Great.

"Well?"

Tarantulas gave me an innocent look. "I'm, tehahe, sorry?..."

"Yeah, I bet he is", Terrosaur muttered. "Why not just let him go to jail? We'd have one less psychopath to worry about!"

I whached him hard. "Shut up."

"Ow."

I turned to the owner of the shop, a short, old man, with a bald skull and a beard that would have put Santa Claus to shame. "Sir, how much do those... err, whatever he ate, cost?"

The man gave me a funny look. "How much? You don't want to know, lady! Each of them was worth a fortune! At least one thousand dollars, each!"

"One thousand dollars?" I gasped, nearly collapsing. "Each...?"

Terrosaur grabbed my arm. "Stay calm", he reminded me.

"One thousand dollars?" I repeated. The walls of the room suddenly started dancing Macarena around me, and the next thing I knew, I fainted.

Okay, I'll admit it: I faint easy. Basically anything scary, shocking, horrid e.t.c. sends me out cold. This time however, it was more than scarry, shocking and horrid combined. It was insanity.

I slowly came back to my senses. I couls hear some guys talking above my head, and in a flash of lucidity I recognised Terrosaur, Tarantulas, and probably TM2 Dinobot, too, but I couldn't tell very well. My head hurt like hell.

Then the thought came back to me. One thousand dollars! Holly Primus, one thousand dollars!

I fainted again.

This time, I wasn't laying on the floor any more. As far as I could tell, I was in some sort of bed. I slowly opened my eyes, and looked around.

At first, I thought I was imagining things. It seemed I was somehow back in my room, laying in my bed, with Black Arachnia on one side of the bed, and Terrosaur on the other, each holding one of my hands.

I tried to smile. "Umm... hi guys!"

Terrosaur looked relieved. "Thank Primus you're okay. You gave us quite a fright you know."

"What happened, anyway?"

From across the room, Rattrap grinned. "Don't tell me ya have amnesia, too!"

Suddenly, I remembered something. "Did you guys finish it with the attic?"

Rattrap smiled proudly. "Oh yes sir... umm, madam... umm..."

The others laughed at his troubled look, and the rat mumbled something about "being concerned" and "loosing his focus" on what he was saying.

"We went to the shop, remember?" Terrosaur tried. "You know, with Tarantulas and all... And when you heard the price, you fainted."

"Oh yeah, one thousand dollars", I said, ready to faint again. Much to my surprise, my head was still clear, as if I'd gone used to the thought.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and then Optimus walked in. "Are you okay?" he asked me in a concerned voice.

I managed a grin. "Yeah, sort of."

Optimus made a face. "You know, you shouldn't stress yourself over things like this. Just let us handle them. Otherwise look what happens."

"Sure, Op. Whatever you say."

"By the way, don't worry about our little 'problem', we took care of it."

"Really? How?"

Optimus smirked. "Let's keep that a secret. All you need to know is that we won't have to worry about it any more. And we won't have any trouble with the police, either."

"That, is one good thing for today. And--" suddenly, a thought struck me. "What about Dinobot?"

"Dinobot?" Optimus smacked his forehead. "Oh no! I left him downstairs - with Rampage!"

In a split second, we were both downstairs. As I was expecting, the living room was empty... no, there was someone there... Quickstrike and Waspinator, watching 'Men in Black II'.

"Where's Dinobot?" Optimus asked, panting for breath.

"Who, Lizzard-Lips? He went out with Crabby a while ago, said they were goin' to have a lill' drink or somethin'."

"And you letthem go?" I snapped in a harsh tone. Of all the idiotic, imbecillic--

"What's going on?"

That was a very sleepy Megatron coming down the stairs. When he saw me, he immediately regained his composure. "Odeena. Are you alright?"

"Never felt better, Megs. But I'm afraid we have a little... umm, problem."

"Yeeesss?"

"Rampage and Dinobot took off." At this, he lost his jaw. I went on. "I want you to send the others and find them IMMEDIATELY--" I turned to Optimus "--you too. Now!"

In a matter of minutes, the guys stormed outside, while Optimus and Megatron were trying to explain what had happened on the move. I grabbed Terrosaur's arm.

"You, stay."

"No fair!" Rattrap grumbled. "How come hegets to keep his lazy butt inside?" Suddenly, he beamed. "Unless--"

"Oh get going already, will ya'?"

The rodent mumbled something irreproducible.

"Shut up Rattrap."

I slammed the door before he could say anything else, then I turned to Terrosaur. "Listen, I just got this great DVD this morning..."

Terrosaur beamed. "I'll go get the popcorn."

"You guys didn't find them?"

Megatron shook his head. "Not a trace."

Well, at least, the city was still standing. Right? "Optimus?"

The 'bot just shook his head, sign that the Maximals didn't have any better luck in finding the two.

"Great."

I stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Optimus inquired. "I already told you, they're not--"

"I'm going to kill myself before anything else happens. After all, I don't expect this city to be standing by tomorrow anyway."

Depth Charge stepped in front of me firmly. "Calm down. Everything will be alright, okay? Just... just take it easy."

I tried to talk through my gritting teeth. "If only I knew how much trouble you guys were... I would have rather shot myself, than take you with me."

"You could send us back you know", the ray suggested innocently.

"Too late", I grumbled. "It'll be a wonder if we can find tickets for home, much less plane tickets. And--"

"Odeena!" someone screamed from the living room. "Your aunt on the phone!"

I smacked my forehead. "Oh, no... For Primus' sake, no... not now..." I started towards the living room, with the same feeling someone would get when he gets backstabbed. Sure. Talk to my psychotic aunt right now, when I was *this* close to going over the edge. Yeah, why not? After all, it wasFriday the 13th.

"Hello, aunt Petunia."

The all-too-familliar voice of my sweet beloved aunt came from the other end. "...is that you?"

First mistake: she had called me by my real name, and that was onething I couldn't stand. "Yeah, that's me, but please, just call me Odeena like everyone else, okay?"

"Why call you that? I mean, your real name is--"

"I KNOW!" I snapped, but I quickly regained my composure. "Whatever... Whazzup? How's Europe?"

"Oh it's tremendous, dear. I just loved Paris, and Berlin is even more breathtaking!"

Second mistake: no-one - and I mean NO-ONE - calls me 'dear' and lives to tell. Except for my aunt of course. "Glad to hear it."

"Is the house alright?"

"Yeah, sure it is." With broken walls and windows and nearly twenty psychopaths.

"I hope your friends behave--"

Suddenly, the front door opened with a loud bang, and two very familliar voices reached my ears, singing the old Barney theme song. Well, it sounded like it, anyway...

"Honey, is that your friends?"

Oh no. "Umm... no, not at all, it's just the... TV, yeah, that's it--"

"Well tell them to turn it down!"

The same instant, Rampage and Dinobot came in.

"I love you", Rampage was singing.

"You love me", Dinobot seconded.

"Can it guys!" I yelled towards them. "Umm... I mean, turn down the TV!"

Megatron closed in from behind the two. "They won't stop!" he yelled desperately.

"Well make them stop!" I yelled back. And my aunt was hearing all this! Slagit, I was one DEAD girl.

"Well why didn't you say so!" Megatron suddenly hit Rampage in the back of his head, sending him collapsing on the floor, unconscious. Dinobot received the same treatment.

"My, are you uncivilised!" my aunt burst out at the other end of the line. "I'm going to call your father--"

"Please don't!" I yelped. "Umm, my dear auntie, we'll be good, I promisse--" I couldn't believe what I was saying "--just don't calll dad, okay?"

She sighed. "Alright, dear. I won't tell him--this time. But I'm warning you, be good, or--" suddenly the conversation cut off, and Tarantulas walked in, grinning and holding the telephone wire.

I collapsed in an armchair. "Thanks, big T."

"Tehahe, no problem."

By the time, Rampage and Dinobot were starting to come around. Dinobot shook his head a few times, then glared around in confusion before his gaze finally settled on me. I held my breath.

"Odeena, what has happened?" he finally snarled. "How did I get here?"

I sighed in relief. "Hallelujah."

His confusion deepened a bit. "What?"

"Umm--"

"What happened?"

I turned to glare at Rampage. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Who are you?" He frowned. "Who in the Pit am I?"

I stood up. "That's it. I'm going to shoot myself. Farewell, everyone"--with that, I headed upstairs.

Rampage choked. "Odeena? I was only kidding!"

No response.

"Odeena?..."