Hamelin
"Its a few days trot to the end of this trail they can't be far, I'm going ahead to see how far the've gotten" Caden said "and to get something to eat, I'll be back" he said while he spurred his horse foward.
The Aftermath
"Oh I'm doing great, you?" Asked John, Mathew interuped and said "Lets talk as we go, we don't have much spare time" and John replied "Right, lets go" as they started walking.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's where she lives. She's in so many places it's hard to tell where she lives sometimes," Solarflare replied with a smile.

Chip and Nessie returned, each carrying rather large backpacks. Nessie struggled to maintain her balance, shifting the pack's straps uncomfortably.

"For bootin' up cold!" Solarflare said with a laugh at their appearances. "Just what are you expecting to run into on Ditto Metru?"

"We don't know, but we'll be ready for it!" Chip said with a grin. "Do you have enough space to fit us and our gear?"

"It'll be tight, but I'll manage," Solarflare replied and transformed into his tetrajet mode. Nessie's eyes grew wide at the sight. She had never seen an Autobot transform before.

"Hop in!" the Autobot replied as the canopy over the cockpit raised up. A compartment on the side of his fuselage slid open, and the two humans stowed their packs within. Chip lifted Nessie into the cockpit, and he scrambled up after her.

"See you later!" he said to Jakov, waving pleasantly, and settled into the seat.

Restart

Ty jumped ten feet in the air, slipping off the bed and landing hard on the floor on his posterior. His phone had flown out of his hand, and he scrambled to pick it up.

"Wha? Who? Who is this? What are you talking about?" he asked with a frown once he had gathered his bearings.

----

"The door is opening!" Chase yelled to MJ, trying to make his voice lower so whoever answered the door would not be able to recognize it. "Get to the truck! Now! Now! Now!"

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

"DON'T MAKE A MESS!" Grump screeched at the newcomer as the girl made her way to the back of the store. He was woozy from hitting himself so many times in the head that he staggered around slightly, feeling for his mop and bucket and cleaning supplies.

----

"You got any cookies?" Katie asked, grinning as she followed Miss Lucinda into the dining room. "Do the vampires live 'ere witchoo? Can I see em?"

----

"Wait," Jakov said, stepping forward. "I'm coming too," he declared, crossing his arms and daring Solarflare to refuse him.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

The Aftermath
"I'm pretty good." Ellie replied as she began to walk with Matthew and John. "It's been pretty busy lately, but at least I haven't been bored." she said jokingly. She figured John was probably just as busy as she was, maybe more. They continued to walk at a brisk pace until they heard the banging on practice swords on one another as they got closer to the training grounds.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
Solarflare hesitated, a little surprised by Jakov's insistence.

"Look, pal, I don't mean to be rude, but I've barely got enough room for these two. Besides, the Metruans really don't like outsiders coming in, and I'm gonna be hard pressed enough explaining why they should let the prof and the kid in. Why do you want to go so bad?"

Restart

Nate was already upset before he called, but the sound of the movie star's voice on the other end was enough to make him seething. He couldn't believe he was talking to Dotty's kidnapper.

"Dor-o-thea Henn-es-sey," he sounded out Dotty's name slowly, and punctually deliberate. "16. Five feet, four inches, Asian girl who likes to wear a hoodie. That description ring any bells?" He was breathing heavily in the mic, and he had to pause a moment to collect himself. "I am her brother, and you got three minutes to tell me where the heck you took Dotty."

~~~~~~

Mary Jane looked up sharply, surprised that Chase was shouting all of the sudden. She turned around and walked a few steps towards the truck, hands spread in an inquiring fashion.

But then she heard a voice behind her and it made complete sense. "Miss MacShane?"

Mary Jane winced, suddenly realizing the purpose behind what it meant to "get in and get out quickly."

Restart

Ty gaped openly.

"Where I . . . look man, whoever you are. I know Dotty doesn't have a brother. And she's not talking to me right now so I have no idea where she is." He wondered suddenly if Dotty was in some kind of trouble. "Shouldn't you be asking the Withers?"

Alyson rolled her eyes. "Gee wiz, Nate. He's not the kidnapping type. I doubt he could have taken Dotty anywhere without her consent."

----

"Holy--" Chase ducked down in the driver's seat quickly so no one could see him.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Jakov wondered vaguely if it was wise to reveal this much information, but he if there was a way he could find his former master, he had to try.

"I know Cei. Well, Mr. Chase here says he goes by the name of Tomas now. I heard Maria Sanchez was in contact with him. I'm trying to find him."

One of the bodyguards beside Jakov coughed warningly, but the young man ignored him.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

Nate quickly covered the mic with the palm of his hand, turning sharply towards Alyson. "At this point I'm willing to believe anything," he whispered with a snap. "This isn't like Dotty; none of this is. Something has to be really wrong for her leave without a trace like this."

"What do you know about the Withers?" he demanded as he lowered his hand and turned away from her again. "You better start talking; you got two minutes left."

~~~~~~

Mary Jane turned slowly to see Principle Bernard standing at the front door behind her. With a bathrobe on and her hair wet and disheveled, the mid-forties woman was hardly recognizable to the severe disciplinarian that monitored the halls on her lunch break. She almost looked human in the way she baffledly looked at her student before her standing in the middle of her yard.

"Miss MacShane," Principle Bernard began, looking about the yard, "what are you doing here?"

"I--umm." Mary Jane didn't know how to rightly explain that she was assisting in a prank, since she never did this kind of thing before.

But she didn't have to say anything more when the Principle looked down at her feet. A frown creased her features, and without a word she motioned Mary Jane to come inside, which Mary Jane did so, bringing in the bowling ball with her.

(Slightly)
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait" said Shono walking to the front of the crowd "I've been like this for more than a thousand years now; I like my body and by the looks of thing the only animal autobot you could turn me is a rat, and I don't want to be a rat. I'll blast you before you change me into a rat" said Shono sarcasticly. He walked over to VACs, looked down and muttered "Wonder what they'll change you into, a mole?"

Matthew, Kale and Scrappy were walking home from flying the interceptor when Matthew noticed the same man talking with Chase and Solarflare. He then turned to Scrappy -Who Shono had installed a device that alowed the Astro droid to hook into the Autobots comunictions- and said "Tell Solarflare to be carful around the man with body guards, theres something about him that makes me wonder" and Scrappy fowarded the warning to Solar as the passed by.
The Aftermath
John put his helmet over his head so he couldn't be recognized right before Alexander walked up to them and said “Greeting Mathew, Ah Ellie I have not seen you of late, without you two around I have had no one to spar with” Mathew chuckled “That’s because you beat every one black and blue with that monster sword of yours” for Alexander’s sword which hung on his back was huge! “Everyone but you two” said Alexander.

Aftermath
Ellie chuckled along with Matt, knowing it was almost true. "It's good to see you again Alexander! It's been too long. How have you been faring lately?" she asked cheerfully. She was already fiddling with the hilt of her sword with her fingers, glad to finally get to spar again.

"Quite well." Alexander replied. "And you?" he asked politely back.

"Quite well also." she said back. "We don't have much time though, who's to spar first?" she asked, glancing at Matthew and John questioningly.

((@Joe, I hope you don't mind if I wrote out for Alexander, I just thought it'd go a little faster that way :]))

Restart

Alyson sighed and shook her head, leaning back in her chair and ordering another coffee.

Ty shook his head. "I've been to their house. Look man, I know Dotty too. I mean, we were best friends when we were younger. But I really have no idea where she is. Ever since that incident at the hospital . . . I haven't seen her." He thought briefly of the church where he and Dotty had found Shelby. But there was no way Dotty would go there . . . was there?

----

Chase breathed heavily. He could not believe MJ had gotten herself caught like that! Grumbling under his breath, he contemplated just leaving her so she would figure out what happens when you mess with a prank plan.

He groaned and jerked the truck's door open. Inwardly cursing himself, he jogged up to the Principal's door and knocked three times.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

The Aftermath
Mathew looked at John who nodded and Mathew said "I'll spar with my friend here, Ellie why don't you spar with Alexander then we'll switch, ok?"
Alexander replied "Sounds good to me, lets go" he walked off towards an open space with Ellie. Mathew and John walked in another direction when they found a sparing area, they both went directly into their respective opening stances; Mathew's was bringing his sword up to his cheek and pointing his other hand outward. John's was a devensive style of fighting and he just held his sword with both hand right in front of himself.

Mathew struck first...

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
Solarflare hesitated. Something about Jakov didn't sit well with his logic circuits. But when Scrappy communicated with him, it firmed his resolve.

"Sure, hop in. Your buddies will have to stay, though. No way I can fit them. Nessie, you'll have to sit up front with your uncle. Hope that's alright." Solarflare hated Shono's little modification of the R5 unit since astromech droid's voice grated on his audio receptors. Receiving Scrappy's transmission caused a knee jerk reaction from Solarflare to do the exact opposite of whatever the droid said.

-----

"You misunderstand," Bursa said calmingly to Shono. "Only the larger robots will be downsized. You're already at the average Maximal size, so your modifications will mostly be 'under the hood,' so to speak. As for the beast mode, your bodies will become extremely adaptable to a myriad of organic lifeforms. But beast modes are only necessary for local disguises. On Cybertron, the Maximals still retain vehicle forms."

"Now wait one diode-pickin' minute!" Warpath cut in. "D'ya think we was activated yesterday? You honestly expect us to just take your word for all this and let you turn us into Primus-knows-what? Not on my watch, pal. We're goin' to Autobot City, and I'm gonna talk to Cybertron Command and get the story straight from them."

"Well of course," Bursa said, his voice still calm and not appearing to be put out in the least by Warpath's rudeness. "We were fully briefed on Dittotopia's untamed and primitive nature. I expected nothing less than you to be cautious at best of our mission."

"Uh... good! Fine!" Warpath replied, taken off guard by the Maximal's calm reply. "Let's roll out then! Long Haul, give 'em a lift, will ya?" Warpath and the Autobots transformed to their vehicle modes and drove off towards Ditto Autobot City with the trio of Maximals riding in Long Haul's truck bed.

Hamelin

Olivia opened her mouth to comment, but he was already gone. "Traveling with him is going to be interesting," she said, feeling she ought to say something but not sure what she meant by 'interesting'.

The Aftermath
"Alright, come over when you're ready to be beaten." Ellie agreed with a bright smile. She wondered why John was preferring not to be known, but she decided to let it be, if he wanted her to know, he'd tell her. She followed Alexander to an opened area and they each went to their respective sides. "Swords first." Alexander said, as he drew the massive one from his scabbard. "Then you can use your knives. Not many fight with them, but it's good to be prepared, I you could probably use some practice as well." he added. He was right, she got to practice with her knives even less than she practiced with her sword. Obey him she drew her sword and held it with both hands. She stepped forward, patiently waited for Alexander to strike.