When Dylan Met Ratchet

[Deleted]

Characters: Ratchet
Location: Just Outside Jasper: During Darkness Rising Parts 1 & 2
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: Many a story has been told of how Ratchet met his human partner/little brother. Now see how it all really began.

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Some people’s “happy endings” began with “Once Upon a Time”. Dylan’s was far less sophisticated.

It seemed so long ago now - but he would say he remembered it as if it were yesterday. He wasn’t fifteen yet, still fourteen and a lot angrier than the smart allegory, sweet kid he was growing into. His life has been full of disappointment, false promises, and pain up to this point - and he had no cool robot friends to lean on back then. No, he just had himself and the other angry kids of the foster home he was currently living in.

”Dylan are you done? I want to get home for dinner!”

And that’s how he got here, in the boondocks of the little town of Jasper with spray can in one hand, skateboard under his arm, and an impish little smirk on his face. His foster brother, Tony, may have wanted to go home - but Dylan was so eager that day - for reasons he didn’t know. Maybe he knew destiny was waiting for him, or just feeling like a troublemaker he shook his head. “Nah, go on ahead! I’ll be there soon!” He shouted as he finished the remainder of his graffiti on the wall of an abandoned building

He never heard Tony’s reply, but he knew he went home, leaving Dylan alone for what happened next. He’d hopped on his skateboard for it, riding down the sidewalk and looking for another target - preferably easy. That’s when he saw it: something in the distance. Maybe a parked vehicle? At the time he couldn’t tell but he had a good feeling about this one.

And so he rolled forward, shaking the can and preparing to go in for the tag.

[Ratchet]

Humans.. what strange and annoying creatures..

Honestly Ratchet couldn't see why Optimus was so accepting of them.  Sure, Fowler had his uses, but that was also because he was a top ranking member of the human military or something to that effect.  They were small, they were loud, and most importantly they squished if they were underfoot.  To Ratchet, they were just in the way.

And so he found himself leaving the base for a little while, escaping from the newer humans who had just been brought to the base moments before.  He needed somewhere a bit more 'quiet'.  Sure leaving the base would risk being in a spot with more noise, but maybe he could find somewhere just a bit more quiet.

Once he found a place that seemed good, the medic parked only to find himself nodding off to take a nap in vehicle mode.  To anyone else, he was just a parked ambulance.

[Deleted]

Jackpot.

Dylan noticed the ambulance rather quickly, licking the side of his lip. Most would probably see this as a bad idea, but Dylan? He never felt that way. The ambulance was abandoned and no one was around - or at least so he thought at the time. So the idea of tagging it want scary as it might have been had he known what he was getting into.

But on the other hand, that wasn’t his fate always worked.

Perhaps in another world, Dylan turned around and high tailed it out of there. Maybe because cops showed up or something else... Maybe he’d never even seen Ratchet that day in another world.

But that day he smirked, and shook his spray can in anticipation. Deep in thought of what he was going to do. Did he paint a curse word? Just do a cool little bit of art? There are so many ways he could go given he was an artistic type. And this was... Well mostly a white ambulance which helped out.

“Alright this is gonna be fun,” he spoke up - maybe a little too giddy. “I got a few ideas already. Let’s see how this goes.”

And then he began to spray, starting his art slowly but surely. Still having no idea about the giant secret he was about to stumble on.

[Ratchet]

Ratchet suspected nothing.

He rested where he sat in vehicle mode, oblivious to anything going on around him.  That was, of course.. until he felt something hitting him.  Something soft and small?  Like rain but not quite.  Much thinner..  Besides, who ever heard or rain in a two or three inch radius?

Waking up, he used his side mirror to see just what was going on with this not-rainfall.  There was a human, right at his side holding a can of.. oh heck no.  Nope!  Not today!  He was not in the mood for human shenanigans especially when he was pulled from his much needed nap away from three other specific human children.  Grumbling in his processor, he quickly turned the sirens on in an attempt to spook the human away.

Besides, they were robots in disguise.  They did not need another human around the base!

[Deleted]

Dylan grimaced.

Dear god, what was this piece of crap doing? Was there actually someone inside? He stopped his painting, and quickly noticed there wasn’t. So what were the sirens about!? Was the system having a glitch of some sort? He needed to shut it off, or he was going to get caught. And like hell he was going to have that kind of trouble with his social worker!

So he kicked it. Hard! Once, twice, three times. “Shut up! Shut up! You’re gonna get me caught!” He groaned quietly, eyes farting around in search of any police officers. He groaned quietly and shook the can again, dang it maybe if he did this fast! “Come on, just a little more!” He sprayed again continuing to try and paint his art onto the ambulance.

He needed to finish this, he told himself. He didn’t know why. What he was painting was after all so juvenile. But he felt that pull to do this - to not stop. And the stubborn teenager wasn’t going to stop.

[Ratchet]

Did that human.. just kick him?

Oh frag no!!

The human was already irritating Ratchet, but now he was even angrier now that the human had hit him.  He kept those sirens going, but just for that added flair of showing how angry he was, now he was honking his horn on top of the sirens.  Sure, this probably wasn't the most effective way of handling the situation, but he just wanted to scare the human off.  Optimus would be proud that he didn't transform and just kick the kid back.

Noise alone didn't seem to be scaring this brat off, however..  He was going to need to resort to a different tactic.  Hadn't Strongarm told him how the humans of Crown City were constantly fooled by when she would shout at them via a loudspeaker?  Maybe he could try that.

"What do you think you're doing!?  If you haven't gotten the message already, I've already contacted local law enforcement!"

...He totally didn't.

[Deleted]

Dylan jumped.

Wait had that ambulance just talked? Like talk-talked? Sure there was a loudspeaker but even he could clearly see there was NO ONE in there. He dropped the paint can a bit - shocked silence followed this. What did he do? He wasn’t scared but he was a bit... Shocked? It felt like he’d just walked into an episode of Knight Rider and he wasn’t sure he was going to like where this was going. He moved around to look forward into the ambulance once to make sure he wasn’t losing his mind.

Once he was sure there was no one in there his response came.

“Holy crap! Did you just talk?” Dylan asked - his voice a little more surprised and with no sense of real fear. “What the heck kind of black magic, Tony Stark-invention-lite insanity is this?”

It was a bit pop culture and showing his nerdy side, but it was a reasonable redaction. “Seriously, go ahead and call the cops. If you’re some sort of alien technology I’m gonna make bank when I tell them I’ve got a talking ambulance!” He added rather cheekily, taking out a crappy little pre paid phone to record. “Hey say something for the camera will you?”