Chapter Text
The village felt deserted when Bumblebee walked outside the next morning. The sounds of chickens and livestock and the crash of waves down at the docks was all that could be heard as he headed for the meeting hall. There were no busy villagers going about their early morning chores, shouting at each other or prehaps their unruly animals. No fishermen headed for the docks. No hunters leaving on their horses for a day's journey into the hills.
Before reaching the meeting hall, Bee decided to walk out on the catwalks and look down at the harbor. Most of the ships were gone, and some of them probably wouldn't return. Orion had said the warriors would be headed for Kaon, a dark, scary region Bumblebee had only ever heard tales about. As much as he liked to explore, he had no interest in changing the fact that he had never been to that particular part of the planet.
Come back safe, Dad.
Safe, but prehaps not too soon. Bumblebee needed time to come up with the best way of telling his father that he didn't want to kill dragons anymore. He didn't have a good explanation ready at the moment, besides admitting that he was a coward. But he definitely wanted a better excuse than that.
When he got to the hall and slipped in between the two huge front doors, Bee heard high-pitched laughter echoing through the cavernous building. The other warriors' children had been left behind like him, as was the norm when the majority of the villagers left on a long journey. They would all be under the watch of Ironhide and Chormia until their parents returned.
"There 'e is!" Ironhide's voice boomed as Bee scampered to the table heaped with fried eggs and fish and meat, hoping to retrive his breakfast and sit in a corner by himself, undisturbed. "Come sit with us, lad. You're late!"
"Yeah I, um. Slept in" Bee explained as he quickly loaded his plate. He had stayed up late worrying about dragon training the night before, and woken up after the sun had already risen.
"Lazy-pants!" Cliffjumper hollered. "I had to get up real early this morning to feed Jazz's goats!"
"Real early?" Sunstreaker scoffed. "All you'd have to do is throw them some hay. Me and Sipeswipe had all our neighbors flocks to feed."
"Yeah! Whose the lazy-pants now, huh?" Sideswipe taunted. Cliffjumper scowled.
"I bet I got up earlier than all you to take care of our horses!" Bluestreak piped up. "And sheep. And chickens!"
Bumblebee sighed as he took a seat at one end of the table, listening to the other kids argue about who was the least lazy. His father didn't keep animals anymore, so there were no barn chores Bee had to attend to when Orion was away. He just had to keep the fire going and the wood pile stocked, if it was cold out. And if he spent the night at Ironhide and Chromia's, which he sometimes did, he didn't even need to bother with that one little task.
It was soon determined that Cliffjumper was the laziest - to the ginger-haired boy's loud protest - but Bumblebee knew it was himself. The other kids had been given responsibilities while their parents were away, even for other people's animals. All he had to worry about was his own well-being.
Bee ate quietly and watched while Cliffjumper and Sideswipe got into a food fight - or tried to anyway, before Chromia sternly intervened and told them to go rough-house elsewhere. The two boys forewent what remained of their breakfast in favor of sparring in an open area between tables, both trying to poke each other in the ribs with the handles of their club and mace. Sunstreaker picked at his food and fussed with the braids in his shoulder-lenth hair while Windblade, Drift's daughter, finished her own breakfast with lightening speed and hopped up to sit cross-legged on the table, polishing her sword. Bee wished he had brought the battle axe his father had given him the night before, just to show it off. But it was a bit too heavy for him to carry around like the other kids did with their weapons.
He felt a little less sorry for himself when Bluestreak moved his plate over to sit beside him, eager to talk his ear off about the battle that had happened two nights ago, how he had helped his father shoot down several dragons and wound many more. Bumblebee listened and nodded along, realizing that for the first time since he could remember, he didn't feel jealous hearing about how a younger kid had done more in one night to defend Iacon from the dragons than he ever had in his entire life.
"Alright, lads 'n lass!" Ironhide pushed himself up after a while and thumped the table, getting everyone's attention besides Chromia, who was clearing away the dishes. "Who's ready for their first day of dragon trainin'?"
The rest of the children clamored excitedly as Bumblebee grimaced. He wasn't ready, but he wasn't about to say so outloud. The other kids made fun of him enough as it was. He didn't need them to know that he didn't even want to fight dragons anymore.
He ran back to his father's hut to grab his axe, catching back up with the rest of the kids and Ironhide as they crossed the sturdy wooden bridge that led out over the water to the training ring. Carved into the surface of a flat-topped seastack, the massive pit was criss-crossed with a web of heavy chains over the top, secured to metal bars covered in sharp spikes. The spikes all faced inward, ment to tear at the wings and paws of any dragons that flew or climbed up toward the spectators.
The place stank. It was a combination of death, feces and dried blood, mixed with the rotten oder of dead fish. The so-called "stables" where live captured dragons were kept were directly connected to the ring, and all of them had their own ventilation shafts. Bumblebee eyed those narrow holes in the surface of the rock as he walked off the bridge onto the seastack. Some of them were blackened around the edges from dragon fire that had blazed its way up the shafts.
The rest of the children were running up to the edge of the caged ceiling of the ring, eagerly gazing down into the arena. They had all been to see fights before, of course, but none of them had ever been down in the pit. Unlike the others, Bumblebee wasn't excited to get the chance. He crinkled his nose as he peered through the bars and belatedly tried to think of some excuse to skip the training session.
"C'mon, kiddos! In we go" Ironhide declared cheerfully. The weaponsmith was hefting up an iron trapdoor that led down a steep ramp into a dark tunnel. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker raced each other into shadows, with Cliffjumper hot on their heels. Bluestreak trotted after the older boys, while Windblade strode confidently in with Ironhide. Bumblebee trailed last, wishing he could be anywhere else.
At the end of the tunnel there was another metal gate to crank up, then they were actually in the arena. As the other kids spread out to explore the place, Bee was slow to follow. He stared at the floors and walls of the pit, both of which had definitely seen better days. Claw marks longer than he was tall were grooved in the rock, and he gripped his axe tighter as he stepped over them.
He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to kill. He didn't want to be killed either, and while Bumblebee had never really prioritized that last concern, now it was one of the only things on his mind.
"Woo!" Sideswipe hooted as he pranced to the center of the ring and held his mace aloft like he had just claimed victory over some hapless foe. "Look at this place!"
"A'right, get in a line" Ironhide said. The weaponsmith clapped his hands, waited until all the children were standing quietly in a row before him, then abrutly turned and walked away. "We'll be working on evasion today" he announced as he came to a stop in front of a massive wooden door in the wall. "Weapons on the ground!"
"What!?" Windblade scowled as Ironhide reached for the huge latch holding the doors shut. "You're not going to give us any pointers first? Or - or tips?"
"My tip to you, miss lassie," Ironhide said good naturedly as he shifted the latch. "Is to watch ya step and not get trampled." He grinned, and the hair on the back of Bee's neck stood on end as a deep growl rumbled from behind the doors.
With a thunk that Bee felt in his bones, Ironhide swung the latch to one side and let the wooden doors swing open. The weaponsmith stepped to the side as a hulking dark green lump of leathery hide barreled out of the dark. It was a Gronkle, which was supposedly one of the less dangerous dragons. But despite that fact, and despite that its jaws were chained shut and its claws filed dull, Bee was compelled to run rather than face off against the beast. Trapped as he was in the arena, he had never seen a Gronkle look so fierce.
"This big boy here Bonecrusher" Ironhide shouted over the rustle of leathery wings as Bee scrambled to get out of the dragon's bumbling flight path. "And believe me when I tell ya, you don't want to find out first hand why he's called that! We'd be scrapin' ya off the ground with a shovel."
Bluestreak squeaked as the dragon crashed into the rock wall beside him, shaking its huge head and gazing around with narrowed golden eyes, searching for a target. The other children were hooting and scattering in all directions, constantly on the move whether the dragon was after them or not. When the beast looked Bee's way and started coming after him, he realized he should have been doing the same.
"Now, Gronkles" Ironhide said loudly, hands behind his back like he was giving a lecture in a schoolroom. "They're some of the easier dragons to go up against. They're slow, fat, stupid and lazy. But that doesn't mean they can't hurt ya."
Sideswipe charged past Bumblebee, drawing the dragon's attention to himself as he hollered insults at it. He and Sunstreaker ran circles around the Gronkle as Bluestreak and Windblade stayed farther out, darting away whenever the dragon approached. Bee soon found that if he stuck to the perimeter and stayed nice and quiet, the dragon didn't seem to notice him.
This might not be so bad, he thought tentatively. But just as he was beginning to gain some wavering confidence about the situation, Ironhide reached out with a hook-tipped pole when the Gronkle bumbled near him, deftly unlatching the chains which kept the beast's jaw shut.
"You can pick up your weapons now, but remember!" the weaponsmith shouted as everyone scrambled away from the dragon's gaping, tooth-filled mouth. "They aren't your only defense. They're not even the most important thing you can carry into battle. What's more important than a weapon?"
"A shield!" Cliffjumper yelled.
"That's it!" Ironhide pointed at one of the racks standing along the wall. "Grab a shield and grab 'em quick! Bonecrusher ain't gonna wait around for ya!"
There was a collective mad dash for the shield rack, which was hung with a variety of scarred metal and wooden slabs with leather handles. Square, rectangular or round, they all sported burn marks and scrapes from claws. The twins were easily the fastest of the six children, and both grabbed for the same dark metal shield, equally aggressive in their determination to possess it. Windblade snatched up a silver-plated one, and Cliffjumper grabbed a small wooden blue one that Bumblebee had had his eye on. Bluestreak made off with a light-weight gold and navy blue square, which was the only other small shield available, and as Bee looked over the remaining shields he wondered if he would even be able to lift any of them without embarrassing himself. He could barely handle his axe with two hands; he wouldn't be able to carry a shield besides.
Ironhide soon came over to bonk his sons on their helmets and yank the coveted shield from their grasps, shoving instead a plain red one into Sideswipe's hands and a purple one into Sunstreaker's. As the bigger boys ran off, the weaponsmith picked a black and red shield off the rack and handed it to Bee with a wink.
"Spread out an' make some noise!" Ironhide shouted to the arena at large as Bee lugged his burdens out into the fray. Bonecrusher had begun spewing fireballs with no regard for who or what they hit. "Real noise, get loud! It'll confuse 'im and make it hard for 'im to aim!"
The other kids began clanking their weapons on their shields, easily falling in to surround the bumbling Gronkle, all the while ducking sporadic fireballs with practiced agility. Bumblebee hung back near the wall, unsure of how to participate and feeling out of place.
"That's the way! Bee, get out there." Ironhide made a swishing motion with his hand at the boy. "Now, I want everyone here learnin' to rely on their shields, hear? So let 'im hit ya! Hidin' and takin' hits is just another part of fightin' dragons."
Oh, great. Bumblebee copied the others as they crouched down low, shields up to guard their heads and upper torsos. Bonecrusher had his fun blasting away at the easy targets in the middle of the arena, then he turned and buzzed around the perimeter, looking for a way out. His yellow eyes locked onto Bumblebee when he came around to him, and Bee suddenly wished he had grabbed the biggest shield available.
He ducked and cringed as a bright flame lit up in the back of the Gronkle's throat, and then his shield slammed into his wrists and shoulder and was torn out of his hands. The gaping jaws of the dragon was all Bee could see as it charged, and it didn't even occur to him to try and swing his axe. Instead, he dropped the weapon and ran.
Ironhide yelled something incomprehensible, and under the harsh buzz of leathery wings Bee could hear a smattering of laughter from the other kids. Or maybe he was imagining it. Either way, all he cared about in the moment was getting away from the dragon's hot breath blasting on his back.
A dark blurr flashed in Bee's peripheral vision, and a meaty paw smacked him off his feet and against the wall. Bumblebee stumbled, suddenly head-on with the dragon's toothy maw and glaring eyes. He stared, breathless, and didn't react in time to twist out of the way of the Gronkle's paw as its dull claws dug into the hewn rock on either side of him. He was trapped, with no shield, no weapons. There was nothing he could do but cringe as the dragon's throat lit up like a smithy furnace. No one could survive a fireball to the face.
"AYE!" The roar of a perturbed Prime was no measly squeak, and Ironhide had had his fair share of practice yelling at unruly boys and dragons alike. Bonecrusher growled and turned his head toward the weaponsmith, only to be clocked in the jaw with a club that must have weighed as much as Bee did. The dragon snorted and shook its head, blinking, but before it could retaliate Ironhide swung a set of heavy chains over its muzzle and locked them in place with ease of long practice.
"Methinks that's enough for one day" the weaponsmith announced as he hooked a link on the chains and wrestled the dragon back toward its stable. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker helped shut it in, and Bumblebee shakily returned his useless shield to the rack, refusing to meet anyone's gaze along the way.
"That was a good first session overall" Ironhide said once they all grouped together in the center of the pit. "We'll be usin' Bonecrusher in the future for other trainin' purposes, same as all the other dragons here. So for now, when you get good enough to take 'em down, incapacitate but don't kill. Capturin' live dragons is something you're gonna wanna know how to do anyway, got it? A'right!" He clapped his hands. "Class dismissed."
The other kids dispersed, laughing and congratulatory of each other, and Bee found it hard to pry his eyes up from the floor. As of yesterday, he hadn't wanted to do training in the first place, but he also hadn't wanted to prove to everyone that he was as pathetic as they all thought.
So much for that going the way he wanted.
"Bee," Ironhide approached him to clap a hand to his shoulder as the group was headed into the exit tunnel. The twins were reenacting some of their moves from the session, and Bluestreak was yammering to Cliffjumper and Windblade about evasion tactics. "Ya did ok for your first time in the pit. But there's one thing you've gotta remember if ya wanna stay alive, in here or out in a real fight." Ironhide paused until Bee glanced up at him. "Dragons are opportunistic bastards, and they'll always go for the kill. So ya can't freeze like ya did back there, a'right? You'll be fried meat and Orion will have my head on a stake." The weaponsmith chuckled and clapped Bee's shoulder again as he moved away. "I can't speak for ya, but I for one ain't interested in that happenin!"
Bumblebee sighed through his nose and trailed behind the boisterous group as they made their way back to the village, his axe weighing heavy on his shoulder. He wondered how he could get out of the next training session, and how, if he couldn't, he could at least refrain from embarrassing himself again. He thought about what Ironhide said, and while not freezing was all-around solid advice, he had to wonder. . .
If dragons always go for the kill, why didn't Starscream?