Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes as she groaned. She found herself on the ground, feeling a patch of dirt and a few plants around her. Standing above her was Twilight Sparkle.

"Are you okay Sunset?"

Sunset rubbed her eyes, "I'm okay... where are we?"

"I'm not entirely sure. The Groundbridge portal dropped us from the sky and we fell here in this jungle," Twilight replied.

Sunset moaned some more and she pulled herself up.

"Okay, so we fell from the air, and... Oh no."

Sunset's eyes widened as a startling realization came to her head.

"The Autobots didn't make it through the portal yet... did they?"

"No...", Twilight hesitantly replied.

The two looked back up and they saw the Groundbridge portal still open up in the air.

"Uh oh! Scatter! Incoming robot butts!"

Both of them quickly moved out of the way, and falling from the air and screaming was the poor scientist Perceptor. He fell from the portal and slammed right through several tree branches and landing face first onto the ground, groaning.

Slowly moving his head up, he shook his head and looked up at Twilight.

"Perceptor, are you okay?"

"Uh..."

Another screaming voice followed up and landing on Perceptor's back was the former leader, Leader-1 who fell on his back.

"OW!"

Leader-1 groaned and he rubbed his head, "I should have just flown out of the portal."

"Guys?"

Sunset pointed up and everyone glanced up to see another falling body aiming straight to the ground, right on top of the two bodies that already fell.

"Dang it...", Leader-1 and Perceptor said in unison, frowning with an unamused look.

Ultra Magnus slammed on top of the two of them, making them scream in agony as they felt hard metal slam on each other.

Ultra Magnus slowly pulled himself off of Leader-1, who then pulled himself off of Perceptor. All three of them groaned as they began to pull themselves off the ground.

"Ultra Magnus, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. Its everyone else I'm concerned about," Ultra Magnus said, as he pulled himself up and offered a hand to Perceptor to pull him up. "Is everyone alright and accounted for?"

"All seven of us are here sir," Twilight replied.

"Well if we're all here, why is that Groundbridge portal still open?"

Everyone looked back up and their eyes widened. More Autobots were coming out of the portal, falling and crashing through the trees.

Falling to the ground first was Strongarm, and handcuffed to her was Tracks, and handcuffed to Tracks was Wasp, and handcuffed to Wasp was Road Rage. All of them were cuffed together by a pair of stasis cuffs.

"Oh... that stings," Strongarm groaned, "Wait, where's--"

Two more bodies slammed to the ground, this time not handcuffed to each other, but rather their own wrists were cuffed. A small red mech a few inches taller than the humans with a red body and horns on his head. The second figure that fell next to him was a girl in cuffs as well, a girl with blue metallic covering and with wings sticking out her back.

"What the!?" Ultra Magnus screamed. "Arcee? Cliffjumper?"

Cliffjumper groaned and stared up at the Autobot commander. "Hello Ultra Magnus. Its been a while."

Arcee groaned and looked up, but she didn't look back at Sunset or Ultra Magnus, but instead glared at Strongarm and the Bots that were cuffed in a chain. And everyone else noticed that a mouth clamp was tightened on Arcee's face.

Sunset's face drooped and she looked at the chain of Bots with a blunt look.

"Question. Why are all of you handcuffed together, why are Cliffjumper and Arcee handcuffed, and can someone explain why Arcee has a gag in her mouth?"

"I think little Miss Rules and Regulations and Mr. Looks Is All I Care About can answer that," Road Rage snarled, glaring at Strongarm and Tracks.

Both of them looked at everyone and both chuckled nervously.

"Oh, uh, we... uh...", Tracks stuttered.

"It was, uh..."

Sunset and the others all glared at the two of them with harsh looks.

"Strongarm? Did you tie up all of these bots?"

"No... me, and Tracks, tied up... all of them."

Ultra Magnus gave a stern and angry look to the cadet.

"Why did you tie them up, and why did you come here? I specifically said you weren't supposed to come with us, and now, you've not only defied my orders, but you've dragged these Autobots with you. Do you even know how much risk you've put us in!?"

"But sir--"

"No! Do you even know what you did? You've not only defied my orders and now you've brought these Autobots with you and you've put them in more danger, and now, I have to protect you unqualified, unprepared, insubordinate--"

"HEY!"

The commander turned around and looked to Sunset who was fuming.

"Don't, talk to my teammates that way."

"They--"

"I said, don't talk to them that way. Yes, they may have done a stupid stunt, and yes they brought these Autobots here when they didn't want to, but it doesn't mean you have a right to insult them. You hurt my team... and you deal with me," Sunset growled as she looked up at the commander. "Perhaps you can let me handle this situation?"

Ultra Magnus sighed and scrunched his face. "Fine."

"Thank you. Now...", Sunset looked at Strongarm and Tracks. "Can you two please tell me why you handcuffed all of these Autobots and why you brought them all here with us?"

"Ma'am, I--"

"You need help," Tracks interrupted.

The others all flinched at Tracks' interrupted. He never interrupted like that before, even to a superior officer.

"What did you say?", Ultra Magnus said.

"I said, you all needed help. Look, Strongarm and I were in this one together. We didn't believe that the three of you... I'm sorry six of you were enough to keep Sunset safe! So we rounded up all four of them so we could come here and give you more protection. And based on experience from several missions in the past, Strongarm can talk all of us out of a bad situation. Am I right?"

Tracks glanced to Strongarm with a smirk, and Strongarm shook her head to wake herself up.

"Oh! Yes, right! He's right."

Ultra Magnus's hand scrunched his own eyes, and groaned trying to comprehend what he just heard. But Sunset kept talking.

"Alright. Look, I appreciate the thought, really I do, I'm glad you two came and I'm glad you thought about bringing some help... but I believe you owe all of them apologies for tying them and forcing them to come here against their wills. Right after you take their handcuffs off."

"R-Right, sir."

Strongarm and Tracks stood back up and Strongarm pulled out a small gun from her holster. She held it to the small chain that connected the cuffs together and pulled the trigger, setting the two of them free. Then down the line, Strongarm shot the rest of the handcuffs, letting the other Autobots attached all free from the restraints. Then as soon as they were out, they crept down to the other bound Autobots and cut through their restraints, and Road Rage pulled Arcee's gag off.

"Agh! Next time... if you two are planning on pulling a stunt like this, maybe you should tell us to come along instead of putting restraints on us," Arcee huffed.

Arcee and Cliffjumper got back up on their feet and stood with the rest of the new recruits as they faced Tracks and Strongarm.

"Look I... I'm sorry. What I did was wrong, and I shouldn't have forced you all to come here the way we did. If I told you, maybe you all would have come more reluctantly."

"I'm sorry too. Sorry we even did something that repulsively stupid," Tracks muttered, rubbing at his finish.

Sunset scratched her face, "Okay. And I'm sorry you four got dragged into my situation."

Arcee just gave a small smile and squat down so she could look Sunset eye to eye.

"Don't be. I think the kid's got a point, despite handling the invitation of us the wrong way. You're gonna need all the help you can get. And I like our adventures together," Arcee smiled, booping Sunset on the noise, making her giggle.

"Well okay then. I guess all of you are my bodyguards. Should we get going then?"

"Wait! There's one thing I want to suggest first," Road Rage interrupted.

"What's that?"

"Well..." Road Rage said before moving her hand to her backside. She moved her hand back out to reveal in her hand was a small little laser knife clenched tightly.

"What are you doing soldier?"

"Sir, if I may suggest something... Sunset, do you remember when I first came to the Autobots, and when you and the girls first met me?"

Sunset and Twilight shared confusing looks.

"Um... yes?"

"I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying," Twilight replied.

"Remember seeing my logo being scratched up?"

"Yes."

Road Rage smirked. "Well, do you know why my logo was scratched up to begin with?"

"To remind yourself of what you left behind?" Sunset asked.

Road Rage drooped. "No."

"To make it look cool?" Twilight asked.

"Anti-Autobot propaganda?"

"Standing out as a rebel?"

"New tattoo?"

"Not even close. Okay, look, what's another reason Autobot and Decepticon logos get clawed out?"

"Well, as far as I know, they do it so that their tracking mechanisms aren't... oh..." Sunset quickly caught on, receiving a nod from the former bounty hunter.

"If we claw out our logos, it will destroy our tracking mechanisms, and the Decepticons won't be able to find us," Road Rage grinned.

Sunset scratched her chin and she smiled back. "I like your thinking Road Rage. Ultra Magnus, I think you're going to need to stand still for a moment."

"Now hold on, we're not going to-- OW!"

Ultra Magnus flinched as Road Rage zipped on past him in a flash, slashing both of the Autobot logos on his shoulders in big swipes. Everyone else also let out shrieks, screeches, and grunts of pain. Road Rage just quickly went to each and every one of the Autobots and swiped at their Autobot marks.

Their Autobot insignias no longer shown with a clean look, but now all of their symbols were slashed with big claw marks over them, scratching them out. But everyone was wincing and touching their logos, feeling the hard slices. Well, all except for Road Rage. She just stood there like normal, with her logo clawed out.

"Oh come on guys, it only lasts for a few minutes, and it goes away," Road Rage huffed.

Arcee rolled her eyes. "Easy for you to say, you're the one who's actually destroyed your own tracking mechanism multiple times."

Sunset cleared her throat, "Anyway... now that we're all together, perhaps we can get going on our merry way? Besides, now that we're here, we better get moving. I found ourselves a place that we all can stay for the time being. And I've always wanted to visit this place! Come on, I think I see a road right through these bushes!"

Sunset led the group and pushed herself right through some of the bushes and the other plants on the ground. Within a matter of moments they found themselves on an empty highway that was surrounded by more trees.

"Okay guys, here we are at..."

Sunset turned herself around and looked at the sign. But as she looked her eyes widened and she felt her shoulders sink.

"... Honolulu? We're in Hawaii!? That doesn't make any sense, I put coordinates in for us to go to Okinawa, Japan!"

Sunset gritted her teeth and she looked at Twilight.

"Did you change the directions?"

"No!" Twilight replied.

"Ultra Magnus?"

The commander shook his head.

"Perceptor? Leader-1?"

Both of them shook their heads too, leaving Sunset stupefied.

"I didn't change the course!"

But as everyone froze, their heads slowly turned around and they all glared at the new recruits that were right behind them. Both of them gulped and they could see visible sweat running down their heads.

"Its you two, isn't it? Why!?"

"Actually, ma'am... it was me. I changed the course of where we were supposed to go," Strongarm said, head laying in shame.

"W-W-Why!?" Sunset stuttered. "I had us set to go to Japan, far away so they couldn't find us!"

"I know, but I looked up at the reservations at the hotel you picked out, and those rooms were taken up. They kept on calling you to tell you the reservations were cancelled and you couldn't go there. So, I called a service here in Hawaii and I found a motel for all of you to stay in. And the place barely has humans around."

Sunset scrunched her face and sighed.

"Well... at least we're on an island far from Nevada," Sunset said.

"And Hawaii is usually nice this time of the year." Twilight said with some hope.

Sunset groaned some more and sighed.

"Alright, well we better get moving anyway. Autobots, lets transform. And Strongarm?"

Strongarm waited as Sunset looked up at her.

"Next time, you need to tell me these things before we go. One wrong move can jeopardize an entire mission."

The Autobots walked out of the jungle and stepped onto the empty road that was surrounded by more trees and plants. All they would have to do is just drive on through.

"Arcee, mind if I ride with you?"

Arcee smiled. "I don't mind at all."

Arcee stepped in front and she transformed into a blue motorcycle form, with a helmet sticking out the back.

"Hop on." Arcee spoke. Sunset grinned and she got onto the seat of the motorcycle and strapped the helmet on. But before moving, she looked back.

"Strongarm. Since you were kind enough to move us all to this location without telling us... perhaps it would be best if you direct us to the motel that you signed us all in to?"

Strongarm nodded and she stepped forward, transforming into her police cruiser mode. "Understood ma'am. I'm really sorry."

"I accept your apology Strongarm, but right now we can't be left out of any loops. If there's anything that you're hiding from me, I need to know now. Keeping each other out of a loop can put us all in danger."

Strongarm paused for a moment, before taking a deep breath and sighing. "I don't have anything else to report ma'am. Outside of the fact that, I... I think you four might like the motel residence. It has a very high rating and there isn't a lot of people there. That's why I picked out the place."

"So with little to no people there, our presence won't be seen." Sunset smiled. Maybe this new cadet didn't make too bad a decision after all. She still shouldn't have kept her in the dark, but at least she did make a smart decision here. "Smart thinking Strongarm. But it still doesn't change the fact that what you did back there was a risky move, okay?"

"Okay ma'am. Shall I lead the way?"

"Yeah rigs. Lets get moving!" Cliffjumper called out.

Ultra Magnus began to transform into his alternate mode, revealing a big rig with a car carrier trailer attached. The doors opened up, and Twilight climbed inside, sitting in the driver seat of Ultra Magnus's rig mode. Climbing on top of the carrier was Wasp and Perceptor. Wasp transformed into his alternate mode while Perceptor grabbed a tarp and covered himself up; having no car mode to turn into, he needed something to hide himself. A giant microscope would still attract unwanted attention.

Tracks and Road Rage climbed in too, both of them climbed onto the bottom of the carrier and transformed into their sports car modes.

Cliffjumper transformed into his classic Volkswagon Beetle mode, pulling up right beside Arcee. Last one to transform was Leader-1.

"What about you Leader-1?", Sunset asked.

"I'll be your eyes in the sky in case I see something up ahead," Leader-1 spoke, converting himself into a jet mode.

With everyone ready to go, Strongarm drove off first. Followed behind was Arcee, with Cliffjumper close behind her, and lastly with Ultra Magnus carrying everyone else. With everyone departing, Leader-1 transformed and took off for the skies, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

As Arcee's engine revved, Sunset kept her eyes focused ahead and kept staring at the back of Strongarm who led the group.

Hopefully everyone else is having a better time than we are.

Author's Notes:

Hawaii is actually very nice as far as I've been hearing. But now I really want to go and visit!