Title: Tracking Trouble

Author: Sapphire

Series: Academy - The other two stories in the series can be found with my other stories

Rating: PG for violence

Summary: Third in the Academy Series – Jazz comes to the Academy for a game of Hunter / Prey. But then he ends in much more trouble than he has bargained for, and his only chance of survival is the ability of one small cadet to find him before it is too late.

Comment: After I wrote ' Team Exercise' there were strangely enough requests for more. I thought to concentrate on one of Bumblebee's know strengths: that of a tracker. But then the story took a sudden left turn (as they so often do) and this is what came out of it.

Disclaimers: Nope, don't own any big transforming robots – they wouldn't fit into my apartment anyway.

Final Warning: English is not my first language. What my proof reader (thanks again, Mac) didn't find I totally take responsibility for.

Tracking Trouble

BySapphire

Part 1

Some days it just didn't pay to get out of the recharge cycle. Of course, normally one wouldn't expect to end the day being pinned down by a Decepticon twice your size, your right arm more or less ripped off, the weapons in that arm useless. Add to that a Primus forsaken ruined city in the middle of nowhere and no chance to call for help, it just made everything so perfect.

As Jazz listened to the two Decepticons arguing on what to do with their prisoner – not that he could do much else, with the big ugly one pressing down with his considerate weight on his chest plate – he wondered who in high heaven he had insulted that he saw it necessary to place him in such a situation. Ugly was pretty much for delivering him to Megatron, while Big Stupid One was all for killing Jazz outright. Might be that Stupid was a little bit biased, as Jazz had managed to damage him pretty good before the two had overwhelmed him. Either way, it did look like Optimus Prime would need to start looking for a new first lieutenant.

The day had started normal enough.

Like Ironhide and Ratchet, he actively participated in the instruction of the Academy cadets and every half stellar cycle he went there for a special training session. In this training session he set up a game of Hunter / Prey, with him being the prey and all the cadets chasing him after some time delay.

The game area was an abandoned city, which had been destroyed at the beginning of the war at a time when there hadn't been the kind of protective force fields that nowadays protected any Autobot city or base. The bombs that had been used had left behind a low level radiation that on one hand made a prolonged stay in the city rather unhealthy, and on the other hand made any long range communication impossible. It was the perfect place for the game.

After instructing the cadets about he rules, Jazz had set off. He had been doing this exercise more than three dozen times now and only five times a cadet had been able to track him in the allotted time. He felt confident that once again he would escape detection, even though Ironhide had mentioned a cadet who had impressed him the last time the other 'bot had visited the Academy. The weapons specialist had even gone as far as to place a bet that if somebody would find him it would be the young Autobot with the designation Bumblebee.

For once, Jazz really wished that Ironhide would be right.

When he had arrived at the place he had decided on before as his hide out, he had not been prepared for two Decepticons hanging out there as well. Before he had been able to take cover, one of them had detected him. Knowing when he was outnumbered and outgunned, he had tried to get away, but one of the 'cons got lucky and hit him square in the back before he had gotten to safety. The next thing he had known was that he was lying in the dirt, badly leaking Energon.

Clearly he should have stayed in his recharge berth this morning.

---

Twenty cycles earlier

Bumblebee, together with his class mates, waited at the starting point for the signal to go off. Jazz, Optimus Prime's first lieutenant, had vanished between the tall buildings at the edge of the city only a few cycles ago. He would be hiding somewhere in the old city and their task would be to find him within the allotted time.

The principle idea was to follow the trail the Autobot would be leaving behind. According to the rules, the trail would be made up of small, inconspicuous changes in the environment, things that simulated an Autobot – or Decepticon – on the run. Jazz had said that normally he wouldn't leave any trace behind, and Bumblebee believed him, but he also had said that he wouldn't make it too hard for the cadets.

Bumblebee knew it would still be very difficult. He was generally considered a good tracker, but finding such a trail in an environment like the city would be difficult even for him. And it would take a lot of time. So he had considered a different approach to solve the problem.

After he had learned about the training game, he had done some research. The files of the previous games had been on record and Bumblebee had gone through each and every one of them and had learned that there had been a less than twenty percent success rate for the Academy cadets. So he had decided that following Jazz wouldn't really work. Instead he planned to anticipate where the Autobot would end up. In his analysis of the reports he had narrowed it down to two possibilities with nearly equal probability. He wasn't sure that he was right – not in a long stretch – but confident enough to at least try it. He hadn't told any of his friends, though. He didn't want them to follow him in case he was wrong.

Finally the starting signal came and they were off.

For the first couple of cycles, the group of cadets stayed close together. But soon different routes presented themselves and one after another split off the group to follow the new possibilities. So far, there hadn't been any trace that another Autobot had been there in the last couple of orns.

About half of the group had broken off by the time that it was Bumblebee's turn to go off on his own. With a small wave he said good bye to his friends and headed for a side road that pointed roughly into the direction of the first of his two possible goals.

The city they were in had been destroyed a very long time ago and the wind and rain had done their bit to wear down the structures that initially had been damaged but had remained standing. Because of the radiation there never had been any attempt to reclaim the city or to rebuild it. Bumblebee's sensors registered the radiation as a low level buzz that interfered with his communication system. Short range communication didn't pose a real problem, but anything further that a couple of klicks and the noise was simply too much to understand anything. Any prolonged stay in the city could also cause damage to some of his systems. For the relatively short period of the game, however, there was absolutely no risk. He would have to remain in the city several orns at least before there would be any permanent damage.

The street he was on was free of any debris, so Bumblebee transformed into vehicle mode. If his plan would have been to really follow Jazz's trail, he would have stayed in bipedal mode for most of the time as this would have allowed him to better detect the clues the lieutenant had left behind. But this way he could move faster.

Driving down the street, Bumblebee realized this was the first time since his one failed attempt to run away from the Academy that he was indeed all alone. At the Centre there always was somebody around. He had found friends there and now he realized how much he had gotten used of having them around.

Though he now got along with pretty much everybody in his year, he had also found a small group of close friends. Tweel was considered by most at being a bit vain, but he had been the very first one to offer to help Bumblebee with the problems he had had in the beginning. There was fun loving RV, who was ready and willing to go along with any mischief one of the others came up with. And then there was Bulldozer, a giant, even for Autobot standards, who was the most loyal friend a 'bot could wish for. They were an odd team, true, but it had turned out that they worked well together and also that their differences sometimes could be an advantage.

The obstacle course had been one of the proudest moments in his young life. He had to admit that he hadn't quite anticipated the degree of destruction they had wrought, but Ironhide's words in the end had made it all worth. They also had helped in his decision now to, again, try a more unconventional path to solving a given problem.

The ruins of a tall building blocking his way forced him to revert back into bipedal mode as there was no way to get around it. So he climbed through the rubble, picking his way carefully. Though the building had fallen many, many stellar cycles ago, a wrong step still could cause parts to collapse, trapping him … or worse.

After he had found his way through the ruin he paused for a moment to get his bearings. He was actually closer to his first goal than he had thought. He looked around, to see if maybe here there was any trace of Jazz, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

The place was very quiet, the only sound the wind passing between the still standing buildings.

What if he had been wrong? Doubt suddenly assailed him. He could be wasting his time here chasing a wild idea that might lead him to nowhere. If he had followed the trail, he would be at least doing something that he knew he was good at.

But then Bumblebee transformed once again and resolutely pushed on. He had made his decision, he would stay with it.

It took him only a few more cycles to reached one of the two places he had picked for the place he thought Jazz would most likely be hiding in. He listened hard, all his sensors at maximum sensitivity.

But other than the wind and the ever present buzz of the radiation, there was nothing.

Not allowing for the doubts to come back, he did a quick inspection of the place, but as he had already surmised, the area was empty of any Autobot but himself.

With a small sigh, he left the place and started to head for the other one. He had only one shot left, now, and if he was wrong again, he would have lost.

Not once it entered his thought processor that in the previous times the game has been played, it was more the exception than the rule that one of the hunters managed to find their prey and that it certainly wouldn't reflect negatively on him if he wouldn't find Jazz. He only knew that after the praise he had gotten from Ironhide, he hungered for the approval of the 'bots around Optimus Prime – and ultimately from the Autobot leader himself. Optimus had met him in a situation that had been less than favorable for Bumblebee and the young Autobot hoped that one day he could improve on this impression.

The second location was on the other side of the city and this time Bumblebee took longer than he had anticipated. There was more destruction in the area he had to cross and Bumblebee had to take several detours before he reached the neighborhood of the second goal.

He just had reached the edge of an old factory building when the sound of two raised voices alerted him that it was not quite as empty as he had expected.

Moving as carefully as he could, Bumblebee peeked around the corner into the old fabrication hall.

What he saw made his spark grow cold. He had found Jazz, all right, but so had two large Decepticons. The two were arguing loudly, glaring and glowering at each other, though that didn't stop one of them from brutally holding down Optimus Prime's first lieutenant. Jazz appeared to be in a bad shape. He was losing Energon at an alarmingly high rate, the blue liquid soaking slowly into the ground. A big, burn-edged hole in his right shoulder exposed power conduits and severed tendons. He was still moving, his bright blue optics still alight, but from the looks of it, this wasn't a status that would last very much longer.

Bumblebee withdrew quickly into the shadow before the two 'cons could detect him.

He did a quick analysis of the situation and what he could make of it he didn't like at all. The two Decepticons were both larger and stronger than he was. They were probably also good fighters; otherwise they wouldn't have been able to capture Jazz, who was famed for being an extremely skilled warrior. What they were doing in the city, Bumblebee could only guess, but he was sure whatever the reason, it couldn't be good.

The smart thing would be to leave before they detected him, and try to reach some help. Bumblebee was all alone and couldn't call for help or reinforcement. He was no match for the 'cons in a fight.

But if he would do that, there was no guaranty that Jazz would still be alive by the time that he and any help he might find would return. Actually, the chances that he would be dead were extremely high and Bumblebee just couldn't leave a fellow Autobot at the mercy of two Decepticons.

He had to fight them, and somehow free Jazz, even if it meant that he himself wouldn't get out of the situation alive. There was not other choice.

He recalled from his memory banks the pictures of the fabrication hall, this time trying to ignore the badly wounded Autobot in it. Maybe there was something he could use for his advantage. His trainers always said that he was good in taking a situation and finding some unorthodox way out of it. Unorthodox was obviously what he needed right now.

The hall was three times as long as it was wide. Two rows of pillars held up the ceiling in the middle, though at one corner it had collapsed recently, forming a pile of rubble. The three mechanoids were located pretty much in the centre of the hall. It looked like Jazz had tried to escape through an exit on the other side, but hadn't made it. Some of the pillars close to the three looked damaged, and it was this that started the kernel of an idea with Bumblebee.

If he could get above them on the second floor of the building and somehow manage to collapse it over them, it might just slow them down enough in their defense that he might have a small chance to get Jazz out of there.

If Jazz could be moved at all.

If they could be surprised.

If he got really, really lucky.

Lots of somehows, mights and ifs, but there was no other way.

Before his courage left him, Bumblebee was on the move again.

---

The two 'cons were still arguing, but Jazz was starting to have difficulties following what they were talking about. He felt light-headed, his processors getting fuzzy around the edges. The logical part of his mind knew that he was losing too much Energon too fast and in a short while it wouldn't matter what the outcome of the 'cons' discussion was, because he would be dead either way.

Unexpectedly, his internal digital communication system came online. It was a system that was barely used in normal day to day operations, and at first Jazz had problems identifying where the words he suddenly heard were coming from.

"Jazz, sir, it's me, Bumblebee. I'm here to rescue you."

Bumblebee? Rescue?

Wasn't Bumblebee one of the cadets in the game? He recalled Ironhide mentioning his name at one point, but for some reason Jazz had difficulties to remember what the weapons specialist had said about the other Autobot.

He wished Ironhide would be here right now – though he would never ever think about revealing that little bit of information to the weapons specialist.

"Sir?"

Damn, he must have drifted again.

"I'm still here," he sent. "Not going anywhere."

Jazz thought he felt a chuckle go through the connection, even though digital wasn't really designed to transmit emotions. One of the reasons it wasn't normally used. On the other hand, digital had a very narrow bandwidth and also was heavily encoded. There was no way the two Decepticons would notice any part of the conversation.

"Good. Sir, I do have a question. Is the weapon in your right arm still operational?"

What was the kid going for? His right arm was shot, he couldn't exactly move it any more, or aim with it, so what would the other 'bot want to do with it?

"Sorry, I can't move my arm, kid. Anyway, you better get out of here and get some help, you hear?"

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not going to leave you. And I asked if you still could fire a blast, not if you could aim the shot. Sir."

What was the kid up to? Puzzled Jazz ran a quick diagnostic of his weapons system only to find that, indeed, he would be able to fire the weapon in his right arm maybe one more time. There was a good chance that the weapon would explode in the process, but given his current status, this might even be a good thing. With any luck, he might be able to take Ugly or Stupid with him.

Anyway, as glad as he was that somebody was willing to risk a rescue and actually had some kind of plan – though Jazz was really not sure what that plan could be – he wasn't willing to risk the life of another 'bot on what surely was a suicide run.

"Kid, listen, you have no chance here. I'm a goner anyway, so don't try to kill yourself. Go, get some help, maybe you can at least catch the two guys here before they go back home to papa Megatron."

There as a moment of silence, and Jazz almost hoped that Bumblebee would see that he was right and leave.

No such luck.

"No, sir. I'm not going to leave you. I'm afraid you're going to have to accept it. So, once again, are you able to fire your right arm weapon?"

Well, if this wasn't one stubborn Autobot? Though, he just couldn't find it in his spark to blame him. He probably wouldn't have run away in the same situation, even if it would have been the most reasonable thing to do. After all, he wasn't exactly known for always doing the most reasonable thing.

"Yes, I can fire my right arm weapon," he sent exasperated.

"Good. In this case, wait for my signal, sir, then please fire."

tbc