Author's Notes: This is a oneshot I started writing in the spring and have only just managed to find the time and motivation to finish. While this fic does tell an emotional story, I decided to do something experimental with this fic and model it after the Dr. Seuss style of writing. I can't guarantee perfection, but I did the best I could. Hopefully this will be a good and enjoyable story. So, for all of those Aerialbot fans out there or just for those people that like poetic prose, here is "Plight of The Aerialbots" :)

Warning: It rhymes :P

Plight of The Aerialbots

It had been a mighty battle between the grappling gestalts. Menasor and Superion endured each other's assaults. Such mighty warriors they became with five new mechs combined. Unfortunately they left a lot of collateral damage behind.

"Hah hah!" Laughed Menasor, "Your precious humans you couldn't save. We came in here and destroyed it all like a murderous tidal wave!"

"Go on and laugh, Decepticon," An angry Superion growled.

"Oh, but we already have!" The evil combiner wolfishly howled.

People struggled to escape the damage and debris. There were piled cars, metal bars, and grit as far as the eye could see. Menasor separated, and Superion did the same. Leaving the Decepticons to escape and the Autobots to take the blame.

Police came up to the Aerialbots, demanding an explanation. Fireflight tried to tell them, but he lacked the concentration. He started to tell the tale of how the Stunticons drove in, and how the Aerialbots merely defended the people in the town but then, he got distracted when he saw a butterfly fly by, and the scatterbrained Aerialbot took off into the sky.

"What an idiot!" Slingshot grumbled about his brother as he facepalmed.

Silverbolt then turned back to the cops and tried to call for calm.

"What you're trying to tell me," An angry officer began, "Is that the Decepticons caused all this trouble but then turned around and ran?"

"Duh!" Slingshot shouted at the annoying officer of the law, "And if you still don't believe us just ask anyone else here who saw! We're talking about the 'Cons, do you think we'd do this to you? You all might be annoying, but we're Autobots through and through."

"Well that does make sense," The officer did agree, "I suppose you're free to go, but just do one more thing for me. Try to keep the battle you have with Decepticons, confined to places owned by either you or Megatron."

The Aerialbots agreed and then they took off like a shot, but as they were flying away there was something they forgot. They counted Silverbolt, Skydive, Fireflight, and their show-off bro Slingshot...but there was no Air Raid in their group. Where was he? They forgot.

"Uh oh," Skydive muttered, "I think we forgot Aid Raid."

"You mean we have to fly all the way back to that stupid police blockade?" Slingshot whined as he thought about going back. Oh why oh why did he have to give the cops so much flack?

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Assured Silverbolt, "We're talking about the humans, I doubt that they'll revolt. All we're doing is looking for our brother among the piles of debris. Everything will be just fine for everyone, you'll see."

Their nerve wires settled, the Aerialbots turned around to find Air Raid. They just hoped the humans would forgive them for the part that they had played, in all of that destruction caused by the ugly fight. As Silverbolt was thinking this he ran right into Fireflight! He was still chasing butterflies and giggling with glee.

"Where the frag are you doing!?" Slingshot shouted irritably.

"Huh? Oh, hi guys. How did the talk with the police go?" Fireflight asked innocently, "Hey, why do you look so...so…?"

"Fragged off?" Slingshot offered as he crossed his arms over his chassis, "You left us alone with the cops you slagger! Yeah, real classy!"

"Enough!" Silverbolt shouted over Slingshot's tirade, "This isn't important right now. We have to go back for Aid Raid."

Slingshot grumbled, and Fireflight flinched, but ultimately they both agreed. They had to go back for Aid Raid since he had injuries that would need, medical attention from their friendly neighborhood Ratchet, who was the best medic in the business despite being as pleasant as a hatchet.

They found Air Raid lying several blocks away, from where the fight took place on that otherwise uneventful day. Air Raid was unconscious and bleeding energon.

"Oh my!" Fireflight gasped, "That awful Decepticon!"

Air Raid opened his optics, though he could barely make them out. His helm was spinning and he wondered what this was all about. The last thing he remembered was fighting Menasor. His brothers looked so upset, what'd they look so upset for? He was fine, he could walk, and he could probably even fly. Unfortunately he fell down whenever he would try. Air Raid landed with a thud, and his brothers ran to his side. They would have to strap him to Slingshot and go back to where they reside.

Autobot HQ seemed like a beautiful beacon of light, when the Aerialbots caught a glimpse of the orange vessel in their sight. Air Raid was now unconscious; forced into stasis lock. His body had simply endured too much and then went into shock.

"Just a little further!" Silverbolt declared.

Skydive then turned back to Air Raid to see how his brother fared.

"He's losing too much energon!" Skydive shouted in fear, "We have to land and see if we can get Ratchet to come here!"

"Are you kidding?" Slingshot shouted, "Ratchet will kill us all for sure!"

"We have to do it," Skydive argued, "If it means Air Raid gets a cure."

Silverbolt relented and called Ratchet on the comm. Ratchet answered the Aerialbot and shouted /What the slag is going on? I heard you got in trouble with the humans in the city. When Optimus Prime discovers your crimes you can bet it won't be pretty./

/But Ratchet-!/ Silverbolt shouted, but he was cut off by the medic. It was clear that the old ambulance was less than sympathetic.

/I can't believe you did this!/ The angry doc continued to gripe, /I would expect this kind of behavior from Sunstreaker or Sideswipe!/

"You can yell at all of us later!" Slingshot interjected, "But Air Raid is stuck in stasis now and needs to be resurrected. So get your fat tires over here to our coordinates right now! You've got to make our brother better, someway...somehow."

Slingshot stopped speaking then, as he hid his face from view. He was leaking optic fluid, what would the others think if they knew? Slingshot was a proud mech and didn't like to cry, but he couldn't help it this time since Air Raid might just die.

/I'm on my way,/ Ratchet told them, /But let's get one thing clear. Next time you pull a stunt like this you're never leaving here. You'll be trapped in my medbay forever, making humans muffins, when you're all reformatted into my brand new toaster ovens./

The comm was cut, and the Aerialbots sighed a deep intake. Ratchet was on his way, they had finally caught a break.

"I don't know why we got in trouble or why Ratchet is so sore. This is all the fault of that frag head Menasor," Slingshot huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I can't believe he beat us. After all, we're the best."

"He probably just got lucky," Fireflight consoled his bro, "Besides that they fought dirty, especially with that last low blow. Before the battle ended they really kicked it up a notch."

"Yeah, I didn't know you could kick a combiner in the crotch." Silverbolt recalled as the painful memory replayed, "Ratchet is taking quite a while. I hope he wasn't delayed."

"Don't worry, he'll be here," Slingshot reassured, "Even though he's a crank, he's a medic of his word."

The Aerialbots held down the wounds so Air Raid could recover. They hoped he would be alright as they kept stabilizing their brother. Fireflight almost passed out, not knowing what else to do. Thankfully this was the time when Ratchet drove into view. He transformed quickly and rushed over to see Air Raid's condition. The Aerialbots could only watch with a look of pure contrition.

"Ratchet, we're sorry that this happened while we were on patrol," Silverbolt lamented with his hung low at the loss of control, "I'm the leader, so I accept whatever punishment is needed."

Ratchet however was busy so the suggestion went unheeded. Ratchet continued to repair the damage while Air Raid awoke and groaned. Ratchet just ignored the plane no matter how much he moaned. Ratchet didn't have time to put him under since he was busy saving his life. The tension was so thick around the patient it could have been cut with a knife.

Finally, several minutes later, Air Raid was whole again. The other Aerialbots smiled in relief at the recovery of their kin. Ratchet then gave each one a look that said 'You know I haven't forgotten', and the Aerialbots kicked their feet in the dust looking down and feeling rotten.

"Optimus told you earlier to not fight Menasor. Yet you disobeyed his orders just to settle an old score," Ratchet chided them vigorously while not allowing them to speak, "You five have been a fragging pain in all our afts all week! What on Cybertron were you thinking, trying to kill Decepticons? The worst part of it all is you made me miss my fragging marathon! You run off like a bunch of fools and drive me to the brink, and then you comm me about all this during As The Kitchen Sinks!"

"Menasor tried to kill us first," Slingshot still defended, "Bluestreak almost died that day, and yet you all pretended...you pretended everything was fine when clearly it ate slag. By the way, we almost got him. I don't mean to brag."

"Yeah right," Air Raid croaked from his place prone on the ground.

"I'm tellin' you, their metal fragments are all that would be found!" Slingshot continued to spew his vitriolic diatribe, "You wanna know what I would do? I'll be happy to describe. Dismembered, destroyed, disheveled, and damaged beyond repair. We were so close to delivering a defeat that would be beyond compare. If the humans hadn't got in the way I'm tellin' you we would've won!"

"Are the deaths of so many innocents the price for one Decepticon?" Ratchet asked pointedly as he put away his tools, "You younglings think you understand war, but you are still just fools. Menasor is a sparkling, and you know what? So are you. I only hope there's something left of Cybertron when we're through. You five have a great future ahead with so many opportunities, but you must understand that your age doesn't guarantee immunity. Menasor almost killed Air Raid, yet you still speak of revenge. When you defeat all of your enemies who else will you avenge? You'll just keep right on searching for another Decepticon to scrap. Well as the humans often say, I can't deal with all your crap."

Ratchet pointed to the Ark, and they went ahead of him inside. They realized this was one order they should have never defied. Now Optimus would be angry, and not just at their resident boaster. This time Ratchet would get to turn them all into a toaster.

"Do you think Optimus would mind if we ran away to Guam?" Fireflight asked, "During times like this I wish we had a mom."

"Why on earth do we need one of those?" Slingshot asked in a manner most snide.

"Because then we could scream 'I want my mommy!'" Fireflight replied.

They made it to Prime's office and reluctantly went in. No one tried to argue against this, for they knew they couldn't win. They had to face the music, they had disobeyed direct orders. Fireflight then imagined Ratchet turning them into mailroom sorters. He shook his helm to focus on what the Prime might say, but Prime was still busy working so there was a slight delay.

The Aerialbots sat at attention while Prime finished his paperwork. They knew he was calm now but that soon he would surely go berserk. The Autobots always listened to Prime and yet on this day they had not. Silverbolt feared the terrible vengeance he and his brothers had likely wrought.

When Optimus was finished his gaze fell on the Aerialbots. Silverbolt tried to speak but his tank was tied up in knots.

"I hear that you fought Menasor," Optimus said calmly, "I must say that your recent behavior has been quite an anomaly. Normally you would not disregard my orders to not fight. So I must ask this important question: Are you five alright?"

The Aerialbots were shocked at the softness of Prime's tone. In the face of recent tension their Prime's composure truly shone. Silverbolt felt dizzy and his brothers were still weak, yet despite his apprehension the young 'Bot found the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry we disobeyed you. It will never happen again," Silverbolt's entire frame shook as he confessed every sin, "We've just been so angry at that horrible combiner. He's a bully, a coward, a murderer-"

"And worst of all a whiner!" Slingshot finished even though Silverbolt was not done, "I tried to tell the Hatchet that the five of us almost won! We have to kill the Stunticons so that they won't kill us first! They're horrible, they're evil-"

"Yeah, they're the worst!" Skydive continued from where his brother had left off, but before he could say more the room was filled with the sound of Air Raid's cough.

Prime sighed sadly when he saw the damage done to Air Raid. He knew they had done wrong, and saw the price that they had paid. Prime remembered being young and thinking he could fix the world, but he also remembered being unprepared for when society unfurled.

"Aerialbots, I understand that all of you are scared. You almost lost a friend last week and didn't feel prepared," Optimus explained to them, never losing his temper, "I still remember my spark breaking when I heard young Bluestreak whimper. Out there on the battlefield; leaking energon. Yet I too felt helpless to do anything as I fought Megatron."

"You don't understand! We were made to fight Menasor!" Silverbolt contested; shouting in a way he never had before, "You made us to kill Menasor, that is our purpose in life. Yet when we actually do our job everyone treats it like it's strife. We're not petty, we're not young, we're just programmed to be this way. You made us to be war machines, we knew that from the first day! You need us to fight Menasor and to keep mechs like Bluestreak safe. Now that you've seen us do our job, it's too late to look at us and chafe."

"Is that what you think of yourselves?" Optimus asked sadly, "That all you're good for is to fight against those that behave badly? You think Menasor is your purpose in life and once he's gone you're through? Silverbolt, that isn't even close to what I had planned for you. When I requested from Vector Sigma five Autobots for the Ark, I asked for flying mechs of honor that had a strong and noble spark. I asked that you have free will, and that you respect life of all sort. Thus far you have done so masterfully I'm happy to report. I admit that you were built for war but someday that will be done, and you will get to live fulfilling lives once we all are one."

Optimus had an impact on his wayward young gestalt. Up until this point all they saw was shame and fault. They thought they were just weapons, meant to fight Decepticons. They feared they were expendable; they feared that they were pawns. Optimus spoke kindly to them and cared about their sparks. His tone of voice and consoling words left comforting lasting marks.

After that day they knew their Prime could also be their friend. The Aerialbots went on many adventures, but this one has now come to an end.