Meanwhile back at the base, the kids had finished mopping the floor and Arcee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen and Bumblebee had safely removed all the panels. To spare the kids some cleaning, they decided to take care of the dust the panels had themselves. Ratchet was still working on the ground bridge system. He was done with the unscrewing, and he made sure Bolty had his fair share of rusted bolts. The little critter had more than he could ever dream. Everything was going great so far.
During that time the kids were about to pass the vacuum on the second floor. Jack and Raf started to work on it. However Emily wanted Optimus to try it and he felt like this time it was best for him to just watch how they work. But Emily didn't want to give up just like that, so she made him use the vacuum very carefully. To avoid something getting broken again, Optimus used the vacuum very carefully and was able to help the kids. However, for some strange reason the vacuum suddenly stopped working. Emily opened it to check if the bag was full. Since it wasn't, she had deduced that something was stuck in the tube that would suck everything when the vacuum is one. She checked it by using one eye. And when she hit the tube to unstick it, a huge smoke of dust came out of the tube and went straight in her face as she began to cough. When she was done, she started to look at Optimus. And just like that she bursted into laughter as the dust in the face situation was sort of funny to her. When Jack and Raf saw her like that, they laughed at her since she looked kind of funny with this dust all over her face.
When Bolty had seen that it was the tube that threw the dust that Emily had in her face, the little guy started to attack the tube didn't so that it was trying to hurt Emily. But by doing so, he had released a bit of dust that was inside. The poor little guy had received some of it, right inside his mouth. That made poor Bolty sneeze real hard and so hard in fact that it made him bounce and fly around a bit. Luckily, no one got hurt and Emily was able to catch him with an amazing jump. Another situation to smile and laugh at. Mostly laughs since Bolty's cuddling was very ticklish and that made Emily laugh so hard since she was getting tickled right in the face.
The smiles were everywhere. Including Optimus' face, who still did not understand how Emily was able to laugh at all this but the smile he was letting go had shown that deep inside he was laughing. Of course he wouldn't show it since he was someone to keep his emotions in check. Whether it was anger or sadness, he would never express it freely. However a tiny smile never hurt anyone, not even him. Yet even a tiny smile was enough to see that he was happy deep inside his spark and without even him even knowing. Emily noticed him smile and she felt so happy to see him like that.
Meanwhile back in the desert, after a big water fight, both Miko and Bulkhead had decided to chill out a bit and nothing relaxes more than taking a nice sun bath. Bulkhead did the same except that he didn't actually get the concept. He used a palm tree to protect himself from the sun like an umbrella. He didn't want the sun to hit him, for it would make his metal skin get hot. So with natural protection, he would be able to relax better and every time Miko would change position, he would do the same. And while they were both enjoying a nice relaxing time, Miko was also enjoying a nice drink. The best way to have a nice beach day is to have a nice juice to drink with a nice long straw. Sure, some ice in her apple juice would be cool. But the desert is too hot for ice. At least she had juice.
Meanwhile back at the base, the kids had finished with all the clean up. Everything was cleaned and spotless. The kids wanted to have their free time since they were done. But for that they had to ask Ratchet permission. Ratchet had seen that they had finished and before they could even say anything, he released them from any further duty. He had seen that they had worked very hard all day so before they could ask anything, he told them that they could take the rest of the day off. And at the moment they turned around, Ratchet congratulated them, much to their surprise. They must've done a good job if Ratchet took the time to congratulate them.
With that said, Raf turned off the music on his computer and connected it to the tv. The music stopped playing but with the happiness they were feeling, they felt like it was still playing. Without knowing that, Ratchet was gonna give them free time after this hard work, the kids had prepared tons of movies to watch. Very enjoyable movies and somehow it was like they knew that Ratchet would agree to that which was very surprising. Raf had downloaded the Despicable Me trilogy, as well as the Disney Planes Duology and Wall-E. For that matter, all three of them had brought some food; chips, popcorn and some apple juice. Since the kids were done, Optimus was about to go wander off on his own around the base. But before he had the time to do so, Emily wanted to give him a better thing to do.
"Hey, Optimus. Wanna watch some movies with us?" Emily said as she looked up to him when he stopped.
"I… do not think it's a good choice since I don't know much about them." Optimus said as Emily just smiled.
"You don't need to know much. You just have to enjoy it. Come on." Emily said hopefully.
Optimus wasn't very comfortable but since Emily proposed to him to watch those movies with her and he felt that he couldn't say no. Plus it could be a good way of learning about human pop culture.
"Very well then." He nodded in agreement.
"Cool." She smiled happily.
After a few moments and a few bowls of chips and popcorn, the kids had started their movie marathon. They had finished the first Despicable Me and were right in the middle of the second one. Even if Optimus agreed on watching some movies with the kids he didn't quite get it. Even the 7th art sort of escaped Optimus comprehension of human culture. Thankfully Emily was there to explain to him that movies were about telling a story, with moving images. But it was more than just moving images, movies were about creating a story that people would see and connect with it in a certain way. In a way movies show you certain lessons of life. And also you enjoy yourself.
He didn't quite get the story but seeing the kids smile and enjoy such a wonderful time made him happy. She didn't show it much but Emily was sort of nervous since Optimus was watching with them. Yet deep inside she was happy to see him enjoying something and taking a load off from the war. Even though she was a bit nervous she was able to stay very calm. And that had been noticed by Jack and Raf who found it kind of cute.
Meanwhile back at the desert, a while had passed and Miko was already done with her sun tanning. After a good small nap, she felt like playing a nice game of ball and nothing screams a good game ball at the beach than a beach ball. She took the ball she had brought and threw at Bulkhead. It bounced right in his face and landed on one of his servos. Since Miko wanted to play, Bulkhead felt like it was a good idea so he threw the ball back at her by using his finger tip. She threw it back at him and vice versa. Miko's laugh was pure joy for the big guy.
Back at the base, the work was going through its final phase. Ratchet had finished chewing every server and cable that the ground bridge needed to function properly. Everything was tip top shape and all that was left to be done was to put back the panels, reactivate the ground bridge and recalibrate it.
"Almost done. Good news, everyone. The ground bridge is intact. There's no sign of anything out of the ordinary." Ratchet said and much to everyone's relief.
"So we're done? Finally, it's about time. My joints started to ache so much." Cliffjumper said with a sigh.
"Maybe you're just too rusty, old bot." Smokescreen jokes.
"I'm young enough to kick your tailpipe." Cliffjumper snickered as Arcee just rolled her optics at them.
"Grow up, you two." She said with a shake of her helm.
Bumblebee beeps to ask Ratchet what he wants them to do.
"Just put back the panels. The only thing left is the recalibration. Rafael." Ratchet said before he called Raf.
Raf heard Ratchet calling him and went to see what he wanted from him.
"What is it?" He asked curiously.
"The time for recalibrating the ground bridge is now." Ratchet said as he nodded.
"I'd love to help but we're already using my computer for the movies." Raf said sheepishly.
"Grab my holo computer. That way you can help Ratchet without using your computer." Emily said as she popped another popcorn in her mouth.
"Sure, thanks." Raf smiled and ran to where the bags were.
He opened Emily's bag and took out the holo computer. He then ran for the ground bridge control. He connected the computer to it to start working on the recalibration.
"Logged in and ready to work." Raf said as he gave Ratchet a thumbs up.
"Very well then. Turning the ground bridge system on. Now." Ratchet said and turned the ground bridge computer on and so far everything is going well.
"It works. Good work, everyone. You guys did an amazing job." Ratchet said as everyone cheered at that.
"Stop it, doc. You're making me go red. I don't wanna get turned into a second Cliffjumper." Smokescreen said with a teasing tone and causing Cliffjumper to punch his shoulder playfully.
"You're pushing your luck, Smokes." He said as they snickered.
"The system seems to work. I'll start the recalibration." Raf said.
"Okay, everyone, you know what to do. So chop chop." Ratchet said to everyone.
"Back to work again." Cliffjumper said with a shrug.
"Yup." Smokescreen agreed.
"Less complaining, more working please? And let's try to keep the childish act in check please?" Arcee said as Bumblebee agreed with her.
"You just love making fun of us don't you?" Cliffjumper said as Arcee shrugged but has a small smile on her faceplate.
Back in the desert. Both Miko and Bulkhead got bored from playing ball, so they decided to do something else. Something a bit more crafty, artistic and fun. They started doing some sand sculpting. Bulkhead did all the faces of the members of Team Prime. He did sculptures of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Arcee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, himself, Wheeljack, Jack, Emily, Raf and Miko.
The sculptures were the size of a bot. It was amazing. When he was done Miko was so amazed that she wanted to take a selfie of the sculptures. She took a pic of herself with the other sculptures. However, when she had reached Bulkhead's sand sculpture. He told her to get close to him so he would appear in the picture too. She wanted to try and make a joke to the others. See if they guess right which is which. To make it harder, Bulkhead did a pose.
After they took the picture, the humongous sculpture of Bulkhead started to fall down on them. Both were covered in sand. When they came out of it, they both looked at each other and laughed. After finishing sculpting and getting out of the sand. It was snack time. Miko had brought a fruity snack just for her. A mix of apples, oranges, grapes and pineapples. All of it was in a plastic tupperware that she had brought in her duffel bag. She loved eating a mix of many fruits. The day might've started on a bad note but what followed could be called a great time and after so much fun, it was time to chill up a bit.
Back at the base, the recalibration of the ground bridge was going well with Ratchet's help. The other bots were taking care of putting back the panels. It didn't take them too much to put everything back the way it was. Despite how stressful that work was they put them back just the way it was. If one panel wasn't put back the way it was. Doctor Ratchet would've made a big fuss about it. He kept an eye on everything. In any moment the recalibration of the ground bridge would be over soon. For once, Ratchet could breathe easily and stop worrying about any possible catastrophe or anything like it.
"Thank Primus everything went alright." Ratchet said in relief.
"You did a very good job, Ratchet. Now we can all rest more easily, knowing that one of our advantages is still intact." Optimus said as Ratchet nodded.
"I agree with you on that point, Optimus. But for the other point I must differ, since I didn't do much. Not on my own at least. If it wasn't for the others, this never would've worked. The team deserves some credit too." He said as Optimus smiled.
"Indeed, they do. But I believe that when the leader receives credits for a job well done it's because he was a great leader to his team." He said as Ratchet pondered on this
"True but if you ask me, when it comes to being a great leader, my leadership can't equal the one of a Prime. Not even yours, Optimus." Ratchet told him.
"In my opinion, we're both good leaders. It all depends on the situation. There are some that I'm capable of handling while some others are out of my hands. And that is where your capability comes into hand." Optimus said.
"Let's agree that we're both good in our different ways." Ratchet simply said as Optimus had to agree.
"Agreed." He said before Raf called Ratchet.
"Hey, Ratchet." Raf called him.
Ratchet heard Rafael call his name and went to see if everything was okay.
"Rafael, is everything okay?" He asked and Raf nodded.
"Sure is. The ground bridge recalibration is almost done. The system seems to work perfectly." Raf said as he fixed his glasses.
"That's good to hear." Ratchet said.
At the same time that Raf had told Ratchet that the recalibration was almost done, the other bots had finished putting back all the panels.
"Sir, we have successfully put back the panels just the way they were." Smokescreen said.
"Good work. You all did an amazing job." Ratchet said as Smokescreen grinned.
"It was no biggie." He shrugged.
"Keep telling him that stuff and he's gonna talk about it for stellar cycles." Arcee said as she crossed her arms with Bumblebee agreeing.
"Almost there. Almost there. Yes. The recalibration is done. All systems are working perfectly." Raf said with a smile as the movie was paused and Jack and Emily stood up from their spot.
"So I guess it's over now?" Jack asked as Ratchet nodded.
"The work on the ground bridge may be complete but there's one last thing left to do. We must see if an Autobot or a human can travel on the portal and get from one point to another completely safe." He said as Emily put her hands on her hips.
"So all we need to do is bring back Miko and Bulkhead from the desert to see if the portal works just like it should be." She summed up and Ratchet nodded.
"Precisely. Since the system seems to be working properly, there shouldn't be any problem during transportation. Still we must be careful. I hope you guys left the main panel open." Ratchet said as Cliffjumper nodded.
"We did." He said.
"Good. Jack and Emily, I'm gonna need your help." Ratchet said.
"Us? Okay, and what do you need us to do?" Jack asked curiously.
"Well, if we open the ground bridge and the system starts to overload or something, I want you to handle the situation." Ratchet said as he pointed to the fire extinguishers.
"Us, handle the situation? You got it. Let me just grab a fire extinguisher. Just in case a fire comes out." Jack said as Emily agreed.
"Good idea." She said as both of them came down with Bolty following.
When Emily was about to grab it, Bolty wanted to play with it. So he started to bite it but Emily grabbed the little guy before something bad happened.
"Bolty, I told you a hundred times. No biting the fire extinguisher. The cold liquid in it could hurt you." Emily scolded him gently when he looked at her questioningly.
Bolty started to feel sad because he wanted to play so bad.
"Don't worry, you'll get to play soon." Emily said and kissed his little head as that cheered him up and went to her shoulder.
Emily grabbed the fire extinguisher and gave it to Jack. They both walked to where the main panel was.
"Okay, we're ready here." Jack said as Ratchet nodded.
"Very well. I shall contact Bulkhead and Miko to tell them that we're ready for their return." Ratchet said.
"I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I kind of missed the big lung and Miss Rebel." Arcee said.
"You won't believe this but the same goes for me." Cliffjumper agreed.