Sea Change

by Ragey

Loveable ol' Seaspray is taking his chum Bumblebee on a fantastic voyage: Waterskiiing! Bumb, being a land creature, isn't exactly enjoying it that much, and upon meeting a ramp proceeds to flounder pretty badly, but Seaspray lies rather boldly and claims he did excellently.

The first star of the evening shows it's sparkly face, and Seaspray thinks it'd be pretty radical to make a wish upon it. Bumblebee doesn't wish for world peace or anything intelligent, but simply for no more waterskiiing. Seapsray makes his wish, but refuses to share it, for doing so would spoil the whole thing and not make it come true. But that's no star...
 

THAT'S A MOON A SPACE STATION A PLANET. A planet where the citizens, the Tlalakans, are slaves of an insidious individual known as Deceptitraan, and are forced into slave labour by whip-wielding droids! One individual speaks to his comrade that sometime or another, they'll overthrow these steel-plated bastards and make it a more swell place to live.

That plan doesn't last long when the droids are ordered to retrieve today's "nourishment," and drag the poor sod away to a chair where they sap the life out of him, and extract it as an energon cube! Deceptitraan, when questioned on why he destroys the lives of this planet's people, laughs it off as "that is my programming!" What a git.
 

The droids lug the sapped fellow back to his workplace, but the Tlalakans have had enough of this and start pummelling the nuts and bolts of them, before diving into the sea and swimming away. The droids, naturally, are commanded to either stop or retrieve the energy sources, but prove futile in their attempts.

Meanwhile, Seaspray is making a wish on every star, proving what a sad little man he is. Poor, loveable, pathetic Seaspray. However, his stargazing is interrupted by a signal he's received; a signal which came from deep space! They pop back to the Ark where Perceptor is able to tap into the signal and identify it further, where, yes, it is from deep space, and it's a plea for help. Cosmos states that he can take the two Minibots and Perceptor up to the destination, but Prime is just too much of a fatty-fat to fit inside him. Optimus has no beef with that.

As they approach the planet, Perceptor analyses the signal further, and realises it is similar to those received during the Third Cybertronian War; meaning they've just answered an SOS intended for the Decepticons! Of course, by the time they figure this out the droids have opened fire upon them, so it's a little late to turn back now.

Cosmos gets shot out of the sky, prompting the Tlalakans to arise from the river, noting that the UFO will crash between them and the Well of Transformation. Inevitably, they crash land, and although the passengers are all right, Cosmos falls unconscious soon after lamenting his paint job. The droids pursue them further, prompting Perceptor, Bumblebee and Seaspray to haul their asses outta there.

One of the Tlalakans takes hold of a whip the droids dropped and uses it to crush them beneath some heavy foliage; an act of bravery that encourages Seaspray to tackle two droids preparing to blast her in the back. The two introduce themselves to each other, the Tlalakan being known as Alana, and Seaspray turning a purty shade of red during the interaction.
 

Meanwhile, Astrotrain arrives on the planet, containining Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble and Dirge, who meet up with Deceptitraan and are told of the Autobots who landed earlier, but not to make a big deal over it, since the ever-competent droids are on their trial.
The Tlalakans and Autobots, lugging Cosmos with them, arrive at the Well of Transformation, which, in a nutshell, is a well of water that makes you transform. Two droids happen to stumble upon them, and are promptly taken care of with some wrestling and laserfire...
 

That flings one into the well, prompting it to fizzle and combust. Alana explains that the water dissolves the body, leaving only the essence, and reforms it into whatever they choose. Since those droids are just droids with no genuine mind or anything, they just go kablowy, and Alana discourages her robotic allies from doing what they do. The Tlalakans dive in, become mermaids, and make their way to the second step of the waterfall where they plan to reunite again.

In no time at all, the Autobots make their way there, only to run into Laserbeak, soon followed by the rest of the Decepticons! Seaspray turns into a hovercraft and his chums all grab hold as they streak down the river, over the inevitable waterfall, a natural feature of water everywhere that's pretty hazardous in reality but absolutely harmless in cartoons, yet it still gets a commercial break under the belief that people still think it's dangerous. Since they don't resurface, the Decepticons believe they're toast, proving my point.

Unbeknownst to the evil villains, they meet up with the Tlalakans beneath the waves and head down a secret passage, but they forgot to take Bumblebee with them! The poor little blighter continues to fall down waterfalls and stumble against rocks, before Soundwave swipes him up as his prisoner; a situation that Alana believes they'll need more help to try and solve.

Despite most of the Tlalakans being enslaved by Deceptitraan, some managed to escape his tyrancy and form civilisations, which is precisely where they're going. They give the leader of this place the 411, Bumblebee being captured and at risk of exposing the secret of the well, Perceptor and Cosmos being too damaged to be of any offensive help, while Seaspray and Alana are given some warriors to assist them in an attack against the bad guys, armed with Autobot guns and BOMBS.

The attack begins with bombs beneath Deceptitraan's castle, followed by your typical run-around-and-shoot-people manoover. Megatron, however, sees this attack as simply the rebels coming along to be destroyed, and who could resist an invitation like that? Meanwhile, unguarded, Bumblebee transmits a homing beacon for Seaspray to follow.

Deceptitraan doesn't take too kindly to having his place invaded, but his attempt to stop them is sorted by blowing off his hand. However, he did have the sense to keep Laserbeak around and have chase after them, even when Bumblebee is escorted back to the kingdom for safekeeping. Seaspray and Alana make their exit towards the Well of Transformation with droids pursuing eagerly.

Megatron shuts Deceptitraan's face up for being a hysterical little freak after his hand-losing experience, but more importantly, receives video feedback from Laserbeak, who has followed Bumblebee to one of the tyrancy-free cities!
Meanwhile, Seaspray isn't doing too well on fending off the droids, so they have no choice but to head into the cave, allowing the Tlalakans to escape with ease, but being a machine, Alana dobuts Seaspray would make it out alive.

The hovercraft robot isn't too chuffed at being compared to those lifeless, inept goons he's just been fighting off, and marches straight into the well, determined to prove he's more than just a pile of cheesy hardware. Alana mourns for the friend she loved, but there is no need for it as Seaspray lives!

... as a male model from the 1980s!

They totally make out and go for a swim, revelling in no longer have the awkward human-robot relationship thing as before.
Meanwhile, the Decepticons arrive at the city Perceptor and Cosmos are staying at, and although impressed with seeing a human civilisation that also transforms like them, see no reason to have the city intact, and start blasting it to smithereens.

Alana and Seaspray stumble upon this sight, and the Autobot, ever vigilant, prepares to tear the Decepticons a new poop chute... until he realises he's not a robot and hasn't got built-in laser cannons or anything cool, and decides to head back to return to normal, but not without Alana accompanying him. Rumble is ordered to follow after the two, Megatron believing them to be the leaders of the rebellion.

The three return to the well and undergo the metamorphosis, Alana persuading the panicky Rumble to think like a tree or else he'll be lost to oblivion, which, obviously, proves to be his undoing. Seaspray returns to his robot mode, but so does Alana, for the purpose of fighting Decepticons! A Decepticon-fighting robot that transforms into a gondola. That's hot, according to Seaspray.

Deceptitraan, supposedly reprogrammed to be less whiny, sees the approaching duo and orders the droids to annihilate them. You can imagine how well those things fare against two laser-firing trigger-happy robot boats.
Meanwhile, the resistance aren't doing too well protecting their city, but Megatron is alerted by Deceptitraan of the seige against his place, and if it's destroyed then all the energon will go down with it! Megs doesn't care a bit for his blubbering subordinate, but that energon is pretty important, so they withdraw to more important matters.

After that transmission, Alana reprograms Deceptitraan to be under her command, and the first order to make is to tell the droids to attack the Decepticons, not the Tlalakans. The Decepticons follow Seaspray to one of the energon storage temples and the droids follow after, opening fire upon their former leaders and causing a bit of confusion. Seaspray arrives at the energon stockpile, opens fire...

And, well, blammo.
Rumble, still in the well, is knocked into the pool by the shockwaves and returned to normal, while the Decepticons, beaten pretty miserably, have no option but to board Astrotrain and live to fight another day.

Seaspray apologises rather half-assedly for the destruction of both the tyrant-free city and the vanilla variety, but the leader of the Tlalakans claims it was worth it for the sake of their people's freedom. Alana arises from the sea, choosing to be a human again, and although understanding, Seaspray's a little let down. Alana reminds him that, at the end of the day, you don't have to share what's outside to share the feelings you have inside. Seaspray celebrates with mindless babbling and a celebratory muck-around in hovercraft mode.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee notices the first star of the evening and offers the others to make a wish, but upon being queried why, he claims it's just some old human superstition he once heard.

A red helmet? How unfashionable.

Twenty years later and you never see any of the ancient civilisation style planets like this one covered in the show. Hmmm.