pullmeoutalive | log > what is wrong with us THE SEQUEL

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log > what is wrong with us THE SEQUEL

It was hard to believe that only three hours ago, she and Jolt had been bar-hopping (with the best of intentions, of course) and now Naomi was soaring over a dense forest, zipping out of the way of a few directed lightning strikes, courtesy of one of Black Phantom's puppets.

She had bigger things to worry about, though. More specifically, she had one big thing who had somehow disappeared from the battle. It had been only a few minutes of leaving him to take down the other side's psychokinetic, but when she'd returned, Jolt had vanished. Hatsune and Akira were fighting on the ground, both too distracted to take the time to sniff him out. Sakaki was on hand in a nearby helicopter, but it had been made to land out of concern that the lightning would strike it. The Children could have helped, but they needed to stay together for Kaoru's cleansing ability to function properly.

That left a very frantic Naomi flying about in the hopes of locating one errant Autobot. The one controlling the other espers hadn't been very comforting, having glanced in the girl's direction earlier.

"Worried about your friend? You should thank me. I've taken good care of him."

She'd hardly been reassured-- if anything, Naomi's ire and worry had only tripled, until she'd not only knocked out the esper manipulating the lightning but picked up her speed. The fight was nearly over; she could see the bright light from The Children's area now, but she wouldn't be relieved until she knew her Autobot friend was safe.

"Jolt-san!!" She called now, skimming the tops of the trees and then flying a little lower. "Please, answer me!"

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The message was conveyed, received... and responded to, when Naomi took a step closer to him.

"This probably isn't something he should go through alone," she told the doctor. "Not that I don't trust you completely--"

Laughing, Sakaki held up a hand. "Relax, I understand. You work with him the most, and it's best that you're kept up-to-date as much as possible. Come on, you two. We can take the helicopter back now."

When Naomi moved closer, he found he had to resist the urge to hold her hand. This wasn't the time or the place but it was tempting. So tempting-

Jolt's expression instantly brightened. "We get to ride in a helicopter?" Autobots, generally, did not fly. There were a fair few Decepticons that could, but for whatever reason, the Autobots were primarily land-bound. (Except for when the occasional Blackbird lent his wings to certain Autobot commanders.)

All this flying was fun, and for the life in him he couldn't understand Ironhide's fear of planes.

This time, Sakaki wasn't the only one laughing. It took a supreme effort not to do more than chuckle, and Shiho's amusement fell more along the lines of a smirk, but it was obvious enough that all three espers found Jolt's excitement as a good source of entertainment.

"You do," Naomi reassured him, giving him a smile before she headed towards the waiting helicopter. "Just don't stay too close to the door."

He followed happily, looking somewhat like an excited little kid. He was genuinely excited, but Jolt wasn't above playing it up for their amusement. "No worries," he replied. "I wanna ride in it, not fall out of it."

"I don't think any of us wants you falling out of it," she remarked as she hoisted herself up into the helicopter. "That wouldn't be a fun drop for anybody."

"Except for you and Kaoru-chan," Shiho pointed out.

Naomi, interestingly enough, coughed into her hand and glanced away. "We don't do it for the thrill of it, though!"

Jolt's eyebrows went up. If Naomi wanted to fling herself out of helicopters, who was he to stop her? She could fly, after all, and if he shared in that ability, he could easily see himself doing such things "for the thrill of it".

He followed her inside and situated himself somewhere where he could watch the scenery fly by... but not be in any danger of falling out.

Naomi settled herself beside her friend, just to make sure he was coping well enough to everything. Or so she'd say if the others asked. Shiho liked her too much to read her thoughts without good reason, and Sakaki was much the same.

As for her other reasons... she just wanted to remain close. And if she so happened to silently offer Jolt her hand, well, there was nothing wrong with being moral support.

But Shiho had read Jolt, though that thought was miles away- especially with Naomi's hand in his. He was liking this little habit they seemed to have picked up, and he gave her hand a little squeeze.

"You'll be okay," she murmured, returning the squeeze just as lightly. "It might be a little uncomfortable and hard at first, but I promise, we'll get you back to normal as soon as we can."

It was nice, though-- this connection. Just by holding his hand, it felt as though she wouldn't have to say a word, and he'd still be able to understand her.

The thought made her smile as the helicopter took to the skies and headed for home.

"No hurry," was all he said. He didn't want to go back to normal- not yet. There were things he wanted to try, and he didn't doubt that Ratchet would be appreciative of whatever data he gathered.

And there was this. He and Naomi. They had seemed to manage quite well despite their difference in size, but the closeness he could share with her now made... whatever had happened worth it.

One helicopter ride later, the medical examination began. All of the espers had gone through it at least once a year, and none of them looked forward to it, but some tolerated it better than others-- Hatsune, for example, had become nearly feral last time and had substituted Sakaki's leg for a chew toy.

For her part, Naomi vanished briefly, and returned just in time to see that Jolt had been stripped down to the bare essentials in clothing. Beet-red, she'd buried her face in her hands and remained that way until the preliminary X-rays and pokings and proddings had been done.

"Other than some bruising and scrapes from his fight, there's no harm done," Sakaki ultimately concluded. "From what I can tell, he's still able to use his abilities, but I wouldn't recommend testing them out for a few days, until his body properly adjusts to them. He'll probably have a fever tomorrow, but we can speed up the recovery by having him stay here tonight. That means resting and drinking plenty of water."

He paused, seeing Naomi watching her friend anxiously, and his expression softened.

"We'll be able to return him to his natural state in approximately a week. The synthetic power isn't above Level 6, but it's still powerful, and it would be too risky to have the director try to restore him now." When she nodded, he grinned and ruffled her hair, casting Jolt a glance. "Naomi's going to stay with you tonight and keep me updated if you begin to feel even slightly off in any way." Another pause, longer this time.

"... Try not to do anything that'll get Tanizaki in a homicidal rage. I like my workplace semi-devoid of blood."

And here he thought Ratchet was bad. He never, ever, for the rest of his very long life wanted to go through something like that again. All the poking and prodding hadn't been fun- being in his, what was it? Underwear? Yes, that was it. Being in his underwear had been even less fun.

But the diagnosis was good, at least. And he was pretty confident he could wait a week with no problem. (Though the fever had him a bit worried- mostly because he wasn't sure what that was.)

That last bit confused him a little, however. So far as he could tell, being within three feet of Naomi warranted homicidal rage from Tanizaki, but he chose not to comment on it.

"Oh, this is kind of a weird question, but," he opted for instead. "Can I use the phone?"

"To contact your group?" Sakaki picked up on it right away, nodding briskly. "That's fine. And keep it as long as you want-- the Chief can afford to spend money on things not involving The Children every once in awhile... and always spoiling my dates, how the hell am I ever going to get a woman in--"

Naomi cleared her throat pointedly, and the doctor hastily snapped out of it. "... Anyway, yeah, snag the one up front. I've got to go report to the higher-ups."

For his own part, Jolt looked nothing short of amused as we went to find the telephone. It took a little figuring, since he'd never had to use one himself before, and beyond that even more routing and re-routing and rattling off of codes before he finally got to speak to Optimus.

It was, in fact, not a pleasant conversation- not bad, but not pleasant either. Jolt did his very best to remain calm- especially because flaring tempers in an alien body was probably not the best way to test the proverbial waters- and reassured his commander multiple times that he was fine and that they would turn him back with no problems and no Ratchet cannot talk to him.

But of course Optimus made him talk to the medic anyway.

One very, very long phone call later, he returned to where Naomi was waiting, looking as though he'd just finished the world's longest, most tedious pop quiz. Which, in a sense, he had.

Sakaki had long since left, but Naomi was still waiting, having perched herself on one of the beds in the process. She tipped her head up, opening her mouth to welcome him back, perhaps to ask him how the call went-- and then thought better of it when she got a better look at his expression.

"It's... over now, at least?" She said sympathetically.

"I have a week of blessed Ratchet-free data gathering ahead of me, apparently," he replied with a sigh, moving to an empty bed and unceremoniously flopping down. One arm slung over his opti-- eyes. "I don't ever wanna go through that again." He might even take the medical examination over having Ratchet drill him with questions he couldn't possibly know the answers to. He'd only been human for mere hours, after all.

Unseen by the Autobot, her expression only turned more apologetic. She'd never had a problem fighting alongside him, but this time, he'd gotten involved and been forced into this situation, while all she could do was stay by his side and hope for the best.

With a small sigh of her own, Naomi hopped down, snagging a glass and a pitcher and filling the former with water. She then made her way over to the bed, leaning down and lightly tapping his arm to offer the glass. "Doctor's orders. You're going to have to take it easy for the next couple of days."

He moved his arm slightly, revealing one eye, and regarded her for a second. Right, doctor's orders. He'd had just about enough of medics and doctors, but orders were orders, so he sat up and took the offered glass. "Cheers," he replied with a bit of a grin, and promptly took a swig.

It was... cold. Not bad. Refreshing, even. His eyebrows rose as he regarded the glass. "Huh. This is gonna take some getting used to."

"Just a little." She settled gingerly on the edge of the bed, letting out a soft hiss as tended injuries protested. "But if you're still confused or if you feel strange at all, I want you to let me know, all right?"

She tapped her chin, then added pointedly, "At all."

"I'll do my best. I'm still not sure what normal is supposed to feel like, let alone strange." He eyed the glass again, taking on a thoughtful expression. "Think they can really change me back?"

"They can," Naomi stated firmly, matter-of-factly, and there was a flash of fierceness in her eyes. "We have at least four incredibly powerful espers who will be doing everything in their power to help restore you to your original form-- not to mention everyone else. There's a wide range of abilities and knowledge here. And..."

She glanced down at her hands, clasped in her lap, and then up at him with a faint smile. "Everyone here-- not counting my supervisor-- loves you, Jolt-san. They won't give up until this has been fixed."

A laugh escaped him, and he smiled at her. "That's good to know." He wouldn't have counted Tanizaki anyway, but it was nice that she felt she needed to clarify that point.

Setting the glass aside, he flopped back down. This was weird, sure, but he would be fine. He would have to be- he promised Optimus as much. "Thanks," he said after a beat. "For staying with me."

The girl's smile softened as she watched him, although she found it distinctly strange that she was actually looking down at him for once. That rarely happened, except in his alt mode. "You've always stayed with me, you know. The least I could do was return the favor. I'm here if you need me."

Jolt propped himself up a little, watching her. How did he get here from a zombie-infested shopping mall? That seemed like ages ago, but he knew he wouldn't trade the experience for the world. Not if it meant he ended up here.

That warm, affectionate smile spread across his face again, and he held out a hand. "I always need you."

She'd been powerless before that look before, and the same thing happened again. Somehow, just barely, Naomi managed to keep her face from flushing, but the events of today were beginning to make jumbled pieces fall into place. There was a realization slowly forming, that maybe she'd known, but had sternly repressed.

Jolt, however, was making that realization more insistent.

"Then I'm here," she replied, scooting a little closer to him and placing her hand in his larger one.

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