Handling the Heat with Ease

Originally published on my Transformers side blog botter-butter.tumblr.com: Nov 22, 2018

Peering down through the mouth of the volcano, Rodimus could not hold back the squeal of joy when he sees the magma slowly crawling upwards towards the top. He puts his hand out past the edge, feeling the scorching heat warm up his digits and his palm. The warmth moves up into his arm and for a moment, he thinks about jumping into the magma below.

He looks back at the group behind him. Drift, Ultra Magnus, Velocity, and Tailgate. All of them clearly enjoying the change in scenery. Maybe they won’t notice if he took dip.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Rodimus flinches. He turns his head to look sheepishly at Drift, who looked extremely disappointed with his arms crossed over his chest and his ever increasing frown.

“Damnit.” His foot was barely hovering over the ground. How did Drift know he was planning on jumping in?

“I was just going in for a little dip. No harm done.”

Drift’s frown got bigger, his hands shifted to his hips and he was beginning to wear tap his ped. Rodimus looks away. He sneaks a look at the bubbling magma. Then he begrudgingly moves away from the edge.

Or tries to.

The ground seems to rumble as he moves away, and as he puts his foot down, it crumbles. Rock falls away, down in the rising heat of the volcano.He reaches out towards Drift as his footing slips. He falls forward hand outstretched on what’s left of the edge and for a second he panics.

He lets out a shaky laugh, he didn’t jump into the lava, as he promised. Then he looks back up at his fellow speedster, who is running towards him. Who probably doesn’t notice the cracks on the ground in front of him

“Drift,” Rodimus yells, “No no no no no. Stop!”

The red speedster pushes himself, standing up carefully because the cracks were starting to get bigger and no doubt there was magma underneath the ground he was standing on. Guess he might get that lava dip after all, if he’s not careful with his steps. “Don’t come any closer! I’m pretty sure there’s lava underneath me.”

Drift could only pause. Good. But the others are starting to notice. Which wasn’t good because now they were coming to see what was happening.

“Rodimus I swear-”

“Yeah. I know I did something stupid, just hold your hand out for me in case the ground gives away.” Which of course he did know. He read about it, the way volcanoes are unpredictable, and how unstable the ground around the crater can be. He’s experienced it before on other planets, other solar systems, heck, even on Cybertron.

Only admitting to being stupid would get the lecture over twice as fast.

Left foot forward. Right foot back. Left foot down. Good. The ground was not becoming more unstable than it already was. He hoped.

Right foot forward. Left foot back. Right foot do-.

CRACK!

“Um,” he let out a nervous laugh. Drift looks like he’s starting to freak out.

“Rodimus?!”

“Don’t worry Drift. Just gonna mosey my way over there, just-” he looks at the broken rock beneath his feet. The ground was becoming more and more unstable. “Just don’t panic. You know I can survive this.”

“That is not what worries me.”

“Yeah. I know. Worry wart.”

CRACK!

“Rodimus!” Ok, Drift is definitely starting to panic now. With Rodimus not within reach to catch him if he jumped, he would definitely be taking a plunge into some magma. With little ways to get out if the surrounding area of the crater collapsed in on itself. Unless...

“Drift!” He’s totally gonna get the lecture of three lifetimes after this stunt. From Drift. From Magnus. From Megs. And the medical staff. “I’m gonna take a dip.”

“What?!”

“I’m gonna take a dip!” He stops walking towards Drift. “Don’t come after me!”

He turns around to face the crater. And takes a running start.

Running (or driving) across unstable terrain is always bad. It collapses in on itself, it’s full of potholes, and stones and grit get stuck in between tires and the underneath of his pedes. The heat of the magma underneath is not helping, of course. Especially when he’s running towards the source of it.

Rodimus shouldn’t have tempted fate. Which is something he does a lot. He should really get some help with that from Drift.

But for now, he has to focus.

Only a few feet now. He’s starting to see the heat emanating from the inside. The ground in front of him is slowly collapsing down into the molten pool below. Which is bad. Complete collapse means he won’t be able to climb back up. Not without some assistance from the others, who don’t have the shared ability of being fireproof.

Hopefully losing some added weight would help with that. Until the lava settled on that side. Or until the magma rose over the crater. Maybe he could surf out.

That outweighs the lecture he’s gonna get ten fold. Definitely.

The edge comes close and he jumps.

Ok so the magma was definitely much denser than he thought it would be. And cooler. And hardening much faster than the other molten rock he’s encountered.

Which isn't bad for him.

It will just be bad for the medics that will have to remove the rock from in between his joints. Which could be bad for him if they decide to drag the lectures on for the time it takes to remove it.

Damn.

He really shouldn't have tempted fate.

Oh well. Rodimus is going to enjoy this dip for as long as he can before the rest of the crew starts berating him for somersaulting into a volcano. Their loss.

“You jumped into a volcano,” Ratchet grits out, ”and you had the gall to walk out.”

Just as Rodimus predicted. They (more specifically Ratchet) are pissed.

“Somersaulted,” Rodimus says, “I somersaulted into the volcano.”

The medic looks ready to blow a gasket. Velocity behind him looks no better. As does First Aid. And maybe Ambulon.

“There's a difference.”

“I'll show you the ‘difference’ between a jump and a somersault.”

Yeah. That dip was definitely worth it.