"Sir, the target has been located. Sam Witwicky, seventeen, attends Middleton High School on the outskirts of Trenton, Nevada. The expedition records of his great-grandfather, Archibald Witwicky, and the files on the Antarctica incident have been declassified."
Well, what do you know? He really is a high schooler. Looks like the plot hasn't reached the Hoover Dam stage yet. But since Blackout has already made his move, the Decepticons must be looking for the AllSpark and those glasses too.
What Rimuru didn't know was that while he was looking for Bumblebee, the US military had already begun to go crazy. Its military network had been hacked once before, and now it had happened again. This one wasn't like the last one, either-it was even more powerful. Was the damn country's defense network made of paper? Could anyone just waltz in?
Sam jolted awake. He rushed out of his room, only to see his car being driven away. More precisely, it had driven off on its own.
"I need to report a theft! My car's been stolen, and I'm chasing him! All units and squadrons need to move!"
After waiting for several days, Rimuru also made his move. "Gillvalis, track Sam's real-time location, and scan the area for any unusual mechanical life signals, especially police cars."
"Sir, a special energy signal is approaching at high speed. Signal source identified: Autobot, Bumblebee. No police cars detected. Predicted point of convergence: the abandoned steel mill area, three kilometers south of Middleton High School."
Oh! Perfect timing beats arriving early! A simp chasing a girl, Decepticons chasing glasses, Autobots chasing the AllSpark, and me chasing a good time... No, wait, I'm chasing technical material. Rimuru's eyes lit up.
Sam had desperately chased his car all the way to the abandoned factory, only to lose it and end up being chased by dogs instead. If Bumblebee hadn't suddenly rushed out and driven them away, he would have been taken out early. Rimuru simply watched quietly from a distance without joining in.
(Sam threw his car keys away here, but they showed up again in a later shot. He definitely didn't pick them up. It couldn't have been Bumblebee in car form who picked them up, could it?)
Sam ran straight into the police as he came out and was taken back to the station as a criminal suspect. The police suspected Sam's bizarre statements meant he was on drugs, while Sam thought the crazy cop in front of him was on drugs.
I've been waiting a whole day. You finally showed up, Barricade.
Gillvalis said, "Sir, a special energy signal is approaching rapidly. Signal source identified as a police car: Decepticon, Barricade."
Now that everyone who's supposed to come is here, it's time for me to join the plot too.
After following him all the way to the overpass, Rimuru saw Sam spot the approaching police car and shout excitedly. But then it transformed straight into a robot, leaving him dumbfounded.
Sam turned and ran, only for Barricade to send him flying with a slap. He slammed hard into a car and somehow came away completely unharmed. He really was the protagonist.
Barricade roared, "Is your username LadiesMan217?"
The sudden question stunned Sam. If you like the username, you can have it. If you want Jizhi cough syrup, I'll give you that too.
"Is your username LadiesMan217?" Barricade demanded again.
"Yeah."
Yeah, my ass! Why aren't you running? Rimuru couldn't bear to watch any longer and fired a blast of Black Flame Lightning at Barricade-a weakened version, of course.
After pulling Sam out, Rimuru turned and ran with him. As they ran, Rimuru realized something was wrong. How did you all end up behind me? Damn it, this little body does have its drawbacks.
As Sam rushed out, he collided head-on with Mikaela Banes, who was arriving. Rimuru ran out after him and fell silent when he saw the two of them. These are damn high schoolers? I knew foreigners matured early, but I didn't expect it to be this early. Just think of me in high school, then look at them.
Damn, they're still holding each other on the ground. You're running for your lives-take it seriously. Luckily, Bumblebee arrived just in time. Enough talk, get in the car!
And so an exciting chase began. It went on from daylight all the way to evening, and those two kept screaming from daylight all the way to evening too. Weren't they afraid of shouting themselves hoarse?
"At least we lost that squad, right?" Sam murmured.
"No. What are you thinking? He's still circling around over there." Rimuru promptly poured cold water on him to bring him back to his senses.
Rimuru's bucket of cold water made the two of them tense up again just as they'd started to calm down, but it also left them puzzled. Where had this kid come from?
"My name is Rimuru Tempest. Never mind exactly who I am for now, because that thing's about to catch us!" He pointed at the car window.
Bumblebee, poised to go, floored the accelerator. His engine let out a roar completely at odds with his battered exterior, and he shot forward.
"My car drives itself! The cop's a robot! And now some kid shows up?!" Sam was freaking out in the front seat, looking at Mikaela Banes beside him, then back at me with my "this has nothing to do with me, I'm just passing by" expression.
"What the hell is wrong with this world?!"
Perhaps because those two were too noisy or because he was fed up with Barricade attacking him, Bumblebee spun around in a drift, his tires screeching against the ground. He threw the three of them out of the car, transformed on the spot, and grappled with Barricade. Frenzy sprang out and continued chasing the three of them.
Rimuru hid off to the side, watching the robot battle with great interest. This Barricade really is something. With strength like that, Bumblebee's beating him like a punk. Where the hell did he get the courage to keep chasing us? If that's how it is, what exactly have we been running from all afternoon?
The two giants traded punches and kicks in close combat, the piercing screech of metal on metal echoing through the night sky. Neither gave an inch as they exchanged blows. After several fierce clashes, Barricade's attacks remained vicious, but he gradually began to lose steam. Bumblebee fought with growing vigor, spotted an opening, and drove a heavy knee into him, then followed up with a flurry of powerful punches to his chest.
After taking a heavy beating, Barricade seemed to see the light. Then he abandoned Frenzy and ran off on his own. That's Barricade for you. When it comes to selling out your teammates, how else could you have survived until Transformers 5? Hm? Something strange seems to have flown past.
Sam really is the classic useless male lead. A little robot chased him around and even pulled his pants off. Damn it, what's the point of running? Fight him! He actually has to rely on the female lead to save him. Why didn't Rimuru help? I'm just a kid-what am I supposed to do?
Once the fight was over, the two stared blankly at Bumblebee as he returned and even found the time to discuss which country he was from. Then Sam talked the female lead into getting in the car. Maybe she'd wanted to get in anyway. Of course, Rimuru got in too.
In the car, the two discussed right in front of Bumblebee why a super robot like him would turn into such a crappy car. Angry, Bumblebee threw both of them out, along with Rimuru. "They really are high schoolers. They don't understand social niceties at all, belittling someone right to their face instead of doing it behind their back."
Sam was completely dumbfounded. Just like that, his four thousand dollars had driven away. Rimuru wasn't worried in the slightest; if anything, he was a little excited. Bumblebee's classic look was coming. "All right, Sam, stop shouting. Your four thousand dollars is coming back as forty thousand."
The classic Camaro made its entrance, getting all three of them excited.