Sparkplug Witwicky stood out in the cold sipping on a cup of hot cocoa. He'd had a pretty sweet gig working on the construction site. But that was before those two Decepticons showed up and trashed it. Now he was monitoring some automated construction equipment dig a tunnel through the mines for the new Sumdac Systems refinery. He sighed. The winter months had already arrived and coated the forest in a blanket of snow. Sparkplug thought of his son, grandson, and daughter-in-law. He couldn't wait for Christmas to arrive and finally take a few weeks off. He heard some shuffling in the snow. He looked around. Nothing. He went back to his cocoa. He heard another sound and stared at a hideous creature. He ran as fast as he could away. The monster wrapped a slimy tentacle around the construction-bots and sucked them in.

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Prowl sat in the snow, meditating. The icy cold stung his body, but it felt rather pleasant. The numbness somehow created a certain serenity inside him. a calmness. It allowed him to collect his thoughts. To focus. But just then, a snow plow broke his serenity and shoved a pile of snow right on top of him. Prowl burst out of the snow shivering and teeth chattering. He'd had enough of the cold for a bit.

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"It's as if these people are at war with nature!" Prowl paced back and forth, "Beauty literally falls from the sky and they rush to destroy it with their machines! They won't stop until all of nature's beauty is gone." Prowl looked at Bumblebee and Sari who were still playing a video-game. "Have you even heard a word I said?!"

"Oh sure, yeah," Bumblebee waved Prowl away.

"Then what did I just say?"

"Something, something, nature, something, destroy machines, something, blah blah." Sari giggled with Bumblebee.

"Is your commitment to all these electronic devices really necessary?"

"Hate to break it to ya but," Bumblebee tapped on Prowl's holograph projector causing an image of Prowl to appear, "you use electronic devices on an everyday basis." Prowl turned off the projector, and shut off the game.

"Hey! What you do that for?! I was on level two-thirty!"

"Autobots, listen up," Optimus called, "Teletraan-1 just picked up something Cybertronian coming from the forest."

"Decepticon?" Bumblebee asked.

"No it's nonsentient. Probably a piece of our ship. Prowl, you and Bumblebee track it down and bring it back to the base. Before it falls into the wrong hands."

Eeeeeeeeee! Camping trip!" Sari cheered, "I mean, as your resident Earth expert, I should go along to supervise and help explain the complexities of nature."

"Well I don't suppose there's any harm in it." Sari started doing an excited dance.

"Camping?!" Bumblebee exclaimed, "As in leaving the comfort of civilization?! As in no TV? No music?! No video games?! As in MY BRAIN'S GONNA ROT FROM BOREDOM?!"

"Don't worry Bumblebee," Sari patted his arm, "Camping's easy. I'll show you the ropes."

"Actually, you both could use a chance to get away from it all for a day or two," Optimus advised, "Think of it as a character builder." Prowl and Bumblebee looked at each other.

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"You sure you know how to use all this junk?" Bumblebee was still struggling to keep the Auto-Rover's storage closet from bursting open.

"What's to know? We roast marshmallows, tell ghost stories, sing campfire songs."

"There's more to nature than these odd Earth customs and mellow-marshes," Prowl reminded.

"By the way Prowl," Bumblebee said, "Mind if we switch places?"

"Ratchet specifically said to not let you drive."

"Ah he's not here."

"That doesn't mean I'm letting you drive." Bumblebee groaned.

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"We can make a camp here," Prowl pulled the Auto-Rover to a stop.

"Finally," Bumblebee released the closet door. Various electronics tumbled out into a pile. Prowl gave Bumblebee a look. "What? You said to pack the bare essentials."

"Since when are surround sound speakers, a strobe light, and a portable media player bare essentials?!"

"You shoulda seen what I left back at the plant."

"Ugh!"

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"Ow!" Bumblebee crawled out from the sheet that was the unfinished tent, "Screw this." He tossed away the hammer. Bumblebee grabbed the mini widescreen TV and wandered around the campground. He looked in the bushes and up the trees.

"So where do they hide the outlets?" he finally asked.

"For the hundredth time, there is no electricity. Fire is what provides warmth and light," Prowl reminded, "It's also nature's way of cleansing."

"Chainsaws and pavement are much more effective. Now help me find the Auto-Rover's outlets." Prowl slapped a hand to his forehead. Meanwhile, Sari banged two rocks together on a pile of twigs.

"Ow," she accidentally hit her thumb, "I could use some of that cleansing fire now. These marshmallows aren't gonna roast themselves." She then tried rubbing two sticks together, but Bumblebee stopped her.

"Uh, Sari, have you actually ever been camping?"

"Of course I've—seen it! In a movie. Maybe."

"Uh huh. Need a hand?" Bumblebee strapped on his stinger and charged it. Prowl stopped him. He picked up the sticks hastily rubbed them together creating a fire. He tossed the flame into the stick pile. He then moved to the still incompleted tent. Within seconds he set up the tent.

"See? I don't need to learn any of this stuff. I've got you guys to back me up," Sari grinned.

"You must learn to survive without mechanical aid. You never know when you won't have them. Or us," Prowl warned.

"Whatever. Say, you guys wanna hear a ghost story?"

"Hear a ghost story? I just found batteries for my media player!" Bumblebee exclaimed, "Which you wanna watch?"

"You don't even have a screen to project it onto," Prowl reminded.

"Way ahead of you nature-boy." Bumblebee ran behind Prowl and stuck a USB inside Prowl's holo-projector. The horror movie shot out of the projector. Before the movie could go any further than the titles, Prowl yanked the media player out then looked at Bumblebee. He threw it down on a rock and slammed his foot down on top of it.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Bumblebee's voice echoed throughout the woods.