Chapter 1

Yume was acting strange. When she wasn't seen humming music to herself she could be found in the oddest places doing the oddest things. Yume had been living with the Maximals for a few months now and they'd gotten used to her strange behavior. But now... this was different. The way she was acting seemed very out of character for her. Optimus Primal began to worry. He decided to ask Dinobot about it.

Yume and Dinobot had become good friends since the incidents that had brought her there in the first place. Yume spent more time with Dinobot than any other Maximal. The two had developed a strange friendship that Dinobot didn't take seriously, though he tolerated her.If anyone knew what she was up to, he would.

Optimus found him in his room doing something on his computer. When the former Predacon heard him come in, turned off the machine, and turned to the Maximal. "Yes?" he said, the look on his face seeming to say he didn't want to be bothered.

"Dinobot, there's something I want to ask you about." Optimus said getting right to the point.

The raptor gave him a curious look. "Yes?" he said. "What is it?"

"Yume's been acting strange lately. Do you know why?"

"No."

"No?"

"I do not know why she is acting strange," he said again, turning away from Optimus and switching his computer back on. "I myself have asked her but she will not tell me. She just smiles and says 'you'll see'." he snorted. "I guess we will just have to wait until she is ready to tell us."

Yume wasn't about to tell anyone what she was up to. She wanted it to be a surprise. She'd recently gotten a look at the calender on the one computer and, though she couldn't read Cybertronian for the life of her, she could read the date which was in English because it was just numbers. The date she'd seen made her realize something. An important day was coming and she was going to be ready for it. She wasn't sure the others would know what she was talking about and she wasn't about to tell them until she had everything ready. The only person she had told was Tigatron who had no idea what she was talking about but was interested and agreed to help her get anything she needed. There was just one problem and she'd voiced it to him. Some of the things she needed were in the Predacon base. She hadn't spent much time taking in the sights when she'd been at the base because her impulse was to get out but she had noticed certain things that couldn't be found at the Maximal base that were needed for what she was planning.

So she had voiced her problem to Tigatron. He was not too happy about it and refused to take her at first but, after much begging, he'd grudgingly agreed to take her there.

"You are one strange creature," he told her as they headed to the base. Him in beast mode and her riding on his back. "When you'd first arrived you couldn't wait to get out of there and now you want to go back."

"It's not like that," she told him, looking down at his face."I would have preferred not going but the things I need are in the Predacon base. If they had been in your base I never would be attempting this or asked you to help me do it."

"Just don't take too long," he said.

That was the last thing she was going to do. She hated the Predacon ship and everyone in it. She knew that Megatron would kill her if he ever saw her on it again. She would have to be extremely careful.

The two arrived at the Predacon base without much trouble. "Okay," Yume said, getting off Tigatron and swinging her empty backpack over her shoulder. "I don't know how long I'll be in there. If I'm not back in say a half hour come and get me."

"All right," Tigatron said, glancing around nervously. "Just be careful. If Megatron finds you you know what he'll do."

"I'll be careful," she promised him, before turning and reaching up and touching the bottom of the ship's hull."You don't have to tell me what he'll do if he sees me. I already know." She slowly pulled a piece of metal loose and set it on the ground. Tigatron watched her with interest.

"How did you know that was there?" he asked.

She smiled mysteriously. "I think it's best if you didn't know," she said pulling herself upward. "Can you give me a boost?"

Tigatron went into robot mode and grabbed the girl by her waist, hoisting her into the hole. Once she was safely inside she turned back to him. "Thanks," she said in a low voice. "I'll be back soon. Until then, I think you should go back into beast mode so nobody sees you."

He nodded in agreement and did so. "Good luck," he said watching her turn around and get ready to get moving.

"I'll need it," she said back before he could see her no longer.

Megatron was totally oblivious to Yume's plans as was everyone else in both fractions. He wouldn't even find out she was in the base until he ran into her sometime later. At the moment he was in his room, leaning back in his chair with his chin propped up on his left hand as he snored loudly. Waspinator and Terrorsaur could hear the noise through the wall as they walked down the hall and past his room.

Terrorsaur scrunched up his face and stuck a finger in his audio receptors. "It's bad enough we have to put up with him when he's awake, now when he's sleeping too?!" he complained. "A person can only stand so much."

Waspinator laughed. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Doesn't Terror-bot like hearing Megatron snore?"

"No," Terrorsaur replied annoyed. "And you can't either."

"What makes Terror-bot say that?"

Terrorsaur pointed at him. "You got something sticking out of the sides of your head," he answered. Waspinator guiltily took the stuff out of his hearing receptors.

Terrorsaur laughed at the face he made when he heard Megatron's snore only ten times louder.

Yume, who was crawling through the vents above their heads, heard the conversation. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. Megatron is snoring pretty loudly, though, she thought, as another snore made the vent vibrate. Maybe he won't hear me when I got into his room later.One of the items she needed was in the Predacon leader's quarters. But how am I going to get inside with those two standing in front of it? she wondered. Maybe I should go away and come back later. Maybe by then they'll be gone.

Terrorsaur and Waspinator weren't planning on moving anytime soon. They were arguing about Megatron and how loud he was.

"He's loud when he's awake," Terrorsaur was saying. "and he's loud when he sleeps. No matter what he does he's loud."

"Terror-bot should not say such things about Megatron," Waspinator said. "Megatron might hear you."

Terrorsaur folded his arms. "So what if he does?" he asked. "Is he going to punish me for calling him loud."

"Waspinator thinks so," the wasp said nodding.

Terrorsaur frowned. "Well whatever," he said. "He's still loud."

"Well Waspinator won't argue with that."

Yume giggled as the vent vibrated again. She decided to get the item later. Maybe by the the Predacon fliers and Megatron would be gone. With that thought in mind she crawled away.

Optimus soon realized the human girl wasn't in the base. Worry began to grow inside him and he started asking around. Nobody else had seen her, not in the base or leave, not even Rhinox who spent most of his time in the control room.

"Then where is she?" the Maximal leader asked. "Did she go somewhere? Is she hiding?"

"I dunno, boss monkey," Rattrap said, leaning back in his chair by one of the computers. "But she's been acting so strange lately. Do you think she thinks we're her enemies or something or she's homesick?"

Optimus didn't think so. The girl had once thought that, when she'd first arrived but that was a long time ago and she was now comfortable with everyone in the base, even Dinobot whom she'd developed a pretty close friendship with, though he still thought of her as nothing more than a nuisense. Or at least he acted like that in front of everyone. Optimus wasn't sure if it was an act or that's how he really felt. He wasn't about to ask. She might be homesick but she chose to stay with them and, if she changed her mind, she could just use the thing that brought her there to send her back.

Optimus just hoped that she hadn't gone outside. It had started to snow and he didn't want her getting caught in a blizzard. "I hope she's just hiding somewhere," he said to himself.

Rhinox heard him and turned around in his chair. "I don't think she is in here," he said. "I scanned the ship for any organic life forms and it said there was none."

"That doesn't mean anything," Rattrap said putting his hands behind his head like a pillow. "She coulda fallen into a stasis pod and became a transformer like us."

"Stasis pods don't work that way," Optimus informed the smaller robot. "She's an organic being already. If she fell into one she wouldn't be changed even if it scanned another organic being. She's not a robot.Where did you get such an idea?"

"I dunno." Rattrap said shrugging. "It just seemed logical."

"Illogical," Rhinox said flatly.

"Hey!"

"Enough," Optimus said, waving it off. "We need to find her. I'll send Cheetor and Airazor out to find her." he started out of the control room to look for the two Maximals. "Hopefully they'll be able to find her before she freezes to death."

Yume was far from freezing to death. Inside the Predacon bse the weather was warm and toasty. Maybe a little too warm for her liking but warm none the less. She didn't think about it too much, though. She was too busy going from room to room, looking for the items she needed. As she did she discovered some interesting facts about the Predacons. Like Terrorsaur's claustrophobia and fear of the dark, Scorponok's case of paranoia, and Blackarachnia's vanity.

She giggled in amusement as she grabbed random things from the rooms and climbed back into the vent. So far she hadn't run into anybody and for that she was grateful but she started to wonder where everyone was. Probably quarilling about something. she thought, climbing into the vent after she'd taken an item from Inferno's room.

Well she was half right. Terrorsaur had gone into his room to get something and found it gone. He immediately assumed somebody had stolen it. He stalked out of the room and railed on the first person he saw, which happened to be Waspinator who'd followed him. "All right, Waspinator!" he shouted, putting his one hand on his hip and putting out his other one. "Let's have it."

The wasp looked at him in confusion. "Have what?" he asked.

"Don't play dumb with me," Terrorsaur growled, grabbing him by the throat. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, Waspinator doesn't," Waspinator protested, trying to pry Terrorsaur's fingers off his neck. "Waspinator has no idea what Terror-bot is talking about."

"My lights," Terrorsaur growled.

"What lights?"

"The extra lights I had in my room. Where are they?"

"Waspinator doesn't know. Waspinator doesn't need lights." he smirked. "Waspinator isn't afraid of the dark, unlike Terror-bot."

"Shut up!" Terrorsaur shouted. "I can't help that I'm afraid of the dark!"

"And claustrophobic," Waspinator added.

"At least I'm not paranoid," Terrorsaur shot back. He also smirked. "At least I don't think the universe hates me!" then he added with mockery. "At least I don't sleep with a teddy bear."

"Terror-bot leave Bear-bot out of this!" Waspinator shouted, starting to lose his temper. "Bear-bot is not part of this conversation."

Terrorsaur laughed mockingly. "Bear-Bot?" he asked. "Is that his name?" he rolled his optics. "How original!"

"Shut up!"

From a room close by Yume had to force herself to not bust out laughing. Even with metal walls separating herself from them she could still hear their conversation as if echoed off the metal walls and down the hall. Bears? Hehehe. Don't worry Terrorsaur, I'll have your lights back to you when I'm done with them.

She reached onto a shelf for an item she needed just as the door to the room whooshed open. Her head snapped toward the door. Her mouth fell open at who she saw. Tarantulas stood in the doorway, gaping at her. For a moment neither reacted.

"You!" the spider shouted, the first to snap out of it. "What are you doing in here!?"

Instead of answering Yume, who still had a great fear of Tarantulas, because he'd tried to experiment on her, screamed and swung her half filled pack clocking him smartly on the head with it. When he fell onto the floor she ran past him and into the hall. "INTRUDER!" the mad scientist shouted, recovering quickly and pulling out his gun and running into the hall.

Waspinator and Terrorsaur heard the scream and came running. They arrived as Tarantulas room just as he was coming out of it. The three bot's collided and fell to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.

"Idiots!" Tarantulas shouted, trying to untangle himself from the other bots. "What are you doing here?"

"We heard you screaming and came to see what was wrong," Terrorsaur said defensively as the three bots untangled themselves and stood up. "Now what's wrong?"

"That Maximal's pet was in my room!" he explained.

"Pet?" Terrorsaur said, frowning and cocking his head. "Since when did the Maximals have a pet?"

"The human girl!" the spider shouted angrily, gesturing with his claws. "She was in my room stealing from me!"

The two fliers looked at each other. "The human girl?" Terrorsaur said. "But how could she get in? We would have seen her."

"I don't know," Tarantulas said. "But she was in here and she was stealing from me." he glared at the two. "We must find her before she gets away."

"Where'd she go?"

Tarantulas angrily pointed down the hall. "THAT WAY!" he shouted. He started running. "Come on!"

The other two Predacons looked at each other, shrugged, and ran after him, not sure if they believed him or not.

Not too far down the hall Yume was leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath. For the time being she'd gotten away from Tarantulas but knew if she stayed around too long she'd run into him again. But I can't leave yet, she thought. I haven't gotten a chance to get into Megatron's room yet and I need that-

Just then a voice shouted. "There she is!"

She looked over her shoulder and saw three Predacons running at her.

Oh boy.. she sprinted away before they got too close.

From Megatron's room he heard the sound of the confusion outside. Annoyed, he got out of his hot tub and stepped into the hall. "What's going on?" he demanded.

A second later a pale figure with long black hair came flying down the hall toward him. Before he knew what was happening his rubber ducky was ripped unceramoniously out of his hand. "What?" he gasped, staring at his now empty palm.

Yume dashed down the hall and disappeared into another room. Megatron watched her go and then started after her. He took one step then was plowed into by three other bodies. All four crashed to the floor.

He stared into the guilty faces of Waspinator, Terrorsaur, and Tarantuals."GET OFF ME, YOU IDIOTS!" Megatron shouted.

The other three robots scrambled off of him and stood up, looking nervous. Megatron stood up and glared at them. "What were you doing?!" he demanded.

"Chasing the human girl," Terrorsaur replied, He spotted the girl peeking out of the room she'd dashed into. When she saw him looking she took off. "There!" he exclaimed, pointing. "There she goes!"

Megatron turned his head and spotted her go around the corner and disappear. "I see that, yes," he answered. He looked back at the other Predacons. "What is she doing here?"

"We don't know," Tarantuals replied.

"She's stealing from us!" Terrorsaur answered, his perfect features grimacing in annoyance. "She stole the lights that I had in my room!"

Megatron glared at him then turned and pointed. "Get her!" he shouted. "And bring back my duck!"

The three other Predacons each gave him a funny look before chasing after the thieving girl. Megatron watched them go, his arms folded as he brooded. Stupid flesh creature! How dare she steal my duck! What's she even doing here? I bet Primal sent her. He sent her here to steal from me! he growled. "He's not going to blackmail me about that duck! No sir!" For a moment he didn't move and then he started getting the feeling that the others would mess things up as usual. "I'd better go too," he muttered, stalking after them. "Just in case they mess up, yesss."

Yume was well ahead of the Predacons chasing her. Unlike them she knew where she was going. She'd gotten everything she needed now all she needed to do was get back to Tigatron and get out of there before the Predacons caught her. "Almost there," she said out loud as she ran, slinging her pack over her shoulder. "Just a few more feet." She heard the pounding off footsteps behind her. Glancing over her shoulder she saw that Megatron had also joined the chase. "Oh man... I gotta get out of here before he starts shooting."

Not too far ahead was her way out. A new burst of energy made her run faster. She reached the entrance and jumped off the platform, landing securily on Tigatron's back, waking him from a nap. He gasped in surprise at the sudden weight and looked over his shoulder. Seeing her back he began to ask how her luck had been. She cut him off with. "Go! Gogogogogo!"
The urgency in her eyes got him moving. Sprinting forward he ran quickly away from the base. Just as the four Predacons reached the entrance Tigatron and his passenger disappeared down the side of the mountain. "No!" Megatron shouted, shooting after them. "No!" he looked at Waspinator and Terrorsaur. "Go after them! Find out what they're doing and BRING BACK MY DUCK!"

The two fliers nodded and flew off, chuckling madly to themselves.

The Predacon leader glared after them. 'I don't see what's so funny, no," he muttered. Once they were gone Megatron turned around, knocking Tarantuals out of his way and stomped into the base. "I don't know what Primal's up to but I'm going to find out." he set off to the control room, thinking of all the things he was going to say to the Maximal once he got in contact with him. "Primal will not blackmail me, no!"

Optimus was more than a little surprised when Megatron contacted him a short time later and started ranting about girls, ducks, and blackmail. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about," the Maximal said. "I didn't even know she went out."

"Don't lie to me, Primal!" Megatron snapped, in no mood for stupid excuses. "I know you sent her here! You might think it's funny but I don't! I want my duck back!"

"What are you talking about?" Primal asked, gaping at him. "What duck?" He got his own theory. "Wait a minute. You didn't reprogram a stasis pod did you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Megatron shouted. "What would give you such a stupid idea?"

"Well you said you wanted your duck back and I thought you might have-"

"No! There are no Predacon ducks here!" The Predacon roared. "I mean my duck! I want it back!"

"What does this duck look like?"

"It's yellow with black and white stripes on it."
"Eh?"

Just then Dinobot came into the room. He heard the description and commented. "Yellow, white, and black? That's Megatron's rubber ducky is it not?"

Optimus stared at him. "Rubber ducky?" he asked, gaping at one Predacon then the other. "RUBBER DUCKY?!" Try as he might, he couldn't hold in his laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAAA!" he burst out, pounding the control panel with his fist.

Megatron glared at Primal as the Maximal nearly fell off his chair in hysterics. "It's not funny, no," he said. He noticed Dinobot smirking. "Get out of here, Dinobot. I wasn't even talking to you."

"But this is very... entertaining," the raptor said. "Why are you asking about your duck anyway?"

"That human pet of yours stole it!" Megatron answered. He pointed at the raptor. "I know you put her up to it."

"I do not know what you are talking about."

Primal got ahold of himself and looked back at Megatron. "If you're so upset about it I'll ask her about it when she gets back," he promised.

'You'd better!" Megatron shouted and the screen went blank.

As Yume and Tigatron neared the Maximal base, the human girl began to notice a drop in the temperature and it was starting to snow. She looked into the sky, watching the silent flakes fall to the earth. She smiled. Soon. Pretty soon. I'm glad the weather is on my side.

Tigatron noticed her silence. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "Everything is fine. I'm just thinking about something."

"I hope it's about those things you stole from the Predacons," Tigatron said, his voice telling her he didn't approve of what she'd done. "You know Megatron isn't very happy about it. I have a feeling he might have told Optimus what you were up to."

"If he did I'll have to explain myself," she said, thoughtfully.

"Wouldn't it be best?" he asked. "Shouldn't you let them know what's going on?"

"I can't," she said, shaking her head. "Not now. I still have some things I want to get done first. When I get everything together then I'll tell them."

"How are you going to avoid telling them if he confronts you?"

"I'll just have to keep him from doing so," she answered.

He looked over his shoulder at her, curious. "How?"

She smiled mysteriously. "You'll see..."

A/N

And what is the point of all of this? Well you'll just have to wait to find out. XD I'm going to try to make this one short. I need to get it all finished before a certain date. Hopefully I won't get writers block. This fic is not the sequel to the fic "Bodyguard" I'm just writing it with the character from that story for the fun of it. It's more like a special feature. XD