Well if you want proof that I never abandon a story here it is, 9 years and 20 days since the last time I worked on this story. Back then I was living in town and writing about nature just made me depressed because I'm very much a forest person and back then I was living in a small town in the middle of nothing but fields. Now I'm living and working at a campground down in the hills and forests of the Mohican state park, so I can finally start working on this story again.


That night around midnight Prowl was woken by the sound of someone walking through the forest. Deciding he didn't want to take any chances like the last time, he did a full scan of the area and detected what appeared to be a human man walking through the forest about fifteen feet from their campsite. He was a little alarmed to realize the man was carrying a gun and several large knifes with him.

Using his comlink Prowl woke Bumblebee up and told him what was going on, just in case the man came any closer to their campsite.

Luckily the man simply continued and headed away from them.

Prowl had just started to go into stasis again when he heard another sound, this time quieter, but closer to their campsite. Running another scan, he found a human woman headed in the same direction the man had been heading. She was also carrying a large knife and hatchet but nothing out of the ordinary for someone hiking in a state park except some type of dart gun in her backpack. Deciding she could be lost and worrying about what might happen if she ran into the man with the gun, he woke Bumblebee again so he wouldn't startle him then transformed into vehicle mode. Knowing some humans weren't comfortable with the Autobots yet he turned on his holoform then turned his lights on to illuminate the area where the woman was.

"Are you lost?" he called to her as she squinted into the light and walked towards him. He was shocked to realize she was soaking wet.

"No, but this bike will certainly help," she said as she walked up to him and pulled out a badge, "Rose Benson, forest ranger. I was following a suspected poacher when something spooked my horse as we were crossing a river and it ran off. I'm confiscating this vehicle, there are huge signs at every entrance to this park saying there are no motorized vehicles allowed off of the main roads or they will be confiscated until a fine is paid. I've fallen too far behind and I need to catch up with that guy. Now I would suggest you and whoever else is here with you get that car out of here now," she said pointing at Bumblebee, "If you want your bike back you can contact the main office to find out how."

"You can't-" Prowl started but was cut off.

"You broke the park rules, now you have to face the consequences, feel free to complain to my superiors if you want, but I have a poacher to catch," she said sternly as she pulled some type of tracking device out of her backpack then climbed onto the bike and pulled on a pair of night vision goggles. She had to try to start the motorcycle twice before Prowl reluctantly let her take control. Once she was out of site of the campsite his holoform disappeared.

"Prowl what are you doing letting her kidnap you like that?" Bumblebee asked over their comlink.

"She hardly seems willing to listen to any excuses that would hinder her catching this criminal. I'm sure it won't take too long, just take care of Sari and don't get into any trouble. There are some granola bars and dried fruit in the green backpack and the hot dogs are in the insulated bag if she needs them. If she runs out of water you can get her more from the river, but try to get it from a fast moving part and not where the water stays relatively slow in the inlets, bacteria grows much faster in slower moving water and make sure you boil it before she drinks it," Prowl told him.

"I thought you said you didn't bring the hot dogs," Bumblebee said.

"I said I took them out of the cooler Sari packed, but I thought it would be a good idea to have a backup plan in case we had any trouble finding food for her," Prowl told him.

"Alright, you don't think this'll take too long do you?" Bumblebee asked.

"The man was only about half an hour ahead of her, it shouldn't take us that long to catch up with him, especially since she apparently has something she's tracking him with. I'm sure I'll be back no later than tomorrow afternoon, you'll be fine," Prowl told him.

After about ten minutes Rose parked the bike and silently started to make her way through the forest, following the signal from the tracking device she had planted in the man's backpack earlier that day when he had come into the park. She was just around the curve of a hill from where the man was, when she heard a gunshot. Still trying to be quiet, she quickly made her way around to where she could see the man. He was standing with his back to her and had his gun aimed at a cougar that was limping and backing away from him.

Knowing if she didn't do something quick the man would kill the cougar she yelled, "Freeze, you're under arrest for poaching an endangered species on protected lands."

The man spun around and fired his gun at her and she dropped to the ground.

"Stupid rangers think they can stop me, too much money available to let you get in the way," he said as he walked over to her and nudged her side with the end of his gun.

In one fluid movement Rose grabbed the barrel of the gun, pulling it down towards the ground next to her while kicking the man's legs out from under him, causing him to fall onto his back a few feet away from her. As she got up she tried to pull the gun out of the man's hands, but as she did he yanked back on it and fired, the bullet grazing her arm just above her right elbow.

Gritting her teeth she refused to let go and forced the barrel of the gun so it wasn't aiming at her and kicked the man's arm making him lose his grip on the gun.

Taking a few steps back and aiming the gun at the man she said, "I said you are under arrest." Suddenly something hit the back of her head and everything went black.

Prowl watched, hidden in the trees ready to strike if either of the men tried to hurt her any worse. She had seemed to have been doing fine on her own until the second man had appeared out of the trees directly behind her. Even Prowl hadn't noticed the second man until it was too late to stop him.

"I told you, you were being followed, what do we do now? I'm not going to jail for killing a ranger," the second man said.

"Don't worry about it, I'll deal with her, after we catch those cougars, the mother was pregnant last time I tracked her. The cubs should be in that cave and the mother should be around here somewhere, she wouldn't have gone too far with cubs in that cave. How close were you able to get the truck?" The first man asked as he started up the hill again towards a cave in the side of it.

It's about half a mile from here, I couldn't get it any closer," the second man said as he followed the other man.

"That'll do, the cubs shouldn't be too big and we can skin the mother before we leave," the first man said as they headed into the cave.

Prowl silently crept closer to where Rose was and noticed her starting to move just as the men stepped out of the cave carrying a large cage containing five small cougar cubs.

"We got lucky this time, five cubs, I've never seen a litter this big, at least not that they've survived to this age," the first man said as they carried the cage with the crying cougar cubs in it out of the cave.

Rose got to her feet and pulled a small video camera out of her pocket and filmed the men for a few seconds before putting it back. She then pulled a hatchet from her belt and started to quietly make her way over behind the men who had their backs to her, a look of pure rage and determination on her face. When she was about ten feet behind the men, a branch cracked under her foot. Prowl quickly threw one of his sherkins at the first man, slicing through the back of his leg and causing him to cry out in pain, successfully distracting both men before they noticed Rose.

Rose glanced up to where Prowl was hiding, but was quickly distracted as the injured mother cougar suddenly jumped out of the bushes near where the man had dropped the cage to inspect his injured leg, the mother landed on his back.

Rose grimaced slightly as the cougar bit into the man's neck, a few bones crunching as she did. Rose glanced over at the other man who had raised his gun to shoot the cougar; dashing the last several feet that separated them she swung the flat edge of her hatchet into the back of the man's head, knocking him unconscious, "We'll see how you like someone hitting you in the head," she said as she pulled out a pair of handcuffs and put them on the man.

Noticing that the cougar had left the other man's body and was heading towards Rose, Prowl picked up a good sized rock, hoping it would be big enough to stop the cougar if it got much closer to her, but small enough not to cause it any severe injuries.

When Rose looked up to find the cougar stalking towards her, she slowly started backing away to where her backpack was laying and pulled out a tranquilizer gun. She quickly loaded it and fired it at the cougar, hitting it just as it was getting ready to lunge at her. Relived Prowl set the rock down then quickly made his way back to where Rose had left him, when he noticed her heading in his direction.

Rose pulled him down to where the cougar was and turned on the lights so she could see.

After carefully making sure the tranquilizer had fully taken affect she started checking the cougar for injuries and found a single gunshot wound through its right front leg. "That jerk got us both in about the same place; I guess we're lucky he didn't have very good aim," she said as she looked at the wound. After deciding the wound wasn't severe enough to have to transport the cougar back to civilization in the dark she pulled out a bottle of water and cleaned the wound then pulled out a roll of bandages and carefully bandaged it.

Once she had finished with the mother she carefully dragged the cage with the cubs in it down next to her, luckily the cage was just big enough for her to fit the mother in it with the cubs. Gritting her teeth as pain shot through her arm she moved the mother into the cage, relocked it then pulled a tarp out of her backpack and draped it over the cage.

Rose then walked over to the man she had handcuffed and lightly kicked him in the ribs. After getting no response, she added a pair of handcuffs to his ankles then walked back over to Prowl and moved him so that if the man woke up he wouldn't be able to see her too well. She then pulled a tank top and a pair of shorts out of her bag then turning her back to the man and Prowl took off her wet shirt and jeans.

Prowl was surprised to notice a large scar that ran from Rose's right shoulder to the back of her left shoulder. Even as easily as humans were hurt he couldn't imagine what could have caused an injury that would leave a scar like that.

After changing and hanging her wet clothes on some bushes Rose built and started a camp fire then pulled a bottle of water and some more bandages out of her bag then cleaned and bandaged the wound on her arm. Once her arm was taken care of she pulled a radio out of her bag.

"Is anyone still in the station?" she asked.

"Rose is that you?" a man asked.

"Yes Bob, I-"

"Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you for hours," Bob said cutting her off.

"I had the radio off, I couldn't take any chances of you calling and giving away my location," Rose replied.

"You should have come back when it started getting dark out. Did you get the evidence you needed?" he asked.

"I only got a few seconds of video, but with my testimony that should be enough to get the guy I caught dealt with." Rose told him.

"Good. What were they after?" Bob asked.

"Cougar cubs, probably to sell them as pets to some rich asshole who thinks they have the money to keep out of trouble if they got caught with them. I'll need you to meet me with the truck on the west road tomorrow morning. He shot the mother, it's just a flesh wound, but it'll still need to be treated so it doesn't become infected. And bring some help; I won't be much help carrying them out of here," Rose told him.

"Why? Are you hurt?" Bob asked concern evident in his voice.

"It's nothing serious, it just hurts like crazy," Rose told him, "Oh and one more thing. Bring someone with a strong stomach and a body bag with you in the morning."

"What! You killed the guy? I know how much you hate poachers, but couldn't you have defended yourself without killing him?" Bob asked.

"It wasn't me, that's why you need to bring someone with a strong stomach, the mother got him. It really was a fitting end for him, I think we should just feed all the poachers to the animals they hunt. It would save the room and money that's spent to keep them in jail and it would ensure that they never hurt anyone. Anyone who would hunt-"

"An endangered protected animal is just as likely to kill another human," Bob finished for her.

"Exactly," Rose said absently running her left hand over the scar on her shoulder, "and one of the men tonight was further proof of that."

"There were two of them?" Bob asked.

"Yes, the other one is unconscious and hand cuffed," Rose told him.

"Unconscious? What did you do beat him over the head with a rock?" Bob asked.

"No, I used the back of my hatchet. Trust me he had it coming, I have a huge knot and a headache from him hitting me in the back of the head. Anyways he was about to shoot the cougar, that was the least fatal way I could stop him," Rose told him.

"How badly are you hurt? You don't have a concussion do you?" Bob asked.

"I hope not because there's no way I'm going to try staying awake. If I don't contact you by eight AM send out the choppers. I'm in a clearing with an orange tarp over the cage the cougars are in, so it should be easy to find me," Rose told him.

"Are you sure I shouldn't come get you?"

"There's no way we could get the cougars out of here in the dark and I'm not leaving them. I'm sure I'll be fine until morning," Rose assured him.

"It's supposed to be awfully cold out tonight, are you sure there's no way I could change your mind?" Bob asked.

"Unless you come out here and use the tranquilizers on me and carry me out, no," Rose replied.

"You are just as stubborn as your grandmother was," Bob told her.

"Why thank you, I can't think of a nicer compliment," Rose replied smiling, "I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Alright, if anything happens that you need help I'll keep the radio on all night."

"Okay," Rose replied, said goodbye then pulled off her wet socks and set them by the fire.

"I should have brought the bigger backpack that would have held a warmer change of clothes and a sleeping bag," she groused as a cool wind kicked up, then she curled up next to the fire to try to keep warm and fell asleep.

Prowl watched her lay there shivering until he was sure she was asleep then quietly transformed and laid down behind her so his body would block as much of the wind as possible. After hesitating a few minutes he gently touched her shoulder and was surprised by how cold it was. Very gently he rested his hand over as much of her shoulder and arm as he could to try to keep her a little warmer.

Rose woke up to the strangest feeling; it felt like someone had wrapped a warm piece of metal over her side. Forcing her eyes open she turned her head far enough to see what looked like large metal fingers wrapped over her shoulder. As she looked farther she let out a terrified scream when she saw the robot the hand was attached to, and jumped to her feet backing away as quickly as possible, until she stumbled over a stick and fell landing on her butt and hands, the impact sending a shock of pain up her injured arm and causing it to start bleeding again.

"It's alright; I'm not going to hurt you," Prowl said as he slowly got up and took a few steps back, while mentally cursing himself for going into stasis and not noticing that she was waking up.

"Sure that's probably what those robots said right before they tore up Detroit. How do I know you're not one of those Deceptibots or whatever they are?" Rose asked as she got back to her feet.

"Decepticons and if I wanted to hurt you, don't you think I would have done it by now?" Prowl asked.

Before she could reply the yellow car she had seen the night before raced into the clearing and transformed into another robot who somehow managed to transform with a girl apparently inside of him as she was in his hands when he finished.

"What happened? We heard someone scream, is everything alright?" he asked.

Rose relaxed a little as she recognized the yellow robot as one of the good ones she had seen repeatedly on the news, "Alright, you I've seen on the news, is he really one of the good guys?" Rose asked still feeling a little nervous.

"Yeah, he's an Autobot too. Are you okay? What did he do to make you scream like that?"

"I just wasn't expecting to wake up and see a ten foot tall robot," Rose replied.

"Nine feet seven and one quarter inches tall, he's not that much taller than me. By the way I'm Bumblebee and this is Sari," Bumblebee said as he set Sari down, "And that's Prowl, once you get to know him he's not so scary, just really boring."

"I'm Rose. So what are you guys doing out here?" she asked.

"Well Prowl was supposed to be teaching me all about surviving in the wild, until you kidnapped him last night," Sari told her.

"You have an alien robot teaching you how to survive in the wild on earth?" Rose asked looking skeptically at Prowl, "And what do you mean I kidnap…" Rose trailed off as she suddenly realized the similarities between Prowl and the motorcycle she had confiscated the night before. "The motorcycle?" she asked.

Prowl simply nodded as Sari said "Yep. And he loves nature and knows all about it, he probably knows more about it than most humans do, so he's perfect for teaching me. We went fishing, and found berries and cattail roots for me to eat yesterday and he taught me how to start a fire. And he said today he's going to teach me how to track animals and tell what different tracks are from and show me more edible wild foods and how to build a lean-to and all kinds of stuff."

"Well our plans for today may change a bit Sari," Prowl said.

"Why?" Sari asked.

"Because I believe Rose could use some help getting the cougars she saved out to the road to be picked up," Prowl told her.

"You don't have to take time out from you plans to help me; Bob will be bringing a few men to help carry them out of here," Rose told him.

"It wouldn't be a problem and I'm sure the trek through the woods would be smoother and less stressful on the cougars if it only took one person to carry them," Prowl replied.

"Well if you're sure you don't mind," Rose replied.

"Hold on a minute, you have cougars?" Sari asked looking up at Rose.

"Yes, five cubs and their mother who was shot by the poacher I was following," Rose told her.

"Can we see them?" Sari asked grinning.

"That would be fine, I need to retranquilize the mother before we move them anyways, you'll have to wait a few minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect, the mother is already stressed enough without having people staring at her," Rose said as she pulled the tranquilizer gun out of her bag then walked over to the far side of the cage and lifted the tarp just enough for her to see the mother.

Prowl took a step forward when the cougar snarled then sounded as if it had jumped at the bars and Rose took a step back.

"It's alright, she can't get out," Rose said as she tranquilized the cougar then replaced the tarp.

"She sounds vicious," Sari said.

"She's just trying to protect her cubs, cougars and bears are particularly protective of their young," Prowl told her.

"I guess he does now something about animals, although I still find it hard to believe an alien robot could teach a human to survive for long out here," Rose said.

"Cybertonians learn much faster than humans do," Prowl said crossing his arms as he looked down at Rose, "I could probably teach even you a thing or two about nature."

"My grandmother was a full blood Shawnee and started teaching me about nature and how to survive in the wilderness as soon as I could walk. I highly doubt some alien could possibly know more than me," Rose said confidently, "If I didn't have to take care of these cougars I would gladly prove that to you."

"Perhaps another time then, it would certainly be an entertaining challenge; you seem like a worthy opponent," Prowl told her.

"That would be fun, we can all just go out in the woods, pick a bunch of different areas and have you each write down all the edible plants you see and then compare the lists and see who really knows more," Sari chimed in excitedly.

"You're kidding me right? You don't honestly expect me to spend a day learning all that boring nature stuff?" Bumblebee asked.

"Of course not, I was thinking a few days and it won't be that boring, we can campout at night together, trust me it'll be fun," Sari said then climbed up to Bumblebee's shoulder and whispered something to him, making him double over laughing, luckily catching Sari before she fell to the ground.

"Alright, I'll do it," Bumblebee told her still snickering.

"Do I want to know what exactly he's laughing about?" Rose asked.

"Probably not," Prowl replied.

"It's nothing, just the thought of you challenging Rose to a competition to find out who knows more about nature and the possible consequences, struck me as funny," Bumblebee said.

"Did I just hear that right, a competition between Rose and a robot to see who knows more about nature?" A man who looked like he was in his sixties asked as he walked into the clearing.

"Yes. Everyone this is Bob, Bob this is Sari, Bumblebee and Prowl, the one who claims he knows more about nature than I do," Rose said as she indicated each one.

"Aren't these those alien robots from Detroit?" Bob asked.

"Yes," Rose replied.

"Oh-kay and the alien thinks it knows more about earth nature than you do?" Bob asked with a hint of disbelief.

"Yep, that's what he claims," Rose replied.

"Why is it you humans have such a hard time believing that I could know as much as you do about nature?" Prowl asked.

"It's just hard to imagine someone who hasn't been on the planet that long knowing more about it than someone who has practically grown up in the forest," Bob replied, "Now would someone please explain to me how we ended up with Autobots here in the first place?"

"Rose sort of kidnapped Prowl and forced him to help her catch the poachers," Bumblebee said.

"You kidnapped an Autobot?" Bob asked Rose in disbelief.

"It's not my fault; I didn't know he was an Autobot. All I knew was someone had a motorcycle in the park and I needed to catch up to the poacher," Rose replied.

"Well guess it's a good thing he was here then. Now where are these cougars you told me about?" Bob asked.

"Right over here," Rose said as she walked over to the cage and pulled the tarp back to reveal the now unconscious mother and the five cubs that were huddled against her.

"Aww, they're so cute," Sari said as she walked up next to Rose to get a closer look, "Can I pet one?" she asked looking hopefully at Rose.

"Maybe later when the mother isn't with them. Actually if you guys want to follow us back to my place, they'll need to be bottle fed while the mother is being patched up and with five of them I could use some help with that," Rose told her.

"You mean I could feed one of them?" Sari asked grinning.

"Yes," Rose replied.

"Can we go with her? Pretty, pretty please? You could feed one too and I know how much you love animals. So can we go?" Sari asked excitedly bouncing up and down as she grabbed Prowl's hand and looked up at him with huge eyes.

"I suppose we could, if you have the camp site completely cleaned up and all your stuff ready to go by the time we get things ready to go here," Prowl told her.

"I will," Sari said excitedly hugging Prowl before racing over to Bumblebee, grabbing his hand and dragging him off to the camp site.

"Well the police should be here shortly to deal with the poachers, how is your arm? Do you think you're up to trying to get the cougars to the truck?" Bob asked Rose.

"Where is your truck?" Prowl asked.

"About half a mile that way," Bob told him, pointing in the direction he had left his truck.

Scanning the area Prowl spotted the truck then carefully picked up the cage and headed to the truck.

"You kidnapped help catching the poachers and transporting the cougars, not bad. Still part of me can't believe you would kidnap an alien robot and force him to help you catch poachers; then again part of me has no problem picturing you doing that," Bob said smiling at Rose.

"I told you I didn't have any idea he wasn't a real motorcycle," Rose said lightly smacking Bob's arm as they followed Prowl to the truck.

Bob chuckled, "Yeah, but even if you had known, as determined as you are when it comes to catching poachers you would have forced even one of those Decepticons into helping you," a grin spread across Bob's face as he said, "I can just picture it now, a few of those really big Decepticons, cowering in fear as you give them orders to go out and catch poachers," Bob said.

"Sure, you wouldn't be saying that if you had seen how I freaked out when I woke up and found him sleeping next to me," Rose said indicating Prowl.

Bob raised an eyebrow, "Sleeping next to you? I know I've been telling you, you need to start dating but I was thinking more someone from this planet," Bob said, ducking away from Rose as she raised her hand to smack him again.

"You are horrible. And I'll start dating when you find me a decent man to date. I don't remember you ever being very approving of any of the men my age at work," Rose pointed out.

"You're like a granddaughter to me, I have to be a little protective of you. Which brings us back to what that robot was doing sleeping next to you," Bob said looking questioningly at Rose.

"Don't look at me, I didn't even know about him until I woke up this morning," Rose told him.

"She was wet and her body temperature was falling quite low because of the wind last night. I was trying to keep her warm and block as much of the wind as possible," Prowl said.

"Well then, I guess it's alright, thanks for looking after her," Bob told him.

"It was no problem," Prowl said as they came out onto a dirt road and he carefully set the cage in the back of Bob's truck then helped Rose and Bob secure it.

Just then Bumblebee walked out of the woods carrying all of their supplies with Sari at his side, "Can we go feed the kittens now?" she asked.

"You cleaned up everything from the campsite? You didn't leave anything, even trash behind?" Prowled asked.

"We cleaned it all up and put the fire out," Sari replied.

"Well then you guys can follow us back to my place, I'll be keeping the cubs there while Bill takes the mother to be patched up," Rose told them.

"What about getting you patched up?" Bob asked.

"It's just a graze, I'll be fine, right now the cubs are the priority," Rose told him.

"It looked like it needed stitches last night," Prowl said.

"Oh so you're a nature and medical expert?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"The Decepticons don't care about human lives and will attack populated areas. I thought it best that I be able to help if any humans were hurt and needed immediate care," Prowl replied.

"Good," Rose replied then turning to Bob said, "He'll stitch my arm after I get the cubs taken care of."

"Are you crazy? You need a doctor to get stitches," Bob told her.

"No you don't, grandma stitched up grandpa, my mom, most of my aunts and uncles and me right on the kitchen table. Now let's get going, I need to have the cubs settled in before they need to eat again," Rose told him before climbing into the passenger's side of the truck.


That part about stitching people up on the kitchen table is actually based in reality. My great grandparents were farmers, had 10 kids in the 30s and 40s and if someone got a bad cut they didn't go to the doctor, great grandma would stitch them up right there at the kitchen table.