Author's Note: Wow! I am amazed. I didn't think that I would get any reviews within the first few hours of being published. Thank you, those of you that reviewed, it made me jump up and down when I read how much you like the story's beginning.

Guest SunnySides: Ok, ok here's your second update within 24 hours. I honestly thought it would take until Christmas to finish this chapter. I can't promise fast updates in the future, though. ;P

Guest Secret: Yes I totally agree. I need this to be real, but the tech for it is a long way off. At least, we have fanfiction and imagination.

Again most of the cast belongs to Hasbro, this is my first story and I hope you guys enjoy.

Ch. 1 Snail Mail Herald

Sasha was currently lying down on a bench across from me, legs crossed and glossy black hair spilling over the edge. Dressed in a red T-shirt and skinny jeans, she was currently reading one of the men's health magazines. Maybe reading wasn't the right term. It was more like she was flipping through the thing looking for some eye candy.

Not looking away from her eye candy pamphlet, "How long 'til you're done with your workout?"

Trying to read my chem book while running was near impossible. Doing that while rolling my eyes at Sasha's impatience was just asking for one of my famous epic falls—the kind that looks way worse than it actually was because I know how to fall with style.

Huffing, "Fifteen more minutes, then I'm done for tonight, Sash."

If she had a piece of gum, Sasha would have been one those gum blowers giving me the 'are you for real' look along with a bubblegum pop. She gave a close second by closing the magazine and turning her brown eyes towards me. She then decided that it was time to sit up and give me one of her famous intervention talks.

"Karen."

'Uh oh,' I thought, 'she's going with the "you are being stupid" argument.'

"Why are you working like this? It has been over four months since the application closed. Finals are coming up and you're not studying, but acting like you're in boot camp from Heavy Weights. If you haven't gotten an invite yet, you're most likely not going to get it. You know this. "

She left out the 'and you're still doing the stupid thing,' but that was implied. I knew she was right in my head, but my heart was giving me that 'you might just win the prize' feeling I got right before they drew my name for the prize lottery at events. That and Hasbro finally gave me an incentive to complete my fitness goal.

I thought back to the broadcast that aired a day after the application closed. The same businessman was giving the update: "With over twenty million applications sent in for the chance to became part of the Alpha Team, we are sorry to say that we will be only accepting players from the US at this point in time; this is because we are not planning to test the universal translator right now. Even though we are taking a good chunk out of the applications, it will take at least three months to sort through and find the best matches for every character involved in the test. We will be sending out letters to all the accepted players and give a national broadcast stating that everyone who has been accepted has received and confirmed a letter of invitation at that point in time. While waiting to see if you are one of the thirty, Hasbro recommends that prospective players work towards improving their physical health. The beta test will go far more smoothly if everyone is in their best physical fitness. Best of luck."

Back to the present, and the fact that I had only ten more minutes left to run resurfaced in my mind. Boy, does time go fast when you're distracted.

"They didn't *huff* announce that *huff* all the players *huff* have *huff* been *huff* found."

She just rolled her eyes at me and swayed over to the treadmill on her high-heeled sandals. Looking over the top and seeing that there were seven minutes left, she snorted. Quickly grabbing my chem book, she snapped it shut, which startled me enough to stumble and scramble to prevent a fall.

"Sasha! Not cool. I almost fell."

"Like you're going to fall. I've seen you fall like only three times since we started rooming together." She gave the chem book one of her disgusted looks, then went to put it into my backpack off to the right of the treadmill I was on.

"Tonight you're taking a break from all this stress and watching that movie you promised me for not making you take the bus here."

The treadmill was going into the last one-minute cool-down walk. "Ok, Sasha."

"And you're not gonna skip out on me by reading during the whole movie again."

Stepping off the treadmill and trying to shake off the feeling of still moving forward, "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope; you owe me, big. I don't know how you could skip out on Mean Girls."

I groaned, "'Cause when I worked at DQ, all my coworkers kept using that dumb line."

"Which one?"

Giving her my best dead-pan Prowl, "'Cause I use….."

"Ooooohhhhh…. yeah. That will do that to ya based on how sheltered you like to act."

"Ya think?"

A twenty-minute car drive later….

We were walking into our apartment building when Sasha suddenly rushed to beat me to our mailbox. She got in front and put her hands on her hips. She totally looked like a diva queen. I tried to get by her.

"Nah ah, Karen. You better march on up to our place and hit the showers. I'll get the mail and set up the movie."

"But…"

"Don't 'but' me. You're acting worse than an eleven-year-old kid waiting for their Hogwarts letter. If you have waited this long for the letter, you can wait 'til after you've showered."

"Fine, Mom," starting up the stairs. "What movie are we watching tonight?"

Sasha pulled her head out of the mail. "Pitch Perfect 2."

'Great,' I thought. 'Another one I did not want to see.'

A nice hot shower was just what the doctor ordered. Showers were the perfect time for me to daydream and reflect on the day's events. Ever since I'd sent in my application form, all I had been daydreaming about was the possible adventures I would be having as Hound. It would be fun to see the world through his eyes/optics. Since he wasn't one of the major players needed in battles, I would be able spend most of my time trying to find the Decepticon base for the rest of the team. I couldn't wait to explore the landscape that the game designers built for this beta test.

But I had to keep reminding myself that it was really unlikely that I would get to be one of the thirty chosen. There were millions of would-be players out there, and chances were high that thousands of them would share my personality. And even if they didn't share my unique perspective of the world, who's to say that I really have Hound's personality? It could be completely possible that my personality is so distinct that I wouldn't match any of the characters.

Turning off the shower and stepping into a warm towel, I looked into the mirror. Yep, the same girl was staring back at me. Same dishwater blonde hair that acted like it was half curly, same green eyes that acted like hazel based off of the light, same ghostly pale skin that should have had freckles but didn't, same scar on the right side of my neck from a surgery that was before I could remember things, and same rounded face that reminded me of my Dad.

This face—this body—was the one that I grew up with. What would it be like to wake up in a brand-new body—one made of pixels? One where you could physically touch the soul? Would it be a dream come true? Or would I be wishing to return to the body the Lord gave me the first chance I got?

I would not know unless I could be part of the Alpha Team, and that chance seemed to be slipping away.

Signing, I whipped on my favorite sweatpants and Emmaville sweatshirt, towel-dried my hair, and braided it over my head.

Walking down the hallway past Sasha's and my rooms, the first thing I saw was Sasha reading one of the letters. On top of the pile on the kitchen counter, there was an envelope addressed to me with the Hasbro sticker on it.

It was opened.

"Sasha! That's my letter."

"You were in the shower. I also wanted to be the first one to congratulate you. You're in."

"Of course, if I got the letter. Which character am I supposed to be?"

"Guess."

I must have had a struck-dumb look on my face because she laughed.

"What?"

"I said, 'guess,' silly."

"Hound?"

"Nope."

"Skyfire?"

"Nope."

"Jazzzz?"

Her grin got even bigger. "Nope. Keep going."

"One of the femmes? Please don't say Chromia. It's got to be Moonracer."

"Nope and nope again. Wow, Karen, you're getting far off the mark."

Sticking my right hand out, "Give it."

"Nope. You have to guess."

Starting to feel like Harry Potter when Dobby steals the letters, "Sasha Jane Jones, you give me that letter."

She jumped off of the couch. "Make me!"

The chase quickly dissolved into the 'can't touch me around the object' game every kid instinctively knows. I had just caught Sasha when she tossed the letter back onto the couch.

"I'm going to call Mika and Josh. We need to go out tonight and celebrate. My best friend is going to be a famous beta gamer and a world-renowned scientist for her discoveries of wild plants."

I wasn't really paying heed to what she was saying. I was too engrossed in the letter to care.

Dear Miss Karen Volstead,

Congratulations. You are one of the lucky thirty selected to participate in the Transformers Revolution beta test. After sorting through all the applications received for the Alpha Team, it has been found that your unique personality perfectly matches one of the commanding officers of the Autobots. While this is a great opportunity, please remember to tell only trusted family members and make proper arrangements with them for the duration of the beta test. Also, all players are to keep their characters secret from the other players. We want to test how well the system works when players don't know who is who. After the national broadcast announcing that all the players have been found, you will be given more information on how this will proceed.

Confirm that you received this letter by typing in the code 7691A2 at our website.

Again, congratulations, S.I.C. Prowl.

Hasbro.

"I can't believe it," I breathed.

Sasha came back from her room. "Karen, get your coat on. We're meeting Mika and Josh at the Red Stag. We're going to celebrate with some hen of the woods and some craft 1919 rootbe…. Honey, what's wrong?"

She must have thought I would be jumping up and down or, at least, having an uncontrollable smile on my face. She read the letter. She knew what I knew, but she didn't understand why this was not a good thing.

She sat down on my right. "Hon, you have to tell me what you're thinking. I can't help if I don't know what is wrong."

Taking a deep breath, "Prowl is a character that is well loved for many reasons. In fact, some of my favorite stories involve Prowl in some way, shape, or form. But he represents something I do not want to become: soldierized. Prowl gave up being openly kind and caring in order to become the perfect tactician. He started repressing his emotions and forced himself to be the perfect machine. I know what the soldierization process does to people. It creates a hardness that I never want. I respect the men and women who are willing to go through with basic training in order to protect our freedom, but the process to become a soldier is scary. It's even scarier when you know that when the cards are down, you are one of the few who can completely become hard. I'm afraid that I may have this gift and I don't ever want to find out."

"Who says that you have to become soldierized?"

"I think Hasbro is asking me to."

"That is full of boloney. This is just a game. It's not like they are forcing you to play, or change your real-life personality. Think of it as acting. In the game, you're in character. In the real world, you're off set and you can be yourself. You're not cold or heartless; you wear your heart on your sleeve. Come on, what you need is a congratulation supper with our friends at the Red Stag. This is what you have been waiting for! A chance to see the world from a Cybertronian perspective! You can put the code in after we get home."

Halfheartedly, "You're right. This is what I have been waiting for. Let's celebrate with the whole gang."

"Hahaha, that was so much fun, Karen! We'll certainly miss you next year. Hopefully the testing will be done so we can see you senior year."

Putting the to-go containers in the fridge, "Yep, I'll miss you and the gang. I'll be sure to contact you guys when the test is complete so we can go out and celebrate."

"You better believe it. *yawns* I'm going to hit the hay. I've got an exam tomorrow night and I want to be well rested."

"'Night."

"'Night."

Grabbing the letter from where I left it on the couch, I crept back to my room and started getting ready for bed. The last thing I needed to do for the evening was send off emails letting the university know what was going on and telling my family the big news of my being accepted. The letter was sitting on my right, mocking me.

Do I enter the code tonight, or do I wait 'til I've got everything sorted out with school and family? Do I really want to go through with this test? They picked the character that I'm the least similar to. I hate paperwork. I don't like strategy games unless I'm playing Kamisado and YuGiOh against one of my younger brothers. How in the world did they pick Prowl, of all the characters? Perceptor would have been a better choice if they think I have no emotion. At least he is a scientist.

Well, if I don't put in the code, I would be forcing the other players to wait for who-knows-how-long. The company may wait 'til I finally enter the code years later to start, try to find another Prowl in three months, or just cancel the whole thing. Can I really do that to fans who love Transformers just as much as, if not more than, I do?

Quickly, before I could change my mind, I pulled the Hasbro confirmation page up and entered the code. My cursor wavered over the red accept button for five seconds, but I had already made my choice. I'd made it when I first signed up for this.

Welcome, Prowl. Welcome to the Revolution. See you on the battlefield.

What have I gotten myself into?

Author's Note: Hey guys, what a turn of events. Karen knows her character and already she is having buyer's regret. Sorry if you guys were wishing for some bot action but Karen and the other players need to be assembled first. I love readers and I love comments. Please review. Are you surprised at the character chosen for Karen? You think Hasbro goofed? If you're worried that Hound and the other candidates will get second fiddle to Prowl and the command staff, don't worry. I plan a lot of character development for the non-spotlight characters. Also, don't plan on seeing any new post till at least Thursday. I have stuff to do and I will not have time to finish another chapter within the next 72 hours.