CHAPTER 2

Dinobot wanted to go out right away and search for Megatron but Yume convinced him to wait. "It wouldn't be a good idea to go out now," she told him, blocking the doorway. "What if somebody sees you? Wait until it's dark. We can go out then. Then, if somebody sees you, you can pretend to be on your way to a Halloween party."

Dinobot didn't know what she was talking about but he saw the wisdom in what she was saying and agreed to wait. He stepped away from the door and leaned against her bookshelf, folding his arms. "Fine."

Cheetor meanwhile had discovered what the TV remote was used for and had turned on Yumes small portable TV set that was perched at the end of her dresser. He was currently in beast mode, laying comfortably on her bed and staring in fascination as an anime robot transformed from a police car to a giant white and blue robot. "Ultra gear!" he exclaimed.

"He acts as if he's never seen a transformer before," Dinobot muttered, shaking his head.

Yume smiled and grabbed some clothes then ducked into the bathroom connected to her bedroom. When Dinobot heard the sound of running water he turned his attention away from the closed door and focused it on the window. All he could see from it was the inside of the house next door so he turned his gaze away and looked over at her book shelf, which stood against the wall that her door was built into, which he was currently leaning against.

A lot of the books were mangas about giant robots called Gundams but some of the books were more serious reading without fancy art or pictures. He saw a few classics and also a few books about UFOs and ghosts. He noticed a book about Shakespearean plays and reached for it. Shakespeare he was familiar with. It was interesting to note that she had a book containing his plays on her shelf. When he took it off the shelf he discovered it was covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been read in a long time. I guess I was wrong after all, he thought, putting the book back. He didn't really want to read it anyway, not when he had other things to worry about.

"Do you have to watch that?" he demanded of Cheetor whose attention was still glued on the TV screen.

"There's nothing else to do," Cheetor said, not even turning his head to look at his comrade.

"We could be looking for Megatron."

Now Cheetor did look over at the former Predacon. "You know we can't look for him now," he said. "If we did we'd just cause more trouble. "

Dinobot said nothing. He knew he was right. They couldn't do anything until dark but that didn't mean Megatron wouldn't. With Megatron currently in the same time and place as them, just getting back to their normal time wasn't the only problem. I do not like waiting.

Just then he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall. Instantly he froze, listening. They were coming toward Yume's room. That realization got him moving. He moved away from the book shelf and shoved Cheetor off the bed. "Hey!" he exclaimed, upon hitting the floor. "What did you do that for?"

"Somebody is coming," the raptor answered, looking back at the door. "Do you want them to see us?"

"What's the big deal?" the younger transformer asked.

Before Dinobot could reply the doorknob turned and the door flew open. Standing in the doorway was a woman that looked almost exactly like Yume. For a moment nobody said anything. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open. Then she started screaming.

Megatron brushed the sand off himself the best he could but some of it was able to seep into his joints, causing him great discomfort. He looked around himself again, taking in the New York skyline. Where am I and how did I get here?

It didn't take him long to figure it out. He remembered what had happened in the pyramid in the forest. His encounter with the Maximals and their human pet and then a blinding flash of light that came from a strange object on the floor. So that's it. he thought, putting his hand to his chin. I was send here by accident but if I'm here so are the Maximals, yes... and most likely their human friend as well.

Megatron decided to find out exactly where he was and what time he was in. A minute later the female voice of his computer said. "Location: Queens. Time: Twenty first century. "

"So I went forward in time," he looked at the skyline again. This time he noticed that two buildings he'd seen on a holographic image of the New York City skyline were missing. He didn't spend any time wondering what had happened to them though. He turned his attention away from the skyline and walked slowly out of the park and onto the sidewalk.

I wonder....

Cheetor changed into robot mode and covered his audio receptors with his hands. "What is that noise?" he shouted so he could be heard over the woman's siren like wail.

When the woman saw what she thought was a cheetah change into another form she started screaming even louder. Yume, who had heard the noise, ran out of the bathroom, wrapped in a large purple towel. "What's going on here?" she asked. That's when she noticed the woman standing in the hall, screaming bloody murder. "Mom!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and pushing her mother out of the room and closing the door behind her. "Mom, calm down."

The other woman broke off her screaming suddenly and looked at her dsughter, her face full of horror. "What were those things?" she demanded.

"They are just friends," Yume said, holding onto her towel to make sure it didn't fall down.

"What are they doing in your bedroom?" she demanded. She gave gave her daughter a suspicious look. "Yume, are you?"

"No!" the girl exclaimed.

"Then what are they doing in there?"

"They came over for a visit," she replied.

"Are they the ones you've been spending all these months with?" her mother wanted to know. "I know you go off like this without telling us. What have you been up to?"

"Nothing," Yume exclaimed, horrified that her mother would think such things. "I just got back today. You don't have to worry about them. They won't be here for very long. They're only staying here until they find a friend of theirs."

The girl's mother gave her a long hard look. Yume couldn't blame her mother for acting so suspicious, especially since the girl had been missing for such a long time and suddenly popped up months later. "Just keep them away from your brother," she told her. "I don't trust them."

"They won't hurt my brother," the girl said. "Well at least the yellow one won't..." she saw the look on her mother's face and said quickly. "I'll make sure they stay away from him."

Her mother looked satisfied with that and turned away but not before saying. "I suggest you put something on. I don't want people hearing that my daughter doesn't know how to be modest."

Yume had forgotten she was only in a towel. Her mother's comment made her realize that and she let out a squeak and ducked back into her room. Cheetor and Dinobot stared at her, as if waiting for her to tell that what was going on. "Uh..." she said then ducked quickly into the bathroom and put some clothes on. When she stepped out again she was in a pair of blue jeans and a fluffy purple sweater. "Sorry about that," she said.

"Who was that?" Cheetor asked.

"My mom," the girl explained.

"What's a mom?"

"It's not important," she said, shaking her head. The last thing she wanted to do was explain what parents were for and what they did to have children. She did not want to traumatize him because she doubted robots had children the same way. By the look on Dinobot's face she got the feeling he might already know. "What is important is that you don't go near her. She doesn't like you guys."

"Why not?" Cheetor wanted to know.

"She doesn't trust you," she explained. "Don't ask me why because I don't know. All I do know is that you two would be wise to avoid her. "

Dinobot nodded. He wasn't sure he wanted to meet up with the girl's other again anyway.

"Well at least now I know where you got your scream from," Cheetor commented.

The girl made a face. 'Thanks a lot," she retorted.

His face turned red. "S-sorry" he said, quickly. "No offense intended."

"Forget it," she said, waving it off. "It's not important..."

Dinobot folded his arms. "Why did you not warn us about your mother?" he asked her. "It would have been a good idea to let us know that your parents were here."

"I forgot," she said to him. "and my mother usually isn't home at this time because she works two jobs."

"Why does your mother work two jobs?"

"Because my father is a lazy bum and doesn't do anything but go out at night and get drunk with her hard earned money," she replied, her voice sounding angry and hurt at the same time.

"Oh," the Maximal said, his expression changing. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," she said shaking her head. "Just forget about it." she looked out her bedroom window and noticed it was starting to get dark. "How about we head out and look for Megatron in a few minutes?"

Dinobot liked that idea. "That would be acceptable," he agreed, nodding.

"Just let me get something to eat," she said, ducking out of the room again. "Be back in a few. Don't go anywhere until I get back." and the door closed behind her.

Megatron noticed that he was drawing a lot of stares from people on the streets. Some guy in a car stared at him so long he smashed into a mailbox. The Predacon didn't care if people saw him. Let them. Let them stare and tremble at the very sight of him. That's right, pathetic humans, he thought. Get out of my way or be destroyed, yess-

Something hit him in the head, knocking forward a few steps off balance. Growling, he lifted his head and saw a soccer ball on the ground rolling away from him down the street. He glared at it then demanded angrily. "Who threw that!?"

"Sorry about that!" a voice called behind him.

He turned around and saw a group of kids in an abandoned parking lot, staring at him. "Cool!" one kid exclaimed, pointing. "He looks like one of those robots from that TV show."

"He does!" another kid gasped.

"That's awesome!"

The next minute Megatron was surrounded by staring children. He glared down at them, wanting them all just to get away from him. "Are you a real robot?" one of the children asked.

"What kind of question is that?" he demanded, annoyed. He wanted them all to just go away.

When one of them reached out to touch him he shoved the kid back. "Don't touch me!" he growled.

"Look! His right arm has a dinosaur head!" another kid exclaimed, grasping the limb.

"Gah! let go of me, you disgusting primate!" he growled, yanking his arm away from the kid.

"Look his weapon thing looks like a tail!" yet another kid yelled, grabbing his other arm. "He's like one of those Dino Knights!"

"Let go of me!" he shouted, wrenching his limbs free from the grabbing hands of the children as they tried to grab other parts of his body. "Go find somebody else to bother! I don't have time for this!"

But the kids were either too enthralled with him to listen or they were just plain stupid. They flanked him on all sides, blocking anyway of escape. At such close range he could not fire at them without damaging himself and, with them grabbing at his weapons, he couldn't do anything to distract them.

Finally one kid decided he wanted to use the Predacon for a jungle gym and jumped up, grabbing him by the neck. more kids got the idea and joined in, climbing all over him, though he tried to keep them away. "Oh no," he groaned before being buried under the bodies of a dozen children.

Yume poked her head into the kitchen. She was being very careful because she did not want to run into her mother or Maggie. Maggie would ask questions and her mother, who wasn't happy with her at the moment, might say something she didn't want to hear. Fortunately the kitchen was deserted. Sighing with relief the girl stepped into the room and opened the fridge. She smiled when she saw the contents. Somebody had gone shopping.

Lucky! she thought, reaching in an extracting packages of ham, cheese, and bread. She set the food on the counter and began making herself a sandwich. She was just placing a slice of cheese on the slice of ham when Maggie stepped into the room.

"Hi, Yume," the other girl said, making her way to the fridge.

"Hi."

The other girl took a bottle of water out of the fridge and closed the door. "When did you get back?" she asked, opening the bottle.

"Um... two hours ago," Yume replied, going back to her task.

"And you brought some guys home with you."

Yume almost dropped the bread. She looked up, startled. "Who told you that?"

"Your mother," Maggie replied. "She said found two men in your room."

"They're not men," Yume said.

"Oh?" the other girl cocked her head. "Then what are they? Women?"

"They're robots."

The other girl stared at her, not sure she heard her right. "Robots?"

"Yeah, you know, like on that one anime," the girl said. "They can turn into things and stuff."

'They're Japanese?"

Yume had to giggle at that. "No. More like Cybertronian."

"What is Cybertronian?"

The girl finished making her sandwich and put the stuff back in the fridge before saying. "They're from another planet. It's called Cybertron. The whole plant is made up of robots."

"Huh," Maggie said. "Well that's interesting but I find it a little hard to believe."

"Why?"

"Simple, why would God create a planet full of robots?"

Yume fought the urge to roll her eyes. She'd forgot that Maggie was Catholic. "I don't know," she said, kicking the door shut with her foot. "But I don't think He made them."

"Then who did?"

"Other people," the girl said. "and these robots are religious too. They got a sort of Heaven and Hell as well and a god named Primus."

"Primus?"

"Yeah. I don't know much about Primus besides him being some kind of deity that fought with another god named Unicron. You'd have to ask them about it."

Maggie shook her head. 'This is too weird," she commented. "Religious robots? Forget I even said anything."

"Okay," the girl said, shrugging.

"Can I see them?"

Yume almost dropped her sandwich. "What?"

"Can I see them?" Maggie repeated herself. When she saw the look on the other girl's face she said. "Come on, Yume. Don't keep them to yourself. Even if you don't show them to me now I'll see them eventually."

Yume was about to say that she probably wouldn't by changed her mind. She didn't know how long Dinobot and Cheetor and their enemy would be there. It all depended on how long it took for the cube to recharge. Finally she sighed, if she didn't show them to Maggie now the girl would bother her until she did. "All right," she said, picking up her sandwich. "Come with me. They're upstairs in my room."

Cheetor was getting restless waiting for the girl to return and decided to take a look around her house until she got back. Dinobot tried to keep him from doing so but he ignored the other transformers warning and stepped into the hall. When the door closed behind him he turned and headed down the hall. He hadn't gone more than a few steps when a figure stepped out of another room. He stopped and stared at it.

It was a human. This one was much smaller than Yume and had short black hair and large brown eyes. It noticed him right away and looked up, smiling. "Bot!" he exclaimed, pointing a chubby finger at him. "Bwu bot!"

"Hello there, little fella," Cheetor said, looking down at it. "What's your name?"

The little human put a finger in his mouth but didn't reply.

He must be shy, Cheetor thought. He knelt down so he was at eye level with the human. "It's okay," he said reassuringly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Bot," the kid said again, smiling. "Mine!" He ran over to the Maximal.

He didn't get far because someone grabbed him from behind and lifted him off the floor. "How did you get out of your crib?" a girl with brown hair back in a ponytail asked, turning the kid around so she could look at him. "You know better than to wander around the house. You could have fallen down the stairs." That's when she noticed the Maximal. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hello!"

"Hello," he said back uncertainly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Maggie," the girl said.

"Maggie?"

"She's the family baby-sitter," Yume said, coming up behind her.

"Oh," he said. "Hi."

"Hi," Maggie said back then she looked at Yume. "He's cute but I thought you said there were two of them."

Before Yume could reply Dinobot came out of the bedroom. "Cheetor, I told you to-" and that's when he noticed Yume, Maggie, and the little boy. "Who are they?"

"Oh," Yume said, turning to the others. "This is Maggie and the little boy is my baby brother Tai."

"Hello," Maggie said, waving a Dinobot.

He frowned at her but didn't say anything to her. To Yume he said. "If you are finished with whatever you are doing I think we should be going now."

"Going where?" Maggie asked curiously.

"We're looking for someone," the other girl replied.

"Who?"

The girl shrugged. "A friend."

"Oh," the girl said, shifting Tai's weight to her other arm. "Well maybe I can help you look for him."

"There is no way you could help us look for this person," Dinobot told her. "You do not even know what he looks like or where to look."

Maggie made a face. "Well if he came from the same place as you I know he's a robot and that he will stand out wherever he goes in the city because robots walking around is not the norm, even in New York."

Cheetor laughed. "She got you there, Dinobot," he commented.

The other transformer frowned at him. "I see no humor in this."

"Okay," Yume cut in before the two started arguing. "Let's just get going. Your friend could be anywhere by now."

"You're right," Cheetor agreed, catching on. "Let's get out of here."

"I want to come too," Maggie said. "I can put Tai to bed and-"

"No," Dinobot cut her off. "Forget it. You are not coming with us. The last thing we need is to watch over another human."

The other girl glared at him. "I beg your pardon," she shot back. "I don't need you watching over me. I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"So you say."

Yume glared at him. "Let her come," she said.

"Why?"

"Because she knows the city better than I do," she replied. "She could show you places I couldn't." she folded her arms and stared at him. "Come on."

He stared back at her, not about to lose this match of wills. For some reason he almost always lost this match with her, this time was no exception. After a few minutes he gave in. "Fine."

Megatron was finally able to escape from the group of children that had used him as a jungle gymn. To get rid of them he'd shot off his gun, but because a kid was sitting on his arm the blast blew up a car. When that happened the kids stared at him in horror then screamed and ran away when they saw the look on his face. "Primus!" he exclaimed, getting up. "Human children are more deadly than the smelting pit." He got up, and looked around himself, noticing the sun had gone down and it was getting dark. "Now what in the world was I doing?"

"Okay, lets starting looking for your friend in the last place you remember seeing him," Maggie said, once the four were outside.

By then it had grown dark and the neighbors had gone inside.

Dinobot looked down the street. He saw large pumpkin things in the yards of most houses. He had no idea what they were for but he wasn't going to ask.

"Hello?" Maggie said when nobody gave her that information.

"Uh... the last place we saw him was in the park by the school," Yume said.

"Oh," the older girl said, nodding. "I know that place. Let's head there and take a look around. He might still be there."

The others agreed that was a good idea and headed back the way they had come earlier that day. Dinobot noticed more and more houses with strange lights and creatures outside of them in the yards. What are these things and why are the humans allowing them to roam around their yard-

Suddenly a giant spider lowered itself down from the large fence of the house they passed by and got in his face. He reacted instantly by slashing the arachnid with his sword. It shot off sparks and fell to the ground at his feet. The others heard the noise and turned around. Yume saw Dinobot with his sword out, looking down at the spider. "Good going," she said, trying not to burst out laughing. "You successfully killed one of my neighbors Halloween decorations."

"It should not have jumped out at me," he retorted.

"It's supposed to," she told him, walking back to him and pointing toward the house. "It's for Halloween. Just like all the other decorations on this house."

"What's Halloween?" Cheetor wanted to know.

She waved him off. She didn't have time to explain it. "Just forget it for now," she told him. "I'll tell you later."

That seemed to satisfy him and he let it drop for now.

A/N

Ugh this is taking me so long to do. I know one thing, this fic is not going to be very long. I'm going to have to redo some things in this, I just know it. So much for it getting done by Halloween.