Author's Note: Took a long time to get this up, even though it's been ready for about a day or so. Oops. *cough* Anyway, this chapter is much longer than the last chapter, which is good. I also have the next chapter *relatively* planned out, so it will hopefully be out soon. A special thanks to With08, Raine Tsuki-san, and Flower K. Owl for reviewing my last chapter.

This chapter is dedicated to Flower K. Owl for thinking up the adorable nickname of Cu-bot. Though it has a name, I'll be sure to use that nickname some time during the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or its characters, Mario Party 7, Mario, Yoshi, or Peach. However, I do own Stacey, Marcee, and Mario. (Have I confused you yet?)

Marcee groaned as her phone went off, and she reached over to her nightstand to grab it. Not there. Great. She let out another moan as she pulled off the covers and slowly got out of bed, rubbing her eyes as she did so, and walked into the living room in the undead-dragging-your-feet sort of way that happened when someone woke you up too early. She grappled with the cell phone she had carelessly flung onto the couch the day before, it slipping between her sleep-numbed fingers a couple times before she finally managed to open it and put the device to her ear. "Hello?" she answered groggily.

"No school today, either!" It was easy to recognize the all-too-cheerful voice of Stacey.

"That's great, Stace, but could you tell me without waking me up next time?"

"How late did you stay up last night, Marcee? Normally, you'd have been up and been in your first class by now!" Marcee glanced at the clock on her kitchen wall. 6:30. Marcee hated in when Stacey was right.

"Anyway, I called to ask if you wanted to come over to my place today, since we have nothing else to do today."

"What's wrong with my place?" Marcee asked, wandering back in the direction of her bedroom and bathroom.

"Nothing! Nothing at all! But my dorm room has the better tv, and movies…."

"You got another one, didn't you? And you want me to watch it with you."

"Maybe…."

Marcee sighed. "Fine. As long as I get to…" she paused as she tried to think of something. Then she heard the questioning chirp from her bedroom. "As long as I get to bring my Gamecube and we play at least one game."

"Deal. But seriously, Marc', if you're going to bring a console, why not bring a new one? Like the Xbox 360, or something?"

"Because some games are classics and all I can afford," she retorted. Marcee could almost hear the eye roll on the other end of the line.

"All right, then. Just come over whenever, my room's clean, so I don't really have anything to worry about."

"Bye, Stace."

"See ya!"

Marcee groaned again, but this time it had nothing to do with sleep. Leave it to Stacey to be able to stay up all night, drink a few cups of coffee, and then wake up everyone else sounding joyful and happy. She ran a hand over her face and wandered back into her room and to her Gamecube robot. "I'm going to get dressed and stuff, little 'bot. You can go exploring the house or whatever. Just don't get yourself into trouble, ok? No sticking your fingers in power sockets, and all that. Right?"

The robot answered with its favorite word: "Yes."

She watched as it slid off the bed and, only stumbling a couple times, walked past her and out into the living room. She sighed and turned into the bathroom to take her shower.

When the whole morning routine was finished, Marcee found the little 'bot sitting beside her small stack of video games that used to be next to the Gamecube. It had picked up the one off the top and was looking at the cover when it noticed she had entered the room. It looked up at her, made another one of its questioning little chirps, and held up the case to her.

Marcee took the case and flipped it over to view the cover. Mario Party 7. She hadn't played it in forever….

"This is a video game," she explained, using the tone of voice one did when explaining something to a child. "You put this disk," she opened the case and popped out the disk, holding it on her finger as she showed it to the Gamecube, "into its console and you can play games on the television screen. This one was for the Gamecube, what you used to be before you became, you know, a robot."

The robot blinked, and donned an almost thoughtful expression. Then, suddenly, it changed.

It startled Marcee to see the 'bot change back into a Gamecube. Sure, she had assumed it could, but thinking something and witnessing it are two entirely different things. It was a surprisingly quick transformation, too, even faster than its original one. She just stood there, bewildered, for a moment before she realized what the robot wanted.

It wanted to play the video game.

Marcee let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding before taking the cords that came out the back of her robot-console and hooked them up to the tv and a power socket. She then turned popped the game in and plugged up a nearby controller that had gotten kicked out of the Gamecube before the transformation. She flipped on the tv and sat down on the couch.

Surprisingly, the game worked. As the intro played, Marcee felt her thoughts buzzing around in her head, none of them staying clear enough for her to truly know what it was saying before being replaced by another. She selected a game, and was only mildly surprised when she found that the Gamecube itself was player two. If it could transform in and out of Gamecube form, it could do anything, in her mind.

Marcee picked her usual character, Yoshi, while the robot-Gamecube took Mario. She let it take main control, letting it select to read the instructions and the board they played. On the first game, Marcee won, being as she had played the game before. However, she felt a little guilty for beating Mario, and they played a second game, which it won. They played three more games when Marcee remembered she was supposed to head over to Stacey's.

At the same time, she decided she wasn't going to tell Stacey, at least not tonight, about her Gamecube.

"Little 'bot? Do you want to come over with me to a friend's house? You'll have to stay in this form, but you could still come…"

It made an affirmative chirp-noise, which Marcee took for a yes. "All right, then. Remember, stay in this form."

She then unplugged the Gamecube, grabbed the Mario Party 7 case, and slung her purse over her shoulder. With her robot friend in tow, the pair got into the car and drove off toward the city and to Stacey's dorm.

When Marcee got out of the elevator once she reached the third story of the dorm, she immediately heard a dog barking. She sighed. The dorm had a "no pet's rule," but it wasn't really enforced. She walked down to her friend's room and knocked on the door, and the response was the dog barking even loudly. She heard a, "Sushi, shut up!" before the door was opened.

"I still don't see why you named the dog Sushi," Marcee commented as she entered. The pomeranian responsible for the barking was looking over at the doorway from behind Stacey's leg. The only thing unusual about it was that it was cream color instead of the normal orange.

"What's not to get? I like sushi, she likes sushi, and she looks like a little rice ball. I still have the picture of her with a piece of fish on her head, you know."

Marcee rolled her eyes and slid past Stacey into the room. She was clutching the Gamecube to her chest, the Mario Party 7 case sitting on top of it. She then walked over to Stacey's fancy flat screen plasma tv and hooked it up. "Remember," she whispered to it discreetly.

"Mario Party 7? Marc' that's ancient! They've already made its sequel!"

"But its good, and I don't own the sequal. Besides, you agreed."

Stacey groaned before coming over and grabbing the second controller. "Might as well get this over with," she grumbled.

This time, the Gamecube was player three, though Stacey didn't seem to notice. Again, it picked Mario, Marcee picked Yoshi, and Stacey picked Peach. Mario easily beat them.

"Gosh, Marcee! What'd difficulty did you put on it?"

Marcee grinned to herself and silently cheered on Mario. It was rare Stacey was beaten by anyone in any video game, and even rarer for it to be the computer itself, even if this time it wasn't actually the computer. "The hardest one available."

Stacey almost growled to herself and then insisted on a re-match.

Four games later, and halfway into a fifth, Mario was still the sole winner. Stacey finally gave up.

"Ok, that's enough! I played your one game and more, let's watch my movie. Now."

Still grinning, Marcee agreed and unplugged the Gamecube, whispering to it about how good it was, and congratulating it on its wins. Seething, Stacey put in the DVD and turned off the lights. Marcee pulled the Gamecube closer, making sure it was in a position that Stacey wouldn't be able to see in the dark in case it wanted to transform and watch the movie too. And thus ended Marcee's second day with her new robot companion.

Bumblebee had opened a comm link with his fellows while he searched, though no one had yet said much, with the exception of Ironhide, who would randomly let out a curse. The yellow 'bot assumed that it had something to do with his cleanup job, and didn't inquire.

They had worked it out so that at night, the Autobots would go to Mission City and help the cleanup crew after they left. There was a curfew put out, supposedly for "safety reasons," until the clean up had been finished. Since there would be no witnesses, they would be free to transform, which made cleanup just that much easier.

Suddenly, 'Bee detected something on his scanner. Something unusual… no, two somethings.

"This is Bumblebee, reporting. I think I've found something."

The Camaro pulled closer to the tiny house. It was on the outskirts of town, but Bumblebee couldn't think of a reason that the energy signatures would be there.

"What have you found?" came the voice of Optimus Prime.

"I have three energy signatures. One is just a normal human being, one is close to what I've heard Ratchet describe a sparkling as, and the other…. No, it can be…. That's not possible, but there's nothing else… What else could it be?"

"You're spouting nonsense, boy!" Ironhide practically yelled in his irritation. "What have you found?"

"The only time I've felt that much power… was the Allspark. It was destroyed, though…."

"It's probably a power plant," Ironhide grumbled.

"No power plant can hold this much power," Bumblebee answered. He thought for a moment, then announced, "I'm going to send you the signatures. Maybe you know what it is."

Then, over the link, he sent the signatures to the two other mechs.

"No, it can't be…." Ironhide answered.

"Bumblebee, mark the location," Prime ordered. "A watch is to be kept. Stay hidden, but find out what you can."

Bumblebee started the watch until Ironhide took over the next day. Then Ratchet after that, and Prime after him. Silently, Optimus followed as one of the energies left the house with a human, and waited silently in the parking lot of their destination as the sparkling disappeared into a building. But something else had taken interest in the two energies, and took the chance of a guardian being away to take a closer look at the house….

Author's Note: Check the poll in my profile! And no, you can't pick an option that's not there. I'm just that cruel. :D