Author's Note (Mini-Story): Allora emerged from her hidy hole and stretched.

A- "Happy Happy Easter, did we get any mail this week?"

L- "Yep duchesseduo says they want more."

C- "And CybertronDefense asked if Jazz was one of the mechs to sing Puff the Magic Dragon?"

A- "Yep he did, and duchesseduo here's another chapter for you."

D- "Alright guys, jump on board and let's go."

The girls and Cliffhanger jump on board Deep Thought and away they go.

Ch.25 Din Din

With my sugary medicine, I headed over to my usual table. Both Jazz and Huffer were there tonight, but they weren't talking. Huff was staring at a datapad while Jazz projected a dreamy blankness. I didn't believe that look for one minute.

If Jazz's player was anything like his character, he would be constantly scanning the room while putting everyone off about it.

Sitting down, "Good evening Huffer, Jazz.*Puffs*"

Huffer looked up briefly, "Hi, Prowl."

J- "Hi, Prowler."

P- "Prowl. *puff*"

H- "Prowler?"

J- "Yay, Prowler said that I could call him whatever I liked."

P- "Prowl, and I never made that agreement.*Puffs*"

Jazz leaned closer, "Prooowwwllller."

P- "Prowl.*Puff*"

J- "Prowler."

P- "Prowl. *Puff*"

J- "Prowler."

P- "Prowl.*Puff*"

J- "Prooowwler."

P- "Prowl.*Puff*"

J- "Prowler."

Ok, this was getting old. Jazz was only doing this to keep seeing smoke come out of my mouth and poor Huffer was going to lose his helm at the rate of him following our argument like a ping pong ball. I'm pretty sure that half the room was staring at was now and if I didn't do something soon, Jazz might pull a Bugs Bunny routine.

P- "Prowl. What are you working on Huffer?*Puff*"

Huffer started, realizing that the conversation had somehow gotten off course, crashing into him. Jazz gave a fake pout in my direction. Score one for Prowl.

H- "Oh umm... I'm just looking over the design Perceptor suggested for your mailbox, Prowl. Once it's built, he can program it for you with Redalert's help."

J- "Why does Prowler need a mailbox?"

Before I could get after him, Huffer spoke.

H- "He asked me for one. Prowl's business is his business."

P- "How soon will you be able to install it?*Puffs*"

H- "I've finished the medbay's order and I've got the supplies together for this and your earlier order. If your willing to wait for your first order, I can get your box installed tomorrow and let Redalert and Perceptor at it that evening."

P- "As I said, the mailbox takes precedence.*Puffs*"

Jazz raised his hand like he was in a class lecture, "Hold up, Prowler."

P- "Prowl.*Puff*"

J- "There is a tiny issue with your plan. How's Huffer going to install a mailbox, when my team is cleaning up your office?"

H- "What happened to your office?"

P- "A misstep, and thank you Jazz for reminding me. Your team will also be helping Huffer install the mailbox.*Puffs*"

They turned to stare at each other.

J- "We are?"

H- "They are?"

P- "Yes, since Jazz and his team will already be in my office to clean it, it is logical that they lean a hand with a project that would help leave my office better than they found it.*Puffs*"

Jazz cocked his helm, "Boyscouts?"

Huffer frowned, "You think it's a good idea to have them help with the mailbox."

He was probably thinking, isn't the whole reason why you wanted a mailbox was to keep Jazz out of your office? And now you're letting him waltz right in?

P- "It will be a learning experience for the Ops team. The skills they gain from it can help them with future missions.*Puffs*"

J- "What kind of missions, Prowler?"

P- "Prowl and that's up to the future.*Puffs*"

Silence fell over the table. Groups of bots were starting to filter out of the room. Jazz and Huffer had finished their drinks but I was still working on mine.

J- "So Prowler, you're trying to delay the sour punch of your drink?"

P- "Prowl and it's not sour Jazz. It is rather sweet. You can try a sip if you like.*Puffs*"

Jazz recoiled away with a mock-disgusted look, "No thanks Prowler. I'd rather not be Puff the Magic Dragon thank you very much."

P- "Prowl.*Puff*"

H- "You two are so weird.*Prowl*"

Finishing my cube, I stood up. The smoke coming from my joints creating a blanket mist around me.

P- "Having a good evening, gentlemen. I'll see you both tomorrow.*Puffs*"

Before I stepped out of the room, I heard Huffer ask Jazz, "Boyscouts?"

Waking in my pod, I stretched. It hadn't me that long to get to my quarters to log off since there weren't too many bots walking the halls by then. I must still be gaming with my mouth open, my throat is sore again.

Heading over to dinner, I bumped into Hannah and Kaylie heading for their rooms.

Kar- "You guys done with dinner already?"

H- "Yep, what took you so long?"

Kar- "Last minute stuff I had to take care of. Have you done your workout yet, Hannah? I know that Kaylie out her's done."

Kay- "She says that she'll start working out tomorrow. Are you still planning to workout tonight?"

I shrugged, "Might as well, right? Can you shoot me when my next appointment is? I can't keep track."

Kay- "Sure, I'll send it tomorrow. *Yawns* but now I'm ready for bed. See you two later."

H- "Bye Karen."

Kar- "Bye guys."

In the mess hall, I found Brandon already half way through his meal for the evening.

"Hey, Brandon. Have fun today in the game?"

"Yep, how was yours?"

"Not too bad, but there was one hiccup."

"What kind?"

"Someone dropped in on me."

"Oh? Anyone I know?"

"Everyone knows him."

"Ok, you still have to work out tonight right?"

"Unfortunately, yay I do. I'll just do a half hour jog and call it a night."

"That sounds good. *Getting up* I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"K, night."

"Night."

I finished my own grab and headed out.

The gym was kind of close to the medbay. Possible so that if anyone out themselves injured that it wouldn't be that far to limp to Doc Raf's tender care. Thankfully, no one had hurt themselves yet with the equipment but you never know.

The gym had everything you would expect to find at a fancy mancy club gym that was over priced. Elliptical trainers, treadmills, weights, bikes, jump ropes, yoga balls, and mats galore.

The gym even had side rooms with clear walls for basketball, squash, martial arts, and gymnastics. That way we could spectate in safety.

We didn't have a swimming pool, but we did have a rowing machine along with a hot tube that had a river feature. The river mode on the tube created a strong enough current of water that when swimming you always stayed exactly in the center of the tub. Kind of cool, but I really want a real pool to stretch out in.

There were two people currently using the martial arts room. I would have said TaeKnowdo if it weren't for the fact that they had their hands up like a boxer and their suits turned into shorts. Mixed Martial Arts maybe? But of course, one of the figures had to lunge at the other and the fight turned into a wrestling match. The Russians. They started standing up but always ended up rolling on the ground.

Shaking my head at their antics, I head over to one of the Elliptical trainers. I took off my sleeves and the fabric below my knees. Setting them next to the trainer, I took out my Bluetooth headphones from my fanny pack and jammed them into my ears. Next up, was the hard part, getting my communicator to communicate with my Bluetooth so I could listen to a book while working out.

"Come on Come on," I muttered.

Finally, it connected and I was able to pull up my copy of The Lost Fleet:Dauntless by Jack Campbell. I had already read the book way back in high school, but when I found out that I was going to be Prowl I had gone on a rampage for material to study from.

Jack Campbell was actually John G. Hemry, a retired Navy Officer who decided to write science fiction books for a career.

I enjoyed his book the first time because I liked how he was able to describe the space battles. He was able to explain how space battles were fought in a three-dimensional plan and your tactics had to match that mindset. It was fun reading on space captions would have to have the ships go above, below, front,back, and both sides of the enemy to trap them.

But with my becoming the tactician of the Autobots, I remembered how his books were based on basic battle tactics and that it might be a fun way for me to learn them. That and it might help me figure out how to plan maneuvers with the fliers on both the Autobot and Deception sides. I have to remember that Screamer was a flier.

Turning on my book, I stepped onto the train and began my 30-minute jog.

And done.

Slowing down to a stop, I gently stepped off and just stood for a second. The feeling of still going forward, messing with my brain.

The Russians were still practicing, oddly enough.

Stuffing the pile fo fabric I had left on the floor into my fanny pack, I checked the time on my communicator. Holy Canoly, 10:00 P.M. Do those two know what time it was? It was way past my bedtime at least.

Me being the good Samaritan that I am, headed over to the martial arts room's wall and bang on it to get the Wes and Logan's attention. Wes paused long enough to smile and give me a thumbs up before Logan tackled him, setting off another rolling match with flying limbs.

Joy.

Tapping my left foot, I glance around. I don't think Wes notice my miming tapping a watch so I had to wait for those two to pause their match long enough for me to tell them the time.

Their gear was sitting on a bench that was just outside of the room's door. Two black duffle with white embroidered letters on the front. Each bag had the name of its owner so it was easy to see who's was who's. Sticking out of Logan's was the corner of a drawing pad.

I know that I shouldn't be snooping, but my curiosity always got the better of me when it came to drawing pads. I'd had developed the bad habit of trying to find out what my friends were drawing since I was really horrible compared to them. I could draw something that resembled what I wanted enough so it was understandable, but my friends could be manga artists with their skills so it was always fun to watch them.

I stepped closer Logan's bag and tilted my head so I could get a better angle. It was a pencil sketch of a scene from the Mess hall Gameside. Bots were sitting at tables, laughing, talking, and enjoying their cubes.

Bluestreak was off to the side babbling to a smiling Bumblebee and Smokescreen. Ironhide was talking to Ratchet while waiting for his cube to warm. The science bots had commandeered a table and there was a bunch of hand waving on their part. In the far back on the drawing, you could see Jazz smirking at a bot that he was sitting across form. That bot was me cause you could tell that that bot had door wings.

What caught the most attention for me was the one lonely figure in the right center of the drawing. Huffer.

He was sitting by himself, staring into his cube. Logan had really worked hard on the detail for Huffer's face cause you could see how depressed he was just by his optics alone.

This must be a scene from before I invited Huffer to join me for meal times. Now I'm really glad that I'm hanging out with him if he was that sad. No one should be that alone.

A heavy weight set itself on my left shoulder and a loud voice barged into my ear.

"What yay doing?"

"Baw!"

I jumped forward away from Wes. I was so absorbed in the drawing that I didn't notice him sneaking up on me. I never let people scare me let alone sneak up on me.

Turning, "Nothing."

Wes nodded his head at with a smirk, "Ah hun."

Logan walked around use and grabbed a water bottle and towel from Wes' bag. He tossed them over to Wes and then turned to his bag. He took out his drawing pad and shoved it into my face.

K- "Ah."

W- "Just take it, Karen. You obviously want to look at it. If he giving it to you, he doesn't mind."

K- "Ok."

Gingerly, I took the pad. Logan then turned away from me to focus on getting his own water and towel.

Careful to not accidentally rip out the pages, I leafed through the pad. There was Blaster playing a board game with Steel in the Medbay. Hound and Mirage walking down the hall. Wheeljack stumbling out of a smoking lab covered in ash. Cliffjumper standing on a table with a fist raised at Skyfire. Ratchet with his left hand stretched out in front of him aiming while his right had a deadly wrench ready to throw at whoever was the eyes that I was currently seeing these scenes through.

Not all of the pictures where Gameside, some of them were Earthside. The cleaner drone getting after Doc Raf on Monday night. The backs of player's heads as they crowded around Josh, him grinning evilly. The desert biome room of the Greenhouse with no one inside.

The last drawing made me stop cold in my tracks.

Wes leaned closer to me, "Do you like that one?"

It was a picture of me. Well not me me, but game me.

You could see the corner of Ratchet's shoulder on the left with one hand pushing something to the side. Optimus was striding behind him, carrying Prowl. The angle of the scene allowed the viewer to look between Prowl's raised doorwings, showcasing how tired Prowl looked.

Even though the picture wasn't colored, I could tell that Prowl was pale and his optics were just barely open. With his helm tucked into OP's shoulder like that, he looked very weak and insentient. Something to be taken care of.

Is that how people say me on Monday? No wonder, why everyone is over reacting. I look like that with one wrong breath of air that I would shatter.

Logan brought me out of my contemplation, "What do you think?"

K- "It's amazing. You really captured that scene. You're really good at drawing."

L- "I don't do commissions"

K- "I wasn't planning on asking you for one."

W- "He's saying that he can get you a copy of that if you want but he won't draw someone else's vision. *leaning even closer* Unless if you want to tell us who you are in the game."

Frowning at Wes, "No thank you. *turning to Logan* You don't have to copy it if you don't want to."

Logan shrugged, "Doesn't matter. Why'd you pull us out of the ring."

K- "Oh um. It's 10ish right now and I figure you guys might want to know."

W- "That was kind of you."

K- "It was no problem. Good night."

Feeling really uncomfortable, I basically ran out of the room. And was still running towards my room.

That was too much like a Sunstreaker and Sideswipe ambush.

Brake! They can't be Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They aren't even related, how would the Twin Bond work if they aren't even related?

Thinking back to their jump scares of Ricky, running out of the Medbay from Kaylie's wrath, Logan's drawing pad, Wes pranking me with a salt shaker and penny, and them ambushing me just now. They were the Terror Twins, and I might have just slipped up.

I paused way too long on that scene. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that I had been reliving that scene. The pounding ped falls, strobing lights, everyone shouting "What's wrong with Prowl".

I had just given Wes and Logan the biggest clue to who I was in the game.

"I am so way doomed."

Author's Note (Mini-Story): Deep Thought pulls to a stop and the gang jump out.

A- "Alright guys I have an important announcement for everyone."

Everyone- "Ok?"

Allora cups her mouth with her hands, "There will be no Chapter Update next Saturday. I repeat, there will be no Chapter Update next weekend. Due to a Major Upcoming Exam, I'll be taking a week off from writing in order to properly study. I really really want to update next weekend but I gotz to study. I love you guys and you make this story great. Thank you for your support. I made this chapter just a little bit longer than normal because I will not be updating next week. Again, thank you for your support and Happy Easter."

With that, Allora dives into her office to hide.