Chapter 24: Timewarp Part 2


Between scoops of his cereal, Rad alternated between eating and making sure Ray wasn't about to start choking. She looked...weird, with her eyes roving over her notepad. She'd checked that list five times already! But what made him anxious was her downing a cup of coffee without taking a breath. "You sure you don't- I don't know, breath and not choke?"

"There's no time for that." Rachel retorted. "I lost track of time and stupidly thought it was Thursday so I have to make sure I didn't forget anything." she pointed at one of the checkpoints. "High Wire's at the Autobot base?"

"Took him there last night." Rad confirmed reluctantly, though it was awkward when he met up with Hot Shot who still didn't seem to know where Rad fell on the 'friend or not' scale. Rad knew he had no right to give his opinion, but he hoped it would be friends again.

"Got your suitcase packed for the weekend?"

"Yes." Rad answered, his tone more of a growl. Though he frowned as he thought it felt familiar.

Rachel narrowed her eyes, more than likely picking up the tone. Rad found himself more unnerved by the circles under her eyes and the messy state of her hair as she glared at him. "Don't use that voice on me, there was no other option but for you to stay with my parents. You're too young to be on your own."

Rad sullenly continued eating. He hated it when Ray made sense, because it made him feel ridiculous about it. "I know I can't live on my own, I just don't want you to go." 'Wait...didn't this already happen...?'

Rachel crossed her arms, but her mouth was a softer frown than usual. "This is for my final exam, it's important to me. I would never stand in the way of the same for you."

Rad closed his eyes, because he honestly wasn't sure if that would be true. A part of him wanted to believe her, but the other part only reminded him she didn't believe in magic anyway. 'I want to tell you, but I'm scared of how you'll react.' Rad frowned again. 'Seriously, haven't I said this?'

The sound of a knocking on the door caught Rad's attention, and he looked up incredulously as Rachel opened it, allowing two his aunt and uncle entry. "What...? I thought-I thought you were coming at 8:45 for Ray?" Something still niggled at him, as though something was wrong.

Aunt Joy smiled serenely at him. "Change of plans kiddo," she ruffled Rad's hair and he blinked, too dazed to pout, "I talked with Rachel last night and we agreed it was better to kill two birds with one stone." She gently nudged his shoulder. Rachel frowned this time, her brow furrowed. "We're dropping you off at school before taking Ray to the bus stop, now go get your bag and your uncle can help you with your suitcase."

"I can do it myself!" Rad said, wincing as it came out too sharp, and he hurried to his room. Something was going on. He pulled on his backpack, and looked around his room. The blond opened his drawer he set up for Kero, but the guardian wasn't in there. "Kero!" he hissed quietly. "Get out here now, something weird's going on."

"Really? How so?"

Rad jumped, whirling around as he heard Kero, but found no one there. Slowly it dawned on him where the voice came from. The blond unshouldered his backpack and his expression cracked in annoyance at Kero sticking his head out of the bag. He pulled Kero out by the scruff of his neck. "What do you think you were doing?"

Kero smiled nervously. "I was going to follow you to school."

Rad huffed. "You're going to the Autobot base after I get done school so Hot Shot can talk to you."

Kero frowned as he crossed his arms. "Don't wanna talk to him."

"Too bad." Rad retorted.

"Hey, buddy, you talking to someone in here?" His uncle asked as he poked his head into the room.

Rad jumped as he dropped Kero onto his bed, and pulled out his cell phone and made a show of waving it around, and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "It's nothing, just telling my friend where I'll be." He pocketed the phone and put his backpack on again. "What are you doing back here?"

"Just getting Rachel's suitcase, she's busy looking over her checklist." His uncle shook his head. "Takes after her mom in that regards." He glanced down at Rad. "You're probably too young to remember, but us and your parents had this camping trip to Black Hills when you were-three, was it?-and Joy planned the whole thing out." He grinned slyly. "Must have been the reporter in her."

"Oh." Rad only nodded, because there still felt like something off about everything. The blond lagged back, and glanced at Kero. "Pick up when I call later," he whispered, "still gotta talk about what's going on."

Kero rolled her with a frown, and nodded. Rad looked ahead, and as grabbed his suitcase before he hurried down the hall, and he followed Rachel and her parents out of the apartment, his stomach churning. He wanted to be excited to spend the weekend with his aunt and uncle, but there had been a reason he wanted to stay with Rachel.

His relatives were flakes; mean of him to think, but growing up all he'd seen was his uncle pursuing his archeological interests with the same zeal Rad's own parents had, while Aunt Joy was constantly on the look-out for a news scoop.

In some bitterly ironic way, Rad realized maybe staying with his aunt and uncle would have a silver lining; they wouldn't notice if he was gone.

'That was morbidly familiar.' Rad thought, and once the group arrived at the car parked out on the curb, the blond waited his turn to toss his suitcase into the trunk of the car. He unshouldered his backpack to put on his lap when he climbed into the backseat, and Rachel took a pocket mirror out of her jacket and began fixing her hair.

"Have a good trip, Ray." Rad mumbled.

Rachel smiled tiredly as she pulled him into a one-armed hug. "Exam, a trip is something you do for fun."

Rad flushed, but smirked at her. "So you're no fun after all, Carlos was right then."

The older blonde huffed as she brought him into a headlock and ran her knuckles over the top of his head. "No fun, huh? We'll see about that." Despite himself, Rad found himself laughing as Rachel kept giving him a noogie, and her other hand tickled his side until his face started turning red.

"Okay, Rachel, knock it off." Aunt Joy said, her face stern. "You're going to make Bradley pass out."

Ice water ran down Rad's spine, his cheerful mood doused as the use of his real name brought him back to reality. It gave him another feeling of deja vu, and he settled down. "Name's not Bradley." he still insisted.

Aunt Joy frowned. "Why? It's a nice name."

Rad huffed. "It's my dad's name. I don't want to be Bradly White Junior."

"Kids." Aunt Joy shook her head.

Rad crossed his arms as he leaned back in his seat, but eventually the car pulled up to the curb of Lincoln Elementary.

"Here's your stop, buddy. Do you want a ride back after school?" His uncle asked.

"No, it's...fine." Rad replied, wanting to just have the feeling he changed something. He hugged Rachel tightly before releasing her and reluctantly got out the car. "I-I'll see you on Sunday."

"Monday." Rachel corrected him. "I'll be back in the morning, but probably sleep all day so I won't actually be seeing you until the afternoon."

Rad's throat constricted, tears stinging his eyes as his chest constricted. "I see." He whispered. "Then I hope you do well on your exam!" Rad tried to run, but Rachel's arm shot out. He looked astonished as her face was torn between confusion and sadness. Rachel's other hand rose, and Rad let out a ragged breath as she wiped his tears away.

"I'll miss you." she said softly.

"Miss you more." Rad replied quietly. Rachel smiled briefly before letting him go. The boy made his way away from the car, and dragged himself over to the sidewalk. He looked over his shoulder, and the car began to drive away. Rad sighed, and wiped his other eye.

"Rad!"

Rad looked up to find Carlos riding towards him, balanced on Grindor's skateboard form. "Hey, what's up?" As soon as it was out, the blond felt another weird sense of familiarity.

Carlos rolled around Rad in a circle before stopping. "Nothing much, you?" Rad stared at him, and Carlos rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "That's right, Ray's supposed to be going for her exams, isn't she?"

"Left for her exams," Rad corrected, his tone cracking still, "as in just left."

"What?" Alexis called, and Rad looked over and saw Alexis approaching on Sureshock, her expression rather hurt and sad. "She just left? I didn't get to say goodbye though."

Rad shrugged forcefully. "That's just the way it is."

Alexis' cheeks puffed as she glared at him. "You did."

Rad winced, but he wasn't sure why Alexis was worked up about Rachel leaving. Didn't she already have crush on someone? 'Wait, what?' "S-she'll come back." Alexis only frowned.

Due to the angle, Rad noticed Kelly hurrying up to them on her rollerblades. Rad blinked as she didn't even look at them, frowning with a dazed look in her eyes. "Kelly?"

The girl didn't hear him as she kept on skating.

Rad furrowed his brow. That was weird. "Is she okay?"

"Is she ever?" Carlos drawled.

Alexis glared at him. "Why you-"

Rad decided to take off, and could feel both Grindor and Sureshock wishing they could do the same. The blond shook his head, and he sighed as he went to wait on the steps of the school. He sat down on the cement blocks, but frowned as he thought he heard rustling and faint squeaks on the other side of the raised wall that enveloped the steps. He checked his cell phone, but they still had a few minutes before class started. When he saw his friends approaching, he waved, but paused.

Unease settled in his stomach, and Rad got to his feet. The blond looked around, and noticed a teacher inside coming out of a classroom. "Hey, teach!" he called abruptly, and the teacher looks up as loud squeaking rang out, scratchy pop pop-ing following.

Carlos frowned as he reached Rad and gripped his shoulder. "Hey, man, what's up with calling the teacher?"

Rad didn't know why he called the teacher. "I...I..." Alexis frowned at him too, and the teacher walked out of the door.

"Yes?"

Rad gulped as he looked up at the teacher. "I was wondering if...you knew what our history teacher was doing for our test Monday."

The teacher snorted, half-amused and half-irritated. "Sorry, Mr. White, but you'll have to study for the test like the rest of your class."

Rad rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that was silly of me. Whoop." he chuckled as he walked inside, where his friends gave him weird stares.

"Seriously, what's up with you?" Carlos asked. "You feeling okay?"

"You do seem rather...spacey." Alexis added.

Rad shrugged, once more constrained by secrecy. 'It would be so much easier to tell them about magic-well, if Hot Shot can convince Kero later, then maybe telling my friends won't be much harder either.' he thought. "I'm fine, just...fine."

He didn't say anymore as they made it to homeroom class.


Rachel couldn't believe how she almost flaked on the biggest exam of the school year. Written exams were one thing, but going out and digging up bones with their own hands was another. She regretted being half-hearted in her goodbye to her parents, because she was dead tired and the coffee hadn't picked her up like she thought.

Rachel slumped into one of the front seats, and saw her parents leaving in their car. She rubbed her forehead, grimacing as she remembered how her brain failed her and tricked itself into thinking it was Thursday and not Friday. 'This isn't off to a great start.' She thought, and hoped she wouldn't hinder her exam. The blonde curled against the window, closing her eyes to try and rest, but behind her, several students were speaking, and she furrowed her brow as she realized what it was about.

"Did you hear? Last night there was a news report of some unknown city being discovered underwater!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, they got a tip to use the underwater sonar to look around, and that's where they found the ruins!"

"That's awesome! I wish I could discover something big like that, maybe some unknown species of dinosaur."

Another student laughed, but it was playful. "You're more likely to find your keys because they fell out of your pocket."

The previous student growled and a soft 'thump' followed. "That's not funny!"

"You know what's more likely to happen? That klutz Becker probably tripping over her own tools!"

Rachel found herself having a case of déjà vu, but the words frazzled her as she looked out the window, eyes bleary. The blonde frowned as she spotted Marty getting out a passenger side of a car, but the other side opening as a tall man with brown hair flecked with silver along the temples got out of the driver's side. She tilted her head as the brown-haired man shoved a box covered with a cloth into his hands and ruffled his hair.

Marty swatted the hand away and huffed as he got onto the bus, with the group behind Rachel hushing up. "Oh, don't stop on my account." He said as he took the seat across from Rachel. Marty smiled at the blonde disarmingly. "Are you excited about the exam?"

Rachel snorted. "That's kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? I'm in it for the dinosaur bones we're digging up."

"You mean the false bones made of papier-mâché." Marty replied with a wry smile.

Rachel crossed her arms. "My point still stands."

"Then just be sure you don't get them wet or the professor will dock you points." Marty said dryly, but Rachel found it difficult to discern if he was joking or not.

It sounded like a joke, but Paaswell was rather no-nonsense, so it wouldn't surprise her.

Rachel looked outside again, and saw the other man getting back into the car and driving off, but then it clicked why he seemed familiar. "You know Professor Kinomoto?"

Marty blinked, but placed the covered box onto his lap. "He and my uncle live together."

Rachel furrowed her brow when he said nothing else, but she realized what he meant. "Ah." She nodded, but then smiled slyly at him. "'As a professor aide, you know everyone', huh?"

Marty's cheeks tinted pink, and he looked sheepish. "Well it would have been a bit awkward just to blur it out then. Besides, I honestly didn't know he would be working there until I saw him."

"Easy, I'm just teasing." Rachel said, but quieted down as their paleontology professor came walking onto the bus. He narrowed his eyes, and the cabin was completely silent. No one wanted to fail this exam, because no one wanted to retake it again.

"I want you all to leave the bus in the same condition you got on; neat and clean, no littering or I will find out." Paaswell stated. "There will be no roughhousing or such; your adults and I expect you to act like it, understood?" Everyone grumbled in agreement. "There is only one bathroom, so no shoving or pushing. Let's all make this trip to Wyoming as pleasant as possible, do I make myself clear?"

Once more, everyone rumbled in agreement as the old professor took a seat behind the driver. The bus started up, and Rachel looked out the window.

Another sense of déjà vu settled over her. 'This better not start becoming a problem.'


The yellow mech watched his television screen, frowning as he watched the two humans on screen profess their secret love to each other. 'This feels familiar. Didn't they already do this? Am I seeing a re-run?'

"Hot Shot," the yellow mech blinked as he looked down from his berth as Maya appeared on the floor, her expression slightly confused and worried. The bot turned down the television on his shelf to give her his attention, "I was wondering if you were aware of any other alien races that could be on planet?"

Hot Shot blinked. "Not that I'm aware of besides the Wisp-probably-why are you asking?"

"It's just as I was going through the news articles, I found several disturbing reports of a flying saucer being spotted over a town in Roswell, as well as there being reported thefts of cattle and crop circles recently being burned into cornfields."

Hot Shot tilted his head, glancing at his television. "That kinda sounds…familiar." He frowned as something niggled in the back of his processor. "I could have sworn you said this already."

Maya frowned. "Are you certain?"

Hot Shot nodded. "Yeah, I…it's just there but I can't quite see it." He shook his head roughly. "Keep talking, maybe something will click."

"Very well." Maya lifted her hand, and above her palm a screen appeared. "I came to show you this. It was caught on film in Roswell yesterday evening." Hot Shot knelt on the floor as she brought up a grainy video. "There was captured evidence and I thought it would be worth a look-I of course made sure to take it off the Internet in case-"

"-it proved pertinent." Hot Shot finished, and both he and Maya looked astonished.

She blinked slowly. "Yes, that's what I was going to say. This is strange."

Hot Shot nodded, his optics glued to the screen as he watched a disc-shaped figure with an oddly pointed front and tail fins zooming across the sky. It swivelled and dip, as though leisurely, but what made Hot Shot come to a realization was the purple light which enveloped the saucer and the crack of air as it vanished from sight.

"Scrap!" Hot Shot's optics shot wide open, and looked down at Maya. "Okay, I know I've said that before, in this same situation. What is going on here?"

Maya frowned as the screen disappeared. "I concur, there is a strange relay in my systems. It's as though I reset, but I am not a clean program."

Hot Shot glanced at his television, then down at Maya as he thought it over, reluctant to think it, but it was slowly seeming that way. "Do you think it's one of these magic cards? I know they're different from what you remember, but could one of them do something so…what would this be anyway?"

Maya's expression became thoughtful. "I admit I did not see Clow Reed perform his magic often, he mostly kept it out of sight. Though from what I heard from others, some of what he could do was strangely…arbitrary. Such as making sweets from other things, or making someone tell the truth. Causing déjà vu would not surprise me."

Hot Shot nodded. "Still, let's see if we can jog anyone else before we bring this up. I'll feel kind of silly if I'm the only one." Plus he didn't want another repeat of the dragon-Create thing. "Get Red Alert to look at the video and ask about someone who can use a warp drive. Maybe that will ring a bell or something."

Maya nodded. "What will you do though?"

"I'm going to try and bring this up to Optimus first." Hot Shot said. With that in mind, he left his room as Maya vanished.


Perhaps it was with more relief than Rad knew why, but he hadn't spotted Sid and Seth all morning in the hall or at recess. Not that he was complaining because a day without running into those two was a good day. It was just weird them not around. 'They're always bothering someone.' He thought.

Though Rad was still annoyed at Kero, and as he ducked into a supply closet at lunch, he made sure the guardian knew it. "Why did you put the Sakura Book in my bag?" he tapped his arm as he leaned against the wall, scowling even though Kero couldn't see it through the phone.

"The cards don't want to be alone." Kero replied, his tone uneasy.

"Why? They've never had a problem before." Rad furrowed his brow. "Does it have something to do with me going to my aunt and uncles' for the weekend?"

Kero didn't reply at all.

Rad glared at the wall. "It does, doesn't it? Kero, what happened? How did they end up in the attic in the first place?"

"That's not the issue here!" Kero said a bit too forcefully. "You said there was something weird going on this morning, what was It about?"

'That's not very subtle.' Rad thought, but for now let Kero have his out. "This morning I could have sworn I already did everything. It all felt like it happened before."

Kero was quiet again, this time more contemplative as he spoke. "I suspected when I saw we woke up in your bedroom than at your relatives."

"Wait, what do you mean 'we'? You're going to the Autobot base." Rad said.

Kero's voice turned indignant. "You're not sending me there!"

"Why you-" Rad stopped, and he heard Kero make a surprised noise on the other line. "That felt…really familiar."

"I was worried about this." Kero said quietly. "The constant déjà vu is the work of a Sakura Card, Time specifically. His powers have to do with, well, the flow of time. It looks like he's rewinding Friday for everyone."

Rad thought back to that morning, and pursed his lips. "Not everyone. Rachel said she woke up thinking it was Thursday, not Friday."

Kero hummed quietly. "Then we need to find Time, or he'll keep going and we'll all be stuck in a time loop."

"Can't everyone else just remember like I do something's wrong?" Rad questioned.

"No, only those with magical powers can sense when time's been altered. Rachel probably can sense it too, because she still has potential for magic too despite her insistence it's not real." Kero explained. "And you and I are a given."

Rad sighed. "Yeah-" he stopped, his eyes widening as he remembered Create. "The Autobots and Decepticons! They're not magical and they've been able to see the cards. Either they're going to know something's up or they're not going to be affected at all."

"Rad," Kero said sternly, "you better not be saying what I think you say-"

"We have to tell the Autobots." Rad interrupted him. "There's no getting around it, no more stalling. We need to explain it."

"No." Kero said stubbornly. "We don't."

"We-" Rad looked at the phone incredulously as a dial tone rang out. "I can't believe-he's even more of a kid than I am!" he grunted in disgust and pocketed his phone. He shook his head, and walked out of the room, frowning as he tried to think of how to get Kero to agree.

"Rad? What were you doing in there?"

The blond jumped, whirling around as both Carlos and Alexis were standing there. "What are you two doing here?"

"We came to see if you wanted to have lunch with us." Alexis said.

"Oh." Rad rubbed the back of his neck. "Sure, and I was just...getting a new pencil."

"Seriously? You could have just got one from the teacher." Carlos said.

Rad shrugged. "Just didn't think about then." He quickly changed the subject. "Come on, I'm starving. I wanna dig into my lunch."

"What'd you bring?" Carlos asked.

"Oh, just a sandwich and a juice box. Nothing special." Rad replied. They made their way to the corner, and Rad's mind drifted to how he could get Kero to finally get the Autobots in on the secret. Slowly, his gaze drifted to his friends, and he began to smile. 'I think I know how.' He thought. "Hey, do you both want to know a secret?"

Carlos grinned. "What kind of secret?"

Alexis raised a brow. "You have secrets?"

Rad huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I was going to say that-"

"Take this, tattletales!"

Rad screeched, a chill falling over him as a balloon burst against his head, syrup gumming his hair and seeping into his shirt. Alexis and Carlos shrieked as well, while the former's face flushed deep red.

"You rotten jerks!"

Rad glared at Sid and Seth. "What's your problem?"

Sid glared at him. "You told the teacher on us, and we got detention for a week!"

"You think we're not going to now?" Carlos retorted.

Seth smirked. "Go ahead, nothing more than a detention is all we'll get."

Alexis scowled at him, her eyes like steel. "We'll see about that. I'll take this to the principal!"

Sid sneered. "Go ahead, my parents will just throw another donation at him." He laughed as he and Seth walked off.

"Those guys think they can just get away with this?!" Carlos snapped. "I'm with you Alexis, let's go!"

Alexis nodded, and shoved her bag into Rad's hands. "Clean this please, we're going to the office." The blond blinked, and hurried to catch Carlos' bag as well.

"I'll owe you one, man!" he called as he followed Alexis storming down the hall.

Rad looked down at the bags, and sighed as he made his way to the bathroom. This too was unfortunately familiar. Just the timing of it seemed off. 'This sucks.' He thought and set his friends bags down and unshouldered his own to set beside them. Rad washed his hands first and wiped as much syrup off himself just so more didn't mess up his work.

His key thudded against his chest as it fell out from his shirt. Rad eyed it and his bag thoughtfully, and smiled as he fished the Sakura Book out of it, and found Bubbles' card. "Key-" Rad stopped as he heard shoes clacking against the floor, and slipped Bubbles into his pocket, but his stomach dropped as Sid and Seth came waltzing in. "Isn't it stupid of you to come back to the scene of the crime?"

Sid sneered at him again. "Where are your loser friends? They decide to ditch you?"

Rad glared at him. "If you haven't noticed, our things are ruined no thanks to you two."

"Check this out, it's that teacher's pet's diary!" Seth said, catching Rad's attention as his eyes widened when the taller boy waved the book.

"Put that down, it's not yours!" Rad snapped. He lunged to grab it, but Sid shoved him onto the floor. His backside hurt from the impact, but his heart raced as the two bullies began running out of the bathroom with Alexis' journal. 'I can't let them have it read on the announcements.'

He didn't know where that thought came from, but it angered him all the same to know they'd likely done it in the previous timeline. "Release!" Rad held out his key and it changed into its staff form. The blond dug pulled the Sakura Book from his bag and fished one of the cards from it.

It was Dash. 'Good as any of them.' Rad thought, and tossed the card into the air before pointing at it. "Lend me your speed, Dash!" The spirit appeared before him before bumping its head against his shoes and disappearing. The blond felt a rush go up his legs, and Rad sped out of the bathroom so fast everything around him as a blur.

The two bullies though were close in sight, and Rad narrowed his eyes as he muscled against Seth and pulled the book from his hands and speeding back around.

"What the heck was that?!" Seth squawked. "It's like that freaky stuff which happened in detention!"

"You idiot, none of that happened!" Sid retorted, and shoved his shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"This place is haunted!" Seth added as he and Sid took off.

Rad breathed a sigh of relief as he checked to make sure Alexis' journal hadn't been damaged. "Looks good." He said to himself and shrank the key. The spirit formed back into its animal form and Rad knelt down to pet its head. "Thanks for your help." Dash purred and nuzzled his hand before turning back into a card and Rad pocketed it.

"Now, to clean up the bags-"

"What are you doing with that!?" Rad jumped as he looked up, and Alexis looked at him as she just turned the corner. Her expression was angry and hurt, and Rad realized what she thought.

The blond held out his hands. "No, it's what it looks like!"

"I can't believe you were trying to steal my diary!" Alexis stormed up to him and Rad didn't resist as she wrenched it from his hands. She looked ready to smack him with it too, but instead held it against her chest. "I can't believe you would do this. Everything is in here, my hopes, my dreams, my cru-" she stopped, her face going red, but it wasn't from anger.

Rad wasn't sure what it was from. "Seth and Sid came back, and I grabbed it from them after stole it."

"Just now?" Alexis asked dubiously.

Carlos came rushing up around the corner. "Hey, what's with all the yelling?"

"Rad tried to steal my journal and made up a story about those two jerks coming back." Alexis said.

Carlos looked at Rad crossly. "You did that? Not cool, looking through someone's stuff isn't right."

"I wasn't looking through her stuff, I'm telling the truth!" Rad shouted.

"Then why didn't we see them?" Alexis shot back.

"I snagged the diary from them and they ran off." Rad explained.

"Without being seen? I find that highly unlikely." Alexis retorted.

"They didn't see me because….because…" Rad faltered, looking into his friends' faces and he realized he couldn't keep it from them anymore, "because they didn't see me. I was moving too fast for it."

"Too fast? Who do you think you are, the Flash?" Carlos asked sarcastically.

Rad nodded. "Just like that." He said. "I haven't told you this, but I have magic powers."

Carlos looked at him incredulously, while Alexis' face went redder, and this time it was from anger.

"Of all the excuses you've ever made, how can you be so childish?" she snapped. The brunette stormed past him. "I can't take it; you try to steal from me and now you're lying about it to my face-don't bother talking to my anymore, Rad."

Rad's chest tightened, tears stinging his eyes. "Alexis-"

"I said don't talk to me!" she snapped. "Don't talk to me, don't even look at me. I can't be friends with someone like you!"

The blond watched her go, his throat constricting as he fought to keep the tears from falling. He looked to his other friend. "Carlos? Y-you believe me, right?"

Carlos' expression was conflicted. "How can I believe you when it sounds like you're covering up what you did?" Rad jerked back like it was a physical blow. The other boy shook his head. "I can't do this either, sorry."

Rad was stock still, not moving an inch to call back to Carlos and Alexis. He stared ahead into open-space, and finally let the tears fall.


Hot Shot found Optimus in the training room, and stood to the side as the Autobot leader managed to hit most of the target boards moving along the opposite wall. "Sir?"

The Autobot looked over, and he lowered his arm as his blaster deactivated. "Yes, Hot Shot?"

"There was something I wanted to ask you; have you…" The yellow mech faltered, but vented and continued, "have you noticed something strange going on? As though you swear something happened but then think it hadn't?"

Optimus studied him for a long while, then he looked down. "Yes, and while I should not be telling you this, I need to make sense of it." He said. "The oddest thing happened when I woke this morning, Red Alert was in my berth."

Hot Shot's face heated. "Oh," his vents cleared, "but aren't you two…" he hesitated this time, because though it was always implied, no one had yet to say it so bluntly, "together? Why is it strange? I thought it would have been common place."

Optimus looked at him for another long time, because he knew it would mean confirming the rumor. "Yes, we are." He said heavily. "The strange thing was I heard Red Alert saying he would be working in the lab and unable to come back to my quarters."

Hot Shot grimaced, because that did feel familiar, and he hoped he hadn't overheard anything else that was private. "I'm sorry to say this, but isn't it possible you misremembered?"

"I would, were it not for the fact Red Alert was just as confused and wore he went into recharge in the lab." Optimus said.

"I think something's happening…" Hot Shot said cautiously. "Could it have something to do with those energy signatures? Its already kind of a given they're not normal in any way."

Optimus vented heavily. "Perhaps it something to do with it."

"It gets much stranger then that." Maya said appearing in front of them.

Optimus' posture straightened, holding himself as a leader once more now that there was an inkling of something unnatural going on. "How so?"

"When I tried to jog Red Alert's memory banks, since he was frustrated by the déjà vu feeling, I tried to show him things from the human Internet, but I found there truly was a discrepancy in the terminal hard drive." Maya recited, and held up her hand as a screenshot of two time stamps appeared. "Everything in the base is clocked at midnight for resetting, but it happened on Friday at midnight."

"So how could this happen if the night hasn't come yet." It was less a question, and more of a statement Optimus uttered. "Have you found anything else?"

"Red Alert is looking for evidence time really is repeating itself when I came to show you this." Maya explained.

"Maybe Red Alert found something by now?" Hot Shot suggested, and Maya raised a brow. "Hey, I might have my differences with him, but he's efficient at least. Wouldn't surprise me."

Optimus shook his helm. "Let us go see then." He said, and Hot Shot followed after him to the command center, Maya having vanished and reappeared in the same room a moment later. Red Alert furiously worked on bringing up different reports and time stamps, the frown on his face deepening by the moment. "What troubles you?"

Red Alert stiffened, but relaxed when he saw Optimus. "It's the more I look into the rest of the systems, the more nothing makes sense. The internal hard drive is registering that it should be Saturday, but our clocks say it's still Friday." He let out a frustrated vent. "It looks like it might be the result of these strange energy beings."

"You think Kero knows what's going on?" Hot Shot whispered to Maya.

The girl nodded. "We need to contact Rad."

"What was that?" Hot Shot jumped and whirled around to find Sideways standing behind him. "Who's Kero? And why would it or Rad know what's going on?"

The yellow mech grimaced as he saw that it got Optimus and Red Alert's attention. 'Scrap, did you have to talk so loud, Sideways?' he thought. "It's…nothing." He said lamely.

Whatever Optimus or Red Alert was going to say was cut off by the sound of the mini-con alarm blaring overhead.

"Guess we gotta go find the new mini." Hot Shot tried not to sound relieved.

"Optimus, permission to stay behind and continue analyzing both the video and finding evidence for this occurrence?" Red Alert questioned, but he still gave Hot Shot a look that said this wasn't over.

The red and blue bot nodded. "Permission granted." He said, and grabbed the medic's shoulder. "And I would not want you in the field anyway given Megatron's current hostility towards you."

"I am capable of protecting myself." Red Alert said stiffly, but smiled faintly as he placed his own servo over Optimus' briefly. "Though your concern does warm my spark – there it is again. That strange feeling we've been through this."

"Then I suppose we should move ahead." Optimus said before squeezing the medic's shoulder and letting go.

Hot Shot left for the warp gate, but when he neared the room, he stopped when he spotted the three Star Saber mini-cons come rushing around the corner to stop by his side. The yellow mech blinked as he noticed an orange-pink mini-con peering around the same corner, another feeling of déjà vu coming over him. "Jolt?"

"Hey," the mini-con beeped sheepishly, but let out a startled squawk as High Wire shoved him into the open, gesturing from him to Hot Shot, "I'm getting there!" he shouted at the gray-blue mini before looking up at the yellow bot. "Can…can I go with you this time?"

Hot Shot's grimaced. "Not-" He stopped, because he got a flash of a downtrodden Jolt, and his spark twisted. "Well…I suppose we can't get along again it we don't work together."

Jolt straightened up, clasping his servos. "Really?" he asked excitedly. When Hot Shot nodded, the orange-pink mini-con ran up and hugged his leg. "Thank you so much!"

Hot Shot ducked under the glances from Optimus and the snickering from a newly arrived Smokescreen. "It's nothing." He tried to downplay it, but he couldn't deny he missed Jolt either.


On the moon, a furious yell rang throughout the broken base. Inside, Megatron was tearing away pieces of metal scrap, causing the Decepticon mini-cons to shriek and run to their respective partners. Crumplezone though climbed over a recharging Cyclonus, who was sleeping on a berth at the back of the room and hid on his other side. Grid though did his best to avoid Starscream and made a break for the hall.

"Stop trying to run away!" Starscream snapped as he swept up the red mini-con, who beeped something distinctly rude at him.

"Quit your yammering!" Megatron snarled, because the snoring of Cyclonus wasn't helping improve his mood. "Where is that mini-con we captured?"

From leaning against the wall, Scavenger glanced over at the terminal as a blip showed up. He narrowed his optics as he walked over and found to his surprise that it was in the same location as the previous sol. "Perhaps you missed it, since it appears to still be on Earth."

Megatron whirled around. "What?" he stormed towards the terminal and both Demolishor and Starscream stepped out of his way. He glared at Scavenger. "And it's we missed it, or have you thought to abandon me as well?" he asked mockingly.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Scavenger drawled.

Megatron's glare intensified before he scowled and turned his glare to the terminal. He brought up the map and to his fury found that it was true. Somehow the mini-con had managed to wind up back on that accursed planet. "Looks like we'll need to get that mini-con again."


Rad was so out it through the afternoon, that when he dazedly walked down the sidewalk, he blinked as he realized he stopped at Rachel's apartment. 'Right, I'm staying with my aunt and uncle for the weekend.' He thought, but also remembered Kero still needed to be picked up.

The blond walked inside the building, his chest tightening as he did so and knew he wouldn't be able to live here by himself. It was going to be so strange and wrong to be in the apartment and know Rachel wasn't there. After getting off the elevator, Rad pulled the key out of then flower pot and opened the door. "Kero?"

The guardian came floating out of the hall, hands on his hips. "If you think for a second I'm actually-" he stopped, and Rad leaned back as Kero frowned. "What happened?" he asked, taking in the faint redness around Rad's eyes and the parts of tear tracks he'd been unable to wipe.

Rad looked away, shame filling him even before he admitted what he'd done. "I told Alexis and Carlos about magic."

"You did what?!" Kero shouted. "What we you thinking? Why would you do this?"

"Bullies pelted us with syrup and I had to wait my whole lunch period before my aunt came by and dropped off my new clothes." Rad replied, his voice listless. "They tried to steal Alexis' diary and I had to use Dash to get it back. Then she and Carlos just missed them and didn't believe me when I told them what happened; they thought I was lying."

"So you thought it was a good idea to tell them about magic?!" Kero asked.

Rad glared at him. "It just slipped out; I was tired of keeping this from them and didn't want any secrets anymore." He hissed and tears stung his eyes again. "Well it looks like you were right! They didn't believe me and I have no friends anymore. Why was I dumb enough to think my friends would believe me about this?"

Kero stared at him, his expression conflicted. What he said though, Rad didn't understand if it was out of pity of empathy, but it made him pay attention. "The…previous Cardcaptor. She…has a friend she told about magic. I'll admit I'm more hesitant about sharing such secrets now, because then the circumstance had been different, but if you really want to get everything out-I'll," he grimaced, "talk to your tin cans."

Rad's eyes widened. Not only had Kero offered information about his predecessor, but he had just given into telling the Autobots He could guess the reasoning though, and he sniffled. "Am I really so pathetic you're only doing this because you feel sorry for me?"

Kero flew forward, using the tip of his hands to wipe away the tears which managed to fall from Rad's cheeks. "I thought you could handle this by yourself, but while I don't like it, I can accept when I'm wrong. And besides, even if those other mecha can't handle it, we'll just tell them it was my fault for keeping it a secret."

"You were the one who didn't want me to say anything to them." Rad muttered, but just like with Hot Shot couldn't deny he had been complicit. "If I'm going to lose the rest of my friends, let's go get this over with."


It was dark when they reached the destination and began their search, optics needing to adjust to the pitch blackness around them. Hot Shot thought of how it remined him of Cybertron's night, but that only came with a sense of déjà vu again. 'Even the mini-cons are effected?' Though he realized what a poor choice of words those were when he remembered Maya's story. 'Of course they would be.'

With the Star Saber deactivated and leaning against one shoulder, Hot Shot let Jolt sit on his other one, his servos gripping him tight to stay put. He blinked though as headlights flooded the area, and glanced at Optimus. "Sir, what about the Decept-frag, we already went over this, didn't we?"

"If that is the case, I will paraphrase: do not step on the mini-con." Optimus said firmly.

Hot Shot glanced back as Sideways and Smokescreen turned on their lights before following suit. His gaze turned to the blade in his hand, and for a moment he thought of how Sword wasn't with him-how without the spirit Scavenger had beaten him. He found himself…feeling lesser without it.

Hot Shot shook his helm. 'No, I don't need enhancements to deal with this.'

"Optimus," Smokescreen called, "if we've really gone through the same day over again," he said it with humor, just to offset how truly unnerving the idea was, "don't you think its fair we switch out when we get back to base? My processor has to be twice as drained with all that non-tracking of the organic."

Optimus shook his head, his voice tinged with faint amusement. "Very well; time for a roster change. Any volunteers?"

Hot Shot hemmed and hawed, thinking of an excuse he used in another timeline. To his surprise, Sideways spoke up, "I will, sir. I don't mind."

Optimus nodded, and looked back ahead.

Hot Shot narrowed his optics at Sideways. "You sure? Nothing isn't being jogged about it? You might have already done it."

The other mech shrugged. "I don't mind." He repeated. "I think learning about these energy beings is the best way understand more about them. Unless of course you'd like to take over."

Hot Shot grimaced. "Uh, no thanks." He paused as rustling of leaves caught his attention, and his headlights flooded the area. His optics caught a glimpse of blue, and hurried after it as it made a break through the trees. "Hey, wait! We're not here to hurt you! Don't you remember we did this already?"

Shrill beeping answered him, angrier than his vague memory implied.

It made Jolt shake his fist. "How dare you, Fetch! Take back what you said, rustbucket!"

'Fetch' shot something back that made Jolt spit static.

"I take it they're not gonna make this easy, are they?" Hot Shot asked dryly.

Jolt shook his head. "He's not; he nor his teammates were exactly friendly with anyone but each other-and even then I suspect it was because they all had blackmail on each other."

"Such a nice team dynamic." Hot Shot said wryly, but hurried after the mini-con running quicker on his pedes. "I don't think saying we're the good guys is going to help, is it?" Hot Shot called, but the beeping he received sounded distinctly rude. "I'm guessing that wasn't very nice."

"Not even close." Jolt beeped. "Want me to go after him?"

"Yes please." Hot Shot said, and his mini-con partner jumped off his shoulder before transforming and flying through the trees after 'Fetch.' He turned on his . "Maya, can you see where this little punk is with Laserbeak?"

"No, it's too dark and the mini-con is too small for Laserbeak's optical set-wait." Maya cut herself off, and her tone raised a little. "Be careful, I can see the Decepticons just south of you."

"Mechs, cut your lights." Optimus said, and the rest followed suit as he doused his headlights.

As if on cue, the clouds covering the moon floated away and bathed the murky forest in a bright cast. "That's just our luck." Smokescreen muttered.

Hot Shot grimaced, because he too could see the shapes of the Decepticons in the distance and he eerie familiarity of what was happening. Overhead he could hear an engine roar and the chop chop of rotor blades.

Shrill beeping drew his attention, and Hot Shot saw Jolt had managed to tackle Fetch and was wrestling him to keep him from running off.

"Quit calling me that! You'd be scrap if the Decepticons got you! Please calm down!" Jolt shouted, but he flinched as an elbow got him on the shoulder though he didn't let go.

Sideways hurried over to the mini-cons. "Need some help?" he knelt and Jolt shoved Fetch into his servos, where he wriggled in his servos, slamming a fist onto his digits. "Got him!"

"Hey, keep your voice down-" Smokescreen was interrupted with laser fire, shots striking the ground and trees around them. "Looks like its too dark for them to get a shot in either."

A shot nearly hit Sideways' pede though, and he went careening back, knocking against a tree as his servo flailed. Hot Shot moved, lunging to steady the other mech before his servo could slip open. "Still got it."

"Let's get back to base then, we have secured the mini-con." Optimus said.

Hot Shot didn't argue as he waited for Jolt to grab his leg before warping back to base. Once back to the bright lights of the warp gate room, Hot Shot pumped his fist into the air. "Yes! Crisis averted!"

"That did feel as though we would have had a different outcome." Optimus said.

Sideways looked away. "I almost lost him."

Smokescreen bumped his shoulder. "We all make mistakes, don't beat yourself up over it."

Hot Shot was about to reply as well, but blinked as Fetch finally slipped from Sideways' servo and shook his fist at them before taking off. "Uh, should we follow him?"

"Maya, can you make sure our guest does not hurt himself in trying to hurt our equipment?" Optimus asked.

"Yes, I will." Maya replied evenly, though her voice cracked. "And how are you faring; Jetstorm, Sonar, and Runway?"

The three mini-cons in question muttered something under their breath before leaving and not further acknowledging Maya had spoken.

Hot Shot winced. "I think I'd take angry over this."

"It's not as though its underserved." Maya replied. "I have a lot to make up for them, and I do not think the shield mini-cons will like that I'm around either."

Hot Shot blinked. "The what?"

"Shield?" Optimus questioned. "Would you mean the-"

"Rad, what are you doing here?" Sideways asked abruptly, glancing over at the entrance.

Hot Shot saw the blond looking around the corner hesitantly, his expression nervous. He wondered why, but as Rad stepped into full view, in his arms was Kero. Slowly he realized what was happening.

"I…" Rad bit his lip, glancing at them all before taking a deep breath, "we have something to tell you."

He opened his arms, and Kero floated up to his shoulder. "I am Kerberos, Beast of the Seal, and those beings you've encountered are spirits called Sakura Cards…"