This chapter starts out with a flashback. Keep in mind that this story takes place in Cybertron so it has the Cybertron characters. Oh, and to clear up a couple things, the TFs are in their third year of school, which is equivalent to third grade. And energon-pops are the equivalent of lollipops/suckers. Merry Christmas by the way, I hope you guys enjoy this!

1. Of Dodge Ball and Energon-Pops

"Class, we have a new student with us, her name is Megabyte. Please be nice to her and help her feel comfortable at this new school."

Megatron watched from his seat as a femme peeked out from behind the teacher's leg. He stared at her for a moment before allowing a small huff of air to pass his lips as he returned his attention to his desk.

"Now Megabyte," the teacher spoke looking down at the young femme, "Since we sit in alphabetical order in this class, you will sit next to Megatron."

Megatron looked up at the mentioning of his name and met the teacher's gaze. The teacher smiled and said, "Megatron, be nice to her."

The young mech groaned, "Only if she is nice to me."

Megabyte looked at him with a worried expression on her face, but after a few quick moments it faded away and she went over to Megatron, taking a seat beside him. She didn't say a word to him and he glanced at her from time to time out of the corner of his optic.

The teacher, Scavenger, went on with a lecture about Cybertron's history, talking about the High Commander and how the system of government worked. When the lecture finished, Scavenger dismissed the class, allowing them to go outside and play. Before Megatron could leave though, Scavenger pulled him aside and said as the rest of the students filed out of the room, "Megatron, I would like it if you explained the rules to Megabyte and show her around too so she won't get lost."

"Scavenger, how am I going to be a warrior-bot if I have to cart some useless femme around?"

Scavenger gave him a stern look, "Femmes are not useless. Now go run along and help Megabyte settle in."

Megatron sighed heavily, "Fine." And he went outside to catch up with the rest of the kids. Almost immediately a couple of his closest buddies approached him.

"So, what did Scavenger want?" asked Starscream.

"He wants me to explain the rules to Megabyte and stuff."

"I would stay away from her," Thundercracker stated, "I mean, she is from another school, and she is a femme. She probably has cooties."

Both Megatron and Starscream shivered. Then Starscream chuckled, "And you have to sit next to her Megatron."

The young mech growled, "Don't rub it in Starscream. Where is she anyway? The sooner I get this over with, the better."

Starscream's optics widened, "You're going to talk to her? She might give you her cooties! You don't want that do you? You'll probably turn pink and the next thing you'll want is a doll…"

Thundercracker started laughing, "Megatron as a fembot! We could call him Meggietron!"

Starscream started laughing now, "Or Megatronia."

Megatron gave them each a playful slap, "Knock it off guys. It takes a real mech to walk up to a girl with cooties."

Thundercracker was still laughing, "If you say so. We'll catch you later Megatron…just make sure you're cootie free when you get back to us."

"Yeah, we don't want to turn into fembots ourselves," Starscream added with a smirk before he and Thundercracker left to join the game of dodge ball that was going on.

Megatron watched them run off, he wished he could join them, but he didn't want to get on Scavenger's bad side, so he went to the playground and began looking around for Megabyte. He found her sitting on top of the jungle gym watching the game of dodge ball that was being played. Groaning, he climbed up to the top of the jungle gym himself. Megabyte saw him coming and moved over a bit so he could sit next to her. Megatron hesitated before he accepted the seat.

"Megatron, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, look I really want to go play dodge ball with Thundercracker and Starscream, but Scavenger wants me to explain the rules to you."

Megabyte noticed he was teetering on the edge of the jungle gym. She narrowed her optics at him, "You know, you can sit a little closer to me. I don't have cooties."

"Of course you do, you're a girl."

"Well then you have them too because you're a guy."

"I do not."

"Then I don't have them either."

Megatron looked at her scrupulously, "Do you know the rules?"

"This isn't my first time to school, I've been to others. I'm guessing the rules are pretty much the same at every school. No pushing, no shoving, no name calling, respect your elders, don't bring weapons to school, don't steal, and yeah."

"Okay then, I'm going to go play dodge ball." And he started climbing down the jungle gym.

"Hey wait up, I'm going with you," she called, climbing down the jungle gym herself.

He looked at her like she was insane, "What femme plays dodge ball? Dodge ball is a mechs sport!"

"Is there a rule that says I can't play?"

He grinned evilly, "Yes."

"Liar. I'm playing anyway."

He began to pout, "You can't play!"

"And why not?"

"You're probably no good."

Megabyte crossed her arms, "I will take on you and those two other mechs you mentioned, Thunderscream and Starcracker."

"That's Thundercracker and Starscream."

"Whatever."

"Alright, fine. If you can beat us, then you can play dodge ball with the rest of us mechs."

"Let's go play then."

Megatron started walking over to the group playing dodge ball and Megabyte followed him. As he approached, both captains on each side began yelling, "Megatron's coming, let's start a new game."

Everyone agreed and both teams disbanded as Megatron reached them. They saw Megabyte behind him and Starscream looked at him confused, "Megatron, Miss Cooties followed you back here."

"I know," he said, "She thinks she can play dodge ball. Starscream, Thundercracker, we're going to play against her and if she is somehow able to beat us, then she can play with us. But if she can't, she has to go back to the playground where the femmes belong."

Starscream and Thundercracker agreed and both teams took their sides. Megatron grinned, "Team Megatron versus Team Megabyte. You can go first Megabyte; you're going to need all the shots you can get."

Megabyte picked up the ball just as a small crowd began to gather around the two teams about to play dodge ball. The femme shook her head, "You go first." And she rolled the ball over to Megatron's side.

Megatron picked up the ball and said with a smirk, "Well, if you insist." And he fired the ball in Megabyte's direction.

The crowd gasped as she dodged the ball.

Megatron was left in disbelief, "What! Nobody has ever dodged my shots before!"

Megabyte simply smiled as she picked up the ball and selected her target. She threw it at Thundercracker, who was so dazzled; he didn't even stand a chance. The ball bounced off his abdomen and he was out.

Both Starscream and Megatron watched in a bit of shock as their teammate walked off the field. "Megatron, let me throw it this time," Starscream said and Megatron handed him the ball. Starscream threw it and his jaw dropped when he saw Megabyte catch it.

"Out!" she called and looked smugly at Megatron.

Starscream growled as he walked off the field. Megatron prepared himself for the worst. There was no way he was going to lose this game, this game had always been his sport, he had always been the best at it, there was no way he was going to let some stupid femme come in and take that title away from him.

SPLAT!

Megatron couldn't comprehend what had happened, one second he was staring Megabyte down, the next second he was lying flat on his back on the ground, the ball beside him, his face stinging as if he had just been slapped.

"I win," Megabyte said.

And then the young mech understood what had happened. He sat up, a slight blush of embarrassment and humiliation on his face. Megabyte walked over to him and offered him her hand. He looked up at her, "What's that for?"

"I'm just trying to be nice and help you up. You know…no hard feelings?"

"Right…no hard feelings," he said as he took her hand and yanked her down to the ground next to him. He rolled on top of her and went to pin her when he heard Starscream shout, "Ew! You're getting yourself covered in cooties!"

Megatron groaned and moved away from the femme. He stood and said, "I want a rematch."

"You can get your rematch some other time," Megabyte said as she stood up, "I'm sure other people besides yourself want to play dodge ball right now."

"Alright," he said, "I'm captain, who else calls captain?"

"I do," spoke another mech.

"Okay, me and Optimus are captains. I pick first."

Optimus crossed his arms, "You always pick first."

"What's it to you?" Megatron asked with a sneer on his face, "My name comes before yours in the alphabet anyway."

Optimus made as if he rolled his optics and Megatron continued, "I pick Starscream."

"Okay then," said Optimus, "I pick Megabyte."

"Thundercracker," said Megatron.

"Landmine."

"Sideways."

"Wing-Saber."

"Soundwave."

"Jetfire."

"Alright, that's the teams. My team gets the ball first."

Optimus shook his head and decided not to argue. Megatron selected his first target, Megabyte, and fired the ball. He felt anger prick through his circuits as he watched her catch the ball. His team went on to lose the game.

Once the game was over, Megatron immediately called another rematch. The rematch was accepted, but the results were the same. Megatron called another rematch, but it proved to be just as futile as the first two attempts. His team just couldn't win with Megabyte on Optimus' side. And Starscream brought this to Megatron's attention, "Megatron, we need Megabyte on our team. We suck without her."

Megatron growled, "No! I will beat her! She's just a stupid femme."

Thundercracker shrugged, "I call captain."

Megabyte grinned, "I call captain too."

"What? The only reason why I called captain was to pick you on my team!" Thundercracker said disgruntled.

Megabyte shrugged, "You can pick first."

"Alright, I pick Starscream."

"Megatron."

Thundercracker groaned, "This isn't fair!"

"You can have everybody else on your team then. It'll just be me and Megatron against the rest of you guys."

The blue mech thought about it, "Well, okay. But we get to go first."

"Okay."

Megatron sighed heavily and dismally walked over to Megabyte's team. He didn't see how they would possibly win against everybody else, but he was sick of losing. The ball was fired in his direction and he quickly caught it. Landmine had thrown it and was now out. Megatron grinned and whirled the ball back at the other team. Sideways tried to catch it but failed to do so…so he was out. Soundwave then picked up the ball and threw it.

"I got it," Megabyte called and Megatron backed off as she caught the ball.

Soundwave walked off the field. It wasn't long until only Optimus was left standing on the other field. Megatron had the ball and he whipped it at his opponent. Optimus tried to dodge it, but was unable to do so.

"Yes!" Megatron cheered as he gave Megabyte a high-five. He was just about to call another game of just him and Megabyte versus everybody else when Scavenger called them back inside for the next lecture.

The young mech groaned as he went back inside with the rest of the class for the next lecture.

"She had always been a smart femme." Megatron thought as he felt his stupid drone known as nothing but Medic inject a sedative into his arm. The Decepticon leader had never been one for receiving shots, but he figured whatever worked to eliminate the pain he was in now, so be it. Just so long as it wasn't death.

He and Megabyte had been the best dodge ball team in the grade. Nobody could beat them, sure a few teams like Optimus and Jetfire had come close, but they had never been able to win. Dodge ball was the life of the third year students at the Academy. Megabyte paved the way for other femmes to play, and as Megatron reflected on his past, he couldn't believe how sexist he was. Primus had he changed since then, Megabyte had shown him everything…

"Megatron, are you still awake?"

"What is it Thundercracker?"

"What do you want me to tell the other Decepticons sir?"

Megatron could feel the sedative start working and he wasn't exactly sure what to say. Half his body wanted to sleep while the other half wished he wasn't in this situation. "Just tell them I'm out of commission temporarily. I'll be back in a couple of days."

Medic snorted, "A couple of days? More like a couple of weeks!"

Megatron shot him an irritated look, "Just shut up and start fixing me."

"You do realize that at some point I'm going to need an assistant? Someone to take care of you while I remake your missing limbs."

Megatron offlined his optics, "How about a nice Megabyte? I could use a nice Megabyte right about now."

Medic shook his head knowing that the sedative was making the Decepticon leader loopy, "Care to tell me where I could find a nice Megabyte?"

"Just look around, she's the prettiest femme you ever did and ever will see…send her to me when you find her, her and I have a lot of catching up to do…" And he fell into a deep recharge.

Medic looked to Thundercracker, "Who's this Megabyte he's referring to?"

"Just an old childhood friend."

Megatron could not wait for Scavenger to dismiss the class so he could go out and play dodge ball with Megabyte. She and he had become quite the team. Everyday more and more people faced them, but nobody could beat them. They were unstoppable! Heck, if Cybertron were controlled by some dodge ball king, they would have overpowered him long before now.

Fifteen more minutes went by before Scavenger finally dismissed the class in order to prepare for the next lecture. Once outside of the classroom, Megatron immediately caught up with Megabyte. "Hey," he said elbowing her playfully, "You ready to play?"

She looked at him before looking back towards the playground, "I don't feel like playing today."

"Why not? We play dodge ball everyday and win, there's no reason not to play."

Megabyte sighed, "If you don't mind, I think I'll just watch."

And she started walking to the swings. Megatron watched her walk away and then looked to the dodge ball field. Starscream and Thundercracker were waiting for him. "Come on," Thundercracker called, "We don't have all day."

"Yeah, are you coming or not?" Starscream questioned.

Megatron looked back in Megabyte's direction before he tossed them the dodge ball and said, "I'll be there in a minute. Just start without me."

"What about Megabyte?" wondered Starscream.

"Just start, we'll be there in a few minutes."

"Whatever."

Megatron listened as the captains identified themselves and then he went off to get Megabyte. The young mech went over to the swings first since she had been heading in that direction; he found her on the last swing just sitting there, she wasn't even swinging. She was just gazing off into some unknown memory that he couldn't see. Megatron hesitated before he approached her. He took a seat on the empty swing beside her and asked gently, "Why don't you feel like playing?"

"I just don't," she mumbled, "You can go play; you don't need me to win."

"I thought you liked playing though."

"I do like playing; I just don't want to play today."

"Come on Megabyte, dodge ball isn't any fun without you. How is our team supposed to win when we're down a member?"

"Just replace me, ask Thundercracker or Starscream."

"They're not as good as you though."

She sighed heavily and didn't say anything. Megatron proceeded to look her over, trying to piece together just why she wouldn't want to play. And then he noticed something on her side, "Megabyte…you're bleeding."

Her optics flashed with alarm as she quickly put a hand over the cut on her side, "Oh…it's uh, it's nothing."

Megatron gave her a skeptical look, "Sure…come on, I'll go with you to the nurse. She's a nice bot, besides; I heard a rumor that she started giving away candy."

Megabyte's optics brightened, "What kind of candy?"

The mech shrugged, "I don't know for sure, but let's go find out."

"Okay."

They then went and told the playground monitor they were going to see the nurse, and she gave them the okay after she saw Megabyte's cut. Megabyte had to follow Megatron because she wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but it wasn't long before they arrived to the nurse's office. Megabyte walked in first, shyly, not sure what to say or to do, and Megatron walked in behind her. Megatron showed her where to sit and then sat down next to her. The nurse looked up from her desk and smiled at them, "Hello Megatron, who is this friend of yours?"

"I'm Megabyte," replied the femme.

"It's nice to meet you Megabyte. What brings you two here?"

"She has a cut," Megatron said bluntly, pointing to his friend's side.

The nurse got up from behind her desk and walked over to Megabyte. Without being asked, Megabyte turned so that the nurse could see where the cut was. The nurse looked alarmed by it, "Megabyte, that's quite a cut. How did you get it?"

"My daddy…" she trailed off.

"Your dad? Did he hit you?"

She shook her head quickly, her face flustered, "No, my daddy dropped me off at school this morning and I tripped and landed on something sharp."

"Oh…well, let me fix you up okay?"

"Okay," replied Megabyte and she watched as the nurse went into a different room to get something.

Megatron looked at Megabyte quizzically, "What did you land on?"

"Some really sharp piece of metal," Megabyte answered, her face still flustered. She quickly diverted attention away from herself by asking, "How did the nurse know your name?"

"I used to come here a lot. I was the new kid here last year and people picked on me and bullied me and stuff," Megatron explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I made friends," he said and then stood up on the chair and looked at the nurse's desk, "Hey, she's got a whole stash of energon-pops on her desk."

"Take some before she gets back."

Megatron immediately reached onto her desk and grabbed a handful of the candies. He placed them in his subspace and grabbed a couple more handfuls. The dish of energon-pops was almost empty by the time Megabyte whispered the nurse was coming back and Megatron quickly returned to his seat.

The nurse then instructed Megabyte to show her the cut again and the young femme did. The nurse then proceeded to solder the cut, repairing her damaged wires and closing the wound. Afterwards Megabyte gave the nurse a nasty look and said, "That hurt."

"I know, I apologize. How would you like an energon-pop?"

Megabyte grinned, "Okay, just as long as Megatron gets one too."

The nurse looked at the dish she had the energon-pops in, "Oh my…huh, I must have forgotten to refill the dish this morning. It looks like you two got lucky since I only have two left."

Both Megabyte and Megatron were grinning as they were handed their energon-pops and left the nurse's office. Once out of hearing range of the nurse's office, Megatron chuckled and said, "We got away with the whole loot!"

Megabyte grinned, "Yeah we did. You do plan on sharing them right?"

"Yeah, when we get back to the playground we'll each take half."

"What happens if we have an odd number of energon-pops though?"

"We will get the odd one wet and put it on Optimus' chair in the classroom. It'll stick to his aft all day."

Megabyte chuckled, "Alright, I hope we have an odd number then."

As soon as they got back to the playground, they went to a private area were no one was playing and counted the energon-pops. There was twenty-five. Megatron took one away and both he and Megabyte took twelve of the pops. They stowed them away in their subspaces and when Scavenger called them inside, Megatron quickly undid the wrapper of the extra pop, stuck the pop in a puddle that was next to the playground, and then hurried inside with Megabyte. They managed to get in before Optimus and set the energon-pop on his seat. They bit their bottom lips to keep from chuckling when Optimus sat on it.

Scavenger was giving a math lecture and the class was busily taking notes. Finally, Scavenger wrote a problem on the board and asked, "Would anyone like to come up and solve this?"

Optimus raised his hand.

Scavenger nodded and both Megatron and Megabyte were shaking from trying to suppress their laughter. The energon-pop prank had definitely worked. When the rest of the class started snickering, Megatron and Megabyte finally let their laughter free. Optimus turned from the board to see what was so funny when Starscream laughed, "You got an energon-pop on your…your aft!"

Scavenger tried to quell his own laughter as Optimus growled and pulled the energon-pop off. The teacher went up to him and said, "Optimus, you can go get cleaned up if you like, I will have someone else finish the problem for you."

"Alright," Optimus agreed and left the room, throwing the pop away as he walked out.

As soon he was out of the room, Scavenger quieted the class down and said, "Alright, who was the wise guy who pranked Optimus?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"Nobody is going to leave this room until someone—

Megabyte sighed heavily and raised her hand, "I did it."

Scavenger nodded, "I'll speak to you after class Megabyte." And he went on to finish the problem.

Megatron looked over at Megabyte and whispered, "Why did you do that?"

She shrugged and turned her attention back to Scavenger. It wasn't long before he dismissed class for the day, but he had both Megabyte and Optimus stay after so that he could talk to them. Megatron, wanting to know what would happen, stayed after as well and spied through a window that was in the classroom.

"Hey Megatron, what are you doing?"

Megatron nearly jumped out of his armor, "Be quiet Thundercracker, I'm trying to see what is happening."

"Starscream and me are going to the park. Do you want to come?"

"I'm going to wait for Megabyte; you guys can go on without me."

Starscream approached crossing his arms, "Why do you hang out with her so much?"

Megatron shrugged, "She's fun to hang out with. I'll catch up with you guys later okay?"

Thundercracker and Starscream decided not to wait up for him and headed to the park without him. Megatron watched them go and then he turned his attention back to the window. He saw Scavenger was giving Megabyte some sort of stern lecture, Optimus watching with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. Finally Megabyte looked to Optimus and said something, and when she finished, Scavenger nodded and dismissed both of them.

Megatron immediately abandoned his position at the window and went to the door. The door opened just as he got there and Megabyte walked out first. She saw Megatron and asked, "What are you still doing here? Why didn't you go home?"

"I wanted to know what happened. Did you get in trouble?"

"Not really, I just got warned not to do it again."

"Oh…well, Starscream and Thundercracker are over at the park, want to go play with them?"

Megabyte shook her head, "No, I need to get home."

Megatron nodded, "Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for covering for me by the way."

She smiled, "That's what friends are for, right? See you tomorrow Megatron."

Megatron watched her run off towards her home and he turned to head to the park, but he nearly collided with Optimus. "Watch where you're going," he grumbled.

Optimus glanced at him, "Are you and Megabyte in love?"

Megatron looked at him, "Love is for morons." And he ran off towards the park.

Megatron willed his optics online only to see the med bay was dark. His optics dimmed, creating a soft blue hue in the room as he reflected on Megabyte once again. Some of the pain he had was alleviated, but not all. He sighed heavily knowing that Medic had turned in for the night. Megatron wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but the sedative was still having effects on him.

"There were so many signs! Why couldn't I figure out Megabyte was lying when she told that story about her cut?"

And then a smile covered his frustration as he thought about the prank they had played on Optimus. He could still remember Optimus' face clearly when the Autobot leader asked him if he and Megabyte were in love…and he remembered his answer just as clearly. He wondered if Optimus remembered Megabyte and that day when he had an energon-pop stuck to his aft.

Megatron lightly chuckled, he could really go for an energon-pop right about now…

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I hope the italics didn't bother you too much. I think that's the easiest way to distinguish from the past and present. Let me know what you think, please review! Merry Christmas once again and happy New Year!