(Two days later- Ashley)

I was as far away as I could get but still be close enough if they needed help. I now knew that one of the main reasons Scavenger was on the planet was to try and get me stay with the Autobots. I still couldn't believe that I had almost fallen for it. Prime had probably been hoping that I would get curious about Scavenger once I realized I could read him as easily as I could like the others.

"You are so stupid Ashley." I muttered to myself.

I knew they were watching for me to appear again. The others hadn't really looked for me like Scavenger has. He has made several trips into the forest and each one was in the general location I had hoped to hide myself away in at the time. It was like he was taunting me. It was like he knew the general area of where I was. Either by instinct or skill I didn't know. And he wouldn't say anything or THINK anything. He would just stroll through the forest humming or sometimes being completely silent.

"You won't get me that easily Scavenger." I whisper to the river I was sitting next to.

"Who said anything about getting to you?"

To this day I still don't know how he was able to creep up on me and I am ashamed to admit it. I spun around so fast and my armor flew out so quickly I was probably nothing more then a blur to him. I didn't stop to think or anything. I just gathered the energy I needed and threw it at him. He expertly dodged every shot I had. With every flip or twist he performed the smile on his face would grow. I knew this bastard was enjoying it.

"Face me like a mech or are you really that much of a Con?"

I could see his face darken when he heard my comment. He turned and dug his claws through the dirt and sent a shower of rocks that size of my head. Most I was able to dodge but the ones that got too close I shattered as they went past me. But I wasn't given the chance to rest because once the rocks stopped coming Scavenger himself emerged from the dust and charged me.

"Let's see how good a fighter you are." He smirked.

So he wanted to play? Well if that's what he wanted then he would one. I let my claws spread before shaping this energy into a different shape. I threw the first one and waited five seconds before throwing the second one. Scavenger ducked under both of them while also reaching out with one hand to try and grab me. That was his first mistake. His second one was forgetting about the disks I had thrown. I jumped out of the way as the first one came and cleanly cut through half of his right hand. He screamed with pain and brought the injured hand to his chest right as the second one slammed into his back.

This one brought him to his knees. I stayed a good distance away while watching as he took large intakes of air to try and soothe the pain and cool down his systems. What happened next was something I wasn't expecting. He put both hands on the ground and gripped the earth. Then quick as lightning he raised his hands and released the dirt he had gathered. I wasn't fast enough to escape and closed my eyes.

I thought about jumping into the river to clean my eyes but then I would be vulnerable. My slow thinking is what cost me when I was whacked in the side and flew several feet away and even further away from the river. Even with my eyes closed I felt dizzy. I stopped for a moment to hear nothing but silence around me. I knew the animals had left when we had started our fight but what had me scared a little bit was the fact I couldn't hear Scavenger. I couldn't hear his footsteps or even his systems running. I slowly turned my head in all directions trying to figure out where he was hiding.

I thought about all the lessons and training I had gone through and thought of a way I could find him. I took a deep breath and stood on the balls of my feet. I slowed my breathing down to barely nonexistence and listened. It was a very old trick I had heard of. Once I had pinpointed his location I kept myself from smirking. I could 'feel' him coming closer to me and when he was finally only inches away I sent an energy beam at him.

When I heard him cursing me I ran toward the river. I didn't think as I jumped in and a second later I was out and running deeper into my forest before warping away once I knew he couldn't see me anymore. I needed to make sure he didn't find again before I could my body and my pride.

(At the Autobot base- Optimus)

I was in the command center looking over the files I would be sending back to Cybertron when Scavenger came in looking like he had faced all the Decepticons on his own and knowing him he probably would do that. But he had told me when he left that he would be out looking for Ashley and had said he would engage her in either battle or conversation. By the looks of him it was probably the former.

"I take it your conversation with Ashley didn't go as planned?" I smirked. It wasn't often that Scavenger would be bested in battle. Actually it was quite rare. The last time I remember he had been defeated was by me right before I became Prime.

"Slag off you brat. I am in no mode to play games right now."

"Aw it could've been worst Scavenger."

"There is no way it could've been worst then the way it went Prime."

"There could've been witnesses."

There was a moment of silence as I watched his optics widened while he contemplated what I had said. I turned back to the computer screen to finish my reports. I grinned as Scavenger walked over to sit in the seat next to me. He sighed while leaning back and closing his optics. I patiently waited for him to speak.

"I didn't think it would be this hard. She thinks we're all out to get her now." He groaned.

"Well now you know how I've been feeling. I told you we should've waited longer before confronting her like. There are days that I wake up and have no idea who I'm gonna be battling."

Scavenger looked like he wanted to say more but we were interrupted when Hot Shot came in saying he was ready for his training with Scavenger. He nodded his head with a smile before getting up and leading Hot Shot out of the room. I smiled when I saw the look on Hot Shot's face as Scavenger rubbed his head.

As I turned back to the screens, my optics caught movement on the monitors of the area. On one of the far screens was Ashley. She knew it was there because she was staring straight at it. The look she was giving me made my energon go cold. There was intense hatred and cold anger in that stare. Her look only darkened as she got closer to the camera. Once she was close enough to touch she stopped and continued to glare at it.

I thought my spark had stopped when she reached back and with a snarl, completely shattered the camera. I just stared at the white screen letting my systems go back to running normal before sitting down with a sigh. I now knew that we had royally pissed her off. I had to make sure that none of us would go near her for a while. We'd wait to see if she would come back to us after a while. I knew the only reason she stayed was because she was mainly lonely.

"Hey Optimus. Is everything okay man?"

I turned around to see the kids standing on the walkway. I then remembered that the kids were on vacation and had no school for a week. I also remembered that the kids had their testing done the past week. I had made a deal with them that if they had passed all their tests then we'd take on a little camping trip.

"Do you kids have your test scores with you?"

They all smiled and nodded before digging through their backpacks and pulling out a piece of paper each. They opened them up and held them out for me to see. I took my time looking at them before nodding my head to them.

"Looks like you'll all be going on the trip then."

I smiled as they all cheered and rushed off, no doubt, to find and tell Hot Shot that the trip was on. I chuckled to myself as I watched them leave. It was nice to have younglings around again. My men and I hadn't been around let alone seen a youngling for a number of vorns. My men enjoyed having the kids around just as much as I did.

"I take it by the cheering I heard that we'll be going after all."

I turned to Red Alert and Smokescreen standing in the entrance with matching grins. I nodded my head before looking back at the files I needed to finish before hearing Smokescreen gasp. I turned to see the two of them looking at the white screen of the camera Ashley had destroyed.

"What happened to the camera sir?"

"It probably just fell from its perch. We'll go fix it later. I just need to finish these and send them to Prowl and Ultra Magnus back on Cybertron."

No sooner had I finished speaking that the Minicon alarm went off. I sighed in frustration before closing the files for now and letting the info on the minicon appear. I didn't turn as I heard the kids and Hot Shot come back in. We had just finished getting the coordinates when Scavenger walked in yawning. Smokescreen sent a glare his way before heading to the elevator. Red Alert stayed behind to stay with the kids.

(In the Forest- Ashley)

I kept myself from moving when I felt the Autobots warp away for another fight over a minicon. But I was fighting a losing battle. I couldn't help but feel something was going to happen. As much as I hated them right now I couldn't just abandon them now. I sighed as I felt around for the gate they had used and let it drag me to their position.

I opened my eyes to a snow covered cliff side. I watched from my hiding spot as the Autobots and Decepticons fought each other. I could feel where the minicon was at but made no move to retrieve it. I may have followed them but I wasn't going to do their work for them this time. I knew Red Alert had stayed behind to stay with the kids but the only ones I could see were Prime, Hot Shot and Smokescreen. Scavenger was no where to be seen.

"Where's Scavenger at? Shouldn't he be helping us?" Smokescreen shouted.

Smokescreen was angry and he had every right to be. His teammates needed him and he wasn't anywhere to be seen. It made my blood boil at the thought of him being coward and still being better then me in the art of stealth.

When I looked to Prime and Megatron I knew things were going to get ugly. Without Scavenger to help Optimus was taking a real beating. But then the real nightmare began. Megatron slowly started pushing Optimus towards the cliff. I wished later after the battle that I had been paying attention to the other Decepticons.

"Looks like I caught a little pest off guard." A voice to my left cackled.

I turned to glare up at Cyclonus. He smirk dropped from his face when he saw the look on my face. Too bad he wasn't as quick as Scavenger to escape my attacks. Once he was done with I remembered too late about Optimus. I turned back just in time to see Optimus get pushed off the cliff but also pull Megatron off with him. Hot Shot and Smokescreen screamed for their leader when something unexpected happened.

I watched in amazement as Scavenger appeared on the other side of the cliff and started driving straight towards Optimus. Once he was at the edge he then transformed in midair and caught Optimus, pulling him back to our side. Once they had landed once again did I let myself breath again. Once I knew that they would be alright and that they had the minicon did I leave the snowy mountain. I had a lot to think about and it involved my future that I knew would include these Autobots. I only hoped that I would be able to chose the right one for myself and for them as well.