(Here we are at the third chapter, and our stars are about to meet again. Will it go well?)

It had been about three days since Bumblebee's encounter with Barricade, and on this fine morning he was now ready to venture outside of the den area and explore the pack's territory without being accompanied by any of his pack mates, much to Ironhide's dismay and worry. He had been supervising Bumblebee for the little pup's safety ever since the young one began to walk on four legs without assistance and started to eat meat. Despite arguing to Optimus Prime to have Bumblebee venture out unattended until he was at least 8 months old, but Prime insisted that Bumblebee has earned his right to venture independently since Bumblebee was always honest and followed his rules.

At the moment, Bumblebee was sitting down and listening to Ironhide going over with the basic rules that Bumblebee should follow while he was out and about and what he should do if any trouble. "Now, what happens when you smell an unfamiliar scent at a tree or a bush, and it is that of a Dire Wolf?"

"I don't follow the scent,"

"Good. And, what should you do when you see the weather become serious and dangers: such as as storm, tornado, or snowstorm?"

"Find a safe, strong area to hide in until it is safe to come out, and return to the den,"

"Excellent. Now, if you spot a human?"

"Run away and tell either you or Optimus. Now, can I go?" Bumblebee asked impatiently.

Ironhide admonished Bumblebee to be patient and continued. "One more thing. Any Dire Wolf that has red eyes is a bad Dire Wolf. You got that?"

"Yes, yes, yes, a hundred times, YES!" Bumblebee barked excitedly.

Optimus then stepped in. "Easy there, young one. I know how excited you are, but you must remember to heed to the rules and don't get in over your head," Optimus then used a paw to ruffle Bumblebee's forehead. "But, don't forget to have fun in your adventures in our territory."

"Yes, sir!" Bumblebee nodded and after giving a parting howl goodbye, Bumblebee sprinted away into the forest, his laughter ringing throughout the woods and his tail wagging happily. Ironhide only sighed with worry, and Optimus reassured him that Bumblebee would be alright.

"But, you never know when something bad happens. Bumblebee's time of independence should have been scheduled when he was much older, not while he is still tall enough to reach my hocks." Ironhide said.

"Nah, I think he is okay. Besides, I think he deserves to have some time on his own every now and then, just to get away from hard times." Jazz mentioned, but Iornhide growled at him.

"I find it hard to believe in your words, since you were the one responsible for him being captured by-"

"Ironhide, don't start that again," Ratchet warned. "We all worry about Bumblebee and his safety, but there comes a time in every pup's time when he can go out without being accompanied by his fellow pack members."

"I know, but he is still very young, and I don't want to lose him." Ironhide stated. He really cared for Bumblebee as if he was his own son. Optimus sympathized with his old friend.

"I understand your need to protect him Ironhide; I do as well, but we all know that we cannot be his soul guardians forever. In time, he will decide to either leave to start a pac of his own or not, and we have to respect his decision no matter what." Optimus then licked Ironhide's cheek. "But, he will always love us as much as we do."

Ironhide grinned faintly and had to admit defeat. Prime was right; Bumblebee may one day be an Alpha, but he would still love him. Ironhide then left with Optimus to go out and hunt for deer that had been spotted north of their land, while the twins, Jazz, and Ratchet stayed behind to guard the den. Jazz laid down to rub his back on the grass to get rid of an itch that he couldn't reach. "I'm sure Bee is gonna be fine, and have some fun out there."

"True, but then there are things out there that aren't fun at all. Remember Megatron and his pack?" Sideswipe mentioned.

"Yeah, but they are far away from here,"

"That doesn't mean they will return to take over. Never forget that." Ratchet reminded the young Dire Wolves, and then Sunstreaker scoffed and chuckled at the same time.

"The last thing I want to be is a member of that plain, natural color pack like that! I mean, who would want to be born with black, grey, white, or brown fur?"

Sideswipe joined in with his brother. "Yeah. Talk about plain and boring. Being colorful is definitely a lot more better. Besides, we are born with blue eyes, and only blue-eyed Dire Wolves can have colorful furs."

Jazz, even though he was often the one who would join in on jokes and mischief, felt that the twins' stereotyping was just too much for his taste."Hey, Ironhide is black, and he has blue eyes. Would you still have him here even though he doesn't have a hint of red, yellow, or blue?" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker became quiet when Jazz mentioned this.

"Well, maybe he...Uh..."

"Jazz is right, you two. Not all blue-eyed Dire Wolves are born with colorful furs; neither are the red-eyed Dire Wovles. No matter the fur color and pattern, anyone has a place in a pack and a right to join either one." Ratchet spoke up.

"Well, at least we look good with our fur colors. Who can rest this body?" Sunstreaker finally broke his silence and posed handsomely to show off his red and yellow marking, smiling as he did so. "I can promise you this. Nobody can top off this fashion statement."

"I guess 'Boasting' is an accessory of yours," Jazz added and he, Sideswipe and Ratchet laughed hysterically, while Sunstreaker growled in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee was having the happiest time of his life. His first time being all alone, independent, free. He never felt so alive. He laughed and barked with joy as he ran all over, smelling all the flowers and other plants, splashing his paws in the many small ponds, and chasing after small animals like squirrels and mice. Nothing was more wonderful than liberty.

"Come back, mousey! Come back!" Bumblebee giggled as he chased after a small white mouse from under a bush, playfully trying to swipe at it. This form of play may seem innocent to those who have never seen a Dire Wolf; but this was very necessary for Bumblebee. This would be the foundations for his hunting abilities. However, he wasn't hunting the mouse, he was playing with it. For a while Bumblebee was almost close to flipping the mouse over, but then he tripped and fell down, and the mouse fled. "Awe, nuts," Bumblebee whined and got back up. "I almost had him."

A loud squeak startled the yellow pup, and he found the mouse he was chasing running away from something; Bumblebee was unsure what was going on, and his unsureness distracted him from something - or someone - that was after the mouse. Bumblebee felt a hard force on his side and he was sent tumbling round and round, making him dizzy and he shook his head. "Ow."

"Watch it!" barked a familiar voice.

Bumblebee was up on his feet and he found that the one that ran into him was the pup from before. Barricade, who was out to get away from the watch of Starscream while his pack was out to hunt, did a double take before he growled at Bumblebee. "You again? What do you want, runt?"

"Me? I don't want anything from you," Bumblebee answered, but Barricade mock- charged and barked at him, trying to intimidate Bumblebee. Bumblebee wasn't that much intimidated, and was wondering what Barricade was doing in his territory. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business! I can do what I want, and you can't tell me what to do, otherwise!" Barricade snapped.

"Hey, don't be so mean. I'm not gonna hurt you." Bumblebee tried to calm Barricade down, but the black, white puppy wasn't going to cool down.

"I can be mean whenever I want! Besides, I know you can't hurt me." Barricade then smiled wickedly and mentioned the time when they officially first met; the day when Bumblebee was captured by Megatron. "The minute that you woke up and saw me and my pack members you bit at my guardian and ran away from me when I chased after you. Ha! I never seen a Dire Wolf so terrified by me, and I'm still a puppy."

"I had my reasons to be scared." Bumblebee mentioned. "The Dire wolves from your pack nearly killed a member of my family, right in front of me. Besides, I wasn't the only one that was terrified. When Ratchet held you in his mouth as Optimus presented you to your leader you were crying and screaming to be freed." Bumblebee wasn't wanting to start an argument, but Barricades taunting and mockery was enough to steam Bumblebee up for a moment.

Barricade then barked angrily as he bared his teeth and his ears pulled backward, his tail erected straight up in a aggressive stance. "Crying? That does it, you just asked yourself a snarl." And with that, Barricade began to snarl with his might; his snarling sounding like a mix between a rattling growl of a badger and an angry wasp. Barricade then advanced upon Bumblebee, pushing his face closer to his in order to intimidate the yellow puppy, but to his astonishment Bumblebee chortled slightly because he thought Barricade's face and growls sounded funny. Barricade back up, his head tilted in wonder and asked, "What's the matter with you? Aren't you scared of me?"

Bumblebee suppressed his snickering and shyly grinned. "Not really. Why should I? You sounded funny,"

"Because we are from rival packs, that's why." Barricade answered and turned away, sticking his tail up with a huff, feeling insulted.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I couldn't help it," Bumblebee apologized as he tried to get in front of Barricade to look at his face, but the black and white Dire Wolf cub kept turning away, his nose perked up and his eyes closed. "Please, don't be mad at me, I couldn't help it." Bumblebee then remembered what Ironhide and warned him about meeting something that might be dangerous and became quiet. But, Bumblebee didn't understand the reason why he should be afraid of Barricade, other than the fact his pack was a sort of rival to the latter's pack. Why were they rivals?

Just then, the mouse form before appeared and Barricade's nose picked up the scent and started to bark at it as he charged at it. Bumblebee was spooked for a moment before he saw his so called rival chase after it. "Hey, wait up!" Bumblebee cried out, but Barricade was more focused on the tiny morsel and ignored Bumblebee.

As the small mouse changed its direction rather sharply, Barricade couldn't turn around quick enough and began tumbling all over the ground and suddenly fell into a hole in the ground, a rather deep one at that, and landed on his rump. After rubbing his sore rump and tail, Barricade looked up to see how deep he was, and saw that there was no way he could jump and climb out like he would usually do if he got caught in a much smaller hole. He tried to move backwards a little and tried to use speed to jump higher, but the holes walls were a little wet and slippery.

Bumblebee could hear Barricade's grunts and his constant crawling and landing in the hole, and looked down to see if Barricade was okay. "Hang on, I'll get you out!"

"Shut up! I don't need some blue-eyed rival's help! I can get out by myself!" Barricade barked and continued his fruitless struggle to get out.

"But, the hole is too deep. You can't get out by yourself. Please, let me help you out,"

"No! Now, leave me alone, you stupid flea-filled mutt!"

Bumblebee gasped at the insult. It was against the rules for him to say the word 'Mutt' in his pack, for it was considered rude and impolite. However, Bumblebee wasn't going to let an insult deter him from trying to assist, so he looked about to find something he could use to help get Barricade out. He then spotted a rather long tree branch that wasn't heavy but still strong enough for someone to grab on, and decided he could use this to pull Barricade out.

Barricade jumped once again, but then slid down the wall again, getting his paws all wet and muddy. "Great. Now I'm going to have to get a tongue bath again." he growled, but then felt a small tap on his forehead. "Hey! What are you doing up there?" he called as he looked up to find a branch halfway down the hole, with Bumblebee holding the end of it tightly in his mouth.

"Grab on!" he said with his mouth still holding onto the branch.

"No! I said I can do this by myself!" Barricade growled as he went to the other side of the hole and kept on trying to get out by himself, but his technique wasn't working well. For a few minutes he continued until he saw that he had no other choice but to have Bumblebee pull him out, whether Barricade wanted to or not. "Fine! I'll grab hold."

Taking a strong bite on the strong, from branch, he pulled on it to let Bumblebee know he was holding on, and the little yellow puppy began to pull hard. He moved backwards, his ears perked to the back of his head, and his teeth held on with all their might; He still had a few milk teeth left and a few came off, but he still held on to the branch. After a few more steps, he could see the tips of the black and grey pup's ears poking out of the hole. "Almost there!" he said through his clenched teeth.

"Okay! Pull!" Barricade growled again, and after some more steps, Barricade was finally put of the hole and back on safe ground. Barricade then let go of the branch and spat out the bits of bark and dirt that got in his mouth. "Yuck! Disgusting! Why do all the other Dire Wolves like to chew on such yucky sticks like that?" he grumbled.

"I don't know, either. I don't like chewing on them, too."

"Yeah, they are..." Barricade then looked back at Bumblebee and sneered at him. "What are you playing at?"

"Playing what?

"You know what I am saying. You're trying to get me to like you by helping me out."

"That's not true. I only wanted to help because I didn't want you to starve down there and become food for the vultures." Bumblebee replied. "I'm not forcing you to like me, because it's wrong to force someone to do something against their will, and I'm not forcing you against your will." Barricade only snorted and turned away in disbelief. "If you say we are enemies, then why haven't you attacked me?" Bumblebee asked.

Barricade bought about it; Bumblebee did have a point there. If he wanted to he could have attacked the pup, yet he hadn't. "Uh, I'm just saving my energy. you'd be a waste of a kill anyway. But, that doesn't mean I'm a cannibal or anything."

"I didn't say that," Bumblebee answered, but then remembered something from their previous encounter during the storm and asked, "Was my pack the one that banished you?"

Barricade nodded, still keeping his back to Bumblebee as he explained. "We were in hard times while you and your pack was feasting upon plenty of prey that we needed. However, Megatron, my so-called leader, said that we couldn't enter your territory after what happened at the riverbank. But, one of us wasn't too keen on Megatron's orders." Bumblebee asked him who that pack member was and Barricade answered that it was the one Dire Wolf that knocked Bumblebee unconscious and was being held down by Ironhide. "Starscream just doesn't want to follow in Megatron's paw prints and rules, so he decided to go out into your territory and stole some prey to feed himself. He was then caught by your pack, but they didn't punish him,"

"But, he was the one responsible,"

"Yeah, but your leader passed the punishment upon all of us, because Megatron hadn't thought of having someone watch Starscream's actions and stopped him in the first place." Barricade then sighed as he layer down on the grass, his ears lowering in a depressive tone. "Now, we are forced to live out in the outskirts of the forest, where there is less prey for us to hunt and hardly enough water to keep us hydrated. And it's all because of Starscream, that walking pile of stupidness."

Bumblebee felt very sorry for what Barricade had gone through and he laid himself down as well next to Barricade to look at his face. The black and white Dire Wolf puppy looked incredibly miserable and sullen, his red eyes looking at nothing in particular. Bumblebee wanted to help him, but then he and Barricade are enemies, as Barricade had told him, but he didn't know why. "Why are we enemies? Why are our packs enemies?"

"I don't know. All that I do know is that I am not suppose to talk to you..." he then looked at the yellow pup and Bumblebee could see a very faint grin. ", and look at what I have been doing," he then chuckled and Bumblebee joined in.

"I don't see why we shouldn't be friends," Bumblebee then added as he placed a paw on Barricade's back to rub it. "I don't see you as an enemy, and neither do you. And, if you wish, I can help you get food."

"How? Your pack might get suspicious seeing you bring meat and small animals to me, or even worse." Barricade interrupted, slightly sitting up to yawn.

"I can sneak out and tell them that I am feeding my imaginary friend, and they won't notice. Already, Optimus believes that I have a imaginary friend, and I'm sure he wouldn't get curious about me leaving to feed myself, when I'm actually feeding you."

Barricade thought about it and saw that maybe Bumblebee was right. "Okay, you can help. But, promise that you won't tell them about me, and I won't tell my pack about us meeting secretly, okay?"

"Got it. My muzzle is sealed." Bumblebee smiled and reached to his mouth and moved his paw across and closed him mouth, almost like zipping it shut. Barricade laughed a little and turned to go, but Bumblebee asked him when he wants to come to his territory to bring him food and Barricade suddenly felt that Bumblebee shouldn't come to his territory.

"Hang on. I will go to your territory in about three days, and you can come right back here to meet up with me. This area can be our hide-out." he suggested and Bumblebee saw it was a good idea.

"Okay, I'll remember."

Barricade then parted and left through the brush, leaving Bumblebee by himself, left to realize what was happening. Hmm, we are enemies as he says we are, but we are becoming good friends. If it's okay for me to be friends with an enemy, why can't my pack be friends with his pack? Oh, well, maybe I'll find the answer in time. Right now, lunch time, Bumblebee thought to himself and ran back to his den, smelling the fresh scent of carrion brought in by Optimus and Ironhide.

*Authors Note*
(I think Barricade and Bumblebee are starting to see eye to eye, don't you? Well, there will be plenty more interactions between these two in later chapters to come. Sparkling Lover out.)