Guess whose back? Well, it's not Jesus, at least not this moment, but He will come like "a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2). Meaning we cannot know the day or hour of His return, His Second Coming. The question is will you be ready for Him when He does? Will you be on alert for His return, eager to be in His holy presence? Are you ready for eternity? I hope and pray to those who read this that this will reach their hearts or at least plant the seed.

Until then, I'm happy to say that I'm continuing my new story and I'm eager to pour fresh ideas that I hope you will take great joy in.

I understand that the previous chapter was a bit heavy, but when people tell stories for others to learn from, it won't always be rainbows and butterflies, but it won't be all doom and gloom either.

Apologies that it took so long to start writing again, I've been busy and the school semester is coming to close, meaning due dates for monumental assignments are coming in close as well. That means more work and less sleep. Sorry folks, but work is work. Although, if I had done less procrastinating and more working, I'd have my assignments done sooner.

Before we begin, I'd like to give a special thanks to a few certain people who reviewed my story:

Dream'sRealm: Thank you so much for your kind words and your review. I'm glad that you enjoy my story and I hope it continues to bring joy to you. And I'm so happy that we can both write our stories and make our faith in Christ known. Let's keep it up so others may come to know Him too. God keep you sister. ^^

Mr. Albatross: I truly appreciate your insight and I agree, stories of the vulnerable can get you. Miko is the kind of person that is really full of life and yet, she seems to be holding something back. Thank you friend.

Miko873: Thank for being the first to review and yes, you could say Miko has grown attached, but unfortunately she doesn't have enough confidence in herself.

Well, this is Designation: M and I give my fellow writers and readers my greetings and my love. Thank you all for your time and God bless you.

I hope this next chapter will satisfy you and possibly bring joy to those who have been patient.

Trials, Tribulations, and Transformation

I

Jasper, Nevada - Darby Residence

The sound of an alarm clock rang throughout a certain bedroom and a certain young man was less than happy about it at first. But today was a new day for him and he felt grateful to be allowed yet another day of life, especially with the odd circumstances in his life.

Jackson Darby sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. He groggily turned to his dresser, where his alarm clock was placed, and for a moment, as his eyes adjusted, he saw that it was 6:30 am, just as it was set before he went to sleep. In his mind, this was pretty early but since it is a school day, getting up early is imperative if Jack was assured of attending class on time.

Jack quickly got out of bed and did a few curt morning stretches. Feeling more awake, Jack made his bed, none too neatly, and rushed to the family bathroom, which he and his mother shared. He took a quick shower, dried off and rushed to his dresser to pick his clothes for the day. He changed into his day-to-day clothes, which consisted of a simple gray t-shirt over a white long-sleeve tee, a pair of ratty blue jeans, and a pair of blue converse sneakers.

Once he was fully dressed, Jack went to the kitchen and prepared a quick breakfast. Before Jack opened the refrigerator, he noticed a yellow sticky note that wasn't there before. He took it and held it closer in order to read its contents.

Jack,

I left early for work. E.R. was short-staffed.

I'm sorry for leaving on short notice again.

I'll see you tonight or sooner hopefully. Stay safe honey. Love you.

-Mom

Jack gave an amused grunt to his mother's note.

"Good thing I set my alarm before I went to bed, otherwise I might've slept in and no one would have been there to wake me up."

After having a simple breakfast of Cheerios and milk, Jack had a mug of coffee to help him start the day. After drinking it down quickly with some H&H and sugar, Jack was ready to start his day…

…as soon as he collected his book-bag and cellphone.

He rushed to his bedroom, where lying against his bedpost was Jack's book-bag, which had been already been prepared the night before.

"Alright, now where did I leave my cell?"

Jack scanned the outlook of his bedroom and could not find his cellphone in sight.

Alright, it's not in my room. Than where…Oh! Of course.

Jack just remembered that he left his cellphone on his mother's cellphone charger, which was in the living room. Since he left his charger back at the Autobot base, Jack had to use his mother's.

Jack found his gray cellphone, right where he left it, plugged in and fully charged.

Jack found his cellphone to be turned off, so he held down on the call button in order to activate it.

"Alright, I think we're all set…hold up."

Jack looked at the display of his cellphone and as it turned out, as of last night, he had at least 6 missed calls

"Who would be trying to call me in the middle of night so many times in such a short time?" Jack asked himself, slightly weary from this revelation.

Jack was just about to check who the caller was until…

"JACK! COME ON! YOU'LL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Jack quickly placed his cell in his pocket, grabbed his school-bag, and ran over to the source of the familiar voice.

Jack quickly entered his garage, where a midnight-blue Ducati motorcycle with pink features was parked accordingly.

"Morning to you too Arcee" said Jack, amused by his guardian slash partner's motherly behavior.

"Sorry Jack, but your mother wanted me to make sure you arrive to school on time, now come on," said Arcee sternly as she revved her engine.

"Don't need to tell me twice," said Jack as he put his helmet.

"I just did."

Jack paused as he looked at his guardian strangely, and then gave a good natured laugh at Arcee's minor joke.

7 hours later…

Jasper, Nevada - Memorial High School

As the school bell rung, announcing the end of the school day, multitudes of students have already emptied out of their classrooms. Jack sighed to another slow day at school; nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Although, despite what seemed to be a normal day for him, Jack was slightly unnerved by the absence of a certain someone that is usually one of the first he would see on a school day.

He hadn't seen Miko all day today.

I know Miko doesn't have much interest in school, but she wouldn't just miss a whole day entirely. Maybe I should give her a call…

However, Jack dismissed the thought of contacting his friend when he just reached the main doors of the high school.

He had just walked through the main doors when he saw young Rafael Esquivel sitting on the entrance steps, on his laptop, undoubtedly doing homework or preparing something important.

"Raf," Jack called out, pulling the young student out of his hyper focused state.

"Oh, hey Jack, what's up?" asked Raf as Jack took a seat on the stone railing of the school entrance steps next to him.

"Not much, working hard as usual," asked Jack, noticing Raf was intensely engrossed on his laptop.

"Oh, you know, the usual: we had a pop quiz in History class, which was easy. We studied up on Polynomials in Math, and we…um…" Raf paused in his sentence and turned his head.

"Raf?" said Jack, slightly concerned by Raf's sudden silence.

Jack didn't receive any reply.

"Raf."

"Oh, sorry Jack. It's just I noticed that Miko isn't here and our pickup is going to be here any second."

"Well…maybe she's in detention again," said Jack.

"I hope not, that would be the third time this week," said Raf.

"Hmm, Miko can't seem to stay out of trouble…than again she seems to eat trouble for breakfast."

Before the boys' conversation could continue, a horn honked and they both perked up to see the triune of their respected Autobot guardians pulling up into the school parking lot. One by one, a midnight-blue Ducati motorcycle, a yellow Chevrolet Camaro, and a forest-green all-terrain truck pulled up in front of the school within the range of the front steps.

Raf quickly closed his laptop, packed it, and dashed to the yellow Chevrolet Camaro, also known as the Autobot scout Bumblebee and Rafael's personal guardian and friend.

Jack in turn, wasted no time rushing to Arcee; he saddled up and put on his helmet.

"Hey Jack, how was school?" spoke the two-wheeler from her radio system.

"Meh, nothing new

The passenger door of the Camaro opened by itself and Raf jumped in.

As soon as Raf buckled his seatbelt, a series of beeps and whirs sounded in the audio system of the vehicle.

"Yeah Bee, I had a good day at school. And no, just the usual…"

Before either Arcee or Bumblebee could leave with their human charges, a deep bass voice called their attention.

"Uh guys? Hey guys, hold up!"

Arcee was the first to answer.

"Bulkhead, keep it down. Someone might hear you. Speak through your commlink."

"Right, sorry," he said, slightly embarrassed by his sudden outburst.

(((What's wrong Bulkhead?)))

(((It's Miko!)))

(((Ok, what about her?)))

(((She's not here!)))

…

(((What do you mean she isn't here?)))

(((She isn't here!)))

(((Bulk, take it easy. Miko must be in detention again. That should be nothing new.)))

(((No, it can't be. She would've called me first. I wouldn't have bothered coming until later if she was in detention!)))

Although they were speaking through their commlinks, Jack could plainly hear Bulkhead and Arcee's conversation through her vehicle form's radio feed. Hearing the alarm in Bulkhead's voice, Jack couldn't help but begin to worry. Jack noticed Miko's absence as well, but he only brushed it off, assuming it was nothing unusual. But seeing that this alarmed Bulkhead, Miko's guardian, something was definitely up.

Then it hit him.

Jack quickly got his cellphone and checked his caller history. He had a hunch who the caller might be, but he hoped that he was wrong.

His eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat when he read the name of the caller who had attempted to contact him six times so late in the evening…

Miko Nakadai.

Jack immediately got off Arcee and bolted towards Bulkhead.

"Jack?! Where you going?" Arcee called out, both confused and concerned by Jack's sudden movement.

Jack didn't respond, but he quickly opened the driver's seat to Bulkhead's vehicle form, got in and closed the door.

"Jack, what are you doing?! Isn't Arcee your ride?" asked a bewildered Bulkhead.

"Bulkhead, did Miko show any unusual behavior when you took her to school this morning?" Jack asked with a noticable edge in his voice.

Bulkhead thought for a moment before giving his hesitant answer.

"Uh, I think so. She was awfully quiet and looked real tired."

"Ok, did it look like something was bothering her?"

"Well, yeah. Actually she did. She wouldn't talk to me about it, no matter how much I tried. She wasn't even in the mood to listen to her music," responded Bulkhead with an edge noticeably rising in his voice.

"Why? Do you know something about Miko? 'Cuz if you do, tell me!" demanded Bulkhead.

Jack was taken slightly aback by Bulkhead's sudden aggression, knowing full well how concerned the former-Wrecker was for his human charge.

While Jack was hesitant to answer, fearing how Bulkhead would react, but not wanting to put himself above Miko's well-being, Jack sighed in frustration before answering.

"Well…Miko…she…tried to call me last night…but unfortunately…I couldn't answer her."

"What do you mean you couldn't answer her? Why not?" asked Bulkhead, the anger clearly rising in his voice.

"I couldn't answer her…because my phone was charging in another room, so I couldn't hear it go off. On top of that, it was in the middle in the night and I was asleep so I couldn't have heard my phone go off no matter how many times she called me."

"Ok. And 'how many times' did Miko call you?"

"Um…six," Jack almost whispered.

"SIX?! JACK, MIKO COULD HAVE BEEN IN SERIOUS TROUBLE! YOU…"

"BULKHEAD! DON'T YOU DARE BLAME JACK FOR THIS!" a great shout from Bulkhead's radio speaker cried out.

Both Bulkhead and Jack remained silent for a moment. Jack turned his head toward his motorcycle, and then he broke the silence.

"Arcee…were you…?" Jack asked.

"Yes and I heard the whole thing too. Bee and Raf too." Arcee responded firmly, aware of the severity of the situation.

"Raf, can you get a fix on Miko's phone with your laptop?" Arcee asked.

"I…I think so," a young and slightly wearied Raf said from the passenger seat of his Autobot guardian. He immediately got his laptop out of his bag and began the procedure of tracking the cellphone signal of his missing friend.

"Good. Bumblebee, park somewhere close so Raf can better hone in on Miko's cell. If anything happens, have Ratchet bridge you back to base quickly and make sure Raf is with you. Got that?"

Bumblebee gave a curt whir in compliance and he casually drove off to the nearest parking space.

"Uhhh, Arcee?"

"Hang on Bulk. Ok, I need you to take Jack back to base. I need you to watch him for me while I look for Miko." Arcee then reactivated her hologram and restarted her engine.

"But Arcee," Bulkhead said, trying to get Arcee's attention.

"Don't worry Bulkhead, we'll find her and I'm sure she's fine. Now, I'm going to contact Optimus, let him know what's going on."

But before Arcee could begin her part of the search, Bulkhead called out to her once more.

"Arcee!"

"What is it?!" Arcee, nearly shouted, agitated.

"Jack took off," Bulkhead said, almost awkwardly.

"He what?!" Arcee cried as she turned her sights towards Bulkhead. The interior was empty and Jack was nowhere to be seen.

"But where did he…" she started until she caught sight of the school entrance doors closing abruptly, as if someone just entered the school in a hurry.

At that moment, Arcee understood what had happened.

"Scrap."

Well, there you are friends. I'm sorry it took so long.

I will try to get the new chapter in soon, so wait for me.

God bless you all and may the grace of God be multiplied unto through knowledge of Him.