Optimus Prime's unusual Charge

Cyber-Psychography

It was a long day, after all. So understandably exhaustion would take over, but since no one could watch TV, Play video games or anything that would be loud and obnoxious indoors at least; the kids went out with their guardians after they had a little picnic. June had packed lunches for them, knowing they were going to spend the whole day there, anyway.

Zucky almost forgot, but was reminded when Raf brought up the subject of homework. "Hey, can any of you spare a few pages and writing utensils?"

"Sure, I have an extra Sketchbook somewhere." Miko answered as she went through a bag she brought with her. She also gave Zucky a few pencils, an eraser and a sharpener. "Here you go."

Zucky smiled. "Thank you, I'll give em back, as soon as I'm done with them."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I have plenty at home." Miko waved it off. "Feeling inspirational?"

"Uhm...Sort of; I'm actually going to record a dream I had last night..." The dragon explained.

"What was it about?" Jack asked.

Zucky finished her sandwich and after making sure her fingers were clean, she picked up the Sketchbook and a pencil and started sketching a map of the Nemesis. She told them about what she saw in her dream, just like she had explained to Optimus earlier.

The details were uncanny, inhumanly precise, and she was doing it all with her eyes closed! Prime, who had noticed her sketching walked over and was observing the image as it took shape. Her hand flew across the page a bit too unnervingly fast for the teens as their eyes darted to Zucky's face and back to the sketchbook a few times before they looked at Optimus as if he had an idea about what in the world was going on.

But he was busy paying attention to what she was doing and saying, recording it all. This might come in handy later, if they can figure out what's wrong with her. What the Decepticons might have done to her, that she's manifesting these strange behaviours. When Zucky was finally finished with the ship, her eyes opened slowly and only halfway as she stared at the page, or through it, because that's what it looked like.

She paused for a moment before she started marking and writing. She was writing in Cybertronian text, next to each point. Most of it was descriptions of various rooms on a ship, which makes sense as far as Optimus could tell. But one thing that stood out among all the text on the paper, was a code; an Energon signature!

Every bot has their own unique one for the Energon that flows through their fuel lines. Which explained what Ratchet noticed earlier when scanning her for underlying issues. Unfortunately Ratchet is out of commision for a while, but as soon as he wakes up...

"*Gasp!*" Zucky suddenly came back from her trance, gasping for air as if she's been holding it in for a while, yet she hasn't.

"Zucky, Are you okay?" Jack worried.

"Give me a moment please...*phew*...Yeah, I'm okay." She rubbed her head and face. "I think...what happened?"

"That is a very good question...To which we do not have an answer; yet..." Optimus answered.

"You just went full on creepy mode on us, just now." Miko explained.

"You started telling us about the dream you had and all the sudden you were like in some sort of trance." Jack added.

"A trance?" Zucky was confused.

"You suddenly started sketching the Decepticon Warship; The Nemesis. Eyes shut and with inhuman accuracy." Raf said. "You said you've been in there before, but no one can possibly do what you just did unless they knew the ship inside and out."

Zucky looked down at the Sketchbook. The proof was right there; she drew a spaceship! Straight lines, corners, edges and points; all of this freehanded? She lifted the book and looked around for any geometric tools, but there weren't any...Just pencils, a sharpener and an eraser.

"I did this?" She asked.

They just nodded. Raf then carefully took the sketchbook from her, to have a closer look at the text. "You know Cybertronian?" He asked.

"No, or as far as I know I don't." The dragon was racking her brain trying to make sense of all this. "There was that moment when I thought I could read it though...well, actually I thought Optimus was translating part of the text he was reading at the time, in English."

"When was that?" The boy asked.

"This morning." She answered.

He gave her back the Sketchbook. "Can you read this, now?" He pointed at a random block of text.

Zucky looked at it, squinted her eyes, turned the page around at all angles and then finally gave up... "No..."

Optimus excused himself and went to pick up the datapad he was reading from. Zucky just sat there. Her ears drooped. Miko put a hand on her left shoulder. "It's okay...we'll find out what's going on. We always do." She winked and gave her a thumbs up.

Prime came back with the datapad and placed it on the platform with the same page Zucky was talking about earlier. She got up and approached the large device and looked at it. She really tried replicating what happened, or at least she thinks she was...Then she remembered;

"*Gasp!* I had a headache, remember?" She said as she raised her gaze up to Prime.

"That is correct, you did have a helmache before you were able to read the text." Optimus remembered. "I do have an idea of what may be the cause of all this, however, I think it is best we give your mind a rest for now... Also; I would like to discuss it with Ratchet first, before we try anything else."

The kids nodded. "Man, he's been sleeping like a rock..." Miko commented.

"Ratchet rarely ever rests for very long, unless he's absolutely exhausted." Prime confirmed. "He won't be up until much later, perhaps it is best you children join your guardians out on the road for a while, instead of watching movies or playing video games. Disturbing him now would be very unwise."

When they left, Zucky took a page from Ratchet's book; and took a nap herself. As much as she really wanted to hang out with the others, she opted out for the simple reason of her appearance. It's not like a furry blue dragon can blend into the crowd very easily.

What's worse, Agent Fowler made it abundantly clear that next time he shows up, they had better be ready to answer all of the questions. She doesn't even know who this Agent Fowler guy is, and she definitely wouldn't want to get her friends into trouble, should someone spot her.

Besides all of that, Nurse Darby helped her with the cleaning and dressing of her wound as it healed. For now, she was basically grounded; as much as it annoyed her.

["Why me? What have I even done to the cosmos, that would be so deserving of whatever sick torture method my life is supposed to represent?"] She thought. ["I used to be normal, just like Jack, Raf and Miko...Well, not exactly. I didn't know any Aliens from outer space, but at least I was able to go outside, be myself and no one would know or care to know; but that's way better than being cooped up all day, hiding, not being able to be myself to the fullest, just because a handful of people think I'm some sort of monster...I AM NOT!"]

Zucky turned over a bit, as much as she could, minding her still aching shoulder. She saw Ratchet...Fast asleep still, in vehicle mode. Optimus was keeping himself busy with something on the monitor across from where she was.

["I bet they can't just go out for a walk amongst people either. Which explains why they have their vehicle modes..."] she thought. ["Robots in disguise...Hmmm, we're not so different after all, huh?"]