Bumblebee was a pretty mouthy student. It sometimes seems he does get a little distracted in conversation even when fighting, kind of like Sentinel, ego almost halfway there too thought Optimus. It sometimes brought Optimus back to times when he was to the hip with Elita and Sentinel. He needed to get himself occupied to keep his head out of memories he didn't want to jot through. He stopped their training for the solar cycle and continue back with clearing the giant space rock they were on. About 2 megacycles later, the young duo encountered a lone bot deep in meditation. The Bumblebee tried to touch him but his servo was caught by the ninja, unamused with the invasion of his personal space. Unfortunately when Ratchet was trying to check the quality of the batch of Energon cubes one fell where they were and they have to make a break for it. The besides the explosion the cave-in capoot the two-wheeler's ship which exasperated the pent-up frustration the bot had.

"First I failed to protect the protoforms, now this. Do you have any idea what it's like to embark only to have it so twisted and turned? To the point, you have no idea where you are!?" the motorcycle bot said.

"Oddly enough, I do," Optimus respond with an empathetic smile. With what he mentioned suspects who he is but for introduction and confirmation Optimus asks him his name as well as introduced sound off all the crew members. Prowl was the bot's name which answered his conjecture.

Optimus remember reading old news articles on the incident in which all the protoforms where Master Yokitron was killed and the protoforms stolen from the Cyberninja Dojo. That was a pretty big deal. People were so startled by the incident that Yokitron's student at the time was under heavy investigation since he was a close suspect besides Decepticons. It wasn't until after the war restrictions of Energon rationing that the production of protoforms returned to about over a million stellar cycles before Optimus came online.

That's a lot of weight of responsibility and loss.

While wars fascinated him, they did a number on people he knew as well as the loss of significant periods in Cybertron's history. Maybe he should be more thankful that he didn't have to face the war. Still, part of him is still intrigued by means of developing new tactics, social networks, the marks people had that impacted him and those who come after, and the effort good bots made in their time of need.

Shortly after he came to life he was assigned to be housed under Codexa. After her shift was over and his teaching unit was done for the day they would return home with plenty of things to discuss about since she was an archivist. While he did follow current news and may receive more context from his mentor, he was more intrigued by the past since the mundane life was the norm for him. He had the urge to prove himself.

He still missed his days in the Academy. The Academy forced himself out of his introverted shell. He was more of a value as a combat history nerd than he ever was. He missed the struggle together, the comradery, the bonds he didn't think would be broken. He felt he found his calling, and an environment he thrived. Codexa, older friends from his home, sector, his colleagues, non-commissioned, and even Ultra Magnus saw something special in him. All that was gone because he allowed his curiosity about other worlds to get the better of him instead of reeling his friends away from that stupid decision and losing the glue to their group. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid; stupid and selfish for me to think this way is what went through Optimus's processor. He then received a knock on his door and Bumblebee asked if he would like to join in a hologram game of Mechanical Gladiators, a distraction Optimus welcomed.