The forest was cool and crisp.
The high leaves of the tree's sheltered the mossy ground from harsh rays of sunlight protecting the lower layers with a bubble of cool air.
The Groundbridge dropped the Autobots a fair distance into the forest, far enough that no prying eyes would see the light but close enough to the main camping strip to be a short walk.
"Right, As of now we don't know who or what is doing this or the extent of their abilities, to stay on the safe side we'll go off in groups, Drift you and your students go west, Sideswipe and Strongarm go South, Grim will come with me to the East, the trail is to the west so the North and South teams will keep an optic on it as they go" Bumblebee shot out some orders, splitting the team up into groups, there wasn't much to this plan to argue and the group dispersed.
"Alright Grim, keep your optics peeled-"
"That sounds painful"
"- for anything suspicious and evidently, slimy" Bumblebee trailed off over the last few words at the Dinobot's dismissal of 'peeling' his sensors.
It left them a few moments to stare at each other silently before Bee headed further into the forest.
The leafy green vegetation and mottled shadows made this one of the very few places Grimlock's green and black scheme worked to his advantage.
Size, however, did not as while Bumblebee kept a few steps ahead their journey had its own theme music of thumping trees.
Grimlock whined as his hips swung and whacked another tree, raining down leaves, he tried moving his hips less as he walked but instead his tail swung about and completely knocked down a smaller tree.
Bumblebee did not think bringing a Dinobot into this densely wooded area through.
"I'm tryin'!" Grimlock needed little more than the yellow Autobots expression to gather what was wrong.
"Grimlock find your own path, you don't have to follow me directly, just stick by me" Bumblebee nodded to a spot where the trees were more spaced.
As the Dinobot weaved his way over Bumblebee got a full look at the guy, or more accurately the butt.
He tried not to roll his optics too much but with Sideswipe's consistent goofy behaviour Bumblebee had become more sympathetic to the many times Ratchet had rolled his optics in a huff when Wheeljack or Smokescreen had done something bothersome.
The poorly written words weren't too terrible and it was something only Sideswipe would find amusing. No need to cause a fuss over it now.
"If there's a lake around here, y'think it's just water and not slime" Grimlock was rubbing a claw against his chin, tail waving slowly.
"No, water would have evaporated by the time those photos were taken, it's some sort of thin slime trail" Bumblebee shook his head
"But where they gettin' it from? There's no slime pool 'round here is there? Is there?!" Grimlock perked up.
"N-no, Earth isn't known for its slime pools Grimlock" An optical ridge went up curious at this sudden jolt of slime-related excitement.
"Aww man, that sucks! I had so many great times in slime pools! Oh! Oh! Oh! Did I ever tell you guys about the time my buddy got stuck in a slime pool once!? Oh, it was hilarious! Fun guy! Didn't notice until he'd sunk down to the hubcaps of his knees!" Grimlock waved his hands about excitedly.
It was quite adorable to see Grimlock suddenly bound off into an excited tale, gave a nice glimpse into his non-punching-related interests.
It also revealed he did have a small gang of friends before he ended up on the Alchemor, a group they'd all promised to help him find when Fixit had told him they were not present aboard the prison ship.
Although Bumblebee was uncertain about that, from Grimlock's descriptions one was more fight-y than he was and he wasn't sure Earth could handle two rambunctious Dinobots.
Bumblebee's comm link went off as it no doubt did for all the Autobots
"Drift to Autobots, keep your optics up, this energy thief likes climbing, I have found slime trails leading up the trees but as of yet no trace of the culprit".
Bumblebee gave an acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Grimlock.
"... But anyway that's how Sludge got his name" He finished.
"That was fascinating" Sped out of Bee like an automated response "Drift just contacted me with some new information too, this thief likes to climb so keep an optic on all directions"
Grimlock grunted as he suddenly craned his neck back at an angle that looked anything but comfortable.
"Y'sure 'bout that! I can't see a thing!" Grimlock began stumbling about squinting up into the treetops.
By not keeping an optic on the ground Grimlock ended up getting caught on a root and rolling to the floor as Bumblebee winced at his clumsiness, it was harmless at least as Grimlock was already squirming back onto his pedes.
"I meant to do that" He uttered shaking the dirt off his hide and looking around him for any other witnesses "Whas'sat?" He suddenly curled in on himself treading an endless circle on the spot "Bee what is that!?"
"It says Butt, a human word for aft, Grim' it's just Side-" Bumblebee began to explain as Grimlock finally caught sight of the 'prank' he'd been subjected to.
"You mean like a label?" Grimlock froze "Bee! Bee! Bee!" He began panting not moving from the spot, prompting Bumblebee to jump over.
"Grim? What's wrong?" He began looking over the Dinobot trying to see if there was anything on him causing such behaviour.
"Has it spread?" Grimlock hissed.
"Wait… What?" Now Bumblebee was really confused.
"Are there more labels on me Bee!?" Grimlock whined, "I don't want to be a diagram!"
Even with an answer, Bumblebee was still confused.
"I know I'm the greatest example of a Dinobot about but I don't wanna be put in a book! Don't let them take me, Bee! I'M NO ONE'S DIAGRAM!" Grimlock lurched forwards and grabbed Bumblebee's shoulders shaking the smaller Autobot vigorously "No! I can stop this! No book is gonna take me without a fight!"
Grimlock promptly let Bee go with a light shove and began twirling once again, arms scrambling to reach his rear no doubt in an effort to wipe the words off.
"Grimlock, you're not turning into a diagram! That's not even how- I, look Grim' you're fine!" Bumblebee tiredly rubbed his face.
"Of course not! They'll never take me alive! I'll rub this label off and stop the infection! No Dia-grim for them!" Grimlock sounded triumphant in his strange logic, deciding on a new tactic as to Bumblebee's horror he began jumping backwards into a nearby tree.
Immediately leaves cascaded down upon both of them as the tree was repeatedly slammed.
Over and over again until the leaves stopped with a loud wet slap.
"AAH I'M HIT!" Grimlock dropped to the ground as his shout echoed throughout the forest.
Bumblebee froze, staring dumbfounded at what had just transpired.
Thumping and rustling heralded the arrival of the other Autobots.
"Sir! What's going on we heard Grimlock scream?!" Strongarm sounded almost out of breath as she twirled around with her Decepticon Hunter out, Sideswipe following quickly.
"Where is the perpetrator?" Drift added as he and his students came from the other side all three scanning the environment with weapons in-hand.
Bumblebee only pointed at the frozen, startled Grimlock.
On the back of his neck, something a dark sickly shade of greenish-gray was flopped over the back of his neck. Its skin glistened with a thin layer of slime as it swelled and shrank with its movements. Along its sides, it had what appeared to be dull orange lumps.
It was also fairly large, and enticing many disgusted responses from the Autobots as they viewed it.
"The wounds not that bad is it? Doesn't hurt I mean…" Grimlock got up, the wet thing clinging to his neck.
"Uh, let's just get back to the Scrapyard, with our… guest" Bumblebee slowly reached for his comms unsure if sudden movements would startle… whatever it was.
"What guest?" Grimlock was still oblivious.
"Just come through the bridge carefully" Bee instructed as Fixit sent them their transport.
Fixit watched from the command centre as the group returned all of them keeping a curious distance from Grimlock.
"Fixit, could you scan what's on Grimlock's neck for us, it might be… well, the thief, or at least something that needs removing…" Bumblebee was clearly keeping his voice quiet.
"What's on my neck? What're you all staring at? Why won't you tell me!?" Grimlock was rightly confused and irritable.
"Just don't panic Grim' we'll get it off you!" Strongarm tried to calm him down, avoiding looking at the thing but Grimlock only frowned further annoyed.
"Yeah, it does look pretty gross buddy" Sideswipe did not help.
"WHAT looks gross!?" Grimlock whined.
"Stay pill-dill-still! For a little longer and I'll tell you, it's taking a while to scan" Fixit held up a hand as if physically making everyone freeze.
"Is it dangerous?" Drift had a valid question
"What's dangerous? AM I GOING TO DIE!?" Grimlock grabbed his head shaking.
"No! No! Please just keep calm until we know what… it is" Bumblebee shared a glare between all of the Autobots.
"Well, that's curious" Fixit rubbed his head, "there shouldn't be any these on Earth"
"What is it?" Bumblebee leant over, taking a look at Fixit's screen.
"It's an Energy Leech!" Fixit revealed.
"Oh! An Energy leech? That's it?" Grimlock suddenly stopped shaking and stood upright, trying to peer over his shoulder and get a glimpse of it.
"Wait, you're okay with that? It's hideous" Strongarm was still visibly disgusted at the leech.
"Pfff! Yeah! Used to get them sometimes in the Acid Wastes on Cybertron! Not a problem, just gotta wait an' they drop off by themselves!" Grimlock had his hands on his hips grinning.
"Yes! Grimlock is quite correct! Attempts at removing the leech could cause it to recogni-re-regurgitate! It's meal and that brings the risk of infection from any Energon-carried disease it may have consumed!" Fixit clasped his hands together "Grimlock I'm impressed!"
"Aaah! It ain't nothin'!" Grimlock grinned a slight tint to his cheeks "Go on…"
"But that's disgusting!" Strongarm gestured at the creature "It could be diseased!?"
"It isn't, no diseases have shown up on the scan, but it is still unwise to forcefully remove it! Just have something on standby for when it flops, uh, drops, for uh, both Grimlock and the leech, it'll have injected him with something to stop his self-repair systems from sealing the Energon leak" Fixit beamed but was now staring at Bumblebee.
"Alright" Bumblebee caught his look "For now we rest and wait for the leech to detach before proceeding any further"
The Autobots nodded and Strongarm promptly nominated herself for another patrol. Away from the leech.
"You think it could be our culprit?" Bumblebee turned back to Fixit once he was sure all the Autobots were fine.
"Likely so, they can survive off most forms of energy but It's probably the energy from the cramps-gramps-camps weren't much of a meal for it, hence all the drainings and why it homed in on a large source of fresh Energon so quickly. After Grimlock, it should be set for a long long time" Fixit tapped away at his controls pulling up data sheets on Energy leeches for study.
"So what's the problem?" Bee rapped his fingers against his own armour.
"Well, it's much bigger than a leech its species could-should be!" Fixit looked frantic "There's evidence of tampering with its genome! Someone's been experimenting with it!"
"And that someone is still out there!" Bee gasped.