Spiritimus Prime: Oh yeah! I did this one time when I was very little, so I thought it would be funny to get Hot Shot to do the same thing and give him a bath. XD Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 4:

Trouble Maker

Now that Hot Shot was no longer being watched by the kids, it was a perfect opportunity for him to explore in places that he couldn't fit into when he was much bigger and older than he previously was. He glanced around the Rec. Room for a moment before his blue optics settled onto an unusual object. He couldn't quite remember what it was called, but he knew that it contained organic materials that the humans fed on.

Curiosity got the best of Hot Shot, and he crawled towards the tall white object that had been much smaller than him. He reckoned it might've fitted into his hand. As he drew closer, he looked over his shoulder to see if the kids were watching him, and he strained his audio receptors to listen.

"Got any fives?" Carlos asked Alexis.

The brunette looked at her hand shook her head. "Go fish," she answered as Carlos picked up a card from the pile and huffed in annoyance for not getting the number he wanted.

With their attention still off of him, Hot Shot approached the tall, white object and placed his hands upon it as he tried to stand up. He failed once, twice, thrice before he finally managed to get himself standing on wobbly legs. His, still, undeveloped legs shook but he remained upright as his right hand grabbed the handle that opened up the object and he pulled it down.

The door opened, revealing an almost startling bright light and Hot Shot had to cover his optics to stop it from hurting his sensitive sensors. He fell onto his little aft and managed to bite back a need to cry. He looked over his shoulder again and saw that the kids were still occupied with their card game. Hot Shot then looked into the object and saw the usual organic materials that the kids ate to fuel themselves with.

I wonder what this is, Hot Shot thought to himself as his uncoordinated hands grabbed a tall carton that had the word Milk written in the middle of some sticker thing. Using his fingers, Hot Shot opened the carton and lifted it up to his optics to get a peek inside. I wonder why it's white, and not purple.

Unfortunately, Hot Shot had tilted the carton up too high and the white liquid poured all over his face and getting into his mouth. Luckily, he'd managed to spit it out before the substance had gotten down his throat. With the carton now empty and uninteresting, Hot Shot then threw it away and noticed some brown, round objects that sat in the door of the fridge.

Curious about these unusual objects, Hot Shot grabbed one and took a look at it. Looks almost like Red Alert's head, Hot Shot thought and sniggered. But he'd been applying too much pressure to the object and it broke into many pieces as a clear yellow liquid gushed out of the shell and stuck to his fingers like glue. Ew! That's definitely like Red Alert's head.

Hot Shot then grabbed the other round objects and started throwing them onto the floor, giggling and laughing as the shells of the eggs broke and the yoke got smeared onto his red and yellow armour. A shell got wedged into his knee joint and pain began to develop within him. Without thinking, Hot Shot let off a wail of pain, catching Rad's, Carlos' and Alexis' attention.

But when Carlos saw the distressed Hot Shot and the mess on the floor, he mumbled, "We're in trouble now."

"What's going on?" Jetfire asked as he walked into the Rec. Room and saw Hot Shot covered in the organic goo. He bit his bottom lip behind his golden mask as he tried to fight back the need to laugh, but when he heard Hot Shot's wails, he instantly turned serious. "Optimus is not going to love this."

Optimus Prime had arrived in Red Alert's medical room, and he wasn't at least a bit surprised that he was still there. He smiled at his old friend, who was still working on something, and approached him before clearing his throat, saying, "I thought you'd already gone by now."

Red Alert looked up and shook his head. "I got a bit distracted, sir," he answered as he laughed before looking around. "Where's Hot Shot?" he asked.

"The kids are watching him in the Rec. Room, I'm sure he'll be fine. I was hoping to find him some toys that he could play with other than just his blanket," Optimus answered as he chuckled.

"Yes, I was thinking of something for Hot Shot to play with, so I decided to design him one of those human baby toys. I think they call it 'The Jolly Jumper'. It's like a swing that hangs in the middle of a doorway and is stretchable, so Hot Shot can bounce around in it like a normal human toddler would."

Optimus nodded. He seemed to like this idea a lot. It was interesting to see what humans came up with despite their primitive technology. They maybe like that, but they always came up with interesting ideas. But before he could make a compliment, his com-link went off and he sighed in annoyance before he answered it. "Optimus here, what is it?"

"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we have a situation in the Rec. Room. And bring Red Alert with you," Jetfire's voice said over the com-link, catching Optimus and Red Alert completely by surprise. Jetfire sounded serious and distressed.

"We're on our way, Jetfire. Optimus Prime out." Optimus then switched the com-link off and he and Red Alert headed for the Rec. Room. He just hoped that Hot Shot wasn't hurt.

When Optimus Prime and Red Alert arrived in the Rec. Room, they saw that the fridge was in a mess with eggs and milk spilled all over the floor, Jetfire was standing in the middle of the room with Hot Shot cradled in his arms, who was crying so loudly that it had brought the other Autobots into the room while being covered from head to toe in yoke, and the kids were standing beside Jetfire looking very ashamed with themselves.

Optimus looked from Jetfire to the kids and back at Jetfire again. "What happened?" he asked.

Jetfire shrugged. "I'm not sure, sir. I was on my way to see how the kids were doing when I heard Hot Shot crying, so I came here and I found him sitting in front of the fridge balling his optics out and covered in all of this stuff," he explained as Hot Shot's cries grew louder.

"Here, give him to me," Red Alert said.

Jetfire nodded and handed Hot Shot over to the CMO. Red Alert took him in his arms before gently placing him on a large table that the Autobots used when taking a break. He examined Hot Shot carefully while the sparkling continued to cry his distress. He then searched his arm joints, but found nothing, so he tried the most vulnerable part that could be the problem: the knee joints.

"Slag," Red Alert growled when he found out what was causing Hot Shot this much discomfort.

"What is it?" Optimus asked as his parental instincts began to kick in.

"He's got an eggshell wedged in his right knee joint, I'll need some tweezers and a bandaid," Red Alert answered as he looked up from his searching.

"I know where they are," said Sideswipe.

"Well don't just sit there gaping, go get them!" Red Alert barked, causing Sideswipe to wince as he took off running to go get the tools that Red Alert would need to make his little brother better.

While Hot Shot continued to cry, Optimus walked towards him and Red Alert before casting his gaze upon the children. He seemed a bit annoyed for not watching Hot Shot, he trusted them with this task, and now he was going to have to punish them. It was not going to be harsh, but it was a punishment nonetheless.

"Kids, I trusted you to watch Hot Shot closely, but obviously, you've broken that trust. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ban you from coming to the base for two Earth weeks," he explained. It was cruel, but he hoped that it would teach the kids about responsibilities and about never breaking promises when you said you would keep it.

Carlos, Rad, and Alexis all dropped their jaws. Banned from coming to the base for the next two weeks?! Rad sighed and rubbed his temples. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Optimus. You trusted us, and we broke it. We'll make sure that it doesn't happen again when we come back," he said.

"I don't like punishing my men, Rad, but as a surrogate parent to Hot Shot until he returns to normal, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to start by getting serious towards everyone," said Optimus as he bent down and gently placed a finger upon Rad's head. "For some apparent reason, I fell very protective towards Hot Shot, and I believe it's just the way a parent would normally feel towards a child. Am I right?"

"Yeah, I guess it is," Rad answered a little sombrely.

"I'm sorry to do this, Rad. How about I will not allow you to go and search for Minicons with us while you can still come to the base and visit Hot Shot? How does that sound?"

"That sounds a lot better, Optimus."

"That's good to hear." Optimus then looked up when he spotted Sideswipe running back into the Rec. Room with the bandaid and tweezers in his hands. He handed the objects to Red Alert and stood back beside Jetfire.

Red Alert nodded his appreciation before turning towards Hot Shot and taking out the tweezers. "Hot Shot, if you can understand me, then I'm just warning you that this may sting a bit, but it will be over before you'll even know it," he said, but Hot Shot continued to cry and Red Alert sighed. "I need someone to hold him down, he's moving too much for me to even get near enough."

Optimus moved forward and he gently took hold of Hot Shot's arms and legs, using his right arm to apply a small amount of pressure to Hot Shot's chest. It was not designed to harm him, just to keep him still enough for Red Alert to remove the eggshell.

Red Alert then slowly moved the tweezers towards the eggshell and gently grabbed it, but Hot Shot screamed in pain as he struggled to remove Optimus' hands from his arms and legs. He really wished that he had his previous physical strength, that way he'd be able to escape Red Alert's wrath and remove the eggshell himself, but it just wasn't possible now that he was not fully developed and nothing more but a weak child that depended on everyone.

"I've almost got it!" Red Alert called as the tweezers grabbed hold of the eggshell and removed it so fast that Hot Shot's tears poured like twin waterfalls and he screamed so loudly that Optimus instinctively picked him up and held him close to his chest. Hot Shot whimpered in distress as Red Alert wiped away the Energon that was dripping from his exposed knee joint and applied the bandaid. "There we go, all better."

"Wow, talk about loud," Smokescreen joked as he rubbed his audio receptors.

"Guess you weren't kidding when you said it was going to sting," said Jetfire as he sniggered and walked out the room to go and finish off a job that he'd been working on before all of this started.

Hot Shot just dug his head in Optimus' filtered chest, whimpering as he tried to hide from the world. "I think someone needs a bath. We can't have you walking around covered in all that goo," said Optimus with a kind laugh.

"Carlos, Alexis, and I will just go home. I think we've caused enough trouble," Rad mumbled.

"Alright, Rad, we'll see you when you come back," Red Alert said as the kids walked out the room without a glance back. Red Alert then turned to Optimus. "Best to do it in the Med-Bay, you'll find all the things that you'll need to make him as clean as a whistle."

Optimus nodded his thanks and he headed for the Med-Bay with Red Alert right behind him.

"Alright, Hot Shot, let's get you cleaned up," Optimus laughed when he realised that Hot Shot's little goo-covered body was getting some of the yoke on his royal red armour, causing it to glisten in the light of the Med-Bay. Hot Shot just whined as he reached out for something.

Optimus turned and saw that Hot Shot wanted his bottle. "No, Hot Shot, you can't have that when you're about to have a bath, you could get indigestion," he said as he headed over to a sink and turned the tap on, causing warm water to come rushing out. "Hmm, I think you could use with some soap, it might help wash the gunk off."

Hot Shot pouted as Optimus set him on the edge of a counter as he went through a cupboard and took out a small bottle of bubble bath. After putting some in the water and checking its correct temperature, Optimus gently picked Hot Shot up and placed him in the sink. Hot Shot nearly cried out in surprise of how warm the water felt, but nonetheless, it was nice and relaxing.

I guess being a sparkling isn't so bad after all. But I still wish I was like my old self again. I wonder if there's anything, other than bubbles, for me to play with, Hot Shot wondered as his fingers grabbed hold of some of the bubbles and he giggled in delight as the warm water reached his torso and Optimus turned it off. He took out a cloth, dipped it in the water, and started washing Hot Shot's armour.

Hot Shot's optics widened at the sudden warm touch of the cloth, but it felt good and it tickled his sensitive exposed circuitry. He reached out for the cloth and he grasped it. Optimus laughed as Hot Shot took it away from him and placed it on his head. It reminded him of those desert dwelling humans that wore cloth on their heads to keep them cool when travelling through the scorching heat.

Optimus filled his hand up with water and sprinkled it on Hot Shot's head, making him giggle and wriggle about. "May I have the cloth back, Hot Shot?" Optimus asked as he held out a hand. Hot Shot handed it back in an instant, despite being a little reluctant.

Optimus then washed Hot Shot's face and the sparkling tried to push it out of his face.

(Growl)

"Did you just growl at me, Hot Shot?" Optimus asked in surprise.

(Growl)

"Alright, alright, I'm almost done," Optimus groaned as he gave Hot Shot one last rub on the body with the cloth and then removed the sparkling from the sink. He took out a towel that Red Alert had placed before leaving them alone while he went to go and get the pieces of the machine in the explosion that had caused all of this mess. Optimus wiped the towel all over Hot Shot's little body and Hot Shot laughed again as the towel wiped across his little aft, tickling a sensitive spot.

"Are you hungry now, Hot Shot?" Optimus asked, catching Hot Shot's attention.

Hot Shot clapped his hands as Optimus left for a moment and returned a second later with a full bottle that Red Alert had left. He handed the bottle over and Hot Shot grabbed it before placing the teat in his mouth, gulping it down so fast that Optimus couldn't help but laugh.

After he'd finished his fill in just a matter of minutes, Hot Shot took the bottle out of his mouth and Optimus waited for a moment.

(Belch)

"Yes, you do sound like the adult Hot Shot," Optimus laughed as he picked up Hot Shot and placed him over his shoulder before patting his back in a gentle rhythm. After all, Hot Shot did drink the bottle swiftly, so he may have gotten a bubble or two in his systems.

(Fart)

Optimus' optics widened in shock and surprise. Did Hot Shot just do what he thought he just did? He sniffed the air to make sure that he hadn't, but, not to his surprise, he detected a faint odour in the air and he wrinkled his nose. Now that was just foul! He squinted his optics as they started to water. Never had he ever encountered such a thing in a long time. He remembered Hot Shot and Smokescreen would sometimes get together and have farting contests. Sure, he and Jetfire joined in the phrase, but he had never heard of a sparkling being this bad.

Maybe sparkling Hot Shot was indeed still like the adult one.

(Fart)

He might as well get used to it because Hot Shot will be stuck like this for a little while longer.

"Hey, Optimus, is Red Alert still here?" Sideswipe's voice asked, catching Optimus off guard and he turned to see Sideswipe standing in the middle of the doorway.

"No, I believe he's gone out to get the pieces to the machine that turned Hot Shot into a sparkling," Optimus answered as Hot Shot sucked his thumb in content.

Sideswipe frowned and he sniffed the air. "Optimus, what's that smell?" he asked as he looked around the room in confusion. Normally Sideswipe was not one to instantly pick up smells, but with the exhaust fumes that Hot Shot had just released, it was possible.

(Fart)

Sideswipe's optics popped out of his head as the smell grew worse. "That reeks!" he cried as he covered his nose and ran out the room without a glance over his shoulder, crying out 'Smelly Hot Shot' as he ran.

"For some reason, I don't smell a thing at all. Do you smell anything, Hot Shot?" Optimus asked, looking at the little sparkling in his arms.

Hot Shot shrugged.

Spiritimus Prime: Yeah, I couldn't help myself with the whole fart ordeal. LOL So I hope you like this chapter and stay tunned to the next one!