Chapter 5: Silence Is Not Always Golden

The next morning at the Academy was bright, sunny, and warm. But Hot Shot wasn't feeling it. He was still angry at Hoist for pretty much causing Whirl's current absence from the Academy, and most of the day he spent cooped up in his quarters sparring with a homemade sparring dummy he had been gifted to for his, Whirl, Hoist, Medix, and Wedge's first Christmas by his friend Drift, a member of Team Blurr, a group of Autobots that included Fixit and resided in Crown City, where he (Hot Shot) had spent time as a runaway a while back.

"Boy, I sure do love this sparring dummy." he said as he threw some punches and kicks at the dummy. "It's come real handy when I feel the need to vent my anger."

Needless to say, the other bots were very worried about Hot Shot, especially Heatwave.

"Gee, I really wonder what's bugging Hot Shot." the Rescue Bot leader pondered as he listened to his son sparring with the dummy from within the room.

He later discussed this with Chase, Boulder, Blades, Grimlock, Perceptor, Ratchet, and Bumblebee, who had not yet told the other Professors about the incident that had taken place the previous day.

"I just don't understand." said Heatwave. "Hot Shot is usually engaged in some sort of activity with the other Recruits, but this time, he's been by himself for almost half the day now, and he's barely said a word to anyone, especially Hoist."

"You're right." agreed Chase. "This is very strange."

"Maybe he just got up on the wrong side of the stasis pod today." shrugged Blades.

"Or maybe he's depressed about something." added Boulder.

"That sounds plausible." agreed Perceptor. "I have learned that sometimes when humans are going through a bout of depression, they usually try and avoid contact with others."

"Yeah, I see where you're going with that." nodded Grimlock.

"And maybe whatever Hot Shot is depressed about, Hoist had something to do with it." put in Ratchet.

"But what could Hoist have done to make Hot Shot this way?" asked Blades. "There has to be something."

But then, Bumblebee remembered.

"Guys, there's something I've been meaning to say." he said. "And you're not going to believe this."

Bumblebee then proceeded to tell the other Professors about the Dimension Bridge and how it had malfunctioned, resulting in Whirl being stuck in Equestria for the time being, which in turn resulted in Hot Shot refusing to talk to Hoist. It should go without saying that the others were absolutely dismayed by this news.

"Bee, you should have said something before!" said Heatwave.

Meanwhile, Hoist was in his workshop tinkering with some kind of gadget when he heard Heatwave's voice over the PA system.

"Hoist, my office. Now." Heatwave ordered.

Hoist became perturbed when he heard those words. And he also recognized the tone of delivery, and it was one that spelled "Do as I say or you will be disciplined". He put down his tools and started making his way towards Heatwave's office.

"I'm in so much trouble." he gulped.

Soon, he arrived at the office, where he found Heatwave and the others waiting for him. Neither looked happy, especially Heatwave.

"I'll come right to the point." said Heatwave sternly. "Bumblebee told us that you had Whirl try out a new invention without properly testing it to see if it would work properly. Is this true?"

"Yes, it is." sighed Hoist.

"That was very foolish of you to do." scolded Boulder. "A good inventor always tests his inventions to see if they work and work out any bugs that might exist."

"I know." said Hoist. "I was just really excited about it, that's all. I'm sorry, I really should have been more careful and thorough."

"I understand." said Boulder as he put his hand on Hoist's shoulder. "And don't worry, you're not going to be punished."

Hoist was surprised.

"I'm not?" he asked.

"Nope." said Heatwave. "Like I've told you and the others before, Hoist, we all make mistakes. Albeit, you did make a pretty terrible mistake, but it was still a mistake nonetheless. It just doesn't seem right for someone to be punished just for a simple mistake they've made."

"If only Hot Shot could see that." sighed Hoist.

"Don't worry, little buddy." said Bumblebee. "Like I said yesterday, give Hot Shot time. I have a good feeling he might get over it soon."

Hoist knew Bumblebee was right.

"I'll try, Bee." said Hoist.

"Atta boy." smiled Bumblebee.

"So, am I free to go now?" asked Hoist.

"Yes, Hoist, you are." nodded Heatwave.

"Okay." nodded Hoist.

And with that, Hoist went back to his workshop, but he couldn't stop thinking about Hot Shot.

"I really feel like I should try and apologize to Hot Shot again." he thought. "I mean, I know what Bumblebee said about giving Hot Shot time, but I just can't help it."

Meanwhile, Hot Shot had temporarily stopped sparring with the dummy and was currently playing a game on his phone when he heard a knock on the door.

"That better not be Hoist." he said to himself.

When Hot Shot opened the door, he saw Hoist standing there, and he immediately scowled at him.

"Hey, Hot Shot." said Hoist. "I wanted to say how sorry I am for what happened. Like I've already said, neither me, Fixit, Sludge, nor Snarl knew something like this would happen."

But the only response Hoist got was Hot Shot abruptly shoving him out of the way and storming off.

"Gee, he sure is in a bad mood." said Hoist.

Hoist followed Hot Shot, and soon found him shooting free throws on the basketball court.

"There you are, Hot Shot!" said Hoist.

But Hot Shot just dropped the basketball and left with a short and not so very sweet "Hmph!".

"What is it going to take to get Hot Shot to listen to me?" Hoist asked. "There must be some way."

Hoist made several other attempts to try and apologize to Hot Shot, but no matter how hard he tried, Hot Shot just kept ignoring him.

"Well, I guess there's one more thing I can try." said Hoist.

Hoist then went back inside and logged onto the Bot Blog (which is pretty much a Facebook for Cybertronians), which had been opened not only onto the Academy network, but to all Cybertronians as well.

"This has to work." said Hoist.

Hoist soon found Hot Shot's profile and attempted to send him a private apology message, but when he tried to send it, he got an error message saying that it couldn't go through.

"Huh, that's odd." said Hoist. "Let's try this again."

Hoist tried to send the message again, but got the same result. He then tried a third time, but still the message wouldn't go through.

"Okay, something is definitely up." he determined. "But what?"

"Everything okay, Hoist?" asked a voice.

It was Medix, who was standing in the doorway to Hoist's quarters with Wedge.

"Oh, hey, guys." said Hoist. "Yeah, I'm trying to send Hot Shot a private message saying I'm sorry to him because of what happened with Whirl and my Dimension Bridge, but it won't go through for some reason."

"We can go talk to Hot Shot if you want." offered Wedge.

"That'd be nice." said Hoist. "Since he doesn't really want to talk to me at the moment."

With that, Medix and Wedge left Hoist's quarters and went to Hot Shot's, where he had gone back to sparring when he heard a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"It's us, Hot Shot." said Medix.

"Come in." said Hot Shot.

The door opened and Medix and Wedge entered.

"What do you two want?" asked Hot Shot.

"Well, Hoist is trying to send you a message on Bot Blog, but it's not getting through." said Wedge.

"That's because I blocked him." Hot Shot replied.

Medix and Wedge were shocked.

"You what?!" gasped Medix.

"Yeah, you heard me." nodded Hot Shot as he threw some more punches at the dummy.

"Let me guess, you're still upset with him over what happened?" asked Wedge.

"Yup." said Hot Shot.

The two other bots were not amused.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." said Wedge. "Can't you see how bad Hoist already feels about this whole thing?"

"Yeah, and you're making him feel worse." added Medix.

"Easy for you to say." scoffed Hot Shot. "And don't even think about asking me to unblock him. That is not happening."

"Oh, come on, Hot Shot, lighten up." groaned Medix. "You're making Hoist feel terrible."

"Yeah, you're really starting to hurt his feelings." added Wedge.

"Feelings, schmeelings." huffed Hot Shot. "Now can you please get out?"

"Not until you realize what you're doing to Hoist is wrong." denied Wedge as he crossed his arms.

That only resulted in Hot Shot angrily pushing Medix and Wedge out of the room and shutting the door in their faces.

"Well, that could have gone better." shrugged Medix.

"Oh, just shut up." groaned Wedge. "Well, I guess we better tell Hoist."

Medix nodded, then he and Wedge went back to Hoist and gave him the news. When Hoist learned this, he couldn't believe it.

"He blocked me?!" he gasped.

"I'm afraid so, Hoist." said Medix.

Hoist felt even more guilty than he had ever been before.

"Could things possibly get any worse than this?" he sighed.

Medix and Wedge felt sorry for their friend.

"Would you like us to leave you alone for a while?" asked Medix.

"Yes, please." Hoist nodded sadly.

With that, Medix and Wedge left Hoist's quarters.

"Gee, poor Hoist." said Wedge as they walked down the hall.

"He must be beside himself." agreed Medix.

When Medix and Wedge returned to the lounge, they told Sludge, Snarl, Slash, Brushfire, and Laserbeak about this.

"So Hot Shot just shut you guys out of his quarters just like that?" asked Slash.

"Just like that." replied Wedge.

"Crikey." said Brushfire. "He sounds mad as a cut snake."

The others were confused.

"Beg pardon?" asked Medix.

"It means he must be very mad." explained Brushfire. "It's slang used by the locals of Straya. During my time there, I took time to study their language."

"Gotcha." nodded Wedge.

"Maybe me, Brushfire, and Laserbeak could try talking to Hot Shot." suggested Slash.

"Good luck with that." said Wedge. "Me and Medix already failed."

"Don't worry, Wedge, she'll be apples." Brushfire reassured.

"Let me guess, another slang term?" asked Medix.

"Yup." nodded Brushfire. "That one simply means it'll be alright."

"If you say so." shrugged Wedge.

With that, Brushfire, Slash, and Laserbeak left the lounge and made their way to Hot Shot's quarters, where he was still sparring with the dummy.

"G'day, Hot Shot." Brushfire greeted.

"Oh. Hey, Brushfire." Hot Shot replied, not making optic contact with his visitors. "Let me guess, you came to talk with me about Hoist?"

"Pretty much." replied Slash.

"Well, don't even bother attempting." said Hot Shot. "I'm still not talking to him. Same with Sludge and Snarl."

"They said they were sorry, Hot Shot." said Slash.

Laserbeak squawked in agreement.

"Maybe so, but that's not going to bring Whirl back to the Academy." said Hot Shot. "I'm sorry, I just miss her."

Slash, Brushfire, and Laserbeak looked at each other, then back at Hot Shot.

"Is that why you're behaving like this?" asked Slash. "Because you miss Whirl?"

"Yeah, pretty much." said Hot Shot. "And that dim-spark took her away from me!"

Slash growled ferociously.

"Hey, you don't talk about my friend like that!" she snapped.

"Yeah, Hot Shot, that wasn't nice." agreed Brushfire.

"So what if it was?" asked Hot Shot.

"You know what? I don't wanna talk to you if you're going to keep that attitude up." decided Slash.

"Neither am I." agreed Brushfire.

"Yeah, whatever." said Hot Shot. "Just get out!"

With that, Slash, Brushfire, and Laserbeak left.

"Any luck?" asked Medix when they returned to the lounge.

"Nope." said Brushfire. "He still doesn't want to talk to Hoist."

"I warned you." said Wedge.

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Snarl.

"I guess we'll just have to leave Hot Shot be for a while." said Slash.

Everyone else reluctantly agreed. In his quarters, Hot Shot was taking another break from sparring and sitting on his stasis pod.

"Somehow, I get the feeling that the others may be right." he said. "Maybe I am being too hard on Hoist. But I just miss Whirl. I just wonder if there was some way to get the Dimension Bridge working again.

It was then that he was struck with an idea.

"Maybe I should try and fix it myself." he said.

With that, Hot Shot left his quarters and made his way to Hoist's workshop. After making sure Hoist wasn't around, he grabbed Hoist's tools from the workbench, then went to the room where the Dimension Bridge was. He soon found the access panel on the control console, and after unplugging the machine, he removed the panel and started tinkering with the console's components.

"The answer has to be somewhere in here." he said. "Behind all these wires and whatnot."

Meanwhile, Hoist entered his workshop and went over to the workbench. He was very surprised when he discovered his tools were gone.

"That's funny." he said. "Where did my tools go? Guess I better go look for them."

With that, Hoist began looking around the Academy for his missing tools, eventually finding Hot Shot trying to fix the Dimension Bridge. Although he was slightly perturbed that someone had borrowed his tools without asking for his permission, he was pleased to see Hot Shot.

"Hey, Hot Shot, if you needed to borrow my tools, all you needed to do was ask." he said.

Hot Shot said nothing, as he was too busy.

"Would you like some help?" asked Hoist. "I don't mind at all. I mean, it's the least I could do after what happened."

"No thanks, Hoist." said Hot Shot. "I can figure it out on my own."

"But Hot Shot, you've barely had any experience with this sort of thing." said Hoist.

"There's a first time for everything, right?" asked Hot Shot.

"Well, yeah, that's true." said Hoist. "Still, I think you should let me help you. After all, I was the one who actually built it, not you."

"Hoist, I said I can figure it out by myself." Hot Shot said sternly. "Now please leave me alone. Why am I even talking to you, anyway?"

Hoist felt sad.

"Well, if that's what you want, you can have it." sighed Hoist.

With that, Hoist left.

"Well, at least I got some dialogue with him finally, even though it wasn't quite what I had in mind." he said.

With Hoist gone, Hot Shot resumed what he was doing. He tinkered around for quite a while, trying to see if he could find the problem, but all his efforts were in vain, and to make matters worse, sparks began pouring from inside the control unit and the Bridge itself, and a rapid high-pitched beeping sound was heard.

"Uh-oh." gulped Hot Shot.

And before Hot Shot knew it, the whole apparatus erupted into flames. He quickly pulled the plug from its socket.

"Power up and energize!" he said.

Soon, his Combi-Cannon appeared, and he used it to spray firefighting foam onto the flames, and soon, they were out.

"There." said Hot Shot.

Hot Shot then noticed the mess the Dimension Bridge was in.

"Oh no!" Hot Shot gasped. "What have I done?! I've made it worse!"

It was at that moment Hot Shot came to a realization.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" Hot Shot sighed. "I can't do this! Hoist was right. I do need his help."

But then, he remembered.

"But how am I supposed to ask him when I've made it clear that I don't want to speak to him anymore?" he asked. "And how am I supposed to explain this to him?"

He thought about this for a bit, then came up with his answer.

"Ah, who cares?" he asked with a shrug. "If he sees this and gets upset, so be it."

With that, Hot Shot left the room and went to his quarters.

"Besides, it's kind of his fault in the first place." Hot Shot pondered as he went down the hall. "I mean, it was because of his invention that Whirl's gone missing."

Oh, Hot Shot, if only you could see the light.

End of Chapter 5

A.N. You may have noticed that I changed one of the genres to "Drama" and added Hoist and Hot Shot to the character list. The reasons why are as follows:

1. As I was writing this chapter and the previous one, I noticed how the story was starting to take a dramatic turn in terms of emotions, as hinted by how Whirl cried because of missing Hot Shot in Chapter 4.

2. Also as I was writing this chapter, I noticed how Hoist and Hot Shot's interactions have become more central to the RBA half of this crossover than I first conceived.