Chapter 2: I Ran So Far Away

Later that evening, as everyone else was powering down for the night, Hot Shot decided that he had been recharged enough, so he deactivated his stasis pod, climbed out, and looked at another photograph. This one was of him and the other Recruits. He sighed as he gazed at the photo.

"Well, guys, this is goodbye." he said.

Hot Shot then took the photo as well as some other items, including his Cube, put them in his gym bag, zipped it closed, opened the door, and, after making sure nobody was watching him, tiptoed away. Or, so he thought that nobody was watching him.

"Hot Shot?" a voiced asked.

It was Whirl.

"Oh, hi, Whirl." Hot Shot whispered.

"What are you doing?" Whirl whispered back. "And why are you whispering?"

Hot Shot made sure there was not a single bot around to hear them.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" he asked, still whispering.

Whirl nodded, and that's when Hot Shot broke the news.

"I'm leaving the Academy." he confessed.

Not surprisingly, Whirl was petrified at this announcement.

"You're what?!" she gasped. "Why?"

"It's because Heatwave hates me because of what happened." Hot Shot explained.

"But Hot Shot, you can't leave!" Whirl protested. "Think of what will happen to our team if you do! It won't be the same!"

"I'm sorry, but I have to." affirmed Hot Shot. "It's clear that Heatwave doesn't want me around anymore."

"That's not what he said." argued Whirl. "He just said you can't come on missions with us for the rest of the year."

"That's just it." said Hot Shot. "What's the point of being on the team if I can't come on missions?"

It was then that Whirl finally understood her friend's intentions.

"Well, if you want to leave for that reason, then I guess I shouldn't keep you." she sighed. "And like I said, I won't tell anybody. Not Wedge, not Hoist, not Medix, not even Chase or any of the other Rescue Bots."

"Good." said Hot Shot. "Well, Whirl, this is goodbye."

Whirl hugged her friend.

"Goodbye, Hot Shot." she said. "I'll never forget you."

With that, the two friends parted ways. While Whirl returned to her stasis pod, Hot Shot made his way out of the training center building's main entrance, since he knew that only staff members were allowed to activate the Ground Bridge. Once outside, he turned to face the building.

"So long, Rescue Bots Training Academy." he said as a small droplet of oil came from his eye.

With his final good-by said, Hot Shot turned in the other direction, transformed into his jet mode (the way I see it is that since Hot Shot can only use his Multi-Cog once a day, whenever he uses his stasis pod, it automatically resets it), and flew off into the darkness.

"Now, how can I get far away from here without exerting myself?" he asked himself. "There must be some way I can pull it off."

Eventually, he saw a train depot, where a small freight train was getting ready to leave.

"That'll work." he said. "I've seen this done in Earth movies, so there's no reason this shouldn't."

With that, Hot Shot landed, transformed into robot mode, and started for the train, which was nothing more than three boxcars and a caboose being pulled by a large 2-10-0 "Decapod" type steam locomotive (for visual reference, it resembles the Strasburg Rail Road's No. 90 locomotive), but he then saw two men coming towards it.

"Uh oh!" he gasped. "Humans! I better hide!"

With that, Hot Shot jumped into one of the boxcars and moved its contents around to make room for himself to sit in comfortably. This commotion caught the attention of the two men outside.

"Did you hear that, Danny?" one of them asked.

"Hear what, Lou?" the other asked.

"That clanging sound, followed by that scraping sound." said Lou. "It sounded like someone got into that car and moved some things around in it."

"I didn't hear anything." Danny shrugged. "You must be hearing things again."

"You're right." his friend agreed. "I think I should lay off those 5-Hour Energy drinks for a while."

"I couldn't agree more." said Danny.

Hot Shot had hid in one of the corners of the boxcar to avoid being seen by Lou and Danny. Thankfully for him, they didn't see him and continued heading towards the front of the train. Eventually, Hot Shot felt the train start to move, the force of which knocked him to the ground.

"So this is what it must be like on an Earth train." said Hot Shot. "Might as well try to get used to it."

Hot Shot then sat down to relax. The sounds of the steam blowing out of the train's smokestack, steam hissing from every nook and cranny, and the train's wheels rolling along the track proved to be very relaxing indeed, and he closed his eyes to listen.

"Gee, this is so soothing." he said. "I can see why humans like to ride in these things."

Just then, a thought struck him.

"Say, I wonder where this train is going." Hot Shot pondered out loud. "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

And with that, Hot Shot continued to enjoy his ride as the train rolled on to its destination that is yet to be determined.

End Of Chapter 2