"When the apple is ripe, give it a gentle twist, and it'll fall right into your hand," Chief Burns said to Chase and Chroma as he demonstrated. He took a bite of the apple. "Mm-mm!"
"I'll obtain the apples on the higher branches for you, sir," Chase said as he stood up. He tried to mimic what Chief did, but the apple squished between his fingers. Chroma tried not to laugh.
"Don't worry," Cody said, "applesauce is good, too."
Suddenly, they all heard a horse's whinny and a goat's bleat. Abby had gotten loose. Again. But this time she brought a goat with her. Abby stopped by a tree and the goat jumped on her back and put its front hooves on the trunk as it nibbled on an apple stem. The apple fell and Abby ate it as the goat nibbled on another stem.
"Careful, Abby," Joyce said, "Don't choke!"
A hover picker appeared and spooked Abby. Abby ran behind Chase to hide.
"When did we get a hover picker, Dad?" Cody asked.
"It's news to me, son." Chief said.
The hover picker was doing a good job until some apples fell on it. The hover picker made an R2-D2-like noise as it went haywire. It started picking objects that looked like apples to it.
"Dani, Graham," Chief said into the comm. "there's a hover picker on the loose!"
"Just another day in Griffin Rock." Graham said.
"Be there in a jiff!" Dani said.
xxx
The hover picker tried to pick another "apple," which was a lever ball-thing on a dump truck, and broke it off.
Graham and Boulder had the misfortune of being behind said truck as it dumped its load, unbeknownst to the driver.
"Ugh! Fertilizer!" Graham said as the fertilizer splashed onto Boulder's windows.
"Don't worry guys," Dani said as she and Blades flew overhead, "We got this covered."
xxx
Mr. Apler was about to hand a young boy his balloons back when something lifted him and the balloons up. The balloons popped and he fell. Luckily, Kade and Heatwave showed up just in time to catch him. Blades and Dani scoop-clawed the hover picker.
"My hover picker better not be damaged!" a stubborn brat in purple shouted.
"Priscilla, this is your invention?" Chief asked.
"It's my entry for the Youth Invention Competition, hosted by our family friend, Mayor Lusky," Priscilla said.
"You're entering it, too?" Jackie asked.
Priscilla screamed in surprise.
"What are you, a ninja?!"
"Have you seen Abby, Bella, and, Olivia?"
"Abby and a goat are at the orchard," Joyce said through the comm.
"Two down, one to go," Jackie said as she left.
"Wait, you're entering the competition?" Priscilla asked.
"Yep."
"What's your invention?"
"It's big."
"How big?" Chief asked.
"I have to get Abby and my goats."
"It better not be-"
"No blazing saddles!" Jackie activated her transmute mode and flew off to the orchard.
"It's the other way!" Cody shouted.
"Thanks, dude!" Jackie zoomed past them.
"That is so weird," Priscilla said.
"You get used to it," Cody said.
"Cody, have you and Frankie even started on your entry?"
"It's gonna be the best one yet!"
xxx
"We don't have any ideas!" Cody almost screamed.
"And this is after three weeks of trying to brainstorm ideas with you," Frankie said.
"Okay, okay, we just need to- ugh! What the heck is that smell?!"
Everyone looked at Boulder.
"You won't believe what that fertilizer was made of!" Boulder said.
Heatwave sprayed Boulder with water to get the fertilizer off him.
"Thanks, Heatwave."
"Why don't you two try to do something that will help people and the planet?" First Aid said to Cody and Frankie.
"I got an idea!" Cody said as he picked up an iPad. "We could make a suit that'll spray water in all directions so that firefighters can rescue people!" Cody showed them the image.
"Or," Frankie said as she snatched the iPad from Cody, "we could create a multi-level self-sustaining tropical ecosystem that will be in urban areas." She showed them her idea.
Cody and Frankie stared to argue over whose idea to enter.
"They're both good ideas," Boulder said, "Why not enter them both?"
Cody and Frankie looked at each other.
"May the best invention win." Frankie said.
"Mmbaa!" a goat ran past them.
"I guess we found Olivia," Cody said.
"I'll get her!" K-9 said as he chased the goat.
xxx
Chief and Chase were on patrol when they noticed a man who appeared to be lost.
"You lost, sir?" Chief asked.
"Um, I'm actually from the USDA," the man said, "I'm trying to find this young lady named Jacqueline M."
"Well, she's in school right now. She'll be out in an hour and a half."
Beep beep beep!
"Emergency dispatch." Chief said.
"Um, I don't know if you guys ever got a call like this, but the school flock is gone." an FFA student said.
"How many chickens are missing?"
"Dude, I'm talking about sheep, nine ewes, one ram... The ewes are pregnant."
"I'll alert the others and animal control." Chief turned to the man from the USDA. "We'll fix this real soon."
Beep beep beep!
"Emergency dis-"
"Charles, there's a sheep in my kitchen and I think it's having a baby!" Mrs. Neederlander screeched.
"Be right there."
The USDA man got into Chase's passenger seat. "You're gonna need someone with a vet license for this one," the man showed Chief his vet license.
"Team," Chief said through the comm., "the school's sheep got loose and we have to find them."
"Did Abby let them out?" Kade asked.
"Possibly," Joyce said, "she's a very smart Quarter."
"Does Jackie know?"
Graham asked.
"The mayor's being chased by the ram." Dani said.
Bwoop.
Chief looked at the text on his phone. [If the sheep are in the park, they'll be fine. Lindsy's on the mainland for a doctor's thing.]
xxx
Jackie got her Agsaber out of her locker. When her history teacher saw her texting, she told him about the sheep and a classmate offered to let her copy her notes when she came back.
"Only got 30 minutes!"
K-9 was flirting with a female Border Collie when Jackie put his leash on.
"I was gonna score!" he grumbled.
Jackie looked at the Collie.
"C'mon, girl." she said.
"Yus!" K-9 said aloud.
xxx
"C'mon, Abby!" Kade said as he pulled on Abby's lead rope. "Quit eatin' the roses!"
Guess who decided to snack on the public garden's plants.
"Feel free to help any time, Heatwave!" Kade grunted.
"And ruin all the fun? Not a chance!" Heatwave said with a laugh.
"C'mon, girl, what do I have to do to get you to listen, give you a ride in the fire truck?!"
Abby stopped eating the roses. She ran to Heatwave.
"Ow!" Kade exclaimed as he got rope burn.
"Kade, I'm gonna kill you!" Heatwave almost yelled.
Kade looked and laughed when he saw Abby looking at him from the back seat.
"Abigail!" Jackie scolded. "You know you can't ride in cars, only horse trailers!"
Abby rolled her eyes.
xxx
The livestock and Abby were put back into the school barn and pasture. Brains showed security footage of Abby opening her stall and letting the sheep out. No charges were filed.
The USDA man examined Jackie's and Priscilla's inventions and gave them the okay to enter them in the competition.
xxx
"It is with great honor that I announce this year's Youth Invention Competition—do'h!" Mayor Lusky was sprayed with water from Cody's invention, which had a few glitches. "This year's winner is...Francine Greene!"
Frankie was very happy as she got her medal.
Priscilla was second, Jackie was third, and Cody was fourth.
Huxley was interviewing Frankie.
"The 'Bro Code's' broken!" Blades whispered to Boulder.
"Do you think we got third because I made a mess on the stage?"Abby asked Jackie.
"Nah," Jackie said as she checked the clip-on horse shoes on Abby's hooves, "but at least my large pet pooper scooper works!"
Cody walked by Jackie.
"Hey, dude," Jackie said, "you want to go to Ice Scream?"
"Whatever," Cody muttered.
"They're gonna show Spaceballs. It's a Mel Brooks film!"
"That's not a horror movie," Cody retorted.
"There's a singing chestburster, that's Aliens franchise.
"All right," Cody muttered.
Abby tapped Jackie's shoulder with her head.
"Oh, crap!" Jackie started to take off Abby's saddle as smoke came from it. "No blazing saddles!"
xxx
Jackie and Cody were eating hot fudge Sundays while Abby and K-9 were eating vanilla as the watched Spaceballs at Ice Scream.
"Hey, Jackie," a student said.
"Brett," Jackie muttered.
"So, what did you enter?"
Jackie was trying to ignore him.
"You gonna say something?"
Jackie turned her head in Brett's direction. "Go. Away."
"Was it that giant pooper scooper?"
"You get Satan spayed?"
"Ohh!" K-9 and Abby kind of said.
"Uh, Jackie, isn't this the part you were talking about?" Cody quickly asked.
Jackie looked at the screen. "Yep, the guy's having a chestburster."
Abby moved her head between Jackie and Brett.
Everyone burst out laughing when the Chestburster stared singing.
"[Check please!]" the two protagonists said.
xxx
"Ugh!" Cody exclaimed.
Voice mail. Again.
"'Sup, Cody?" K-9 asked as he walked into Cody's room.
Cody grabbed K-9 by the collar and walked him out of his room before shutting the door.
Some friend Frankie is! Cody thought to himself. She isn't even calling back or anything!
"K-9, maximize!" he heard from the other side of the door.
Cody grumbled as he pulled a pillow over his head.
K-9 opened Cody's door.
"Ever seen my bipedal mode?" K-9 asked.
Cody took the pillow off his head. "Wow."
K-9 was 5' 5", had a dog/human face (BW Silverbolt), anime-like copper eyes, his beast mode head on his chest, and his paws were his hands and feet.
"Cool, right?"
"I-I thought it was weird when you talked!"
"You do realize that Frankie's just busy right now, which is why you two aren't hanging right now?" K-9 said as he leaned against the door frame.
"Well, she should at least call back or something.!"
"Hey, once the Sky Forest is done you guys can be besties again."
"I guess you're right."
K-9's dog-like ears on his head twitched and his nose sniffed. "Kade's got ribeye steak!" he shouted as he ran down the hallway.
"GYAAAHHHHHH!" Kade screamed.
BWAMPF!
"Owch! Kade, that hurt!"
"K-9?!"
xxx
First Aid was lying on the couch in the bunker watching the news from the mainland.
"Prescott can make a more believable story than that," he muttered.
"Hey, First Aid," Heatwave said as he put a hand on First Aid's Shoulder, "You need anything?"
"No."
"What about a blanket?"
"No."
"Does your ankle still hurt?"
"I would have told you if it did."
"You sure you don't need anything?"
"Get outta here!" First Aid hit Heatwave with a pillow.
"Someone's moody..." Heatwave grumbled.
First Aid continued to watch the news and fell asleep.
xxx
Heatwave came back to the bunker after the Rescue Bots dealt with a small fire at the campgrounds and saw First Aid sleeping on the couch having another nightmare, but not as bad as before.
"First Aid," Heatwave gently shook him, "are you okay."
First Aid shuttered.
"Let's get you to your berth," Heatwave sighed as he picked up First Aid.
xxx
Everyone was in the middle of town. The Sky Forest was being built today.
Cody sighed when he saw Frankie being interviewed by Prescott.
K-9 knew Cody was sad and licked his hand.
"Hey, dudes!" Jackie said as she walked Abby over to the Burnses.
"Hey, Jackie," Dani said.
"Hi," Kade mumbled.
"How's the Automatic Rope going?" Graham asked.
Jackie held out her left arm. The rope was cutting off blood flow.
"It won't undo," she said.
"I'll get the scissors," Dani said.
"I got a saddle bag!" Jackie said as she showed them a leather bag with a western saddle design.
Chroma tried very hard not to laugh.
Jackie, Abby, and K-9 started looking at the sky as the sound of helicopters came into hearing range.
The platforms were arriving.
The three mammals looked at one helicopter.
K-9 suddenly whimpered and nudged Cody's hand.
Cody took out his Lad Pioneer binoculars and saw why K-9 was distressed.
"One of the wires is braking!"
"That's our cue," Heatwave said, "Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!"
The Rescue Bots caught the platform. Then they saw a blue dragon holding one end with her teeth.
Scrap! Heatwave thought.
"Jackie, I think the Rescue Bots got this one!" Melissa, Jackie's bio classmate, said.
Jackie let go of the platform, which now had slobber on it.
xxx
The Sky Forest was now put together and the crowd's attention was split two ways between Frankie and Jackie.
"... and in 10 years the forest will be fully grown!" Frankie said to Prescott.
"10 years?!" Mayor Luskey exclaimed. "How are we supposed to get tourists!?"
"There's always Jackie," a 10th grader said.
"Uh, Jackie?" Mayor Luskey asked Jackie.
"I already have a job!" Jackie said as she got on her horse.
"You didn't let me ask the question!"
"I don't wanna be dissected!"
"Why would you think that?!"
"People still aren't used to my first transmutate mode."
xxx
The next morning when Cody woke up he looked out the window and saw the Sky Forest lush and green... when it wasn't yesterday!
Xxx
Jackie was braiding Abby's mane as they watched some recordings on TV in the farm house.
"Jackie, I got a call about two bovine making a baby in the road so I'll be back in ha- why is Abby in the house?" Lindsy asked.
"So I can braid her mane," Jackie said.
"You wipe your feet?" Lindsy asked Abby.
Abby nodded.
"Make sure that she doesn't make a mess," Lindsy said as she grabbed her keys.
xxx
"Why do you want to go into town?" Jackie asked Abby.
"You'll find out,"Abby said.
HONK!
"AAAHHHHH!" Jackie and Abby screamed.
Jackie whipped her head around and saw a fire truck. Guess which finger Kade saw.
xxx
"Why do you always honk my horn around them?" Heatwave asked Kade.
"Because it's funny!" Kade jerkishly said.
"No wonder she wants to castrate you," Heatwave muttered.
"She wants to do WHAT to me?!" Kade said as one of his hands went down.
xxx
"Mayor Lusky, what did you do?" Chief asked.
"I used this fertilizer I found below the Hall of Inspiration," the mayor said.
"This fertilizer says it will cause aggressive growing!" Doc said.
"Should I get my goats because they'll eat just about anything edible," Jackie said.
"If you think it will help," Graham said.
"If you think this fertilizer is so bad, why didn't you lock it up?" Lusky asked.
xxx
"This isn't how I imagined the second day of my invention," Frankie said.
"It's pretty cool though," Cody said.
"I guess..."
"Race you to the top!" Cody said after an awkward silence.
"Eat my dust!"
"Cody's chasing Frankie!" Chase whisper shouted, "This cannot be good!"
"They're just racing each other," K-9 whispered.
"Back to being friends again?" Blades asked.
K-9 nodded his head.
xxx
Jackie dismounted Abby and walked over to the barn doors and stopped.
What is Wheelie up to? She thought as she opened the doors.
"I now dub you, Sir Eats Pants," Wheelie said as he "knighted" a goat.
"I need the goats," Jackie said.
"Don't tell anyone what you saw."
"Video the goats eating the Sky Forest and you got a deal."
xxx
"How many goats do you have?" Graham asked Jackie.
"15," Jackie said. "Abby, where you goin'?" She said as she looked at platform two.
"How's she going to get down?"
xxx
Cody and Frankie laughed as the reached platform five.
"Try to catch up!" Cody said.
"AAAHHHHH!" Frankie screamed as a vine picked her up.
"What the-!" Cody commed his dad. "Dad, one of the plants grabbed Frankie!"
"The mayor's gonna be in so much trouble with the USDA!" Jackie said.
"Hang in there, Cody!" Kade said.
Cody let out a girly scream as a vine picked him up.
"Anyone think that Aubrey II had kid or that someone mutated kudzu?" Jackie said in her transmutate 1 mode as she arrived on scene and activated her Agsaber.
"What's 'kudzu'?" Blades asked as he and Dani also arrived.
xxx
Priscilla backed away from a giant Venus Flytrap and found herself surrounded by more.
Abby tried to put herself between the brat and the evil plants, but they were surrounded. Abby roared and reared and bucked and stomped her hooves in an attempt to scare off the carnivorous plants.
"Eekk!"
Chase got there just in time and used his laser to decapitate the plant that was about to eat Priscilla.
"Get to safety!" Chase said in his robot voice.
Priscilla ran down the stairs. Abby just stared at them.
"Are equines able to walk down stairs?" Chase asked.
"Unfortunately no," Chief said.
Chase went to pick Abby up when a Venus Flytrap bit his elbow. He grinded his denta as he tried not to scream.
Abby bit the plant's stem.
xxx
Graham and Boulder had cleared platform 4. Vines started to trap Boulder (Graham was in Boulder).
"I know I'm a 'tree hugger'," Boulder said as vines trapped him to a tree, "but not like this!"
xxx
Jackie and Blades freed Cody and Frankie.
"You guys get outta here!" Jackie said.
"Come with us, Jackie!" Cody said.
"I gotta go get Abby," Jackie started to take on her dragon form.
xxx
"What's going on?" First Aid asked Chroma.
"Well let's say I've seen this movie and it doesn't end very well for mankind."
"Let's go!" First Aid tried to run to the platform.
"Hold up!" Chroma said, "Ratchet said that you won't be fully healed for a few more days. I'll go."
After Chroma left First Aid looked down at his ankle.
"It's fine, Dad. You shouldn't worry," he muttered.
xxx
Chase tried to rip the Venus Flytrap off his right elbow and nearly screamed when acid burned through his armor. He felt tears on his cheeks.
"Ack!" The plant bit down harder.
Chase felt vines wrap around his waist. He couldn't handle the pain. He was about to activate the laser on his left wrist to burn off the plant when two more bit him, one on the left wrist, and the other on his right calf. He felt himself shaking. He was going into shock. He thought he was going to die.
"Chase!" Chroma called out. "Where are you?"
He tried to talk but only a squeak came out as he almost collapsed.
"Platform two!" Chief said via comm.
xxx
Jackie was in dragon form when she got there. She picked up her horse gently with her claws. She saw Chase going limp.
Chroma blasted a couple of plants away with her blaster as Jackie burned another off with blue fire.
Chase felt stinging in his elbow as Jackie licked his wound.
xxx
"Giddy up, Sir Eats Pants! Giddy up!" Wheelie said frantically as he tried to ride his goat away like a horse rider as the vines got closer.
xxx
"Hey guys," First Aid said as Dani, Cody, and Frankie got out of Blades.
"Can't talk right now!" Dani said as the three humans ran to the elevator.
"First Aid, contact Prime!" Chroma said, "Chase needs medical treatment! He's in shock!"
"You don't think I didn't try that already?" First Aid snapped.
"Well, try again!"
First Aid shut off his comm. He began to take the brace off his ankle.
"Ratchet said not to do that!" Blades said as he transformed.
"My ankle's been fine for the past week," First Aid said, "it doesn't even hurt that much."
"Y-you don't have a human!"
"That didn't stop Chroma." First Aid got his medical kit.
xxx
"Jackie, quit punching Chase!" Chroma scolded.
Jackie punched the side of Chase's chest and his windshield popped open and Chief got out.
"Now all we need to know is where the dog is," Chroma muttered.
Jackie went back to licking Chase's elbow.
They heard ambulance sirens coming closer and a transforming noise, sirens still blaring.
Chroma looked and saw First Aid running towards them. "What are you doing?"
"My job," First Aid said as he took Chase's electro-pulse. "This isn't good," he went to look at Chase's optics when Chase suddenly stopped sharking. His optics were extremely dilated. "And he's in stasis lock."
"Coma," Jackie sort of said to Chief.
"Jackie," K-9 said when he got there, "When did you get all... metallic?"
"We got bigger problems!" First Aid said, "Brains, try to contact Team Prime again!"
"I'm gonna try the emergency channel this time," Brains said.
First Aid mentally face palmed as he quickly welded Chase's wounds.
xxx
Dani, Frankie, and Cody got out of Blades on platform five, armed with two water guns filled with salt water and Cody in his Sprinkler Suit.
"You guys better hurry!" Blades said as vines trapped him.
Frankie and Dani sprayed salt water on the fresh water plants and Cody made a b-line to the irrigation system to turn it off.
xxx
"Get outta here, Viney!" Lindsy said as she zapped away vines with her cattle prodder.
"MMOOO!"
CRUNK!
"I hope those bovines were insured," Joyce, who was enjoying a nice drive, said as she fire-breathed vines away.
"Oh, that reminds me, I have to insure the goats tomorrow!" Lindsy said.
xxx
Jackie used blue fire to scorch the evil plants away when they all went limp.
xxx
"Longest. 20 minutes. Of my life," Kade said as the little Lad Pioneers messed around.
xxx
Graham and Boulder both breathed a sigh of relief.
xxx
"Here's the cost of my Hover-Picker," Priscilla said to the mayor.
xxx
It was three hours after the ordeal and Chroma was leaning against a wall outside the med bay.
The med bay doors opened and Ratchet and First Aid walked out.
"Is Chase okay?" Chroma asked.
"He's in shock stasis," Ratchet said. "He should wake up in three days maximum."
"I'll let Chief Burns know," Chroma said.
Chroma on the outside seemed stoic, but on the inside, she was extremely worried for Chase.
When she walked into the bunker the Burnses immediately started asking her about Chase. She told them what Ratchet told her.
"Shock stasis?" Dani asked.
"It's common if a-"
Chroma cut Jackie off. "You're not good at explaining things, Jackie."
xxx
Boulder was repairing Chase's armor the next day.
"There!" he said as the removed armor cooled. "Now where did I put my car paint?" Boulder went to look for the paint.
xxx
First Aid was being very careful as he replaced the bandages on Chase's elbow.
"Annd, there's yellow gunk coming out of the wound." He said. He began to clean the wound.
As he cleaned it he noticed Chase had a pained look on his face. He got painkillers and injected them into his patient.
"Hey, First A- Holy! The heck's that smell?!" Blade said as he walked into the med bay.
"Why don't you come over and look?" First Aid offered.
"Eww!" Blades covered his mouth when he saw the yellow gunk. "He's infected!"
"That's why I'm giving him antibiotics," First Aid injected the antibiotics into Chase.
Blades saw a vial of medicine on the counter.
"You really have to clean up after you-" Blades' optics widened, "This is a super powerful painkiller!"
"Well, Chase's arm was twitching, so I gave it to him."
"How much?"
"40 Lu's." (Liquid Units)
"That's double the amount for battlefield amputations!"
First Aid stopped mid-bandaging. "It won't hurt him, will it?" he nervously asked.
"You might have prolonged his stasis," Blades said with a slightly shaky voice.
First Aid gulped and went back to bandaging.
xxx
"First Aid extended Chase's stasis?!" Dani asked very shocked.
"Why'd he do that?!" Kade also asked.
"He gave him a battlefield painkiller," Blades said, "it was an amateur mistake."
"He'll be okay, right?" Heatwave asked.
"First Aid's running a scan, it's a bit early to know."
xxx
3:30 a.m. Two days after the emergency.
Chroma was walking to the med bay to check on the cameras.
Wire replaced on mad bay cam one, he thought to herself. She turned to the med bay doors. Now for the two in the med bay.
She opened the doors and walked in. She turned on her flashlight and her optics widened when she saw energon splattered on one of the walls and ceiling.
"Chase?" she said as she slowly checked the med bay, "Are you alright?"
She went into the surgery area and saw something move in the shadows.
She felt her spark beat faster as she investigated what she saw.
"Chase?"
She saw a figure trying to hide. She shone her light on the figure and felt relieved. It was only Chase.
"C'mon, Chase," she said as she extended her hand, "let's get you back to your med berth."
Chase didn't move.
"You okay?" she saw some energon leaking from his right arm. "Did you hurt yourself?"
Chase let Chroma look at his arm.
"You did, why don't we fix that."
She helped Chase up and repaired his arm.
Xxx
"Chase woke up last night?" Heatwave asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Chroma said, "but he's... different."
"Different how?"
"He seemed shy and paranoid."
"Sounds like when he was training to be a Rescue Bot at Rescue University of Iacon."
"His optics looked off, too."
"Ah, that painkiller must have really messed him up," Heatwave said as he sipped his energon.
"Behavioral change is one thing, but physical change is another."
Blades walked Chase into the galley.
"Alright, Chase," Blades said, "sit down."
Chase took a seat and looked at the bandages on his arm and started tugging at them.
"You'll rip the weld!" Blades almost yelled.
"Have some energon, Chase," Chroma said as she handed him his ration.
Chase looked at the energon and drank it while he watched Chroma exit the room.
xxx
Jackie yawned and stretched her wings. It took a couple of days, but she was almost back to normal.
She got out of bed and looked in the mirror.
"Sweet, I look like Maleficent!"
She did her normal weekend routine and went to feed the animals.