Blades was getting his kite out of the tree.
"Too much sting, dude," Jackie said.
"It was a work of art," Boulder said.
"So that's how they become power line decorations," Heatwave said.
"If it had flier technology-"
"I'm going to stop you there, Chase," Chroma said.
"Why?"
"It wouldn't be a kite with that stuff."
They all heard an engine sputtering and saw Taylor struggling to fly his plane with smoke coming from the engine.
"Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!"
xxx
"Taylor, steer the plane away from the island and use your parachute to get to safety," Dani said over the comm.
The plane turned to the ocean and Taylor bailed out, deployed his chute, and landed on the beach, where First Aid and the twins were waiting.
The plane turned back to the island.
Dani put on a harness that attached her to Blades.
"Be careful, please," Blades said. "I crashed a kite today and I don't want you to get hurt."
Dani got in the plane and made it level and Blades cheered.
"Don't celebrate yet," Dani saw they were heading to the lab. "I can't steer! Someone tell Doc Greene to evacuate!" Dani had no choice but to bail.
She and Blades looked in terror as the plane glided to the lab.
xxx
Doc Greene and Brains ran out with a foam cannon and shot three globs at the plane and it landed by the garage safely.
The rescue team showed up.
"Are you okay?" Dani asked.
"I am thanks to the collision foam cannon Boulder, Brains, and I worked on," Doc said.
"Nice going!" Kade said. "It put out the fire, too."
"Not that we intended that," Boulder said.
"That's because I added flame retardant," Brains said.
"You can release the plane now, Doc," Chief said.
Doc flicked a switch and shot a disintegration beam which un-encased the plane.
"Also my idea," Brains said.
"I wonder what made the engine fail," Cody said.
Dani opened the engine cover. "Electrical short. But what made the plane turn back after Taylor ditched it?"
"Gremlins?" Graham joked.
Kade backed up in fear, causing Cody and Jackie confusion.
Dani and Graham joked about gremlins a bit more and laughed.
Chase laughed too. "What are gremlins?"
xxx
Jackie was in a humanoid dragon form as she searched the very top shelf of the bookcase for a pop culture cryptozoology book she saw in dragon mode once. "Got it." She picked out the book and handed it to Cody.
Cody turned to the page on gremlins. "Gremlins are mischievous creatures that mess with machinery and electronics.
"The very nerve!" Chase exclaimed.
"Sweetie, they aren't real," Chroma said.
"What do they look like?" Boulder asked.
"Like Gollum from 'Lord of the Rings'," Jackie said.
They all looked up what Jackie said.
"Ah! Those things get into machines and mess them up?! Ughh..." Blades shuttered.
"They. Aren't. Real," First Aid was just about having it with Blades and his gullibility.
"That would explain the mechanical maladies that plague the island," Chase said. "Runaway lawn mowers, for example."
"Chroma and I just-
"And Mr. Harrison's hoverpack malfunctions," Boulder said.
"And why I can't fly high," Blades said.
"That's your fear of heights," Heatwave said.
"Nope. Gremlins."
First Aid's bottom left optic lid twitched.
"Well, the gremlins mythos goes as far back as the Twilight Zone era. So, that's interesting," Jackie said.
"People blame them when tech isn't working right," Cody said.
"Now that I believe," Heatwave said.
"You know what else is considered a myth?" Blades asked. "Aliens. And yet..."
First Aid got in his face. "Don't. Push. Your. Luck."
"Are you okay?" Heatwave put a hand on the medic's shoulder. "Do you need a day off?"
xxx
K-9 was shaking Kade awake. "C'mon, dude! You're just having a bad dream!"
"AHH! Gremlin!" Kade punched K-9 in the face.
"Owrooor!" K-9 fell on his rear and held his nose. "Dude, I'm a fragging Maximal!"
"Man, that is going to bruise. Sorry," Kade rubbed his knuckles.
"Let's get some ice."
Kade got out of bed and the two walked into the kitchen.
"Dream you were flying the plane and something went wrong, weren't you?" K-9 asked as he filled the ice bags.
"How did you know?" Kade asked.
"I used to be a therapy dog for people with PTSD. You pick up a thing or two," K-9 said in the chair next to Kade.
"How long were you a therapy dog?"
"Weaned 'till three."
"'Weaned'? Aren't you Cybertronian?"
"Genetically, yes, but I was born on earth. My mom was a seeing-eye dog and my dad sniffed out bombs. They're like me. Maximals."
Cody walked into the kitchen. "Are you guys okay? I heard Kade yell out and hit something."
K-9's ears twitched. "I, uh, spooked him."
"Kade, it sounded like you were having a nightmare. Doc Greene used to have nightmares, too, but he made a machine that got rid of them."
"I can handle a bad dream," Kade said. "Why don't you go back to-"
The emergency line rang.
K-9 picked it up. "Griffin Rock emergency... We're on it," K-9 put the phone down. "Boys, grab some colas to wake up, we gotta go."
xxx
Heatwave met the three boys in the garage. "Two night shifts in a row?"
"I'm a night person, okay. We have a loose wind turbine," Kade said.
"We're coming as back up," K-9 said as Cody helped him into an extra firefighter uniform.
"That's not going to work," Heatwave said.
"Worked for Raphael in the first Ninja Turtles movie."
Heatwave transformed and allowed the trio in.
"Cody, can I borrow your phone? I need to send a text," K-9 said.
xxx
K-9 whimpered as he pulled Cody away from the loose tower. Mach Kick did the same with Jackie.
"I think ya should call for back up," the thoroughbred said.
"Just need to tighten the anchor bolts," Kade said.
"Uh, oh," K-9 said when the firefighter fell asleep.
"You get 'im away and I'll tighten the bolts," Mach Kick said.
K-9, Jackie, and Cody dragged Kade away as Mach tightened the bolts.
Mach was finishing the last bolt when Kade woke up screaming about gremlins again.
"Kade, Kade, calm down!" Cody said.
"All right, I'm done," Mach said.
"Wow, Mach is huge in bot mode," Kade said.
Heatwave transformed into vehicle mode. "Let's go."
As all of them went to their homes, a metal creaking drew their attention.
"Mach, how did you tighten them?" Jackie asked.
"Correctly," Mach said.
"Someone's shaking the tower!" K-9 shouted.
"Gremlins?!" Kade yelped.
"No, a hover!" Jackie saw the outline of the shaker.
Heatwave let his passengers out and turned to the hover. "What are you doing?!"
"Rotor's orders!" the mech knocked down the tower, ripped off the fan and struck Heatwave with it.
Kade grabbed Cody and ran.
The mech stopped them and dropped his cammo. He looked like a...
"G-g-gremlin!" Kade screamed and froze up.
The mech raised his hand to smush the firefighter as Cody kept running. "Insult to injury!"
"Kade! No!" Cody yelled.
Heatwave body slammed the mech. "Kade, keep running!"
Kade was still frozen.
The mech shoved his fingers into Heatwave's belly wound.
"Urk! K-kade... run..." Heatwave tried not to faint.
Mach picked up Kade and ran while Jackie went dragon and attacked.
xxx
The humans were washing their bots the next day when Cody walked out of the garage.
"Where are you going, son?" Chief asked.
"Uh, Frankie's," Cody said.
"To check on Kade and Heatwave?" K-9 asked.
"What's going on?" Chief asked.
"And why is Heatwave with him?" First Aid asked as he and the others transformed.
"Kade's been having gremlin nightmares," Cody said.
"Uh, that might be our fault," Dani said.
"Might?" Chief asked.
"Let me guess, elder sibling bossing around so you scare them with monster?" Ally asked.
"How did you know?" Graham asked.
"I'm a middle child."
"Why are nightmares so scary?" Blades asked.
"Everything seems very real when you're having a nightmare," Cody said.
"If that is the case, then mine would be in a town where no one broke the law, rendering me useless," Chase said.
"For me, cumulus clouds," Blades pointed at one that looked like a shark. "They're nature's shape shifters."
"Jackie's afraid of octopuses, but not that much," Chroma said.
"I-I already lived through mine," First Aid shuttered.
"Dani, Graham, for your sakes I hope Doc can help Kade," Chief said.
xxx
Cody arrived at Doc's just as Kade got into the machine.
"Hi, Cody," Jackie said.
"Hi, are you checking on Kade?" Cody asked.
"No, Heatwave," Jackie pointed to the red mech sitting down. "He still needs to be in stasis."
"I'm fine," Heatwave said with a small wince.
"Now, Kade, just fall-"
Kade sort of cut Doc off with a big snore.
"So much for a sound proof bed pod," Jackie said.
"Doc, are you sure this won't hurt him?" Heatwave asked.
"Dude, it's been tested before. It's okay."
The machine turned on and the giant glass tube next to the pod filled with purple smoke. The smoke faded leaving three pink gremlins.
"Aww!" Jackie clasped her hands. "Stitch!"
The gremlins activated their head spikes and more appeared.
"Kade dreams of those?!" Frankie exclaimed.
"No wonder he has nightmares!" Cody said.
"Still adorable!" Jackie said.
So many appeared that they broke the chamber.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Cody asked.
"I don't think so. Dad?" Frankie asked.
"Don't worry, they'll vanish once they've used up their energy," Doc said as some began to poof away, but more were still coming out of the tube.
"I'm waking up Kade before we get more," Heatwave turned off the sleep chamber and Kade woke up screaming about... "We know." Heatwave pointed at the gremlins.
"Hey, they're recharging with electronics," Jackie said as she tried to catch one.
"Cured yet?" Heatwave asked Kade.
"I wanna go back to sleep!" Kade said.
One got on a newspaper launcher and Jackie agsabered both.
Then they all escaped the lab.
"That isn't good," Jackie said as she coaxed one back with a solar pacifier and swaddled it. "I'll call you 'Angel'!"
"You are so weird," Kade said.
xxx
K-9 was chewing on a rawhide when he saw a gremlin on the window behind Dani and Graham.
"Guys, look behind you slowly," he whispered.
They turned around and yelped when they saw the gremlin trying to eat the window.
Chief gasped and accidentally dropped his not-so-hot coffee cup on K-9's head.
xxx
The rescue team exited the firehouse to find gremlins running amuck.
"These gremlins are destructive," Boulder said.
"And weirdly cute," K-9 said.
"They're energized crystals representing figments of Kade's imagination," Graham said.
"So, they're basically walking cartoons?" Dani asked.
Blades gasped. "Cartoons aren't real?!"
First Aid groaned and face palmed.
"Authentic or not, these creatures are stealing electricity," Chase said.
"Like Kremzeek!" Chroma pounded her fists.
"'Kremzeek'?" T.J. asked.
"I'll explain later," Ally said.
"Looks like that electricity is what's keeping them going," Chief said as Don ran out of his car after the gremlins killed the battery.
The gremlins pounced on First Aid and Chroma, draining their electronics.
Chroma grabbed a handful and poofed them.
First Aid's knees buckled as they finished draining his electronics.
"Are you okay?!" Blades said as he helped him up.
"Mm-mm," First Aid shook his head.
"Get him back inside," Chief said.
Graham looked at First Aid's wrists. "The gremlins totally barbecued his electrical systems!"
"So, how do we keep them from frying all the tech on the island?" Dani asked.
"With bait," Chief said.
"Yeah! What bait? Worms?" T.J. asked.
"No, batteries, you idiot," Raychel said.
xxx
Heatwave, Cody, Kade, and Jackie arrived when the others defeated most of the gremlins.
"Looks like you guys had all the fun," Kade said. "I really wanted to have at those rascals."
"Yeah, right," Jackie and Heatwave said in unison.
Jackie saw something out of the corner of her eye. "You missed some."
"They're heading northwest!" Cody said.
"There's not much out there except for Jackie's place and... Oh," Dani said.
"The power plant!" Graham said.
"Griffin Rock will be crippled if they get there," Chief said.
"Looks like you'll get your chance to tangle after all," Heatwave told Kade. "Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!"
xxx
"Shouldn't Graham be leading this?" Kade asked. "He lives for this stuff."
"Did you forget-" Heatwave was cut off by Jackie.
"Your gonads?" Jackie crossed her arms.
"I was going to say firefighters code."
"'First through the door'," Kade said.
They approached the plant.
"Or sometimes the wall," Heatwave rammed through the wall.
The gremlins were already starting to drain the plant.
Kade started stammering.
"Did you forget your gonads?" Jackie asked.
"Look, Kade, if you don't deal with this now, you'll be stuck with them forever," Heatwave said.
"Got it!" Kade exited Heatwave with Jackie.
Jackie went T1 mode.
The two ran to the emergency cut off.
A forklift being unintentionally run by gremlins barreled towards them.
Jackie lifted Kade up and over the forklift and they dropped like rocks.
"Man, you're heavy!" Jackie breathed.
Kade ran to the switch and a gremlin jumped onto it.
"Uh, Jackie, can you tell it to get off?" Kade asked.
"That's not how my animal communication works!"
Kade gulped and turned off the power plant.
All the gremlins poofed away.
"I knew I could do it!" Kade said.
Heatwave and Jackie rolled their eyes.
The trio exited the building when the others arrived.
"Not to brag, but I stopped the gremlins all by myself!" Kade was bragging.
Jackie got out her phone and texted Doc Greene to put the anti-nightmare device in best left forgotten.
"Kade, Graham and I are sorry about teasing you," Dani said.
"It's okay," Kade put his arms around his two younger siblings. "Every single scary, slimy, scaly gremlin is gone."
"Kade take a couple days off to rest," Chief said.
K-9 was sleeping in his dog bed when he heard Dani and Graham screaming about gremlins.
"Ugh! Not again!"
xxx
Rotors was pissed that the Insecticon under his command failed his mission.
"Sir, do you need anything thing?" Darksyde asked.
"Yes, I want those two to die!" He pointed at the pictures of Heatwave and First Aid. "Now, get out while I plot!"