Chapter 5: Our First Earth Rescue
That same night, back on Earth, while Heatwave was dealing with Hot Zone, Patch was talking to her aunt, brother, cousin, and fellow junior bots about her argument with her father. By this point, Patch had calmed down enough from her crying to speak clearly.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if I meant what I said to him about me not being his daughter anymore." she was saying. "But I was just so mad I literally said the first thing that came to my mind."
"That's entirely understandable, Patch." said Medix. "In my studies on human behavior, I have read that when humans get angry, they often lose control of their thoughts, and they end up saying or doing things they don't mean, and it would seem this also applies to Cybertronians."
"Also, Patch, don't let your father's words get to you." added Quickshadow. "It's perfectly fine with me, your uncle, and the rest of the senior bots if you want to talk to or be near Wedge, likewise with him talking to or being near you."
"Thanks, Aunt Quickshadow." smiled Patch. "I just hope Uncle Heatwave was able to knock some sense into Dad."
"Who knows?" replied Quench. "Maybe Hot Zone will be a new bot in the morning."
"You really think so?" asked Patch.
"I mean, I'm not saying it's impossible." said Quench.
"Neither do I." added Quickshadow. "But I'm afraid further discussion will have to wait. It's getting late, and we should all be getting some rest. Good night, everyone."
"Good night, Mom." yawned Hot Shot.
With that, everyone went to their stasis pods to power down for the night just as Heatwave and Hot Zone returned from Maccadam's through the Space Bridge.
"I can't really thank you enough for all that advice you gave me, Heatwave." Hot Zone was saying to his brother. "I'll be sure to keep it all in my memory banks."
"And if you need any more advice, just ask." said Heatwave. "I'll be more than happy to help. Just remember that Chief Burns is also available."
"Gotcha." chuckled Hot Zone. "Well, I guess I better call it a night. See you in the morning, H.W."
"You too, H.Z." replied Heatwave.
That being said, the brothers retreated to their stasis pods for the night. The next day found Hot Zone pacing around in the room he was sharing with the other Protectobots, thinking about how to approach Patch.
"Hey, Patch, I want to talk to you about last night." he said before shaking his head. "No, no, no. That won't work. It'll sound like a demand."
Hot Zone cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Hey, Patch, would you mind if I talked to you about what happened between us last night?" he then asked himself out loud. "No, that doesn't work, either."
"You good, bro?" asked a second voice.
That voice was Heatwave's. He had heard what Hot Zone was doing and wanted to see what was the matter.
"No, not really." sighed Hot Zone. "I'm trying to come up with how I could start the conversation with Patch, but so far, no dice. What should I say?"
"Don't force the issue right away." said Heatwave. "Just tell her plain and simple that you'd like to talk to her, and if she asks why, then tell her why and go from there."
"Okay." nodded Hot Zone. "I'll do that. I just hope she'll listen."
"I'm sure she will." Heatwave promised. "I mean, I have a feeling she's probably feeling much better now after what happened."
"I hope you're right." said Hot Zone.
Meanwhile, the Junior Rescue Bots were talking to the Junior Protectobots about all their past adventures.
"Eventually, me and the others got the idea to watch the Cube championship ourselves." said Whirl. "Of course, the holo-emitter screen we were planning to use needed the Space Bridge to boost the signal, so we tried to do exactly that."
"How did it go?" asked Patch.
"Let's just say it could have gone better." shrugged Hoist.
"Meaning?" prodded Sky-High.
"When Heatwave activated the Space Bridge, it caused him, Chase, Optimus, and Cody to get trapped in an energy bubble." explained Wedge. "We tried to break it by adding more energy, but it didn't work."
"Then I decided that we should try to cool the bubble." Hoist added. "Fortunately, Hot Shot arrived back just in time to help us carry out my plan, and lo and behold, it worked."
"Was Uncle Heatwave mad about the whole thing?" asked Copper.
"Well, he was for a little bit, but he didn't have time to properly deal with us about it due to the arrival of the guests." said Medix. "So, he just decided to let it go."
"I see." said Reach.
Just then, Hot Zone walked into the room, and when Wedge saw him, rage consumed him. He went right up to Hot Zone and socked him in the jaw before storming off. Needless to say, the other junior bots were shocked to see this.
"Dad!" gasped Patch as she ran over to her father. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Patch, I'm fine." Hot Zone replied. "In fact, I'll admit, I think I deserved that."
Patch, along with the rest of the junior bots present, was confused.
"How come?" she asked.
"Because of the way I've been acting lately." said Hot Zone.
Hot Zone took a deep breath.
"Patch, if you have the time and the willingness to listen, I'd like to talk to you about what happened last night." he said.
"I do too, actually." said Patch.
But before the father-to-daughter conversation could continue, the Rescue Alarm went off.
"All bots to the Ground Bridge." said Chase's voice over the intercom.
"You heard him!" said Hot Zone. "Move it!"
With that, everyone raced to the Ground Bridge, where Heatwave and the rest of the senior bots were waiting.
"What's the sitch, bro?" asked Hot Zone.
"There was a cave-in, and some people are trapped inside." said Heatwave. "You need to get them out as soon as possible."
"Sounds easy enough." said Copper.
"I'm afraid it isn't, Copper." said Boulder. "Heavy rains have loosened the dirt on the cliffside surrounding the cave, so there's a great risk of falling rocks."
"Which is why time is of the essance." added Heatwave before turning to the Junior Protectobots. "You kids will follow Hot Shot and the others. We will be here on standby in case you need help."
"You got it, Uncle Heatwave." winked Copper.
"Alright, Junior Rescue Bots, and Junior Protectobots, let's rev up and roll to the rescue!"
With that, the Junior Rescue Bots, followed by the Junior Protectobots, raced through the Ground Bridge, and soon arrived on the scene.
"Okay, Hot Shot, what's the first thing we do?" asked Copper.
"First and foremost, we need to find out exactly where the victims are." said Hot Shot.
"One problem." said Reach. "How do we find out where something is if we can't see it?"
"I can answer that." said Whirl. "Power up and energize!"
With the utterance of those four little words, Whirl's Poly-Visor appeared, and she used it to scan for the victims. It wasn't long before she did. Once the victims were located, Wedge used his to clear away the fallen rocks. Once the path was clear, Hot Shot and the other junior bots went into the cave and greeted those who were theirs for the rescuing.
"Is everyone alright?" asked Medix.
"Yes, we are." said a man, speaking on his group's behalf.
"Say, what are you guys doing in this cave, anyway?" asked Hoist.
The man chuckled with amusement.
"Silly me." he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Professor Ratner, director of the Milford Historical Society. My colleagues and I are in this cave digging for ancient artifacts that could have left behind by the natives centuries ago. But it seems this wasn't the wisest choice to make in the end. I am terribly sorry about this. Had we known something like this were to happen, we never would have began digging here."
"Don't fret about it, Professor." said Medix. "After all, the important thing is that nobody was hurt. Still, we might have you all checked out once we're out of here, just to be sure."
The professor agreed, but before he and his colleagues could start following their rescuers out of the cave, Patch spotted a strange green glow in the distance.
"Hey, I think I see something." she said.
"What is it?" asked Copper.
"I don't know, but I'm gonna check it out." his sister replied.
"Okay, Patch." nodded Hot Shot. "Just be careful, alright?"
Patch said she would and parted ways with her cousin and the other junior bots plus their quarry. She soon found that as she got closer to the source of the green glow, she began to feel light-headed.
"What's going on with me?" she asked herself. "Why do I feel funny all of a sudden?"
Eventually, she came to small pile of rocks that turned out to be the source of the green glow, as well as some faint sickly green fumes. Still curious to see what she had discovered, Patch began removing the rocks one by one, but with every rock she removed, the more ill she became. Soon, enough rocks had been removed for her to see what was causing her mysterious malady, and it turned out, much to her shock, to be Tox-En, a highly poisonous form of Energon!
"Tox-En!" gasped Patch. "I better get out of here!"
With that, Patch turned to leave, but immediately found herself to be severely weakened by the Tox-En, and it wasn't long before she blacked out and collapsed. Back outside, everyone was growing anxious for Patch's exit from the cave, but there was no sign of her. Copper was frantically trying to contact his sister on the comm.
"Copper to Patch. Come in, Patch." he said. "Patch, come in! Do you read me?"
But no matter how many times Copper tried to contact Patch, he got no answer.
"This is bad, Hot Shot." said Copper. "She's still not answering."
"Something must be wrong." said Hot Shot. "Copper, Wedge, you two come with me."
"Right." nodded Copper.
With that, the three boys began moving towards the cave, but just as they were about to go inside, a rumbling sound was heard
"Hey, what's that noise?" asked Reach.
Medix looked up and saw an enormous boulder rolling down the rocky hillside towards them!
"Guys, get out of there now!" he shouted.
Fortunately, Medix's warning came just in the nick of time. Hot Shot, Wedge, and Copper raced out of the way, narrowly escaping the boulder, which came to rest right in front of the cave entrance.
"Phew!" sighed Copper. "That was way too close!"
"But Patch is still in there!" said Wedge. "We have to get her out!"
"Wedge, that boulder is way too big for you to move or break up, even if you use your auger or your jackhammer fists!" Hot Shot protested.
"He's right, Wedge." said Medix as he and the girls came over. "Perhaps it's time we called in for backup."
Wedge sighed, knowing he had no choice but to agree. Copper then called Hot Zone on his comm and relaid the situation.
"We're worried Patch may be hurt." he told his father.
"Stay put, Copper." said Hot Zone. "The guys and I have your coordinates and our on our way."
"Thanks, Dad." said Copper as he ended the call. "Good news, guys. Dad and the other Protectobots are on their way."
Medix, who was looking at a holographic display on his wrist projector, looked up on alarm.
"You're not going to like this." he said. "I'm beginning to detect moderate to severe levels of Tox-En from within the cave."
His colleagues were horrified to hear this, but before anyone could say anything, Hot Zone and the rest of the Protectobots arrived on the scene via Ground Bridge.
"Your timing couldn't be better." said Medix.
Medix then relaid his latest findings to Hot Zone and his team. It should go without saying that hearing this caused Hot Zone's concern levels skyrocket.
"Then we've got to get her out of there at all costs!" he said. "Protectobots, combine!"
With that, while the Junior Rescue Bots watched in awe, Hot Zone and the Protectobots began merging their bodies into the Autobot gestalt known as "Defensor", with Hot Zone forming the torso, Streetwise forming the left leg, Rook forming the right leg, First Aid forming the left arm, and Fly-Up forming the right arm.
"Defensor online." said Defensor once the combining process was complete.
"Defensor, we need you to move that boulder out of our way." Hot Shot told the giant.
"With pleasure." replied Defensor.
Defensor then rolled away the boulder until it was no longer in the way. Afterwards, Wedge transformed into his front-end loader mode and zoomed inside. He soon returned with Patch's limp unconscious form in his bucket. After gently setting her on the ground, Wedge reverted back to robot form. Then, Defensor disengaged and became the Protectobots again. First Aid immediately ran over to Patch and gave her a preliminary scan.
"How bad is it, First Aid?" asked Hot Zone worriedly.
First Aid looked up at his superior with a very grim look.
"She's been severely affected by the Tox-En." the Protectobot medic said. "The sooner we start the treatment, the better the chance of survival she has."
All Hot Zone could do was nod as he and the other boys went back to the Academy via Ground Bridge. When they stepped through the other side, Heatwave and Ratchet were waiting with a stretcher. First Aid placed Patch on the stretcher and together, he and Ratchet took Patch to the Academy's sick bay. For the first time in a while, Wedge looked up at and spoke to Hot Zone.
"Do you think Patch will be okay?" Wedge asked.
"I don't know, Wedge." replied Hot Zone solemnly. "I just don't know."
End Of Chapter 5
