The evening was quiet at Rescue Bots Academy. After a long day of training, the Professors had left their charges for the night, returning to Griffin Rock. Hotshot had begged for them to get just a little more time up before retreating to their stasis pods for the night, and Boulder being the soft bot he was, gave in.

With the professors gone and Boulder not exactly specifying the amount of time "A little more" was, all five recruits had found time to just hang out for as long as they wished. Or at least until the professors came back in the morning and potentially found them all still up.

Hotshot and Wedge had decided on watching an action film Cody had told them about in the common area. Medix had resisted but finally given in to defeat and was settled in the corner, doing his best to study intensive medical journals while loud explosions and shouts echoed from the video screen. Hoist had decided action was a little too...stressful for him to watch right before bed, and so he hurried off down the hall to fill his own time, Whirl grinning as she followed him.

They were partially into the film when Hotshot tilted his helm to the side, "Is it just me," he asked, "Or have Hoist and Whirl been acting kinda...weird lately?"

"What do you mean?" Wedge asked, not really listening too much to his teammate's pondering and much more enthralled in the film.

"They've just been hanging out together a lot by themselves, getting into these excited conversations about...Sciencey stuff."

"They share similar interests." Medix muttered, "Why wouldn't they enjoy doing things together?"

"It's more than just having fun, Medix. Did you not see during the simulation today that the moment Whirl was having any sort of trouble, Hoist abandoned his position to go help her?"

Wedge shrugged, "It's nothing to worry about, Hotshot. They've just become close friends while here."

"Haven't we all?"

A loud scream broke through the sound of the film, but as it was an action film, it took them a moment to register that it hadn't come from the screen... It had been Whirl down the hall, and she'd sounded terrified.

The three mechs leaped to their pedes and rushed out the door of the common area. "Whirl!?" Wedge hollered, but there was no answer. "Hoist!?" No answer from the towtruck either.

"Come on, I think they were in their museum!" Medix informed.

They ran down the corridors, their optics widening as they heard a loud crash, and then as they turned the corner, they stumbled to a stop in horror.

The recruits gasped as they saw the scene. Hoist stood at the end of the hall in dinobot mode, growling in their direction with glowing orange optics, and clutched in his teeth...was Whirl, limp and unresponsive.

"Hoist!" Hotshot worried as he looked at his friend, "Hoist...What did you-"

Hoist's growl deepened, and he placed Whirl down on the floor before giving a loud roar and charging at his friends. The recruits scattered to either side; Hotshot on one side, and Wedge and Medix on the other. Hoist took off down the hall, and the three mechs looked to one another.

"Hotshot, call the professors! Medix, look after Whirl!" Wedge ordered, "I'll try to keep him within the academy!"

Hotshot and Medix nodded, and then they separated, with Hotshot following Wedge. "Hotshot to Professors! Professors, come in!"

We hear you, Hotshot. Heatwave spoke up, But shouldn't you all be in-

"Hoist's gone nuts in dino mode!" The little firebot's spark was pounding with fear and worry, and his tone showed it. "He hurt Whirl!"

There was a pause, and Hotshot hoped his message hadn't been disrupted, and then Boulder spoke up. Wedge, Hotshot, try to get Hoist inside the Simulator. We'll be there as soon as we can.

The pair nodded, "Understood, Professor." Wedge affirmed, and then they hurried after their teammate.

It wasn't too hard to follow his trail, he left knocked-over objects and clawmarks on the floor as clues. He was headed for the command center. Wedge transformed into vehicle mode as he caught sight of him. "HOIST!" He hollered.

The dinobot came to a halt, turning towards him with a snarl.

"Th-That's it, Hoist...!" The construction bot whimpered as Hoist came stomping back towards them. His chassis quivered as he rolled backward, "That's it...Come and get us!"

Hoist roared once more, and then both recruits were booking it back down the hall, now with the dinobot in pursuit. The ground shook under his thundering feet as they rushed through the dark corridors until finally reaching the Simulation Room. They rushed inside, before stopping in place.

"Wait...Aren't we stuck in here with him now...!?" Hotshot whimpered.

"Computer, activate jungle simulation!" Wedge hollered quickly.

Hoist stomped towards them, but then the simulation started, and thick, green vegetation blocked the dinobot from view. "Come on!"

Wedge yanked Hotshot into the foliage, lying down in the shadows as Hoist began trudging through the brush, roaring and snarling as he searched. Hotshot started to whimper, but Wedge covered his audio emitter and silenced him.

It was a tense silence, both mechs lying in the dirt, too scared to even tremble as their deranged friend came closer and closer, and then out of nowhere, a deeper, different roar broke through, and the simulation ended as Heatwave came jumping down into the scene, landing on top of Hoist and pinning him down to the floor. Hoist fought and snarled as he tried to get loose of his teacher's grip, but Heatwave had him in a vice grip and outsized him even with him as a dinobot.

"Professor!" Hotshot cried in relief, looking up as Blades, Chase and Boulder came rushing over as well.

"Ergh...! Don't worry!" Heatwave assured as he held Hoist's helm down against the floor, "We're going to get this worked out...!"

"Where's Whirl and Medix?" Blades worried.

"Down the hall...!" Wedge panted, and the oldr medic hurried out of the room.

"Hoist...!" Boulder bent down to the younger engineer's optic level. "Hoist, can you hear me?"

Hoist tossed his helm about, but then his optics flickered and then returned to their normal color. "Pruh...Professor...?" He rasped, looking around confusedly. "...What's going on?"

The longer he looked at their expressions, the more worried and frantic his own voice became. "...Why are you looking at me like that...!?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Within minutes, all recruits and professors were inside the medical bay. Medix and Blades stood over the medical berth Whirl now occupied, her tiny frame strung up to several machines to watch her vitals. Boulder and Chase stood over Hoist who sat on another berth under their close watch, and in the corner, Heatwave watched over Wedge and Hotshot, both of them sipping on energon infused with a mild sedative to calm their trembling frames.

Aside from the beeping of the medical devices, the bay was rather quiet, but the space was a mixture of tension within their EM fields. Wedge, Hotshot, and Hoist's were all flaring and pulsing, which didn't help the look of pure horror and fear on Hoist's faceplate every time he even looked in Whirl's direction. Medix was trying to be professional and keep his field calm and steady, but there was a quivering in it that told that he was just as frightened by the experience as his teammates.

The professors, while all giving looks of concern to one another, had completely calm and steady pulses. For Chase, that was normal, and it was becoming even more common for Blades and Boulder as time went on, but it was surprising to the recruits how calm Heatwave was in this sort of situation.

Hoist's digits folded together in his lap, helm drooped so low his chin was almost pressed against his chestplate. "...I...I..." He mumbled, unable to even bring to words what he was trying to say.

"We're sure it wasn't intentional, Hoist..." Boulder assured, putting a hand on the littler bot's shoulder. Hoist shuddered from the touch as if he'd expected to be hurt by the motion. "We know you'd never hurt anyone intentionally."

"But I...I'm a...A mon-"

"No."

Heatwave's voice echoed off the walls of the room, "Do not finish that sentence, Hoist. You are not a monster."

"Then...A Decepticon, then?"

Wedge winced at the suggestion, "N-No, Hoist." He answered, "...Decepticons hurt other bots on purpose. This was an accident."

"We think."

Every professor glared at Medix for his remark, "I-I mean, of course, it was an accident!"

Hoist looked over at Whirl, "...Is she...Going to be okay...?"

The poor towtruck was on the verge of shutting down from such fear of his own self, but his tension lightened a little as Blades turned to face him, giving a smile and a nod. "She will recover."

"I...I can't believe I hurt her...! I've never hurt anyone before! I... I'm so sorry...!"

"Well..." Heatwave leaned back against the wall, "...It's not like we haven't dealt with feral dinobots before."

The recruits perked up a little bit at that remark.

"What do you mean?" Wedge inquired, "Did Grimlock, Sludge or Snarl do this too once?"

Boulder shook his helm, "No...Somebot else... But that's a tale for another day."

"Hoist..." Chase bent down to the recruit's optic level, "...It would be beneficial to our investigation if you could relay to us anything you remember of the event."

Hoist sat up a little straighter, his brows furrowing as he tried to think back. "I...I was in Whirl and I's museum of Earth Objects...We were...We were talking, and then... Then she screamed. I got scared and...And then...Primus...!" He covered his mouth with his hands as tears welled in his optics, "...I had her in my mouth...!"

"You did," Medix confirmed.

"Why did Whirl scream?"

Hoist's brows furrowed further, his pulse flaring as he struggled, and even more when he opened his optics again with pure fear. It was about the same time that Blades stood up straight and whipped around to face Heatwave.

"Lock down the Academy, Heatwave. Now!"

Heatwave's field flared slightly as he nodded, rushing to a panel on the wall and pressing several buttons in rapid succession. There was a loud blaring siren, and the lights shifted to a deep red around them, before the loud thuds of doors closing and security gates locking over the windows echoed through the halls.

"What is it?" Wedge worried, "What's wrong?"

"Whirl's low on energon... But there's no injury for her to have bled out."

"What does that mean...?" Hotshot wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

"It means that something siphoned her lifeblood out of her." Heatwave informed firmly, "...We have an energon vampire in the Academy."

The recruits all froze in place, even Medix. Energon Vampires were one of the most deadly and dangerous creatures known to bot, and one was wandering the halls of the academy!?

"Hoist, hold still for a moment."

Blades walked over to the other berth, overlooking the towtruck for a moment, and then his brows furrowed as he looked where Hoist's helm met his neck. "Yes... Yes, that explains it."

"What?"

"I'm seeing the same bite marks on the back of your neck as I did under Whirl's rotors...It nipped you too."

Hoist instinctively reached up and placed a hand over his neck as Blades stepped back.

"So it got some of his energon, but not as much as Whirl." Boulder murmured, "Which meant he was lower on energon than usual."

"And that spurred him to go into dinobot mode as a defense mechanism," Chase added, "And also go into a feral state."

"And hurt Whirl...!" Hoist whimpered.

"No." Heatwave bent down to his level, "Blades said she's not hurt like you attacked her. It's more likely you only had her in your mouth to move her somewhere safer. Trust me, even in feral mode, Dinobots recognize their friends and family."

"So you saw she was hurt and wanted to protect her, and it just looked bad when Medix, Hotshot, and Wedge found you," Boulder added.

"But if he recognized us, why did he chase us?" Wedge asked.

"More likely he was trying to follow you because you were part of his 'pack.'"

Hoist's EM field began to stabilize but was still trembling. "So...What do we do about the vampire?"

"Leave that to us." The professors informed, "Blades, stay in here with the recruits while we-"

"We want to help!" Wedge spoke up.

"We do?" Hotshot asked, earning an elbow to the arm. "I-I mean, yeah!"

"Recruits, this is a very dangerous creature we're dealing with."

"Which means we can't leave you to fight it alone!" Wedge argued, "It hurt our friends. We want to help!"

The professors looked to each other cautiously, and then finally, Heatwave relented. "Alright...But you're going to be with one of us the entire time, is that clear? No running off to be the big hero!"

"Yes sirs!"

"Blades, stay in here with Hoist and Whirl. The rest of us are going on a hunt." The medic gave a nod, "Good. Alright. Wedge, stick with Chase, Medix, you're with Boulder. Hotshot, with me."

"Energizing Tools activate, Team." Boulder warned, "We need to find it first, and keep your optics and audio receptors open. It's no doubt hiding in the walls..."

That didn't help the recruits' confidence, but they obeyed, following their teachers out the door before it closed up behind them.

"Good." Blades went over and fiddled with the panel on the wall, "Close off the vents leading in here... Don't want it finding us cornered."

Hoist sat quietly for a moment as Blades cleaned up some of the clutter in the room, his optics drifting over to Whirl. She was lucky to be unconscious during all of this, not even knowing what was transpiring. He folded his digits together again, "...Professor Blades...?"

"Yes?"

"...The other dinobot that went feral...Did he hurt anyone?"

Blades paused in his work, setting the tools he'd been organizing down for a moment. "...Yes, and he has to deal with that guilt even now. Be fortunate that you don't have that guilt, Hoist...It can haunt you."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I can't believe we have another one in here...!"

"Another one!?" Hotshot asked, "This has happened before!?"

Heatwave held a digit to his lips, "Yes. Shh... Th last time, it caught us by surprise like it did Hoist and Whirl, so we need to be on our guard."

"I too am surprised that we have another infestation." Chase agreed, "Did we not spray for them one week ago?"

"Okay. Good joke, bad timing, Chase."

"I apologize. I was simply trying to relieve the tension. After all, we were not participants in the last hunt, you and I."

"Why didn't you guys help last time?"

"We were otherwise engaged."

"Pfft." Boulder mumbled, "That's not how I remember it."

"It's not important. What's important now is making sure this one is detained and removed before it hurts anyone else."

Hotshot's optics were wide open, and he jumped at every irregular noise; a louder than normal step from his mentor, the creaking of the floor under his feet. To him, any of it could be a predator ready to pounce. "...What do they look like...?" He whispered, his energize tool ready to fire hardening foam he'd formulated. "I've only heard stories, never actually seen one..."

"Large, slug-like creatures that secrete slime for locomotion," Medix informed rather calmly.

"How are you so calm, Medix?" Wedge hissed as he looked around the corridor nervously.

"Simple. Logic states that a calm and collected processor is more productive in dealing with-"

A loud screech from above echoed down the hall, and the little medic yelped and ducked behind Boulder for defense. His teammates smirked at one another; they felt better about being afraid knowing that they all were scared. "A-As I was saying-"

"Shh." Heatwave silenced them, pausing and looking around. They looked, listened... And then Hotshot heard both Heatwave and Chase's vents take in a large portion of air. They paused, and then looked at each other. "We're close."

"How do you know?" Wedge whispered.

"Their olfactory sensors have been enhanced as of late." Boulder explained, "Among other sensors...Keep close, Recruits."

The recruits looked at each other with confusion but didn't argue.

Their trek continued in quiet, eerie silence, with Heatwave leading, the recruits in the middle, and Chase and Boulder in the back guarding the rear. The red lights cast the entire place in their haze, making Heatwave almost invisible from certain angles. The trail they seemed to be following led them back into the Simulation Room, and Heatwave paused at the entrance. "Keep alert..." He reminded, and then they entered the large, open space.

"Wouldn't it be better to just lock it inside here?" Wedge asked.

"It could still get to the wiring and take out the power," Chase informed.

They looked around the room, but there seemed to be no sign of their intruder...except for a trail of slime that led up the wall.

Hotshot looked up just in time to have some of the slime drip into his optics, and he yelped, stumbling back as he tried to wipe it away. "Ah! Ah! Get it off!"

The ground shuddered as the Energon Vampire dropped from the ceiling and hit the floor, and Hotshot was knocked off his feet. He struggled to see as he heard a loud hiss, and then he made out a dark shape looming over him. He heard his teachers and teammates yelling his name, but he was too focused on the dark shape that was over three times his size. Suddenly a burst of foam slammed into it, and Hotshot found the impulse in his processor to move. He scrambled back, firing at the dark shape blindly with his hardening foam and hoping he didn't hit any of his friends.

He fired round after round, his optics tightly shut, until he finally felt a hand grab his arm and pull it back. "Ah! Ah!"

"It's okay, Hotshot! Stop!"

The recruit paused as Wedge shouted frantically into his audio receptor, and then another hand grasped his shoulder. "You got it! You got it...!"

"I-I can't-! I can't see! I-It burns! I can't-"

"It's okay, Hotshot." Heatwave's voice came from the opposite side, his hand resting on that shoulder. "Just calm down... Hold still for a moment."

Hotshot gasped as a light spray of water hit his faceplate, struggling to shut his optics but feeling them being held open as they tilted his helm to the side. Finally, after a few seconds, the goop was washed away, and he blinked repeatedly to remove the water also. "Ah...!"

"You okay, Hotshot?" Wedge asked.

"Nnn...Yeah...!" He mumbled as he rubbed his optics, and then he opened his optics again and looked ahead.

The Energon Vampire was indeed caught in a dense covering of hardening foam; some were his teacher's, but mostly his, as well as several large patches all over the floor from his blind rampage. "...Oops."

Boulder chuckled, helping him back up to his pedes. "Come on, Heatwave and Chase can deal with this piece of scrap. Let's go give the good news to the others..."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Wow," Whirl marveled, "We're gonna need some more display cases!"

She and Hoist's museum of Earth Objects was full of so many human devices and interesting finds they'd collected on their training missions; big, small, long, short, even some whose shapes did not have an official name. The police trainee picked up a small rock with flecks of blue and gold minerals inside of it and rolled it around in her palm, so many things that they didn't understand, that she wanted to understand.

"Yeah, I know!" Hoist agreed, "Maybe Professor Heatwave could let us borrow another storage room to expand!"

"I think he's already kinda iffy on the amount of stuff we've got just in here, Hoist." Whirl giggled, setting the rock back down. "But we could always ask!"

They paused at the distant rumble coming from the Common Room; Hotshot certainly had it going rather loud. "He'll wake the neighbors if he's not careful." Hoist joked.

Whirl gasped, "You really think we could alert humans if we're too loud!?"

"I'm kidding, Whirl." Hoist patted her shoulder to calm her, "Nothing bad could happen with one night of staying up late."

Whirl smiled, "I guess you're-"

She then looked up as she heard a creaking, and then saw something big come flying out of the vent above them. She cried out, but was unable to move out of the way before it landed on top of her. She screamed as it slithered over her body, and then a pair of fangs stabbed through her armor as it bit her. She wanted to fight, but she felt her energy being sucked out, her fuel lines literally being drained dry. She knew this creature from legend, she knew how deadly it was.

"H-Hoist...!" She whimpered.

A loud thwack and the Energon Vampire's fang being ripped out of her chassis told her help was in progress. Her dimming optics saw Hoist brandishing one of their long, metal treasures like a bat, now dripping with the creature's slime. "Get away from her!" He shouted angrily.

Whirl saw the creature launch itself at Hoist, and then as her optics went offline, she heard him transform...and then roar...

"Protect..." She heard his voice rasp, and then all went dark...

"Whirl...? Whirl...Wake up."

Whirl's entire chassis ached, but she fought against it, she forced her optics to open. "H-Hoist!" She gasped, trying to sit up but being pushed back down by her fellow copter.

"It's alright now, Whirl." Blades informed, "You're alright...You're safe now."

Whirl's spark pounded as her optics searched the room for answers. She was in the medical bay, on one of the berths...and Hoist was lying on another. "H-Hoist...! Are you-"

"Hoist is fine." Blades assured, looking over to the fellow Rescue Recruit. "I've got him sedated so he'd rest, he was running himself ragged worrying about you."

"He was...?"

"Yes..."

"...The Energon Vampire! Did it-"

"We caught it!"

Whirl looked down at the foot of the berth, where Wedge was punching the air confidently. "You shoulda seen us, Whirl! We were all 'Ha ha! Take some of that, you slimeball!'"

"Oh please," Hotshot complained, "You and I both know I did all the hard work!"

"Yeah, panicking like a newspark!"

Heatwave placed a hand on each of their helms to quiet their squabbling, "The important thing is that it's been captured and is no longer a danger to anyone."

Whirl finally was able to sit up, and looked back at Hoist. "...How did we get out of there?"

"Hoist went all dino and saved you, Whirl!" Hotshot praised, "It was awesome!"

"Though we did think he was the one to hurt at first..." Wedge admitted sheepishly, "...It just looked bad."

Chase then entered the room, turning to the three mechs. "Alright, Boulder and I have made a proper sweep of the entire academy-" he raised a hand to quiet Hotshot's imminent addition, "-And a full three miles in all directions... And there are no further Energon Vampires within the vicinity. You three may proceed to your stasis pods in peace."

"Good." Medix informed as he marched out, "I've had enough action for one night."

"Me too."

"Me three." Hotshot followed his classmates out of the room, "Goodnight, Whirl!"

Whirl looked over to Blades as he turned her direction, "I want you and Hoist to spend the rest of tonight in here, just to be safe." He informed, "You should both be back to full throttle by tomorrow afternoon for certain."

Whirl looked over to Hoist and gave a slight smile, "Okay...You'll be staying here until then, right?"

"Right." Heatwave gave a mild glare to Boulder, "We're not leaving you five alone again tonight...Or for a while."

Boulder gave his leader a shrug, and then the rest of the professors filed out of the medical bay, leaving Blades, Whirl, and Hoist alone.

Whirl laid back down, pulling her legs up against her chestplate. "Goodnight, Hoist..." She whispered as she closed her optics, "...And thank you..."