Spiritimus Prime: Hehehehehe! I felt like uploading this story for the heck of it becuase of screwing up a story that is related to this whole ordeal. What was meant to be a slash pairing becomes a possible mechxfemme pairing. This whole thing was Red Alert's fault because he was the one who wanted to become the top prankster (sniggers) Oh man, I feel so sorry for Hot Shot who gets the gender bender! HAHAHAHA! Enjoy this funny moment before things become worse, and not in a funny way. XD

Chapter 1:

An Accident Occurs

Red Alert sighed as he tinkered around with a machine that he’d been working on for almost two weeks. A slight grin emitted on his silver lips as he thought of what of the results the machine would give off when he was done. By his calculations, it should be done by next week, and he didn’t want anyone, except Optimus Prime, to know what he was up to with this machine, but first, he needed to get the Autobot Commander’s approval before he could begin his attempt. He tightened up a bolt with his wrench and he sighed once again. He needed a break badly, and he realised that his Energon reserves were pretty low.

Standing up, the CMO turned towards a table and picked up an Energon cube. Putting his lips to it, he sipped it carefully before putting it back down and taking a deep breath as his reserves went up half way. Tilting his head to the right with a sharp jerk, Red Alert felt his circuitry crack. Humans may crack their bones from time to time, but Transformers can crack their insides whenever they wanted to, or if their joints were a little stiff. It felt good and he sat down on a chair to take his break.

After several minutes of sitting on his chair, Red Alert heard the door hiss open, and he heard the familiar footsteps of his commander as he looked up to see Optimus Prime looking towards the machine, and then back at him, his golden optics seemed to frown a little before he shook his head. “Going into a prank war with Jetfire, aren’t you?” he asked, hiding the humour in his voice.

“Yes, and this time, I’ll be the one to come out on top as the top prankster,” Red Alert replied with a chuckle and Optimus Prime shook his head once again. “But it needs just a little more work and everything will be ready by next week.”

“For the ultimate prank you mean?” Optimus asked with a slight smirk under his mask.

“You got it, and Jetfire will bound to submit to defeat.”

“So, exactly what does this machine do?”

“Can’t tell you, you’ll have to wait for it, but I will tell you one thing it can do, it will do a bit of a gender change.” Red Alert then winked under his red visor.

“Gender change huh? I would love to see the look on Jetfire’s face. How long will the effect last?” Optimus asked, tilting his head to the side

“It will stay there forever until I decide when I can turn him back. If he does not submit, I’ll leave it there until he, as the humans say, cries uncle or mercy.” Red Alert’s smile grew bigger as Optimus Prime nodded.

“I’ll approve of this machine, Red Alert, just make sure that you clean up after yourself, I don’t want the base to become a prank battlefield.”

“You got it, sir,” said Red Alert as he saluted.

Optimus Prime nodded once more before he turned and walked out the room, leaving Red Alert alone for a moment until the CMO stood up. “Yeah, I could really use a break, maybe a little recharge would help as well,” he said to himself as he turned and walked out the Med-Bay.

“Carlos, get back here!”

Hot Shot chased after Carlos, who was riding on Sureshock at top speed and laughing as the yellow Autobot raced after his friend. Hot Shot could feel his circuits overheating and his Spark pounding furiously against his chest plate as he leaned against a wall and took deep breaths to ease himself up. How many times has he chased Carlos like this before, especially when it involved a game of Hide-and-Seek Tag? It was annoying, but fun nonetheless, for it helped to improve the young Autobot’s speed in chasing down targets in robot mode, and even Scavenger would have to agree. But as far as Hot Shot was concerned, he really didn’t like where this game was going because Carlos was heading right towards the Med-Bay to hide in and he knew that the CMO was working on something that should never be looked at until it was ready.

When Hot Shot got his breath back, he charged after Carlos again just to stop him from entering the Med-Bay. If the boy disturbed anything that Red Alert was working on, then there was going to be dozens of punishments that the medic would inflict upon him, and Hot Shot did not want to get on the bad side of his friend and he knew that Red Alert would not rest until he’d uncovered the culprit and the mystery to his work’s destruction.

“Oh no,” Hot Shot mumbled as Carlos and Sureshock zoomed into the Med-Bay. He felt his Spark stop for a second and he just hoped, for Carlos’ sake, that Red Alert’s work would not be noticeable. But boy was he ever going to be wrong.

As Hot Shot carefully peeked into the Med-Bay, he looked around to see if he could spot Carlos and Sureshock hidden amongst the machines and tools that would cause him to overlook them and miss the sight. The metal in the room seemed to shine as he looked around, darting his baby blue optics left and right as he tried to detect Carlos’ body heat. But since there was a little heat being given off by some of the machines, it was a little difficult to tell exactly where he was.

Hot Shot bit his bottom lip as he shook his head. Wherever the project, which Red Alert was working on, was, he had a feeling that it might be one of the machines. But the more he stood around looking for Carlos, the more curious Hot Shot become of wanting to know what the project might be capable of. Suddenly his optics darted onto a machine that he’d never even seen before.

Curiosity got the best of Hot Shot and he took a step closer towards the machine. It was about the length of Optimus’ arm in super mode, and it had a ring around its neck that was supported by four spikes that ran from the inside of the ring and onto the neck of the odd machine. It had four stands on the outside to support its unlikely weight and it had several buttons, including a lever, which ran down its sides. Was this the project that Red Alert was working on? Whatever it was, it sure seemed frightening to look at, and Hot Shot didn’t dare to approach it… that is… until he saw Carlos and Sureshock looking up at the machine with curiosity.

“Carlos, get away from that!” Hot Shot cried in warning.

Carlos and Sureshock looked up in surprise as Hot Shot gave a worried look and he took a step back away from the machine, including Sureshock, and he lowered his head, ashamed about what he’d almost done. “I’m sorry, Hot Shot,” he mumbled.

Hot Shot breathed a sigh of relief and he eased his tensed up muscle cables. “Its okay, Carlos, we shouldn’t even be in here anyway. That machine could be the project that Red Alert is working on and I don’t want to get into trouble just by messing with it. He’d have my head if he found out that I accidentally trashed it up,” he explained as he lowered his head and smile a little.

“Exactly what is the machine’s purpose? What’s it going to do?” Carlos asked, tilting his head to the side.

“I’m not sure, but the only thing I can guess is that Red Alert intends to use this as a prank on Jetfire. How I figured that out is pretty simple. Both Jetfire and Red Alert were the best pranksters back on Cybertron, but Jetfire became the top one, so now he and Red Alert are wrestling for the title of ‘The Ultimate Prankster’,” Hot Shot replied.

“Alright, I won’t touch it,” said Carlos, not wanting to cause a disaster for the CMO that was trying so hard to obtain the title. “But I’m still wondering what it would do.”

“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see when Red Alert tells us. He likes to keep things a secret sometimes and it gets annoying after while, especially when he speaks with long words I hardly understand.”

“Oh yeah, I remember him doing that to me.” Carlos could still remember when Red Alert acted like a real tough guy on their first mission, and it had nearly been a disaster, especially when they argued on one occasion about taking the wrong turn and ending up lost.

Hot Shot chuckled when Carlos told him about the situation. “Always will be a tough guy.”

“Still it bothers me on some degree,” Carlos groaned and he folded his arms across his chest and leaned his back against the wall, but he failed to notice that he’d leaned on the lever and a loud whirling sound started up, causing Carlos and Sureshock to jump in surprise and turn to face the machine as it lit up like a Christmas Tree. “Oh no!” he cried.

Hot Shot’s optics widened in shock and horror as the machine began to spark dangerously. He rushed towards Carlos and Sureshock and he grabbed them gently in both of his hands and took a few steps away from the machine before he curled up into a ball, hoping to shield Carlos and Sureshock from the machine as it buzzed and continued to explode as smoke escaped from within.

It was that moment when Red Alert walked into the room and he saw Hot Shot curled up on the floor and the explosion about to take place. Hot Shot lifted his head and shouted to his friend: “Get out of here, it’s about to...” but he didn’t get to finish his sentence, as the next thing Hot Shot knew, he was caked in white light and then a loud boom followed in suit. The last thing he heard was Red Alert shouting his name, the sounds of pounding feet on the floor, and gasps of shock before he went offline.

When Hot Shot turned his optics back online, he realised that he was lying on his back on a bed. His whole body ached that threatened to overwhelm him like an icy knife cutting through his Spark. And yet, he felt completely odd, like as if his body was no longer his own, but a complete stranger to him. Shaking his head slightly, Hot Shot felt a wave of discomfort in his neck and he felt a headache develop. He growled, but his voice came out a little hoarse and weak.

“How are you doing, Hot Shot?” a gentle, but familiar, voice asked not from afar but was still out of Hot Shot’s line of vision.

Turning his head towards the voice, Hot Shot could just make out the blurred colours of red, blue, silver and yellow, and he knew that Optimus Prime was looking down at him with concern and a deep sense of worry. He wanted to tell him that he was alright, but he knew that he couldn’t lie to his commander, but because his voice was too sore to say anything, he could only shake his head slowly, causing the discomfort in his neck to become worse.

Optimus’ optics seemed to soften a little, but he kept up his concerned look.

“How long was I out, are Carlos and Sureshock alright, and what about Red Alert?” Hot Shot asked weakly. His vocal processor ached and he winced from the slight pain in his throat. Optimus noticed this and he shook his head, indicating that he didn’t want Hot Shot to speak until his voice cleared up.

“They’re fine, Hot Shot,” the Autobot Commander said as he turned his attention to something else for a while before returning his optics back to Hot Shot. “You’ve been offline for three days. Carlos and Sureshock are in your debt for shielding them from the light and explosion, though Red Alert is angry that his project is destroyed, Carlos explained to him about what had occurred before he walked into the room. But, Red Alert is not angry at Carlos, Sureshock, and yourself, but he is angry that he cannot... undo your... accident until the machine is, either, repaired, or rebuilt.”

Confused, Hot Shot lifted an optic ridge in puzzlement. Optimus Prime was about to say more when Red Alert walked into the Med-Bay. He looked towards his commander, and then back Hot Shot before he spoke. “I suppose you were about to tell him about what the machine did to him, or should I?” he asked, obviously trying to hide his annoyance.

“No, I will be the one to tell him of this ‘incident’. Although he may not like what he’s about to hear, I suggest that we try and make this as less overwhelming for him as possible, otherwise he might do the unthinkable, and that is something I do not wish to see, or hear from any of my men,” said Optimus, frowning as Red Alert nodded and bowed his head to indicate that he will not interfere unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Tell me what?” Hot Shot asked, his voice straining less but still hurting.

“Hot Shot, I don’t want you to fret or anything like that, and I must break it to you as slowly as I possibly can so that you don’t become clouded by your fear. What I’m about to tell you, you must swear that you will not scream or try and not do anything foolish. Clear?”

“I’ll try not to, but the more you keep me waiting, the more difficult it will be for you to be the bearer of bad news. So spit it out already, otherwise I might lose myself in boredom,” Hot Shot lightly joked, still trying to keep his voice steady.

Optimus Prime sighed and nodded, but then shook his head once more. “Perhaps it would be best if seeing yourself would provide you with the explanation I’m about to give you.”

Hot Shot nodded once, nearly forgetting about the discomfort in his neck.

“Red Alert, see if you can bring in a mirror,” Optimus requested.

Red Alert nodded before he turned and left the room, leaving Optimus Prime and Hot Shot alone for a moment until the CMO returned with a hand held mirror in his hand. Hot Shot wondered where Red Alert had gotten that from, but he decided to not ask about it. As Red Alert approached, he came to Hot Shot’s right and held the mirror to him as Optimus Prime helped him sit up, making Hot Shot wince when he guessed that the light and explosion from the machine had done some damage to his back. Some debris must’ve cut into his armoured back while he’d been shielding Carlos and Sureshock or something like that.

Seeing his wince, Optimus eased the sitting up until it became as slow as a tortoise (which Hot Shot was grateful for), making it as gentle as his touch. When he was fully sitting up, Hot Shot carefully reached out for the mirror, but Red Alert held it out of his reach for a moment, his red visor showing his seriousness. “Are you sure you want to do this, Hot Shot? Because you might live to regret ever staring at a mirror like this again,” he warned.

Hot Shot growled. “Just give me the damn mirror, Red Alert!” he barked, making his throat hurt so much that he felt tears pouring from his optics in pain. Red Alert winced from Hot Shot’s growl and he sighed before handing him the mirror. Hot Shot nearly snatched the mirror from Red Alert’s hand and he looked down at it, studying whatever features that had gotten both Optimus Prime and Red Alert so concerned about.

Or should I say: she?

Spiritimus Prime: OH NO!! THE GENDER CHANGE!! THE HUMILIATION!! (runs for her life after getting things thrown at by Hot Shot)