A quiet day in the rescue academy is often something to be worried about.. The recruits were kids, after all. The rescue recruits took pleasure in doing silly things, often reckless and sometimes dangerous. Silence meant someone was trying to hide something.. or fix a mistake before it can be discovered..

However, that's not the case for today. 

Professor Blades took pity on the half lidded eyes and blank gazes he received in the classroom, and figured no true learning could be done with them in this state. So he proposed they take the rest of his class off and go let off some steam outside. Hotshot was the first out of his seat, the young firefighter already rearing for something fun to do.

There was a quick "Thanks Professor Blades!" from each recruit before they dashed outside, the poor professor barely having a chance to respond.  

__

They weren't having fun out here either. 

It started alright, Whirl suggested a game of tag, something she'd watched human kids play. Hotshot took immense pride in not getting tagged a single time, everyone knew he'd be gloating for days..

Once tag got boring Hoist wanted to water some flowers and check the garden for Professor Boulder. While enjoyable, it got old really fast. Not to mention they finished in just a few minutes, curse the fancy water gadgets Boulder invented.. 

Then Wedge wanted to train, he was quickly shot down. Professor Bee had made a surprise visit yesterday and had put the recruits through some rigorous courses.. they could still feel their joints creaking from the exertion.

Hotshot decided he'd come up with the greatest idea ever idea'd. Why don't they go explore the woods? It's a huge place! They'd never explored the entirety of it anyways, and it wasn't against the academy rules. There ought to be something in there to learn about or distract themselves with.

He was initially met with concern, the other four bots worried they might lose their way. Hotshot assured he would always know where the academy was, and trusting their friend, it didn't take a lot more to convince them. 

And then it was dark.  The young recruits hit a dead zone, loosely surrounded by large stone hills and dense foliage, they couldn't get a signal. 

"Don't worry guys, I recognize these trees!" Hotshot feebly attempted to calm his teammates, but it was clear he didn't have a clue where they were.

"This is the last time I trust you with directions, someday you'll get us lost somewhere dangerous," Medix pushed past him, flicking on his headlights to try and find something familiar. 

Hotshot rubbed his shoulder, huffing at the light scuff left by his friend. "Come onn, it's not that bad! Whirl can just fly up and take a look, right Whirl?" he turned to the young femme, she glanced to the canopy above them.

"Sorry, no can do. Trees are way too tight for that.. Which also means we can't be spotted from above is Professor Blades comes looking."

"Right, uh-" Hotshot began to think again, optics darting around the area he could just barely make out. "-anyone else.. have an idea..?"

The cacophony of sighs and groans was a clear answer to that. 

So they decided to press on, whether they were going deeper, or steadily getting closer to freedom was up to personal determination. In any case, they were on an island, so any direction they take would lead to freedom. 

As the trees got bigger, the rocky ledges seemed to grow higher, no doubt they were nearing the center of the island. When the recruits looked up they could clearly see the mountain that marked the center of the land. The bots struggled to navigate, crushing bushes and climbing over boulders in their path.

"this.. hah.. sucks.." Hoist complained aloud, panting from all the walking and climbing they'd done. He paused to slump against a tree, letting his optics fall shut and recognizing the sounds of his friends doing the exact same. 

They sat for a while, desperately tapping at their communicators and catching their breath. 

"Still no signal.. we must be deep into Griffin Rock," Wedge let his arm fall from his communicator. 

"Once again, I think we should all take this as a lesson to never trust a certain someone with directions.. yes?" Medix felt the need to reiterate his earlier statement, shooting a pointed look to the teams firefighter. 

Hotshot simply sighed and looked away.

"Right.. i'm sorry guys, I thought we could find something new if we'd just gone a little deeper.. truth is, I never knew where I was going. Professors are probably worried sick.. Heatwave's probably.." He audibly gulped, nobody ever liked it when Heatwave was mad with them, but Hotshot was always especially hurt by it. "When we get back, i'll tell them it was my fault, you guys trusted me to lead you and I got us all lost."

While the rest of the recruits were rightfully mad, they understood how he was feeling. Hotshot didn't always make good decisions, but they knew he made them with the right thoughts in mind. There was an almost collective sigh as they looked toward their guilty friend.

"We're not hurt, and.. we are doing something.. at least we're not lost somewhere dangerous. I think we can let you off with a warning, just this once." Whirl smiled genuinely at him, she looked around for approval from the others, receiving nods. Hotshot smiled, rubbing the back of his neck and looking to the side.

"Geez, thanks guys-" something caught his eye just then, was that.. a path? A sizeable one at that, too.. "-Hey, did one of you do that?"

The recruits all turned to observe the path, it was sizeable, definitely big enough for them to walk comfortably in. 

"Not me.."

"Nope."

"Definitely not me."

"No."

__

They wasted no time setting on the new trail, they didn't know what to expect but it certianly wasn't.. well.. this..

One path led to a fork, one side leading to 4 other split ways, the other leading to another fork, then 3 more paths, everything split off in so many directions. They decided on sticking together for the sake of not getting more lost. 

"This is weird.. I don't know if I like it," Whirl clutched onto Hoist's arm, her optics scanned the area several times.

"Maybe it's a herd of deer? Sometimes they wear paths into the woods.. but these are so big, if we could find prints then maybe.." Hoist was deep in his own thought, curious if these were manmade or done by an animal. 

"If you want prints, I got some here. Wolf, maybe?" Wedge called his pal over, pointing to an area where the dirt began to soften. A light trail of prints was obvious amongst the damp floor, following down a path they'd not looked at yet. 

Hoist was over immediately. "Woah! Good catch! They don't look like a wolf's.. wolves have four toes, these have... wait.." Hoist lowered himself to the dirt, touching careful digits over the prints. Were there two sets..? Or was this from the same animal? 

"These look like bird prints.. but the back ones look like paws.. each set only has three toes, which makes me think they're from the same thing. They're so big, too. I don't know what these belong to.." He stood back up, a digit coming to rest on his chin as he tried to remember every animal that he knew lived on the island. 

Hotshot went ahead of them all, once again confident in his direction despite earlier incidents.

"Well, there's only one way to find out! Who knows, maybe they lead somewhere helpful!" Before he could receive any retorts he was off and following the prints.

Woah spooky what will they find?

Hi! Scrootle here, or Leaf. Remember my old books? The Nevada Dragon and The Rescue Dragon?

No..? Then look em up, silly. I wrote them in 7th grade, and for one time only I'm giving the young dragon some fresh new light. 

This is ONLY an origin book, please don't expect anything else from it. And don't expect me to write anything other than this, I hate pressure, this is a fleeting moment of motivation I am going to revel in, so enjoy!