Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

49. -There's a Sinkhole!

"So... Which way do you think? Left or right?"

Boulder looked at the fork in the path they'd found. Primus, he didn't remember there being a fork in the path when they'd found the clearing the first time, so how could he possibly know which way might be right?
"...Not sure, I still can't access my GPS."

Priscilla sighed from her place in his cab, having climbed inside after complaining her feet hurt. "Just use your earth powers to find a ley line or something."

"A what?"

"A ley line. They're supposed to be lines in the ground that all direct to one another or some stuff. Some people think they're strands of energy that can be used for navigating."

Boulder tilted his helm with a hum of thought, perhaps that was something to look into.
His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps, and he turned just in time to see a familiar orange and white bot go booking it past them and then down one of the paths as a colony of bats chased him. "What the- Blades!?"

The bushes rustled again, and then they saw Blades' partner step out, brushing branches out of her face.

"Dani?" Graham asked, "What're you doing here?"

"Getting lost."

"Is everything alright?"

"All except for the bats, and a frog- oh, and Taylor's missing!"

Chief Burns hummed, "Chase too... It looked like he was taken."

"Taken? By what?"

"DANI! COME QUICK!"
Blades' voice shouted from the distance, and Boulder scooped Dani up and they hurried after his voice. The path widened out, and then they stepped out of the trees into a very familiar clearing.

"It's the clearing we were looking for!" Boulder marveled, "How'd you do that, Blades?"

"Where are we? I thought you were taking me back to my cabin!"
They turned and saw Mrs. Neederlander, Kade, Heatwave, Cody, and Frankie all emerging from the trees a little further down the edge of the clearing.

"Dad!" Cody hurried over to Chief Burns and gave him a hug, "You get all turned around too?"

"Everyone's a little lost today, Mrs. Neederlander." Chief Burns answered both questions with a chuckle.

Cody beamed, and then looked around, "Wait...Where's Chase?"

Chief's smile faded as he looked back towards the trees, "We're not quite-"

"THERE!" Dani shouted, and the other bots looked where she was pointing.

"Oh, Primus... Chase!"
They all looked as Heatwave went booking across the clearing, rushing up to where they saw their missing family member lying a few yards from the edge of the trees on the other side.
The other bots all hurried over as well, Blades rushing over to the limp officer. "Chase, can you hear me?" He turned to Boulder, "What happened!?"

"We were just walking through the trees and then he was gone!" Boulder admitted, "No sign of him...!"

The officer's left arm was bent in a weird position, and dried energon coated fractures in the metal. Blades tried to keep it still as he examined it and the rest of their brother.
"The armor and outer casing are both fractured, scrapes and minor buckling on his plating... It looks like he was partially crushed by something."
Chase gave a soft moan, his lids beginning to flicker. "Chase? Chase, can you-"

They all froze as they heard a low rumble, but steadily getting louder. All of the trees were shaking and trembling, but which ones were going to fall?

And then the ground disappeared from under them.