Tough Love

DOCTOR TIME

"You have a shrink ray on hand."

When the Rescue team mentioned that they are good friends with the island's scientist and his family, and that they have what they need, Knockout didn't believe them.

He is eating those words now.

"Of course we do! It was just a matter of finding the thing!" Doc Greene said, his attention mostly focused on fiddling with the controls.

"Thanks, Doc, and sorry for the inconvenience. We weren't expecting anything like this to happen today," Chief Burns apologized. He thought about what he said and laughed.

"Then again, this is Griffin Rock. Weird stuff is bound to happen all the time."

"That is honestly quite the understatement," Chase said.

"An understatement indeed!" Doc Green concurred. He finished with the shrink ray and looked up to Knockout.

"All set! Are you ready?"

"Just to clarify, this is safe, right?" Knockout asked, vocalizer laced with uncertainty.

What if something goes wrong?

What if something happens to his finish?

What if he's permanently human-sized?

"It is, don't you worry!" Doc Green reassured the red medic. "I made sure to test this version before deeming it usable."

"Uh, I'm sorry, this version? How many have you gone through?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. All that matters is that with this shrink ray, you will get the job done. No harm no foul, I promise!"

Knockout groaned. He didn't want to do this anymore. He couldn't stop thinking of all the ways this could go horribly wrong, but it's too late now. Nodding his helm in agreement, a beam shot out from the shrink ray and reduced Knockout to half his original size.

"Can we go now? It's humiliating being this small!" Knockout whined.

"To be fair, you weren't that big to begin with," Chase said.

Knockout, now only standing a few feet taller than the humans, glared at Chase. If he was at his full height, it would have been terrifying. Right now, he's nothing more than a cat with armor.

"Okay, then, I think that's our cue to go! Chase?" Chief Burns asked.

The blue and white mech nodded and transformed, then opened the door for his human partner to climb in. Knockout transformed as well, into a smaller version of his vehicle mode.

"Oh, now isn't that just adorable!" Doc Green chuckled, smiling at the small red car.

Knockout revved his engine, angry at being called adorable. That privilege is reserved for only a select few mecha.

"I'm leaving," Knockout stated bluntly.

He sped out of the lab and back to the firehouse. Once there, he transformed to bipedal mode and, ignoring all the looks he was getting from the normal-sized bots and their humans, walked to the med-bay. Everything in the room looked bigger than normal, increasing Knockout's irritation tenfold.

How is he supposed to work when he can't even reach the tools at his disposal?

"Need a little help?" Ratchet teased, the white and red-orange medic stepping into view.

"Just let me get to work already!" Knockout snapped.

For once, Ratchet didn't get mad at the other mech's outburst. He is quite amused by their predicament. His smug grin never left his face as he grabbed Knockout and lifted him onto the medical slab. The red medic repositioned himself, and with a huff, got to work.