Gale

Scavenger and Hot Shot continue their rivalry. The males become cheerleaders. And who is that mysterious purple bike?

Major Characters (in order of appearance): Sideways, Hot Shot, Rad, Carlos, Billy, Fred, Scavenger, Red Alert, Alexis, Optimus Prime, Smokescreen, Demolishor, Cyclonus, Blackout, Starscream, Megatron, Jolt, Air Defense Mini-Con Team, Street Action Mini-Con Team, Spiral

North American air date: December 20, 2002

Summary

Within The Big City, a mysterious rider on a toyetic purple motorcycle lands from space.

In the Autobot base, Hot Shot is practicing swinging his Star Saber. Billy suspects that since the Star Saber is the most powerful weapon in the universe, Hot Shot, by extension, is the most powerful Transformer. Although Carlos feels that's not exactly how things work. Soon Red Alert comes to tell Hot Shot another Mini-Con has been detected and the males pledge to be Hot Shot's cheerleaders. In the Autobot's main control room, Alexis determines the Mini-Con panel's location in a freeway tunnel in grid sector 29365. The Autobots rush into action and the kids come along too, for cheerleading purposes (with Red Alert's approval).

Already at the scene, Demolishor and Cyclonus guard the outside of the tunnel and see the oncoming Autobots. Inside, Starscream and Megatron oversee Scavenger's digging, who resents having to do this labor.

To delay the Autobots, Cyclonus transformers and uses his alt mode to force a civilian truck into lodging itself in the highway horizontally, retarding the flow of traffic. Hot Shot uses Jolt to circumvent this traffic obstacle, while Optimus drops off Billy and Fred, speeding away before noticing the mysterious purple bike drive by to pick up one of the kids.

Cyclonus is chased by Hot Shot (carrying Rad and Carlos), who in turn is being chased down by Scavenger. Hot Shot drops off the kids, transformers, and summons the Star Saber to again engage in Scavenger in direct combat. Cyclonus attempts to take advantage of the fight, by shooting Hot Shot from behind. As soon as Cyclonus misses, the cries of Billy, kidnapped by the motorcyclist, distract everybody.

The motorcyclist stops and let's Billy off so that Billy can hug Rad. (Fred meanwhile, remains alone and unloved). Then the purple bike returns to the duel between Scavenger and Hot Shot, and with an impressive jump, the bike takes Cyclonus out of the sky. Just then, Alexis and the Street Action Team arrive near the duel scene and meets up with Rad, Billy, and Carlos and she yells at them for abandoning her.

Scavenger and Hot Shot finally begin their battle, and Scavenger grabs Hot Shot out of a slow-motion leap and slams the Autobot into the ground. Seeing the unfinished section of the highway, Hot Shot releases the Star Saber Mini-Cons and drives away, and Scavenger chases after him. The motorcyclist continues to follow the fight.

Fred: Still unloved.

Within the tunnel, the Autobots and Decepticons battle, while Hot Shot and Scavenger literally drive right through, and Cyclonus gives up his struggle with Smokescreen to follow the duel. When Scavenger arrives on the incomplete section of the highway, Hot Shot leaps from the sky and lands behind Scavenger. With much vigor, Hot Shot slices the entire section of the road away, causes it to fall. Scavenger just manages to make it back onto the stable section of the road by hanging onto Cyclonus's flying alt mode.

Defeated, Scavenger laughs and berates Hot Shot, saying that he would prove Hot Shot's incompetence another day. At that moment, the Motorcyclist also laughs at Hot Shot.

Inside the tunnel, the defeated Decepticons teleport away again. Hot Shot, the kids, and the Motorcyclist arrive in the tunnel too. Optimus thanks the stranger, and the bike transforms and introduces himself as Sideways. Smokescreen then announces that he's found the Mini-con panel, which activates and reveals itself to be Spiral.

Back at the Autobot base, Billy is riding around with Sideways some more, and Fred accepts an offer (translated by Carlos) to ride on Spiral. Hot Shot and Red Alert agree that Sideways might not be entirely trustworthy. Inside the base, Rad and Alexis also admit to each other that they also get a bad vibe from Sideways. Fred, after riding around on Spiral for a while, inquires regarding the location of the bathroom.

The inspiration for Energon's Powerlinxing.

Notes

• This is the first episode in which the opening introduction does not have Rad narrating.

• This is the first episode is the first time Billy and Fred are seen wearing fashionable Autobot jumpsuits.

• The light shining from the Mini-Con panel bears a striking resembalance to Mercedes' logo, possibly an intentional visual nod since Spiral transforms into a Mercedes C-Class luxury car.

Quotes

Scavenger (in flashback): "My star saber... is undefeatable."

Rad: "We all knew it was kind of lame offering to back up Hot Shot. And he is one of the greatest warriors in the universe! I guess it's the thought that counts."

Alexis: "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Billy: "Awww, Gee whiz."

Red Alert: "Oh, don't worry Hot Shot. You must remember they're only human, and in a couple of days or so, they'll be all over you again."

Errors

• In the flashback, Scavenger says "My star saber - is undefeatable." which, in the previous episode (presumably Hot Shot's only encounter with Scavenger) he never said.

• Megatron says that the Mini-Con Scavenger will keep the Mini-Con he finds as his own, however in Linkage_Part_4, Scavenger picks up his Mini-Con soon after landing on Earth. Of course, Scavenger might have not revealed Rollbar to Megatron. Or more likely, the translation was entirely unaware of Linkage.

• Alexis yells at the boys for abandoning her, but it was Optimus who left her alone on the freeway.
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.