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Chapter Text

Griffin Rock experienced an unusual number of strange and unexplained events on the island. The Phantom Voyager was one of the most significant unexplained events in Griffin Rock's History. The fact that the ship disappeared in the first place was baffling, but the steady pattern of showing up for a few minutes every ten years was not a coincidence. The Local scientist was bound to scientifically prove not only the existence of the ocean liner, but also to try and figure out why the ship disappeared in the first place, and solve the pattern of reappearances. Once he became the lead scientist of Griffin Rock and learned of this strange phenomenon, he started planning. With the help of his daughter, he was ready to gather as much info as possible.

"See anything, Frankie?" The lead scientist asked his daughter.

"It's getting too foggy, Dad."

"That's alright, the appearance of the ship has never been proven scientifically, but this year I'm prepared. Hmm, so far nothing on radar, thermal scanners, or the EMF reader." He told her, "Wait, I'm picking up some kind of energy fluctuation! Frankie, something very large has suddenly appeared out there, and it's sending a distress signal! Do you have a visual?" He questioned his 8-year-old daughter as he turned around.

"Oh! Daddy, it is the Phantom Voyager."

"Frankie, are you sure-" he stopped mid-sentence as he unmistakably saw the large ocean liner in the ocean.

"Daddy, I can't believe I am seeing this. Why do you think it reappeared? According to the pattern, it should of but logic rivals the existence of the ship. Dad, was there a distress signal any other time the ship reappeared, or just this time? Did you ever see the ship before now? I can't believe Cody is missing this. We have been talking about this for the last month, at least. Where is my phone I'm going to call him and tell him to get his butt over here right now before it disappears." She turned around to go and grab her phone, only to be stopped in her tracks by her dad standing in her way.

"I'm calling the Burnes right now, Frankie. I know you are excited, but first, we have to deal with the SOS." Doc told his daughter, "Why don't you go and gather data about the ship and energy pattern?" He suggested to his daughter, trying to give her something to do other than just freak out.

"Okay!" She enthusiastically replied, running off to the computer.

Doc Green looked back at his phone, silently waiting and hoping that his old friend would pick up the phone.

"Doc, what's going on?" the chief questioned over the phone.

"Chief! Frankie and I are out in our floating lab, and we have spotted the Voyager and have received an SOS."

"Boys, come on!" he heard Chief call in the background. "Are you sure it's the Voyager Doc?"

"As positive as possible!" He affirmed.

"Okay, we will be there as soon as possible."

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Dani slid down the fire pole camera in hand, "Okay, let's get going!" she told her little brother.

"Umm, I'm afraid Blades is on strike." Cody told her, letting Blades tell her why.

"At least until someone explains why seeing this ship is worth frosting up my windows."

"Everyone seems to know but us." Boulder said.

"We are told you are the authority on the matter." Chase explained.

"No ship is worth all this fuss." Heatwave told her, adding in his two cents.

"It's only the most tragically romantic story of the century." Dani told them, getting a few unimpressed looks. "Okay, real quick. The Ship is the S.S. Phantom Voyager. An ocean liner that was left adrift in 1915 after a lightning strike disabled the engines. Everyone got off but the captain. Ansel Ambrose. He remained on board until help could arrive, but then, without warning, the ship mysteriously vanished, and on this night every 10 years, the Phantom reappears for a few minutes off the west side of the island." As she turned around she could still tell that Blades was not convinced that this was something worth doing.

"The only thing worse than waiting in the cold to see that ship would be seeing that ship!" Blades exclaimed.

"Tell them the Griffin Rock connection." Cody reminded her.

"Oh yeah! Captain-" Dani was cut off by the emergency alarm going off.

"You'll have to finish story time later." Heatwave told her "Vehicle modes!" he ordered his team.

"Doc and Frankie think they've spotted the Phantom!" The chief said, running out of the elevator and up to Chase.

"And they've received an SOS." Kade told her as he passed by.

"Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!" Heatwave said, once everyone was with their partners and ready to roll.

"Head for the docs team, once we get there, we will go out on the Darby Ava and meet up with Doc Green and Frankie." Chief Burns announced to the team, making sure everyone heard the plan. "Dani?" he questioned once he realized he hadn't gotten a response from his daughter or her partner yet.

"Dad, Blades and I can just fly out and make sure-"

"No, Dani," the chief ordered, "we don't know much about this ship or why it keeps disappearing. We will consult Doc first, then make a plan from there on."

"Alright, we'll meet you at the Darby Ava. " he heard his daughter murmured, not very enthusiastic about the plan.

Once everyone was aboard and had their lifejackets on, He put the pedal to the metal, trying to save as much time as possible. He knew the ship only appeared for a few minutes. In the distance, he could just make out the floating lab through the fog and turned the boat in that direction.

"Cody, someone is on board. Where are you guys?" He heard Frankie say over the radio channel.

"Almost there, Frankie." Cody replied to her.

He turned his attention back to the ocean, watching his three oldest kids look for the ghost ship.

"I still don't see it."

"Relax, Dani, it's probably just some freighter," Kade told his sister

"It's probably always just some freighter," Graham added, backing up his older brother.

"One could only hope." Blades added to the conversation.

"Who knows plenty of witnesses have claimed they've seen the phantom, but sometimes people only see what they want to see." Chief Burns told the group.

"So what's this connection to our island you were talking about?" Heatwave bent down and asked Cody, still not knowing what all this fuss from the townsfolk was about.

"Captain Ambrose was supposed to get married to a girl on Griffin Rock." Cody answered.

"Ahh, Lillian waited for him. Every ten years, she would see the ship appear, just for a few moments." Dani added on to finally finishing the story.

"What a horrible story." Chase answered, not satisfied with the ending

"Yet tragically romantic." Boulder said sniffing.

Everyone was speechless as the Darby Ava pulled up next to the floating lab, the large ocean liner in the bay nearby close enough to see it through the fog.

"Hurry, it could disappear any minute!" Frankie told them, breaking the silence

"That's no freighter." Graham said, correcting himself.

"Nope." Kade agreed.

"I knew it." Dani whispered. The years and years of research, witness accounts, and evidence about the Phantom mystery didn't go to waste for nothing.

"Noble." Cody said in amazement, staring for a moment, then he turned to his best friend. "Nice job, Frankie!"

"I know, right? I've waited my whole life to see this." She told him.

"And you've never been good at waiting," he added, getting a wink in response.

"Chief, there is still an SOS." Doc said, worry lacing his voice.

Chief nodded his head, "Blades, Dani, do a fly over."

"Okay, seriously," Blades started can we please get another flying rescue bot?!"

"Let me in, Blades, or I will dismantle you here and now." Dani threatened.

"I can be another set of eyes" Cody offered, running up to his dad.

"Well, alright, but stay in the air, Dani, don't take any chances," Chief told her, trusting that she wouldn't do anything as stupid as land when Cody was with her. He watched as Blades let them into his cockpit, then jumped up and transformed, flying over the phantom a little too close to comfort.

"We're hovering over the deck, but no sign of anyone." Dani reported over the coms.

"This ship still looks brand new!" Cody exclaimed excitedly.

"Wait, there's movement" Dani said, sounding unsure of herself.

"Someone threw a rope at us!" Cody yelled into his com.

"I'm snagged! I can't-" Blades panicked.

Chief looked around the deck of the Darby Ava, his two boys looking at each other, panic written all over their faces, the bots ready to jump into action, and the Greens unsure of what they could do.

"Doc, take the controls, we need to get up there!" He yelled, leaping into action.

Chase jumped onto the floating lab to help Doc up so he could keep the Darby Ava steady and hopefully prevent anything else from going wrong.

"We need to get up there, fast!" He told his boys. He watched as Graham ran up to Boulder and realized Heatwave was right behind him. He climbed onto Heatwave's hand with Kade, then climbed into his cockpit, sitting in the passenger seat next to Kade.

"Power up and energize!" Boulder yelled, taking out a grappling hook as Heatwave grabbed onto his green teammate. His stomach jumped at the feeling of going up so fast.

"Dani, Cody, do you read?" he said as they landed on the deck of the ship, not seeing them in the dense fog.

Heatwave opened the front of his cab to let Kade and him out to help look for his two missing children and bot.

"Guys?" Kade yelled.

"Over here!" they heard Cody yell.

"This way." He pointed in the direction he had heard the yelling coming from a moment ago and started running. he ran up the steps to Dani, trying to untangle a rope from Blades and Cody with a very panicked expression on his face.

"What is happening up there?" He heard Doc's question over the com frequency. "The energy is spiking again; you all need to get off the ship before it vanishes." He looked around. Blades was still tangled up, Dani and Cody were trying to untangle him, Heatwave and Kade looked like they were ready to throw some punches, Boulder and Graham were looking for something on the deck of the ship.

"We have to get out of here." He heard Blades say.

"Almost done." Dani said, trying to calm Blades down.

"Where is your attacker?" Heatwave questioned.

"I don't know, I couldn't really see." Cody answers for his sister.

"It has to be Captain Ambrose." Dani told them.

" Except that would be impossible." Kade argued with his sister.

"So is standing on the Phantom, but here we are." She said, finally getting Blades untangled

"Oh, how I wish we weren't. Hurry!" Blades stated.

Just then, a strange hum and purple glow rose from the ship. Chief looked around at his children, only to be met with panicked expressions looking back at him, expecting him to tell them what to do. The purple light flashed bright, and then nothing. No sound, no fog, no movement, everyone was just standing around, unsure of what to do.

"What happened to the fog?" Boulder questioned the first one in the group to break the silence.

"And why is everything so quiet?" Heatwave added

"I don't even hear the ocean," Cody stated, running to the side of the ship. "Doc, Frankie?" The little boy questioned into the void.

"Oh no," Dani said, meeting Cody at the railing, looking overboard.

"Where did Everyone go?" Kade wondered aloud.

"Where did we go?" Graham said, remembering the strange disappearances and figuring out that they had vanished with the ship.

"Should I try flying for help?"

"To where, Blades? Who knows where we are?" The firebot pondered.

"However, if the pattern remains unchanged, I know when we will return," Boulder replied.

"You mean in ten years?" The chief asked Boulder and Graham. "We can fix this, right?"

"There must be a logical explanation as to why the ship keeps coming and going," Graham told them

"Maybe whoever tried to snag up knows the answer." Cody suggested

Chief sighed, "Then we will search this ship to to bottom and get some answers."

"But what if we don't get answers?" Blades questioned him.

"We have to try Blades." Dani told her partner.

"We will take the top." Kade announced, apparently, he was now the decision maker.

"You guys will only fit in the service floors below. You can take the freight elevator its portside.

"Chase, Blades Boulder, you guys are with me." Heatwave told his team turning around, only the realize one member was missing. "Where is Chase?" he questioned.

"Heatwave, he stayed with Doc and Frankie, that's why I went with you and Kade." Chief answered.

"Oh no, poor Chase." Blades said.

Chapter Text

{Rescue Bot Log 1}
"My team has vanished along with the entire Burns family. I am sitting here on the shore waiting for The Phantom to reappear. The Griffin Rock Lead Scientist, Doc Green, and his daughter, Francine, have promised to help look in the morning. The doctor said that his computer had recognized the energy signal; I am unsure of what that means. They both stayed here till about 2:00 a.m. till I suggested that they go home and rest. I think they were worried about leaving me alone. The Phantom was last seen around 9:38. The last transmission from my team was at 9:37, just a minute before they vanished along with the Phantom Voyager. I suppose the next course of action would be to inform next of kin and Optimus Prime. I shall do that when I return to the firehouse. I am going to wait here longer to see if my fam-.... my team reapears.
Chase Logging off November 16, 2014, 5:03 a.m."