Nautica lets off some steam by convincing Skids to dance with her, surprising the super-learner with her skill and grace. As they twirl, Nautica explains her complicated relationship with Firestar; already looked down upon and labelled "Naughty" for her lack of interest in the performing arts, Nautica essentially befriended the egotistical Firestar out of necessity, as the stricter tenets of Camien religion would have resulted in her total ostracization if she did not have an Amica Endura before she was ten megacycles old. Worse yet, she can't "split up" with Firestar, because to do so is the ultimate affront one can commit in Camien culture. The exhausted Skids sits down to rest, but suddenly finds himself on the verge of passing out—as hideous, barnacled creates abruptly appear out of nowhere! With Skids too weak to fight and Nautica lacking the skill, the pair are soon buried under a pile of alien bodies...

In the morgue, Nightbeat and Getaway are also trying to fight off the creatures, which Nightbeat deduces are using a perception-based form of cloaking that ceased functioning when the pair discovered their spores incubating on Countdown. They are saved by a missile volley courtesy of Ravage—his attention deflectors now functioning properly again after the creatures revealed themselves—and the trio beat a quick retreat.

In the medibay, Minimus Ambus, First Aid, and Velocity come under attack from the horrors, one of which emerged from within Thunderclash's trailer. Firestar and Skystriker arrive in response to the noise, but Skystriker is immediately torn to shreds by the creatures. In an act of supreme heroism, Thunderclash transforms to hold their attackers off, giving everyone the chance to escape the room—though Velocity observes the monsters shudder at the sight of Thunderclash even as they flee...

Back on the dancefloor, Nautica claws her way free long enough to shove her fist into a nearby recharge socket, electrocuting the creatures piled on top of them with the current. They are soon joined by the groups from the morgue and medibay and barricade themselves in; Nautica has time for a happy reunion with Velocity, which results in the truth coming out about Firestar—she was lying about being Thunderclash's first officer in order to show off, and furthermore, it was the Vis Vitalis which rescued her ship, rather than the other way around, after its pilot Vertex suddenly died. Scanning the crew for spores, Nightbeat finds them on only Skids and Getaway, prompting him to realize that the beasts are "personality ticks", parasites that feed on charisma, inadvertently picked up by Firestar's crew during a stopover on Marasma. The ticks latched onto Vertex (a celebrated actor) and drained her dry, then moved onto Thunderclash, with one of their number even revealing itself long enough to heal his old war wound so they could continue feeding on him. Just as Velocity is recounting the momentary aversion to Thunderclash she saw the ticks display, and Nightbeat is using the information to formulate a solution, the door gives way and the creatures come pouring into the room. Nautica tries to force them back by hurling the vials of donated innermost energon at them, to no effect... but then, suddenly, the ticks all keel over, as a bemused Rodimus and Megatron enter the room!

A little later, back on the Lost Light, Nightbeat explains to Magnus that the deceased ticks had literally overdosed on Rodimus and Megatron's combined charisma, an extreme extension of their aversion to Thunderclash's moment of heroism Velocity had witnessed. Nightbeat is puzzled about one thing, though: he hadn't had time to call in Rodimus and Megatron after making his deduction, so how had they known to come? Ultra Magnus explains that, actually, three other crewmembers named Skater, Flex, and Borer had called them—they had figured everything out first, and just weren't so gosh-darned showy about it. Thunderclash, meanwhile, is receiving treatment an

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