Meanwhile back at the base, Ratchet was trying to communicate with both Optimus and Emily to find out where they are. It's almost been an hour since they've been gone and everybody is getting extremely worried.
"Optimus? Emily? Do you read me? No answer, something must be interfering with the communications." Ratchet said as he kept trying for almost an hour as the others watched worriedly.
"Where could they be?" Arcee asked as she was worried for their leader and friend.
"Who knows. With any luck, they're probably on Mars." Bulkhead said as this earned him a deadpanned look from Arcee.
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." Arcee gritted her dentas together towards him.
"Doc, are you sure you can't track them?" Wheeljack asked Ratchet who sighed in frustration.
"Yes I'm sure, Wheeljack." Ratchet said as Jack was feeling a sense of deja vu instantly.
"Hmm that's weird." Jack muttered as Smokescreen heard him before looking at the 16 year old.
"What's up, Jack?" Smokescreen asked curiously as Jack looked up.
"This reminds me of something that happened a long time ago." Jack said as the others looked towards him.
"What was it?" Cliffjumper asked. If Jack knows something, maybe they can try and find out how to get their friends back.
"Well, it was a long time ago and it wasn't a pleasant experiment, right, Miko?" Jack looked at Miko who gave him a small glare.
"Okay, that's it. I had it with you, mister. First off, that was a long time. Second, I already said I was sorry long ago. Do yourself a favor and stop bringing that up!" Miko exclaimed as Raf quickly got between them before a fight or argument broke out.
"Calm down, guys. Jack might be right. This whole thing is very familiar." Raf said as he was feeling the same déjà vu as well.
"How so?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.
"Think about it? No answer. The ground bridge exploded. Doesn't this ring a bell to you, guys?" Jack said as he was trying to make his point on why the situation was very familiar to them.
"Let me think." Bulkhead said as he tried to remember but didn't succeed.
"I got nothing." Bulkhead said before something clicked inside Arcee when she realized what Jack was trying to say.
"Wait a minute, I think I remember something. You kids have been through this same situation. So this means..." Arcee said before she trailed off and her optics widened in shock. Out of all the places, just why there?!
"Oh no." Bulkhead finally remembered as his optics widened as Bumblebee whirred and beeped that the situation wasn't good.
"This is not good." Ratchet felt his spark running cold as Smokescreen, Cliffjumper and Wheeljack looked at him in confusion. Did they miss something?
"What's not good?" Wheeljack asked in confusion.
"Come on, tell us." Cliffjumper looks at Ratchet since he knows that he missed quite a lot.
"A long time ago. The kids were accidentally sent to the shadow zone." Ratchet told them as Smokescreen looked confused.
"The shadow zone? What's that?" Smokescreen asked in confusion as Ratchet looked at him.
"An alternate reality." The medic replied as Wheeljack was still confused. If Optimus and Emily got sent there, how did it happen?
"Okay, but how would Optimus and the kid be sent there? The portal was leading straight to the base. It doesn't make any sense." Wheeljack said as Arcee looked at them.
"Actually it does. Before Ratchet sent out the groundbridge, the cons called for one too." Arcee said as Ratchet nodded.
"It would be logical to think that when Optimus and Emily were coming through, the two portals started to retro align themselves causing an overload that sent both Optimus and Emily to the shadow zone." Ratchet explained to the three who looked like they're still processing what they were told.
"So they're in another dimension?" Wheeljack guessed as Ratchet gave him a look.
"More like an alternate reality." Ratchet corrected him.
"Not sure I follow." Wheeljack was still confused and Ratchet was really close to throwing a wrench at him.
"Me neither." Cliffjumper said.
"It's a place where someone is in the same place as you but is invisible to others. You can't touch anyone and vice versa." Arcee explained it more clearly as Wheeljack and Cliffjumper nodded, finally understanding what was going on.
"Oh... I get it now." Cliffjumper said.
"It's a place where you can see others but they can't see you." Smokescreen said as Bulkhead nodded.
"Sort of." Bulkhead shrugged as Bumblebee motioned with his hands to say that it was more or less while beeping and whirring.
"We know very little about the shadow zone, only that it creates interference." Ratchet said.
"We can't call them but we can send them a message." Jack said since he experienced what happened back there.
"Good idea. We should make it fast." Miko said. She didn't want her two friends to go against the only other being in the shadow zone as Raf looked at her in confusion.
"Why?" Raf asked curiously as Miko gave him a look.
"Duh. Have you forgotten what's in that place?" Miko reminded him as Jack felt a chill run down his spine. Not good.
"Zombie Skyquake. I'm sending a text on Emily's phone right now." Jack said as he quickly fished out his phone and started to type a message and sent it to Emily as the others watched on worriedly.
Meanwhile in the shadow zone, Optimus, Skyquake and Emily were still trying to find a way out when suddenly Emily received a message on her phone. She fished it out and noticed that she had received a message from Jack as she stopped while Skyquake and Optimus looked down at her in confusion.
"That's weird. I just received a message. From Jack. It says. 'You're trapped in an alternate reality called the shadow zone. Be careful, a loose zombie out there.' Already took care of that. Hey, maybe I can call him." Emily said in surprise as she read the message out loud as she had to stop a small laugh from coming out since she encountered and revived said zombie.
"I highly doubt it will work. There's too much interference around us." Optimus said as he already tried earlier.
"Good luck, little one. I've tried to contact any Decepticon in range and nothing works." Skyquake said as he tried as well only to get static as Optimus gave him a suspicious look.
"You better not play any tricks on us, Skyquake." Optimus warned him as Skyquake narrowed his optics at him.
"Keep it down, guys. I'm trying to make a call." Emily said as she dialed Jack's number and called him.
Back at the base, Jack's phone start's ringing. He then checks who was calling him and much to his surprise and relief it was Emily.
"It's Emily, she read my message." Jack informed the others who were relieved to hear that.
"Alright." Wheeljack grinned as Ratchet sighed in relief.
"Thank Primus." At least that was a good sign.
Jack quickly answers his phone.
"Emily? Emily, do you hear me?" Jack hoped that this would work and almost
Back in the shadow zone, Emily smiled in relief and answered the call as both Optimus and Skyquake watched as she put it on speaker.
"Loud and clear, Jack." She said as he heard a sigh of relief.
Back at the base, Jack sighed in relief at this.
"Thank goodness you're okay. We got worried about you." Jack said through the phone.
"Dude, put it on speaker." She laughed slightly as Jack was a little embarrassed.
"Oh, right, sorry." Jack quickly does so as he pressed the speaker button.
"Hey, girl, how are you doing?" Miko said as Bolty chirped a hello.
Back in the shadow zone, Emily smiled as she heard them and smiled even more at hearing Bolty chirping a hello.
"Oh I'm good except that Optimus and I are stuck in an alternate reality." She told them with slight sarcasm as she could have sworn she heard a wince as Ratchet spoke.
"I know it's a dire situation but you need to maintain your calm." Ratchet told her as Skyquake looked confused. They were stuck in an alternate reality?
"How can we be stuck in an alternate reality?" He asked in confusion.
"Who is that?" Ratchet asked as Emily glanced at Skyquake while laughing nervously.
Back at the base, they heard Emily laughing nervously and were a little worried and confused. Was someone there with them?
"Uh, you might not believe me but this guy is named Skyquake and he's also Dreadwing's twin brother." Emily told them as they looked at the phone with shock and surprise and disbelief.
Everyone couldn't believe what Emily said, including Bumblebee. Skyquake is with them?! And alive?!
"Skyquake?" Bulkhead asked in shock as Bumblebee beeped and whirred in both confusion and worry. How is Skyquake alive?! He saw him die when he crashed.
"It can't be him. He died." Arcee was having a hard time believing this. Then again, she was shocked when Emily brought Cliffjumper back from the dead. So maybe she did the same with Skyquake.
"Unbelievable. That trigger bomb Dreadwing has a twin? But how did he die? We just heard him." Wheeljack said in confusion and shock as he looked at the others.
"A while ago, Starscream woke him out of a stasis pod. Skyquake was sent to Earth to kill Optimus. Starscream tried to use him to gain the respect of every Decepticon." Bulkhead explained what happened back then from what Bumblebee told him.
"Let me guess. Big Quake didn't like the idea right?" He said as Arcee nodded.
"No he didn't. What's worse, he tried to kill Bee and Optimus." She told them.
"In the end, Bumblebee destroyed him." Ratchet said before Bumblebee whirred softly as he was still feeling bad about what he did as Smokescreen pats his shoulder plates in comfort.
"You did what you had to do, Bee." Smokescreen comforted him as Bumblebee nodded his thanks.
"Uh, guys, back to the subject. Ratchet, how do we get out of here?" Emily spoke again as she, Optimus and Skyquake listened to the conversation through the phone as Ratchet went to the ground bridge control panels.
"Simple. I'll open a ground bridge using the previous location." Ratchet said he puts in the last coordinates and opens the ground bridge but suddenly, the ground bridge starts sparking up and setting up on fire as he stared in shock.
"By the Allspark." Ratchet breathes in shock as Miko tilts her head.
"There's a fire?" Miko asked.
The answer to her question answered itself as the base sprinkler system activated due to the fire as Raf, Miko and Jack were soaked. Raf quickly put their homework and books under something so they won't get wet.
"Yup there's a fire." Miko grinned as Jack sighed.
"Uh, guys, what's that sound?" Emily asked in confusion as she was hearing some kind of water sprinkler system going off.
"Arcee, go turn off the sprinklers." Ratchet told her as she nodded and went to where the switch to the sprinkler system was.
"Right away." She went there quickly.
"Guys, what's going on out there?" Emily asked in confusion and worry.
Back at the shadow zone, Emily was having a bad feeling when she heard the sprinkler system of the base went off and wondered what was going on as she glanced at both Skyquake and Optimus.
"Uh, the ground bridge controls are fried." Jack replied nervously and Emily almost lost her balance at that.
"They're what?! How did this happen?" Emily nearly shouted her question.
Back at the base, Ratchet was trying everything he could do to fix up the ground bridge as fast as he could.
"The energy overload must've fried the controls. You'll have to wait until we're able to get the ground bridge fixed." Ratchet said as he overlooked the damage.
"In other words, you'll have to wait for a while." Jack said.
Back in the shadow zone, Emily covered her face with her hand and groaned behind it.
"You gotta be kidding me." She groaned softly.
"I'm sorry. You're stuck in the shadow zone. Sorry. Don't worry it's not like it can get worse." Jack said and Emily knew that he just jinxed them but she shook her head. Better not think negatively.
"Yeah. Keep me posted." Emily said.
"I will. Be careful, guys." Jack said before both of them hung up as Emily sighed while Optimus watched her worriedly.
Meanwhile at the base, Arcee had turned off the sprinklers and went back to the others.
"I'm done. What's next?" Arcee asked as she looked at Ratchet.
"Now we must fix the ground bridge. Bulkhead and Wheeljack, I want you two to take out those control panels while I check the conductors and the central conduits." Ratchet said he pointed to where both Bulkhead and Wheeljack are assigned.
"On it, doc." Wheeljack said as he and Bulkhead quickly went to work as Ratchet addressed the three other Autobots in the base.
"Arcee, Bumblebee and Smokescreen, you go check the Energon fuel line. I doubt the energy overload has caused some damage in it but we must be sure it's okay. Jack and Miko will accompany you. Rafael, you help me with checking every system." Ratchet addressed their human friends as Raf quickly went over to help Ratchet as Miko cheered happily as she went with the three with Jack.
"You can count on me." Raf quickly got to work.
"Whoo-hoo! No more studying!" Miko cheered as Jack looked back at Ratchet.
"We'll help in any way we can." Ratchet nodded.
"Everybody knows their task. Let's make this quick. Optimus and Emily are running out of time." Ratchet said as they all got to work quickly.
Back in the shadow zone, Emily sat down on a rock as she sighed softly.
"Looks like we're gonna be staying here for a while." Emily told them.
"This doesn't surprise me. Autobots are pretty useless." Skyquake said as this earned him an annoyed look as Optimus narrowed his optics at him even more.
"Skyquake, the only way out is for us to work together. Not against us." Optimus recalled as Skyquake glared at him.
"Spare me your speech, Optimus. I've heard about it enough to grow tired of it." Skyquake said as Emily gave them a stern look.
"Hey, guys. Less fighting, more working together. We should try and move. We don't know how things work in this dimension and I don't think I wanna stay too long to find out." Emily stood up.
"Very well then." Skyquake reluctantly agreed but knew that he owed her a debt for bringing him back.
The three of them start walking again while the others at the base open a ground bridge. Not knowing how it can be possible that both he and Dreadwing are twins. She was still amazed about how they both look identical which raised a question in her as she looked up to Optimus as she walked beside him.
"Optimus, can I ask you a question?" She asked curiously.
"Sure, what is it?" Optimus nodded as she glanced at Skyquake who paid them no mind before looking back at the Autobot leader.
"I wanna know how it is possible that both Skyquake and Dreadwing are twins. Are they clones or something?" She asked curiously as Optimus smiled softly at this. She really wants to learn how things work on Cybertron.
"Not at all. You see, just like humans, we Cybertronians can have siblings. This union is known as a Split-Spark." He told her as she nodded before the word made her more curious.
"A Split-Spark?" She tilted her head curiously as Optimus nodded.
"It's when both beings share half of the same spark." He said as she nodded in understanding. Looks like Cybertronian and humans are a lot alike.
"I see. What happened between you?" She soon asked her next question since she noticed the tension between the two of the mech with her.
"The war happened. It happened a long time ago. In the Battle of Technar." Optimus started as Skyquake heard their conversation and decided to join in to explain to their companion what happened back then.
"I remember this battle very well. Lord Megatron had ordered me to kill Optimus Prime. A mission in which I failed. When I was brought back from stasis, I tried to kill him a second time. But his scout got the best of me and I'm afraid I don't remember much until today. All I know is that I was dead." Skyquake told her as Emily looked at him as she looked at her hand.
"Sort of." She muttered quietly as Skyquake became curious as to how he got stuck in the shadow zone.
"How did I get here?" He looked down at the girl as rub her arm sheepishly as she just smiled up at him.
"Long story." She said before they all heard a mysterious screech not far from where they were.
"Quiet. Something is coming." Optimus said as he got his weapons ready as they stopped walking.
"I hear it." Skyquake said as the screech was getting closer to them.
"What is that?" Emily pointed to the sky as they noticed some kind of dark shadowy creatures flying towards them.
"Emily, stand back." Optimus told her but the dark creature starts attacking Optimus.
He tries to get rid of the dark creatures but they are coming from everywhere and Emily watches in horror.
"Optimus!" Emily called his name as the dark creature tried to kill Optimus while he tried to stop it. Emily turned to Skyquake who was in shock and surprise by what was going on.
"Don't just stand there, do something!" Emily told him as she was getting worried for Optimus.
"I won't help an Autobot. My order to kill him still stands and I will not betray the cause of the Decepticons. My honor forbids me any sort of betrayal." Skyquake told her like it was the only thing in the world but got a heated glare from her instead.
"Yeah, well, your honor should allow you to help him. If he dies now, you'll never get the chance to accomplish your mission. It would be bad to fail again." Emily said as Optimus threw one of the dark creatures off him as another tried to claw him.
Skyquake thinks about it and comes to a decision. He then goes to help Optimus as he grabs the dark creature and starts attacking it to the point of killing it. After that, Emily quickly went over to check on Optimus to see if he's okay as she looked at him worriedly. Dents and scratch marks were on his armor and nothing that Ratchet could fix.
"You okay, Optimus?" She put a hand on his pede as he panted slightly but smiled down at her behind his battle mask.
"I'm alright." He reassured her as he stood back up as Skyquake went to their side.
"More are coming." Skyquake told them as a swarm of the dark creatures started gathering and rushed towards them.
"We must stand our ground." Optimus told them as he shot one that got way too close for comfort.
"Let me help you and I won't take no for an answer." Emily said as Skyquake shot down one as he glanced at her. How can she help them?
Optimus thinks about it for a moment before coming to a decision as he nodded but worry was in his optics.
"Don't get too far from us." Optimus told her as Emily nodded before switching her hands to her plasma cannons much to Skyquake's shock and surprise.
"I won't." She said as she shot two down with a plasma shot.
They all start shooting at the dark creatures as they were all getting destroyed but more are still coming and Optimus, Skyquake and Emily were starting to get surrounded. Optimus got hit by one of them and he accidentally drops the Dark Energon shard that he grabs so he could dispose of it later.
"The shard!" Optimus exclaimed as they saw the shard bouncing away from them.
There are too many dark creatures coming at them but Emily won't let them stop her from getting it.
"I'll go get it!" She exclaimed as she made a run for it before Optimus could even stop her.
"Emily, no!" Optimus didn't want her to get hurt but he had to punch one of the dark creatures from him.
Emily starts rushing towards the shard but a lot of the dark creatures start attacking her but she repels them with her plasma cannons. After she got rid of the obstacles, she was able to grab the Dark Energon shard and smiled and looked at the others.
"I got it!" Emily exclaimed but was tackled to the ground by a far creature and pinned her to the ground.
She avoided the jaws of it as it snapped at her and tried to bite her head off while trying to get it off her but suddenly the creature used its razor sharp claws to attack Emily and left deep gashes her leg.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Emily let out a loud pain filled scream as blood started to deep from her wound but was trying to get the creature off her.
Both Skyquake and Optimus were fighting side to side when Optimus heard Emily screamed in pain, he started getting worried as he saw where she was and what was happening as he felt his spark run cold at that.
"No!" Optimus shouted in worry, shock and horror.
Optimus sliced and slashed at the dark creatures as he rushed to help Emily. When he got there, he killed the dark creature that hurt Emily. When she was free, Emily started to pressure her wound but it was so deep that she lost some blood as she whimpered in pain and groaned from it.
"Are you okay?" He asked her worriedly as he saw the wound and they would need to treat it before it could get infected.
"Ugh... no... that thing hurt my leg real bad... I don't think I can move..." Emily winced and hissed in pain.
With one of them down, Optimus had no choice but to retreat as he picked her up carefully in his servos as she laid on her side while trying to stop the bleeding.
"Skyquake, fall back." Optimus ordered him as Skyquake looked to where he was and saw the girl but didn't do as told.
"Out of the question. I won't fall back." Skyquake growled at him but was a little taken by surprise when Optimus narrowed his optics at him in a heated glare as Emily groaned in pain.
"You'll have to if we're to get out of here." Optimus said as Skyquake stayed quiet.
He thinks about it for a moment before nodding and goes with Optimus' idea. Better retreat for now.
"Very well. You go first, I'll cover you." Skyquake told him as he nodded.
Optimus starts running while Skyquake provides him some cover. He succeeded in pushing back the dark creatures as he then ran after the prime who was making sure not to cause Emily more harm as it is. He was really hoping that the others would fix the ground bridge soon so they can get out of the place and get Emily treated.