Here it is. The Season One finale part one! (eps 23&24)

"And it was written the covenant of Primus, that when the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos," Optimus read off the monitor before him. "And the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness."

"No 'sky's raining fire'?" Arcee asked.

"Goes without saying," Ratchet answered. "It is a doom prophecy after all."

"I say it's a loada hoowee," said Bulkhead.

"I'd always assumed the ancients were referring to our home planet," Ratchet explained. "But being that Cybertron has been dark for eons."

"And considering what has befallen this planet since Megatron's arrival here," Optimus added.

"Whoa whoa whoa," interrupted Bulkhead. "We've known about these superstitions for ages and never gave 'em a second thought."

"Why all the ominous rumblings now?" Arcee wanted to know.

"Because the planetary alignment to which the prophecy refers is nearly upon us," stated Optimus.

"And it would seem its end point is Earth." Ratchet gestured up at the monitor that showed a diagram of the alignment.

"Uh… crazy coincidence." Bulkhead did finger guns. "Right?"

"How long are we talking?" Arcee stepped forward.

Ratchet turned to her. "A few days, at most."

"However unsettling this revelation may be," commented Optimus. "I am more concerned about those who might believe that the prophecy speaks to them alone."

"You're talking about Megatron, aren't you?" asked Liliy who was sitting by the computers.

He glanced at her through the monitor. "Indeed."

The children were scrolling through a conspiracy website on Raf's computer.

"Pass… Nuh uh… Kid in a costume… Balloon…" Jack said as each picture went by. "Nope… Oh, hold."

Raf stopped scrolling on a picture of Bumblebee in his alt-mode without a driver.

"Camera sure loves Bee," Jack said.

"What can you do?" said Miko, sitting back on the couch. "When you're a superstar, you're paparazzi bait."

"Wait. Is that Bumblebee?" asked Ratchet. He was in the medbay and could see the computer screen from there.

"On a conspiracy website, where users post pictures of close encounters," explained Raf. "But we have it under control, Ratchet. We just scrub and replace Bee with-"

"Mars cat says, 'take me to you feeder'," said the little video that Raf used to replace the picture of Bumblebee.

Ratchet let out an amused laugh and then looked surprised with himself for laughing. The children stared at him.

"Ratchet actually laughed?" asked Miko in surprise.

Ratchet seemed unsure.

"Heh. Um, Optimus, you wanna see something funny?" inquired Jack.

"No." came the immediate reply.

"Don't take it personally," said Arcee. "Primes are built that way."

"Never seen Optimus laugh, cry, or lose his cool," added Bulkhead.

"I have," whispered Liliy while playing with her phone while sitting in her chair. She wasn't really talking to them, but Ratchet heard her anyway.

"Have what?" he asked.

Liliy looked up, confused. "What?"

Ratchet stared at Liliy for a moment, before addressing the children again. "While Optimus certainly keeps his emotions in check. I've known him far longer than any of you have. And he was different before he was made a Prime."

"Optimus wasn't always a Prime?" asked Raf.

"On Cybertron, one isn't born into greatness, rather one must earn it."

"So, different how? We talking party animal?" Miko was curious.

"No. No. Optimus was more like... Jack."

"What? I'm nothing like Op-"

{Prime!} Jack was interrupted by Fowler on the commlink. {Those tech heists my department's been tracking, we figured it was MECH on account of their stealth tactics. Until moments ago when a security feed at the Pennington Ebbs particle collider captured this.}

A picture of Soundwave showed up on the monitor. Thankfully, Liliy wasn't looking.

"Soundwave." She heard Jack say as he and the others moved over to the monitors. She stiffened in her chair and didn't dare to turn and look.

"Raf can swap that out for you with a funny cat," Miko said.

{The Con without a face made off with a cutting edge phase conductor.} continued Fowler. {Here's a punch list of everything we've confirmed stolen to date.}

"Plasma injector," Ratchet read from the list that appeared on the monitor after Fowler dropped the call. "Neutron shield. Tesseract? There's only one thing missing if they are intending to build another space bridge."

"Another?" asked Liliy, finally getting to view the monitors now that Soundwave's picture was gone. "So they'll have two?"

"No, no. We blew up the last one," replied Ratchet.

"Yeah. Megatron was supposed to have died in that explosion," added Bulkhead.

"It was probably the dark energon that kept him alive," said Ratchet.

"So we have to stop the Cons from completing this one?" said Liliy.

"If we can stop the space bridge, we can stop Megatron," replied Optimus.

"What was his name?"

"Excuse me?" asked Ratchet, looking up from his work.

"Optimus. What was his name before he became a Prime?" Liliy repeated.

"Oh. It was Orion Pax."

"Interesting."

"What is?"

"His old name. Orion in Greek mythology was a great hunter. In fact, one of Earth's constellations is named after him. And Pax is the Latin word for peace. So he used to be called Hunter of Peace if you look at his name from a human perspective."

"Hunter of Peace, huh?" Ratchet looked over at Optimus. "It fit him well."

The comm beeped then and Agent Fowler came up on the screen when Optimus answered.

{Prime. The Cons really stepped in it this time. They hit a US military lab. Our boys in green'll fend 'em till your team shows.}

"Agent Fowler, I fear that Megatron's desperation may be at its zenith," replied Optimus. "And you know that I cannot condone even a single human casualty."

Fowler sighed. {Very well, Optimus.} And he cut the call to order a retreat.

"Arcee, Bulkhead, with me. Ratchet, contact Bumblebee and have him rendezvous with us."

"Of course, Optimus." Ratchet activated the ground bridge. After the others left, he went to the comm to contact Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, the team may require backup. They're three kliks north of your current position just off the highway. If you drop Raf at the exit ramp, I can bridge him back to base from there."

{Roger. I will contact you when I get there.}

Ratchet waited patiently for Bumblebee to call him but when the comm beeped, it was Optimus.

{Ratchet, bridge us back now!} he requested urgently.

"They must have an Autobot down," Ratchet suspected as he reactivated the ground bridge.

No one would have guessed that it would actually be Raf until Arcee returned carrying him in her arms with a distraught Bumblebee beside her. The bridge closed without Optimus or Bulkhead appearing.

"What happened?" demanded Ratchet upon seeing Raf, pale and limp.

"Megatron," Arcee replied.

"Quickly! Bring him to the medbay."

Liliy hurried down to the main floor as they took Raf over to the medbay. After Arcee put Raf on a human-sized medical bed, Ratchet started freaking out because he wasn't sure what to do. He had no idea how to treat a human, even though he had on multiple occasions expressed concern when the humans spoke of an injury.

"RATCHET!" shouted Liliy to get his attention.

Everyone looked at her in surprise as she moved over to the medical bed where Raf lay. None of them had ever heard her raise her voice like that.

"Calm down before you blow a gasket, doc. I'll handle this." Liliy turned to Jack. "Call your mom, Jack. We may need her help."

"His mother may be a nurse but does she know anything about the effects of energon on the human body?" asked Ratchet. It did not seem to register with him to ask if Liliy knew either. She did know, having been around humans far longer than any of the Autobots.

"Do you even know anything about the human body?" Liliy countered as Jack pulled out his phone. As she started checking over Raf, she spoke to the Autobot scout. "Bumblebee, tell me what happened."

"I was going to rendezvous with the others when Megatron came out of the sky and started shooting at us. I dodged as best I could but…"

"You were hit."

"I'm going to kill Megatron!" Bumblebee whirred, slamming his fist into the wall. Arcee grabbed him to calm him down.

"That must be it then," Liliy mumbled.

While Ratchet's attention was suddenly drawn to Nurse Darby's arrival via the bridge, Liliy pulled down her visor and quickly scanned the boy. She pushed her visor back up as June approached.

"What have we got?" the nurse asked, grabbing Raf's wrist to check his pulse.

"He's been infected with dark energon," stated Liliy.

"What?" June was confused.

"Liliy, are you certain?" asked Ratchet.

"Think about it, Ratchet," Liliy said, looking up at the medic. "Raf took an indirect hit from a blaster. Any other bot and it would be regular energon but it was Megatron. We all know that corrupted fragger runs on dark energon. So how can we expel the stuff from Raf, doctor? You are more familiar with it than I am."

Ratchet grew quiet for a moment as he thought about it. "We need to expose him to regular energon."

"But isn't that bad too?" asked June, looking from Ratchet to Liliy.

"Technically, yes," replied Ratchet. "But we would be relying on the dark matter currently invading Rafael to meet it head on."

Ratchet grabbed a flask and drew some energon from Bumblebee who volunteered. They quickly put Raf in the containment area and exposed him to the energon. As soon as the door was open wide enough for her to get through, Liliy was at Raf's bedside. She didn't care this time. Dropping her visor over her eyes again, she scanned him a second time.

"Vital signs are stabilizing and all traces of the dark energon appear to be gone," she said, relieved. She pushed her visor back up as the others gathered around. "He's going to be ok."

Raf opened his eyes. "Bee…" He managed an exhausted smile.

Optimus commed base. {Ratchet, how is Rafael?}

"It would seem he is going to be ok thanks to Liliy's quick thinking. She realized that he had been exposed to dark energon before I did. Curse my Cybertronian pride. We accepted these humans into our lives yet I bothered to learn so little about their science... or medicine."

{Pull yourself together, old friend. We still need you.}

"Yes."

{Lock on to my coordinates and activate the ground bridge.}

Ratchet activated the ground bridge but only Bulkhead came through with the power source from the Cons.

On the Nemesis, Squad ZZ was working away when they heard the approach of heavy pedfalls. They looked down the hall and saw Optimus Prime coming toward them.

"I have come for Megatron, and him alone. Stand down and be spared." Optimus activated his blasters.

Four of the eradicons reacted by activating their own blasters and aiming at him.

"Wait!" cried the fifth one, Ucon. He jumped in front of his comrades with his servos up. "Wait! Don't shoot!" He looked at Optimus, who had stopped in surprise. "Please don't shoot!"

"ZZ-05, what are you doing?" demanded ZZ-01. "Get out of the way!"

"No! He said he's here for Megatron and he won't hurt us if we stand down. I think that's exactly what we should do."

"Do you have a screw loose? He's an Autobot," cried ZZ-03.

"Exactly. Every time vehicons face an Autobot, they get hurt. I don't want to see anyone get hurt." Ucon looked at Optimus again. "Besides, Megatron is not even on the Nemesis anymore. He left a little while ago. If you want, I will contact him for you."

"Please do."

"ZZ-05!"

"Lord Megatron," Ucon spoke into his commlink, "Optimus Prime on the Nemesis and he is looking for you."

{Is he?} replied Megatron. The warlord switched to the ship-wide comm. {Hear this! Any Decepticon who lays a servo on Optimus Prime will answer to me! Soundwave, lock onto my coordinates and lead my opponent to his destiny.}

"Thank you," Optimus said, looking down at ZZ-05.

"No need to thank me. I just did it so you would not have to hurt them."

Liliy's phone rang. She glanced at the caller id before answering.

"What is it? ... Whoa, whoa. Slow down. What are you saying? ... ... Are you sure? ... Hold on." She ran up to the computers. "Ok, what were the coordinates?" She held her phone to her ear with her shoulder as she typed. "Got it." She momentarily moved the phone away from her head so she could yell at Ratchet. "Ratchet! I found Optimus' location! It doesn't look good!"

He hurried over to the console. "What do you mean? Where is he?"

Liliy wasn't listening. She was talking to the caller again. "No. Stay there. But if things go south, evacuate. That's an order."

"Liliy, what's going on?" Ratchet asked as she hung up the phone.

"Optimus is in trouble. Not only is he fighting Megatron but there is apparently a bunch of dark energon spewing out of a volcano near his location."

"What?"

Liliy brought the terrain scans up on the big monitors. "See?"

"But how is this possible?"

"What? What is it?" asked Arcee.

Ratchet spun around. "We need to get Optimus out of there. NOW!"

He hurried to the bridge controls and locked on the coordinates. Bulkhead and Arcee went through first and Ratchet followed. Bumblebee had to keep the bridge open for them. They came back a few minutes later with Optimus being supported by the Wrecker and the medic.

"Easy, Optimus," chided Ratchet. "From the looks of things you've been exposed to a massive amount of dark energon."

Prime looked up and saw Raf with Nurse Darby.

"I am not the only one."

Bulkhead helped Optimus sit on a med berth. The Prime looked down at Raf and smiled. The boy on the gurney smiled back.

"Hey."

"He's lucky to be alive," said June, glaring up at Prime who frowned.

"Megatron found more of the dark stuff?" asked Jack, coming down the stairs.

"A volcano full," answered Arcee.

"The question is 'how?'" asked Bulkhead.

"No. The question is 'what?'" corrected Ratchet. "As in what in the world is the blood of Unicron doing here on Earth."

"The Cons killed a unicorn?" Miko asked.

The Bots stared at her blankly.

"He said Unicron, Miko," Liliy called from her place in front of the computers, typing faster with her single hand than most humans could with two. "Not unicorn."

"Oh… What's Unicron?"

"An ancient evil whose fossilized blood comprises the matter we call dark energon," explained Ratchet. "As… legend would have it."

"So you're saying this Unicron is some kind of bogeyman?" asked June.

"Bogeyman?" Ratchet echoed in confusion.

"Make-believe creepy guy who hides in your closet," supplied Liliy. "You really need to read up on your Earth culture, Ratchet."

Ratchet rolled his optics before turning back to June. "No, Nurse Darby. Unicron is very real. Was... That is, while I do believe he once existed, I just don't subscribe to the theory that his primordial life force is the substance which… harmed Raf."

"I've heard enough. Jack, please. Help me get Raf into the car," said June as she started wheeling the gurney across the room.

Bumblebee beeped worriedly.

"Mom, I thought he was doing better?" Jack asked.

"Raf needs to be examined by real doctors. And Raf's family needs to know what happened. His real family."

"Mom, Raf's family can't protect him. Not like they can." He gestured to the Bots.

Optimus pushed off the med berth. "June, it deeply grieves me that I have failed," he said as he rose shakily to his peds. He took a few unsteady steps forward as he continued to speak. "But I will do everything in my power to insure that no harm comes to our human friends or any human ever again."

June stopped walking. "Optimus," she said looking up at him. "They're children. They do not belong in your world. They should be worrying about grades. Prom dates. Pimples. Not their own survival."

"Mom, dark energon is pouring out of the earth. It doesn't do that. This could be about everyone's survival, not just ours," argued Jack.

"You're coming with me. All three of you." She looked up at the Bots. "And they will not be coming back."

She turned around and started pushing the gurney but she ran right into Liliy who had come down to the main floor.

"Actually, June, I would advise against leaving. For your safety, as well as Raf's."

"What do you mean?"

Liliy dropped a device that looked similar to a hockey puck on the floor. It popped open and displayed a 3-D map of Nevada and its weather.

"Because a storm is moving in. Fast. Faster than any I have ever seen. The conditions are perfect for tornados and the charges out there are building. There is going to be a lot of lightning. And it's not just here." She waved her hand through the image and it zoomed out to show the whole planet and its current weather patterns. "These strange weather patterns are happening all over the world. I suspect they are related to the volcano… and the seven massive earthquakes that all happened at the same time but each on a different tectonic plate."

"Liliy, how do you know all-" started Ratchet.

{Prime. Do you copy?} Agent Fowler sudden came up on the comm.

"I hear you, Agent Fowler," Optimus answered, moving to the console.

{Been watching the news? Mother Nature has got a twitch in her britches.}

"I was just telling them about it," Liliy said, now back up by the computers.

{Don't tell me the Cons have built a weather machine.}

"One powerful enough to affect the weather on a global scale? Highly unlikely," said Ratchet.

"Besides a weather machine wouldn't account for the earthquakes and the volcano," added Liliy.

"And I do not believe the appearance of dark energon at this point in time to be coincidental," Optimus informed him.

{Dark energon? What- Actually, no. I'm on my way to the base now. You can fill me in when I get there.}

"Be careful out there, Agent Fowler," Liliy said. "It's probably going to get a bit windy."

{No kidding,} he said before dropping the call.

When Agent Fowler finally arrived, the humans were gathered around the TV, watching the news. Liliy was still over by the computers.

"What have you learned, Prime?" he asked as soon as he stepped out of the elevator. "And you better not blow smoke up my-" He caught sight of June and his tone changed quick. "Uh, Miss Darby. What a nice surprise."

June seemed unfazed and smiled at him. "Special Agent Fowler."

"We have learned this," said Ratchet, drawing Fowler's attention to the monitors. "As with the so-called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated far beneath the Earth's crust. From the very center of the Earth's core, in fact."

"Quakes don't start there." He glanced at June who came over to stand beside him. "Do they?"

"Tiny tremors rising and falling in a consistent pattern," Ratchet continued. "Almost like…"

"Like a Cybertronian heartbeat?" Liliy asked. She tapped a key on the computer next to her.

The tremor data points converted to audio files. The pulsing sound filled the room, making everyone uneasy.

"How is that possible?" asked June. "A heart pumps blood. There's nothing inside the Earth to pump except..."

"…The blood of Unicron," Raf voiced what they all realized.

"Ok, hold on," Miko said after a moment of stunned silence. "You mean something's living down there? Inside our planet?"

"I fear that the Earth's very core is not comprised of magma as your science has suggested," said Optimus, "but of dark energon."

"And if we're hearing a spark," said Ratchet, "then Unicron is the rising darkness that the prophecy foretold."

"So, how do we stop this thing from rising?" asked Fowler.

"That, I am afraid, was not foretold," answered Optimus.

"How can something be in our Earth's core? And be alive?" June wanted to know.

"Such a thing is not unheard of. At least, in Cybertronian history." Liliy received several confused looks. "What? I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I studied linguistics. Figuring out how to read Cybertronian wasn't that difficult. And your old history was an interesting read."

"Then why don't you share what you learned," replied Ratchet. "And Optimus can correct you if you are mistaken."

"Hhh. Fine." Liliy moved over to the railing of the top tier so that she could be seen and heard by everyone. "So way back before the beginning, there were two beings, Primus who was Creation and Unicron who was Destruction. They were always fighting each other. Finally, Primus got fed up and created 13 warriors, the original Primes, to help him defeat Unicron. They did. And then they cast him out. After that, Primus became one with the core of Cybertron and created life through the Well of AllSparks. And Unicron was never to be heard from again… Until now." She looked up at Optimus. "How was that?"

"You are basically correct," he replied.

"Maybe we can find the hole this uber Con left when he dug himself all the way down there and fill it full of explosives," said Fowler.

Liliy just facepalmed while Optimus and Ratchet shared a look.

"Agent Fowler, I do not believe Earth became Unicron's home but rather that with time and gravitational force, debris collected around the slumbering titan…" Optimus explained.

Ratchet finished for him. "...Forming your Earth itself."

"And he's only awakening now due to the magnetic pull created by the planetary alignment," realized Arcee.

"Ok. But what happens now when Unicron wakes up from his billion year nap?" asked Jack.

"Yeah. Does he stretch and Kapow!" Miko spread her arms to mimic an explosion. "Earth poofs to dust?"

Prime remained silent.

"You don't know, do you?" asked June.

"My guess is that Unicron has transcended physical form as we know it," said Optimus. "Nonetheless, we must find a way to ensure that this force of nature never fully awakes. The fate of your planet depends upon it."

Optimus went off by himself to check out the epicenters of the earthquakes. Liliy thought it was a bad idea but kept it to herself because she knew Prime probably wouldn't listen to her. She could sense Unicron's spark just as well as she could sense the sparks of the Autobots around her and it disturbed her. She felt like she was trapped inside another Cybertronian's alt, too close to their spark with no way to escape. To keep herself grounded, she sat in one of the computer chairs and swiveled back and forth.

{Ratchet, this epicenter is consistent with the findings of the others. Its terrain is rich in ore.} Optimus commed back after checking another epicenter.

"So what does that tell us?" asked Fowler.

"It follows that the natural metals in your Earth would be extensions of Unicron," said Ratchet. "His limbs, if you will."

"So, he did have his morning stretch, which is why these quakes happened," commented June.

The computer started beeping.

"Optimus, I'm detecting a swell in Unicron's spark activity," Ratchet said after checking the readings.

{Rest assured, Ratchet. I will proceed with vigilance.} replied Optimus.

Ratchet waited a few minutes and then commed the Prime again. "Optimus, have you uncovered any further sign of Unicron's emergence?"

{Unicron is power incarnate and you, the last of the Primes, shall perish.} several voices speaking in unison filtered thru the comm.

"I take that as a yes. We are on our way." Ratchet turned to go to the ground bridge.

{Negative.} Prime's voice stopped him. {Unicron cannot be defeated by sheer force. He wants me, Ratchet. This fight must be mine alone.}

Optimus did a slight misstep when he heard Liliy yell 'Idiot-' as he dropped the call. Was she talking about him? He didn't have time to wonder as he engaged Unicron's manifestations.

"Did you just call Optimus an idiot?" asked Arcee.

"Yes," answered Liliy. "And all of you are idiots too if you plan on actually listening to him and staying here."

"But you heard him, Liliy," said Ratchet. "And he is our leader."

"We want to help him," added Bulkhead, "but like Ratchet said, he is our leader."

"But sometimes you have to disobey the leader when you know they are doing something stupid," countered Liliy. "I know this because I have done some stupid stuff as a leader and had to have my aft rescued. Unicron wants to kill Optimus because he is a Prime. And it was the original Primes who cast Unicron out in the first place, right?"

"Yes," answered Ratchet.

"Then there may be a way for Optimus to stop Unicron but I don't think it's by fighting his manifestations. The best thing you can do right now is fight to keep him alive until another solution can be found." Liliy activated the ground bridge via the computer next to her. "If you aren't going to go help him, I will."

That was all the prompting that the Bots needed. Bumblebee and Bulkhead followed Arcee through the open portal.

To be continued…