"You know Miko," said Aria, gasping for breath, "this isn't how I wanted to spend my afternoon!"
"Well how was I supposed to know we'd end up in an entirely new dimension?!" asked Miko, panting from running.
"This is why we stay at base!" said Jack.
"Guys! My glasses!" said Raf. The four humans peeked around the rock they had been hiding to see Raf's glasses on the floor, with Terrorcon Skyquake stomping towards them.
"Way too dangerous," said Jack.
"I can't see without them!" said Raf.
"What are you?" asked Miko retorically. "Ninety?"
"Not helping," said Jack.
"We need to go back for them," said Aria. As she started to step out from behind the rock, she gave a gasp of pain as light flickered across her body.
"I'll go," said Miko. She darted out from behind the rock as everyone gave an exclamation. After several tense seconds, Miko returned, holding Raf's glasses. "Here you go, Gramps!" said Miko. "Let's book!"
"I can teleport us to the other end of the canyon," said Aria.
"In your current condition," said Jack, "lets not risk it!"
Aria shrugged. With that, they raced away down the canyon, Skyquake's undead form marching after them slowly.
The day had started out normal until Ratchet had detected Dark Energon on the move. Everyone had quickly left, but Miko had tried to go after them, with Jack, Aria, and Raf trying to stop her. Unfortunately, they were forced to go through the Groundbridge after her. Even more unfortunately, they were stuck in between two Groundbridges and teleported to a new dimension which Raf and Perceptor nicknamed the 'Shadowzone'.
They were unable to touch the bots, but so was the now undead form of Skyquake, which soon noticed them and had started to chase them. So as Aria put it, 'not how she wanted to spend her afternoon'.
Meanwhile, at base, the team was trying to find the missing humans. "Ratchet," said Optimus. "If the children were misdirected to an unintended location, is there any way to get a fix on their coordinates?"
"If they were lost, Miko would've called me by now," said Bulkhead.
*Then how about we try to call them!* said Bumblebee, an idea striking him.
"Call them? Yes!" said Bulkhead. He pressed a digit to his com-link. But Miko's ringtone was heard in the base. As everyone looked around, Bulkhead soon found Miko's phone near the Groundbridge. "That's why Miko hasn't phoned."
As he picked it up, Optimus said, "I'll try Aria. Arcee, you try Jack."
The four kids hid behind a group of boulders, trying to catch their breath. "You know the best thing about zombies," said Aria cheerfully, "they're slow."
"Yeah, I guess we've got that to thank for," said Miko.
Just then, two ringtones filled the air. The four of them jolted before shouting, "PHONE!"
Aria and Jack quickly pulled out their phones and answered them. "Optimus? Optimus, can you hear me?"
"Arcee?" Jack called into his phone.
However, after a few seconds, they both gave sighs of irritation. "Nothing," said Jack sourly.
"Gee, imagine that!" said Miko sarcastically. "The fourth dimension has lousy cell phone reception!"
"No wait," said Aria. "The phone rang! We are getting a signal!"
Raf seemed to think for a few seconds, then said, "Maybe the Autobots can't see or hear us because... we're moving at hyperspeed or something."
"Do you think maybe they could read us?" asked Jack.
"Read," thought Aria. "Text! Miko's phone is still at base! We can send a text message to it!"
"And the Bot's can get it!" finished Jack. He quickly started typing on his phone.
As they were finishing up, Raf noticed that Aria's body was starting to flicker again. "Incoming!" he said.
Everyone turned as Skyquake came around the corner. "Can you type and run?" asked Raf.
"Let's move!" said Aria. The group took off, no one noticing that Aria paused a bit with her phone before heading after them.
"We're dealing with fluxuating energy profiles inside a wide distortion field," said Ratchet to the rest of the team. "But, it may be possible to back-trace their coordinates."
No one noticed that Miko's phone was buzzing on the catwalk where Bulkhead had put it.
As the group continued running, Miko said, "Deja vu!"
"What?" asked Jack.
"This doesn't look familiar to you?" she asked him.
"Not really," said Jack.
"It is to me," said Aria. "Miko's right. We're going around in a huge circle. That's all this canyon is!"
"Yeah!" said Miko. They all yelped as they ran into something.
"Well I do remember this," said Aria, rubbing her head. They had bumped into Starscream's severed arm, with a missile still atattched. "It fell off when the Bots blasted him. Must've gotten sucked in here with us."
"Suh-weet," breathed Miko.
They paused as Skyquake's groan reached their ears. They turned, seeing him stalking up the canyon. "Cons are still persistent!" commented Ironhide.
"You can say that again," said Skywarp.
"Boys, not now," Aria muttered to herself.
Jack looked at where Skyquake was coming, then back at Starscream's missile arm. A look crossed his face. "Well if it's solid," he said, "we can use it."
"How do you recommend that?" asked Aria, looking at Jack.
"We turn it around and fire it at Skyquake."
"Easier said than done," said Miko.
Aria rolled her eyes and raised her hand. A few trendils of energy wrapped around the arm and it moved around, pointing down the direction they came. "With me, anything is possible," said Aria. "Get ready, Jack."
Jack perched behind the clawed hand and asked, "Uh, how do we make it fire?"
"Starscream twitches his pointer finger," Thundercracker told Aria.
"Pointer finger," she said to the others.
Everyone crouched down behind the arm as Skyquake turned the corner. "We only have one shot," said Jack. "We need to make it count."
As Skyquake got closer to them, Aria held up a hand before shouting, "FIRE!"
Jack grabbed the pointer finger and pulled hard. The missile streaked off the arm, heading straight for Skyquake and hitting him dead on. As the smoke cleared, the group saw Skyquake's right arm fall off of him.
"How do you like us now!" cheered Miko.
Her expression faded as the hand twitched. It jumped up and turned over, starting to crawl towards the four humans.
"Come on! Come on!" screamed Jack. They quickly turned as the hand came rushing after them.
"How can a zombie arm move faster than the actual zombie?" asked Miko as they ran.
"Well as a matter of fact-"
"Perceptor! Not now!"
Bulkhead finally noticed that Miko's phone was trying to get their attention. "Miko's phone! It wasn't blinking before!" He quickly pressed the top of it, allowing it to open. "It's a message. 'In alternate dimension with zombie. Help!'."
"That... doesn't sound possible," said Arcee.
*Considering Aria, anything is possible,* said Bumblebee.
"Ratchet," said Optimus. "can we triangulate the geographical position of the cell phone's signal?"
"In a parallel dimensional plane?!" exclaimed Ratchet. He grinned and said, "Let's find out!"
After a few minutes, Ratchet said, "Now, calculating with relative time delays and atmospheric distortions, the signal is coming from the exact location as the original Groundbridge coordinates!"
"But we already looked for them there!" exclaimed Bulkhead.
"Perhaps," said Ratchet. "But not in the correct dimensional phase as their message stated. But, if I can recreate the feedback loop which triggered the event, I might be able to generate a rescue portal allowing passage from their dimension-"
"Back to base?" interrupted Bulkhead.
"No!" said Ratchet, turning to him. "We're talking about inter-dimensional travel here, Bulkhead! Attempting to redirect the vortex trajectory would be far too risky!"
"Everyone knows that," Arcee pointed out to Bulkhead.
"If the coordinates aren't precisely the same," continued Ratchet, "who knows where the humans could wind up!"
"Do your best, old friend," said Optimus.
"I will try," said Ratchet.
After a bit more running, the group found themselves in front of Starscream's arm again. "Oh come on!" complained Miko. "This place is like one big merry-go-round!"
"Without music, and the ride is a Terrorcon," added Aria.
"Skyquake?" came a new voice. The group ducked down behind the arm as a new figure came from around the corner. It was Starscream. "Your master summons you!"
"How'd that freak get into our dimension?" asked Miko.
"He didn't," realized Jack, causing everyone to look at him. "He can't see us!"
Miko turned at a familiar scuttling sound. "Forget Starscream!" she said. "We gotta run! Some more." Skyquake's hand was coming towards them.
As the group started forward, however, in front of them appeared a Groundbridge, this one tinted purple slightly.
"A Groundbridge portal?" asked Raf.
"That's our way out!" said Aria. "The Bots found us!"
"They saw our text!" cheered Miko.
Raf soon saw their dilema though. "If we run through, we run smack into Starscream! If we don't..." Everyone turned to see the hand getting closer.
"We're zombie chow," finished Jack.
"Time to play chicken then," said Aria.
"What?" asked Miko.
"We wait for the right moment," said Aria, crouching down. "If we time it right, Starscream will be occupied by Skyquake's hand to come after us."
"How will you know?" asked Jack.
Aria looked at him. "Trust me," she said. She looked forward. Miko was jumping on the spot and whimpering as the hand scuttled closer. Finally, Aria said, "NOW!"
The four of them jumped through, dodging between Starscream's legs. "You know, Screamy," tanuted Aria, "you seriously can't be going out in those heels!"
The whole of the Allspark burst out laughing at that statement.
Just as Starscream was about to chase after them, Skyquake's hand came through, grabbing onto the Seeker's face. He fell to the ground screaming, "Unhand me!"
Just as they were about to go forward more, another Groundbridge swirled open, and out stepped the Autobots.
"Hi!" Aria said to Optimus. "So can we get outta here before that hand decides to 'unhand' Starscream?"
Once they were back at base, Miko took the time to step forward. "Look," she said, "if you're gonna blame anybody, blame me."
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" asked Jack, casting her a surprised glance. "A couple dozen times?"
Miko cast him a grumpy glance.
"Miko," Optimus said to her, "what you have endured today has been less than enough. We are just glad you are all safe." He had a relieved smile on his faceplates.
Miko managed a nervous smile back as Bulkhead knelt beside her, handing her her phone. "Guess it was a good thing you dropped this," he said, handing it back to her on his large digit. "Too bad you didn't get any pictures, though."
"Nah, that's okay," said Miko. "I think after today, I pretty much have 'Zombie Close-ups' seared into my brain."
"Oh, so then you don't want these pictures?" asked Aria, fiddling with her phone a bit. She looked up with a sly smile on her face as Miko turned to her.
"WHAT!?"