I am extremely sorry for taking way, WAY, too long to update the next chapter. I have been super busy and I had no time to write the next chapter. I hope this will make up for it.

Review please.

Chapter 28: Shadowzone

Today is a great day for Sam. After days of house arrest, in Sam's view, he can finally be able to leave his room and enjoy the outside world. Sam finds being imprisoned in his own room just because he woke up from a week-long sleep is overdoing it.

He had told Ratchet that the week-long sleep made him feel better, and was raring to go back to school and hang out with the gang. But Ratchet being a worrywart, he had Sam locked in his room until Ratchet can check him over multiple times to see if Sam is in good shape. He also banned everyone else from visiting him during those days of captivity.

Honestly, Ratchet is way overreacting over his head injury. That sleep should have cured any concussion he may had had. But he had learned not to argue with Ratchet if it's about his wellbeing. But still, he could've thought of something better than isolating him in his room with no interaction with other human and robots other than Ratchet.

But no matter. After days of being stuck in his room, it's all worth it.

He begins his day by doing his usual morning routine, which consist of taking a shower, eating, and picking his weapon of the day. As he did the first two on the list, he walked toward his closest and opened it. All he saw was his clothes. He pushed the coat hangers aside and started typing on the wall, which began to light up every time he touched it.

When the light went green, another door opened, which revealed a whole secret cache of weapons. If Ratchet were to find out about this, he'll have to say bye-bye to his freedom.

"Now, what to take?" He pondered, as he looked at his beautiful collection of weapons he created. Some were his ideas, some are replicas from the video games he played. He tried to make the best of it with limited Cybertron resources, so he can only make the ones that he can and can actually work in real life.

He used to have two or three dozen type of weapons in his stash, but after their first encounter with Silas and his MECH team, it would be best if he dismantle more than half of his collection, the ones that can actually do more serious-to-deadly damage. That leaves him with at least less than a dozen. Only the ones that are meant for mid-to-long range blasters and close combat weapons is he allowed to keep.

"Guess I have no choice. I'll just take my newly upgraded Angel Blade out for a spin. Pun intended." He chuckled, since his upgraded blade can be dangerous when you spin it. As he made a grab for it, he saw that it was empty.

"Did I not put it away when I woke up from my one week coma?" He wondered out loud. He scratched his head as he tried to remember where he left it, but no such luck. His memory is still hazy. "Guess I'll ask Ratchet if he knows where I left it."

As he exited his room and walk towards where the gang are at, he took his time to marvel at the hallway the he hasn't seen in days. Damn, it sure does feels good to be out of his room and continue on with his life. As he reached the hangout area, he was greeted by his human friends and their Autobot guardian.

"Sam, it's been awhile!" Jack yelled from their couch area.

"It sure has, Jack!" Sam replied with a huge smile on his face.

Bee came rushing towards Sam and picked him up to his face level and made lots of happy beeps, while spinning around.

Sam laughed at Bee's childish behavior. "Yes, Bee, I'm glad to see you, too." He leaned down to leave a light kiss on Bee's nose area. Bee made some cooing noises and began rubbing his face on Sam.

"C'mon, Bee, don't hog Sam all to yourself." Bulkhead made a grab for Sam, wanting that same type of affection Sam had given to Bumblebee. Bumblebee, being the possessive Bot that he is, moved away from Bulkhead's grasp.

"Bee." He let out a warning tone. He made a grab for Sam, but Bee started walking away from him. He followed after, the two sprinting around the area, one trying to take Sam, the other keeping Sam to himself.

The kids and Arcee laughed at their childish banter, enjoying seeing Sam treated like a rag doll. Their playful banter ended when Bee bumped into Ratchet.

"What are you two doing?" He asked with his usual grumpy face.

"We were just playing around with Sam, since you kept us from seeing him. We're just making up for lost time." Bulkhead replied.

"Well, playtime is over. I need to give Sam one more checkup before he's good to go."

Bumblebee was reluctant to hand Sam over to Ratchet, wanting to just spend the whole day with Sam to catch up. But Ratchet made a valid point. He carefully and slowly placed Sam onto Ratchet open hand.

"Don't worry, Bee. After we're done, we'll have the whole day to ourselves." Sam patted Bee's hand before sliding to Ratchet's hand.

"What about me?" Bulkhead pouted, feeling all left out.

"Tomorrow, Bulk. It'll be your turn." He said, before Ratchet took him to his work area.

He starts off by placing him inside the giant chamber for Autobots, and starts scanning him, making sure he checks every single part of his body; his bones, muscles, diseases, brain. Even the part where he checks his psyche for any traces of Megatron in him. He can't afford to make any more mistakes like last time.

"Good news. I can finally say that you are in perfect health, Sam." Ratchet announced with a huge smile.

Sam walked out of the chamber and reached out to rub lightly and lovingly at Ratchet's foot. "I can always count on you to keep me in tiptop shape, Ratch. Thank you."

Ratchet returns the gesture with a smile of his own. "You know I'll do anything to make sure you're the healthiest human on this planet."

"Yeah, that's true. By the way, have you seen my Blade? It seems to be missing in my room."

That smile from Ratchet quickly went to a stern one, which, for some reason, made Sam regret ever asking that question. He stared at Ratchet rummaging his desk and coming back with his blade at hand. But instead of handing over, he has that parenting posture that's says he's going to scold him.

"Mind explaining about this." He says, holding the blade with his giant thumb and finger.

"Uh, what's there to explain?" He laughed nervously. Did he found out the upgraded version of the blade?

With a push of the button that was hidden, the blade extended into a whip, with the tip landing on the ground. The length of the whip went from below Ratchet's shoulder to the ground.

"Ah, scrap." He did.

The room went quiet, everyone went silent all of a sudden. Sam could feel all eyes on him, it made him even nervous than ever.

"Well, it's a whip…"

"It's well established that it's a whip. What I want to know is why your blade is now a whip?"

"Because I made some modification?"

"And what did I tell you about making any changes to your weapons? Especially making them into something dangerous like this."

"You're over-exaggerating. It's a whip. You're suppose to use it to whip somebody. There's no way that could be dangerous."

To prove his point, Ratchet lashed across the room, mostly towards Bulkhead's direction. The poor Bot barely had time to react as he let out a yelp and ducked down before the whip can hit him. The whip had caused a large chunk of the wall to break into pieces. The kids were amazed at the work Sam capable to do with weapons. What puzzles them more is the distance of the whip can extend to. How can something that long fit inside a small blade.

Sam felt proud of the work he made. And was also shocked at the damage it can cause. He probably made a miscalculation on the blueprint. It was suppose to be an ordinary whip with barbs, not something that can probably cut a guy in half.

"Ok, you've made your point. But how did you found out about it?" Now it's Sam's turn to look so sternly at Ratchet. It was a secret project and he made sure no one knew about it.

Even though he doesn't show it, Ratchet is panicking a bit. He can't tell him about what really happen. He'll probably start blaming himself for what happened, and he ain't gonna have it. So he came up with a lie that popped out from his head.

"Well… I soon as I grabbed it, this thing started acting crazy and it left a large cut on my arm and punctured my abdomen." He showed Sam his arm what was almost fully healed. He hoped this lie will be able to fool Sam.

Sam's eyes darted back and forth, examining the arm and the whip before letting out a frustrated grunt. "There must be something wrong with the defense mechanism."

"There's a defense mechanism?" Ratchet asked.

Sam nodded. "It is meant to prevent anyone, who is not an ally, to wield this weapon that is meant to go up against Decepticons. Or Autobots, if it falls into the wrong hands. I had the whip install after our first encounter with MECH, to better go up against them from a safe distance. That is one of the reason I had the whip installed. Should MECH ever get their hands on it, the weapon will instantly attack and kill the holder and anyone near that is consider an enemy. In the hilt, contains data of all ally human fingerprints and Autobot frequency that can hold the weapon with no problem. The fact that it attacked you must mean that I still need to do some more work on it."

After hearing Sam explain about the purpose of the whip, Ratchet was amazed on how Sam was able to come up with everything. He can't stay mad at him for making changes to the blade without his consent. They have gained a new enemy, in the form of a human, and Sam needs to be even more prepared than ever if he is ever to be safe.

"Here." He lowered his hand to have Sam retrieve his blade.

Sam was relieved that everything went well with Ratchet. He was sure he would blow a fuse if he found out about it. As soon as Sam grabbed his weapon, the whip retracted back to its original Blade form. He thanked Ratchet for the blade and ran towards the other to show off his newest creation.

"Everything went well, I presume?"

Ratchet looked back to see Optimus returning from his patrol. "Quite well. The reason behind the modification is quite ingenious. His skill as a weapon specialist could give Ironhide a run for his Energon fuel."

"Indeed."

"By the way, you'll be happy to know that Sam has fully recovered."

Optimus placed his hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "That is wonderful news. Thank you, old friend, for everything you have done for Sam."

"Don't mention it, Orion. You know I'll do anything for Sam's safety."

"We all feel the same way."

A low beeping alerted the two Autobot to the computer. With a few clicks, a map popped up, followed by a faint signal moving. "Optimus, this is Dark Energon signature."

"Megatron."

"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee! Get over here, now!"

The three looked at each other before doing what Ratchet told them to do, leaving the kids to talk to themselves.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Miko shouted excitedly while swinging the Blade like crazy person. Jack and Raf moved away from here, fearing for their lives.

"Miko, be careful with that." Jack warned.

"Don't be a wuss, Jack, it's not gonna hurt you or anything. I may seek danger, but I'm also careful."

"I find that hard to believe."

"You getting fresh with me, boy?" Miko had gotten close to Jack with the blade near his throat.

"Whoa! Are you crazy!? Get it away from me!"

Miko laughed at Jack's fearful look. "You need to learn how to relax. I was only kidding."

"I can't really trust you with weapons, Miko. You're like a psychotic woman."

"Thanks for the compliment, Jack."

"That wasn't a compliment."

But Miko ignored Jack as she keeps swinging the blade, off into her own world, pretending to fight a pirate. "Sam, where's this button that makes it into a whip? I want to be pretend to be Catwoman."

Sam shook his head. "No can do. That thing is way dangerous. Did you not see that thing crack the wall?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to see just how dangerous it is, go a little crazy on it."

Miko stuck her tongue out. "Party pooper."

"I'm serious. I had just found out just how deadly it can be if used correctly. If something like that can severely injure giant robots, just imagine using it against humans. You could possibly kill them."

She sucked in a breath. "Never thought of that." She quickly toss the weapon back to Sam, as if it might have a mind of its own and attack her.

Sam caught it with ease, and returned back inside his long-sleeve shirt. "Now, who's hungry? I haven't ate nothing yet, so this is a good opportunity for me to make something up for you guys."

On cue, Miko's stomach began to growl. "I know I just ate, but thinking about your food makes me want to pig out."

"Just don't eat too much, or you'll end up growing a belly like Sam."

"Jack, would you like a knuckle sandwich? It's my specialty." Sam asked, with a raised fist.

All Jack did was shake his head no, afraid the next word out of his mouth might end him getting a bruise.

"Quit yapping, and start making a feast!" Mike yelled, pushing Sam towards the corridor. "The more time you waste, the quicker I'll die from hunger."

"Okay, no need to rush me." As he sees Bulkhead approaching, he dug his feet to the ground, preventing Miko from pushing him even further. She can try all she want, but she can't even make him budge. "Hey, Bulk! I'm gonna make lunch for the guys, do you want to join us and tell us some more of your stories?"

"No can do, Sammy. Gotta get ready for a mission."

"Mission?" That got Miko's attention.

"Oh, no! You're not going. This could be dangerous."

Miko's stomach started to growl, making her groan in dismay. "Yeah, gonna have to take a rain check. Can't go on an empty stomach."

Everyone looked at her as if she grew an extra head. This is the first time that she decides to stay behind. Guess food is more important to her than an dangerous activity.

Miko groan in frustration. "You're taking too long, Sam. I'm just gonna go raid your fridge." She didn't wait for his response, as she dashed to his room, with Raf by her tail.

"What mission are you guys going?" Jack asked, with curiosity.

"Megatron is on the move, and he believe he might try to resurrect his zombie army."

"That sounds way cool!" Sam exclaims excitingly. "I'm guessing Ratchet will be babysitting us this time."

Optimus stepped in on the conversation. "Ratchet will be accompanying us on this mission. We would require his expertise."

"Ratchet's joining the battleground, eh?" An mischievous idea has popped up in Sam's head. "And who's keeping an eye on us?"

"Arcee will be operating the GroundBridge."

"You better not give me problems like you do with Ratchet, Sam."

"Oh, don't worry, Arcee, you'll never know I'm here." He gave Arcee a wink. But what she didn't know was that there was a hidden meaning to that wink. "If you need me, I'll be at my room, or somewhere."

But he didn't went directly to his room. All he did was pretended he was walking down the hall, and then hid behind the wall, where no one can see him.

"Sam, what are you doing?"

Sam quickly grabbed Jack, and pulled him to his hiding spot. He placed a hand over his mouth, so that he wouldn't make another noise.

As soon as the bridge opens, the four Autobots transformed and drove towards their destination. Once they disappeared, Sam smirked and made a break for it.

"Sam!" Jack yelled in hush tone and ran after him. Jack was faster and grabbed Sam's arm. "What are you doing!"

"This is the first time I'll ever see Ratchet fight! Let go!"

"Are you out of your mind!? You're gonna go and put your life in danger, just to see him fight?"

"I'll be in a safe distance from the fight. I ain't dumb like Miko."

"No, but you are acting like her." Jack began pulling Sam away from the GroundBridge.

"I am not going to miss Ratchet's big moment." With a quick jab on Jack's gut, he escaped his grasp and made a quick run for it.

"Why do I always fall for the crazy ones?" He groaned in pain, chasing after Sam.

When they arrived, the two humans quietly climbed up on a nearby outcropping for a better view. Sam laid down on his stomach, to try and make himself more hidden from the other's view.

"Sam, what were you thinking!? We could get a lot of trouble."

"Relax, Jack. Just as long we're not in the way, everything will be fine. Now, get down, and enjoy the show." He grabbed Jack's sleeve and yanked him down.

"We are so gonna get in trouble for this." He mumbled, getting down on his stomach.

"Don't worry about it. All I got to do is act all cute and innocent, and Optimus will give us a pardon."

Jack scoffed in humor. "No offense, but you're not exactly cute or innocent." That earn him another jab in the gut.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Dare to repeat that?" Sam asked with a threatening glare.

"No. I said nothing." Jack whimpered in pain, clutching his stomach.

Satisfied, he turn his attention to the battle, expecting to see Megatron with his army of the undead, but the only Decepticon he saw was a pathetic-looking Starscream, getting his arm blasted off by Optimus.

"That's not Megatron." Sam stated.

"It must've been Starscream that they've been tracking. He must've gotten his hands on Dark Energon."

"What good will that do for him? That idiot has no experience in using Dark Energon. What's he up to?" Sam stroke his chin in thought. Then, he felt something crawling on the side of his stomach. Believing it was Jack playing around, he gave a light slap on his arm. "Stop touching me."

"What?"

"I know you're trying to scare me with your fingers acting like an insect crawling up on my stomach, but it's not fooling me."

"I have no idea what you are taking about. My hands have up here this whole time."

"Then, if it's not you, then what the frag is touching me?" As he raised up his shirt, he spotted a scorpion crawling up to him. With a screech, he stood up and swatted away the insect as hard as he can.

Unbeknownst to them, Sam's scream had alerted the Autobots of their presence.

"Base to Optimus. Jack and Sam are missing." Arcee reported.

"We have a visual." Optimus replied. "Sent a GroundBridge, immediately."

Suddenly, instead of one GroundBridge, two have appeared at the same time. One was sent by Arcee, the other was probably meant for Starscream. The Autobots were in a state of confusion when two bridges appeared, wondering which ones are theirs, or if the bridge next to Jack and Sam are theirs.

"You two, into our GroundBridge. Now!" Ratchet yelled.

"Come on!" Jack grabbed Sam's arm and made a run for it to the GroundBridge. Sam wanted to protest, but allowed himself to be pulled. He could hear that hint of fear in Ratchet voice as he yelled out.

With the Autobots' attention at the two, Starscream took his chance and dives into his own GroundBridge. At the same time, Jack and Sam entered in their own bridge. At that moment, the two bridges began creating a stream of green energy, which the two energy are starting to infuse together.

"Ratchet, what is happening?" Optimus asked worriedly.

"The dueling GroundBridge must be feeding back on each other."

"Sam." Bulkhead stared at the portal with fear in his optics. "We got to get the boys out of there." Bulkhead quickly rushed towards the bridge, but was knocked back, followed by a huge explosion that knocked everyone back.

On the Nemesis ship, Starscream was hurled out of the GroundBridge and slammed hard on the floor. Weakly, he got up to his knees, and realized what he was missing.

"My arm!" He yelled, looking around frantically for his missing right arm. He also noticed he wasn't alone in the GroundBridge room, finding that the operator was staring at him, silent and judging. "Not a word about this… To anyone!"

He walked out the room, clutching his injured arm. As he was in the clear, he removes chunk of Dark Energon from his chest.

As for the two boys, it seems they haven't made it safely back to base. They happened to be in the same area as they were where the GroundBridge used to be. They lied in unconscious for a bit before the two started waking up, picking themselves up.

"You okay, Sam?" Jack asked as he helped him up.

"Nothing to worry about. I'm used to this kind of stuff all the time." He replied back with a toothy grin.

Jack rolled his eyes, but smiled in humor. "Why am I not surprised?"

They hear Bulkhead groaning from behind them and saw the Autobots getting up as well.

"What just happened?" Bulkhead asked.

"I can't be certain. But if two GroundBridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could have triggered a system overload." Ratchet replied.

"The kids made it through, right?"

That question seem to have made Jack and Sam stare at each other with confused looks. Sam calls out to the Autobots, even insulting Ratchet to get his attention - which it sort of work as Ratchet looked back with that famous scowl of his, ready to retort back, only to look around and not at Sam. Ratchet shrugged and went back to talking to Optimus, suggesting to contact base if the boys made it back safe.

"Arcee, did Sam and Jack make it safely back to base?"

"Negative. You don't see them?"

"No sign." Ratchet replied.

Sam stomped angrily towards the nearest Autobot, which was Bulkhead, getting ready to screech out to him, only to be screaming in fear as Bulkhead walked pass through him. Jack quickly caught Sam as he was about to fall back from shock.

"He went right through you." Jack observed. "We're not alive."

Sam shook his head. "We're still alive. If we're dead, I would know. I have experience."

Jack kept silent about Sam's slip-up about his death. From what he gathered during the Plague incident, Sam had died before, and yet, here he is, alive and kicking. He was meaning talk to Ratchet about it, but he decide to bide his time. He'll ask about it when the time is right.

"Ratchet… Could the boys have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?" Optimus asked, as the Autobots started heading towards where Starscream was standing.

"Not likely. If Starscream didn't arrived at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. The boys may simply have been bridged to an unintended destination."

Sam hummed in thought, and then started mumbling to himself until his eyes widen. "I think I know what happened to us."

"What do you mean?"

"We're probably trap in a alternate reality; a world where we exist, but at the same time, we don't."

"I don't follow."

Sam tsk'd at Jack's slowness. "It's almost like we're ghost, stuck in a different plane or dimension. They can't see or hear us, and we can't touch them because they are on a different dimension than we are."

"Great. Now how do we return do our own dimension?"

Before Sam could answer, they spot a badly damaged, zombified Skyquake walking ever so slowly towards the Autobots that are entering their GroundBridge. The two boys starting running after it, crying out in warning. But their cries have gone unheard. As the zombie Skyquake raises his clawed hand to strike Optimus, Sam let out a very loud yell.

"OPTIMUS!"

"Sam!?" Optimus looked back, looking around to find the location of where Sam's yell came from.

"What's wrong, Optimus? Did you found Sam?" Ratchet asked.

"I… I could've swore I heard Sam calling out to me."

"You're not the only one. I thought I was going crazy when I heard Sam out of nowhere."

"What could this mean, Ratchet?"

"Well, either Sam is playing a cruel prank on us, or our bond with him has gotten even stronger to the point where we can communicate telepathically." Ratchet brushed that last one out of his head, finding the last one scientifically impossible. "Either way, we should head back to base and discuss it there."

Optimus nodded in agreement. Both Optimus and Ratchet made their way to the bridge. As Ratchet entered, Optimus looked back once again, hoping to see Sam pop out of nowhere, but he didn't. "Stay safe, Sam. We'll find you." He whispered into the wind. He turned and disappeared with the bridge.

As for the ones stuck in the parallel world, Skyquake had taken a swing at Optimus, only to have his attack slip past through him. He kept swinging and swinging, but with no success. Jack and Sam cheered that their Autobot friends are safe. But as soon as Skyquake looked at the two and started walking to them, then everything went downhill for them.

"I just realized something." Jack started, as the two walked back slowly. "If he can't touch the Autobots just like we can't, then we're trapped in this realm with a Decepticon zombie."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Captain Obvious." Sam said, sarcastically.

"Just shut up and run." Jack grabbed Sam's arm and started running away from Skyquake, leaving him in their dust.

"Ratchet, if the boys were misdirected to an unintended location, is there any way to get a fix on their coordinates?" Optimus asked.

"If they were lost, one of them would've called us by now."

"Have you tried calling them?" Bumblebee asked.

Bulkhead's eyes brighten up at the suggestion. He began calling Sam using his comm link. After a few seconds, they all heard beeping sounds coming from nearby. Bulkhead followed the sound which lead him to Ratchet's work area. Bulkhead picked up the piece and hanged up. "That's why Sam hasn't called. Wonder how it got here."

"I believe that was my fault." Ratchet raised up his hand, still keeping his eyes on the screen. "I asked Sam to remove his earpiece to look in his ear canal during his checkup. Stupid of me to ask that. Don't even know why I want to look inside his ear in the first place." Ratchet shuddered in disgust.

"Let me try Jack." Arcee suggested.

Jack and Sam have been running for a long time, and stopped after a long time to catch their breath. Mostly Jack. Sam seems to be doing alright, not even looking tired. Jack commented about Sam having lungs of steel, which made Sam chuckled. He looked behind to check and see if they lost Skyquake.

"The best thing about zombies — They're slow-moving." Sam remarked. The two jumped in surprise when they heard loud music somewhere near them. "Is that your…" Both their eyes went wide in realization.

"Phone!"

Jack quickly went through his pocket to retrieve his phone and answered it. "Hello?! Arcee?!" All he got was static signals. He tried calling to her multiple times, but still no answer. He sighed in frustration and hanged up. "Nothing." He told Sam.

"What a surprise. The fourth dimension has lousy cellphone reception." Sam said, sarcastically.

"Hold up, Sam. The phone rang. Which means we're getting a signal."

"Yeah, and all you got were static and no reply from the others."

"If we can't hear each other, how about we send them a message? They could read just fine, and there's no way the words would be scrambled or anything."

Sam opened his mouth to smart mouth him, but no words came out. He thought about what Jack said and try to come up with a way that it might not work. Nothing came to mind and he looked at Jack, amazed. "Wow, Jack. You're not dumb as I thought you were."

Jack scoffed. "Who should I text? The Autobots are not build to receive text message."

Both eyes went wide once again. "Miko!" They both shouted.

Jack flipped his phone open and started texting like mad crazy. "It's a good thing Miko decided to stay this time. Otherwise, we be stuck here forever." As he was texting, a shadow loomed over him, blocking his sunlight. "Can you move, Sam? I can't see the screen."

"Uh, that's not me." Jack looked at Sam, only to see him walking back while looking up. He followed his gaze and saw Skyquake hovering over them. "You done texting?"

"Yep." Jack nodded, putting his phone away.

"Then run."

Back at base, where Miko and Raf are located inside Sam's kitchen, rummaging through his fridge. Mostly Miko doing the rummaging, while Raf was sitting down at the table, making a sandwich for the time being. Both grew tired of waiting for Sam, so they decided to make something for themselves. Raf found his, but Miko is having trouble.

Miko gave up and sat down next to Raf, resting her chin on the table. "What's taking Sam so long? Doesn't he knows it's rude to keep a lady waiting."

"Ratchet's probably giving him another checkup or something. According to Ratchet, Sam was extremely ill and was kept in here for the week."

"I find it strange that Sam could even get sick. Sam did told us he was immune to our disease." Her stomach made a loud grumble, which made her clutch her stomach in pain. "If I don't get something to eat, then I'll be the one that'll be getting sick."

"Want some?" Raf asked, as he passed the bread and mayo to Miko.

Miko didn't have to think as she grabbed a plate and started making her own sandwich. Raf gave light laugh before going back to making his fourth sandwich. As the two remaining kids are busy making their food, they failed to noticed Miko's phone, resting on the living room table, vibrating and its screen blinking bright green.

"I'm getting that Déjà vu feeling." Sam yelled as he observed the landmark around them as they run. Jack gave a confused look. "Jack, don't you see?! We're running in one big circle!"

As the two focused on themselves, they failed to see a giant object ahead of them before it's too late. They crashed into the object and both fell down to ground, groaning in pain. Sitting up, they saw what they ran into: Starscream's lost arm.

Sam walked up to it, touching to see if it's really solid. He placed his hand on it, getting that disgusted feeling he gets whenever Starscream gets too close to him.

"It's solid." He tells Jack.

Jack looked back at the direction Skyquake is coming, hearing that growling echoing and the ground shaking as he gets near. An idea came into his head. "If it's solid, we can use it."

Meanwhile, onboard the Nemesis ship, after Starscream returned with a missing limb, he hastily made his way to Knock Out's medical lab. When arrived, Knock Out's sight automatically landed on Starscream's arm. Without being told, Starscream graciously placed himself on the medical slab.

"Uh, Starscream, I don't quite understand how this could have happened?" He asked, not quite convinced on Starscream story.

"And yet it did!" Starscream snapped. "Can you imagine my horror? There I am, minding my own business, when my arm just falls off! Clearly Megatron inflicted more damage upon me than you realize… Doctor."

"Well, on the bright side, this provides an excellent opportunity for an upgrade." KnockOut went to his monitor to scroll all sorts of model for Starscream. "You could go with the Sonic Canon. It's reliable, low-maintenance, although it lacks a certain flair. Personally, I prefer the Null Ray. It has just the right mix of flash and firepower."

"I don't want a new model! I just want the same arm I had before!"

"But, Starscream, your equipment is a bit… Uh, obsolete. I'm not sure I have one lying around. Of course, we could try to salvage yours. You kept it, didn't you?"

Starscream gave a light, nervous chuckle. "It was beyond recovery."

With their combine efforts, Jack and Sam pushes the arm to the direction Skyquake will be arriving. Jack pats the arm to find the trigger to fire the single rocket missile. "I don't see a trigger. Do you know how to fire this thing, Sam?"

Sam leaned down and examined the fingers with narrowed eyes. "I could've sworn Starscream did something with his index finger, but I'm not quite sure."

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Just then, Skyquake has caught up to the boys, but has not spotted them due to them hiding behind the hand. Sam took aim and pulled the finger that fired a missile at Skyquake and made direct impact. The boys cheered and hugged each other while jumping up and down. They froze in fear when they heard Skyquake roar. What got their attention was his right arm coming right off. To their horror, the arm came to life and starts charging at the two at high speed.

"You have got to be kidding me." Once again, they started running for their lives. Only this time, they are running from a hand. "How can the zombie arm move faster than the actual zombie?!"

At base, the Autobots have working nonstop to search for the location of the missing boys. They come up with theories about their whereabouts, but all of them made no sense. Miko arrives at the control room with a plate of sandwiches at hand, Raf right behind her with a plate as well.

"Hey, guys! I just receive a strange text message from Jack, and I'm wondering if you guys know anything." The Autobots stopped what they're doing and stared at Miko with hopeful eyes.

"Well? Spit it out already!" Ratchet yelled.

Miko scoffs at Ratchet's rudeness. She should've been used to it by now, but the way he said it sounded different, almost anxious. She gave no thought to and read the message out loud. "It says, 'In alternate dimension with zombie. Help.' Wait. Jack and Sam are in a alternate dimension with a zombie?! Not fair! Why do they get to have all the fun and not me?" She stomped her foot like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Be grateful that you stayed, Miko. Otherwise, they would have no way of contacting us." Bulkhead kneels down to give Miko a playful nudge. Miko continues to pout, but agrees with Bulkhead.

"Ratchet, can we triangulate the geographical position of the cellphone signal?" Optimus asked.

"In a parallel dimensional plane?" Ratchet paused for a bit, his eyes shone with curiosity. "Let's find out."

At Knock Out's lab, Starscream was resting peacefully, cables hooked up to his chest. He was startled awake when he felt the shard began glowing and pulsing in his hand. There can only be one reason why it now pulses, and he was more than happy that reanimating Skyquake worked. Even if it took long for the shard to pulse. He yanks off the cables and walks out. Knock Out just arrived in time with a new arm in his hands.

"Ah, look what I found in storage. What are you doing?!"

"You were right, Knock Out. I'm much too attached to my original appendage. I will retrieve it." In reality, he's going out to retrieve his zombie warrior, much less his arm. But if he happens to retrieve his arm, it's an added bonus.

After a long time of running, Jack and Sam found themselves back at Starscream's arm. The two collapse from exhaustion and Sam grunted. "Honestly, is this the kind of dimensional plane where we are trapped here, running around in a giant circle forever?"

"Skyquake," Jack and Sam quickly hid behind the hand, seeing Starscream approaching straight ahead, "your master summons you!"

"Great. Now we're stuck here with Starscream as well!" Sam shouted.

"We're not. He can't see us." Jack stated.

Sam looked back to see the arm coming to view and quickly patted Jack's shoulder. "If that's the case, let's ignore him and run… some more." He said the last part tiredly. Even though he doesn't need to stop for breath, his legs can get very tired.

Knowing that Starscream is in the real world, they were safe to run pass through him. They came to an abrupt stop when a GroundBridge opened in front of them.

"That has to be our way out."

"Miko saw your text." Sam cheered. He realized the predicament they're in now. "But if we go through, we run into Starscream. If we don't…" Both looked back, seeing the hand approaching.

"We're zombie chow." Jack finishes.

"Option three — We keep running in circles."

"Follow my lead." Jack stopped at front at the portal and got in a ready position. Jack waited for the right time when that arm gets closer. "Now!" He yells. Jack and Sam dived into the bridge and at long last, they've return to their original plane. They weren't safe yet, they got to continue running from both Starscream and the zombie arm.

Starscream was startled by the two humans running past him, but then Skyquake's arm follows them through the portal and grabs Starscream's head. "This isn't mine!" He screeched in terror. "Unhand me!"

Another GroundBridge opened up, and to the boys' relief, it was Optimus, Arcee and Bulkhead. Jack went to Arcee and Sam went to Optimus.

"Autobots again!?" Starscream was able to pry the hand off of him and threw it. But the thing hasn't given up and charges at Starscream. "Requesting emergency GroundBridge now!"

The sun sets at the Autobot base, where Jack and Sam have just finished telling their story about what happened in the alternate dimension, which Sam calls it a 'Shadowzone'. After that, they are being stared down by the Autobots, knowing they were about to be scolded by Optimus.

Sam knew this was mostly his fault for following after them, just to see Ratchet fight for the first time, which Ratchet secretly took pride in that, being the center of his attention. To avoid Jack getting the heat as well, he took a step forward. "Look, if you're gonna blame anybody, blame me."

"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that… a couple dozen times?" Jack teases. Sam took it seriously and stomped on Jack's foot very hard.

Optimus kneels down and place his hand near Sam to invite him on. Sam gladly accepted the invited and sat on it. "Sam, what you have endured has been lesson enough. We're just glad you're safe."

Sam felt such loving warmth from those words and he jumps on Optimus shoulder and took his seat there. "Thanks, big guy."

Jack pouted when Optimus didn't include him on being safe. "Ain't no one gonna say that they're glad that I'm safe?"

"I'm glad that you're safe, Jack."

Jack smiled down at Raf and gave his hair a playful ruffle. "Thanks, bud."

"Guess it was a good thing you stayed, Miko. Too bad you missed your chance on getting any pictures, though."

Miko smiled at Bulkhead. "Nah, that's okay. Saving their butts is good enough for me."

Once again, Starscream rests on the slab, while Knock Out works on fixing his missing right arm. "What happened? Megatron pound you like scrap metal again?" He mocks at Starscream.

"I would rather not discuss it." He snaps back. The memory of being attacked by a arm will forever taunt his life.

"Honestly, Starscream, you need to take better care of yourself. Didn't you retrieve your limb?" Starscream replies with an annoyed snarl.

Back in the Shadowzone, Skyquake briefly tries Starscream's arm on for size before tossing it away.