Hey everyone! I'm back with chapter 28! I am sooo sorry for the long wait. I've been dealing with some personal issues and had to take a step back from my stories. Doing better now and am ready to keep going. For those of you reading my TFA: Different Angle, I have been working on the next chapter and almost have it finished. I can't say for sure when I will update it, but hopefully soon. Still have to fill in a spot and then read it through to make sure there are no errors.
Not a lot happening in this chapter sadly, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.
Transformers Prime: The Medic's Assistant
Chapter 28: One Shall Rise (part 1)
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime
Soon as Ratchet activated the Groundbridge, him, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Stormracer rushed through. Bulkhead was the first one there as he leaped out of the portal and tackled Megatron away from Optimus. Soon as the two femmes made it out, they stared up in shock at the volcano as dark energon erupted from it.
"Quickly, we must pull him through!" Ratchet said to them. Helping up their weakened leader, the group got him to the portal. Stormracer looked over at Bulkhead, still fighting Megatron.
"Bulkhead!" she shouted, gaining his attention, "come on!"
"Move it!" Arcee shouted at him.
Bulkhead transformed and sped off with Megatron right behind him. His sword ready, the warlord prepared to offline the green autobot as Bulkhead transformed and hopped into the portal before it closed, saving him from being sliced in half. Soon as they were home free, Ratchet and Bulkhead helped Optimus into the base.
"Easy, Optimus," Ratchet said, "by the look of things, you've been exposed to a massive amount of dark energon."
Optimus looked over at Rafael sitting on the gurney with June by his side. "I am not the only one," the Prime said.
Ratchet and Bulkhead set Optimus down right next to the young boy and nurse. Looking down at Raf, Optimus gave him a smile.
"Hey," Raf said to him.
June however glared at the autobot leader. "He's lucky to be alive," she said angrily, making the Prime's smile disappear.
Jack and the others made their way over to the group. "Megatron found more of the dark stuff?" the boy asked.
"Erupting right out of a volcano," Stormracer said.
"The question is 'how?" Bulkhead said.
"No," Ratchet said, "the question is 'what.' As in 'what in the world is the blood of Unicron doing here on Earth?"
"The cons killed a unicorn?" Miko asked.
The bots looked at her questionably.
"White horse with a horn on it's head?" she explained, "prances around all sparkly?"
"Unicron," Ratchet corrected, "an ancient evil whose fossilized blood comprises the matter which we call dark energon... as legend would have it."
"So you're saying this Unicron is some kind of boogeyman?" June asked.
"Boogeyman?" Ratchet asked questionably.
"Make believe creepy guy who hides in your closet," Miko explained.
The medic looked back at the nurse. "No, Nurse Darby. Unicron is very real... was... that is... 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," June said before pushing Raf's gurney towards her vehicle, "Jack please, help me get Raf into the car."
"Where are you taking him?" Bumblebee bleeped.
"I thought he was doing better," Jack said.
"Raf needs to be examined by real doctors and his family needs to know what's happened," June said, "his real family."
"Mom, Raf's family can't protect him," Jack said, "not like they can."
"June," Optimus said as he got up, struggling to walk, "it deeply grieves me that I have failed, but I will do everything in my power to insure that no harm comes to our human friends or any human ever again."
"Optimus, they're children," she said, "they do not belong in your world. They should be worrying about grades, prom dates, pimples. Not their own survival."
"This isn't just about us," Sierra argued, "especially now that dark energon is spewing out of the ground."
"Sierra's right, mom," Jack said, "this is about everyone on Earth."
"You're coming with me," June said sternly, "all four of you." She looked back at Optimus. "And they will not be coming back."
"I understand," Optimus said.
"That's it?" Miko said angrily, looking up at the Prime, "after all we've been through together? See ya?! What about our freedom to choose?"
"That may fly on their planet, but not here," June said after putting Raf in the car. She looked at the remaining three. "Get in," she ordered.
"Do you really expect us to ride in a non transforming vehicle?" Miko asked.
"Miko, I'm serious," the woman said sternly.
"You're not my mother."
"Miko-," Bulkhead went to say.
"You're not my mother either," she told her guardian, making him go quiet.
June looked at the redhead. "Sierra?"
Sierra shook her head. "I'm not leaving." She walked over to Stormracer and stood by her side.
Stormracer looked down at her best friend. "Sierra-"
"Don't even, Storm," the redhead said as she folded her arms, "I'm staying and that's final."
June frowned at her before looking over at her son. "Well I'm your mother. Let's go, Jack."
Jack didn't move as he looked up at his guardian.
"She is your mom," Arcee told him.
He looked back at his mom. "...I'm staying," he told her, "I'm... I'm sorry."
Upset by this, June angrily walked to the car and shut the door. Raf looked at the others sadly from inside, not wanting to leave.
"Ratchet, activate the groundbridge," Optimus said.
"No thank you," the woman said snidely. Starting up her car, she drove down the corridor towards the exit. Raf looked through the back window as they drove away, seeing his guardian sadly watching him leave.
Bumblebee let out a sad bleep as the car disappeared down the corridor.
Sierra walked over to Jack. "You okay?" she asked him.
He sighed. "Yeah. Though I'm going to be in a lot of trouble when I get home."
"Prime!" Agent Fowler's voice said from the computer, "do you copy?"
"I hear you, Agent Fowler," Optimus replied as everyone made their way over.
"Been watching the news?" the liaison asked, "Mother Natures got a twitch in her britches."
"We know about the volcano," the Prime said.
"And the quakes? Seven major tremblers of the exact same magnitude at the exact same time of the volcanic eruption all over the globe on different tectonic plates, in theory, unrelated, if they hadn't happened-"
"At the exact same time," Ratchet finished.
"Crazy coincidence?" Sierra asked hopefully.
"Crazy, yes," Stormracer said, "coincidence, I don't think so."
"Check it out," Miko said, pointing at the tv, "more good news."
"Freak storms unlike any the region has seen," the news reporter said, "tsunamis threatening the Canadian coast while lightning storms pummel the Gobi Desert. Meanwhile, electromagnetic anomalies plague urban power grids. These abnormal global phenomena are leaving most to wonder why now and what next."
"Don't tell me your cons have built a weather machine," Fowler said.
"One that powerful?" Ratchet said, "highly unlikely."
"I do not believe the appearance of dark energon at this point in time to be coincidental," Optimus said.
Stormracer looked at him. "Could all this have something to do with the proph-"
"Optimus," Ratchet interrupted as he typed away at the computer, "There's a severe wind storm rapidly coming to this area." He pulled up footage, showing the powerful storm outside. It wasn't long for them to spot a tornado making its way to the road.
Jack's eyes fearfully widened. "Mom and Raf are out there!"
Bumblebee didn't waste any time as he transformed and drove off to bring them back. Everyone quietly waited, hoping he will reach them in time. After a long while, the scout contacted the base. "I got them. They're safe. We're heading back now."
Sighs of relief filled the room. Soon Bumblebee drove in and let the young boy and woman out before transforming back into bot mode.
Raf looked up at everyone. "We're back."
"And we are glad," Ratchet said.
Jack ran over to his mom. "Are you alright?"
"I will be," she said, "Jack..."
"Mom..." he went to say.
"I know, me too." The two gave each other a hug before June added. "But you're grounded till you're thirty... twenty five."
Hearing the news man on the tv talking, they brought their attention to the screen. "World leaders are classifying these bizarre weather patterns as a global emergency."
"Global?" June asked.
"And scientist believe this to be somehow related to the current planetary alignment."
"What have you learned Prime?" Agent Fowler said, stepping out of the elevator and into the hangar, "and you better not blow smoke up my-" He stopped soon as he saw June standing there. "Oh, Ms. Darby," he said with a smile, "what a nice surprise."
"Special Agent Fowler," the nurse said.
"We have learned this," Ratchet said to Fowler, "as with the so called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated from far below the Earth's crust. From the very center of the Earth's core."
"Quakes don't start there," Fowler said before looking at the others questionably, "do they?"
"Tiny tremors forming in a constant pattern," the medic continued, "almost like..." his optics widened, "by the AllSpark."
"What is it?" Stormracer asked.
Ratchet started typing. "If I convert these data points to audio files..."
"What? What is it?" Fowler asked.
"Listen."
Everyone went quiet as they listened. They soon heard the sound pattern on the screen. It didn't take long for them to realize what it was.
"A cybertronian heart beat?" Jack said.
"How is that possible?" June asked, "a heart pumps blood. There's nothing inside the Earth to pump except-"
"The blood of Unicron," Raf finished in shock.
The room went quiet once again.
"Then... that means..." Stormracer went to say.
"There's something living down there inside our planet?!" Miko finished.
"I fear that the Earth's very core is not comprised of magma as your science has suggested, but of dark energon," Optimus said.
"Then if we're hearing a spark, then Unicron is the unforeseen darkness that the prophecy foretold," Ratchet said.
"So how do we stop this thing from rising?" Fowler asked.
"That I'm afraid was not foretold," Optimus told him.
"How can something be alive in our Earth's core?" June asked.
"Such a thing was not unprecedented," Optimus said, "before the beginning, there was Primus, and there was Unicron. One the incarnation of creation, and the other of destruction. For eons, Primus and Unicron battled. The balance of power shifted between them more times than could be counted. Only by creating the thirteen, the original Primes who proceeded me, was Primus finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out. Primus became one with the core of our planet, creating life through the well of the AllSpark. While Unicron was never to be heard from again. Until now."
"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," Fowler suggested.
"Agent Fowler, I do not believe that Earth became Unicron's home," Optimus said to him, "but rather, with time and gravitational force, debris collected around the slumbering titan."
"Forming your Earth itself," Ratchet said.
"A world forged from Chaos," Stormracer said, now knowing what the prophecy meant, "and the magnetic pull created by the planetary alignment is what's making him wake up."
"Okay, what happens now when Unicron wakes up from his billion year nap?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Miko said, "does he stretch and KABOOM, Earth turns to dust?"
Optimus was silent.
"You don't know, do you?" June asked him.
"My guess is that Unicron has transcended physical form as we know it. None the less, we must find a way to be sure that this force of nature never truly awakens. The fate of your planet depends on it."
(Time skip)
Everyone watched the computer screen as Optimus scouted one of the locations the quakes had struck. After a while, the Prime spoke through the commlink unit.
"Ratchet, this epicenter is consistent with the findings of the others. It's terrain is rich in ore."
"What does that mean?" Sierra asked.
"It follows that the natural metals in your Earth would be extensions of Unicron," Ratchet said, "his limbs if you will."
"So, he did have his morning stretch," June said, "which is why these quakes happened."
The computer then started beeping. "Optimus, I'm detecting a swell in Unicron's spark activity," Ratchet reported.
"Rest assured, Ratchet," Optimus said, "I will proceed with vigilance." The call then cut out.
They waited for the Prime to call back. After a while, they grew concerned.
"Shouldn't he have called back by now?" Bulkhead asked.
"We should check to make sure everything's okay," Arcee said.
Agreeing, Ratchet contacted the Prime. "Optimus, have you uncovered signs of Unicron's emergence?"
They then heard a multitude of the same voice speaking in unison. "Unicron is powerful, and you, the last of the Primes, shall perish."
"...I think that's a yes," Stormracer said.
And that was chapter 28! I know, a little bit of the last part is suppose to be the start of the next episode, but I felt like it was a good way to end this chapter lol. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Next chapter is part 2 of One Shall Rise, meaning Megatron will be showing up. Oh boy. Hopefully I will update again soon. Until next time! God bless!