Chapter Seventy-Nine

Trapped

"Uggghh." Pandora opened her eyes and shook her head.

After she, Kemeko and the Geckolings had run into the Ground-Bridge Vortex, they had been blown forward by some shock-wave and after flipping a few times they landed on the ground dazed.

"What the fuck just happened?" she asked then looked around for her cousins and to her relief she saw them next to her and recovering.

"Guys!" she cried "You okay?"

"I think so." Kemeko said pushing her hair out of her face.

"Did we make it back to the base?" Freya asked as she looked around and to her shock she saw they were still in the canyons and the Autobots and the Chicago Knights were standing near them.

"Uh oh." She muttered.

"What is it sis?" Loki asked.

Pandora and Kemeko also looked over as the dust cleared and they too saw the Autobots and the Knights talking over what had happened after they had gathered themselves.

"I can't be certain." Ratchet said, "But if two ground-bridges sent to the same co-ordinates cross streams the feedback could have triggered a system overload!"

"No shit sherlock!" Pandora shouted up at Ratchet yet the Medic didn't respond to her.

"The kids made it through, right?" Bulkhead asked which made the kids look up at the wrecker shocked.

"What did he say?" Loki asked.

"Hey! We're down here!" Kemeko shouted waving her arms.

"Mum? Dad!" Freya shouted, "We're over here!"

But the Chicago Knights and the Autobots again didn't seem to acknowledge their presence as they continued to talk and Optimus commed Arcee at the base to ask if the children had made it through to which she responded 'Negative.'

"Guys!" Pandora shouted "We're here! Can't you see us?"

Freya looked at Loki and the twins exchanged looks before flying up towards the autobots and at the same time, they both unleased a breath of fire.

Yet again, the flames didn't catch the attention of the Autobots and the Chicago Knights as they continued to talk about the fact they couldn't see, or in Devina's case, sense, or Jack's smell them.

Pandora growled and ran up towards Bulkhead to shout up at him, yet as she did, the wrecker stepped towards her and his foot landed on top of her!

Pandora screamed! As did Kemeko as did the twins, yet Bulkhead's foot went through the Hybrid as if she was made of air and she stumbled back in shock into Kemeko's arms.

"Holy shit!" the hybrid shrieked.

"No way! He went right through you!" Kemeko cried.

"Did you see that Loki?" Freya asked.

"Of course I did sis!" Loki retorted they then flew down to their cousins.

"Why the hell did that happen?" Freya asked.

"We...We must not be alive!" Pandora exclaimed in fear "Were we killed in that shock-wave?"

"What?!" Kemeko cried in horror "I don't want to be a ghost!"

Pandora turned to her cousin to reply but then she realised that she could feel the Asian girls hands on her.

"Hold on!" she said, "How can I still feel you?"

Freya and Loki blinked then they touched each other's heads and shoulders.

"Yeah! We can touch each other!" they confirmed.

"Huh?" Kemeko cried then stamped her foot "And I can still feel the ground beneath me!"

"Ditto!" Pandora said.

"And us!" the twins said together.

The kids were confused then she looked to the Autobots who were walking away from the area with the Chicago Knights.

Tyroth was flying next to Optimus demanding explanations of where the kids were whilst Kate and Amber were trying to console a very worried Sephie.

"Ratchet." Optimus spoke to the medic who was deep in thought "Could Pandora, Freya, Kemeko and Loki have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?"

"The Nemesis!?" Tyroth exclaimed "The Decepticon Warship?"

"Not likely." Ratchet said "If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, the most likely explaination is a dislocation."

"A what!?" Tyroth asked "Speak sense Ratchet!" he growled.

Ratchet glowered at the dragon yet kept talking.

"The children may simply have been bridged to an unintended destination!"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tyroth demanded "You saying our kids are like...somewhere we can't reach them!?"

He then thought of when he, Sephie and the Hamato Clan ended up in Skyrim those years ago, yet that was via a magical necklace, not via a freak science effect.

At the same time, Sephie went pale but Kate and Amber held her close and steady.

Behind them, the kids listened in, and Loki started to ponder as he heard Ratchet,

"Another place, but in the same place?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Kemeko questioned as she looked at the Geckoling.

"We're proberbly in a different dimension." Loki answered.

Pandora narrowed her eyes and looked around at the area around them.

"I don't know about you guys, but even though we seem to be in the same place as the Autobots and the Knights, this doesn't seem like the same place, it appears a little darker and ghostly, almost like the Silent Hill game."

Freya looked around and she clicked her fingers as she remembered the game they often played as well as the movie.

"Hey! You're right!" she said, "The sky looks more grey and almost dead."

"A different dimension, like some kind of alternate reality." Loki continued "A Shadow zone!"

"Wow..." Pandora said then she looked to the Autobots who had walked over to a large crater in the ground near to where Starscream had been standing merely a few minutes earlier.

"Look!" Optimus pointed out "Skyquake's Tomb is empty."

"Uh oh!" Percy muttered.

"How did we miss Skyquake rising and shining?" Bulkhead asked.

"Darned if I know!" Ironhide quipped.

"Whose this Skyquake?" Sarah asked yet the Autobots didn't answer.

"It would seem Starscream got what he came for." Ratchet said as he looked at the tomb.

"A warrior he was trying to rise from the dead?" Tyroth asked "But if he's not here? Where is he?"

The other Knights agreed as they looked around, Jack sniffed the air and Devina looked around with her life detection vision, yet they couldn't sense nor smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Another matter for another time." Optimus spoke up "Right now, our priority is locating Pandora, Kemeko, Freya and Loki."

Sonia looked up at the Prime, her skin blue with fear.

"We will find them, won't we?" she asked worried for her younger cousins and charges.

"Don't worry lass." Ironhide gave a warm smile at the Chameleon, "We will! I'm sure they're just fine!"

Optimus gave a smile proud smile at the veteran trying to keep Sonia's spirits up, as he was very worried about the four children.

"Arcee." He placed a digit on his audio "Bridge us back to base."

Meanwhile, as the kids watched the ground bridge open, and wondered how the Autobots were going to find a way to locate them, a growl was heard, almost like that of a T-Rex and they saw a shadow fall over them.

They stopped in their tracks to see a giant black robot shuffling above them and towards the Autobots and the Chicago Knights, and the kids could only guess that this was the Skyquake Optimus mentioned that Starscream was trying to bring to life!

At once the kids started to run or in the Geckolings case fly towards the Autobots to warn them despite the fact they couldn't be heard.

"Zombie!" Pandora screamed.

"Guys! Look out!" Kemeko shouted.

"Mum! Dad!" Loki yelled.

"It's behind you!" Freya warned.

Yet again their shouts couldn't be heard and they watched helplessly as the zombie Skyquake slashed his arm at Bulkhead, yet to their relief, his arm went straight through him.

"Awesome!" Pandora cheered "He can't touch them!"

"I wouldn't be so glad about that Pandora!" Freya said in a worried voice.

"Yeah..." Kemeko said "Think about it! If he can't touch them, like we can't..."

"Then we're stuck in the Shadow-Zone with a Decepticon Zombie!" Loki concluded going pale with fear.

As the Geckoling spoke, the Zombie Skyquake turned to face them, and the four kids felt their stomach's lurch.

"Oh crud..." Pandora muttered.

"By Odin..." Freya yelped.

"If we aren't ghosts now..." Loki squeaked.

"We will be soon!" Kemeko cried "RUN!"

She grabbed Pandora's hand and turned to run away from the Zombie Skyquake who started to shuffle after them.

Freya and Loki at the same time looked at each other and opened their wings before flying behind the human girl and hybrid and grabbing them with their hands under their armpits!

Both Pandora and Kemeko cried out in shock but then realised that the Geckolings were giving them a lift with their wings!

Freya had caught Pandora whilst Loki carried Kemeko.

"Thanks guys!" Pandora looked at Freya who winked.

"Always got your backs!" Loki chimed in.

The Geckolings flew a couple of hundred feet ahead and they came to a stop behind a set of rocks to catch their breaths.

Pandora looked out from behind to see Skyquake was still a long way behind them.

"Good thing he's slow moving!" she said.

"So, what do we do now?" Kemeko asked.

"I don't know Kem." Pandora said.

"Well, we can't run forever!" Freya said, "Nor fly forever!"

"Nor set a trap!" Loki added "There's nothing solid except us and the ground!"

Pandora glowered.

"I suppose our only hope is that Ratchet can work out a plan to find us and get us home!" she said.

"You think he can do that?" Freya asked clutching at straws.

"He's the smartest of the Autobots!" Kemeko reasoned "He'll find a way!"

"By Odin I hope he does!" Loki said then he heard the same roar from the Zombie Skyquake a few feet away

"Or we're dead meat!"

The kids are trapped in the Shadow-Zone! And the newly awakened Zombie Skyquake is in the same demension as them! Not good!