Note: References to my Fanfics 'A Dangerous Captive' and 'Cherished' appear in this chapter, go to my page if you haven't rea them.

Chapter One-Hundred and Nineteen

Feeling the Energy

Donatello snored on the sofa softly, after he had witnessed Ratchet injecting the machine with the green energon then the beacon had sounded to which the other Autobots had responded to it, he had decided to sit on the sofa for a moment, but it hadn't been long before he had found himself drifting off and he fell asleep.

But his snoozing didn't last as he awoke with a start to hear the sound of glass breaking and a crash and he looked up onto to find himself in what he thought was an empty silo.

"Ratchet?" he asked looking around and wondering if the Medic had left the room letting him sleep, that was until he came to the side of the platform and saw the medic laying on the floor in a dead faint!

"Ratchet!" he cried concerned and ran down the steps to the ground floor and over to the unconscious medic.

He shouted a few times, but Ratchet didn't respond, so Donatello took out his bo staff and poked him a few times.

But when that didn't work, he used his staff to vault up onto the medic's chest and he looked at his face.

"Ratchet!" he shouted again tapping his face with his bo staff "Ratchet! Wake up!"

Donatello tapped Ratchet's face again and shouted, and it was then Ratchet slowly opened his optics and the brainy turtle noticed that his optics were green instead of icy blue.

"Ugggh!" he groaned "How is it that small beings can be so loud?" he questioned sitting up.

"Are you hurt?" Donatello asked concerned looking up at the medic as he picked himself up "I found you on the floor, you fell!"

"I'm fine." Ratchet reassured the turtle "I'm..." he paused as he looked at his servos and rolled his shoulders, feeling like he had extra energy and that he had awoken from a good sleep rather than a faint.

"I feel, more than fine." he commented then he looked at his wrist which showed his energon levels and he saw the lines had gotten higher.

"Energy efficiency is up 30 per cent?" he exclaimed "Motor functions optimal?"

He chuckled excitedly then he remembered where he had sent Optimus and the other Autobots through the Ground Bridge.

"Any word from the others?" he asked.

Donatello shook his head.

Meanwhile in the caverns in the Nevada desert, the Autobots were driving through them, the moonlight and their headlights providing them with assistance to chase two Decepticon vehicles as they carried some cubes of energon.

As usual it was Breakdown and Knock Out who had been sent to find it.

"Ugggh!" Breakdown growled as he put metal to pedal.

"Knock Out, can't we just bridge out of here? This cubes putting some serious drag on me!"

Knock Out's Pristine red car form drove in front of him.

"The more we give the Autobots a workout, the more fuel they burn, and we win the energon race!"

He drove a little faster then he heard the sound of jets above him.

"Besides," he added "Here comes air support!"

Right on cue, some Decepticon Jets appeared behind the Autobots and started shooting at them!

Ironhide grunted as one struck the ground near where he was.

"Dang it!" he shouted "Why do they always sneak up on us like darn cowards?"

Bumblebee bleeped at him and kept driving to avoid the blasts then he squeaked as he saw them shoot missiles at the cliff sides making several rocks fall!

Arcee meanwhile sped on ahead trying to catch up with Breakdown and Knock Out, being the smallest and the most speedy she was able to avoid the falling rocks whilst the other Autobots where forced to brake and transform into the bipedal forms before they crashed into the rubble.

Concerned that his solo female comrade had gone after the enemy and the jets who had ambushed them were now following her, Optimus commed her.

"Arcee! Fall back!" he ordered "You're outnumbered!"

But Arcee didn't stop driving after Breakdown and Knock Out.

"We're always outnumbered!" she snapped "We need that energon!"

"Is she crazy!?" Ironhide shouted "She can't take on those two idiots as well as those flying drones! And as the Doc Bot said! if we're injured..."

Optimus frowned as he looked at Ironhide and nodded before comming Ratchet back at the silo.

"Ratchet! Lock onto Arcee's co-oridinates and prepare and emergency ground bridge!"

Back at the silo, Ratchet had picked up Optimus's call and had patched himself in to respond.

"I'm locked on!" he replied "Arcee! decelerate and prepare to return to base!"

"Save it Ratchet!" Arcee's voice was heard "I'm too close!"

"Don't be a fool!" Ratchet barked yet he heard no reply as the communication was cut off.

Donatello had been listening in and he looked up at the medic with worry.

"What's going on Ratchet?" he asked.

Ratchet frowned.

"If Arcee goes in there without help, she could be terminated." he said then he looked at his servos "I have to help her!"

Donatello went pale.

"Wait!" he said "You're not seriously thinking..."

"I have to Donatello!" Ratchet said then he looked at the brainy turtle seriously.

"Can I ask you to mind the ground bridge?" he asked.

"Sure!" Donatello said "You can count on me!"

"Thank you." Ratchet smiled then looked to the Ground Bridge tunnel as it roared to life.

Meanwhile, Arcee had driven towards Breakdown and Knock Out determined to get the energon they were carrying.

Behind her, the Decepticon jets followed and seeing how she was alone, they were ready to ambush.

They fired their missiles upon the motorcycle, and Arcee swerved around to avoid them, yet she wasn't so lucky as one hit the ground near her and she was thrown into the air and she transformed into her bipedal form to avoid getting damaged yet she landed hard on the ground.

Shaking off stars the femme looked up to see many Decepticon drones transform into their Cybertronian forms and hold up her arm cannons to finish her off.

Arcee covered her eyes and was ready to accept her fate when a light was seen above and she looked up to see a green swirling vortex then a red and white figure appeared and jumped out of the vortex then started to attack the Decepticon soldiers that surrounded her!

Arcee blinked as she watched and saw it was Ratchet and as he landed before her he took on all the soldiers and slashed with his blades and bashed at at them.

Arcee was amazed as well as relieved and she was even more shocked as she saw the medic jump around and strike the Decepticons, even lifting them over his head and throwing them like basketballs.

Meanwhile Breakdown and Knock Out saw what had happened.

"Looks like the Autobots brought in a ringer!" Knock Out commented.

"Well then I'll ring his belt!" Breakdown grinned, but he and Knock Out moved back slightly as some shots from Ratchet's blasters landed near them and they also saw the other Autobots appear from over the rocks that had originally trapped them.

"It'll have to wait!" Knock Out said and he and Break Down instantly turned tail and drove off.

Arcee saw them drive off then looked back at Ratchet who was still making scrap heaps out of the Decepticons and before long he had taken the last few down and they all lay in a heap of broken scrap metal on the ground.

Bumblebee went over to help Arcee up and he too along with the others stared at Ratchet who stood with his foot proudly atop the pile of fallen Decepticons.

Just then, they saw one more sneaking up on him, but before anyone could even warn Ratchet, the Medic brought his fist up and punched the soldier who fell backwards onto the ground.

"Hoo-ah!" Ratchet declared.

Ironhide blinked.

"Are my optics decieving me?" he asked.

"No..." Optimus said then commed the base to open a ground bridge, feeling rather surprised to hear Donatello's voice on the other side.

Five minutes later, the Autobots made it back to the base after Donatello opened up the ground bridge.

As they walked through, the brainy turtle went to the raised platform rails.

"What happened out there?" he asked.

"I only saw the glory aftermath." Bulkhead reported "But I hear the Doc was a one-bot wrecking machine!"

"I say he was!" Ironhide said "Couldn't believe my optics!"

Donatello was surprised, and yet even more shocked as Ratchet scooped him into his palm and bounced him.

"Hey little fella!" he chuckled then placed him back on the raised platform leaving the turtle rather confused.

Arcee smirked.

"Okay, what's your secret?" she asked.

"No secret." Ratchet replied as he walked over to the side and pulled out on of the jars of green energon.

"Just a little something I like to call, Synthin!" he tossed it to Arcee who caught it and she and the other Autobots looked at it curiously.

"From the Data Bulkhead transcribed?" Arcee asked.

"Wait a darn moment." Ironhide said as he took the jar "I thought the formula was..."

"Incomplete?" Ratchet asked "Not anymore!" he said proudly.

Bumblebee bleeped curiously as he looked at the green energon and Bulkhead also analysed it.

"Ratchet makes a better tough guy than I do a smart guy?" he asked.

Optimus then took the jar and looked hard at it.

"Ratchet, I question the wisdom of using yourself as a test subject."

When Optimus said that, Donatello who had been listening had a funny feeling as he began to remember a couple of things from his past, but Arcee spoke up, distracting him for a second.

"Optimus!" the femme said in an insistent tone "You didn't see Ratchet out there! he was in overdrive! We should all try this stuff!"

"Or give Ratchet more so we can take a vacation!" Bulkhead chimed in.

"I agree that the initial results seem promising." Optimus said walking over to Ratchet.

"But I recommend that further testing be confined to machines, not Autobots." he added with slight sternness in his voice "Outnumbered though we may be old friend, we need a warrior in laboratory right now, more than we need another in the field."

Ratchet looked a little crestfallen and Donatello thought hard again as he looked at the green energon.

He then thought back almost twenty years when Tyroth had been experimented on by the Foot and they had tried to use his DNA like they had done to Monalisa.

That incident had been the birth of how he had gained his ability to go berserker, but also, they had used the serums Dr Arden had created from what he had stolen from Tyroth to use against him.

It hadn't given them his magic, but rather it had made them stronger and have the ability to heal faster, as Michelangelo called it 'A power up' like in the Mario video games.

But then there was the other incident that took place after Pandora was born, where after he had been tortured and abused by Dr Arden, he had been using the serums he had stolen from the evil doctor on himself whilst trying to study them as well as find antidotes and it had almost killed him.

Even though it had been years, it still niggled at him the latter incident.

Looking at Ratchet, who still looked crestfallen, he also saw a glint in his optics which worried the turtle.

"I better keep an eye on him." he thought.

So Ratchet's used the synthetic energon and has shown what a beast he can be on the battlefield.

But Optimus isn't too keen on the idea of the new energon being used and he's got every right to be concerned.

Donatello meanwhile has had a few memories come back to him after observing Ratchet, and he too feels as concerned as Optimus.