It is a beautiful, starry night sky with a full moon for the Nemesis, but not for a certain someone that's currently in the medical bay. We see Starscream laying on the berth, gasping in pain due to his injuries. He's very badly scratched and scraped due to Megatron's severe punishment. Footsteps can be heard and Starscream's eyes shot open in fear to see Megatron standing right in front of him, Megatron's face reflecting off of Starscream's optics. Megatron: "Resting comfortably, Starscream? Despite the extent of your injuries, my medical staff assures me that you shall make a rapid recovery." Starscream: "Hopefully every bit as rapid as your wrath is swift." he says before coughing 'cause it was rough for him to talk. Megatron laughs at Starscream's pain before speaking again. "And how swiftly things change. To think that but a short time ago, it was you who was standing here while I was lying there, right after your failed attempt to terminate me. But know this, dear Starscream, our positions shall never again be reversed." he said before leaving the lab

Feeling humiliated and disgusted, Starscream unplugged the life-support cables from himself and limped out the room. Knockout was there near the door and was surprised at Starscream's actions. Knockout: "Starscream, h-have you lost your senses?! You haven't fully recuperated." Starscream: "I feel fine, Knockout! n better. You're a brilliant physician. Now get out of my way!" he said shoving him and made his way to a certain part of the ship while holding his chest. Starscream: "Ah, dark energon may have replenished your strength, master. But how could you forget that you never reclaimed your original shard." he said reaching into a small space where the dark energon that he plucked from Megatron's chest was. "Once the blood of Unicron flows through my veins, our positions shall be reversed.

Back at the Autobot base, the scanners alerted Ratchet to something he never wanted to see again. Ratchet: "I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic, but though faint, this is clearly a dark energon signature, and it's moving fast." Optimus: "Megatron." Elita: "I thought that big chunk he threw in the space bridge was all he had." Bulkhead: "And what's he gonna do with it, create a new army of the undead?" Miko: "[excitedly] Zombiecons?" Optimus: "We cannot rule out the possibility, especially since Megatron seems to be heading toward a familiar site." What the team will soon find out is that it wasn't Megatron at all, but Starscream. The site he's heading to is where Optimus, Elita, and Bumblebee fought Skyquake and Blitzwing. Once he gets to the location, he lands right in front of Blitzwing's final resting place.

Starscream: "The gravesite of fellow seeker Blitzwing. Too bad you were the one to perish and not Skyquake. He would've made a better reanimated warrior than you, especially since he never accepted me as his new master, but it's better than nothing." he said breaking the dark energon shard in half and threw one piece in the tomb while shoving the other one in his chest. "Ahh! Yes. Power of dark energon be mine!" he said being engulfed with a toxic purple flames. "[growls] Symbiosis! [laughs evilly] I can feel it!" he yelled as the power spread through the ground. He better hope that his new undead warrior rise up from his grave soon, 'cause the Autobots will be on their way.

Optimus: "Megatron as barely emerged from stasis, and it seems he's already making up for lost time. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee, Ratchet, prepare to roll out." Ratchet: "Me? "If we are dealing with dark energon, I may well require your expertise. Elita?" Elita: "Bridge operator. Got it." Bulkhead: "Can't we just have Nakala bridge us there? It'll save us the energon." Elita: "[sad tone] He's not in the mood to do anything right now. Especially since he and his creations are taking a nap." she says looking over to see Nakala sleeping on the extra couch, Wingblade sleeping while perched on the top part of the couch, and Silverfang sleeping off but next to the couch. Miko: "Go get 'em, Bulkhead. Bring the hurt." she said with Bulkhead pounding his fists together in response. Jack and Raf look at Miko suspiciously while she's busy drawing and coloring a picture of Optimus. Jack: "That's not like Miko to not want to go." Raf: "She's definitely up to something."

Elita activates the ground bridge and the others transform and drive on in. As soon as they did, Miko saw her chance and quickly got up to chase after them. Jack: "Making a break!" he said to Raf as the two chased after her to try and stop her. Nakala woke up to the commotion and sees what was going on through his tired eyes. Miko jumps down the stairs and looks back to see how close her friends were to trying to stopping her, with Elita not paying attention to what was going on at all. Jack catches up to Miko and grabs her by the arm saying, "It's not safe!" Miko: "I am not gonna miss my first zombiecon throwdown!" she said before pulling away from him and continues running in the portal, dropping her phone in the process. Jack: "Miko!" he yelled as he and Raf ran after her with Nakala and his creations not far behind.

The portal opens up in the canyon and the 'bots exit while transforming into their bipedal forms, not knowing that the humans and symbiotes were right behind them. Miko then quickly runs up a hill that it would basically give Donkey Kong a run for his money. The 'bots turn the corner and see it wasn't Megatron, but Starscream, who was screaming like a mad-man. Bulkhead: "That's not Megatron." Starscream: "Rise, Blitzwing! RISE!" Miko: "Let's see some fight of the living dead already!" she said keeping low to watch with excitement. Jack: "Miko, what were you thinking?!" he said getting in the same position as her while looking at her with a disappointed, stern look. Raf: "She wasn't." he doing the same thing Jack did. Miko: "Hey, I totally missed out last time." she said trying to make herself seem innocent, with Nakala getting on one knee next to her. "This could be my only chance to take some snaps" she said reaching for her phone only to see it wasn't there. "My cellphone. I must've dropped in back at base."

Optimus: "Starscream!" Starscream: "Autobots?!" "Stand down." "You stand down!" he said launching a missile at them, causing them to take cover. Starscream: "You cannot harm me while dark energon flows through my veins!" he says about to fire another missile, but Optimus comes out from behind the rock and shoots his arm. Starscream: "AHH!" he screamed while turning around from the blast. He looks up in time to see his arm land just some distance in front of him, which left him confused. Was that really his arm he was looking at? He looked down at where his right arm should be and was shocked to see it wasn't there. In panic mode, he ran and grabbed his arm and hid behind a rock himself, while looking back in anger. Bulkhead: "You clipped his wing. He's grounded." he said before the 'bots came out from behind the rocks. Starscream: "Come on. Come on! Rise already!" Starscream looked back to the 'bots to see them making their way towards him and knew he had no time left. "This is Commander Starscream requesting emergency ground bridge to my coordinates."

The 'bots are closing in on Starscream, but stop and turn around once they hear the screaming of a very familiar voice. Miko: "Ugh, I can't believe you made me lose my phone!!" Jack: "Uh, h-how is this my fault?" Elita: "Optimus, the kids aren't at the base. Do you see them?" Optimus: "We have a visual. Send the ground bridge immediately." A ground bridge appeared near them, but the sound of another one was heard from behind them, closer to Starscream. Ratchet immediately realized the problem with two ground bridges next to each other and had to act fast. Ratchet: "Two? You four, into our ground bridge! Now!" Jack: "Come on!" he said grabbing Miko's arm and pulling her. Miko: "Ugh!" As they watch the kids heading to the portal, they turn to see Starscream jump into his. All of a sudden, the energy of the portals seemed to be connecting to each other. Optimus: "Ratchet, what is happening?" Ratchet: "The dueling ground-bridge portals must be feeding back on each other." Bulkhead: "Miko. We gotta get the kids out of there." he said before running toward their ground bridge. Just as he reached it, a shockwave from it knocked him back and both the portals exploded, knocking everyone back.

An exit portal opens up near a vechion and out comes Starscream, landing flat on the ground. As he looked up and looked at his hand, he noticed he was missing something. Starscream: "My arm!" he said looking around for it only to look up at the vehicon just staring at him. "Not a word about this...to anyone!" he said walking away in anger that his plan had failed. He pulled the dark energon out of his chest and just stared at it before heading back to Knockout to get a arm replacement. Meanwhile, the Jack, Raf, Miko, and Nakala were recovering from the portal explosion as the dust started to settle. Jack: "Are you guys okay?" Raf: "Y-Yeah. I think so." As soon as Nakala looked around, he noticed everything around them was the same but, gloomy colored. Like they were...shadowed. The four turn to see the 'bots getting up as well, as well as Wingblade and Silverfang in their bipedal forms. Bulkhead: "[groans] Oh, w-what just happened?" Ratchet: "[groans] I can't be certain. But if two ground bridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could've triggered a system overload." Miko: "Could? Hello, more like totally did." Bulkhead: "The kids made it through, right?"

Now this confused the four 'cause not only were they right there in front of them, but Miko clearly made her presence known. Raf: "Huh?" Jack: "What's he talking about?" Miko: "Bulkhead, we're right here!" But again, it's like they never heard her. Optimus: "Elita, did the children make it safely back to base?" Elita: "Negative, hun. You guys don't see them?" Ratchet: "No sign." Miko: "What? "No sign"?! Okay, seriously, Bulk --" Before she could finish, Bulkhead took a step forward, which of course scared Miko 'cause she thought she was gonna get crushed. But instead of being crushed, Bulkhead's foot goes right through her. Miko: "W-Woah! AAAH!" she screamed as she backed up into Jack. Jack: "He went right through you. We're not alive." Raf: "I don't wanna be a ghost." he said gripping on to Jack. Nakala: "*Is that why everything looks so shadowed, or is it something else.*" Jack: "Wait, how can we still touch either?" The four jog after the 'bots.

Optimus: "Ratchet, could the children have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?" Ratchet: "Not likely. If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. The children may simply have been bridged to an unintended destination." Arcee: "Silv, Wings, do you sense Nakala anywhere?" she asked, worried. WB: "We do, dear Arcee, he's still alive. But we can't get in contact with him through our bond. It's like he's all over the place." SF: "That bloody piker Miko. Why does she have to be so senseless. It's obvious she followed us and her mates followed her." WB: "We'll worry about that later, dear brother." The kids stop and watch the 'bots continue to not see them at all, but Raf and Nakala understood what was going on. Raf: "Another place but in the same place?" Jack: "W-Wha -- What do you mean?" Nakala: "Different dimension. Shadow zone." he said with no emotions at all to them while looking around at the gloomy area. Miko: "Well, bridge us out! Have the ground bridges cross streams again." Nakala: "Too risky." Jack: "He's right. We could probably end up somewhere dangerous."

Optimus: "Look, Blitzwing's tomb is empty." Bulkhead: "How'd we miss Blitzwing rising and shining?" Ratchet: "It would seems Starscream got what he came for." Optimus: "Another matter for another time. Right now, our priority is locating Jack, Miko, Rafael and Nakala. Elita bridge us back to base." The kids start walking toward the 'bots but stopped once they see a giant hand come around the corner. They see a zombiecon in the form of Blitzwing making its way to the 'bots and the ground bridge. Jack, Raf, and Miko thought the zombie was actually going to hurt them, but Nakala already knew where the zombie really was. Miko: "Zombie!" she yelled as she, Jack and Raf ran to them trying to get their attention. Jack: "Guys, look out!" Miko: "Bulkhead!" Raf: "It's right behind you!" Blitzwing tried to slash Bulkhead once he was close enough, but his hand just goes right through him, surprising the zombie as it tries again. Nakala: "*I knew it. The 'bots definitely would've reacted to not only the heavy footsteps from behind them, but also the growling.*"

Miko: "Awesome. It can't touch them, either." she said, gaining the zombie's attention as it made it's way toward them. Jack: "If that thing can't touch the 'bots..." Miko: "Just like we can't..." Raf: "Then we're trapped in the shadow zone with a Decepticon zombie!" Miko: "If we aren't ghosts now, we will be soon." she said as the Blitzwing zombie is now standing in front of them and roared as it raised its fists. Nakala immediately reacted and used his tentacles to pull his friends toward him just before the fists made contact with the ground. The four ran away and Blitzwing zombiecon followed, very slowly though. While running, Rafael tripped and fell, his glasses falling off his face as well. Jack noticed and ran back for him, not noticing his glasses in the process. Raf: "Jack, my glasses." he said as they went around the rock where Miko and Nakala were waiting. Jack looks back to where he picked up Raf and saw his glasses, but Blitzwing was getting closer. Jack: "Way too dangerous." Raf: "I can't see without them." Miko: "What are you, 90?" Jack: "Not helping." "Fine."

Miko said about to go retrieve the glasses herself, but Nakala stopped her and used a tentacle to grab them. Nakala: "Let's move." he said as Raf put his glasses on. As they were running, Miko had an idea that Nakala already knew wouldn't work. Miko: "Maybe we could set a trap, try to crush it." Raf: "With what? Nothing around here is solid but us and the ground." Miko: "We can't run forever. But maybe we can hide." Meanwhile, the 'bots are back at the base, trying to figure out where Jack, Nakala, Raf and Miko are. Optimus: "Ratchet, if the children were misdirected to an unintended location, is there anyway to get a fix on their coordinates." Bulkhead: "If they were lost, Miko would've called me by now. Elita: "Try calling her, then." "Oh, right. Hehe." he said calling Miko, but the sound of music was heard the moment he did. The 'bots look around to find the source 'til he sees Miko's phone over near the ground-bridge and walks over to it. Bulk: "[sigh] So that's why Miko hasn't phoned. Arcee: "Let me try Jack.

Back in the shadow zone, the group of four found a dead end to hide at and were catching their breath. Nakala didn't have to catch his breath as much cuz he's more fit than his friends. Miko: "The best thing about zombies: They're slow-moving." she said acting like one. Suddenly, a sound was heard and it took them a second to realize what it was. Raf: "Is that your-" J,R,M: "Phone!" they said as Jack pulls out his phone and answers it. Jack: "Hello? Arcee?" Arcee: "Jack? Can you hear me?" Neither side got any answer, except for static. Arcee: "Nothing." Jack: "Hello? A-A-Arcee? [sigh] Nothing." Miko: "Gee, imagine that. The fourth dimension has lousy cellphone reception." Jack: "Wait, guys, guys, guys. The phone rang. We're getting a signal." Raf: "Maybe the Autobots can't see or hear us because we're moving at hyperspeed or something." Jack: "Do you think that they can read us?" Raf: "Texting!" Miko: "[gasps] Text me! If my phone's back at the base, maybe they'll see it."

Jack knew it was a good idea so he got to texting immediately. But just as he started to, zombiecon Blitzwing just so happened to know that they were at the dead end and revealed himself. Nakala: "We need to move." he said gaining the others' attentions as they also saw Blitzwing. They all ran under him as he tries to grab them but clearly missed. After covering some distance, Nakala stopped and turned toward the monster and said, "Keep going" to his friends as he activated his mass-shifter to fight the zombiecon. He knew it was going to be difficult, especially since he doesn't have his staff. But he has to protect his friends until the 'bots find a way to get them out of the shadow zone, but they haven't noticed Miko's phone blinking or buzzing. Ratchet: "We're dealing with fluctuating energy profiles inside a wide-distortion field. But it may be possible to back-trace their coordinates."

We see Jack, Raf, and Miko running from the zombiecon while Nakala tries his best to hold off. He was never one with getting into an actual fight 'cause he never wants to hurt them like that. He prefers to stay on the defensive with a few offensive strikes, including stuns. But this is a zombie, so he really needs to be more offensive here. Miko: "Deja VU!" Jack: "What?" "This doesn't look familiar to you?" "Not really." The three ran around another corner and Miko noticed something about the rock formation that confirmed her suspicion. Miko: "Dude, we just ran one big circle!" she said before the three ran into something and fell backwards. As soon as the three get over the pain, they look to see what they ran into and saw it was Starscream's arm. Miko: "Sweet." Jack: "Whoa." Raf: "It must've gotten trapped in here during the explosion too." he said before the sound of both Blitzwing and Nakala were getting closer. Jack: "Well, if it's solid, we can use it." 

Back at the Nemesis, Starscream is on the berth with Knockout in the room with him. Knockout: "Uh, Starscream, I don't quite understand how this could have happened." Starscream: "And yet it did! 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... [scoffs] doctor." he lied. "Well, uh, o-on the bright side, this provides an excellent opportunity for an upgrade. Uh, let's see. You could go with the sonic cannon. 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!!" "Eh- but- Starscream, your equipment is a bit...obsolete. I'm not sure I have another one lying around. Of course, we could try to salvage yours. You...kept it, didn't you?" "It was [chuckles] beyond recovery."

Back in the shadow zone, Jack, Raf and Miko use all their might to turn and flip Starscream's arm so the missile is aiming at Blitzwing. Miko: "Anyone know how to fire this thing? I don't see a trigger." Raf: "Starscream did something with his fingers." As he says this, they see Nakala stumble backwards from around the corner, with Blitzwing appearing soon after and gets in a hand-lock with the tall human. Jack: "We have one shot. We need to make it count." he said before the zombie breaks the hand-lock by thossing Nakala to the side closer to the other three. Nakala looks up and sees what their plan is so he looks behind him to see how close Blitzwing is before using a claw to grab the arm and pull it towards him. As soon as he grabs it with his hands, he quickly rolls over and moves the index finger on the arm to launch the missile. Luckily, the zombiecon was near him so he didn't have to worry much about aiming. He moved out of the way in case it survived the explosion, though Miko and Raf were sure it was dead. Miko: "How do you like us now?!" Blitzwing the comes out of the smoke and roars at them, but Nakala had enough of this already.

He moved forward and delivered a strong enough punch to turn the zombie around a bit. He then slid forward to the zombiecon's backside and slid toward it to push it against the wall and use three of his tentacles to pin it's arms and body. He used his other tentacle as a drill to try and break through its head. The zombie roared in pain as it tried to break free, but failed to do so as the tentacle successfully penetrated it's head, killing it. Nakala sighed in relief as he leaned against the wall and his friends cheered for him. Miko: "Hoo-yah!" Raf: "Alright!" Jack: "Way to go!" Nakala looks at them and gives a thumbs up with a small smile, but still has a dead look in his eyes. Now all they have to do is wait and figure out a way out of the shadow zone, or wait for the 'bots to come up with something. The 'bots are just about to figure out something 'cause Bulkhead just now realized something. Bulkhead: "Miko's phone. It wasn't blinking before." he said tapping the phone to open it. "It's a message. "In alternate dimension with zombie. Help."" Arcee: "That doesn't sound possible." Another beep was heard and Bulkhead saw it was another message. Bulkhead: "Another message. "Nakala has dealt with the zombie. We just need a way out of here now."" Optimus: "Ratchet, can we triangulate the geographical position of the cellphone signal?" Ratchet: "In a parallel dimensional plane?! ...Let's find out."

After some time, Ratchet found where they are. Ratchet: "Now, calculating for relative time delays and ionospheric distortions, the signal emanated from the exact location as the original ground bridge coordinates." Bulkhead: "But we already looked for them there." "Perhaps, 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 generate a rescue portal allowing passage from their dimension..." "Back to base?" "No! We're talking about inter-dimensional travel here, Bulkhead! Attempting to redirect the vortex trajectory would be far too risky." Arcee: "[sarcastically] Everyone knows that." Ratchet: "If the coordinates aren't precisely the same, who knows where the humans could wind up."

Back in the shadow zone, the kids are resting against giant Nakala, still waiting the Autobots to find a way to get them out of there. Miko: "[groans in annoyance] What is taking them so long?!" Jack: "Just give them time, Miko. They probably thought the same way Nakala did." Raf: "Or maybe they didn't get our text." Miko: "You mean we'll be stuck here forever?!" Just as she says this, a ground bridge opens up near them. Nakala: "Doesn't seem so." he said using his tentacle claws to carry his friends to the ground bridge and back in their own dimension. Miko: "You mean we could've ground bridged our way out of there this whole time?!" Nakala: "How was I supposed to know?" he said getting in contact with the base to tell them to close their bridge so he can open another one. Once inside the base, Miko knew she had to come forward and confess it was her fault. Miko: "Look, if you're gonna blame anybody, blame me." Jack: "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that a couple dozen times?" Optimus: "Miko, what you endured has been lesson enough. We are just glad you are all safe." Bulkhead: "Guess it was a good thing you dropped this." he said getting down to Miko's level and handing her her phone. "Too bad you didn't get any pictures, though." Miko: "Nah, that's okay I think after today, I pretty much have zombie close-ups seared into my brain."

TO BE CONTINUED...