Forever Alone: Transformers Prime

Chapter XII

“Prime, do you copy?” Agent Fowler’s voice came from the monitor as a video came on, showing the man was flying in a helicopter.
Optimus looked at the screens and sighed. “I hear you, Agent Fowler.” He said as he walked towards the monitors with the others.
“Been watching the news? Mother nature’s got a twitch in her britches.” Fowler said.
“We know about the volcano.” Optimus replied.
“And the quakes?” Fowler asked. “Seven major tumblers of the exact same magnitude at the exact same time as a 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.
“Check it out.” Miko said. Everyone looked at her to see that she was pointing at the TV with the remote. There was a news channel playing. “More good news.”
A male reporter was talking. “Freak storms unlike any the region has seen. Tsunamis threaten 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.” Agent Fowler cried out.
“One that powerful? Highly unlikely.” Ratchet said, as he shook his head.
“I don’t believe the appearance of dark energon at this point in time to be coincidental.” Optimus said.
“Um, guys?” Miko cried. “There is a lightning storm near us.”
“June and Raf are in trouble.” Ratchet replied.
“I already had it covered, Bee is with them.” Julie replied as she fell to one knee.
“What is happening to her?” Agent Fowler asked. “She looks drained.”
“Julie?” Optimus asked.
“I am fine. I need to stay strong. He’s coming.” Julie said. “The ancient evil, it’s awakening.”
“You don’t mean?” Ratchet asked.
“Your evil and my evil are one and the same.” Julie said.
A car started to pull in and they turned to see Bumblebee coming in. As soon as his doors opened Raf and June hopped out.
“We’re back.” Raf said.
“And we are glad.” Ratchet responded.
“Are you alright?” Jack asked his mother.
“I will be.” June replied. “Jack…”
“Mom, I…” Jack replied.
“I know, me too, but you’re grounded till you’re 30.” Nurse Darby said, “25.”
The news came back on as she watched the little reunion. “World leaders are classifying these bizarre weather patterns as a global emergency.” Julie looked up as she realized that there was little she could do. The others also turned and watched. “Global?” June asked as though she didn’t believe she heard it correctly.
“And scientists believe it to be somehow related to the current planetary alignment.”
The report finished.
“What have you learned, Prime and you better not blow smoke up my…” Agent Fowler cried as he came in. “Oh, Miss Darby, what a nice surprise.”
“Special Agent Fowler.” June replied.
“We have learned this, as with the so-called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated far below the earth’s crust, from the very center of the earth’s core in fact.” Ratchet said.
“Quakes don’t start there.” Agent Fowler said in disbelief. “Do they?”
“Tiny tremors, rising and falling in a consistent pattern, almost like…” Ratchet started. “By the Allspark. If I convert these data points to audio files.”
“What? What is it?”
“Listen.”
“A cybertronian heartbeat?” Jack asked.
“How is that possible?” June said in agreement. “A heart pumps blood. There’s nothing inside the earth to pump except…”
“Blood of Unicron.” Raf finished.
“Okay, hold on.” Miko stated. “You mean something’s living down there inside our planet?”
“I fear that the Earth’s very core is not composed of magma as your science has suggested,” Optimus responded. “But of dark energon.”
“And if we’re hearing a spark, then Unicron is the rising darkness that the prophecy foretold.” Ratchet said in realization.
“So, how do we stop this thing from rising?” Fowler asked.
“That, I am afraid, was not foretold.” Optimus answered.
“How can something be in our Earth’s core and be alive?”
“Such a thing is not unprecedented.” Optimus explained. “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 had battled…the balance of power shifting between them more times than could be counted. Only by the creation of the 13, the original primes who preceded me, was Primus finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out. Primus became one with the very core of our planet, creating life through the Well of Allsparks, 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, but rather that with time and gravitational force, debris collected around the slumbering titan.” Optimus explained.
“Forming your Earth itself.” Ratchet finished.
Fowler looked like he was freaking out. “And he is only awakening now due to the magnetic pull created by the planetary alignment.” Arcee said.
“Okay, well, what happens now when Unicron wakes up from his billion-year nap?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, does he stretch and kapow!?” Miko threw her arms out in emphasis. “Earth poofs to dust?”
Optimus was silent. “You don’t know do you?” June asked.
“I fear that it was not the full force of this Unicron my ancestors had fought, but merely what may have been a fraction. If he had been asleep for a billion years, my ancestors wouldn’t have come to live on this planet all this time.”
“My guess is that Unicron has transcended physical form as we know it.” Optimus replied to June’s question. “Nonetheless, we must find a way to ensure that this force of nature never fully awakens. The fate of your planet depends upon it.” He turned and looked down at Julie, “Just as much as it relies on you being alive to have life.”
“We should probably look at the epicenters of the earthquakes. From there we can determine more information about how we can handle this.” Ratchet recommended.
“Ratchet, open a groundbridge to a nearby epicenter, Julie you will be coming with me.” Optimus replied. “We will examine the several epicenters and see if they have anything in common.”
“Alright, I'm coming.” Julie said as she flew up onto Optimus’s shoulder and went with him through the groundbridge.