Chapter 9: Don't go away

Everyone huddled over to where Starscream was. Starscream was still shocked at what was found in EC's spark. It was Dark Energon. None of them have seen Dark Energon in person.

"Whoa, Dark Energon!" Bee gasped.

Starscream was so surprised he nearly dropped it. He then realized something. If Dark Energon was in EC's spark. Then it must had infected EC turning him evil. Starscream looked closer at the spark, then at EC's lifeless body, then back to the spark.

"This whole time, he was just infected by Dark Energon. And I killed him all because it made him evil!" Starscream bottom lip quivered at what he had done.

Arcee went up and hugged him as Starscream was about to cry.

"I didn't even say anything about him that was good." Starscream said sadly.

Everyone felt very sorry for him and wanted to make him feel better.

"Could it be possible to somehow get the Dark Energon out of the spark and return it to normal?" Bee asked.

"Possibly, that has never been done before, I don't think!" Optimus said.

"What do you think Starscream, if we were able to drain the Dark Energon out, would you want to put the spark back in EC and bring him back to life?" Bee asked putting a hand on Starscream's shoulder.

It was silent for a moment, Starscream thought. It may had been EC's fault to obtain the Dark Energon but it was his own fault that EC was dead. He thought it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Mabye, if it works!" Starscream said half smiling.

He curled his claws over the spark making sure not to break it. He walked over to EC's lifeless body. Dark Energon was everywhere. He looked at the very cold face that was once EC's. He smiled a little. Then he turned to his friends.

"Let's do it!" Starscream said.

"Now all we need to do is get you to the hospital Starscream. You got pretty beat up after that match, especially that black eye." Steve pointed at Starscream's left eye.

"You need to go also Bee." Bulkhead said.

"AW!" Bee moaned.

"Come on, lets go figure out where that Dark Energon came from!" Optimus said with everyone agreeing.

Over at the Hospital, Starscream and Bee were placed on beds and strapped to it. Starscream was hurting the most as he felt like he had been thrown down from the top a skyscraper. Bee didn't complain as much. Arcee was by Starscream's side holding his hand.

"Everything will be fine Screamer." Arcee said full of hope.

"I hope so!" Starscream said. "It's like deja-vu, I'm back in the hospital bed just like 4 years ago.

"Tell me about it!" Bee said.

Ratchet checked on their bruises and dents. He smiled slightly.

"Well, you both should be fine after a few days. Hopefully you can deal with that eye for a few days Starscream." Ratchet said.

"Eh, no big deal!" Starscream said slightly laughing.

"So Ratchet, what can you tell us about this Dark Energon? We don't know a lot about it." Optimus said concerned.

Ratchet mouth opened in disbelief.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah!"

"Fine I will tell you!"

Everyone paid attention as Ratchet spoke.

"Dark Energon has been on this planet for millions of years. It seemed to have grown here in certain parts of the planet. Why? Unknown. What we do know is that it is very dangerous and can damage anybody's spark. It can possibly cause anyone to turn evil and it can be used for dangerous weaponary. It is illegal to use Dark Energon for any use. But scientists such as myself are allowed to mess with it. Us scientists use it for study and experimenting. Apparently, your cousin EC didn't know much about it either. He must have stolen some and injected it in himself causing him to act the way he did." Ratchet explained.

"Can the spark be drained of Dark Energon?" Bee asked.

"Possibly, it has worked before!" Ratchet said.

"Where exactly can Dark Energon be found around here?" Optimus asked.

"There is actually at lot in the canyon in the desert. But sadly it's being used for research. Trust me, you do not want to go there without being a scientist. I remember one of my friends sneaking over there to take a look one night and came back looking as bad as you Starscream!" Ratchet said looking at him.

"How in the All Spark did EC get past the guards?" Steve asked.

"Clever one wasn't he?" Optimus asked looking at Starscream.

"Always was!" Starscream agreed.

"Well, I will go take a look, I want to see for myself." Optimus said.

"I will go with you." Cliffjumper said.

"Be careful, if you get caught you better start running." Ratchet warned.

A few minutes later Optimus and Cliff were racing towards the desert. Of course Cliff had to drag Optimus across the desert since Optimus wasn't good on dirt. They raced through the desert for another minute before they reached the canyon. They screeched to a stop to transform and hide behind a large rock.

"Okay, if we are quick we can see the Dark Energon and get out of here!" Cliff said.

"Alright let's go!" Optimus said.

They ran towards the edge of the canyon making sure no one was near them. As they looked down they saw a whole bunch of Dark Energon. It covered the whole bottom of the canyon and rose to nearly where they were standing.

"Whoa, so that's what it looks like!" Optimus said.

"Doesn't look dangerous to me!" Cliff said.

Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud growl from behind them.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU PUNKS DOING HERE?" Boomed the voice.

Optimus and Cliff turned nervously around to see SkyQuake right behind them growling. SkyQuake had volunteered to help out with investigating the canyon. Optimus gulped but Cliff stood his ground.

"We were just looking" Optimus began.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" Cliff yelled making Optimus wide-eyed with horror.

SkyQuake turned his attention to Cliff.

"SHUT UP PUNK BEFORE I SHOVE THOSE HORNS UP YOUR AFT!" SkyQuake threatened taking a step forward.

"SAY THAT TO MY FACE!" Cliff yelled.

Skyquake was only 2 feet taller than Cliff which made him the same height as Optimus. Optimus grabbed Cliff and turned him towards him so that their faces met.

"DUDE, HE IS ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS GUYS EVER, DON'T MESS WITH HIM!" Optimus yelled.

"YOU BETTER GET BULL HEAD OUT OF HERE BEFORE HE GETS A MAJOR PUMMELING!" SkyQuake threatened as he cracked his knuckles.

"Come on Cliff, he's not worth it!" Optimus said as he and Cliff transformed and raced away.

"UGLY PUNK!" Cliff said still angry.

Meanwhile, Starscream and Bee were talking while still strapped to the beds.

"You were really brave Starscream!" Bee said.

"Thanks, I'm glad you are okay!" Starscream said smiling.

"EC did a number on both of us!" Bee laughed.

"I know!" Starscream said.

"Well, at least we know it was the Dark Energon." Bee said.

"Yeah"

"Hey, uh, do you think he will be able to change if he comes back alive?" Bee asked.

"Hopefully, mabye just mabye, he will change." Starscream said looking at the ceiling.

Then Optimus and Cliff came in running and panting.

"How was it?" Bee teased seeing their faces.

"Not as good as I thought but we did manage to see the Dark Energon." Optimus said still panting.

Then Soundwave, Steve and Kenny came in holding EC's body.

"Uh, why did you bring that here?" Bee asked.

"Ratchet told us to." Steve said.

Then Ratchet came in with a huge smile in his face.

"I'VE DONE IT!" Ratchet said happily and held the now clean spark in front of everyone.

Starscream's optics went big as he was very surprised. However his left eye was still half open.

Ratchet stood EC's body, which was still completely bruised up but clean of energon, against the wall and pointed to Starscream.

"Hey screamer, care to do the honors?"

Everyone went silent and still as Starscream was removed from the machines and slowly walked towards the spark. He held it in his hand for a moment. He looked at everyone who were encouraging him to do it. Slowly he held the spark out towards EC's open chest. He blinked twice and placed it back in the chest, closed it and stood back. It was silent for a few minutes. Arcee held on to Starscream's hands. Optimus and Bee stared at the body. The others looked worried.

"Please!" Starscream said in a low sad voice.

Suddenly whirring was heard from inside the chest. Then the body shook for a few seconds and stopped. The eyes suddenly lit up slowly startling everyone. EC was alive again. EC groaned and not in an evil way. He looked down rubbing his head trying to figure what was happening. As he looked up he saw something that surprised him.

"Starscream?" EC said in disbelief.

Everyone was excited. Starscream wide-eyed with joy.

"Whoa, Starscream what happened to you, I'm trying to gain all my memory back. Was I dead?" EC asked.

"Yeah, but we brought you back to life." Starscream said coming closer.

"Hey, the evil, it's gone, I'M FREE!" EC yelled hugging Starscream only to end up hurting Starscream by accident.

EC stopped hugging and saw Steve and Kenny, then Bee and Soundwave, then everybody else and felt embarrased.

"I'm sorry for everything I did. That Dark Energon was dangerous!" EC said.

"That's why it's illegal to use!" Starscream said. "Hey, come outside, I got something to show you!"

As everyone headed outside, EC was greeted by all 18 Eradicons cheering. EC blushed.

"So EC are we okay?" Starscream asked holding out a hand.

EC looked at the hand, then back at Starscream.

"Yeah, we are okay!" EC said shaking his hand. "Trust me Starscream I regretted that choice of using Dark Energon. At least it's all over. I need to renew my life, you know, start out fresh."

"Can't argue with that!" Starscream said. "So are you staying here?"

"Nah, but I will definately visit." EC said turning to his cousins. "We all will!"

Starscream smiled as EC gave him one last hug before he and the other 18 Eradicons (Except Steve and Kenny) got ready to transform.

"See ya later cousin...and thanks!" EC said as he and the others transformed to flight mode and flew away.

"Looks like you are stuck with us!" Steve and Kenny said together.

"I guess so!" Starscream said. "However, there is one more thing I need to do!"

A few seconds later Steve and Kenny were thrown into their own house window breaking it as payback. Steve and Kenny were embarrased.

"Oh yeah, I forgot we did that to him!" Steve said.

"I was hoping he would forget!" Kenny said.

Later everyone was over at Bee's house hanging out! Arcee was talking to Starscream.

"You know Starscream, whatever day you fully heal, how about me and you have a little fun that night?" Arcee asked walking her index and middle finger up his chest.

"Oh yeah he-he!" Starscream laughed in a devilsh way.

Knock Out was telling Megatron, Breakdown and Bulkhead about the time when Bee won more arcade games than Optimus. Soundwave, Bee, Cliff and Optimus were talking too.

"Oh please Cliff, I can totally beat you in any arcade game!" Soundwave said sounding proud.

"Oh yeah, Let's see it!" Cliff said.

"Oh brother!" Optimus said.

"Here we go!" Bee said.

At the arcade, Cliff lost the first time he played one.

"AAH! NO WAY!" Cliff said in disbelief.

"Move aside Cliff!" Soundwave said as he began to play. Under 20 seconds he won!

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!" Screamed Soundwave, Bee and Optimus.

"No fair!" Cliff whined.

"SOUNDWAVE SUPERIOR!" Soundwave shouted out!

The End...

The next sequel has been made called TF: Prime: Alternate Story: The series!