Earthquake tried to rebel against the Decepticons and got himself caught. Given his choice of punishment, he opted for Trial By Combat, where he faced his former comrade Tornado. Despite apparently being able to "WARP THE VERY SURFACE OF CYBERTRON!" he didn't make it out alive. In fact, neither of them did. Watching this on a tape years later, Megatron thought that this would be a good way to rid himself of Starscream. The Enemy Within!