Lazalt Ruins

The Lazalt Ruins (ラゾルート遺跡 Razorūto Iseki) have been around since before Zel Samine was ever colonized by its current inhabitants, but have only recently been rediscovered. It is hypothesized that it is what remains of an older civilization, and that within the temple, a mysterious rock called the Gem of Mystery is said to exist. The temple itself is located in the middle of a foggy jungle, inhabited by nasty bugs. It is the first possible location of the Zel Quartz.

Autobot story
The Autobots came to the Lazalt Ruins in their search of the Zel Quartz, with Wheeljack explaining its history and Arcee telling about the rumors of the Jewel of Mystery. Jazz, on the other hand, talked about the bugs that inhabited the jungle around the ruins. After Optimus Prime had to stop Kup from going into one of his old stories, the Autobots chose who would be exploring the ruins. The chosen Autobots had to brave hoards of Decepticons while fighting in the fog, fight Skullcruncher twice for a key they needed while braving a mine field, deal with Apeface, and have a showdown with Predaking. After that, they were free to take the Jewel of Mystery, and before they left, they managed to find Springer who joined them. When the Autobots studied the Jewel of Mystery, they found that it was not the Zel Quartz, and thus returned it.

Decepticon story
Due to Soundwave's research, the Decepticons came to believe that the Lazalt Ruins was a possible location for the Zel Quartz, due to rumors about the Gem of Mystery. Starscream found this hard to believe, predicting that the gem had been taken long ago by archeologists. Cyclonus told Starscream that the ruins had been discovered only recently, talked about its history, and spoke of the rumors about the Gem of Mystery. Soundwave confirmed Cyclonus, referring to research made by the inhabitants of the Paradius system. Even though the Decepticons knew that the Autobots knew they were coming and had set up guards, they still sent out their troops. Traversing through the fog, beating whatever Autobots they could, fighting Chromedome once, making it through a minefield, taking down Ratchet for a key in order to proceed, dealing with Chromedome again, the Decepticons made it to the temple. Once there, they found Ultra Magnus and Sky Lynx guarding the Gem. When they were defeated, the Decepticons took the Gem of Mystery back to their ship, finding a Sharkticon on the way out who joined them. When Soundwave examined the Gem, he found that while it did possess large amounts of energy, it was not the Zel Quartz. Nevertheless, they kept it.