Everyone went back to their seats as Omega Scion prepares the Orb of the Future...
The Maximals were stunned. Without a response from Primal, they were slowly going to realize that their leader may not have survived the explosion. Static, is all they hear, and for minutes on end not once did they hear from Primal at all.
"BigBot?" asked Cheetor frighteningly.
"Time for this lady to go..." Blackarachnia silthered away from the Maximal's grasp.
"Oh, Come on, come on!" Rattrap muttered as he tried getting the systems back online. He finally got it back online by punching the screen.
"Ha! That's one way to bring back the computers back online! Way to go, Rattrap!" Warpath cheered.
"Tell that to the many computers you smashed in the war..." Ironhide muttered.
"That's better. Computer - report!" Rattrap ordered.
[Alien construct destroyed.]
"Later for that, hunk of junk! Where's Optimus?" he asked.
[Unit Optimus Primal...]
[... destroyed.]
In the Darksyde, the Predacons laugh wickedly. The computer had confirmed Primal's death.
"No..." Prime denied silently.
"You've done it, Megatron!" Scorponok praised. He was shoved aside by his leader.
"Waspinator happy to see end of alien machines... and Optimus Primal too." the wasp Predacon praised.
"Yes, I am good, aren't I?" Megatron knocked Waspinator aside as well. "But we can discuss my brilliance later. Now there is work to be done."
"What kind of work?" Terrorsaur asked.
"The Predacon kind. We must defeat the remaining Maximals while they mourn their poor departed leader. This will be the final battle!"
[WARNING: Sensors detect quantum surge approaching planet.]
"To your stations, quickly!" Megatron ordered.
"A quantum surge? What does that do?" asked Sideswipe.
"A quantum surge, while extremely rare, is a phenomenon that emits a wave to likely destroy or alter the forms of many existing life-forms. Perhaps it is an aftermath of the destruction of that weapon." Shockwave deduced.
The Maximals were shocked. Primal has been confirmed destroyed. Cheetor slumps to his seat, despondent.
"I should have been flying that ship." Cheetor said.
"Optimus did what he thought was best." Airazor said assuringly with a hand in Cheetor's shoulder. "And saved the whole planet doing it."
"But why didn't he leave the ship as planned?" Tigatron asked.
"Good question." Rattrap stood up from his seat "And I know just who to ask..." He aimed his gun at where Blackarachnia was supposedly held, but no one was around "Slag! That sneaky bobble legs took it out on the lamb."
"I'll hunt her down!" Tigatron transformed to Beast Mode, but before long, the Axalon's computer announced...
[ALERT! Quantum surge detected, vector 5-9-7.]
"Hold it, Stripes! I think we got a bigger problem." Rattrap notified as the sensors began to flare off.
"So now the Maximals will soon feel the quantum surge as well... I wondered if it can destroy them... or turn them into something else?" Megatron wondered.
Meanwhile, Blackarachnia quietly sneaked through the halls of the Axalon.
"If I remember right, the exit is this way." But along the way, her optics began glowing green.
"You mustn't go yet, "partner"!" Tarantulas spoke into her mind.
"Tarantulas! Where are you?" She demanded, transforming into Robot Mode, but she screamed in pain grasping her head.
"I'm here! Inside your pretty little head... controlling your pretty little thoughts!" Tarantulas taunted.
"Don't count on it, quasar-brain! Nobody controls me!" Blackarachnia retorts.
"You always were amusing. Unhappily, we have no more time to play." Tarantulas said before he left his voice of wicked laughter echoing in Blackarachnia's head. But all that she can feel right now is the mental torment Tarantulas brought upon her as she screams in the illusion of being trapped into his web.
"So it seems that device Blackarachnia used to access the ship Primal used had a unique failsafe, one that Tarantulas secretly exploited to torment Blackarachnia mentally." Perceptor commented. "Intriguing."
"Intriguing indeed. Though the Cybertronian mind has never been my field, I shall look upon it for study, of course." Shockwave said, excusing himself to avoid Megatron's suspicion.
As the quantum surge began nearing towards the planet, the Maximals struggle to protect themselves from the incoming wave. Using what they can in the Axalon's systems to brace for the impact.
"Exterior shield's on maximum!" Cheetor reported.
"We got power fluctuations all over the board! They'll never hold!" Airazor reported.
"Make'em hold!" Rattrap ordered "Optimus didn't blown himself up just so we can get scrapped by space-junk!"
"Impact in 5,4,3, 2..." Tigatron cuts the counting short.
The quantum surge makes it's impact on the planet immediately, as Megatron groaned feeling the full burst of the quantum surge. The blast knocked off Terrorsaur and Scorponok, smelting both to their deaths.
"Pitiful they were. They will not be missed." Skyquake commented.
"I agree, brother." Dreadwing said.
"What is... happening to me?!" Megatron asked. He soon passed out afterwards.
"What hit me?" Blackarachnia said after waking up from Tarantulas' mental torment.
"A quantum surge! It must have knocked everyone on the ship off-line. You must reach my body before the Maximals revive!" Tarantulas himself said speaking to Blackarachnia mentally.
"Anything to get you out of my head." Blackarachnia mumbled as she walked off further to the halls of the Axalon.
The Maximals briefly woke up after the quantum surge, but the event had damaged the Axalon's systems significantly.
"Airazor...Are you damaged?" Tigatron asked to Airazor.
"Don't think so... I wouldn't care to go through that again." Airazor replied.
"Rattrap and Cheetor!" Tigatron beckoned to both Maximals, but upon seeing them... they've changed form.
"Ey, looking for me?" Rattrap asked.
"By the Matrix!" Tigatron looked in shock.
"What, what's with you two? Is my gearbox hangin' out or somethin'?" Upon reuniting with Cheetor...
"Jumping Gyros, what happened to you?"
"Huh! Me? What happened to YOU?"
They both looked at the chromed side of the R-Chamber, in awe and shock of their new forms.
"That quantum surge may not have destroyed them, but it may have altered their forms into something new." Ratchet surmised.
"I'm... gorgeous!" Rattrap boasted.
"The surge must have mutated your super-structures." Airazor surmised. "I wonder what it did to your beast modes."
Curious, both Rattrap and Cheetor yelled "BEAST MODE!" and upon transformation, their Beast Forms had gotten upgrades as well.
"Now THAT'S gorgeous!" Cheetor looked at his form with awe and excitement.
"I'm a rat with wheels!" Rattrap looked at his wheels inherent to his Beast Form.
"Cool!"
"So cool!" added Sideswipe and Smokescreen.
"Hey, I wonder what these gizmo's are for..." Cheetor asked as he inadvertently unfurled a pair of thrusters inherent to his Beast Form. But the thrusters suddenly activate, sending Cheetor flying around the Axalon. "How do you work these things?"
Tigatron and Airazor took cover in the process, not wanting to get caught in the testing zone.
"If I am going to guess, the wheels on Rattrap's form means that he can move much faster across land while Cheetor can now fly in Beast Mode."
"Though the problem is Ratch, that they'll have to get used to those new forms. Not like they'll know it automatically." Knockout pointed out.
"Look out!!!" shouted Cheetor as Rattrap then boosted out of way with his wheels, but both of them crashed.
"This...is gonna take some getting used to." Rattrap moaned.
"Took the words outta my mouth, cheese-lover!" Knockout quipped.
Meanwhile, in the damaged Darksyde, Waspinator managed to survive by hiding in the CR Chamber.
"Waspinator is alive!" He turned to Megatron, who also had a new form as a result of the quantum surge, Waspinator asked. "Megatron? What happened?"
"I've had a change... for the better, yess..." Megatron replied in a dangerous undertone.
"Mutated their superstructures... that surge had given them stronger forms than ever!"
In the deeper interior of the Axalon, Blackarachnia found Inferno's and Tarantulas' remains locked behind laser bars. She deactivates the grid, and turned to the latter's chassis.
"That's not you, is it?" Blackarachnia asked. But Tarantulas took control of her.
"Interesting. We must get it back to my lab." Blackarachnia picked up Tarantula's remains and left... but Inferno's eyes activated once again.
With Rattrap now the Acting Command, he ordered to Airazor. "Cheetor and I'll check on Rhinox and Chopperface. You and Tigatron look for Blackarachnia."
"Surely the she-spider has escaped by now..." Tigatron suggested.
"If this surge decked us, I'm bettin' that it did the same to her." Rattrap retorted.
However, up in space, a spark lies out there in the cold premise of space, it remembered... "MEGATRONNN!!!!" as a certain form poked out of the spark but goes back inside and flies back to the planet.
"YES! He's ALIVE!!!" Warpath cheered.
Prime felt relieved seeing his 'descendant' intact with his Spark alright, yet without an exoskeleton.
"Ah yes, because like Prime here, Primal just could not die so easily." Megatron commented.
Recovered, Rhinox woke up before Rattrap. "Ah, Yo, Big Buddy, How are ya feeling?" the rat Maximal asked.
"What happened?" he asked after taking a few steps to see the Axalon's damaged state.
"Rhinox? You OK?" Rattrap asked.
"Rattrap... What the..." Rhinox tried to ask in regards of Rattrap's new appearance.
"OH? It's a... It's kind of a new look." Rattrap explained.
"Where's Optimus?" Rhinox asked.
"Gone... Transwarp explosion." Rattrap replied solemly.
"Tell me what happened. All of it." Rhinox asked sternly.
Repaired, and having reattached his head back, Inferno then raised his weapon up and muttered "I must return to the Royalty at once!" then marched forward.
"Seems like Blackarachnia's left a trail of bread crumbs for Inferno to follow." Cliffjumper joked. No one laughed.
"...and then we woke up, Cheetor and I with these... these... trans-metals. Nice, huh?" Rattrap said.
"A definite improvement, although in your case that's not difficult" Dinobot derided.
"I knew we should have left you off-line, Lizard-Butt!" Rattrap challenged.
"Enough!" Rhinox interrupted, pushing Dinobot back. "Stand down, Dinobot."
"By what right do you command me? With Optimus gone, I should be.." but Rhinox cuts him off by throttling Dinobot towards him.
"I'm in a bad mood. Understand?" Rhinox asked in a contained anger tone. Coerced, Dinobot nodded, prompting Rhinox to drop him.
"Remind us not to get into Rhinox's bad side when his best friend is gone, alright?" Jazz asked.
In the vents leading to the outside of the Axalon, Blackarachnia tossed Tarantulas' remains out.
"Careful, Widow!" Tarantulas hissed.
"Easy with the name calling, ugly, or I'll self-destruct and slag us both!" Blackarachnia threatened. She looked at the landscape highly affected by the quantum surge. "Things have changed around here..." she descended to the ground.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." but as she turned around, she was struck down by Airazor accompanied by Tigatron
"HA! They found ya! Try worming your way out you backstabbing snake!" Warpath cheered.
"Looks like Rattrap was right." Tigatron surmised. Blackarachnia got to her bearings as both Maximals began to threaten her.
"Go ahead, spider. Make a move. PLEASE." Airazor taunted.
But both were cut off by the blast of a mysterious weapon, knocking them out cold
"Oh scrap! Preda-Tron's here!" Warpath shouted.
"Better hope the Maxies put their new Transmetal bodies to use!"
"Don't forget Silver-Bee, Preda-Tron's got himself a new upgrade too!" Jazz reminded.
"What was that?" Rhinox asked.
"Sounds like Airazor and Tigatron found Blackarachnia." Cheetor pointed out.
"Rattrap! You and Cheetor check it out!" Rhinox ordered.
"You got it, BigGuy!" Rattrap complied then departed with Cheetor.
"Dinobot! Let's try and get Sentinel back on-line!" Dinobot nodded at Rhinox's next order.
Blackarachnia saw the arrival of Waspinator and a very displeased Megatron. "Megatron! Am I glad to-" which was cut off when Megatron slapped her down to the ground.
"Someone's not happy." Vortex commented.
"Treacherous spider!" Megatron hissed. "Do you think I don't know what you and Tarantulas planned?" He prepared his newly refurbished fusion cannon to execute Blackarachnia for their plan to desert him, while she was down.
"NOT a good idea." Blackarachnia spat out.
"And why is that?" Megatron asked.
"Well, Optimus's body parts may be decorating space, but the rest of the Maximals are fully functional, and since I don't see Terrosaur or Scorponok with you, I'm betting you need troops."
Megatron innately cursed. Since Terrorsaur and Scorponok were lost in the quantum surge, the only reliable trooper he had was Waspinator. And he hadn't heard from Inferno yet, so he picked up Blackarachnia with a warning. She was right, Megatron needed men, since he can't destroy the Maximals without sufficient troops.
"You are a clever one. But betray me again, and you'll wish you'd never come on-line." Megatron threatened.
"Point taken." Blackarachnia gasped.
"Quite the gambit you play here. You're willing to destroy the Maximals, yet with the losses of your best goons, you cannot destroy them on your own. I'm surprised. It seems like you're at a loss here." Megatron pointed out.
"While I agree with him, I don't see how the Maximals would be destroyed by the mockery who dare call themselves Predacons!" Predaking added. "Especially when they are short of sufficient bots!"
"Waspinator, above!" Megatron ordered when he saw Rattrap and Cheetor come down via the Axalon's lift. He complied and charged towards them then to Blackarachnia "Blackarachnia, fire on my signal!"
"Look!" Cheetor pointed out.
Inside the damaged interior of the Axalon...
"Rattrap to Rhinox! We got trouble here!" Rattrap hailed.
"On our way!" Rhinox responded.
"Wait! What about Inferno?! He's in the Axalon!" shouted out Bulkhead.
"You'd think they'd know he'd be here while they're fixing themselves up in the R-Chambers, Bulk?" Wheeljack asked.
"At last! Battle!" Dinobot roared, reveling in battle-glory then prepared his sword.
"If it's battle you want, let it begin!" Inferno said, dropping in the Maximals unannounced then fired a shot that knocked Rhinox down. "For the glory of the Royalty!" he yelled, firing his weapon wildly.
"GET HIM DINOBOT! BREAK THAT ANT'S LEGS!" Warpath shouted.
"DO IT DINOBOT! CRUSH THAT INSECT BENEATH YOUR FOOT!" Grimlock joined in.
"Jumping Gyros, What's that?" Cheetor replied out of confusion.
Suddenly, Megatron popped out of cover and ordered "Waspinator! Open fire!" Waspinator came out of cover from behind and fired.
"Incoming!" too late, the blast had done it's job knocking away Rattrap clear and sending Cheetor to the falls.
"Oh no! Cheetor!" Bumblebee yelled.
"Hold up! Cheetor might need this to learn how to fly!" Jetfire assured.
"Beast mode!" Cheetor transformed, then unfurled his thrusters, as they eventually propel, taking Cheetor to flight. While not exactly bumpy at first, Cheetor managed to take flight and fly high to reach the Axalon.
Megatron ordered "Blackarachnia, take the cat!"
"Forget the Maximals, get my body out of here!" Tarantulas stopped, temporarily controlling Blackarachnia.
"No way! You heard what Megatron said!" she argued.
"Do it!"
"Blackarachnia, fire!" Megatron loudly repeated his order "Fire!"
Instead, Blackarachnia used a cyberweb grappling hook to get Tarantulas' remains and zip out of the battle.
"How dare you?!" Megatron cursed upon witnessing Blackarachnia's desertion.
"You hadn't known Tarantulas had controlled her, fool." Predaking pointed out.
"With only Waspinator under his command, and Inferno still not responding to his orders, Megatron's chances of destroying the Maximals have gone ill." replied Shockwave.
Inside, Dinobot took cover against the wild gunfire of Inferno, then he comes out and he blasts optic lasers, disarming the ant Predacon.
"I don't need a weapon to destroy you, traitor!" Inferno then tackled Dinobot.
Waspinator caught up to Cheetor flying towards him and whined "Cat-bot cannot fly..." before Cheetor speared him to the ground.
"Give it up, Bug-Boy! It'll only hurt for a nano-klik!" Cheetor demanded.
"Never! Waspinator never surrender!" the aforementioned Predacon refused. He kicked Cheetor off him.
"You're making this hard on yourself!" Cheetor warned.
"Hang on, pussy cat, I'm coming!" But he was interrupted by more gunfire from Megatron.
"Skin this action! The Mega-jerk's got himself some kinda mighty face-lift!" Rattrap defended himself with a shield that deflected one of Megatron's fusion cannon blasts that could have blown his face off.
"You haven't seen anything yet, vermin! Beast Mode!" Megatron transformed, his Beast Form having jet engines for thrusters, though they were noticably larger than Cheetor's.
"Now Megatron can fly too?!" gasped Silverbolt.
"Transmetals do have tons of lofty surprises here and there." commented Ironhide.
"Let's see how Pred-Tron can go far with his new toys!" Wheeljack added.
"So you wanna play "chicken", huh? Beast mode!" Rattrap followed.
"Now, rodent, feel my power!"
Both Rattrap and Megatron charged at each other at full speed. But Rattrap played smart at the game and skidded around to use his tail to then trip Megatron off his feet.
"Power you got." Rattrap commented. "Brains... is another story."
"Ha! You got that oversized lizard, Rattrap!" praised Warpath.
"He didn't need to beat Megatron with brute force, but with cunning and wits. That's commendable." Ultra Magnus commented.
"Megatron - Terrorize!" He transformed and fired at Rattrap.
"Oh no." Rattrap deflated. "Give me a break! Wow!" he took cover from Megatron's gunfire.
"OH come on! Fight back!" Grimlock yelled.
"How? He doesn't seem to have weapons." pointed out Air Raid.
Elsewhere, Cheetor had a similar situation with Waspinator. Transforming to Robot Mode, he began to brandish a whip. When Waspinator got close he moved in to swat his weapon away. Frightened, Waspinator transformed to Beast Mode and flew away.
"HEY! COME BACK AND FIGHT CHEETOR LIKE A REAL BOT, YOU COWARD!" Warpath cursed.
"Nobody buzz out on this cat!" Cheetor transformed to Beast Mode and tries giving chase. But along the way, he saw...
"Oh-oh, Rattrap's in trouble!" He turned course to help out his friend in trouble, who was losing ground as Megatron approached like an unstoppable juggernaut, firing his weapon which did not repel Megatron at the slightest.
"Oh man! What does it take to stop this bucket of bolts?" Rattrap whined taking cover.
"Hang on, Rattrap! Air-Cheetor's coming in!" Cheetor charged towards a seemingly shocked Megatron, who then moved out of the way.
"What? wow, hey!" and crashed into Rattrap.
"New packaging, same product: losers." Megatron quipped.
"Darn, that was a good quote. I'll bring that up!" Knockout then brought up a data slate and typed into it.
"You're mine, now!" Inferno barked, but he was grabbed by a awakened Rhinox.
"I don't think so." Rhinox blurted out and tossed Inferno down the opened lift of the Axalon.
"Inferno!" Megatron blurted out after seeing Inferno falling down the lift.
"Royalty! You've come for me!" cheered Inferno.
"Megatron!" Rhinox yelled preparing his chainguns of doom. Realizing the hopelessness and the miniscule odds of destroying the Maximals, Megatron pulled Inferno up to his feet and suggested. "I believe it's time for a tactical retreat." then fled the scene with Inferno following.
The young Autobots cheered.
"Yeah, run away like you always do you coward!" taunted Sideswipe.
The Maximals had time to recover for now... As Rattrap pushed Cheetor off him.
"Ya know... a few flying lessons wouldn't hurt." Rattrap reminded.
"You could say that again." Silverbolt commented.
"You two all right?" Rhinox asked. As he and Dinobot caught up with them.
"Yeah, yeah, nothing a hot oil bath won't cure." Rattrap said. "But if you ask me, the Beast Wars just got a whole lot weirder."
[Scanning for life-forms... all sys-tems mal-function-in-ing.] elsewhere, two stasis pods began scanning for any life forms they can find. One of which breaks through the pod like a zombie risen from the grave.
Everyone looked with shock, intrigue or surprise.
"Man, just like the movies I watched in Earth..." groused Knockout.
Rattrap was right. The Beast Wars had gotten weirder, especially now that him, Cheetor and Megatron had been given new chassis as a result of the quantum surge. Yet, what would the Maximals do now, that Optimus Primal is absent from command? Only time will tell.
The Autobots felt silent. The Maximals were leaderless, directionless. Without Optimus Primal... their chances to survive the Beast Wars began to fall low.
"Omega Scion, what of the two stasis pods that arrived to Earth?" Ratchet asked.
"That I do not know, Ratchet. Not yet, at least. You shall see it for yourself in the next viewing..."