“Only three more sacrifices to go!” laughed the Blendtrons.
“GRAGH! We should have listened to Misfire!” groaned Megatron. “Their blades deflected Decepticon weapons, turned their power back on them!”
“On they came, their blades trailing rivers of Energon!” laughed Misfire.
“Three more specials, and I will be complete!” cheered Spinister.
“Specials, my aft!” roared Megatron. “I never met a more useless bunch! …Of course! That’s it! Oh, Straxus screwed up now by getting these idiots even NEAR Unicron!”
“My Lord!” protested Krok.
“BE SILENT! I’m trying to save your Monoformer chassis! Unicron, listen to me! Straxus made a huge mistake for your goals! These are not special Decepticons! The truth is, they’re dispensable!”
“…You assume power makes one special!” laughed Unicron. “The Auto-troopers were needed to give me an idea of what a mere face in the crowd looks like, and the others are meant to show off how an individual comes about!”
“Such as the non-sequitur speaking oaf!” Unicron was only using Spinister to speak.
“Or the senile veteran who was built with a faulty targeting system,” this time, he used Misfire, “a statistical glitch who should have been killed in action when he was just a private!”
“Or the bureaucratic Con who did all his fighting in logistics!” Flywheels said this. Then all the Blendtrons spoke at once again.
“Or the cowardly bomb who wet himself in fear, thus permanently contaminating his payload!”
“…That’s why you didn’t explode when you were dropped?” Megatron asked Fulcrum.
“I’m not too keen on dying! Now, survival, oh WOW, huge fan! Put me down for some of that!”
“What about the former captain of the ship with the weirdest name in the Decepticon Fleet?” asked Unicron as he pointed to Crankcase. “His head wound was a failed suicide attempt when pirates boarded it! When he was demoted and the ship given to Krok, he shut out all forms of happiness!”
“And this jackhole right here,” grunted Crankcase, “is why I always said this planet was a dismal rock!”
“And, on the subject of Krok, let’s not forget that he was too afraid to transform, so he became a Monoformer! That action led to him being the officer with the worst casualty record among the Decepticons! The officer solely responsible for the Gigantion Fiasco!”
“THAT WAS YOU?!” roared Megatron. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF DISADVANTAGE YOUR FAILURE GAVE US?!”
“No! My strategists were to blame for that!” begged Krok.
“All of them: identified as failures, marked down for execution, but saved from the Smelting Pool by my servant, Straxus!” laughed Unicron.
“Saved…to be sacrificed to our master!” cheered Nemesis Prime. As the fight went on, Bumblebee handed Fulcrum his spare pistol as he activated his weapons systems. Fulcrum then looked at the pistol, then at Crankcase…then got an idea.
“Crankcase, you still got a Tarbaulic Acid Pill on you?” he asked.
“You’re not weaseling your way out of this!” snapped Crankcase.
“It’s not for me, it’s for my payload.”
“…ARE YOU STUPID?! THAT’S WHAT UNICRON WANTS!”
“Not if I jump correctly.” Soundwave, who was staying silent the whole trip, then piped up.
“Is help required?”
“…Dude, if I go off, you’ll be caught up in the explosion.”
“Sacrifice: necessary.”
“…Then what are we waiting for?”
“For us!” snapped Buzzsaw as he and Ratbat approached them.
“What’s going on?!” asked Frenzy. He, Laserbeak, and Ravage then felt a jolt go through their heads. They couldn’t hear Soundwave’s thoughts anymore!
“FULCRUM, TRANSFORM!” Fulcrum’s kibble then surrounded him as he turned into his bomb mode. Soundwave, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat transformed.
“Buzzsaw, Ratbat, Powerlinx!” commanded Soundwave as Fulcrum rested on top. The two cassettes joined at each side and Soundwave plowed through.
“SOUNDWAVE, COME BACK!” shouted Megatron.
“Operation: Absolution,” declared Soundwave. He briefly connected Fulcrum’s mind to his and, in the faster computer world of their brains, they sang Frank Sinatra’s My Way. It actually took 10 seconds before Soundwave made the fatal bump in the road, causing Fulcrum to fall off and hit the ground. The resulting explosion engulfed the four Decepticons as well as all the Blendtrons. The light shone through every part of the caverns, temporarily blinding everyone. They soon looked at the smoking crater where Soundwave, two of his cassettes, and Fulcrum once existed.
“…In light of your bravery,” muttered Megatron as he bowed his head in respect, “I hereby declare you toil and misery exempt. Rest well, Soundwave, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat of Xitra. You flare, you flicker, you fade.”
“They certainly did all that when they were alive!” laughed multiple voices. Everyone goggled as the Blendtrons stood up…with FULCRUM among their number! “You know,” mused the Blendtrons, “I have to admit, that was rather gutsy of Fulcrum. He actually showed off his bravery in his final moments. …Pity he had to take Soundwave with him. Oh, speaking of taking someone out in that regard, Nemesis, remember that power I gave you?”
“Use it?” asked Nemesis.
“Bingo!”
“I’ll need to separate Optimus from the group.”
“Leave that to me and your compatriots.” The Blendtrons and Terrorcons then leapt onto the group. Everyone was doing their best to keep Krok and Crankcase alive. The fight allowed Nemesis to get Optimus away from the group. He kept hammering on Optimus, making him dizzy.
“NOW, GRID OF DOMINATION!” shouted Nemesis. “SNUFF OUT THEIR LIGHTEST HOUR!” His chest opened up and moved his organic component out of the Grid’s way. The Grid then fired purple light at Optimus, putting him into immense pain! It then shrouded Optimus completely.
“OPTIMUS!” called Megatron. The light then faded, revealing not Optimus Prime, but Orion Pax! Orion got up and saw what had happened.
“Technical difficulties?” laughed Nemesis. “Don’t bother trying to fix it! Your connection to the Matrix is forever bricked!” Orion took the Matrix out of his chest and slapped it repeatedly, then tried to open it. …It was no use; the Matrix wouldn’t respond.
“You know, the thing about reading my moves,” called the Blendtrons to Megatron, “with Dark Energon, it makes it a two-way street! I could read YOUR thoughts too! Using the Matrix to put me back to sleep, I applaud that, but I wasn’t about to let you get me while I was constructing my new body! I WILL rise, one way or another! Now, Krok, Crankcase…you are required.”
“…It is time, then,” muttered Krok in defeat.
“Yes, it is your time!”
“…I’ve had enough of life anyway,” muttered Crankcase.
“Then it’s agreed. We embrace it,” declared Krok. “Crankcase, fall in.” Crankcase tossed a device to the ground that generated a force-field trapping everyone, minus Krok and Crankcase.
“CRANKCASE, LOWER THIS DOME AT ONCE!” roared Megatron.
“It’s our time,” remarked Krok. “So, we march.”
“Into oblivion?” asked Crankcase.
“Into GLORIOUS oblivion.”
“That’s what I want to see!” cheered the Blendtrons. “Come to me! Become me!”
“Crankcase, head up! Head up and march!” Krok and Crankcase held their heads up, stood at attention, and marched up towards Unicron.
“We die now, Sir?” asked Crankcase.
“We die for the Decepticons! All our lives, we have waited for this! And now, THE TIME HAS COME!” The Blendtrons cut them down rather messily, then fired streams of light into the corpses.
“NO!” wailed Windblade.
Galvatron doubled over in pain at Autobot base. “Galvatron!” called Jazz.
“They…they failed!” he gasped. “Unicron is…coming!”
“Sweet ME, that would have been dull if I didn’t interrupt them!” growled all 13 Blendtrons. “I hate heroic speeches, don’t you? Oh well, as they said, it’s time!” A giant ball of purple light with a face then rose from the depths and surrounded the Blendtrons. They were then torn apart, wire by wire, and reassembled into a new form. It was a tank with spikes protruding from the front, a big gun barrel on the left, and a smaller one on the right.
“Now,” said the tank in just one voice, “let’s see what I can do! UNICRON, TRANFORM!” The sides of the tank split away and swung down while the cockpit folded into a chest unit. The assembly holding the front of the tank split in half and folded to become arms while feet unfolded from the bottom of the legs. A head with two curved horns then popped up from the chest and the optics flashed in a purple light. Unicron had finally completed his transformation! “Corporeal again! WHOLE AGAIN!”
“Orders, Lord Unicron?” asked Nemesis as the Terrorcons bowed.
“We strike the Autobot base. That’s where everyone is gathered!” Unicron opened his own Bridge portal. “TERRORCONS, IT’S FEASTING TIME!” He led his minions into the portal.
“TELETRAAN! BRIDGE US BACK!” ordered Megatron. He managed to disable the force-field and led everyone into the Ground Bridge.
It was utter chaos in the Autobot base. Everyone was firing on Unicron to no avail as the Terrorcons damaged the whole base, the protection spells Amy, Sira, and Optimus had cast finally becoming unraveled. The away team returned and joined in the fray, only to be ragdolled by Unicron. Megatron was doing his best to hold his own against the Chaos Bringer as Orion keyed in a command for Teletraan 1. His avatar popped up. “Orion, if I do that…!”
“The base is already lost!” insisted Orion. “I know I’m not a Prime right now, but I’m still the superior officer! Now get yourself to safety!”
“…Yes, Sir,” sighed Teletraan. He then vanished from the screen and all base-related servers exploded.
“…Smart bot,” mused Unicron as he continued thrashing Megatron. Soon, everyone was gasping at the feet of Unicron and the Terrorcons.
“Wh…whu…how…why…?” stammered Megatron.
“Because you’re green!” laughed Unicron.
“…You mean…”
“No, not like Makeshift! Although, I CAN feel the envy from you two.”
“Oh, can we NOT!” protested Makeshift.
“I mean that you’re a novice, an amateur! You’re surrounded by people who’ve seen more action in a week than you have in your entire life, even taking the first war into account! Hell, Orion’s just 160 and he defeated a rogue wizard, made Teletraan 1 sane, and found out the names of the bots that were sacrificed all those years ago in a botched ritual to make weapons in my name!”
“Wait, that old story’s true?!” yelped Megatron.
“They’re still talking to me,” muttered Orion.
“And the worst part is, trying to brute-force your way to victory isn’t even new! Stop me if this sounds familiar.” Unicron then cleared his throat before he adopted a “tough-guy” stance. “RAGH! I’M MEGATRON! I BEAT EVERYONE IN KAON! I’M THE NEW LORD OF THE DECEPTICONS EVEN THOUGH I DON’T KNOW WHAT DECEPTICONS REALLY BELIEVE IN!” He then dropped the act. “See? Anyone can do it.”
“…That’s a horrible impression,” muttered Megatron.
“But NOT inaccurate,” remarked Orion.
“WHY ARE YOU HELPING HIM?!”
“For my sake, I bet even Starscream or Skywarp could have done it!” laughed Unicron. “They just weren’t stupid enough to try! And, considering that they yeeted themselves off Mobius, that threshold is VAST! Now, how about you stop flailing uselessly, calm yourself down, and quit acting like Vegeta?” Megatron snarled, then he fell to his knees and put his hands to the floor as his face turned to one of defeat. “I don’t know what’s more broken, the base, your friends, or your spirit.”
“Just kill me already.”
“Spirit, it is!” Unicron then pointed his palm to Megatron as a small ball of purple energy formed. The Chaos Bringer’s smile then faded. “Seriously, way to bring down the mood.”
“IS THIS ALL JUST A GAME TO YOU?!”
“A game? Hardly! If this were a game, I’d be having fun!”
“…Fine! Destroy this world! But, know this! If and when you do, you’ll still have a whole universe resisting you!” Unicron held his pose for a little longer as he considered Megatron’s words.
“…Huh. You know what, you’re right.” The energy sphere then vanished as Unicron dropped his hand. “Terrorcons, change of plans!”
“What?” asked Nemesis.
“What?” repeated Megatron.
“Disciples of Primus and friends, turn those frowns upside down!” declared Unicron. “You’re not dying today!”
“Wait, what?!” called Megatron. “Why?!”
“Careful, kiddo, don’t want that gift horse to BITE you! You’ve just given me an idea, that’s all. What WOULD I accomplish if I just destroyed the planet now? I’d have people resisting me all across the universe, not surrendering to fear immediately, and making me expend worthless energy in putting down resistance groups. No, the whole universe needs to await my arrival in fear at the same time!”
“Oh, what in the Pit are you planning now?!”
“My revolution which WILL be televised! Go take care of your own and be sure to watch the news!” Unicron and the Terrorcons then left through the front door before transforming and leaving the ruined base.