The Dimensional Crises
The Sequel to Another Dimensional Slip-Up you should be glad never happened...
I don't think I'm going to push on with this or anything, but I had this idea years back, and I may never really get into fanfiction writing ever again but the fact is I do need some practice at writing and I will go for a few chapters. This is kind of a mega-crossover sort of mess, so crediting absolutely every copyright holder is going to be a bit difficult. However you can rest assured that none of the characters depicted in this writing belong to me.
I am soooo rusty, I'm sure it's horrible. I will fix it up as I continue along...
Time: Several years after the events of 'Another Dimensional Slip-Up' story, Megatron naturally escaped from capture and has resumed the status quo battle with the Autobots over the fate of the earth.
Location: A secluded valley on the Earth hidden from human satellite systems by holographic technology where the Decepticons are building something.
Starscream flew lazily through the clouds followed by wingmen Thundercracker and Skywarp, purposefully delaying their trip. He wasn't in the mood to face Megatron at the moment so he was taking his time in answering his leader's summons.
"Starscream, you can't push this too long. No one here wants to get Megatron angry," grumbled Thundercracker.
The air commander's reply was just low enough to be indecipherable.
"I thought he was going to blow a fuse after that last stunt you pulled Starscream," quipped Skywarp. "Are you really going to push your luck again so soon?"
"All right, all right you miserable naggers," snarled the red and white seeker, "Increase velocity. We'll rendezvous with Megatron in a few cycles."
The jets all increased speed in unison heading for their destination.
Down on the ground underneath the false holographic valley floor Megatron heard the seeker jets approaching. He walked out to meet them as they landed and transformed into robot mode. "About time you got here Starscream, did you have to stop at a body shop or something?"
"Oh why waste time discussing the past mighty Megatron? Why don't you enlighten me on this grand new plan? The one I have been kept in the dark on ever since work began?" Starscream's voice was beginning to taint with a sneer, "The one that has diverted the vast majority of the Decepticons stationed on this mudball?"
Indeed the makeshift headquarters was filled with Decepticons, in addition to Megatron and the newly arrived seekers there was a small army crammed into the valley. Soundwave and his own miniature army of cassette-cons were of course present. Most of the Constructicons were working on machines of some sort while the Stunticons lazed about. Dirge, Ramjet, Thrust, Astrotrain, Octane, Blitzwing, Runabout, Runamok were among the Decepticons present. Most surprising of all was the presence of Shockwave who was overseeing some worker drones.
"We are committing fully to this operation, Starcream," said Megatron, "The Insecticons and Combaticons are on their way as well and should be here soon."
Including a few Decepticons he didn't entirely take stock of there were going to be over 40 Decepticons concentrated into this little rat hole, and for what? Now curiosity was starting to tug at Starscream's processors.
"What exactly would this operation be Megatron?" asked Starscream as he looked around, trying to figure out what this equipment could be for. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks and then spun around to face Megatron.
"Is that what I think it is?!" shouted Starscream, "That thing exploded the last time we made one! At that was the probably the best thing it did!"
"Ah, but the side-effect is exactly what we're after this time," said Megatron with an evil grin, "It has taken our scientists years to figure out what exactly happened to send us through the dimensional barrier, and now we have mastered this technology!" Megatron gestured grandly at a great ring embedded into a cliff wall.
"A door to travel between dimensions? Oh you can't be thinking of going back there can you?!" Starscream shouted. Looking around Starscream continued, "Anyway, this force would be absurdly overkill for that..."
"Exactly right Starscream. My plan is to home in on dimensions closer to our own and to smuggle energon from those worlds. With a safe supply chain of energon the Autobots know nothing about we will soon be able to overpower the Autobots and retake Cybertron!"
Starscream stood dumbfounded, there were so many holes in that basic premise he wasn't sure where to start. Eventually his thought process found something to hold on to and start questioning. "I assume you plan to send different teams to different dimensions, how do we make sure they can come back?"
Megatron pointed to several devices that would be hand-held for a Transformer and said, "These devices are meant to reverse the dimensional shift and should bring any Decepticon warrior right back home. And they are so easy to operate I think even you should be able to work them out," Megatron smirked at the verbal jab to his traitorous second in command.
"What about the energy consumption of this whole process? It will burn through energon surely!" Starscream tried to wait a moment for the answer but he couldn't hold the avalanche back for long, "How do you propose to keep this secret with so many of us here? The Autobots will suspect something very quickly! What if these dimensions are dangerous and we lose warriors? What if things follow us back? No one wants to face a dozen Optimus Primes! What if it's worse than that?! What if..."
CLANG! Starscream was cut short as Megatron caught him with a quick jab to face.
"STOP THAT COWARDLY BABBLING STARSCREAM! TRY TO ACT LIKE A DECEPTICON!!" roared Megatron, thoroughly cowing Starscream.
"I'm sorry Megatron, please forgive me," Starscream was already in groveling mode, his general response to pain from the tyrant, "but maybe if you had allowed me to be part of the planning then I would not have so many questions. I'm merely worried for the success of the Decepticon cause."
Megatron scowled at the oh-so-clearly-lying Starscream trying to decide just what to do to him when the sudden sound of weapons fire alarmed everyone in the area.
"What's happening?" demanded Megatron through an overall com link.
"Megatron, we were followed!" Onslaught, leader of the Combaticons, responded over the radio in reply..
"There's a small army of Autobots after us-us," came Shrapnel's strange echoing voice, "We are betrayed-betrayed!"
"Already? We haven't even completed our drone tests!" snarled Megatron. He ran out towards the edges of the holographic cover, "DECEPTICONS! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"
Starscream sighed in relief. "Well, I guess this insane little plot is never going to get off the ground." Pulling himself up he quickly regained his composure, pretending nothing had happened. "Seekers to me! It's time to send the Autobots to the recyclers!"
"I'm sure of it Prime, there's hologram technology at work here," said Hound, "it's such a big job I can practically smell it."
Optimus Prime nodded and turned to the main body of his troops, "Arielbots, it's time to merge into Superion, Megatron has a ton of firepower here, we need to answer him with everything we've got!"
"Blaster, I assume you're ready to deal with Soundwave?"asked the Autobot leader.
"Always Prime!"
"Me Grimlock lead Dinobots! Transform and crush Decepticons!" barked the Dinobot leader as he transformed into his Tyrannosaurus mode.
"Omega Supreme..." Jazz was about to relay some orders to the gargantuan Autobot but Omega seemed uninterested in hearing from him.
"I am ready," monotoned the nearly unstoppable Autobot sentinel, "Decepticons! Your end has come."
"Alright then. We might not see the Decepticons for a while, but they're here and we're going to stop them!" Optimus Prime looked approvingly over the large force assembled, his soldiers were ready to go, "Commence the attack!"
And with that the Autobots charged forward into unknown odds, blasters ready to go.
The battle was a flurry of maddening chaos as battles generally are. A mad rush of giant metal bodies ran headlong into equally violent opposition. At first the two sides settled into a standoff, though individuals darted about, dashed forward or retreated from danger, the overall forces stayed in roughly the same relative position. Slowly but surely though the Autobots began to gain ground. Due in part to the Dinobots' mad charge scattering so many Decepticons and the weathering of Decepticon air superiority with the loss of several seekers thanks to various sources or both the Autobots pushed their way into the dimensional complex.
Megatron reeled from a blow that Optimus Prime had delivered, falling onto a table littered with small devices. The Decepticon tyrant snarled in frustration and tore the table from its foundation and lifted it over his head. He had just turned to hurl it at Optimus Prime when he stopped dead in his tracks.
"NO! YOU MUST NOT FIRE!!" he screamed when he realized that Omega Supreme was aiming in his general vicinity, in fact at the dimensional machines scattered about.
"I fail to see any reason why I should not," Omega Supreme stated bluntly before firing.
Megatron flew forward, frantically grabbing two devices before slamming into Optimus Prime, sending both robots falling to the ground. Omega Supreme's blast continued on, tearing right through the master control of the extra-dimensional technology. The machine exploded in spectacular fashion, but there was more to it than that, a wave of light also emanated from the machine. The light spread out like an expanding ball, encompassing the entire battlefield, blinding the combatants. And as it washed over them, both Autobot and Decepticon merely disappeared.
The valley stood, damaged from the warfare that occurred only moments ago but otherwise quiet. Not a soul or spark stirred within it for several miles. The Transformers have left the planet.
Optimus Prime groaned as his vision came back online and he forced himself to sit up. The scenery around him was not unlike the valley he had just been at, but it was tranquil, undisturbed by the robot's war, and there was no machinery littering the area. He assessed his damage, the battle and shockwave of the explosion had done some damage and he wasn't quite up to fighting form, but he was operational and would be able to self-repair with enough time.
"What happened? Where am I?"
Suddenly he caught sight of Megatron, just now coming back online. The Decepticon moaned lightly and began to reach forward. Optimus could see that Megatron was clinging on to some kind of small device and was reaching for another. Optimus rolled himself over and clamped his hand down on the device Megatron was reaching for.
"Prime," Megatron growled as Optimus picked the device up and began to examine it.
"What is this Megatron? Do you know what's happened? Why are you so interested in this device?" Looking it over it seemed to be some kind of advanced sensor system, but its readout wasn't immediately clear to the Autobot leader.
"I think that lumbering oaf of a guardian sentinel just threw us all into another dimension," Megatron's anger was clear in his voice as he started to push himself up.
"How is that possible?"
"We were trying to replicate the accident that happened to us several years ago, but to make it controllable," Megatron shrugged, the plan was over with, there wasn't much sense in staying too secretive, especially now that Optimus Prime was holding a very vital piece of equipment. "But because that arrogant behemoth destroyed the equipment its energies were unleashed at random."
"One universe just wasn't big enough for you was it?"
Megatron laughed, his old nemesis did have a fair understanding of him. "Something like that."
"I don't see any others here Megatron, we must be the only ones who landed in this particular dimension," Optimus stood up to look around from a better height to make sure his analysis was right.
"A good guess Optimus, probably that explosion cast us Transformers throughout the multiverse. The device I have in my hand was meant to reopen the dimensional tunnel, to return a traveler back to his own universe."
"But that explosion created an unknowable number of pathways through dimensions, it can't be trusted on its own, it could jump you at random or try to throw you into every dimension that became linked at once. That's why you need to sync it to a more advanced sensor," Optimus Prime finished.
"Good enough Prime, now hand it over," Megatron threatened, rising up.
"Either of these machines could be destroyed in a fight between us regardless of who wins Megatron," Optimus Prime warned, "I really think this is going to have to be one of those distasteful times we have to work together."
Megatron seemed to slump, a little in defeat perhaps, but he nodded. He wasn't in any condition to fight anyway, sure Optimus wasn't much better off, but it just didn't seem worth it at the moment.
"We should try to regroup both our forces before returning," Optimus Prime said, he didn't want to leave Decepticons free to wreck havoc in potentially defenseless realities and he had no intention of stranding any of his own warriors.
"Agreed," Megatron figured this would be a condition of their temporary alliance. He could replace most Decepticons but at the very least Soundwave was one of a kind and if luck just happened to favor him, they might find more Decepticons faster than they did Autobots, and that would present a grand opportunity.
Somewhere in the void between realities, something stirred. A swarm, a thing of millions of bodies but one timeless hunger began to wake. It was always sensitive to a weakening of the dimensional barriers, the incident years back had not been quite enough to gain its attention, but this was entirely different. So many worlds had just become connected and the walls between them severely broken. On those worlds it could once again after so many eons finally feed again.