Previously on Tales of the Transformers-
The Transformers' war has opened up on a new front on the Planet Earth after the battle of Kansas City. Optimus Prime and the Autobots stand firm as Earth's defenders, while the Decepticons hide in the shadows, biding their time until the right moment to exact their revenge...
Originating from the mechanical world of Cybertron, the Transformers are a race of beings gifted with the ability to change their bodies into vehicles, weapons, and beasts of any size and shape. For millions of years, two separate factions of Transformers have warred for control of their home planet, the heroic Autobots under Optimus Prime and the evil Decepticons, lead by Megatron. In a galaxy wide counteroffensive, Megatron's forces sent the Autobots into full retreat back to Cybertron, where Optimus Prime and a crew of Autobots then left their world to find a planet unknown to the Transformers in the hope of establishing a base to rally Autobot survivors and finally wrest control of their home-world back from the Decepticons. However, after being pursued by Megatron and crashing on Earth, the Autobots were reactivated after forty two years in stasis by a human named Richard Ericsson, Optimus and his Autobot crew befriended the human and his family, but the Decepticons soon discovered Optimus' location on Earth and attacked. Back on Cybertron, Ultra Magnus' Optimus Prime's second in command, lead the remaining Autobots to resist the Decepticons, where Kup then contacted an old friend and love interest of Optimus, Elita One, to set out and find their lost leader and restore communications with Cybertron. While all of this was happening, Megatron set his sights on conquering Earth, and to do it he enlisted the help of his secretly treacherous chief of the Decepticon Special Projects Division, Shockwave. Together they built a space bridge, a device with the potential to transport anything to any point in the universe instantly and brought over a Decepticon Army. Optimus Prime was captured in battle after surrendering himself to save Elita One, but Prowl and the rest of the Autobots fought valiantly to stop the Decepticons' attack on Kansas City until Elita One could rescue Optimus Prime and summon reinforcements from Cybertron. Meanwhile, Shockwave and his clone of Megatron, Archforce, tried to overthrow Megatron as leader of the Decepticons. A massive battle ensued between the two factions in the city in a stalemate until the Decepticons' space bridge was destroyed, their ship, the Nemesis was damaged heavily, and Megatron losing sight of the battle and ordering his forces to destroy Shockwave instead of the Autobots, the Decepticons were defeated and routed from the city and fled into hiding. Now the Autobots remain ever vigilant in their goal of protecting Earth and its life...
Two weeks had passed since the battle of Kansas City and things were returning slightly to normal. Elita One and her crew had taken to the stars once more to continue the fight against the Decepticons across space. Ultra Magnus had left behind seven Autobots, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Tracks, Brawn, Bluestreak, Trailbreaker, and Blaster to bolster Optimus' forces. John-Richard, Harris, and Jessie came home from school in their guardians to the Ark to hang out for a while. They were excited to get to know the new Autobots. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were brothers, and as such bickered among themselves. It somewhat reminded John Richard of his relationship with Robert at times. Tracks was proud of his appearance and shiny paint, though was actually likable because he was indeed a rather handsome 'bot.
"They call me Brawn. Any guesses why?" Brawn said. With one hand he lifted up the entire rack that John Richard, Harris, and Jessie were sitting on.
"No idea." Harris replied, facetiously. Trailbreaker demonstrated his impressive shield projection ability by encasing himself in a bubble, though he lost control when Bumblebee mischievously wobbled it and rolled into the wall, making everyone laugh.
"Ha ha...very funny." He chuckled, sarcastically. Bluestreak introduced himself and went on and on. Everyone knew that he enjoyed the sound of his voice a little bit too much.
"Now do you want to see my tattoo of a..." Bluestreak began, but before he could continue into more graphic detail, as the Autobots already knew about Bluestreak's tattoo of a rather scantily clad fembot on his back.
"Okay, Bluestreak, I think the humans know all they need to know about that, thank you." Skids said, defensively. A loud bang was heard from Wheeljack's workshop down the corridor which made everyone turn around. Bluestreak accidentally bumped into Brawn, who in turn fell into the bunk which threw the humans off of it. Jessica let out a yelp.
"Ahh!"
"Jessie!" Arcee exclaimed as she turned around and caught the humans with her lightning fast reflexes.
"Thanks, Arcee." Jessie said. Arcee handed John Richard and Harris to Bumblebee and Skids.
"What's Wheeljack up to now?" Skids wondered.
"Let's find out!" Jessie suggested as the Autobots changed to their vehicle modes and sped over to investigate. They walked into Wheeljack's workshop to find him with Perceptor on the other end of the subspace communicator helping him.
"No, no, no, the other port! That one goes there, that one goes there!" Perceptor fussed as a diagram showed the correct connection between two conduits and their corresponding manifolds. John-Richard piped up,
"What's that you're working on?" Wheeljack turned around and answered the human's question.
"This is the ground bridge, it's an idea Perceptor and I have been working on for a little bit. So, basically it's a mini-space bridge, but it's designed to transport us to any point on Earth." Wheeljack explained. "And I'm almost done, too." Wheeljack was very proud of his creations and had made many since the Autobots' arrival on Earth, all with varying degrees of success and the ground bridge was to be his most ambitious yet. With their curiosity satisfied, Bumblebee, Skids, and Arcee with their human partners left Wheeljack to his devices. After tinkering more and more over the next few days, the ground bridge was completed and ready to unveil to Optimus. Wheeljack, with Brawn and Huffer's help, carried the ground bridge to the bridge of the Ark. Optimus and Prowl were notified beforehand about his invention and were eager to see a demonstration, as were the other Autobots and the humans.
"Optimus, I present to you..." Wheeljack said, grandly as Huffer yanked the sheet covering the device off, "The ground bridge!" He continued as Brawn flung metal filings reused as confetti around for a rather dull sensation of pomp and circumstance. "The ground bridge is a smaller version of the space bridge that Perceptor and I have been working on together."
"Great collab, Wheeljack, but does it actually work?" Jazz pondered.
"I'm glad you asked, Jazz!" Wheeljack answered. He powered up the ground bridge's power cells and entered a set of coordinates into his handheld remote. A swirling green and blue vortex opened not unlike a full sized space bridge in the command center, then took a set of turbo-pliers off of his utility belt and threw them in the portal. On the other side, Richard Ericsson was shaving his face at the farmhouse when the ground bridge portal opened behind him and the turbo-pliers fell on the floor with a loud 'plunk.'
"Gah!" he exclaimed, cutting himself on his razor. John Richard stuck his head through the vortex to explain. Going through the ground bridge was an interesting experience for him, it felt like he was dipping his head underwater but without getting wet.
"Sorry, Dad! Wheeljack's testing out this cool new mini-space bridge!" Then he stuck his head back through in the Ark.
"Hey, Richard, can I get my pliers back?" Wheeljack asked, sticking his head through the portal next.
"Uh, yeah,sure." Replied Richard. Wheeljack reached through the portal and grabbed his pliers, then it closed and Richard could clean himself up. Optimus and Prowl were thoroughly impressed and a little amused with Wheeljack's demonstration.
"Good job, Wheeljack. With some refinement this could be a valuable tool to respond to Decepticon incidents instantly. Thanks for all the rides, Jetfire." Prowl commended Wheeljack. Jetfire was also proud to be of service to the Autobots in carrying them to respond to incidents and was glad to have this burden lifted from his shoulders. Prowl was right in that the ground bridge, with some fine tuning, could be valuable for the Autobots whenever the Decepticons were to return into the fold. In a somewhat fortuitous turn of events, Teletraan 1's monitor flashed to life and Optimus and Prowl went to investigate it.
"Optimus Prime, an energy pulse has been detected at these coordinates." Teletraan reported. The coordinates pointed to a remote island in the South Pacific Ocean.
"Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Ironhide, Hound-prepare to roll out. Wheeljack, open the Ground Bridge." Optimus boomed.
"Optimus, I haven't done any long range testing on the ground bridge yet. I don't know if I can get you over and back." Wheeljack protested.
"Then consider this the inaugural test. Autobots, transform and roll out!" Optimus said as he had the Autobots he had selected to accompany him changed to vehicle mode, then Teletraan 1 transmitted the coordinates to the ground bridge emitter and the portal opened. Optimus and the Autobots revved their engines and one by one sped through to the other side. Suddenly, something went wrong. Teletraan 1's screen flashed red and read
"System Error." Then cut to black.
"That can't be good!" Wheeljack exclaimed. Teletraan 1 had shut down after the power surge brought on by the ground bridge, and as a result the coordinates of Optimus and his team had not been processed and saved beforehand, though he had yet to figure this out.
Optimus and his Autobot team emerged on the other side of the portal on a tropical island in the South Pacific Ocean. They changed to robot mode and stuck together in a close group with their weapons drawn, expecting an ambush out of the jungle. They made their way out of the jungle and onto a powdery white beach. With the exception of Optimus, the other Autobots were awestruck with the beauty before them. "This place is amazing!" Hound marveled. The Autobots had never seen this part of Earth since arriving and were amazed. Optimus, too, took some time to take in the beautiful scenery of the beach and jungle. However, on a mountaintop overlooking the island, a figure stood watching the Autobots frolicking like children on the beach. The figure was tall, dark, and had a single, yellow eye.
"Grimlock, bring them to me." He said in a cold voice. A Cybertronian and four beasts then emerged from a cave behind the figure. The larger of the two let out a low growl. He was a massive figure with gold, grey and red armor. His helmet was dark grey and covered with a blue visor and a dark grey mouthplate. He was Grimlock, leader of an Autobot splinter faction who called themselves 'Dinobots.' Millions of years ago, Grimlock and Optimus Prime were often at odds with one another until he finally had enough and the Dinobots went rogue, eventually landing on Earth.
"Optimus Prime..." He then turned to the four beasts, all of them being mechanical versions of extinct Earth Dinosaurs. They were Slag, Sludge, Snarl, and Swoop, whose beast modes were a Triceratops, a Brontosaurus, a Stegosaurus, and a Pteranodon, respectively. "Dinobots, we go. Have to eat tonight."Grimlock said as he then transformed into his own dinosaur mode, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and let out a audio-receptor splitting roar.
Down below on the beach, the Autobots heard the roar. "What was that?!" Hound exclaimed.
"Autobots, keep on your guard!" Optimus said. The Autobots quickly tightened their group as an ominous silence descended upon them. Then, out of the sun, the Pteranodon swooped in and snatched up Ironhide.
"Ironhide!" Prowl exclaimed as he opened fire with his rifle. The beast held Ironhide by his shoulders tight with its claws, making escape almost impossible. The Autobot Sergeant, however, was not one to give up, he though on his feet. He was able to deploy his combat from his wrist and slashed at the avian's wing. It let out a shriek and plummeted downward. On the beach, the rest of the Autobots battled the other Dinobots. Sludge stomped the ground with his massive feet, making Prowl almost lose his balance, but he changed to his car mode and cut donuts to kick up a cloud of sand and blind his opponent. With very little information about his opponent, Prowl was only trying to keep him at a distance, though he grossly overestimated Sludge's intelligence. With his opponent disoriented, Prowl then sped in and changed to robot, then landed a flying kick on Dinobot's jaw. Nearby, Sideswipe drew his swords and charged at Snarl with Sunstreaker at his side.
"Cover me, bro!" He told his brother. Sunstreaker fired a photon burst from his pistol, but Snarl replied by opening his mouth and spewing flames. The attack was successful, the Dinobot was distracted, or so Sideswipe thought. Snarl turned around and to his opponent's surprise he transformed into his robot mode. "Whoa! These guys can transform!" He exclaimed as he clashed swords with the Dinobot. Snarl was an unexpectedly good swordsmech. Sludge and Prowl's fight had given the Autobots that the Dinobots were mechanoids of only primitive intelligence. Optimus was still trying to get a signal through to Wheeljack to reopen the ground bridge, but there was something jamming his communicator. Everything suddenly went black for Optimus when Grimlock slashed him across the back with his energon saber. On Optimus' comlink, a signal got through to the Ark.
"Optimus? Optimus? Come in Optimus. Where are you?" Wheeljack asked through the radio. Grimlock heard Wheeljack's voice and was perplexed. The figure with whom Grimlock was speaking with on the cliff overlooking the island then transformed from his satellite cannon mode and landed on the beach. It was Shockwave. After the battle in Kansas City, he had managed to escape Megatron and flee to somewhere that the rest of the Decepticons could never find him, since he was now a rival of Megatron's. However, he had an elaborate plan to lure Megatron in and rather than fight him for leadership of the Decepticons, he would barter it. Shockwave had traced Optimus' transmission and had the specific coordinates of the Ark in his memory banks, which he would give to Megatron if he would step down as the leader of the Decepticons.
"Excellent work, Grimlock. You and your companions have earned your energon rations for tonight." Shockwave purred as the rest of the unconscious Autobots were taken back to the Dinobots' cave.
In Marie Byrd Land, at the crash site of the Nemesis, the Predacons had been awakened from aeons of stasis. Megatron was in Knockout's infirmary monitoring them. The first to emerge was their leader, named Razorclaw. The Predacon leader came to and bolted up from his circuit slab.
"Grrarrgh! I'll kill you all!" He roared, but Knockout jabbed him with his shock rod.
"Razorclaw. It's been a while, and I see you haven't changed. " Megatron said. Razorclaw looked up after he was on his knees from the jolt from Knockout's shock rod.
"Megatron." Razorclaw growled. He looked behind him and saw the other four Predacons Divebomb, Headstrong, Tantrum, and Rampage lying motionless, then he ran to them.
"Wake up! Wake up! GRARGH!" As he slapped Tantrum across the face. The hit jolted Tantrum to life and he woke with a loud yell.
"You'll die for that!" He roared as he got up and tackled Razorclaw. Megatron jumped in and broke up the fight between the two.
"Enough! He shouted. The other Predacons soon were awake and he gathered them on the bridge to brief them of their target, Shockwave.
"Shockwave. He's one of your best players, Lord Megatron. Why are you after him?" Razorclaw asked.
"Shockwave helped me build a space bridge to this planet, but he also built a clone of me with the hope he could take over leadership of the Decepticons. He obviously failed, and to prevent him from attempting again and swaying others to his cause, he is to be eliminated at any cost." Megatron explained. "He is extremely cunning and will not surrender so easily." Razorclaw and his team had their work cut out for them. If anyone could hunt down Shockwave, it would be them, for the Predacons had never failed to secure an objective.
"We'll take care of him, Lord Megatron. Don't you worry." Razorclaw replied, confidently. "Predacons, we've got our target!" The Predacons then set out on their hunt, and once they left they would not return without their prey.
"Is it going to work, My Liege?" Starscream asked Megatron.
"The files I procured from Straxus were in good enough order when I uploaded them to their hard drives." Megatron answered. "The Enigma of Combination will bring about my vengeance upon this planet and Optimus Prime!"