Earth, millions of years before the first appearance of the first Homo Sapiens...

In the currently-crashed spaceship of the Maximals, the Axalon (which also served as their base), Rhinox was sitting at his working bench, killing time by working on his newest experiment: A coffee machine made from spare Maximal parts, to create a coffee that is actually edible for robots. He got the idea after viewing a few of those old human Detective Series from Earth. A few of them had managed to appear on the daily Maximal program on TV, and 'Kojak' was his favorite.

Every once in a while, he would take a sidewards glance to the Axalon's main computer, which was scanning the immediate area for any signs of unusual activities, like the appearance of Predacons, for instance.

Until now, everything was quiet.

Rattrap was sitting in another chair, challenging the computer to a game of digital Poker.

"Oh, curse that bloody computer," he ranted. "How come every time I challenge it to a game, I'm the loser?"

"To say it with the words of the great Optimus Prime, Rattrap..." his burly friend smirked. "It's destiny!"

The sabotage expert sighed in defeat and switched off the game simulator.

That's when the scanner suddenly started beeping. Both Maximals looked up from what they were doing and Rhinox went over to the main computer.

"Now what do we have here?" he mumbled. "Hmmmm? Four energy signatures... and they seem to be Stasis Pods."

Optimus Primal, the Maximals' leader, just entered the control room and overheard Rhinox' last statement. "How could they have appeared there without our scanners having detected them earlier?" he wondered.

"Why, indeed?" Rhinox murmured. "If they had fallen from orbit, we would have noticed them as soon as they entered the atmosphere. And if someone had brought them there, we would have noticed as well. Besides, the only ones who could do this would be the Predacons... and what use would it have for Megatron to put four Stasis Pods into our territory?"

"Yeah, old dino-butt would use any chance to corrupt any fallen Protoforms into Preds, that's for sure," Rattrap exclaimed.

"Well, whatever happened, we have to make sure the Predacons don't use them for their purposes. Rattrap, contact Dinobot and Airazor. They're the closest to that sector. I will go and join them. Rhinox, find out if the number of Stasis Pods in orbit has changed."

"I'm on it, Optimus!" Rhinox nodded and got to work. And while Optimus (unlike the other two, he was in Beast Mode) went to the escape hatch, Rattrap reached for the communicator.

"Rattrap to Dinobot! Yo, chopperface, do you read me?"

The annoyed voice of the former Predacon came out of the device: "What do you want now, vermin?"

"We found four stasis pods near your current position. Optimus is on his way. He wants you and Airazor to check it out."

Dinobot grumbled. "The day I'm gonna listen to one of your orders is the day the Pit freezes over!"

"Well, then, don't do it because I told you so... do it because Mega-jerk is gonna send his flunkies at the Stasis Pods if we don't hurry! So get your scaly butt in gear and get over there!"

Dinobot snarled through the communicator. "We'll talk about this later, vermin! Dinobot out!"

Rattrap disconnected. "Sheesh, chopperface is getting grumpier by the day..."

----

Some time later, Optimus Primal came descending from the skies, using the jets of his robot mode. Airazor and Dinobot were already waiting for him, in Beast Mode.

Just before he landed, Optimus called: "Beast Mode!" and transformed into his gorilla form.

He looked into the rocky cave where the scanner had found the Stasis Pods.

"Status?" he asked.

"The pods are intact," Airazor reported, her falcon head tilting as she spoke, indicating the bird-like behavior of her Beast Mode. "And no signs of any Predacon since we arrived here."

"I'm still saying this is a trap!" Dinobot growled. The brown-scaled Velociraptor looked into the cave suspiciously. "Maybe Megatron somehow covered the pods' presence from our scanners and is using them to lure us into a trap. I say we fire a few shots in there, to lure out any Predacons that might be hidden in there."

"Out of the question," Optimus stated. "The cave might not be stable, not to mention that we could hit the pods. Besides, if there are active Protoforms in there, Megatron would already have brought them to his base. Still, we should hurry and bring them back to the Axalon."

"I agree," Airazor nodded. "The fact that no Predacons have appeared yet doesn't mean that they won't come here."

"Very well, then let me go first," Dinobot insisted. "In case of an ambush, I can defend myself best against any close combatants."

Optimus sighed. Dinobots suspiciousness could be tedious at times.

"Very well, do it."

Dinobot nodded. "Dinobot - Maximize!"

After having turned back into his robot form, he pulled out his rotating blades and carefully stepped into the cave.

Shortly after, he called: "It looks like no one is around. Still, there might be hidden tunnels. I request that we thorough search the cavern walls for hidden entrances."

"Dinobot, we don't have time for this," Optimus shouted. "We have to get the Protoforms out of here, now!"

Airazor stepped up to the pods. "The cavern walls prevented the pods from scanning for any life forms the Protoforms could use as a Beast Mode, they are just too thick."

"We might have to transport them to the base like this," Optimus said in a worried voice. "I don't like it, but it seems to be the only option we have. Lucky thing Rhinox was able to construct a hovering carriage in case we would have to transport bigger objects across the plains."

"I'll go out and contact him," Dinobot volunteered. "The Energon within these walls prevents me to call him from within."

Optimus nodded and Dinobot turned back to his raptor form, walking out of the cave.

"This is strange..." Optimus said as he looked back at the Stasis Pods. "I don't remember that we had this many female Protoforms back on the Axalon... after all, not that many female Transformers exist at all."

"I know, we always have been a minority on Cybertron," Airazor smirked. "Maybe these pods aren't from the Axalon at all..."

"I wonder..." Optimus frowned. "Or someone changed the Protoforms' appearances..."

Dinobot came back in. "The vermin is sending the cat to bring the carriers," he hissed. "He will be here shortly. No Predacons are approaching us, and the number of Stasis Pods in orbit is still the same as before."

"Well, that's just prime..." the Maximal leader sighed.

----

Ami blinked. What happened? The last thing she remembered was that Setsuna, in her new form as 'Time Splitter', had reached for the Garnet Orb... and then there had been a bright flash.

Her vision was a bit blurry, and she could hear voices in the same room as her. Finally, she could see clearly again.

"Hey," a male, cheerful voice spoke up. "You're awake? How do you feel?"

Ami gasped in surprise and sat up. That creature in front of her... it looked similar to what Setsuna had turned into. But at the same time, completely different.

It was a male, with blue, metallic 'skin' visible on his face. His metal plating had a strange pattern on it. Almost like that of a cheetah...

"Hey, it's okay!" he told her. "You're safe now. We found your Stasis Pod outside. Can you get up?"

Ami shook her head. "I... I think so," she said, a bit woozy. She felt really strange... as if her body wouldn't quite respond as she wanted.

She stood up and looked around the weird, technological chamber. It looked right out of a scene in 'Star Wars'. She saw other humanoid robots standing nearby. Again, she wondered how she got here, and if those guys had to do anything with Setsuna's change.

"Where... where am I? And who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Cheetor!" the tall robot grinned. "The coolest cat around here. And these are my friends."

"You are in our base, the Axalon," a more bulky robot explained. He had hands similar to those of a monkey. "I am Optimus Primal, the leader of the Maximals. May I ask for your name?"

"M-maximals?" Ami wondered. "What's a Maximal?"

They looked at each other in confusion. "Oy, seems like the girl's circuits are all messed up," a slightly smaller robot with buck teeth said. "Hey, we all are Maximals, you and me, even chopperface here."

The tall, dark-faced robot next to him growled as if he was offended.

"Me? But I'm not a... I'm... I'm..."

Ami had just looked down at herself... and saw a pair of wite-furred paws. "W-what's going on? Why am I on four paws? What happened to me? Where are Usagi and the others?"

Rhinox leaned over to Optimus and whispered: "Seems like her memory data is a bit scrambled. I might have to take a look at it later."

"Maybe it's something similar that happened to Inferno," Airazor assumed. "He also seems to believe that he's a real fire ant."

"Hey, no worries! You can go back to normal in no time," Cheetor assured her. "Just say your name, and then 'Maximize'. Say, what's your name?"

"Ami..." the female arctic fox muttered. "My name is Ami."

"Ami?" Airazor asked. "An unusual name for a Maximal, but a pretty one!"

"Um, thank you..." Ami decided to give it a try. "Uh... Ami, Maximize!"

It felt weird, extremely weird. It was as if all her internal and external organs were rearranged, but she felt no pain. When the transformation was complete, she almost stumbled backwards, but was able to catch herself.

She then looked down at herself once again and saw... a humanoid robot.

'So, what happened to Setsuna must have happened to me as well,' she figured and remembered how Setsuna had transformed from a giant cockroach into her humanoid robot form.

"Welcome aboard, Ami," Optimus said and offered her his hand. Hesitantly, she accepted the handshake.

"Now we only have to wait until your friends wake up from hibernation," Rattrap joked.

"My friends?" Ami gasped. "They are here as well?"

----

Minako blinked. Then she winced.

"Ow, my head..." she groaned. "Feels like Makoto hit me with her biggest frying pan... again and again... and again... and again..."

"Will you stop that, Minako?" a cranky voice came from the other corner of the room. "I'm trying to wake up here..."

"Oops, sorry about that, Rei..." Minako replied as she stumbled out of the weird apparatus she had been placed in. "Why can't the floor stop shaaaking...?"

"Heck, what did I DO last night?" Rei muttered. "Wait a minute... What are you doing in my bedroom, Minako? Hey... This isn't my bedroom! Where am I?"

She let herself flop out of what she previously had believed to be her bed.

Then she found herself to be eye in eye with a pair of big eyes... in the middle of a furry face.

"WHAAAAAAAH!" Rei screamed and jumped back. "A GIANT CAT!"

"WHAAAAAAAH!" Minako screamed and jumped back as well. "A GIANT, TALKING RAVEN!"

The 'raven' blinked and took a closer look at the slightly oversized cat with the spotted fur. That voice... could it be...?

"Minako?"

"The raven knows my name!" Minako gasped, curling her furry body up into a ball. "Have I lost it or what?"

Rei blinked. "Raven?" she murmured and took a look at herself.

Black feathers, wings, yup, definitely a raven.

Well, crud!

Rei sighed. "Minako... it's me, Rei! Something very weird is going on here, I'm afraid..."

"So it's not a dream?" the spotted feline asked and peeked out from in-between her tail and forepaws.

"I'm afraid not," the shrine maiden turned black bird sighed. "Whatever Setsuna did to us back in that restaurant, it brought us here and somehow turned us into animals."

"Oh my god... What am I? What am I?"

Rei looked at her hysterical friend closely. "I'm no expert, but it seems like you are some kind of small cat of prey..."

"An ocelot," another voice spoke up. "And would you two please quiet down, my head is hurting."

The two former human girls looked around and almost had a heart attack when they saw a big, grey wolf lying in another corner of the room.

And the voice it used to speak...

"Mamoru?" Rei asked curiously.

"The very same," Mamoru nodded. "But don't ask me what's going on, I'm as clueless as you are."

"Well, I might have some ideas..." a new voice came from the door, which opened by sliding to the side.

The three animals looked at the white-furred fox that came padding into the cell, followed by a cheetah.

"Ami?" Minako guessed. The fox nodded.

Minako looked over to the cheetah. "I hate to ask, but... Makoto?"

"What?" the cheetah asked in surprise. "No!"

"Oh, my mistake," Minako said with a grin when she heard the masculine voice. "Haruka, then?"

"NO! My name is Cheetor!"

"He is one of the locals," Ami explained. "Well, sort of... He and his friends are stranded on this planet... Well, looks like we are as well."

"Planet?" Mamoru asked and stood up, still getting used to his four legs. "What planet?"

Cheetor shrugged as best as a four-legged animal could. "We would like to know that as well. We followed the Predacon ship through a warp hole and got thrown through space of time. The next thing we know, our ships shoot each other, and here we are, crashed on the surface of a mysterious world, not being able to leave."

"Oookay..." Minako said. "And we got here because..."

"I don't really know," Ami said. "His friends said they found us in these things over there." She gestured to the three capsules from which her three friends had risen. "They called them 'Stasis Pods'."

"I knew it felt kinda strange to be my bed," Rei proclaimed.

"My best guess is that Setsuna somehow went crazy after being turned into what we saw, and brought us here with her powers. Somehow, she also turned us into THIS."

"If you don't mind my asking," Mamoru intervened. "What exactly are 'Maximals' and 'Predacons'?"

'Hoo boy!' Cheetor sighed. 'This will take some time... either their memory circuits are even more scrambled than Rhinox assumed, or there might be the slight chance that their story isn't quite as far-fetched as it might sound...'

"Well, how about we all go over to big bot and discuss things with him? I'm sure if we all work together, we might find a solution."

"Big bot?" Rei asked curiously.

"He means their leader, Optimus Primal," Ami explained. "He figured it would be best to send me and one of them in first, so you wouldn't get quite a big shock."

"Well, the shock I got was nearly enough to scare me out of my pants," Minako grumbled. "If I had some on..."

"Well, how about we transform out of our Beast Mode first?" Cheetor suggested.

"What do you mean by THAT?" Rei asked, now very confused. The fact that animals were intelligent enough to live in what seems to be a highly technological base was puzzling enough.

"He means like THIS," Ami asked. "Ami, Maximize!" And she demonstrated by transforming into her robot form, which still looked like her, somewhat.

Rei blinked. "That was... nice."

"Um, the white fur on your front side emphasizes your... eyes," Minako said.

Ami grinned. "Thank you! Now, why don't you do it?"

"You want to tell us that we are not really animals, but robots that can turn into animals?" Mamoru wondered. "Well, this day is getting weirder and weirder..."

Ami shook her head. "You don't know half of it..."

----

Shortly afterward, Cheetor was leading the three Senshi and the reincarnated prince of Earth to the bridge. Every single one of them has managed to transform into their new robot modes. They still looked pretty similar to their human forms, even with synthetic hair. Minako even had her old hair bow.

The other Maximals had been waiting patiently.

Well, in most cases...

"What took you so long, cat?" Dinobot spat. "We don't have all day!"

"Hey, back off there, will ya?" Rattrap intervened. "Those guys are confused enough as they are, okay? They don't need you going all pesky on them."

Dinobot growled, before Optimus stepped between them. "All right, that's enough, you two! We don't want to give our guests the wrong ideas, right?"

"Heh..." Dinobot grunted. "I trust no one until they haven't proven themselves to be worthy of being on my side."

Rei frowned. 'Well isn't he the charming one. The others don't seem that bad, but I clearly can do without that guy.'

Optimus stepped in front of the group. The Senshi have decided to let Mamoru talk for them, as he would be their king in the future.

"Greetings!" Optimus said and exchanged a handshake with the only male member of their group. He couldn't help but notice the style in which his armor plates were arranged - they looked very similar to those of a medieval knight from Earth. "I am Optimus Primal. Welcome aboard the Axalon, although I am afraid we weren't expecting quite as much visitors as you. Still, I believe we have enough space for everyone, so feel free to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you," Mamoru replied. "I am Mamoru Chiba, and these are my friends Rei Hino and Minako Aino... and I believe you already met Ami."

"Nice to meet you all. Although I must say, your names are quite unusual for robots. Ami told us you never heard of Cybertron before... and the longer I'm thinking about it, the more I'm ready to believe it."

"No kidding!" Rattrap chuckled. "I mean, your Stasis Pods practically appeared out of thin air, not to mention that those we brought with us are still in orbit. Then you act all weird as if you never knew about your transformation abilities... which is what every Cybertronian is able to do."

"This might sound pretty strange, I'm sure," Rei said. "But actually, we are not robots. We're humans."

Everyone of the Axalon crew looked at her as if she had grown an additional wing.

"It's true," Rei insisted. "Well, maybe we are robots now, but we weren't before we came here."

"She's right," Ami nodded. "We fought... um, someone back on our home planet, and then she surrounded us with a bright flash, and the next thing I can remember is waking up in front of you."

"Humans..." Rhinox murmured. "Now that is interesting... very interesting indeed."

"Oh gimme a break here," Rattrap shouted. "Humans that turn into robots? Who ever heard of that!"

"This is ridiculous!" Dinobot growled. "I say they all lie. I wouldn't be surprised if they all were Predacon spies, sent here by Megatron."

"Hey, back off, scaly!" Minako snapped. "We don't know either how it happened, okay?"

"How did you find us anyway?" Mamoru asked. "And did you find our friends as well? Three other girls were with us when this happened."

"I'm sorry, we only found the four of you," Airazor spoke up. "And we found you inside of those four Stasis Pods, as Protoforms... not even provided with a Beast Mode as protection."

"Um... am I supposed to understand anything of that?" Minako asked carefully. "I only know that we never went through this stuff at school."

"Well, Transformers like us are very sensitive to a substance called 'Energon'," Rhinox explained. "We may use it for engines and weapons, but if the Energon around us is too highly concentrated, we might risk a stasis lock..."

"Meaning we would shut down until we get out of reach," Ami explained.

"Right. And to prevent this, we need to acquire the forms of the native creatures on this planet. This way, we are protected against the Energon fields."

"Yeah, and there's a massive amount of Energon out there," Rattrap nodded.

"Protoforms are those robots still in a Stasis Pod, without a proper Beast Mode," Optimus explained. "Like you have been when we found you. We had to take you to our base, as the scanners of your pods were influenced by the big amount of Energon in the cave we found you in. Back here, we simply took a few animal forms that were stored within our computer."

"I chose them," Cheetor stated proudly. "I just figured they would fit your appearance as a robot... and I even made sure to include a flyer in your group. I hope you like them."

"But if this is an alien planet, why are there animals from Earth living here?" Ami wondered. "Could this be Earth after all?"

"Not very likely," Optimus shook his head. "There has never been such a big amount of Energon on Earth, and besides, the moon up there doesn't really look like yours."

"That means you believe us?" Rei asked in surprise.

"Ah, we saw some weird stuff happening," Cheetor said.

"We may have some problems ourselves, but as long as we can work with each other I see no reason why we couldn't let you stay and help you find your friends... assuming they are on this planet as well."

"We thank you for your offer," Mamoru said. "And if there is any way in which we may help you, tell us."

"Well, first we should find out more about how you got changed like this," Rhinox said. "I already took a look at the Stasis Pods, and I have to say, something about them is different from the standard ones we are using. My scanners also pick up some strange energy readings that I have trouble to identify."

"Maybe we can work on that together," Ami suggested. "I don't know how, but I believe my Mercury Computer somehow merged with me while I was in that pod." She opened a small panel on her right arm and showed the others the usual controls of her computer.

"Wow..." Rei said in awe. "You turned into a walking computer, I can fly... I wonder what else happened to us."

"Well, I already know that there is at least one advantage coming from all this," Minako stated.

"And what would that be?" Airazor wondered.

The blonde robot grinned. "I won't have to go to the bathroom!"

Her friends would have sweatdropped... IF robots were able to sweat.

'Well, at least we have the chance to find out what happened to us,' Ami thought to herself. 'And we found allies who are searching for a way back home as well... I just hope Usagi and the others are all right.'

She sighed. 'I wonder what made Setsuna act like this... and what she is planning.'

----

Meanwhile, at the Predacon Base...

A tall, female Predacon with green hair stood in front of the feared Megatron's seat, guarded by his henchmen Scorponok and Waspinator. Behind her, a row of Stasis Pods was standing, on top of a long, hovering platform.

"Well, I don't know where you came from, but since you said you had an interesting offer for me and also brought these... nice gifts, I'm willing to let you speak."

Time Splitter smirked and gestured at the Stasis Pods. "Lord Megatron..."

A grin appeared on the Predacon's leader's face. "Lord Megatron, I like that. Yeees..."

"I present to you... the Predacon Senshi!"

With a hissing sound, the three Stasis Pods opened...