TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED - Remake Season 1

Episode 6: Ripples


During Transform and Rollout...

In a wide, metal-made council room with giant-sized stained glass murals decorating its tall walls, several robotic beings were busy discussing amongst themselves as they were seated into groups across several small booths that were positioned into rows along the sides of the room, leaving the floor open for an currently empty speaker's platform.

While most of the murals hanging above them were depicting the silhouettes of various Cybertronian figures and relics of some significance, it was the single mural behind the three raised podiums at the very front of the room that truly served to identify this place and its significance with the giant and familiar red insignia displayed upon it.

This place was the council chamber of the Autobot High Council, the ruling government of Cybertron.

"Let us review the situation...", Ultra Magnus states standing alone in the highest center-podium.

Autobot Supreme Commander, Autobot Elite Guard - Ultra Magnus

"Approvimately 50 Stellar Cycles ago, we received this transmission from Optimus Prime and his space bridge repair crew, somewhere within the Azazel Asteroid Belt. I don't believe I need to brief anyone here on the significance of their cargo.", he states as several monitors in the room displayed a ID headshot of Optimus with his individual key-stats included at the bottom, the image superimposed over a larger feed of the AllSpark container sitting in a burnt-out 'bot's lap.

"Not long after, we began tracking a signal from a Decepticon warship. This Decepticon warship.", he continues as the monitors now illustrate a shot of the Nemesis. "...I don't believe I need to brief anyone here on the significance of its commander..."

Tension can be felt in the air as the monitors display the imposing image of Megatron and his personal stats to the room.

Surveying the many 'bots seated in the booths across the room, Ultra Magnus gave them all a level stare. "Within mere cycles of receiving this transmission, we lost all contact with Optimus Prime's ship, and the Decepticon signal fell off our scanners. Thus far, search and rescue crews have failed to turn up any sign of the Orion and its crew."

The Autobot Commander then gestured towards a specific 'bot in the council chamber with a short nod, causing it to stand up in its booth and take over the report.

"At this point we can only assume the worst...", Ultra Magnus said grimly. As Alpha Trion listens to those words he feels a strange feeling in this spark. "Is something the matter Alpha Trion?"

Head of the Guilds Domesticus, Council Member - Alpha Trion

"My apologize, but if you don't mind I like to be alone for the time being.", Alpha Trion said taking he leave.

"What's with him?", Sentinel Prime asks.

Second-in-Command, Autobot Elite Guard - Sentinel Prime

"Alpha Trion is Optimus Prime's creator.", Ultra Magnus answers. "It's understandable for him to grieve."


What Ultra Magnus didn't know is that Alpha Trion is not grieving.

"After millions of stellar cycles the Matrix have finally chosen a host.", Alpha Trion said with hope. "And that host is Optimus."

Alpha Trion's joy then change to concern.

"However, I fear he will face many challenges in his path before he could wield it."


"It is on that note that I believe its time we finally disclose this matter to the public, as well as arrange a memorial for the Orion and its fallen crew.", Ultra Magnus declares.

"If you'd let me.", Sentinel Prime declares to the room. "I'll volunteer to arrange and handle the public ceremony personally."

"Very well." Ultra Magnus nods towards him. "Then I'll leave it in your servos, Sentinel Prime."

"Sir!", Sentinel Prime salutes respectfully to the supreme commander.


Located out on the galactic rim, the Decepticon refugee colony "New Kaon" - that served as the once-mighty empire's current base of operations - was a burned-out husk of a planet, containing on the surface little more than rocky outcroppings and barren wastelands, and that was before even taken into consideration what the inhabitants had done with the place.

"...Our leader has fallen. Megatron is no more.", Blitzwing announce standing next to a large statue of Megatron.

"Won't Lugnut find out about this?", Blot whispers to Spittor.

"Nah, he's on the other side of the planet.", Spittor whispers back. "There's no way he'll find out."

"Rest assured, he will not be forgotten.", Icy Blitzwing continues.

"But first we will crush the miserable Autobot scum responsible for destroying him!", Hothead Blitzwing said.

"Oooh! And then we'll paint their faceplates! Mustaches are funny! Hahahahahahaha!", Crazy Blitzwing finishes.

Several Decepticons back away as a large shadow looms over them.


In the Autobot Memorial Plaza in Iacon City - Cybertron's capital - where a crowd stand gathered around a newly erected monument representing the lost Autobot spaceship, the Orion. As holographic headshots of Optimus and his crew were lit up and displayed in the air over the scaled-down model, Sentinel Prime walks onto center-stage in front of the monument in order to address the crowd.

After coughing once into his fist, the Prime began speaking in a formal and leveled tone.

'I hate funerals and the only thing I hate more than funerals is doing an eulogy at funerals.', Sentinel thought as he starts. "I've been asked to say a few words about our fallen colleague, Optimus Prime."

"As many of you know Optimus and I have a history...", Sentinel continues. '"You knew him best, Setinel. Why don'y you give the eulogy?" Thanks a lot, Magnus.'

"...But this is not the time to drag out past grievances."

'It will be after I pound back a few barrels at Maccadam's Oil House.'

"Optimus and his crew went down in the line of duty."

'Garbade duty.'

"And while I never got the chance to know them personally..."

'Thank the Allspark for small miracles.'

"...They will all be remembered."

'As losers.'

"For every Autobot, no matter how lowly his function..."

'And face it, you can't get more "lowly" than space bridge repair.'

"...Is a unique cog in the great Autobot machine."

'Slag... Now I sound just like Optimus.'

"Phew, it's finally over.", Sentinel Prime let out with a sigh as he traverse down a hallway, when another bot comes up to him.

Autobot Intelligence Division Cheif - Longarm Prime

"Sentinel Pime? Sir? Are you sure it's wise to discontinue our search for Optimus Prime's ship? After all the Allspark may still be-"

"The Allspark, isn't meant to be found, Longarm Prime!", Sentinel points out.

"Surely after all this time, sir-"

"You've climbed up the intel ladder faster than anyone I know, Longarm. Your knowledge of Decepticons is uncanny. But you're still a young bot. Your generation has never known war.", Sentinel Prime said. "My generation hid the allspark for a reason. We don't know where it is, and neither do the Decepticons. That's why this peace has lasted over a million stellar cycles. And with Megatron offline, it will easily last another million stellar cycles."

"But can we be certain, sir?", Longarm asks. "That Megatron is offline?"

"You're the intel cheif, Longarm. You've seen the reports from the Decepticon camps. Nothing but chaos. The kind of chaos that comes from a void in leadership..."


"INFIDEL!", Lugnut all but explods. "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, BLITZWING! OUR MASTER LIVES! AND HE SHALL RETURN!"

While most of the other Decepticons in the street nervously backs away as the lumbering Lugnut comes stomping forward, Blitzwing remains calm and collected where he stand.

"You cannot ignore the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Lugnut.", he declares simply, unperturbed by the way the large Con was now angrily looming over him up-close. Blitzwing's face then suddenly swivel sideways underneath his helmet, giving way to a black jack o'lantern-like visage that cackled madly. "After all, that vould juzt be CRAZY! AH-HAHAHA!"

"SILENCE!", Lugnut roars as he let out a wild punch that sent his colleague flying, through the statue of Megatron.

"I spent six deca-cycles carving that! Now I am going to carve you!", Hothead Blitzwing fires his shoulder cannons on Lugnut pushing him back.

"FOOL! I KNOW IT IN MY SPARK... MEGATRON IS STILL ONLINE!", he declares out loud to the heavens before firing a barrage of missiles from his back. "AND IF YOU DARE TO SAY OTHERWISE AGAIN THEN I WILL NOT HESITATE TO DEMOLISH YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

"FINE! If you von't listen to reason, then I'll juzt have to BEAT some senze into you!"

With that, both Decepticons let out battle-roars as they simultaneously charged at one another. As the two began fighting wildly in the middle of the street, kicking up a torrent of dust around themselves, the surrounding Decepticons started to cheer and egg them on.

"If this keep up, they'll destroy all of New Kaon!", Knockout said hiding behind some rubble. "And Swindle is profiting on this!"

Swindle is shouting out place your bet on the Decepticon crowd.

"We shall put a stop to this.", two large seekers said pushing through the crowd heading for the fighting duo.

The blue one grabs Blitzwing, while the green one grabs Lugnut and bash their heads together.

Destron Guard Captain - Skyquake

Destron Guard Captain- Dreadwing

"If you two are done.", Skyquake said picking up the two unconscious Decepticons. "We have a priority-meeting from our double-agent. Effective immediately."


Before long, the metal doors to a room on the top floors of the Decepticon fortress slides open, allowing Lugnut, Blitzwing and the twin Seekers entrance. Awaiting them was Blackarachnia and on monitor Shockwave.

"Shockwave, you junky cyclops!", Hothead Blitzwing roars as they both stomp inside. "You think you can juzt order uz around in Megatron's abzence?!"

"Be warned, Blitzwing.", Shockwave threatens. "I may not be in New Koan, but have ways."

Shockwave presses a button electrocuting Blitzwing for a second.

"Regardless, I have received important information that must be discussed."

"I-IS IT ABOUT LORD MEGATRON?!", Lugnut presses, pushing Blitzwing out of the way. "IS THERE ANY NEWS?!"

"Sit down and we will get to that shortly."

The cons does so, as a holographic display appears over the center of the table, showing a display of the Autobot ship the Orion, as well as headshots of its crew.

"I've received word during my time as Longarm that the Autobots have officially abandoned their search for the ship carrying the Allspark."

"Abandoned?", Blackarachnia echoes in disbelief. "With something like the very AllSpark on the line?! Are you serious?!"

"Then that vould indicate that the Autobots have already scoured even the most remote zectors of known-space without finding a single trace?", Icy Blitzwing muses.

"Correct."

"Meaning there is no reazon for our own agentz to continue their covert investigations of these zectors as well."

"NONSENSE!", Lugnut barks. "THEY'LL JUST NEED TO LOOK HARDER THAN THE AUTOBOTS DID."

"No. They will immediately be recalled and reassigned." Shockwave declares. "We cannot continue to risk having the Autobots discover our agents trespassing into their sectors. It might provoke military retaliation - and with not only Megatron missing, but Starscream, Barricade, Geist, Soundwave, Scalpel and Astrotrain as well, our forces are currently in complete disarray."

"Hmph. Who cares about ol' Screamer anyway?", Blackarachnia snorts derisively, a sentiment that seem to be shared by most of the others present.

"Despite your personal reservations concerning Starscream, as Megatron's official 2nd-in-command, his power as well as his cunning and insidious nature has earned the begrudging respect and fear of the soldiers which would ensure that Megatron's generals would fall in line behind him. As it stands, we've so far had to avoid choosing a successor among them - even a temporary one - to avoid instigating rebellions from the others."

"And a civil war between our forces is the last thing we need, lest the Autobots be tempted to take the opportunity to wipe us out for good afterwards.", Blackarachnia groans as she slowly drag a palm down her face. "Spark's sake, what a mess..."

"GRRR. NONE OF THEM ARE WORTHY OF SITTING ON MEGATRON'S THRONE!", Lugnut roars angrily slamming his fist on the table. "ESPECIALLY NOT STARSCREAM!"

"Oh, none of them, Lugnut?", Blackarachnia suddenly perks up, glancing wickedly at him. "Not even your "darling" consort, General Strika?"

Incredibly enough, the large Decepticon suddenly looks awkward and flustered.

"UM, I... THAT IS...", he stammered. "NOT THAT I DOUBT HER CAPABILITY, BUT..."

"Buuut...?", the femme press, smirking viciously.

Meanwhile, Icy Blitzwing was carefully studying the holographic display atop the table - and as his gaze slowly traveled over the headshots of Optimus and his crew, he change to Hothead Blitzwing.

"Curze it all to the Pit!", he snarls, slamming his fist onto the table. "I cannot believe Lord Megatron vould ever fall becauze of such an Insignificant crew of puny Autobots!"

"WATCH YOUR VOCAL-PROCESSOR, BLITZWING!", Lugnut responds immediately as he whip around in his seat. "MEGATRON LIVES!"

"And he is probably correct.", Shockwave said shocking the other cons as Shockwave and Lugnut are known for their rivalry. "As they lack imagiation, from that what the Autobots can see they believe both the Orion and Nemesis are destroyed in the explosion of the Space Bridge, yet there are no remains of either ship. It is possible that the explosion was also a transwarp bubble, an unstable one at that, which lead to me to conclude that both ships have been transported to unknown sectors of deep space instead. That is the only logical explanation."

"Y-YES!", Lugnut huffs excitedly, getting to his feet. "W-WE... WE WILL SET OUT AT ONCE!"

"Ooh! I vill pack my galaxy-travel suitcase! Mustn't forget zo'h bring zeh towel~", Pyscho Blitzwing singsonged as he follow suit.

"Hold it, I said they are in unknown space.", Shockwave said. "I didn't say where exactly."

"Yeah, you know how big the unknown sector is.", Blackarachnia said. "It'll take you billions of stellar cycle to find where Megatron is."

"MEGATRON LIVES!", Lugnut said. "THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT HE IS WORKING ON A WAY TO CONTACT US."


At that very moment Optimus Prime fires on the Allspark Crystal destroying it resulting a massive energy burst.


Suddenly the hologram of the Autobot ship changes into a map detecting a powerful energy surge.

"AN ALLSPARK ENERGY SIGNAL!", Lugnut cheers as if his prayer has been answered. "MEGATRON LIVES."

"I have the location, however if we can trace that signal, so can the Autobots.", Shockwave said before changing to Longarm. "I must go before they get suspicious."


On Earth, in the dark and mysterious abandoned laboratory located inside Sumdac Tower, the numerous screens and consoles standing in the room were all playing various footage of the battle that had taken place, hacked and retrieved through the city's numerous security cameras.

However, there was one particular video that kept replaying on one of the bigger screens, namely Starscream's confession to Optimus about Megatron's fate.

"I planted a bomb on Megatron before he got to your ship, severly damaging him!", the Seeker said proudly. "You should thank me!"

As the video loops, repeating the confession, the large and heavily wired up robotic head that sat in the laboratory crackling with electric energy that lashes out angrily around it - destroying and shattering some of the surrounding screens as its attention was focused singularly on that one footage.

"STAAAAAARSCREEEEEEEEAM!" Megatron roars out the traitor's name with unbridled fury as his head sparks erratic energy that arched wildly throughout the room around him.